By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Although prisoners must pay a price for their crimes, incarceration must not be used as a method of torture but rather an opportunity to become contributing members of society, Pope Francis said. Punishment can be fruitful only when inmates are helped to …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church must continue to work to understand the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council and why they were made, rather than rethinking them, Pope Francis said. “After this magisterium, after this long journey, we can affirm with certainty and …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) — By creating a committee to deal with racism, the country’s Catholic bishops are standing up for the American value of equality and for a Gospel that refutes the hatred and violence the country witnessed Aug. 11 and 12 during white …

By WASHINGTON (CNS) — Saying there is an “urgent need” to address “the sin of racism” in the country and find solutions to it, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has established a new Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism and named one of the country’s African-American Catholic bishops to chair …

By WASHINGTON (CNS) — Saying there is an “urgent need” to address “the sin of racism” in the country and find solutions to it, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has established a new Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism and named one of the country’s African-American Catholic bishops to chair …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While the world reels from terrorism, natural disasters and division, God weeps with those who suffer and offers the hope of a future full of joy and consolation, Pope Francis said. Recalling the victims of a terror attack in Barcelona Aug. 17, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Ed Langlois, Catholic Sentinel By Ed Langlois ST. PAUL, Ore. (CNS) — Hundreds of solar eclipse viewers Aug. 21 watched the sky grow dim and then witnessed the spectacular dancing white corona of the sun’s edge from alongside Oregon’s oldest Catholic church. Built in 1846, St. Paul Church …

By Jonathan Luxmoore WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — A Polish archbishop who inspected Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Medjugorje shrine for the pope predicted the Vatican will soon recognize its Marian apparitions. “The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has passed all documentation to the Secretariat of State — everything suggests the apparitions will …

By ROME (CNS) — One of the two women who died when an earthquake struck the Italian island of Ischia was killed by falling debris from a 19th-century church. The other died in her home, which was destroyed by the quake Aug. 21. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake, …

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Although he said planning a papal trip to Russia was not on the agenda, the Vatican secretary of state said his visit to Moscow was designed to build on the meeting Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill had in Cuba in 2016. …