VATICAN CITY - Even though the world is facing a pandemic that may limit many people's ability to celebrate the sacraments, particularly those people who are in isolation, quarantining or hospitalized with COVID-19, confession by phone is still most likely invalid, said Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I was standing in his dining room, watching him make his family laugh. He was kind to his parents and he was helpful to his sister. Most important, he was the same person to them as he was to me. And I thought to myself, “I’m going to marry him someday.” 

ROME – The Catholic Church must reach out to couples living together without being married, Pope Francis told those involved in family ministry in the Diocese of Rome.

What is your memory of the time you received your first Holy Communion? 

OTTAWA – More than half of Canadians think marriage is unimportant, according to a new Angus Reid poll. That stark statistic has defenders of traditional marriage a little troubled.

VATICAN CITY – The provisions of "Amoris Laetitia" allow people in irregular marriage situations access to the sacraments only if they recognize their situation is sinful and desire to change it, according to the cardinal who heads the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.

MADRID, Spain – While Reconciliation is intended to allow Christ’s victory to overcome sin in our lives, what happens when shame over one’s sins is so great that it keeps people away from the sacrament?

VATICAN CITY – In a brief outdoor ceremony, Pope Francis administered the sacrament of confirmation to 16-year-old Giuseppe Chiolo, who had come to the Vatican by ambulance from Florence.

I recently read an article about how Confirmation is often seen as a milestone, like graduation, rather than a sacred tradition. This led me to think back on my own experience with the sacrament.

Most of today’s American Catholic parents don’t go to Mass, provide any Catholic education for their children or stress the basic sacraments beyond baptism.

A new report mapping the Catholic Church’s more than 1.2 billion souls — on track to reach 1.64 billion by 2050 — holds some surprises.

And not all bode well for the Church’s future as it faces major demographic and social shifts.

MIAMI - Some of the Church’s most ancient traditions and rituals are witnessed during Holy Week, including the preparation, blessing and distribution of oils central to the Catholic Church’s sacraments and rites.

It is difficult to imagine my parents no longer loving each other and living separately. It would be heartbreaking. At whose place would I choose to celebrate Christmas?