After flying across the equator, Pope Francis was welcomed warmly -- in every sense -- to Congo where Catholics make up the majority of the population and where, for decades, the Catholic Church has been at the forefront of efforts to bring peace, education and health care to the people.
The people of Congo are more precious than any of the gems or minerals found in the earth beneath their feet, yet they have been slaughtered by warmongers and exploited by prospectors, Pope Francis said.
The experience of the sacrament of penance in the Roman rite will be slightly different this Lent, thanks to approved changes in the English translation set to take effect in a few weeks.
In opening remarks to the congregation assembled at 10 a.m. Mass Jan. 29 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said it was “a great pleasure” to be with the assembled in “our Cathedral dedicated to St. Paul, as we, as a parish community, celebrate the great feast of the conversion of St. Paul.”
A Catholic pro-life activist has been found not guilty of charges that he violated a federal law protecting access to abortion clinics, thereby avoiding a possible 11-year prison sentence.
The skull of St. Thomas Aquinas has arrived at the Dominican Convent of Toulouse, France, and placed in a new reliquary as the order celebrates the 700th anniversary of the saint’s canonization in the Catholic Church.