A new report issued by the UN's Children's Fund, UNICEF, reveals that nearly 400 children were killed in 2021, alone, across Europe and Central Asia, as drastically-increasing temperatures threaten the lives of the youngest and most vulnerable.

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Maronite Bishop Munir Khairallah of the Diocese of Batroun, Lebanon, describes the situation there as tensions grow between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militiamen in the south, while the local church prays for peace and helps some 100,000 refugees who have fled the area.

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One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was born at Dufton, at Westmoreland, England, and studied at Oxford. Becoming a Catholic in 1576, he went to Reims and received ordination in 1581. John went back to England where he worked in the northern parts of the kingdom and became the object of a massive manhunt. He was betrayed, arrested, and taken to London. There he was crippled on the rack and returned to Dryburn near Durham. On July 24, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered. John was ...

The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith sends a letter, approved by the Pope, to the cardinal bishop of Como granting the ‘nulla osta’ regarding spiritual experiences at the Sanctuary of Maccio.

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Spirituality and Full Consciousness: Paths to Well-Being” was one of the panels at the international conference on ‘Positive Mental Health’, organised by the Cabo Verde Ministry of Health. The meeting took place over the weekend in Cabo Verde’s city of Praia. Fr. Gilson Frede was one of the speakers on the panel.

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Speaking at a meeting at the UN’s Geneva headquarters, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero warns of the “existential threat” posed by nuclear weapons.

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The Vatican Secretary of State is received in Kyiv by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to whom he conveys the Pope's solidarity and the Holy See's commitment to help find "a just and lasting peace".

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Father Claudy Duclervil, Director of Radio Télé Soleil in Port-au-Prince, speaks to Vatican News about the current law and order situation in Haiti and Haitians’ hopes, following the recent installation of the transitional government and the deployment of Kenya-led international police force to help combat gangs.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican is installing a new set of nine bullet-proof and shatter-proof glass panels in front of one of its most famous works of art, Michelangelo's marble "Pietà" sculpture in St. Peter's Basilica.

The new glass panes were crafted for improved security and "maximum transparency" to improve visibility for the thousands of visitors who stream through Christianity's largest church each day, according to the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the office responsible for the upkeep of the basilica.

"Specially designed by a team of experts, it will be equipped with an innovative high-tech anchoring system, carefully studied in every component for the best protection and enjoyment of the venerated and admired sculpture," the office said on its website July 22.

In the runup to the Holy Year 2025, restoration work on the side Chapel of the Pietà, housing the sculpture, and the glass barrier in front of it began in May. Work is expected to finish in September, the website said.

Because the sculpture will not be visible to the public during that time, the basilica was showcasing its "official" copy, a plaster replica created by Francesco Mercatali in 1943. It moved the replica in mid-July from the basilica's museum in the Vatican sacristy to the front of the chapel that is blocked off to visitors for the restoration. 

The enormous sculpture, carved from a single block of Carrara marble, has been protected by a transparent barrier ever since a 33-year-old, Hungarian-born Australian geologist, Laszlo Toth, attacked it with a hammer in 1972. It was restored after his blows shattered the left arm of the Virgin Mary and also chipped her nose, left eye and the veil covering her hair.

The sculpture depicts a disproportionately large Mary holding the limp body of her dead son, Jesus, in her lap after his crucifixion.

Michelangelo was just 23 years old when he sculpted the piece in just nine months between 1498 and 1499, according to the Fabbrica website. It is the only sculpture the artist signed when he inscribed his name on a ribbon falling from Mary's shoulder.