IMAGE: CNS/Reuters By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When it comes to Marian apparitions, the Catholic Church takes a prudent approach that focuses more on the message than the miracle. Supernatural phenomena, like the alleged miracle of the sun in Fatima, Portugal, nearly 100 years ago, are not …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A bit of Bavaria, including German beer and pretzels, came to the Vatican to help celebrate retired Pope Benedict XVI’s 90th birthday. “Thank you for bringing Bavaria here,” he told his guests, commenting on the beauty of gathering together …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Octavio Duran By WASHINGTON (CNS) — During what the Roman Missal describes as the “mother of all vigils,” the U.S. Catholic Church welcomed thousands of new Catholics at the Easter Vigil April 15 in churches big and small across the country. About 60 of the nearly 200 dioceses …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Sarah Webb, CatholicPhilly By Gina Christian NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CNS) — For immigrants in the country without legal permission, a routine doctor’s visit can be an occasion for panic. Without papers, immigrants fear deportation when they enter the waiting room. Unwilling to take such a risk, they avoid seeking …

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Like St. Francis of Assisi did, the Catholic Church and individual Christians must follow Christ by imitating his willingness to give up everything for the sake of others, Pope Francis said. “Unfortunately, 2,000 years after the proclamation of the Gospel and eight centuries …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden and Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jesus is the risen shepherd who takes upon his shoulders “our brothers and sisters crushed by evil in all its varied forms,” Pope Francis said before giving his solemn Easter blessing. With tens of thousands of …

By Julie Asher WASHINGTON (CNS) — A grass-roots effort calling on Catholic churches around the world to celebrate a special Mass on the May 8 birthday of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen could see its goal of 1,000 Masses soon reached. As of April 13, close to 900 churches …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Margie Legowsk By Rhina Guidos SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (CNS) — Far from the Easter baskets and dresses, the pastel-colored candy and the White House Easter egg roll, Washington resident Margie Legowski found herself anticipating her second Easter season surrounded by some of the most impoverished masses …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jesus came to the world not just to teach, but to radically change human hearts that have hardened from sin, the preacher of the papal household said during a service commemorating Christ’s death on the cross. “A heart of stone …

By Chaz Muth WASHINGTON (CNS) — As U.S. Catholics prepared for Easter, the hierarchy of the church used the symbol of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ as a path to bring peace to society’s troubled spots. In cities across the country, the Good Friday Way of the Cross has …