VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As the lights of St. Peter’s Basilica were extinguished and silence settled through the sprawling interior, a single flame — the paschal candle — pierced through the gloom, representing the light of the risen Christ which “quietly shines forth, even though we are in darkness,” Pope Francis said. Before the wounds…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Against the backdrop of deep differences with the Trump administration over migration and foreign aid as well as concerns for Ukraine and for Gaza, the Vatican secretary of state welcomed U.S. Vice President JD Vance to the Vatican. Vance met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and with Archbishop…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jesus, who redeemed humanity by giving up his life on the cross, shows that it is not strength that saves the world, but the “weakness” of boundless love, the papal preacher told thousands of people gathered for the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion, including U.S. Vice President JD Vance. Today’s world,…
ROME (CNS) — Today’s “builders of Babel” are constructing a hell on earth, rejecting everyone they decide are “losers,” Pope Francis wrote in the meditations for the Way of the Cross. “Your way, Jesus, is the way of the Beatitudes. It does not crush, but cultivates, repairs and protects,” the pope wrote for the nighttime…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Especially in a Jubilee Year, but also every day, priests are called to continual conversion so that they can authentically preach the good news of hope, Pope Francis wrote in the homily he prepared for the Holy Thursday chrism Mass. “It is God’s work, not ours: to bring good news to…
ROME (CNS) — While he did not celebrate Mass or wash the feet of inmates, Pope Francis made his customary Holy Thursday visit to a detention facility, arriving at Rome’s Regina Coeli jail at about 3 p.m. April 17. The pope was welcomed by Claudia Clementi, the jail’s director, and met with about 70 inmates…