By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Following Jesus and entering into a relationship with him comes with risks, including the risk of looking foolish sometimes, Pope Francis said. The Gospels are full of stories about people who took a risk to follow Jesus and those who, filled with bitterness or concerned
By Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — Autonomy can be a force for good in the world, said Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, but it can also be “seriously threatening to human welfare and the common good.” The Second Vatican Council endorsed autonomy in “Gaudium et Spes,” its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in
By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Parents are charged with guarding the faith given to their children at baptism and helping them become true witnesses by example rather than just rules, Pope Francis said. By asking the church for faith for their children through the sacrament of baptism, Christian parents
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Watch out for the tempting promises and easy rewards of false gods and idols because they always lead to confusion, disappointment and even death, Pope Francis said. “We are tempted to seek even fleeting comfort, which seems to fill the emptiness of solitude and ease
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jesus astonished people with the way he taught and interacted with others because he wasn’t aloof, domineering or hypocritical, Pope Francis said in a homily. “Jesus wasn’t allergic to people. Touching lepers, the sick did not disgust him,” whereas the Pharisees — who strolled around
By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Magi had the courage to set out on a journey in the hope of finding something new, unlike Herod who was full of himself and unwilling to change his ways, Pope Francis said. The Wise Men who set out from the East in
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While God is the one calling people to a vocation, clergy and religious have to cooperate by being inspirational role models, keeping their doors open and giving restless young people constructive things to do, Pope Francis said. Praying for vocations and holding meetings to discuss
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — At the start of a new year, Pope Francis laid out a laundry list of suggested resolutions for religious and political leaders for making a joint commitment toward building peace. No conflict exists that is “a habit impossible to break,” the pope said, but he
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Mother’s Day came early this year at the Vatican. A number of feast days over the Advent and Christmas seasons gave Pope Francis a fresh opportunity to pay homage to the world’s mothers and insist further on how and why he wants the entire church
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Looking out over St. Peter’s Square where icicles hung from usually bubbling fountains, Pope Francis prayed for the homeless. The freeze in Rome, subzero temperatures in large parts of Europe and heavy snowfalls in many areas in early January forced the closure of roads and
