So much has happened in the past couple of years.  If we rewind the clock back to September of 2012 we feel the first gusts of what became a great wind of new life and energy in the Catholic Church. At the S+L studios in Toronto we were busy preparing for the Synod of Bishops ...read more

May 6 this year will go down as one of the saddest days in the history of the province of Quebec. On that day, members of the Quebec national assembly voted in favour of Bill 52, the “Act of Respecting End-of-life.” Supporters call it “medical aid in dying”. I call it what it is: Euthanasia. ...read more

This an adaptation of my homily for the  second Sunday in Advent, Year A. The readings were: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72;  Romans 15:4-9 and Matthew 3:1-12. On this Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist it is good to reflect on the meaning of being a “voice”. The voice crying out in the wilderness ...read more

Ever since World Youth Day 2002, my favourite Scripture passage has been the end of Matthew’s Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20. I think it’s because my middle name is Emmanuel. It means “God with us”. I love that Jesus promises us that he will be with us until the end of time. Today we celebrate a great ...read more

Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi’s homily at Vancouver’s mega celebration for Two Popes Two Saints on Sunday April 27, 2014. I greet all of you with great joy. I bring and offer each one of you the greetings and paternal affection of Pope Francis. In the communion of the great family that is the ...read more

On Palm Sunday, April 13, 2014, in an unscripted, extremely moving, Ignatian-style homily, Pope Francis invited the crowd of over 100,000 people to enter into today’s passion story from Matthew’s Gospel and ask some very personal questions of our own roles in the Gospel story. Here is the Vatican’s official English translation: CELEBRATION OF PALM ...read more

This week was big in many ways: Pope Francis made some significant appointments, including naming his personal secretary to the number two position at the newly created Secretariat for the Economy. Wednesday was the beginning of Lent and Pope Francis’ first Ash Wednesday liturgy as pontiff. It was also the day one the Italian newspaper ...read more

On Saturday, February 22nd, 2014, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Pope Francis presided his first ordinary public consistory, creating nineteen new cardinals. Sixteen of them are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave to choose the next successor of St Peter. These men reflect the universal nature ...read more

On This week’s Vatican Connections we look at the long-awaited beatification decree for Archbishop Oscar Romero. We talk to Father Frank Desiderio, a Paulist priest who worked with the producer of the 1989 film about the martyr, and we look at the reaction of Salvadoreans who have long referred to their slain archbishop as “el ...read more

By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When the freshly named patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, chose 37-year-old Father Loris Capovilla as his private secretary in 1953, a skeptical adviser told the cardinal that the priest looked too sickly to bear the strain of his new job. “Then he’ll die ...read more