HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS, who died on Easter Monday, 21 April, at the age of 88, came to the papacy in 2013 in circumstances that were more unusual and unsettling than the Church had seen for centuries. Benedict XVI, in advancing age and declining health, had done what then seemed unthinkable and had resigned the papacy, preferring to live out his old age in the relative privacy of retirement. It was a stark contrast to John Paul II, whose long and painful decline towards his own death in 2005 was spent in the full glare of the media. 

The conclave of 2013 was therefore highly unusual. When the cardinal protodeacon, the late Jean-Louis Tauran, painfully beset with Parkinson’s disease, appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on the evening of 13 March, his task was relatively simple: to pronounce the traditional “habemus papam” to the crowd in the square below – and thus to the waiting world – and also to announce whom the conclave had elected. The first announcement was greeted with the usual wild cheering; the second with considerably less: “Cardinalem Bergoglio”.

The Holy Father has died at the age of 88. Pope Francis went to his eternal reward at 7.35 am Rome time at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, released the following statement: “At 7.35 this morning (local time), the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.”

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has released a brief statement expressing his condolences following the death of Pope Francis. The statement, posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, reads: “Rest in peace Pope Francis! May God bless him and all who loved him!”

Pope Francis and Donald Trump had a tense and ideologically divided relationship, particularly over immigration and social policy. The relationship remained formally diplomatic, but was often marked by visible unease and diverging visions of moral responsibility.

ROME. Pope Francis has appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to deliver the traditional Urbi et Orbi Easter blessing, to the city and to the world. The blessing took place after Mass in St Peter’s Square, which was celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the Italian archpriest emeritus of the basilica.

Speaking with a raspy and weak voice, Pope Francis wished his hearers a happy Easter, and said he would ask an aide, papal master of ceremonies Archbishop Diego Ravelli, to read his prepared Easter message, in which he prayed for peace in the world, especially in global hotspots ranging from Ukraine and Gaza to Myanmar and South Sudan.

The glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east (Ezechiel 43:4)

No-one witnessed the Resurrection of Jesus, but we can wonder about what happened inside the tomb and reflect on prophecies of that moment. Ezechiel narrates that the glory of God left the Temple through its east gate (10:18-19), and then returned through the same gate (43:4).

Perhaps just as Jesus’ life flowed out though his pierced heart, so it was poured back into his body through the same wound in his side, in the darkness of the tomb that first Easter night. Then Ezechiel relates that life-giving water issued from the same eastern gate after God’s glory re-entered it (47:1-2).

ROME – While most attention to Vice President JD Vance’s visit to the Vatican this weekend has focused on policy differences on matters such as immigration and poverty, it also comes as the Vatican is preparing to ask American authorities for help amid an international financial scandal involving a now-suppressed Catholic organisation with tentacles in Peru, the Vatican, and the United States.

A meeting this morning between Vance and Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, takes place after several high-ranking Vatican officials received detailed correspondence from a lawyer and a human rights organization in Peru outlining alleged financial crimes committed by the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, an once-powerful Catholic entity which has been suppressed and which is now in the process of being liquidated by its Vatican-appointed overseer.

ROME – Although Pope Francis is observing a two-month period of rest after a 38-day hospitalisation he ventured out twice yesterday – once to greet hospital staff who cared for him, and once to greet prisoners amid Holy Week.

On Holy Thursday the Pope, who usually visits a prison, or a centre for migrants or the disabled, to celebrate Mass of the Lord’s Supper and wash the feet of inmates, paid a private visit to Rome’s Regina Coeli prison.

The facility is one of the city’s largest and most known prisons and is home to some 1,098 detainees.

“And Pilate seeing that he prevailed nothing, but that rather a tumult was made; taking water washed his hands before the people, saying: I am innocent of the blood of this just man; look you to it.  And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and our children.” (Matt 27.24)

The question of inherited guilt is a fraught one. But for a variety of complex reasons, spiritual, theological, pathological, the Jews have born such guilt down the generations and the list of pogroms and massacres defaces shames humanity in every century.

On Good Friday the Church puts the figure of Simon of Cyrene before our mind’s eye. The Fifth Station of the Cross invites us to contemplate Simon and his uncomfortable burden; perhaps this is the only time of the year that we think about him. Along the via dolorosa divine providence saw fit to offer Simon a special role in the Passion. He accompanied Christ in His agony, helping Him to bear the weight of the Cross.

The blood of Jesus, already smeared on the wood, surely rubbed itself on Simon’s back. Simon saw Christ’s mangled body limping towards Golgotha; presumably he saw the Crucifixion, too. Did this experience change him? Was he numbered among the earliest disciples? I like to think so. Why, after all, do all three synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke – tell us the name of this inconspicuous figure pulled off the street, seemingly at random, by the Roman guards? In fact, each Gospel tells us something distinct about him.

ROME – United States Vice President JD Vance attended a Passion liturgy at the Vatican on Friday and plans to meet senior Vatican officials Saturday, amid tensions with Pope Francis and his top aides on multiple issues, including the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Mr Vance, a Catholic convert, arrived in Italy on Friday morning as part of an April 18-24 tour of Italy and India.

After arriving, he had a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni following Meloni’s own visit to Washington a day prior, where she met with Mr Vance and US President Donald Trump amid the United States’s ongoing trade war and growing anti-European sentiment within the Trump administration.

ROME – United States Vice President JD Vance attended a Passion liturgy at the Vatican on Friday and plans to meet senior Vatican officials Saturday, amid tensions with Pope Francis and his top aides on multiple issues, including the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Mr Vance, a Catholic convert, arrived in Italy on Friday morning as part of an April 18-24 tour of Italy and India.

After arriving, he had a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni following Meloni’s own visit to Washington a day prior, where she met with Mr Vance and US President Donald Trump amid the United States’s ongoing trade war and growing anti-European sentiment within the Trump administration.

It has been confirmed that US Vice-President JD Vance and his family will travel to Italy at the end of Holy Week and spend Easter there, according to a news release from the Office of the Vice President.

The announcement follows recent speculation about a potential visit by Vance to Rome and the nature of the visit.

The US vice-president, who is arguably the US’s best known and most influential/controversial Catholic convert, will meet with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during his time in Rome, according to the news release. 

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France has officially recognised the occurrence of the 72nd miracle at the famous Catholic pilgrimage site.

The announcement was made by Father Michel Daubanes, the rector of the sanctuary, on Wednesday, 16 April. The miracle, which actually occurred more than 15 years ago, involves an Italian woman who was cured of a rare neuromuscular condition.

Antonietta Raco had “suffered from primary lateral sclerosis” but was “cured in 2009 during her pilgrimage to Lourdes”, according to the announcement by the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Lourdes.

Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit has announced that parish churches in the archdiocese offering the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will be unable to do so after 1 July.

The archbishop – formerly bishop of Tucson, Arizona, before he was named by Pope Francis on 11 February this year as the new archbishop of Detroit – cited the Vatican’s 2023 direction that diocesan bishops do not possess the authority to allow the TLM to be celebrated in an existing parish church.

The problem with the battle of the sexes, according to the old joke, is that neither side can ever win because so many of us are fraternising with the enemy. It’s a light-hearted and memorable allusion to the undoubted fact that, while there will always be disagreements and differences between men and women, fundamentally we do need each other, and there is something unique and indispensable about the bonds between us.

Catholic leaders in the US State of Pennsylvania have decried violence and intolerance, alongside offering prayers for Governor Josh Shapiro and his family, after a man was arrested and charged with attempting to set the governor’s residence ablaze early on Sunday morning.

“The shocking arson attempt at the Governor’s residence early Sunday morning is a heinous act that not only endangered the lives of Governor Josh Shapiro and his family but also struck at the very heart of our shared values as a society,” the Most Reverend Timothy C. Senior, Bishop of Harrisburg, said in a statement.

The son of Nikki Haley, the US politician who at one stage was viewed as a serious rival to Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2024, was received into the Catholic Church on Palm Sunday.

Nikki Haley, a former US ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor, was born and raised in the Sikh faith but converted to Christianity after marrying her husband, Michael Haley, in 1996, reports the Catholic News Agency (CNA).

US Senator Eric Schmitt has announced that he is introducing new legislation to make Easter Monday a federal holiday to help families spend “the holiest day in Christianity” together.

In a thread of posts on the social media platform X, the Republican senator for Missouri put the case for why the Christian celebration should be federally recognised.

He starts with the fact that “81 per cent of Americans celebrate Easter” while noting that “our current holiday schedule makes it way too difficult for families to celebrate together”.

Pope Francis has declared 19th-century architect Antoni Gaudí, who designed the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, Venerable, a crucial step on the path to canonisation.

In an audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Pope recognised the heroic virtue of Gaudí, who lived from 1852 to 1926.

According to the Sagrada Familia Basilica website, a person’s heroic virtue is determined after the Vatican examines “the consistent, joyful practice of the theological and moral virtues for a significant period of their life.”

The political left in the United States, and more particularly the Democratic Party, seems to be in a process of self-immolation. Analogously to historical Protestantism, it is not defined by any coherent, substantive policy or body of doctrine. Instead, it is constituted by assertions of what it is not. And the left is increasingly defined by resentment, fury, and irrational hatred of all things that are not left-wing. Thus, when the left urgently needs to articulate coherent policy in order to answer its opponents, it has no intelligible theory. Rather, it is reduced to screaming at its opponents, stomping its feet, and calling everybody Nazis. Disagreement is genocide.