Synod’s challenge
Pope Francis has energized debate about the threat to the planet’s natural environment. But now he faces an even greater challenge — mobilizing Catholics and society in general to tackle the man-made threat to the bedrock of our social environment, the family.
African bishops fired up in defense of marriage
The Synod on the Family begins Oct. 4 and promises to be a rather unpleasant few weeks in the life of the Church.
Authentic message
Pope Francis arrived as a first-time visitor to the United States but by the day his Fiat was heading back to the airport the guest from the Vatican had drawn a roadmap to show his hosts the way.
Restless hearts and the thrill of the chase
For weekends on end now in the tiny western Cape Breton seaside community of Inverness, more and more people have been seeking a bonanza of easy money by chasing the ace.
People before politics
To be a Christian in Cuba means being subjected to state surveillance, discrimination, harassment and sometimes arrest. It also means being a casualty of the punishing U.S. trade embargo that inflicts unjust suffering on all Cubans.
World hungers for ‘rock star’ Pope’s leadership
Pope Francis’ trip to the United States next week, including speeches to Congress and the United Nations General Assembly, will almost certainly put a spotlight on how the leader of the Catholic Church proposes to solve the global problems challenging human security in the world today.
Stamp of mercy
In 1741 Pope Benedict XIV was concerned that some bishops were dissolving marriages too freely so he established stringent protocols to govern annulments. Those canon laws remained virtually unchanged through 18 papacies until now, 274 years later, when they are being rewritten by a Pope who is affixing his stamp of mercy on a process that is often long, expensive and painful.
Eyes wide open
Pictures of a dead three-year-old Syrian child washed ashore in Turkey made the world weep, but will little Alan Kurdi’s lifeless body move world populations and their governments to act?
Compassion first
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has boldly urged the European Union to respond immediately and compassionately to the region’s largest refugee crisis since the Second World War.
It would do us well to ‘look higher’
Conservation International has sponsored a series of videos that have become YouTube sensations. They feature famous actors — Harrison Ford, Kevin Spacey, Robert Redford and others — voicing different aspects of the natural world, from the ocean, to the rain forest, to redwood trees. The most striking is the one that presents Mother Nature herself, given voice by Julia Roberts.
Appalling silence
Ontario and several other provinces are following the federal government’s lead in assembling “expert” panels to research and make recommendations during a mad dash to transform Canada into a nation that permits doctors to kill selected patients or help these patients kill themselves.