World News
Vatican unveils logo, prayer, details of Holy Year of Mercy
The Holy Year of Mercy will be an opportunity to encourage Christians to meet people's "real needs" with concrete assistance, to experience a "true pilgrimage" on foot, and to send "missionaries of mercy" throughout the world to forgive even the most serious of sins, said Archbishop Rino Fisichella.
Pope suggests ‘Divine Comedy’ as important reading for Year of Mercy
Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" is more than a literary masterpiece, it is an invitation "to rediscover the lost or obscured meaning of our human path and to hope to see again the glowing horizon on which the dignity of the human person shines in its fullness," Pope Francis said.
After quake, sister felt thwarted by rules, lack of relief coordination
The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth were among 15 women religious congregations, most of them based in India, engaged in various ministries in Nepal. They all survived the magnitude 7.8-quake and have joined relief work.
Week after quake, trucks of aid begin reaching remote areas of Nepal
"I am glad that much-needed aid is finally beginning to reach remote areas," Greg Auberry, Catholic Relief Services' regional director for East and South Asia, told Catholic News Service May 4.
Issues of marriage, sexuality should not threaten ecumenism, says pope
The dignity of human life, family, marriage and sexuality are "urgent" issues that "cannot be silenced or ignored for fear" of threatening ecumenical achievements, said Pope Francis during an audience with Archbishop Antje Jackelen of Uppsala, Sweden.
Catholic aid groups urge more humanitarian response to migrant crisis
As the European Union announced tough measures to curb the flow of migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean Sea, Catholic aid groups urged a more humanitarian response.
Pope begins parish visit at amusement park
Before celebrating Mass in a parish in Ostia, Rome's seaside community, Pope Francis stopped to see two Little Sisters of Jesus who live in a trailer at an amusement park, sharing their lives and faith with the carnival workers.
Canonizing Blessed Serra is call to new evangelization, speakers say
Defining Blessed Junipero Serra as a "working-class missionary," Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez said the 18th-century Franciscan deserves to be made a saint and to have his record as a defender of native peoples made known.
Protect the earth, feed the hungry, pope says at Expo 2015 opening
In a live video address to the opening ceremony of Expo 2015 in Milan, the pope urged fair-goers and organizers to show real concern for the poor and to undertake concrete efforts to promote solidarity.
When it comes to scheduling, pope says he’s definitely not infallible
Holding a European-wide gathering in Rome, Cursillo members were scheduled to meet Pope Francis May 1, but instead he had them join him at the Vatican the evening of April 30.