Women listen as Pope Francis talks with immigrant families at Our Lady Queen of Angels School in the East Harlem area of New York Sept. 25. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Dispatches

Can we stop calling the people of God ‘the laity’?

by Jim McDermott October 15, 2015

It’s a strange thing to call the vast majority of believers “the other members” of the church.

Pope Francis leads the Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican Oct. 6 (CNS photo/Ettore Ferrari, EPA).

Dispatches

UPDATED: The Vatican Publishes Second Batch of Reports on Synod’s Discussion from 13 Language Groups

by Gerard O’Connell October 14, 2015

Over the past few days, the 270 synod fathers and other participants have discussed part 2 of the working document (“Instrumentum Laboris”), which deals with “The Discernment of the Family Vocation.”

Cardinals Dolan, Kasper and DiNardo leave opening session of Synod of Bishops on the family at Vatican

Dispatches

Dolan explains origins of letter sent to Pope Francis by 13 concerned cardinals

by Gerard O’Connell October 14, 2015

“I’d forgotten about it, and I didn’t think it was controversial at all,” Cardinal Dolan said.

Dispatches

Lombardi: Publishing the letter from 13 cardinals to the Pope was “an act of disturbance”

by Gerard O’Connell October 13, 2015

The publication of the letter from thirteen cardinals to Pope Francis on October 11 by the Italian expert on Vatican affairs Sandro Magister continued to be at the center of discussion in Rome today with various declarations from cardinals and much speculation as to the motive why it was leaked a

Dispatches

California to automatically register voters; some fear increased participation

by Jim McDermott October 13, 2015

The move is an attempt to keep politics and prejudice out of the registration process.

Dispatches

Pope Francis denounces Ankara bombings as ‘barbaric act,’ prays for victims.

by Gerard O’Connell October 11, 2015

In a telegram to Turkey’s president, he expressed his closeness to all those suffering from the terrible attack and assured them of his prayers.

Prelates attend the opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops on the family celebrated by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Oct. 4 (CNS/Paul Haring).

Dispatches

Highlights from 13 reports issued by the synod language working groups

by Gerard O’Connell October 9, 2015

Several groups said the presentation of the family in the first part of the synod’s working document is too negative, too bleak, because it “mainly highlights problems.”

A woman sits among sleeping migrants near the Keleti railway station in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 3 (CNS photo/Bernadett Szabo, Reuters).

Dispatches

Pope calls on international community to act to end escalating conflicts in Middle East

by Gerard O’Connell October 9, 2015

This morning Pope Francis urgently appealed to the International Community “to broaden its horizons beyond the immediate interests and use the instruments of international law and diplomacy to resolve the ongoing conflicts.”

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich-Freising and other German bishops and a lay synod observer, hold a press conference at the Vatican after the opening session of the Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican, Oct. 6 (CNS photo/Paul Haring).

Dispatches

War, poverty, violence: just a few of the topics raised so far at the Synod on the Family

by Gerard O’Connell October 8, 2015

The 318 participants attending the synod of bishops on the family have raised or discussed a wide range of topics during the first four days of this gathering nbsp High among them are the terrible destructive impact that war armed conflict poverty unemployment persecution violence against wo