Two years after his election to the papacy, Pope Francis was asked about how long his pontificate might last. “I have the feeling that my pontificate will be short,” he said. “Four or five years. I don’t know, or two, three.”

As Canada continues to hurtle toward being a world leader in helping people commit suicide, let us spare a moment to consider an alternative: Giving people a reason to live.

It has been 15 months since Pope Francis made a pastoral trip outside Italy and that by itself makes his March 5-8 mission to Iraq newsworthy. But there’s much more at stake here than dipping his toe into foreign waters for apostolic purposes.

There are few more heartwarming scenes than grandparents hugging their grandkids, moments of unconditional love expressed in an embrace between old and young.

The World Day of the Sick, first proclaimed by St. Pope John Paul II in 1992, is aligned with three actions: praying for the ill, responding to those in pain, and honouring health care workers and caregivers.

It has been 25 years since Canada celebrated its first Black History Month, a good time to take stock of how we, as a nation, have embraced the commitment to end racism.

In these days of viral lockdowns and political unease, moments of celebration are hard to come by.

The Joe Biden era is on the launching pad in America, an era we pray will live in a spirit of reconciliation. Heaven knows, the country needs healing.

In his own way, Pope Francis is developing a different kind of vaccine to battle the effects of COVID-19. This is not a vaccine developed in a scientific lab, but it may well be a much-needed antidote to some of the unseen but crippling injuries that have accompanied the pandemic.

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.