In 1986 Pope John Paul II became the first Pope to visit the Great Synagogue of Rome. Nearly 24 years later Pope Benedict XVI follows in his predecessor’s footsteps visiting Rome’s synagogue and meeting with leaders of Rome’s Jewish community and the Chief Rabbi of Italy. The Holy Father will also visit the Jewish Museum ...read more

“Once in a while, the Lord takes delight in throwing a curve ball at us.” This is how newly-consecrated Bishop Vincent Nguyen began his final remarks in Toronto’s St. Michael’s Cathedral. It was an apt description of the 43-year-old’s rapid rise as Canada’s youngest bishop, but it also characterizes his family’s dramatic upheaval in Communist ...read more

The whole world has its eyes, once again, on Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas. The courage of the Haitian people has again been tested. As all of you already know, last Tuesday, an earthquake, registering at magnitude seven, hit the island nation – the most violent earthquake to hit the country in 100 ...read more

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and Development and Peace are launching an emergency appeal to support humanitarian aid relief in Haiti. CCCB President Bishop Pierre Morissette noted in a letter released on Wednesday, that Pope Benedict made an appeal at his General Audience for the international community to be generous in assisting the suffering ...read more

Mary Rose Bacani and Pedro Guevara Mann were present at the Liturgy of the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop William McGrattan Tuesday. They represented Salt + Light Television in bringing up the mitre during the Liturgy at St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica in London, Ontario. Here is Mary Rose’s account of the emotions of the evening. There ...read more

Obtenir le lecteur Flash pour voir cette vidéo. Twenty-six years ago, Vincent Nguyen was a boy dreaming of freedom and a chance to become a priest when he and 19 relatives piled into a wooden fishing boat and prayed they would evade Vietnam’s coastal patrol and slip out to sea. So began The Globe and ...read more

Picture the activity right now at St. Peter’s Cathedral in London, Ontario: hundreds of bishops, priests, deacons and altar servers pray as they don their vestments, eager ticket-holders arrive to claim their pews, and one man prepares to assume the office of bishop. Momentarily, Fr. William McGrattan will process towards his ordination as the fourth ...read more

Obtenir le lecteur Flash pour voir cette vidéo. This Tuesday and Wednesday, Salt + Light Television brings you Canada’s first-ever live webcasts of episcopal ordinations. (Correction: This is an English-language first in Canada–our friends at ECDQ.tv streamed the ordination of Quebec City Auxiliary Bishops Paul Lortie and Gérald Cyprien Lacroix in May.) We begin at ...read more

Yesterday was the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, one more event in what Pope Benedict XVI calls “the manifestation cycle.” To celebrate the feast Pope Benedict celebrated a very special Mass. Unlike the other Masses he presides over, this one was held in the magnificent Sistine Chapel and there were 14 very important ...read more

Just before Christmas a British record label released a CD called Alma Mater. The CD features clips of Pope Benedict himself speaking at various events. Those clips of Pope Benedict were woven into beautiful pieces of Gregorian chant, sung by the Philharmonic Academy of Rome, accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. No small task considering ...read more