Vatican City
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Ukrainian bishops seek to be heard over the din of rhetoric
By LAURA IERACI, Catholic News Service
Published March 5, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—As the Ukrainian Catholic bishops met in a private audience with Pope Francis Feb. 20, Ukraine was marking its first Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, commemorating those who died in the Euromaidan movement one year earlier. Renamed the Revolution of Dignity, the four months of demonstrations in the Ukrainian capital, from November […]
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During Lent, pope offers handy tips to prepare for confession
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published March 5, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—As Catholics are encouraged to make going to confession a significant part of their lives during Lent, Pope Francis offered some quick tips to help people prepare for the sacrament of penance. After a brief explanation of why people should go to confession—“because we are all sinners”—the pope listed 30 key questions to […]
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Pope: Lent means acts of charity, justice, not just meatless days
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published March 5, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Real fasting isn’t just restricting food choices, it must also include cleansing the heart of all selfishness and making room in one’s life for those in need and those who have sinned and need healing, Pope Francis said. Faith without concrete acts of charity is not only hypocritical, “it is dead; what good […]
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Pope: To find face of God, search for him, take risks
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published February 19, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—People will not find the face of God by relaxing at home on the couch, surfing online or reading encyclopedias, Pope Francis said. Only people with a restless heart that thirsts for God will find him as they strike out on the road, taking risks and overcoming fatigue, danger and doubt, he said […]
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Pope seeks prayers for Egyptians beheaded by Islamic State
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published February 19, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Pope Francis called for prayers for the Egyptian Christians beheaded by Islamic State militants in Libya and asked that God recognize these men killed for their faith. He offered morning Mass Feb. 17 in the chapel of his residence for the slain Christians he termed “our 21 brother Copts” whose throats had been […]
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Martyrs in Libya ‘whispered’ name of Jesus before death, bishop says
By LAURA IERACI, Catholic News Service
Published February 19, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—The 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by Islamic State militants died as martyrs, invoking the name of Jesus, said an Egyptian Catholic bishop. In line with Pope Francis’ assertion at morning Mass Feb. 17, Bishop Antonios Aziz Mina of Giza told the Fides news agency that the “diabolical” video of the Christians’ […]
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Becoming a cardinal is a call to greater love, patience, pope says
By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
Published February 19, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—In a Valentine’s Day ceremony to create 20 new cardinals, Pope Francis offered a meditation on Christian love and, especially, what it means for those who guide and minister in the church. “The greater our responsibility in serving the church, the more our hearts must expand according to the measure of the heart […]
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Pope recognizes martyrdom of Archbishop Romero
By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
Published February 5, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—After decades of debate within the church, Pope Francis formally recognized that Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was killed “in hatred of the faith” and not for purely political reasons. Pope Francis signed the decree Feb. 3, recognizing as martyrdom the March 24, 1980, assassination of Archbishop Romero in a San Salvador hospital chapel […]
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Feed my sheep: Archbishops to receive palliums at home with their flock
By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
Published February 5, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—When Pope Francis celebrates the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in June, he will set aside an element that has been part of the Mass for the past 32 years; the Vatican confirmed he will not confer the pallium on new archbishops during the liturgy. Msgr. Guido Marini, the papal master of […]
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Living memories: On DVD, council fathers share impact of Vatican II
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published February 5, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—A pivotal moment in the modern history of the Catholic Church came to life on screen with a new documentary about the Second Vatican Council. With archival footage and exclusive interviews with prelates who attended the council sessions between its opening in 1962 and closing in 1965, the film pieces together firsthand accounts […]
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Pope Francis’ Lent message: Become islands of mercy in the sea of world’s indifference
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published February 5, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Christians are called to overcome apathy, discouragement and pretentions of self-sufficiency by letting God enter into their hearts, making them joyful, merciful and strong, Pope Francis said. Through prayer, charity and humility before God, people receive a heart “which is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart which is not closed, indifferent […]
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Pope to dads: Play with kids, be loving, strong role models
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published February 5, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—When their lives are all work and no play, men turn their children into “orphans” who lack a father to guide them, show them love and teach them values, Pope Francis said. “They are orphans in a family because their fathers are often absent, also physically, from home, but above all because when […]
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Panel advising Vatican unanimous that Archbishop Romero is a martyr
Published January 22, 2015
VATICAN CITY (CNS)—A panel of theologians advising the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes voted unanimously to recognize the late Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero as a martyr, according to the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference. The panel declared Jan. 8 that the archbishop had been killed “in hatred for the faith,” Avvenire reported Jan. 9. […]
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Pope offers Mass for victims of Paris attack
By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
Published January 9, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—The morning after 12 people were shot to death and 11 others injured at the Paris office of a satirical weekly newspaper, Pope Francis dedicated his early morning Mass to the victims and their families. At the beginning of the Mass Jan. 8, he told the small congregation that the attack in Paris […]
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Pope names 15 new cardinal electors, most from global South
By FRANCIS X. ROCCA, Catholic News Service
Published January 8, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Underscoring the geographical diversity of his selections, Pope Francis named 15 cardinal electors “from 14 nations of every continent, showing the inseparable link between the church of Rome and the particular churches present in the world.” In addition to 15 new electors, Pope Francis named five new cardinals who are over the age […]
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Pope warns Vatican officials of ‘spiritual Alzheimer’s,’ other ills
By FRANCIS X. ROCCA, Catholic News Service
Published January 8, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Pope Francis’ Christmas greeting to the Vatican bureaucracy this year was an extended warning against a host of spiritual ills to which he said Vatican officials are prone, including “spiritual Alzheimer’s,” “existential schizophrenia,” publicity-seeking, the “terrorism of gossip” and even a poor sense of humor. The pope made his remarks Dec. 22, in […]
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Pope: Christmas is time to heal wounds, defects, play with kids
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published January 8, 2015VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Christmas is the time to heal wounds and fix whatever defects still linger in one’s life and heart, Pope Francis told Vatican employees. And leading by example, the pope asked everyone for their forgiveness—for any errors or shortcomings he and his “colleagues” may be guilty of and “also for some scandals that cause […]
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Pope: Nativity scenes inspire even nonbelievers to love, share
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published December 23, 2014VATICAN CITY (CNS)—God did not come to the world with arrogance to impose his might; he offered his powerful love through a fragile child, Pope Francis said. The Christmas tree and Nativity scene are reminders of this mystery of the Incarnation and they both carry “a message of light, hope and love,” he said Dec. […]
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In Turkey, pope struck themes of ecumenism, religious freedom
By CAROL GLATZ, Catholic News Service
Published December 11, 2014VATICAN CITY (CNS)—It is the complete disregard for God, not his glorification, which leads to violence in this world, Pope Francis said. That is why people of faith, particularly Christians and Muslims, must work together for peace, and governments must guarantee full religious freedom for their citizens and religious communities, he said Dec. 3 at […]
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Support Catholic religious in their mission, ministries, pope says
By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
Published December 11, 2014VATICAN CITY (CNS)—During the Year of Consecrated Life, all Catholics are called to thank God for the gifts members of religious orders have given the church and the world, to join them in prayer and find practical ways to support them and their ministries, Pope Francis said. “Let them know the affection and the warmth […]
