Photo courtesy of Servizio Fotografico of l’Osservatore Romano Cheridan Sanders and Sebastian Gomes receiving communion from Pope Benedict XVI at the Mass celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and the beginning of the Year of Faith – October 11, 2012 Cheridan Sanders and Sebastian Gomes are the hosts of Salt + Light’s ...read more

St. Peter’s Square – October 11, 2012 Below is Pope Benedict’s Homily from the inaugral mass for the Year of Faith and celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. Dear Brother Bishops, Dear brothers and sisters! Today, fifty years from the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, we begin with great ...read more

Castel Gandolfo, on the Feast of Saint Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli – August 2, 2012 Benedictus PP. XVI Source: http://www.osservatoreromano.va/ Fifty years ago, on October 11, 1962, Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council in St Peter’s Basilica It was a splendid day on 11 October 1962 when the Second Vatican Council opened with the ...read more

The last several months, the phrase “The New Evangelization” has come up in many different spheres here in our Salt + Light office. I cannot comprehensively cover all the ins and outs of our efforts on this – as this is in some sense what we do everyday! What I will say is that this ...read more

Here is the official English translation of the Holy Father’s homily during Mass on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. During the celebration the Pope conferred the pallium on new Metropolitan Archbishops, including Archbishop Christian Lépine of Montreal, Archbishop Luc Cyr of Sherbrooke, Archbishop Paul-André Durocher of Gatineau and Archbishop Valéry Vienneau of Moncton ...read more

On Friday morning, S+L brings you the annual Mass of the Imposition of the Pallium. The pallium, a band of wool shorn from lambs blessed on the Feast of St. Agnes, symbolizes the close bond between the Pope and his Archbishops. In this liturgical celebration, held each year on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and ...read more

This article was first published in L’Osservatore Romano, no. 21, on Wednesday, May 23, pg. 9. It is written by Salt + Light’s very own Sebastian Gomes. Click here to see all his blog posts. When our most distant ancestors awoke on the first Easter morning, they could not have imagined what took place during ...read more

Today Pope Benedict XVI marks seven years in St. Peter’s chair. Instead of receiving gifts, the Vatican gave a gift by launching a new widget. By using this interface it will be possible to access some of the most important content from the Vatican’s website on one’s own website. This new widget can be very ...read more

As we continue with Day 2 of our Consistory coverage, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass this morning in St. Peter’s Basilica with 22 new Cardinals who were inducted at yesterday’s Ordinary Public Consistory. Included among the concelebrants was the Archbishop of Toronto, Thomas Cardinal Collins. During his homily, on this the feast of the Chair ...read more

The time has finally come! After countless interviews and extensive coverage, Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto was formally inducted into the College of Cardinals at a public consistory earlier today. Collins is now the 16th Cardinal in Canadian history. As you can see in the video above, Archbishop Collins was called forward by Pope Benedict ...read more