European Politics

A spiritual director once surprised me by asking: “What does your little voice have to say?” 

DUBLIN -- The last governor of Hong Kong criticized the Vatican’s agreement with China on the appointment of bishops and said Pope Francis has been “exceptionally badly advised” in concluding the pact.

This unforgettable year, this annus horribilis, is mercifully drawing to the end, but the virus that has so consumed our lives is not.

No evidence

Re: Mass is essential to our Catholic life (Dec. 9):

Charles Lewis rightly says that the “Mass is essential” to Catholics but that the Ontario government doesn’t understand this. The government recently demonstrated this when it tried to stop COVID spread by forcing Toronto churches to close. No evidence was offered to justify the action. Ironically, just a few weeks prior Premier Doug Ford said that churches had done a “great job” of preventing infection.

There is always something a little magical that happens as the calendar turns to Jan. 1. It’s like a giant eraser appears and wipes our slate clean, throwing off the dust of all that marred the previous 12 months. It’s a new year, a fresh start, a new dawn, another shot, a blank sheet.

There’s no question the strain of the pandemic is hitting every area of Canadians’ lives as the year draws to a close.

Like most charities across Canada, the Arctic Rose Foundation finds itself operating in a landscape that is, and will remain, uncertain for some time.

As we move into the winter months, we notice the drastic reduction in the number of daylight hours. Each of us is almost guaranteed to have heard that common refrain: “It gets dark so early now!”

OTTAWA -- Canada’s Catholic bishops say it is “not too late to reconsider” and stop the expansion of medically-assisted suicide in Canada.

VATICAN CITY -- Two top Vatican officials -- Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello -- have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, Italian media reported, and a Vatican source confirmed.