NEWS

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper March 21 signed into law a civil unions bill for same-sex couples that Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila said "harms families, civil liberties and the natural rights of all Colorado's children."

The archbishop of Los Angeles called upon the United States to remember the humanity of men, women and children in the country illegally or risk losing its soul.

New proposed regulations governing the contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act continue to violate basic principles of religious freedom, said the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pope Francis preferred carrying out "a silent diplomacy" in helping victims versus leading a more public outcry during Argentina's "dirty war," said an Argentine Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Pope Francis has decided to celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper in a Rome juvenile detention facility and wash the feet of some of the young detainees. It marks a change in venue of the previously scheduled March 28 Holy Week event from St. Peter's Basilica to Rome's Casal del Marmo prison for minors.

The Easter Triduum of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ is the capstone of the entire liturgical year. We enter into the historical and sacred Holy Week on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, which sets the whole week apart. As a holy people, we make our final preparations for Easter morning — the greatest feast of the Church year.

Pope Francis greets religious leaders during a meeting at the Vatican March 20. The pope met with the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and Jain delegations that had come to the Vatican for his inauguration. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

Students at St. Matthew Catholic School are receiving help from well beyond the parish boundaries. Parishioners at St. Patrick in Scottsdale and Ascension in Fountain Hills make the weekly 20-25-mile trek to serve as tutors.

The Catholic Church experiences an annual surge in its worldwide membership during the Easter Vigil when it celebrates the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). This rite has been around since the first century when disciples of Jesus shared His message and brought people into the faith.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis had been pope for less than six days when he was formally installed March 19, but he had...