News
Pope confirms heads of Vatican curial agencies
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis confirmed the head of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and named among its new members Australian Cardinal George Pell, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, and Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin of Indianapolis.
Mass in desert to recall deaths, need for immigration reform
Cardinal Sean O'Malley will celebrate a Mass on the U.S.-Mexico border April 1 to commemorate the 6,000 migrants deaths in the desert since 1998. People at home are invited to take part and get involved with immigration reform.
St. Laurentius Church in danger of collapse, will be closed immediately
Cracks and deterioration of the brownstone facade of the church in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia mean it is unsafe for use and will be shut, according to the archdiocese.
Surprise: Pope leads by example, is first to go to confession
During a penitential liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica March 28, a priest showed Pope Francis which confessional the pope would be using to hear confessions. Pope Francis pointed to another confessional nearby, indicating that he himself was going to first confess.
Vatican to display Bibles on parchment, vellum and microchip
An exhibit of nearly 200 rare Biblical texts, including three fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls, an original copy of the King James Bible printed in 1611 and the microchip Bible that traveled to the moon and back on Apollo 14 in 1971, are on display for free at the Vatican April 2-June 22.
Box Obama gave pope points to history of U.S. Catholicism, says priest
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The use of wood from Baltimore's basilica to construct a "seed chest" President Barack Obama gave to Pope Francis March 27 points to the history of American Catholicism and Baltimore's role in it, said the rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Priest’s study of universe’s origins still guides modern-day cosmology
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The work of researchers who reported detecting the signal left behind by the rapid expansion of space billions of years ago is rooted in the efforts of a Belgian priest whose mathematical computations in the 1920s laid the groundwork for the Big Bang theory.
Blessed John Paul played major role in fall of Soviet communism
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholics venerate Blessed John Paul II for his holiness, as demonstrated, among other ways, by his globetrotting evangelism and long-suffering endurance in the papacy despite his illness.
Jordan transfers desert patch into new refugee camp for Syrians
AZRAQ, Jordan (CNS) -- This desolate dusty patch of desert near Jordan's borders with Syria and Iraq is soon to be home to the latest victims of Syria's three-year civil war.
Central African religious leaders hope to mend relations among citizens
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Quran, Islam's holy book, indicates that when a Muslim is in trouble, he should go to Christians, because they are also children of God, so Imam Omar Kobine Layama fled to the house of a Catholic archbishop.