This blog post is part of a 6-part series on World Youth Day. Read them all: Deacon-structing WYD: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 Often, when I speak to young people, I’ll start by asking where they are from: Is there anyone here from Ottawa or Quebec? How about ...read more

Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter Laudato Sì: Reflecting One Year Later In May 2006, former US Vice President Al Gore released the groundbreaking documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” While climate change debate has continued ever since, while concrete solutions seem to drip slower than maple sap in March. The question remains: are we willing to deal with this ...read more

It’s “Laudato si’ Week”, an anniversary movement to celebrate and implement the landmark encyclical of Pope Francis on care for our common home. As the website indicates, this week is about reflection and action; it’s about bringing the rich teachings of the document to life in our communities.  Last week I heard a wonderful story ...read more

Subject Matters: “Promise and Challenge: Catholic Women Reflect on Feminism, Complementarity, and the Church” Mary Hasson, editor Sunday, June 19 at 8:30pmET / 5:30pm PT This Sunday’s all-new episode of Subject Matters features Mary Hasson of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.  She’s the editor of this compilation of essays responding to Pope ...read more

This third episode of Door of Mercy brings you to Krakow, the former capital of Poland. The Archdiocese of Krakow has 11 jubilee churches with Doors of Mercy, and the video will introduce the first 6 of them. ...read more

Reflecting on the Fifth Chapter of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation on Love in the Family “You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, ...read more

The terrible massacre that has taken place in Orlando, with its dreadfully high number of innocent victims, has caused in Pope Francis, and in all of us, the deepest feelings of horror and condemnation, of pain and turmoil before this new manifestation of homicidal folly and senseless hatred. Pope Francis joins the families of the ...read more

At 10:30 am on Sunday, June 12, 2016, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St Peter’s Square on the occasion of the Jubilee of the sick and disabled people. The Scripture readings were proclaimed by persons with different disabilities and translated in the language of international signs. Pope Francis decried the pursuit for perfect bodies, saying ...read more

By the express wish of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published a new Decree on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, 3 June 2016, in which the celebration of Saint Mary Magdalene was elevated and inscribed in the General Roman Calendar with the rank ...read more

The significance of today’s announcement from the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments decrees that the liturgical memory of Mary Magdalene becomes a feast, like that of the other apostles. In the Mass and in the Divine Office to be celebrated on July 22, Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the ...read more