Vatican - The African Mirror

Jan

2023

Death of former Pope Benedict overshadows New Year at Vatican

PHILIP PULLELLA POPE Francis marked the Roman Catholic Church's traditional World Day of Peace on Sunday but the start of the new year at the Vatican was overshadowed by the death of his predecessor, Benedict. Francis presided at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica as the body of Benedict, who died on Saturday at the age of 95, was being prepared for three days of public viewing in the same church starting Monday. On Sunday the Vatican released the first images of the late Benedict, showing him dressed in red and gold liturgical vestments and laying in state in the chapel of…

Dec

2022

By The African Mirror

Former Pope Benedict’s condition remains grave but stable

WORLD

FORMER Pope Benedict's condition remains "grave" but stable, the Vatican said, adding in a statement that he had rested well during the night and was lucid and aware. "The Pope Emeritus managed to rest well during the night, he is absolutely lucid and aware, and today, even though his condition remains grave, the situation is at the moment stable," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. "Pope Francis renews his request to pray for him and to accompany him in these difficult hours," Bruni said of the 95-year-old former pontiff. The statement, the second since Francis disclosed on Wednesday that his predecessor was…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Vatican hit with $9.25 million claim by ousted auditor and deputy

WORLD

PHILIP PULLELLA THE Vatican's first auditor general and his deputy, who were appointed in 2015 and fired two years later, are suing the Holy See for 9.3 million euros ($9.25 million) in damages, alleging they were sacked after discovering financial irregularities. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Thursday he had no comment on the lawsuit, which was filed last week with the Vatican prosecutor's office by lawyers for Libero Milone and Ferruccio Panicco. Milone, 74, a former chairman and CEO of Deloitte in Italy, was appointed by Pope Francis in 2015 as part of an effort to clean up Vatican finances and…

Sep

2022

By The African Mirror

John Paul I, ‘Smiling Pope’ for a month, moves towards sainthood

RELIGION

PHILIP PULLELLA POPE John Paul I, who died in 1978 after only 33 days as pontiff, moved closer to sainthood with the Vatican still having to dismiss lingering conspiracy theories that he was a victim of foul play. Pope Francis beatified his predecessor at a ceremony in St. Peter's Square before tens of thousands of people. Beatification is the last step before sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church. John Paul was known as "The Smiling Pope" because of his meekness and simplicity. "With a smile, Pope John Paul managed to communicate the goodness of the Lord," Francis said in his…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Pope names women to bishops advisory committee for first time

RELIGION

PHILIP PULLELLA POPE Francis has named three women, two nuns and a laywoman, to a previously all-male committee that advises him in selecting the world's bishops, the Vatican said. He had disclosed the decision in an exclusive interview with Reuters earlier this month, explaining he wanted to give women more senior and influential positions in the Holy See. The three women are sister Raffaella Petrini, an Italian who is currently the deputy governor of the Vatican City, French nun Yvonne Reungoat, a former superior general of a religious order, and an Argentine laywoman Maria Lia Zervino, president of the World…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

EXCLUSIVE: Pope hopes London building last Vatican financial scandal

WORLD

PHILIP PULLELLA POPE Francis said he hoped that the recent sale of a luxury London building at the centre of an ongoing corruption trial meant the Vatican can see the back of financial scandals. Vatican finances were one of the many Church and international topics the 85-year-old pontiff discussed in an exclusive interview with Reuters in his Vatican residence on July 2. In other parts of the interview he denied that he was planning to resign anytime soon, denied that he had cancer, spoke of his hopes to go to Moscow and Kyiv and disclosed that for the first time…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Learn to switch off, says pope in first appearance at Vatican after hospital stay

RELIGION

POPE Francis made his first public appearance since returning to the Vatican mid-week after an 11-day hospital stay, telling wellwishers they should take a break and switch off from the stresses of modern life. "Let us put a halt to the frantic running around dictated by our agendas. Let us learn how to take a break, to turn off the mobile phone," Pope Francis said in his weekly address from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square. The 84-year-old pope had part of his colon removed in an operation on July 4 -- the first time that Francis has faced a…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Two popes, same hospital, different styles of medical privacy

RELIGION

PHILIP PULLELLA WHEN Pope John Paul II was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on July 12, 1992, he told the world himself a few hours earlier during his regular Sunday address in St. Peter's Square. "I would like to let you in on a secret," he said before revealing that he would enter the hospital that night. His departure from the Vatican, the crowds lining his motorcade route, and his arrival at the hospital's front entrance in a black Mercedes convertible were broadcast on television. When Pope Francis entered the same hospital last Sunday, the Vatican announced it in a…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Fight against COVID-19 mafias – Pope Francis

COVID-19

PHILLIP PULLELLA POPE Francis yesterday urged people to fight organised crime groups such as the mafia around the world, warning that the criminals were using the COVID-19 pandemic to further enrich themselves. In December, the Paris-based Interpol police co-ordination issued a global alert warning that organised criminal networks were targeting COVID-19 vaccines. In March, South African police seized hundreds of fake vaccines and arrested four suspects. "Mafias are present in various part of the world and, taking advantage of the pandemic, they are enriching themselves through corruption," Francis said, speaking at his Sunday noon address on the day Italy remembers…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Dismay greets Vatican’s decree on same-sex unions

RELIGION

PHILLIP PULLELLA THE Vatican has decreed that priests cannot bless same-sex unions and that such blessings are not valid, in a ruling that greatly disappointed gay Catholics who had hoped their Church was becoming more welcoming under Pope Francis. In some countries, such as the United States and Germany, parishes and ministers have begun blessing same-sex unions in lieu of marriage, and there have been calls for bishops to de facto institutionalise these. But conservatives in the 1.3 billion-member Church have expressed alarm over these practices, particularly those in Germany where at least two bishops, including Cardinal Reinhard Marx of…