IMAGE: EPA By VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Here is a translation of a statement issued by the director of the Holy See press office, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, shortly after the terror attacks in Paris Nov. 13. Here in the Vatican we are following the terrible news from Paris. We …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Doreen Abi Raad By Doreen Abi Raad BEIRUT (CNS) — When a man dressed head-to-toe in black entered the room where Father Jacques Mourad was being held by the Islamic State, the Syriac Catholic priest thought his time to become a martyr had come. “That moment was really …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Rungroj Yongrit, EPA By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Holiness is a life lived in faith and the ability to recognize how very close God is to each person, Pope Francis said. Pope Francis, who began but never finished a doctorate based on the writings of Father …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — At nearly 92 years of age, Italian Bishop Luigi Bettazzi says his long life is due to constant changes. To live is to change, said the retired bishop of Ivrea, and that goes for the church as well as for …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Alex Cruz, EPA By David Agren CUAUTITLAN IZCALLI, Mexico (CNS) — Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu has confirmed that Pope Francis will visit the capital, Mexico City, along with the states of Chihuahua and Chiapas — on the northern and southern borders respectively — and Michoacan in …

IMAGE: CNS photo/larry Smith, EPA By Dennis Sadowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — President Barack Obama may have denied the permit for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to carry tar sands oil from Alberta in western Canada to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, but Nebraskans Susan and Jim Dunavan aren’t so sure …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Laypeople are not second-class members at the service of the church hierarchy, but are disciples of Christ called to “enliven every environment, every activity and every human relationship according to the Gospel,” Pope Francis said. The pope sent a message Nov. 10 …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Cathol By Michelle Martin CHICAGO (CNS) — The execution-style murder of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee was not what God wanted to happen, Father Michael Pfleger said at Tyshawn’s funeral Nov. 10. “This is the face of the reality of evil,” Father Pfleger said. “This is evil right …

IMAGE: Nancy Wiechec By Nancy Wiechec KRAKOW, Poland (CNS) — Guide Ewa Basiura grasped a heavy iron cuff chained to the side of St. Mary’s Basilica. “Any idea what this was used for?” she asked her American tour group. No one ventured an answer. This is where wayward Catholics were …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Ali Abbas, EPA By Simon Caldwell MANCHESTER, England (CNS) — The patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church has called upon Iraq’s president to veto a law that will force some Christian children to convert to Islam. The Assyrian International News Agency reported that Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako of …