NEW DELHI – Police in India's Kerala state arrested a 48-year-old priest and charged him with rape of a minor after a teen girl in his parish delivered a baby.

Published in International
March 10, 2016

Common sense

Canadian law permits abortion at any time for any reason during a pregnancy. Despite the Supreme Court’s position that Parliament is entitled to legislate some protections for pre-born children, what has developed instead is de facto government endorsement of an absolute right to choose.

Published in Editorial

OTTAWA - The Criminal Code, the Supreme Court and even the Pope uphold that a parent is entitled within reasonable limits to spank a child. But on the heels of a call by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to prohibit spanking, the Liberal government has promised to amend the Criminal Code to abolish a parent’s right to physically discipline children.

Published in Canada

ROME - A Tuscany priest is offering a baby bonus of more than $2,000 to Italian Catholic families who have three or more children. But there are strings attached.

Published in International

On June 18, Pope Francis released his long-anticipated encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.

Published in Faith

VATICAN CITY - The deep hurts that spouses inflict on each other cause great suffering to their children and, in some cases, lead to a separation that is "morally necessary" to protect spouses and children from more serious forms of violence, Pope Francis said during his general audience in St. Peter's Square June 24.

Published in Faith

TORONTO - Former senator Hugh Segal is encouraging faith groups to use their collective voice to help put an end to child poverty in Canada.

Published in Canada

VATICAN CITY - More than 55,000 people have signed a petition calling for Cardinal George Pell to return to his native Australia and face a government commission on child sex abuse, after allegations that he tried to bribe the victim of a pedophile priest.

Published in International

TORONTO - Dynamic Women of Faith and the Archdiocese of Toronto are joining together to initiate fellowship groups for mothers in parishes across the Greater Toronto Area.

Published in Faith

WASHINGTON - Arriving in the Philippines from Ireland in 1969 as a young missionary priest, Columban Father Shay Cullen hardly expected he'd end up fighting a burgeoning sex industry.

Published in International

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Catholic Church spent a total of $150.7 million on child protection efforts and to address allegations of clergy sexual abuse of minors in dioceses and religious orders between July 2013 and June 2014.

Published in International

DUBLIN - Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said he would seek assurances from religious congregations operating in his diocese that they are rigidly following child protection guidelines after a fresh round of audits raised serious concerns.

Published in International

Two months after the OPP seized a computer from St. Patrick’s parish in Caledonia, Ont., looking for child porn, police have returned the computer and closed the investigation — no child porn, just annoying pop-up advertising the computer’s firewalls were not equipped to block.

Published in Canada
June 4, 2014

Keeping our word

All too often nations fail to honour headline-grabbing promises trumpeted at the conclusion of international summits. Leaders move on to other issues and other crises and hope no one remembers pledges made in previous years. 

Published in Editorial