The final days of World Youth Day Rio were an exercise is letting God surprise us all. Days of rain made the field at Guaratiba unusable and the final events were moved to Copacabana Beach. Cariocas (residents of Rio) are used to having parties on the beach. They have two giant parties there every year: ...read more

Returning home after World Youth Day Rio 2013 there were several things I didn’t miss: the long walk from our accommodations to the media centre because traffic was closed, the language barrier, and the weather that fluctuated between hot beach weather, and damp, winter rain. One thing I discovered I really do miss the incredible ...read more

During his time in the Vatican assisting the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Thomas Rosica got a chance to meet the new director of the Vatican Television Centre, Msgr. Dario Viganò. This past week Msgr. Viganò was in Toronto and came to spend a day at Salt and Light’s studio. We took full advantage and ...read more

In 2012 about 14 million refugees and 28.8 million internally displaced migrant were registered in the world. This week theVatican issued guidelines to for the pastoral care of Migrants and Refugees. The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People released the document with guidelines for the providing pastoral care to ...read more

Today on Perspectives: The Church remembers John XXIII on the 50th anniversary of his death. Pope Francis celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi with an hour of adoration that was syncronized with hundreds of parishes around the world. He also closed off the month of Mary with a rosary at St. Peter’s Square and a ...read more

The topic getting ink in Rome this week involved some leaked information but it had nothing to do with private documents, no stealing, no accusations. In fact, the person who leaked the information probably did not realize they were releasing previously undisclosed information. The “mole” was the Bishop Luigi Martella of Molfetta, Italy. While on ...read more

This week on Vatican Connections the Holy See says Pope Francis did not perform an exorcism after Pentecost Mass on May 19. The first of the new curial appointments are made, and our Roman Profile looks at the way past popes have left their mark on the Roman cityscape. ...read more

This photo was taken during Wednesday’s General Audience at St. Peter’s Square. The unidentified toddler has captured worldwide media attention. Some captions from various publications include: “He seems decided about his future” “Popemobile driver in-training” “A future Roman Pontiff?” — Photo Courtesy of CNS ...read more

In the previous installment of this series on obscure Marian devotions, we met Father Jakob Rem, a German Jesuit who had a hand in the devotion to Mary Untier of Knots. It turns out Fr. Rem had a deep devotion to Mary and wanted to promote devotion to Mary as a way of renewing the ...read more

There were three popes in Vatican City on Friday May 10, 2013: Pope Francis, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Tawadros II. The latter is the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the largest Christian church in the Middle East. Pope Tawadros was making his first trip outside Egypt since he was enthroned in November ...read more