As Pope Leo XIV’s takes some time off at the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo from July 6 to 20, Vatican News looks at what past Popes have said about holidays. By Amedeo Lomonaco A break from work to restore physical strength, a chance to travel and contemplate the beauty …

Memphis, Tenn., Jan 20, 2020 / 11:35 am MT (CNA).- On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., was fatally shot outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King is remembered as the most visible leader of the civil rights movement, for which he was awarded the …

John Neumann was born on March 28, 1811, in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. His parents were Philip and Agnes Neumann. He had four sisters and a brother. After college, John entered the seminary. When the time came for his ordination, the bishop was sick and the date …

by Andrea Gagliarducci Rome Newsroom, Oct 23, 2022 / 07:00 am The 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council is not the only notable anniversary currently being celebrated by the Church. Almost to the day 80 years ago, on Oct. 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII consecrated the …

St. Margaret Clitherow was born in Middleton, England around the year 1555 to a protestant family. Margaret was known throughout the town for her wit and good looks, and in 1571 she married John Clitherow, and together they bore two children. Several years after her marriage to John, Margaret was …

March 10 is the liturgical memorial of Saint John Ogilvie, a 16th- and 17th-century Scotsman who converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, served as a Jesuit priest, and died as a martyr at the hands of state officials. St. John was executed for treason, refusing to accept King James I’s claim …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Jan 1, 2022 / 09:35 am On New Year’s Day, Pope Francis encouraged people to place their lives under the protection of Mary, the Mother of God. “The new year begins under the sign of the Holy Mother of God, under the sign of the …

“Before and after becoming Pope, Saint Paul VI lived with his gaze constantly fixed on Christ whom he considered and proclaimed as a necessity for everyone,” Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, commented on the papal decree. With this declaration, published Feb. 6, the pope who …

Vatican City, Jan 11, 2021 / 11:45 am MT (CNA).- On Jan. 11, Pope Francis published an apostolic letter issued motu proprio (which means “on his own impulse” in Latin), modifying canon law regarding women’s access to the ministries of lector and acolyte. He also released a letter to Vatican …

by Marco Mancini Vatican City, Jan 6, 2021 / 03:01 am MT (CNA).- As of the first month of 2021, the College of Cardinals is composed of 229 members, 128 of whom are under the age of 80, and therefore eligible to vote for the next pope in a future …