Amid Christmas and Jubilee preparations, prepare your hearts, pope says December 9, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Christmas, Feature, Jubilee 2025, News, Vatican, World News With the city of Rome presenting a gauntlet of major roadworks and construction projects ahead of the opening of the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis used the disruptions as an opportunity to encourage people to do some spiritual renovation before the jubilee.
Patient diplomacy, cooperation hold hope for suffering world, pope says December 9, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Environment, Feature, News, Vatican, World News Climate change, war, immigration and other global challenges can only be resolved with the input and cooperation of the entire global community, Pope Francis told a group of new ambassadors to the Holy See.
New cardinals from 17 nations are called to build church unity, pope says December 7, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, Vocations, World News Becoming a cardinal is an insistent call to put Jesus at the center of one’s life, to love the poor as he did and to strengthen the bonds of unity within the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said as he created 21 new cardinals from 17 nations.
Studying theology in Sicily means fighting Mafia, pope says December 7, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News The study of theology must include reference to the context in which its students live and will minister, Pope Francis said, so in Sicily that means it must have something to say about the Mafia.
World’s youngest cardinal says he comes from a young church December 6, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News Cardinal-designate Mykola Bychok said he hopes the characteristics that make him unique in the College of Cardinals will benefit the Catholic Church and the Ukrainian people.
‘Pilgrims of Hope’: Vatican prepares to welcome millions for Holy Year December 5, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Jubilee 2025, News, Vatican, World News The celebration of a Holy Year every 25 years is an acknowledgment that “the Christian life is a journey calling for moments of greater intensity to encourage and sustain hope as the constant companion that guides our steps toward the goal of our encounter with the Lord Jesus,” Pope Francis wrote.
Preparations begin for opening Holy Doors at Vatican, Rome basilicas December 3, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, Jubilee 2025, News, Vatican, World News Hours after the last visitors and pilgrims left St. Peter’s Basilica for the day, a chisel clanged and dust flew as a group of prelates chanted their prayers before a simple wall marked with a cross.
Japan’s ‘hidden Christian’ sites are living witness of faith, pope says December 3, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, Vatican, World News Christians in Japan should keep alive the memory of the persecution their ancestors endured for their faith and should also pray for Christians suffering persecution around the world today, Pope Francis said.
Pope declares Spanish mystic ‘blessed,’ advances other sainthood causes November 25, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Saints, Vatican, World News Using what the Vatican called an “equipollent” or equivalent beatification, Pope Francis recognized as “blessed” a 15th-century Spanish abbess, mystic and preacher.
Church tribunals must uphold charity, justice, truth, pope says November 25, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News When Catholics approach a church tribunal or canon lawyer, they “must always meet the face of our mother, the holy church, who loves all her children with tenderness,” Pope Francis said.
Christ the King triumphs over evil with the power of love, pope says November 25, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News, Youth Ministry While world events can seem chaotic, violent and out of control, Christians can be certain that “everything is ultimately subject to the judgment of Christ, the just and merciful king,” Pope Francis said at Mass.
Pope approves simplified rites for papal funeral, burial November 20, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News Pope Francis, who will celebrate his 88th birthday in December, has approved simplified liturgical rites for the death of a pontiff.
