Vatican updates norms on donations for special Mass intentions April 14, 2025By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News, Worship & Sacraments Catholic faithful do not “buy” Masses, but when a priest accepts an offering and promises to celebrate a Mass for that person’s loved one or other special intention he must do so, the Vatican said.
Nicaragua cracks down further on church during Holy Week April 14, 2025By David Agren OSV News Filed Under: News, Religious Freedom, World News Police and paramilitaries maintained a heavy presence outside the Nicaraguan Managua cathedral on Palm Sunday, ensuring celebrations occurred entirely on church property — and sending a not-so-subtle message of intimidation.
4,000 process in Jerusalem for Palm Sunday amid Israeli bombardment of Gaza April 14, 2025By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, World News For the second year in a row, few foreign pilgrims were in attendance at the traditional Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives into the Old City of Jerusalem due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. But even the gray skies that threatened rain didn’t dampen the spirit of the 4,000 participants.
‘Nothing is sacred’: Religious leaders condemn Russia’s Palm Sunday attack on Ukraine April 14, 2025By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Feature, News, War in Ukraine, World News Catholic and other religious leaders are condemning a Palm Sunday attack by Russia on a Ukrainian city that killed 34 — including two children — and injured 119.
Pope advances sainthood cause of famed Spanish architect, five others April 14, 2025By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Saints, Vatican, World News Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of one woman and five men, including Antoni Gaudí, the Spanish architect who designed the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, Spain.
‘The heart is where things are pulled together’: Bishop Flores on pope’s latest encyclical April 14, 2025By Maria Wiering OSV News Filed Under: Bishops, Feature, News, World News The heart is where a person can integrate his or her life amid a fragmented world, and the source of a heart’s mending and life is “the mystery of the heart of Christ,” said Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, while speaking April 9 about Pope Francis’ most recent encyclical, “Dilexit Nos,” or “He loved us.”
As ‘Laudato Si” turns 10, experts urge greater response to pope’s urgent message on climate April 14, 2025By Kimberly Heatherington OSV News Filed Under: Environment, Feature, News, Vatican, World News Writing in “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home,” Pope Francis said the Earth “cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.”
France to see a record 17,800 catechumens baptized at Easter, with requests still ‘pouring in’ April 14, 2025By Caroline de Sury OSV News Filed Under: News, World News, Worship & Sacraments In record-breaking numbers, more than 17,800 catechumens will be baptized during the Easter Vigil on April 19, including 10,384 adults and more than 7,400 young people ages 11 to 17, according to an annual survey by the National Service for Catechumens of the French bishops’ conference.
On Palm Sunday, recovering pope says to carry the cross with compassion April 13, 2025By Justin McLellan Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News Carrying the cross means more than bearing personal suffering — it means stepping into the pain of others and walking beside them, Pope Francis wrote at the start of Holy Week.
Spanish bishops under scrutiny for church-government accord over Valley of the Fallen April 13, 2025By Jonathan Luxmoore OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, News, World News Catholic groups have criticized Spain’s bishops for consenting to government redevelopment of a key national memorial complex near Madrid, amid fears of a continuing church decline across the traditionally Catholic country.
‘A Love Letter to Chaplains’: Exhibit honors contributions of military chaplains in World War I April 13, 2025By Jack Figge OSV News Filed Under: Arts & Culture, News, World News Opened in May 2024, the Sacred Service exhibit commemorates and educates visitors on the critical service that chaplains played during the First World War.
Upcoming appeal to help sustain more than 70 mission dioceses in U.S. April 13, 2025By OSV News OSV News Filed Under: Bishops, Giving, News, World News Donations to the annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal will help support more than 70 “home mission dioceses” in the U.S., as well as its current and former territories, the U.S. bishops announced.
