NEWS

This year Christians around the world are being asked to learn about unity from India.

VANCOUVER - Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Msgr. Stephen Jensen, vicar general of the archdiocese of Vancouver for more than four years, as the new bishop of Prince George in northern British Columbia.

TORONTO - Toronto’s city council chamber is famous and infamous for political battles, bitter oration, deals struck and deals undone. On Jan. 24 something will happen at Toronto City Hall that’s never happened before.

In Sudbury, Ont., unions, family groups and the business community are gearing up for a fight over expanded shopping hours.

TORONTO - A dirty, little cloth rolled up in a ball of dirt off in a corner winked at Helen Smith and her daughter four years ago. It had a secret to tell — the secret of Canada’s counter reformation history.

OTTAWA - Religious and other groups are rallying opposition to Bill C-279 that would add gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds for discrimination.

OTTAWA - Victoria Island where Chief Theresa Spence has been holding a nearly month-long hunger strike to demand a meeting with the Prime Minister and Governor General to discuss First Nations’ issues has become a pilgrimage site for supporters from across North America.

JERUSALEM - Bishops who traveled to the Holy Land to assess the local church's needs noted the "profound anxiety" that the "dark and dramatic events" of the past year have caused in the region.

OTTAWA - The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops wants something substantial to come out of the Jan. 11 meeting between the government and indigenous leaders.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI named the priest in charge of co-ordinating his papal visit to Lebanon to head the Maronite Catholic community in Canada.