This Wednesday, September 19 at St. Paul’s University, S+L presents the Ottawa premiere of its latest documentary Across the Divide. The film takes viewers to Bethlehem University, depicting the struggles of the students, as well as the religious brothers who administer the only Catholic university in the Holy Land. Following the screening, there will be ...read more

Today the Pope landed in Lebanon to release his highly-anticipated message about the Christians of the Middle East. Why are the Christians struggling? And how can the Pope help them? On Catholic Focus, we interview the Patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church and an Armenian Orthodox peace activist. We ask them what they expect the ...read more

“Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a despot whose shooting and shelling of his own people cannot be defended,” wrote the Catholic Register in an editorial earlier this year, “yet he may be the last line of defence for Syria’s Catholics.” The editorial captures the paradox of a country where, despite an escalating civilian death toll, ...read more

In a continuing series of his events in Lebanon today, Pope Benedict visited St. Paul’s Melkite Greek Basilica in Harissa and signed the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente. This stems from a special Synod of Bishops in the Middle East that took place at the Vatican in 2010. Below is a copy of ...read more

After many preparations ahead of Pope Benedict’s trip to Lebanon, he has finally arrived. Today marks the beginning of his three-day pastoral visit to Lebanon. Below, you will find a copy of his speech that he delivered, upon arrival at Beirut’s Rafiq Hariri International Airport. Mr President, It is my honour to accept your invitation, ...read more

Below you will find an English translation of the address Pope Benedict gave this past Wednesday inside the Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican. In his catechesis, Pope Benedict continued his reflection on prayer, using the book of Revelation. Dear brothers and sisters, Last Wednesday I spoke about prayer in the first part of ...read more

In Jesus’ time, his message spread by word of mouth from one village to another. Today, Jesus’ message is one among thousands. How do we get our story out there in the age of twitter and blogs? The Association of Roman Catholic Communicators tries to answer this question, bringing together Catholic communicators to share resources ...read more

As Catholics, there are countries we always think of as places where the missionaries go to take the good news to those who don’t know Christ. But can those countries evangelize the world? Looking at countries like India, where Catholics represent less than 4% of the population, there are movements like Jesus Youth that are ...read more

If you’ve outlawed religion and politics when dining with the in-laws, then you should avoid bringing up the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at your Labour Day BBQ. This volatile mixture of policy and prophecy will singe everyone on the patio, and becomes even more combustible with a little alcohol. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a ...read more

In July 2012, an unprecedented event happened in Shanghai, China. Bishop Ma Daqin, was ordained an auxiliary bishop with papal approval. Upon his ordination he denounced his membership with China’s Patriotic Association (a government agency which controls the Catholic Church in China) in front of the government officials. His courageous declaration received praise inside and ...read more