IMAGE: CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz By WASHINGTON (CNS) — In 1963, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued an instruction permitting cremation as long as it was not done as a sign of denial of the basic Christian belief in the resurrection of the dead. The permission …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Carol Glatz By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Women religious are often the first people to discover problems emerging in society because they work directly with so many people in need, an anti-trafficking advocate said. However, because religious focus more on providing assistance than publicizing their efforts, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Lionsgate By Joseph McAleer NEW YORK (CNS) — Ever since the success of 2004’s “The Passion of the Christ,” viewers of faith have waited anxiously for a follow-up from the film’s director, Mel Gibson. Recently, Gibson revealed that he is indeed planning a sequel — centered on the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Christian Bruna, EPA By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Praying for cardinals and bishops who died in the past year, Pope Francis urged people to remember the priestly witness they gave. Some of the bishops, he said, had been “called to witness to the Gospel in a …

IMAGE: CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz By Dennis Sadowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — A pair of Catholic physicians argue that changes in the way health care is paid for and stronger relationships between doctors and their patients will do more to improve people’s health and uphold the sanctity of life than bureaucratic government-run …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When the Benedictine monks in Norcia led residents in prayer before the ruins of their medieval city, they showed one way the church steps into action in times of crisis. First responders encouraged the religious, recognizing they could …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) — Most of us face death when a loved one passes away, and family and friends head to a cemetery. But at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, the friars may think about death more often than most …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Visiting a cemetery on the feast of All Souls can evoke feelings of loss and sadness, but for Christians marking the feast, it also is an affirmation of hope in the resurrection, Pope Francis said. Through his death on …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey By Paul Jeffrey KIDAPAWAN, Philippines (CNS) — Justice is slow in the Philippines, but Father Peter Geremia is running out of patience as he awaits justice for the killers of a fellow priest. Father Geremia is hoping that the country’s new president, Rodrigo Duterte, can cut …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Professing belief in the resurrection of the dead and affirming that the human body is an essential part of a person’s identity, the Catholic Church insists that the bodies of the deceased be treated with respect and laid to rest …