Global

Pope: Families must help each other, build communities focused on Christ

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY — Loneliness causes tremendous harm, including to families, Pope Francis told international leaders of the Teams of Our Lady lay movement. “With your charism, you can become rescuers attentive to those who are in need, those who are alone, those who have family problems and do not know how to talk about them …

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5/6/24

Reading Time 2 min

Jesus asks for faithfulness, but also friendship, pope says

By Justin McLellan

VATICAN CITY — Jesus calls believers not only to be servants of his kingdom, as the prophets and Mary were, but also to be his friends, Pope Francis said. “Friendship is not the fruit of calculation, nor of compulsion, it is born spontaneously when we recognize something of ourselves in the other,” he said May …

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5/6/24

Reading Time 2 min

Pope calls pastors to be ‘missionaries of synodality’

By Cindy Wooden and Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis signed a letter on synodality in the presence of parish priests and urged them to be “missionaries of synodality,” said several of the priests present. Father Donald J. Planty Jr., pastor of St. Charles Church in Arlington, and one of the U.S. pastors at the meeting, said, “He told us, …

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5/4/24

Reading Time 3 min

Mightier than the sword: Words are a Swiss Guard’s best weapon

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY — One of the oldest military corps in the world, the Pontifical Swiss Guard, has always armed itself with the best gear available in its 518 years of active service protecting the pope. From 16th-century armaments of halberds, longswords and cannons to modern-day automatic assault rifles, Glock pistols, tasers and pepper spray, the …

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5/3/24

Reading Time 4 min