
On Sunday afternoon, Pope Francis traveled to Rome’s largest cemetery to celebrate Mass and pray for the “faithful departed,” an ancient Christian custom associated principally with All Saints Day (Nov 1) and All Souls Day (Nov 2).
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.1 Nov 2015, 8:34 AM PST0

In his Angelus message on the Christian feast of All Saints, the Pope said to the large crowd assembled in the sunny Saint Peter’s Square: “we experience in a particularly vivid way the reality of the communion of saints, our extended family, made up of all members of the Church, both those who are still pilgrims on earth, and those—immensely more—who have already departed for heaven.”
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.1 Nov 2015, 6:51 AM PST0

A growing trend among Christian families is dressing children as saints for Halloween, rather than as ghouls or witches, to take back the celebration of the “Hallowed Eve” of the Feast of all Saints.
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.31 Oct 2015, 6:58 AM PST0