VATICAN CITY – Involvement in politics is a role reserved to laypeople, but Catholic Church leaders must explain and promote the moral principles that will contribute to the common good, Pope Benedict XVI said.Read More
UNITED NATIONS – If Pope Paul VI reappeared on earth to assess progress toward meeting the challenges he addressed in his 1967 social encyclical, “Populorum Progressio,” he would say: “You’ve done a lot, but you haven’t even started – and you’ve lost a lot of enthusiasm.”Read More
WASHINGTON – In contrast to the 2000 and 2004 presidential election cycles, when some saw Republican candidates as too cozy with religious leaders and too willing to bring their faith into the public sphere, this year’s GOP candidates for president have been relatively quiet on the topic of religion.Read More
BANGALORE, India – The Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference has condemned the bomb blasts that killed and injured hundreds of people marking the return of a former prime minister from self-imposed exile.Read More
As Mark Willyard installs one of the restored 82-year-old stained-glass windows in St. Casimir, Canton, he can tell immediately the sunlight illuminates the holy image in the panel more radiantly than the religiously colored glass that has yet to be refurbished.Read More
SAN FRANCISCO – Reaction to San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer giving Communion to two men in mock nuns’ garb during an Oct. 7 Mass has been overblown, said the pastor of the church where the Mass was celebrated.Read More
HOUSTON – Cardinal-designate Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston called Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to name him a cardinal “very humbling and surprising,” but also said it illustrates the Vatican’s recognition of the church’s growth “in the Southern part of the United States.”Read More
WARSAW, Poland – Retired Polish Bishop Ignacy Jez of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg, a Nazi-concentration-camp survivor, died just one day before he would have been named a cardinal.Read More
The 10 parishes in Harford County and the nearby Baltimore County parish of St. Stephen, Bradshaw, are planning how best to allocate not just priests, but the directors of religious education, youth ministers and pastoral associates who are in short supply.Read More
Not long before he was to be ordained a Jesuit priest in 16th century Japan, St. Paul Miki was captured and forced to march with his companions more than 1,000 miles as part of a national persecution of Christians.Read More