By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A pope needs friends, needs mercy and needs to reach out to all people, Pope Francis said in two radio interviews released in mid-September. Pope Francis told Portugal’s Catholic Radio Renascenca that he goes to confession “every 15 days, 20 …

By Dennis Sadowski  Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis’ address to the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 25 will mark the fifth papal speech delivered directly to representatives of the world’s governments. His address will come almost 50 years to the day — Oct. 4, 1965 — when Blessed …

By Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service KONSTANCIN-JEZIORNA, Poland (CNS) — Prominent Chinese Catholics have warned that a campaign to remove crosses from church buildings could signal wider restrictions on religious freedom, but cautioned Christians not to overreact. “Whatever those in power do, their first question now is how they can …

By Mark Pattison  Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — More must be done to help the beleaguered Christians of the Middle East, said speakers at a Sept. 11 dinner marking the end of the In Defense of Christians convention in Washington. Tactics they proposed, though, varied, in hope that some …

By Tom Tracy Catholic News Service MIAMI — More than 180 South Florida Catholics planned to travel to Havana once again for a historic papal visit to Cuba. The trip is the third Miami archdiocesan pilgrimage to Cuba for the three papal visits to the island nation, beginning with St. John …

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis’ 10th foreign trip will be the longest of his pontificate and, with stops in Cuba, three U.S. cities and the United Nations, it also will be a “very complex trip,” the papal spokesman said. Briefing reporters about the trip, Jesuit …

Staff Report The Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation via John Carroll University for the development and delivery of a course in religion and science. The grant is for a course titled, “Only Wonder Comprehends” to be taught …

By Walt Schafer For The Catholic Telegraph A little more than 10 years ago, St. Benedict the Moor Parish, serving West Dayton, was built. It is one of only five new parish churches nationwide built from ground up with the money, elbow grease and tenacity of a largely African-American community. …

Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s doctrinal congregation upheld a Spanish bishop’s refusal to allow a transsexual person to be a godparent. Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy of Cadiz and Ceuta said in a written statement that the Catechism of the Catholic Church says godparents must be “firm believers, able …

Updated Sept. 14: Pope’s speech scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Staff Report When Pope Francis becomes the first pope to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress, Cincinnatians will have a chance to witness the speech in a unique way. The 10 a.m. speech Sept. 24 will be shown live …