IMAGE: CNS photo/Theresa Laurence, Tennessee Register By Theresa Laurence NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) — As a lieutenant colonel in the Tennessee Army National Guard, Deacon John Krenson was responsible for the well-being of his soldiers in many tense situations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, on the cusp of retirement from the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Mike Nelson, EPA By Dennis Sadowski TUMACACORI, Ariz. (CNS) — Jesuit Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, an Italian missionary to the American Southwest known as the “Padre on Horseback,” was honored Jan. 10 at the Tumacacori National Historical Park with Kino Legacy Day. The celebration of the priest — …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Oliver Weiken, EPA By Judith Sudilovsky JERUSALEM (CNS) — Israeli restrictions on reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for Holy Week and Easter are part of the current Israeli government’s policy of making Jerusalem an exclusively Jewish city, said Yusef Daher, secretary-general of the Jerusalem Interchurch Center. …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — During Holy Week and in the Easter season, the Vatican will take part in several initiatives highlighting the importance of ecology and the care for creation. The Governorate of Vatican City State announced March 18 that the thousands of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Our Sunday Visitor By Kathleen Finley BEIT JALLA, West Bank (CNS) — A U.S. bishop visiting the Holy Land for the second year in a row said Palestinians whose land has been divided by the Israeli separation barrier “have lost hope.” “It was very sad to see …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Octavio Duran By SAN ANTONIO (CNS) — Father Virgilio Elizondo, a nationally known professor of pastoral and Hispanic theology at the University of Notre Dame and founder of what is today the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, was found dead in his home the afternoon of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Mike Mastromatteo By Mike Mastromatteo TORONTO (CNS) — Given Irish history and the people’s struggles with the great famine, British absentee landlord oppression, and the 19th-century migrations to North America, there is virtual storehouse of material for historical fiction, especially for a writer with an Irish-Catholic sensibility. …

IMAGE: CNS/Stefano Spaziani By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Although he lives a relatively hidden life in a villa in the Vatican Gardens, retired Pope Benedict XVI continues to study modern theological questions and, occasionally, to comment on them publicly. The attention Pope Francis and many Christians are giving …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Firming up his presence on social media, Pope Francis will make his debut on the photo-sharing app Instagram, a Vatican official announced. Msgr. Dario Vigano, prefect of the Secretariat for Communications, said the pope’s new account “Franciscus,” will …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Like the people of Israel in exile, migrants forced from their homeland due to war and persecution are often left to suffer because of closed hearts and doors, Pope Francis said. “In these cases one may ask, ‘Where is …