Sunday reading

As Easter approaches, it can be a daunting task to find a quiet moment of contemplation at any of Jerusalem's holy sites, but it is especially so at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Throngs of pilgrim groups and tourists with cameras pack the church, posing for photos at the spots where Jesus was crucified or laid in the tomb. Some place souvenirs on the sacred sites for a blessing. Read more »

Catholics in the world are just under 1,196 million while they were about 1,181 million in 2009. That is, an absolute increase of 15 million faithful, representing 1.3 percent.

Moreover, over the past two years the presence of baptized Catholics worldwide has remained stable at 17.5 percent. As regards geographical distribution, Catholics have decreased in South American and especially in Europe. Read more »

Visitors to the 2012 Olympic Games might be surprised to discover the extent to which London has been marked by the Catholic faith over the centuries.

Riding the trains of the London Underground they notice stations with names such as Temple, Blackfriars, Charing Cross and Covent Garden.

Above ground, the traces of Catholicism are yet more noticeable: Whitefriars, Greyfriars, Ave Maria Lane and Paternoster Square all denote a rich Catholic heritage that precedes the Reformation. Read more »

A new interfaith exhibition that opens this week at the Vatican reveals how the roots of the 1611 King James Bible are almost entirely Catholic – despite the fact that the translation was often viewed as a highpoint of Protestant European culture.

“If it had not been for the Catholics of the 1500s there would be no King James Bible,” exhibition organizer Cary Summers told EWTN News. Read more »

At his weekly public audience on February 22, Ash Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the significance of the 40-day penitential season of Lent.

Speaking to 7,500 people in the Paul VI auditorium, the Pope recalled that in the early Christian community, the time before Easter was originally a time when catechumens were prepared for Baptism. Eventually all of the faithful were encouraged to join in the same process of penance and preparation. Read more »

Practically everyone knows two things about cardinals -- that they wear red hats and elect the pope. But what other purpose do these men serve in the Catholic Church?

On the eve of the Feb. 18 consistory where Pope Benedict XVI was scheduled to expand the College of Cardinals by 22 new members, the three North Americans among them shared some thoughts on the meaning of their new role. Read more »

In the Holy Land, pilgrims face obstacles beyond the Wall.

The exodus of Christians, the hindrances to pilgrimages caused by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the difficulties in interreligious relations over the holy sites are some of reasons for the Catholic Church to commit to “strengthening and adapting the mission to the new times and new needs of the Church.” Read more »

Is there a breakthrough in negotiations between the Vatican and the State of Israel? A timely explosion is taking place on Israeli media on the issue of "transferring" the Last Supper.

The popular Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot had an article on a recent meeting of the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the State of Israel and the Holy See held in Jerusalem – a meeting at which substantial progress was made in negotiations regarding outstanding issues. Read more »

This news is only a few days old. The ‘iBreviary - Pro Terra Sancta’, the most popular app (short for application) in the Catholic world has “landed” on Windows Phone 7 smartphone and is therefore now available on mobiles with Microsoft operating systems.

These can now be added to the list of devices that can already run the app such as iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Blackberry and Android phones. “We have expanded the ‘machine-fairground’” stated happily the creator of iBreviary, Fr. Paolo Padrini. Read more »

A Christian name and a sober rite: One must be “catholically correct” right from the start of their Christian life. Baptism is the sacrament of Christian renewal through water and the word, it is no carnival.

The verb “to baptise” is Greek for “dipping”, “immersing”. Immersion in water is the symbol of the catechumen’s burial and resurrection to life as a “new being”, alongside Christ. Read more »