Faith

VATICAN CITY – During the Angelus for the third Sunday of Advent, also called Gaudete Sunday, Pope Francis made a special appeal for prayers for the people of Aleppo and Syria, and for all those affected by the recent terrorist attacks which have taken place in places such as Turkey and Egypt.

VATICAN CITY – A Vatican decision to reaffirm its opposition to gay priests has angered activists who thought Pope Francis was changing Rome’s attitudes toward homosexuality.

VATICAN CITY – The updated version of the Vatican's document on priestly formation, released Wednesday, deals with issues of clericalism, homosexuality, and the protection of minors, among other things.

VATICAN CITY – Everything in Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis' exhortation on the family, sprang from consultations with Catholics around the world and was thoroughly discussed by the bishops at the 2014 and 2015 synods on the family, Pope Francis said.

VIENNA, Austria – In order to realize the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons the discourse of the international community surrounding nuclear security must be based on an ethic of trust, responsibility, and cooperation – not fear and suspicion, Vatican official Msgr. Antoine Camilleri said Tuesday.

VATICAN CITY – This week the Vatican hosted a high-level discussion in the world of science, gathering experts to discuss the progress, benefits and limits of advances in artificial intelligence.

VATICAN CITY – In his latest prayer video, which highlights his prayer intention for the month of December, Pope Francis focused on putting an end to the phenomenon of child-soldiers, which he called a “form of slavery.”

VATICAN CITY – The season of Advent is a reminder to us to open our horizons and have concern for more than just material things, the Pope said Sunday during his Angelus address.

There is little tradition of cardinals correcting popes on matters of Catholic Church teaching. But citing tradition, canon law and dogma, Cardinal Raymond Burke has reached back almost 700 years and threatened to initiate a “formal act of correction” if Pope Francis refuses to answer five questions launched by Burke and three other cardinals.

VATICAN CITY – Three years ago Pope Francis described retired Pope Benedict XVI as being like a wise grandfather, although there is less than 10 years' difference in their ages; today, Pope Francis tends to include himself in the category of grandfatherly figures.