Pope Francis dedicated his Wednesday general audience catechesis to the Holy Spirit, without whom, “the Church could not live or carry out the mission that Jesus has entrusted us with, of going out and making disciples of all nations.

The action that the Holy Spirit carries out, in guiding the Church and within each of us, was the theme chosen by Pope Francis for his catechesis in today's general audience, with Pentecost drawing near.

VATICAN CITY (VIS) – Eastertide, which culminates with the Solemnity of Pentecost when the Church relives the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, is the perfect time of the Holy Spirit,” the Pope explained to the 75,000 persons present in St. Peter's Square to attend his Wednesday general audience.

CCD students from St. Mary Mission in Robstown released several blue balloons up into the gray sky on the morning of April 28. The event concluded National Child Abuse Awareness Month in honor of all children who die of abuse every year. All CCD students from pre-kinder to High School gathered outside of the small mission church for a prayer led by their pastor, Father Anthony Blount, before they released the balloons.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis called for an end to slave labor and human trafficking as well as greater efforts to create dignified work for more people.

Pope Francis dedicated the catechesis of his Wednesday, April 24, general audience to three Gospel texts that help us to enter into the mystery of one of the truths professed in the Creed: that Jesus “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”. The three texts are: the parable of the 10 virgins; the parable of the talents; and the final judgment. They all form part of Jesus' teaching on the end of time in the Gospel of St. Matthew.

VATICAN CITY, (VIS) – The meaning of the Ascension, the event culminating Jesus' earthly life, was the central theme of Pope Francis' catechesis during the Wednesday, April 17, general audience celebrated in St. Peter's Square and attended by more than 50,000 people.

Sunday, April 15, Pope Francis presided over Mass at Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls on his first visit to that basilica as Bishop of Rome. Concelebrating with the Holy Father were Cardinal James Michael Harvey, archpriest of the basilica, and Abbot Edmund Power, O.S.B., of the St. Paul Outside-the-Walls Abbey.