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Hannah Brockhaus

Hannah Brockhaus

Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.

Pope Francis speaks to members of the International Theological Commission at the Vatican on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. / Vatican Media

Pope Francis Confirms Plans to Visit Turkey for Historic Nicaea Council Anniversary

The Council of Nicaea took place in the ancient city of Nicaea in 325 A.D. in the former Roman Empire,...

Facade of St. Peter's Basilica / Credit: Nils Huber / Unsplash

Vatican May Add "spiritual abuse" to Crimes in Church Law

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is forming a working group with the Dicastery for Legislative Texts...

The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation awards the Ratzinger Prize to Notre Dame theologian Cyril O’Regan and Japanese sculptor Etsurō Sotoo at in a ceremony at the Vatican on Nov. 22, 204. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Prestigious Ratzinger Prize Awarded to Notre Dame Theologian, Japanese Sculptor at Vatican

The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation chooses the annual recipients of the award, which is named in honor of the...

Cardinal Kevin Farrell celebrates Mass for the World Meeting of Families 2022 on June 25, 2022. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Francis Assigns U.S. Cardinal to Carry out "urgent" Overhaul of Vatican Pension Fund

In a Nov. 21 letter to cardinals, prefects, and managers in the Roman Curia, the pope underlined the gravity of...

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Angelus address on Nov. 10, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Asks Rome’s Catholics to Help Combat "housing emergency" during 2025 Jubilee

“I want all diocesan realities that own real estate to offer their contribution to stem the housing emergency,” Pope Francis...

Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, Italy. / Credit: Vincenzo Amoruso via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Italy’s Mafia-fighting "street priest" Archbishop Domenico Battaglia to Become a Cardinal

Battaglia’s reputation as a “street priest” close to drug addicts and the poor has also led some to view him...

null / Credit: Zulfugar Graphics/Shutterstock

Pope Francis Urges "human-centered" Approach to "climate finance" at UN COP29 Summit

Pope Francis warned that both foreign debt and ecological debt are “mortgaging the future” of nations.

Pope Francis meets with members of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) on March 23, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican, Catholic Leaders from Europe Discuss Sexual Abuse in the Church

The Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is hosting a conference on safeguarding in the Catholic Church in...

The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library, the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City, is one of the oldest libraries in the world. / Credit: Checco2/Shutterstock

Pope Francis Moves Part of Vatican Library and Archive to Rome Seminary

The pope declared that part of the archives and library be moved to a building on extraterritorial Vatican property at...

Pope Francis addresses participants in a training course promoted by the Roman Rota at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, Sept. 27, 2018. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome’s Most Important Church Celebrates 1,700th Birthday

The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and the seat of the bishop of Rome, the pope....

Pope Francis addresses journalists aboard the papal plane heading to Mongolia, with Cardinal-elect George Jacob Koovakad at left, on Aug. 31, 2023. / Credit: Alberto PIZZOLI/POOL/AFP

Meet Pope Francis’ Personal Travel Agent — New Cardinal George Koovakad

The pontiff introduced Father George Jacob Koovakad to the world in 2021 as someone who is “always smiling.”

The Vatican on Oct. 31, 2024, inaugurated a center to welcome pilgrims and tourists before they visit St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican Opens Visitor Center for St. Peter’s Basilica

The space, inaugurated Oct. 31, is intended to provide practical, artistic, and spiritual information to visitors of the Vatican basilica.

At the Angelus on Nov. 3, 2024, Pope Francis asked for prayers for Valencia, a region in southeast Spain that was hit by devastating flash flooding in late October. / Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis: The heart of our faith is love

Every Sunday, Pope Francis appears at a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square to give a brief spiritual reflection before leading...

Pope Francis says Mass for All Souls' Day at the Laurentino Cemetery outside Rome, Nov. 2, 2018. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Here’s What Pope Francis is Doing for All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days 2024

For All Souls’ Day, Francis will continue his custom of holding a Mass in a local cemetery to pray for...

An academic congress — “From the Council to the Synod: Rereading a Church’s Journey, 60 Years on Since Lumen Gentium (1964–2024)” — was hosted by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from Oct. 28–30, 2024. / Credit: Pontifical Gregorian University

In Rome, Theologians Reflect on "reception" Stage of Synod on Synodality

The academic congress was hosted by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from Oct. 28–30.

Archbishop Bruno Forte speaks to journalists at the presentation of the encyclical “Dilexit Nos” on Oct. 24, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Julia Cassell/EWTN News

Pope Francis’ New Encyclical Dilexit Nos (He Loved Us) “the key to his entire pontificate”: Archbishop, Spiritual Writer

Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, Italy, presented Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”) at a press conference at the Vatican on Oct....

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’ Square for his general audience on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Francis: The Holy Spirit is "essential" for Unity in Marriage

“What can the Holy Spirit have to do with marriage, for example? A great deal, perhaps the essential…” the pope...

The Vatican on Oct. 22, 2024, announced it had accepted the request of Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur, OFM, of Bogor, Indonesia (seen here in 2017), to not be made a cardinal at the Dec. 7 consistory as had been previously announced. The bishop’s request “was motivated by his desire to continue growing in priestly life and in service to the Church and the people of God,” the Holy See Press Office said. / Credit: Albertus Aditya, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Indonesian Catholic Bishop Declines Cardinal Appointment to "grow in priestly life"

The bishop’s request “was motivated by his desire to continue growing in priestly life and in service to the Church...

Delegates at the 2024 Synod on Synodality participate in roundtable meetings on Oct. 10, 2024, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Here’s What’s Happening During the Last Week of the Synod on Synodality

The focus going forward will be the writing and editing of the Synod on Synodality’s final document.

The Vatican held four different public conferences from Oct. 9 and 16, 2024, in Rome to explain the “theological undertone of the synodal process,” according to a conference moderator and expert at this month’s Synod on Synodality.  / Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA

Why Did the Synod on Synodality Hold Extra Theological Meetings in 2024?

At the forums, speakers drew heavily on the Church’s dogmatic constitution from Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, in their defenses of synodality.