VATICAN CITY – Each week dozens of newlyweds, dressed again in their wedding gowns and tuxedoes, come to the Vatican to receive a special papal blessing as they begin their lives together.

TOKYO, Japan – A 17th century Catholic Samurai and martyr was beatified during a Mass in ‎Osaka, Japan on Tuesday.

VATICAN CITY – A nation's health-care system cannot be run simply as a business because human lives are at stake, Pope Francis said.

STUTTGART, Germany – Five centuries after the start of the Protestant Reformation, leaders of the Catholic and Lutheran churches came together in a demonstration of unity to release new Bible translations.

VATICAN CITY – In a talk with representatives of Catholic men's religious orders, Pope Francis admitted there’s “corruption” in the Vatican but said he is not troubled by it and is working to reform the church administration.

One of the dangers inherent in trying to live out a life of Christian fidelity is that we are prone to become embittered moralizers, older brothers of the prodigal son, angry and jealous at God’s over-generous mercy, bitter because persons who wander and stray can so easily access the heavenly banquet table.

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Feb. 19 (Year A) Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18; Psalm 103; 1 Corinthians 3:16-23; Matthew 5:38-48

The Old and New Testaments speak with a unified voice on so many things.

This is the fourth in a series of four columns by Fr. Frank Freitas about prayer and praying. (Here's part 1, part 2 and part 3)

VATICAN CITY – Marking the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, a former slave, Pope Francis urged Christians to help victims of human trafficking and migrants, especially the Rohingya people being chased from Myanmar.

UNITED NATIONS – Saying poverty is the greatest challenge facing humanity, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations called on nations to seek solutions to poverty not only based on economics but to also address personal, social and environmental factors that contribute to it.