by Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Mar 4, 2021 / 07:20 am MT (CNA).- Iraqi Catholics have asked Pope Francis to bless a statue of the Virgin Mary that was desecrated by the Islamic State. The Marian statue was decapitated in the Christian village of Karamles, between Mosul and Erbil, during …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Mar 2, 2021 / 07:00 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis appointed Mgsr. Jerome Feudjio on Tuesday to lead the Diocese of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Originally from Cameroon, Feudjio has served as a priest of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ diocese for more …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Feb 28, 2021 / 05:30 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis said Sunday that it is important to remember when facing a difficult trial that the “Lord is risen and does not permit darkness to have the last word.” “At times we go through moments of …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Feb 27, 2021 / 08:30 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis has said that seeing a psychiatrist in Argentina helped him with anxiety when he was a younger priest in an interview published in an Argentine newspaper Saturday. The pope spoke with an Argentine journalist about …

by Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Feb 27, 2021 / 06:00 am MT (CNA).- Eight hundred years ago, a barefoot St. Dominic carried an icon of the Virgin Mary across Rome to entrust the Marian image to a new community of cloistered nuns, who have safeguarded the icon within the walls …

by Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Feb 25, 2021 / 12:00 pm MT (CNA).- In a week’s time, Pope Francis is expected to make history by becoming the first pope to travel to Iraq. His March 5-8 trip will take him from excavations of historical biblical sites dating back thousands of …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Feb 24, 2021 / 04:15 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis expressed his condolences on Tuesday after three people were killed in an attack on a United Nations convoy traveling in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Luca Attanasio, the Italian ambassador to Congo, died of his …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Feb 19, 2021 / 05:00 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis has given each member of the Roman Curia a book to include in their spiritual reading for their Lenten retreat this year. The book was written by an unnamed Cistercian monk in the 17th century …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Feb 17, 2021 / 07:00 am MT (CNA).- The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued guidelines on Wednesday for the celebration of Holy Week this year in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In the note signed Feb. 17 …

by Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Feb 15, 2021 / 06:30 am MT (CNA).- The Iraqi government has announced new COVID-19 restrictions, including the closure of all places of worship, less than three weeks before Pope Francis’ scheduled trip to Iraq. On Feb. 14 the health ministry of Iraq wrote that …