Catholic News Service

Four New Orleans families are a little better off today since a grass-roots housing program helped them secure an affordable place to live.

Jihadists allied with Turkey are hunting down religious minorities to kill them in Syria's northwest, Christian activists warn, as Turkey and its allies have encircled the Kurdish-held town of Afrin and are relentlessly pushing through.

The revelation of God's love toward humanity is made known through contemplating the crucifix and not just using it as work of art or as a fashion accessory, Pope Francis said.

Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who resigned five years ago as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh after admitting to sexual misconduct, died early March 19 at the age of 80.

Several Philippine Catholic leaders criticized President Rodrigo Duterte's decision to withdraw the country from the International Criminal Court, which is investigating his war on drugs.

Kenyan Catholic bishops have welcomed as a "hand of God" the apparent truce between President Uhuru Kenyatta and influential opposition leader Raila Odinga, whose prolonged election dispute had threatened to trigger widespread chaos in the East African nation.

Going out to the "peripheries" may be a phrase favored by Pope Francis, but even in diplomatic affairs, it is something the Vatican has done for centuries, often in the face of danger.

"If I want the Lord to listen to what I am asking him, I have to go, and go and go — knock on the door and knock on God's heart," the pope said in his homily March 15 at morning Mass.

A priest who served a number of parishes in Brooklyn and moved back to Colombia four years ago to retire was brutally murdered there March 10.

On the day that marked the fifth anniversary of the election of a pope who has called on others to "build bridges, not walls," the president of the United States toured Southern California to look at prototypes for a wall he promised to build on the border with Mexico.

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who said he did not believe in God, was a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and fostered a fruitful dialogue between science and faith.

Forgiving those who have caused pain or offense is not easy, Pope Francis said.

Suspected Hindu extremists demolished the wall of a Catholic mission hospital and manhandled staff, including nuns, in an considered a hotbed of anti-Christian violence in central India.

A new Israeli law that allows the government to revoke the permanent residency status of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem is contrary to international law, said the director of a Catholic legal aid center.

A Catholic bishop in the Central African Republic accused U.N. peacekeeping troops of sexual abuse in his diocese and warned they could be guilty of crimes against humanity.

Harry Boyte sees democracy in crisis, but he's hopeful that's about to change.

Pope's quotes: In his formal documents, many speeches and unscripted morning homilies the past five years, Pope Francis has given the church plenty of "food for thought" on many issues of great importance.

Francis at Five Years: Bringing a background in literary themes and devices with him to the papacy five years ago, Pope Francis has shown himself to be a master of metaphor and allegory.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI defended the continuity of the church's teaching under his successor and dismissed those who criticize the pope's theological foundations.

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Community of Sant'Egidio's founding, Pope Francis urged its members to continue to safeguard the poor, the elderly, the young and the excluded.