Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, a member of the Society of Jesus, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 17, 1936. Serving as Archbishop of Buenos Aires before the papal election, Pope Francis I was ordained a Jesuit priest on December 13, 1969. He completed his studies in theology at the Faculty ...read more

As anyone following newspapers, blogs, newscasts, and social media will know, media coverage of the papal transition can range from the minute to the absurd. What are the issues the media should be talking about? How does a Catholic spokesperson inform an often misinformed society? On today’s episode of “Perspectives Conclave Special”, S+L Producer Kris ...read more

If you joined us earlier this morning, you saw a spectacular liturgy from inside St. Peter’s Basilica. During this Mass, called the Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice Mass, the cardinals prayed for the election of a new Supreme Pontiff. Salt + Light will continue its in-depth analysis and reporting throughout the coming days. We will be ...read more

Earlier this morning at the Vatican, the College of Cardinals gathered inside St. Peter’s Basilica for a Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice Mass. This Mass was the final step before the opening of today’s conclave. Published below is an official translation of the homily, as delivered by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, main celebrant and Dean of the ...read more

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

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