(CNS photo/Christinne Muschi, Reuters) Welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating migrants and refugees Dear brothers and sisters! “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:34). Throughout ...read more

Guest contributor, Elias Crim, is the founder and publisher of Solidarity Hall, a national group blog focused on community renewal and the common good. He also co-hosts Solidarity Hall’s new podcast, called Dorothy’s Place. He recently reviewed S+L’s 2014 documentary “The Francis Effect”… How to understand Pope Francis? Despite the apparent dyspepsia his arrival has caused among some of the ...read more

Join us in prayer for the intentions entrusted to us by Pope Francis. For August 2017, we join the Holy Father in praying for: Artists – That artists of our time, through their ingenuity, may help everyone discover the beauty of creation. Daily Offering Prayer God, our Father, I offer You my day. I offer ...read more

(Among the millions of Canadians who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada are Roman Catholics, some of whom rallied on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario in June of 2016. CNS photo/Art Babych) The staff of Salt + Light Media come from 14 different countries. This summer, for Canada’s 150th anniversary, we are reflecting on ...read more

Last time we looked at a little bit of the tradition of deacons in the Catholic Church. Deacons go way back and there is a consistent presence of deacons and the diaconate in many Church documents and writings up until the 3rd century. We also saw that the diaconate as a permanent order was brought back ...read more

In the last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at the diaconate, first by addressing the event that brought about this whole conversation and then in two parts (part 1 and part 2), briefly, the meaning of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, for I don’t think you can separate the conversation about Church hierarchy outside ...read more

Join us in prayer for the intentions entrusted to us by Pope Francis. For July 2017, we join the Holy Father in praying for: Lapsed Christians – That our brothers and sisters who have strayed from the faith, through our prayer and witness to the Gospel, may rediscover the merciful closeness of the Lord and the beauty ...read more

On the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul, at 9:30 am at St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis blessed the pallia (plural of pallium), taken from the Confession of the Apostle Peter and destined for Metropolitan Archbishops appointed during the past year. The pallium will then be imposed on each Metropolitan Archbishop by the Pontifical ...read more

At 4:00 pm today in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis held a Public Ordinary Consistory for the creation of 5 new Cardinals that included for the imposition of the scarlet beretta, the presentation of the ring and the assignment of the Title or Diaconia. The celebration began with the greeting, prayer, and reading a passage ...read more

From Pope Francis: I wish to announce that on Wednesday 28 June a Consistory will be held to appoint five new Cardinals. Their provenance from different parts of the world manifests the catholicity of the Church, which reaches all around the earth, and the assignment of a title or a diaconate in the city expresses ...read more