Since his death on August 4th 1859, and especially following his canonization in 1925, St. John Vianney has been recognized as a person of outstanding virtue and priestly holiness. In recent years, however, the popularity of this saint has grown, thanks largely to the recent Year for Priests (June 2009 to June 2010). In his ...read more

It is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many forms of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of ...read more

Here is the official English translation of the Holy Father’s homily during Mass on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. During the celebration the Pope conferred the pallium on new Metropolitan Archbishops, including Archbishop Christian Lépine of Montreal, Archbishop Luc Cyr of Sherbrooke, Archbishop Paul-André Durocher of Gatineau and Archbishop Valéry Vienneau of Moncton ...read more

Published below is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis that Benedict XVI gave June 27 during his general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall. Pope Benedict continued his catecheses on prayer by reflecting on the Christological hymn contained in St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Dear brothers and sisters, Our prayer is made up, ...read more

Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis that Pope Benedict gave on Wednesday during the general audience. Pope Benedict’s General Audience will air at 2:30 pm ET on our network today. As always, you can live stream this week’s General Audience or any of our programming 24/7 on your computer. Dear brothers and sisters, ...read more

Following the Closing Mass of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress, S+L’s Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB spoke with Fr. Patrick Jones, the director of the National Centre for Liturgy in Ireland. Fr. Jones shared his thoughts on the Pope’s video message, which reflected upon active participation in the liturgy. As always, be sure to log on ...read more

For the full copy of Pope Benedict’s message to the 2012 IEC, visit our special S+L IEC 2012 webpage. In his message, he willingly imparts his apostolic blessing on those gathered in Dublin for this year’s IEC. He also announced the host city for the 2016 International Eucharistic Congress. Dear Brothers and Sisters, With great ...read more

It has long been suspected that Pope Benedict XVI is a soccer fan. Last week in Milan for the World Meeting of Families he received two soccer jerseys, one from each of the Milanese teams. Today, as the EuroCup soccer tournament kicks off in Poland, Pope Benedict sent a message to the president of the ...read more

Our intrepid reporters, Marie and Andre Brunet of Winnipeg, bring us another look at what’s going on in Milan during the VII World Meeting of Families. Milan, Italy –  We are writing this from the Piazza del Duomo (the Milan Cathedral Square), where we await with large crowds and great anticipation the arrival of the ...read more

The following is the unofficial translation of Pope Benedict XVI’s talk to the men and women religious of the Archdiocese of Milan during his visit to the city for the VII World Meeting of Families. We have gathered in prayer, answering the invitation of the Ambrosian hymn for the Third Hour: “It is the third ...read more