Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

Scientific evidence shows the destructive nature of pornography

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WASHINGTON — The Catholic Church’s strong stance against pornography is based on church teaching that the human body should be respected and every person has a God-given dignity. But the fight against pornography is not unique to religious organizations. “This is not a moral issue. We now have science to back this up,” said Dawn […]

Father Kenneth Doyle: What songs may be sung at funerals?

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Q: Recently, the funeral of Beau Biden (the vice president’s son) was televised nationally. The hymns consisted mainly of show tunes and songs by popular artists. In our own parish, as well as in hundreds of others, the use of nonliturgical songs would not be permitted. Why are the politically elite given “passes” that ordinary […]

The pope’s ‘staycation’: Correspondence, trip preparation fill his days

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VATICAN CITY — Returning to the Vatican in the midst of a heat wave after an eight-day, three-country trip to South America, Pope Francis took the kind of vacation he said he prefers: what has become known as a “staycation.” With the exception of a July 21 meeting with a group of mayors from around […]

Pope urges international activists to stand up to an ‘idolatrous’ financial system that ‘excludes, debases, kills’

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Pope Francis greets a young girl at the second World Meeting of Popular Movements in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, July 9. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)   SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — Meeting with an international gathering of grassroots activists, Pope Francis not only encouraged, but tried to add fuel to their fire for “standing up to an idolatrous […]

Pope’s itinerary imperatives: the poor, the prisoner, the sick, the excluded

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Pope Francis arrives to meet people at a house in Banado Norte, a poor neighborhood in Asuncion, Paraguay, July 12. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)   ASUNCION, Paraguay — With almost every step Pope Francis takes on his foreign trips and with his every embrace, he pleads for dialogue and inclusion. His denunciations of a “throwaway culture” […]

Pope says he’ll read critiques of his economic thought before U.S. trip

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ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM PARAGUAY — Before arriving in the United States in September, Pope Francis said, he will study American criticisms of his critiques of the global economy and finance. “I have heard that some criticisms were made in the United States — I’ve heard that — but I have not read them […]

Carolyn Y. Woo: The pope’s call to ecological conversion

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On June 18, I had the unbelievable privilege and unforgettable experience of speaking at the Vatican press conference for the launch of Pope Francis’ much-anticipated encyclical on the environment. Named “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home,” the encyclical draws from St. Francis’ “Canticle of the Creatures,” which “invites us to see nature as […]

At Bolivian prison, pope calls himself man ‘saved from his many sins’

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SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — Pope Francis visited one of Latin America’s most notorious prisons, calling himself “a man who was and is saved from his many sins.” “I couldn’t leave Bolivia without seeing you, without sharing the hope and faith given in the cross,” he told people at Palmasola prison in Santa Cruz. Speaking on […]