Pope Francis issues updated 'Vos Estis' text for handling abuse cases
Pope Francis has updated the procedures for investigating allegations of sexual abuse or the cover up of abuse, specifying that the leaders of Vatican-recognized international Catholic lay associations and movements have the same responsibilities over their members that a bishop has over the priests of his diocese.
God's Word on Sunday: Christ opens believers to God’s world
Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year A) March 26 (Ezekiel 37:12-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45)
For many people, dying far from home in a strange land, especially as a captive, is too grim and sad to even contemplate.
God's Word on Sunday: God forsakes looks, sees us through our hearts
Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year A) March 19 (1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41)
There are two ways of viewing the world in which we live and of experiencing life. The first is typically human and consists of looking and judging by outward appearances. Things that please the eye are accepted and praised, while unpleasing things are rejected and reviled. That is the way many people pass judgment on the world and on other people. Our culture, with its obsession with beauty, youth, bodily perfection and flashiness, thrives on this tendency.
The path to Easter is Christ’s Way
In this final stretch before Easter, let’s return to where we began — looking at the entirety of Christ’s way of being, as an integral whole of truth, goodness and beauty. Any other way risks removing something essential.
God's Word on Sunday: God’s living water will quench our thirst
Third Sunday of Lent (Year A)March 12 (Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42)
Is the Lord among us or not? This petulant expression of anger and doubt was the first sign of the rebellion and unbelief that would plague the Israelites during the entire journey to the Promised Land. At times it would threaten to rupture their relationship with God entirely.
Cardinal Lacroix of Quebec named to Pope Francis' council of advisers
Pope Francis named five new members to his international Council of Cardinals and renewed the mandate of four current members, the Vatican announced March 7.
Pope Francis says cardinals, top Vatican officials, must pay rent on Vatican housing
Cardinals and other senior Vatican officials who have been living rent-free in Vatican-owned apartments in Rome will now have to pay "ordinary" unsubsidized rates, Pope Francis said.
God's Word on Sunday: Follow Jesus and we will never lose our way
Second Sunday of Lent. (Year A) March 5 (Genesis 12:1-4; Psalm 33; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9)
Since the beginning of time, many people have been forced to flee and abandon their homes and land for a new life elsewhere. Sometimes the hope is very basic: survival. Marauding armies, plagues, social chaos and famine can make survival difficult or impossible. At other times, hopes for a better life for children and descendants can impel people outward. Our own times have witnessed the mass migrations of peoples and the arrival of many immigrants and refugees from all over the globe.
Attending Christ means tending to our humanity
We humans need to be tended. Sheep are tended by a shepherd. Gardens are tended by a gardener. Even databases are tended by experts.
