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September 2015

September 18

YSN responds to BuzzFeed video

September 18, 2015

On Sept. 7, BuzzFeed released a YouTube video titled I Am Christian, But... to address popular misconceptions about the Christian faith. The Register asked our youth writers to watch the video and offer us their thoughts.

New abuse guidelines will make Canadian bishops more accountable

September 18, 2015

CORNWALL, Ont. - Canada's bishops will face greater accountability under new guidelines that highlight healing in cases of sexual abuse of minors.

Mary’s mercy behind annulment changes

September 18, 2015

Pope Francis never claimed to be a canon lawyer, but he knows Mary and he knows mercy. Mary and mercy are the keys to understanding the first major reform in the Church’s marriage laws since 1741 and the first changes to the Code of Canon Law under Pope Francis, said the only North American among 12 canon lawyers consulted on changes to Church marriage annulments.

Meeting in Jerusalem, European bishops call on nations to support migrants

September 18, 2015

JERUSALEM - Leaders of the European bishops' conferences expressed solidarity with people of the Middle East, especially those being forced from their homes, and called on European states to act generously, justly and respectfully toward the influx of migrants and refugees now reaching their shores.

Catholic bishops, organizations join forces to help Syrian refugees

September 18, 2015

OTTAWA - For the first time, several Catholic aid agencies are joining with the Canadian bishops to mount a joint appeal to raise funds to help Syrian refugees.

Saint Thomas' Christians get a new bishop

September 18, 2015

Canada’s 35,000 Catholic Saint Thomas Christians will have a bishop of their own as of lunchtime Saturday, Sept. 18.

Canada’s bishops urge invoking notwithstanding clause on assisted suicide

September 18, 2015

OTTAWA - Canada’s Catholic bishops called unanimously Sept. 18 for the federal government to invoke the notwithstanding clause in response to the Supreme Court’s Feb. 6 Carter decision on euthanasia and assisted suicide.

September 19

Pope Francis will test his diplomacy on U.S. tour

September 19, 2015

VATICAN - Pope Francis’ diplomatic style and strategy is about to be put to the test — the pontiff is set for a highly anticipated appearance at the UN as part of his U.S. tour.

Little engine that could: Pope coaxes Vatican to open railway to villa

September 19, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis' desire for a Church whose doors are wide open isn't just a metaphor for encouraging a greater spirit of welcoming.

Philip Neri’s ‘mysticism’ bursts forth in love

September 19, 2015

Over the exactly 500 years since the birth at Florence of Philip Neri, each age has fashioned a portrait of the saint in colours suggested by its own needs, fashions, tastes. There is an Italian baroque Philip, for example, all miracles and raptures and surprises. The Enlightenment gave us Goethe’s anti-establishment, sceptical Philip, while 19th-century Catholic romanticism proposed a pious “reformer from within” for veneration.

Nomadic African life dies of thirst

September 19, 2015

JIJIGA, ETHIOPIA - Nasri Yaseen Gourate is a young Somali man, husband and father, a hard worker with a voice among the men of his clan. But the most remarkable thing about Nasreen is that he is a Somali man with no cattle, no camels, no goats, no sheep. He sold them all.

Pope Francis arrives in Cuba calling for freedom, better U.S.-Cuba relations

September 19, 2015

HAVANA - Pope Francis began his visit to Cuba praying for greater freedom for the island's people and calling on U.S. and Cuban politicians to continue moving toward fully normal and neighborly relations.

September 20

D&P goes back to the basics

September 20, 2015

Climate change has refocused the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace’s commitments in Africa and worldwide.

With Pope's arrival, 'God has his hand in Cuba'

September 20, 2015

HOLGUIN, Cuba - A pope's visit is always a blessing, but there is something special about this one, say some residents in the city of Holguin, Cuba's fourth largest city, as they prepare not just for Pope Francis' arrival to the island but also to their city.

Serve people, not ideology, pope tells Cubans at Havana Mass

September 20, 2015

HAVANA - As Cubans finally face the prospects of calmer relationships and greater ease of communication and commerce with the United States, Pope Francis told the Cuban people that love and service, not anyone's ideology, are the keys to their happiness.

Horn of Africa facing worst drought in 60 years

September 20, 2015

JIJIGA, ETHIOPIA - At the end of June the Famine Early Warning Systems Network of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization issued a warning about dry conditions in Ethiopia, Somalia and the rest of the Horn of Africa. On July 5 the UN called it “the worst drought in 60 years” in the Horn of Africa, with Ethiopia and Somalia worst hit.

A look at the prominent US churches Pope Francis will visit

September 20, 2015

WASHINGTON - When Pope Francis visits the U.S. in September, he’ll make stops at prominent churches that have drawn the faithful and the curious for decades.

Cardinals with role in U.S.-Cuba deal present at Havana Mass

September 20, 2015

HAVANA - Pope Francis, celebrating his first Mass in Cuba, was flanked by three cardinals who, with him, have been credited with helping seal the deal between the United States and Cuba to move toward normalizing relations.

Cuban dissidents say they hope pope highlights human rights

September 20, 2015

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba - A week before Pope Francis arrived here, the communist government agreed to pardon 3,522 prisoners, including elderly people and people under 20 with no prior offenses.

Holguin Catholics delighted their time has come for papal visit

September 20, 2015

HOLGUIN, Cuba - Popes have come and gone from Cuba, and this city of 300,000 or so always has prepared but never has been picked for a visit by a pope -- until now.