WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When fast-food workers across the country walked off their jobs demanding higher wages Dec. 5, their actions should have caught the attention of the nation's Catholics, say those who stress that the call for a living wage echoes long-standing Catholic social teaching. Christine...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis accepted a proposal to set up a special commission on the sexual abuse of children, which will advise him on ways to prevent abuse and provide pastoral care for victims and their families. Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston, a member of the pope's advisory Counci...
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  With a thundering roar, Lucas Oil Stadium comes alive. Some live nearby; others travelled far. Some have dark skin; others are pale. Some stand tall; others are short. And the aged stand next to those who haven’t seen much of the world.   So many different faces, so many different...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When the Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization met at the Vatican in October 2012, among the top items on the agenda was the threat of militant secularism in a post-Christian West. "It is as if a tsunami of secular influence has swept across the cultural landscape, taking...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With an estimated 6.5 million Syrians -- one-third of the country's population -- displaced from their homes, aid agencies are scrambling to meet needs that go beyond traditional emergency assistance. T. Alexander Aleinikoff, the deputy high commissioner for the U.N. High Commis...
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  ST. LEO, Kan. (CNS) -- Mary Ford had no idea what she had gotten herself into. But after seeing a newborn goat struggle to stay alive near its mother, she knew she couldn't philosophize about life or city versus country ZIP codes any longer. Having just returned home from a daylong trip into...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In his first extensive piece of writing as pope, Pope Francis lays out a vision of the Catholic Church dedicated to evangelization in a positive key, with a focus on society's poorest and most vulnerable, including the aged and unborn. "Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the Gosp...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis closed the Year of Faith by calling on people to keep Christ at the center of their lives, especially in times of trouble. "When Jesus is at the center, light shines even the darkest moments of our lives; he gives us hope," he said in his homily Nov. 24, the feast...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With his apostolic exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium" (The Joy of the Gospel), which the Vatican has scheduled for publication Nov. 26, Pope Francis finally makes his real debut as papal author. Popes through the centuries have issued their most important written messages in one...
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  BALTIMORE (CNS) – The newly elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has been a bishop for nearly 14 years, and he describes himself as a priest, family member and social. Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., 67, was elected Nov. 12 by his fellow bishops t...
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