IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Our Sunday Visitor By Kathleen Finley BEIT JALLA, West Bank (CNS) — A U.S. bishop visiting the Holy Land for the second year in a row said Palestinians whose land has been divided by the Israeli separation barrier “have lost hope.” “It was very sad to see …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Alaa Elkamhawia, EPA By Barb Fraze WASHINGTON (CNS) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that atrocities carried out by the Islamic State group against Yezidis, Christians and other minorities were genocide, the first U.S. declaration of genocide since Sudanese actions in Darfur in 2004. Kerry said …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Octavio Duran By SAN ANTONIO (CNS) — Father Virgilio Elizondo, a nationally known professor of pastoral and Hispanic theology at the University of Notre Dame and founder of what is today the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, was found dead in his home the afternoon of …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Mike Mastromatteo By Mike Mastromatteo TORONTO (CNS) — Given Irish history and the people’s struggles with the great famine, British absentee landlord oppression, and the 19th-century migrations to North America, there is virtual storehouse of material for historical fiction, especially for a writer with an Irish-Catholic sensibility. …

IMAGE: CNS/Stefano Spaziani By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Although he lives a relatively hidden life in a villa in the Vatican Gardens, retired Pope Benedict XVI continues to study modern theological questions and, occasionally, to comment on them publicly. The attention Pope Francis and many Christians are giving …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Firming up his presence on social media, Pope Francis will make his debut on the photo-sharing app Instagram, a Vatican official announced. Msgr. Dario Vigano, prefect of the Secretariat for Communications, said the pope’s new account “Franciscus,” will …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Like the people of Israel in exile, migrants forced from their homeland due to war and persecution are often left to suffer because of closed hearts and doors, Pope Francis said. “In these cases one may ask, ‘Where is …

IMAGE: CNS/Reuters By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See testified in a Vatican court that he felt he was being threatened and had little choice but to give confidential documents to two Italian reporters. Under questioning …

IMAGE: CNS photo/John Taggart, EPA By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The story of God’s love for humanity is starkly clear in a crucifix; redemption is possible because the Lord took on the sins of the world, Pope Francis said at morning Mass. “The crucifix is not a decoration; …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jayanta Shaw, Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will declare Blessed Teresa of Kolkata a saint at the Vatican Sept. 4. The date was announced March 15 during an “ordinary public consistory,” a meeting of the pope, cardinals and promoters of sainthood causes that …