Monthly Archives: July 2013

Given the media attention attached to Pope Francis’s remarks regarding homosexuality on the papal plane last night, in the course of a wide-ranging interview with journalists lasting 1 hour and 22 minutes (see John Allen and CNS; also this 6 mins video … Continue reading →

(From Austen Ivereigh in Rio de Janeiro) “The Pope alone saves” is O Globo’s witty headline today over a story of Francis wowing Brazil during a WYD which has had serious organisation failures — but not enough to dampen pilgrims’spirits. … Continue reading →

(From Austen Ivereigh in Rio de Janeiro) The big news here is that, after it rained ceaselessly yesterday during Pope Francis’ visit to a poor neighbourhood and again during last night’s million-strong ‘meeting’ with the pilgrims on Copacabana beach, the … Continue reading →

(From Austen Ivereigh in Rio de Janeiro) Drugs are one of Latin America’s greatest social scourges: they destroy the lives of addicts, corrupt public authorities, and in many cases – Mexico being the most obvious example – pose a threat … Continue reading →

(From Austen Ivereigh in Rio de Janeiro) Celebrating his first public Mass in Brazil, Pope Francis today went to the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida, a remote spot 150 miles south of Rio de Janeiro where in 1717 a … Continue reading →

(From Austen Ivereigh in Rio de Janeiro) By definition, pilgrimages – and World Youth Day is, above all, a pilgrimage, not a “jamboree” (the BBC’s word) –involve inconvenience and hardship. To the existential displacement of being in a far-off place … Continue reading →

(From Austen Ivereigh in Rio de Janeiro) I’ve covered enough papal trips under Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI to be familiar with the routine. As the press centre fills, the first reports filter out of the Pope’s remarks … Continue reading →

(From Austen Ivereigh in Rio de Janeiro) It is hard to overestimate the impact which World Youth Day – “JMJ2013” in its Portuguese translation —  is having in Rio de Janeiro. Crowds of young pilgrims from across the world are … Continue reading →

Pope Francis has appointed a new commission tasked with curial reform, this time to consider changes to the Vatican’s “economic and administrative structures” (see Reuters here). The eight-person commission is tasked with the “simplification and rationalisation of the existing bodies … Continue reading →

The Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act has become law, heralding what the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales describes as a “profound social change”, severing the link between marriage and gender complementarity, and removing from civil marriage law its key purpose, … Continue reading →