Q. The parish I have attended for the last 30 years was recently assigned a new pastor. He puts great emphasis on collecting money, even though it is already a wealthy parish with generous parishioners, and he has started many new cash-generating practices.        ...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis condemned the "absurd violence" being used against Christians in several countries and called on people of good will everywhere to take up the cause of religious freedom. At the end of his general audience Nov. 12, Pope Francis asked the estimated 15,000 people in...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- On a day when Americans are given the opportunity to exercise a right that people in other parts of the world are still fighting for, many of them have chosen, and continue to choose, not to vote.   Though this may appear to indicate a sense of apathy among the U.S. public,...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis, who has called the Catholic Church to go out to the peripheries and who described himself as coming from "the end of the earth," will visit the heart of European secular and economic power: the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. For the Polish St. Joh...
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ATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The world's bishops are called to be servants and shepherds who use their position to care for people and the faith, not to seek power and boost their pride, Pope Francis said. The church has no place for men with a "worldly mentality" who are seeking a career, he said at his w...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- This summer, as the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S. border from Central America skyrocketed, their plight was a top story stirring concern, promises of government action and plenty of finger pointing about what should happen. Months later, overall attention on t...
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Q. At a family discussion, the following question came up: Can anyone other than a priest or deacon do a Catholic blessing? (Baltimore) A. As your question would suggest, aside from certain blessings reserved to a bishop (e.g., the consecration of the sacramental oils at the chrism Mass during Holy...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Since the end of the Oct. 5-19 Synod of Bishops on the family, news outlets have portrayed the outcome as a "setback" or "loss" for Pope Francis -- even a "rebuke" to him. Journalists have pointed to the absence, in the synod's final report, of an earlier version's strikingly...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The way Christians behave can either help and inspire others, or turn them away from ever following Jesus, Pope Francis said. "How many times we've heard in our neighborhoods, 'Oh that person over there always goes to church, but he badmouths everyone, skins them alive.' What...
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Q. I am a practicing Catholic. A female friend of mine who was baptized Catholic and her live-in boyfriend (of 25 years) decided to get married by a justice of the peace. My friend attends a Christian non-denominational church; the boyfriend does not attend any religious services. (He has been on d...
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