Category: Highlight

Highlight

Maronite Priest Killed in Reported Israel Strike Mourned by Lebanese of all Faiths

For years, Pierre al-Rahi, a Maronite Catholic priest from southern Lebanon, was a symbol of national resistance. During Israel’s wars with Hezbollah, he and his Christian compatriots remained on their land even when Israeli soldiers on search-and-destroy missions ordered residents to flee the combat zones and head north. In the fall of 2024, when Israel...

How Pope Leo Was Elected: New Details of Dramatic Conclave Battle Revealed

“Conclave” the movie provides a gripping, if fictional, behind-the-scenes look inside the secretive election of a new pope. But last year’s real-life conclave was just as dramatic, with plenty of plot twists, political battles among cardinals and a surprise outcome. A new book lifts a lid on how, in May 2025, Pope Leo XIV was...

Cardinal Parolin: Preventive Wars Risk Setting The World Ablaze

“This erosion of international law is truly worrying: justice has given way to force; the force of law has been replaced by the law of force.” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, spoke on Wednesday to Vatican News about the ongoing war in the Middle East. In the following interview, he expressed concern that...

Fascinating to Watch

As a Canadian Catholic, I find it fascinating to watch the leadership unfold of Pope Leo XIV and Prime Minister Mark Carney, who each assumed office in the early part of 2025. Now, as the year draws to a close, it is possible to discern how each leader approaches the core problem in the world...

Indigenous Artifacts from The Vatican Collection Return to Canada

First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders welcomed back dozens of Indigenous artifacts released from the Vatican collection at Montreal’s airport Saturday, December 6, 2025. The 62 items will ultimately be returned to their communities of origin as an act of furthering reconciliation. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said it was an...

Pope Leo Stresses Scripture as Foundation of Christian Concern for Poor

In the past, Catholic social teaching was based on papal documents and appeals to the natural law. Scriptural passages would be sprinkled in like seasoning on a well-prepared meal, but Scripture was never at the heart of the argument. As Protestants embraced “sola scriptura” (by Scripture alone), Catholics prided themselves on teachings that were based...

Weaving a Narrative of Hope for a Broken World

Last year I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis which made me intensely attentive to the fragility of breath and the power of the word. I was reminded of the biblical story where God’s breath gives life to Adam along with the word which bestowed him with power over creation. In our times the abuse of...

Canadian Catholic Church’s Woefully Inadequate Official Response to Genocide in Gaza

Canada is not a neutral party to the genocidal violence being committed by the Israeli armed forces on Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Although the Canadian government has stated its policy is to cancel arms exports if these could be used in war crimes, already in 2025 the Canadian government...

Cover Image Note

Len Desroches’s new book Sister Water, Brother Sultan Francis of Assisi provides the cover image and overall theme for our print version of this issue of ICN. Catholics, Gaza and St. Francis is the topic that pretty well decided itself. The famine and genocide in Gaza would seem a no brainer about where to take...

How Mark Carney’s Catholic Faith Will Inform the Way He Governs Canada

INTRODUCTION By Patrick Jamieson This article from The Globe and Mail purports to report on the new prime ministers’ Catholicism. Unfortunately it suffers from the usual static concepts. The use of the term ‘devout Catholic’ isn’t very useful and not only because it sounds dated, ie pre Vatican II. Carney is also mislabelled as a...