IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — At a luncheon that was part reunion and part progress report, Pope Francis invited 21 Syrian refugees to join him at the Vatican Aug. 11. The pope’s lunch guests included the 12 refugees — three married couples …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Apostolic Penitentiary has nothing to do with a jail cell and everything to do with ensuring repentant sinners experience God’s mercy. Established in the 12th century when penitential pilgrimages to Rome began to bring thousands of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Toru Hanai, Reuters By Lise Alves RIO DE JANEIRO (CNS) — Glued to the improvised screen set up on the patio of the Caritas house, the refugees yelled and they cried. But most of all, they cheered. They cheered for their two Congolese colleagues, Popole Misenga, 24, and …

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis “snuck” out of the Vatican Aug. 9 for a drive, a walk in the woods and lunch with an Italian bishop at a small convent. Long after the pope had returned to the Vatican from two small towns near Rieti — …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — God’s mercy is infectious and must be shared with others, Pope Francis said. Mercy is “a journey that departs from the heart to arrive at the hands,” the pope said Aug. 10 at his weekly general audience. In …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Stephanie Lecocq, EPA By Dale Gavlak AINKAWA, Iraq (CNS) — Iraqi Christians appear divided about whether they will be able to return home after Islamic State militants are flushed out of the battle-scarred Ninevah Plains region. They say their safety must be guaranteed at all costs. “If the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Piyal Adhikary, EPA By Saadia Azim KOLKATA, India (CNS) — A group of young independent photographers are busy clicking away, taking photos of the “City of Joy.” Their photos, part of the crowdsourced “Sainthood Project,” will be displayed in several locations in Rome in early September, to coincide …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Leslie E. Kossoff By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — Practicing patience can be a great virtue, said Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry of Chicago in his homily at the Aug. 7 closing Mass of the African National Eucharistic Congress in Washington. “What greater school for patience is there …

By Michael Kelly DUBLIN (CNS) — Bishop Edward Daly of Derry, known for his tireless advocacy for peace and reconciliation during decades of sectarian tension in Northern Ireland, died in a hospital in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Aug. 8. Bishop Daly, who retired in 1993 due to ill health after suffering …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Leonardo Munoz, EPA By Tom Tracy WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNS) — With a growing number of U.S. travelers returning from abroad with the Zika virus and with several cases of Zika-related microcephaly and birth defects reported in the U.S., the disease has inflamed the abortion debate domestically. …