Following a particularly deadly week for Italians inflicted with the COVID-19 coronavirus, Pope Francis Sunday urged Christians everywhere from different confessions to unite in shared moments of prayer, including several he will be leading at the Vatican.
While Catholics in the U.S. continue to grapple with fallout stemming from the clergy abuse scandals, new polling suggests that Catholics have a higher opinion of the Church than they did this time last year.
As many of the restrictions imposed early on by Italy to fight the COVID-19 coronavirus begin to be adopted elsewhere, the number of Catholics unable to get to Mass, or at least strongly discouraged from leaving the house to do so, is growing.
In the last presidential election, some political pundits referred to the “Catholic vote,” one that predicted Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency, and one that aligned in 2016 with the voting constituency that landed him the White House: overwhelmingly white and politically conservative voters.
Victoria Edwards, a parishioner of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Glendale, received her first piece of Catholic jewelry — a gold chain with an angel hanging from it — before she was even born. The necklace, a gift from her grandmother in 1995, is an artistic expression of faith.
“Catholic men building a bridge back to faith” is the mission statement for the almost 2 million members from around the world who unite under three words: Knights of Columbus.
Dorothy Day was once considered by the FBI as a “dangerous American,” but the Catholic Church may one day soon declare her to be a saint.
For many Christians during Lent, fasting is often a grudging afterthought: smaller meals on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, no meat on Fridays. The idea of fasting, along with prayer and almsgiving, is to repent and grow in faith.
Visiting the Southern Italian city of Bari, Pope Francis on Feb. 23 demanded government leaders protect minorities, particularly Christians.
During the Roman Empire, the entire Mediterranean region was known as Mare Nostrum,“Our Sea.” It was an imperial assertion of dominance, of course, but it also reflected the idea that the peoples of the Mediterranean are linked by geography and destiny, sharing a common fate.
