A World War II Army veteran, Raymond “Ray” Martin Sr., has joined the Catholic Church at 98 years old. Before finding his way to the Church in Tuscan, Arizona, Martin served in Okinawa, Japan, and in the Philippines; he then spent 27 years as a police officer in Illinois. Martin’s connection to Catholicism began with…

In Dublin, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) All Ireland Football championship culminated this past weekend as County Mayo ended a 75-year “famine” by winning the Sam Maguire Cup, defeating the favored team to win, County Kerry, and putting to rest the supposed “curse” cast upon the Mayo by a priest in 1951. Gaelic football is a…

The Vatican will launch its first conference of Christians and Confucians to expand the Catholic Church’s outreach to the Asian ethical tradition. The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue will hold the colloquium “Dialogue on the Contribution of Christianity and Confucianism to an Ideal Society: New Heaven, New Earth, and Great Unity” in South Korea from Aug….

Florida’s Catholic bishops are urging state residents to work to bring about an end to the death penalty, describing it as a “culture of death” and incompatible with a full Catholic understanding of the value of human life. The eight prelates — including Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, Palm Beach Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, and…

The archbishop of Berlin has condemned the deadly attack on an LGBT “Pride” event in the German capital after a minivan was driven into a crowd on Saturday evening, killing one woman and injuring at least 29 people, some of them seriously. “How terrible! To brutally destroy such a joyful and moving celebration. In our…

The Vatican is participating in the international art exhibition “La Biennale di Venezia” in Italy for the fourth consecutive year. A senior Vatican official explained the Vatican’s support for the exhibition and its recent focus on contemporary art. Irish Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Culture Section at the Dicastery for Culture and Education, told…

Vandals desecrated two statues of Our Lady and set fire to the outdoor altar of St. James Church at the Medjugorje shrine in Bosnia and Herzegovina early Tuesday, July 28, days before the shrine’s annual Mladifest youth festival. The statue of Our Lady on Podbrdo, or Apparition Hill, was doused with black paint across the…