IMAGE: CNS photo/Brad Birkholz, for The Compass By Patricia Kasten APPLETON, Wis. (CNS) — Goats tend to get a bad rap in church traditions — with the devil often portrayed with goat horns and hoofs, and Jesus speaking of separating goats from sheep, as told in Matthew 25, verses 32 …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a world where many are often marginalized and discriminated against, the message of Jesus’ love must continue to be proclaimed, a Vatican official wrote on behalf of Pope Francis. In a message sent Aug. 16 to the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Franciscan Friars Conventual By Dennis Sadowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — Leading five seminarians on an eight-week summer service program largely through Appalachia and South America, Conventual Franciscan Father Michael Lasky saw a new awareness rising in the young men’s minds. It started by talking with visitors to the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Sarah Mac Donald By Sarah Mac Donald KNOCK, Ireland (CNS) — Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, is a place of prayer, conversion and pilgrimage for millions of people, but the church must be prudent and not rush to any judgment on the alleged Marian apparitions there, said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Andrew Rozario, Catholic Standard By Josephine von Dohlen WASHINGTON (CNS) — In a crowded bar, bustling with young adult Catholics from the Washington area for the monthly Theology on Tap, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory shared his pain over what this archdiocese suffered in the past year due to …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Manuel Rueda By Manuel Rueda BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) — Bishops, nuns, priests and residents of the Amazon basin met in Colombia’s capital city in mid-August to prepare for a special Synod of Bishops for the Amazon this fall at the Vatican. The meeting gave bishops who will be …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Mary’s assumption into heaven calls people to put aside all those insignificant, mundane and petty concerns competing for their attention and instead be drawn to God and his greatness, Pope Francis said. After reciting the Angelus prayer on the …

IMAGE: By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — On the anniversary of the Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing alleged abuse by clergy and other church workers over several decades in six dioceses, bishops in those dioceses reflected on what the past year has wrought and described how their dioceses have acted to …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Toya Sarno Jordan, Reuters By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — While a survey of more than 54,000 Americans showed little change in their attitudes between 2014 and 2018 on the legality of abortion, researchers detected movement in many demographic groups, Catholics included. Natalie Jackson, director of research for …

IMAGE: CNS photo/ICE handout via Reuters By JACKSON, Miss. (CNS) — Mississippi’s Catholic bishops joined with the state’s Episcopal, Methodist and Lutheran bishops in condemning the Trump administration’s Aug. 7 raid on seven food processing plants in the state to round up workers in the country illegally. Such raids "only …