By Carol Glatz The depth of a bishop or priest's love for Jesus and his willingness to give up everything for God are the litmus test for how well the pastor is fulfilling his ministry, Pope Francis said. "We are not the face of an organization or an organizational necessity," he told hundreds of Italian bishops during a solemn ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica May 23. "We are calle...

The end of the Year of Grace was a time to take stock of what the Holy Spirit was saying to the Church and reflect on what the year had meant, Perth Year of Grace coordinator, Paddy Buckley, said last week.

Pope Francis received a bloodstained relic of slain Archbishop Oscar Romero as a gift from El Salvador’s President Mauricio Funes Cartagena.

It’s time to admit that after 27 years of effort my career in the kitchen has been less than spectacular. But there’s a lesson in that …

It does not appear to be grasped by much of the Church in Australia, including not a few of those in leadership roles within it and its burgeoning bureaucracy, that a key work of the Church must be to do not with money and structures but with families. Instead, it sometimes seems that the Church is viewed by its own members more as an institution or a corporation, much as one would look at a federal government department – only much bigger.

Late last year, retired Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga was forced to leave his home in Sao Felix do Araguaia because of his work against squatters who had invaded indigenous land in Mato Grosso state. Bishop Casaldaliga, 85, known for his defense of the Xavante indigenous group, was whisked away by members of CIMI, the Brazilian bishops’ Indigenous Missionary Council, to a safe house for an undetermined period.Bishop Erwin Krautler of Xingu, CIMI president, has been under police protection since 2007, when he was put on a hit list for his work with landless peasants and the indigenous communities.

A Chinese priest who recently arrived in the Philippines said that, this year, he did not make his usual May trek up Sheshan hill outside Shanghai, where thousands of pilgrims offer special prayers to Mary, Help of Christians. Speaking to Catholic News Service on the condition of anonymity, the priest said that, until he left China, Shanghai priests — who currently have no bishop — were still discussing how to proceed with the month’s largest pilgrimage, May 24. Shanghai Bishop Jin Luxian died April 27; his Vatican-approved successor, Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin, is under house arrest.

Christians are called to welcome and cooperate with the good accomplished by members of other religions or no religion at all, promoting a culture of dialogue and peace, Pope Francis said.

On a Saturday night in a small community on the outskirts of Sao Jose dos Campos, parishioners flock around the entrance of a church in the Parish of St. Lucia, waiting for Father Vitor Mendes to arrive. Father Mendes is one of the two priests who take care of parishioners in the parish’s five churches.

Selfishness only brings sadness and bitterness, while stepping outside of oneself to evangelize is the ultimate “pick me up” and source of joy, Pope Francis said.