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October 28, 2016
Pope Francis leaves on Monday (Oct. 31) for an overnight trip to Sweden, a historically Protestant country that today is one of the most secular in the world.
OXFORD, England – A French bishop defended the demolition of a migrant camp in northern France while urging greater help for displaced refugees and a "change of mentality" toward asylum-seekers.
TORONTO – On a busy downtown street in Toronto, a lofting melody carries out from a Solemn High Mass at St. Patrick’s parish.
WASHINGTON – There is only one word to describe the images coming out of Syria as the conflict advances: apocalyptic.
October 29, 2016
VATICAN CITY – His toes curl in pain, his veins bulge from exertion, his bony chest heaves in the last throes of death.
JERUSALEM – Israeli archaeologists have unveiled the earliest known nonbiblical Hebrew-language reference to Jerusalem, dating back to the time of the First Temple in the seventh century B.C.
When the Holocaust was still a gleam in Adolf Hitler’s twisted, paranoid eye, there was one American Catholic with a little bit of Canadian heritage mixed in who saw what was coming and did his best to warn the world.
October 30, 2016
TORONTO – If you don’t usually go to an art gallery to pray, you might want to make an exception for the Mystical Landscapes show on at the Art Gallery of Ontario until Jan. 29.
Two recent films, Deepwater Horizon starring Mark Wahlberg and Sully starring Tom Hanks, represent something of a breath of fresh air. Both movies feature men who are intelligent, virtuous and quietly heroic. If this strikes you as a banal observation, that just means you haven’t been following much of the popular culture for the past 20 years.
JEREMIE, Haiti – I shut my eyes as he swung the large rock at the car window. An instant before, something about his eyes had seemed off. They were glazed over. Maybe he was drunk, or thirsty, or just furious.
Martin Luther would be amazed. He would never have imagined the Pope of Rome could be a mere guest in any Christian church.
October 31, 2016
MANILA, Philippines – As Filipinos remembered their departed on All Souls' Day, the country's church leaders called on the faithful to also pray for those who fell victim in the government's all-out war against illegal drugs.
ROME – Priests in central Italy were instructed to celebrate Mass outdoors following another devastating earthquake that rocked the region and brought one its most spiritually and historically significant churches tumbling down.
MALMO, Sweden – Under a thick gray sky, Pope Francis was welcomed to Sweden with a small formal ceremony, which conveyed by its brevity that the trip was not a formal state visit, but had another purpose.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis appointed a Detroit auxiliary bishop to a Guam archdiocese whose leader is under a Vatican investigation for the alleged sexual abuse of minors.
LUND, Sweden – Urging Catholics and Lutherans to take decisive steps toward unity, Pope Francis nevertheless offered no new openings to the idea of sharing Communion before full unity is achieved.
MALMO, Sweden – The sheet of ice and the penalty boxes were gone from Malmo Arena Oct. 31 as Catholics and Lutherans filled the stands and promised to work together for peace – particularly in Syria – and for justice – especially for refugees.