By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples strongly denied accusations of cronyism in renting out properties in Rome. The congregation released a statement Nov. 11 after several news reports claimed that Vatican-owned apartments were rented far below market value and that several …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Lisa Johnston, St. Louis Review By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A family that chooses to watch TV or play with their smartphones rather than talk at the dinner table is “hardly a family,” Pope Francis said. “When children at the dinner table are glued to …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz FLORENCE, Italy (CNS) — If God and his word are to help people, Christians have to be in touch with what is really happening in people’s lives, Pope Francis said during an afternoon Mass. God became human to live among people, to hear their …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz FLORENCE, Italy (CNS) — Meeting workers and addressing a major gathering of the Catholic Church in Italy, Pope Francis demanded an end to economic exploitation, to clerics “obsessed” with power, to apathy among youth and to a cold, fearful church that forgets Christ is …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Claudio Peri, EPA By Cindy Wooden ROME (CNS) — Ordaining a Rome pastor and seminary spiritual director as an auxiliary bishop of Rome, Pope Francis pleaded with him to be merciful and to give short, clear homilies. Ordaining Bishop Angelo De Donatis, 61, Nov. 9 at the Basilica …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Cindy Wooden By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A week after the 65th anniversary of Father Emil J. Kapaun’s capture in North Korea, the bishop of Wichita, Kansas, formally presented a report on the Army chaplain’s life, virtues and fame of holiness to the Congregation for Saints’ …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz, Long Island Catholic By WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court justices said Nov. 6 they will hear seven pending appeals in lawsuits brought by several Catholic and other faith-based entities against the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate. The court will hear appeals from groups in …

IMAGE: CNS/Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Leaked and published information about Vatican financial problems and irregularities were already known and are the reason “measures have already been taken that have begun to bear fruit,” Pope Francis said. At his first public appearance since the release Nov. 5 …

IMAGE: CNS/Reuters By Mike O’Maera NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) — Kenyans are working on final preparations for Pope Francis’ Nov. 25-27 visit, his first stop on a three-nation visit to the continent. Construction of the stage for the papal Mass is almost complete. For his Nov. 26 open-air Mass at the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano, handout By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians are called to go out and serve others, not live a sheltered, comfortable life just serving themselves, Pope Francis said in a homily. “When the church is lukewarm, closed up inside itself, even many times a wheeler-dealer,” …