The Catholic Sun

Join Bishop John Dolan for this week’s edition of “Word and Art,” where he connects a Sunday reading with a famous work of art....

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In the Sistine Chapel, where popes are elected, Pope Francis baptized 16 infants, who, he said, "give us the witness of how to receive the faith: with innocence and with an open heart. "Celebrating the feast of the Baptism of the Lord Jan. 7, the pope baptized seven girls and nine boys, including one set of twins, during a morning Mass with fewer than 300 people in the chapel. Afterward, he led the recitation of the Angelus prayer with about 12,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A person does not have to travel far from home to find people living on the margins of society and in need hearing the message of the Gospel, Pope Francis said. "Do not be afraid to leave your securities to be able to share the everyday life of your brothers and sisters," the pope told the France-based Missionary Fraternity of the Cities during an audience at the Vatican Jan. 4. "Many have open hearts and are waiting, without knowing it, for the good news" of the Gospel, he said.

Presented by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, the first-ever Interfaith Mental Health Meeting was held on Friday at the Creighton University School of...

When Fr. Andrew McNair first visited Phoenix 16 years ago to preach the homily at the Diocese of Phoenix’s Martin Luther King Mass, he didn’t know that he would one day call the city his home. When visiting the church building that was then called St. Pius X, he told his host — then director of the Office of Black Catholic Ministry Kit Marshall — that as a courtesy he’d like to introduce himself to the pastor.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Song and music are gifts capable of touching the hearts of young people, drawing them out of spirals of anxiety and bringing them closer to God, Pope Francis said. Greeted with song Dec. 30 by young people from the International Foundation of Pueri Cantores -- an organization that promotes sacred music and the formation of children in choirs for liturgical singing -- the pope praised the young vocalists for helping others pray and open their hearts to God, which is "fundamental for the life of the church."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- On New Year's Eve, believers and non-believers alike give thanks for all they have received in the last 12 months and express their hopes for the coming year, but Christians are called to cultivate their gratitude and hope following the example of Mary, Pope Francis said. "Faith enables us to live this hour in a way different than that of a worldly mindset," the pope said during an evening prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica Dec. 31. "Faith in Jesus Christ, the incarnated God, born of the Virgin Mary, gives a new way of feeling time and life."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The first step toward keeping Christ in Christmas is for Christians to make room for him in their hearts, the preacher of the papal household told Pope Francis and top Vatican officials. "We must do everything we can to keep him obstinately present. Not in order to hide behind him and remain silent about our failures, but because he is 'the light of the nations,' the 'name that is above every other name,' 'the cornerstone' of the world and of history," Cardinal Cantalamessa said Dec. 22, offering his final Advent meditation of 2023.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Exchanging Christmas gifts and organizing holiday parties are all well and good, but Christians should contemplate the scene of Jesus' birth to recover what is truly important during the Christmas season, Pope Francis said. At his weekly general audience Dec. 20, just five days before Christmas, the pope told people that "the risk of losing what matters in life is great, and paradoxically increases at Christmas."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When St. Francis of Assisi staged the first Nativity scene 800 years ago, he did so to remind people of the powerful, awe-inspiring truth that God became human in Jesus, Pope Francis said. Nativity scenes are not simply works of art or folk art, the pope told hundreds of people involved in staging a live Nativity scene at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome Dec. 16.