IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Serving and giving oneself for others may make one “seem like a loser in the eyes of the world,” but in reality that person is imitating Christ’s love and service, which conquered death and gave life to the world, …

IMAGE: CNS/Cristiano Minichiello, AGF By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican spokesman described as obviously “unreliable” an Italian journalist’s claim that Pope Francis told him that following the Synod of Bishops on the family, “all the divorced who ask” will be admitted to Communion. Eugenio Scalfari, a co-founder …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Mary Knight By JERUSALEM (CNS) — Jerusalem is hot, especially in the gym of the Max Rayne Hand in Hand Bilingual School for Jewish Arab Education. Jerusalem is tense, too, with jolting violence this summer over dismantled settlement homes, gay rights and a brutal attack on a Palestinian …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Ricardo Castelan, EPA By David Agren MEXICO CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will visit Mexico in February, marking the pontiff’s first trip to the heavily Catholic country, said Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City. Cardinal Rivera revealed the date Pope Francis would arrive in Mexico Feb. 12 …

IMAGE: Paul Jeffrey/CNS By Damian Avevor NAGASAKI, Japan (CNS) — A U.S. bishop who visited Japan for the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki said he is a changed man after having come face to face with survivors of the U.S. bombs. “Anybody can talk about policy. …

By John Mulderig VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Marking the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Pope Francis repeated the Catholic Church’s call for a ban on nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction. Seventy years after the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing of Hiroshima and the …

By John Mulderig VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Like their Orthodox brothers and sisters, Catholics formally will mark Sept. 1 as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis has decided. The day of prayer, the pope said, will give individuals and communities an opportunity to implore …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Debbie Hill By Judith Sudilovsky HAIFA, Israel (CNS) — In the seaside restaurant called Maxim owned by the Mattar and Tayar families, customers speak in Arabic and Hebrew while enjoying Middle Eastern specialties. While that’s not so unusual in this northern coastal town, the eatery’s ownership is. The …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Vatican official and a former lay consultant on a pontifical commission were arrested for leaking documents to an Italian journalist who has announced plans to publish them in a book. Msgr. Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, secretary of the Prefecture for the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA By VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Businesses are called to promote harmony between work and family for their employees, especially for women with children or who are starting families, Pope Francis said. The pope said that many times, women who announce their pregnancy are fired …