VATICAN CITY (CNS) – This new year will be brighter only if everyone steps outside their safe havens, gets involved and works together to solve local problems, Pope Francis said. May Mary “teach us to welcome God made man so that every year, every month, every day be overflowing with his eternal love,” he said […]
Pope Francis
Pope: Religious Need Dialogue with Bishops
by Francis X. Rocca VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis said he has ordered a revision of what he called outdated Vatican norms on the relations between religious orders and local bishops, in order to promote greater appreciation of the orders’ distinctive missions. The pope’s words were published Jan. 3 in the Italian Jesuit magazine […]
Pope Francis Is World’s Most Interesting Man
Catholic News Service used to survey the editors in the Catholic Press to determine their choices for stories of the year as well as person of the year. I’m not sure why, but last year, it stopped taking the poll. If it was being taken this year, the person of the year category could just […]
Pope’s Exhortation Draws Reactions from All Sides
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”) has prompted plenty of commentary – and not exclusively from Catholic circles. “Pope Francis is a living model of the new evangelization,” said Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis. The […]
Catholic Grandparents: Group Assists Elders in Passing on Their Faith
Grandparents often do not realize the sphere of influence they can have over raising their grandchildren. Catholic grandparents especially have so much experience with their faith that they can be valuable resources in passing on that faith to their grandchildren. That is the mission of the Catholic Grandparents Association (CGA), an international grassroots organization that […]
Pope Francis on Art
by Father Robert Lauder Fourth in a series I ENJOY READING interviews with celebrities – at least sometimes. If the interviewee is an actor or actress whom I admire, I hope that the interview will reveal the person as someone to admire, not only on the stage or screen, but also in real life. Even […]
Secretary to Pope Doesn’t See Him as Revolutionary
by Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has said and done things that have surprised the world – and surprised those who work closest to him – but calling what he is doing a “revolution” is a “frivolous slogan,” said Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household and personal secretary to retired […]
Top-10 List of Words to Describe Pope Francis
by Carol Glatz No matter how some media may want to spin it, Pope Francis won’t fit into the political categories of left or right, and he will challenge everyone with the truth of the Gospel, said the Vatican’s media adviser. “Pope Francis is not a politically correct pope,” rather, he is “a loyal son […]
New Papal Style Speaks A Different Language
by Francis X. Rocca VATICAN CITY (CNS) – When Pope Benedict XVI answered a journalist’s 2010 question about condom use by offering a nuanced reflection on the ethical complexities of a hypothetical case, his words led to a worldwide media sensation, a clarification by the Vatican spokesman and a statement from the Congregation for the […]
Pope Warns About Restricting Role of Women in the Church
by Francis X. Rocca VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis said women’s “vocation and mission” today remain essentially connected to their capacity for motherhood but warned against unjustly restricting their participation in the Church or civil society on that basis. “Many things can change and have changed in our cultural and social evolution, but the […]