By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians who turn doctrine into ideology commit a grave mistake that upsets souls and divides the church, Pope Francis said. From the beginning, there have been people in the church who preach “without any mandate” and become “fanatics of things that aren’t …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Chaz Muth By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — Dominican Sister Marie Bernadette Thompson can’t help but see things through a teacher’s eyes after spending eight years teaching elementary and high school students and belonging to an order whose charism is education and the faith formation of young people. …

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — If the Catholic Church recognizes as “worthy of belief” only the initial alleged apparitions of Mary at Medjugorje, it would be the first time the church distinguished between phases of a single event, but it also would acknowledge that human beings and a …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Claudio Peri, EPA By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The frailty associated with illnesses like Huntington’s disease is not a reason to shun the sick but a reminder of the value of life, Pope Francis said. Jesus came to tear down the walls of stigma and …

By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ and the Corpus Christi procession on a Sunday — June 18 — and not on the traditional Thursday feast day, which is June 15 this year. Throughout Italy and in …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Diane Clay, Sooner Catholic By Diane Clay OKARCHE, Okla. (CNS) — Early on the morning of May 10, the remains of Father Stanley F. Rother were exhumed from Holy Trinity Cemetery in Okarche and transported to Oklahoma City. As required by the Catholic Church for the beatification process, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Christina Lee Knauss, The Catholic Miscellany By Christina Lee Knauss WALHALLA, S.C. (CNS) — For a century, a simple but serenely beautiful wooden building tucked away in the picturesque mountain town of Walhalla has been the spiritual home for Catholics. St. Francis of Assisi Mission was built by …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis is not shy about showing his love for Mary in public and, like many Latin American bishops, he strongly has resisted attempts to dismiss as superstitious or “simple,” in a negative sense, popular devotion to the mother of …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The commission that now-retired Pope Benedict XVI established to study the alleged apparitions of Mary at Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, reportedly voted overwhelmingly to recognize as supernatural the first seven appearances of Mary in 1981. However, according to a report published by …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — God is right by the side of each person on earth, seeing each individual’s pain and wanting to bring hope and joy, Pope Francis said. “He calls us by name and tells us, ‘Rise up, stop weeping, because …