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Rome, Italy, Mar 8, 2020 / 01:30 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Rome has canceled all public Masses until April 3 in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The announcement by the vicar general of the diocese, published Sunday evening, follows a decree by the Italian government suspending all public religious ceremonies. “The Church of Rome … assumes an attitude of full responsibility towards the community in the awareness that protection from contagion requires even drastic measures, especially in interpersonal contact. Therefore, until the same date of April 3, the communal liturgical celebrations are suspended,” Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, vicar general of Rome, said in a statement March 8. “The season of Lent helps us to live this great trial evangelically. I bless you by entrusting you all ...

Vatican City, Mar 7, 2020 / 05:00 am (CNA).- The next ordinary Synod of Bishops will be a synod on synodality, the Vatican announced March 7. In October 2022, bishops from around the world will meet in Rome to discuss the theme: “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.” The concept of “synodality” has been a topic of frequent discussion by Pope Francis, particularly during the previous ordinary Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment in October 2018. Synodality, as defined by the International Theological Commission in 2018, is “the action of the Spirit in the communion of the Body of Christ and in the missionary journey of the People of God.” The term is generally understood to represent a process of discernment, with the aid of the Holy...

Vatican tourists wearing protective masks take a selfie Thursday in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)  |  Mar. 5, 2020 ‘Uncharted Territory’ for Church as Vatican, Italian Bishops Respond to Coronavirus Weekday Masses are suspended in some northern regions, and elsewhere the exchange at the sign of peace is being dropped and stoups have been emptied. VATICAN CITY — As fears grow that the new coronavirus is turning into a worldwide pandemic and emergency, the Church in Italy is working with government officials on coordinating measures to prevent contagion in what Vatican officials are describing as “uncharted territory” for the Church in the modern era.  In a statement issued March 5, the Italian bishops’ conference continu...

ROME — The month of March is usually when tourists flock to the Eternal City after the cold winter months and pilgrims come to pray at many holy sites during the Lenten season. With news of the growing number of people infected with the novel coronavirus, increasing travel restrictions and the Italian government’s order to close all schools, universities and institutes until March 15, places like the Milan cathedral, known as the “Duomo,” and the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican are eerily empty. As of March 4, more than 2,700 people in Italy have contracted the virus, known as COVID-19, while at least 107 people have died since the outbreak began in northern Italy, the Italian health ministry said. Nevertheless, the delicate balancing act of preventing others from being contaminated while no...

Vatican City, Mar 5, 2020 / 04:09 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Thursday appointed Bishop Gregory Hartmayer of Savannah to be the next archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia. Hartmayer is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and has been bishop of Savannah since 2011. In Atlanta, Hartmayer follows Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who was appointed to head the Archdiocese of Washington in early 2019, after leading the Georgia archdiocese for almost 15 years. The Archdiocese of Atlanta covers 21,445 square miles in the northern half of Georgia. The archdiocese has over 100 parishes and serves around 1.2 million Catholics, according to 2018 stats. It is also the metropolitan see of the province of Atlanta, which encompasses the suffragan dioceses of Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; and ...

Documents on the pontificate of Pope Pius XII are seen at the Vatican Secret Archives on Feb. 27 in Vatican City. On March 2, the Vatican Apostolic Library opened the Holy See’s wartime archives on the pontificate of Pope Pius XII between the years 1939 to 1958. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images) Most attention has focused on what they might reveal about the Pope’s actions and attitudes toward the Jews during World War II, but a Vatican conference ahead of today’s opening highlighted other areas of interest. VATICAN CITY — The Vatican today opened archives relating to Pope Pius XII’s pontificate, and as historians and researchers begin to scour some 2 million documents for information, most attention will be paid to what they reveal about Pius’ actions and attitudes toward the Jews and the Nazi...

Vatican City, Mar 1, 2020 / 07:08 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Sunday to follow Christ’s example when dealing with the temptation to sin: send the devil away or answer with the Word of God, but never engage in debate. When being tempted by the devil in the desert, “Jesus does not talk with the devil. Jesus responds to the devil with the Word of God, not with his word,” the pope said March 1. Francis noted that in times of temptation one may start to debate with the devil about sin. “Never talk to the devil,” he advised. “Jesus does two things with the devil: he chases him away or, as in this case [in the desert], he answers with the Word of God. Be careful: never dialogue with temptation, never dialogue with the devil.” Pope Francis’ address before the Angelus Sunday was on Jesus’ 40 days ...

By Vatican News Pope Francis has established a task force “in order to assist the Episcopal Conferences in the preparation and updating of guidelines for the protection of minors”. The intention to form such a group had already been announced by the Pope at last year’s Meeting for the Protection of Minors in the Church, which ran from 21-24 February 2019. One year later, after the details of the project had been worked out, Pope Francis has made the plan a reality. Supervising committee In a statement released on Friday, the Holy See Press Office explained that the task force will be supervised by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, together with the  members of the organizing Committee for last year’s Meeting: Cardinal Oswald G...

Vatican City, Feb 27, 2020 / 07:36 am (CNA).- Pope Francis did not attend a scheduled meeting with Rome priests Thursday morning due to a “slight indisposition,” a Vatican spokesman said. The pope’s other appointments took place as usual Thursday; he offered his morning Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta guesthouse and later met with members of the Global Catholic Climate Movement. “Due to a slight indisposition,” Pope Francis “preferred to remain in the rooms close to Santa Marta,” Matteo Bruni, Holy See press office director told journalists Feb. 27. Santa Marta is where Francis lives at the Vatican. Bruni added that the pope’s “other commitments proceed regularly.” The encounter with Rome’s priests was to take place as part of a penitential Lenten liturgy at the Archbasilica of ...

Ash Wednesday is upon us, and Lent is about to begin. Here are 9 things to know and share… Ash Wednesday is upon us again! Here are 9 things to know and share… 1. What is Ash Wednesday? Ash Wednesday is the day that Lent begins (see: 9 things you need to know about Lent). The name comes from the fact that a particular rite is always celebrated on this Wednesday in which the faithful have ashes put on their foreheads. According to the Roman Missal: In the course of today’s Mass, ashes are blessed and distributed. These are made from the olive branches or branches of other trees that were blessed the previous year [on Palm/Passion Sunday]. 2. What does the putting on of ashes symbolize? According to the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: 125. In the Roman Rite,...

SEATTLE — In a victory for the Trump administration, a U.S. appeals court on Monday upheld rules that bar taxpayer-funded family-planning clinics from referring women for abortions. The 7-4 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned decisions issued by judges in Washington, Oregon and California. The court had already allowed the administration’s changes to start taking effect while the government appealed those rulings. The changes ban taxpayer-funded clinics in the Title X program for low-income women from making abortion referrals, a restriction opponents characterize as a “gag rule.” Beginning March 4, the rules will also prohibit clinics that receive federal money from sharing office space with abortion providers, which critics said would force many Title X...

Vatican City, Feb 24, 2020 / 03:34 am (CNA).- There is an urgent need for personal conversion, without which the temptations of Satan, and the presence of evil, create a “hell here on earth,” Pope Francis said Monday in his 2020 Lenten message. “Christian joy flows from listening to, and accepting, the Good News of the death and resurrection of Jesus,” he said. “Whoever believes this message rejects the lie that our life is ours to do with as we will.” Rather, the pope said, life is born of the love of God our Father. “If we listen instead to the tempting voice of the ‘father of lies,’ we risk sinking into the abyss of absurdity, and experiencing hell here on earth, as all too many tragic events in the personal and collective human experience sadly bear witness,” he stated. Pope Francis’ L...