Courtney Mares

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.

Articles by Courtney Mares

Pope Francis: God’s glory does not correspond to human success

Mar 17, 2024 / 09:07 am

Pope Francis said Sunday that God’s glory and our true happiness are not found in success, fame, or popularity but in loving and forgiving others.

Vatican seeks to break new ground in Confucian and Christian dialogue

Mar 13, 2024 / 15:00 pm

The Vatican sponsored a dialogue in Taiwan this week as the Catholic Church prepares to release official guidelines for engagement with Confucianism.

Vatican’s Venice Biennale pavilion leads visitors in Catholic tradition of visiting prisoners

Mar 11, 2024 / 11:18 am

Visitors will enter an active women’s prison on Venice’s Giudecca island, where inmates will play an active role in the exhibition of works by nine artists.

Pope Francis: We have a duty to help women accept the gift of life

Mar 10, 2024 / 09:30 am

Pope Francis said Sunday that governments and civil society have a fundamental duty to help ensure that women are able to accept the gift of life.

St. Thomas Aquinas’ relics carried in procession for 750th anniversary of his death

Mar 7, 2024 / 14:00 pm

Bishop Mariano Crociata led the procession to honor the medieval philosopher and theologian widely considered one of the greatest thinkers in Western civilization.

Pope Francis appoints American priest to role in Vatican’s highest court

Mar 5, 2024 / 11:40 am

Monsignor Shane L. Kirby has been named the substitute promoter of justice of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

Pope Francis urges ‘an immediate cease-fire in Gaza’ that frees hostages, grants aid 

Mar 3, 2024 / 09:25 am

In his Angelus address on March 3, the pope made an emotional plea for a deal that both frees the hostages and grants humanitarian aid.

Here is Pope Francis’ schedule for Holy Week and Easter 2024 at the Vatican

Feb 29, 2024 / 12:10 pm

The schedule includes five papal liturgies, Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum, and other traditions to mark the most sacred week of the year.

Relic of martyr killed by Mafia to be used in prison ministry in Naples

Feb 29, 2024 / 09:15 am

The relics of Blessed Rosario Livatino, a Catholic judge brutally killed by the mafia in 1990, will be brought to a prison in Naples on Saturday.

Pope Francis visits hospital for diagnostic tests after Wednesday audience

Feb 28, 2024 / 07:43 am

“Dear brothers and sisters, I still have a bit of a cold,” Pope Francis said in a soft-spoken voice on Feb. 28.

PHOTOS: Restoration of Bernini’s baldacchino begins in St. Peter’s Basilica

Feb 27, 2024 / 09:00 am

Workers will scale the scaffolding surrounding the 92-feet-high canopy each day to meticulously clean the dust and grime that has darkened the baldacchino.

Pope Francis cancels Saturday audiences due to a mild flu, Vatican says

Feb 24, 2024 / 07:46 am

The cancellation comes after Pope Francis concluded a five-day Lenten retreat at his Vatican residence.

Pope Francis launches study groups to analyze Synod on Synodality’s key issues

Feb 17, 2024 / 10:01 am

The Vatican announced Saturday that Pope Francis has launched synodal study groups to analyze key issues ahead of October’s Synod on Synodality assembly.

Vatican hosts veneration of relics of 21 Coptic martyrs of Libya on first feast day

Feb 15, 2024 / 09:03 am

The relics of 21 Coptic martyrs killed by ISIS in Libya will be venerated in St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday evening.

Pope Francis on Ash Wednesday: ‘Let us return to God with all our heart’

Feb 14, 2024 / 12:15 pm

The Lord is inviting us to “remove the masks we so often wear” and to see ourselves as we truly are in the sight of God, the pope said in his Ash Wednesday homily.

Pope Francis to visit prestigious Venice Biennale art exhibition

Feb 14, 2024 / 09:20 am

The Holy Father will be the first pope to visit the major art event when he travels to the “city of canals” April 28.

Pope Francis appoints Father James Ruggieri as bishop of Portland, Maine

Feb 13, 2024 / 09:00 am

The Vatican announced on Feb. 13 that the 56-year-old priest from Providence, Rhode Island, will be ordained as the bishop of Maine’s only diocese.

Pope Francis on Our Lady of Lourdes feast: The Church is close to all who are sick or frail

Feb 11, 2024 / 10:00 am

In his Angelus address, the pope asked people to reflect on what they have done to help the sick and the suffering.

Pope Francis canonizes Argentina’s first female saint

Feb 11, 2024 / 08:15 am

Pope Francis praised the Argentine saint as “a model of apostolic fervor and boldness” for traveling “thousands of miles on foot” to bring people to God.

What if you do not receive a physical healing at Lourdes?

Feb 10, 2024 / 07:00 am

What about the millions who come to the Lourdes Grotto and leave without receiving a miraculous physical healing?