By truly listening to the penitent during confession, “we listen to Jesus himself, poor and humble; by listening to the Holy Spirit, we put ourselves in attentive obedience, becoming listeners of the Word” in order to know what God wants to be done, he said.
International News
Pope Meets MLK’s Daughter
Pope Francis shakes hands with Bernice King, daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., during a private audience at the Vatican.
Francis at Five Years: A Look at His Successes, What Needs to Be Done
When Pope Francis was elected five years ago today, he came into office with a reform mandate and a vow to make the Church less self-referential, focused on the peripheries rather than the center. Many of the challenges ahead seemed obvious: shaking up the Roman curia, cleaning up the Vatican’s finances, and continuing the work of clerical sex abuse reform efforts.
Pope Francis: In His Own Words
In his formal documents, many speeches and unscripted morning homilies the past five years, Pope Francis has given the church plenty of “food for thought” on many issues of great importance.
Benedict Dismisses Criticism of Francis’ Papacy
On the eve of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ election, retired Pope Benedict XVI defended the continuity of the Church’s teaching under his successor and dismissed those who criticize the pope’s theological foundations.
Good Friday Collection to Aid Mideast
Christians in the Middle East, particularly those who have been forced from their homes by violence and persecution, need the support of the Catholic Church, a Vatican official said.
Details of Miracle Leading To Romero’s Canonization
Though church authorities in El Salvador said they would wait to give details of the miracle that has cleared the way for Blessed Oscar Romero’s canonization, a Salvadoran newspaper published an account of a woman who said her husband’s prayers to Blessed Romero saved her life.
Exorcists Need Special Training to Battle Evil
St. John Paul II once called Lent a period of “spiritual training” for sharpening people’s ability to recognize “the voice of God and the insidious voice of the evil one.”
Faith on Downward Spiral In a ‘Post-Catholic’ Ireland
In two months time, voters in Ireland will head to the polls to decide whether to liberalize the eighth amendment – the Republic of Ireland’s constitutional provision that grants an equal right to life to unborn children and pregnant women, which was established in 1983 and effectively banned abortion within Ireland.
Retired Diocesan Priest Is Murdered in Colombia
A Brooklyn priest who had returned to Colombia to live in retirement, was brutally murdered there on Saturday, March 10. Father Dagoberto Noguera, 68, was killed in his residence in Mamatoco, Colombia. He was currently doing social work in the capital of Magdalena.