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October 16, 2017
VATICAN CITY – It makes no sense to lament the problems of hunger and forced migration if one is unwilling to address their root causes, which are conflict and climate change, Pope Francis said.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Children who struggle to match their gender identity with their biological sex should not be pushed into transgender therapies, but given treatments that help treat the underlying cause of the dysphoria, said doctors in the field.
October 17, 2017
Bologna, Italy – They were supposed to be having lunch with Pope Francis.
VATICAN – Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday, Oct. 17 – the Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr. Following the Readings of the Day, the Holy Father reflected on the “foolishness” of those, who are unable to hear the Word of God, preferring appearances, idols, or ideologies – like the people of Jerusalem, whose faithlessness caused Our Lord to weep nostalgic tears.
WASHINGTON – Nearly two dozen people, including a juvenile, were arrested as they blocked workers from starting construction of a short leg of a natural gas pipeline on property owned by the Adorers of the Blood of Christ congregation in Columbia, Pennsylvania.
RUTENG, Indonesia – The Vatican has asked Indonesian Bishop Hubertus Leteng, who recently resigned over allegations of theft and having an affair, to return the church funds he is accused of stealing.
OTTAWA – The Ontario law society has gone too far by compelling lawyers to submit a “politically correct” statement of principles that may “override core Christian beliefs,” said the president of the Catholic Civil Rights League.
October 18, 2017
There is something magical, even powerful, about a second chance. In the fall of 1986, I wasn’t looking for a second chance to get to know Fr. Sean O’Sullivan. I simply missed the third day of classes in my first year at Ryerson Journalism because I unwisely scheduled the second of my bi-annual visits to my asthma specialist, Dr. John Toogood (yes he was too good), in London, Ont.
The exposure of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sordid sexual predator secret is ripping the mask off the sinister nature of our supposed surprise as well.
VATICAN CITY – Christians can find hope even at the hour of death, which faith teaches is not a closed door but a wide-open passage to a new life with Christ, Pope Francis said.
During the summer I decided to take a break from speaking about euthanasia. There were several reasons. First, it was getting more and more difficult to find groups that were interested in hearing the anti-euthanasia message. Then when something was arranged only a handful of people would show up.
Canadian bishops heard it loud and clear. Young people are looking for accompaniment as the Canadian Catholic Church prepares for the 2018 Synod on Young People.
October 19, 2017
Cebu, Philippines – Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, the fourth Filipino cardinal and leading Catholic figure in the fall of Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos, died Wednesday at the age of 86.
As more than 40 Catholic institutions announced they would no longer invest in fossil fuel companies, a former United Nations chief climate negotiator said the Pope’s environmental vision laid out in Laudato Si’ is becoming even more relevant.
One of Canada’s most influential and controversial theologians, among the few remaining living links to the Second Vatican Council, has died.
WASHINGTON – A 40-foot-tall cross memorializing soldiers who died in World War I that sits at a busy intersection in the Washington suburb of Bladensburg, Maryland, is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Oct. 18.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis' recent statement that the death penalty is incompatible with the Gospel focused less on a government's role in protecting its people and more on the need to defend the sacredness and dignity of every human life.
October 20, 2017
MONTREAL – A few years ago, lawyer Dominique Boisvert left Montreal looking for a quieter place. He moved to Scotstown, population just over 500. For this father of the voluntary simplicity movement in Quebec, the time had come to slow down the pace and lighten commitments.
It didn’t take long for Patrick Small Legs-Nagge to pick up on the culture of Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, N.S. “One of the first things I noticed in my first week is how inclusive this campus is,” said Small Legs-Nagge, who last month began his new job as special advisor to the president on aboriginal affairs.
New York City, N.Y. - Anti-Christian persecution is “worse than at any time in history” and in many cases genocide and other crimes against humanity “now mean that the Church in core countries and regions faces the possibility of imminent wipe-out,” says a new report from Aid to the Church in Need.