In an address before the United Nations Office in Nairobi Thursday, Pope Francis reiterated his environmental message, declaring that it would be “sad, and I dare say even catastrophic,” were particular interests to prevail over the common good at the
A Spanish artist has provoked outrage after stealing 242 consecrated communion wafers and using them to spell out the word “pederasty” in a piece of modern art. Over 100,000 people have now signed a petition demanding Abel Azcona’s piece “Amen”
We need a summit with world leaders, both political and religious, televised for all to watch. The topic is crucial. It’s not global warming. It’s Islam. The summit must establish a universal and coherent reformation of the principles of Islam in the 21st century, while at the same time denouncing the violent strain of radical Islam.
In a strongly worded homily, Pope Francis is calling Christmas a “sham” in the face of recent terrorist attacks and wars.
After initial investigations into the theft and dissemination of confidential documents of the Holy See, resulting in the arrests of Msgr. Lucio Vallejo Balda and Francesca Immaculate Chaouqui, a Vatican magistrate has indicted them and three others.
Pulling no punches, Pope Francis laid out statistic after statistic before a group of German bishops, and wondered aloud why the Church in Germany is in freefall.
As Vietnam prepares to enact new legislation that will seriously curb religious freedom, police have begun cracking down on Christians, especially those most vocal about their faith. In a period of just ten days, police twice assaulted Christian student activist Chu Manh Son and Catholic journalist Tran Minh Nhat, each of whom had previously served prison terms for denouncing Vietnam’s human rights violations.
From the outset of his pontificate, Pope Francis has predicted that he would have a short reign, and now a leading Vatican watcher has profiled a series of likely candidates to take his place when the time comes.
Liberal Catholic media are trying to push the U.S. bishops to amend their election guidelines to focus more on care for the poor and immigration than issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion and religious liberty.
Pope Francis continued his meditations on the end of the world, preaching Tuesday morning on “how to behave in the face of persecution” and urging his hearers to defend their Christian identity at all costs.
Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin has acknowledged that the Vatican “could be a target” of Islamist attacks “because of its religious significance,” but insisted that “we will not let ourselves be paralyzed with fear.”
In an unusually blunt statement, the President of Italy’s Conference of Catholic Bishops (CEI) has called on Muslims to completely disassociate themselves from the Islamic State by categorically condemning it. In an interview Sunday, the Archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal Angelo
Two days after the horrendous jihadist attacks in Paris, Pope Francis preached about the “end times,” encouraging his hearers to be vigilant and ready at any moment to meet God face to face. In his Angelus message Sunday, the Pope invited
In a video message to the participants in a meeting of alumni of Jesuit Institutions, Pope Francis asked his listeners whether they still had “Jesuit virus” or if they no longer bore the distinctive characteristics of a Jesuit education.
Where there is no family meal together, there is no family, Pope Francis told the thousands gathered in Saint Peter’s Square Wednesday, urging his hearers to put away their cell phones and protect family dinners as a precious way to bind the family together.
While celebrating the ordination of a new bishop, Pope Francis encouraged priests to use simple words in their preaching and to shorten their sermons at Sunday Mass. “Preach the Word in season and out of season,” Francis said, but use “simple words that everyone can understand” and avoid “long sermons.”
In his Sunday midday Angelus message, Pope Francis came down hard on those involved in leaking confidential Vatican documents to the press, saying that many people had been upset by the news.
The Pope’s health is always a question—especially when dealing with a 78-year-old pontiff with a history of serious health issues—and tripping on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica Saturday has added more grist to the rumor mill.
In a stunning interview, the Maronite patriarch of Antioch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, has contended that Islam has a clear, two-pronged strategy to take over Europe: religion and procreation. The cardinal said that Muslims look on Christians as weak and
Former Scientologist and King of Queens star Leah Remini said she has found “amazing” comfort in returning to the Catholic Church after leaving Scientology two years ago, contrasting Scientology’s abusive policies with Christianity.
Two former members of the economic commission entrusted with overseeing the reform of the Vatican Bank are charged with handing over confidential documents in what is being called Act 2 of the Vatileaks scandal.
On Sunday afternoon, Pope Francis traveled to Rome’s largest cemetery to celebrate Mass and pray for the “faithful departed,” an ancient Christian custom associated principally with All Saints Day (Nov 1) and All Souls Day (Nov 2).
In his Angelus message on the Christian feast of All Saints, the Pope said to the large crowd assembled in the sunny Saint Peter’s Square: “we experience in a particularly vivid way the reality of the communion of saints, our extended family, made up of all members of the Church, both those who are still pilgrims on earth, and those—immensely more—who have already departed for heaven.”
A growing trend among Christian families is dressing children as saints for Halloween, rather than as ghouls or witches, to take back the celebration of the “Hallowed Eve” of the Feast of all Saints.
Pope Francis says direct attacks on Jews are not the only form of anti-Semitism, but that attacks on the State of Israel and its right to exist are also anti-Semitism.
