IMAGE: CNS photo/Arshad Arbab, EPA By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis called for abolishing the death penalty worldwide, lifting the burden of debt on poor nations, global aid policies that respect life and revamped laws that welcome and integrate migrants. He urged individuals, communities and nations to …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will visit some of the most marginalized communities in Mexico and seek to bring hope to a country deeply suffering from crime, corruption and inequality when he visits in February. The Vatican announced Dec. 12 details about the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jim West By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — To help appreciate and better promote the vocation of religious brothers, the Vatican released a 50-page reflection on the importance of their life and mission of evangelization, fraternity and sacrifice. The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With the opening the Holy Door at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Pope Francis declared that the time for tenderness, joy and forgiveness had begun. As holy doors around the world were opened at city cathedrals, major churches and …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) –- On the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Francis announced that he would travel to the Marian shrine in Mexico City and pray to Mary so that Christian communities “may become oases and rivers of mercy.” “To ask …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — When President Barack Obama signed the sweeping bipartisan legislation Every Student Succeeds Act Dec. 10, he described it as a “Christmas miracle.” “This is an early Christmas present. After more than 10 years, members of Congress from both parties …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Michel Euler, pool via EPA By James Martone PARIS (CNS) — Faith-based groups presented French President Francois Hollande with 1.8 million signatures of people seeking a fair climate change agreement that would stop global warming and protect the poor, reported religious groups in Paris for the U.N. climate …

IMAGE: CNS/Bob Roller By Junno Arocho Esteves ROME (CNS) — The threat of terrorism must be confronted sensibly and not by restrictions based on religion, which ultimately threaten religious freedom and incite more violence, said Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for …

IMAGE: CNS/EPA By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholics are called to witness to their faith in Jesus before all people, including Jews, but the Catholic Church “neither conducts nor supports” any institutional missionary initiative directed toward Jews, says a new document from a Vatican commission. How God will …

By Natalie Hoefer INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — The two small children and their parents were exhausted as their plane landed in Indianapolis at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7. These were not the average tired travelers coming home from a tourist trip. This was a family arriving to their new home, ready to …