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December 1, 2013
TORONTO - Myra found herself in 1993 at the lowest point in her life.
BRUSSELS - As Brussels moves towards extending euthanasia to disabled children and adults with dementia, the president of the Belgian bishops’ conference has joined other faith leaders to warn that proposed legislation risks “destroying the functioning of society.”
The synopsis below has been prepared by the Holy See Press Office and Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB, who has served as an English language corresponding assistant to Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., since the papal transition.
KINGSTON, ONT. - There’s a lesson to be learned in the basement of St. Paul the Apostle parish, where artist Tony Vella has assembled a collection that teaches the story of God made human, shown through the lens of cultures from around the world.
December 2, 2013
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel Dec. 2, and discussed prospects for peace in the Middle East and the pope's still-unscheduled trip to the Holy Land.
VATICAN CITY - During a three-hour meeting with 120 superiors general of men's religious orders, Pope Francis said the church would make consecrated life its focus in 2015.
VATICAN CITY - The best present in life is encountering Jesus -- an encounter that will last a lifetime, Pope Francis said.
VATICAN CITY - In societies increasingly made up of people of different cultures and religions, people must learn the art of dialogue and reach out to others with respect and friendship, Pope Francis said.
GLASGOW, Scotland - Glasgow Archbishop Philip Tartaglia was winding down for the evening when a police helicopter plunged through the roof of a popular pub near his cathedral, killing at least nine people.
December 3, 2013
KIEV, Ukraine - The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and other Catholic leaders condemned police violence against "peaceful demonstrations" after President Viktor Yanukovich's decision not to seek closer ties with the European Union.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis and the eight members of his international Council of Cardinals have begun their discussions on specific ways to reorganize the Roman Curia, looking first at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, the Vatican spokesman said.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis will help launch a global campaign of prayer and action against world hunger.
December 4, 2013
Just days before Pope Francis laid out his dream for a missionary Church in all parts of the world, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ president Archbishop Paul-André Durocher put forward his own hopes for the new evangelization in Canada.
Money can’t buy you love, or justice, or reconciliation. But sometimes money is the necessary first step.
Touring Tacloban in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, Ryan Worms was aware of horror and grace.
CAIRO - The Vatican will restart its stalled dialogue with Sunni Islam's main theological centre, Al-Azhar University, said Fr. Rafic Greiche, spokesman for Egypt's Catholic Church.
December 5, 2013
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe is more polarized now than it was before this year's general elections, said the country's bishops.
VATICAN CITY - For Pope Francis, the reform of the Catholic Church and its structures "isn't a project, but an exercise of the Spirit" that will take time, said Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga.
Anyone who has followed Pope Francis over the past nine months would spot few surprises in his apostolic exhortation released Nov. 26. The 214-page document reads like a digest of the many pastoral teachings articulated by Francis in homilies, addresses and interviews during his young pontificate.
As a young lad, I remember coming home after being teased at school and my mother immediately asking me what was wrong.