When computer issues at work forced Mariana Foster to contact the IT department at Texas A&M University-Commerce, she was not expecting the fix to be the beginning of a new chapter in her life. Calling IT for help, she struck up a conversation with Justin Foster, the tech-savvy voice on the other end. What started as small talk to fill an awkward silence quickly turned into a shared discovery—they were both Catholic.
Faith
From Nigeria to Mozambique, Sudan and Congo to Burkina Faso, Christians across Africa were victims of horrific persecution in 2024, mainly because of their faith.
Mexico’s Catholic clergy have called for a truce on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and on Christmas Day as criminal violence wracks swaths of the country and clergy working in conflictive regions come under threat.
Jesuit Father Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, the dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of California-based Santa Clara University, has been awarded “The Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation” by the archbishop of Canterbury for his “outstanding contribution to ecumenical work,” honoring “his leadership of a 2019 retreat for politicians on opposing sides in South Sudan’s civil war.”
“With tears in our eyes, let us raise our prayer for peace,” Pope Francis said as he thanked the people of Bethlehem and Palestinian authorities for a Nativity scene to decorate the Vatican audience hall.
The list of miracles that have taken place at the French Marian shrine in Lourdes now includes, for the first time, an English-speaking soldier-patient.
Michael Fernandes has walked 68 miles through jungles across hills and crossed a river in the blazing sun to honor St. Francis Xavier on his solemn feast day Mass in Old Goa, the former Portuguese capital in western India.
Despite a few high-profile delays in recent years, the canonization of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen — the popular, scholarly archbishop and 20th-century pioneer of Catholic broadcasting — is “inevitable,” said the head of the foundation supporting his cause.
Focusing again on the fundamental Christian beliefs outlined by the Council of Nicaea almost 1,700 years ago can help Christians today put Christ back at the center of their lives, Pope Francis said.
As Albert Yzaquirre attended the 9 a.m. Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Duncanville on the first Sunday in October with wife Elsa and mother-in-law Udelia Vasquez, feelings of gratitude and relief washed over him.