Welcome to S+L’s Weekly News Round-Up. As the Director of Marketing and Communications here at S+L, many interesting Catholic news stories and articles come across my desk on a daily basis. Some of them we’ll cover on our different television programs and others I’d like to share with you on this blog.

This blog column is where I’ll point out some of the more interesting news pieces that I’ve come across over the past week. Enjoy!

Steve McQueen has always been for me the quintessential definition of the uber-cool dude, never breaking a sweat, never a flustered moment even in the most difficult situations. Lately, however, I’m starting to see that even the late great McQueen can’t hold a candle to the cool persona of Papa Francesco. And I'm not the only one starting to think so! Check out how Pope Francis smoothly handles these tough moments with genuine humor, never missing a beat or ever losing his cool! This is from ABS-CBN news. - I doubt that even McQueen could be that cool. Now here’s an interesting video. St. Valentine’s day is just around the corner and, leading up to this special day focused on love, you’ll see many young men try to woo and court the hearts of their loved ones in all kinds of crazy and ridiculous ways . But have you seen it done like this before – in the way of a Catholic pick-up lines song? Really? Seriously? 'How utterly cheesy!' so I thought. But listen to the lyrics. It's darn funny and now I'm wondering, “why didn’t I think of that?!!” For those of you who are on Facebook, I’m sure that you’ve noticed the endless array of quizzes that populate your news feed. I don’t normally pay any attention to them, but I came across this one that piqued my interest – Online quiz of the Virgin Mary. I thought I could ace this one easily, (you know, since I work for a Catholic media organization and all…) But in the end, I’m embarrassed to say that I only scored a 57% - Can you do better? I’m sure by now you’ve heard of the term "Flash Mob." If not, it's basically a large impromptu public gathering of people, usually organized through text messaging or online social networks. (See here for an example.) But have you heard of the term of MASS Mob? Very sadly, many churches in New York are slated to close due to dwindling attendance and finances. Could a series of “Mass Mobs” save them? Check this interesting read posted by the Crux. In light of Pope Francis’s recent visit to the Philippines there’s a lot of speculation that the Pope's visit could potentially boost Cardinal Tagle’s chances as the first Asian pontiff. Many parallels are being recognized between the Filipino Cardinal and Pope Francis. The question is, is all this speculation based on fact or just wishful thinking by the Filipino nation? Read about it here. And yet another article on the same topic! Incidentally, check out the interview we did with him on our show Witness: Finally, Super Bowl XLIX is just four days away. Personally, I don’t care much for football but here is a interesting article on the sport that does interest me. Apparently, God has a strong hand in determining the winner and 1 in 4 Americans believe that the hand of God will be seen before the final whistle blows. So I guess, (if I was American), God, indeed, has much to do with football devotion after all!– Interesting read – Now if only the half-time shows could be more Christian..Or do the Super Bowl organizers think that God is taking a washroom break during the half-time shows?... Hmmm. That’s it for me folks. I'd love to hear you thoughts and comments on these stories. If you have any interesting stories yourself, please feel free to send them to me! I hope you enjoy these little stories. I certainly have. Till next week! - Noel