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.

Pope Francis meets with professional soccer players from the Celtic Football Club, a team founded by an Irish Catholic religious brother, on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Meets with Professional Soccer Team Founded by a Catholic Religious

Pope Francis met Wednesday with professional soccer players from the Celtic Football Club, a team founded by an Irish Catholic...

Pope Francis pictured on Nov. 27, 2023. The pope felt well enough to keep his scheduled appointment with the president of Paraguay on Monday morning as he recovers from the flu. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis’ Health "stable" Despite Breathing Difficulties, Vatican Says

The 86-year-old pope is being treated with antibiotics intravenously and is in “good and stable” condition without a fever, a...

Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin, Ireland - Photo: Archdiocese of Dublin

Catholic Archbishop in Ireland Responds to Stabbing of Three Children amid Violent Riots

Archbishop Dermot Farrell has asked people to join him in praying for the injured, which includes a 5-year-old girl who...

Pope Francis meets with families of the hostages taken by Hamas on Wed., Nov. 22, 2023. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis Meets with Families of Israeli Hostages Being Held in Gaza

Pope Francis’ meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian delegations occurred as news emerged that a four-day cease-fire agreement had been...

Pope Francis invoke the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy at a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica, Friday, Oct. 27. | Credit: Courtney Mares

Pope Francis to meet with families of Israeli hostages and Palestinians with relatives in Gaza

Vatican spokesman says that with these meetings, "exclusively humanitarian in nature," Pope Francis wants to show his spiritual closeness to...

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on Nov. 15, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis: Complaining Christians do not Give a Credible Witness to the Gospel

Pope Francis said Wednesday that Christians who are always resentful and full of complaints are not credible witnesses to the...

Vatican Doctrine Office Reaffirms that Catholics Cannot Be Freemasons

The new document signed by Pope Francis and DDF Prefect Cardinal Victor Fernández was written in response to a bishop...

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas.

Pope Francis Relieves U.S. Bishop of Episcopal Duties Days after Refusing to Resign

Bishop Joseph Strickland’s removal on Nov. 11 comes after the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops completed a formal investigation in the...

From the Netflix documentary series, "Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi" | Netflix

Italian Senate launches inquiry into disappearance of Vatican Girl and another missing teen

Emanuela Orlandi, the teenage daughter of an envoy of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, disappeared June 22, 1983, after...

Pope Francis received President-Designate of COP28 UAE Dr. Sultan Al Jaber on Oct. 11, 2023, at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican Releases Schedule for Pope Francis’ Trip to Dubai in December

The pope will visit the United Arab Emirates’ most populous city Dec. 1–3 where he will give a speech and...

Pope Francis at his general audience in St. Peter's Square on May 17, 2023. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis: It’s Our Duty to Give a Voice to Women Who are Victims of Abuse

The pope said that violence against women must be “eliminated from its roots” — namely prejudiced ideas that see people...

Pope Francis presides over his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis to Release an Autobiography in the Spring

HarperCollins Publishers announced Tuesday that it will publish the pope’s book, “Life, My Story Through History,” in the spring of...

Pope Francis at the Synod on Synodality’s closing Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

The First Synod on Synodality Assembly is Over. What Comes Next?

Much remains unclear about what concretely will take place in the year leading up to the second and final Synod...

Bishops process into St. Peter's Basilica for the closing Mass of the first assembly of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 29, 2023. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis at Synod Closing Mass: To Reform the Church, Adore God and Love Others

At the Synod on Synodality’s closing Mass, Pope Francis said that God’s love cannot be confined “to our own agenda”...

Pope Francis and delegates at the Synod on Synodality at the conclusion of the assembly on Oct. 28, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican Releases Synod on Synodality Report Proposing Larger Role for Laity in Church

The document, the synthesis of the assembly’s work from Oct. 4-29, proposes a “Synodal Church” that implements synodality throughout Church...

Pope Francis invokes the Virgin Mary as Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy at a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica, Friday, Oct. 27. | Credit: Courtney Mares

Pope Francis Consecrates War-torn World to Virgin Mary in Eucharistic Prayer Vigil

Invoking the Virgin Mary as the Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy, Pope Francis implored her in St. Peter's...

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops since April 12, 2023. | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

"Clericalizing women" Will Not Solve Problems: Cardinal at Synod on Synodality

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost noted that the Catholic Church is not a mirror image of society and “needs to be...

Pope Francis leads the Synod on Synodality delegates in prayer on Oct. 25, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Speaks at Synod on Synodality: "Clericalism" Defiles the Church

Pope Francis denounced clericalism and called it a “scandal” to see young priests buying lace vestments at tailor shops in...

Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Maung Bo celebrates Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

Synod on Synodality "a long march of hope for all humanity": Cardinal Delegate

Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Maung Bo described the Synod of Synodality as “a long march of hope for all humanity” during...

Father Timothy Radcliffe told the Synod on Synodality delegates on Oct. 23, 2023, that the time before the 2024 assembly "will be probably the most fertile time of the whole synod, the time of germination." | Credit: Vatican Media

Synod on Synodality’s "most fertile time" to Be Between the Assemblies: Spiritual Adviser

“These 11 months will be like a pregnancy,” Father Timothy Radcliffe told the synod delegates. “We, my brothers and sisters,...