by CNA Staff Greccio, Italy, Dec 17, 2021 / 04:00 am In 2019, Pope Francis issued an apostolic letter on the meaning and importance of the Christmas nativity scene. He signed the document, Admirabile signum (“Enchanting image”), on Dec. 1 that year, at the Shrine of the Nativity in Greccio, a hilltown in the …

by Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Dec 17, 2021 / 01:00 am “There is only one thing that really makes us age, grow old interiorly: not age, but sin,” Pope Francis said in 2017, during a speech about the Virgin Mary. As Francis turns 85 on Dec. 17, his ninth birthday …

by Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Dec 13, 2021 / 06:00 am The Vatican’s liturgy office on Monday issued a rite and guidelines for the institution of lay catechists in the dioceses of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis created the lay ministry of catechist in May with the release of the motu proprio Antiquum …

by CNA Staff Vatican City, Dec 12, 2021 / 04:47 am Pope Francis expressed his closeness on Sunday to the victims of tornadoes that struck at least six U.S. states, killing scores of people. Speaking after his Angelus address on Dec. 12, he referred to the tornadoes that left a …

by CNA Staff Vatican City, Dec 8, 2021 / 05:45 am Pope Francis highlighted “the beauty of Mary’s heart” in his Angelus address on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The pope said on Dec. 8 that the Blessed Virgin Mary’s encounter with the Angel Gabriel, described in St. Luke’s Gospel, revealed …

by CNA Staff Athens, Greece, Dec 6, 2021 / 04:20 am Pope Francis urged young people in Athens on Monday not to be “prisoners of the cell phone,” but to truly share their lives with others. Speaking in a school sports hall in a suburb of the Greek capital on …

Catechists Let us pray for the catechists, summoned to announce the Word of God: may they be its witnesses, with courage and creativity and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

by Jonah McKeown Denver Newsroom, Nov 29, 2021 / 13:00 pm First in a series of articles examining the 2021 Survey of American Catholic Priests (SACP) findings. A new survey released this month suggests a more “pessimistic” view of the Catholic Church among U.S. priests today as compared to 2002, as …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Nov 29, 2021 / 04:37 am For the second year in a row, Pope Francis has canceled the Roman tradition of a public gathering at the Spanish Steps on Dec. 8 to venerate a statue of the Immaculate Conception due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The …

by Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Nov 28, 2021 / 06:52 am On the first Sunday of Advent, Pope Francis reminded Christians that an essential ingredient for living an alert and joyful life is prayer. “Be awake, guard your heart,” the pope said in his message before the Angelus Nov. 28. …