Last week a nation-wide event was launched that, as far as I know, did not make a single headline on any major news network. “Bread For The World,” an organization whose mission is to put an end to hunger at home and abroad, started up a campaign in response to proposed budget cuts to social
Recently Trump commented that health care was an incredibly complex issue. I was dismayed at his surprise over the complexity of health care. Back when I was first out of college I took a course in medical economics. Even back then it was an incredibly complex issue. Medical economics has only grown more complex over
We recently celebrated the memorial of St. Justin Martyr. The word Martyr comes from the Greek word martus, which literally means witness. A martyr is someone who suffers for his or her beliefs. Like many Christians in the early centuries, St. Justin was killed because of the faith. When I lived in Rome, I often
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump spent 30 minutes speaking privately in the library of the Apostolic Palace May 24, and as the president left, he told the pope, “I won’t forget what you said.” The atmosphere at the beginning was formal and a bit stiff. However, the mood lightened
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Bishops must be models of confident trust in the Lord, constantly reaching out with the good news of the Gospel and avoiding all temptation to despair or to cling to vestiges of worldly power, Pope Francis wrote to the bishops of Italy. The pope opened the annual general assembly of the
MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — Gunmen claiming to have links with the Islamic State group threatened to kill hostages, including a Catholic priest, who were taken from the southern Philippine city of Marawi May 23. President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law across the entire Muslim-majority region of Mindanao late May 23, but ucanews.com reported that many,
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) — About 100 graduates of the University of Notre Dame walked out of Vice President Mike Pence’s May 21 commencement address as he began to speak. The walkout was planned in advance by a student activist coalition, We StaND For, to protest the university’s choice of Pence as graduation speaker. It
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Consecrated women are called to be prophets of hope and joy in the world and avoid putting on a superficial joy that withers the soul, Pope Francis said. In order to live out the joy of the Gospel, “it must be a true joy, not a counterfeit joy” that brings about
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The growing gap between those who can find a place in today’s rapidly changing tech-based job market and those who cannot is very serious and worrying, Pope Francis said. The problem must be tackled “out of a sense of justice between generations and responsibility for the future,” he said. The pope
ROME (CNS) — The sin committed most frequently in Christian parishes and groups is bad-mouthing and backstabbing each other, which not only divides the community, it drives away people who come seeking God, Pope Francis said. “Truly, this pains me to the core. It’s as if we were throwing stones among ourselves, one against the
