VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In their task of leading people to the light of Christ, bishops must have the courage to face opposition and peacefully stand firm in the truth, Pope Benedict XVI said. Meeting the approval of the wider public "is not the criterion to which we submit. Our criterion is the Lord...
Read full story »

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As Notre Dame prepared to play Alabama Jan. 7 in college football's Bowl Championship Series title game, it seemed like the clash of the titans. Alabama has won nine titles -- at least, first-place rankings in the polls -- since the "bowl era" began in the 1930s. Notre Dame has...
Read full story »

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Fortunetelling, like all occult practices, is strictly taboo at the Vatican; and prophecy is a rare gift among journalists. But Pope Benedict XVI's calendar for 2013 is already filling up with planned, probable or possible events. Here are 10 to watch for in the news during th...
Read full story »

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The sounds of a woman chanting in a side chapel blended with the less traditional hum of a hydraulic lift one recent morning in St. Peter's Basilica. Pilgrims were pressed against a barricade pointing cameras at workmen strapped in climbing harnesses, teetering atop the baldac...
Read full story »

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As momentum builds to implement new limits on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips, the Catholic bishops of the United States remain focused on seeking "reasonable restrictions" on gun ownership without infringing upon Second Amendment rights. "The bishops continue...
Read full story »

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged people to think seriously about their faith at Christmas, and he urged them to recognize the connection between believing in God and helping others through acts of charity and by praying and working for peace. The birth of Jesus is a source of hope for...
Read full story »

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- The simmering smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in Catholic parishes across the West Bank and Israel heralds the start of the Christmas season in early December as families prepare burbara, the special wheat pudding eaten to mark the feast day of St. Barbara, known as Eid El-B...
Read full story »

            Beginning later this month and continuing throughout 2013, all dioceses and archdioceses throughout the country - as a sign of solidarity – will participate in a special “Call to Prayer for Life, Marriage and Religious L...
Read full story »

NEWTOWN, Conn. (CNS) -- As law enforcement officers tried to piece together the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and seven adults dead, priests from nearby parishes rushed to the scene to comfort families and staff. According to early reports, a man with multip...
Read full story »

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- For the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., 2012 brought glimmers of hope that there might soon be a way to clear up their unsettled legal status. After nearly two decades of stymied efforts to fix what is widely acknowledged to be a broken U.S. immigration...
Read full story »