News of the first Vatican-sponsored application for the iPhone made me wonder what’s needed for app developers to gain Vatican endorsement for their products, or for new digital media in general.

The iPhone app, sponsored by the Vatican Observatory Foundation, is the first to come from a Vatican-affiliated institution. But the Vatican has also been giving its approval to independent app developers, most notably the iBreviary which was developed by Fr. Paolo Padrini, an Italian priest, and an app from H2O news which offers video and audio coverage of the Vatican.

According to Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, the Vatican will “approve or...READ MORE

The news has escaped much of the mass media but Christian families are leaving the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in their droves to escape a concerted campaign of violence and intimidation.

Chaldean Bishop Emil Shimoun Nona has said that Mosul is experiencing a “humanitarian emergency” and that “hundreds of Christian families” left the city Feb. 24 in search of shelter, leaving behind their homes, property, commercial activities, according to Asia News. The situation “is dramatic”, he said, and warned that Mosul could be “emptied completely of Christians”.

The families have chosen to flee after a spate of violent attacks which left five Christians dead last week, and members of a...READ MORE

During this time of spiritual exercises and Lenten retreats, L’Osservatore Romano today reports on the words of Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, president of the Italian Federation of Spiritual Exercises (FIES), who has issued a timely reminder of their importance, especially in today’s world marked by secularism.

Addressing the opening of a three day conference of the federation in Rome this week, he began by stressing how, in this Year of the Priest, spiritual exercises are an invaluable means for clergy to enhance and promote their life and ministry. He pointed out that this is the reason why popes, from Leo XIII to Benedict XVI, have proposed and recommended them, “not so much as a...READ MORE

At the end of a two-day Vatican summit with Ireland’s bishops, Pope Benedict XVI said today priestly sexual abuse was a “heinous crime” and a grave sin, and he urged the country’s bishops to act courageously to repair their failures to deal properly with such cases.

In a Vatican statement released this afternoon, he said that “errors of judgment and omissions” were at the heart of the crisis. It said Church leaders recognized the sense of “pain and anger, betrayal, scandal and shame” that those errors have provoked among many Irish Catholics, Catholic News Service reports.

A press conference was held this afternoon with Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Primate of Ireland and president...READ MORE

Pope Benedict XVI’s foreign visits this year appear to be taking shape, with the Vatican yesterday publishing details of his forthcoming visit to Malta and media reports that preparations for his trips to Cyprus and Britain are proceeding well.

The program for his April 17th-18th apostolic voyage to Malta will include a visit St. Paul’s Grotto in Rabat, a large open-air Mass, and an arrival by boat to greet young people in the Maltese capital, Valetta. The main purpose of the visit is to mark the 1950th anniversary since St. Paul was shipwrecked off the coast of the archipelago, which according to tradition took place in 60 A.D.

Also during the visit, the Pope will celebrate Mass in...READ MORE

Pope Benedict XVI revealed today that the Vatican is preparing a handbook of preparation for marriage inspired by the ideas of John Paul II.

Addressing members of the Pontifical Council for the Family currently taking part in their annual plenary assembly, the Pope said the document will be based around three main preparation stages: “remote, proximate and immediate” (more detail on these below).

Elsewhere in his speech, the Pope praised other initiatives of the Council which seek to raise awareness of the benefits the family brings to society. He also recalled the World Meeting of Families in Mexico last year and looked forward to the next one, in Milan, Italy, in 2012.

Referring to the...READ MORE

Pope Benedict XVI has again shown just how necessary and effective it can be to speak out in the face of unjust legislation against the Church.

The British government today backed down from pursuing parts of its Equality Bill, legislation which would have removed the Church’s right to refuse employing certain lay staff including, for instance, the right of a Catholic school to employ a Catholic as a head teacher. The government’s decision came after a furore in Britain following the Holy Father’s remarks to the bishops of England and Wales over such legislation.

According to The Times newspaper: “Ministers were astonished on Monday when the Pope said that the Bill violated...READ MORE

Sometimes during the year, so many papal, Vatican and other Church events take place in Rome that it can be hard to keep up.

To help readers keep tabs with what’s going on, I’ve put together a list of the most significant engagements scheduled to take place over the next seven days.

Other unforeseen events may arise, of course, but these are the major ones planned for the moment.

Tuesday, 2nd February - Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the 14th Day of Consecrated Life.

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to preside over the celebration of Vespers on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord at St. Peter’s basilica at 17.30 CET. At the celebration will be members of religious...READ MORE