TAMPA, Fla. – Concluding a biennial gathering, the officers and members of the Episcopal Conferences of the Americas met from February 15-17 at a retreat center to pray and discuss their shared ministry as pastors. The eleven bishops attending included bishops from the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), the Canadian Conference of Catholic…
Reading 1 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Moses said to the people:“Today I have set before youlife and prosperity, death and doom.If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,which I enjoin on you today,loving him, and walking in his ways,and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,you will live and grow numerous,and the LORD, your God,will bless…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — During Lent, people of faith come together to recognize their sins, which are not external evils to be solved by pointing fingers, but are evils residing inside one’s heart requiring conversion, Pope Leo XIV said. “We need to respond by courageously accepting responsibility” for one’s own sins, he said in his…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church is not merely an institution, but a visible sign of God’s plan to unite all humanity in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, Pope Leo XIV said in his weekly general audience. The pope continued his series on the Second Vatican Council, emphasizing one of its…
Reading 1 Joel 2:12-18 Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment. Perhaps he will again…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholics going to Mass on Ash Wednesday will leave church marked, but whether the ashes appear as a bold cross on the forehead or sprinkled atop the head depends largely on where in the world they worship. While Catholics in the United States typically receive a visible cross of ashes traced…