Faith

First Sunday of Lent, March 10 (Year C) Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Psalm 91; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

VATICAN – Lent is a time to ask for God's grace to chip away at hypocrisy, which is seen in the natural human attempt to appear "worthier than we are," Pope Francis said.

ROME – The clerical abuse scandal has caused everyone in the Catholic Church "pain and unbearable suffering," Pope Francis said, but it also is a call to repentance and the renewal of the church.

Cardinal Thomas Collins is calling on Catholics to remember the importance of almsgiving this Lenten season.

ROME – Marked with ashes, Christians set off on a Lenten journey where they strive to leave behind everything that will turn to dust and instead focus on drawing closer to God and God's promise of eternal life, Pope Francis said.

Her body is thin and tense. It carries the anguish, the hurts and false steps, of years. Her face does not as yet reveal the pain she’s known in her young life. She doesn’t cry. Alone, sometimes, she has bursts of uncontrollable stormy tears. Never the gentle kind and never for long. 

The start of every new season is exciting and full of possibilities. Think of how happy people are when they see the first signs of spring, or, when the first day of school arrives, or, for baseball fans, the excitement they feel on the day of the season opener.

ROME – Lent is a good time to concentrate on fighting the urge to gossip about others and instead trying to correct one's own faults and defects, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – The fruitful friendship and dialogue between Jews and Christians must go beyond the world of experts and academia, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Christians must not take advantage of God's forgiveness -- selfishly repeating sin after sin -- because God's wrath for those who refuse to change their ways is just as great as his mercy, Pope Francis said in a morning homily.