OSV News

In his small office next to the world’s largest Catholic Church, Conventual Franciscan Father Agnello Stoia spoke about the unique joys and challenges of being the pastor of St. Peter’s Basilica.

MURRISK, Ireland (CNS) — Thousands of pilgrims hiked up Ireland’s holiest mountain for the annual Reek Sunday pilgrimage, held for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The pilgrimage traditionally is held the last Sunday of July, but it was postponed in 2020 and 2021 over concerns that COVID-19 would spread among more than 20,000 people who climb the mountain’s narrow pathway on that day.

The name “Croagh Patrick” comes from the Irish/Gaelic “Cruach Phádraig,” meaning “Patrick’s Stack.” The mountain is known locally as the Reek, from the word stack.

Lori Helfrich, the parish life director at Mother of Good Counsel Church in Hazard County, Kentucky, had just come from volunteering at the food pantry that her parish helps support.

As the church prepares to commemorate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees in September, Pope Francis launched a video campaign meant to highlight the spiritual and cultural contributions that migrants bring to people’s lives.

In a British-built fort on the highest hill in Quebec City, Pope Francis spoke to Canadian government and cultural leaders about the never-ending challenge of multiculturalism.

Pope Francis joined Indigenous pilgrims at a lake known for miraculous healings and encouraged them to lay their burdens on the shore.