For several decades a cornerstone of the work undertaken by the religious order founded in India by Mother Teresa was finding safe homes for orphaned children. Thousands of destitute and abandoned children have met loving parents through adoptions arranged by the Missionaries of Charity.

VATICAN CITY - Canadians had a rather prominent role in the first week of the Synod on the Family. Two of the language- based discussion groups elected Canadians as their moderators — Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto for one of the English groups, and Cardinal Gerald Lacroix for one of the French.

The newspaper business has a long tradition of endorsing candidates on the eve of an election.

Francis caught up in smear job by social ideologues

Pope Francis has energized debate about the threat to the planet’s natural environment. But now he faces an even greater challenge — mobilizing Catholics and society in general to tackle the man-made threat to the bedrock of our social environment, the family.

The Synod on the Family begins Oct. 4 and promises to be a rather unpleasant few weeks in the life of the Church.

Pope Francis arrived as a first-time visitor to the United States but by the day his Fiat was heading back to the airport the guest from the Vatican had drawn a roadmap to show his hosts the way.

For weekends on end now in the tiny western Cape Breton seaside community of Inverness, more and more people have been seeking a bonanza of easy money by chasing the ace.

To be a Christian in Cuba means being subjected to state surveillance, discrimination, harassment and sometimes arrest. It also means being a casualty of the punishing U.S. trade embargo that inflicts unjust suffering on all Cubans.

Pope Francis’ trip to the United States next week, including speeches to Congress and the United Nations General Assembly, will almost certainly put a spotlight on how the leader of the Catholic Church proposes to solve the global problems challenging human security in the world today.

In 1741 Pope Benedict XIV was concerned that some bishops were dissolving marriages too freely so he established stringent protocols to govern annulments. Those canon laws remained virtually unchanged through 18 papacies until now, 274 years later, when they are being rewritten by a Pope who is affixing his stamp of mercy on a process that is often long, expensive and painful.