By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Dec 3, 2019 / 10:03 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Tuesday that disabled people make important contributions to humanity, and called discrimination against them a sin. The pope added that disabled people are not members of humanity’s minor “leagues.” “We are called to recognize in …

Orange, Calif., Dec 1, 2019 / 02:11 pm (CNA).- A religious order in southern California is kicking off Advent with a digital calendar that allows Catholics to go more in-depth as they prepare for the Christmas season. The virtual calendar was launched on the first Sunday of Advent by the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Christian Bro By Sam Lucero GREEN BAY, Wis. (CNS) — Before donning the habit of a Christian Brother in 1962, Brother James Miller wore the bib overalls of a Wisconsin farm boy. While in his green work clothes, repairing a wall outside of the Casa Indigena De …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The sacrament of marriage cannot be "improvised," but must be prepared for, nourished and supported throughout the couple’s journey, Pope Francis said. Christian couples also must be helped to pursue their "particular vocation to become missionary disciples as spouses, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Alaa al-Marjani, Reuters By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis said he was concerned and saddened following two months of protests in Iraq that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. "I pray for the dead and the wounded; I am close to their …

Pope Francis has written an Apostolic Letter on the meaning and importance of the nativity scene. He signed the Letter during his visit on Sunday afternoon to the Italian town of Greccio. By Vatican News Greccio is the mountain village where Saint Francis of Assisi created the first crib scene …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy of Maria Elena Bergoglio via Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In Caravaggio’s painting of Matthew, the sinful tax collector being called by Jesus to "Follow me," Pope Francis sees the same unexpected, grace-filled moment found in his own call to the priesthood. A 17-year-old …

By Christine Rousselle Duluth, Minn., Dec 1, 2019 / 12:44 pm (CNA).- Bishop Paul Sirba of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota died on Sunday, after suffering a heart attack before offering Mass. He was 59 years old. “It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I must inform you of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Nativity scene is a simple reminder of something astonishing: God became human to reveal the greatness of his love "by smiling and opening his arms to all," Pope Francis said in a letter on the meaning and importance …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jim West By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — Fifty years ago, the White House sponsored a Dec. 2-4 conference on food, nutrition and health designed to set the groundwork for a national nutrition policy and to advise President Richard Nixon on the best ways to eliminate hunger and …