ROME (CNS) — Smiles, laughter, prayer and strategizing abound at the Bishops’ Office for U.S. Visitors to the Vatican. Just a few blocks from Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain, the visitors’ office is where hundreds of Americans — and not only — go on Tuesday afternoons to pick up their tickets for the pope’s weekly general…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians are called to follow Mary’s example by responding to God’s love with action, reaching out to others instead of withdrawing from the world, Pope Francis said. Reflecting on Mary’s visit to her pregnant cousin Elizabeth after learning that she will bring the Messiah into the world, he said that “this…
Readings for the Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr Reading 1 Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15 Brothers and sisters: In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: My son, do not disdain the discipline of the…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A nerdy love of science fiction, a yearning for adventure, a passion for science and a foundation of Jesuit education all helped in some way to lead a man from Detroit, Michigan, to become a master of meteorites and the head of the Vatican Observatory. Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, who has…
Reading 1 Hebrews 12:1-4 Brothers and sisters: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — It is unacceptable that a child’s right to life and a dignified childhood should be sacrificed to “the idols” of power, profit, ideology and nationalistic self-interest, Pope Francis told a group of world experts and leaders. “A childhood denied is a silent scream condemning the wrongness of the economic system, the…