VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has approved the recognition of a miracle attributed to the intercession of two of the shepherd children who saw Our Lady of Fatima in 1917, thus paving the way for their canonization. Pope Francis signed the decree for the causes of Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta Marto during a meeting
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As the Vatican Secretariat for Communication works to unify Vatican media efforts, a key pastoral concern is to keep open all the channels that allow Pope Francis to speak to the world. “With a pope who is so naturally communicative, if we don’t put obstacles in his way, we already are
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Not listening to God’s voice can distance Christians from him and lead them instead to seek solace in worldly idols that offer only doubt and confusion, Pope Francis said. When Catholics are “deaf to the word of God,” their hearts are hardened, and “they lose the meaning of faithfulness,” the pope
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the United States, gets plenty of questions about Pope Francis. A March 27 discussion at Georgetown University, sponsored by the university’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, was no exception. The nuncio, who sat onstage with John Carr, the initiative’s director, was asked
ROME (CNS) — Visiting Milan, the center of Italian fashion and finance, Pope Francis spent the morning with the poor and those who minister to them. He had lunch at the city’s historic San Vittore prison, where all 893 inmates — men and women — are awaiting trial. But Pope Francis began his visit March
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — People should stop blaming and complaining so they can be filled with God’s joy and rise up to life’s challenges, Pope Francis said. Forgetting what joy is and languishing in self-pity come with the sin of sloth, the pope said March 28 in his homily during morning Mass at Domus Sanctae
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Hope is not built on people’s predictions, assurances or line of reasoning, Pope Francis said. Real Christian hope “is not based on our word, but on God’s Word” and promises of salvation and eternal life, the pope said during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square March 29. Continuing a series
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians who trust in themselves rather than God eventually become unsympathetic to those in need and slide down the slippery path of corruption, Pope Francis said. People who place their trust in their own vanity, pride and riches lose their sense of direction and “distance themselves from God,” the pope said
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — St. Joseph, patron saint of the universal church and Jesus’ earthly father, was a “dreamer capable of accepting the task” entrusted to him by God, Pope Francis said. “This man takes God’s promise and brings it forward in silence with strength; he brings it forward so that whatever God wants is
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As Catholics commemorate Jesus’ passion on Good Friday, the Vatican is asking them to support the church in the Holy Land with their prayers, financial contributions and possibly by making a pilgrimage. The global Holy Land Collection is taken up in most dioceses around the world on Good Friday, which is
