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January 17, 2017
VATICAN CITY – Last year, more than 13 million people around the world watched Pope Francis explain one of his specific prayer intentions each month.
BOLOGNA, Italy — The Church is in a state of "great confusion" over Pope Francis' exhortation on love in the family, said one of the four cardinals who authored the letter to the Pope asking for clarification of Amoris Laetitia.
TENT OF NATIONS, West Bank – Bishops from Europe and North America lauded this 100-year-old hilltop family farm southwest of Bethlehem as an example of the nonviolent resistance needed to oppose Israeli expansion onto Palestinian land.
VATICAN CITY – In reaction to a new book claiming that Pope Francis has in fact done little to combat clerical sex abuse, and that Cardinal George Pell is implicated, the Australian cardinal's office has dismissed the claims as motivated by opposition to reform.
January 18, 2017
WARSAW, Poland – Poland's government has adopted multiple resolutions establishing 2017 as a Jubilee Year for the country, celebrating the 300th anniversary of the first canonical coronation of the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa.
With a permanent president in place for the first time in six years, Regis College is poised to become an international magnet for Jesuits and others seeking to study theology in English, according to incoming president Jesuit Fr. Thomas Worcester.
OTTAWA – The promotion of former Somali refugee Ahmed Hussen to immigration minister sends a positive signal to immigrants and refugees, said Canada’s former ambassador to the Holy See.
ROME, Italy – As the Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans, celebrate the 800th anniversary of their founding, they gather in Rome from around the world to reflect on their history, their charism of preaching, and how they can continue to put this charism at the service of the Church today.
PARIS – Iraqi Christians who are considering leaving the country should stay put and play a role in rebuilding their war-shattered homeland, a senior prelate said in Paris.
WASHINGTON – Acknowledging the fear some immigrants have expressed as Donald Trump becomes president, Jesuit parishes, schools and other communities plan to pray for those who fear him and his proposals on the eve of his Jan. 20 inauguration as the country's 45th president.
CARACAS, Venezuela – The bishops of Venezuela have urged that elections take place in the country in a timely manner, in light of the crisis of hyperinflation and chronic shortages of goods facing their nation.
The U.S. Catholic hierarchy was one of the staunchest foes of President Obama’s signature health care law, nearly derailing its passage in 2010 over concerns about abortion funding and exacting a political toll that helped doom abortion-opposing Democrats who backed Obamacare while boosting Republican efforts to take control of Congress.
As Donald Trump takes the reins of the United States’ presidency, Canadian scholars and politicians are wondering how faith and politics will get along in a world where right-wing, anti-immigrant, anti-trade policies appear to be on the rise.
January 19, 2017
Pope Francis on Thursday invited the faithful to let themselves be drawn by Jesus pointing out that Christian life is a daily struggle against temptation.
VATICAN CITY – Although great strides have been made through 50 years of ecumenical dialogue, Catholics and Lutherans must continue to work toward becoming a full and visible sign of unity for the world, Pope Francis said.
There was a time when Catholics, Protestants and other Christian denominations were largely isolated from each other.
This is the first in a series of four columns by Fr. Frank Freitas about prayer and praying. (Here's part 2, part 3 and part 4)
On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the Church marks the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron of journalists and the Catholic press. St. Francis was a bishop of Geneva who died in 1622, facts that would seem to remove him far from the hustle and bustle of modern journalism.
No doubt many of you have read the article from Catholic News Service about the Maltese bishops’ response to Amoris Laetitia that appeared last week on The Catholic Register web site.
First came the Year of Mercy, followed by the U.S. election and now the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. It’s as if, in encouraging mercy, Pope Francis anticipated this Trumpian age before any of us saw it coming.