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February 8, 2016
TAINAN, Taiwan - Pope Francis sent condolences to Taiwan following an earthquake that left at least 37 people dead as the island prepared to celebrate Chinese New Year, reported ucanews.com.
February 9, 2016
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican commission on clerical sexual abuse has wrapped up a turbulent week-long meeting during which one of two victims on the panel was effectively ousted and Chilean Catholics upset that Pope Francis has not sacked a controversial bishop delivered protest letters.
VATICAN CITY - Confessors have two choices: to be like Jesus who readily forgave sins or like the devil who always condemns, Pope Francis said.
BEIJING - A top Politburo official told faith leaders that religious groups must promote Chinese culture and become more compatible with socialism.
VATICAN CITY - On the eve of sending off "missionaries of mercy" to all corners of the globe, Pope Francis told his specially appointed men that the reassuring strength of God's love -- not the "bludgeon of judgment" -- will bring the "lost sheep" back to the fold.
February 10, 2016
Nobody wants the Pope to meet Moscow’s Orthodox patriarch more than the Ukrainian Catholics, but the Eastern-rite Catholics want to be sure their Church is treated as a full partner in the dialogue between Rome and Moscow.
VATICAN CITY - A jubilee year that does not open people's wallets to share what they have with others is not a true jubilee, Pope Francis said.
VATICAN CITY - Meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Pope Francis expressed his hopes that Iraq and other war-torn countries would have leaders strong enough to bring once-divided peoples together.
It was a sight of beauty. Perhaps as beautiful a thing as I have ever seen. I saw it during morning rush hour on a freezing cold day in front of a busy Toronto bus stop. I was driving and fortunately the light turned red, allowing me to look more closely at what was taking place.
OTTAWA - Bioethicist Margaret Somerville warned up to 12,000 people could be euthanized annually in Canada if a new law does not ensure euthanasia is exceptional, rare and used only as a last resort.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis marked the beginning of the Church's Lenten journey by sending off several hundred religious and diocesan priests on their own special path as "missionaries of mercy" in local parishes.
OTTAWA - If legalized assisted suicide is one wing of the bird the other wing is palliative care, said MP Murray Rankin as he tabled a motion to make access to palliative care a right for all Canadians.
February 11, 2016
MEXICO CITY - On a recent morning outside the Church of San Agustin in the middle-class neighbourhood of Narvarte, two students sell bric-a-brac and blast the Beatles’ “Let It Be” through a smartphone hooked up to speakers.
At the end of every Roman Catholic liturgy there is an invitation given to the people to receive a blessing. That invitation is worded this way: “Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing.” The idea behind that, obviously, is that a blessing can only truly be received in reverence, in humility, with head bowed, with pride and arrogance subjugated and silent.
Second Sunday of Lent (Year C) Feb. 21 (Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28b-36) Sometimes the future looks bleak and it is difficult to believe in a happy or satisfying outcome. That is the point where many lose hope, and with the departure of hope, faith and love are endangered.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis told Rome's priests that offering God's mercy during the jubilee year will mean lots of unpaid overtime.
CANTERBURY, England - For the first time in 450 years, a citadel of Protestant worship in England — the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace — echoed to the sound of Roman Catholic prayers and music.
OTTAWA - The Canadian government should join the European Union in labelling the persecution of Christians by Islamic State jihadists a genocide, said Aid to the Church in Need.
TORONTO - The federal government is seeking to pair displaced Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war in their homeland with their families already in Canada or with groups ready to sponsor them.
VATICAN CITY - The body of one of Italy’s favourite saints, Padre Pio, has left the Vatican, carried out in a distinctive crystal coffin after nearly a week on display inside St. Peter’s Basilica as part of the Jubilee of Mercy.