Pope gives seminarians Lenten goals February 16, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, Lent, News, Vatican, World News During Lent, Pope Francis said, Catholics — and especially Catholic seminarians — should rediscover the joy of simplicity, pay less attention to their appearance than to their prayer lives and make a special effort to get along with everyone they live with.
Lenten retreat: Book helps people explore pope’s teaching on belonging February 16, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Books, Feature, Lent, News, World News Pope Francis’s concern for migrants and refugees, his focus on ecology, his calls to “go out” to share the good news of salvation, even his support for the controversial possibility of informally blessing LGBTQ+ couples flow from his conviction that people need to know they belong to God, to one another and to creation.
Israeli embassy objects to cardinal’s remarks on Gaza death toll February 14, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, Vatican, World News The Israeli Embassy to the Holy See has defined as “regrettable” remarks by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, saying that Israel’s attacks on Gaza have been excessive.
Laziness is a symptom of ‘acedia,’ a dangerous vice, pope says February 14, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News The vice of “acedia,” often translated as “sloth,” can cause laziness, but it is much more than that; it is a lack of caring for anything and being bored with everything, even one’s relationship with God, Pope Francis said.
Pope asks artisans to show real value of things and people February 12, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Feature, News, Vatican, World News Artisans teach the world that every material thing contains beauty, and that work gives people a little share in the creative action of God, Pope Francis said.
‘Feeling omnipotent’ is at root of clerical abuse, pope says February 9, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, Vocations, World News All forms of clerical abuse begin with a priest thinking he is better than others and somehow over them, Pope Francis said.
Don’t reduce women’s role in church to question of ministry, pope says February 8, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News The importance of women in the Catholic Church cannot be “reduced” to the question of ministry, Pope Francis told members of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
‘Welcome’ is at the heart of document on gay blessings, pope says February 7, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News People who act shocked that a priest would bless a gay couple but have no problem with him blessing a crooked businessman are hypocrites, Pope Francis said.
Wallowing in sorrow is a vice, pope says at audience February 7, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News Feeling sad, disappointed or ashamed of oneself sometimes is normal and even can lead to conversion, but when people wallow in their sadness it becomes a dangerous vice, Pope Francis said.
Pope, cardinals continue discussion of role of women in the church February 5, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News With the help of a woman Anglican bishop, a Salesian sister and a consecrated virgin, Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals devoted the first morning of their February meeting “to deepening their reflection, begun last December, on the role of women in the church,” the Vatican press office said.
Pope, in letter to Jews in Israel, condemns antisemitism as a sin February 5, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, Feature, News, Vatican, World News In a letter addressed to “my Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel,” Pope Francis expressed his heartbreak at the violence unleashed by the Hamas attack on Israel in October and he repeated the Catholic Church’s condemnation of all forms of antisemitism and anti-Judaism.
Changing words in sacraments can make them invalid, dicastery warns February 5, 2024By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News, Worship & Sacraments When a priest or other minister changes the words, gestures or material prescribed for the celebration of the sacraments, he can “rob” the faithful of what they deserve and make the sacrament invalid, the dicastery said in a note published Feb. 3.
