IMAGE: CNS photo/Fox Searchlight By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — Dome Karukoski shared one critical, albeit sad, boyhood link with J.R.R. Tolkien: being fatherless. Karukoski, then 12 years old, grew enamored of Tolkien’s books. "I was bullied, without a father. I was alone, and those stories, they became friends to …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Jean Vanier Association By Cindy Wooden ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM NORTH MACEDONIA (CNS) — Pope Francis told reporters May 7 he had been kept informed about Jean Vanier’s failing health and had phoned him a week before his death. "He listened to me, but he could …

By ATLANTA (CNS) — Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation May 7 to ban abortions in the state once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is around six weeks. The bill’s signing comes after weeks of protests and amid outcry for legal action against it. "We will not back …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden SKOPJE, North Macedonia (CNS) — Pope Francis went to the tiny Balkan nation of North Macedonia to pay tribute to a tiny saint who accomplished big things: St. Teresa of Kolkata. Mother Teresa was born Agnes Ganxhe Bojaxhiu to Albanian parents in Skopje …

IMAGE: CNS photo/R. Narendra, Reuters By NEW DELHI (CNS) — A powerful cyclone ripped through eastern India and sideswiped Bangladesh, leaving a trail of destruction and more than 30 deaths. Authorities said the evacuation of 1.2 million people from more than 10,000 villages prior to Cyclone Fani’s landfall May 3 …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has chosen Brazil’s Cardinal Claudio Hummes to serve as relator general of next year’s Synod of Bishops on the Amazon. The nomination of the 84-year-old retired Archbishop of Sao Paulo was announced at the Vatican on …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden RAKOVSKI, Bulgaria (CNS) — In the Catholic heart of Bulgaria, Pope Francis celebrated a special Mass for 245 children receiving their first Communion and thanked them for helping him, their parents and grandparents remember their own first Communion. "Today you have made it …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden SOFIA, Bulgaria (CNS) — Twelve boys and girls wearing white T-shirts and dark pants sang for Pope Francis at a refugee center on the outskirts of Sofia. Their songs were cheerful and the drawings they gave the pope were chock full of smiles …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden SOFIA, Bulgaria (CNS) — On the day Bulgarian Orthodox celebrate as "St. Thomas Sunday" and read the Gospel about the apostle asking to touch the wounds of the risen Lord, Pope Francis said the divisions within Christianity are "painful lacerations on the body …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Rev. David Beckmann is preparing to step aside as president of the Christian citizens anti-hunger lobby Bread for the World after 27 years. In fact, by the time a successor is chosen, it will be 28. Despite having his …