VATICAN CORNER Since 2013, Pope Francis has preferred to spend his summers in the same Vatican hotel where he lives the rest of the year and not to vacation at the traditional papal retreat that has been used for centuries - Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside palace and town...

VATICAN CORNER The late Pope John Paul II in March 2000 celebrated the new millennium by visiting 15 Holy Land sites. One site: Wadi al Kharrar, or Valley of the Trickling Water, in Jordan on the East side of the Jordan River, was said to be the place where John the...

VATICAN CORNER On May 12, 2016 Pope Francis led an in-depth discussion with the women leaders of 900 female religious orders and congrega!ons. The subject of the discussion was the role of women in the Church. Those woman leaders form part of the interna!onal Union of...

VATICAN CORNER News broke on April 20, 2016 that the Vatican has suspended the 3 million dollar contract it made with the global accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who were hired in December, 2015 to perform an audit of all the Vatican’s finances. The Vatican...

VATICAN CORNER On Wednesday April 6, 2016, at his general audience at the Vatican, Pope Francis met and blessed Lizzy Myers a five year old girl from Bellville, Ohio who is suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Usher Syndrome Type II, which causes the gradual...

VATICAN CORNER On April 16, 2016 Pope Francis made a lighting trip to the Greek island of Lesbos, spending 6 hours there to draw international attention to the plight of those fleeing across the Mediterranean Sea to escape conflict and persecution in their home...

VATICAN CORNER …continued Due to the high-profile of Mother Teresa’s work in India and internationally, her cause for sainthood has been well-funded. In her own lifetime, and still today, she is one of the most famous people in the world. She was affectionately known...

VATICAN CORNER Pope Francis has approved the second miracle attributed to the intercession of the blessed Mother Teresa, recognizing her miraculous cure of a Brazilian man with multiple tumors. The man’s parish priest had prayed to the Blessed Mother for a cure. After...

VATICAN CORNER Continued …Despite the many difficulties, the Franciscans continued to perform their pastoral duties in the Holy Land and are still doing so today. There are now nearly 400 Franciscan friars and nuns in and around Israel. Their calling includes three...

VATICAN CORNER continued… The Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land provide pastoral care in 29 parishes, offering Worship, Faith Formation, youth and family programs. Their Media Center tells the story of the Holy Land through multimedia distributed throughout...

VATICAN CORNER Every year on Good Friday, a collection is taken up in every Catholic Church to support the people and places of the Holy Land. Christians of the Holy Land rely heavily on the help that comes to them during this special moment of the year. On Feb. 10,...

  VATICAN CORNER There is a new book entitled “Dear Pope Francis” published March 1, 2016 in which Pope Francis answers 30 questions presented to him from children from around the world. The U. S. based Jesuit publishing house Loyola Press approached Francis with...