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Italy may have been put in virtual lockdown—but it seems that doesn’t apply to everyone. Pope Francis has urged Catholic priests in Italy to “have the courage to go out and go to the sick... accompanying health workers and volunteers, in this work they are doing,” as the novel coronavirus grips the country. On Monday, Italy extended its emergency c...

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During his brief trip to Greccio on Sunday afternoon, Pope Francis paused to pray at the site where Saint Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene. The small grotto resembles the tiny cave of Bethlehem where the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. Frescoes from the 14th century adorn the cave’s walls, depicting Mary breastfeeding the Christ...

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There is a special sound that speaks of Italy, the same for thousands of years, a sound that becomes one with the country’s landscape, dotted with churches and belfries. Wherever you are, on the mountains or by the sea, the tolling of bells marks the passing of time, and walks hand in hand with people’s daily life. It’s a heavenly ding-dong that fr...

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Giorgio La Pira, the deeply religious Christian Democrat mayor of Florence in the early 50s and 60s, was set on a possible path to sainthood Thursday when Pope Francis recognised his "heroic virtues". The pope authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree regarding the "heroic virtues of Servant of God Giorgio la Pira"...

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Between family tension, health issues, a destroyed reputation and exile from the community of Roman Catholic nuns she helped found, Clelia Merloni could have easily given up. But instead, Merloni bore those trials quietly and without complaint and chose to love those who persecuted her. It’s one of the reasons the nuns of the Hamden-based religious...

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Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini is an Italian-born saint who dedicated her life to helping thousands of Italian immigrants living in the United States during the late 19th century. She died in Chicago exactly one hundred years ago. On Saturday morning in the Vatican, Pope Francis met members of the religious congregation she founded, the Missionary S...

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St. Frances Cabrini, the missionary to Italian immigrants in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, "teaches us the path to handling the epochal phenomenon of migration by joining charity and justice," Pope Francis said. The nun, who died Dec. 22, 1917, in Chicago, "understood that modernity would be marked by these enormous migration...

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Pope Francis will pay homage to victims of war when he visits two important World War II sites south of Rome next month: the American military cemetery at Nettuno and the Ardeatine Caves, site of one of the worst massacres in German-occupied Italy. The Vatican on Friday announced that Francis would celebrate Mass at the Nettuno cemetery for all war...

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In a letter Tuesday to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Francis reflected on the role of their foundress, St. Frances Cabrini, explaining how her example is a fitting guide for the challenges of migration we face today. “The centennial of the death of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini is one of the main events marking the journey of t...

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by Hannah Roberts Pope Francis is presiding over a Good Friday torchlight procession at the Colosseum this evening - and is using the service to stress the persecution of Christians. The pope has repeatedly lamented Christian suffering in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere. Reflecting this concern, among those chosen to take turns carryin...

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