National News
On climate issue, Catholics urged to ‘feel pain of the planet, of the poor’
The pope's right-hand man on environmental issues called for relying on Christian spirituality and "major shifts in thinking" to change lifestyles and economic management in order to preserve all of God's creation.
Knights of Columbus join push for Middle East genocide petition
Mass murders and deportations, torture, forcible conversions to Islam, the sexual enslavement and rape of girls and women, and destruction of Christian churches all are evidence of genocide, say U.S. Christians.
The martyr from Oklahoma
Father Stanley Rother left the Midwest to minister in rural Guatemala. The violence of the 1980s that claimed his life still resonates today, but so does his heroic witness, writes Effie Caldarola.
New senior housing sought for site at St. Rita Shrine
The joint project of archdiocesan Catholic Health Care Services and the National Shrine of St. Rita would develop income-eligible housing for seniors in South Philadelphia. It would be the latest in several such Catholic-led projects.
‘24 Hours for the Lord’ calls for all churches to stay open March 4-5
Responding to Pope Francis' initiative to focus on the mercy of God, Catholic churches around the world will offer eucharistic adoration and confessions for 24 hours. See details and a map of participating parishes in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
Quebec sexual abuse victims settle class action for $21.6 million
About 150 former pupils and boarders of the former Montreal Institute for the Deaf who were sexually abused between 1940 and 1982 will share US$21.6 million after their class action was settled.
Little Sisters of the Poor are the public face of fight against HHS mandate
The Little Sisters and other plaintiffs, in a case the Supreme Court will hear March 23, cite a 1993 religious freedom law to argue the HHS mandate amounts to an undue burden on their free exercise of religion.
Use wealth, power for common good, not to exploit others, pope says
When power loses that sense of service, it "turns into arrogance and becomes control and subjugation," he said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square Feb. 24.
Plan to close detention center leaves unanswered questions for advocates
As President Barack Obama offered a long-awaited plan to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, organizations advocating for the closure welcomed the news and called for an end of the policy of holding remaining detainees without charges.
Ministry in Aleppo is about keeping hope alive, priests say
Even in the midst of constant bombing, Jesuit and Salesian priests remain in war-torn Aleppo, Syria, trying to create a sense of normalcy for those unable to leave.