VATICAN CITY - When individuals lose sight of their own sinfulness, it is impossible to promote real reconciliation and establish true justice in society, Pope Benedict XVI told bishops from Western Canada.

TORONTO - As Toronto's homeless face another winter on the streets and in the shelters, their fate is again an election issue.

TORONTO - One of Canada's most architecturally impressive and ambitious cathedrals is no longer a cathedral. Eparch John Pazak, spiritual head of Byzantine rite Slovak Catholics in Canada, has removed the blessed sacrament and the antimension, or altar stone, from the Cathedral of the Transfiguration, a giant gold-domed church on the edge of Unionville, north of Toronto.

TORONTO - The federal government is planning to introduce a Defence of Religions Act to protect from legal harassment those who challenge same-sex marriage or refuse to participate in such ceremonies.

The Globe and Mail reported Oct. 4 that the federal Justice Minister Vic Toews is preparing such legislation in case the House of Commons rejects a motion to reopen the debate over the legal definition of marriage.

OTTAWA - Long a thorn in the side of Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo — the African nation's second largest city — is showing no signs of relenting in his campaign to remove Mugabe from power.

TORONTO - Ryan Hreljac stands a lanky six feet, four inches tall with a head full of scruffy, dirty blonde hair that could easily sweep the top of most door frames if he didn't bother to duck. But perhaps it's about time this 15-year-old's height caught up with the size of his heart.