Even several days before consigning the old year to the annals of Vatican history, Pope Francis indicated the new year was likely to be full of surprises.
An American cardinal? Maybe, or maybe not: Some of Francis's choices last year were so unconventional that it’s difficult to know what he’ll do this time around.
The pushback to Pope Francis’s reforms is intensifying and the Jesuit pontiff is not shy to admit it. “But that’s a good sign for me – that it’s out in the open."
It's striking how many priests and bishops famous for quoting papal documents ad nauseam seem unable even to pronounce the name of Francis’s apostolic exhortation.
If people paid attention to what Francis says – including bishops and cardinals, even retired – they would not be confused about where he wants to move the church.
The highlight of an upcoming three-day sojourn will be a visit to the Phanar, the Istanbul home of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I.