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 delivers a message at his general audience on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Issues New Regulations Setting Spending Limits for Vatican Offices

Pope Francis amended the Vatican’s financial regulations on Tuesday, enshrining a spending limit into law.

Pope Francis appearing on Che Tempo Che Fa on Jan. 14/ | NOVE

Pope Francis: "I like to think of hell as empty"

Pope Francis appeared on Italy’s most popular prime-time talk show on Sunday night where the pontiff shared how he hopes...

Pope Francis speaks at a meeting with priests from the Diocese of Rome in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran on Jan. 13, 2024. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Responds to Resistance to Fiducia Supplicans: "The Lord blesses everyone"

Pope Francis responded publicly to questions about the Vatican’s declaration on blessings for same-sex couples for the first time in...

Pope Francis appears in the window of the Apostolic Palace to give his Sunday Angelus address on January 14, 2024. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis: "War itself is a crime against humanity"

Pope Francis made a strong appeal for peace on Sunday calling modern warfare “a crime against humanity” that sows death...

Bernini's baldacchino at the papal Mass on Jan. 1, 2024. | Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican Announces Major Restoration Project in St. Peter’s Basilica

The Vatican announced on Thursday that the soaring baldacchino over the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica will undergo a...

Pope Francis delivers a speech to all of the world’s ambassadors to the Vatican on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Calls Surrogacy "deplorable," Calls for Global Ban in Speech to Ambassadors

Pope Francis called surrogacy “deplorable” and called for a global ban on the exploitative practice of “so-called surrogate motherhood.”

Pope Francis greets Archbishop Charles Scicluna. | Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican Official at Doctrine of Faith Dicastery Says Church Should Allow Married Priests

Archbishop Charles Scicluna said that the Church should learn from the Eastern Churches, which allow married men the option to...

Pope Francis prays the Angelus on Jan. 7, 2024, and offers pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square a reflection on baptism. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis: If You Don’t Know the Date of Your Baptism, Look it Up

Speaking from the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, the pope said on Jan. 7 that the anniversary of one’s...

St. Peter's Dome. | Credit: dade72 via Shutterstock

Vatican Responds to Widespread Backlash on Same-sex Blessing Directive

The Vatican’s doctrine office issued a response on Thursday to “clarify the reception of Fiducia Supplicans” amid widespread international backlash to...

Pope Francis delivers a message on the topic of “vices and virtuesc” at his Wednesday general audience on Jan. 3, 2024. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis: Never Forget that Jesus is Beside You in Your Worst Moments

In life’s worst moments, never forget that Jesus is beside you, Pope Francis said Wednesday.

“Christ Carrying the Cross” by Titian (1490–1576). | Credit: Titian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican announces art contest for Stations of the Cross to be displayed in St. Peter’s Basilica

The Vatican has announced an art competition in which your paintings can be displayed inside of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Francis gives his Angelus address on Dec. 24, 2023. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis: Do not Confuse Christmas with Consumerism

On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis urged Christians not to confuse Christmas with consumerism, but to celebrate the birth of Christ...

Pope Francis takes a figure of the Christ child in his arms at the end of the Vatican's Mass for the Nativity of the Lord on Dec. 24, 2023. | Vatican Media

Jesus was Born to Save the World: Pope Francis at Christmas Mass

In his Christmas homily, Pope Francis shared a message for anyone who may be feeling sad or discouraged with a...

Pope Francis prays during his Wednesday general audience on Nov. 15, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis "deeply saddened" by Shooting at Prague University

A 24-year-old student opened fire in the university’s philosophy department building after first killing his father outside of Prague. The...

Papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski. | lvivadm via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0).

Pope Francis Sends Papal Almoner to Holy Land for Christmas as a Sign of Solidarity

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, who serves as the papal almoner, will spend Christmas in Jerusalem, where he will join the local...

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu. | Credit: Alan Holdren/CNA

Vatican Court Sentences Cardinal to 5 Years in Jail for Embezzlement

Five other defendants in the "Trial of the Century" received similar sentences.

Vatican Doctrine Office Encourages Single Mothers to Receive Communion after Confession

The Vatican’s doctrine office published a letter on Thursday confirming that single mothers can receive Communion after going to confession.

Ana de Lobera y Torres (1545-1621), better known by her religious name Sister Ana de Jesús, helped expand the Discalced Carmelites to France and Belgium. Painting in the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites, Brussels, ca. 1650. | Credit: AnonymousUnknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pope Francis Recognizes Miracle Attributed to St. Teresa of Ávila’s Spiritual Daughter

In a decree signed Dec. 14, Pope Francis authorized the beatification of Ana de Lobera y Torres, better known by...

Pope Francis speaks at his general audience Dec. 13, 2023, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Says That He Wants to Be Buried in Marian Basilica in New Interview

Pope Francis has said that he wants to be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome because...

A firefighter scales a long ladder to the top of a nearly 40-foot-high column to pay tribute at dawn to the Blessed Virgin with a wreath of flowers on Dec. 8, 2023. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

PHOTOS: Pope Francis Honors Virgin Mary on Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Pope Francis prayed in front of a statue of the Immaculate Conception near Rome’s Spanish Steps, which sits atop a...