As you may have read from our Vatican correspondent Alicia Ambrosio here, there’s been a lot of focus on Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks on condoms.  The comments come in the interview book “Light of the World,” which is released this week, but of which excerpts were published in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano on Saturday.  ...

On Saturday evening in Rome, the story reverberating around the Vatican walls was not the 24 new Cardinals who had just been created, or which Roman church they would be assigned as their titular church. Instead, while the two dozen new Cardinals were meeting and being congratulated by the faithful, the story making headlines on ...

Prayer Vigil to commemorate Iraqi Christians Victims St. Michael’s Cathedral Archdiocese of Toronto November 11, 2010 Address by Msgr. Yousif Habash, Syrian Catholic Bishop of the United States and Canada - [translation from Arabic vy Rita Sawaya] Msgr. Yousif Habash bishop of the Syro-Catholic communities of the United States and Canada issued a spontaneous emotional speech in Arabic, addressing the Iraqi people in Iraq and throughout the world. The vigil was organized and presided by Mgr. Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto. Over 500 people including 20 Christians religious leaders attended the prayer vigil for peace, held last November 11 at St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto on the day of commemoration of victims of Iraqi Syro-Catholic terrorist attack of October 31st in the Cathedral of Sayyidat an-Najat of Baghdad. The vigil was rebroadcast Saturday November 20th, 2010 on 20H30 on Salt and Light. Here is Mgr. Yousif Habash's moving speech in Arabic translated to English by Rita Sawaya. ...

[singlepic id=91 w=150 h=159 float=right] Over a year ago Pope Benedict went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land – in doing so, he taught us all a bit about the spirituality of biblical sites – this week on S+L Radio, Kris Dmytrenko tells us about his new film Within Your Gates, following the Pope’s ...

The Lord’s call to proclaim the Gospel to the world requires freedom and today that freedom is often threatened, Pope Benedict XVI told the College of Cardinals assembled at the Vatican’s Paul VI hall Friday morning. The College of Cardinals along with the 24 Archbishops who will be elevated to the rank of Cardinal on ...

This week brought some new developments from the Pontifical Council for Social Communication. Catholic News Service’s Carol Glatz and Cindy Wooden explain one of those developments involves HDTV. To download Flash Player please click here > ...

Many of us are trapped in a fallacy – one that propels us into despair and robs us of confidence. The falsehood? We believe that if we really understood God’s love for us, if we really grasped the truths of hope and unconditional love, then we would never have dark days, never feel sadness or ...

Muslims around the world celebrated Tuesday the feast of Eid al-Adha – commonly known as Eid, which marks the end of Hajj. Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the city in Saudi Arabia, regarded as the holiest site in Islam, since the prophet Muhammad proclaimed Islam in that city in the 7th century. Hajj ...

There are few better stewards of tradition than the Catholic Church. Even in matters unrelated to faith, morals or liturgy, precedence isn’t taken lightly. One example has been the practice of electing a president of the national bishops’ conference. These elections rarely garner much press because, following tradition, it is assumed that the vice-president will ...

Rags to riches stories are the stuff of Hollywood; they capture our interest and get us dreaming. But what about going from riches to rags, voluntarily? “If I had more money,” we often hear people say “I’d help the poor. I’d do more volunteering. I’d contribute more to my community.” It doesn’t take much to ...