Archive · Faith · Society

Vatican excommunication for communist teaching and party membership remains in force

On 1 July 1949 Pope Pius XII excommunicated all Communists from the Catholic Church, calling Marxism an "implacable enemy" of Christianity. Excommunication was imposed for embracing the Communist doctrine and propagating it, for membership of the Communist Party and collaboration with it, and for reading and distributing its

Architecture · Faith · Heritage

Fire on scaffolding around spire of Rouen Cathedral extinguished

Firefighters have finished extinguishing the blaze at Rouen Cathedral. Repairs had been under way at the cathedral for the past several years, and its 151-metre spire was surrounded by scaffolding, where the fire broke out. Rouen Cathedral has burned more than once in its long history: in 841 a

Faith · Art · Books

The structure of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise in Dante and the placement of souls by circle

Some Sample Schemes of the Layout of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise according to the Text of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" Hell: 9 circles. Purgatory: 6 circles and 3 circles of Ante-Purgatory. Paradise: 9 levels. In Hell there is pitch darkness, in Limbo, half-light. In

Faith · People · Rome

Pope Leo XIII wrote a prayer to Saint Michael after a vision in 1884

In 1884, at the close of Mass, Pope Leo XIII froze for several moments, his gaze fixed on something. Emerging from this unusual state, the pontiff hastily left the church. Half an hour later he summoned the secretary of the congregation and handed him a freshly written text of a

Archive · Faith · Geography · Maps · Books

Excerpt from Yelena Shvarts's poem about the nun Lavinia and the abbess's lessons

The Abbess set me a task – To make her map of Paradise more precise. I told her – I am no Swedenborg. She said to me: be humbler and more meek. All night I toiled in vain and wilted, Until my Angel-Wolf flew in, He took pencils, paper, compasses And

An elderly man in a white cassock with a pectoral cross sits in an optician's shop beside a smiling man in a suit and two laughing women.

NB! · Faith · People · Rome · Humour

Pope Francis visits his favourite optician's shop and poses for a photo with customers

Pope Francis has once again been spotted beyond the confines of the Vatican: this time the pontiff decided to call in at his favourite optician's. As you can see, the Pope did not refuse a joint snap with the fortunate lady customers