On June 1, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI approved a decree of martyrdom from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, concerning the heroic death of Bl. Franz Jägerstätter, a devoted husband and father of three young daughters who was beheaded on August 9, 1943, for refusing to enlist in the German army. He persisted in his conscientious objection despite pleas from his parish priest, bishop, friends and neighbors to not do so. Bl. Jägerstätter explained his reason, "Everyone tells me, of course, that I should not do what I am doing because of the danger of death.

Stories of coexistence between believers in Christ and Islam followers. Here is how in Cotonou, child victims of traffickers are welcomed, protected and cared for.

Children stripped of their childhood, exploited, mistreated, abused - whatever their skin color, their professed religion, the country of origin – are everybody’s children. When women and men - whatever background, culture, faith - decide to join together and work together to heal their wounds, to restore their smile and future, an undeniable work worth of our being “human” is in force.

When I heard that Trump had decided to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, I immediately thought about an event I attended at the Vatican last September on Laudato si’ and the implementation of the accord.

During that event, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, made the following statement:

Right around two years ago, Pope Francis released his first encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, it rocked everybody’s world. The encyclical ended up being a real gift to me. It has been my guiding star, especially about certain ideas I want my son to learn about his place in the world. Here are some of the points that really stood out to me:

Has it ever struck you as strange that the disciples were gathered “when the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,” i.e., on a Christian feast,? There couldn’t have been any Christian feasts yet, so soon after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. The explanation is simple. The feast we celebrate today already existed long before the time of Jesus. It was not unlike our Thanksgiving, a harvest celebration, celebrated 50 days (seven weeks) after Passover. In the Old Testament it is called the Feast of Weeks.

The Christians of Egypt have defied ISIS and given the world a powerful example of what it means to profess faith in Jesus Christ.

Last week, a large group of Christians in Egypt went on pilgrimage to the monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor. The Christian families — grandparents, parents, and children — boarded the bus along with two other vehicles for a weekend of renewal at this spiritual oasis with the monks in the Egyptian desert.

The day before President Trump met with Pope Francis, Cardinal Peter Turkson juxtaposed the president’s speech in Saudi Arabia with what the Pope said in Egypt.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote: “Pope Francis and President Trump reach out to Islam-world to exorcise it of [religious violence]. One offers peace of dialogue, the other security of arms.”

Which seems fitting. It would be odd for a pastor to counsel recourse to arms. Similarly, it is expected that a commander in chief would seek to augment security through arms.

The Magnificat is a history lesson, a song of praise, and a prophetic message.
Marge Fenelon
The Visitation is one of the most significant events in our Catholic faith tradition.

Mary, newly pregnant with our Lord, traveled 70-some miles of rough territory to help her elderly cousin, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who was thought to be barren, was in her sixth month of pregnancy. Both pregnancies were miraculous, and both involved key figures in salvation history: John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

Here are six reasons why all people should have a relationship with Virgin Mary :

See John Paul II’s reflections on this in Gift and Mystery.

1) Catholics don’t worship Mary

In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is specifically mentioned as coming in the form of a dove. This occurs during Jesus’ baptism where it is written, “the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove” (Luke 3:22).

Why a dove?