IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis began the New Year praying the world would demonstrate a marked increase in solidarity and welcome for migrants and refugees. “Let’s not extinguish the hope in their hearts; let’s not suffocate their hopes for peace,” the pope said …

IMAGE: CNS/Joseph Roger O’Donnell via Vatican Press Office By VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As 2017 was drawing to a close, the horrors of war and people’s yearnings for peace were on Pope Francis’ mind and in his prayers. In an unusual move late Dec. 30, the pope had the Vatican …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tamas Kovacs, EPA By Kelly Sankowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Associated Press named Katie Ledecky the Female Athlete of the Year Dec. 26, after balloting by U.S. editors and news directors. Ledecky, a graduate of Little Flower School and Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an increasingly complex world of unprecedented scientific and technological challenges, theologians must communicate what is essential about life and help Christians proclaim God’s merciful, saving grace, Pope Francis told a group of Italian theologians. The theologians’ task requires being …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Only when Christ is the focus of the Christmas season do all the colorful lights, carols, special meals and traditions help create a festive and joyous atmosphere, Pope Francis said. “If we take him away, the lights go out …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Those who recognize the Lord in the baby Jesus in the manger also should recognize his presence in children suffering today because of war, poverty and immigration, Pope Francis said. “Jesus knows well the pain of not being welcomed and …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christmas calls believers to see God’s presence where he is often perceived as absent, especially in the “unwelcomed visitor, often unrecognizable, who walks through our cities and our neighborhoods, who travels on our buses and knocks on our doors,” …

IMAGE: CNS/L’Osservatore Romano By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Blessed Paul VI could be declared a saint in 2018, perhaps during the Synod of Bishops, an institution he re-established after the Second Vatican Council, according to the newspaper of his home diocese. La Voce del Popolo, the newspaper of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Callista L. Gingrich presented her letters of credential to Pope Francis, formally assuming her duties as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. Gingrich met privately with the pope Dec. 22 after introducing her husband, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Gregory L. Tracy, the Pilot By Mark Labbe BRAINTREE, Mass. (CNS) — Journalists crowded into a room in the Archdiocese of Boston’s Braintree headquarters Dec. 20 as Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley answered questions following the death of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, whose death was officially announced by the …