Mobile app, film festival make September’s events more fun

Visitors coming to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families and papal visit can use a handy new app and enjoy 13 movies in a family-themed week-long series.

City mayors discuss promoting equality and the environment

At a Vatican meeting, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio asked why people are committed to outdated models of economic growth when that "model of development is slowly killing us."

‘We must recommit ourselves to end’ death penalty, say USCCB chairmen

"No matter how heinous the crime, if society can protect itself without ending a human life, it should do so. Today, we have this capability," wrote Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston and Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami.

Pray for those who persecute you

Only prayer, not the threat of law, can convert the hearts of people working at Planned Parenthood so that they rediscover their dignity, writes Bishop James Conley.

Two months and counting

The World Meeting of Families is a moment for new beginnings and a new spirit of hope, and it's coming soon, writes Archbishop Charles Chaput in his weekly column.

A papal call to action on the environment

The great Catholic tradition of social justice is at risk if Catholics fail to connect in the policy arena with all the social issues of our day, especially those related to the environment, writes Father William Byron.

Sisters, married to Christ, live as a family in cloisters

Nuns living a sequestered life of prayer among a small band of companions become a new family. We take a look at four communities in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, part of our Faithful Families series.

Priest says situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate

"Compared with a year ago, we're worse off. Although a truce stopped the war, the blockade of Gaza by Israel has grown more intense. This has direct consequences for the population," said Father Jorge Hernandez, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza City.

New Greensburg, Pa., bishop ready ‘to serve the Lord with gladness’

Bishop Edward C. Malesic was ordained and installed by Archbishop Chaput as Greensburg's fifth bishop July 13. The new bishop was a priest of the Harrisburg Diocese.

Jordan bank of river where Jesus baptized declared UNESCO heritage site

"The decision is logical. The Eastern side is where all the Byzantine antiquities and churches are located," said Franciscan Father Eugenio Alliata, professor of Christian archaeology at Jerusalem's Studium Biblicum Franciscanum.