FAITH/STORIES
Vatican conference convenes experts to study early Christian history
By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY -- A Vatican conference will gather both Christian and non-Christian historians and experts to delve deep into the history of the church in the first centuries of Christianity.
VANCOUVER -- Sr. Hae-Jin Lim is quick to say her vocation story is about God’s faithfulness, not her own.
CÓRDOBA, Spain -- More than 100 victims of Spain’s 1936-1939 civil war moved a step closer to sainthood after being beatified as martyrs for the faith. They included two teenage boys as well as an 88-year-old nun who died of bullet wounds after being tied to a window as a human shield.
Prominent Anglican bishop received into Catholic Church
By Simon Caldwell, Catholic News ServiceMANCHESTER, England -- A prominent Anglican bishop has joined the Catholic Church and will be ordained as a priest at the end of October.
Pope Francis appoints new master of papal liturgical ceremonies
By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis named Msgr. Diego Giovanni Ravelli, who has served as an official of the papal almoner's office since 2013, as the new master of papal liturgical ceremonies, the Vatican said.
Faith is not a transactional relationship with God, Pope Francis says at Angelus
VATICAN CITY -- People should ask themselves whether their faith has become a "commercial relationship" with God or if it is a relationship built on freedom, love and generosity, Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis will not attend climate summit in Glasgow
By Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis will not be going to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, as he had hoped.
Citing lack of evidence, Vatican court clears two priests in sex abuse case
By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY -- A Vatican court cleared two priests involved in a controversial sex abuse case at a minor seminary once located at the Vatican.
At embezzlement trial, lawyers 'surprised' by Vatican prosecution's request
By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY -- A request by Vatican prosecutors to withdraw testimony in a megatrial regarding financial malfeasance prompted defense lawyers to call for the case to be thrown out.
Pope Francis prays for victims of abuse in France
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY -- The Catholic Church's inability to make victims of abuse their top concern is a cause for intense shame, Pope Francis said.
Three Swiss Guards quit over vaccine mandate
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY -- Three members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard have hung up their halberds rather than be vaccinated against COVID-19, and three others were temporarily suspended in early October as they were completing the vaccination cycle, the spokesman for the guards told a Swiss newspaper.
Vatican to require vaccination proof or negative COVID-19 test
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY -- Visitors, tourists and employees who want to enter Vatican territory will be required beginning Oct. 1 to show proof of vaccination, recovery from the coronavirus or a negative COVID-19 test.
Pope Francis: Bishops must handle Communion debate as shepherds, not with censures
By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News ServiceABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM SLOVAKIA (CNS) -- The debate about denying Communion to politicians who support abortion must be handled in a pastoral way, not by public condemnations that seek to "excommunicate" Catholics who are not in line with church teaching, Pope Francis said.