Faith

VATICAN CITY – The growing problem of drug abuse and increasingly creative and sophisticated ways suppliers reach users call for increased cooperation in preventing and stopping substance abuse, said several speakers at a Vatican-sponsored workshop.

VATICAN CITY – The Catholic Church's 17 new cardinals must dedicate their lives to being ministers of forgiveness and reconciliation in a world – and sometimes a church – often marked by hostility and division, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis had already delivered the Catholic Church’s version of an October surprise when he included Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin in the batch of new cardinals he announced last month — promising a red hat to the leader of a relatively small Midwestern diocese of 230,000 Catholics that had never before had a cardinal, nor would ever expect one.

VATICAN CITY – Women religious are often the first people to discover problems emerging in society because they work directly with so many people in need, an anti-trafficking advocate said.

VATICAN CITY – Praying for cardinals and bishops who died in the past year, Pope Francis urged people to remember the priestly witness they gave.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis renewed the membership of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments by naming new members, including Canadian Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of Quebec and Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, New Jersey.

VATICAN CITY – The extension of Pope Francis' trip to Sweden by one day to accommodate a papal Mass for the nations' Catholics does not detract from the ecumenical power of the trip, but actually highlights the need for Christian unity, said the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation.

VATICAN CITY – Professing belief in the resurrection of the dead and affirming that the human body is an essential part of a person's identity, the Catholic Church insists that the bodies of the deceased be treated with respect and laid to rest in a consecrated place.

VATICAN CITY – Along with the Christmas-tree lighting ceremony and the unveiling of the Nativity creche, Pope Francis' raffle to benefit those in need is becoming an annual holiday tradition at the Vatican.

VATICAN CITY – Individuals and entities that have accounts at the Vatican bank and are subject to taxation in Italy will have until mid-April to report to Italian authorities the income earned by their Vatican accounts.