Pope Francis on Sunday called on the faithful and all people of good will to have greater care for creation. His appeal was offered to mark the Italian Bishops’ Day for the Safeguarding of Creation initiative, which the bishops have this year chosen to focus on educating in the care for creation. “I hope,” said Pope Francis, “that everyone – institutions, associations and citizens – will strengthen their efforts, so as to safeguard the life and health of people by respecting the environment and nature.”

The Pope’s call came in remarks following the Angelus prayer with pilgrims and tourists gathered beneath the window of the Papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace that overlooks St…

Pope Francis on Friday morning met with Father Jorge Hernandez, an Argentine missionary of the Institute of the Incarnate Word and parish priest in Gaza.

Speaking in Italian with Vatican Radio’s Alessandro Gisotti, Father Hernandez said the meeting with the Pope was a “grace” – and not the first. “On the contrary,” he said, “during the war, Pope Francis was always close to us.”

Father Hernandez said Pope Francis encouraged the small Catholic community “to be the salt of the earth in the land of Gaza.” He said he was particularly touched by the Pope’s message of Christian witness…

Pope Francis on Wednesday said that in a Christian community division is one of the worst sins because it comes not from God. He made the comment during weekly General Audience on Wednesday in St Peter’s Square.

The importance of unity was at the heart of Pope Francis’ catechesis at his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, telling the estimated ten thousand pilgrims and tourists present in St Peter’s Square that “ while we, the members of the Church, are sinners, the unity and holiness of the Church arise from God and call us daily to conversion…

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI celebrated a special Mass Sunday morning upon conclusion of the Schuelerkreis, a yearly gathering of theologian Joseph Ratzinger’s former students. The liturgy was held in the church of the Campo Santo Teutonico, or German cemetery within Vatican City.

Theologian Karl-Heinze Menke, Dogmatic Professor at the University of Bonn, was the primary relator at the liturgy. 

The Schuelerkreis sessions from 21-24 August at the Mariapoli Center in Castelgandolfo outside Rome explored the theme of the Theology of the Cross…

• The Holy See’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin has sent a message of condolence on behalf of Pope Francis for the family of the U.S. journalist James Foley, brutally executed by Islamic State militants.  The message was read out Sunday at a memorial mass for Foley at the family’s Catholic parish, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Rochester, New Hampshire.  The letter, addressed to the Bishop of Rockeville Centre, William Francis Murphy, reads:

“The Holy Father, deeply saddened by the death of James Wright Foley, asks you kindly to convey his personal condolences and the assurance of his closeness in prayer to James’ loved ones.  He commends James to the loving mercy of God our Father, and joins all who mourn him in praying for an end to senseless violence and the dawn of reconciliation and peace among all the members of the human family.  Upon the Foley family, and upon his friends and colleagues, he invokes the consolation and strength borne of our hope in Christ’s Resurrection.”

The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr…

Pope Francis based his weekly Angelus address on Sunday’s Gospel account of St Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Our Lord responds to this confession by re-naming Simon “Peter,” a name meaning “rock.” But, the Pope said, Jesus gives Simon this name “not for his own personal qualities or his human merits, but on account of his genuine and firm faith, which comes from on high.”

Simon’s faith is a gift from God the Father, a dependable, trustworthy faith upon which our Lord can build His Church – His community, the Pope said, that is, all of us…