By Kate Quiñones CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 19:45 pm U.S. President Joe Biden accepted an invitation to visit Pope Francis next month and discuss efforts to advance peace, the White House announced on Thursday. Biden, the country’s second Catholic president, is set to travel to Rome from Jan. 9–12 …

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — On Pope Francis’ 88th birthday, two major newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean published two different excerpts from his new book on hope. The New York Times published the pope’s words on the importance of humor as a “guest essay” in its opinion section, …

By Kate Quiñones CNA Staff, Dec 16, 2024 / 17:50 pm When a seminarian was injured while playing basketball in 2017, he had no idea it would one day contribute to the cause for canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Father Juan Gutierrez, 38, then a seminarian at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, …

By Marinella Bandini Bethlehem, Dec 15, 2024 / 06:00 am Just a short walk from the Grotto of the Nativity in the Holy Land is the only white-stone grotto in the entire area of Bethlehem. Commonly known as the “Milk Grotto,” its color and name are tied to a legend going …