On Thursday while Americans feast on turkey on Thanksgiving Day, Pope Francis prepares for his three-day Apostolic Journey to Turkey for another kind of feast: of ecumenical relations, interreligious dialogue and peace. Breaking another record for papal trips, Pope Francis on Friday sets off on his second international journey this week alone, travelling to the ...read more

The man who designed the European Union flag, Arsène Heitz, was inspired by scripture and the image of Mary on the Miraculous Medal. While he never hid the fact that the flag he designed is “Our Lady’s flag”, the European Union itself has offered different explanations for the evocative design. The flag, and the EU ...read more

I am a sister of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame (CND). On April 1, 2013, I left Japan on a one-year assignment to be a member of the International Community located in the Mother House in Montreal. First, let me briefly introduce the history of the CND in Japan. It was in 1932 that five French ...read more

If there is anything that we learn from reading Scripture is that God calls people. Consistently, every story in the bible, involves a call: Abraham, Moses, Noah, Gideon, Jonah, Samuel, Ruth, Esther, Mary, Paul. Everyone gets called. God may not ‘call’ us the way He called Moses or St. Paul, or the specific way that ...read more

Even though Michelangelo never intended you to see his drawings the Art Galley of Ontario's latest exhibit, Michelangelo: Quest for Genius which features 30 rare drawings on loan from the Casa Buonarroti, offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness genius at work. ...read more

Early on November 20, 2014, Pope Francis traveled to the headquarters of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome and delivered the following address to the Second International Conference on Nutrition. Full text below: Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased and honoured to speak here today, at this Second International Conference on ...read more

On November 23, 2014, the Feast of Christ the King, Pope Francis will canonize six blesseds and inscribe them in the roll call of Saints. These blesseds consist of two Indians and four Italians, including one layman and one bishop. The blesseds who are to be canonized on Sunday are: Kuriakose Elias Chavara: A priest and the ...read more

Below you find the full text of Archbishop Blase Cupich’s homily during the Installation Mass as Archbishop of Chicago: Bienvenido, Witam, Mabuhay, Dobro dosli, Welcome I am delighted and honoured to be your archbishop. So many of you in this cathedral today have come – from near and so very far – friends and family, ...read more

Below you will find Archbishop Blase Cupich’s homily in Holy Name Cathedral at Monday evening’s prayer service on the vigil of his installation as the Ninth Archbishop of Chicago: The Windy City’s ablaze with gratitude & hope Chicago welcomes Archbishop Blase Cupich at Prayer Vigil It is only polite to begin with an expression of ...read more

Below you will find the English language translation of the Holy Father’s address in Italian, delivered this morning at the Colloquium on the complementarity of Man and Woman at the Vatican. Dear sisters and brothers, I warmly greet you. I thank Cardinal Muller for his words with which he introduced our meeting. I would like ...read more