For the rector of the world’s second largest church after St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, May 11 will be a day of celebrating the inauguration of the southern facade’s mosaics, all created by Father Marko Rupik.

Some 80 female detainees, prison staff and volunteers applauded and smiled when Pope Francis told them he wanted to meet them first on his one-day visit to Venice April 28 to tell them, “You have a special place in my heart.”

A religious sister best known for helping more than 100,000 migrants and asylum-seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Texas was in Chicago April 15 to share her artwork nationally for the first time and reiterate a message of love.

Archbishop Laurent Ulrich found himself taking over the Archdioceses of Paris in the spotlight — three years after the Notre Dame fire, as the world watched the cathedral being rebuilt, and waiting for the work to be completed.

With the scaffolding removed from the newly installed spire of Notre Dame Cathedral and reconstruction work going full speed inside France’s most iconic church, the home of precious relics and a tourist site visited by millions of people yearly will be ready to reopen Dec. 8.

For Catholic singer-songwriter Matt Maher, the 17th chapter of John’s Gospel, in which the Lord prays that all will be one, has fueled his 20 years of itinerant ministry and traveling.

Since the rebuilding work began, all those involved on site have testified to the exceptional quality of the skills and spirit of Notre Dame’s craftsmen.

Great artists have used color and shape, shadow and light, to present their own interpretation of that fateful meal. They have frozen the scene in a single image, filled with nuance and symbolism.

Daniel Mitsui, 41, has spent decades doing the work of carefully sorting, modifying and balancing tradition with innovation — or, more precisely, “combinations of influences, rather than wholly new ideas,” he said.

It’s a foretaste of heaven to look around Mass and witness the full participation of the people of God.