IMAGE: CNS photo/Eloisa Lopez, Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Reading the Bible and praying with it is "the best vaccine" against Catholic communities closing in on themselves or focusing only on self-preservation, Pope Francis said. God wants "a church that does not speak from itself or about …

By NEW YORK (CNS) — In an April 12 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, the CEO of the Knights of Columbus said that "Christian towns in Iraq increasingly look neither Christian nor Iraqi — but Iranian." "The public identifies the threat against Christians in Iraq and Syria as emanating …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — An organist from Notre Dame Cathedral — performing an April 26 benefit concert in Washington for the reconstruction of the iconic Parisian church — will end his program, fittingly, with a piece about Christ’s resurrection. The concert at the Basilica …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In back-to-back audiences with a group of French young people and an Italian association for deaf people, Pope Francis cited personal example and witness as a vital piece in the church’s evangelization mission. Meeting with young people from …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Oregon Arts Commission By Katie Scott PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) — Belise Nishimwe remembers what it’s like to feel voiceless. Born in a refugee camp in Tanzania, she came to Portland at age 5 unable to speak or understand English. She couldn’t pass her first year of kindergarten. …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Alexandros Avramidis, Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will head to the Eastern periphery of Europe May 5-7, visiting Bulgaria and North Macedonia, both predominantly Orthodox countries with a small, but active Catholic minority. Christians in both nations claim the great 9th-century evangelizers, Sts. …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Yara Nardi, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The scales of justice cannot solve everything, especially when it comes to stopping a cycle of evil vengeance, Pope Francis said. "Evil knows revenge and if it is not halted, it risks spreading, suffocating the whole world," he …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn By Kurt Jensen WASHINGTON (CNS) — Preservation of the family, marriage and the unborn were the main themes of the annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Washington April 23. "Faith in the crucified and risen Christ shields us from two cold …

IMAGE: CNS photo/John Farmer de la Torre, Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri By Dennis Sadowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — Outside of a week or two in the darkest days of winter, it’s always gardening season for Jana Hukriede. A key volunteer at Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri’s LifeHouse Crisis Maternity Home …

By Carol Glatz ROME (CNS) — The proposed apostolic constitution for reforming and governing the Roman Curia is expected to emphasize the church’s missionary mandate with the creation of a "super-dicastery" merging two offices dedicated to evangelization. "The main point of the new apostolic constitution is that the church’s mission …