From October 4 – October 25, 2015, Pope Francis led the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and the Contemporary World. During the last week of the Synod of Bishops, Lino Rulli broadcasted his Catholic Guy radio show from Rome featuring special guest ...read more

The Newman Centre at the University of Toronto hosted its first 3-day Regional Canadian Catholic Students Association Conference (CCSA) over the weekend of October 23 – 25. CCSA Conferences are organized annually to bring together students who are actively engaged in their university chaplaincies to network, to share best practices for mission and ministry, and to ...read more

Though the Synod on the Family is over, the analysis and even the “spin-od” continues in the media. Meanwhile, life moves on at the Vatican. As a result there were a few stories that got less than their fair share of coverage this week because writers were still focused on who said what about the ...read more

The 2015 Synod of Bishops on the Family concluded on Sunday with Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.  On Saturday, the relatio finale (final document) of the Synod was approved and given to Pope Francis.  Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, Australia has been keeping a blog throughout the three-week journey, and in his final post he ...read more

Pope Francis delivered the homily at Mass being offered on Sunday morning, the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, to mark the close of the XIV Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, who have been gathered in Rome for the past three weeks to reflect on and discuss the vocation and mission of the family ...read more

Here’s a look at what’s been going on church-wise across the country: The landscape of religious life is growing in Vancouver: two Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist have arrived and have taken on active roles in the archdiocese. One of sisters shared her vocation story with the faithful. Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Regina celebrates 100 ...read more

The three week Synod on the family is finally over, but the homestretch did not come without some drama: an Italian newspaper, Quotiando Nazione, reported that Pope Francis has a small, benign brain tumour. Cue the denials and conspiracy theories. Pope Francis provided his own plot twist, taking the floor on Thursday afternoon to announce ...read more

Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis Mass of the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Canonization of Four Saints Sunday October 18, 2015 On Sunday, October 18, 2015, Pope Francis celebrated the Canonization Mass of four Saints: Saint Vincent Grossi, Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception and Saints Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin. Read the full text of his ...read more

As discussion inside the Synod hall turned to issues that brought out personal stories and anecdotes from many participants, there was, according to the Vatican press office, an in-depth discussion around around divorced and civilly remarried Catholics and various calls for a better approach to marriage preparation. At least one member proposed that there should ...read more

The Synod of Bishops on the Family started this week. For a run down of what has been discussed so far, watch this week’s edition of Vatican Connections, or Salt and Light’s special synod coverage, Inside the Synod. There were a few non-synod items of interest over the past week. The pope’s message for World ...read more