An exclusive focus on whether or not women might be ordained deacons misses the real point of the conversation Pope Francis had with leaders of 900 orders of nuns May 12 at the Vatican, said a Canadian sister who was present for the gathering.

VATICAN CITY – How Christians treat the poor is the clearest demonstration of their relationship with God, Pope Francis insisted.

VATICAN CITY – Catholic sisters globally would be better-equipped to carry out their work if they could become deacons, the head of a global network of nuns has said, an important marker in the sharp debate over women deacons that Pope Francis opened last week.

TORONTO – Is there intelligent life outside of our planet? It’s possible, said Fr. Thomas O’Meara.

TORONTO – It is a collection of beads hung on a chain or a piece of rope, anchored by a cross. The rosary may not look like much but it is one of the most powerful spiritual weapons Catholics can carry.

VATICAN CITY – The tears shed by men, women and children around the world each day cry out for mercy, compassion and consolation, Pope Francis said during a special Year of Mercy prayer service for those who weep.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis led Christians in praying for Catholic and Orthodox clergy and religious kidnapped in Syria and around the world.

VATICAN CITY – Happiness "is not an 'app' that you can download on your phones nor will the latest update help you become free and great in loving," Pope Francis told thousands of teenagers.

TORONTO – Fr. Henri Nouwen is still trying to help us understand. He’s been dead 20 years, but he’s still there talking to us about our gifts and our failures, our hopes and our doubts, God and love and sin and community and loneliness.

OTTAWA – Bishop-elect Scott McCaig traces the beginning of his priestly vocation to a chance glimpse of a sign on the side of the road.