IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a continuing effort to protect children, the Catholic Church’s focus is now turning to religious orders of men and women. Much of the attention had been on how dioceses and national bishops’ conferences have been responding to victims and …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy of Connor Bergeron By Chaz Muth WASHINGTON (CNS) — Before Connor Bergeron of Reston, Virginia, left to serve as a lay missionary in Bolivia, he wasn’t sure how the experience would impact his life, other than soaking in the excitement and intrigue of living abroad. After graduating …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Angelo Carconi, EPA By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Charity is an essential sign of Christian faith, one that is learned in family relationships and must spread from there, Pope Francis told leaders and volunteers from Italy’s diocesan Catholic charities. “The cradle and the home” of Catholic …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey By Paul Jeffrey IRBIL, Iraq (CNS) — When the Islamic State group rolled across Iraq’s Ninevah Plain in 2014, tens of thousands of Christians fled for their lives to Kurdish-controlled areas of the country. They still wait in limbo in crowded camps, facing an undefined future. …

By WASHINGTON (CNS) — For decades, Congress and U.S. presidents — both Republican and Democrat — have approved federal laws “protecting conscientious objection to abortion,” but it is increasingly clear current laws “offer far less protection in practice than in theory,” said a group of faith-based, health care and pro-life …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians must look to their own sins and failings and not fall into the temptation of hypocrisy that causes them to believe they are better than others, Pope Francis said. “The relationship of salvation” with God cannot move forward …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Dale Gavlak By Dale Gavlak ZAHLE, Lebanon (CNS) — On a rainy spring day, the misery of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees is compounded as they shelter in dilapidated shanties dotting a long muddy swathe of the verdant Bekaa Valley. Colorful plastic sheeting, advertising cameras and cosmetics, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Alexander Ermochenko, EPA By Gaby Maniscalco VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ pleas for humanitarian aid for Ukraine is bringing needed attention to a forgotten war, said Ukrainian Catholic leaders. The 2-year-old war has caused thousands of deaths and forced more than 1 million people to seek refuge …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Refugees, often perceived by society as an added cost or a problem, are a gift and a reflection of the face of God, Pope Francis said. People who escape oppression, war, pollution or “the unjust distribution of the planet’s resources are a …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Henry Romero, Reuters By WASHINGTON (CNS) — Six members of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, including a young nun from Northern Ireland, are among the dead in the strongest earthquake to strike Ecuador since 1979. Sister Clare Theresa Crockett, 33, of Londonderry, died while …