holy see

Pope Francis with Enrique Peña Nieto

An exploration of the Catholic Church's faith diplomacy and its impact on international relations.

Veneranda fabbrica del Duomo courtesy of Daniele Mascolo/Expo 2015.

Nicholas J. Cull on the role of religion at the 2015 Milan Expo.

Paul Rockower surveys and samples the pavilions in Milan.

Pope Francis is picking up where Pope Benedict left off, drawing the Holy See into the global search for solutions to religiously inspired terrorism

Pope Francis celebrated the last Mass of his trip to Brazil on Sunday before more than a million people gathered on the beach in this city, the national flags of Catholics from around the world hoisted in the air as a chorus of Brazilian priests belted out songs before the multitude. It was a vibrant display of the Vatican’s ambition of halting the losses of worshipers to evangelical churches and the rising appeal of secularism.

Ady Jean Gardy, the Minister of Communication gave few details on the issues addressed by the Head of State, with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. "[...] This meeting was of paramount importance for Haiti [...] today, the Episcopal Conference is currently managing the issue of Concordat laws, you know that we have a concordat between Haiti and the Vatican since 1860, Haiti has renounced its Concordat rights since 1982.

Blocs of large superpowers are no longer the movers and shakers, but rather "those who've got the 'soft power' and influence around the world -- these are the important people, and here we are standing in the midst of that," he said during an interview at the Vatican press office.