The Dispatch

Pope Francis urges journalists to persevere with the reports of the forgotten people who suffer

In an address to the Foreign Press Association at the Vatican on Saturday, Pope Francis urged journalists to reject fake news and to persevere with the reports on the troubling…

Read More Here

Photo Story: Children saved from Libya go for a drive with Pope Francis

Pope Francis gave a lift to eight children who only last month were airlifted out of Libya. Pope Francis took eight children rescued from crisis-hit Libya for a ride in…

Read More Here

Pope Francis names Bishop Baldacchino to lead diocese in New Mexico

Pope Francis on Wednesday appointed Bishop Peter Baldacchino to head the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico. With this appointment Baldacchino became the first diocesan bishop associated with the…

Read More Here

Four Catholics killed during a procession in Burkina Faso

Armed assailants killed four Catholics and destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary in northern Burkina Faso, Catholic church officials revealed, the third deadly attack against Christians in the West…

Read More Here

The Washington Post’s eulogy to Archbishop Charles Scicluna

The Washington Post, one of the United States leading and most respected newspaper, published what could be best described as a far reaching eulogy for Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna. In…

Read More Here

Polish Cardinal defies Italian police to restore electricity to homeless shelter

Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, Pope Francis' almoner - the person is in charge of the pope's charities and helping the poor- on Sunday lowered himself into a manhole to restore…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Religious tension escalates in Sri Lanka, social media networks blocked

Police have imposed a curfew in the Sri Lankan town Chilaw after a dispute between Christians and Muslims, that began on Facebook, turned violent. In the meantime, Sri Lankan…

Read More Here

Slideshow: The Pope in Bulgaria

On his second day in Bulgaria, Pope Francis made an early morning visit to a refugee center, thanking children and families for their joy despite the pain of leaving their…

Read More Here

Month of Ramadan fasting for many Muslims begins Monday

Muslims in Southeast Asia and much of the Middle East will start their Ramadan fasts on Monday while those in places like India, Pakistan and Iran will likely start…

Read More Here

Christian persecution in the world near “genocide” levels

The persecution of Christians in parts of the world is at near "genocide" levels, according to a report ordered by Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The review, led by the Bishop…

Read More Here

New website gives a close look at the Shroud of Turin

A new website aims to make available to all a collection of photographs of the Shroud of Turin by a scientific photographer who was part of a research project that…

Read More Here

Photostory: Orthodox Christians prepare for Easter

Hand decorated Easter eggs at a farmers market in Belgrade, Serbia as Orthodox Christians prepare to celebrate Easter, also called Pascha, on 28 April 2019, according to the Julian calendar. For…

Read More Here

Man stabbed in Rome for wearing a crucifix

Italian Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini revealed on Tuesday that a Moroccan national stabbed a man for wearing a crucifix at Rome's central Termini train station. The…

Read More Here

Slideshow: Easter celebrations around the world

Easter is the most important and oldest Christian festival and marks the death and resurrection Jesus Christ. The feast is fixed onto the first Sunday after the first full moon…

Read More Here

Pope Francis prays that the light of the Risen Christ shines in the darkness of conflicts around the world

In his Easter Urbi et Orbi address, Pope Francis prayed that the light of the Risen Christ shine in the darkness of conflicts around the world, especially those in…

Read More Here

A Quick Look: Easter and it’s Traditions

In the Christian tradition, Easter is the most important and oldest festival and marks the death and resurrection Jesus Christ. The feast is fixed onto the first Sunday after…

Read More Here

Pope’s Easter vigil Mass calls on worshipers to live for God not material things

Pope Francis led Catholics into Easter at a vigil Mass on Saturday night and called on worshippers to live for God, not fleeting things such as wealth or success. The…

Read More Here

Slideshow: Good Friday traditions from around the world

A series of photos from around the world of the various traditions that are organised on Good Friday. Good Friday is meant to be a day of reflection for Christians,…

Read More Here

Slideshow: Good Friday in the Philippines

Penitents during Good Friday in San Juan village, San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines. Thousands of Catholic devotees witnessed dozens of men who were nailed to wooden crosses or flogged themselves…

Read More Here

Pope Francis ushers in the most solemn period in the Catholic liturgical calendar

Pope Francis is ushering in the most solemn period in the Catholic liturgical calendar by celebrating a Holy Thursday Mass. The Chrism Mass celebrates the unity of priests with…

Read More Here

Climate activist Greta Thunberg meets Pope Francis

Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg on Wednesday met Pope Francis at the end of his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square. Thunberg shook hands and briefly spoke to…

Read More Here

Photostory: Scala Santa returns to original beauty

Worshippers attend the extraordinary opening after the restoration of the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs) at San Giovanni in Laterano Dome in Rome. The Scala Santa were brought to light…

Read More Here

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI addresses sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church

In an essay published Thursday on the Catholic News Agency (CNA), Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI offered his thoughts about the sex abuse crisis facing the Church. Benedict reviewed the sexual…

Read More Here

The Council of Cardinals wants more women in Vatican posts

The Council of Cardinals (C9), which advises Pope Francis on reforms of the Catholic Church, in its latest meeting this week, tackled the issue the presence of women in top…

Read More Here

35 years after her disappearance…Vatican opens probe into Emanuela Orlandi’s case

The Vatican has decided to Vatican open an internal probe into the case of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican citizen who disappeared in the summer of 1983. Orlandi's family lawyer…

Read More Here

Polish priest apologizes for burning of ‘Harry Potter’ books

A priest in northern Poland who led a public burning of books that included titles from the "Harry Potter" series and other items has apologized, saying the ritual was not…

Read More Here

Spanish Catholic Church caught in a controversy over ‘gay conversion’ courses

A Roman Catholic diocese near Madrid is being investigated after a Spanish newspaper reported that it was running courses to "cure" gay men of homosexuality. The deputy head of the…

Read More Here

The World Conference of Families in Verona continues to cause controversy

The World Conference of Families in Verona, Italy, continues to cause controversy. The international gathering has been criticised for promoting an anti-gay, anti-abortion and anti-feminism agenda and the controversies around…

Read More Here

Pope starts 27-hour visit to Morocco

Pope Francis today started a visit to Morocco. A visit as a “servant of hope” to encourage the country’s small Catholic community, the migrants hosted there and all people…

Read More Here

Pope signs law to prevent child abuse in Vatican and its embassies

Pope Francis on Friday made it compulsory in law to report the sexual abuse of children within the Vatican and in its diplomatic missions worldwide. It is the first…

Read More Here

Papal hand kissing mystery solved

During these last days there has been much speculation and mystery as to why Pope Francis repeatedly withdrew his right hand when people bowed and tried to kiss. The mystery…

Read More Here

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul to become a mosque

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul will be controversially turned into a mosque. The Hagia Sophia, known as Ayasofya in Turkey, in the…

Read More Here

Pope Francis accepts resignation of Chilean cardinal caught up in sex abuse scandal

A Vatican statement on Saturday said Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, the archbishop of Santiago, Chile, who has been caught up in the country's sex…

Read More Here

PHOTO STORY: Pope Francis receives in audience Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca

In her final days before she leaves office, President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca was received in audience by Pope Francis at the Vatican. The President of Malta, who subsequently met with…

Read More Here

Malta’s Minister of Foreign Affairs interviewed on migration by Rome Reports

Carmelo Abela, Malta's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion, was interviewed by Rome Reports whilst on a visit to the “Museum of the Popes” in the Vatican. Abela is…

Read More Here

New legal woes for Cardinal Pell

Cardinal George Pell, who is currently in jail in Australia awaiting sentencing on five child sex offences, is facing new legal problems. He is being sued in the Supreme…

Read More Here

Pope announces opening of secret archives of pontiff Pius XII

Pope Francis announced that he has decided to open the Vatican’s secret archives concerning wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII (photo above), who reigned from 1939 to 1958. A step…

Read More Here

Indifference kills, and we desire to lift up our voices in opposition to this murderous indifference – Pope Francis

The Local: "The Middle East has become a land of people who leave their own lands behind,” Pope Francis said. Pope Francis on Saturday voiced concern that Christians will disappear from…

Read More Here

Pope Francis invites 250 poor for lunch

Pope Francis celebrated Sts Peter and Paul feast doing what he loves doing best. His freshly-minted Cardinal-Almoner Krajewski asked by Pope Francis to invite 250 of Rome’s poor to have…

Read More Here

Defend the dignity of the poor – Pope Francis to new cardinals

AP: Pope Francis gave the Catholic Church 14 new cardinals Thursday, exhorting them to resist any temptation toward haughtiness and instead embrace “the greatest promotion” they could hope to obtain: tending…

Read More Here

Pope Francis meeting the world’s largest ecumenical community of Protestant and Orthodox churches

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis will seek deeper relations between the Catholic Church and other Christian faiths on Thursday while meeting the world's largest ecumenical community of Protestant…

Read More Here

Pope Francis criticised Trump’s administration policy of separating migrant families – “Populism is not the solution”.

Pope Francis has criticised the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the Mexican border, saying populism is not the answer to the world’s immigration problems. In an exclusive…

Read More Here

Matteo Salvini meets Cardinal Raymond Burke, the Pope’s fiercest critic in the Vatican

The Guardian: Matteo Salvini, the far-right Italian interior minister who once questioned Pope Francis’s legitimacy, has met Raymond Burke, the Argentinian pontiff’s fiercest critic in the Vatican, signalling an unprecedented…

Read More Here

More sex abuse accusations against the Roman Catholic Church in Chile investigated by Scicluna and Bertomeu

Reuters : More sex abuse accusations against the Roman Catholic Church in Chile are emerging, including against Pope Francis's own Jesuit order, shortly after the Vatican accepted resignations from three…

Read More Here

Pope Francis hopes Singapore summit will lead to Peace

Reuters - Pope Francis said on Sunday he hoped a forthcoming summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will lead to peace…

Read More Here

Pope Francis says oil companies should convert to clean fuel

Meeting the energy needs of everyone on Earth, must be done in ways that avoid creating environmental imbalances resulting in deterioration and pollution gravely harmful to our human family, both…

Read More Here

Pope Francis denounces culture of abuse and coverup in the Catholic Church

The Guardian reports that through comments made in a pastoral letter to the Chilean faithful on the eve of another weekend he will spend listening to victims of Chile's 'most…

Read More Here

Pope Francis sends Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Father Jordi Bertomeu on a new mission in Chile

Pope Francis is sending his two top sexual abuse investigators back to Chile to gather more information about the crisis that has hit the Catholic Church there, the Vatican said…

Read More Here

Pope Francis announces the appointment of 14 new cardinals, aimed to reflect the universality of the Catholic church

Speaking to pilgrims and visitors gathered in St Peter's Square on Sunday for the recitation of the Regina Caeli prayer, the Pope announced he would create 14 new cardinals at…

Read More Here

Pope Paul VI and Bishop Romero to be canonised

Pope Paul VI and Msgr. Oscar Arnulfo Romero will be canonised in St. Peter's Square next October 14, during the Synod of Bishops dedicated to young people. Pope Francis said this…

Read More Here

All Chilean Bishops offer resignation to Vatican

All of Chile's 34 Roman Catholic bishops have offered Pope Francis their resignations in the wake of a child sex scandal and cover-up. They asked forgiveness from victims and the…

Read More Here

We have to make young people ‘land’ in the real world. – Pope Francis

Pope Francis said he is worried that youth are too enmeshed in a virtual world of cell phones and other technology, separated, in particular, from the real human contact experienced…

Read More Here

“Don’t tweet too much” – Vatican says that cloistered nuns should use social media with sobriety and discretion

The Vatican has issued new guidelines for cloistered nuns, reminding them that they’re supposed to live separated from the world and in silence — and therefore shouldn’t be tweeting too…

Read More Here

I invite communications professionals to promote a journalism of peace at the service of all people, especially those without a voice. Pope Francis on World Communications Day

The Catholic Church today marks its World Communications Day. The annual day was established by Pope Paul VI in 1967 to encourage Catholics to reflect on the opportunities and challenges…

Read More Here