IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Dawn Eden Goldstein By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — A panel discussion Sept. 25 at Georgetown University on the current church crisis was akin to a very large parish town hall meeting. Panelists and audience members alike shared their pain, shock and complete frustration with recent allegations …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — During times of freedom or persecution, the Gospel is needed to bring meaning, fullness and hope to life, Pope Francis said. Speaking about his Sept. 22-25 visit to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the pope said he visited these …

IMAGE: CNS photo/How Hwee Young, EPA By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The recent Vatican-China agreement on the nomination of bishops seeks the true good of the church, the promotion of preaching the Gospel in China and the re-establishment of the church’s full and visible unity, Pope Francis said …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO ROME (CNS) — The Catholic Church has grown in its understanding of the horror of clerical sexual abuse and of the “corruption” of covering it up, Pope Francis said. Returning to Rome from a trip Sept. 22-25 to …

IMAGE: CNS photo/CBS Entertainment By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — Television audiences may recall seeing actor Joe Morton as Eli Rowan Pope, the father of professional Washington fixer Olivia Pope, on the hit series “Scandal.” With “Scandal” having ended last season, Morton was left with nothing to do. But a …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden TALLINN, Estonia (CNS) — In what is probably the least religious country in Europe, Pope Francis said he is surprised by how many people hold firm to their faith despite all the sexual abuse and financial scandals in the Catholic Church. “We know …

By Norma Montenegro Flynn GRAPEVINE, Texas (CNS) — Hispanic Catholic leaders are living an important moment in the history of the Catholic church in the U.S. and are called to rise and continue the work of building the church, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez said Sept. 23. He made …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VILNIUS, Lithuania (CNS) — Outside the former KGB headquarters in Vilnius, Pope Francis ended a day of paying homage to victims of totalitarianism and of warning Lithuanians to be attentive to any signs of anti-Semitism or hatred. The walls of the KGB building …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VILNIUS, Lithuania (CNS) — Meeting young Lithuanians in Vilnius, Pope Francis said he wanted a relaxed conversation, like they were sitting in a pub drinking “a beer or a gira,” a slightly alcoholic beverage made from fermented rye bread. Yet the stories two …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Wu Hong, EPA By Cindy Wooden VILNIUS, Lithuania (CNS) — For the first time in decades, all of the Catholic bishops in China are in full communion with the pope, the Vatican announced. Pope Francis lifted the excommunications or irregular status of seven bishops who had been ordained …