Here’s a look at what we’ve been reading across the country this week: One of Canada’s two member of the Pontifical Academy for Life has suggestions on how Canadians should handle the newly proposed bill on euthanasia. In Winnipeg, Catholic health care providers weighed in on the new proposed bill and offered their own suggestions. ...read more

While Pope Francis has been personally helping Syrian refugees relocate to Europe, a joint Catholic – Russian Orthodox delegation visited Lebanon and Syria. The delegation identified ways the two churches can work together to help Syrians. Officials from the Catholic aid agency Aid to the Church in Need and officials from the Moscow patriarchate of ...read more

Most papal trips are planned months, sometimes years in advance and involve several visits by vatican delegations to sort out the logistical intricacies. This weekend’s papal visit to the Greek Island of Lesbos was put together in record time and announced just one week before the scheduled departure date. Pope Francis will land on the ...read more

Pope Francis’ long awaited post-synodal exhortation on the family was made public today. As he has made clear over the past two years, there was no doctrinal change announced in this document. The document covers a wide range of topics, from the thorny to the common sense. As is his way, Pope Francis includes some frank ...read more

Our recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land offered the chance to visit the ancient sites where key events in our faith story took place, and meet people living there today who are making sure those sites do not become museums. Visiting Qubeibeh, the West Bank, we met the Salvatorian sister who helped found the Qubeibeh ...read more

Fr. Rosica with one of the residents of Qubeibeh. The unofficial theme of Salt + Light’s 12 day pilgrimage to the Holy Land was “Living Stones.” For every biblical site visited, there was a visit to a place where Christians are currently putting the Gospel into action. The combination of the ancient and new Christian ...read more

Among the phrases that captured people’s attention during the Pope’s visit to Mexico was a phrase ad-libbed during his homily in Ecatepec. Lifting his gaze from the text in front of him, lifting his right hand to his forehead, Pope Francis exclaimed “let’s get this in our heads, you cannot dialogue with the devil.”   ...read more

Here is some of what we’ve been reading this week across the country: In Ontario, Catholic Crosscultural Services is helping government-assisted refugees settle into their home In Saskatoon, an elementary school has stepped up to sponsor a refugee family from Burundi. From Edmonton, we get this look at what Lent is and is not.   ...read more

For the first time ever, the pope will meet with the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. The announcement was made in a joint press release issued by the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow. Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill will meet in Cuba on February 12. At the end of their two hour ...read more

In the brief hush of ordinary time between the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Lent, parishes and diocese focus their attention on the day to day and week to week aspects of faith life. Even in that, there are a few things for us to share this week as a sample ...read more