Faith · Society · People · Rome
The meeting of 85-year-old Francis I and 75-year-old Patriarch Kirill on 14 June in Jerusalem is cancelled. It was to have been the second audience between the heads of the two churches since their personal meeting in Havana on 12 February 2016. To grasp the importance
NB! · Art · Rome
Rome. Elliott Erwitt, 1996
NB! · Faith · People · Rome
On 2 April 2005 Pope John Paul II died. His pontificate was one of the longest in history. In 2014 John Paul II was canonised
Aristocracy · Faith · Art · London · Museums · Mores · People · Rome
Lucrezia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI. Frank Cadogan Cowper, 1910. Tate Museum
Faith · Observations · Society · Rome
The Desacralisation of Church Institutions and Pope Francis: on Saturday 19 March Pope Francis Allowed Any Baptised Lay Catholic, Even a Woman, to Head Departments in the Vatican Administration. For centuries these posts could be held only by high-ranking clergymen, men naturally. It turned out that this could be
People · Rome · Humour
Beware the Ides of March! Caesar was murdered on the Ides of March, that is, on 15 March 44 BC.
NB! · Faith · Observations · People · Rome
Exactly 9 years ago Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope and took the name Francis I. Bergoglio became the first Jesuit Pope, the first Pope from the New World and the first in twelve centuries not from Europe. What I mean to say is, I hope not the last
Faith · Reportage · Rome
Pope Francis I in the Jesuit Mother Church of Il Gesù in Rome at the service marking the 400th anniversary of the canonisation of St Teresa of Ávila, Ignatius of Loyola, Isidore the Farmer, Francis Xavier and Philip Neri. This time the Pope does not preside at the Mass: the
Faith · Art · Museums · Rome · Humour
The Stefaneschi Triptych in the Vatican Pinacoteca contains the so-called Droste effect, named after a tin of cocoa that bore an image of itself bearing an image of itself. If you look closely, on the central panel of the triptych Giotto depicted the patron of the work, Cardinal Stefaneschi,
Faith · Society · People · Rome
Pope Francis visited the Russian Embassy in Rome to express personally his concern over events in Ukraine. The Pope usually receives ambassadors and heads of state in the Vatican, so his stepping outside its walls shows the degree of his alarm at the situation that has arisen. Vatican spokesman Matteo
Faith · Observations · Society · Rome
I listened yesterday to Pope Francis opening a conference on the priesthood, and tried to look at the pontiff afresh. We have grown used to the Pope saying, almost invariably, the right things, the things that many would like to hear in their progressive secrecy. But alongside these things, expected
Faith · People · Rome
In his penitential letter addressed to the faithful, Benedict XVI shares his reflections on death:. "Soon I shall find myself before the final judge of my life. Even if, looking back on my long life, I may have many fears, I nonetheless await it with a glad heart, because