News/Canada

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pledged continued support for religious freedom, promising $9 million to help persecuted religious minorities.

OTTAWA - One year after the Islamic State’s invasion of Iraq forced more than 120,000 Iraqi Christians to flee ancient homelands with little except their clothes, most continue to live in poverty and chaos.

OTTAWA - To win the world for Jesus Christ, Christians must overcome divisions among themselves, Franciscan Father Dmitri Sala told the Fire and Fusion Conference here Aug. 6.

Whether motivated by Canadian garbage, Canadian mines or devastating typhoons linked to global warming, Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical has emboldened the fight in the Philippines for environmental justice, said an advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has established an apostolic exarchate, the precursor to a diocese, for Syro-Malabar Catholics in Canada and has named their current Toronto-based chaplain, Fr. Jose Kalluvelil, a bishop and head of the exarchate.

Pope Francis is asking for prayers and hoping for miracles ahead of this October’s Synod on the Family.

TORONTO - Fr. Augusto Menichelli was saying Mass at Toronto’s St. Charles Church last year when he noticed two new faces in the pews. Later, the two men introduced themselves and set Menichelli’s life on a new course.

The Canadian Catholic Organizations for Development and Peace will model its statement of principles on the “CRS Guiding Principles” developed by the American Catholic aid agency Catholic Relief Services.

TORONTO - Canada's largest homeless youth agency is calling on Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to adopt a broader, more co-ordinated approach to combat the scourge of sex trafficking.

Although a national poll showed Canada appears divided on the value of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Catholic Church leaders said a positive impact has already been felt among native communities.