VATICAN CITY The Vatican said the latest published interview with Pope Francis, in which he says fighting sex abuse and the mafia will be priorities of his pontificate, should not be considered a record of his exact words. According to the article, published July 13 in the Rome daily La Repubblica, the pope also spoke […]
Manaolana | Young people find healing, purpose, God’s love in the theology of the body
PHILADELPHIA For campus minister Amy West, St. John Paul II’s theology of the body is more than just the late pope’s writings on the human body, the creation of male and female, marriage and human sexuality. It is a means of healing and self-discovery for young people. “What I see with each coming year is […]
Father Eugene Hemrick: Looking at the world in the right light
Do you get up on the wrong side of the bed more often than not? If you watch or read the daily news, I can’t blame you. Iraq is in turmoil. Syria is in shambles. Here at home, we have experienced tornadoes and many couldn’t pull away from Nebraska’s recent double tornadoes, or “twin tornadoes” […]
Father Kenneth Doyle: Can I get an annulment without witnesses?
Q I am grateful for your informative comments in a previous column regarding annulments. But they have generated an additional question for which I seem to be getting different answers. If one of the spouses alone, without any additional witnesses, attests that he/she was not committed to the marriage but went through with it anyway, […]
Pope Francis in Holy Land: Easing fears, raising hopes, posing questions
Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople kiss the Stone of Unction in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher May 25. The two leaders marked the 50th anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras. (CNS photo) VATICAN CITY Given the Holy Land’s long and complex history of […]
Manaolana | Priesthood calling: Different paths, one burning desire, as vocations are discerned
Father Joseph Cazenavette, right, and other clergymen lay their hands on men during their ordination Mass at St. Dominic’s Church in Washington May 23. Statistics for this year’s ordination class show that the median age of the men is 32 and a Catholic education stands out as a strong factor in their background. (CNS photo/Bob […]
The pontiff invites Israeli, Palestinian leaders to Rome to pray for peace
JERUSALEM Pope Francis invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres to pray together at the Vatican for peace between their nations. The pope made the announcement May 25, after praying the “Regina Coeli” at the end of Mass that Abbas attended in Manger Square, in Bethlehem, West Bank. Later in the day, […]
Pope, at charismatics rally, invites them to Vatican in 2017
ROME Meeting more than 50,000 Catholic charismatics in Rome’s Olympic Stadium, Pope Francis admitted he was not always comfortable with the way they prayed, but he knelt onstage as they prayed for him and over him by singing and speaking in tongues. “In the early years of the charismatic renewal in Buenos Aires, I did […]
Pope Francis: Priests, be merciful; Catholics, ‘pester your priests’
VATICAN CITY — Always be merciful, just like Jesus, who came to forgive, not condemn, Pope Francis told new priests. “Always have in front of your eyes the example of the Good Shepherd, who didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to look for and save those who were lost,” he said in […]
Pope Francis’ homily: A Martian walks into church and asks to be baptized …
VATICAN CITY — Christians must recognize that they do not lead or guide the church, but that the Holy Spirit does and the Holy Spirit can be unpredictable, Pope Francis said. “If, for example, an expedition of Martians arrived tomorrow,” and one said he wanted to be baptized, “What would happen?” the pope asked May […]