A woman looks at the homepage of the new Vatican news portal on an iPad in Rome. The information portal at www.news.va aggregates the Vatican’s various media into a one-stop site for all things papal. It was launched June 29.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated the Vatican’s online news portal with a click, and then announced the launch with the first-ever papal tweet. “Dear Friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI,” the pope said in his message on the news site’s […]

by John Thavis VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican reported a budget surplus for the first time in four years in 2010, but said contributions from Catholics and dioceses around the world had gone down. The budget of the Holy See, which includes offices of the Roman Curia and related agencies, ended 2010 with a […]

Many news stories about the recently released report on “The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010” tried – and failed – to capture its complex findings in a sound bite, according to the principal investigator for the study. Karen Terry of the John Jay College […]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) – Saying that civil unions “promote an unacceptable lifestyle, undermine the faith of the Church on holy matrimony, and cause scandal and confusion,” Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin reminded Catholics that they may not participate in such ceremonies. “To do so is a very grave violation of the moral law and, thus, […]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican announced what it called the “sensational discovery” of an early image of St. Paul on the frescoed wall of a catacomb in Naples. The fresco, dated to the early sixth century, is one of the most “intense and priestly” images of St. Paul from the period, with an unusually […]

Pope Benedict XVI kneels as he leads the Corpus Christi procession from the Basilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome June 23.

St. Thomas the Apostle parish, Woodhaven, celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi with a procession through the streets. About 200 people participated.

Father Peter D. Gillen, pastor of Corpus Christi parish, Woodside, carried the Blessed Sacrament in procession with parishioners on the Feast of Corpus Christi and the feast day of the parish, June 26. Retired Bishop Thomas V. Daily was the main celebrant of the Mass which marked the beginning of the 75th anniversary of the […]

“Some men think the Earth is round, others think it flat; it is a matter capable of question. But if it is flat, will the King’s command make it round? And if it is round, will the King’s command flatten it?” With these memorable lines, Robert Bolt’s play, “A Man For All Seasons” (1960), has […]