In 2008, Regina Mundi Centre was on the brink of closure. 

LAC STE ANNE COUNTY, Alta. – She finally made it. 

SKARO, Alberta (CNS) -- It's easy to drive by the stone grotto at the Skaro shrine for those who don't know its history.

VATICAN – Pope Francis has named as apostolic visitor to Medjugorje the Polish archbishop he had initially sent to the town as his personal envoy to study the pastoral needs of the townspeople and of the thousands of pilgrims who flock to the site of the alleged Marian apparitions.

VATICAN – "I am on a pilgrimage toward Home," retired Pope Benedict XVI wrote, capitalizing the Italian word "casa" or "home."

OTTAWA – An annual three-day, 100 km walking pilgrimage to Notre-Dame-du-Cap in Quebec Sept. 2-4 was inspired by a similar pilgrimage to from Paris to Chartres, France, says an organizer.

OTTAWA – Despite physical exhaustion, storms, rough waters, food shortages and waking up to slip into wet socks some mornings, Jesuit paddlers said an 850-km canoe pilgrimage fulfilled all their expectations and more.

STE. ANNE-DE-BEAUPRÉ, QUE. - Leonardo DiVittorio approached the statue of St. Anne and laid a wreath of flowers to mark the 95th and final pilgrimage by his group to the Basilica of Ste.-Anne-de-Beaupré.

FATIMA, Portugal – Mary's example of believing and following Jesus is what matters most; she cannot be some image "of our own making" who Christians barter with for mercy, Pope Francis said.

LEIRIA, Portugal – Pope Francis said his two-day pilgrimage to Fatima would be a time of prayer and encounter with Jesus and Mary.

VATICAN CITY – In a video message to the people of Portugal, Pope Francis said he would visit Fatima as a pilgrim of peace and to entrust the world to Mary's immaculate heart.

The way Chris Harshman figured it, if he was going to walk 2,700 kilometres anyway, he might as well help some people along the way.

VATICAN CITY – Sitting in a circle with nine other bishops, discussing with Pope Francis the joys and challenges of ministry, Bishop Claude Champagne of Edmundston, New Brunswick, said, "I recognized the one who wrote 'The Joy of the Gospel.' It was the same guy."

I realize it isn’t everybody’s ticket to dreamland. Indeed, I can think of many for whom it would constitute unmitigated boredom and misery. But if you’ve got some sort of semblance of faith or an interest in early Canadian history or an aesthetic love for religious architecture and art (or a galloping case of all three), then a pilgrimage to the Catholic shrines of Quebec can make for a wonderfully stimulating holiday.

LETNICA, Kosovo – The thousands of pilgrims who flocked to the bright white Church of the Black Madonna this year were hoping to receive the gift of grace that one of its most famous parishioners once experienced.