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August 14, 2015
Registration is now open for World Youth Day 2016 and Canadian pilgrims are beginning to mobilize. Individuals, groups of friends, parishes and archdioceses are all preparing for their trip to Krakow, Poland, next summer.
VATICAN CITY - More than five years after the murder of Bishop Luigi Padovese, Pope Francis has named an Italian Jesuit to succeed him as apostolic vicar of Anatolia, Turkey.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - One of the leading voices among Africa’s bishops predicts a new flexibility in Catholic teaching at this October’s Synod on the Family, allowing bishops and bishops’ conferences in different parts of the world to adapt Church teaching on the family to the culture, economic situation and political landscape in their part of the world.
August 15, 2015
Seeds of the Word: Finding God in the Culture (Word On Fire, hardcover, 275 pages, $24.95). The teen vampire series Twilight has at least one thing in common with the prolific 20th-century Catholic writer and monk Thomas Merton — they both have a part in teaching us about God in the culture.
WASHINGTON - The exhibit “Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archeology,” at the U.S. National Geographic Museum until Jan. 3, features 100 carefully crafted film props alongside real archaeological finds.
TORONTO - Organizers of the Gift Box campaign set up during the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in Toronto to raise awareness of human trafficking have exceeded their expectations, volunteers say.
August 16, 2015
A recently launched capital campaign at St. Malachy’s Church on Prince Edward Island is getting a helping hand from outside the parish community.
August 17, 2015
HAVANA - With Havana Harbor's bright blue waters and a trio of vintage U.S. cars parked along the Malecon framing the scene, Secretary of State John Kerry officially reopened the U.S. Embassy in Cuba Aug. 14, marking the end of more than 54 years of fractured diplomatic relations.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis is looking for a few good "missionaries of mercy," priests who are known for their preaching and their dedication to hearing confessions and granting absolution.
HONG KONG - The morning after the industrial blast in Tianjin, China, the Tianjin Diocesan Social Service Center helped line up 60 volunteers to assist the government's rescue and relief work. The volunteers donated drinking water, clothes and other supplies to hospitals and temporary settlements for evacuees, reported ucanews.com.
August 18, 2015
LAFONTAINE, Ont. - Four centuries ago, the first Mass west of Quebec was celebrated in the Huron-Wendat village of Carhagouha. On Aug. 15, Toronto's Cardinal Thomas Collins returned to that spot to mark the 400th anniversary of the event.
VATICAN CITY - The Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums has released a smartphone app to help culture enthusiasts learn about the works owned by the Holy See — and as a novel way of encouraging art lovers to help fund restoration.
GLASGOW, Scotland - The president of the Scottish bishops' conference offered a "profound apology" to victims of child abuse following a national review of Church safeguarding procedures.
August 19, 2015
VATICAN CITY - Representatives of Colombia's largest guerrilla movement have asked to meet Pope Francis in Cuba in September and have requested the Catholic Church name a permanent delegate to their peace negotiations with the government.
AMMAN, Jordan - Israel's Ministry of Education may force dozens of Christian schools to shut their doors this school year, but a Catholic priest is hoping a meeting with government officials can avoid that.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis reflected on the “serious social damage” caused by unemployment and praised governments for their efforts to create jobs Aug. 19.
August 20, 2015
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) Aug. 30 (Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; Psalm 15; James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23) Obedience to rules and laws, especially those of a religious nature, is not popular with many people. Often there is a good reason — we lose sight of the logic behind them, or they fail to take real-life situations into account. They become an end in themselves rather than tools for something greater.
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine environmentalists and advocates for farmers, fishers and the poor praised lauded the recently released encyclical, "Laudato Si'," as "affirmation" for their causes and said that, using it as a guide, they were ready to get to work.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis was unwittingly thrust into the centre of a long-running diplomatic dispute between Argentina and the U.K. after holding a sign calling for dialogue over the Falkland Islands.
August 21, 2015
WASHINGTON - Ever since Pope Francis' visit to Cuba was announced, Cuban church officials have billed him as the "missionary of mercy."