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VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis said he was dismayed by Catholic communities and groups that claim to be working to improve church life, but attempt to do so without prayer, the Eucharist and unity with the rest of the church.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican confirmed that a bishop recently ordained in China is in full communion with the pope and that more Vatican-approved nominations would be coming.

The second wave of COVID-19 has hit many Canadian Catholics where it hurts most — the shutting down of public Masses. Churches from coast to coast are feeling the impact, with the suspension of public Masses in and around Canada’s most populous city, Toronto, as well as those in Halifax, N.S., and the provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba.

A bill that would define how palliative care should be delivered in Ontario is a great first step, but Cardinal Thomas Collins and a parade of palliative care experts who came to testify on the Compassionate Care Act, Bill 3, were insistent they want more.

GUATEMALA CITY -- Guatemala's bishops urged the country's president to veto the budget, but also called for calm as some protesters set the country's Congress on fire.

Canada’s Jesuit provincial superior Fr. Erik Oland has asked the Canadian government to intervene in the case of Fr. Stan Swamy, an 83-year-old Jesuit priest with Parkinson’s imprisoned in an Indian prison where he faces bizarre and vague charges under a new national security law.

Getting ready for Christmas in the middle of a pandemic will certainly be different.

First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 29 (Year B) Isaiah 63:16b-17; 64:1, 3-8; Psalm 80; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37

Who has not wished at one time or another that God would make an appearance? This would solve definitively so many problems: whether God exists; what God is like; why there is injustice and suffering in the world; and who is “right.” God could also remake the world and put everything the way it should be.

Rosa Parks, a poor, humble black woman, sparked the civil rights movement when she refused to relinquish her seat on a bus to a white person in Birmingham, Ala., in 1955. Moses, another introvert, was led by God to go to the Egyptian pharaoh and seek his people’s freedom. Lech Walesa, an electrician, organized illegal protests in the Gdansk, Poland, shipyard throughout the 1970s. He was arrested numerous times, fired from several jobs and placed under constant surveillance. His efforts bore fruit in the Solidarity trade union which led to the collapse of Eastern European communism.

For Development and Peace and the entire global Caritas network, it’s time to get political, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle told a Zoom meeting of dozens of Caritas officials around the world Nov. 12.