Courtney Mares

Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.

Blessed Carlo Acutis (left) and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati / Credit: Diocese of Assisi/Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Pope Francis Announces 2025 Canonizations for Carlo Acutis, Pier Giorgio Frassati During Jubilee Celebrations

The surprise announcement came at the conclusion of the pope’s weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square as Francis celebrated...

null / Credit: AI-generated image created by OpenAI’s DALL-E, generated with assistance from ChatGPT

Cardinals Test out Virtual Reality Headsets at New AI-inspired Jubilee Art Exhibit

The exhibit, titled “Interconnected Hearts: Taiwan Contemporary Art Exhibition 2024,” is hosted at the Republic of China’s Embassy to the...

The Vatican and Microsoft have created a 3D digital model of St. Peter’s Basilica using the latest in artificial intelligence to offer a new way to experience the nearly 2,000-year history of the tomb of St. Peter. / Credit: Microsoft La Basilica Di San Pietro: AI-Enhanced Experience

Discover the History of St. Peter’s Basilica in New Microsoft Oline AI-enhanced 3D Model

Accessible worldwide at virtual.basilicasanpietro.va, the free interactive platform allows anyone in the world to “visit” the virtual 3D model of...

St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Vatican Media

Microsoft President to Unveil "AI-enhanced experience" of St. Peter’s Basilica

“The Basilica of St. Peter’s: AI-Enhanced Experience” is a collaboration between Microsoft and the Fabric of St. Peter.

Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica, where Bernini's gorgeous bronze monument to the Chair of Peter acts as a massive
bronze reliquary for the historic wooden chair. / Credit: Vatican Media

Historic "Chair of St. Peter" on Public Display in Vatican Basilica for First Time in 150 Years

The relic dispayed just above the tomb of St. Peter will be accessible for public viewing until Dec. 8, the...

Top, left to right: St. Catherine of Siena, St. John Paul II, Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Francis de Sales. Bottom, left to right: St. John Henry Newman, St. Gertrude of Helfta, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Thomas Aquinas. / Credit: Brooklyn Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Gov.pl, CC BY 3.0 PL, via Wikimedia Commons; Leiloeira São Domingos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Corrado Giaquinto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Giovanni Battista Lucini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Herbert Rose Barraud, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Public domain via Wikimedia Commons; Céline Martin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Carlo Crivelli, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

"Dilexit Nos": Wisdom From 20 Saints on the Sacred Heart of Jesus

“Dilexit Nos,” meaning “He Loved Us,” describes how devotion to the heart of Christ “reappears in the spiritual journey of...

Pope Francis joines the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in prayer at the Vatican on March 7, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican Publishes First Report on Church Safeguarding Efforts Worldwide

The 50-page report by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is the first in an annual series that...

Pope Francis addresses bishops gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican for the Synod on Synodality closing Mass on Oct. 27, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

In Synod Closing Mass, Pope Francis Calls for "a Church that hears the cry of the world"

At the Synod on Synodality closing Mass on Sunday, Pope Francis said that a synodal Church must be “on the...

Painting of the Sacred Heart found in Rome’s Church of the Gesù, the mother church of the Society of Jesus, more commonly known as the Jesuits. On Oct. 24, 2024, Pope Francis released a new encyclical, “Dilexit Nos” (“He Loved Us”), in which he calls on Catholics to rediscover the love and compassion found in the heart of Jesus Christ. / Credit: Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Dilexit Nos: 7 Takeaways from Pope Francis’ New Encyclical on the Sacred Heart

The encyclical, issued on Oct. 24, examines the transformative power of Jesus’ heart as a font of healing for a...

Pope Francis prays during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Francis to Release New Encyclical Letter "Dilexit Nos" on the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The encyclical, titled “Dilexit Nos,” meaning “he has loved us,” will be published on Oct. 24.

Statuary sits before imagery of the recently canonized saints in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Pope Francis Canonizes 14 New Saints, Including Consolata Missionaries Founder, Priests Martyred in Syria

In a Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, October 20, Pope Francis declared three nineteenth-century founders of Religious...

Elena Guerra, Marie-Léonie Paradis, and Giuseppe Allamano are among the Blesseds whom Pope Francis will canonize on Oct. 20, 2024. / Credit: Oblates of the Holy Spirit; centremarie-leonieparadis.com; and Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Here Are the 14 People Set for Canonization on Mission Sunday, October 20

The 14 soon-to-be saints each exemplified heroic virtue and witnessed to holiness within their unique vocations, including two married men.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Pope Francis Hopes for "reconciled differences" with Orthodox and Protestant Christians

The pope said “the climate of dialogue between the two Churches has lost the acrimony of the past and today...

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi (left) arrives at the Vatican for Synod on Synodality meetings on Oct. 10, 2024. The Vatican announced on Monday, Oct. 14, that the cardinal returned to Moscow to meet with Russian authorities as part of the peace mission entrusted to him by Pope Francis. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Papal Envoy for “paths of peace” Between Russia and Ukraine Returns to Moscow on Continued Vatican Peace Mission

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi returned to Moscow on Monday to meet with Russian authorities as part of the peace mission entrusted...

Pope Francis addresses the faithful during the Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis: "True wealth is being loved by God"

“Let us remember this: True wealth is not the goods of this world. True wealth is being loved by God...

Delegates attend a session of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Paul VI Hall on Oct. 5, 2024, in Vatican City. / Credit: Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Women Deacons Off the Table? Synod Delegate Claims "some women sense a call to Priesthood"

“I think we have to look at the question very much from … the Spirit. ‘Is the Spirit calling women?’”...

Pope Francis holds his rosary beads during a rosary prayer for peace at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome on Oct. 6, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Francis Prays Rosary for Peace on Eve of First Anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 Attack

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, the pope implored Our Lady, Queen of...

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for his Angelus reflection on Oct. 6, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Urges Married Couples to "be open to life"

In his Sunday Angelus address, the Holy Father asked couples to reflect on whether their married life is fully open...

Pope Francis greets the crowd at the end of a Mass for the opening of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in St Peter's Square. / Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images

Pope Francis Calls for Global Day of Prayer, Fasting amid Escalating Conflict in Holy Land

The pope’s surprise announcement comes the morning after Iran launched hundreds of missiles toward Israel.

Pope Francis makes the sign of the cross as he opens the second assembly of the Synod on Synodality with a Mass on Oct. 2, 2024, in St. Peter’s Square. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Pope Francis Opens Synod on Synodality Assembly With Warning Against Personal "agendas"

The second session of the 16th Ordinary Synod of Bishops, running from Oct. 2–27, marks a critical phase in the...