The Shroud of Turin, which goes on public display this spring, is the focus of a permanent exhibit in Rome. Catholic News Service’s John Thavis reports. To download Flash Player please click here ...

There is a reason why this week is called Holy Week. As a kid, these words directly translated to daily, long bouts of sitting in the pews of St. Ambrose Cathedral in a tiny ocean town in southwestern Nova Scotia. I recall looking forward to this time of the year as it was typically marked ...

Every year, Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Via Crucis (the Way of the Cross) from Rome’s Coliseum. Tonight on Perspectives, S+L’s Vatican correspondent Alicia Ambrosio retraces the history of the Stations of the Cross, and how it came to be that the Holy Father would lead this devotion in a former site of Christian persecution. ...

Archbishop Anthony Mancini, the Archbishop of Halifax and Apostolic Administrator of Yarmouth, and Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton are among the bishops of Canada who have commented on the abuse scandals.  Like Toronto’s Archbishop Thomas Collins, both mentioned it in their Chrism Mass homilies. The Archbishop of Halifax admitted that the Church is facing her ...

As we enter into a particularly focused period of prayer with the beginning of the Easter Triduum today, let us keep our Holy Father’s intentions in our prayers this month. Pope Benedict’s general prayer intention for April is: That every tendency to fundamentalism and extremism may be countered by constant respect, by tolerance and by ...

When discussing the Milwaukee abuse case in his letter to the New York Times (published earlier today on the S+L Blog HERE), Cardinal Levada refers to the presiding judge in the canonical trial of Fr. Lawrence Murphy.  The presiding judge at the time was Fr. Thomas Brundage.  Fr. Brundage, who is now serving in the ...

The official newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the Catholic San Francisco, has published a letter by Cardinal William J. Levada responding to New York Times’ articles on clergy sexual abuse and Pope Benedict XVI.  The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith defends the Holy Father and chastises the paper ...

“I am well aware,” Christopher West confessed in his recent interview with S+L, “that those looking for flaws in me will always be able to find them.” The popular Theology of the Body author and speaker offered a forthright response to his critics, who last year sparked a surprising public debate among Catholic academics. Theologian ...

For nearly thirty years it has been claimed that the Blessed Virgin Mary has been appearing in Medjugorje, a small town in western Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many believe, while many are skeptical. Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI launched an investigation into the alleged apparitions. Today on the Catholic News Service Vatican Report, Carol Glatz ...

As Pope Benedict XVI comes under vicious criticism by the media regarding claims of clergy sexual  abuse, the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has sent a letter to the Holy Father offering his prayers and support on behalf of the Bishops of Canada. Bishop Pierre Morissette writes: “We recognize with admiration and ...