VATICAN CITY – Welcoming the first Bolivian ambassador named by President Evo Morales, Pope Benedict XVI said polarizing Bolivian society will not bring the justice and economic well-being for which all Bolivians hope.Read More

VATICAN CITY – When Pope John Paul II turned 80 in 2000, it fueled yet another round of speculation about whether the ailing pontiff might break with tradition and resign. In contrast, Pope Benedict XVI’s 80th birthday April 16 finds him with the wind in his sails. The pope’s new book on Jesus was being...Read More

Holy Week and Easter, with their powerful story of death and resurrection, are especially poignant this year. In a period of just over a month, three priests of the Archdiocese of Baltimore have died: Father Chris Carney (whom I have already written about), Father Wayne Funk, pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Frederick, and...Read More

LONDON – The head of Great Britain’s military diocese has come under fire from politicians, military leaders and the media after he welcomed Iran’s release of 15 sailors and marines as religiously motivated “good deeds.” Bishop Thomas Burns of the Bishopric of the Forces was called naive, accused of wishful thinking and was the subject...Read More

JERUSALEM – A Palestinian Christian must be prepared to witness to the faith by submitting to daily difficulties “or even by sacrificing his or her life,” said Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem in a pastoral letter marking the end of his patriarchal ministry.Read More

WASHINGTON – A group of Republican senators have asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for detailed information to justify the denial of a one-year grant to the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services to aid foreign-born human trafficking victims.Read More

JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian gunman's attack on a Jewish seminary was a "monstrous" atrocity, said a former director of Jerusalem's Franciscan seminary. Father Artemio Vitores, vicar of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, told Catholic News Service he has lived through five wars and two Palestinian uprisings in the Holy Land, but the attack...Read More

Hackett, 64, directs nearly 7,000 employees in more than 90 countries. He has dealt with the high and mighty, both “seen the devil’s work” and commiserated with popes and Mother Teresa, but a practical appreciation of human nature preceded his unique perspective of the universal church.Read More