IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Without a repentant heart, Christians can risk living out their faith superficially and fail to live out God’s desire for “mercy, not sacrifice,” Pope Francis said. Instead, Jesus’ love for sinners shows that the church is not “a community …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Stoyan Nenov, Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ trip to Lesbos, Greece, April 16 comes at a frightening and critical time for tens of thousands of refugees and migrants waiting and wondering where they will end up, said members of Catholic aid agencies. Maristella …

IMAGE: CNS/Reuters By WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to Mexico since 2007, to be the new apostolic nuncio to the United States. He succeeds Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who has held the post since 2011. Archbishop Vigano turned 75 in January, the age …

By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians must beware of a “polite” persecution that is cloaked in a disguise of “culture, modernity and progress,” Pope Francis said. Those who suffer this kind of persecution are not persecuted “for confessing Christ’s name, but for wanting to have and manifesting …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Peter Ringenberg, Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture By Ann Carey NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) — A standing ovation in a packed Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame greeted the Little Sisters of the Poor who were on campus April 9 to …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey By Paul Jeffrey IRBIL, Iraq (CNS) — A delegation of U.S. Catholic leaders visiting northern Iraq was challenged to go home and work for peace in the troubled region. “You have come to listen to your brothers and sisters in Iraq who are suffering. The situation …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World By Michelle Martin CHICAGO (CNS) — Archbishop Blase J. Cupich of Chicago welcomed the release of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”), saying the document might be surprising to some for its insistence on the need for mercy and …

By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A heart that clings to the letter of the law is closed to the Holy Spirit and God’s truth, Pope Francis said at morning Mass. Such hardened hearts often were behind the persecution of innocent men and women seeking to follow God’s will, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy of Salesians By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis appealed for the release of all people being held captive in the world’s battle zones, including Salesian Father Thomas Uzhunnalil, who was abducted in Yemen. “I renew my appeal for the liberation of all people kidnapped …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn By Dennis Sadowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on love and the family invites the church to see the daily struggles of families as an opportunity to encounter people the way Jesus encountered people with mercy throughout his life, Catholic observers said. Because of …