MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — Gunmen killed a 72-year-old Catholic priest on the main Philippine island of Luzon Dec. 4, a day after police killed a pastor they tagged as a member of the communist New People’s Army. Ucanews.com reported that unidentified men shot dead Father Marcelito Paez around 8 p.m. while he was driving in
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Advent is a time to be watchful and alert to the ways one strays from God’s path, but also to signs of his presence in other people and in the beauty of the world, Pope Francis said. Reciting the Angelus prayer Dec. 3, the first Sunday of Advent, Pope Francis told
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The wisdom of the church fathers regarding the interior life of the person, often split between outward success and inner emptiness, continues to be a relevant subject today, Pope Francis said. In a Dec. 5 message to participants in a public session of all the pontifical academies, the pope said that
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Although Christmas this year is the day after the fourth Sunday of Advent, Catholics looking to count a Sunday evening Mass Dec. 24 for both that Sunday obligation and Monday’s Christmas Mass obligation will have to think again. The U.S. bishops already saw this coming at the beginning of the year and
DHAKA, Bangladesh (CNS) — Devoting his last day in Bangladesh to the nation’s tiny Catholic community, Pope Francis told clergy and religious that there was no way they could promote interreligious harmony in the country if their communities were marked by gossip, division and bitterness. “There are many enemies of harmony,” the pope told priests,
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Like a sprout, humility needs to be nourished so that the Holy Spirit may grow within all Christians, Pope Francis said. While some believe that “being humble means being polite, courteous and closing your eyes in prayer,” accepting humiliation is the only real sign of humility, the pope said in his
YANGON, Myanmar (CNS) — Jesus’ love “is like a spiritual GPS” that guides people past the everyday obstacles of fear and pride and allows them to find their way to a relationship with God and with their neighbors, Pope Francis said. Christ’s message of “forgiveness and mercy uses a logic that not all will want
HOUSTON (CNS) — Part reunion, part crash course in Catholic teaching and navigating the current political climate both in the U.S. and back home in the Philippines, and part celebration of all things Texas, a national assembly for Filipino priests brought faith and culture full circle in Houston. Hosted by a local organizing committee, the
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — If people really understood that participating at Mass is witnessing Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection, then maybe they would stop taking pictures, talking, making comments and acting as if it were some kind of show, Pope Francis said. “This is Mass: to enter into Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection and ascension. When
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) — Growing up in St. Louis, Susanna Spencer loved her family’s Advent tradition of adorning a Jesse Tree with Old Testament symbols leading up to Christ’s birth. She continued the tradition while in college at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, where she met her husband, Mark. “After seeing (Advent traditions)
