Today is the feast of Blessed John XXIII, soon to be Saint John XXIII. In a break from tradition, his feast day is not the day of his death (the day he was born into eternal life) but the day that the Second Vatican Council was officially opened. For those who wish to mark this ...read more

Following the mass in St. Francis Square yesterday, Pope Francis had lunch in the Caritas Soup Kitchen with a group of homeless persons and refugees living in the Caritas Centre, which aims to provide basic assistance to those who have nowhere else to go. He also spent a few moments of private prayer in the ...read more

    On the surface, it may appear that the theme of this week at the Vatican was “reform.” The Council of Cardinals appointed by the pope to help him study and find ways to fix the Roman Curia – among other things- met for the first time this week. The three days of meetings ...read more

“I give you thanks, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to babes” (Mt 11:25). Peace and all good to each and every one of you! With this Franciscan greeting I thank you for being here, in this Square so full of ...read more

This post was submitted by Catherine Mulroney, the editor of  Living with Christ which is published by Novalis. St. Jean de Brébeuf is a giant of Canadian history. His writings in the Jesuit Relations, for example, offer an invaluable window into life in 17th-century Canada, while his gift for languages, which prompted him to create ...read more

By Carol GlatzCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Helping the church get the Gospel message out to the digital world depends more on a loving passion for reaching out to others than being tech savvy or a verbal warrior, Pope Francis told Catholic communicators. “I believe that the goal is to understand how to ...read more

Today shortly after noon, Pope Francis addressed the participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Pope Francis said the goal of the Church for its communications efforts is to understand how to enter into dialogue with the men and women of today in order to appreciate their desires, their doubts and ...read more

Fr. Rosica’s introduction: Allowing ourselves to be looked upon by Jesus, whose gaze changes our lives: this was the focus of Pope Francis’ remarks after the readings at Mass on Saturday morning, the Feast of St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, whose conversion story is told in the Gospel passage of the day, a Gospel story that has ...read more

Recently I looked at something I wrote six months ago when Pope Francis had just been elected. Someone had asked me if he was going to be a progressive pope. My response was that I thought Pope Francis would be taking the Church where she needs to go. What I have found most surprising of ...read more

The Archbishop of Dublin has said the Catholic journalist and the Catholic newspaper must be professional and live up to the highest professional standards of the broader profession to which they belong. He was speaking at the Faith of our Fathers conference in Kilkenny on Friday, September 13. Archbishop Martin added that the highest professional standard applies also to ...read more