CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (WGGB) — To NASA, it’s known as STS-135, but it’s more than that. To the rest of the country, the launch of the shuttle Atlantis Friday marks the end of the 30-year shuttle program, and it’s crew is very aware of their place… Read more

By Ray Hershel ROME (WGGB)–Final preparations were underway Saturday for Sunday’s Beatification Mass for the late Pope John Paul II. A prayer vigil was held Saturday night at the Circus Maximus. Among the groups who will attend the… Read more

By Ray Hershel ROME (WGGB)– More than a million people crowded into St. Peter’s Square on Sunday May 1st to witness the Beatification Mass for Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict celebrated the mass for the man he worked with for so long at the… Read more

by WGGB Staff ROME (WGGB) — Excitement and crowds are building in Rome for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II.  One of the people excited for the festivities is young man from the Diocese of Springfield who is studying in Rome to be a… Read more

by WGGB Staff ROME (WGGB) — Rome and Vatican City are full of historic and architecturally beautiful buildings. abc40′s Ray Hershel and Chief Photographer Bob Hastings are providing exclusive reports this week from Rome.  Thursday, we go inside… Read more

by WGGB Staff VATICAN CITY, Italy (WGGB) — During Pope John Paul II’s funeral in Rome in 2005, crowds chanted “Santo Subito!” which means ‘Make him a saint now.’  His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, listened and on Sunday, Pope John Paul II… Read more

  Karol Józef Wojtya, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in the Polish town of Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometers from Krakow, on May 18, 1920. He was the youngest of three children born to… Read more