IMAGE: CNS/Debbie Hill By Judith Sudilovsky BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNS) — An Italian team has completed restoration of Crusader-era mosaics in the Church of the Nativity, but the mosaics will only be unveiled publicly after work on lighting, electricity and the fire alarm system is also finished. The work involved …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pray for those responsible for extreme poverty, for the rich who feast unaware of people in need at their door, and for priests who ignore those who are hurting, Pope Francis told people living a precarious existence. Say a prayer …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Gary Cameron, Reuters By NEW YORK (CNS) — Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and prolific author who died July 2 at age 87 in his New York home, has been remembered in tributes from around the world for standing up for human dignity and …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann, Catholic Standard By Mark Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — The theme for the 2016 Fortnight for Freedom, “Witnesses to Freedom,” unfolded as 1,500 people spent part of their July 4 holiday in Washington attending the observance’s closing Mass and venerating the relics of two English saints martyred …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Grzegorz Momot, EPA By Jonathan Luxmoore WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — Young people attending World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland, may have to walk up to nine miles to and from one of its key sites, event organizers said. “They’ll have to be ready for a long foot …

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis said he will continue pressing for a church that is open and understanding despite opposition from some clerics who “say no to everything.” “They do their work and I do mine,” the pope said when asked, “What is your relationship with …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Rose Ybarra, The Valley Catholic By Rose Ybarra MISSION, Texas (CNS) — When 66-year-old Army veteran Jacky Eugene Gonzalez was laid to rest at the Rio Grande Valley State Veterans Cemetery June 22, a group of U.S. military veterans from the Jesus Martinez American Legion Post 93 in …

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Retired Pope Benedict XVI has given another interview to the journalist and author Peter Seewald, and a German publisher announced it would be released worldwide Sept. 9. Titled “Letzte Gesprache,” (which translates as “last conversations”), the book includes an in-depth conversation with the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jim Bovin, Catholic Spirit By Maria Wiering ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) — Hundreds of Catholics crowded into the Cathedral of St. Paul to venerate the relics of two English saints who are known as icons of religious liberty because of the circumstances of their martyrdom. Relics of St. …

IMAGE: CNS/EPA By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Tears and not words. Prayers and not greetings. During his trip to Poland for World Youth Day, Pope Francis will go to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp. He said he wants to go alone and say nothing. When Pope Francis speaks, …