Former Protestant loved stumping Catholics with Bible verses

OTTAWA - Catholic apologist Tim Staples used to love stumping Catholics with Bible verses in the days he was a Pentecostal, until he met a Catholic who stumped him.

Pope Francis speaks: 5 takeaways from another blockbuster interview

VATICAN CITY - Gay marriage was never on the agenda at the recent Synod of Bishops on the Family and the subject “did not cross our minds,” Pope Francis said in a new headline-grabbing interview.

Pope calls for more 'integration' of divorced Catholics, gays

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis said the Catholic Church must find new ways to integrate the divorced and civilly remarried in the life of the church and to make it easier for Catholic families to accept their homosexual members.

Church needs more women theologians, their insights, Pope says

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis said he was pleased that five of the 30 members of the International Theological Commission are women, but the body that advises the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as the Church in general, needs more women theologians.

Light shines forth even amid the darkness

Third Sunday of Advent (Year B) Dec. 14 (Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11; Luke 1; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28)

What would good news sound like in our world? A steady diet of negativity reported by the news media can leave one feeling depressed, fearful, hopeless and helpless. Often people turn to pain-numbing diversions of every variety to escape the darkness and confusion around them.

Go and see she has salvation in her arms

“Let’s go to Bethlehem,” we students agreed with one another. We were enrolled in a summer course in Jerusalem, through a program called Bat Kol which the Sisters of Sion generously invited me to attend. The final free Saturday was approaching. We wanted to make the trip before returning home.

Better churches will keep people in the pews

It’s no secret that today there’s been a massive drop-off in church attendance. Moreover that drop-off is not paralleled by the same widespread growth in atheism and agnosticism.

Pope Francis calls for ‘truth’ in case of former ambassador accused of abuse

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis told authorities from the Dominican Republic that the “truth” must prevail in the investigation of a former Vatican ambassador who was convicted and defrocked for abusing teenage boys in the Caribbean country.

Support Catholic religious in their mission, ministries, pope says

VATICAN CITY - During the Year of Consecrated Life, all Catholics are called to thank God for the gifts members of religious orders have given the Church and the world, to join them in prayer and find practical ways to support them and their ministries, Pope Francis said.

New evangelization needed to counter lukewarm faith, says speaker

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- Ralph Martin, a leader in the Catholic renewal ministries movement, told an audience at an evangelization summit in Sioux City that he sees a danger in lukewarm faith and a de-Christianized spirit in society today.

Changing times may call for changes in religious orders, pope says

VATICAN CITY - Religious orders and the Vatican congregation that assists them must be bold in assessing whether current structures and practices help or hinder the proclamation of the Gospel, the pursuit of holiness and the service of the poor, Pope Francis said.