Chuck Robbins, the chief executive of the multinational digital communications conglomerate Cisco, signs the Rome Call for AI Ethics, a document by the Pontifical Academy for Life, on April 24, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Apr 24, 2024 / 11:06 am (CNA). The CEO of Cisco Systems signed the Vatican’s artificial intelligence ethics pledge on Wednesday, becoming the latest technology giant to join the Church’s call for ethical and responsible use of AI. Chuck Robbins, the chief executive of the multinational digital communications conglomerate, met privately with Po ..read more

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for his Wednesday general audience on April 24, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Apr 24, 2024 / 09:09 am (CNA). Pope Francis on Wednesday opened a new chapter in his ongoing catechetical series on virtues by pivoting to a reflection on the three theological virtues — faith, hope, and charity — which he noted form the key pillars of Christian life. The Holy Father bolstered his analysis by looking to the legacy of St. John Paul II. “Looking at his life, we can see what man can achieve by accepting and deve ..read more

Pope Francis greets an elderly couple at a general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 22, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA). “A Caress and a Smile” is the name of the event that will take place Saturday, April 27, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall where elderly people, grandparents, and grandchildren from Italy will meet Pope Francis. A total of 6,000 grandparents and their grandchildren will arrive this week at the Vatican for a special gathering with the Holy Father, an initiative presented by the Holy See’s Press Office today. Archbishop Vincenzo Pa ..read more

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on April 21, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Apr 21, 2024 / 09:36 am (CNA). Pope Francis reflected on the image of Christ as the Good Shepherd during his Regina Caeli address Sunday, noting that it is a role characterized by his sacrificial love. “Jesus explains that he is not a hired man who cares nothing for the sheep but a man who knows them,” the pope said on April 21, the fourth Sunday of Easter, which is traditionally known as Good Shepherd Sunday because it is the theme of the day’s Gospel. “It is ..read more

Blessed Elena Guerra. / Credit: Oblates of the Holy Spirit Rome Newsroom, Apr 20, 2024 / 08:30 am (CNA). Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Elena Guerra, paving the way for the canonization of a new female saint known as “an apostle of the Holy Spirit.” A friend of Pope Leo XIII and the teacher of St. Gemma Galgani, Elena Guerra (1835–1914) is known for her spiritual writings and her passionate devotion to the Holy Spirit. Guerra wrote more than a dozen letters to Pope Leo XIII between 1895 and 1903 in which she urged him to exhort all Catholics to ca ..read more

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, California. / Credit: Randy Miramontez/Shutterstock Rome Newsroom, Apr 20, 2024 / 07:40 am (CNA). Pope Francis has named Father Reynaldo Bersabal as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento, California.  The Vatican announced on Saturday that the priest ordained in the Philippines and incardinated into the Sacramento Diocese in 2004 will be consecrated as a bishop. Bersabal was born in Magsaysay in the province of Misamis Oriental in the Philippines on Oct. 15, 1962. He was ordained a priest at the age of 28 for the Archdiocese of ..read more

Pope Francis addresses the faithful at his Wednesday general audience on March 27, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media Vatican City, Apr 19, 2024 / 10:07 am (CNA). In the latest move in Pope Francis’ reform of the Vatican judiciary, the pope issued a new motu proprio on Friday on the retirement age and benefits for cardinal judges and magistrates in the Vatican’s court system. The April 19 motu proprio states that Vatican magistrates will retire at the end of the judicial year in which they turn 75 and cardinal judges at the age of 80, unless Pope Francis asks them to remain in office beyond the age ..read more

Father Marko Rupnik. / Credit: Screen shot/ACI Prensa ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 18, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA). Father Marko Rupnik, a priest dismissed from the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 2023 — accused since 2018 of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse against at least 20 women in the Loyola Community that he co-founded in Slovenia — continues to appear as a Jesuit and consultant to the Vatican in the 2024 Pontifical Yearbook. The information appears on page 1346 of the yearbook, where the list of the consultants of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline ..read more

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on April 17, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Apr 17, 2024 / 09:14 am (CNA). Pope Francis on Wednesday presented the fourth and final cardinal virtue of temperance in his ongoing catechetical series of vices and virtues by noting that temperance itself is crucial for living a happy, balanced life. “The gift of the temperate person is therefore balance, a quality as precious as it is rare. Indeed, everything in our world pushes to excess. Instead, temperance combines wel ..read more

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican after the recitation of the Regina Caeli prayer on April 14, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media Rome Newsroom, Apr 14, 2024 / 10:56 am (CNA). Pope Francis expressed his concern over escalating tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s missile attack Saturday against Israel, a concern he raised after imploring Christians to share their stories of encountering Christ, which he said would create a richer and more beautiful environment for all. “I follow in prayer and with concern, even pain, the news that has arrived in t ..read more