NEWS

OTTAWA - Canadian pro-lifers hope that a law requiring mandatory reporting of adverse drug reactions will be enough to keep the abortifacient drug RU-486 out of Canada.

At $55.8 million, Toronto Catholics are closing out 2014 having raised more than half the $105-million goal Cardinal Thomas Collins set for them in May.

OTTAWA - The Canadian bishops’ doctrine commission, in a new booklet, is stressing the role of all Catholics in the new evangelization.

Guelph, Ont.’s Church of Our Lady Immaculate now dons the title basilica. The landmark church perched on a hill overlooking the city was designated a basilica earlier this month by Pope Francis, catching parishioners by surprise.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida's Catholic bishops said they were disappointed by a U.S. federal judge's ruling striking down the state's ban of same-sex marriage as well as with higher courts that denied a stay of the decision.

A year of celebration in the Archdiocese of Quebec drew more than 350,000 pilgrims through the Holy Door of Quebec City’s Cathedral-Basilica of Notre Dame de Québec.

NEW YORK - Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo’s funeral will be held on Tuesday (Jan. 6) at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, a Jesuit-run parish in Manhattan that has often served as the venue for bidding a final farewell to the rich and/or famous.

Among the well-known Catholics whose funerals were held at St. Ignatius:

AMMAN, Jordan - For most Americans, Epiphany (Jan. 6) passes with little celebration.

Traditionally, the 12th day of Christmas is marked by Eastern Orthodox, Catholics and some mainline Protestants as the day the three kings visited the baby Jesus. For Eastern Rite Christians, Epiphany (also called Theophany) emphasizes the revelation of Jesus as the son of God through his baptism and the beginning of his public ministry. Thousands of believers make pilgrimage on that day to the Jordan River where John baptized Jesus.

JERUSALEM - The site where Jesus may have been tried, prior to his crucifixion, is now open to the public for the very first time.

ROME - Catholic bishops from the southern Italian region of Calabria have broken their silence and spoken out against the “inhumane” power of the Mafia that dominates their poverty-stricken area.