Nicole Winfield
Nicole Winfield is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Nicole Winfield
Pope exposes confidential details of past conclaves and settles scores with Pope Benedict XVI’s aide
By Nicole Winfield — April 3, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis's frail health has raised questions about how much longer he will remain pope, whether he might follow in Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI’s footsteps and resign.
Vatican to publish document on gender, surrogacy and human dignity next week
By Nicole Winfield — April 2, 2024
ROME (AP) — Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will hold his first news conference to present the document “Infinite Dignity, on human dignity,” on April 8, the Vatican announced Tuesday.
Pope overcomes health concerns to preside over Easter Mass and appeal for peace in Gaza and Ukraine
By Nicole Winfield — March 31, 2024
ROME (AP) — Francis appeared in good form, despite having celebrated the 2½-hour nighttime Easter Vigil just hours before. The pontiff, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been battling respiratory problems all winter.
Pope Francis skips Palm Sunday homily at start of busy Holy Week that will test his health
By Nicole Winfield — March 26, 2024
ROME (AP) — The Holy Week schedule is challenging for popes even under the best of circumstances.
Belgian bishop defrocked 14 years after admitting to abusing nephew
By Nicole Winfield — March 22, 2024
ROME (AP) — The Vatican announcement that Francis had laicized Vangheluwe came a few months before the pope is due to visit Belgium, where the case would have been an unwelcome and problematic distraction.
Pope acknowledges criticism and health issues but says in his new memoir he has no plans to retire
By Nicole Winfield — March 15, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been battling bronchitis, the flu and a cold on and off this winter and for the past two weeks has asked an aide to read most of his speeches.
German bishops to head to Rome after Vatican demands they scrap a vote on contentious lay council
By Nicole Winfield and Geir Moulson — February 26, 2024
ROME (AP) — A regular meeting of the German Bishops’ Conference this week had been expected to vote on the statutes of a committee that would have prepared for the future council.
Woman who says she was abused spiritually and sexually by a once-famous Jesuit demands transparency
By Nicole Winfield — February 22, 2024
ROME (AP) — The Jesuits kicked Marko Rupnik out of the order last year after he refused to respond to allegations of spiritual, psychological and sexual abuses by about 20 women.
Despite reforms, victims say church’s in-house processes to handle sex abuse cases retraumatizes
By Nicole Winfield — February 21, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Despite new church laws to hold bishops accountable and promises to do better, the Catholic Church’s in-house legal system and pastoral response to victims has proven incapable of dealing with the problem.
The Vatican’s problematic process to address clergy sex abuse cases, explained
By Nicole Winfield — February 20, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Five years ago this week, Francis convened an unprecedented summit of bishops from around the world to impress on them that clergy abuse was a global problem and they needed to address it.
The keeper of the Vatican’s secrets is retiring. Here’s what he wants you to know
By Nicole Winfield — February 19, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP) — In a new book-length interview titled “Secretum” to be published Tuesday, Pagano divulges some of the unknown, lesser-known and behind-the-scenes details of well-known sagas of the Holy See and its relations with the outside world over the past 12 centuries.
Pope and Argentine President Milei embrace after pontiff canonizes Argentina’s first female saint
By Nicole Winfield, Gianfranco Stara, and Alessandra Tarantino — February 12, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Mama Antula was an 18th century laywoman who ministered to the poor and helped keep Jesuit spirituality alive in Argentina after the religious order — to which the pope belongs — was suppressed.
Street artist of ‘Super Pope’ fame gets new stamp of Vatican approval
By Nicole Winfield — February 1, 2024
ROME (AP) — Street artist Maupal, whose cartoon-like depictions of Pope Francis as a “Super Pope” have graced buildings around the Vatican for a decade, got an official stamp of approval on Thursday when he appeared at a Vatican news conference.
Africa’s Catholic hierarchy refuses same-sex blessings, says such unions are contrary to God’s will
By Nicole Winfield — January 11, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The controversy has deepened a growing chasm between Francis’ progressive, reform-minded papacy and the conservative church in much of the world
Vatican’s doctrine chief is raising eyebrows over his 1998 book that graphically describes orgasms
By Nicole Winfield — January 9, 2024
ROME (AP) — “The Mystical Passion,” published in Mexico in 1998, is a short expose about mystical-sensual experiences with God.
