Re: “Ottawa had no reason to slash CCODP funding” (WCR, Jan. 28).

Re: “Churches line up to support fasting chief” (WCR, Jan. 14).

A year and a half ago, Pope Benedict began riding a mobile platform in liturgical processions to ease the burden of those processions.

EDMONTON – The mind of Pope Benedict was sharp, but his flesh was weakening when Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith last met the pope in November.

During his almost eight-year pontificate, Pope Benedict impressed the world as a teacher, guiding Catholics to the sources of the faith and urging modern society not to turn its back on God.

Roughly 117 cardinals will go into the conclave that will choose a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. Only a few, however, have an inside track to become the next to wear the fisherman's ring. Here are eight possible choices.

While the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict is a first for the Church in centuries, it also leads to a complicated period of transition that ends in the election of a new pope.

Even though Pope Benedict will spend his retirement near Rome and then inside Vatican City, he will not play any role in the upcoming election for a new pope, and he will not interfere with the responsibilities and decision-making of the new pontiff, the Vatican spokesman said.

The problem with pornography is not that it shows too much of the human person, but that it shows too little, says Catholic apologist Matthew Fradd. "It reduces the beauty and the complexity of the person to a thing to be used for my sexual pleasure."

Edmonton Catholic Schools has established a new foundation aimed at raising awareness of the benefits of Catholic education.