WASHINGTON – Although some had predicted that Pope Benedict XVI’s April 15-20 visit to the United States would take a decidedly political turn in a presidential election year, the pope’s major speeches avoided specific references to most domestic and international issues while defending the right of church leaders to speak out on public policy matters.Read More

ORLANDO, Fla. – New models of pastoral leadership will be required for a U.S. church that has changed significantly from a generation ago and will continue to change.Read More

JERUSALEM – Butros Abu Shanab said he may be like the tragic literary hero Don Quixote as he tries to stop the continuing tide of Christian emigration.Read More

This column is the first in a three-part series by Father Lawrence. To concelebrate Mass with Pope Benedict XVI at Nationals Park last week, I had to get out of bed by 4 a.m., a task I do not undertake lightly. But I was sure it was going to be worth it, and it was....Read More

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CNS) -- Thanking Americans for their hospitality, Pope Benedict XVI departed the United States amid a cheering crowd of 4,000 people who had come to see him off.Read More

NEW YORK – Here is the text of Pope Benedict XVI’s homily at the Yankee Stadium Mass April 20.Read More

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush said his concern about the growing loss of urban Catholic schools was a prime reason he was convening a summit on inner-city and faith-based schools the week of April 21.Read More

ROME – Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, died April 19 at Rome’s Pius XI clinic, where he had been hospitalized since early April with a respiratory infection. He was 72.Read More