State visits are usually occasions of pomp and circumstance signifying little. That was not true, however, of the recent formal introduction of President Michael Higgins of Ireland to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. During the president’s historic four-day visit, from April 8 to 12,

At this morning 39 s White House Easter prayer breakfast President Obama talked of yesterday 39 s shooting incidents in Kansas City this sudden example of the ferocity of anti-Semtitism and the necessity of Americans to be free of fear of such gun violence particulalry in places of worhsip He

Barbara Dorris Outreach Director of SNAP the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests remains skeptical of Pope Francis on the question of episcopal accountability for sex abuse crimes In a response to the pope 39 s apparently off-the-cuff comments in Rome words of contrition taking respons

A new reminder of the precariousness of conditions in Lebanon because of the Syria crisis comes from the new president of Caritas Lebanon Maronite Father Paul Karam He urges the international community to step in to assume the responsibility of establishing and maintaining refugee camps for those

Pope Francis offered more evidence today of his commitment to Vatican II era collegiality In a letter posted by the Vatican news service the pope announced today that he was elevating the position of the nbsp undersecretary of the synod secretariat to the episcopacy to demonstrate that quot we ca

The number of refugees fleeing from Syria into neighboring Lebanon passed the 1 million mark on April 3, according to U.N. officials, a bleak milestone exacerbated by rapidly depleting social resources and a host community stretched to the breaking point. Just over three years after Syria’s co

Over at National Catholic Reporter Josh McElwee is reporting that Pope Francis has asked the Vatican 39 s Congregation for Bishops to look into allegations of sexual misconduct against disgraced Scottish Cardinal Keith O 39 Brien The congregation according to the report has dispatched Maltese

As the nation continues its apparently endless debate on comprehensive immigration reform members of the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops joined together this morning with residents migrants and advocates at the border in Nogales Arizona There they celebrated Mass together to remember the tho

One man stepped into his new role promising change but has struggled to deliver it; the other, considered a “safe” choice by the men who elected him, turned out to be an effortless instigator of change from the moment he stepped onto a Vatican balcony, greeting the world with a humble re

One man stepped into his new role promising change but has struggled to deliver it; the other, considered a “safe” choice by the men who elected him, turned out to be an effortless instigator of change from the moment he stepped out onto a Vatican balcony, greeting the world with a humbl