"Everything happens for a reason" works as a reassurance mechanism to cope with hardships. With reference to the question, it is often considered that it has been extracted from one of the monotheistic Scriptures, but it is not.

Associated Press

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis in a special prayer service on Saturday in St. Peter's Basilica invoked the end of the pandemic and a return of what he called “a horizon of hope," including a scenario in which scientists can figure out how to conquer the coronavirus.

About two dozen kids stuck pinwheels into the lawn in front of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane on Mission Avenue Wednesday in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Students played a game of pick up basketball on the usually quiet courts at the old Jefferson Elementary School building while Sister Francis Marie watched from her classroom door.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Ilse Betty Grebenschikoff and Anne Maria Wahrenberg were best friends who leaned on each other during the early days of the Nazi’s anti-Jewish campaign.

Behind the burn-scarred St. Charles Church Sunday morning, parishioners entered a large white tent, decorated with twinkly lights strung from the ceiling and yellow bouquets of flowers adorning the makeshift pulpit.

In the era of COVID-19, the pews at Spokane Valley Church of the Nazarene are perfectly aligned.

ROME – Pope Francis urged his coronavirus-weary flock to not lose hope even through the continued “dark months” of the pandemic as he celebrated a scaled-back Easter vigil service in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday.

Conroy, the first Jesuit to serve as House Chaplain, was asked to resign by then-House Speaker Paul Ryan in 2018. But he stayed in the position until the end of last year.

When Rev. Esteban Soler came to St. Charles Parish in 2019, he immediately saw that its school was in trouble, with enrollment down. Soler thought back to his own classical education and decided to make a change.

After retiring from parish ministry in 1995, Paul Graves quickly realized that he was going to miss writing his weekly sermons. “I used preaching, in part, as a way of ordering my own life,” Graves said.

The fire that devastated St. Charles Church and school last week is being investigated as a burglary and arson, police said Thursday.

PLAINS OF UR, Iraq – Pope Francis walked through a narrow alley in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf for a historic meeting with the country’s top Shiite cleric Saturday, and together they delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence in a country still reeling from back-to-back conflicts over the past decade.

BAGHDAD — Pope Francis opened the first-ever papal visit to Iraq on Friday with a plea for the country to protect its centuries-old diversity, urging Muslims to embrace their Christian neighbors as a precious resource and asking the embattled Christian community -- “though small like a mustard seed” -- to persevere.

NEW ORLEANS – Roman Catholic leaders in St. Louis and New Orleans are advising Catholics that the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, newly approved for use in the U.S., is “morally compromised” because it is produced using a cell line derived from an aborted fetus.

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican defended Pope Francis’ decision to go ahead with his trip to Iraq this weekend despite rising coronavirus infections there, saying Tuesday all health care precautions have been taken and that the trip is an “act of love for this land, for its people and for its Christians.”

Conservative leaders within the United Methodist Church unveiled plans Monday to form a new denomination, the Global Methodist Church, with a doctrine that does not recognize same-sex marriage.