FREE access to the digital edition and archives until September 2. Click here. →
Browse › 2015 › July
July 27, 2015
VATICAN CITY - Returning to the Vatican in the midst of a heat wave after an eight-day, three-country trip to South America, Pope Francis took the kind of vacation he said he prefers: what has become known as a "staycation."
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has welcomed the election of a new patriarch for the Armenian Catholic Church, extending what is known as "ecclesial communion" to Patriarch Gregoire Pierre XX Ghabroyan of Cilicia, who was elected by his fellow Armenian bishops July 24.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis was the first pilgrim to sign up for World Youth Day to be held in Krakow, Poland, launching the opening of registration.
July 28, 2015
JERUSALEM - An Arab-Israeli parliament member drew harsh criticism from Jewish Israelis July 27 when he claimed that Jews have no religious ties to the Temple Mount, considered the holiest site in Judaism.
JERUSALEM - Although Israeli officials have publicly criticized the June arson attack that seriously damaged the Benedictine Church of the Multiplication in Tabgha, anti-Christian violence is not new, said a representative of the religious order.
WASHINGTON - The top leaders of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting have made an uneasy peace with the Boy Scouts of America's decision July 27 to allow openly gay troop leaders and employees to serve in their ranks at the national level.
Cold waters, an overnight storm and countless jelly fish were not enough to slow down swimmer Marilyn Korzekwa during her historic three-province Atlantic Ocean swim to raise funds for the Good Shepherd in Hamilton, Ont.
July 29, 2015
NAIROBI, Kenya - Roman Catholic bishops in Kenya have urged citizens to boycott a mass polio vaccination campaign, unless the safety of the vaccine has been confirmed through scientific tests.
WARSAW, Poland - A Ukrainian bishop said a Russian-backed separatist rebellion has plunged his country into its worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War and warned that "millions of refugees" could soon head for Europe to escape starvation.
VATICAN CITY - Helping to inaugurate an exhibit at the Vatican, the chief rabbi of Rome noted just how much "times have changed."
MONTREAL - The Canadian bishops' development agency has named its newest leader.
July 30, 2015
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) Aug. 9 (1 Kings 19:4-8; Psalm 34; Ephesians 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51) Elijah couldn’t take another step. He had been running for his life from the wicked queen Jezebel and her henchmen. He was so exhausted that he even prayed that God would take his life. Who has not felt like that at one time or another in their life?
Following publication of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ and his recent speeches in Latin America, many supporters of capitalism might be forgiven for thinking His Holiness has something against them.
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) for 44 tumultuous years, has been decreed by the Vatican to be worthy of sainthood, needing only an approved miracle for him to be beatified.
Before I started theology school, I thought I would be trained in apologetics, which I saw as the art of arguing one’s own beliefs so well that others are converted to them. However, when classes began I was told, “We don’t do apologetics; we do theology.”
The pollster Gallup reports Pope Francis’ popularity in the United States has dropped significantly over the past year, fueled by his writings and teachings surrounding the environment, capitalism, income inequality and other issues.
Although a national poll showed Canada appears divided on the value of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Catholic Church leaders said a positive impact has already been felt among native communities.
A bitter clash has erupted in the United States following the release of two videos that show officials from the American arm of Planned Parenthood allegedly negotiating the sale of tissue and organs from aborted fetuses. It’s a conflict that should sound alarm bells in Canada.
TORONTO - Canada's largest homeless youth agency is calling on Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to adopt a broader, more co-ordinated approach to combat the scourge of sex trafficking.
WASHINGTON - Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley said that Planned Parenthood officials' videotaped descriptions of how fetal tissue and organs are procured for researchers during abortions illustrates what Pope Francis calls today's "throwaway culture."