Cindy Wooden

Every call of God is a call of love, Pope Francis says

January 18, 2021

VATICAN CITY -- When a person senses God's call, it can be intimidating or frightening, Pope Francis said, but Christians can be sure that the call flows from God's love and that responding to the call will be a means of sharing God's love.

Australian agency admits serious error in reporting Vatican bank transfers

January 13, 2021

VATICAN CITY -- 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 amends canon law so women can be installed as lectors, acolytes

January 11, 2021

VATICAN CITY -- Recognizing "the gifts of each baptized person" -- women and men -- Pope Francis ordered a change to canon law and liturgical norms so that women could be formally installed as lectors and acolytes.

Pope Francis on Christmas: Share hope, promote peace, give vaccine to all

December 25, 2020

VATICAN CITY -- On a Christmas like no other, Pope Francis prayed for people who could not be with their families because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he urged everyone to recognize and help those who are suffering even more.

Two Vatican cardinals test positive for COVID-19; one hospitalized

December 22, 2020

VATICAN CITY -- Two top Vatican officials -- Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello -- have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, Italian media reported, and a Vatican source confirmed.

Vatican will offer Pfizer COVID vaccine to employees

December 14, 2020

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican health service will begin vaccinating employees and Vatican citizens against COVID-19 using the Pfizer vaccine, the director of the Vatican health service told Vatican News.

Italian bishops say 'midnight Mass' must end before 10 p.m. curfew

December 2, 2020

ROME -- As rumblings and grumblings grew in the press and on social media, the permanent council of the Italian bishops' conference met to discuss the problem of Christmas "midnight Mass" when the government has imposed a 10 p.m. curfew as part of its measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Pope Francis creates 13 new cardinals at consistory

November 30, 2020

VATICAN CITY -- One by one 11 senior churchmen, including two U.S. citizens -- Cardinals Wilton D. Gregory of Washington and Silvano M. Tomasi, a former Vatican diplomat -- knelt before Pope Francis to receive their red hats, a cardinal's ring and a scroll formally declaring their new status and assigning them a "titular" church in Rome.

McCarrick report documents repeated lack of serious investigation

November 10, 2020

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Although dogged for years by rumors of sexual impropriety, Theodore E. McCarrick was able to rise up the Catholic hierarchical structure based on personal contacts, protestations of his innocence and a lack of church officials reporting and investigating accusations, according to the Vatican report on the matter.

Pope Francis not changing church teaching on gay unions, Secretariat of State says

November 2, 2020

VATICAN CITY -- 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 reaffirmed numerous times over the years."