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January 21, 2016
VATICAN CITY - Shrines are homes of forgiveness that allow pilgrims to experience firsthand God's love and mercy, Pope Francis said.
Sometimes nothing is as helpful as a good metaphor. In his book The God Instinct, Tom Stella shares this story: A number of men who made their living as porters were hired one day to carry a huge load of supplies for a group on safari. Their loads were unusually heavy and the trek through the jungle was on a rough path. Several days into the journey they stopped, unshouldered their loads and refused to go on. No pleas, bribes or threats worked in terms of persuading them to go on. Asked why they couldn’t continue, they answered: “We can’t go on; we have to wait for our souls to catch up with us.”
VATICAN CITY - Following a request by Pope Francis, the Vatican issued a decree specifying that the Holy Thursday foot-washing ritual can include "all members of the people of God," including women -- a practice already observed by the Pope and many priests around the world.
VATICAN CITY - Two decades after her anti-death penalty work was transformed into the Oscar-winning movie Dead Man Walking, Sr. Helen Prejean’s campaign continues with the backing of Pope Francis.
January 22, 2016
With the start of a new year, what has become increasingly evident to me is how fortunate I am to have strong, faith-filled female friends.
Marshall McLuhan, a communications philosopher and former professor at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto, once stated that “we make our tools, and then our tools make us.”
TORONTO - The 5,000 people in Toronto who will sleep outside, in church basements or in shelters on any given night now have their own lobbyist making their case at provincial pre-budget hearings.
VATICAN CITY - Use the power of communication to build bridges and heal wounds, not generate hatred or misunderstanding, Pope Francis said.
On their 37th day in Canada, the Peters family from Liberia found themselves surrounded by Goans, carrying gifts of bread and wine up to an Irish-Canadian cardinal.
A HISTORY OF SERVICE
Hundreds of Muslim scholars will meet in Morocco next week to reassert the rights of non-Muslims living among them as Christians and other religious minorities flee extremism across the Middle East for safety and freedom elsewhere.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of 10 men and women, including the Argentinian "gaucho priest," Blessed Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, known for his ministry to the sick and the dying.
January 23, 2016
Alejandro Iñárritu’s new film The Revenant is one of the most talked about movies, and for good reason. The opening 20 minutes, which feature a frighteningly realistic Indian attack and a horrifically vivid mauling by a grizzly bear, are absolutely compelling viewing. And the remainder of the film is so involving that this viewer at least felt physically sick as he followed the sufferings of the main character.
Two hundred years ago the French aristocrat Eugene de Mazenod gathered a few priests into a kind of evangelical team in southeastern France. They went into neglected, impoverished parishes preaching in the local dialect of Provençal, not French, sharing their lives and the Gospel with poor people who had been left behind by modern France.
St. Eugene de Mazenod was born in 1782 in Aix-en-Provence, France. His father, Charles Antoine, was a member of the French nobility and the President of the Aix parliament. His mother, Marie-Rose Joannis, was affiliated with the expeditiously evolving bourgeois merchants.
January 24, 2016
On Jan. 25, 1816, six priests came together in Aix en Provence, France, drawn by an inspiration so powerful they were prepared to dedicate their lives to it. They were roused into action by the situation of the poor people around them, whose lives were changed by the events of the French Revolution.
EDMONTON The Oblates of Mary Immaculate have deep roots in Edmonton and in Canada as a whole. In fact, the missionaries were paramount in establishing the archdiocese and other dioceses across the West.
Growing up in a parish with a lively and abundant presence of Oblate priests, one could see the zeal, excitement and, most importantly, the joy the priests shared. I assume from this, not surprisingly, a fascination was born which quickly turned into a desire and yearning to be and act like them.
Last summer I was privileged to travel on pilgrimage to France with a young adults group. The 2 1/2- week trip (called “In the footsteps of St. Eugene de Mazenod”) under Fr. Marcin Serwin OMI, served to bring to light the full breadth of the foundation of who and what the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate are.
January 25, 2016
Pope Francis delivered the homily at the closing Vespers of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the Basilica of St. Paul "Outside the Walls" in Rome on Monday evening. Below, please find Vatican Radio's full English translation of the Holy Father's prepared remarks.