Tag Archives: vatican

(RNS) There’s a saying in the Catholic Church that while only God can create the world, only a pope can create cardinals.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis declared on Friday (July 5) that Popes John Paul II and John XXIII will be made saints, elevating the two most decisive popes of the 20th century to the pantheon of Catholic life and worship.

In a sign of the worldwide devotion for John XXIII, known as “Good Pope John,” Francis waived the requirement for a second miracle credited to John XXIII’s intercession, with the Vatican’s spokesman saying, “no one doubts his virtues.”

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Two top managers of the Vatican Bank resigned on Monday (July 1), just five days after Pope Francis appointed an independent commission to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the scandal-plagued bank.

The surprise resignation of the bank’s director general, Paolo Cipriani, and of his deputy, Massimo Tulli, follows the arrest of a senior Vatican official with close ties to the bank who was charged on Friday with attempting to smuggle 20 million euros into Italy from Switzerland.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Just months after becoming the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign, reports are surfacing that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is in poor health with diminished stature and energy.

After a brief hiatus at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Benedict returned to live in a converted monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens last month.

Pope Francis is a humble man attuned to a simple life. He is concerned for the poor and is willing to touch them, sit with them and wash their feet. He prefers public transportation and is an ‘outsider’ in church politics.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) As 115 cardinal-electors solemnly processed into the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday afternoon, with a cry of “Extra omnes!” and the latest high-tech jamming devices cutting them off from the world, the buzz outside the Vatican over who would eventually emerge as pope grew deafening.