ROME – As the Catholic Church celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, a French bishop announced the 70th officially recognized miraculous cure of a pilgrim to the Lourdes grotto where Mary appeared 160 years ago.

VATICAN – The Catholic Church's care for the sick, especially through Catholic-run hospitals, is an antidote to "the business mentality that is seeking worldwide to turn health care into a profit-making enterprise," Pope Francis said.

There’s nothing older or more essential to the Church than the laying on of hands. In the Acts of the Apostles, one of the first things the newly formed Church does is commission seven men who speak different languages and represent different cultures. They were ordered (ordained) to make sure that the widows and orphans of every ethnicity, tribe and clan within the young Church are cared for.

TORONTO - For most, a trip to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France is a luxury many may never be able to afford.

TORONTO - Black History Month this year is an opportunity for Catholic parishes and schools in Canada to discover Our Lady of Kibeho's message of prayer, conversion and reconciliation, said Jesuit Father William Mbugua at a Black History Month Mass at downtown Toronto's Our Lady of Lourdes parish Feb. 5.

"We have something good to share," said Mbugua. "We are not just victims of our history. We have to ask, what is it that God has given us, even in the midst of suffering?"

In 1981 Our Lady of Kibeho began to appear to high school girls in Rwanda. In his homily, Mbugua urged about 300 gathered for the Sunday evening Mass to share the story of the Vatican-endorsed apparitions in rural Rwanda 30 years ago.

TORONTO - The parish of Our Lady of Lourdes faced the harshest command its faith can impose at the recent Sunday morning Masses. The Catholics of this diverse, downtown parish obeyed the biblical injunction to celebrate — all the while knowing that their leader, friend and pastor had died.

Jesuit Father Bill Addley died at St. Michael's Hospital just before 2 a.m. Jan. 21, surrounded by friends. The pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes for almost 13 years, a former provincial superior of the Jesuits in English Canada and one of the first Canadian Church leaders to face the sexual abuse scandal head-on, Fr. Addley died of complications from colon cancer  within two weeks of being diagnosed.

He went through an operation to resection his colon Jan. 13 and for a time seemed likely to recover. But the cancer had spread and he couldn't regain his energy.