St. John Paul II

“How difficult it is to forget the bang of the would-be assassin’s gunshots, which in a single moment could have put an end to this extraordinary pontificate,” Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz said at a Mass marking the anniversary.

In the spotlight: Israeli-Palestinian conflict, attempted-assassination anniversary, Our Lady of Fatima

Although dogged for years by rumors of sexual impropriety, Theodore E. McCarrick was able to rise up the Catholic hierarchical structure based on personal contacts, protestations of his innocence and a lack of church officials reporting and investigating accusations, according to the Vatican summary of its report on the matter.

Photographer Giancarlo Giuliani exhibits photos from the pontificate of St. John Paul II in Rome.

“Our families have emerged as many people’s primary community during the COVID-19 pandemic. This fits the family’s natural role in society, but the change has not been easy. Many families have experienced new challenges amid COVID-19.”

An concert honoring the centennial of St. John Paul II’s birth is now available online.

A quarter-century has passed, and attacks on life continue with alarming frequency. As each attack further darkens our society, we — the Church — must carry the light of life preached in Pope St. John Paul II’s “Gospel of Life.”

Twenty-five years ago St. John Paul’s encyclical on ecumenism, “Ut Unum Sint,” put the papal seal of approval on a shift in the Catholic Church’s approach to the search for Christian unity.