IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn By Nick Bramhill DUBLIN (CNS) — Alcohol, smoking and chocolates are some of the most well-known vices that people traditionally give up during Lent. But now Massgoers in Ireland are being urged to make what might be an even harder sacrifice throughout the penitential six-week period …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Erik Anderson, Reuters By MELBOURNE, Australia (CNS) — Cardinal George Pell, 77, was sentenced to six years in prison March 13, just over two weeks after a Melbourne court allowed the publication of news that he had been found guilty of sexually abusing two boys. Cardinal Pell, who …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Andreea Campeanu, Reuters By SILVER SPRING, Md. (CNS) — Officials with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network criticized the federal Department of Homeland Security for its March 8 decision granting an 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status for South Sudan because it does not include recent arrivals from the …

IMAGE: CNS By WASHINGTON (CNS) — The preparation, blessing and distribution of oils are central to the Catholic Church’s sacraments and rites — and are among some of the church’s most ancient traditions and rituals witnessed during Holy Week. The oils include the oil of the sick, used in the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Chicago Catholic By Michelle Martin CHICAGO (CNS) — When Lauren Teruel Ridloff stepped through the door at Children of Peace School, she said she felt like nothing had changed. "It was a little overwhelming," said Ridloff, 40, who was last in the school — then known …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media via Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When Pope Francis asked 50-year-old Benedictine Abbot Bernardo Gianni to lead his Lenten retreat, the abbot said he told the pope he felt "very inadequate." "The pope responded to me that that was a great precondition for …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tiksa Negeri, Reuters By Dennis Sadowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — Four Catholic Relief Service staff members on their way to a training session in Nairobi, Kenya, were among the passengers aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed moments after takeoff in the east African nation. The accident March 10 …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis welcomed top officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Vatican the day before the officials inaugurated their first temple in the city of Rome. The Vatican included the pope’s meeting with Russell …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Patricia Vice By Jacob Comello WASHINGTON (CNS) — On March 4, Cristobal Cavazos and his companions on the "DuPage Solidarity With the Asylum Seekers" project departed from the headquarters of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, and began a long trek to the U.S-Mexico border where they planned …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Lent is a time to ask for God’s grace to chip away at hypocrisy, which is seen in the natural human attempt to appear "worthier than we are," Pope Francis said. "I must appear to be what I am, …