Greg Burke, an American, and Stefano D’Agostini, an Italian, are early personnel changes in Vatican's reform project.

The pope struck a very different tone this year, compared to last year when he lambasted 15 “curial diseases.”

Pope Francis has nominated the well-known Irish monsignor Paul Tighe as a bishop and has appointed him as Adjunct-Secretary to the Pontifical Council of Culture The Vatican made the announcement on Dec 19 and said the Pope has named him to the titular episcopal See of Drivasto in Albania nbsp M

"Policies of fear and inflammatory rhetoric will only offer extremists fertile soil."

Pope Francis has opened the door to the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta He did so this afternoon Dec 17 when he recognized the miraculous cure of a Brazilian man that took place at the end of 2008 nbsp The news was broken unofficially this evening by the Italian Catholic daily

Where this peculiar style of doing electoral politics has touched public life in Britain, and caused a lot of offence, is his claim that the United Kingdom has a “massive Muslim problem” and that we are going to great lengths t disguise it.