Pope Francis has welcomed America's new Ambassador to the Holy See, Kenneth F. Hackett, who presented his credentials in Rome on October 21. Ambassador Hackett is a former president of Catholic Relief Services, the US bishopsí overseas relief and development agency, which he first joined in 1972. He retired as president of CRS in December…

Pope Francis is proving a ratings winner for Italian broadcasters covering papal events. According to the state broadcaster, RAI 1, the Popeís noon Angelus alone has seen numbers jump by 250,000. Figures released show that numbers tuning in for the Angelus prayers have gone from 1.56 million in 2012 to 2.27 in 2013. Meanwhile, it…

Every day at 11 o’clock outside Gangjeong village on the spectacular coastline of Jeju island, a long line of cement trucks, serving the construction site for a military naval base, grinds to a halt.  For the next hour none will enter or leave the compound. Outside the six-metre high metal fence, their way is blocked…

A Christian exodus of “biblical proportions” from across the Middle East now threatens the survival of the faith in the region, a new report reveals. Persecuted and Forgotten has been compiled by the international charity group Aid to the Church in Need and, among 30 countries covered worldwide, details the deteriorating situation for Christian communities…

Israel has declared an Italian Catholic nun ‘Righteous Among Nations’ for her life-risking efforts to save Jews during World War II. Mother Josephine Biviglia was abbess of the Sisters of Saint Quirico in Assisi during the war and is reported to have used her position to direct the community convent’s use as a place of…

Dublin’s Lord Mayor calls for “bottom-up system of government”

First John Paul II Festival taking place in Knock Shrine