Australia’s financial crime watchdog agency said it over-estimated by the equivalent of more than US$1.5 billion the amount of money transferred from the Vatican to Australia between 2014 and 2020.
Pope Francis delivered his Christmas message and blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) from the Hall of Blessings at the Vatican on 25 December 2020, highlighting his hope that Christmas would be an opportunity for all to rediscover the family as a cradle of life and faith, a place of acceptance and love, dialogue, forgiveness, fraternal solidarity and shared joy, a source of peace for all humanity.
Pope Francis kisses a figurine of the baby Jesus as he arrives to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in this Dec. 24, 2019, file photo. The pope will celebrate the traditional Christmas Eve Mass with a small congregation, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Rome so people can get home without breaking Italy’s 10 p.m. COVID-19 curfew.
Marking the 150th anniversary of St Joseph being declared patron of the universal church, Pope Francis proclaimed a yearlong celebration dedicated to the foster father of Jesus.
Concelebrating Mass with 13 newly created cardinals, Pope Francis says Advent is a time to be vigilant, hopeful, and helpful.
Let Us Dream will be published on 1 December by Simon ând Schuster. The section on what the pontiff called his “personal COVIDs” was excerpted in Italian newspapers 23 November.
Being faithful to God means taking the risk of setting aside one’s own needs and plans in order to serve others, Pope Francis said, celebrating Mass for the World Day of the Poor.
Pope Francis has shown that fighting abuse and protecting the vulnerable require both the sword of Saint Michael the Archangel and the silent and protective heart of St Joseph – two icons that prominently adorned St Peter’s Basilica during the 2018 Synod on young people.
The Vatican Secretariat of State has sent an explanatory note to nuncios around the world insisting that when Pope Francis spoke about civil unions, he was not changing or challenging “the doctrine of the Church, which he has re-affirmed numerous times over the years”.