FAITH/STORIES

TORONTO - Which is the fast God prefers for a 21st-century Lent? In a media-saturated age, it makes sense to desaturate our souls with a media fast, suggests Salt+Light Radio media correspondent Mark Matthews.

VATICAN CITY - Celebrating what was expected to be the last public liturgy of his pontificate two weeks before his resignation, Pope Benedict XVI preached on the virtues of humility and Christian unity and heard his highest-ranking aide pay tribute to his service to the Church.

A mother’s advice helps keep couple together for seven decades

Ash Wednesday, the Lenten journey begins

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TORONTO - Today, Ash Wednesday, marks the first day of the Lenten season for Christians throughout the Greater Toronto Area and around the world. In Catholic churches in the archdiocese of Toronto, the faithful will gather today to participate in the distribution of ashes — a tradition that has united Christians together in their faith for more than a millennium.

Fast in solidarity with world’s hungry

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‘Live simply so that others may simply live’

Don't worry about being imperfect when called to vocation, Pope says 

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VATICAN CITY - Men and women called to a religious vocation should not worry about being imperfect but should trust in God to transform their lives, said Pope Benedict XVI.

Faith is genuine only if coupled with charity for others, Pope says

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VATICAN CITY - Faith and charity can never be separated nor opposed to each other, just as faith by itself isn't genuine without charity, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Priests offer tips for Catholics long absent from the confessional

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WASHINGTON - After "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned" -- even if they get that far -- there are millions of Catholics who don't exactly know what to say next.

Why not women priests? The papal theologian explains

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In October, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dismissed Roy Bourgeois from the priesthood because of his participation in the invalid ordination of a woman.

Lack of faith can hurt marriage, may affect validity, Pope says

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VATICAN CITY - A lack of faith in God can damage marriage, even to the point of affecting its validity, Pope Benedict XVI said.

Pope marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, calls for end to hatred

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VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI said the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day calls humanity to work to overcome all forms of hatred and racism and to respect the dignity of each human person.

Three bishops share faith, stories on Saskatchewan roots

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WINNIPEG - Three bishops walked into a bar... and there, before an enthusiastic crowd of youth and young adult ministers, they shared their stories of how they came to have the faith that they have today.

Politics without God bound to fail

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ROME - Politicians who act as if God did not exist and as if there was no such thing as objective moral truths are bound to fail in their efforts to promote the common good, said the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“The politics we have today in Europe and North America without ethical foundations, without a reference to God, cannot resolve our problems, even those of the market and money,” said Archbishop Gerhard Muller.

Speaking Jan. 11 at a Vatican bookstore in downtown Rome, Muller said, “Faith and reason are like two people who love each other deeply, who cannot live without each other, and who were intimately made for one another, so much so that they cannot be considered separate from one another and cannot reach their goals separately.”