Pope Francis has last week sent out 31 families to preach in secularised areas around the world, at a meeting with thousands of members of the Neocatechumenal Way, including 200 missio ad gentes families.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, announced recently that the parents of St Therese of Lisieux, Louis and Zelie Martin, will be canonised this October.

Each year, Project Compassion, which runs through the six weeks of Lent, brings hundreds of thousands of Australians together in solidarity with the world’s poor.

An estimated 400 families have fled following assault by extremists. Forces of ISIS have attacked Christian Assyrian villages in north-eastern Syria, in the region of Khabour in the Hassake governorate.

Each year, Project Compassion, which runs through the six weeks of Lent, brings hundreds of thousands of Australians together in solidarity with the world’s poor.

Dear Brothers and Sister, Lent is a time of renewal for the whole Church, for all communities and every believer.

A homily at Mass is not a mini catechism class, the Vatican says in a new document on homilies, but it is an opportunity to explain Church teaching using the Scripture readings and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Women’s cultures: between equality and difference, an issue of great interest to Pope Francis, was the theme of this week’s Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, “lit a new light in the Church’s journey toward unity”, Pope Francis has said.

After decades of debate within the Church, Pope Francis formally recognised that Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was killed “in hatred of the faith” and not for purely political reasons.