In St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis announced today, March 13, 2015, the celebration of an “extraordinary Holy Year.” This “Jubilee of Mercy” will commence with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter’s on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 2015, and will conclude on November 20, 2016 with the Solemnity of Our Lord ...read more

(Vatican Radio)  Migration and drug trafficking, the reform of the Curia, the challenges of the Synod for the Family and the need to make the Church a safe home for all children and vulnerable adults. In a wide-ranging interview with Valentina Alazraki, from the Mexican broadcaster Televisa, Pope Francis has marked the second year of his ...read more

Today it’s not uncommon to hear some form of the following statement regarding the pontificate of Pope Francis: “I can’t believe he’s only been pope for two years, it feels like he’s been around a lot longer!” This intuition surfaces around anniversaries when people tend to reflect on what Francis has accomplished. Most would agree ...read more

Welcome to S+L’s Weekly News Round-Up. As the Director of Marketing and Communications here at S+L, many interesting Catholic news stories and articles come across my desk on a daily basis. Some of them we’ll cover on our different television programs and others I’d like to share with you on this blog. This blog column ...read more

On Friday March 6, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario issued a press release confirming that they had dispensed with the conscience rights of their members in the province. Of course, it would be very difficult to initially conclude that, given the PR friendly title of the release: “College Council approves new policy ...read more

Deacon-struct the meaning of Scripture during the Season of Lent with Deacon Pedro. ...read more

Last week I looked at the question of personal freedom vis-à-vis authority in the Church and to what degree public opinion in the Church has been accepted and promoted since Vatican II by Pope John Paul II and now Pope Francis.  The question, as I wrote, is a perennial and penetrating one in the Church, ...read more

This week David LeRoss and I did some filming at the Catholic University of America, and as Providence would have it, we had the opportunity to hear Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle speak at the Annual Cardinal Dearden Lecture.  The Cardinal spoke about evangelization in Asia in light of Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the ...read more

Welcome to S+L’s Weekly News Round-Up, where we search, summarize and present to you interesting Catholic News from around the world. As the Director of Marketing and Communications here at S+L, I am exposed to many interesting Catholic news stories and articles on a daily basis. Some of them we cover on our different programs and ...read more

Now that in part 1 we’ve taken care of questions regarding fasting and abstinence, let’s focus on the meaning of Lent. We all know that Lent is the 40 days leading us to Easter. But what really is Lent?  Why are penance and suffering associated with Lent? What is the value of suffering? Let me tell ...read more