Around the world
Haitian students lend a hand in earthquake recovery efforts
Posted: 3/9/2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Colonb Mitsuka was on a playground at Louverture Cleary School when the massive magnitude 7 earthquake shook Haiti Jan. 12, causing a cinder block to fall on her, significantly injuring her face.

100 traditionalist Anglican parishes seek to join Catholic Church
Posted: 3/9/2010
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- About 100 traditionalist Anglican parishes in the United States have decided to join the Catholic Church as a group.

Pope’s brother apologizes to abuse victims at his former school
Posted: 3/9/2010
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The brother of Pope Benedict XVI apologized to child victims of sexual abuse at his former school even though he said he was unaware of the alleged incidents.

Caritas struggles to reach rural victims of Chilean earthquake
Posted: 3/5/2010
LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- While media attention focuses on looting in Concepcion, the largest city near the epicenter of the magnitude 8.8 earthquake Feb. 27, Catholic Church workers struggle to reach quake victims in rural areas who are far from the spotlight.

Pope offers prayers for Iraq, asks government to protect minorities
Posted: 3/5/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said that during his weeklong Lenten retreat he frequently prayed for all the victims of violence in Iraq, especially members of the country's Christian minority.

US medical teams in Haiti refocus medical care on chronic illnesses
Posted: 3/5/2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- On her second medical mission to Haiti since the Jan. 12 earthquake, Patty Skoglund, a disaster response expert with Scripps Health in San Diego, sees an evolution in medical treatment taking place.

Pope to canonize Mary MacKillop, Andre Bessette Oct. 17
Posted: 2/26/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI will create six new saints Oct. 17, including Blessed Mary MacKillop, who will be Australia's first saint, and the Canadian Blessed Andre Bessette, who will be the first saint of the Holy Cross Brothers.

Olympic prodigy trades skates for sandals of Franciscan sister
Posted: 2/26/2010
LONDON (CNS) -- In the silence of St Joseph's Convent in Leeds each morning, Sister Catherine dresses herself in a gray habit. She fixes a black veil on her head and fastens to her waist a cord tied into three knots -- representing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience -- and she slips her feet into the sandals of a Franciscan nun.

Church statistics show increase in Catholics, priests, seminarians
Posted: 2/22/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The latest Vatican statistics show a slight increase in Catholics as a percentage of the world's population, and a slow but steady rise in the number of priests and seminarians worldwide.

Nun says Australian’s sainthood cause delayed by unfounded claims
Posted: 2/22/2010
PERTH, Australia (CNS) -- Blessed Mary MacKillop's sainthood cause was delayed by accusations that she was a drunk because she drank brandy for menstrual pain, said the head of the order the Australian nun co-founded in 1866.

Irish-Vatican summit on sex abuse ends with call for courage, honesty
Posted: 2/19/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The latest Vatican statistics show a slight increase in Catholics as a percentage of the world's population, and a slow but steady rise in the number of priests and seminarians worldwide.

Church’s care for sick is an invaluable gift to the world, pope says
Posted: 2/19/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The pastoral care of the sick and infirm is a priceless gift the church offers to those who suffer, to their families and to the world, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Politicians who support gay marriage are not Catholic, says cardinal
Posted: 2/19/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Public officials who openly support same-sex marriage cannot consider themselves to be Catholic, said an Italian cardinal.

Abandon superficiality in favor of complete conversion, says pope
Posted: 2/19/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Lenten season calls Christians to strip themselves of evil, superficiality and lukewarm morality and to turn themselves fully over to Jesus Christ, said Pope Benedict XVI.

Sainthood scoop: Book on the "real" John Paul II snubbed at Vatican
Posted: 2/19/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When it was unveiled in late January, the insider book about the "real" Pope John Paul II looked at first glance like the Vatican's own effort at a pre-beatification biography.

Pontiff to future priests: Christianity is a gift
Posted: 2/19/2010
ROME (Zenit) -- Christianity does not consist of respecting external norms, but rather of penetrating the mystery of God, says Benedict XVI.

Mosul archbishop says Christians live in panic, targeted in killings
Posted: 2/19/2010
LONDON (CNS) -- The killings of four Iraqi Christians in as many days could prompt a wave of refugees fleeing northern Iraq, where Christians live in constant state of panic, said a Catholic archbishop.

Replacement of head of Academy for Life urged by five members
Posted: 2/19/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Several members of the Pontifical Academy for Life have suggested that the academy's president, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, be replaced because he "does not understand what absolute respect for innocent human lives entails."

Irish abuse victims disappointed, angered by Vatican statement
Posted: 2/18/2010
DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- Victims of clerical child sexual abuse and groups representing them reacted with a mix of anger and disappointment to a Vatican statement issued after a papal meeting with Irish bishops.

Irish-Vatican summit on sex abuse ends with call for courage, honesty
Posted: 2/16/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said priestly sexual abuse was a "heinous crime" and a grave sin, and he urged Irish bishops to act courageously to repair their failures to deal properly with such cases.

At Olympic venues, chaplains prepare to serve faiths -- and see events
Posted: 2/12/2010
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (CNS) -- During the 2010 Winter Olympics, most ski runs on the Whistler Blackcomb venue will remain open, and Msgr. Jerry Desmond from Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church in Whistler plans to take advantage of the opportunity.

English seminary in Rome exhibits history of martyrs, persecution
Posted: 2/12/2010
ROME (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Great Britain later this year, he will be greeted by lords and ladies and dignitaries of all kind, including Queen Elizabeth II and the British prime minister.

Vatican official says religious orders are in modern ’crisis’
Posted: 2/12/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A top Vatican official said religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices.

Shroud of Turin: Image provokes prayer, curiosity, scholarly disputes
Posted: 2/12/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Shroud of Turin, which many Christians believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus, goes on public display this spring, at a time when experts are debating new claims about the 14-foot-long piece of linen.

Italian scandal prompts Vatican to condemn ’defamation’ campaign
Posted: 2/11/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A small but annoyingly persistent scandal over trumped-up accusations against a Catholic editor in Italy has underlined how much attention the Vatican pays to Italian affairs.

Pope John Paul brought dignity to all who suffer, supreme knight says
Posted: 2/10/2010
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II's humility and willingness to let the whole world watch his declining health gave dignity and meaning to suffering, said Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus.

Canadian snowboarder to have hopes of parish, country riding in Olympic slalom
Posted: 2/9/2010
RICHMOND, British Columbia (CNS) -- St. Joseph the Worker parishioner Alexa Loo will have the hopes of her Richmond parish and the entire country riding with her when she goes for a snowboarding gold in the parallel giant slalom in the Olympics.