News

Kenya expects 100,000 at beatification of WWI-era nun

Kenyan officials are expecting more than 100,000 people at the May 23 beatification of Sister Irene Stefani, an Italian member of the Consolata Missionary Sisters who cared for wounded and sick soldiers in Kenya and Tanzania during World War I.

Virginia bishops urge Catholics to shift focus of death penalty debate

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond and Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington said it was time to shift the conversation from who should be executed and how to execute people to why the death penalty continues to be applied, especially when other means to protect society without taking a human life exist.

Pope thanks Mali’s Christians and Muslims for preserving harmony

The commitment to dialogue and harmony demonstrated by Mali's tiny Christian minority and most members of its Muslim majority ensured the protection of the country's cultural treasures, including the ancient Timbuktu manuscripts, Pope Francis said.

Pope: Love of sports doesn’t mean ‘timeout’ from church, friends, poor

Never let practice and competition get in the way of going to Mass, studying for school, being with friends and helping the poor, Pope Francis told an Italian sports association.

Europe needs Christians to speak with one voice, pope says

Only "looking together toward the Lord Jesus Christ," he said, will Christians "find common responses to the questions modern society is asking us."

Cardinal visits northern Iraq to convey pope’s concern for displaced

The head of the Vatican's Congregation for Eastern Churches visited Iraq to convey Pope Francis' blessing and concern for church officials and the displaced living and working in difficult circumstances.

Lawsuit seeks HHS records on abortion access for unaccompanied children

The American Civil Liberties Union wants the Department of Health and Human Services to provide records related to government policies on abortion and contraception access for unaccompanied and refugee children.

South Georgia spiritual refuge helps women overcome addictions

Struggling with alcoholism, Regina knew she had to get "re-centered" with God to help with her addiction.

In person or with radio, Italian nun accompanies South Sudan’s displaced

When the shooting stops, it's eerily silent in Malakal. The quarter million people who once lived here have dispersed to other cities or countries, or to the nearby U.N. base where they live behind barbed wire and heavily armed blue-helmeted soldiers, or to simply living in the bush, trying to stay out of the path of the several armed groups ravaging the countryside.

Not enough to love Francis, must live his teachings, says archbishop

Wake up and take action; Pope Francis makes this call in "The Joy of the Gospel," but it seems people "are still sleeping, caught up in a million secondary things," said Archbishop Victor Fernandez.