Holy Week

Montreal Way of the Cross to carry on

Luke Mandato · March 27, 2026

It was on Good Friday in the heart of Old Montreal many years ago when, amid the quiet of faithful footsteps, John Zucchi had an interaction with a young girl he remembers to this day.

Passion plays out at St. Padre Pio Parish

Luke Mandato · March 26, 2026

At St. Padre Pio Parish in Kleinburg, Ont., this year’s We Believe will add a striking new chapter to the parish’s young Passion Play legacy.

In France, record-breaking number of catechumens to be baptized at Easter

More than 20,000 welcomed into Church

Junno Arocho Esteves · March 26, 2026

Over 20,000 catechumens in France are expected to be baptized during the Easter Vigil, marking a 20% increase compared to baptisms in 2025.

Montreal youth embrace Palm Sunday joy

Annual procession shows a surge in faith amongst archdiocese’s young

Luke Mandato · March 25, 2026

On the eve of Palm Sunday, youth from across the Archdiocese of Montreal will turn the city into a living Jerusalem in a five-kilometre procession of song and prayer from St. Joseph’s Oratory to Mary Queen of the World Cathedral to remind us that Holy Week begins with triumphant joy.

Jerusalem patriarchate cancels Palm Sunday procession, postpones chrism Mass amid war

OSV News · March 24, 2026

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said wartime restrictions have forced the cancellation or postponement of key Holy Week observances, urging the faithful to remain united in prayer despite the inability to gather for traditional celebrations.

Christ's light breaks through world's darkness, Pope Francis says in vigil message

Justin McLellan · April 20, 2025

As the lights of St. Peter's Basilica were extinguished and silence settled through the sprawling interior, a single flame -- the paschal candle -- pierced through the gloom, representing the light of the risen Christ which "quietly shines forth, even though we are in darkness," Pope Francis said.

Changing the world demands changing direction, Pope Francis writes for Way of Cross

Carol Glatz · April 19, 2025

Today's "builders of Babel" are constructing a hell on earth, rejecting everyone they decide are "losers," Pope Francis wrote in the meditations for the Way of the Cross.

Love, not power, saves the world, papal preacher says at Good Friday service

Carol Glatz · April 19, 2025

Jesus, who redeemed humanity by giving up his life on the cross, shows that it is not strength that saves the world, but the "weakness" of boundless love, the papal preacher told thousands of people gathered for the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion at the Vatican.

'Why them and not me,' Pope Francis asks after Holy Thursday visit to prison

Cindy Wooden · April 17, 2025

While he did not celebrate Mass or wash the feet of inmates, Pope Francis made his customary Holy Thursday visit to a detention facility, arriving at Rome's Regina Coeli jail at about 3 p.m. April 17.

Be 'heralds of hope,' Pope Francis asks priests in homily for chrism Mass

Cindy Wooden · April 17, 2025

Priests are called to continual conversion so that they can authentically preach the good news of hope, Pope Francis wrote in the homily he prepared for the Holy Thursday chrism Mass.