Recent Features

Pope explains St. Paul's approach to justification by faith

Vatican, Nov 19 2008 (CWN) - Pope Benedict XVI continued his series of Wednesday talks on the influence of St. Paul at his general audience on November 19, concentrating on the Apostle's approach to the question of justification. St. Paul, the Holy Father observed, devoted ...

Viet police stand by as mob ransacks Hanoi chapel

Hanoi, Nov 17 2008 (CWN) - A Redemptorist monastery in Hanoi that has been the focus of a struggle between Catholic activists and government officials was attacked by a mob on Saturday night, November 15. Rather than trying to protect the monastery, police did their best to ...

God's judgment should prompt apostolic action, not fear, Pope tells audience

Vatican, Nov 17 2008 (CWN) - Faithful Christians should be "vigilant and industrious while awaiting the return of the Lord Jesus at the end of time," Pope Benedict XVI told his midday audience on Sunday, November 16. The Holy Father said that the parable of the talents, ...

Why Christians long for the Second Coming: Pope explains

Vatican, Nov 12 2008 (CWN) - Christians should not long for the end of the world, Pope Benedict XVI told his regular weekly audience on November 12. But the faithful should pray for the return of Jesus-- even knowing that his Second Coming presages the end of the world-- ...

Analysis: Cardinal George sees America overcoming racism but not anti-Catholicism

Baltimore, Nov 11 2008 (CWN) - In his address yesterday to the fall meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Cardinal Francis George said that the election of Sen. Barack Obama is a sign of the progress American society has made against racism but ...

Pope mourns Kristallnacht victims, condemns present-day atrocities in Congo

Vatican, Nov 10 2008 (CWN) - Pope Benedict XVI recalled the painful memory of Kristallnacht at his midday on November 9, as the world marked the 70th anniversary of the mob violence that inaugurated the Nazi campaign against European Jews. "Even today I suffer" from the ...

See Pius XII as precursor of Vatican II, Pope Benedict suggests

Vatican, Nov 10 2008 (CWN) - Pope Benedict XVI has offered an unusual perspective on the teaching of Pope Pius XII, accentuating the influence of that Pontiff on the Second Vatican Council. Speaking on November 8 to participants in a symposium on the teaching of Pope Pius ...

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News Briefs

Cyprus Sant’Egidio meeting concludes with appeal for peace

11/19 The annual International Meeting of Prayer for Peace, sponsored by the Community of Sant’Egidio, concluded yesterday in the Cypriot ...

Al Qaida to Iraqi Christians: leave or die

11/19 An Iraqi Islamic group with ties to Al Qaida has issued a message to the Christians living in Baghdad, demanding that they "leave Iraq ...

Time reports: apart from life issues, Vatican views Obama as improvement

11/19 ‘Beyond bioethics, Vatican officials generally view the incoming Administration’s economic and foreign policies as a marked improvement ...

Indian nun testifies in rape case; will not return to Orissa for prosecution

11/19 An Indian nun who was raped by members of a Hindu mob in the state of Orissa in August has given a deposition to investigators, but ...

Poll: Catholics support immigration reform, oppose US-Mexico border wall

11/19 A Zogby poll has found that 69% of Catholics in the United States support an immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for ...

Cardinal Bertone writes book on globalization

11/19 Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Vatican’s publishing house, has published The Ethics of the Common Good in the Social Doctrine of the ...

Vatican opens bookstore outside St. Peter’s Square

11/19 Libreria Editrice Vaticana, L’Osservatore Romano’s photographic service, and the Vatican’s Numistatic Office have opened the Pope ...

Cardinal Wyszynski proposed Wojtyla's name at 1978 conclave, historian reports

11/19 The late Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, the powerful primate of Poland, declined to have his name proposed for the papacy during the conclave ...

Russian prosecutors warn Newsweek not to insult Muslims

11/19 The Moscow Prosecutor’s Office warned the Russian edition of Newsweek yesterday not to publish articles that are ‘insulting or ...

Church leaders condemn vigilante justice in Kenya

11/19 Church leaders in Kenya's Mombasa archdiocese have denounced an episode of 'vigilante justice' in which 11 young men were hanged by ...

Washington churches invite president-elect to worship

11/19 AME, United Methodist, and United Church of Christ congregations in the nation’s capital are in the process of extending invitations to ...

Australian officials claim economic boost from World Youth Day; skeptics unsure

11/19 Public officials in Sydney, Australia, have proclaimed World Youth Day (WYD) a commercial success for the region, although the local ...

Protestant church attacked in Mumbai; ‘forced conversion’ arrests in Bangalore

11/18 A group of 30-40 suspected Hindu radicals on Saturday attacked a Church of God prayer hall in Mumbai (Bombay), India’s largest city, and ...

Affluent Catholics promote dissent, English bishop charges

11/18 An outspoken English Catholic bishop has charged that some of the nation's most educated and affluent Catholics are distorting the faith ...

Italian nuns refuse to carry out court order in 'right-to-die' case

11/18 Despite an Italian court's order, the religious who administer a hospice in Milan have refused to discontinue the feeding and hydration of ...

Fargo bishop emphasizes sanctity of life, prays for Obama’s conversion

11/18 In a newly published diocesan newspaper column, Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo congratulated President-elect Barack Obama and assured him ...

Joint Evangelical-Catholic statement on atonement

11/18 The Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue, meeting from October 17 to 19 in Minnesota, has issued a joint statement on the meaning of Christ’s ...

Viet government denies involvement in attack on Hanoi monastery

11/18 A spokesman for the Vietnamese foreign ministry told reporters that "no government forces attacked the Thai Ha parish area" last Saturday ...

Bosnian grand mufti invites Pope to visit nation

11/18 At a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI during the Nov. 4-6 Catholic-Muslim Forum in Rome, Grand Mufti Mustafa Efendija Ceric, head of the ...

Scientific research must heed moral principles, Vatican official says

11/18 Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, has written in L'Osservatore Romano that ...

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