VATICAN – Baptism requires rejecting Satan and professing one's full faith in God, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Naming a child is an important task for parents, because it gives children a sense of identity and belonging to their family and to God, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Parents who prefer not to baptize their children in the hopes that they will "understand and ask for baptism" as adults lack faith that the Holy Spirit will act in their child's life, Pope Francis said.

EDMONTON – Levi Breederland and his wife Kaitlyn feel a strong sense of relief as they approach Easter — after months of preparation they will finally be received into the Catholic Church.

VATICAN – Truly celebrating Easter means allowing Jesus to triumph over personal fears and give life to hope, creativity and care for others, Pope Francis said.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – The Argentine Bishops' Conference will release to the justice system, in accordance with Pope Francis' wishes, dozens of baptismal records from the country’s dictatorship period.

VATICAN – The Catholic Church in China registered 48,556 baptisms in 2017, reflecting the vitality and missionary strength of the Catholic communities there, according to a report by Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

QUEBEC CITY – Andrea was baffled when her friend asked her to be the godmother of her newborn baby. She would have said "Yes" right away, but things are not that simple for her. She has been a woman for only a little more than a year.

CAIRO – Placing flowers, lighting a candle and praying at the site where dozens of Coptic Orthodox Christians were killed by an Islamic State militant last year, Pope Francis and Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II paid homage to those who were killed for their faith.

CANTERBURY, England – The Church of Scotland will launch a two-year investigation into the possibility of introducing online baptisms, Communion and other Christian sacraments.

Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year C) April 24 (Acts 14:21b-27; Psalm 145; Revelation 21:1-5a; John 13:1, 31-33a, 34-35)

What sort of word did Paul and Barnabas proclaim to the communities they founded? We can expect that the death and resurrection of Jesus was first on the list — details about His life came later. Most importantly, their proclamation included the warning that Jesus had been appointed judge of the living and the dead.

HAMILTON, Ont. - The practice of Christian Baptism at Easter, preceded by several weeks of instruction, prayer and other rites, dates as far back as the fourth century. In early times, candidates for the Catholic Church, known as catechumens, recited a creed on Holy Saturday to signify the completion of their studies and then, at dawn on Easter morning, were immersed in a font and baptized.

VATICAN CITY - The best thing parents can pass on to their children is their religious faith, Pope Francis said as he baptized 26 babies.

JERUSALEM - UNESCO declared Bethany Beyond the Jordan, on the eastern side of the Jordan River, as a World Heritage site and the location of Jesus' baptism.

MARKHAM, Ont. - As they prepared for their baptism at Easter, adult catechumens at Chinese Martyrs parish got a taste of the Old Testament by participating in the Jewish ritual of the Passover Seder.