Pope Francis will celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper with prisoners in Velletri, about 36 miles south of Rome.
International News
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.
Pope Calls Abuse Crisis A ‘Scourge’ In Youth Doc, Omits ‘Zero Tolerance’
In a major new document on young people, Pope Francis acknowledges the clerical sexual abuse crisis as a major challenge to the Catholic Church’s credibility, but, following the lead of a summit of bishops last fall upon which it’s based, notably omits any reference to a “zero tolerance” policy.
Pope Francis, Moroccan Leader Issue Appeal for Jerusalem
In what’s rapidly becoming the new papal normal, on the first day of his visit to Morocco, Pope Francis once again surprised friends and foes alike by signing an appeal that wasn’t on his schedule, this time on Jerusalem – calling for the city to be preserved as a “patrimony of humanity,” where followers of the three monotheistic religions are free to worship.
Pope Calls Tiny Christian Flock in Muslim Nation to be ‘Yeast’ of Society
Speaking to a small community of priests, religious and the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Morocco, Pope Francis Sunday said that consecrated people are not called to “govern” the people entrusted to them but to “love” them.
Mission Success Isn’t Measured By Numbers, Pope Says In Morocco
The Christian mission is not about numbers of converts, but about changing people and the world by being witnesses of God’s mercy and love, Pope Francis told missionaries in Morocco.
Pope Says Migrant Crisis Creates a Wound That ‘Cries Out to Heaven’
Pope Francis Saturday called the migrant crisis a deep wound that “cries out to heaven,” insisting the response cannot be “indifference and silence.”