IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Cardinal-designate Kevin J. Farrell believes the U.S. bishops as a whole should have discussed pastoral guidelines for implementing Pope Francis’ exhortation on the family before individual bishops began issuing guidelines for their own dioceses. Implementing the pope’s exhortation, “Amoris …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Carol Zimmermann BALTIMORE (CNS) — Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez said his election as vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 15 may have had more to do with his archdiocese than anything else. “I’m grateful to my brother bishops for …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Jeffrey Bruno, EWTN By Dennis Sadowski BALTIMORE (CNS) — Maronite Bishop Gregory J. Mansour called on the bishops of the United States to bring wider attention to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East to their parishes and political leaders. Addressing the fall general assembly of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Offering counsel and admonishing sinners are works of mercy, but they are not a license to pretend to be better than others, Pope Francis said. To counsel others is a chance to see how well you, too, measure …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Mark Pattison BALTIMORE (CNS) — Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was elected president of the U.S. bishops’ conference Nov. 15 for a three-year term to begin at the conclusion of the bishops’ annual fall general assembly in Baltimore. Cardinal DiNardo collected a majority of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Rhina Guidos BALTIMORE (CNS) — Earlier this year, as communities faced tensions, protests and violence, following a spate of shootings and killings of black men by police, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, asked dioceses …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Robert Duncan By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Even though Cardinal-designate Kevin J. Farrell had asked his secretary to hold all phone calls so he could finish his work, one caller insisted on getting through. “She came in and said that the pope was on the telephone, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Carol Zimmermann BALTIMORE (CNS) — The U.S. bishops chose to break from tradition during this year’s fall assembly by celebrating Mass at the church known as the “Mother Church” of black Catholics in West Baltimore instead of the usual venue: Baltimore’s historic basilica. “I pray …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a rather simple prayer service Nov. 19, Pope Francis will create 17 new cardinals and symbolically bind them to ancient church traditions. In the months following the consistory — as any gathering of cardinals is called — the new …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Year of Mercy brought more than 20 million pilgrims to Rome, but for Pope Francis, the idea always was that the celebration of God’s mercy would be local: have people experience God’s love in their parishes and send them …