Vatican News

Pope grieves Pakistan bombings, says world hides Christian persecution

Rome, Italy, Mar 15, 2015 / 06:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his Sunday Angelus address Pope Francis lamented today’s terrorist attacks against two Christian churches – one of them Catholic – in Pakistan, and prayed that such violence will stop.

“With suffering, with much suffering, I have learned of today's terrorist attacks against two churches in the city of Lahore, Pakistan, which have caused numerous deaths and injuries,” the Pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square March 15.

Lay people at the forefront of the Church's mission, says Pope

Vatican City, Mar 14, 2015 / 01:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis reminded lay men and women of their place in the “front lines” in spreading the Gospel, living as Christian witnesses in the secular world.

Being “immersed in the world,” the Pope said Saturday, lay persons are called to permeate their surroundings with Christian values through their witness, whereby they can encounter “persons in concrete situations.”

Pope to teachers: engage with peripheries in your classrooms

Vatican City, Mar 14, 2015 / 01:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has called on teachers to engage with the peripheries within their own classrooms, loving their students for their limitations as well as their potential.

“Indeed, the duty of a good teacher - all the more for a Christian teacher - is to love his or her more difficult, weaker, more disadvantaged students with greater intensity,” the Pope said, according to Vatican Radio's translation.

Scholar from JPII Institute on marriage, family to advise helmsman of 2015 Synod

Vatican City, Mar 14, 2015 / 10:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the church prepares for the 2015 Synod on the Family, one of the newly-named advisers to the synod of bishops' general secretariat is a scholar from the John Paul II Institute on marriage and the family – representatives of which were notably absent during last year's gathering on the same subject.

Two years into papacy, Francis continues path set in first moments

Vatican City, Mar 13, 2015 / 04:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The infant moments of Francis’ papacy deeply signified what his future mission would be like, reflected Catholics who were present for his election two years ago.

After white smoke wafted up from the Sistine Chapel signaling a new pope, the crowd in St. Peter’s Square was jubilant with expectation. “The Holy Spirit was palpably present,” related Kathryn Jean Lopez, founding director of Catholic Voices USA.

Pope Francis says he wanted to enter US from Mexican border

Vatican City, Mar 13, 2015 / 02:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a lengthy interview with a Mexican multimedia group Pope Francis hit on several topics including his visit to the U.S., where he symbolically wanted to enter from the country’s border with Mexico.

When asked by journalist Valentina Alazraki why he chose not to go to Mexico as part of his trip to the U.S. in September, Francis said that “I thought about doing it, because I wanted to enter the United States from the Mexican border.”

Pope Francis declares Holy Year for Mercy

Rome, Italy, Mar 13, 2015 / 10:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his homily for a Lenten penitential service, Pope Francis announced an extraordinary Jubilee to start at the end of the year, which will be dedicated to a theme close to the pontiff’s heart: mercy.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I have thought about how the Church can make clear its mission of being a witness of mercy,” the Pope told attendees of his March 13 penitential liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica.

When it comes to faith, there's no room for compromise, Pope says

Vatican City, Mar 12, 2015 / 02:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- It is the saints – not the hypocrites – who carry the Church forward, Pope Francis said Thursday, cautioning that there is no middle ground on the path to heaven.

“Jesus says: ‘Whoever is not with me is against me.’ And there is no compromising. You are either on the path of love or on the path of hypocrisy,” the Pope told attendees of his March 13 daily Mass, held in the Vatican’s Saint Martha guesthouse.

Pope Francis names new bishops for Spokane, Lexington dioceses

Rome, Italy, Mar 12, 2015 / 06:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Thursday the Vatican announced that Bishop Thomas Anthony Daly has been tapped to lead Spokane’s Catholic population, while Fr. John Stowe O.F.M., Conv. will take the reins in Lexington.

Bishop Daly was born in San Francisco, Cali., in 1960 and until now has served as auxiliary bishop for the diocese of San Jose.

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