Lady Day — the Catholic feast, not 1940s jazz diva Billie Holiday — doesn’t get much attention. It almost always falls too close to Easter and with the many Marian feasts crowding the Catholic calendar, it’s hard to make time for the Feast of the Annunciation. This year it has been moved from its usual March 25 to April 4 so it does not conflict with Good Friday.

VATICAN CITY — Entering in silence and lying prostrate on the floor in front of the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis commemorated Jesus' death on the cross.

VATICAN CITY - When he told Pope Francis that writing the meditations for the papal Way of the Cross service was tough, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia-Citta della Pieve said the Pope told him, “Remember, you aren’t doing it for me, but for the Church.”

DETROIT - When Fr. Benjamin Kosnac decided to start offering confessions 30 minutes before every Mass, he wasn't sure anyone would come. 

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican newspaper has come to the defense of the Oscar-winning film, Spotlight, which has been viewed as “anti-Catholic” by some observers.

VATICAN CITY - In the presence of family, bishops and priests from Ireland and colleagues from the Vatican, Irish Msgr. Paul Tighe was ordained a bishop Feb. 27 by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

TORONTO - Finding a portable altar stone containing first class relics among the forgotten items in the basement of the Paulist Centre for Catholic Evangelization caught Fr. Michael McGourty by surprise.

VATICAN CITY - By reflecting on the Passion of Christ, the author of the Way of the Cross meditations for Pope Francis' Good Friday service said he will focus on the suffering unfolding in the world today and how "the martyrs of the 21st century are undoubtedly the apostles of today."

VATICAN CITY - Those who hope Pope Francis will give divorced and civilly remarried Catholics a blanket welcome back to Communion and those who fear he will open the doors to such a possibility are both likely to be disappointed by his decision.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump convincingly won the Nevada caucuses but is still struggling in what might be called “the Pope Francis primary.”