Read America's full coverage of Pope Francis' trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, led by America correspondent Gerard O'Connell.   [View the story "Pope Francis visits Sri Lanka, Philippines next" on Storify]

The actor responds to President Obama's call for free community college

'If I am doing good, it’ll be mostly by getting out of the way of God.'

Alongside our embrace of free speech, what about being kind?

In an act of powerful symbolism Pope Francis visited the revered Shrine of Our Lady at Madhu in northern Sri Lanka where he recalled ldquo the terrible violence and bloodshed rdquo that ldquo tore open the heart of Sri Lanka rdquo and prayed that through Our Lady rsquo s intercession Jesus w

More than half a million Sri Lankans applauded enthusiastically many were moved to tears when Pope Francis declared Joseph Vaz the 17th nbsp century missionary priest the first saint of this beautiful island in the Indian Ocean And then the bells pealed out with joy drowning the applause but n

They see signs of resilience, despite immense destruction

With the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Sunday January 11th the Christmas season officially came to an end nbsp The multi-colored lights of the festive Christmas trees have been turned off and all the decorations have been taken down The holly and the ivy have disappeared and have become b

Why, today, is joy difficult? Why do we need to be exhorted to it?

Addressing the leaders and some 1 000 followers of Sri Lanka rsquo s four main religions ndash Buddhism Hinduism Islam and Christianity ndash at the end of his first day in the country Pope Francis urged them to ldquo put reconciliation among all Sri Lankans at the heart of every effort to r

Immediately on arrival in Sri Lanka on January 13 Pope Francis called for a process of reconciliation and healing ldquo and the pursuit of truth not for the sake of opening old wounds but rather as a necessary means of promoting justice healing and unity rdquo Known as a pope who does not duck

Do today's students and faculty endorse the essence of what it means to be Jesuit?

This is the eighth entry in the Bible Junkies Online Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles The first entry nbsp covered some of the major critical technical and background issues that will concern us as we read through and comment on the Acts The second post found here considered the prologue

And urges prayers for moms who can't feed kids because of poverty

The Vatican on Jan. 12 rejected reports that it could be the next target of Islamist terrorists after last week’s deadly attacks in France. The move came as Pope Francis called for a “unanimous” global response to the self-declared Islamic State as he left on his first of

Pope to diplomats: Rejecting God, people, nature leads to conflict

Possible acceleration of sainthood cause creates mixed emotions

Dominican Sister Donna Markham has been chosen to succeed Father Larry Snyder as the new president of Catholic Charities USA.The announcement was made Jan. 12 at Catholic Charities headquarters in Alexandria, a suburb of Washington.Sister Donna becomes the first woman to lead Catholic Charities, whi

After the attack in Paris, is the pen still mightier?

The important moral question of how much tuition debt is justified cannot be dismissed.