Store displays and front lawns are filling up with skeletons, ghosts and all things ghoulish in preparation for Halloween, a favourite occasion among most children.

We tend to be naïve about evil, at least as to what it looks like in everyday life.

VATICAN – The holiness of God is a power that is constantly expanding and will defeat all evil once and for all, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – The devil is more dangerous when he is polite and friendly, persuading people to be "lukewarm" and worldly, than when he shows his true face and blatantly pushes people to sin, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Signaling his belief that the Catholic Church is facing a serious crisis, Pope Francis asked every Catholic in the world to pray for the protection of the church from attacks by the devil, but also that the church would be more aware of its sins and stronger in its efforts to combat abuse.

The “evil” in the Church can and must be “rooted out,” Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins says.

The stone which rolled away from the tomb of Jesus continues to roll away from every sort of grave. Goodness cannot be held, captured or put to death. It evades its pursuers, escapes capture, slips away, hides out, even leaves the churches sometimes, but forever rises, again and again, all over the world. Such is the meaning of the Resurrection.

Pope Francis on Monday spoke of a series of events and situations that shed shadows on our lives and lead us to ask difficult questions.

VATICAN CITY - Use the power of communication to build bridges and heal wounds, not generate hatred or misunderstanding, Pope Francis said.

When we lose the great hymns of our past we lose an irrecoverable legacy. Alas as much as we hear “Lord of the Dance” at Mass, such happy-clappy tunes will provide little solace amidst a dark night of the soul.

In a recent column, I mentioned the old biblical warning that money is the root of all evil and that sure set off a lively debate with my wife. 

VATICAN CITY - Welcoming in the new year, Pope Benedict XVI said that despite the injustice and violence in the world, every human being yearns for and is made for peace.