The Son of God came into this world, and good carpenter that he became under Joseph’s training, he gathered together the most rickety and knotty pieces of wood that he could find, and  he built a ship that is still afloat after 2,000 years. That’s from the Scottish Catholic writer Bruce Marshall. Papal household preacher ...read more

It started as a tribute to a Church he loves dearly and now it sustains him as his only means of income. Rocco Palmo is a blogger. And an impassioned one at that. Rocco is the man behind Whispers in the Loggia, arguably the most referenced Catholic blog in the English language. This week Rocco ...read more

Fresh off of yesterday’s festivities, this year’s National March for Life in Ottawa stood out the most, in comparison to past years. With that being said, among all of the people gathered on Parliament Hill yesterday, there was a renewed sense of energy; with lots of optimism, hope and joy. Igniting praise among those who ...read more

New norms were issued today by the Holy See for Catholics who want Mass celebrated in the Tridentine rite, while Amnesty International is criticizing the Vatican on human rights. Catholic News Service’s Rome Bureau Chief John Thavis has the details.   To download Flash Player please click here   ...read more

A few weeks ago I was looking for stats on Canadians’ views on abortion. It’s such a hard topic because pretty much everyone can find the right poll to suit their position on the matter.  For example, there the 2008 Angus Reid poll that shows that half of Canadians want abortion to remain legal. How ...read more

A report from a Vatican-sponsored working group is examining the environmental issues of greenhouse gas emissions, reforestation, air pollution, and global warming. In this week’s Vatican Report, Catholic News Service’s Rome correspondent Cindy Wooden and Rome Bureau Chief John Thavis discuss the Pontifical Science Academy’s findings, and how it relates to what the Church teaches. ...read more

You may have picked up some detective skills from Fr. Michael Prieur in the past two episodes of Panes of Glory. Look closely at this window. Could the dog, at the bottom left, be significant to what is going on? What could be revealing of the conversion taking place in the heart of this soldier? ...read more

I was at an abortion debate recently and even though the pro-life speaker made it really clear that his position had to do with the fact that he believes that an unborn human being is still a human being, a human person and as such, deserves the same rights and freedoms as any other human ...read more

Working at World Youth Day has been an eye-opening experience both in terms of experiencing a new culture, but also being exposed to the richness of the universality of our Church through the different movements that are represented in the WYD organization. Some are new realities, some are just new to me like the Schoenstatt ...read more

May is the month of Mary. That got me thinking about a Marian feast which we celebrate not in May, but in March — the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Those who’ve been to Israel, know that in Nazareth, in the Church of the Annunciation, the place where reportedly the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, in ...read more