IMAGE: CNS photo/Jamal Nasrallah, EPA By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican is funding a job-creation program for Iraqi refugees in Jordan, a country that is hosting close to 1.5 million refugees, but is struggling to provide work for them. With $150,000 donated to the Vatican by visitors …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Lorraine Turchansky, Archdiocese of Edmonton By Glen Argan and Lasha Morningstar EDMONTON, Alberta (CNS) — While video and photos of the raging inferno that destroyed much of Fort McMurray were being flashed around the world, Jason and Katharine Campbell and their two sons were expressing gratitude for all …

IMAGE: CNS photo/EPA By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Young women and men who are tired of today’s self-centered, materialistic society should consider becoming missionaries — the heroes of evangelization, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass. “Life is worth living” to the full, “but in order to live …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Greg Shemitz By Beth Griffin NEW YORK (CNS) — On a drizzly gray morning in early May, the bright kitchen at Visitation Mission on Manhattan’s East Side was filled with the sound of laughter and the inviting aromas of fresh-cut vegetables and baking cookies as postulants and novices …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Khalil Al Anei, EPA By Dale Gavlak HARISSA, Lebanon (CNS) — Despite predictions that Christianity could be wiped out of his war-torn homeland within five years, an Iraqi Catholic cleric said he believes in God’s ultimate preservation. “This prognosis may be of thinkers or politicians, but not of …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By ROME (CNS) — People from at least two dozen countries joined Italians May 8 for the sixth annual National March for Life in Rome. Carrying multicolored balloons, crucifixes or children, the estimated 30,000 people walked through the historic center of the city and joined Pope Francis …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church is not a fancy medical clinic for the rich, but a “field hospital” that — often literally — provides the only medical care some people will ever receive, Pope Francis said. “Health is not a …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With their left hands clutching a standard and their right hands raised with three fingers open symbolizing the Holy Trinity, 23 new Swiss Guard recruits pledged to “faithfully, loyally and honorably” serve and protect the pope and, if necessary, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jim Lo Scalzo, EPA By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — Supreme Court cases, with their multiple friend-of-the-court briefs, leave extensive paper trails behind them and although these briefs might get lost in the shuffle, occasionally some stand out. In Zubik v. Burwell, the challenge to the Affordable Care …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As Europe faces an unprecedented influx of immigrants and refugees while struggling to counter continued economic woes, Pope Francis urged the continent to step up to its responsibilities with renewed hope, not cower behind walls and treaties. The pope — …