Praying for the dead, pope asks special prayers for victims of war
VATICAN CITY - The early November feasts of All Saints and All Souls call Catholics to contemplate their ultimate destiny, hope in the eternal happiness of their beloved dead and remember the thousands of innocent people dying each day because of human evil and selfishness.
Vatican official: Syria's war is part of regional humanitarian crisis
BEIRUT, Lebanon - A Vatican official who just returned from a visit to Syria said "the humanitarian situation is worse than I thought."
Divisions aside, Christians must work together to evangelize, pope says
VATICAN CITY - Although divided by ancient disputes and new developments, Christians in Europe still have an obligation to work together to help confused men and women find the answers to their spiritual thirst and their search for life's ultimate meaning, Pope Francis said.
Be ready with God's weaponry; devil is real, pope says
VATICAN CITY - Christian life is a constant battle against the devil, who is not the stuff of legend, but really exists, Pope Francis said in a morning homily.
In death, we learn the story of love
My sister and I used to get season’s tickets to the ballet. They brought colour, beauty and music to long winters, and gave us an opportunity to visit. They also took us to performances we wouldn’t normally select, which is how we ended up at a performance of Swan Lake. We had tickets, so we went.
God’s Spirit dwells in us
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (Year A) Nov. 9 (Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; Psalm 46; 1 Corinthians 3:9b-11, 16-17; John 2:13-22)
In ancient Israel the temple was a rich metaphor for the life-giving presence of God. For people of the ancient world, temples were theology books in stone. Their mathematical proportions and symbolic structures were meant to reflect divine and cosmological principles. The temple was often referred to as the navel or axis of the world.
Drawing spirituality from chaste women
Ancient Greece expressed much of its psychological and spiritual wisdom inside its myths. The Greeks didn’t intend these to be taken literally or as historical, but as metaphor and as an archetypal illustration of why life is as it is and how people engage life both generatively and destructively.
Pope urges activists to struggle against 'structural causes' of poverty
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis urged an international gathering of grassroots social activists to struggle against the "structural causes" of poverty and inequality, with a "revolutionary" program drawn from the Gospels.
Pope says official exorcists show church's love for the suffering
VATICAN CITY - Exorcists, assigned to that ministry by their bishops, demonstrate the love and care of the church for "those who suffer because of the work of the devil," Pope Francis said in a message to the International Association of Exorcists.
Pope Francis: ‘Evolution … is not inconsistent with the notion of creation’
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Monday (Oct. 27) waded into the controversial debate over the origins of human life, saying the big bang theory did not contradict the role of a divine creator, but even required it.
Cardinal Pell calls for 'no doctrinal back-flips' at next family synod
ROME - Looking ahead to the October 2015 world Synod of Bishops on the family, Cardinal George Pell said the task for Catholics "over the next 12 months" is to explain "the necessity of conversion, the nature of the Mass," and "the purity of heart the Scriptures require of us to receive holy Communion."