World News
Pope says prostitution, pornography threaten human dignity of women
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to prostitution and pornography, saying the practices denigrate women and represent “a serious lack of humanity.”
Vatican partners with company to discuss stem-cell research
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — New biotechnologies raise questions in the fields of medicine, economics, ethics and philosophy, and the Vatican plans to look at all of them during a three-day conference devoted to adult stem-cell research, officials said.
Physicists, cosmologists meet at Vatican to discuss nature of universe
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — World-renown physicists, who study everything from imperceptible particles to the expanding cosmos, came together for a Vatican-sponsored conference on the “new frontier of physics” — the sub-nuclear world of electrons, hadrons and neutrinos.
Day of the Dead takes on new meaning amid violence in Mexico
TEPOZTLAN, Mexico (CNS) — “Dia de los Muertos,” the traditional Mexican commemoration of deceased loved ones, has taken on a deeper meaning in light of drug-related violence in recent years. Drug-related killings have been on the rise since 2006, surpassing 15,000 in 2010, according to a study commissioned by the Trans-Border Institute at the University […]
Among Assisi participants, a sense of deeper crisis in modern society
ASSISI, Italy (CNS) — A common thread ran through many of the speeches and invocations of this year’s “prayer for peace” encounter in Assisi: the uneasy sense that the world is facing not merely conflicts and wars, but a much broader crisis that affects social and cultural life in every country. Environmental damage, the rich-poor […]
Pope announces ‘Year of Faith’ to help renew missionary energy
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI announced a special “Year of Faith” to help Catholics appreciate the gift of faith, deepen their relationship with God and strengthen their commitment to sharing faith with others. Celebrating Mass Oct. 16 with participants in a Vatican conference on new evangelization, the Pope said the Year of Faith […]
CALL document answers Pope’s call to make societies, economies more just
A group of U.S. Catholic Latino business leaders presented Vatican officials detailed reflections on how laypeople can fulfill Pope Benedict XVI's call to make today's societies and economies more just.
Vatican calls for improved medical care to combat maternal deaths
Scientifically, and not just morally, the best way to prevent maternal deaths is to improve the medical care offered to pregnant women, not divert needed resources into promoting contraception and abortion, a Vatican official said.
Late Vatican nuncio to U.S. remembered at memorial liturgy at National Shrine
Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the late Vatican nuncio to the United States, "viewed his diplomatic vocation, as an ambassador of the vicar of the crucified one, as an extension of the invitation to mercy, reconciliation, unity, peace and life inherent in the Triumph of the Cross," Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York said Sept. 14.
Vatican gives traditionalists doctrinal statement to sign
The Vatican has given the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X a formal "doctrinal preamble" listing several principles they must agree with in order to move toward full reconciliation with Church. U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave the statement to Bishop Bernard Fellay, head of the society, Sept. 14 during a meeting at the Vatican that lasted more than two hours.