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June 1, 2018

Glen Argan: It will take more than 10 years to end homelessness in Canada

"Despite a strong political will to house the homeless, it will take much longer than 10 years to overcome this problem," Glen Argan writes.

Since 2009, Edmonton, along with 12 other Canadian cities, has been implementing a Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. Unlike other “plans,” this one does not merely set a target and hope it comes true; solid work is being done to provide housing and prevent future homelessness.

Published in Register Columnists
May 31, 2018

Pope names apostolic visitor to Medjugorje

Pilgrims pray in front of a statue of Mary in 2011 on Apparition Hill in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Pope appointed Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the retired archbishop of Warsaw-Praga, Poland, to be apostolic visitor to Medjugorje.
VATICAN – Pope Francis has named as apostolic visitor to Medjugorje the Polish archbishop he had initially sent to the town as his personal envoy to study the pastoral needs of the townspeople and of the thousands of pilgrims who flock to the site of the alleged Marian apparitions.
Published in International
May 29, 2018

Cardinal-designate Becciu named prefect of congregation for saints

Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Vatican substitute secretary of state, is one of 14 new cardinals named by Pope Francis May 20. He is pictured during a Mass marking the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican June 29, 2015.
VATICAN – Cardinal-designate Giovanni Angelo Becciu is one of the very few new cardinals not completely surprised in late May when Pope Francis announced the names of the 14 churchmen he intended to induct into the College of Cardinals.
Published in International
May 29, 2018

Cardinal Ouellet celebrates 50 years of priesthood

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, walks in procession ahead of Pope Francis at the start of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican March 25.

OTTAWA – Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the highest-ranking Canadian in the Roman Curia, marked his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood May 25 at a Mass of celebration in Rome.

Published in Canada
May 25, 2018

More annulment processes done for free, Vatican statistics show

The dioceses of Canada reported in 2016 that about 40.7 percent of their cases were handled free of charge, 40.1 percent involved a partial payment and 19 percent included a full charge to the petitioner.
VATICAN – Implementation of Pope Francis' abbreviated process for declaring the nullity of a marriage got off to a slow start, Vatican statistics showed, but his encouragement for making the annulment process free for petitioners fared better.
Published in International
May 21, 2018

Pope will create 14 new cardinals in June

Cardinals attend the Good Friday service led by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in this March 30 file photo. The pope announced May 20 that he will create 14 new cardinals at a June 29 consistory.
VATICAN – Pope Francis announced he would make 14 new cardinals June 29, giving the red cardinal's hat to the papal almoner, the Iraq-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church and the archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan, among others.
Published in International
May 18, 2018

Colombian Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos dies at 88

Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos died May 18 in Rome at the age of 88. He is pictured walking near the Vatican April 16, 2005.
VATICAN – Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a longtime Vatican official, died early May 18 in Rome at the age of 88.
Published in International
May 8, 2018

Vatican brings faith and fashion to the MET

Italian fashioner designer Donatella Versace and Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, arrive for a press presentation for the exhibit, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination," at Galleria Colonna in Rome Feb. 26.
While some critics saw the media's sudden fixation on papal fashion as frivolous and a way of trivializing the true meaning behind elegance in ecclesial dress, one top art curator said he saw this spotlight as actually raising "deeper, more profound considerations – namely, the role that dress plays in the Catholic Church and the role that the Catholic Church plays" within the world of fashion's imagination.
Published in International
April 25, 2018

Pope, Council of Cardinals discuss new document on Roman Curia

Pope Francis speaks with top officials of the Roman Curia and Vatican City State and with cardinals living in Rome in the Clementine Hall Dec. 2017.
VATICAN – Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals have reviewed a complete draft of the apostolic constitution that would govern the Roman Curia, the Vatican spokesman said.
Published in Vatican
April 20, 2018

Be fruitful and multiply: Threatened trees planted in Vatican Gardens

Sergio Guidi, president of the Italian tree conservation association, "Patriarchi della Natura," presents a potted tree to Pope Francis at his general audience April 18. The association presented eight saplings from tree species that are threatened or endangered with extinction. The saplings were planted in the Vatican Gardens.
VATICAN – The Vatican Gardens has branched out and added a small orchard to its hillsides, becoming a safe haven for a number of endangered native Italian fruit and nut tree species.
Published in Vatican
April 11, 2018

Vatican announces consistory to approve canonizations

Cardinals are seen during a 2017 "ordinary public consistory" with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Pope Francis presided over the canonization ceremony of the Fatima visionaries during his visit to Portugal May 12-13, 2017.
VATICAN – Pope Francis will preside over a consistory to approve several canonizations, the Vatican announced.
Published in International
April 7, 2018

Vatican jails former diplomat accused of child pornography

Police in Canada issued a nationwide arrest warrant for Msgr. Capella Sept. 28, 2017 on charges of accessing, possessing and distributing child pornography.
VATICAN – After months of investigation, Vatican police arrested Msgr. Carlo Alberto Capella, a former staff member at the Vatican nunciature in Washington, on charges related to the possession and distribution of child pornography.
Published in International
April 5, 2018

Pope blesses statue of 10th-century Armenian saint in Vatican Gardens

A statue of St. Gregory of Narek, a 10th-century Armenian monk, is seen during its dedication in the Vatican Gardens April 5. Pope Francis blessed the statue in the presence of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian Apostolic Catholicos Karekin II and Armenian Apostolic Catholicos Aram of Cilicia.
VATICAN – During a brief ceremony in the Vatican Gardens, Pope Francis blessed a new statue of a 10th-century Armenian monk he had declared a "doctor of the church" in 2015.
Published in International
April 1, 2018

Urbi et orbi: Death, fear do not have the last word, Pope says

Pope Francis greets the crowd during his Easter message and blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 1.
VATICAN – Easter makes it clear that in the life of Jesus, but also in the lives of modern men and women, "death, solitude and fear" do not have the last word, Pope Francis said before giving his Easter blessing.
Published in Faith
March 31, 2018

Pope Francis to have cataract surgery next year

Pope Francis arrives to lead his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican March 28.
VATICAN – During a customary visit to a prison on Holy Thursday, Pope Francis revealed that he has cataracts and is planning to have an eye operation to correct them next year.

The head of Regina Coeli prison in Rome made a comment during the visit about the importance of being “far-sighted” about prisoners’ rehabilitation.

Pope Francis responded, “This is good. Because at my age, for example, cataracts arrive and one does not see reality well. Next year, we will have to have an operation.”

He encouraged the inmates to have clear eyes – what he called “cataract surgery for the soul” – in order to see and spread hope.

Cataracts, a clouding of the eye’s lens that is common as people age, is usually correctable with a routine surgery.

The pope, who turned 81 in December, maintains a rigorous schedule and still makes several international trips per year. He had a portion of one lung removed when he was young, due to an infection, but is considered to be in generally good health.

Published in International
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