"It's boring to talk to priest," Pope Francis said with a smile as he began an upfront and informal conversation with 10 young people in Rome on their questions about faith and issues within the church.
The substitute secretary for general affairs in the Vatican Secretariat of State said Vatican officials "were forced" into spending $17 million rather than an anticipated $2 million to $4 million to buy out an Italian broker over a London property deal.
The seven-member preparatory commission for the assembly of the Synod of Bishops met at the Vatican March 13-16 and had an audience with Pope Francis on the last day of their gathering.
The Vatican Museums officially reopened its African and American ethnographic collections March 16 by showcasing intricately restored Rwandan raffia screens that were sent by Catholic missionaries to the Vatican for a 1925 exhibit.
Scholars and Catholics spoke to NCR about how Pope Francis has dealt with the Catholic Church's history of colonialism, and how he has confronted colonialism in its continuing forms.
Pope Francis is a breath of fresh air to many as he urges the church to consider difficult topics through the ongoing synodal process. Yet the spirit of synodality can also trace its origins in the U.S. to much earlier.
Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod, has named Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, and six others to be members of the preparatory commission for the general assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October.
