IMAGE: CNS photo/Tom Tracy By Tom Tracy MIAMI (CNS) — Pope Francis’ right-hand man on the environment and climate change issues urged Catholics attending a local academic conference to let Christian spirituality guide their thinking and actions toward preserving the full range of God’s creation. Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Lisa Johnston By Anita Draper WASHINGTON (CNS) — Although the four weeks of Advent focus on waiting for Christmas, the church does not just sit around and wait for the main event. It celebrates plenty of major feasts with lots of customs, traditions and even special foods during …

IMAGE: Georgia Bulletin Photo By Michael Alexander By Francois Gloutnay CONYERS, Ga. (CNS) — Mimi Soileau goes nearly weekly to see what vegetables are ripe to be plucked from garden beds beside her parish church, St. Pius X. Time spent with her hands in the dirt is nothing new for …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Sedat Suna, EPA By Gaby Maniscalco VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Even in the midst of constant bombing, Jesuit and Salesian priests remain in war-torn Aleppo, Syria, trying to create a sense of normalcy for those unable to leave. Jesuit Father Sami Hallak has been keeping a crisis journal …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Wealth and power are meant to serve the poor and the well-being of everyone, not to selfishly exploit others, Pope Francis said. When power loses that sense of service, it “turns into arrogance and becomes control and subjugation,” he said …

IMAGE: CNS photo/William Rieter By Jerri Donohue NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio (CNS) — When Father Neil Kookoothe first met Joseph D’Ambrosio on Ohio’s death row in December 1998, he intended to describe the funeral of the condemned man’s mother. D’Ambrosio would not listen, however. Another inmate had told him the priest …

IMAGE: CNS photo/TaodueFilm, distributed by Medusa By VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The usual fanfare that comes with the world premiere of a movie is pretty standard: the lights and cameras, the celebrities walking down the red carpet and screaming fans trying to catch a glimpse of their favorite actors. At …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters By VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Missionary spirit is manifested by preaching love, humanity and faith through one’s witness and not through proselytism, Pope Francis said. Faith in Jesus Christ is shared first through “witness then with words,” the pope said Dec. 2 at his weekly …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Archdiocese of Agana By Tony C. Diaz ALTAMONT, N.Y. (CNS) — Father Joseph Girzone, who became far more prominent in retirement than during active ministry because of his “Joshua” series of novels, died Nov. 29 at St. Peter’s Hospice Inn in in Altamont. He was 85. A …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Simon Caldwell By Simon Caldwell BURNLEY, England (CNS) — A diocese in England is using a double-decker bus as a venue for priests to hear the confessions of people who have stopped going to church. The Mercy Bus is touring the Diocese of Salford during Lent in an …