11:54 am  |  VATICAN CITY, Nov 2, 2011 (CNA/EWTN News).- On today's Solemnity of All Souls, Pope Benedict XVI reflected upon death and the hope that Christian faith brings to it.

“As human beings, we have a natural fear of death and we rebel against its apparent finality,” Pope Benedict said to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly general audience. 

“Faith teaches us that the fear of death is lightened by a great hope, the hope of eternity, which gives our lives their fullest meaning. The God who is love offers us the promise of eternal life through the death and resurrection of His Son.”

06:03 am  |  TRENTON, N.J., Nov 2, 2011 (CNA).- Twelve nurses in New Jersey have filed a lawsuit against a local government hospital for being told they would lose their jobs if they refuse to perform abortions.

The case shows evidence of “a systematic attack on the right of pro-life professionals to engage in their careers without being forced to violate their fundamental moral and religious beliefs,” Matt Bowman, attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, told CNA.

On Oct. 31, the defense fund filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in New Jersey on behalf of the dozen nurses, who currently work at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey.

12:45 am  |  LEEDS, ENGLAND, Nov 2, 2011 (CNA/EWTN News).- Franciscan Sister Jacinta Pollard, one of the women profiled in the BBC's new documentary “Young Nuns,” hopes her community's prayers and sacrifices can help bring Britain back to the Catholic faith.

“It's like living in pagan Rome, actually! It must have been very similar, for the early Christians,” said Sister Jacinta, head of St. Clare's Convent in Leeds.

Her growing community consists of five women with an average age of 30. They are a missionary project of the New York-based Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, who evangelize through service to the poor under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

12:32 pm  |  VATICAN CITY, Nov 1, 2011 (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI said on today’s feast of All Saints that everyone is called by Jesus to holiness in their own path toward sainthood.

“The liturgy reminds us today that the original vocation of every baptized person is holiness,” the Pope said in his Nov. 1 Angelus address from the window of his apartment that overlooks St. Peter’s Square.

Jesus Christ, “with the Father and the Holy Spirit, has loved the Church as his bride and gave himself for it in order to make her holy,” he emphasized.