By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis planned two gatherings of the Synod of Bishops to focus on the family and urged participants to use the year between the assemblies as a time for “true spiritual discernment” with both study and prayer. In the months leading …

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis’ meeting with Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses, does not equate support for her “position,” the Vatican spokesman said after discussing the issue personally with the pope. Jesuit Father …

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Content and comfortable Christians tend to be joyless Christians because they stop remembering the goodness of God and yearning to be closer to him, Pope Francis said. “I ask myself, and it would be good for all of us to ask …

By Catholic News Service In 1967, Aretha Franklin released her hit, “Respect.” Maybe the song isn’t an anthem for Respect Life month, but when she sang for Pope Francis at the Festival of Families in Philadelphia Sept. 26, that 1967 song was on people’s minds, if not on her lips. …

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY  — The family is the answer to the two extremes facing the world — fragmentation and “homogenization,” in which everything is forced to be the same, Pope Francis said. The family based on marriage between a man and a woman is the …

By Catholic News Service PHILADELPHIA — Pope Francis made an unscheduled stop at Jesuit-run St. Joseph’s University Sept. 27, greeting campus officials, students and religious leaders. The pope made the visit on his way en route from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where he was staying, to downtown Philadelphia for the …

By Kurt Jensen Catholic News Service “We have to awaken our mission spirit in the United States,” said Father Jack Wall, president of Catholic Extension, in a phone interview with Catholic News Service. “You can’t do that just by being in the sanctuary. The good news is meant to be …

By Elizabeth Fisher Catholic News Service PHILADELPHIA  — Marita Thomas was among those in the crowd at the Festival of Families Sept. 26 who were moved to tears as they listened to families selected to come onstage to tell Pope Francis how they coped with hardship by clinging to God. …

By Kate Turgeon Watson Catholic News Service RALEIGH, N.C. — The Walker family filed through the side entrance of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Raleigh. A bag on her shoulder and a 3-year-old on her hip, mom Noel Zemborain smiled. A pack at his waist, dad Catire Walker held the door …

By David Agren Catholic News Service PHILADELPHIA — Pope Francis ended his trip to the United States with a call for Catholics to keep the enthusiasm of the visit, while continuing to welcome newcomers and care for creation. “Do not let your enthusiasm for Jesus, his church, our families, and …