MOSCOW, Russia, July 17, 2008 — Outside my window, a light rain is falling and distant thunder rumbles as I write this from the Danilovsky monastery, the five-century-old complex where the central offices of the Russian Orthodox Church are located (it is, one might say, the “Vatican” of the Russian Orthodox Church).
The rain softens the […]

MOSCOW, Russia, July 16, 2008 — A single tear. It welled up, then fell from the corner of one of the principal soloist’s eyes, glistening as it ran down her cheek.
She was a young Russian woman, dressed in a white gown, and she was performing here tonight at the world premiere of a “Requiem Concert” […]

After week long celebrations, the final Mass of World Youth Day 2008 was celebrated by Pope Benedict in extraordinary fashion with the attendance a little over 400,000 persons at Randwick Racecourse and Centennial Park, which was a splash of color with the flags of people from over 100 countries represented.
This means that the 23rd World […]

by Andrew Rabel
Pope Benedict touched down according to schedule on Shepherd One (the papal Alitalia jet) in slightly overcast conditions at 3 pm on the afternoon of Sunday, 13 July at the Royal Australian Air force Base (RAAF) in Richmond New South Wales to be greeted by Australian Prime Minster Kevin Rudd, NSW Premier Morris […]

Stifling heat and glorious song, and prayers in Arabic and Latin, marked an historic “Mass of transition” here on June 22nd, in the land where Jesus lived.
In sweltering 100-degree heat, the Patriarch of the Latin Church in the Holy Land, Michel Sabbah, today celebrated his last Mass as Patriarch after 20 years as the leader and “voice” […]

In an unprecedented move, Pope Benedict will holiday for three days in Australia before participating in World Youth Day events in Sydney, culminating in a final Mass to be celebrated by him at Randwick Racecourse.
 
According to Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, coordinator of WYD08, “We were asked to nominate a suitable location for his stay and […]

It was confirmed Wednesday that Pope Benedict XVI will pray at the tomb of Bl Mary MacKillop, when he visits Sydney in July for World Youth Day celebrations.
 
Mary MacKillop was a 19th century nun who was a pioneer of Australia’s Catholic school system. Her misunderstandings with Catholic bishops of the time led to her excommunication (which […]

Pope Benedict spoke calmly, wisely, thoughtfully, during the quiet, festive second day of his April 15-20 visit to America. He dealt at length with the issue of priestly pedophilia, and with the challenge posed by secular culture to Christian faith.
He met first in the morning with President George W. Bush and about 10,000 carefully selected […]

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States on April 15 has generated great excitement among Americans from the moment it was first announced. Interest in the trip now matches or in some respects surpasses the astonishingly successful visits of John Paul II.

Two months ago, Mark Ackerman, director of the archdiocese of New York's efforts to coordinate six papal appearances in that city, reported that there had already been 180,000 requests for the 90,000 available seats for the papal Mass at Yankee Stadium. His predicament, he said, was "heartbreaking" because of the sorrowful reactions of people when they are told there are no more seats available. The archdiocese of Washington faces similar overwhelming demands for Mass tickets.

Mikhail Gorbachev, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi. The visit, which reportedly took place on Saturday, March 15, was evidently a surprise. It is not clear whether there was any preparation whatsoever, even informally.

The Italian news agency AGI launched the story on March 15 with these words: "A pleasant surprise today for the friars of the Sacro Convento (of Assisi): Mikhail Gorbachev, accompanied by his daughter, paid an unexpected visit to the Basilica of St. Francis."

Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr Gorbachev spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb.

His arrival in Assisi was described as "spiritual perestroika" by La Stampa, the Italian newspaper.

"St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus [the Latin for "another Christ"], the other Christ," said Mr Gorbachev. "His story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life," he added.

Mr Gorbachev's surprise visit confirmed decades of rumours that, although he was forced to publicly pronounce himself an atheist, he was in fact a Christian, and casts a meeting with Pope John Paul II in 1989 in a new light.

Mr Gorbachev, 77, was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church and his parents were Christians.

In addition, the parents of his wife Raisa were deeply religious and were killed during the Second World War for having religious icons in their home.

Ronald Reagan, the former United States president, allegedly told his close aides on a number of occasions that he felt his opponent during the Cold War was a "closet believer."

Mr Reagan held deep religious convictions himself. However, until now Mr Gorbachev has allowed himself to express only pantheistic views, saying in one interview "nature is my god."

After his prayers, Mr Gorbachev toured the Basilica of St Francis and asked in particular to be shown an icon of St Francis portraying his "dream at Spoleto."

St Francis, who lived in the 12th century, was a troubadour and a poet before the spiritual vision caused him to return to Assisi and contemplate a religious life.

Even in his early days, St Francis helped the poor, once giving all of his money to a beggar. As well as spending time in the wilderness, he also nursed lepers and eventually became a priest.

"It was through St Francis that I arrived at the Church, so it was important that I came to visit his tomb," said Mr Gorbachev.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is a name probably quite familiar to most readers of Inside the Vatican. His famed Life is Worth Living television series (1952-1957), together with his Catholic Hour radio broadcasts on NBC (1930-1952), in addition to his lectures, retreat conferences, publications (64 books, 65 pamphlets), and his exceptional fundraising while national director […]

One of the stunning victories of the pro-life movement is its ability to win over the hearts, minds and souls of prominent people who become champions of the its cause. For example, in late December, in an interview with the Vatican Internet daily Petrus, a famous Italian pop musician disclosed that he was a devout […]

[Inside the Vatican] magazine names Sir Martin Gilbert one of its outstanding people of 2007, not because he is a world-acclaimed historian, but because he has always been a fair-minded, conscientious collector of facts. He is a man who presents historical events in context, makes careful judgments, and treats religious matters seriously, without any trace of […]

I'm a ‘granny.' I have 11 grandchildren, and my family, made up of my nephews and nieces and their children, in addition to my husband and myself and our children, constitutes for me a fixed and important point in my life. So this naturally limits the time that I can devote to my other great […]

When Francis Beckwith woke up one day last May, his world had dramatically changed. Suddenly, his name was the stuff of national headlines, as he found himself the center of a huge controversy — and the subject of hundreds, if not thousands, of commentaries. He checked his email box that morning and found it overwhelmed: […]

We have tried hard to keep it a secret. We felt there might be a danger in revealing publicly what we were doing. And so we have worked quietly.
But now it is time to end the secrecy. And to tell a Christmas story, in a way which may seem simple, because it is very simple. […]

Few who stand before the Russian Orthodox icon of Mary and the Child Jesus which went on display today in the Memorial Hall of the Roman Catholic Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here can avoid a momentary shudder, an involuntary gasp of horror.
Why?
Because the icon, which depicts the Virgin Mary holding […]

"The man who has known pure joy, if only for a moment… is the only man for whom affliction is something devastating… But, after all, for him it is no punishment; it is God holding his hand and pressing rather hard. For, if he remains constant, what he will discover buried deep under the sound […]

"Well…," I said to my Russian friend, Leonid Sevastianov. "I leave tomorrow. So what is, as you always say, the 'bottom line'?"
"Well," said Sevastianov, a young Russian Orthodox scholar who has studied at the Gregorian in Rome and at Georgetown in Washington, "you can begin by citing Nikolai Nekrasov, a very famous 19th century Russian […]

Moscow has changed dramatically in the past few years, above all in two ways: in its lights, and in its cell phones.
The city was always beautiful and monumental, with its splendid onion-domed churches and monasteries and its dramatic Stalin-era high-rise office buildings, but in the 1990s there were fewer lights. Now the main streets are […]

On Saturday in Moscow, for the first time since the Communist Revolution in 1917, a Catholic bishop was consecrated on Russian soil.
The ceremony, held in a packed Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in central Moscow, marked the end of one era and the beginning of another for the Catholic Church in Russia, as the new bishop, […]

Something unexpected happened during the October 8-15 theological meeting in Ravenna, Italy, at which dozens of theologians were expected to make progress toward bridging the gap between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
One of the most important delegations, the one from the Russian Orthodox Church, abruptly walked out of the meeting at the very outset, and […]

Special Note: The following interview with Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, Personal Secretary to Pope Benedict XVI from even before his election to the papacy on April 19, 2005, done by German writer Peter Seewald, appeared last week in the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (Munich). It has now been posted in translation, in Italian as well as English, […]

Institute of Christ the King's Msgr. Schmitz on Summorum Pontificum
Theologian sees Pope's motu proprio as providing greater access to "the Church's wonderful treasure of liturgical wisdom"
By Brian Mershon
Msgr. Michael Schmitz has graciously granted the following interview on the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum to Inside the Vatican. Since 2000, he is the vicar general and provincial […]

Metropolitan Kirill comments on the Vatican's controversial document on ecclesiology.
The following brief report contains a rather favorable Russian Orthodox reaction to the Holy See's document on the Church, published July 10. The report comes from the Russian news agency Interfax, which has close links to the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow. The man quoted, Metropolitan […]

 
In the Sunday, July 8, 2007 edition of Il Giornale, the respected Italian journalist, Andrea Tornielli, who has also written for Inside the Vatican, published the following interview with the President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, on the main aspects of Summorum Pontificum. The Ecclesia Dei commission is the body entrusted […]

Just three days after Pope Benedict XVI published his motu proprio allowing wider use of traditional Latin Mass in the Catholic Church, the Vatican doctrinal office he used to head, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, today published a brief text on one of the most controversial passages, and words, from the Second […]

After months of anticipation and speculation, after numerous meetings with supporters and opponents, Pope Benedict XVI moved decisively on July 7 to issue a very brief, 4-page Latin text which may very well go down as one of the most important, and controversial, acts of his pontificate.
With little fanfare, with no press conference, on a […]

Pope Benedict XVI intends to publish his motu proprio on the old Mass on July 7, 2007.
The report comes from the Vatican correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt, Paul Badde. He reported on June 27th that the motu proprio liberating the Tridentine Mass for the entire Catholic Church has been given to about 30 […]

Throw melted wax into melted wax, and the one interpenetrates the other perfectly. In the same way, when the Body and Blood of Christ are received, the union is such that Christ is in the recipient and he in Christ." - St. Cyril of Jerusalem
"When Mass was over I remained with Jesus in thanksgiving. Oh […]

The Pope's chief concern? The survival of the Christian communities of the Middle East
By Andrea Kirk Assaf
George W. Bush is used to taking center stage, regularly passing from meeting to meeting at a hectic pace to carry out an ambitious agenda.
But after a flurry of intense meetings last week with the leaders of the world's […]

On June 9, President George Bush of the USA will visit Rome and meet Pope Benedict XVI. The US ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Rooney, agreed to sit down with Inside the Vatican correspondent Serena Sartini to discuss his expectations for the upcoming meeting. The interview touches on a possible visit by Benedict to […]