IMAGE: CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Chicago Catholic By Michelle Martin CHICAGO (CNS) — When Lauren Teruel Ridloff stepped through the door at Children of Peace School, she said she felt like nothing had changed. "It was a little overwhelming," said Ridloff, 40, who was last in the school — then known …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media via Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When Pope Francis asked 50-year-old Benedictine Abbot Bernardo Gianni to lead his Lenten retreat, the abbot said he told the pope he felt "very inadequate." "The pope responded to me that that was a great precondition for …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tiksa Negeri, Reuters By Dennis Sadowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — Four Catholic Relief Service staff members on their way to a training session in Nairobi, Kenya, were among the passengers aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed moments after takeoff in the east African nation. The accident March 10 …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis welcomed top officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Vatican the day before the officials inaugurated their first temple in the city of Rome. The Vatican included the pope’s meeting with Russell …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Patricia Vice By Jacob Comello WASHINGTON (CNS) — On March 4, Cristobal Cavazos and his companions on the "DuPage Solidarity With the Asylum Seekers" project departed from the headquarters of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, and began a long trek to the U.S-Mexico border where they planned …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Lent is a time to ask for God’s grace to chip away at hypocrisy, which is seen in the natural human attempt to appear "worthier than we are," Pope Francis said. "I must appear to be what I am, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Engaging in any form of anti-Semitism is a direct contradiction with the Christian faith, Pope Francis said. Meeting members of the American Jewish Committee March 8, the pope shared his "great concern" over "the spread, in many places, of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — A new report released March 6 just two days before International Women’s Day stresses the urgency of making sure refugee girls and young women receive an education. The report, "Her Future: Challenges and Recommendations to Increase Education for Refugee Girls" …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Mariana Bazo, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The food people pick at the supermarket and cook in their kitchens can make a huge difference in helping address the global problems of hunger, obesity and climate change, a number of speakers said at a Vatican conference …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Cindy Wooden ROME (CNS) — The clerical abuse scandal has caused everyone in the Catholic Church "pain and unbearable suffering," Pope Francis said, but it also is a call to repentance and the renewal of the church. "Our humble repentance, which remains silent between our …