(Vatican Radio) What does it take to give a good homily? According to a new book entitled “Homiletic Directory”, the ingredients include, being well prepared, no improvisation, a helping of reflection and a text that isn’t boring. The instruction guide for priests, deacons and bishops, contained in one volume, was presented at the Vatican Press…
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(Vatican Radio) Discussions about the future of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Vatican media have been at the top of the agenda during a meeting of the group of nine cardinals that Pope Francis appointed as his top advisors. The Pope is taking part in the three day meeting, which began on Monday, at the Casa Santa Marta.
Listen to Philippa Hitchen’s report:
Fr Federico Lombardi, head of the Vatican press office, briefed journalists on Tuesday noting that the first morning meeting was dedicated to the preparation of a presentation on the Curial reforms for a meeting of the full college of cardinals which will take place on Thursday and Friday this week. That closed door encounter will be followed by a consistory for the creation of 20 new cardinals on Saturday and Sunday.
On Monday afternoon the C9 group held talks with the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, regarding the future of that office within the broader reform programme. On Tuesday morning the group heard an interim report from Mgr Paul Tighe, secretary of the Commission charged with the reorganisation of all the Vatican media offices. That 12 member Commission, headed by Britain’s Lord Patten, is expected to complete its work later this spring.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Discussions about the future of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Vatican media have been at the top of the agenda during a meeting of the group of nine cardinals that Pope Francis appointed as his top advisors. The Pope is taking part in the three day meeting, which began on Monday,…
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(Vatican Radio) The eminent theologian, Cardinal Karl Josef Becker, SJ, passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after several months of increasingly grave and painful illness. Ordained a priest in 1958, ten years after entering the Society of Jesus, Fr. Becker, SJ, (as he preferred to be known even after his elevation to…
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Vatican City, 10 February 2015 (VIS) – “The Holy See is following attentively the situations of crisis in various parts of the world, including the eastern regions of Ukraine. In the presence of an escalation of the conflict that has claimed many innocent victims, the Holy Father Francis has renewed his appeal for peace on several occasions. By these interventions, while inviting the faithful to pray for those who have been killed and injured as a result of the hostilities, the Pope also underlined the urgency of resuming negotiations as the only possible way out of the logic of mounting accusations and reactions. “Faced with differing interpretations of the Pope’s words, especially those of Wednesday 4 February, I consider it useful to specify that he has always wished to address all the interested parties, trusting in the sincere efforts of each one to implement agreements reached by common consent and invoking the principle of international law, to which the Holy See has referred several times since the beginning of the crisis. As St. John Paul II often repeated, humanity must find the courage to substitute the right to force with the power of law. “The Holy Father joyfully awaits the ‘Ad limina’ visit of the Ukrainian Episcopate, scheduled for the days 16-21 February. This will constitute a further occasion to meet those brother Bishops, to be directly informed on the situation of that dear country, to console the Church and those who suffer and to evaluate together paths for reconciliation and peace”….