Russian forces in Ukraine attacked a Caritas office in Mariupol and a Catholic seminary in a small village north of Kyiv, prompting renewed calls for an end to the war and to the targeting of innocent civilians.

The Office for Refugees of the Archdiocese of Toronto (ORAT) is in discussion with Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Church officials to coordinate a program that would see Toronto parishioners host Ukrainian families fleeing the war in their homeland.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said it appeared Ukraine could keep Pope Francis safe if he made a wartime trip to Kyiv, but the pope's safety was not the Vatican's only concern.

In the shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the support of the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kirill, perhaps it’s time for a moral reflection on religion and nationalism, says David Seljak.

The geopolitical landscape of the war in Ukraine can be difficult to understand, and for many this problem was made even more perplexing by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow’s endorsement of the Russian invasion.

Tyrants commit many sins. They strip away individual freedom, unleash fear and terror, displace people from their homes and they murder indiscriminately. If you don’t believe me, turn on your television or find news reports from Kyiv and Mariupol, places that are looking more and more like Berlin at the end of the Second World War.

VATICAN CITY -- Polish Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan told Pope Francis that the Catholic Church in Poland is continuing its efforts to assist the countless refugees from Ukraine fleeing Russia's destructive war in the country.

On March 1, I was mesmerized by an explosion. Verified footage of a Russian missile striking Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine, transformed a normal city scene into a giant fireball. The speed of its violence arrested me. “Where was the missile?” I thought. It only became visible to me as I looked for it in the replay. The long and deadly cylinder streaks downwards out of the sky and into the image a millisecond before transforming itself into death and destruction.

VATICAN CITY -- As Russia's violent monthlong invasion continued to devastate Ukraine, Pope Francis laid the fates of both countries at the feet of Mary in the hopes that peace would finally reign.

Through the uncertainty of war, Fr. Ivan Nahachewsky is working to bring support and sanity to his community in the midst of collective trauma.

Friday, March 25 marks the 35th anniversary of the publication of Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Mother of the Redeemer in 1987. One might ask, “Why should I care about such an anniversary?” However, the Church does care about it, asking herself how the anniversary of a teaching document might speak to us in the light of changed circumstances. The anniversary, if we attend to it, renews the grace of the original event.

On Friday, March 25, the Archdiocese of Toronto will answer the call of Pope Francis for dioceses around the world to pray for peace.

Holy See diplomats have 500 years of history behind them

The Orthodox world, including nearly 40 Canadian Orthodox scholars and clergy, has risen up to condemn the Russian Orthodox Church for giving moral and spiritual support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The power of prayer and the aid of technology has united two families thousands of miles apart in an international rescue operation — all at the instigation of two 12-year-old girls.