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 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,...

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney spoke to EWTN on the occasion of the Synod on Synodality. | Credit: EWTN News

Synod Delegate: If Synod Proposal at odds with Gospel, ‘that’s not of the Holy Spirit’

“We’ve got to be careful about blaming everything — all our opinions, our interests, lobbies, and factions — putting all...

Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David of Kalookan, Philippines (left), Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, archbishop of Manaus, Brazil (center), and Archbishop Zbigņev Stankevičs of Riga (right) all spoke at the Synod press conference on Oct. 18, 2023. | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez

Someone in Sin Can’t Be Told “everything is all right”: Synod Delegate on Same-sex Unions

“If there is a person living in sin and we tell this person, ‘Everything is all right with you, it’s...

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, patriarch of Jerusalem. | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez

Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem Offers to be Exchanged for Hostages Held by Hamas

Israel Defense Forces announced Monday that 199 Israeli hostages, including children, are being held by Hamas.

Synod of Synodality delegates tour the catacombs of St. Sebastian. Rome, Italy, Oct. 13, 2023. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez

Synod Delegates Make a Pilgrimage to Rome’s Catacombs

Hundreds of delegates took a break from their discussions of synodality to visit the catacombs of St. Sebastian and St....

Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa blesses the congregation at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on April 4, 2021. | Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Catholic Patriarch Calls Day of Prayer and Fasting for Peace in the Holy Land

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa has urged Catholics to organize times of prayer with Eucharistic adoration and recitation of the rosary.

Delegates meet at round tables during the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 10, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

Synod on Synodality: Who is Overseeing the Draft Report at the End of the Assembly?

Synod on Synodality delegates elected this week the members of a commission who will supervise the drafting of a “synthesis...

Speaking at a press briefing on Oct. 6, Vatican spokesman Paolo Ruffini said that there needs to be “a certain amount of confidentiality about who takes the floor and who doesn't in order to leave the space open … for ‘conversation in the Spirit.’” | Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

Secrecy at the Synod on Synodality: What we know about delegates’ confidentiality requirements

The Synod on Synodality’s official regulations no longer allow Synod delegates to share their personal interventions with the public.

The opening Mass of the Synod on Synodality in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 4, 2023. | Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Pope Francis: Synod on Synodality’s Primary Task "to refocus our gaze on God"

Pope Francis opened the Synod on Synodality’s three-week assembly on Wednesday with a call to remember that the Church exists...

Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba and his episcopal coat of arms (top left); Bishop Stephen Chow of Hong Kong and his episcopal coat of arms (top right); Bishop Américo Aguiar of Setúbal, Portugal, and his coat of arms (bottom left); Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town and his coat of arms. | Credit: ACI Africa; Archdiocese of Juba; Society of Jesus/Diocese of Hong Kong; Patriarchate of Lisbon; Archdiocese of Cape Town

Catholic Church’s New Cardinals Explain Why They Chose Their Spiritual Mottos

Episcopal mottos are selected when a Catholic priest is consecrated as a bishop and are traditionally found at the base...

Pope Francis greets the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square for his Angelus address on Sept. 24, 2023. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis: It’s Never "too late" to Receive God’s Love

The pope spoke one day after he gave a strong condemnation of euthanasia on his return flight from Marseille, France,...

Pope Francis at his general audience in St. Peter's Square on Sept. 20, 2023. | Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis Lauds St. Daniel Comboni’s “apostolic zeal”, Efforts to End Slavery in Africa

St. Daniele Comboni witnessed “the horror of slavery” as a missionary in the mid-19th century in what is now Sudan.

Pope Francis speaks during his Angelus address on Sept. 17, 2023. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis: Forgiveness is the Cure that Heals "the poisons of resentment"

In his Angelus, the pope said forgiving is “not a good deed that we can choose to do or not...

Pope Francis gave a special message to Chinese Catholics at the end of his Mass in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Sept. 3, 2023. | Vatican Media

Pope Francis Gives a Glimpse into Vatican-China Deal on Appointment of Chinese Bishops

Pope Francis revealed the existence of a joint China-Vatican commission on the appointment of bishops during an in-flight press conference...

Pope Francis responds to questions from the press aboard the return flight to Rome from Mongolia. | Vatican Media

What Pope Francis Had to Say about Synod on Synodality at In-flight Press Conference

In his in-flight press conference returning from Mongolia on Monday, Pope Francis outlined his vision for the upcoming synodal assembly...