News

Bishop in Nepal: Time is running out for victims of earthquake

"The biggest challenge now is the time factor. All of us have to rush to reach out to the victims. It's already too late," Bishop Simick told Catholic News Service April 30 after a five-hour trip to some of the worst-affected areas of Nepal's capital.

Local woman to attend Vatican seminar for coaches

Lee DelleMonache of Neumann University will participate at a Rome conference next week to discuss how coaches are important to the formation of athletes.

Canonization doesn’t mean Blessed Serra was perfect, experts say

Although he is a historian, not a theologian, Robert Senkewicz said: "My sense is that people are not canonized because they are perfect -- otherwise, presumably, St. Peter would never have been canonized.

Poor, marginalized to get VIP seating at Vatican charity concert

For an upcoming Vatican charity concert, Rome's immigrants, poor, elderly and marginalized will be getting front-row VIP treatment, while benefactors will be seated in the back.

Being Christian is service, not ‘makeup’ for a pretty soul, pope says

"To be Christian is to do what Jesus did -- serve," he said in a homily April 30 during Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Divided Christians honor martyrs by fidelity, seeking unity, pope says

The witness of modern martyrs, "victims of persecution and violence simply because of the faith they profess," is a bond among Christians that is stronger than anything still dividing them, the pope said.

Couple’s ancestors ministered to lepers, hanged for witchcraft

The roots of Jerry Nurss' family tree are tangled up in the infamous Salem witch trials. But his wife, Pat, shares her bloodline with a saint. The Oil City, Pennsylvania, couple -- who will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary in August -- quip that their disparate backgrounds have kept them together all these years.

Pope names new commission to implement reform of Vatican media

Pope Francis has set up a five-person committee -- which includes Irish Msgr. Paul Tighe -- to find ways to implement recommendations for streamlining and modernizing the Vatican's many communications structures.

Seeking a soul mate: Scientists, leaders pin hopes on pope’s encyclical

Even though previous popes have spoken strongly against harming the earth and its inhabitants, one world renowned atmospheric scientist said it is going to be Pope Francis "to save the day."

Today’s teaching on the family

See the daily excerpt from the preparatory catechesis for the 2015 World Meeting of Families, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.”