IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In an effort to ensure transparency as well as historical and scientific accuracy, Pope Francis has approved revised norms for the Congregation for Saints’ Causes regarding medical consultations on healings alleged to be miracles. Among the regulations published by …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Bright Stars By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) — When he was a child, Bassem Hazboun loved helping his mother prepare French delicacies in their Bethlehem kitchen. But it was his father who kept trying to steer him to study engineering as he reached his teens. “You don’t …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Diocese of Newark By TOTOWA, N.J. (CNS) — Retired Archbishop Peter L. Gerety of Newark died Sept. 20 while in the care of the Little Sisters of the Poor at the order’s elder-care facility in Totowa. He was 104. According to a remembrance of Archbishop Gerety posted Sept. …

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has proven to be a master of metaphor and, as fall approached, he increasingly turned to the field of medicine to make his points. Of course, probably his most famous medical metaphor is his repeated description of the church today as …

By WASHINGTON (CNS) — The findings of a recent Georgetown University study on how Catholics regard Muslims show an “urgent need” to “cultivate positive dialogue” not just among Catholics and Muslims, but with other faith traditions as well, according to Archbishop Blase J. Cupich of Chicago. “Experience has shown that …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — God wants people to be merciful, which means forgiving others and giving freely with love, Pope Francis said. “We don’t have the power to condemn our brother who makes a mistake, we are not above him. Rather we …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn By WASHINGTON (CNS) — A group of Catholic scholars Sept. 20 reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s teaching on “the gift of sexuality” and its long-standing prohibition on artificial birth control as outlined in “Humanae Vitae,” Blessed Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical. In a statement released in Washington, they rejected …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves ASSISI, Italy (CNS) — Violence in the name of God does not represent the true nature of religion and must be condemned by all faiths, Pope Francis said. “We never tire of repeating that the name of God cannot be used to justify …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves ASSISI, Italy (CNS) — Jesus’ cry of thirst on the cross is heard today in the cries of innocent victims of war in the world, Pope Francis said. Christians are called to contemplate Christ in “the voice of the suffering, the hidden cry …

By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Humanity should feel ashamed it can wage war, kill the innocent, bomb cities and prevent food and medicine from reaching survivors, Pope Francis said. “There is no god of war,” he said. Violence and division are the work of the devil who “wants …