The dome of the roof of Saint Peter’s Basilica, with its exceptional height and beauty unmistakably marks the skyline of Rome. It is 394 feet high above the floor and is still the tallest of its kind in the world today. It was designed by Michelangelo who used the...

Regarding the Israeli prime minister’s promise to annex portions of the West Bank beginning July 1, 2020, Vatican sources said that they had hoped the United States could act as an honest broker between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the drawing up of a new...

Annexation is when a country declares land that is outside its border is now within those borders. It often happens after military occupation and without the approval of the people living there. International law says it is illegal. During the past year, Israeli prime...

On June 18, 2020, retired Pope Benedict (93) received a greeting from Pope Francis , and then Benedict flew to Munich, Germany on an Italian air force jet, to see his ailing elder brother Georg Ratzinger (96) at their former home near Regensburg, Germany. It was...

On April 16, 2020, retired Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 93rd birthday. He was well, but due to the coronavirus restrictions, he could not receive any visitors. He resides at a former monastery located in the Vatican Gardens and lives with his retired personal...

The vast majority of police officers are honorable men and women who risk their lives every day to protect our communities. With police brutality currently in focus, a welcomed remembrance might be that of an extraordinary policeman who someday could be declared a...

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man tragically died in Minneapolis, Minnesota during his arrest by the police. He was being arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill. During the arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white police officer...

On May 10, 2020, the Italian newspaper II Messaggero made the claim that they had a copy of an internal financial analysis that was given to Pope Francis during a recent meeting with the heads of the Vatican departments. The newspaper claimed the analysis stated that...

St. Peter’s Basilica, the 2,000 year old home to most of the Catholic Church’s crucial ceremonies, and one of the holiest Catholic shrines in the world, is being prepared for reopening to the public after being closed to visitors and pilgrims for more than two months....

Nine days after his election as pope on March 22, 2013, Francis started inviting small groups of people to the chapel at his residence at the Casa Santa Marta guest house for early morning Mass. His first invited guests to Mass were the Vatican gardeners and garbage...

During the coronavirus shelter-in-place rules, many Catholic are concerned about how they can obtain the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The sacrament’s goal is to forgive serious postbaptismal sin so that one’s friendly and familial conversation with God and the Church...

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 was the most severe in recent history, and yet it is largely forgotten today. Despite killing more people than were killed in combat in both World Wars combined. The pandemic was poorly covered by newspapers of the day, as a world war...