The Iraqi Catholic community feels unsettled after Iran launched ballistic missiles, striking upscale neighborhoods of Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, signaling the latest spate of violence targeting northern Iraq.

An emphasis on God’s mercy has so dominated Pope Francis’ pontificate that it should surprise no one that he said he hopes hell is empty.

Even with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning the landmark Roe ruling, “human life remains gravely threatened by legalized abortion in most states and it continues to be aggressively promoted at the federal level,” the U.S. bishops’ pro-life chairman said Jan. 16.

Pornography and lust undermine and rob people from experiencing God’s gift of love, Pope Francis said.

The smoke that rises from the burning of incense has for millennia been understood by the Christian community as a symbol of the prayers of the faithful rising up to God.