6+ hour, 44+ min ago  (1104+ words) It was girls" night in the church basement at St. John Bosco in Maryland Heights. Eighteen teenagers crowded around tables, chatting as they cut out and decorated "palentines" " valentines for their pals " and sipped sparkling water. Then, they eagerly gathered…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago  (972+ words) ROME " Beneath the Roman pines of the Aventine Hill, Pope Leo XIV led a solemn penitential procession Feb. 18 to Rome's oldest extant basilica, marking the first Ash Wednesday of his pontificate with a call for "countercultural" repentance for sins from…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago  (555+ words) VATICAN CITY " Ignorance of sacred Scriptures is ignorance of Jesus Christ, Pope Leo XIV said during his weekly general audience. "The ultimate purpose of reading and meditating on the Scriptures," he said Feb. 11, is "to get to know Christ and,…...

1+ mon, 15+ hour ago  (916+ words) When Hannah and Jacob Coleman decided to have their two sons baptized, they saw it as a milestone on their path to salvation. "Knowing that our role as parents is to help get our children to heaven, baptizing them was…...

1+ mon, 1+ week ago  (603+ words) VATICAN CITY " The Word of God is not "fossilized," but rather develops and grows in tradition, Pope Leo XIV said. The Church's "deposit of faith," which contains "the entirety of our faith " doctrine, worship, morality, etc. " is not static but…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago  (479+ words) Many Christians celebrate the missionary journeys and testimonies of the saints while assuming that call was only for them. The rest of us? Well, we must simply be "normal" Christians. St. John Paul II once remarked: "Missionary activity " is in…...

1+ mon, 4+ week ago  (822+ words) VATICAN CITY " The powerful and violent cannot control, suppress or commodify God's grace, friendship and will to usher in a new dawn, Pope Leo XIV said. "Around us, a distorted economy tries to profit from everything. We see how the…...