![](https://i0.wp.com/cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/JohnLAllenJRonCNN1.jpg?resize=150%2C113&ssl=1)
Hours before he convened an unprecedented Vatican prayer service for peace in the Middle East, Pope Francis told a crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square that “a church that doesn’t have the capacity to surprise… is a dying church.” By that standard, Francis showed that Catholicism on his watch is alive and kicking by delivering Read more