BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Pope Benedict XVI knelt in prayer at the spot where tradition holds Jesus was born, then went to a Catholic children’s hospital, where he held an infant boy named Elias in his arms.Read More

With the passing of the third anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami that struck Christmas Day 2004, took the lives of an estimated 200,000 people and left millions more without homes, Catholic Relief Services President Ken Hackett reflects on the progress made in the region.Read More

JERUSALEM – Reaching Israel, the country at the heart of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI condemned anti-Semitism and prayed for a new era in which all believers in the one God would live in peace and treat each other with respect and justice.Read More

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Angel A. Aloma had a mission when he arrived in this Caribbean nation in late November that didn’t involve the beaches that the tropical destination offers.Read More

WASHINGTON – Catholic social justice leaders are calling on President Barack Obama to support the formation of an independent commission to investigate the use of torture by U.S. interrogators on suspected terrorists.Read More

Cardinal William H. Keeler received a note thanking him and the Archdiocese of Baltimore for its 2006 donation to the Pontifical Missions Societies from Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.Read More

The seeds were probably sown centuries ago in a hostile atmosphere for Catholics in the New World. In 1633, as the earliest colonists were about to set sail for “Mary Land”, Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, instructed “his said Governor and Commissioners” that while sailing and upon arrival at their destination “they instruct all...Read More

VATICAN CITY – As Pope Benedict XVI looks at his 2008 calendar, he’s no doubt recognizing that life doesn’t slow down after 80.Read More