The coming Wednesday, Christian believers throughout the world will allow themselves to be sprinkled or marked with ashes. It’s an ancient tradition, and yet for the sidewalk observer, it’s a peculiar custom.

Why the ashes? What’s the story here?
Ash Wednesday begins the forty-day penitential season of Lent. The ashes are received and worn as a public declaration that we are sinners, works on progress, and suppliants before the mercy and grace of God.

His Holiness Pope Francis will join the bishops on Sunday 23 February and will preside over the concluding Mass, less than two years after his last visit to the Apulian capital for an ecumenical meeting of reflection and prayer for peace with leaders of the Churches and communities of the Middle East in July 2018.

During the Roman Empire, the entire Mediterranean region was known as Mare Nostrum, “Our Sea.” It was an imperial assertion of dominance, of course, but it also reflected the idea that the peoples of the Mediterranean are linked by geography and destiny, sharing a common fate.

In a nutshell, that’s the same intuition that will carry Pope Francis to the Italian coastal city of Bari on Sunday, to wrap up a Feb. 19-23 assembly of more than 50 Catholic bishops from 19 Mediterranean nations, hosted by the über-powerful Italian bishops’ conference.

"What better agent of chaos is there than a new Messiah?" asks a character in the new Netflix drama series "Messiah" from show creator and writer Michael Petroni and executive producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.

Love is the craze of February, especially on February 14 when we see red hearts everywhere, especially in malls. Love is a much used and misused word. People use it often but it can have different meanings for different people.

For some "love" is equivalent to "like," as for example, "I love ice cream" to mean "I like ice cream." So "I love you" can just mean "I like you."

Querida Amazonía: the Pope’s Exhortation for a Church with an Amazonian face
The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Amazon Region has been published. The document traces new paths of evangelization and care for the environment and the poor. Pope Francis hopes for a new missionary thrust, and encourages the role of the laity within the ecclesial community.

“The beloved Amazon region stands before the world in all its splendour, its drama and its mystery.” Thus begins the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Querida Amazonía.

Pope Francis’ thought on the region: concrete steps toward a human ecology which takes the poor into consideration, toward the appreciation of the local cultures, and toward a missionary Church with an Amazonian face.

“The conferences on media ethics seem especially fruitful considering that those in attendance come from diverse religious backgrounds and therefore, presumably, appeal to different sources for ethical standards.”

Faith leaders and journalists are continuing to push for the reform of media and multi-faith efforts within the Arab world.

“The Media and Their Role in Defending the Truth” was hosted in Amman in June of 2019. The regional conference brought together reporters from several media centers and representatives of Catholic patriarchs in the Middle East.

In most stores in the weeks leading up to St. Valentine’s day, you’re likely to find a plethora of pink and red cards, heart-shaped boxes of Russell Stover chocolates, and decor with nearly-naked chubby cherubs shooting hearts with bows and arrows.

It’s a far cry from the real Saint Valentine, an early Christian martyr who was bludgeoned and beheaded for his faith.

It’s also a far cry from an early Roman fertility ritual also celebrated on February 14, where men ran through the streets slapping women with the flesh of recently-sacrificed animals.

The Trump administration's peace plan for Israel and Palestine embodies none of the ingredients of successful conflict resolution, including talking and listening, accommodation of core interests, and a compromise solution that the majority can support. It reads, not surprisingly, more like a real-estate transaction.