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October 10, 2014
TIXTLA, Mexico - Families of 43 students who "disappeared" in Guerrero state spend their time praying at the teacher training college the students attended. They plead for intervention from Our Lady of Guadalupe and pray the rosary in front of a makeshift St. James shrine, adorned with flowers placed in plastic Pepsi and mayonnaise bottles and set up in a common area adorned with murals of Che Guevara and other revolutionaries.
GATINEAU, QUE. - As the Supreme Court of Canada prepares to hear arguments Oct. 15 on assisted suicide, activists against euthanasia warn of the zeal of their opponents.
VATICAN CITY - Gathered with Pope Francis, members of the Synod of Bishops on the family issued a message of solidarity, support and prayers for all families suffering the impact of war and violence, especially in Iraq and Syria.
OTTAWA - The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) launched its national palliative care campaign Oct. 3 with the support of Canada’s Catholic bishops.
October 11, 2014
SAN FRANCISCO - As soon as Rebekah Chaveste swallowed the first pill of the RU-486 abortion regimen at a Planned Parenthood clinic, she regretted it.
On a trip to Italy 11 months ago Catholic artist Timothy Schmalz discovered the nation’s love for St. Padre Pio. Creator of the acclaimed Jesus the Homeless sculpture, Schmalz was soon inspired to create a work of art to honour the Italian saint.
New Victoria bishop encourages a stint in Canada’s north for priests before ministering on Vancouver Island
October 12, 2014
Senior Catholic leaders meeting at the Vatican are deep into passionate debates about how the Church can respond to the realities of modern family life, yet at the same time they have repeatedly stressed that they are not going to alter long-standing doctrines, such as the teaching on divorce and remarriage.
AL-UM-KUNDUN, JORDAN - Iraqi refugees who fled Islamic State violence and theft of their property in Mosul said it will be difficult to ever return home, despite concerns by the Church that more Christians are fleeing their ancient homeland in the Middle East.
Debate over the usefulness and wisdom of a bombing campaign against the Islamic State has Christians re-examining the criteria for a just war — and coming up with different answers.
October 13, 2014
VATICAN CITY - Meeting Catholics from Pope Paul VI's home diocese, Brescia, Pope Francis said his predecessor's witness "nourishes within us the flame of love for Christ, love for the Church and the drive to proclaim the Gospel to the people of today with mercy, patience, courage and joy."
WARSAW, Poland - Less than six months after St John Paul II was canonized, questions are being raised about a book of lectures he penned as a young priest in his Polish homeland.
VATICAN CITY - In strikingly conciliatory language on situations contrary to Catholic teaching, an official midterm report from the Synod of Bishops on the family emphasized calls for greater acceptance and appreciation of divorced and remarried Catholics, cohabitating couples and homosexuals.
VATICAN CITY - Missionaries do enormous good for the world and the church by bringing God's love to the far corners of the earth and by keeping the church healthy and fruitful, Pope Francis said.
October 14, 2014
OTTAWA - The president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has been appointed to the commission preparing the final pastoral message of the Synod on the family.
VATICAN CITY - A day after signaling a warmer embrace of gays and lesbians and divorced Catholics, conservative cardinals hit back strongly Oct. 14, with one insisting that an abrupt about-face on Church teaching is “not what we are saying at all.”
VATICAN CITY - The official midterm report from the Synod of Bishops, which uses strikingly conciliatory language toward divorced and remarried Catholics, cohabitating couples and same-sex unions, has proven highly controversial inside and outside the synod hall, with some synod fathers saying it does not accurately reflect the assembly's views.
October 15, 2014
The world has waited almost 50 years for the day, but is it on the horizon?
OTTAWA - Canada is not an atheist state and society should not exhibit “an allergy against religious practice,” a lawyer argued Oct. 14 before the Supreme Court of Canada.
OTTAWA - A lawyer representing the Catholic entities involved in Indian residential schools has vehemently rejected criticism from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) head who has accused the Catholic Church of withholding documents.