News
On World Autism Day, remember love and affection, archbishop says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While the medical world makes technological advancements, it must not forget the power of love and affection in helping those with autism and their families, said Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski. “Faced with the problems and difficulties that these children and their parents encounter, the church proposes, with humility, an approach of service […]
Pope Francis tours excavated area near St. Peter’s tomb
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis became the first pope to tour the excavated necropolis where St. Peter is buried, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman. With explanations from the two directors of the necropolis, the pope walked down the central path between the mostly second-century burial chambers April 1, then went up a slight incline toward the tomb of Peter, which is directly under the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica.
Sister Julia Hare, S.H.C.J., dies at 100
Sister Julia Hare, who was a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus for 79 years, died of heart failure March 22 at Holy Child Center in Rosemont. She was 100. Born in Suffern, N.Y., Sister Julia graduated from Holy Child High School, Suffern, in 1929. She entered the Society of the Holy Child Jesus in […]
Sister Miriam Vincent Jafolla, I.H.M., longtime teacher, dies at 91
Sister Miriam Vincent, I.H.M., formerly Madeline Agnes Jaffola, died recently at Camilla Hall, Immaculata, in the 73rd year of her religious life. She was 91 years old. Born in Philadelphia, Sister Miriam entered the Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1939 from St. Joachim Parish in Philadelphia, and professed […]
At Chrism Mass, Archbishop Chaput warns Archdiocese of dangers, calls for renewal
Archbishop Charles Chaput said he thought about Philadelphia when he heard Pope Francis say when the Church does not come out from itself and evangelize, it becomes self-referential and sick. “Perhaps the humiliation that we have experienced in the last several years has been in some way God calling us out of that worldly Church to be a humbler Church and be once again an evangelizing Church,” the Archbishop said. There has to be some grace from the humiliation and pain the Church has experienced, he suggested, “a grace that calls us to holiness; a grace that calls us to renewal.”
Same-sex marriage cases may not provide game-changing rules
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As Georgetown University law professor Michael Gottesman put it, the people who lined up outside the Supreme Court for days to be able to watch a legal argument about the validity of same-sex marriage must have been surprised to find half the court's time devoted to debating legal standing, jurisdiction and states' rights versus federalism. Gottesman opened a March 27 panel discussion at the Georgetown Law Center about oral arguments in two cases related to same-sex marriage heard at the court that day and March 26 by observing that both cases may well be decided over legal questions unrelated to marriage.
Choice of Vatican secretary of state seen as key to curia reform
As Pope Francis moves beyond words and gestures to the stage of substantive actions, no decision he makes will be of greater consequence for reform of the church's bureaucracy than his choice of a secretary of state, the Vatican's highest official, who oversees both the internal affairs of the Holy See and its relations with 180 other states.
British Catholic legislators ask pope to relax priestly celibacy rule
MANCHESTER, England (CNS) — Twenty-one Catholic members of Parliament have written to Pope Francis to ask him to relax the rule on priestly celibacy for Latin-rite priests. The members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords said in a March 25 letter to the pope that the rule should be changed to […]
Pope urges Catholics to let grace transform, work through them
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholics must allow the grace of their baptism and of the Eucharist to transform their lives and make them instruments of God's grace in the world, Pope Francis said.
At Easter pope calls Christians to be channels of mercy, justice, peace
"Let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish," the pope said after celebrating Easter morning Mass March 31.