Catholic News

God speaks to the faithful; take time to listen every day, pope says

God speaks to the faithful; take time to listen every day, pope says

If Christians are to speak about God, then they must dedicate time each day and week to listening to God's word in prayer and the liturgy, Pope Leo XIV said. "We are called to live and cultivate friendship with the Lord" through prayer, he said Jan. 14 during his weekly general audience. "This is achieved first of all in liturgical and community prayer, in which we do not decide what to hear from the Word of God, but it is he himself who speaks to us through the Church," he said. "It is then achieved in personal prayer, which takes place in the interiority…
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Pope Leo to grieving father: ‘Death never has the last word’

Pope Leo to grieving father: ‘Death never has the last word’

Pope Leo XIV has responded to a letter from a grieving father with the encouragement that “death never has the last word.” In the October issue of Piazza San Pietro magazine, the pontiff penned a letter to Francesco, a father of four, who wrote to the Holy Father about the death of his 12-year-old son, Domenico Maria, from a sudden illness 18 years ago. Despite the time that has passed, the father said he still felt like his son’s premature death happened only yesterday.  “Holiness, this letter of mine is intended only as a thought, as well as a remembrance for…
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Book to feature Pope Leo’s writings and meditations as Augustinian prior

Book to feature Pope Leo’s writings and meditations as Augustinian prior

The Order of St. Augustine and the Vatican Publishing House announced the publication of a new book by Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost O.S.A., titled “Free Under Grace: Writings and Meditations 2001-2013.” The book will be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, which opened Wednesday. The tome will include, for the first time, the writings of the current pontiff during his term as prior general of the Augustinian Order, offering readers a "closer look at his spirituality," according to a statement from the Vatican Publishing House. It will include reflections, meditations, homilies, and addresses, all imbued with…
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‘Run’ to seek Christ in everyday life, Pope Francis says in Easter Sunday homily

‘Run’ to seek Christ in everyday life, Pope Francis says in Easter Sunday homily

Under clear spring skies and surrounded by thousands of faithful gathered in a St. Peter’s Square adorned with vibrant yellow daffodils, Pope Francis’s Easter Sunday homily called Christians to actively seek the risen Jesus in their daily lives, urging believers to “run” just as the disciples did after discovering the empty tomb. “We must look for him without ceasing,” emphasized the pope’s text, which was delivered by Cardinal Angelo Comastri on April 20. “Because if he has risen from the dead, then he is present everywhere, he dwells among us, he hides himself and reveals himself even today in the sisters…
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How the tradition of Dutch flowers at the pope’s Easter Mass was saved

How the tradition of Dutch flowers at the pope’s Easter Mass was saved

In early 2022, some Dutch Catholics were dismayed to learn that a 37-year Easter tradition would not continue. The Netherlands, known for its fields of flowers, had for more than three decades donated the colorful tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths that decorate St. Peter’s Square for the pope’s Easter Sunday Mass at the Vatican. Pope Francis celebrates Easter Sunday Mass in 2017, flanked by tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils from the Netherlands. Credit: Lucia Ballester/CNA The custom was put on hold for two years because of coronavirus restrictions, and in 2022, the Dutch florist who had organized the initiative since 2015 said…
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How a stolen rosary led one young woman to the Catholic Church

How a stolen rosary led one young woman to the Catholic Church

In 2017, while working at the World Food Program office in the Azarieh building in downtown Beirut, Iman Hijaze spotted her colleague’s rosary lying on the floor. Alex Imad, a former Shiite Muslim who had converted to Christianity, had accidentally dropped it. “When I touched it, I felt an electrical shock through my body,” Hijaze recalled.   Instead of returning the rosary to Imad, Hijaze slipped it into her pocket. Later, Imad checked the security camera footage and discovered what happened. When he confronted her, he hugged her gently and drew the sign of the cross on her back.  “I felt another…
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Tallest cross in the world will remain despite Spanish ‘resignification’ project

Tallest cross in the world will remain despite Spanish ‘resignification’ project

The spokesman for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE, by its Spanish acronym), Bishop Francisco César García Magán, stated Friday that the 492-foot cross at the Valley of the Fallen, the tallest cross in the world, will remain standing as part of the Spanish government’s “resignification” of the site. The Valley of the Fallen, inaugurated in 1959, is a huge complex built after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and is located about 30 miles from Madrid. It consists of a basilica situated underground in an excavated space in the mountain, a monumental cross, a Benedictine monastery, a school, and a Stations…
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St. Peter’s Basilica to exhibit Veronica’s Veil on April 6

St. Peter’s Basilica to exhibit Veronica’s Veil on April 6

On Sunday, April 6, the fifth Sunday of Lent, St. Peter’s Basilica will display the revered “Veronica’s Veil,” a cloth that, according to tradition, was used to wipe the face of Jesus on his way to Calvary, renewing a very ancient tradition of the Catholic Church. At 6 p.m. local time, while the litanies are being intoned, the faithful will walk through the naves of the basilica, entering through the Holy Door. From the Veronica loggia, the relic, also known as the Holy Face, will be displayed in an extraordinary liturgy. Afterward, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Mauro…
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Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick Dies at 94

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick Dies at 94

Theodore McCarrick, the disgraced former cardinal and archbishop of Washington who spent decades moving in the highest circles in the Church and was later found guilty in a Vatican investigation of sexually abusing minors and adults, has died at age 94.   A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington on Friday shared a statement with CNA in which Cardinal Robert McElroy confirmed McCarrick’s passing. McCarrick, who was reportedly suffering with dementia, had been living in a facility in rural Missouri.  “Today I learned of the death of Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington. At this moment I am especially mindful…
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