By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The international community must ramp up its efforts if it expects to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, Pope Francis said. In a video message sent Sept. 23 to participants at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York, the pope …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church must not become a distant memory for men and women today but must be a welcoming place where everyone feels at home, Pope Francis said. Too often, people judge the church to be either irrelevant …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — Father Sterlin Londono has been a priest for 21 years among his fellow Afro-Colombians in his home region of Choco in Colombia, which is rich in gold — but also rich in coca. Choco also is home to Father Londono’s …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Junno Arocho Esteves By Junno Arocho Esteves QUITO, Ecuador (CNS) — The upcoming Synod of Bishops for the Amazon will focus on the devastating effects of climate change on the environment and on indigenous communities, but it also will look at ways to meet the spiritual needs of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Francois Gloutnay, Presence By Francois Gloutnay MONTREAL (CNS) — The former president of Development and Peace, the Canadian member of the international Caritas organization, said the Catholic bishops’ attitude toward their charitable agency is hurting its membership and credibility. Development and Peace is being criticized by a handful …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tom Tracy By Tom Tracy PORT OF PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNS) — An expert in disaster search and rescue who recently concluded a 13-day post-Hurricane Dorian operation in the Bahamas said that if there are scores of undiscovered fatalities there, their bodies were likely claimed by the sea. …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Being a priest is not a job or fulfilling an employment contract but is a gift from God that should be contemplated and treasured as such, Pope Francis said. Those who turn ordained ministry into an occupation "lose the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Daniel Sone By Tom Dermody PEORIA, Ill. (CNS) — Acknowledging evidence that "for several generations" the Catholic Church has not sufficiently taught its core truths, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky has called for all ministries of the Diocese of Peoria to be "intentionally centered" on the Real Presence in …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church will endure, despite the frailty and sins of its members, because it is God’s project, Pope Francis said. Continuing his series of audience talks about the Acts of the Apostles and the early Christian community Sept. …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Randy Sager, ABC photo archives By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — Cokie Roberts, a broadcast journalist and political commentator who spoke publicly about her Catholic faith and her admiration for the Sacred Heart sisters who taught her, died Sept. 17 due to complications from breast cancer. She was …