Subscribe to this RSS feed
July 21, 2016

The Pope gets it

Pope Francis greets Greg Burke, the new director of the Vatican press office, at the Vatican July 11. Burke, a native of St. Louis, has worked for the Vatican since 2012 and prior to that was a television correspondent for Fox News and a correspondent for Time magazine.

Next to the Pope, the Vatican’s most quoted person is probably the papal spokesman. In an often thankless job, the spokesman makes official announcements, corrects misinformation, fields reporters’ queries and, generally, is the public face of a Church that is frequently misunderstood.

Published in Editorial
May 13, 2016

Pope did not say he'd ordain women deacons, spokesman says

Pope Francis embraces Sister Carmen Sammut, a Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa and president of the International Union of Superiors General, during an audience with the heads of women's religious orders in Paul VI hall at the Vatican May 12. During a question-and-answer session with members of the IUSG, the pope said he was willing to establish a commission to study whether women could serve as deacons.

VATICAN CITY – After some news outlets reported the Pope was considering ordaining women deacons and comments were made about women deacons leading to women priests, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi clarified the Pope’s comments May 13.

Published in International