National Jan 24, 2019
Pope Francis to visit Japan in November, having abandoned plan to come as missionary in his youth
He would be first pontiff to do so since John Paul II nearly 40 years ago.
World / Social Issues Jan 11, 2016
Pope Francis lays out his case for emphasizing the merciful face of the Catholic Church in his first book as pontiff, saying God never tires of forgiving and actually prefers the sinners who repent over self-righteous moralizers who don't. "The Name of God Is Mercy," ...
World / Social Issues Dec 25, 2015
A couple in Ecuador are making history with a unique pregnancy: The father-to-be is carrying the baby of his transgender partner. Fernando Machado and Diane Rodriguez announced their pregnancy, believed to be the first of its kind in South America, on social media earlier this ...
World / Social Issues Sep 23, 2015
Before leaving Cuba, pope urges revival of Catholic heritage, calls for 'revolution of tenderness'
Pope Francis ended his four-day trip to Cuba on Tuesday by calling on Cubans to rediscover their Catholic heritage and live a "revolution of tenderness," powerful words in a country whose 1959 revolution installed an atheist, communist government that sought to replace the church ...
World / Crime & Legal Aug 25, 2015
California priest sent up for six months for groping woman on night flight
A California-based Catholic priest was sentenced Monday to six months in prison followed by six months of home confinement for groping a sleeping woman seated next to him on an airliner. Marcelo de Jesumaria, 46, was sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles. A jury ...
National Mar 21, 2015
Pope pays tribute to Japan's 'hidden' Christians, rediscovered 150 years ago
by Alastair Wanklyn
At the Vatican, Pope Francis pays tribute to the generations of Japan's "hidden Christians."
World / Politics Jan 20, 2015
Ireland's Tim Cook moment: Potential future prime minister admits being gay
Ireland's health minister, tipped as a future prime minister, came out as the first openly gay Cabinet member in a Catholic country that until the 1990s banned homosexuality. Leo Varadkar, 36, discussed his sexuality in an interview Sunday on state broadcaster RTE Radio. The son ...
National Dec 29, 2014
Guiseppe Pittau, Jesuit priest who headed Sophia University, dies at 86
Giuseppe Pittau, a former president of Sophia University, died of a stroke last Friday at a home for the elderly in Tokyo, the Vatican said Monday. He was 86. Born on the Italian island of Sardinia, Pittau entered the Society of Jesus in 1945 and ...
Asia Pacific / Politics Feb 26, 2013
For China's Catholics, new pope is a cause for hope
by William Wan
Of the long list of problems the next pope will inherit once the white smoke rises in Rome, few on the diplomatic front can rival the bitter, intractable relationship between the Vatican and the Chinese government. The two powers have long battled for control over ...