(RNS) — Spirituality frequently uses the language of battle, so it is not surprising that Pope Francis promotes the Christian equivalent of a spiritual jihad. Many in the West think jihad only means warfare, whereas it can also mean the struggle within oneself against sin.

(RNS) — Our modern culture breeds anxiety, negativity, says Francis, while asking us to content ourselves with consumerism and ersatz spirituality. Love for God and neighbor is the way to fight back.

(RNS) — In his recent ‘Gaudete et Exsultate,’ Pope Francis teaches that living the Beatitudes means ‘going against the flow’ in a world that pushes us in the opposite direction from holiness.

(RNS) — The way to avoid these wrong paths, says Francis, is by reminding ourselves of the primacy of the theological virtues, the center of which is charity.

(RNS) — The pope’s latest apostolic exhortation, ‘Gaudete et Exultate,’ is a rich and powerful message easily accessible to the people of our time from the world’s preeminent spiritual guide.

(RNS) — Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s ‘seamless garment’ received magisterial endorsement.

(RNS) — Pope Francis published the third apostolic exhortation of his papacy: ‘Gaudete et Exsultate,’ or ‘Rejoice and Be Glad.’ The first two riled conservatives in the Roman Catholic Church. How will this one be received?

VATICAN CITY (AP) — In a new document, Pope Francis says defending the poor and migrants is “equally sacred” to defending the unborn — a not-so-veiled critique of the conservative right in the U.S. for whom opposition to abortion trumps the Gospel mandate to love and welcome the stranger.