In a Jan. 13 ceremony at First and St. Stephen’s United Church of Christ in Towson, Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden joined dozens of Maryland faith leaders in signing a letter asking state lawmakers to repeal the death penalty – a recommendation urged last month by the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment.Read More

VATICAN CITY – Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI asked young people not to let the question of God drift out of their lives. The pope opened Holy Week with a procession and liturgy in St. Peter’s Square April 1, blessing palms and olive branches in memory of Christ’s triumphal entry...Read More

MADRID, Spain – Catholic and religious leaders have denounced slogans questioning the existence of God planned for buses in Barcelona and other Spanish cities.Read More

Attendees sometimes find themselves standing in the hallway outside Sister Carol Cimino’s, S.S.J., meeting room as she delivers engaging sessions to packed audiences during the annual National Catholic Educational Association convention. The Clifton Park, N.Y., educational consultant “always draws a huge crowd,” said Brian Gray, editor of NCEA’s Momentum Magazine and part of the communication...Read More

Two days after President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated, thousands of Catholics from the Archdiocese of Baltimore will join tens of thousands of prolife supporters from across the country in urging the new president and Congress to protect the sanctity of life.Read More

ROME – In connection with the sainthood cause of Pope John Paul II, a graphologist and a psychiatrist were called as expert witnesses in the investigation into the presumed healing of a nun suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the postulator of Pope John Paul’s cause, said the French diocese where the nun lives...Read More

TORONTO – Bernard Daly – author, journalist and one of the most influential lay members of the Catholic Church in Canada – died peacefully Jan. 2 at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto after losing a battle with cancer. He was 83.Read More

VATICAN CITY – On the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq, three U.S. Catholic peace activists paid a discreet but significant visit to the Vatican. The officers of the Indiana-based Catholic Peace Fellowship were in Rome in mid-March to promote the issue of conscientious objection to war. They didn’t know what kind of reception...Read More