Pope Francis celebrated Holy Mass for Ash Wednesday at the Basilica of Santa Sabina on the Aventine hill in Rome.

VATICAN CITY – People who don't give money to the homeless because they think it will be spent on alcohol and not food should ask themselves what guilty pleasures they are secretly spending money on, Pope Francis said.

WASHINGTON – In more ways than one, Ash Wednesday – celebrated March 1 this year – leaves a mark.

WASHINGTON – Ash Wednesday seems to offer contradictory messages. The Gospel reading for the day is about not doing public acts of piety but the very act of getting ashes – and walking around with them – is pretty public.

What do the last phrases of Christ from the cross teach today’s world?

For centuries during Lent, Christians have sought to grow closer to God through praying, fasting and giving to the poor.

No parish or individual Catholic should have to walk into Lent blind.

Despite the fasting and the receiving of ashes ceremony that is common to every Catholic on Ash Wednesday, I have always found this day of solemnity to be a very personal experience.

TORONTO - The Passion Play originated from the Church’s tradition that the Gospel on Good Friday should be sung in Latin, in parts divided among several people. Its popularity took off in 13th-century Europe and over the centuries has spread worldwide.

KINGSBURG, Calif. - Every year on Good Friday, Catholic communities throughout the world re-enact the Way of the Cross with live performances of the story of Christ’s final journey of His earthly life as a powerful reminder of His suffering and sacrifice.

There’s nothing quite like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to give one a sense of the origins of Christianity.

Editor’s note: the following is the Easter message released by Bishop Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

As Syrian refugees begin to settle into their new reality of life in Canada, stories of their journeys to this new land all have similar themes. Feeling under siege and faced with an uncertain future in the midst of war, many people were compelled to flee their land, their homes, their work, their education and all that seemed familiar in order to find new life.

VATICAN CITY - As the death toll from the Brussels terror attacks rose on March 24, Pope Francis began three days of solemn observances leading to Easter Sunday by denouncing those who help fuel terrorism the way some once backed Judas against Jesus.

To read the comments in various newspapers and on web sites, the Church has no place in national policy debates, including the current deliberation on assisted suicide. Of course that’s nonsense at any time of year but it seems particularly absurd at Easter.

I took the Pulse Pledge during Lent and found myself reflecting on how something so small could actually make a difference.