Arts

Pier Giorgio di Cicco and the story of a life

Fr. Pier Giorgio Di Cicco immediately seizes the reader’s attention with his strong personal voice, the connecting feature of his new poetry collection Mystic Playground.

DiCaprio gets a papal audience ahead of Oscars

VATICAN CITY - Possibly hoping for divine intervention ahead of next month’s Academy Awards, Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio met with fellow environmentalist Pope Francis.

The Revenant and higher justice

Alejandro Iñárritu’s new film The Revenant is one of the most talked about movies, and for good reason. The opening 20 minutes, which feature a frighteningly realistic Indian attack and a horrifically vivid mauling by a grizzly bear, are absolutely compelling viewing. And the remainder of the film is so involving that this viewer at least felt physically sick as he followed the sufferings of the main character.

New docu-series brings Laudato Si’ teachings to life

Five years to produce six half-hour television shows sounds like an extremely generous timeline, but God is an extremely generous executive producer in Deacon Pedro Guevara Mann’s eyes.

Cardinal among faith leaders to pay respects to David Bowie

The legendary musician and showman David Bowie was as mutable and enigmatic about his religious views as he was about his music, art and gender-bending fashion choices.

Church's credibility found in showing mercy, Pope says in new book

VATICAN CITY - Being ministers of God's mercy, church members overcome "prejudice and rigidity," taking risks like Jesus did in order to heal and to save, Pope Francis said.

A masked warrior of God

Move over Batman and Daredevil. Here comes the Masked Saint.

Wanted: church home for the Divine Mercy

TORONTO - Roger McCrorie is searching for the perfect home to hang his treasured Josyp Terelya rendition of the Divine Mercy.

Award-winning author inspires Catholic students

Caroline Pignat was teaching her Grade 12 writer’s craft class, doing the daily morning prompt and getting ready to start a new unit on script writing. It was like any other morning.

Nuns among the nudes at Montreal art exhibit

MONTREAL - Two paintings of Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Basilica bathed in the amber glow of a late winter afternoon serve as something of a muted introduction to the Colours of Jazz, a dynamic exhibition of artwork turning heads in Montreal.

Pixar’s ‘Sanjay’s Super Team’ takes a gamble on Hindu theme

Pixar, the computer animation studio beloved for its kid-friendly fare such as “Finding Nemo” and “Inside Out,” is not known for taking on religious themes.

Out of the Cold: A history of caring

Editor’s note: Launched almost 30 years ago as a project at Toronto’s St. Michael’s College School, the Out of the Cold program is a remarkable story of Christian outreach that last winter provided food and shelter to more than 12,000 homeless men and women. That success is celebrated in a just-released book by Catholic Register associate editor Michael Swan. In this excerpt from Out of the Cold: A history of caring, Swan recounts how the program found a home in one downtown Toronto church.

Film puts Boston clergy abuse crisis in Spotlight

The clergy abuse-themed drama Spotlight is a movie no Catholic will want to see. Whether it’s a film many mature Catholics ought to see is a different question entirely.