World News
Doubts about faith should spur deeper study, prayer, pope says
Everyone experiences doubts about the faith at times -- "I have" many times, Pope Francis said -- but such doubts can be "a sign that we want to know God better and more deeply."
Upcoming U.N. talks to abolish nuclear weapons face uncertain future
The 123 nations that voted Oct. 27 for a resolution within the U.N. General Assembly committee that deals with international security matters to open the talks showcase a clear frustration with the slow pace of nuclear disarmament.
New quake, tsunami spotlight Japanese bishops’ anti-nuclear stance
A strong subsea earthquake triggered a tsunami alert along Japan's northeastern Pacific coast at dawn Nov. 22, sending residents running for high ground and unleashing a brief nuclear drama in an unwelcome reminder of the disaster in the same area five years ago.
Welcome to the club: Cardinal-elders talk about pope’s 80th birthday
Three years ago Pope Francis described retired Pope Benedict XVI as being like a wise grandfather, although there is less than 10 years' difference in their ages; today, Pope Francis tends to include himself in the category of grandfatherly figures.
Bishops of Rwanda ask forgiveness for Catholics’ role in 1994 genocide
In a letter to mark the end of the Year of Mercy, Rwanda's Catholic bishops asked forgiveness for Catholics' role in the genocide, in which more than 800,000 people -- mostly Tutsis -- were killed.
Threat of hell is real for not being faithful to God, pope says
"It will do us good to think about this: 'Well, what will that day be like when I am before Jesus? When he will ask me about the talents he gave me, what I did with them,'" the pope said Nov. 22 during morning Mass.
Pope chooses focus on Mary for upcoming WYD celebrations
The pope has highlighted the way the Mother of Jesus was always open to the Lord's will and has described her "as a role model to be imitated," said the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life in a press release Nov. 22.
St. Thomas More’s hair shirt now enshrined for public veneration
St. Thomas, a former lord chancellor of England, wore the shirt while he was incarcerated in the Bell Tower of the Tower of London while awaiting execution for opposing the Protestant reforms of King Henry VIII.
Media whip up ‘climate of fear’ against migrants, cardinal says
Cardinal Vincent Nichols said some British media were stirring up xenophobia, making it harder for humane solutions to be found to the refugee crisis in the Middle East and the crisis of mass migration from Africa.
Proclaim Christ the king of mercy, pope says at end of Holy Year
Following Christ the King, whose regal power is love and mercy, means the whole church and each Christian must "follow his way of tangible love," Pope Francis said.