Vatican Dispatch

Vatican probe criticises Newcastle bishop for 'errors of judgement' - but rejects lockdown parties as myth

the bishop of hexham and newcastle resigned last year following “a succession of errors of judgement”, a vatican investigation has found. bu...

Pope Francis upholds Catholic ban on contraception

pope francis has sent a message to a natural family planning (nfp) conference in which he upheld the central teachings of humanae vitae, the...

Why Pope Francis chose Hungary for his speech on 'ideological colonisation'

a year or two ago i speculated about whether pope francis had intended a snub to hungarian prime minister viktor orbán by only visiting...

Pope denounces 'colonisation' of gender ideology and abortion on trip to Hungary

pope francis has spoken out strongly against abortion and gender ideology during a visit to hungary, citing both as examples of “ideological...

Lay people, including women, will participate in Synod on Synodality assembly, Vatican announces

the 2023 synod of bishops will include lay people, half of whom will be women, organisers revealed in a landmark development for the church’...

Pope Francis gives King Charles 'relic of the True cross' as coronation gift

pope francis has given king charles ‘a relic of the true cross’ as a coronation gift.  fragments said to be from the cross on which jes...

Olenka Hamilton

Pope appoints Spanish archbishop as Nuncio to Great Britain

pope francis has appointed a spanish archbishop who speaks six languages as the new apostolic nuncio to great britain. madrid-born archbisho...

The pope and primates

rethinking human relationship with the animal creation is not everyone’s cup of tea. there are nymphs in the vatican gardens. you will find ...

Felipe Fernandez Armesto

Vatican II: Angels and devils on our shoulders

shaun blanchard reflects on the ‘very short introduction’ to vatican ii . a few years ago, in those halcyon days before the pandemic, i sat ...

Shaun Blanchard

It would have been better if Summorum Pontificum had been left alone

on february 21, the dicastery for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments, headed by prefect cardinal arthur roche, issued a res...