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February 7, 2015
TORONTO - Young people aren’t the future of the Church, says Andrew Santos, they are the present.
Pope Francis is hardly the first Catholic to express dismay over long, expensive, bureaucratic processes laid out for people seeking annulment of a mistaken, failed marriage. But in most of Canada, annulments are available at no cost and canon lawyers from coast to coast have been working on making the process faster and less bureaucratic.
February 8, 2015
TORONTO - Very soon church choirs around the world will have 900 manuscripts of music, most of it lost, forgotten and long out of print, available for free download from the St. Michael’s Choir School web site. The music, almost all of it liturgical and most of it set to Latin texts, was written by Msgr. John Edward Ronan, founder of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Choir School.
February 9, 2015
VATICAN CITY - Bishops who do not comply with the child protection norms adopted by their bishops' conferences and approved by the Vatican must face real consequences, said Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
VATICAN CITY - Throughout history, the Catholic Church has reviewed and reformed its structures to free them from "a worldly mentality and earthly models of the exercise of power," leading to a necessary spiritual renewal, said the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
VATICAN CITY - Saying he knows the history of the subjugation of women continues to have a negative impact on how women are treated, Pope Francis called for greater roles for women in the Church and for greater assistance and workplace flexibility to ensure they can make the best choices for themselves and their families.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis began what could be a key week for his reformist papacy Feb. 9, starting with meetings with his hand-picked kitchen cabinet of nine senior cardinals who are developing plans to overhaul the Roman Curia, the papal civil service that has been plagued with crisis and dysfunction.
WASHINGTON - Caritas Internationalis is going big-picture with its first global campaign, aiming to end hunger worldwide by 2025.
February 10, 2015
ROME - When Pope Francis walked through the gate surrounding a group of shacks and very humble homes, it took a while for people to notice. In fact, when a couple of people looked out their doors, the Pope's chief security guard motioned them to come over.
VATICAN CITY - To find real solutions to today's problems, people need to address the root evils plaguing the world: unjust economies, financial speculation and systems that create inequity, Pope Francis said.
VATICAN CITY - A homily at Mass is not a mini catechism class, the Vatican says in a new document on homilies, but it is an opportunity to explain Church teaching using the Scripture readings and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
ROME - The move to normalize relations between Cuba and the United States has inaugurated "a new time ... for encounter and dialogue" between the two countries and is cause for great hope, said the cardinal of Havana.
OTTAWA - Disappointment, indignation and calls to invoke the notwithstanding clause followed a historic Supreme Court of Canada unanimous decision that struck down a ban on physician-assisted suicide and opened the door to assisted death for people who may not have a terminal illness.
LONDON - A Chaldean Catholic archbishop called for the redeployment of American and British troops in Iraq to prevent the “genocide” of Christians and other minorities by Islamic State militants.
February 11, 2015
OTTAWA - A Supreme Court of Canada ruling that legalizes assisted suicide “is simply wrong” and indicates a society that “has lost its moral compass,” said Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins.
VATICAN CITY - Less than a month after saying Catholics don’t have to multiply “like rabbits,” Pope Francis on Wednesday (Feb. 11) once again praised big families, telling a gathering in St. Peter’s Square that having more children is not “an irresponsible choice.”
AMMAN, Jordan - As Jordan steps up airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria to avenge the murder of its pilot, Catholic and other leaders are hoping that the tragedy can still yield good for the future.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis once again urged solidarity with migrants who risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea for Europe, and assured prayers for the victims of a deadly crossing in early February.
WASHINGTON - The much-anticipated encyclical by Pope Francis on the environment, expected sometime this spring or early summer, is generating a lot of buzz in Washington and elsewhere.
February 12, 2015
Most of us worry about aging, especially in how it affects our bodies. We worry about wrinkles, bags under our eyes, middle-age fat and losing hair where we want it only to find it on places where we don’t want it. So every now and then, when we look in a mirror or see a recent photograph of ourselves, we are shocked at our own faces and bodies, almost not recognizing ourselves as we see an old face and old body where we are used to seeing a young one.