Pope Francis Roundup

News

• Pope Francis asked the IOR maximum transparency La Stampa. Francis has taken the first step to revealing the nuts and bolts of the Vatican bank, as part of his aim to achieve an overall reform of the Curia. 04/26/13.
• Pope Francis' first encyclical might be out this year, says spokesman Catholic News Service. 04/27/13:

  Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said he "would not exclude" the possibility of the publication of the pope's first encyclical "within this year," Vatican Radio reported.

  The spokesman told reporters April 25 that retired Pope Benedict XVI had already "fleshed out material on the theme of faith" for an encyclical.

  Vatican officials had said Pope Benedict completed work in late 2012 on what would have been his fourth encyclical -- a letter on the theological virtue of faith. Its release was expected in the first half of 2013, but the pope resigned Feb. 28 before its publication.

  It is not unusual for a pope to pick up work begun by his predecessor, make changes and publish it in his own name. The second part of Pope Benedict's first encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" ("God is Love"), was a discussion of Catholic charitable activity prepared under Blessed John Paul II. Nine months after Pope Benedict was elected, the document was released after the new pope reworked that section.

• Pope Francis Film Is in the Works. National Catholic Register REGISTER EXCLUSIVE: Producer Christian Peschken has secured $25 million in financial backing and is assembling a production team that includes prominent Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli.
• One cannot follow Jesus, love Jesus without the church, pope says, by Cindy Wooden. Catholic News Service. 04/23/13:

  Following Jesus means belonging to the church, the community that gives Christians their identity, Pope Francis said.

  "It is not possible to find Jesus outside the church," he said in his Mass homily April 23. "The great Paul VI said it is 'an absurd dichotomy' to want to live with Jesus without the church, to follow Jesus outside the church, to love Jesus without the church."

• Pope Francis’ first forty days in office: What he has said and done so far, by Marco Tosatti. La Stampa "The Vatican Insider" 04/27/13.
• Pope’s flock of followers on Twitter shoots to six million La Stampa Francis inherited 3,300,000 Twitter followers from Benedict XVI and has gained another 60 thousand approx. since his election.
• A Pope Francis Sampler, by John Thavis:

  , for more than a month we’ve also had a steady diet of the new pope’s speeches and homilies at more formal events. Gradually, some themes are taking shape and his vision of the church has come into clearer focus.

  Here is a sampler of Pope Francis in his own words, on topics ranging from safeguarding the environment to warding off the devil. Below each extract is a link to the original complete text. ...

Commentary

• Bergoglio, according to his former personal secretary La Stampa interviews Martin Garcia Aguirre, Bergoglio's personal secretary for twelve years. 04/24/13.
• Cardinal Pell: "We've got a Pope who's got mud on his boots" Interview with Cardinal Pell. La Stampa "The Vatican Insider" 04/23/13:

  What I think we have got in the Pope is the very best of the traditional Jesuit: faithful to Christ, faithful to the Church, going out to people – and not just to the powerful ones but to those on the margins, as Francis is urging us to do now. At its best, I don’t think there is any tradition in the Church to equal that of the Jesuits.

• The Spell of Pope Francis, by Sandro Magister. Chiesa 04/29/13.
• Pope Francis and the Gospel of Life by Arland K. Nichols. Crisis Magazine. 04/23/13.