News/International
Vatican security scrambling, yet prepared for pope's love of the scrum
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY - Pope Francis' style of breaking away from his security detail and diving toward the crowds means his protectors have had to do a quick rewrite of strategy, sometimes on the spot.
Pope chooses silver ring, pallium style in keeping with predecessor
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY - With his fisherman's ring and the pallium -- the main symbols of the Petrine office -- Pope Francis chose styles in continuity with two of his predecessors.
Pope Francis to diplomats: Moral relativism endangers peace
By Francis X. Rocca, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY - Moral relativism "endangers the coexistence of peoples," Pope Francis told diplomats March 22, and said a common ethics based on human nature is an indispensable condition for world peace.
Obama lights candles, prays at Bethlehem's Church of Nativity compound
By Judith Sudilovsky, Catholic News ServiceJERUSALEM - U.S. President Barack Obama, visiting the West Bank city of Bethlehem, stopped twice to light candles for his family and himself: first at the Church of Nativity grotto, where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born, then at the adjacent Catholic Church of St. Catherine.
USCCB: New proposed rules on mandate still violate religious freedom
By Catholic News ServiceWASHINGTON - New proposed regulations governing the contraceptive mandate under the U.S. Affordable Care Act continue to violate basic principles of religious freedom, said the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Cardinal Tagle says Pope told him he had 'high hopes' for Philippines
By Simone Orendain, Catholic News ServiceMANILA, Philippines - Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle told journalists that when he went before newly elected Pope Francis to pledge obedience, the pope told him he had "high hopes" for the Philippines.
Pope Francis changes Holy Thursday plans to celebrate Mass in prison
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has decided to celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper in a Rome juvenile detention facility and wash the feet of some of the young detainees.
Pope pledges renewed cooperation; Jewish leaders praise election
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY - Pope Francis said he plans renewed cooperation to further Catholic-Jewish relations and hopes to contribute to a world where all people live in harmony with the "will of the creator."
U.S. responsibilities to Iraq many on 10th anniversary of 2003 invasion
By Dennis Sadowski, Catholic News ServiceWASHINGTON - Attending the installation of Patriarch Louis Sako as the new leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad, Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, looked around at the large crowd gathered in St. Joseph Cathedral and what he saw gave him a sense of hope.
Changes in style send clear message from Pope Francis
By Francis X. Rocca, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY - Pope Francis had been pope for less than six days when he was formally installed March 19, but he had already made a distinctive and overwhelmingly favorable impression on the world.
Vatican releases papal coat of arms, motto by English doctor of church
ByVATICAN CITY - Pope Francis' papal motto is based on the Gospel account of "The Call of St. Matthew," the tax collector, in a homily given by St. Bede the Venerable.