Author: casciatalbert

Vatican City, Apr 15, 2020 / 09:05 am (CNA).- The Vatican has named a new director for its internal financial watchdog.  In a statement April 15, the Holy See press office said that the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin had appointed Giuseppe Schlitzer as director of the Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF). He succeeds Tommaso Di Ruzza, who completed his five-year term of office January 20, according to the Vatican. Cardinal Parolin also named a new vice-director, Federico Antellini Russo. The two men will run the watchdog, which combats…

Read More

CNA Staff, Apr 14, 2020 / 08:10 am (CNA).- French President Emmanuel Macron has echoed Pope Francis’ call for debt relief for the world’s poorest countries amid the coronavirus crisis.  In a televised address April 13, Macron appealed for debt cancellation “on a massive scale”. He said: “We must also be able to help our African neighbors to fight the virus more effectively, to help them economically too by canceling their debts on a massive scale.” “Yes, we will never win alone,” he continued. “Because today, in Bergamo, Madrid, Brussels,…

Read More

Vatican City, Apr 13, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis made a surprise phone call after the Easter Vigil to a religious sister treating coronavirus patients as a doctor on call in the hard-hit Italian region of Bergamo. Dr. Angel Bipendu, a member of the Sisters of the Redeemer, has been working on the front line of Italy’s coronavirus crisis in Lombardy as part of a special care unit making home visits to people with COVID-19 symptoms in full protective gear. On Holy Saturday, Bipendu answered the phone at…

Read More

Vatican City, Apr 12, 2020 / 05:40 am (CNA).- Here is the full text of Pope Francis' Urbi et Orbi message, delivered April 12 at the Basilica of St. Peter. Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter! Today the Church’s proclamation echoes throughout the world: “Jesus Christ is risen!” – “He is truly risen.” Like a new flame this Good News springs up in the night: the night of a world already faced with epochal challenges and now oppressed by a pandemic severely testing our whole human family. In this night,…

Read More

Rome, Italy, Apr 11, 2020 / 09:00 am (CNA).- Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Easter Triduum is looking very different for Catholics around the world, who will be praying from home and attending liturgies only through their TV or computer screens. The situation is no different in Rome, where even the typically grandiose ceremonies of the pope have been scaled back to just a few participants at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica. As Christians reflect on the reality of the passion, death, and resurrection…

Read More

Vatican City, Apr 10, 2020 / 03:50 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis prayed for those who are serving the suffering as he presided at the Stations of the Cross in a deserted St. Peter’s Square on Good Friday evening. At the conclusion of the Stations, the pope prayed: “O God, eternal light and day without sunset, fill with your goods those who devote themselves to your praise and the service of those who suffer, in the countless places of humanity’s sorrow. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.” The official booklet for the…

Read More

Vatican City, Apr 9, 2020 / 09:14 am (CNA).- In the coronavirus pandemic, the sick and dying cannot be denied the sacramental assistance of a priest, Cardinal Robert Sarah said in an interview published Thursday. Speaking to French magazine Valeurs actuelles, Sarah said that during the coronavirus emergency “priests must do everything they can to remain close to the faithful. They must do everything in their power to assist the dying, without complicating the task of the caretakers and the civil authorities.” “But no one,” he continued, “has the right…

Read More