Catholic News Service

Although Christmas this year is the day after the fourth Sunday of Advent, Catholics  looking to count a Sunday evening Mass Dec. 24 for both that Sunday obligation and Monday's Christmas Mass obligation will have to think again.

Gunmen killed a 72-year-old Catholic priest on the main Philippine island of Luzon Dec. 4, a day after police killed a pastor they tagged as a member of the communist New People's Army.

Church leaders seeking peace on the Korean Peninsula emphasized the need for "repentance and atonement" between North Korea and South Korea.

Like a sprout, humility needs to be nourished so that the Holy Spirit may grow within all Christians, Pope Francis said. 

The president of Croatia's bishops' conference condemned "unjust verdicts" at a United Nations war crimes trial, after a general publicly committed suicide when his appeal was rejected.

Oblate Father Alexis Joveneau was said to have inappropriately touched women and girls in the Innu community in Quebec where he ministered from 1953 until his death in 1992.

A typhoon that rapidly developed on the southern Indian coast claimed the lives of at least 32 poor Catholic fishermen who were at sea and another 200 more were missing.

Supposed miracles in the Legio Maria sect have raised concerns among Catholic parish leaders in western Kenya. Thousands of Catholics have joined the sect in search of healing.

Catholic leaders are calling for calm in Honduras as an unexpectedly close election careens toward a contentious outcome.

More than 2,400 religious faith leaders, including hundreds of Catholic women religious and dozens of priests, asked the U.S. Senate to vote down tax cut legislation.

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Irbil, Iraq, spoke about the blessings that can be found in the midst of persecution.

The Archdiocese of Washington filed suit in federal court Nov. 28 after a transit system rejected an Advent and Christmas advertisement.

As long as wars and conflicts rage, "trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation, forced labor and similar crimes will continue to flourish," said the Vatican's nuncio to the United Nations.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Communications has urged the Trump administration to keep current net neutrality rules in place for the sake of faith communities.

Three archbishops and nine bishops representing at least 13 million Catholics from Sacramento to the Mexican coastal city of Ensenada have resurrected their "Alta-Baja" friendship.

People from Manicani Island in Eastern Samar province want assurances from the government that an open pit mine, where production was suspended in 2002, will remain closed

A diocesan bishop is the sole judge in the streamlined process for handling marriage annulments, Pope Francis said.

All Zimbabweans should have a voice in the country's governance following Robert Mugabe's 37-year presidency, and the new government should embrace diversity, Zimbabwe's bishops said.

Pope Francis led pilgrims in prayer for the victims of a bombing at a mosque in Egypt's northern Sinai region.

Exploiting a fear of migrants and refugees for political gain does nothing to build a culture of peace, Pope Francis said in his message for World Peace Day 2018.