Vatican City, Sep 30, 2014 / 02:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The first woman ever to be appointed a member of a Vatican congregation explains that “women still have much to give to the Church with their personal charisma.”

Sr. Luzia Premoli, superior general of the Combonian Missionary Sisters, was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples on Sept. 13, and spoke recently to CNA.

Vatican City, Sep 29, 2014 / 01:58 pm (CNA).- In an effort to show what Scripture tells us about “the beyond,” often obscured by a society that leans toward darkness, Fr. Mark Haydu has published a new book exploring the depiction of angels in art.

“There is a fascination in the world with the spiritual and the occult and the mysterious after death. We see it with vampires, we see it in popular books and television shows, etc.,” Fr. Haydu told CNA Sept. 29, the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

Vatican City, Sep 29, 2014 / 06:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Monday’s feast of the archangels Pope Francis spoke of the ongoing battle between the devil and mankind, encouraging attendees to pray to the angels, who have been charged to defend us.

“He presents things as if they were good, but his intention is destruction. And the angels defend us,” the Roman Pontiff told those gathered for his Sept. 29 mass in the Vatican’s Saint Martha residence.

Vatican City, Sep 28, 2014 / 10:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Retired pontiff Benedict XVI joined some 50,000 pilgrims in Saint Peter's Square on Sunday, Sept. 28 for a meeting between Pope Francis and elderly people from around the world.

Welcoming his predecessor, the Holy Father described Pope Benedict as the “grandfather of all grandfathers.”

“I have said many times that it gives me great pleasure that he lives here in the Vatican, because it is like having a wise grandfather at home. Thank you!”