The rich man who came to Jesus looking for the meaning of life had kept all the commandments. Still, an emptiness remained. “What do I still lack?” he asked Jesus (Matthew 19:20).

In my short lifetime, I have already seen three popes preside as the head of our Church. 

Despite declining health, Pope John Paul II made good on his promise on July 23, 1984 by stepping off a plane in Toronto to attend World Youth Day celebrations. The Register covered every angle of the massive event, including the Pope’s arrival at Pearson airport, as Christl Dabu reported in the paper’s special World Youth Day 2002 edition:

Just four months after being released from a South African prison in 1990, Nelson Mandela, the country’s future president, was in the midst of an international tour, visiting countries that had supported the long fight for his release and against South Africa’s apartheid policies. Canada was one of those stops, as reported by Tonia Desiato in The Register of June 30, 1990.

There was worldwide disbelief on May 13, 1981 as word spread that Pope John Paul II had been shot four times in an assassination attempt. The gunman was sentenced to life in prison, but was pardoned in 2000 at the request of John Paul. This is The Catholic Register’s report in the wake of the the attempt on the pontiff’s life, from May 23, 1981:

In Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II, Baltimore-born papal biographer George Weigel reflects in a highly personal way on the 15 years he devoted to chronicling the life and times and impact of John Paul II in Witness to Hope (1999) and The End and the Beginning (2010). It is a story that emphasizes repeatedly and powerfully the idea of providence.

Theology of the Body is for people in the pews.

VATICAN CITY – After hearing of the death of Fidel Castro, former president and leader communist revolution in Cuba, late Friday evening, Pope Francis sent a telegram offering his prayers for the deceased and the entire nation.

MONTREAL - Dr. Victor Goldbloom's dedication to Christian-Jewish dialogue earned him an audience with Pope John Paul II, a knighthood from Pope Benedict XVI and friendships with several Canadian cardinals.

This Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, a treasure for the Church in his long theological service as a scholar, his more than 20 years at the side of St. John Paul II as the chief lieutenant of the signal pontificate of our era, his eight years as perhaps the clearest and most profound papal preacher and writer of our time, and finally for the courage and humility of his abdication.