Pope Francis reminded the newest cardinals that the “readiness of a cardinal to shed his own blood (is) signified by the scarlet colour of your robes.” For one of them it was not a reminder but a memory.

More good news

I want to congratulate you for the inspiring writing you choose to put in The Catholic Register.

Canada’s newest cardinal insists he has no idea why the Pope of surprises invited him, a priest, to enter the College of Cardinals. But to anyone familiar with the resume of Cardinal Michael Czerny, the answer seems obvious.

A recent exchange of letters between the U.S. publications Commonweal and First Things on the topic of Christian nationalism might seem in Canada to be yet another internal squabble among American Catholics. 

The death of Alan Nichols took several months to make it into the mainstream news. And as of this writing, it is still a blank spot. His case should have been big news because of what it indicates for the future of this country and the safety of our most vulnerable.

“Overdrawn,” I thought, as I drove out of the city. “I feel like my whole life is overdrawn.” 

Jimmy Carter, the former U.S. president who turned 95 on Oct. 1, is one of the most decent, self-sacrificing human beings of the 20th (and 21st) century. 

Time to reboot

Church leaders cannot be blamed for optimistically adopting Vatican II changes, which most clergy and laity supported. However, 55 years on, it must be concluded that those good-faith liberalizing strategies have not worked. 

Out of the mouths of babes has poured a passionate and brutally blunt condemnation of mankind’s contamination of God’s creation.

Somehow in the tsunami of humanity flooding Montreal’s downtown streets for last Friday’s “climate march,” I spotted an elegantly dressed woman wearing a small white lapel button protesting Quebec’s Bill 21.

Church attendance is waning and religious non-affiliation is waxing. That’s hardly news. Observe the empty pews.