News & Commentary

Benedictine Abbot Donato Ogliari, abbot of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, center, offered a spiritual meditation April 29, 2025, in the Vatican synod hall to cardinals attending the general congregation before the conclave begins. The abbot is seated between Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Build communion with diversity, abbot tells cardinals before conclave

The cardinals preparing to elect a new pope must strengthen communion in the Catholic Church, promoting a form of unity that has nothing to do with uniformity and everything to do with a common focus on Jesus, a Benedictine abbot told the ...
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Priests ‘Walk for the Poor’ to raise money, pray for all hit by virus

As four priests of the Archdiocese of Washington started out on a three-day, 54-mile "Walk for the Poor," they wanted those suffering from the impact of the coronavirus to know they are not alone, that Jesus is with them.
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COVID-19 does what war couldn’t: churches closed in Syria

Cardinal Mario Zenari, the nuncio to Syria, said he is raising special prayers these days to Sts. Cosmas and Damian, fourth-century physicians who offered free care for the sick in Syria.
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Churches, chaplains, nuns have unexpected role in COVID-19 crisis

In a nation where the faithful are not allowed to assemble for Mass, one church in northern Italy is full. The Church of All Saints in Bergamo — located in a cemetery in Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region — has had ...
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Chinese diocese donates masks to Vatican to fight COVID-19

A Catholic diocese in China's Shaanxi province has donated thousands of face masks to communities in the Vatican and Italy to help them fight the coronavirus.
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Holy sites closed after COVID-19 reports

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem urged its faithful to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health, following its order March 5 to close all schools, universities, mosques and churches, including the Church of the Nativity and ...
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Amid COVID-19 pandemic, pope prays for homeless

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — During his live-streamed daily morning Mass, Pope Francis prayed that the coronavirus pandemic may awaken people’s consciences to the plight of homeless men and women suffering in the world.
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