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

For those of us involved with preserving Baltimore’s distinctive architecture for future generations, it was highly gratifying to read Matt Palmer’s cover story, “Old Buildings, New Missions” (CR, Oct. 14). Converting vacant parish buildings to new uses preserves some architectural gems. It also preserves more ordinary buildings that have had spiritual meaning to their communities.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

Located high atop the Andes Mountains at an elevation of 14,000 feet, a small feeding center in Pampallacta, Peru, attracts 350 children every day – some of whom walk as many as three hours to get their daily meal.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

WASHINGTON – Under persistent criticism from a small but vocal group of activists as well as questions from some bishops, leaders of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development have established “stronger policies and clearer mechanisms” to guide how grants are awarded to poverty-fighting groups and strengthen oversight of how funds are spent.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

VATICAN CITY – The people at the Vatican newspaper weigh in on any number of serious issues, but they are now being challenged in the blogosphere after they claimed that Homer Simpson is one of their own, even if he doesn’t know it.Read More