Political events and news in effecting Catholics and Catholic concerns in Europe.
May 1, 2020
OTTAWA -- The tradition of honouring the Blessed Virgin Mary in the month of May is taking on even greater significance this year as Catholics around the world are being asked to turn to the mother of Jesus for protection during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has expanded the ranks of the top members of the College of Cardinals, naming as "cardinal bishops" Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
May 3, 2020
Fifth Sunday of Easter May 10 (Year A) Acts 6:1-7; Psalm 33; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12
The period of serene apostolic simplicity and unity did not last long.
Educators across Ontario have rejigged curriculum to meet the needs of quarantined students and many seem to have found their virtual teaching groove — but not without challenges.
This year’s theme for Catholic Education Week is “Igniting Hope,” apt at any time but especially now when hope is so much needed.
It was a trying Lent. The Church has lived something historically unprecedented, as Catholics worldwide were able to go to church nowhere and everywhere. Friends and family shared the joy of seeing Mass around the world and the grief of fasting from receiving communion, even on Good Friday, even on Easter Sunday.
April 30, 2020
Our schools have been closed for several weeks due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. As we celebrate Catholic Education Week, midway through the Easter season, we are challenged to ignite and inspire hope for our anxious children in our panicked world.
ROME -- While the Italian bishops and government officials continue negotiating a way to resume the public celebration of Masses, the government provided guidelines that permit the celebration of funerals beginning May 4.
VATICAN CITY -- Because all of the human bones found in a Vatican cemetery last summer were at least 100 years old, the Vatican City State court officially closed its investigation into the possibility that some of the remains belonged to a teenage woman missing for more than 30 years.
OTTAWA -- Canada’s bishops are rallying to comfort the people of Nova Scotia as they try to “heal the rupture within the hearts of a community” after 22 people were murdered in the largest mass killing in modern Canadian history on April 18-19.