By WASHINGTON (CNS) — What do a new social media campaign, a new fundraiser and new features for a popular app have in common? Launched by different Catholic organizations for Lent, the three efforts aim to help Catholics enrich their Lenten prayer experience, sacrifice to help others in need and …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis marked the beginning of the church’s Lenten journey by sending off several hundred religious and diocesan priests on their own special path as “missionaries of mercy” in local parishes. “Look upon your servants, Lord, that we are sending …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Pope Francis expressed his hopes that Iraq and other war-torn countries would have leaders strong enough to bring once-divided peoples together. “I wish for Iraqis and for all of us — for the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A jubilee year that does not open people’s wallets to share what they have with others is not a true jubilee, Pope Francis said. “This pope isn’t inventing that,” he insisted. “It’s in the Bible.” At his weekly …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Maxim Shemetov, Reuters By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) — The planned Feb. 12 meeting in Cuba between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church will be a historic event, those involved in ecumenical relations agree, but they contend the proof of the pudding will lie …

By BOISE, Idaho (CNS) — In the 1980s, a wave of migrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries began to settle in Idaho. The agricultural industry made the state a prime location for these immigrants, who could work on the farms and ranches, often without having to know too …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — On the eve of sending off “missionaries of mercy” to all corners of the globe, Pope Francis told his specially appointed men that the reassuring strength of God’s love — not the “bludgeon of judgment” — will bring the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/How Hwee Young, EPA By VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a video message one week before his apostolic visit, Pope Francis asked the people of Mexico for some time alone during his visit to pray before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. “I would like to ask …

By VATICAN CITY (CNS) — God doesn’t want to condemn anyone; he wants to save every person in the entire world, Pope Francis said. “The problem is letting him enter one’s heart” to transform one’s life, the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Feb. 3. …

By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The director of the new theological-pastoral department of the Vatican Secretariat for Communications is Natasa Govekar, a theologian who specializes in the communication of faith through images. The Vatican announced Pope Francis’ nomination of Govekar, a Slovenian, Feb. 9. At the same time, …