Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

Francis says money at root of opposition to annulment reform

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By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — The potential loss of money and authority are often at the heart of the opposition against reforming the Catholic Church’s annulment process, Pope Francis said. Departing from his prepared remarks during a Jan. 29 meeting with members of the Roman Rota, a tribunal handling mostly […]

Lent is time to grow in faith, hope and love, pope says

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By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — As Christians pray, fast and give alms during Lent, they also should consider giving a smile and offering a kind word to people feeling alone or frightened because of the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis said. “Love rejoices in seeing others grow. Hence it suffers when others […]

Pope’s Communications Day message: Verify before sharing ‘news,’

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By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — In the age of instant communications and fake news, journalists — like everyone else — need to recover the practice of going out and verifying information before they share it, Pope Francis said. “’Come and see’ is the simplest method to get to know a situation. […]

Pope amends canon so women can be installed as lectors, acolytes

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By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Recognizing “the gifts of each baptized person” — women and men — Pope Francis ordered a change to canon law and liturgical norms so that women could be formally installed as lectors and acolytes. “A consolidated practice in the Latin church has confirmed, in fact, that […]

Pope on Christmas: Share hope, promote peace, give vaccine to all

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By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — On a Christmas like no other, Pope Francis prayed for people who could not be with their families because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he urged everyone to recognize and help those who are suffering even more. From inside the Hall of Blessings — a long, […]

Pope says God gives all the task of being peacemakers

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By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — As the Catholic Church celebrated World Peace Day Jan. 1, Pope Francis offered prayers for the people of war-torn Yemen, especially the nation’s children left without education and often without food by years of civil war. Reciting the Angelus from the library of the Apostolic Palace, […]

Pope’s year: Pandemic, prayer, online meetings, hopes for change

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By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Like everyone else, Pope Francis’ 2020 was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns, livestreamed Masses, video messages and even something akin to Zoom meetings became a regular part of his life, just like for millions of people around the world. But when he walked alone into […]

Pope to celebrate early Eve due to COVID curfew

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By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will celebrate the Vatican’s traditional Christmas “Mass during the Night” Dec. 24, but will begin the liturgy at 7:30 p.m. local time so that the few people invited to attend can get home in time to observe Italy’s 10 p.m. curfew. The curfew is […]

‘Make space at the table’: In his new book, Pope Francis urges the valuing, welcoming of all human life

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By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis admits he is not an economist, but he is a pastor. And as a pastor, he has seen how the global economy has cast aside many members of his flock, and he knows that the Gospel and Catholic social teaching call for a different […]

The Holy Father’s life-changing ‘lockdowns’

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By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — While the coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions have interrupted people’s lives and brought suffering on a global scale, every individual — including the pope — has or will experience traumatic interruptions in their lives, Pope Francis said in a new book. “Illness, the failure of a marriage […]