Pope Francis’s appointment of Father Riesbeck as my auxiliary bishop brings me great joy! I am pleased that his many talents will assist me in serving the needs of our English-speaking, francophone and other linguistic and cultural parishes. His community, the Companions of the Cross, has a gift for evangelization so I know Bishop-elect Christian ...read more

First I want to express how deeply humbled I am at the trust and confidence the Lord has placed in me. I express my gratitude and devotion to Pope Francis who has chosen me for this role and to His Grace, Archbishop Prendergast for his constant support and encouragement. I feel that this is also ...read more

  CCCB – (Ottawa)… His Holiness Pope Francis today appointed the Reverend Christian Riesbeck, C.C., as Auxiliary Bishop of Ottawa. At the time of his appointment, he was the Chancellor of the Archdiocese and Assistant General Superior of the Companions of the Cross – a priestly Society of Apostolic Life founded in Ottawa. Bishop-elect Riesbeck was born in ...read more

This post was written by Richard Valenti, one of our editors at Salt +Light. He has been with S+L since the beginning. He and his wife, former S+L producer Mary Rose Bacani, welcomed their second child over the holidays. It was a dark and stormy night. The night of Toronto’s worst ice storm. Inside the ...read more

St. Andre Bessette, a member of the Holy Cross Brothers and founder of St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. St. Andre was known for his intense piety, miraculous cures and for his dedication to the building of the shrine honoring St. Joseph. CNS photo/archives of St. Joseph’s Oratory ...read more

During his Sunday Angelus Address, Pope Francis Announced his upcoming trip to the Holy Land – May 24-26, 2014 Dear brothers and sisters, In the climate of joy typical of this Christmas season, I would like to announce that May 24-26, if it pleases God, I will make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The ...read more

I don’t know about you, but I stopped making resolutions for the New Year, years ago. It’s not that I wasn’t keeping my resolutions (well… sometimes) but that it all seemed so arbitrary. We should always be trying to improve, no? So why only do it at the end of the year? It’s sort of ...read more

On December 31, 2013, Pope Francis prayed year-end Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica. Vespers began at 5 PM  with Pope Francis presiding over the prayers that constitute the Church’s official, public praise of God in the evening of the last day of the year, to be followed by the singing of the great hymn of ...read more

 Pope Francis offered New Year’s greetings of peace Wednesday to the tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to recite with the Holy Father the Angelus prayer at the start of 2014. The Pope said his wishes for the new year are “those of the Church:” Christian wishes that put Jesus Christ ...read more

On this New Year’s Day of 2014, Pope Francis has published his first message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace, focusing on the theme of brotherhood. As President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Canada, I want to relay Pope Francis’s intervention to my fellow citizens by taking a look from ...read more