ASSISI, Italy (CNS) -- Making his first pilgrimage as pope to the birthplace of his papal namesake, Pope Francis called on the whole church to imitate St. Francis of Assisi, embracing poverty and stripping itself of the "spirit of world." "A Christian cannot coexist with the spirit of the world," h...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Mission Month of October has been an eventful one for St. Therese of Lisieux, the patroness of the missions and missionaries, as the small wooden writing case she used to compose her spiritual masterpiece, "Story of a Soul," is on a 20-diocese tour in the United States. For...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In his latest wide-ranging interview, Pope Francis said that he aimed to make the Catholic Church less "Vatican-centric" and closer to the "people of God," as well as more socially conscious and open to modern culture. He also revealed that he briefly considered turning down t...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Anticipating the worst, religious leaders gathered the day before the federal government shut down to denounce what they called "political brinkmanship." "Shutting down the government will do real damage," said the Rev. David Beckmann, a Lutheran minister and president of the Ch...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis made his international advisory panel on church governance a permanent council of cardinals, thereby emphasizing the importance and open-endedness of its work among his pontificate's various efforts at reform. The Vatican made the announcement Sept. 30, a day befo...
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"New Evangelization: Passing on the Catholic Faith Today" by Cardinal Donald Wuerl. Our Sunday Visitor Publishing (Huntington, Ind., 2013). 96 pp., $4.95. "The New Evangelization and You: Be Not Afraid" by Greg Willits. Servant Books (Cincinnati, 2013) 160 pp., $16.99. "Jesus the Eva...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In his strongest public words to date on the subject of abortion, Pope Francis affirmed the sacredness of unborn human life and linked its defense to the pursuit of social justice. "In all its phases and at every age, human life is always sacred and always of quality. And not...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Many doors have opened the past several decades for women in education and employment, but very little has been done to support women as mothers and wives, said a U.S. expert in family law. Western Europe is quite advanced, "but is not joined by many, many countries in the deg...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- "The play's the thing," Shakespeare wrote. The drama being played out in Congress since the lawmakers returned from summer vacation has made for riveting viewing, with cable news channels showing shifting vote totals on crucial bills in real time. But questions arise on the stra...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In a lengthy and wide-ranging interview with one of his Jesuit confreres, Pope Francis spoke with characteristic frankness about the perils of overemphasizing Catholic teaching on sexual and medical ethics; the reasons for his deliberate and consultative governing style; and h...
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