IMAGE: CNS photo/Dai Kurokawa, EPA By Cindy Wooden NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) — With security concerns looming over his visit, Pope Francis arrived in Kenya Nov. 25 urging tolerance and respect among people of different religions and different ethnic groups. During the less than seven-hour flight, Pope Francis told reporters the …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Archdiocese o By SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) — To mark the 70th anniversary of the division of Korea and the Year of Mercy, the Archdiocese of Seoul launched a prayer movement, “North Korean Church in My Heart.” Seoul Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, who serves as apostolic administrator …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Mission of Life, Lebanon By Doreen Abi Raad BEIRUT (CNS) — Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Vatican nuncio to Lebanon, visited hospitalized victims of twin suicide bombings in Beirut and said Lebanon’s “message of coexistence” needs to be preserved, despite the crises the country is enduring. The Nov. …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Sean Gallagher, The Cr By Sean Gallagher INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — As 23,000 youths from across the country worshipped together during the closing Mass of the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, Leanna Long felt “amazingly overwhelmed” to be in the midst of so many people who shared her …

IMAGE: CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Italian journalists standing trial in a Vatican court defended their right to freedom of the press, while the Vatican prosecution said the way they acquired confidential information was illegal. All five people accused of involvement in …

IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Personal Ordi By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After consultation with the governing council of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, Pope Francis named Msgr. Steven J. Lopes to be the first bishop of the ordinariate, which serves former Anglicans living in full …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Carol Zimmermann DERWOOD, Md. (CNS) –- Dorothy Day’s granddaughter Martha Hennessy looks a little like her grandmother with her pulled-back white hair, and although she is soft spoken, she likely sounds just like her activist grandmother, too, when talking about helping the poor and promoting …

IMAGE: CNS/Reuters By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The educational alliance among families, schools and states is broken, causing a serious situation that leads to selecting to educate only “supermen” chosen solely based on intelligence or wealth, Pope Francis said. “Behind this, there is always the ghost of …

IMAGE: CNS/courtesy Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — This year’s Vatican Christmas stamps feature a 15th-century manuscript illumination of the Holy Family. Flanked by a lowing ox and a donkey, Mary and Joseph pray over baby Jesus as angels sing above and poor shepherds …

IMAGE: CNS photo/EPA By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Show kindness, understanding and mercy in today’s broken and wounded world, Pope Francis said. “Before so many lacerations in the world and too many wounds on the flesh of humanity, let us ask the Virgin Mary to support us in …