By Sebastian Gomes, Special to CNN In hindsight we see how calculated Benedict’s thinking was, and not only about his resignation. He called an unexpected consistory to be held on November 24 in which he created six new cardinals, none of them coming from Europe. That came nine months after the previous consistory, meaning that ...read more

Pope Benedict XVI delivered his final public homily on February 13, 2013 during Ash Wednesday Mass, just days after announcing his resignation. Here is the full homily. ...read more

Where are young people today? That is really the question that the Church hopes to address this year. In October 2018, bishops from around the world will, once again, gather in Rome for a Synod. The topic of this meeting is Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment. Proclaiming the joy of the Gospel is ...read more

It’s probably safe to say that no one really likes to go to Confession. We may know it’s good for us, like eating our vegetables, but we don’t like doing it. Who likes telling someone else all the bad things they did? But do you ever wonder what the experience is like for priests? To ...read more

We have heard so many stories about the Church in China, about persecution and about an underground church, yet for Bishop Ignatius Wang, the retired Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco, it’s not so simple and it’s not so hopeless. Deacon Pedro speaks with him about his vocation, the challenges being a Chinese Bishop in the ...read more

It’s that time of year again! The S+L team ranks the top 10 stories of interest to the Catholic Church in 2017. From the Pope’s trip to Myanmar amidst the Rhohingya refugee crisis, to the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, we look back at the events and underlying issues that drew the attention of ...read more

Christmas urges us to reflect on the Mystery of the Incarnation. In a short video series, Fr. Eric Nicolai, an Opus Dei priest and art expert, helps us reflect on this mystery through religious art from the early Christians to roughly around the 18th century. Despite all the changes in the artistic depictions of the ...read more

  Mary “gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7). In these plain and clear words, Luke brings us to the heart of that holy night: Mary gave birth; she gave us ...read more

The following is the text of the video message sent by the Holy Father Francis ahead of his upcoming Apostolic Trip to Bangladesh, from 30 November to 2 December 2017: ...read more

Click here to watch the full mass On Saturday, November 18, 2017, at the Ford Field Stadium in Detroit, Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, beatified Fr. Solanus Casey, OFM, Cap., making him the second American-born male to be beatified. Below is the homily delivered by Cardinal Amato during the ...read more