VATICAN CITY - The mission-oriented agencies of the Church must guard against operating like nongovernmental organizations, empty of Christ's presence, Pope Francis said.

TORONTO - The road to the priesthood for the first North American Spiritan to be ordained in 26 years began while flipping through the pages of The Catholic Register.

VATICAN CITY - The Holy Year of Mercy will be an opportunity to encourage Christians to meet people's "real needs" with concrete assistance, to experience a "true pilgrimage" on foot, and to send "missionaries of mercy" throughout the world to forgive even the most serious of sins, said Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

VATICAN CITY - People seem to enjoy finding the shortcomings of candidates for sainthood like Blessed Junipero Serra, but they should ask themselves if they would have his generosity and courage to leave everything behind to care for the poor and bring them the Gospel, Pope Francis said.

TORONTO - When discussing missionary work, it is easy to picture evangelization in small rural communities in remote corners of the world. However, there is missionary work to be done in big cities as well.

Despite growing resistance from some Native Americans and U.S. Catholics, the Vatican on May 2 will host an event to celebrate the life of Junípero Serra, the Spanish missionary priest whom Pope Francis plans to canonize during his upcoming American tour.

VAUGHAN, ONT. - Sr. Andrea Dumont, a missionary Sister of St. Joseph, was honoured this year with Catholic Missions In Canada's St. Joseph Award.

WASHINGTON - Although the upcoming canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra has stirred mixed reaction, a group of panelists said the ambiguities around the friar should not discount the good work he did or the positive dialogue and reconciliation that could result from his sainthood.

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA - Passing through Rome on the way to the Jan. 14 canonization of Fr. Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Sri Lanka, I heard something extraordinary from Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints.

Fr. Paul Wattson had one great insight that drove him. That single flash of wisdom resulted in missionary projects, pioneering media work, millions of dollars raised for charity, a new religious order, a breakthrough journey from the Anglican tradition to the Catholic Church and, most famously, the Church Unity Octave which grew gradually into the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Canonizing Sri Lanka's first saint, who ministered to Catholics under persecution three centuries earlier, Pope Francis proclaimed what he called the "fundamental human right" of religious freedom.

Scarboro Missions is seeking those with the guts and grit to answer God’s call to serve as a foreign missioner on a short-term basis.

OTTAWA - The Canadian bishops’ doctrine commission, in a new booklet, is stressing the role of all Catholics in the new evangelization.

VATICAN CITY - Preceded by a procession of flags from the nations of the Americas and the recitation of the rosary in Spanish, Pope Francis and thousands of Catholics from across the Atlantic celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Vatican.

VATICAN CITY - Retired Pope Benedict XVI said dialogue with other religions is no substitute for spreading the Gospel to non-Christian cultures, and warned against relativistic ideas of religious truth as "lethal to faith." He also said the true motivation for missionary work is not to increase the church's size but to share the joy of knowing Christ.