WASHINGTON – Each year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) comforts and assists people worldwide who suffer from war, natural disasters, violent persecution or extreme poverty. That work is possible because of contributions to The Catholic Relief Services Collection. This year, many dioceses will take up this collection in their parishes at Masses on…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The devil, who lies and sows divisions, tests everyone, even Jesus, Pope Francis said in a written homily. Satan tries to convince people that the hungry cannot be fed, that “angels will not come to our aid when we are falling, and that at best, the world is in the hands…
Reading I Deuteronomy 26:4-10 Moses spoke to the people, saying: “The priest shall receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small…
Reading 1 Isaiah 58:9b-14 Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ continued “gradual, slight improvement” is a sign that he is responding to the therapy he is receiving at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, his doctors said. The 88-year-old pope has remained without a fever “at all times,” and his gas exchanges — where oxygen is added to the blood and carbon…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Defending the life of the unborn should be a sign of being in solidarity “with all the discarded of the world,” Pope Francis said in a message sent from his hospital room to an Italian pro-life group. Italy’s Movement for Life, “in harmony with the whole church,” places at the center…