Pope Francis sat down exclusively with “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell on April 24 for an interview ahead of the Vatican’s inaugural “World Children’s Day.” The CBS interview marks the first time a pope has given an in-depth, one-on-one interview to a U.S. broadcast network, according to the network. In the brief portion of the interview that aired April 24, topics ranged from the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine and the plight of children in these areas to climate change and the decline in the number of U.S. Catholics. O’Donnell asked Pope Francis about “pictures of starving ..read more

NEW YORK – A portion of a new interview with Pope Francis will air tonight on the “CBS Evening News” at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, according to a release from the CBS News Communications office. Norah O’Donnell, anchor of the nightly news show since July 2019, conducted the pre-recorded interview, which will air during a special edition of the broadcast overlooking the Vatican, the release stated. The interview takes place ahead of the Vatican’s first World Children’s Day, scheduled for May 25-26. In a letter released March 2 marking the upcoming day, Pope Francis told children that they are ..read more

VATICAN CITY – While the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance are the marks of a righteous individual, the virtues of faith, hope and love emphasize a connection to other people fueled by belief in God and reliance on prayer, Pope Francis said. “The Christian is never alone. He or she does good not because of a titanic effort of personal commitment, but because, as a humble disciple, he or she walks behind the master Jesus,” the pope said April 24 at his weekly general audience. Bundled up in a coat on a chilly spring morning, Pope Francis continued his audience talks about v ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO – A parishioner was stabbed outside a historic San Francisco church April 21, where the city’s Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone was administering the sacrament of confirmation. The San Francisco Police Department told OSV News that officers arrived just before 1 p.m. Sunday at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, where an adult male was found “suffering from an apparent stab wound.” The victim was then taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, said police. A 25-year-old suspect named Marko Asaulyuk was arrested and booked into San Francisco County Jail, charged ..read more

RENTON – More than 450 men from around the archdiocese gathered April 20 for inspiration, worship and fellowship at the 2024 “Iron Sharpens Iron” Seattle Catholic Men’s Conference at St. Stephen the Martyr Church. The day, with the theme “Forged by Love,” opened with Mass celebrated by Bishop Frank Schuster, who preached about the Eucharist. “If we want to find integrity and wholeness ... the answer is given us at the altar today and every day,” Bishop Schuster said. A relationship with Jesus, he said, is “the answer to everything that life can throw at us.” Through of all life’s ups and down ..read more

CHICAGO – A religious sister best known for helping more than 100,000 migrants and asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Texas was in Chicago April 15 to share her artwork nationally for the first time and reiterate a message of love. Sister Norma Pimentel, a Missionary of Jesus, stood at a podium at Holy Name Cathedral, positioned between copies of five oil and pastel paintings whose subjects were women and children who sought shelter after being released from detention centers at the border. “That little kid is holding that backpack,” she told a priest in the audience who aske ..read more

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – An Argentine priest who works with the country’s poorest and most vulnerable people is hopeful that Pope Francis will visit the community during a proposed trip to the pontiff’s homeland later this year. Father Pedro Cannavó, who was ordained by the then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio over 15 years ago, is one of the so-called “slum priests” or “curas villeros” working in the Argentine capital. “A visit by Pope Francis would be the best that could happen to us,” Father Cannavó told OSV News. Pope Francis, 87, was invited to visit his native country earlier this year by ..read more

VATICAN CITY – As doctors were preparing to certify the brain death of a Brazilian man in 2010, members of a local Catholic charismatic prayer group began to pray for a miracle. Pope Francis recognized the healing of the man, “Paulo G.,” in Uberlandia, Brazil, as the miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed Elena Guerra, an Italian nun who founded the Oblates of the Holy Spirit. The pope signed the decree April 13, but the Vatican has not announced a date for the canonization of the nun who, in 1959, was the first person beatified by St. John XXIII. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints ..read more

Catholic university professor Samuel Shephard suggests that Catholics can bring a unique viewpoint to Earth Day, celebrated April 22, because “as Catholics, we can understand we’re doing that as stewards of creation.” “When we get involved in Earth Day, we can do the same kind of things that everyone else is doing — they’re talking about, this year, reducing use of plastics; how we think about ethical clothes purchasing; that sort of thing,” Shephard, who teaches biology at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida, told OSV News. But “when we become stewards of creation, we participate in hi ..read more

SEATTLE — The Archdiocese of Seattle on Monday — Earth Day — announced the launch of a new ministry dedicated to caring for creation. “The challenge to protect our common home and the whole human family is urgent and an integral part of our Catholic faith,” Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne said in a news release. “It is through creation that we can grow closer to God and to each other — and why it is so imperative that we become even better stewards of God’s creation. This ministry signals our commitment to the earth and the poor and will both educate and inspire people to personal conv ..read more