Pope’s Youth Doc Draws Rave Reviews From Young Consultants

Pope Francis  published a new document April 2 dedicated to youth, bringing full-circle a process of consultation that began last year when the Vatican reached out to young people around the world ahead of an October summit of bishops on how to better approach them.

Pope To Host Retreat For South Sudan’s Leaders

For all intents and purposes they’ve been sworn enemies for five years, each in charge of one side of a bloody civil war that theoretically ended last year with a “revitalized” peace agreement – a deal that few observers believe will hold up for very long – installing one as president and the other vice-president of South Sudan.

Anti-Trafficking Nun to Pen Pope’s Way of The Cross

When she first heard that Pope Francis wanted her to write the meditations for the world’s most followed Way of the Cross ceremony, Italian Sister Eugenia Bonetti said she was “embarrassed” but soon realized that it could be a “great opportunity.”

Catholic Immigrant in Canada Will Reopen Christian Church

Many churches in Canada are closing their doors because of declining finances amid low numbers of worshipers. But Michael Haddad, an immigrant Catholic from Egypt, recently put up more than $300,000 to keep open the United Church in Hensall, Ontario, for its older worshippers.

China Must Be ‘Called Out’ On Religious Freedom, Gingrich Says

Perhaps illustrating part of the logic for a new “ministerial” on religious freedom, meaning a gathering of government representatives at the minister’s level to be hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in July, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Callista Gingrich says it’s critical that China be pressured to clean up its act.

Pope Talks Immigration, State of World and Church

President Donald Trump’s decision to build an anti-immigrant wall will leave the United States alone and a “prisoner” of its own isolation, according to Pope Francis in his latest wide-ranging interview, this time with a Spanish journalist.

Church and the World Need Young People Now, Pope Says

The life of a young person and the vocation to which God calls each one is “holy ground” that pastors and parents must respect, nurture and encourage, Pope Francis wrote in a new apostolic exhortation.