(Vatican Radio) As the process of review and renewal of the structures of the Roman Curia continues, Church leaders, educators, local reformers, and observers – along with bishops, priests, religious men and women and lay faithful all around the world – are trying to understand what Pope Francis is asking of them, specifically.Will Pope Francis Pull It Off? is the title of a book by Fr. Rocco D’Ambrosio, a priest of the Diocese of Bari and Ordinary Professor of Political Philosophy in the School of Sociology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.Click below to hear our extended conversation with Prof. Rocco D'Ambrosio Originally published by Liturgical Press in 2015 in Italian under the title, Ce la farà Francesco?, the slim, insightful volume seeks to bring the challenges facing the project and its leader, Pope Francis, into better focus.The result is an institutional analysis of the Catholic Church in the present day, which offers provocative insigh...
(Vatican Radio) As the process of review and renewal of the structures of the Roman Curia continues, Church leaders, educators, local reformers, and observers – along with bishops, priests, religious men and women and lay faithful all around the world – are trying to understand what Pope Francis is asking of them, specifically.
Will Pope Francis Pull It Off? is the title of a book by Fr. Rocco D’Ambrosio, a priest of the Diocese of Bari and Ordinary Professor of Political Philosophy in the School of Sociology at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Click below to hear our extended conversation with Prof. Rocco D'Ambrosio
Originally published by Liturgical Press in 2015 in Italian under the title, Ce la farà Francesco?, the slim, insightful volume seeks to bring the challenges facing the project and its leader, Pope Francis, into better focus.
The result is an institutional analysis of the Catholic Church in the present day, which offers provocative insights and significant fodder for further consideration on the part of “insiders” and outside observers, alike.
“The question is not an academic one only,” he said, “it also involves simple people – priests, and laypeople around the world.”
He went on to say, “[T]hey appreciate, or they follow, or they are a bit suspicious of the reform that the Pope started, and when a reform is on, the first question is, ‘Where are we going?’ [Then], ‘Is the reform the good one – the right one for this moment?’ [Hence], the question, ‘Will Pope Francis pull it off?’”
“I hope so,” Fr. D’Ambrosio answered, adding that the question is meant really to put the issues in focus, before his readers.
“[To] start a conversation,” is the goal, D’Ambrosio said, “because not everything is related to the Pope: the Pope is the leader, the Pope is the shepherd of the Catholic Church, but we should ask if the Church – the Churches, to be correct – the dioceses, the parishes, the movements – are [they] following him? Are [they] understanding him and his reform?”
Facade of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons / EEJCCACI Prensa Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).One year after the Spanish newspaper El País published the report "Diary of a Pedophile Priest," which recounted the sexual abuse of minors committed in Bolivia by the deceased Jesuit priest Alfonso Pedrajas, journalists from ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, went to the South American country to look into the political implications of the case, how the scandal has affected the Church's image in Bolivia, and the response of the civil justice system.Pedrajas, better known as "Padre Pica," arrived in South America in the early 1960s as part of his formation process with the Jesuits. For 10 years he lived in Peru and Ecuador, where he allegedly committed his first abuses while still a seminarian, and in 1971 he settled permanently in Bolivia.There the Society of Jesus appointed him assistant principal of the John XXIII Insti...
The members of the general board of directors of the Regnum Christi Federation, before its first general convention from April 29 to May 4, 2024, in Rome. / Credit: Regnum ChristiACI Prensa Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).The Regnum Christi Federation will hold its first general convention in Rome from April 29 to May 4, the first such assembly since its statutes were approved in 2019 after a long process of listening, purification, and a hopeful look toward its future.The ecclesial movement was shaken to the core by the revelation of numerous cases of sexual abuse and abuses of power primarily involving Father Marcial Maciel, the deceased founder of the Legionaries of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement.The Regnum Christi Federation is comprised of four vocations: the Legionaries of Christ (priests), Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi, Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi, and lay members.Regnum Christi is now defined as an apostolic body and spiritual family led by ...
Gia Chacón (right), founder of March for the Martyrs, said the plight of the tens of thousands of Christian Armenians pushed out of their homes in the disputed Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh region hash been "completely overlooked by the mainstream media." / Credit: EWTN News Nightly / ScreenshotCNA Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 09:20 am (CNA).Marchers are setting out in the nation's capital on Saturday to call attention to the plight of persecuted Christians throughout the world.Gia Chacón, founder of For the Martyrs and the March for the Martyrs, said the event aims to highlight often "overlooked" victims of persecution. This year's march will focus on the persecution suffered by Armenian Christians as well as those in Nigeria and Iran.In an interview with "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Tracy Sabol, Chacón said she started the initiative to both increase awareness and provide aid for persecuted Christian communities throughout the world.Chacón explained that the decades-long conflict ...