World News
Vatican upholds bishop’s refusal to allow transsexual to be godparent
The church teaches that sponsors must live a life of faith that is in keeping with their function as someone who must "seriously assume" responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the grace given at baptism, he said in the statement that was published on the diocese's web site Sept. 1.
Marriage is forever: Pope’s reform requires proof union was invalid
While the pope urges that the Church's annulment process be streamlined, and the administration costs waived when possible, he still insists that proof must be offered that the sacrament of marriage was not valid. A debate over the suggested "penitential" process for divorced and remarried Catholics is pending.
Pope: Priests lacking mercy shouldn’t hear confession; get desk job
Pope Francis calls on priests who hear confessions to remember Jesus's gentle and merciful treatment of sinners. He warns that even clergy must reign in their own temperaments when administering the sacrament of penance..
Priest offers Mass daily at destroyed West Bank olive orchards
Since hundreds of olive trees were uprooted to make room for a separation barrier through the Cremisan Valley adjacent to this largely Christian village, Father Aktham Hijazin, Annunciation Parish priest, has been celebrating Mass daily behind red-and-white police tape.
Parishes must be like a welcoming family, not private club, pope says
"Churches, parishes, institutions with closed doors must not call themselves a church; they must call themselves museums," he said to applause during his general audience in St. Peter's Square Sept. 9.
Israel’s Christian students demonstrate against cuts in school budgets
Chanting slogans, waving banners and signs, and pounding on metal barriers, high school students who have not yet started classes, took the front row in the demonstration.
Protests, prayer provoke change in Guatemalan government
"Please rid us of this corruption and the leaders who have taken us down the wrong paths," prayed Father Hugo Estrada, Mass celebrant. "We ask that you be with this great nation of Guatemala."
Images, heart, faith come together in refugee response, Jesuits say
For eight years, Jesuit Father Peter Balleis has captured the beauty, the determination and the exhaustion in the faces of the migrants and refugees he has met around the world as international director of Jesuit Refugee Service.
Pope calls on Europe’s parishes to take in refugees
Given the ongoing crisis of people fleeing from war and poverty, Pope Francis asked every parish and religious community in Europe to take in one family of refugees as a sign of God's mercy.
Divorced Catholics will face simpler, cheaper annulments
Pope Francis rewrote Canon Law to minister to people who feel alienated from the church and the complexity of the annulment process. The changes go into effect Dec. 8. The Philadelphia Archdiocese has responded to the news.