By Courtney Mares Vatican City, May 6, 2021 / 12:00 pm America/Denver (CNA). Thirty-four new Swiss Guards were sworn in Thursday in an elaborate ceremony in Vatican City in which the guards promised to protect the pope, even “sacrificing if necessary also my own life.” Gian Andrea Bossi, a 20-year-old …

by Courtney Mares Rome, Italy, May 3, 2021 / 13:00 pm America/Denver (CNA). Catholic parishes across Italy and as far away as the Philippines celebrated what would have been the 30th birthday of Blessed Carlo Acutis on Monday. Acutis, who was born on May 3, 1991, became the first millennial …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, May 3, 2021 / 07:00 am America/Denver (CNA). The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis will open an event on Italy’s demographic winter as the country’s birth rate has hit a historic low. Pope Francis will give the opening remarks for the General States of …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Apr 30, 2021 / 05:00 am America/Denver (CNA). Pope Francis sent a video message for the beatification on Friday of José Gregorio Hernández, a Venezuelan doctor who served the poor during the Spanish flu pandemic. “The beatification of Dr. Hernández is a special blessing of …

by Courtney Mares Rome, Italy, Apr 26, 2021 / 06:40 am America/Denver (CNA). Fr. Livinius Esomchi Nnamani, who was ordained to the priesthood in his hospital room on Holy Thursday with special permission from Pope Francis, has died of leukemia at the age of 31. The young priest’s funeral was …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Apr 23, 2021 / 08:00 am America/Denver (CNA). Pope Francis expressed his solidarity on Friday with the thousands of people displaced by ongoing volcanic eruptions on the island of St. Vincent in the southern Caribbean. The eruption of La Soufrière volcano displaced close to 20,000 …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Apr 12, 2021 / 07:00 am America/Denver (CNA). Cardinal Marc Ouellet announced Monday that the Vatican will host a theological symposium on the priesthood that will touch on questions raised in recent synods, including priestly celibacy, dwindling vocations, and the role of women in the …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, Apr 8, 2021 / 08:00 am America/Denver (CNA). On Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis will offer Mass in a church containing the relics of both St. Faustina Kowalska and St. John Paul II. This will be the second year that the pope has chosen to …

by Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Mar 31, 2021 / 07:25 am MT (CNA).- A Catholic priest and at least six others were killed by gunmen in an attack on St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Benue State, Nigeria, the Diocese of Katsina-Ala confirmed Wednesday. Fr. Ferdinand Fanen Ngugban had just offered …

by Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Mar 25, 2021 / 05:00 pm MT (CNA).- Venice traces its founding back to 1,600 years ago when the cornerstone of its first Catholic church was laid on the feast of the Annunciation. The Italian city of canals and lagoons celebrated its 1,600th anniversary Thursday …