In less than a month Pope Benedict XVI will be landing in Great Britain. Today the Vatican released the official schedule for the trip. It won’t be the first Papal Visit to the UK; Pope John Paul II visited the UK in 1982, but his visit was strictly pastoral. Pope Benedict’s visit will be pastoral, ...read more

Thirty one thousand decades of the Rosary and one hundred and thirty days of Eucharistic adoration. That’s the amount of prayer that benefactors of the charity Aid to the Church in Need have pledged to Pope Benedict XVI. For those of you keeping count, that prayer total works out to more than six months of ...read more

Castel Gandolfo was busy yesterday as Pope Benedict XVI marked the solemnity of the Assumption. First there was the celebration of Mass at the Church of St. Thomas, located just across from the summer Papal residence.  Later in the day, the Holy Father welcomed the faithful to Castel Gandolfo for his Angelus address. Of course, ...read more

Today he is 165 years old.  If he were still alive, that is. Even before he died in 1937, people all over the world regarded him as a saint.  About two months from now, on October 17th, Brother André Bessette CSC will be the first Canadian-born male to be officially named a saint by the ...read more

Many of us are vaguely familiar with how things went for little St. Maria Goretti, but we often overlook the smaller points that make this story a particularly inspiring one. We know that she was a poor, pious farm girl. We know that only days before her 11th birthday, on July 6th 1902, Maria was ...read more

Cor ad Cor Loquitur – Heart Speaks unto Heart. That was announced last week as the motto for Pope Benedict XVI’s September visit to the UK. The phrase is an appropriate one — it’s the motto on the coat of arms of Cardinal John Henry Newman. The Holy Father will beatify Cardinal Newman on the ...read more

Fifteen thousand priests, 350 bishops and 80 cardinals joined Pope Benedict today in celebrating the closing Mass of the Year for Priests. It’s the largest concelebration ever held at the Vatican. The Holy Father did not shy away from addressing the clerical sexual abuse scandal in his homily.  He brought it up early explaining that ...read more

Pope Benedict led priests in a consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The consecration occurred at the end of the concluding Mass for the Year for Priests, while the Holy Father knelt before an icon of our Blessed Mother. See the consecration below: CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Immaculate ...read more

Today in his farewell address at Larnaca airport in Cyprus, the Holy Father made direct reference to the political unrest in Cyprus saying that his accommodations at the Apostolic Nunciature, which is located in the United Nations buffer zone, provided a vantage point from which he witnessed Cyprus’ pronounced division first-hand. “Having stayed these past ...read more

While most of us here in Toronto were still tucked in our beds, Pope Benedict XVI’s schedule for his second day in Cyprus had already kicked into high gear and thus the day for the S+L Cyprus crew began at 2:30 am ET. The Holy Father’s itinerary and the groups with whom he will be ...read more