Capital punishment promotes a deadly attitude of revenge and denies the possibility of change in the lives of incarcerated people, Pope Francis said.

A group of Catholic medical professionals is hailing recent remarks by U.S. plastic surgeons questioning surgical interventions for teens experiencing gender dysphoria.

The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.

Deacon Robert “Bob” Lehr, the first member of St. Ignatius parish in Hickory to become a permanent deacon and a key figure in the building of a new church in 2001, died Aug. 11 following a fall at his home in Forest Hill. He was 79.

As penned in collaboration with Rodo Sayagues, the script touches on themes of loyalty, betrayal, misguided attempts to perfect human nature and the tension between cold reason and heartfelt sympathy.