Catholic News Service

To express the closeness of God and of the church to every older person, Pope Francis has chosen "I am with you always" from the Gospel of Matthew as the theme for the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.

The head of the Irish bishops' conference said the government's move to criminalize attendance at Mass as part of COVID-19 regulations was a "potential infringement of religious freedom and of constitutional rights."

Cardinal Sebastian Koto Khoarai, the first and only cardinal from Lesotho, died April 17 at the age of 91 in Mazenod, Lesotho.

Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner presided over a farewell Mass to the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, April 15, two days after Pope Francis accepted the bishop's resignation from pastoral governance of the northeast Minnesota diocese.

Catholic laypeople in the Archdiocese of Cologne have called for a local synod to address the ongoing crisis in Germany's most populous diocese.

Greeting visitors in St. Peter's Square after nearly a month of tight restrictions due to the pandemic, Pope Francis said he was happy to see people allowed to gather and be present for Sunday noonday prayer.

Christians and Muslims share a conviction that God calls them to be "witnesses, restorers and builders of hope" both in this life and for the life to come, said the leaders of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Lai, 73, has donated millions of dollars to Catholic causes and has been the biggest financial backer of Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired archbishop of Hong Kong. He was among nine activists in court April 16 who earlier were found guilty of charges relating to pro-democracy demonstrations in the Chinese territory.

Recent decisions by leading financial institutions and the world's leading economies to ease the debt burden of the world's poorest nations will help those countries respond to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the executive director of Jubilee USA said.

California's Catholic bishops "remain committed to the complete resumption of indoor worship in a responsible and safe manner," said an April 13 statement.

In a video message sent April 15 to the general assembly of the Brazilian bishops' conference, the Pope Francis encouraged the bishops to give hope and charity "especially to those most in need so that they may smile again."

In response to recent kidnappings of clergy and religious in Haiti and growing anarchy in the Caribbean nation, Catholic schools, churches and other entities called for a national strike April 15.

A novel fundraising approach to restore one of the most iconic monuments in the world, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, enables donors to have a piece of history.

Msgr. Kieran Harrington, vicar of communications for the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, has been named national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States.

The apostolic nuncio to Mexico urged the country's bishops to "look reality in the eye" as the country's non-Catholic population increases and Mexicans increasingly identify as nonreligious.

Three priests associated with a minor seminary located in the Vatican testified that they neither witnessed nor were informed of suspected cases of sexual abuse occurring at the school.

Germany's lower house of Parliament is considering replacing state payments to the nation's two largest churches. The Catholic and Protestant churches received combined state benefits of more than $650 million in 2020.

A report released April 14 by the Catholic Labor Network reveals that wage theft is rampant in the construction industry in the District of Columbia.

Without prayer, everything crumbles and any initiatives for church reform will just be proposals by some group and not the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis said.

Fr. John P. Beal, professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., said in his talk that past abuse scandals in the U.S. showed "how lack of transparency in church governance allowed these lapses in accountability to go unrecognized and unaddressed for decades."