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Visitors to the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel will now be able to see its world-famous frescos in a new light – 7,000 new LED lights to be exact. ... “This type of LED lighting guarantees a homogeneous lighting, which is very precise and allows us to understand the Sistine Chapel as a whole and each fresco individually, in minute detail,” says the Director of the Vatican Museums, Antonio Paolucci. The non-intrusive, energy-saving bulbs have been concealed along the edges of the ledge which runs around the chapel. Positioned to match the frescoes’ pigments, they can be adjusted to different levels. “This...

Conservative Catholics, angry at Pope Francis’s more moderate tone, are bucking the Church’s hierarchy. Almost from the beginning, there have been rumblings of discontent about Pope Francis I. While the world’s media fell in love with him, there were more conservative bishops who felt that Francis’s popular appeal came at the expense of carefully worked-out Church rituals and teachings. They saw Francis as chipping away at established Church teachings on sexuality, kowtowing to the liberal media, and acting aggressively towards conservative church leaders. Criticism of Francis has come to a head with the publication of the final report of the...

Have you heard about Pope Francis’ recent comments about God, evolution, and Creation? If so, chances are you’ve heard wrong. Here are four things you should know:

A bronze statue of St. John Paul II has been placed in the gardens of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, as “gift of the Russian people.” Sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, the president of the Russian Art Academy, said that the statue, which stands nearly 12 feet tall, shows the character of the Polish Pontiff as a man who “reflects the tragedy and contradictory character of the 20th century,” and a spiritual leader “who personified universal conscience.” Russian sculptor Tsereteli to open a monument to John Paul II at Notre-Dame de Paris (Interfax)

A conference today at the University of Notre Dame will address “a pastoral strategy for parishes to be able to receive the gifts of self-identified gay Catholics,” while remaining faithful to Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality—but some speakers’ perspectives on “gay identity” may fall short of true orthodoxy. “Gay in Christ: Dimensions of Fidelity” is co-sponsored by Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life (ICL) and the Gender Relations Center. ICL director Dr. John Cavadini poses the following question on the University’s website: “Can Church teaching support an ‘exchange of gifts,’ enabling a parish community to receive the gifts that such people bring...

Full Title: Pope Francis 'called us his brother bishops,' says Protestant pastor from Mobile, who lunched, swapped caps with the pontiff MOBILE, Alabama - First, the pope does not want his ring kissed. And he prefers to be called Father Francis rather than Your Holiness. Those were some of the marching orders given to Rev. Henry W. Roberts II of Mobile and other bishops with the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, who met with Pope Francis at the Vatican Oct. 10. The CEEC is an international ecumenical network that strives for unity among all Christians. "He looks like one of...

This image on an anti-Mark Miloscia website has since been taken down. Seattle, Wash., Oct 31, 2014 / 01:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Mark Miloscia, a candidate for Washington's state senate, has been attacked for his Catholic faith and adherence to Church teaching on a website belittling his faith as incompatible with representing his district. “'Mississippi Mark' has always worn his church on his sleeve. Rather than represent the people of Federal Way, he has best represented the people of The Vatican,” read an image which was posted on markmiloscia.info, a website erected by critics of Miloscia, the Republican senate candidate...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) American Cardinal Raymond Burke, the feisty former archbishop of St. Louis who has emerged as the face of the opposition to Pope Francis’ reformist agenda, likened the Roman Catholic Church to “a ship without a rudder” in a fresh attack on the pope’s leadership. In an interview with the Spanish Catholic weekly Vida Nueva, published Thursday (Oct. 30), Burke insisted he was not speaking out against the pope personally but raising concern about his leadership. “Many have expressed their concerns to me. At this very critical moment, there is a strong sense that the church is like...

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba has allowed construction of the country's first new Catholic church in 55 years, the church said Monday. Experts said it's a sign of improving relations between the Vatican and Cuba's communist government. The church, funded by donations from Catholics in Tampa, Florida, will be built in Sandino, a citrus and coffee-growing town in the far-western province of Pinar del Rio. The church publication "Christian Life" said it will have space for 200 people.

A website opposing the candidacy of Mark Miloscia, a pro-life Catholic, may just be the most vehemently anti-Catholic political attack you've seen this election season. Thus far, it's uncertain who created the site, but it's certainly from those opposing the Republican state senate candidate Interestingly, Miloscia switched from Democrat to Republican precisely because he felt that religious people were no longer welcome in the Democrat party. It appears to be growing increasingly difficult to argue with that. We're getting to the point where this can hardly be called surprising. Radical Muslims are slaughtering Christians in many parts of the globe...

[This is part of Catholic Analysis' special series on Pope Alexander VI. This part, the sixth, grapples with Alexander's interesting relations with the French. Read the fifth part.] With a devout personality, encouraged by his friend, St. Francis of Paola, King Charles VIII was just the man to bring about needed reforms. He was quirky, but responsible, and he was a little naive, but full of ideas. There was only one snag to him: Charles had been taught to covet Naples, and he saw it as a gateway to further expansion. He wanted Alexander to give it to him, but...

Father John Hunwicke writes, "The Holy Father has criticised the fault of 'wanting to close oneself within the written word, and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises; within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve'. (He went on to make balancing criticisms of other and contrary attitudes.) When the first wave of Ordinariate clergy were being 'formed' at Allen Hall, our teaching was solidly, insistently, based upon the Conciliar and post-Conciliar Magisterium. This meant the written words of Vatican...

You saw the Disney movie as a kid. You may have read the book. But did you know some of it was based on real history? While the story of King Arthur, Merlin, and all the rest may not be true, there really is a centuries-old sword stuck in a stone. In the small Italian town of Chiusdino, there’s a small chapel near Saint Galgano Abbey known as Montesiepi chapel. And inside you’ll find a big slab of stone in the floor with the handle of a sword sticking out of it.

Turin Shroud Was Made For Medieval Easter Ritual, Historian Says Charles Freeman believes relic venerated as Jesus Christ’s burial cloth dates from 14th century and was used as a prop Charlotte Higgins 23 October 2014. The Turin shroud, revered by some as the burial cloth of Jesus, dates from the middle ages, historian says. Photograph: Antonio Calanni/AP When it is exhibited next year in Turin, for the first time in five years, 2 million people are expected to pour into the city to venerate a four-metre length of woven cloth as the shroud in which Jesus Christ was wrapped after...

[This is part of Catholic Analysis' special series on Pope Alexander VI. This part, the fifth, explains Alexander's connections with the Italians. Read the fourth part.] Once his installment was settled, the pope set about making many changes. Alexander was a reformer. He despised the corruption prevalent in some ranks of clergy, and so he proclaimed, "We are well aware that morals have notably fallen back. No longer can we tolerate the way in which the former salutary measures instituted by our predecessors to keep sensuality and avarice within bounds have been violated so that we fall headlong into corruption....

Professor Odon Vallet is an expert in the history of religions and civilizations and, since he is deemed a strong and radical "Progressive", he is a favorite in the French media to speak as a secular-friendly voice on Catholic issues. He was interviewed by popular daily "20 Minutes" on the results of the 2014 assembly of the Synod of Bishops: In what sense did the provisional text [the Forte relatio] signal an important step? The provisional text included two overtures. One regarding the remarried divorcees. The other regarding homosexuals. It was not a revolution, but an evolution. It was not...

A half-century after the historic changes of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis is showing his intent to drive a comparably ambitious agenda for the Roman Catholic Church in the 21st century. The current synod of bishops in Rome, called by Francis to encourage reform and modernization, set a ringing tone of compassion this week with an opening call for a more welcoming attitude toward gay people, unmarried couples, divorced Catholics who remarry, and children in these unions. The bishops’ report on their first week of private discussions did not immediately change church doctrine. But it signaled the pope’s determination...

Breaking News From Rome: Burke Confirms He’s Been Ousted! Pope Harming The Church Pope Francis is doing great harm to the church. Those words in public interview from Cardinal Raymond Burke. Cardinal Raymond Burke is the prefect of the Apostolic signatory of or at least he was he has also confirmed for the first time in public the rumor that he has been ousted by Pope Francis

Oct 17 20147 Comments By Church Militant TV News Headlines BREAKING: Pope Harming the Church Cardinal Burke: Pope is harming the Church by not making his position clear. To read the entire interview with Cardinal Raymond Burke, click here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLS3cOxfkJw

>Details: Pope Francis has for the first time allowed the Sistine Chapel to be rented out for a private corporate event, with the proceeds to go to charities working with the poor and homeless. The concert, to be performed amid the splendour of Michelangelo’s frescoes on Saturday, will be attended by a select group of about 40 high-paying tourists who have signed up to an exclusive tour of Italy organised by Porsche. But as the unprecedented deal was announced, the Vatican announced that it would limit the number of visitors allowed inside the chapel to the current total of six...