VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis urged Christians to examine their consciences in Lent by comparing their daily lives to the hardships faced by migrants, calling it a way to grow in empathy and discover God’s call to compassion. “It would be a good Lenten exercise for us to compare our daily life with that…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A light drizzle finally let up as hundreds of faithful headed to St. Peter’s Square to pray the rosary for Pope Francis on the 11th day of his hospitalization for double pneumonia. The wet black cobblestones shone from the bright lights illuminating the fountains and the front of the square where…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ condition has shown a slight improvement, which, however, is still critical, the Vatican said. “There were no episodes of asthmatic respiratory crisis” Feb. 24, the Vatican said in its evening medical bulletin, and “some laboratory tests improved.” He is still on supplemental oxygen through a nasal cannula, “albeit with…
Reading 1 Sirach 1:1-10 All wisdom comes from the LORD and with him it remains forever, and is before all time The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain, the days of eternity: who can number these? Heaven’s height, earth’s breadth, the depths of the abyss: who can explore these? Before all things else…
Reading I 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23 In those days, Saul went down to the desert of Ziph with three thousand picked men of Israel, to search for David in the desert of Ziph. So David and Abishai went among Saul’s soldiers by night and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade, with his…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — “Being ordained is not an ascent but a descent, whereby we make ourselves small, lower ourselves and divest ourselves,” Pope Francis said in a message to 23 men from eight countries, including three from the United States, who were ordained permanent deacons in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Feb. 23 ordination Mass…