Pope Francis to media: People are more valuable than 'hits'

Catholics working in media would do well to remember that communications is about informing people – not collecting “hits,” Pope Francis told representatives from the Italian station TV2000.

Journalists, editors, and technicians from TV2000, the Italian Bishops' Conference broadcasting station, met with the Pope in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall on Dec. 15.

Healing and hope: Newtown's Catholic parish two years after shooting

It was two years ago that Monsignor Robert Weiss rushed to the scene of the Sandy Hook elementary shooting, where nine of his littlest parishioners lost their lives, along with 11 of their schoolmates and six staff members.

No such thing as gloomy-faced saints, Pope Francis says

Christian joy is borne out of nearness to Christ, said Pope Francis during his Angelus address for the third Sunday of Advent, adding that “gloomy-faced” saints are a contradiction.

'Every five minutes, a Christian dies in the Middle East'

Fr. Gabriel Nadaf is a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church. He lives in Nazareth and faces death threats for publicizing the state of Christians in the Middle East.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, the great missionary who protects her people

Pope Francis praised Our Lady of Guadalupe on Friday as “a great missionary” who brought the faith to Latin America, as he called on Christians to see her prayers as an introduction to the Beatitudes and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sister Cristina gives Pope Francis a copy of her new album

Sister Cristina Scuccia, the Ursuline religious who won The Voice Italy earlier this year, greeted Pope Francis on Wednesday and gave him a copy of her new album, "Sister Cristina."

The encounter took place at the conclusion of the Holy Father's General Audience in St. Peter's

Pope: Missing something in your spiritual life? It's probably love

In his daily homily Pope Francis said that God’s love is always expressed in tenderness, and cautioned that if we haven’t experienced this, then something is missing in our relationship with the Lord.

“The grace of God is another matter: it is closeness, it is tenderness. This rule is always valid,” the Pope told those present in the Vatican’s Saint Martha guesthouse for his Dec. 11 daily Mass.

Vatican sends questionnaire for 2015 family synod

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To help set the agenda for the 2015 Synod of Bishops on the family, the Vatican is sending the world's Catholic bishops' conferences a list of questions on a range of topics, including matters of marriage and sexuality that proved especially controversial at the 2014 family synod.
Together with the final report of the 2014 assembly, the 46 questions published by the Vatican Dec. 9 comprise a preparatory document, known as a "lineamenta," for the Oct. 4-25 synod, which will have the theme: "The vocation and mission of the family in the church