Today is the 87th World Mission Sunday. After the Angelus, Pope Francis addressed the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s square with these words: Dear brothers and sisters, Today is World Mission Day. What is the mission of the Church? To spread throughout the world the flame of faith that Jesus has lighted in the world: ...read more

What does it mean to be a missionary today? As we approach the end of the Year of Faith, we can say that to be a missionary is at the heart of the new evangelization, especially when we have a pope that is inviting us to go out to the peripheries! Today, as we celebrate ...read more

In a week when the media was focusing on bishops with lavish spending habits, and funeral rites for Nazi war criminals, Pope Francis was drawing people back to what matters: prayer. Pope Francis put prayer front and centre this week any chance he could get. On Thursday the official papal tweet read: “Our prayer cannot ...read more

  This post was contributed by Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, Secretary General of the Canadian Council of Churches.    As I write this blog on the 2014 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in full awareness of it’s theme “Is Christ Divided?”, it is Thanksgiving Monday, a time when so many of us focus on ...read more

Below is the full text of Pope Francis homily for Marian Day. The celebration was organized as part of the Year of Faith and coincided with the anniversary of the final apparition at Fatima. The statue of Our Lady was flow to Rome from Fatima on Saturday for Marian Day. During the celebration Pope Francis ...read more

Yesterday, Saturday October 12, the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima arrived in Rome where it was part of various celebrations commemorating Marian Day for the Year of Faith, including a prayer service with a catechesis and a vigil with a video message to Marian Shrines all over the world. The statue has only ...read more

At the end of today’s event on Marian Day – Year of Faith, October 12, 2013, the Pope addressed Marian shrines around the world with a video message: Dear Brothers and Sisters, I greet all the pilgrims present in this Shrine of Divine Love, and all those who join us from the Marian shrines of ...read more

Pope Francis led a Marian prayer vigil on Saturday, Saturday October 12, 2013 in St. Peter’s Square. During the vigil, Pope Francis gave a special catechesis. Here is the text of the Holy Father’s message: Dear Brothers and Sisters, We are all gathered for this event of the Year of Faith devoted to Mary, Mother ...read more

Yesterday, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, explained in a press conference that at the beginning of the Year of Faith it was decided that it would be fundamental to retrace the history of our faith, and for this reason Benedict XVI placed in the foreground the figure ...read more

What is our mission as Church? This has been very much in my mind, especially since World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. The theme of that event was from Matthew 28:16-20: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” That ‘s what we refer to as the “great commission” – indeed it is the mission ...read more