Sharing and celebrating the joy of faith with thousands of Catholic teenagers from around the globe was a rare moment that not many people are able to experience, a U.S. teen said. "It was a different atmosphere than what I'm used to, but it's good because it shows that the beauty of the Catholic Church is there," Emily Sullivan told Catholic News Service April 25. Emily, her brother Ryan and parents Matt and Susan, came from North Carolina to participate in the Year of Mercy celebration for young teens April 23-24 in Rome. Both siblings, who are preparing to receive the sacrament of confirmation, said that despite the language barrier, they were able to join in singing and praying during the April 23 youth rally at Rome's Olympic Stadium. "It was awesome; the energy was insane," Emily said. "The people knew all the lyrics and they were jamming out. So we came up with a couple of words that we could sing along. It was really cool to be in that atmosphere." To see so many Catholic teens in one place was "definitely encouraging," she added. For Ryan, attending the April 24 Mass in St. Peter's Square was the highlight of his pilgrimage. "It was great seeing the pope," and "meeting other people and seeing the city" was "all good," he told CNS. "We will make our confirmation in two weeks so it was definitely great to see the history of the church and (meet) other people who are Catholic because where we live, there's not as big of a following," Emily said. In his homily, Pope Francis told the more than 100,000 teens present that happiness "is not an 'app' that you can download on your phones" and that love leads to true freedom, which is a gift that comes from "being able to choose good." The pope's message, Emily said, encouraged people "to go back to the church at the end of the day, not your phone." Their mother Susan told CNS she hopes that attending the jubilee event will give her children a "fuller and richer experience" as they prepare to receive confirmation in two weeks. "It was really important for me and for them to have this experience," she said. "To be that close (to Pope Francis) as he was celebrating Mass was truly, I hope, a life-changing experience for them that reaffirms their faith."

April 23 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, the playwright, poet, and actor widely considered to be the most influential literary figure in the English language. Yet, there's one mystery which continues to elude scholars to even this day: what exactly was Shakespeare's relationship with the Catholic Church? And, could he have been a secret Catholic, forced to conceal his true religious identity in an era of persecution? At the time of Shakespeare's writing, Britain was in a period of religious upheaval. Its people were still caught in the crossfires of the English Reformation that had begun decades earlier when Henry VIII declared himself head of the Church of England. Shakespeare, like many of his contemporaries, outwardly followed the State-imposed religion, since it was illegal at that time to practice as a Catholic in England. However, scholars say he nonetheless maintained strong sympathies with the Church of Rome. Shakespeare's writings “clearly points to somebody who was not just saturated in Catholicism, but occasionally argued for it,” said Clare Asquith, an independent scholar and author of a book on Shakespeare called “Shadowplay:The Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare.” He “was definitely putting the Catholic point of view to an intellectual audience,” she said. An example of this relationship with Catholicism comes out in Shakespeare's Hamlet, a play which scholars say captures the sense of conflict experienced by the population as the country transitioned to the Church of England. “Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, dramatizes the position of all these people, torn apart like Hamlet, having to play a part like Hamlet, pretend they were irresponsible, perhaps mad, and yet, having to make a decision about what to do about this,” Asquith told CNA/EWTN News.
She said that this conflict is particularly represented through the ghost of Hamlet’s father in Act I. Pearce reiterates that more people at that time had Catholic sympathies than is commonly believed. “Although the anti-Catholic laws made it necessary for any writer, Shakespeare included, to be circumspect about the way that they discussed the religious controversies of the time,” he said, “it is clear that Shakespeare's plays show a great degree of sympathy with the Catholic perspective during this volatile time.”

Without a repentant heart, Christians can risk living out their faith superficially and fail to live out God's desire for "mercy, not sacrifice," Pope Francis said. Instead, Jesus' love for sinners shows that the church is not "a community of perfect people, but disciples on a path who follow the Lord because they recognize themselves as sinners and in need of his forgiveness," the pope said at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square April 13. Jesus' mission is "to search for each one of us, to heal our wounds and call us to follow him with love," he said. The pope reflected on the Gospel passage, which recounted Jesus calling Matthew to follow him despite the fact he was a tax collector and considered a sinner by the people. Jesus, he said, did not rebuke him for his past but dines with him and "opens up a new future." "There is no saint without a past and there is not sinner without a future. This is beautiful; this is what Jesus does," he said. However, like the scribes and Pharisees, there is also the temptation for Christians to fall into pride and arrogance and believe themselves better than others. For Christ, no sinner is excluded because "God's healing power knows no sickness that cannot be cured," the pope said. Jesus, he added, was not afraid of talking to sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes, thus revealing the true meaning behind the prophet Hosea's call for "mercy, not sacrifice." "Those Pharisees were very religious in practice, but were unable to share a table with tax collectors and sinners," he said. "While being faithful guardians of the law, they had no knowledge of God's heart." Pope Francis called on the faithful to "look with mercy" upon others while reminding them that "we are all disciples in need of experiencing and living the comforting words of Jesus." "We all need to be nourished by the mercy of God because our salvation comes from this source," the pope said.

The problem of sex-selective abortion is not limited to China and India, but is increasing in communities within Western countries, a new report by the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute says. “I think for a long time we’ve been denying that sex-selective abortion happens in the United States,” said Anna Higgins, J.D., associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute. However, she told CNA, “it does happen here.” Countries like China, with its miserable human rights record, are notorious for sex-selective abortions because of the country’s long-time forced one-child family policy, now a two-child policy. Human rights activists have termed the situation “gendercide” because so many families choose only to have a boy to carry on the family name. The practice has led to demographic disaster, with 33 million more men than women in the country, according to human rights activists. Yet sex-selective abortion happens not just in China and India, but within Western countries as well, Higgins argues. In certain immigrant communities in the U.S. – including some Indian-American, Korean-American, and Chinese-American communities – the ratio of baby boys to baby girls can actually be much higher than China’s. “Although not every country prohibits sex-selective abortion specifically, there is obviously a global awareness that prenatal sex-selection is unethical based on the sheer number of countries that prohibit preimplantation sex-selection techniques,” Higgins said of the numbers. “The United States is, in fact, lagging behind the rest of the world on this front.” Higgins, along with the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, is pushing for the House to pass the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act which would prohibit sex-selective abortions, along with the solicitation of funds for these abortions or any “coercion” of woman to obtain an abortion on basis of sex, which happens in some communities, Higgins said.

What you say and how you live always go hand in hand, building up the church and the people of God, Pope Francis told new priests. "Therefore, may your doctrine be nourishment to the people of God, joy and supporting those faithful to Christ (be) the fragrance of your life, because the word and example go together," he said. "Word and example edify the house of God, which is the church," he said in his homily April 17, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis ordained 11 new priests; nine were ordained for the Diocese of Rome and two of the new priests -- including one born in Baghdad -- belong to the Rogationist religious order. In his homily, the pope urged the men to read, reflect on and teach the word of God and to be a living example of what they preach. He asked that they imitate Jesus in their lives, including "carrying Christ's death" inside of them and walking with him in new life. "Without the cross you will never find the true Jesus. And a cross without Christ has no meaning." In administering the sacraments, especially the sacrament of penance, show mercy, he told them. "Please, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord, and in the name of the church, I asked you to be merciful, very merciful." He reminded the men that they were called by Jesus to continue his mission as teacher, priest and shepherd, and to serve the church and the people of God. "Always have in front of your eyes the example of the Good Shepherd, who didn't come to be served, but to serve and to look for and save those who were lost," he said. Later in the day, the pope told those gathered in St. Peter's Square for the "Regina Coeli" prayer that the image of a shepherd with his flock "shows the close relationship that Jesus wants to establish with each one of us." "He is our guide, our teacher, our friend, our role model, but above all, he is our Savior," the pope said. Christ has saved humanity and "nothing and nobody will be able to wrench us from Jesus' hands because nothing and no one can overpower his love," he said. "Jesus' love is invincible." While the devil and his minions try all sorts of ways to tear this promise of eternal life away from people, "the evil one cannot do anything unless we open the doors of our soul to him, and follow his deceptive enticements," he said.

There are many things about Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta that could be called heroic – her tireless service to the world's most rejected and her courageous witness to millions of what it is to live the Gospel, just to name a couple. But the priest charged with overseeing her path to sainthood said that for him, one thing stands out above all the rest: her experience of spiritual darkness and what she described as feeling totally abandoned by God for the majority of her life. “The single most heroic thing is exactly her darkness. That pure living, that pure, naked faith,” Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator for Mother Teresa's canonization cause, told CNA in an interview. Fr. Kolodiejchuk is a priest of the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, founded by Mother Teresa in 1989. By undergoing the depth and duration of the desolation she experienced and doing everything that she did for others in spite of it, “that's really very heroic,” he said. Pope Francis recently approved the second and last miracle needed in order to declare Mother Teresa a saint, and has set the date of her canonization for Sept. 4, 2016 – the day before her feast day. Read more here.

Mother Angelica’s life must be viewed in reference to Jesus, the homilist at her funeral Mass said on Friday. “We cannot understand Mother Angelica without reference the One that she loved with the passion of a bride, Jesus, the Eternal Word Who became man and dwelt among us,” said Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe, MVFA, in his homily at the funeral Mass for Mother Angelica, foundress of EWTN and Abbess Emerita at Our Lady of the Angels monastery in Hanceville, Alabama. “Her legacy is a legacy of His work in her,” Fr. Joseph Mary added. An estimated 2,000 mourners attended Mother Angelica’s funeral Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, 45 miles north of Birmingham. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said the Mass, joined by the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, as well as Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville, Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham, and his predecessor, Bishop David Foley, Mother’s long-time bishop. Archbishop Vigano read aloud a message from Pope Francis at the end of the Mass. “His Holiness Pope Francis was saddened to learn of the death of Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, and extends heartfelt condolences to the Poor Clares of the Perpetual Adoration of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, and to the EWTN community,” he said. Read more here.

The veto of a religious freedom bill means faith-based groups that support marriage as a union of a man and a woman won’t have needed protections, the state’s Catholic bishops said. “The Virginia Catholic Conference is deeply dismayed by the governor’s action,” the conference said March 30. “This veto risks the destruction of Virginia’s long tradition of upholding the religious freedom of faith communities which dates back to Thomas Jefferson.” The bill would have forbidden the state of Virginia from punishing religious groups that follow their sincerely held beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman. The bill passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 59-38 and the Senate by 21-19. Virginia’s Catholic conference said the bill would ensure “that clergy and religious organizations are not penalized by the government.” The bill would also protect these individuals and organizations from civil liability. Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, vetoed the bill on live radio Wednesday. He claimed that signing the bill would be “making Virginia unwelcome to same-sex couples, while artificially engendering a sense of fear and persecution among our religious communities.” He also cited corporation leaders’ opposition to the bill, charging that it was “bad for business.” “They don't want headaches coming from the state,” he said. LGBT activist groups also opposed the bill. The Catholic conference said that the bill does not apply to businesses, but “simply affirms the right of religious organizations to follow their religious beliefs.” The conference charged that Gov. McAuliffe’s veto “marginalizes religious believers who hold to the timeless truth about marriage.” The legislation would have preserved “fair access to state resources” for clergy and religious organizations, including charities and schools, the conference said. “Marriage is the first institution, written in natural law and existing before any government or religion, and is between one man and one woman,” the conference added. “Recognizing and honoring this institution is not discrimination, but counting people’s faith against them most certainly is.” Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr. (R-Grayson) sponsored the bill. He told the Washington Post he believes there will be lawsuits against churches. “I think you see a trend around the country right now to promote homosexual beliefs, and I think you see that trend happening on a wide-scale basis,” he said. Read more here.