As part of the Vatican’s ongoing efforts to ensure that all its financial activity complies with international standards, particularly those aimed at preventing money laundering and possible financing of terrorism, Pope Francis has expanded the role and the reach of the Vatican’s Financi

The number of permanent deacons in the Catholic Church in the United States continues to rise, according to a national survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, at Georgetown University. Nationally there are more than 18,000 deacons, about 3,000 of them retired. Many per

The spiritual implications of fracking

Millions of workers are being denied honor and respect because of lack of jobs.

Japan's Witness; Doing God's Work; Turning Point in Congo?

Everyone expected a short homily—and we got it. My childhood priest knew the Mass needed to finish on time since everyone was about to rush to the next liturgical rite: game day in Green Bay, Wis. Growing up 20 miles south of Titletown, U.S.A., the nickname for the city of 104,000 whose famous

Secretary of State John Kerry and the U.S. State Department significantly raised the bar for both the ambitions and the expectations for upcoming negotiations between West Bank Palestinians and the State of Israel. One wild card in the new discussions, which have set the laudable but so far elusive

Not ConvincedIn “Beyond the Fortnight” (7/1), Archbishop William E. Lori addresses some issues quite clearly. I appreciate that. However, there are numerous issues that he has not made so clear for me to understand.For example, Archbishop Lori demands that companies and individuals recei

The dogmatic thinking that convinced us that a phone could (should!) be a sheer piece of glass, that a swipe of a finger on a screen should feel like moving a real object, and that the Internet should be in our pockets has opened up tremendous possibilities.

Wellfleet’s outer beach is just about an hour’s drive from my boyhood home on Cape Cod. The spot is well known for a steep, 50-foot sand cliff that rises behind it, topped by a gently sloping upland that affords a graceful vista of the Atlantic, exactly the sort of spot that prompted Hen

Pope Francis’ witness on immigration is timely for Americans as reform hangs in the balance.

Italy’s foreign minister, Emma Bonino, told reporters on Aug. 6 that “it seems” the Italian Jesuit priest Paolo Dall’Oglio, missing more than a week in Syria, “has been kidnapped by...a local version of Al Qaeda.” • The attorney Frances X. Hogan, Jane Marie K

Very slowly the American public is moving away from the death penalty A recent Gallup Poll puts its acceptance at 63 percent down from 80 percent in 1994 Unfortunately according to a survey by the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at the Catholic University of America Catholic

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of Pope John Paul II rsquo s Mass at World Youth Day in Denver Sister Mary Ann Walsh reflects on her involvement with the historic event nbsp Arkmore Kori reports on the recent elections in Zimbabwe while Kevin Clarke looks into the deteriorating situation in

La postura de la Iglesia Cat lica acerca de nbsp la actividad homosexual es bien conocida Probablemente no hay nbsp un cat lico inteligente en este pa s tal vez incluso en el mundo occidental que no est nbsp consciente de la clara ense anza de la Iglesia El Catecismo ense a que la acti

On July 31 2013 Zimbabwe held ldquo harmonised elections rdquo They were called harmonised elections because voters elected three candidates for office on one paper ballot councillors house of assembly and president Of the 210 seats in the house of assembly 160 were won by ZANU PF a revolut

Father Paolo Dall'Oglio disappeared in the east of the country late last month.

Egypt’s Christians appear to already be paying a price for the Egyptian military’s decision to dislodge largely peaceful protests in Cairo with a large-scale dispersal operation that quickly became violent. Numbers are in flux but scores have perished as the military moved in this mornin

Sometimes a mystery of faith is best approached through its opposite In pondering the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary consider what it means for us to die Of course for all of us on this side of the grave death is the unexplored country Near death experiences do not count Pondering dea