Welcome to a new edition of Vatican Insider, the last weekend before I depart for Honolulu. I am on the Historical Commission for the Cause of Canonization of Servant of God Joseph Dutton who, as you know, worked for 44 years on Molokai with Saints Damien and Marianne caring for the victims of leprosy. When such a commission closes its work, a meeting must be held in the diocese of the cause for canonization with all members present. This is required by the dicastery for the causes of saints to which we will send our report.

Thus, for the next two weekends, my colleagues are preparing a ‘BEST of” Vatican Insider. The weekend of December 16, in fact, we will re-air a riveting interview done in Hawaii with another member of that commission, Fr. John Paul Kimes, a professor at Notre Dame university. Not to be missed!

This weekend, on the other hand, in the interview segment I feature a talk with Craig Johring, co- founder of Hope of the Poor, an amazing organization founded in America with headquarters in Mexico City and Omaha, Nebraska, whose motto is “Alleviating the Poverty of the Unloved.” Craig founded this with Danny Leger to impact the world by showing how the poor are viewed and treated and how they can be helped. Stay tuned for that after the news segment.