In a recent opinion column, NCR columnist Franciscan Fr. Daniel P. Horan wrote about how before the close of this year's synod session, Pope Francis restated what the church is at its core and, in ...

More than a year ago, Pope Francis announced the Synod on Synodality, an initiative to take the pulse of the Catholic Church. U.S. Catholics have been mostly silent about this effort, but in several ...

Pope Francis denounced clericalism and called it a “scandal” to see young priests buying lace vestments at tailor shops in a strongly-worded speech to the Synod on Synodality on Wednesday. Speaking to ...

Synodality is Pope Francis’ vision to reform the Catholic Church to ensure human equality and a rightful place for everyone in the Church, a spirit that embodies the essence of the Second Vatican ...

Members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops gather for morning prayer Oct. 27, 2023, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) In a rare intervention in the synodal ...

For the first millennium, the pope was seen as the Vicar of Peter. But as papal power grew in the High Middle Ages, this title no longer sufficed. Pope Innocent III claimed instead to be the Vicar of ...

Pope Francis gives his blessing at the end of his weekly general audience as Msgr. Luis Maria Rodrigo Ewart, an aide, assists in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 25, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) ...

ROME – Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who is presiding over a high-profile Vatican symposium on the theology of the priesthood, has spoken out on a range of hot-button issues, including clericalism, ...

Clericalism is the tendency to allow an inner group of specially selected leaders to make decisions, typically without input from others, on matters pertaining to the institution. Within the Roman ...