VATICAN CORNER Continued …Bramante, the original architect of the New Saint Peter’s Basilica, designed 4 piers to support the enormous weight of the domed roof. At the construction site, an artist from Florence named Michelangelo, observed that construction workers...

VATICAN CORNER Saint Peter’s Basilica is the largest church in the world at 163,180 sq. ft., and with a maximum capacity of 60,000 people. During the years 319 to 349 AD, the first Christian Emperor of Rome – Constantine built the first Saint Peter’s Basilica over the...

VATICAN CORNER The Vatican and the surrounding City of Rome are not considered to be at high seismic risk. The ground beneath them is free of faults, and volcanic activity is thankfully distant, but the historical record tells a different story, with Rome struck again...

VATICAN CORNER On Tuesday morning Oct. 4, 2016, on the feast day of St. Francis, Pope Francis made a surprise visit to those people affected by the recent earthquake in central Italy. He even caught local officials by surprise. He told the residents of Amatrice “I...

VATICAN CORNER Over the weekend, Sept. 30 - October 2, 2016 Pope Francis made his 16th trip as Pope, visiting his 23rd and 24th countries: Georgia and Azerbaija two former Soviet republics located between the Black & Caspian Seas, south of Russia, north of Turkey,...

VATICAN CORNER It would seem that Pope  Francis' busy schedule would not allow him time to  compose all of the many speeches he must give both at  the Vatican and when on his foreign trips. Like any  modern head of state, there are probably people who  assist him in...

VATICAN CORNER Each month of the Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has spent one Friday afternoon outside the Vatican performing an act of mercy. He has made surprise visits to a group of migrants, to a recovery community for former drug addicts and alcoholics, to a...

VATICAN CORNER On Sunday September 4, 2016, 120,000 people filled St. Peter’s Square for the canonization Mass of Mother Teresa, one of the central moments of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Many volunteers were present to celebrate the Jubilee for Volunteers...

VATICAN CORNER In April, 2000, the Pokémon kiddie trading-card and computer game craze was soaring in Italy. Worried parents thought it was the work of the devil, but Pope John Paul II decided the game was good for children. The Vatican gave its blessing to the game...

VATICAN CORNER A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy at 3:36 AM on Wednesday August 24, 2016, killing more than 290 people. The region located about 65 miles northeast of Rome with its the picturesque mountain towns of Norcia, Lazio, Umbira and Le Marche...

VATICAN CORNER …continued The first woman to be hired to work at  the Vatican was Anna Pezzoli who in 1915  had a job planning papal celebrations. The  biggest hiring push came after the Second  Vatican Council in the 1960s. Today there  are about 750 women working...

VATICAN CORNER There are about 750 women working in the Vatican which is about one fifth of all Vatican employees, and those women are not doing the cleaning jobs, those jobs are done by men. Most of the women are academics, such as archivists, art historians, office...