Vatican

This news is only a few days old. The ‘iBreviary - Pro Terra Sancta’, the most popular app (short for application) in the Catholic world has “landed” on Windows Phone 7 smartphone and is therefore now available on mobiles with Microsoft operating systems.

These can now be added to the list of devices that can already run the app such as iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Blackberry and Android phones. “We have expanded the ‘machine-fairground’” stated happily the creator of iBreviary, Fr. Paolo Padrini. Read more »

The Vatican's doctrinal chief on Monday (Feb. 6) told Catholic bishops from all over the world that they have a duty to "cooperate" with civil law on cases of clergy sexual abuse of minors.

Cardinal William J. Levada, a former archbishop of San Francisco who now heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with jurisdiction over abuse cases, stopped short, however, of requiring bishops to report abuse cases to prosecutors or police. Read more »

A Christian name and a sober rite: One must be “catholically correct” right from the start of their Christian life. Baptism is the sacrament of Christian renewal through water and the word, it is no carnival.

The verb “to baptise” is Greek for “dipping”, “immersing”. Immersion in water is the symbol of the catechumen’s burial and resurrection to life as a “new being”, alongside Christ. Read more »

Christianity and even religious belief are in grave danger across the globe, risking oblivion, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"Across vast areas of the earth, faith runs the danger of extinguishing like a flame that runs out of fuel," he said.

The world faces "a profound crisis of faith, and a loss of a sense of religion constitutes the biggest challenge for the church today," he said. Read more »

This morning in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received the dean, judges, promoters of justice, defenders of the bond, officials and lawyers of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, for the occasion of the inauguration of the judicial year.

Benedict XVI focused his remarks on a fundamental aspect of judicial ministry: the interpretation of canon law with a view to its correct application. Read more »

In his message to the 180 accredited ambassadors at the Roman Curia, which commemorated the martyrdom of the Catholic Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Religious Minorities (killed on 2 March of last year for his opposition to the blasphemy law and his defense of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for this reason), Benedict XVI openly voiced his concern. Read more »

On January 13, Pope Benedict XVI held his annual private audience with members of the Italian police force that serves at the Vatican.

"Defending public order, especially in an area so heavily frequented by tourists and pilgrims from all over the world, is no simple task", the Pope acknowledging, thanking the police officers for their work.

Read more »

"In many countries, Christians are deprived of fundamental rights and relegated to the margins of public life; in others they suffer violent attacks against their churches and their homes".

Pope Ratzinger stated this while receiving the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See in the Sala Regia for the traditional New Year greetings.

Benedict XVI, like every year, presented an overview of the state of the world, pointing out problems and encouraging signs. Read more »

“Educating young people in justice and peace”: this is the Pope’s Message for the World Day of Peace, on 1 January. So far it hasn’t had the echo it deserves.

But it happens, from time to time, that that the most important things are not always the ones that are most talked about. In reality, if young people today are not educated in peace, tomorrow there certainly will be no peace. Read more »

This article was written by John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter. He list 10 news (plus a bonus news) of the Vatican that warrants coverage in 2011.

By now, it's an "All Things Catholic" tradition to run down the top under-covered Vatican stories of the year. The idea is not to flag the year's most celebrated events or personalities, because plenty of other news agencies do that. Rather, I try to lift up storylines that otherwise flew below radar but that were actually fairly important. Read more »