The Catholic Sun

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Advent call for "vigilance" does not mean staying awake and watchful out of fear, but rather out of a longing for the coming of the Lord, Pope Francis wrote. Sometimes people think of vigilance "as an attitude motivated by fear of impending doom, as if a meteorite were about to plunge from the sky," he said in the text of his commentary on the Gospel reading for Dec. 3, the first Sunday of Advent.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "As you can see, I am alive," Pope Francis told a group of health care managers Nov. 30. At the brief meeting with participants in a seminar on the ethics of health care management, the pope said he was suffering from a "bronchial condition. Thank God it was not pneumonia," but he said it was a very serious bronchial infection. "I no longer have a fever, but I am still on antibiotics and things like that," he told the group.

Young Catholics gathered at St. Bernadette on Friday, Nov. 17, to launch the parish young adult program. The night began with a candlelight Mass...

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — The Franciscan Renewal Center recently received a generous grant from The Diane & Bruce Halle Foundation to support the Mental...

Armando Ruiz remembers when the sound of gunfire used to shatter the quiet South Phoenix neighborhood he and his family have called home for...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Be courageous in caring for and accompanying others, helping them to dream big, cultivating their unique gifts and flourishing, Pope Francis told university chaplains and pastoral workers. "The work of education is a true mission in which individuals and situations are accepted with all their lights and shadows -- their shadows, too -- with a kind of 'parental' love," the pope said. "This facilitates in a unique way the growth of those seeds that God has sown within each person," he said Nov. 24 in an audience at the Vatican with people taking part in a conference on pastoral care in Catholic universities, sponsored by the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis appealed for perseverance in praying for peace, especially in the Holy Land where the conflict is no longer "warfare," but has become "terrorism." "Please, let's move toward peace. Pray for peace," the pope said. "May the Lord help us to not keep going to the point of killing everyone. "At the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square Nov. 22, the pope reminded everyone "not to forget to persevere in prayer for those who are suffering because of wars in so many parts of the world, especially for the dear people of Ukraine, martyred Ukraine, and Israel and Palestine."

Seton Catholic Head Girls Basketball Coach Karen Self reached another milestone in her illustrious career, winning her 800th career game as the Sentinels took...

Last year, millions of people around the world watched in disbelief as Damar Hamlin, a professional football player for the NFL's Buffalo Bills, experienced Sudden Cardiac...

PHOENIX --- Men from the south-central Phoenix area, including many who have served prison time for criminal offenses, gathered with their families and friends...