After his Wednesday General Audience on July 7th, Pope Benedict traveled to Castelgandolfo to begin his summer break. The days leading up to his vacation were quite busy. Catholic News Service’s Carol Glatz and John Thavis explain, and take a look at the two months ahead, in this week’s Vatican Report. To download Flash Player ...read more

The first registrant for World Youth Day Madrid isn’t Spanish, but German. It fact, it’s Pope Benedict XVI. The Holy Father registered after a meeting in Rome with Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela of Madrid and other organizers of the August 2011 event. The Pope described World Youth Day as “not just a mass gathering but ...read more

Many of us are vaguely familiar with how things went for little St. Maria Goretti, but we often overlook the smaller points that make this story a particularly inspiring one. We know that she was a poor, pious farm girl. We know that only days before her 11th birthday, on July 6th 1902, Maria was ...read more

Today I’m thinking about summer… ahh summer… I remember very clearly, as if it was yesterday, the last day of school before the summer break – not sure why we even went to school that day, ’cause it was one big party. We would celebrate the end of the school year and then… hello freedom! ...read more

I have recently experienced the awakening of my Canadian identity. And the timing couldn’t be better. Happy 143rd Birthday, Canada! I’d like to point out here that the number 143 is traditionally associated with the words I=1 LOVE=4 YOU=3; this brings me right back to junior high. But I couldn’t help myself. Numbers speak. But ...read more

The Canadian Church will celebrate Canada day a little more than usual this year. It was announced this morning that the Archbishop of Quebec, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, will be packing his bags for the Vatican. Pope Benedict has appointed Cardinal Ouellet as the new Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Commission ...read more

Archbishop Albert LeGatt, of the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, Manitoba, has received the Pallium from Pope Benedict XVI. He was among 38 Archbishops to receive the woolen band today as part of Mass on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Salt + Light CEO Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB, explains the significance: This ancient sign, ...read more

The following blog comes from Warren Schmidt, a Basilian scholastic interning at Salt + Light Television this summer.  On Saturday, June 19th, Warren had the opportunity to attend a talk by Bishop Anthony Fisher of  Australia on Saturday on stem cell research.  He offers this report on the lecture. As a seminarian with a biological ...read more

Tuesday marks the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. As always, it is also the day that Metropolitan Archbishops who have been appointed in the last 12 months receive the Pallium. The Pallium symbolizes their role as shepherds and teachers (Fr. Rosica’s offers more on the Pallium in a blog entry from 2009 HERE). This ...read more

Earlier this week on the blog, Fr. Thomas Rosica shared his homily for the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. That message was preached in Rome at the Generalate of the Christian Brothers de la Salle, a religious order renowned for operating schools around the world. Notable among them is Bethlehem University. ...read more