They call it the Summer of Sorrow.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when Pope Francis welcomes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a papal audience in coming days.

The flag was unremarkable. It had red-and-white lettering on a grey background and read simply: National March for Life Ottawa.

Canada Summer Jobs is a worthy federal program that subsidizes employment for thousands of high school and university students. Ottawa trumpets that “all small business, not-for-profit organizations and public-sector employers are encouraged to apply for funding” and hire summer students.

Bravo for Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, who has emerged as a white knight for Catholic education.

Just 19 days after two Palm Sunday terrorist bombings killed more than 45 Christian worshippers and injured a hundred more in Egypt, Pope Francis will personally take a message of peace and solidarity to that volatile nation.

The legalization of recreational marijuana elicits the usual snickers about pot and the people who use it. But it’s no laughing matter.

We may be powerless to save Egyptian Christians from terrorist bombings, Syrian civilians from poison-gas attacks or to silence the guns in Africa’s many war zones, but Easter reminds us to never despair from walking as disciples of hope and peace.

As civilian deaths mount in Mosul and as Pope Francis appeals to combatants to spare innocent lives in the “beloved Iraqi nation,” a small ray of hope has emerged not 85 km away in the city of Irbil.

The pledge was buried deep within the federal budget and delivered almost as an afterthought. Still, it is encouraging to see the Liberals keeping a 2015 election promise on palliative care.