The twin domes symbolize the parallel aims of the Vatican Observatory as defined by its director, Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno: “To do good science and to show the world that our religion, our faith, motivates why we do the science.”

he Latin version of the Roman Missal, the book of prayers used for Mass, includes a special set of prayers for a Mass with the intention of praying for “continence” or self-restraint, specifically as it regards sexuality.

As has been his practice since becoming pope in 2013, Pope Francis will take most of the month of July off as a sort of “staycation.”

Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi will go to Moscow on the second leg of a peace mission on behalf of Pope Francis, the Vatican said.

Upholding religious liberty must entail mutual respect, said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia.

While a Catholic bishop in Ukraine warned current events presented “both hope and danger” for his own country, leaders of Russia’s Orthodox Church backed President Vladimir Putin’s rule and welcomed the apparent defusing of a military rebellion.

For the past several months, Nataliia Batyhina, a development professional at Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, has headed up a small army of volunteers from the school to prepare food for front-line soldiers battling Russia’s invasion.

Jesus says to have no fear of ridicule, persecution or criticism for being faithful to the Gospel, but to be afraid of wasting one’s life chasing after trivial things, Pope Francis said.

In a statement to mark the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling, President Joe Biden said June 24 that his administration “will continue to protect access to reproductive health care and call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law once and for all.”

At a military hospital in western Ukraine, doctors are drawing on faith and the gifts of creation to heal the wounds of war.