VATICAN CITY -- During a search for the remains of a young Italian woman missing for more than 30 years, workers discovered an enormous number of bones inside two ossuaries in a building next to a Vatican cemetery.
Further studies...
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to put an end to his country's eight-year-long conflict and seek reconciliation for the good of the nation and its vulnerable people.
"The Holy Father asks the president to do...
Before the 20th century, the American Catholic Church had no institution to represent it in national or international affairs. The establishment of the National Catholic War Council in 1917 changed that.
Two main circumstances led the U.S. Catholic bishops to...
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is a bishops' conference and what role does it have?
A bishops' conference is the assembly of the bishops of a particular region or country. In the United States it would...
WASHINGTON -- When Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong gingerly stepped onto the surface of the moon July 20, 1969, Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno had no idea that some day he would become the director of the Vatican Observatory.
Sixteen at...
WASHINGTON -- The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston announced July 19 sanctions from the Vatican -- including taking away the faculties of celebrating Mass -- against a former West Virginia bishop who stepped down last year under a cloud of allegations...
Q. I am puzzled that the Ascension is no longer observed on Thursday (40 days after Easter) as a holy day of obligation, while the feasts of the Assumption and of the Immaculate Conception are considered to be obligatory.
The...
HOUSTON -- Upcoming space travel plans need to include living on the moon, similar to scientific habitats in the Arctic and Antarctica, said Gene Kranz, NASA's former flight director.
"I believe we need a habitat on the moon just like...
WASHINGTON -- News that officials in the Trump administration are considering "zeroing out" the number of refugees accepted by the United States brought an immediate outcry from Catholic and other faith-based agencies urging the government to reconsider such a...
A new date and site, extremely hot weather and not a lot of advance notice made for some challenges, but it wasn't enough to keep people from their favorite Polish culinary choices.
After canceling the annual Polish Festival, St. Hedwig...