VATICAN CITY – In the first two years of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has focused on strengthening Christian values in a world disoriented by indifference, relativism and increasing secularism, said a top Vatican official. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, made the comments in Milan, Italy, March 20 in a speech to Ethics...Read More

YORK, England – A Catholic diocese in northeast England has been refused the right to appeal a court ruling that found it responsible for a $12.8 million compensation claim by victims of child sexual abuse.Read More

The fire that devastated St. Ann in Grantsville two days before Christmas may have taken the tiny faith community’s church building but it failed to claim the parish’s spirit. Parishioners now worship in the chapel at Newman Funeral Home in Grantsville and the religious education program has adopted a home-based approach under the direction of...Read More

Ashley Triplett humbly wondered three years ago how she made the Seton Keough varsity field hockey team as a freshman, as her experience consisted of one season playing the sport and a few camps.Read More

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who died in a Jacksonville hospital March 15 at age 80 from respiratory failure following a bout with pneumonia, once said he wanted to be remembered simply “as a good Catholic man.” In a 1999 interview with The Long Island Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Rockville...Read More

VATICAN CITY – Personal conversion and purification, especially for priests, are critical steps in the process of true and credible reform of the church, Pope Benedict XVI said.Read More

One may wonder why the sacrament of baptism welcomes an individual into the church as an infant when the other sacraments of initiation, first Communion and confirmation, occur when the person is aware of what is happening. “The Catholic Church believes that the child receives grace at baptism,” said Father Leo E. Patalinghug, associate pastor...Read More

WASHINGTON - A Michigan religious order experiencing rapid growth since its formation in 1997 is planning to buy the 10-year-old Pope John Paul II Cultural Center across the street from The Catholic University of America.Read More