God’s love is the source of salvation, true dignity and hope, Pope Francis said in a brief homily at his morning Mass.
Mounting sectarian violence in Egypt is pushing tens of thousands of Egyptian Christians to look for security abroad, say Christian community members, church leaders and aid workers.
Christians need to recover the value of meekness, particularly when they are tempted to speak ill of one another or gossip about each other, Pope Francis said April 9 during his early morning Mass.
Following is a “Prayer for Peace” by Bishop Peter Kang U-il of Cheju, South Korea, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea. He sent the English-language prayer to Catholic News Service April 9.
Church leaders in the Central African Republic appealed for international help in restoring order after a wave of attacks on Catholic clergy and churches.
The Catholic bishops of England and Wales offered prayers for the soul of Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister who died at age 87 following a stroke. Baroness Thatcher, who led Britain from 1979 to 1990, died “peacefully” the morning of April 8, according to her family.
Pope Francis’ priorities will include working for the poor, protecting God’s creation, strengthening interreligious dialogue, reforming the Roman Curia and evangelizing, a Jesuit priest told journalists at an April 3 event at the National Press Club in Washington.
Thousands of people in Miami, New Jersey, Boston, California, Illinois and other places gathered in early April to call for immigration reform legislation, to urge an end to deportation policies that separate families, and generally to open a nationwide push for immigration-focused changes aimed at Congress and the White House.
In his first appointment to the curia, Pope Francis named the superior of the Franciscans as secretary of the Vatican office that oversees the world’s religious orders.