BOSTON (CNS) — Patients who are terminally ill do not have a right to physician-assisted suicide, but their doctors can provide information and advise about medical aid in dying, a Massachusetts court has ruled. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Mary K. Ames said in her Dec. 31 decision that the legality of physician-assisted suicide is not
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The mission and foundation of Catholic education are directly related to evangelization, said the head of the National Catholic Educational Association. Catholic schools are obligated to evangelize simply because that is the core and mission of the Catholic Church, according to Thomas Burnford, president and CEO of the NCEA. “The apostles told
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The newly established “Sunday of the Word of God” is an invitation to Catholics across the world to deepen their appreciation, love and faithful witness to God and his word, Pope Francis said. By papal decree, the third Sunday in Ordinary Time — Jan. 26 this year — is to be
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Worshipping the Lord as the Three Kings did involves making a journey “from the greatest form of bondage: slavery to oneself,” Pope Francis said on the feast of the Epiphany. To worship like the Magi did is “to bring gold to the Lord and to tell him that nothing is more
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Health care professionals always must “promote the dignity and life of each person and reject any compromise in the direction of euthanasia, assisted suicide or suppression of life, even in the case of terminal illness,” Pope Francis said. “Life is sacred and belongs to God,” the pope said, “hence it is
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis led pilgrims in prayers for peace as tensions between the United States and Iran escalated following the assassination of a top Iranian general. Several days after Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, warned of “harsh retaliation” for the Jan. 3 U.S. drone attack that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem
PHOENIX (CNS) — Alfonso Fraire, a student at Arizona State University, volunteers his time with youth ministry — and hopes to take back what he’s learned at the Student Leadership Summit sponsored by Fellowship of Catholic University Students to the young adult group at his home parish, St. Mary in Chandler. Fraire said he is
MIAMI (CNS) — After a routine exam 16 years ago, Dr. Shawn Fibkins discovered that he had inherited polycystic kidney disease from his father. “It was devastating for me because now I was in the medical field and I knew what that disease meant for people: trips to the hospital with ruptured brain aneurysms and
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Mercy Sister Rosemary Welsh is a nurse and for the past 44 years she has immersed her ministry in the Latino culture. Through the lives of thousands of migrants from Mexico and Central America as well as Texans of Hispanic descent, Sister Welsh has seen in her work in Laredo, Texas, and
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ announcement that the Catechism of the Catholic Church would be updated to include a definition of “ecological sin” sent Catholic Twitter into a frenzy. Reactions ranged from praise for how seriously the church was taking the obligation to care for creation to cynicism or even outrage over the church’s
