Catholic News Service

Nations that actively engage in arms dealing and help foment war in other countries should not expect to find peace in their own lands, Pope Francis said.

Norman Francis, who served as president of Xavier University of Louisiana for 47 years and has been a prominent voice in the civil rights movement for decades, will receive the University of Notre Dame's 2018 Laetare Medal at the school's graduation ceremony May 19.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and representatives of two leading Catholic organizations opposed a plan to require some adults receiving food assistance to work or enroll in training programs.

The priest serving as vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte has resigned his position after the diocesan lay review board determined an allegation of sexual misconduct was credible.

Jesus does not view sinners as transgressors who must be punished according to the law, but as people in need of hope and freedom from sin, Pope Francis said.

In confession, the privacy of one's conscience before God, also known as the internal forum, must always be protected and not be used to influence decisions outside the confessional, Pope Francis said.

A 23-23 tie vote in the Maryland Senate March 27 led to a defeat for a bill that would have legalized physician-assisted suicide.

A Chilean appeals court ruled in favor of three survivors of abuse by former priest Fernando Karadima and ordered the Catholic Church to pay damages.

Five dioceses from the province of Quebec will allow an external audit of their files regarding sex abuse cases, the Archdiocese of Montreal announced March 27.

Pope Francis has made it more than obvious that he does not like people kissing his ring.

The Field Hospital: Fr. Kevin Finnegan said he didn't know what to expect when he arrived at St. Peter in Mendota. He was responding to an invitation Archbishop Bernard Hebda had extended to priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis: to join him for an evening to reflect on the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

The Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis will visit the eastern African nation of Mozambique and the island nations of Madagascar and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean Sept. 4-10.

Historically, it is a policy that is completely at the mercy of whichever party currently controls the White House.

Despite a busy schedule, Pope Francis made a surprise, early morning stop to offer a Lenten reflection for university students, encouraging them to build up their immunity against individualism with the Gospel.

On March 21, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, signed into law S.B. 2116, a "heartbeat bill" which will prohibit abortions in the state after the point a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The Australian Catholic Church has completed the first phase of its 2020 Plenary Council, in which laypeople will be allowed to vote and decisions could be binding on the nation's Catholics, once ratified by the Vatican.

In indigenous Kichwa communities, women like Patricia Gualinga have traditionally taken on the role of wife, mother and cultivator of the crops that families use to survive in Ecuador's Amazonian region of Sarayaku.

Visiting Romania May 31-June 2, Pope Francis will stop at six destinations, including a popular Marian shrine in the Transylvanian region.

Unborn children would face greater health risks if the Environmental Protection Agency moves to rescind a rule regulating hazardous air pollutants, said the chairmen of two U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committees.

God is patient and merciful, but people should not put off their conversion because they never know how long they will live, Pope Francis said.