Twenty-five years after Michelangelo painted his masterpiece the: ‘Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel’, and after a long, successful period working for the Medici family in Florence, he returned to the Vatican to work. He was welcomed by Pope Clement VII who commissioned...

Shortly before Pope Francis’ planned colon surgery, Salvatore Izzo the director of the Vaticannews website told Francis about his own medical problems, but Francis did not reveal his pending surgery in return. The Vatican and the Pope probably wanted to keep the...

On July 4, 2021, the 84-year-old Pope Francis had surgery to remove a portion of his left colon in what has been described as a planned procedure. A 10 person team of doctors and nurses at Rome’s Gemelli hospital performed the operation in about 3 hours’ time. That...

On Thursday July 1, 2021, Pope Francis hosted a day of prayer for Lebanon with 10 senior Lebanese Catholic and Orthodox leaders. They spent the day discussing the future of Lebanon which is currently in a very serious economic crisis. Throughout its existence, it has...

Standing In the Courtyard of the Pinecone at the Vatican Museum is a tall contemporary sculpture known as Sfera con Sfera or Sphere within a Sphere. It is the work of Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, born June 23, 1926. He is known for his geometric bronze works and...

On Sept. 27, 2019, the then former Vice President Joe Biden was denied communion at a Catholic church in Florence, South Carolina over his support for abortion rights. Father RobertMorey said “any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself...

German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, 67, of Munich and Freising, German submitted his resignation to Pope Francis and that news was made public on June 4, 2021. The reason Marx gave was that he is taking responsibility for the failures of the Church in handling clerical...

The Vatican’s daily newspaper is the L’Osservatore Romano, founded in 1861with the approval of Pope Pius IX. It details the pope’s activities and appointments, prints the text of papal speeches and is widely and carefully read for insights into the attitudes of the...

Leaders from around the world have applauded the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip. The United Nations called for concrete actions to address the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to achieve true peace and reconciliation in...

On April 13, 2021, it was Memorial Day in Jerusalem, and the Israel president gave a night speech at the Western Wall, a sacred Jewish site. He honored those who died fighting for the country. It was also the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and nearby,...

In some southern areas of Italy, the Catholic Church and the Mafia have had a long and complicated history. Over the years, some Catholic priests have courageously opposed the crime families, and paid with their lives. However other priests have attended weddings,...

Rosario Livatino was a Catholic judge who was brutally killed by the mafia in 1990. He worked as a prosecutor in the 1980s at the Court of Agrigento, Sicily, dealing with the corrupt system of mafia bribes and kickbacks used on public works contracts. He became a...