By SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CNS) — Religious freedom advocates and pro-life leaders praised California Gov. Jerry Brown for vetoing a bill called the Reproductive Health Nondiscrimination Act that targeted religious employers and their faith-based codes of conduct for employees. Assembly Bill 569 would have made it illegal for a California employer …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Jenevieve Robbins, Texas Department of Criminal Justice handout via Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ recent statement that the death penalty is incompatible with the Gospel focused less on a government’s role in protecting its people and more on the need to defend …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholics and Methodists can strengthen each other through a shared witness of faith, especially through acts of love toward the poor and the marginalized, Pope Francis said. The mutual call to holiness shared by both communities “is necessarily a call to communion …

By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Do not fall for the allure of money, which can enslave and alienate like a cult, Pope Francis told business school students. “And it is also important that you be able to learn today the strength and courage to not blindly obey the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn By WASHINGTON (CNS) — The head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration said some migrants from Honduras and El Salvador cannot safely return to their home countries in the near future and should have a special immigration permit extended. The U.S. government will consider in …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians can find hope even at the hour of death, which faith teaches is not a closed door but a wide-open passage to a new life with Christ, Pope Francis said. While all men and women are “small and helpless in front …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis prayed for the victims of a terrorist attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, that left hundreds dead and countless wounded in one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s history. Before concluding his weekly general audience Oct. 18, the pope expressed his …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Aaron P. Bernstein, Reuters By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — Dozens of Catholic groups that challenged the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act have reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, they announced late Oct. 16. The groups, including the Archdiocese of Washington and the Pennsylvania …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters By WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Senate confirmed Callista Gingrich as the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. Voting late Oct. 16, senators approved her nomination 70-23. More than 20 Democrats joined Republicans in supporting Gingrich, the wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a …

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Replying to questions and giving interviews are a “pastoral risk” Pope Francis said he is prepared to take, because it is the best way to know and respond to people’s real concerns. “I know this can make me vulnerable, but it is a …