Alessandro Speciale
Vatican blasts media coverage of pope's latest book
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Thursday (Nov....
Pope Benedict XVI faces uphill challenge in trying to resurrect Latin
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Reviving a long-dead language might sound like a tall order for a church that's already weakened by widespread secularization and the fallout from decades of a painful child abus...
Vatican convicts second man in 'Vatileaks' scandal
VATICAN CITY (RNS) A Vatican computer expert on Saturday (Nov. 10) was convicted of aiding and abetting the pope's former butler in stealing the pontiff's papers and leaking them to the press.
...Vatican says it hasn't lost the gay marriage fight
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Despite recent setbacks in the United States and Europe, the Catholic Church is not losing the fight on gay marriage, the Vatican semiofficial newspaper claimed on Friday (Nov....
Foot traffic a worry at the Sistine Chapel
Five hundred years ago, on October 31, 1512, Pope Julius II led an evening prayer service to inaugurate the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s newly finished vault frescoes....
After controversial video, Vatican hosts serious discussion on Islam
As a Vatican delegation prepared in October to leave for war-torn Syria, the Catholic Church’s fraught relationship with Islam emerged as one of the main themes at a major gathering of the world’s ...
Pope Benedict XVI convenes bishops to confront 'tsunami' of secularism
c. 2012 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS)
...Vatican newspaper calls 'Jesus Wife' fragment a 'clumsy fake'
c. 2012 Religion News Service
(RNS) The Vatican's newspaper declared the controversial "Jesus wife" papyrus fragment "a fake" on Friday (Sept. 28).
...
Pope's butler charged with stealing private papers
c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI's former butler was indicted Monday (Aug....
Vatican: Disgraced Legion must rethink identity
The disgraced Legion of Christ religious order needs to rethink its identity before going forward with its internal reform, the papal envoy in charge of the group’s overhaul told priests and lay me...
The Vatican blames market decline for $20 million deficit
c. 2012 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican posted a record loss of $19 million (15 million euros) in 2011, its worst deficit in more than a decade.
...German bishop will head Vatican’s doctrine office
Pope Benedict XVI has tapped a fellow German to lead the Vatican doctrinal office he headed for 24 years before being elected to the papacy....
Breakaway Catholic group spurns Vatican’s overture
A breakaway traditionalist Catholic group has rejected a Vatican document that was supposed to lay the foundation for the group’s reconciliation with Rome....
Vatican blames lack of priests on secularism, abuse, parents
c. 2012 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS) The sexual abuse scandal has tarnished the image of the priest and contributed to a crisis of priestly vocations in the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican said Monday (June 25), while also faulting a widespread "secularized mentality" and parents' ambition for their children, which leaves "little space to the possibility of a call to a special vocation."