What is Advent anyway?
Is Advent the ‘new year’? The Church’s feasts and celebrations run on a yearlong cycle, which we call the “liturgical year.” The “liturgical year” starts on the first Sunday of…
Pope Francis to COP28: Environmental destruction is ‘an offense against God’
“Even so … I am with you because the destruction of the environment is an offense against God, a sin that is not only personal but also structural, one that…
Witnesses testify to torture by Nicaraguan dictatorship at hearing on imprisoned Catholic bishop
In response to demands for proof that Álvarez is still alive, the Nicaraguan dictatorship’s Ministry of the Interior released new video and images of the bishop on Tuesday. In a…
2023 Ratzinger Prize reflects on theological legacy of late Pope Benedict XVI
“Joseph Ratzinger never wanted to build his own system of thought or establish his own school but taught us to seek the truth with the power of reason and the…
Hard-living Irish musician Shane MacGowan received last rites before he died, family says
Drugs, alcohol, violence As a teenager, MacGowan got into drugs, particularly LSD, which affected his grip on reality and led him at 17 to a six-month stay at a psychiatric…
U.S. bishops urge public to petition Biden administration over rule denying funds to pregnancy centers
Organizations such as “crisis pregnancy centers” or “pregnancy resource centers” sometimes receive funding for that purpose, the government said. But if those initiatives only offer pregnancy counseling to women “after…
America’s Catholics weigh in on Pope Francis’ climate change priorities
Roberts said the Heritage Foundation’s research and advocacy has focused not on high-level, multinational agreements and conferences to tackle the issues posed by climate change but rather on smaller-scale, more…
Pope Francis sends condolences to family of Indi Gregory at British baby’s funeral
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said on its website that the Friday message was read aloud at baby Indi’s funeral. The Vatican had said in November that…
NET Ministries launches outreach to U.S. Hispanic youth
Annie Grandell, director of YDisciple, explained that in the project, “we are not limiting ourselves to a simple translation, we are ‘transliterating.’ That is, we are working closely with the…
New York diocese offers $200 million to abuse victims in largest-ever settlement offer
“The diocese agrees with Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn, who is overseeing the case, that survivors have waited too long for compensation and that any alternative to a global settlement…
German bishop says divisions within local Church are a ‘disaster for the faithful’
Divisions in the German episcopacy recently came to the forefront when Oster and three other bishops — Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne, Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, and Bishop Gregor…
‘I am prepared to die a martyr’: Freed Nigerian monk recounts kidnapping, murder of brother monk
“I quickly abandoned the idea to run as I felt the men’s presence in our room,” he continued. “Instead, I slid under the bed and hid there for a while.…