IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By David Agren CARTAGENA, Colombia (CNS) — Pope Francis capped a five-day trip to Colombia with a call for culture change in a country attempting to pursue a path of peace and reconciliation after decades of armed conflict and centuries of social exclusion. The pope issued his …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden CARTAGENA, Colombia (CNS) — At the Church of St. Peter Claver, a saint venerated throughout the Americas as a champion of human rights, Pope Francis offered special prayers for Venezuela and its people suffering in the midst of a huge political and economic …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Mickey Conlon By Mickey Conlon LARGO, Florida (CNS) — The stories, like the people, are all over the map. There’s the woman from California, the accountant from Ohio, the local roofer, who relocated from a mile away. All for the moment were in Largo, specifically Largo High School, …

By Barb Fraze WASHINGTON (CNS) — The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called for prayers for all those in the path of Hurricane Irma as it approached the United States. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, whose diocese was hit by flooding from Hurricane Harvey, noted that …

IMAGE: CNS photo/David Agren By David Agren CARTAGENA, Colombia (CNS) — Outside St. Peter Claver Parish in this colonial city on the Caribbean coast, Afro-Colombian women in colorful attire sell chopped fruit to tourists. Once tourists pay for papaya and pineapple, some ask for photos, which the women oblige, placing …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden MEDELLIN, Colombia (CNS) — In a city many think of as being synonymous with new directions for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis told Colombian Catholics faith is not measured by how well they follow rules, but by the depth of their prayer life and …

IMAGE: CNS/Nancy Phelan Wiechec By Cindy Wooden MEDELLIN, Colombia (CNS) — In changes to the Code of Canon Law regarding translations of the Mass and other liturgical texts, Pope Francis highlighted respect for the responsibility of national and regional bishops’ conferences. The changes, released by the Vatican Sept. 9 as …

By Cindy Wooden VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia (CNS) — In a raw, honest prayer service where victims and perpetrators of violence stood under the gaze of a bomb-damaged crucifix, Pope Francis urged Colombians to summon the courage to make peace. Symbolically presiding over the event Sept. 8 was what remained of a …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Catholic Charities By SAN ANTONIO (CNS) — Catholic Charities USA presented a $2 million check Sept. 4 representing donations received to date for immediate emergency assistance for those impacted by Hurricane Harvey and its catastrophic flooding. One hundred percent of the funds raised will go directly to …

By Cindy Wooden VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia (CNS) — If just one victim of Colombia’s civil war forgives his or her aggressor, it can set off a chain reaction of hope for reconciliation and peace, Pope Francis said. Celebrating Mass Sept. 8 in Villavicencio, a city filled with those who fled their …