Catholic unity and new evangelization
The “Catholic unity” as “an essential condition for the fulfilmentof the Church’s mission” was reiterated by the Pope on Friday morning, 18 May, in his Discourse to the last group of Bishops from the United State – regions XIV and XV – on their...[more]

Economy and politics are in need of gratuitousness
Gratuitousness is not found in the marketplace nor can it be prescribed by the law. However both the economy and politics are need of the gratuitousness of persons capable of mutual self-gift. The Pope said this to representatives of the...[more]

Freedom of conscience and religion
The Canadian bishops have released an important pastoral letter “on freedom of conscience and religion”, although the relevance of this letter extends beyond that of the Church in Canada. In this document, the bishops refer to those...[more]

Germany: Dare a new Beginning
The German Churches’ biggest bi-annual meeting, Katholikentag, or “ Catholicday”, is drawing to a close in the city of Mannheim, with particular focus being placed on how to restructure the organisation of the Church to a...[more]

Lombardi: Statement on latest publication of confidential documents
On Saturday, the Holy See press office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi released the following statement regarding the latest publication of confidential documents: The latest publication of documents of the Holy See and private documents of the...[more]

World Communications Day:“Silence and Word"
"Silence and Word: path of evangelization" - that's the theme chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for the Church’s 46 th World Day for Communications, celebrated each year on the Sunday before Pentecost - on Sunday May 20 th this year....[more]

Germany: Dare a new Beginning
The German Churches’ biggest bi-annual meeting, Katholikentag, or “ Catholicday”, is drawing to a close in the city of Mannheim, with particular focus being placed on how to restructure the organisation of the Church to a changing reality, under the...[more]

Pope: True giving is at the heart of being Christian
The Ecclesial Movement of Cultural Engagement, the Federation of Christian Organizations for International Voluntary Service and the Movement of Christian Workers are a group of Italian based lay associations founded between 1932 and 1972. Their...[more]

Violence erupts in Syrian city of Aleppo
At least two demonstrators were killed by the Syrian military when thousands took to the streets of Aleppo and Damascus to protest the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Anti-regime protests in Aleppo have been growing since a raid on dormitories at Aleppo...[more]

May 20, 2012
World Communications Day: “Silence and Word” - We look at Pope Benedict’s reflections for World Day for Communications celebrated on Sunday May 20th this year Joan Knows - Our long-time Vatican watcher Joan Lewis looks back on the past week's...[more]

May 19, 2012
Catholics and Anglicans hold groundbreaking meeting in Hong Kong: Hear from the two co-chairs of the ARCIC about this important ecumenical encounter.. Jewish-Catholic dialogue - building on Nostra Aetate: The head of the Pontifical Commission for...[more]

May 18, 2012
Katholikentag- Jesuit Father Bernd Hagenkord who heads Vatican Radio’s German Programme reports from Mannheim. Olympics- Monsignor John Armitage, Chair of the Catholic 2012 Committee as well as Catholic trustee on the board of the Olympic Charity...[more]

Joan knows
We sit down in studio with our long-time friend and Vatican watcher Joan Lewis, EWTN bureau chief in Rome, for a look back over the Pope's activities the past week. Listen: 00:10:16:15 ...[more]

Hunger crisis in Niger
More than one million children face starvation in Niger and across the Sahel region of west Africa. “We’ve had some very disturbing reports from Niger in the last few days, from our frontline health workers,” says Louise Hill of aid agency Save the...[more]

Celebrating museums
May 18th marks International Museum Day. The theme for this year is Museums in a changing world: New Challenges, new inspirations. The Vatican Museums are home to some of the worlds greatest works of art. Lydia O’Kane spoke to a Chief Curator at the...[more]

Katholikentag meets in Germany
The German Church is holding its bi-annual meeting, more commonly known as Katholikentag, in Mannheim, with over 30 thousand participants and guests assembled to discuss, worship, celebrate and share the current state of the Church in Pope Benedict...[more]