IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves ASSISI, Italy (CNS) — Religious leaders celebrating the 30th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s Assisi interfaith peace gathering in 1986 called on people from around the world to continue its legacy to combat today’s indifference and violence. The event Sept. 18-20 was …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Nikos Arvanidtis, EPA By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Offering migrants and refugees truly helpful and loving hospitality is the greatest guarantee against terrorism, Pope Francis said. The current refugee and migration crisis, with more than 65 million people forcibly displaced from their homes, has become “the …

IMAGE: CNS/L’Osservatore Romano By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A nuncio is not simply a “diplomat in a (priest’s) collar,” but must truly be a priest and bishop who listens, supports and serves as a channel of God’s mercy, Pope Francis said. Spending much of the day Sept. 17 …

IMAGE: CNS/L’Osservatore Romano By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis donned a green hospital gown over his white cassock and entered the neonatal unit of a Rome hospital, peering in the incubators, making the sign of the cross and encouraging worried parents. The trip to the babies’ ward …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Philip Laubner, CRS By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) – A six-month search for a new president and CEO for one of the largest humanitarian relief agencies in the world ended at its doorstep, with Catholic Relief Services announcing Sept. 16 that it is hiring a veteran employee — …

By WASHINGTON (CNS) — Ads appearing around the country “calling for taxpayer funding of abortion in the name of the Catholic faith” are “deceptive,” “extreme” and promote “abortion as if it were a social good,” said New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. The abortion advocacy organization Catholics for Choice placed …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians are called to believe in the logic of the resurrection of the body and not succumb to heresies that reduce it to a mere spiritual experience, Pope Francis said. When looking toward the future, the uncertainty about what happens after death …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Katie Breidenbach By Katie Breidenbach FERDINAND, Ind. (CNS) — The aroma of fresh-baked spice cookies fills the monastery bakery in Ferdinand. The Sisters of St. Benedict claim this scent is truly “heavenly,” and with good reason. A saint wrote the recipe. “It is attributed to St. Hildegard,” explained …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a change to church law, Latin-rite Catholic deacons may not preside at a wedding when one or both of the new spouses are members of an Eastern Catholic church. The new rule is one of the changes to 11 …

By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) — Can you put a dollar value on religion?  One Georgetown University researcher has attempted something close to it, releasing findings from a study that says organized religion and behaviors associated with it contribute, by one estimate, nearly $1.2 trillion to the United States. Brian …