By Courtney Mares Vatican City, May 18, 2020 / 05:00 am MT (CNA).- “Thirty-nine years ago today I was on my way into St. Peter’s Square when the pope was shot,” Joan Lewis said over the phone on May 13. It is just one of many vivid memories Lewis has …

CNA Staff, May 16, 2020 / 12:00 pm MT (CNA).- The Polish bishops’ conference is encouraging the faithful to participate in a social media campaign to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pope St. John Paul II on Monday. Pope St. John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyla …

by Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, May 12, 2020 / 10:55 am MT (CNA).- On the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pope St. John Paul II on May 18, Pope Francis will offer his morning Mass at the Polish pope’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica, according to the Vatican. May 18 …

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, May 5, 2020 / 11:00 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis said that he has looked up to St. John Paul II throughout his priesthood in a book foreword he wrote ahead of the 100-year anniversary of the Polish pope’s birth. “St. John Paul II was …

By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Feb 13, 2020 / 10:33 am (CNA).- In a newly published book, Pope Francis answers questions about himself and St. John Paul II, saying he learned the importance of joy and mercy from his predecessor, and they are in “total harmony” on the subject of …

By Hannah Brockhaus Angelo Ciappelloni heard those words while he stood in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo on April 8, 2005. With hundreds of thousands of people in the Eternal City, and millions more around the world, he was watching the Requiem Mass of Pope John Paul II. “‘Follow me’ – …

Story & photo by M.D. Pitman Before every game sanctioned by the Girls Western Athletic Conference (GWAC), members of both teams stand hand-in-hand on the playing field to pray. The Catholic girls league began requiring prayer before games a few years ago, and it’s one of the more important rules …

May is an exciting time for Catholics. Many children will continue their lifelong journey with Jesus as they receive Him in the Eucharist for the first time. May is also recognized by the Church as Mary’s month. It seems fitting for children to receive their First Holy Communion during a …

By Gail Finke This story originally appeared in our May 2018 print edition. Catholics around the world will celebrate a new universal feast day this month, when the Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church debuts May 21. Previously celebrated in Poland, Argentina, and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the …

By Gail Finke At the Ruah Woods annual breakfast Feb. 28, author Paul Kengor traced the unlikely way that the lives of a former actor who became president and a former actor who became pope continued to intersect, and how together they ended Communism in Eastern Europe. Kengor, a professor …