Pope John Paul II: social teaching reinvigorated the faith By Stephen F. Schneck This Sunday, May 1, we celebrate the beatification of Pope John Paul II. May 1 is also the traditional feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Even more specially, this year May 1 is Divine Mercy Sunday, an observance inaugurated by John Paul II himself. The confluence of coincidence is perhaps more than coincidence and I’m confident that the former pontiff would be charmed. The Feast of St. Joseph the Worker honors the vocation of working men and women, with particular attention to the contribution of the working class to the common good of all. Traditionally, it’s a…

Biography.com (born 1412, Domrémy, Bar, France—died May 30, 1431, Rouen; canonized May 16, 1920; feast day May 30; French national holiday, second Sunday in May) national heroine of France, a peasant girl who, believing that she was acting under divine guidance, led the French army in a momentous victory at Orléans that repulsed an English attempt to conquer France during the Hundred Years’ War. Captured a year afterward, Joan was burned by the English and their French collaborators as a heretic. She became the greatest national heroine of her compatriots. Her achievement was a decisive factor in the later awakening of French national consciousness. Joan was the daughter of a…

4 April 2011 Last updated at 11:30 ET China detains Protestant Shouwang devotees At least 20 Chinese Protestants have been detained as they tried to gather for an Easter service in Beijing. The worshippers, from the Shouwang church, were trying to hold...

Easter, which celebrates Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead, is Christianity’s most important holiday. It has been called a moveable feast because it doesn’t fall on a set date every year, as most holidays do. Instead, Christian churches in the West celebrate Easter on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox on March 21. Therefore, Easter is observed anywhere between March 22 and April 25 every year. Orthodox Christians use the Julian calendar to calculate when Easter will occur and typically celebrate the holiday a week or two after the Western churches, which follow the Gregorian calendar. The exact origins of this religious feast day’s name…

People nailed to crosses in Good Friday ritual AP reports: At least 24 Filipinos were nailed to wooden crosses to re-enact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a local Good Friday rite rejected by Catholic church leaders but witnessed by throngs of believers and thousands of tourists. Romeo Ranoco / Reuters Portraying Jesus Christ, Menandro Penafiel, 34, falls to the ground after being whipped and kicked by Roman soldiers to reenact Christ’s persecution and death during Good Friday in Boac town, Marinduque island, central Philippines, on Friday. Ruben Enaje, a 50-year-old sign painter, screamed in pain as villagers dressed as Roman centurions hammered four-inch, stainless steel nails through his palm and set…