To help you begin your Lenten retreat, we’ve collected messages of encouragement from the shepherds of the Catholic Church in the United States and beyond.

Lent is a humble descent both inwards and towards others. It is about realizing that salvation is not an ascent to glory, but a descent in love.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell look at the challenges facing Pope Francis' scheduled trip to Iraq.

“Jesus announces to us that God is not an idea or an abstract doctrine, but God is the one who ‘contaminates’ himself with our human woundedness and is not afraid to come into contact with our wounds,” the pope said.

While much progress still lies ahead, Sister Nathalie Becquart’s appointment as an undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops marks an inflection point for women’s leadership in the Catholic Church.

God’s forgiveness, offered also through our words and actions, enables us to experience an Easter of fraternity.