“Who am I to judge?”

Pope Francis is the first pope from Latin America and he ensured South America was the destination for his first foreign trip. So it was no surprise that the Argentine Pope was welcomed to World Youth Day in Brazil by huge, adoring crowds who brought his motorcade to a standstill.

On July 5 Pope Francis released his first encyclical, a newsworthy event in itself, but then he knocked himself from the headlines by approving the sainthood causes of two of his renowned predecessors. If the rapid-fire announcements seemed unusual, well, that should come as no surprise from a Pope who keeps doing things his way.

Sometimes the obvious needs to be stated: euthanasia is homicide.

The morning after becoming Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis checked out of his hotel by paying his own bill and then calmly strolled into his new life. It was a novel way to launch a papacy but, then, over his first 100 days the new Pope has been making novelty commonplace.

No one knows exactly how much money is hidden away by millionaires and corporations in offshore bank accounts, but accepted estimates put it as high as $30-trillion dollars. Much of that money is undeclared and untaxed.

Four decades after Henry Morgentaler performed his first abortion to set the country on a path to abortion lawlessness, Canada is still weighing his profound and tragic impact on society. That regrettable truth was apparent in the obituaries after Morgentaler, 90, died May 23 of a heart attack.

When Lee Rigby was hacked to death in broad daylight by two self-proclaimed Muslim fighters on a London street, the British soldier was not alone. Christ was with him in the person of three extraordinary women.

It is difficult to envision peace coming soon to war-torn Syria. Lasting peace, the type that brings security and respect for human dignity, is unlikely without religious freedom, and there is no apparent will among Syria’s warring factions to embrace this inalienable human right.

In proclaiming the Year of Faith last October, Pope Benedict emphasized a need to re-evangelize wherever secular culture was tugging at Christianity’s deep roots. The recent publication of census data from Statistics Canada underscores why Benedict was so concerned.