NATION/WORLD

Bishop John Dolan returned Tuesday from his 12-day trip to Africa as a member of the USCCB subcommittee on the “Church in Africa.” Bishop Dolan made visits to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya to review programs supported by the USCCB, his first-ever trip to Africa.  He was joined by Fritz Zuger, a consultant to the subcommittee, on their three nations visit in Africa.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians must stand firm in their faith but that is not the same as being rigid and unwilling to bend out of compassion for another, Pope Francis said. God is love and "the one who loves does not remain rigid. Yes, they stand firm, but not rigid; they do not remain rigid in their own positions, but allow themselves to be moved and touched," the pope said Aug. 20 before reciting the midday Angelus prayer with an estimated 10,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In a world suffering from an "epidemic of enmity," Christians can offer healing by recognizing each person as a child of God and reaching out in friendship, said a top Vatican official, writing on behalf of Pope Francis.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Having faith does not mean there will be no difficulties in life, either for individuals or for the church as a whole, Pope Francis said, but it does mean knowing that Jesus is there to give courage and to defeat evil.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As fires continued to burn on the Hawaiian island of Maui and as the death toll continued to rise, Pope Francis offered his prayers and his encouragement to firefighters and rescue workers.

LISBON, Portugal (CNS) -- To end "Catholic Woodstock" -- as World Youth Day has been called by the Portuguese press -- Pope Francis told 1.5 million weary-eyed and sleep-deprived young people in Lisbon not to let their "great dreams" of changing the world be "stopped by fear."

LISBON, Portugal (CNS) -- Before a sea of waving flags representing countries large and small from across the globe, Pope Francis told some 500,000 singing, shouting and swaying young people that God has called each person to him by name, not their social media handle.

LISBON, Portugal (CNS) -- Arriving at the edge of the European continent for World Youth Day, Pope Francis urged Portuguese officials to return to their maritime roots by setting sail toward new horizons of hope and helping build a Europe "capable of recovering its youthful heart." "It is my hope that World Youth Day may be, for the 'Old Continent,' we can say the elderly continent" -- he ad-libbed with a smile -- "an impulse toward universal openness."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Catholic Church is not a "club" for the elderly; it needs the participation of young people to keep it alive and ensure it does not "grow old," Pope Francis said. In a video message released July 27 to present his prayer intention for the month of August, "For World Youth Day," the pope responded to questions from young people around the world in the buildup to WYD 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, which was scheduled to begin Aug. 1.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- From a dark past of once allowing and ordering the censoring, banning and burning of the Talmud and other Hebrew texts, the Vatican has deepened its decades of fruitful dialogue and cooperation with Jewish leaders with a new interfaith study program. Some 20 Jewish and Christian scholars began a three-month hybrid course in mid-July at the Vatican Library to dig into more than 1,000 years of teachings contained in more than 800 ancient Hebrew manuscripts from the 9th to 16th centuries housed in its collections.