The Vatican launched a new “Pope App” on the eve of the release of the pope’s World Communications Day message, which is dedicated to social networks as important spaces for evangelization.

Retired Cardinal Jozef Glemp of Warsaw, who served as primate of the Catholic Church in Poland during the final years of communism and during the restoration of democracy, died Jan. 23 at the age of 83.

In the wake of the largest pro-life demonstration ever held in Ireland, cracks have begun to emerge in the coalition government’s plans to legislate for abortion.

The Catholic Church has never encouraged anyone to use ivory for religious devotional objects and, in fact, teaches that animals must be treated with respect, the Vatican spokesman said in a letter to “friends of the elephants.”

One characteristic of the modern world is the propensity to separate. We separate work from home, both of those from recreation, and the economy from the environment. More than anything, we separate faith from life. Faith, we are frequently told, can only be acceptable if kept in a private realm that touches nothing else.

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

What can God and nature have had in mind when they designed the aging process? Why is it that just when our mental prowess, our human maturity, and our emotional freedom are at their peak, the body begins to fall apart?

RALPH HIMSL

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 10, 2013

The first of our readings for this Sunday's Mass consists of Isaiah's heady account of a visionary meeting with the Lord sitting in majesty, sumptuously arrayed, attended by seraphs, six winged – a rich experience. I like it a lot.

BISHOP FRED HENRY

The Year of Faith, declared by Pope Benedict is a "summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Saviour of the world" (Porta Fidei 6).

FR. ROBERT BARRON

St. Paul famously tells the Corinthians that there are "three things that last: faith, hope, and love." At this Pauline prompt, the Christian tradition has identified these three as the "theological" virtues, meaning those features that come as a unique gift from God and that serve as the structuring elements of a properly spiritual life.

LASHA MORNINGSTAR

It's a grismal way to start the day. But it must be done. Each and every morning I go through the newspaper obituaries searching for any priests or nuns who might have died. Should one be on their way to heaven, a story might be done based on their religious life.