BLOG: Lent and Easter,Pope Francis
On Sunday April 2, 2017 the Holy Father departed by helicopter from the Vatican airport for his pastoral visit to Carpi. ...read more
“I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” I have heard and read the story of Lazarus so many times and this year, this one line has impacted me as if it’s ...read more
Join us in prayer for the intentions entrusted to us by Pope Francis for the month of April 2017! ...read more
Below, find the full text of President of the CCCB Bishop Crosby’s 2017 Easter Message, originally found here. At the Easter Vigil, we celebrate the light of Christ which we carry, filled with hope, into a world of darkness and uncertainty. In the shadow of the Sainte-Foy massacre this past February, with tensions escalating between ...read more
A reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Lent The question is often raised, “If God is good, why is there evil in the world?” Sometimes this dilemma is even used as a proof that God does not exist – if God is all-good and all-powerful, shouldn’t He be able to prevent all evil from happening? ...read more
Like most other people, I had no idea who Archbishop Bergoglio was. When he stepped out on the balcony to make himself known to the world as Pope Francis, there was scant little I could’ve told anyone about him. It was as if he was a man without a past. An air of mystery surrounded ...read more
Last week we looked at the RCIA program: the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. We saw that this process is pretty standard throughout the universal Church. We also saw that (in previous posts, part 1 and part 2) how the program of receiving people (mainly adults) into the Church is ramped up during Lent. ...read more
This afternoon, Pope Francis received the 27 European Union heads of State and Government at a private audience in the Vatican’s Sala Regia. The encounter takes place on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome. The Treaties are considered to be the foundation acts of the European Community. ...read more
(S+L Photo: Bishop Ricardo Ramírez, CSB, presents his book “Power from the Margins: the Emergence of the Latino in the Church and in Society” on the set of Subject Matters at Ben McNally Books in Toronto, ON) The timing of Bishop Ricardo Ramírez’s book “Power from the Margins” couldn’t be more appropriate. As debates rage about ...read more
A statement released from the Holy See Press Office after the meeting said Pope Francis asked God's forgiveness for the failures of the Catholic Church during the 1994 Rwanda genocide and for the hatred and violence perpetrated by some priests and religious. ...read more