IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Dennis Sadowski BALTIMORE (CNS) — The U.S. bishops Nov. 17 elected Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield as the new general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He has been associate general secretary of the conference for five years, working alongside the current general secretary, …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ calendar of Masses and prayer services for December and January are a combination of annual Advent and Christmas celebrations and added events for the beginning of the Year of Mercy. In St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 8, the feast …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. bishops approved a statement on pornography on the second day of their Nov. 16-19 fall general meeting in Baltimore. “Producing or using pornography is a mortal sin that needs to be confessed in order for the person to …

By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will visit Rome’s synagogue and meet with the city’s Jewish community Jan. 17, the Vatican announced. Invited by Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, Pope Francis will be the third pope to visit the synagogue; St. John Paul II made his …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — A draft statement on pornography to be considered for approval by the U.S. bishops at their Nov. 16-19 fall general meeting in Baltimore calls pornography “mortal sin” and urges Catholics to turn away from it. “Producing or using pornography is …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Dennis Sadowski BALTIMORE (CNS) — Church resettlement programs in the United States will continue to aid refugees who are fleeing violence and social ills despite calls that the country’s borders should be closed to anyone but Christians. The church’s response is focused on people in …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Philippe Vaillancourt MONTREAL (CNS) — Claire Bourjade can’t do anything but pray. The news came as a shock: Francois, a young man she’s known since he was a boy, took a bullet during the Bataclan attack in Paris Nov. 13. Bourjade, 59, a nurse, lives in …

By Cindy Wooden ROME (CNS) — When a Lutheran woman married to a Catholic man asked Pope Francis what she and her husband could do to receive Communion together, the pope said he could not issue a general rule on shared Communion, but the couple should pray, study and then …

By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Keeping the “Christ” in “Christmas” is part of not giving in to pressure to conform to the “norm” and become like nonbelievers, Pope Francis said in a morning homily. Giving in to the things of the world is like saying, “Let’s put our …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Using God’s name to try to justify violence and murder is “blasphemy,” Pope Francis said Nov. 15, speaking about the terrorist attacks on Paris. “Such barbarity leaves us dismayed, and we ask ourselves how the human heart can plan and …