Church - 2016

Pope Francis with Crucifix. Flickr

New Martyrs in the Coptic Church

ChurchElise Harris

The day after an explosion at the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Cairo killed 25 people, mostly women and children, Pope Francis called the head of the Church to offer prayer, and to say they are united the blood of their martyrs.

Pope Francis

Pope Francis Sends Video Message To Us Bishops

ChurchVatican Radio

Pope Francis sent this video message to the General Assembly of the United States Conference of Bishops in Baltimore, Maryland (November 14-17, 2016), a year after his visit to the US.

Pope Francis walks among debris and damaged buildings after the central-Italy earthquake

POPE FRANCIS VISITS ITALIAN EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

ChurchVatican Radio

Pope Francis visited the earthquake-hit towns of central Italy in a surprise journey and prayed with the residents of Amatrice on the feast day of his namesake.

Skyline of Assisi. Wikimedia Commons

Visit to Assisi for the World Day of Prayer for Peace

ChurchPope Francis

Pope Francis: "A call to learn every day the challenging art of communion, to acquire a culture of encounter, purifying the conscience of every temptation to violence and stubbornness"

THAT BROTHERLY HAND THAT RELIEVES SYRIANS OF THEIR BURDEN OF DEBT

ChurchIbrahim Alsabagh

“We have many rugs and furnishings in the monastery that we can sell, before we have to sell … ourselves!” The Catholic parish of Saint Francis in Aleppo took all means necessary to relieve the financial debt of families in need.

Mother Teresa's portrait in Saint Peter's Basilica on the day of her canonization.

Who are You?

ChurchPaola Bergamini

After 40 years as a hospital nurse in a ward for children with incurable cancer, Teresa Volpato learned that she herself had cancer. Here is her journey to Calcutta and encounter with the sister, now proclaimed a saint, who turned her life upside down...

Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Photo by Manfredo Ferrari via Wikimedia Commons

I Thirst For You

ChurchPaola Bergamini

On September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be proclaimed a saint. We talked about her life with Fr. Brian Kolodiejchiuk, the postulator of her cause for canonization, who spoke of the power of the fruit she bore and the intimacy of her faith.

The Angelus with Pope Francis. Wikimedia Commons

POPE FRANCIS: ENSLAVED WOMEN DESERVE “PEACE, JUSTICE, LOVE”

ChurchVatican Radio

Pope Francis on Monday expressed his hope women enslaved to the “arrogance of the powerful” will be allowed to have a life of “peace, justice, and love.” The Holy Father was speaking during his Angelus address for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary.

FR. IBRAHIM: THE DESIRE FOR PEACE ALWAYS WINS

ChurchLuca Collodi

Here is what is happening in the civilian drama these days, in the words of Father Ibrahim, pastor of Aleppo, reached by telephone by Luca Collodi on August 9, 2016. "The desire for peace always wins over the other desire—the desire of war."

World Youth Day Krakow. Flickr

THE POPE ARRIVED IN POLAND!

ChurchPope Francis

Accompanied on board the plane by a Pontifical Delegation and about 70 members of the press, Pope Francis begins his five-day visit to attend the World Youth Day celebrations taking place in of Krakow. We publish his speech given at Wawel Castle.

Icon of St. Mary Magdalene and the Risen Christ. Photo by Ted

THE FIRST LITURGICAL FEAST OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE

ChurchCardinal Robert Sarah

To coincide with the feast of Mary Magdalene instituted by Pope Francis on June 3, 2016, Cardinal Robert Sarah has written an essay for the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.

Love is Able to Find the Way

ChurchChristoph Schönborn

Ending with the key concept of “discernment:” how is the conscience formed? Passages from the presentation by the Archbishop of Vienna, which the Pope suggested to keep in mind while reading the Exhortation.

Shattered statue of the Virgin Mary

News from Aleppo, Syria

ChurchIbrahim Alsabagh

"Sometimes this question comes to me: 'Has the Lord left us? Where is the Lord?' This is a moment in which the faith is mightily shaken from its roots for all of us, little flock that is left in Aleppo." We publish Fr. Alsabagh's letter after the bombing.