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December 2013

December 12

Mudslides protected ancient Vatican necropolis from ravages of time

December 12, 2013

VATICAN CITY - Slipping hillsides of clay, mud and gravel entombed an enormous necropolis below today's Vatican City State, keeping its underground "city of the dead" safely sealed for two millennia.

Indian prime minister apologizes after Christian marchers beaten

December 12, 2013

NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologized to church leaders for the police beating of protesters -- including priests and nuns -- during a march to Parliament advocating for rights for low-caste Christians.

Freedom in education essential to democracy

December 12, 2013

OTTAWA - Parental rights and freedom of education are essential to democracy at a time when the state is trying to exert even more power over the education of children, said the co-founder of an independent school movement in France.

Lonergan offers ‘therapy for confused cultures’

December 12, 2013

ROME - Cultures confused about truth and allergic to all things definite can find a source of healing in the thought and method of late Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan.

December 13

Sounds of Advent silence

December 13, 2013

TORONTO - Shhh, it’s Advent.

Countdown to Oblates’ 200th kicks off

December 13, 2013

TORONTO - The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate has begun a three-year preparation for the order’s bi-centennial anniversary.

Wanted: role model

December 13, 2013

Alongside almost 200 people involved with youth ministry, I recently found myself at Toronto’s Nativity of Our Lord parish sharing in the desire to learn how to become better teachers of the faith to young people.

Keep the homeless warm, feet first

December 13, 2013

TORONTO - As part of an Advent project, the Ryerson Catholic chaplaincy collected socks at the university’s student centre for the homeless population in Toronto this past month.

Ethics education focuses on interfaith relations

December 13, 2013

A new ethics program is calling teens age 12 to 18 to embrace interfaith and intercultural education.

Pro-life MP confident abortion-related motion could come to a vote

December 13, 2013

OTTAWA - Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott says he is confident one of his recently introduced abortion-related motions could come to a vote in the House of Commons.

Canadian lawyers launch declaration against euthanasia

December 13, 2013

OTTAWA - A group of Canadian lawyers has launched a declaration against euthanasia and assisted suicide that is gathering signatures from across the country.

Christmas lights reflect truth that Christ is light of world, pope says

December 13, 2013

VATICAN CITY - The lights glowing on the Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square, like Christmas lights everywhere, are reminders that Jesus is the light of the world, Pope Francis said.

December 14

Fine line separates Advent, Christmas in the Philippines

December 14, 2013

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - In the Philippines, the Christmas season starts in September, but the final nine days of Advent have special meaning.

Canada not on board with investigating legality of drones

December 14, 2013

Canada is rejecting a Vatican call for the United Nations to take a closer look at the ethics and legality of drone warfare, The Catholic Register has learned.

Women like what they hear from Pope Francis

December 14, 2013

At the Catholic Women’s League there’s plenty of excitement about what Pope Francis has been saying about women.

December 15

Palliative care consultancy centred on patient’s need

December 15, 2013

TORONTO - Getting referred to Dr. Irene Ying can be scary for patients. Ying calls herself a palliative care consultant.

The Good Shepherd at 50

December 15, 2013

TORONTO - For 50 years The Good Shepherd Centre has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, sheltered the homeless, cared for the sick and taken no credit for the lives it has saved.

Turkey’s unity rooted in secularism

December 15, 2013

TORONTO - It may sound strange to Catholics who look at Quebec’s Charter of Values and shake their heads over secularism run amok, but in 2010 the world’s Catholic bishops and Pope Benedict XVI came to the conclusion the only hope for beleaguered Christians in the Middle East is secularism — secularism combined with democracy.

December 16

Christians can't be gloomy because Jesus always brings joy, Pope says

December 16, 2013

VATICAN CITY - Sadness is a sign of being far from Christ because Jesus offers everyone the strength to persevere with hope and joy, Pope Francis said.

Chaldean patriarch says extremism threatens Christians and Muslims

December 16, 2013

ROME - "Extremist political Islam is growing in the Middle East," prompting Christians to flee and causing death and upheaval among Christians and moderate Muslims alike, said the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church.