FREE access to the digital edition and archives until September 2. Click here. →
Browse › 2015 › June
June 7, 2015
OTTAWA - Justin Trudeau is acting contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by denying Liberal party members a free vote on matters of conscience, charged a Conservative MP during a Parliament debate.
Attack ads rule the airwaves. Sponsored Facebook posts are trying to flush out political supporters with a click. The twitterverse is dividing up by hashtags. The 2015 vote may be four months away, but political parties are already in election mode. Churches are also warming up for the coming vote.
VATICAN CITY - A new, specially modified Hyundai SUV has joined the elite ranks of the popemobile fleet.
June 8, 2015
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Pope Francis said the Vatican was ready to make an announcement concerning the alleged Marian apparitions in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - To overcome fear, discrimination and conflict, people must have a deep desire to open themselves up to God and his mercy, and work actively for peace every day, Pope Francis said.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Conflict and cruelty must be fought with tenderness, forgiveness and bearing Christ's cross, Pope Francis said.
TORONTO - The voice of parents must be heard, a determined group of parents upset with Ontario’s new sex-ed curriculum has vowed. They gathered again at Queen’s Park, almost 2,000 of them, on June 7 to denounce Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government for moving forward with the curriculum.
MANILA, Philippines - The country's Catholic bishops urged voters to reject "notoriously corrupt" politicians running in next year's national elections in a pastoral letter sent to parishes.
VATICAN CITY - One of the largest churches in Mosul, Iraq, will be transformed into a mosque.
WASHINGTON - An Associated Press survey of abortion in the United States this decade has revealed that the number of abortions has gone down by 12 per cent since 2010.
June 9, 2015
LIMA, Peru - Pope Francis' upcoming encyclical on ecology and climate is expected to send a strong moral message -- one message that could make some readers uncomfortable, some observers say.
KARACHI, Pakistan - The human rights body of Pakistan's Catholic Church pleaded with President Mamnoon Hussain to grant clemency to a Christian death row convict who was a juvenile at the time of the alleged crime.
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - It is only fitting that John Paul Patrick returned to his home parish for his final steps to the priesthood with the Missionary Oblates of Assumption Province. On June 8, Patrick was ordained to the priesthood in front of hundreds of witnesses at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Mississauga.
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has released a new Arabic-language guidebook, the first of its kind, which aims to bring the culture of the Catholic Church to a new audience.
June 10, 2015
WASHINGTON - Tariq Aziz, a Chaldean Catholic who represented Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein's government on the world stage as foreign minister and deputy prime minister, died June 5 after suffering a heart attack.
OTTAWA - Calls for Pope Francis to come to Canada and personally apologize for abuses at Indian Residential Schools are “reaching for the moon,” said Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.
The churches and religious orders who ran Indian Residential Schools up until the 1970s have responded to the final 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with a promise to do more.
TORONTO - After 123 years the Basilian Fathers are moving on from Toronto’s Holy Rosary parish. But “as one door closes, another one opens,” said Basilian general superior Fr. George Smith.
VATICAN CITY - In the wake of international criticism over Moscow’s role in ongoing violence in Ukraine, the United States has called on Pope Francis to take a stronger stance on the conflict in his meeting with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, today.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has approved new procedures for the Vatican to investigate and judge claims of "abuse of office" by bishops who allegedly failed to protect minors and vulnerable adults from sex abuse.