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November 24, 2015
VATICAN CITY - After consultation with the governing council of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, Pope Francis named Msgr. Steven Lopes to be the first bishop of the ordinariate, which serves former Anglicans living in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
VATICAN CITY - Two Italian journalists standing trial in a Vatican court defended their right to freedom of the press, while the Vatican prosecution said the way they acquired confidential information was illegal.
BEIRUT - The three Iraqi retirees met up at St. Anthony's medical dispensary to get medication for hypertension, an ailment exacerbated by the stress of life as a refugee.
OTTAWA - Euthanasia opponents fear that the new Liberal government is “kowtowing” to the euthanasia lobby following new directions given to a federal panel that has been consulting Canadians on assisted suicide.
November 25, 2015
Over six days beginning Nov. 25, Pope Francis will visit three African countries — Kenya, Uganda and Central African Republic. His first visit to Africa is significant in many ways.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis embarks Wednesday on his first trip to Africa, visiting three countries in a papal tour overshadowed by security concerns.
OTTAWA - The fate of Andrew Bennett and the Office of Religious Freedom is up in the air as the office was not included in the Prime Minister’s mandate letter to the Foreign Affairs Minister. Government silence has advocates for religious freedom worried about where religious freedom stands with the new Prime Minister.
BEIRUT - Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Vatican nuncio to Lebanon, visited hospitalized victims of twin suicide bombings in Beirut and said Lebanon's "message of co-existence" needs to be preserved, despite the crises the country is enduring.
OXFORD, England - The secretary-general of Mali's Catholic bishops' conference said he fears the Nov. 20 hotel attack in Bamako forms part of a wider Islamist campaign, but insisted Catholic-Muslim ties will not be affected by the latest violence.
NAIROBI, Kenya - With security concerns looming over his visit, Pope Francis arrived in Kenya Nov. 25 urging tolerance and respect among people of different religions and different ethnic groups.
WASHINGTON - Maureen Orth, a special correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine who has written about music icons, world leaders and Hollywood celebrities, tackled a completely different subject for National Geographic magazine: the Virgin Mary.
November 26, 2015
Thursday, November 26, 2015 - Nairobi 10 a.m. Mass on the campus of the University of Nairobi. Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis Nairobi, Central Park Thursday, November 26, 2015 God’s word speaks to us in the depths of our heart. Today God tells us that we belong to him. He made us, we are his family, and he will always be there for us. “Fear not”, he says to us, “I have chosen you and I promise to give you my blessing” (cf. Is 44:2).
Even as the world was reacting in horror to the slaughter in Paris on Nov. 13, Fr. John Walsh was moving past the how and what to asking why.
NAIROBI, Kenya - Respect, unity and service are the foundations of a strong family, a solid democracy and a healthy response to the gift of faith — any faith, Pope Francis told the people of Kenya.
Some years ago I officiated at a wedding. As the officiating priest, I was invited to the reception and dance that followed upon the church service. Not knowing the family well and having church services the next morning, I left right after the banquet and the toasts, just as the dancing was about to start. When I was seemingly out of earshot, I heard the bride’s father say to someone: “I’m glad that Father has gone; now we can celebrate with some rock music!”
Second Sunday of Advent (Year C) Dec. 6 (Baruch 5:1-9; Psalm 126; Philippians 1:3-6, 8-11; Luke 3:1-6) Makeover shows are very popular on TV. The theme is always the same: an ugly, broken-down house is transformed into a beautiful dwelling. A shabbily dressed, poorly groomed individual is transformed into an attractive, even stunning, new person. Baruch prophesied the same sort of makeover for Jerusalem. We don’t know who actually wrote this work, and in fact, it is probably a compilation by several authors. It was attributed to Baruch the secretary of Jeremiah, but it was actually written much later, possibly in the second or first century B.C.
NAIROBI, Kenya - The international community is facing a stark and serious choice, "either to improve or to destroy the environment," Pope Francis said, referring to the Paris Climate Conference.
The Knights of Columbus Sydney Council 1060 has brought the order’s prestigious Star Council Award to the shores of Nova Scotia.
THORNHILL, ONT. - Every day Rami Kaai receives at least 50 phone calls from Christian refugees in the Middle East who plead for his help in coming to Canada.
November 27, 2015
It’s that time again in the Catholic Church: the beginning of a new liturgical year and start of the season of Advent.