VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has decided that six dioceses in Canada, previously considered mission territories under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will transition to normal status.

On their 37th day in Canada, the Peters family from Liberia found themselves surrounded by Goans, carrying gifts of bread and wine up to an Irish-Canadian cardinal.

Jan. 12 marks the sixth anniversary of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010. The anniversary always takes me back to time spent in Haiti two years after the earthquake. It was a life- changing experience.

OTTAWA - Catholic oversees aid agencies welcomed news that the federal government has extended the deadline for the Syria Emergency Relief Fund to Feb. 29.

A $21-million shortfall in Catholic fundraising has added another challenge to the task of reconciliation between Canadian churches and Native communities.

AMMAN, Jordan - As a cautious world rang in the New Year with concerns over terrorism and security, Catholics in Canada were continuing to welcome Syrian refugees to their newly adopted homeland.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis erected a new Syro-Malankara eparchy for the United States and Canada. The pope also named Bishop Thomas Eusebios Naickamparambil, who served as the apostolic exarch for Syro-Malankaran Catholics in the United States, as its first bishop.

TORONTO - Despite this summer surpassing its $105-million goal, Toronto Catholics are still encouraged to donate to the archdiocese’s ambitious Family of Faith fundraising campaign.

In 43 recommendations aimed at provincial and federal legislators, the Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group on Physician-Assisted Dying has recommended the widest possible access to assisted suicide and very narrow exceptions for Catholic health professionals and Catholic hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.

Among the first planeload of Syrian refugees to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport around 9 p.m. Dec. 10, at least one family has made it to Canada thanks to Catholic refugee sponsorship.

TORONTO - Canada’s largest shelter for homeless youth has been recognized for having one of the best workplace cultures in the country.

The federal government has rewritten its timeline to bring 25,000 refugees to Canada this year and acknowledges that to resettle them here by the end of February is an enormous challenge.

MONTREAL - Quebec’s right to die legislation has been put on hold.  

A new ethics guide on physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia recommends that family doctors who cannot find ethical common ground with patients who wish to die help those patients find another doctor.

Greg Pennoyer calls it “living in a culture of amnesia.” Canadians may know bits and pieces of their history — the date of Confederation, where Henry Hudson froze to death, how General Wolfe defeated the Marquis de Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham. But we’ve lost the thread of the whole story.