By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — “The Virgin Mary has not appeared in Medjugorje,” said Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, the diocese in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which includes Medjugorje. Two weeks after the Vatican announced Pope Francis was sending a Polish archbishop to study the pastoral needs of the townspeople and …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jonathan Drake, Reuters By WASHINGTON (CNS) — The chairmen of two U.S. bishops’ committees Feb. 24 praised President Donald Trump’s repeal of the Obama administration’s directive on transgender access to bathrooms. The guidance, issued last May by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — When St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday, as it does about every seven years, the Lenten rule requiring Catholics to abstain from meat on Fridays collides with the long-held tradition of eating corned beef and cabbage. The two …

IMAGE: CNS/L’Osservatore Romano By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Reaching out to and guiding couples in cohabitation with tenderness and compassion is essential to promoting and defending the sanctity of marriage, Pope Francis said. Couples who have chosen to live together without getting married in the church “are, in …

IMAGE: CNS/Maria Grazia Picciarella, pool By Junno Arocho Esteves ROME (CNS) — The path toward Christian unity can’t be found isolated in a laboratory hashing out theological differences, but rather by walking together on a common journey, Pope Francis said. While theological dialogue is necessary, Catholics and Anglicans can continue …

Immaculate Heart of Mary 3rd Grade students completed a biography bottle project about famous African Americans to celebrate Black History Month. They turned out amazing!

Northside brewers brew wild yeast beer in former church, now pub By Gail Finke The long history of monks, friars, and beer will have a new incarnation this Lent. Urban Artifact, a Northside microbrewery that specializes in sour beers and beers brewed from wild yeast, debuts its new St. Anthony …

It was Saturday Night Fever at Mercy High School with their Groovy Gala.

IMAGE: CNS/L’Osservatore Romano By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — For decades, the visits bishops are required to make to the Vatican were known for their formality and routine style, but Pope Francis launched “a whole new style of ‘ad limina’ visits,” a Chilean bishop said. The bishops were …

IMAGE: CNS photo/NASA handout via Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The quest to find life on other planets got a boost when astronomers confirmed the existence of at least seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a red dwarf star just 40 light years away. Three of the planets are …