VATICAN – Catholics who participate in the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in August or pray with their families during the Aug. 21-26 event can receive a plenary indulgence, the Vatican announced.

VATICAN CITY – After meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said the Pope confirmed he will visit Ireland in 2018 and that trip organizers would look at the possibility of a stop in Northern Ireland.

DUBLIN – Archbishop Diarmuid Martin confirmed that Pope Francis, or his successor, will visit Ireland in 2018 for the World Meeting of Families.

PHILADELPHIA - Help and healing is possible for Catholic families suffering with violence in the home, said psychologist Christauria Welland.

PHILADELPHIA - As confetti rained down and cheers filled the air on the final day of the World Meeting of Families Sept. 25, a family from Argentina applied brushstrokes to a mural depicting Pope Francis -- pushing the number of contributors to the paint-by-numbers mural past 2,263 and into the Guinness Book of World Records.

PHILADELPHIA - Irish pilgrims in Philadelphia shared their excitement after Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, announced the 2018 World Meeting of Families would be held in Dublin.

Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis
Closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families
*Philadelphia, September 27, 2015

Today the word of God surprises us with powerful and thought-provoking images. Images which challenge us, but also stir our enthusiasm. In the first reading, Joshua tells Moses that two members of the people are prophesying, speaking God's word, without a mandate. In the Gospel, John tells Jesus that the disciples had stopped someone from casting out evil spirits in the name of Jesus. Here is the surprise: Moses and Jesus both rebuke those closest to them for being so narrow! Would that all could be prophets of God's word! Would that everyone could work miracles in the Lord's name!

Families are one great reason why Pope Francis is coming to America.

Blessed Junipero Serra’s motto was “always forward, never back.” But as the date nears for his canonization by Pope Francis, Serra’s life of faithful evangelization is being fiercely — and many say unfairly — questioned by detractors who insist on looking back into the life and times of the 18th-century missionary priest.

WASHINGTON - When Pope Francis approaches the Catholic Charities building in downtown Washington during his U.S. visit in September, he will encounter a "homeless person" covered in a blanket laying on a park bench.

VATICAN CITY - More than a month before Pope Francis was scheduled to arrive in the United States, his ride landed on U.S. shores.

WASHINGTON - Ever since Pope Francis' visit to Cuba was announced, Cuban church officials have billed him as the "missionary of mercy."

PHILADELPHIA - Approximately 2,000 members of the Knights of Columbus from around the country and abroad gathered Aug. 4 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia to open the Catholic fraternal organization's 133rd Supreme Convention.

VATICAN CITY - The U.S. ambassador to the Holy See believes Pope Francis is not traveling to the United States in September to scold anyone, but to challenge the country's people to live up to their ideals.