World News
As economic crisis drags on, Venezuelan nuns forced to turn away elderly
As Venezuela's unprecedented economic crisis drags on for a fifth year, the four sisters who run the nursing home face a heartbreaking dilemma: record demand, but record-low resources.
Vatican announces consistory to approve canonizations
The May 19 consistory, which the Vatican announced April 11, will most likely confirm the canonization dates of Blesseds Paul VI and Oscar Romero.
Door to door: Pope reaffirms missionaries’ mandate to knock on hearts
As a sign that God's mercy cannot be limited, Pope Francis has recommissioned his special army of priests charged with bringing that divine mercy to everyone.
Baptism opens door to Holy Spirit’s action, pope says
Parents who prefer not to baptize their children in the hopes that they will "understand and ask for baptism" as adults lack faith that the Holy Spirit will act in their child's life, Pope Francis said.
Catholic priest in Congo shot dead; kidnapped priest released, unharmed
Father Emmanuel Kapitula, vicar of the parish in Kitchanga, said an armed man entered the room where Father Nsengiunva was eating with parishioners.
Repentant sinners need merciful confessors, not inquisitors, pope says
Priests must give hope to men and women seeking forgiveness, encouraging them in their struggle away from the slippery slope of sin, Pope Francis said.
Sweden’s Lutherans to allow Catholic Masses in cathedral
For the first time in 500 years, Lutherans are welcoming Catholics to celebrate Masses in a historic cathedral that had been the site of bitter religious feuding, thanks to Pope Francis' visit to Sweden in 2016.
With new document, pope shows holiness is for everyone, speakers say
"The pope wants to tell us that holiness is not something else apart from our everyday life, but it is exactly our ordinary existence lived in an extraordinary way," said Archbishop Angelo De Donatis, the papal vicar.
St. Grandma? Pope cites the famous and the ‘saint next door’
"A great cloud of witnesses," he said, encourages each Christian to take steps toward holiness. "These witnesses may include our own mothers, grandmothers or other loved ones," he wrote.
The devil is a real threat to Christian life, not a myth, pope says
The path to holiness does not involve wrestling with some abstract boogeyman, but involves a "constant struggle against the devil, the prince of evil," Pope Francis said.