Pope Francis honours Dante Alighieri on 7th centenary of ‘prophetic’ poet’s death
Vatican City RNS Dante Alighieri, the medieval Italian poet, didn’t spare popes and other Catholic prelates in the Divine Comedy, his 14th-century masterwork detailing his imaginary journey from hell to heaven via purgatory. No fewer than four pontiffs, including the then-reigning pope, Boniface VIII, are pictured in various circles of hell in the book’s “Inferno” cantos, […]
Pope Francis is not the first pontiff to cause controversy with a slap
Vatican City RNS Sometimes even the Pope has to apologise for being grumpy. On Wednesday, Pope Francis kick-started the new year with an apology for slapping the hand of a woman who grabbed his arm in St Peter’s Square the night before. Pope Francis slaps a woman’s hand after she grabbed him near the Nativity scene in […]