When the Swiss Guards closed the door to the palace at Castel Gandolfo, signifying the absence of a pope, three cardinals were left with the task of guiding the church until a new pope is elected. The Camerlengo, or Chamberlain, begins his work when the See of Peter is vacant. When a Pope dies, the ...read more

Published below is a translation of the address that Pope Benedict just delivered in an open-air celebration in St. Peter’s Square. In this moving address to the Church and to the world, he reflected on the past eight years of his papacy and his decision to resign and commit himself to the Church through prayer. ...read more

On Wednesday, Pope Benedict takes part in his final General Audience. S+L’s Kris Dmyrenko will bring you live coverage at 4:30 am ET / 1:30 am PT.  If that’s too early in the morning for you, you catch our encore presentation at 1:00 pm ET / 10:00 am PT. Visit S+L’s special Benedict XVI website ...read more

We started looking at the papacy and some history as explained in the In Your Faith episode, Who is the Pope? and then last time we looked at why we have popes. Today, let’s continue with some interesting facts about the papacy. As soon as a pope dies, all cardinals under the age of 80 ...read more

In the summer of 2012, a food crisis struck West Africa in a region called the Sahel. Salt + Light’s Kris Dmytrenko travelled to Niger to learn about the crisis. Why was it happening? What were Nigeriens doing about it? And how was the world trying to help? Dmytrenko witnessed the efforts of Caritas Niger, ...read more

Last time we were looking at some interesting facts about the papacy as presented in the In Your Faith episode, Who is the Pope? We learned that the history of the papacy is as varied as it is interesting. But why do we have popes in the first place? There’s a lot of confusion as ...read more

I remember 8 years ago when we heard about the new Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. I have to be honest, it was a difficult news to digest since we were still mourning the loss of John Paul II. At the time we were working on the second season of our teen series, ...read more

This Sunday, live from the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Salt + Light Television will broadcast a special Mass of Thanksgiving for the pontificate of Benedict XVI. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, is the principal celebrant and homilist. He will be joined by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Apostolic Nuncio ...read more

  If you click the image above, you will be led to an interactive media element showing you the details of the upcoming Papal Conclave. This is really cool and full of fascinating information. This makes learning about the upcoming conclave fun. Source: vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/come-si-elegge-il-papa * Please consider donating to Salt + Light this Lent ...read more

To some, the leadership of the Church represents a distant, shadowy club. The term “hierarchy” has been irreparably damaged, so loaded with connotations of stodgy elites isolated in plush curial offices. But those who actually know the leaders of our Church can see a very different image. The Cardinal Archbishop of Toronto, Thomas Collins, is ...read more