IMAGE: CNS/Reuters By ASSISI, Italy (CNS) — Celebrating how God’s mercy has been experienced for 800 years in a tiny stone church in Assisi, Pope Francis said people need to experience God’s forgiveness and start learning how to forgive others. “Too many people are caught up in resentment and harbor …

IMAGE: CNS/Greg Tarczynski By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) — To help before tragedy occurs, a Washington-based priest and psychologist is conducting a free webinar at the end of August to prepare priests, religious and other church members to deal with the trauma that follows a natural disaster, an act of …

By Michael Swan TORONTO (CNS) — Cardinal Marc Ouellet, whose writings were once strongly identified with resistance to any change to the ban on Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, has given a ringing endorsement to “Amoris Laetitia,” the apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis that sums up two synods …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has appointed six men and six women to a commission to study the issue of women deacons, particularly their ministry in the early church. In addition to the 12 members named Aug. 2, the pope tapped …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Dale Gavlak By Dale Gavlak IRBIL, Iraq (CNS) — The upcoming military offensive to root out Islamic State militants from Mosul and surrounding villages will be a “huge challenge,” the United Nations says, as it expects about 1.5 million people to flee the warfare in a short amount …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a world traumatized by war, young people gathered for World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, gave strong signs of hope and brotherhood, Pope Francis said. World Youth Day was a “prophetic sign for Poland and Europe” …

IMAGE: CNS illustration/Liz Agbey By Christine Bordelon GREAT FALLS, Mont. (CNS) — As U.S. Air Force Maj. Justin Secrest organizes moving boxes in the family garage, his wife, Jennifer, surveys the kitchen to see what she can do without before the movers come in a few weeks to take their …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jacky Naegelen, Reuters By ROUEN, France (CNS) — During the Aug. 2 funeral Mass for Father Jacques Hamel, killed a week earlier by men claiming allegiance to the Islamic State, Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen stressed the need for forgiveness. “As brutal and unfair and horrible as (Father) …

By Junno Arocho Esteves KRAKOW, Poland (CNS) — The memory and pain of the world’s silence during the Shoah should be a call to action for Jews to defend those suffering persecution today, especially Christians, said the chief rabbi of Poland. While Jews have experienced expulsions and holocausts for the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Agencja Gazeta, Jakub Porzycki, via Reuters By Jonathan Luxmoore KRAKOW, Poland (CNS) — Panama, which will host World Youth Day in 2019, is a small country, but the head of its bishops’ conference has no doubts the church will be able to organize the event. “Panama, with its …