BLOG: Alicia Ambrosio
Here’s what’s happening across Canada this week: In Brampton, Ontario a Ukranian Catholic Church that was built with the help of parishioners, burned to the ground over the weekend. In Winnipeg, the director of the archdiocesan refugee sponsorship program says the Canadian government is abandoning Afghan refugees in an increasingly tense Russia. In Vancouver, Catholic ...read more
This week we have details on Pope Francis’ Holy Week schedule and his Holy Week schedule. Venezuela has officially asked the Vatican for help in talks between government and opposition leaders, and we look at one holy site in Rome that is being restored for the first time since the 15th century. *** In a ...read more
Here are some of the stories happening this week in Canada: In Vancouver, a Sister of Notre Dame will receive an honorary doctorate for her work in interfaith relations and ecumenism In Calgary, nine months after the floods in that city members of the Siska Nation are still displaced. Bishop Henry and the Diocese of ...read more
This week Pope Francis recognized as saints three people who can essentially be credited for founding the Church on the American continent: Francois de Laval, Marie of the Incarnation, and Jose de Anchieta. Francois de Laval was a French missionary who became the first Bishop of New France and laid the foundations for what is ...read more
Here are this week’s stories from across the country: In Montreal, one Jesuit-run school is fighting for the right to teach Quebec’s mandatory “ethics and religious culture” course, Jesuit-style. In Toronto, the family health department at St. Michael’s Hospital takes on the health gap between high and low income patients. Christians in Saskatoon are working ...read more
For most North American Vatican-watchers, this week was supposed to be about the first meeting between Pope Francis and President Barack Obama. Once again, Pope Francis diverted people’s attention and forced a substitution of headlines. The Diocese of Rome hosted a Penitential Service on Friday evening, during which Pope Francis was scheduled to hear confessions ...read more
Perhaps you saw the epic mini-series “The Bible” when it aired on the History Channel. After their success with the mini series, producers Roma Downey (Touched by and Angel) and Mark Burnett decided to go further and bring the life of Jesus to the big screen. Following in the footsteps of Franco Zefferelli’s “Jesus of ...read more
  The Vatican, the Anglican Communion, the Al Azhar Mosque and the Walk Free Foundation have joined forces to eliminate slavery and human trafficking by the end of the decade. The four parties launched the Global Freedom Network this week at the Vatican. The network aims to get 162 governments commit to endorse it and ...read more
In light of Pope Francis’ statement to the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, about having to analyze civil unions on a case by case basis, the Catholic Register looks at what happens when a Catholic marries and Atheist.In Saskatoon, highschool students are giving Ugandan orphans a chance to play. In Edmonton, Glen Argan looks at ...read more
One year after (perhaps) the most watched interregnum and conclave in recent history, the church finds herself changed. Most would say changed for the better. This change has also established new bridges between the church and the wider world. The catalyst for that change was a 76 year old man who had already picked out ...read more