To understand how Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well portrayed in John’s Gospel was remarkable, we should first understand the Samaritan people and why they were so reviled. The Samaritans were a mixed population who worshipped God differently from the Jews. While they worshipped the one true God, they only held the first five Books of Moses to be Sacred Scripture; rejecting the rest of the Jewish testament. Also, they worshipped on Mount Gerizium in the Palestinian West Bank, not at the Temple in Jerusalem.

Angelus, Francis exhorted to hear “the cry of the hidden young victims of violence”.

Francis’ appeal to hear the hidden cry of abused children victims of violence. "Christ is not a man of great wealth, but a poor man with nowhere to lay his head, He is not a patriarch with numerous offspring, but a homeless bachelor without a nest," he said. And "the Christian cross is not a piece of furniture or an ornament to wear, but a call to that love, with which Jesus sacrificed Himself to save humanity from sin and evil.”

Catholic News Service asked Father Michael Fuller, executive director of the Secretariat of Doctrine and Canonical Affairs at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to explain the difference between celibacy and chastisty, a promise and a vow.

1. What is celibacy? Do priests take a vow of celibacy?

The last mass of the Spiritual Exercises in Ariccia was dedicated to Syria’s dramatic situation. Mission of Dal Toso and Zenari in late January.

On the last day of his Lenten Spiritual Exercises with the Roman Curia in Ariccia, the Pope celebrated a Mass for Syria “and sent 100,000 euro to the poor of Aleppo, thanks to a contribution of the Roman Curia.” This was announced by Paloma Garcia Ovejero, Deputy Director of the Vatican Press Office. The donation will be made by the Office of Papal Charities, the Apostolic Almoner.

President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment opens a new historical phase. Citizens, and among them Catholics, are now the real protagonists of democracy.

Pope Francis has been on retreat this week with his collaborators in the Roman Curia. Popes have done so for some 80 years, since Pope Pius XI started the custom of making an annual retreat in common. That it takes place the first full week of Lent seems to make sense.

But why? Why do Catholics — and to be sure, other Christians, especially of the Eastern traditions, both Catholic and Orthodox — readily consider Lent to be the most spiritually fruitful time of the year?

In the interview with Die Zeit Francis confirmed his unwillingness to change the discipline of celibacy for the Latin Church but opens to discussion on the “viri probati “

We were told recently at a retreat that if only one piece of Scripture survived in a post-apocalyptic world, the parable of the Prodigal Son would suffice for the propagation of the Gospel. The three main characters, father, son and elder brother portray God’s love and forgiveness in a unique and compelling way. The two great commandments of loving God and loving our neighbor are presented in a fashion that is multi-layered and rich in content and context.

Those disappointed by materialism, consumerism and communist ideology seek new spiritual sources. In various Chinese parishes courses for catechumens are organized, but also studies and Bible reading, Eucharistic adoration, the Way of the Cross and many acts of charity.

“The Bread and the Body, the Wine and the Blood” was the focus of morning meditation during course of spiritual exercises for Pope and Roman Curia.

What is our relation with food? Around the supper, do we Christians find unity or are we divided? By shedding His Blood, did Jesus give us God’s forgiveness? These were the three questions addressed yesterday morning, March 7, 2017, to the Pope and to the Roman Curia by Father Giulio Michelini, who is leading the Lenten Spiritual Exercises in the House of the Divine Master of Arriccia.