September 2019

Saving the Amazon: A fight for life

September 26, 2019

MANAUS, Brazil -- For Enock Barroso Tenente, what’s at stake at the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the Amazon is life as he knows it.

Indigenous survival starts with language

September 26, 2019

MANAUS, Brazil -- As a caçique or chief of the Apurinã people, Xytara Apurinã has a pretty clear-eyed view of her people’s position in the Amazonian metropolis of Manaus.

Small farmers caught in battle to save land

September 26, 2019

BOA VISTA, Brazil -- Driving up the BR401, it’s hard not to be startled by the sight of a giant soy farm stretching out on both sides of the highway — the empty land is parched and denuded in mid-summer, after the crop is in.

Synod tackles issue of married priests

September 26, 2019

QUITO, Ecuador -- One of the challenges for bishops at the Amazon synod will be finding ways to meet the spiritual needs of the region’s people.

Catholics put climate on electoral hot seat

September 26, 2019

As at least 60,000 people marched on United Nations headquarters Sept. 20 and hundreds of thousands of students around the world demanded climate solutions, Canadian Catholics launched a chapter of the Global Catholic Climate Movement with calls for politicians to confront climate change.

Editorial: Extinguish vaping

September 26, 2019

Unlike a year ago, when it signalled all aboard for marijuana, Ottawa needs to derail the toxic and addictive practice of vaping before it becomes a runaway train.

Readers Speak Out: September 29, 2019

September 26, 2019

Vote for integrity Canadians are intelligent people. They are highly educated.

Be with Christ in your work, Pope Francis tell volunteers

September 26, 2019

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis told volunteers and social workers that they can guard against discouragement by always being with Christ when working with people in difficulty.

Australian states pass law requiring priests to report abuse disclosed in confession

September 26, 2019

SYDNEY -- The Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania have become the latest in the country to pass legislation criminalizing priests who fail to report the abuse of children disclosed during confession. The country's six states and two territories are all expected have such laws in place in coming months.

Cathy Majtenyi: There is nothing ‘safe’ about supply of drugs

September 26, 2019

It’s been called a “national health crisis” and a “public emergency.” It’s a major issue in next month’s federal election.

Law passed in Oaxaca, Mexico decriminalizing abortion

September 26, 2019

GUATEMALA CITY -- Lawmakers in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca have approved a measure to decriminalize abortion, despite vocal church opposition.

Pope Francis: Anti-trafficking network must have more support

September 26, 2019

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis called on more religious orders of men and women, as well as foundations and benefactors, to get involved and help an international network of women religious in the fight against human trafficking.

China-Vatican accord a positive step, speakers say

September 27, 2019

ROME -- The provisional agreement signed in 2018 by the Holy See and the Chinese government has "opened the way to the two most important things: pastoral activity and dialogue," said Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli.

Student stabbed outside Toronto Catholic high school

September 27, 2019

A student from Neil McNeil Catholic High School in Toronto was rushed to hospital after being stabbed in an altercation outside the east-end school Sept. 26.

Vatican summit highlights dangers in tech revolution

September 27, 2019

VATICAN CITY -- Robots making human workers obsolete and artificially intelligent computers wreaking havoc on democratic debates are just some of the threats humanity faces in the increasingly digital future, Pope Francis said.

Week of Sep 27, 2019

September 27, 2019

Czerny sees ministry intensifying with new role as cardinal

September 27, 2019

ROME -- Cardinal-designate Michael Czerny, a Canadian Jesuit priest who is one of Pope Francis’ point men responsible for the pastoral care and political advocacy for migrants and refugees, calls becoming a cardinal “an intensification” of his ministry.

Nothing to fear in presynod text, says theologian

September 27, 2019

ROME -- It only takes an accurate, unbiased reading of the working document for the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon to see its aim to find new ways to evangelize the region does not stray from church tradition or the teachings of previous popes, said a Brazilian theologian.

Gerry Turcotte: Seeing is believing straight from the heart

September 27, 2019

For many of us of a certain age, “Who Are You?” by the Who is a seminal song, made popular again as the theme music to the TV show CSI.

The power of humility

September 28, 2019

At age 73, Graydon Nicholas has lived a life of firsts.