I’m excited to introduce you to today’s WYD Rio patron. He is a remarkable figure, known as a bringer of Christ’s peace and love. Meet:  Saint Anthony from Santana Galvão Fr. Anthony from Santana Galvão, is the first Brazilian-born saint. Anthony was born in Guaratinguetá, São Paulo in 1739 to a deeply religious family of ...read more

With World Youth Day around the corner, I thought I’d share (over the course of the next few weeks) some of my favourite images from Brazil. Hopefully, this will give you a sense of how Brazilians practice their faith (and that you’ll find these images as intriguing as I did). Today’s image depicts pilgrims following ...read more

Next in our series of blogs reviewing the patron saints and intercessors for this year’s World Youth Day, we take a look at: St. Sebastian Although nothing can be certain about the history of St. Sebastian, it is said that he was an officer in the imperial guard, known for the good works that he ...read more

As World Youth Day draws near, the Vatican today released statistics about the Church in Brazil. For your reference we’ve included the published bulletin below:   Vatican City, 20 June 2013 (VIS) For the occasion of Francis’ upcoming apostolic trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to preside at the 38th World Youth Day, statistics have ...read more

In the lead-up to World Youth Day Rio I thought we’d get acquainted with the patron saints and intercessors for this year, as there are 18 in total. Now, that’s some serious intercession! Some of these saints you’ll recognize immediately like St. Therese of Lisieux, others will be completely new – isn’t it great how ...read more

Brazil has been a fascinating experience: in spite of being Portuguese and speaking the same language as the locals, there is a cultural difference. I arrived in Rio a week ago and right away I could feel the energy of the people, who are always ready to help you. The first Mass I attended on ...read more

Learn about your favourite contemporary Catholic artists at spiritandsong.com’s The Commons. Meet Robert Feduccia, Jackie Francois, Josh Blakesley, Tom Booth, Matt Maher, Sarah Hart, Jesse Manibusan, Curtis Stephan, Trevor Thompson, Ike Ndolo, Sarah Kroger and many others (many slRadio supporting artists), as they give casual and candid interviews, and offer unplugged performances of their songs. ...read more

By Mark Matthews, Salt + Light Radio’s Hollywood Undercover Missionary You’ve heard from me often about what’s good in Hollywood. Today I thought I’d write about what’s bad in Boston! “The Celtics? The St. Paddy’s day parade? C’mon, why you hatin on the Bostonians?” I recently visited Boston and while there I made a pilgrimage ...read more

The term “synod of bishops” seems to have become a household name among certain Catholics. Most have, at least heard of one of these: The Synod on the Word of God, the Synod on the Middle East, or the recent Synod on the New Evangelisation. But 15 years ago, many of you probably did not ...read more

Hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of Catholics across the North and South America consider Our Lady of Guadalupe their own and celebrate her every year. Among them is one seemingly unlikely devotee, a Ukrainian bishop from Saskatoon. Bishop Bryan Bayda is the Ukrainian Eparch of Saskatoon. He remembers exactly when the seeds of his ...read more