IMAGE: CNS photo/Christian Bruna, EPA By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Praying for cardinals and bishops who died in the past year, Pope Francis urged people to remember the priestly witness they gave. Some of the bishops, he said, had been “called to witness to the Gospel in a …

IMAGE: CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz By Dennis Sadowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — A pair of Catholic physicians argue that changes in the way health care is paid for and stronger relationships between doctors and their patients will do more to improve people’s health and uphold the sanctity of life than bureaucratic government-run …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When the Benedictine monks in Norcia led residents in prayer before the ruins of their medieval city, they showed one way the church steps into action in times of crisis. First responders encouraged the religious, recognizing they could …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) — Most of us face death when a loved one passes away, and family and friends head to a cemetery. But at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, the friars may think about death more often than most …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Visiting a cemetery on the feast of All Souls can evoke feelings of loss and sadness, but for Christians marking the feast, it also is an affirmation of hope in the resurrection, Pope Francis said. Through his death on …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey By Paul Jeffrey KIDAPAWAN, Philippines (CNS) — Justice is slow in the Philippines, but Father Peter Geremia is running out of patience as he awaits justice for the killers of a fellow priest. Father Geremia is hoping that the country’s new president, Rodrigo Duterte, can cut …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Professing belief in the resurrection of the dead and affirming that the human body is an essential part of a person’s identity, the Catholic Church insists that the bodies of the deceased be treated with respect and laid to rest …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Dominican Father Lawrence Lew By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) — The tension and frustration that the country feels over an election season filled with insults and rancor, feels a bit more amped up in Washington, the city where the winner of the presidential race will reside. With days …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM SWEDEN (CNS) — The Catholic Church insistence that it cannot ordain women to the priesthood and episcopacy is a teaching likely to last forever, Pope Francis said. After being hosted by the Lutheran Church of Sweden, which is led …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Massimiliano Migliorato, Catholic Press Photo By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As nuncio to Syria, Cardinal-designate Mario Zenari resides in Damascus. Even though the city does not come under attack as much as Aleppo, there are constant mortar attacks, and it makes him think of the nation’s …