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 meets members of the Italian League for the Fight against Cancer at the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, March 4, 2022. Vatican Media.

Pope Francis talks to cancer league about power of redemptive suffering

Mar 4, 2022 / 13:00 pm

The pope met with members of the Italian League for the Fight against Cancer.

A still from the film “St. Francis Xavier: To the Ends of the Earth”. EWTN/Cristiana Video.

St. Francis Xavier: New EWTN film marks 400th anniversary of canonization

Mar 4, 2022 / 10:35 am

The film will be screened at a Rome Jesuit church housing a relic of the saint.

Immaculate Heart of Mary. Zvonimir Atletic via www.shutterstock.com.

Bishops ask Pope Francis to consecrate Ukraine and Russia to Immaculate Heart of Mary

Mar 2, 2022 / 09:15 am

The request was issued by Ukraine’s Latin Rite Catholic bishops.

Pope Francis at the general audience in Paul VI Hall on March 2, 2022. Vatican Media.

Pope Francis on Ash Wednesday: Lent is a time for conversion and interior renewal

Mar 2, 2022 / 05:45 am

The pope was speaking at his Wednesday general audience.

Pope Francis at the general audience in Paul VI Hall on March 2, 2022 Vatican Media

Pope Francis thanks Polish people for opening homes to Ukrainians fleeing war

Mar 2, 2022 / 03:34 am

The pope was speaking at his weekly general audience.

An explosion in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Feb. 24, 2022. Giovanni Cancemi/Shutterstock.

Ukraine conflict: Catholic priest in Kyiv shares how Caritas is helping children find shelter

Mar 1, 2022 / 10:25 am

‘In my house, we have 37 people,’ Father Vyacheslav Grynevych said.

Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, head of the Maronite Church. Credit: Aid to the Church in Need. null

Cardinal: Lebanon’s political crisis poses challenge for papal trip

Mar 1, 2022 / 08:40 am

‘We need stability,’ said Cardinal Rai.

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Hackers interrupt Catholic charity’s online press conference on Ukraine

Mar 1, 2022 / 05:10 am

Speakers were drowned out by a stream of obscenities.

Ukrainian Catholic University students took shelter after air raid alarm sounded in Lviv, Ukraine on the morning of Feb. 25, 2022. Photo used with the permission of Ukrainian Catholic University.

Ukrainian Catholic University students take shelter as air raid sirens sound

Feb 25, 2022 / 10:40 am

‘Our spirit remains strong,’ said the university’s rector.

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta’ Pinu on the Maltese island of Gozo. Xanella22 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Vatican releases Pope Francis’ schedule for first international trip of 2022

Feb 25, 2022 / 08:30 am

The pope will travel by catamaran between islands in Malta.

The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. canadastock via Shutterstock.

Assisi to host Mass for peace in Ukraine at the tomb of St. Francis

Feb 25, 2022 / 06:20 am

Assisi is known as ‘the city of peace.’

Pope Francis is calling for prayers for a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Ukraine. Shutterstock

Catholics in Europe react to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Feb 24, 2022 / 06:05 am

Catholics across Europe have reacted to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with expressions of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and prayers for peace.

Pope Francis during his general audience in Paul VI Hall on January 26, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Pope Francis’ Lenten message: Addiction to digital media can hurt human relationships

Feb 24, 2022 / 04:30 am

"May the corporal fasting to which Lent calls us fortify our spirit for the battle against sin,” Pope Francis said.

null 578foot/Shutterstock.

French parliament votes to extend abortion time limit from 12 to 14 weeks

Feb 23, 2022 / 10:30 am

The bill also extends the practice of surgical abortion to midwives.

Pope Francis’ general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Feb. 23, 2022. Vatican Media.

Pope Francis decries excessive ‘exaltation of youth’ as he begins new catechesis series on old age

Feb 23, 2022 / 06:47 am

He said that idealized youth was ‘the dominant image of 20th-century totalitarianism.’

Pope Francis’ general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Feb. 23, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Ukraine crisis: Pope Francis calls for global day of fasting for peace on Ash Wednesday

Feb 23, 2022 / 03:07 am

The pope called for people to pray and fast for peace in Ukraine on March 2, Ash Wednesday.

Cardinal Juan José Omella and lawyer Javier Cremades at a press conference in Madrid, Spain, Feb. 22, 2022. Screenshot from EpiscopalConferencia YouTube channel.

Spanish cardinal: Clerical abuse audit is a ‘step forward’ in transparency

Feb 22, 2022 / 12:00 pm

The investigation is expected to take a year to complete.

Bishop-elect Jacques Fabre speaks at the Eucharistic Congress in Atlanta in 2017. Screenshot from YouTube

Pope Francis appoints Father Jacques Fabre as new bishop of Charleston

Feb 22, 2022 / 05:05 am

The 66-year-old bishop-elect was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

null Zwiebackesser via Shutterstock.

Spain’s Catholic bishops ask law firm to open independent audit on clerical sex abuse

Feb 21, 2022 / 09:03 am

The audit is expected to lead to a comprehensive report.

June 22,2013: The prostration of the ordinands during the Litany of the Saints at the Fraternity of St. Peter's Roman parish, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome CNA

FSSP says Pope Francis has issued decree confirming its use of 1962 liturgical books

Feb 21, 2022 / 04:49 am

The decree reportedly followed two FSSP members’ private audience with the pope.