Pope Francis speaks during a meeting with young Catholic leaders from Latin American at the Vatican March 4, 2019. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Service, not party affiliation makes a politician Catholic, pope says

Posted by - March 9, 2019

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — What makes a politician “Catholic” is not party affiliation, but dedication to promoting the common good, particularly through listening to and empowering people who often are overlooked, Pope Francis said. “I invite you to live your faith with great freedom, never believing that there exists only one form of political commitment

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Franciscan Brother Christopher Coppock burns last year's palms at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington March 3, 2019. The ashes will be used for Ash Wednesday March 6. (CNS photo/Julie Asher)

Don’t dread Lent, but make the best of its 40 days

Posted by - March 9, 2019

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Long, orange flames consumed the palms Massgoers had brought in to Washington’s Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land March 3 to burn ceremonially before the noontime crowd that gathered for their last Sunday Mass before Lent. “This is kind of a graphic reminder of how Lent starts: We make the ashes, we

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Hailey McConnell is enamored with Lothair at Langley Air Force Base, adjacent to Hampton and Newport News, Va., Feb. 13, 2019. The girl was with her mother, Melissa, waiting for her brother Caleb's pediatric appointment. Melanie Paul, right, brings her Shetland Sheepdogs, Lothair and Locksley, to the hospital once a week to provide animal-assisted therapy to inpatients and outpatients. (CNS photo/Jennifer Neville, The Catholic Virginian)

Catholic’s deafness no obstacle to practicing a corporal work of mercy

Posted by - March 9, 2019

HAMPTON, Va. (CNS) — “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Those words from Chapter 4 of St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians are words by which Melanie Paul lives. Deaf since she was 12, Paul has had a successful career as a guidance counselor and has helped countless people through her

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Pope Francis, cardinals and bishops attend a Mass on the last day of the four-day meeting on the on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 24, 2019, in this image taken from Vatican television. (CNS photo/Vatican Television via Reuters)

Pope: No more excuses; time for ‘all-out battle’ against crime of abuse

Posted by - March 2, 2019

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The time has come for an “all-out battle” against the abuse of minors, erasing this abominable crime from the face of the earth, Pope Francis said, closing a global four-day summit on child protection in the Catholic Church. For quite some time, the world has been aware of the “serious scandal”

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esus welcoming children is depicted in a stained-glass window at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Malverne, N.Y. Pope Francis said that through their Lenten journey, Christians can bring "the hope of Christ also to creation, so that it may be free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God." (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Lent is time to let go of ‘destructive’ selfishness, pope says

Posted by - March 2, 2019

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Lenten season is a reminder for Catholics that overindulgence ruptures communion with God, with others and with creation, Pope Francis said. A failure to live as children of God can give way to sin, which “takes the shape of greed and unbridled pursuit of comfort, lack of concern for the

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Pope Francis celebrates a Mass on the last day of the four-day meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 24, 2019, in this image taken from Vatican television. (CNS photo/Vatican Television via Reuters)

Pope to issue post-synod document on young people in March

Posted by - March 2, 2019

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will issue a document on “young people, faith and vocational discernment” five months after the world Synod of Bishops gathered to discuss the topic. The Vatican announced Feb. 24 that the pope will present his post-synodal apostolic exhortation March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, during a visit to

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Students and parishioners from St. Elisabeth of Hungary School in Van Nuys venerate the incorrupt heart of St. John Vianney after Mass in Van Nuys Feb. 22, 2019. The heart was on tour through several parishes of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Feb. 20-26. The heart was on tour through several parishes of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Feb. 20-26. (CNS photo/Pablo Kay, The Angelus News)

Relic of ‘holy priest’ offers chance to pray for church and her ministers

Posted by - March 2, 2019

VAN NUYS, Calif. (CNS) — In the few moments she spent up close and personal with the incorrupt heart of St. John Vianney during its visit to St. Elisabeth of Hungary Church in Van Nuys Feb. 22, Milagros “Lally” Guiao only asked the legendary saint for one thing. “Give us holy priests.” There were plenty

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Pope Francis reviews papers during the third-day of a meeting on the protection of minors in the church at the Vatican Feb. 23, 2019. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

After the Vatican’s summit on abuse, the stakes are clear

Posted by - March 2, 2019

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The long-awaited “Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church,” nicknamed the abuse summit, was an extraordinary and historic gathering that surpassed many expectations while perhaps disappointing others. Historic in that it brought together the heads of 114 bishops’ conferences from the entire world, as well as the leaders of

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The CloudMinds XR-1 robot performs for visitors at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain Feb. 25, 2019. Technology holds the potential to benefit all of humankind, but it also poses risky and unforeseen results, Pope Francis said. (CNS photo/Rafael Marchante, Reuters)

Pope: Humanity can be dangerously spellbound by hi-tech progress

Posted by - March 2, 2019

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Technology holds the potential to benefit all of humankind, but it also poses risky and unforeseen results, Pope Francis said. The rapid evolution of increased technological capacities, for example with artificial intelligence and robotics, creates a “dangerous enchantment; instead of handing human life the tools that will improve care, there is

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Workers with Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Charleston, S.C., provide supplies to assist employees at the Federal Correctional Institution in Williamsburg, S.C. (CNS photo/courtesy Catholic Charities)

Workers furloughed during shutdown grateful for Catholic Charities’ help

Posted by - March 2, 2019

CHARLESTON, S.C. (CNS) — Hundreds of people who were affected by the recent government shutdown received much needed help from Catholic Charities of South Carolina. The shutdown was the longest in U.S. history, lasting from Dec. 22 until Jan. 25. It caused thousands of federal employees to work without paychecks while many others were furloughed.

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