BEIRUT (CNS) -- The pilgrimage of the icon of the Holy Family of Divine Will of Unity and Peace has begun. The icon, written by Melkite Father Samir Rouhana of St. Elias Parish near Haifa, Israel, will be in Lebanon for a month.
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HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (CNS) -- Thirty sisters of the Da Lat Lovers of the Holy Cross hurriedly prepared and cooked rice, fish, meat and vegetables, packing meals in foam boxes at the kitchen in their day care center.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Now that giant cruise ships are banned from fragile waterways near the historic center of Venice, the time has come for the city to become a model of sustainability and supportive of its residents, said Archbishop Francesco Moraglia of Venice.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis asked young people meeting at the Medjugorje Marian shrine to follow Mary's example in wholeheartedly accepting God's will, bringing Christ to the world and being attentive to the needs of others.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- People should seek Jesus out of genuine love, not calculated self-interest, Pope Francis said. "Why do I seek the Lord? What are the motivations for my faith, for our faith?" the pope asked Aug. 1 during his Sunday Angelus address.
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ROME (CNS) -- Proof of vaccination will not be required for people going to Mass in Italy, but will be necessary for access to church-run museums, conferences and for wedding receptions and other festivities held in a church hall, the Italian bishops' conference said.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- French Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, a well-known New Testament scholar and the world's oldest cardinal, died in Rome July 29, just five days after celebrating his 98th birthday. In a message of condolence, Pope Francis praised the cardinal as "a zealous religious, spiritual son of St. Ignatius, expert teacher, authoritative biblical scholar, esteemed rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, (and) diligent and wise collaborator of several dicasteries of the Roman Curia."
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Spain's Catholic bishops warned of growing division and tension in their country over government attempts to "deconstruct and dismantle the Christian worldview." "We are in a difficult moment, not only because of COVID-19, but because we are convulsed by a deep institutional crisis, with some groups seeking to open a new constitutional phase and replace a political framework that has given Spain great stability," the bishops' conference said.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- On the first day of his trial at the Vatican, Cardinal Angelo Becciu turned to members of the press behind him to comment on the grueling seven-hour hearing. "I am serene, I feel calm in my conscience, I have faith that the judges will know well the facts, and my great hope is that certainty they will recognize my innocence," Cardinal Becciu said July 27 after the hearing concluded.
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TOKYO (CNS) -- Catholic bishops in Japan called for the prohibition of nuclear weapons as they announced a 10-day prayer program marking the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. "Protecting all life makes peace," said the message from Archbishop Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan, announcing the prayer program that will run Aug. 6-15.
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TOKYO (CNS) -- Hidilyn Diaz became the Philippines' first Olympic gold medal winner, set an Olympic record -- and thanked her friends who prayed the Miraculous Medal novena. In a virtual news conference, the 30-year-old said she also prayed the novena and wore the medal.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Older people are not "leftovers" to be discarded; rather, they continue to be precious nourishment for families, young people and communities, Pope Francis said in the homily he wrote for the Mass marking the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As thousands of athletes gathered for the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Pope Francis gave them his blessing and extended it to those organizing and supporting the events. "In this time of pandemic, may these Games be a sign of hope, a sign of universal brotherhood marked by a healthy spirit of competition," he said July 25, after praying the Angelus at the Vatican. He also tweeted the same message that day with the hashtag "Tokyo2020."
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican reported the Roman Curia had a $78 million deficit in 2020, and on the same day, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, which administers Vatican properties and investments, made a summary of its annual budget public for the first time.
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MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- Venezuela's president has accused Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, of unduly meddling in national affairs after the cardinal sent a letter to private business leaders, calling for serious negotiations to resolve the ongoing crisis in the South American country.
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OXFORD, England (CNS) -- A community of Benedictine monks has vowed to continue ministering at a Spanish civil war memorial marked by a 460-foot cross despite a bill pending in parliament that would ban expressions of support for Gen. Francisco Franco's 20th-century dictatorship.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Nearly two years after the conclusion of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, the Catholic Church in the region must implement the recommendations made, said Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, president of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon.
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ROME (CNS) -- Talitha Kum, the global network of women religious who advocate for and help victims of human trafficking, have launched a campaign to rally forces "to create long-term, sustainable change to dismantle the systems that enable oppression and exploitation."
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MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- Lawmakers in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz approved a bill decriminalizing abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It was the second such decriminalization measure approved in Mexico in barely two weeks.
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BHOPAL, India (CNS) -- Indian Jesuits in Afghanistan are not sure what is in store for them as the strife-torn nation slips into conflict as the United States winds down operations after almost 20 years of war.
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NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) -- With violence rising and a government crackdown against dissidents continuing, Zambia's Catholic bishops have called for peaceful and fair elections as voters prepare to go to the polls Aug. 12.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Highlighting the importance and gifts of older people has been a constant refrain throughout Pope Francis' ministry. So it seemed only a matter of time before the pope would establish the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which was to be July 25. It comes after he created the World Day of the Poor several years ago, showing how the pope considers these world days to be a powerful and universal reminder to the faithful to rediscover or strengthen their service to and relationships with the forgotten or discarded members of the human family.
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MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis sent a letter of encouragement to residents of a Mexican diocese afflicted by battling drug cartels, a conflict that has cast attention on the lawlessness covering wide swaths of Mexico and the government's inability to pacify the country.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican released the names of members of two commissions charged with assisting the leaders of the Synod of Bishops' general secretariat in reviewing documents, drafting resources and developing best practices.
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BRUSSELS (CNS) -- European bishops called on the European Union to do more to protect religious freedom in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of efforts to strengthen the bloc's role as a "global humanitarian, development, economic and peace actor."
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Rome Newsroom, Jul 20, 2021 / 04:40 am (CNA). A request has been made to open the beatification cause of Carmen Hernández, co-founder of the Neocatechumenal Way, who died five years ago at the age of 85.
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BEIRUT (CNS) -- Cardinal Bechara Rai, the Maronite patriarch, pleaded for the intercession of Lebanon's beloved St. Charbel Makhlouf as the beleaguered country spirals deeper into collapse, further roiled by the resignation of the prime minister-designate.
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SYDNEY (CNS) -- When Australia's national customs and border law enforcement agency uploaded a Catholic document to a federal government registry monitoring modern-day slavery at the end of June, it was a significant development in efforts to end worker exploitation.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis expressed his gratitude to the medical staff at Rome's Gemelli hospital after his recovery from intestinal surgery. "Upon returning from my hospitalization, I feel the need to send a grateful and affectionate thought to you and, through you, to all those who form the great Gemelli hospital family," the pope said in a letter to Carlo Fratta Pasini, chairman of the hospital's board of directors.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The renewal of the Franciscan order must start, like the order itself did, from being with and learning to really see poor and marginalized people as an "almost sacramental sign of God's presence," Pope Francis told members of the general chapter of the Order of Friars Minor.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Here is the Vatican's official English translation of the letter Pope Francis sent July 16 to the world's bishops explaining his decision to restore some limits on the celebration of the Latin-rite Mass according to the pre-Vatican II Missal:
Read moreVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Here is the Vatican's official English translation of "'Traditionis Custodes' on the Use of the Roman Liturgy Prior to the Reform of 1970," an apostolic letter issued by Pope Francis "motu proprio" July 16:
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BOGOTÁ, Colombia (CNS) -- The Cuban bishops' conference called on the island's government and protesters to "listen to each other" and avoid violence as the country reels from demonstrations sparked by food shortages, power outages and worsening economic conditions.
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SYDNEY (CNS) -- With the majority of Australia's most populous state in lockdown as it grapples with an outbreak of the delta variant of the coronavirus, a Catholic social services official called for vaccines to be made mandatory for those working in disability care.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite initial estimates of requiring a week of inpatient care, Pope Francis will continue his recovery as a patient at Rome's Gemelli hospital after undergoing colon surgery, the Vatican press office said.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pilgrims and well-wishers gathered at Rome's Gemelli hospital to greet Pope Francis as he made his first public appearance in a week after undergoing intestinal surgery. Appearing on the 10th floor balcony of his suite of rooms at the hospital July 11, the pope was greeted with applause and shouts of "Viva il papa" ("Long live the pope") from the crowd that stood under the scorching midday sun to see him.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The South Korean archbishop who was recently appointed prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Clergy said that while a papal visit to North Korea seems very unlikely, it could be just the outside intervention needed to overcome the stalemate dividing the Korean Peninsula.
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Bishop Alphonse Quesnel of Fort Liberté, Haiti, said the Haitian church was "stunned" by the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. "We bishops must not only call for calm, but also for all Haitians to sit down together, change the way they look at each other, and seek together the way forward," the bishop told Vatican News hours after the Haitian president was gunned down by unknown assailants in the bedroom of his residence early July 7. His wife, Martine Moïse, was injured in the attack. The Associated Press reported she was in stable condition.
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Spain's bishops have criticized recent government initiatives on issues from euthanasia to LGBT rights. In late June, Spain began enforcing a new law regulating euthanasia. The law allows a family member or doctor to sign a euthanasia petition for an incapacitated patient and applies to Spanish citizens medically proven to be facing incurable illness; they must be killed within 40 days of a certified request.
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ROME (CNS) -- As a worldwide religious order, Franciscan friars need to find new and better ways to welcome the diversity of their members and allow it to challenge the ways they live the Gospel in the world, said Father Michael Perry, the order's minister general.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The organization of the universal Catholic Church has a precise hierarchy, but there is no such thing as a "vice pope," who steps in when the reigning pontiff is traveling abroad, ill or under anesthesia.
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MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- English and Welsh Catholic bishops expressed relief after members of the House of Commons withdrew proposals to legalize abortion on demand up to birth and to make it a crime to protest outside an abortion clinic.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The second morning after undergoing colon surgery, Pope Francis was continuing to recover well and, after a restful night, he had breakfast, read the newspapers and got out of bed to walk, the Vatican press office said July 6.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The morning after undergoing colon surgery, Pope Francis was in "good general condition, alert and breathing spontaneously," the Vatican press office said July 5. "The surgery for diverticular stenosis performed the evening of July 4 involved a left hemicolectomy and lasted about 3 hours," the statement said. "A stay of about seven days is expected, barring complications."
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