This morning at 11:30 in the Clementine Hall in the Vatican, Pope Francis delivered the following address to participants in the special meeting convened by the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” and the Pontifical council for Latin America, marking the fifth anniversary of the Haitian earthquake. The theme of the meeting that took place yesterday and ...read more

Point of View: Interpreting the Francis Effect is a S+L series that goes deeper into the important questions surrounding the person and pontificate of Pope Francis.  The series consists of a selection of the full interviews from S+L’s original documentary The Francis Effect. This week: Alison Smith Alison Smith is a renowned and highly respected ...read more

“How I want a poor church; a poor church for the poor” – these were the words that Pope Francis used at the start of his pontificate to make clear his plans for the church. His decision to visit Sri Lanka and the Philippines is confirmation of his view of the church. Beginning January 13, ...read more

In the past week, I’ve been trying to imagine what our world would be like had Jesus never been born. (Check out part 1 and part 2) It’s easy to say that The Church would not exist or that we would have no Pope. There would be no priests, deacons, religious sisters or brothers, nor ...read more

Pope Francis announces twenty new Cardinals during Sunday Angelus – January 4, 2015 At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis announced the names of fifteen Archbishops and Bishops whom he will raise to the dignity of the Cardinalate on February 14, 2015. In addition, the Holy Father announced that five retired Archbishops and Bishops “distinguished ...read more

Last time, I was imagining a world without Christmas. That would mean no Christmas music and no Christmas movies.  But a world without Jesus would mean much more to our popular culture. After watching the screen adaptation of Les Miserables two years ago,  I couldn’t help but thinking that this novel would be very different had Jesus not ...read more

In his Angelus address on the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God – which is also observed as World Day of Peace – Pope Francis called on us “to fix our gaze of faith and of love on the Mother of Jesus.” Below, please find the complete text of Pope Francis’ address at the ...read more

On January 1, the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, Pope Francis celebrated Solemn Mass in the Basilica of Saint Peter. Below, please find the complete text of the Pope’s homily for the Mass: Today we are reminded of the words of blessing which Elizabeth spoke to the Virgin Mary: “Blessed are you among ...read more

While I dislike having to listen to Christmas music as early as November 25th, I do like that once a year radio stations all over don’t seem to have a problem playing music that mentions the name of Jesus or that glorifies God. This year, listening to Christmas music early in December I found myself ...read more

In 2007 I was a fresh-faced reporter at a diocesan newspaper. My editor assigned me to write a piece on the history of the nativity scene. I tracked down a priest and professor of church history and set off interview him about the history of the nativity scene. I did not do a Google search ...read more