A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, has underscored the country’s insistence that Taiwan not be recognized as a sovereign nation in response to a question on the island democracy’s relations with the Holy See.
The Vatican expects to renew its interim deal with China on the appointment of bishops, as part of efforts to “normalize” the life of the Catholic Church in China, Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Monday.
Religious freedom must be the result of any renewed Vatican agreement with China, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom emphasized on Tuesday, noting that underground Catholics in the country remained “persecuted.”
A Vatican official called on the international community to combat poverty that causes hunger following the release of a United Nations report this week that noted a steady rise in the number of people who are going hungry.
With a new 200-page document, the Vatican is encouraging Catholics to put their faith into action to promote integral ecology and care of creation, following the inspiration of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’.
The coronavirus emergency is also causing a food-related crisis, Vatican officials said Saturday, encouraging people to do their small part to help those who are going hungry.
The Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue has called on Muslims and Christians around the world to protected places of worship during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The Vatican is creating a commission to provide local aid and tackle issues related to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a statement released Wednesday.
The Vatican is conducting tests for coronavirus on the dozens of priests who live in the same residence as Pope Francis and making contingency plans to move those diagnosed with the disease elsewhere, a source in the Holy See said on March 26.
After dioceses throughout the world suspended public Masses amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Congregation for Divine Worship has updated its decree on Holy Week liturgies.
The Vatican department for liturgy published guidelines Friday for bishops and priests on the celebration of Holy Week, the Triduum, and Easter liturgies during the coronavirus pandemic.
Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, has said that the coronavirus pandemic may justify the use of general absolution, in extraordinary circumstances, for Catholics unable to go to individual confession.
