VALENCIA, Spain — In medieval Valencia carpenters would mark the feast of St. Joseph by clearing their workshops of old projects, prototypes, pieces that didn’t work out, etc. On the eve of the feast of St. Joseph Valencian carpenters would set these pieces on fire. This fire was considered a purifying fire, eliminating the old ...read more

Protecting the family and John Paul II’s beatification headline news out of the Vatican today. Catholic News Service’s Rome Bureau Chief John Thavis reports. To download Flash Player please click here ...read more

When Benedict became Pope, he emphasized that the question of God is the first question of all and that this question necessarily involves all of us without distinction. Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi recalled the Holy Father’s firm resolve to dialogue with the unbelieving world since the early dawn of his papacy. Pope Benedict ...read more

Ukrainian Catholics have a surprising new leader. In February, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, retired for health reasons. Its bishops convened a synod last week and, after a four-day ‘conclave’, elected Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk as their new leader. He becomes the Major-Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych, the archiepiscopal see where the Ukrainian ...read more

Focolare comes from the Italian word meaning “hearth” or “family fireside”. This is a concept whose absence has been sorely felt in our times. People don’t gather around warmth communally anymore. Since the time of the fireside gatherings we have scrambled and sought ways to replicate this unique-and necessary- source of fellowship and solidarity that ...read more

Pope Benedict has repeatedly urged the universal Church to encourage and support Christians in the Holy Land. One way to do this is financially through the collection traditionally taken up on Good Friday. A letter from the prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches Cardinal Leonardo Sandri was released Monday calling on the faithful to ...read more

Pope Benedict released a flock of doves — a symbol of peace — as he consecrated the Roman parish of St. Corbinian this weekend. Likewise, he revealed that his prayers have been focused on a resolution to the escalating war in Libya. American and British forces launched airstrikes against Libya this weekend. The coalition mission, ...read more

Building on the success of our inaugural Blessed Journeys pilgrimage to Austria and Germany, we invite you to our next destination: France! Once again Connaissance Travel and Tours offers you a unique pilgrimage to enrich your faith. We begin in Paris at Notre Dame Cathedral, the Sainte-Chapelle, and the Basilica of Sacré Coeur that dominates ...read more

Ubuntu. Chances are many of you haven’t heard of this word until now. Pronounced “oo-boon-too”, this small African word represents big African philosophies. Derived from the Bantu languages of southern African (Swahili is one such language), ubuntu translates to “I am what I am because of who we all are.” This concept is especially foreign ...read more

World Youth Day pilgrims are internationally-renowned for being polite. So it must have been in hushed tones that some expressed their dissent. Not to Pope Benedict, who generated enthusiastic responses at the Cologne and Sydney events in ’05 and ’08, respectively. Nor to the selection of this year’s host city, sunny Madrid. But rather, displeasure ...read more