No parish or individual Catholic should have to walk into Lent blind.

BOLOGNA, Italy –  It was a heart-wrenching story that bitterly divided Catholics and Jews in Italy and provoked an international scandal more than 150 years ago.

LIMA, Peru – When people wave at members of the pop band Siervas as they drive through the city, the nuns in the musical group know they've arrived on the world stage.

OTTAWA – The Catholic Women’s League (CWL) and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) have condemned the Global TV mini-series Mary Kills People about a doctor who illegally euthanizes consenting patients.

For those suffering from a frail, forgotten or non-existent belief in God, the HBO mini-series The Young Pope has a message that may change some minds, says Sr. Helena Burns.

Quebec sculptor Jacques Bourgault, whose contemporary, carved wooden statues of a triumphant, risen Christ on the cross hang in churches throughout North America, has died at the age of 77.

Experts in Humanity: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Healing, by Josephine Lombardi, (Novalis, softcover, 143 pages, $18.95).

VANCOUVER – A Vancouver church has acknowledged the rich First Nations heritage of its parishioners by installing an icon of St. Paul the Apostle wearing a woven cedar hat and holding a talking stick and cedar bough.

I have long been an ardent fan of Martin Scorsese’s films. Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, Casino, etc. are among the defining movies of the last 40 years. The director’s Catholicism, however mitigated and conflicted, comes through in most of his work.

NEW YORK – Behind the opening credits of "The Young Pope," a naked baby boy crawls over a sea of infant mannequins, and a man dressed as the Roman pontiff emerges at the other end.