Pope Francis

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Report: Pope Francis Is Preparing for Death
Report: Pope Francis
Is Preparing for Death
UPDATED
Feb 19, 2025 1:00 AM CST

Report: Pope Francis Is Preparing for Death

Politico reports he's tying up loose ends, believing his days are numbered

(Newser) - The Vatican announced Tuesday that Pope Francis, hospitalized with a respiratory tract infection, has developed pneumonia in both lungs. The pontiff was initially hospitalized with bronchitis, but pneumonia is a "deeper and far more serious infection," especially when both lungs are impacted, the AP reports. Even so, the...

Pope's Health Is a 'Complex Clinical Picture'

Francis will remain hospitalized for respiratory tract infection

(Newser) - Pope Francis' respiratory tract infection is presenting a "complex clinical picture" that will require further hospitalization, the Vatican said Monday as concerns grew about the increasingly frail health of the 88-year-old pontiff. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the results of tests conducted in recent days indicate the pope is...

Prescription for Pope: 'Absolute Rest'

Tests confirm respiratory infection after Francis enters hospital

(Newser) - Doctors on Saturday prescribed "absolute rest" for Pope Francis and modified the treatment for his respiratory tract infection, the Vatican said, a day after the 88-year-old pope was admitted to a hospital following a weeklong bout of bronchitis. Francis won't deliver his traditional Sunday noon blessing, which he...

Trump's Border Czar: Vatican Is Walled Off, Isn't It?

Homan takes issue with pope's criticism of mass deportations

(Newser) - US border czar Tom Homan immediately pushed back after Pope Francis issued a major rebuke Tuesday to the Trump administration's plans for mass deportations of migrants, the AP reports. Homan, a Catholic, said Francis should fix the Catholic Church and leave US border protection to his department. "He...

Pope Delivers a Rebuke to JD Vance
Pope Takes Issue
With JD Vance
Feb 11, 2025 11:44 AM CST

Pope Takes Issue With JD Vance

Francis calls out vice president's theological defense of mass deportation in rare rebuke

(Newser) - Pope Francis issued a major rebuke on Tuesday to the Trump administration's plans for mass deportation of migrants, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and "will end badly." Francis took the remarkable step of...

Pope Warns Against Dangers of 'Brain Rot'

He speaks out on 'the addiction to continuous scrolling on social media'

(Newser) - Pope Francis, noting that the term "brain rot" was the Oxford dictionary's word of the year for 2024, urged people to rediscover the "courage to free the heart from what corrupts it" in a speech Saturday. "The choices of each of us count, for example, in...

Pope Adds Warning on Antisemitism to Angelus Prayer

Holocaust must never be denied, Francis says before Remembrance Day

(Newser) - Pope Francis warned of the "scourge of antisemitism" in his Angelus prayer on Sunday, the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, noting it marks 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. "The horror of the extermination of millions of Jewish people and others of different...

Vatican Sanctioned Opus Dei Cardinal

Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne says he handled sexual abuse accusations properly

(Newser) - The once-powerful archbishop of Lima, Peru, and the first-ever cardinal of Opus Dei acknowledged Saturday that the Vatican had imposed sanctions on him in 2019 following an allegation of sexual abuse, but he denied wrongdoing. Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, 81, wrote a response after Spain's El País...

Pope Dissolves Conservative Catholic Movement

Probe uncovered sexual, financial, spiritual abuses by Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae

(Newser) - Pope Francis has taken the remarkable step of dissolving a Peruvian-based Catholic movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, after years of attempts at reform and a Vatican investigation. The probe uncovered sexual abuses by its founder, financial mismanagement by its leaders, and spiritual abuses by its top members, the AP reports....

Pope Picks an Early Fight With Trump

Pontiff calls plans for mass deportation of migrants a 'disgrace'

(Newser) - In his official message to President-elect Trump ahead of Monday's inauguration, Pope Francis offered "cordial greetings" and best wishes. But in an interview with Italian television, the pope took a decidedly more critical tack when discussing the president-elect's promise to order mass deportations of undocumented migrants, reports...

Biden Honors Pope With Highest Award Possible

It's the only Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction he's presented

(Newser) - President Biden on Saturday honored Pope Francis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction, the highest civilian award given by the president, saying the pontiff was "a light of faith, hope, and love that shines brightly across the world." Biden had been scheduled to present the medal...

Church Allows Gay Seminarians in Italy if They Remain Celibate

Trial program calls for consideration of all aspects of 'the young person's personality'

(Newser) - New guidelines for the Catholic Church in Italy have been approved by the Vatican that oppose the rejection of a seminary candidate because he is gay, provided the applicant stays celibate. The policy doesn't change the church's stance on homosexuality but says it's just one aspect that...

Woman to Finally Head a Vatican Office—a Vital One

Sister Simona Brambilla named prefect of department responsible for religious orders

(Newser) - Pope Francis on Monday named the first woman to head a major Vatican office, appointing an Italian nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, to become prefect of the department responsible for all the Catholic Church's religious orders. The appointment marks a major step in Francis' aim to give women more leadership...

School Bullying Prepares Students for War, Pope Says

Francis urges families to put down cellphones at the table

(Newser) - Pope Francis warned that bullying in schools prepares students for war rather than peace, in a speech to Catholic educators gathered at the Vatican on Saturday. Speaking to about 2,000 Italian teachers, educators, and parents, Francis asked the audience to pledge to fight bullying both at school and at...

Pope Opens 'Holy Door' at Prison in Italy

Symbolic move is part of the Catholic Church's Jubilee celebration

(Newser) - Pope Francis made a symbolic gesture at one of Italy's largest prisons on Thursday that is a first for any pontiff, reports the Guardian . Francis visited Rebibbia prison outside Rome, where he opened what the church calls a "holy door." During the year, Francis will open five...

Pope: I Survived 2 Iraqi Assassination Plots
Pope: I Survived 2 Iraqi
Assassination Plots
NEW BOOK
Dec 18, 2024 3:54 PM CST

Pope: I Survived 2 Iraqi Assassination Plots

Autobiography reveals alleged suicide bombers were killed amid 2021 papal visit

(Newser) - Pope Francis survived not one but two assassination plots during his 2011 trip to Iraq, the first ever by a pope, according to excerpts from his upcoming autobiography, also the first ever by a pope. Francis traveled to Mosul, the former de-facto capital of the Islamic State, at a time...

In Corsica, Pope Supports Popular Piety

Energetic and ad-libbing, Francis calls for a dynamic secularity

(Newser) - On the first papal visit ever to the French island of Corsica, Pope Francis on Sunday called for a dynamic form of laicism, promoting the kind of popular piety that distinguishes the Mediterranean island from secular France as a bridge between religious and civic society. Francis appeared relaxed and energized...

Pressure on Biden to Commute All Federal Death Sentences

Some fear the 40 inmates on federal death row risk hanging under Trump

(Newser) - No president has ever issued a mass commutation of federal death sentences, but that's exactly what advocates are asking of President Biden in his final days in office. Several letters asking Biden to commute the sentences of all 40 people on federal death row to life in prison without...

Pope Installs Largest Group Yet of Voting-Age Cardinals

Many are central to Francis' plans

(Newser) - Pope Francis on Saturday installed 21 new cardinals, many of whom are key figures in his agenda of change: a Dominican preacher who acted as the spiritual father for Francis' recent gathering of bishops, a Neapolitan "street priest" like himself, and a Peruvian bishop who has strongly backed his...

3 Coffins Won't Be Required When Pope Francis Dies

Francis will get the funeral 'of a shepherd ... and not of a powerful man of this world'

(Newser) - Pope Francis has revised the funeral rites that will be used when he dies, simplifying the rituals to emphasize his role as a mere bishop and allowing for burial outside the Vatican in keeping with his wishes. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on Wednesday published details of the updated...

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