Catholic News Service

The Catholic Church must be welcoming and creative in finding ways to not let people's physical, psychological or intellectual limitations keep them from encountering God, Pope Francis said.

A month after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Catholic organizations, groups and individuals were still among the most prominent responders to the needs of a suffering people.

Catholics must make a real effort to share the Gospel with all people, fighting "the recurring temptation" that leads some to focus only on internal church matters or to be pessimistic about evangelization efforts, Pope Francis wrote.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and actress Patricia Heaton addressed the crowd at the 72nd Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York Oct. 19.

The bells rang in celebration at San Isidro Church. People hugged two local priests in gratitude and cheered as activists took to the church's front steps and delivered victory speeches. 

The Philippine House of Representatives has not renewed the license of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines to operate dozens of radio stations across the country.

A 40-foot-tall cross memorializing soldiers who died in World War I that sits at a busy intersection in the Washington suburb of Bladensburg, Maryland, was ruled unconstitutional.

Pope Francis named Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Siegel of Joliet, Illinois, to head the Diocese of Evansville, Indiana.

The Pharisees and doctors of the law who claim salvation comes only from fulfilling God's laws are not just biblical figures of the past, Pope Francis said.

Italian Fr. Maurizio Pallu, who was kidnapped by several gunmen in Nigeria and held captive for nearly a week, was freed Oct. 17.

Christians can find hope even at the hour of death, which faith teaches is not a closed door but a wide-open passage to a new life with Christ, Pope Francis said.

A federal judge in Hawaii Oct. 17 blocked the Trump administration's expanded version of its travel prohibitions issued in late September.

The Senate confirmed Callista Gingrich as the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.

The Vatican has asked Indonesian Bishop Hubertus Leteng, who recently resigned over allegations of theft and having an affair, to return the church funds he is accused of stealing.

Christians who do not really listen to the word of God and are only concerned with outward appearances are corrupt and idolatrous, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis announced a special gathering of the Synod of Bishops to focus on evangelization and the connection between faith and environmental concern in the Amazon region.

Like the Catholic Church's newest saints, Christians are called to live their faith as a love story with God, Pope Francis said.

The death penalty, no matter how it is carried out, "is, in itself, contrary to the Gospel," Pope Francis said.

It makes no sense to lament the problems of hunger and forced migration if one is unwilling to address their root causes, which are conflict and climate change, Pope Francis said.

A Vatican court found the former president of the Vatican-owned pediatric hospital guilty of abuse of office for misusing donations belonging to the hospital's foundation.