Will Pope Francis be the last pope? The answer is No — because the ‘prophecy’ of St. Malachy is a fraud...

Pope Francis: The last pope? - by Deacon TomTOMMCDONALD: I knew this moment would come. Pope Francis has died, and people are talking about the prophecies of St. Malachy, which “predict” that Francis will be the last pope before the end of the world. Except ... St. Malachy almost certainly did nothing of the sort. If you just landed here from a search wondering "Will Pope Francis be the last pope?" the answer is No. If you want to know why some people insist he will be, press on.

The Powerful Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus

The Powerful Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus - St. Paul CenterHARROLD: The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that “[t]he mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness” (§639). At the heart of the Christian faith is a set of historical claims: Jesus of Nazareth really lived; He really died; He was really buried; and He really did rise from the dead...

If the Gospels were just made up, they would never have been written the way they are written...

Faith%20and%20the%20Hidden%20Resurrection%20%u2013%20Catholic%20World%20ReportDEAVEL: One of the best internal arguments for the authenticity of the Gospels as historical accounts is their utter freedom to include details that any good public relations professional would avoid. If they were cooked up to sell a tale in which they did not believe, they would never have been written the way they are written. Take Jesus’ closest followers, the disciples, or the twelve. These men, whom the first hearers or readers would know, were the shepherds of this upstart branch of Judaism.

Marcia della Guardia Svizzera Pontificia (March of the Pontifical Swiss Guard )

New Advent: Marcia della Guardia Svizzera Pontificia (March of the Pontifical Swiss Guard ): Note: This is not the official March of the Swiss Guard. Lyrics: Milites Ecclesiae, made using https://www.udio.com.

Co-Creating a Homely House

Co-Creating a Homely House - by Mark and Susanna SpencerSPENCER: In LOTR, J.R.R. Tolkien sums up in a few short lines, what it means for a home to be a home. It is a place where a person can simply be cared for, nourished, and restored, where the cares of the world are softened and one can feel oneself whole again before going out into the world once more. We might ask, how does one go about making one’s dwelling a “homely house”? And as Christians, we also ask ourselves how we live up to the ideal of home that our late Holy Father Francis held out in his encyclical Amoris Laetitia when he quoted Psalm 128:

The Church (and the World) Needs an African Pope

(3) The Church (and the World) Needs an African PopeKEVINCLARK: Africa currently boasts 29 total cardinals, of whom 18 are eligible to vote in the upcoming conclave. Although Europe has by far the greatest number of cardinals (114 total, with 53 electors) the Catholic population in Europe is on a long-term decline. Europe at the moment still contains slightly more total Catholics than Africa, but within a year or two that will flip. Given that fact, the number of cardinals from Europe will inevitably decrease, and we will see more African cardinals in Church leadership.

‘An Event of Grace’: Cardinals Ask Catholics Worldwide to Pray for Guidance of the Holy Spirit as Conclave Approaches

Cardinals ask faithful to pray for their discernment for new Pope - Vatican News: The Holy See released a declaration on Wednesday in which the Cardinals preparing for the upcoming conclave ask the faithful to pray for them. “The College of Cardinals gathered in Rome, engaged in the General Congregations in preparation for the Conclave, wishes to invite the People of God to live this ecclesial moment as an event of grace and spiritual discernment, listening to the will of God,” read the statement.

Why Papal Transitions Are Moments of Conversion

Papal Transitions as Moments of Conversion - The Coming Home NetworkSWAIM: When the Catholic Church transitions between popes, it is often a dramatic time for both cradle Catholics and converts alike; we bid farewell to our Holy Father, and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide the process as we wait to see who will be elected next. Because Pope Francis passed away at the very beginning of the Easter season, this also means that all those who were received into the Church at the Easter Vigil two days previous have already spent more of their time as Catholics without a pope than with one...

Archaeologists find dramatic evidence that ancient Roman gladiators fought lions in Great Britain

Lions vs Gladiators? Archaeologists find gruesome evidence of ancient Roman bloodsports in York | Euronews: Forget the Colosseum and what you've seen in the Gladiator film franchise - the latest evidence of ancient Roman brutality comes not from the heart of Italy, but from a quiet field in Yorkshire. A Roman-era skeleton unearthed in York, England, has given archaeologists the first physical proof that gladiators in Britain clashed not just with each other, but with ferocious beasts.

Fire of Love: A Reflection on the Third Sunday of Easter

Fire of Love: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Third Sunday of Easter - St. Paul CenterHAHN: There are two places in Scripture where the curious detail of a “charcoal fire” is mentioned. One is in today’s Gospel, where the Apostles return from fishing to find bread and fish warming on the fire. The other is in the scene in the High Priest’s courtyard on Holy Thursday, where Peter and some guards and slaves warm themselves while Jesus is being interrogated inside...

Riposo, What I’m Hearing, and the Disability Jubilee

(3) Riposo, what I'm hearing, and the disability JubileeJDFLYNN: It’s hot in Rome. And despite that heat, the Romans walk, everywhere — which means when you’re in Rome, you do too. Of course, most Americans who come to Rome are accustomed to daily outdoor strolls no further than the parking lot demands. But unless you can figure out how to buy bus tickets in the city’s complicated tangle of bureaucracies — or you’re comfortable gambling with a ticket-less ride — you’re going to be walking, a lot.

Why ‘Ben-Hur’ Still Looks Like a Trillion Bucks

New%20Advent%3A%20Why%20%u2018Ben-Hur%u2019%20Still%20Looks%20Like%20a%20Trillion%20Bucks: BBen-Hur (1959) isn’t just a great movie—it’s a miracle of filmmaking. In this video, we take a closer look at why it still holds up as one of the most visually spectacular and emotionally powerful films ever made. From the epic scale of its production to the groundbreaking cinematography and timeless music, this is the story of how Ben-Hur became cinema legend.

Conclave Countdown: 7 Qualities to Look for in the Next Pope

Conclave Countdown: Qualities to Look for in the Next Pope| National Catholic RegisterPENTIN: The qualities of a pope go far beyond merely being a kind of CEO of the Catholic Church. Inevitably, at a minimum, he should possess a strong faith and humility, be willing to adhere to the Church’s teachings and apostolic tradition, and personify the Pope’s ancient title as servus servorum Dei, the Servant of the Servants of God...

3 reasons why Americans cannot write Europe off

Europe and AmericaWEIGEL: In 2005, I published a small book entitled The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God. It had a fair sale in the U.S. and was translated into French, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Portuguese, and Hungarian. British historian Niall Ferguson got one key part of my argument right by describing the book...

‘Papabile’ of the Day: Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle

%u2018Papabile%u2019%20of%20the%20Day%3A%20Cardinal%20Luis%20Antonio%20%u201CChito%u201D%20Tagle%20%7C%20CruxALLEN: It’s one measure of how young Luis Antinio “Chito” Tagle was when he burst onto the scene as a cardinal in 2012 that he was a contender for the papacy in 2013 but seen as way too young, and now 12 years later he’s again a serious possibility but in some circles his age, 67, still counts against him. Given that the last two popes were elected at the ages of 78 and 76...

Why the Upcoming Conclave Will Be a Decisive Step for Europe

Why the Upcoming Conclave Will Be a Decisive Step for Europe| National Catholic Register: When they enter the Sistine Chapel to elect the successor to Peter’s throne, the European cardinals will carry on their shoulders a heavy responsibility for the fate of their continent, which is facing challenges unprecedented since the Church of the first centuries. At a time when some postulate that Europe might soon become irrelevant because of the increasing prominence of the Global South — where the Church is growing fastest — it remains, as its institutional and theological center of gravity, a key player in the conclave outcome.

Pope Francis’ Posthumous Counsel to Young People: ‘Prepare Yourselves for Marriage, Don’t Get Divorced’

Pope%20Francis%20to%20young%20people%3A%20Prepare%20yourselves%20for%20marriage%2C%20don%u2019t%20get%20divorced%20%7C%20Catholic%20News%20Agency: In an exhortation to young people published after his death, Pope Francis urged couples to prepare properly for marriage and commit themselves to “love that lasts a lifetime.” The missive, a foreword to the book “Love Forever” by the YOUCAT Foundation, urges young people considering marriage to “believe in love, believe in God, and believe that you are capable of taking on the adventure” of lifelong matrimony.

Do Animals Have Regional Accents?

Do Animals Have Regional Accents?: Back in 1986, researchers Bob Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney took infant rhesus and Japanese macaque monkeys and switched them shortly after birth. Each was placed in a socially similar but acoustically different environment. The question: Would the monkeys develop regional vocalizations that were contrary to how their species normally communicated? Can animals actually develop regional accents or language in the same way a Boston human will inevitably pronounce park as pahk?

‘The Courage to Be Candid’ — Archbishop Chaput on Pope Francis, and What’s Next

%u2018The%20courage%20to%20be%20candid%u2019%20-%20Chaput%20on%20Francis%2C%20and%20what%27s%20next: Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap., is the emeritus archbishop of Philadelphia, a long-time leader among American bishops, and an influential voice among American Catholics for decades. The archbishop spoke with The Pillar this week about the Francis papacy, and what he thinks the Church needs now.

Cardinal Becciu Withdraws Claim to Conclave Participation

LIVE UPDATES: Cardinal Becciu withdraws claim to conclave participation | Catholic News Agency: The College of Cardinals announced Monday, April 28, that the conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Young Priests Cite Eucharistic Adoration and Encouragement as Key to Their Vocations

Study: Eucharistic adoration key to 2025 priestly vocations: Personal encouragement to consider whether Jesus Christ is calling them to priesthood, along with regular Eucharistic adoration, continue to be key factors for young men seeking to become priests, according to a new report. “Encourage a young man to consider the priesthood or to attend Eucharistic adoration; he could be your future pastor,” said Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing, Michigan.

Meet the Conclave: Cardinal Matteo Zuppi

(3) Meet the conclave: Cardinal Matteo Zuppi - The Pillar: Matteo Zuppi arrived at his high school on the banks of the Tiber in the revolutionary year of 1968. He was a year ahead of his age group and still wore the short trousers of a younger student, to his great embarrassment. At Rome’s Virgilio Lyceum, he met an older student called Andrea Riccardi, who impressed him with his commitment to fraternity, prayer, and the service of others...

Camillo Cardinal Ruini’s 4 Conditions Indispensable for the Good Governance of the Church

Ruini: Four Conditions Indispensable for the Good Governance of the Church | Diakonos.beMAGISTER: Cardinal Camillo Ruini offers this “prayer” of his for the cardinals who in a few days will enter into conclave to elect the new pope. But he also offers it for the whole Christian people, which the next successor of Peter will have the task of “confirming in the faith.” Ruini, 94, was the cardinal closest to John Paul II, whose vicar he was for the diocese of Rome, as well as president of the Italian episcopal conference. And he was among the great electors and admirers of Benedict XVI, whose value he recalls in this text, but also a limitation: his

What 36 Eggs Taught Me About Divine Grace

What Thirty-Six Eggs Taught Me About Grace - MockingbirdNIKKEL: I shouldn’t have stacked three cartons of eggs so high, but I was in a hurry. Normally, I would have braced the egg cartons with something sturdy so they would not fall all over the passenger side of my van. This time I forgot. The inertia of the first turn out of the parking lot toppled the egg carton tower, and thirty-six eggs spilled onto the floor. Now fully free, they began to roll across the aisle and into the back seat, wobbling underneath the pedals unwilling to settle. Eggs are built to move.

Did China ‘slap’ Francis in his coffin?

Did%20China%20%u2018slap%u2019%20Francis%20in%20his%20coffin%3F%20-%20UCA%20News: As more than 1.4 billion Catholics around the world said farewell to Pope Francis — and millions of non-Catholics watched his funeral live — one country’s absence stood out: Xi Jinping’s China. This absence was so conspicuous that even critics of both Pope Francis and China hardly dared to comment. From the very beginning of his papacy, Pope Francis showed particular attention to China...

Papabile of the Day: Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa

%u2018Papabile%u2019%20of%20the%20Day%3A%20Cardinal%20Pierbattista%20Pizzaballa%20%7C%20CruxALLEN: When Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa heard the news Easter Monday that Pope Francis had died, he immediately cancelled his appointments and packed his bags for Rome. As he was leaving the headquarters of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, where he has led the Catholic flock in the Holy Land for the last decade, a small group of aides, employees and friends gathered outside as he was getting in the car to head to the airport.

Conclave to Elect New Pope Will Begin Next Wednesday, May 7, Vatican Announces

Conclave date set for May 7 | Catholic News AgencyWIMMER: The College of Cardinals announced Monday that the conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope. The pivotal proclamation came following a morning general congregation meeting at the Vatican, where cardinals have been gathering daily since Pope Francis’ burial at St. Mary Major Basilica on April 26.

Papabile of the Day: Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu

%u2018Papabile%u2019%20of%20the%20Day%3A%20Cardinal%20Fridolin%20Ambongo%20Besungu%20%7C%20CruxALLEN: When Pope Francis gave the green light for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to issue its controversial 2024 declaration Fiducia Supplicans, authorizing the blessing of persons in same-sex unions, presumably the point was to fill a pastoral void and to reach out to a constituency often alienated from the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Parolin at Novemdiales Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday: ‘Mercy Takes Us to the Heart of Faith’

Cardinal%20Parolin%20at%20Novemdiales%20Mass%3A%20%u2018Mercy%20takes%20us%20to%20heart%20of%20faith%u2019%20-%20Vatican%20News: At Mass on the second day of the Novemdiales, or “nine days” of mourning for the late Pope Francis, Cardinal Pietro Parolin invited Christians to look to Christ’s infinite mercy for peace in the world and in our hearts. In his homily, the 70-year-old Italian-born Cardinal drew inspiration from the day’s Gospel, which recalls the fear and sadness of the Apostles as they huddled in the Upper Room after Jesus’ death.

The pope doesn’t need to be a great orator, theologian, administrator or diplomat. But he does need to confirm us in the faith...

Faith and the Papacy - The Catholic ThingPAULSCALIA: For the past week, the death of Pope Francis has dominated the news. For the next several weeks, the election of his predecessor will do so. And today the Church places before us the story about Thomas’s doubt and, therefore, about what it means to believe. In God’s providence, the scene orients our thoughts and prayers about the papacy and the next pope...

Mourners Line Streets of Rome as Pope Francis’ Body Is Brought to Basilica of St. Mary Major

LIVE UPDATES: Pope Francis is laid to rest at St. Mary Major | Catholic News Agency: The wooden coffin of Pope Francis arrives at the Basilica of St. Mary Major just after 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, completing the solemn procession from St. Peter's Square through the streets of Rome. Crowds of faithful lined the route as the late pontiff made his final journey to the basilica he visited more than 100 times during his papacy.

Pope’s Coffin Sealed Ahead of Funeral on Saturday Morning

Pope%u2019s%20coffin%20sealed%20ahead%20of%20funeral%20on%20Saturday%20morning%20-%20Vatican%20News: On the eve of Pope Francis’ funeral Mass, his coffin has been solemnly sealed. The Pope had been lying in state in St Peter's Basilica since Wednesday. After the huge crowds of visitors – in total around 250,000 - over the last three days, St Peter’s emptied out as the last mourners paid their respects.

Why is L.A.’s Cardinal Mahony, of all people, playing such a visible role in Pope Francis’ burial rites?

(3) Cardinal Mahony to play role in papal burial ritesCOPPEN: Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, will be a controversial participant in Friday’s ceremony to close Pope Francis’ coffin, and Saturday’s papal burial. The 89-year-old cardinal, who in 2013 was briefly relieved of administrative and public duties in the LA archdiocese by his successor in office over his handling of abuse cases, will be among eight cardinals required to attend the April 25 rite in St. Peter’s Basilica to close the pope’s coffin...

Waking a Pope, the Becciu Test, and Francis and the Freemasons

(3) Waking a pope, the Becciu Test, and Francis and the FreemasonsCONDON: I am in Rome. The papal funeral is tomorrow, and it’s crowded here. At least where I am. “Where I am” is the lobby of the Vatican press office, which seems to be struggling a bit under the sheer volume of journalists trying to collect their accreditation. It is a delightfully simple system. A modest-sized folding table with several hundred passes laid out in a rough approximation of alphabetical order...

Listen: The Cotton Pickin’ Kids perform ‘I’ll Fly Away’

New%20Advent%3A%20Listen%3A%20The%20Cotton%20Pickin%u2019%20Kids%20perform%20%u2018I%u2019ll%20Fly%20Away%u2019: Some bright morning when this life is over / I'll fly away / To that home on God's celestial shore / I'll fly away...

The Story of the Famous Photo of Pope Francis (Archbishop Bergoglio) on the Buenos Aires Subway

New Advent: The Story of the Famous Photo of Pope Francis (Archbishop Bergoglio) on the Buenos Aires Subway: When Pope Francis was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he surprised many by living a humble life. In his famous picture from 2008, he is seen riding the city's subway rather than taking a driver and a car. EWTN's Colm Flynn tracked down the young man sitting next to him, to hear his story...

A (Very Short) History of US Presidents Attending Papal Funerals

A (Very Short) History of US Presidents Attending Papal Funerals| National Catholic RegisterMATTMCDONALD: Within hours of Pope Francis’ death Easter Monday, President Donald Trump told the world that he plans to attend his funeral. “Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!” the president said on Truth Social. But not so many popes ago, such an announcement by an American president would have been unthinkable. For most of its history, the U.S. government sent no one to the funeral of the bishop of Rome.

The Missionary Pope: Francis’ Tireless Effort to Bring Christ to the Margins

The%20Missionary%20Pope%3A%20Francis%u2019%20Tireless%20Effort%20to%20Bring%20Christ%20to%20the%20Margins%7C%20National%20Catholic%20RegisterLANDRY: “The next pope,” Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio told his brother cardinals in their 2013 General Congregation meetings six days before they would elect him the 266th Peter, had to be a “man who, from the contemplation and adoration of Jesus Christ, helps the Church to go out of herself to the existential peripheries, who helps her to be a fruitful mother living off the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing.”

‘Conclave’ Fact vs. Fiction: What Does the Hit Movie Get Right and Wrong?

%u2018Conclave%u2019%20fact%20vs.%20fiction%3A%20What%20does%20the%20hit%20movie%20get%20right%20and%20wrong%3F%20%7C%20Catholic%20News%20AgencyMCKEOWN: “Conclave” was a surprise hit upon its theatrical release last October. And following the April 21 death of Pope Francis, the film, now on streaming platforms, has attracted a new wave of interest from viewers, with streaming rates of the film reportedly tripling in the days since the pope’s death was announced. Directed by Edward Berger and based on a 2016 novel, the film is a character-driven story...

This Sunday: Divine Mercy in 7 Minutes

This%20Sunday%3A%20Divine%20Mercy%20in%20Seven%20Minutes%20%u2013%20Benedictine%20College%20Media%20%26%20CultureHOOPES: Jesus came, ultimately, not just to live for 33 years in one region. He came to live forever, everywhere. This Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter, Sunday of Divine Mercy, the Church emphasizes that Jesus Christ is still alive — and why. The cross was at the center of Jesus’ life — before and after the crucifixion. We know from John 3:16 why Jesus came...

6 Paradoxes of Francis’ Papacy

6%20Paradoxes%20of%20Francis%u2019%20Papacy%7C%20National%20Catholic%20RegisterGAGLIARDUCCI: Paradoxical and incomplete: The pontificate of Pope Francis can be summed up in these two words. Only time will tell whether his leadership has given a permanent new direction to the Church; whether its mentality changed fundamentally under his leadership, or whether Francis was the only revolutionary; whether people were meaningfully implementing the changes he wrought, or simply waiting for everything to pass around him.

Pope Francis’ Coffin to Be Sealed Friday at 2 p.m. ET Ahead of Saturday Funeral

Pope%20Francis%u2019%20coffin%20to%20be%20sealed%20Friday%20evening%20ahead%20of%20Saturday%20funeral%20%7C%20Catholic%20News%20AgencyMCKEOWN: Pope Francis’ coffin will be sealed in a liturgical rite this evening ahead of his solemn funeral, set to take place the next morning on Saturday, April 26. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo, will preside at the Rite of Sealing of the Coffin beginning at 8 p.m. Rome time April 25, the Vatican announced. After his death on April 21, the pope’s body, dressed in red liturgical vestments with the miter and pallium...

Is Francis the last pope? The problem with the dubious ‘prophecy’ of St. Malachi

Is Francis the Last Pope? | Catholic Answers MagazineNASH: You may have heard of St. Malachy, but perhaps not for his holy life. He is a real saint, born in Armagh, Ireland, in 1094, and became the bishop there in 1032. He restored discipline to the Church in Armagh, and he died in 1148 in the arms of his fellow saint, the great Bernard of Clairvaux, a Doctor of the Church.

Cardinal Becciu Wants to Vote in Conclave Despite Being Ineligible

Cardinal Becciu Wants to Vote in Conclave Despite Being Ineligible| National Catholic RegisterPENTIN: Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu is insisting he is eligible to vote in the coming conclave despite having resigned from his rights as a cardinal and his subsequent conviction for embezzlement and other crimes which he is currently appealing. In April 22 comments to local Italian media as he left his native Sardinia for Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral, Cardinal Becciu said...

Cardinal Becciu’s Return? A Test of Nerve and Norms for the Cardinals in the Conclave

%283%29%20The%20cardinals%u2019%20%u2018Becciu%20Test%u2019%20-%20by%20Ed.%20Condon%20-%20The%20PillarCONDON: Cardinal Angelo Becciu’s decision to assert the right to participate in the upcoming conclave has struck many observers as the latest in a litany of logically and factually questionable statements from the former sostituto and prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. However, while his legal right, or lack thereof, to enter a conclave would appear to be straightforward...

One thing the modern Supreme Court can agree on is disagreeing over religion

One thing the modern Supreme Court can agree on is disagreeing over religion | CNN Politics: Alliances among the nine Supreme Court justices can shift back and forth, as in recent cases over President Donald Trump’s mass deportation of migrants. But religion is different. The fundamental irreconcilable conflict on today’s Supreme Court was laid bare during an intense courtroom drama Tuesday over books on gender and sexuality in elementary schools...

Harvard Catholic Forum: The Saving Truth of Scripture

New Advent: Harvard Catholic Forum: The Saving Truth of ScriptureHAHN: This talk at the Harvard Catholic Forum on April 4 highlights the rich and bidirectional relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament, showing how the saving truth of Holy Scripture is revealed as the foundation on which humanity can fully know itself.

With Pierced Hands, Jesus Folded the Last Sign of Death — and Walked Into New Life

The First Thing Resurrected Jesus Did | Catholic Answers MagazineBECKLO: In the Gospel reading for Easter Sunday, we hear a curious detail about the empty tomb of Jesus. Mary Magdalene had run to John and Peter to tell them that the stone had been rolled away and the body of the Lord was gone, and the two apostles, in turn, run to the tomb to see for themselves. John, arriving first, sees the burial cloths, but Peter, arriving second, also sees...

Watch: Delivering Mail by Jumping From a Moving Boat

New Advent: Watch: Delivering Mail by Jumping From a Moving Boat: On Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, there’s a summer tradition: “mail jumping.” It’s a bit dangerous, a bit ridiculous, and would never be allowed to start today. But it’s a tradition...

Humanities Syllabus for April: Healing and Purification

Humanities Syllabus for April: Healing and PurificationCONLEY: Moving from Lent to Easter may be the hardest transition of the liturgical year. As our 40-day fast gives way to the feasting of our celebration of the Resurrection, we can lose our spiritual focus. Without the urgency of prayer and penance, the joy of Jesus’s victory may pass us by. During the season of Lent, we embraced the Cross...

Why the Transfiguration Is the Key to Understanding the Kingdom of God

(3) The Luminous Mysteries: The TransfigurationTSAKANIKAS: These meditations will look at each of the Luminous Mysteries in terms of their theological significance and their offering of the Kingdom — a share in God’s own divinity and light as “partakers of the Holy Spirit” (Hebrews 6:4). It is by desiring the heavenly goods of the Kingdom which these mysteries offer to us...

Warren Hern Retires, Closing One of America’s Most Notorious Late-Term Abortion Clinics

Boulder Abortion Clinic closes, Warren Hern to retire - Axios Boulder: The Boulder Abortion Clinic has closed after more than 50 years, as founder and physician Warren Hern announced his retirement in a post on the clinic's website.

Watch What It’s Like to Fight a House Fire — From a Firefighter’s GoPro

New%20Advent%3A%20Watch%20What%20It%u2019s%20Like%20to%20Fight%20a%20House%20Fire%20%u2014%20From%20a%20Firefighter%u2019s%20GoPro: The brave men and women of the Third Fire Company of Ñuñoa went to work to put out the flames engulfing a burning house in Santiago, Chile. With a GoPro filming, the firefighting team arrived on scene, rolled out the hose, and sprung into action, as seen in fireman Joseth Abel Espinosa's POV.

What’s the difference between classical and modern ‘progressive’ education?

Classical vs Modern "Progressive" Education: What's the Difference?: Oftentimes in the cycles of history, what was once old and unquestioned becomes lost and forgotten, and when it is rediscovered, it becomes something new again. And what was in its day revolutionary eventually becomes the dominant paradigm, so taken for granted that its origins as a break or a rupture fall into oblivion...

He Is Risen! But His Followers Still Suffer in Nigeria

Christian Persecution in Nigeria Intensifies This Easter | AMACDEAVEL: Happy Easter! Alleluia! Christians around the world are celebrating the miraculous events of almost 2000 years ago: that Jesus of Nazareth was raised to a new and glorious life after having been crucified, dead, and buried. This joyful event was understood as the proof that His seemingly shameful death on a cross was actually the culmination of a life-long sacrifice to God the Father.

From the USCCB: Liturgical Resources for the Death of Pope Francis

Liturgical Resources for the Death of Pope Francis | USCCB: The entire Church mourns the death of the Holy Father, Pope Francis. In cathedrals, basilicas, parish churches, shrines, and chapels the Holy Eucharist will be offered for the repose of his soul. Communities and individuals will ask God to bestow his infinite mercy on the man who served the Church as Bishop of Rome.

113 Cardinal Electors Arrive in Rome — Faithful Keep Vigil Through the Night at St. Peter’s

LIVE UPDATES: Cardinals gather for second meeting as thousands bid farewell to Pope Francis | Catholic News Agency: Pope Francis passed away at 7:35 a.m. local time on Easter Monday, April 21, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta, as confirmed by the Holy See Press Office. The 88-year-old pontiff led the Catholic Church for a little more than 12 years.

Looking Back on a Pontificate

Retrospect on a pontificateWEIGEL: During the March 2013 interregnum following the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI, and in the conclave itself, proponents of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, as Benedict’s successor described him as an orthodox, tough-minded, courageous reformer who would clean the Vatican’s Augean stables while maintaining the theological and pastoral line that had guided the Church since John Paul II’s election in 1978: dynamic orthodoxy in service to a revitalized proclamation of the Gospel, in a world badly needing the witness and charity of a Church of missionary disciples.

The World’s Spiritual Director

The%20World%u2019s%20Spiritual%20Director%20-%20First%20ThingsDESOUZA: Pope Francis died early Easter Monday, less than twelve hours after the last evening Masses had been offered in Roman parishes. On Easter Sunday evening, the assigned Gospel passage is from Luke 24, in which the disciples on the road to Emmaus meet the Risen Jesus. When the late Holy Father’s body is transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica on April 23, Emmaus will be read again at Masses offered there, the assigned passage for Easter Wednesday.

I Know Pain. Christ Gives it Meaning. Francis Helped the World See This...

I Know Pain. Christ Gives it Meaning. Francis Helped the World See This| National Catholic RegisterLEWIS: Pope Francis battled to the end. He fought through his great suffering. The way he died showed the real measure of the man. Amazing how one moment in an 88-year life can be so defining, so inspiring. He didn’t die alone. Jesus was with him till his last breath. Mary, too, watched over him. He showed us how suffering can be noble — how life is still valuable even in the last hours.

Pope Francis and the Elephant Man

Pope Francis and the Elephant Man - Word on FireWORNER: He was hideous. With an oversized skull that bulged forth frontally with multi-lobed bony protuberances, a chin that jutted rightward dragging his mouth down in a permanent frown, scales and scars dominating half of his face, and awkward wisps of hair pronouncing (and not obscuring) his deformity, John Merrick seemed a monstrosity...

Scientists Discover Secret To Dead Sea Scroll’s Incredible Preservation — And Possibly Its Destruction

Scientists Unlock The Mystery Of Dead Sea Scrolls' Preservation: In addition to their unprecedented historical importance, the Dead Sea Scrolls are archaeological marvels. First discovered in 1946 by a shepherd in the Qumran Caves of the Judaean desert, this mysterious collection of ancient manuscripts comprising biblical texts, calendars, and astrological charts has long excited scientists — and left them wondering how they survived so well for some 2,000 years.

What Artificial Intelligence and Celebrating Easter Have in Common

What Artificial Intelligence and Celebrating Easter Have in Common - LifeCraftCUDDEBACK: We need to garden, now, more than ever. Two diverse things can bring this into focus for us today: artificial intelligence, and celebrating Easter. What is called artificial intelligence (hereafter, AI) is swiftly and steadily making its way into our life in obvious and not so obvious ways. I will not attempt a fuller analysis of the dangerous effects of AI, nor will I address the thorny question of its legitimate uses...

I worked for Pope Francis. Here is what he was really like...

I worked for Pope Francis. Here is what he was really like. | by Daniel B. Gallagher | Apr, 2025 | MediumGALLAGHER: I began working in the Vatican Secretariat of State under Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. By the time Cardinal Bergoglio was elected to the Chair of Peter in 2013, I felt I had a pretty good grasp on how things worked. Then the first Latin American pope decided to shake things up. He settled down not in the Apostolic Palace, but in the Domus Sanctae Marthae so that he could be surrounded by people...

Convicted Cardinal Becciu Claims Conclave Voting Rights; Vatican Said ‘No’

Convicted%20Cardinal%20Becciu%20claims%20conclave%20voting%20rights%3B%20Vatican%20said%20%u2018no%u2019: Convicted Cardinal Angelo Becciu told Sardinian reporters Tuesday that he is permitted to attend the conclave that will elect Pope Francis’ successor, and that a Vatican list designating him a “non-elector” has no legal value. “The pope has recognized my cardinal prerogatives as intact, since there was no explicit will to exclude me from the Conclave nor a request for my explicit renunciation in writing,” Becciu told L’Unione Sarda newspaper...

Pope Francis Lies in State After Transfer From Santa Marta to St. Peter’s Basilica

Pope%20Francis%20lies%20in%20state%20after%20transfer%20from%20Santa%20Marta%20to%20St.%20Peter%u2019s%20Basilica%3A%20Follow%20along%20on%20our%20live%20blog%20-%20OSV%20News: U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, as chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, led the prayer service that accompanied the transfer of the body from the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where the pope had lived and where he died April 21 at the age of 88.

God rest the Pope. Here’s what comes next...

(3) God rest the pope. Here's what comes next - by JD FlynnJDFLYNN: Yesterday evening in Rome, Cardinal Kevin Farrell oversaw the sealing of the official papal apartments in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. Soon after, Farrell oversaw the sealing of doors at the pope’s suite of rooms in the Santa Marta guesthouse. Across Rome, and far from the city, bells tolled in church towers. In the Church’s basilicas, umbrellinos...

Pope Francis’ Legacy: A Papacy Rooted in God’s Mercy

Pope%20Francis%u2019%20Legacy%3A%20A%20Papacy%20Rooted%20in%20God%u2019s%20Mercy%7C%20National%20Catholic%20RegisterLANDRY: As all in the Catholic Church pray for the eternal repose of the soul of Pope Francis and begin the assessment of his life and papal legacy, it’s essential to begin with how he himself viewed his life and divine calling. He summed it up at the very moment his pontificate began. After a pope exceeds the requisite number of votes in a conclave, he is formally asked...

A ‘Holy Tailgate’: Notre Dame Students Camp Out for ‘Vigil of the Vigil’

A%20%u2018Holy%20Tailgate%u2019%3A%20Notre%20Dame%20Students%20Camp%20Out%20for%20%u2018Vigil%20of%20the%20Vigil%u2019%7C%20National%20Catholic%20RegisterSTRELOW: At 9 a.m. on a chilly, grey morning in South Bend, Indiana, 30 Notre Dame students were camped out on a tree-lined quad. Lawn chairs filled a long sidewalk, as the queued-up students shared food, blankets and conversation. No, they weren’t pregaming for a Fighting Irish football game. It was Holy Saturday, and the students were taking part in an annual “holy tailgate”...

Are popes hit on the head when they die? And is there a special hammer for that?

(3) Are popes hit on the head when they die? - by Deacon TomTOMMCDONALD: Pope Francis, the 265th successor to Peter, has died, and in the upcoming weeks the eyes of the world will be on the Catholic Church. This follows one of the most fruitful seasons of conversion in my experience, with many places reporting twice as many people entering the church as in previous years. First, let me offer my prayers for the soul of the Holy Father, and for the Cardinal electors to follow the promptings of the Spirit...

Breath of New Life: A Reflection on the Second Sunday of Easter

Breath of New Life: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Second Sunday of Easter - St. Paul CenterHAHN: Th e prophet Daniel in a vision saw “One like the Son of Man” receive everlasting kingship (see Daniel 7:9–14). John is taken to heaven in today’s Second Reading where he sees Daniel’s prophecy fulfilled in Jesus, who appears as “One like a Son of Man.” Jesus is clad in the robe of a High Priest (see Exodus 28:4; Wisdom 18:24) and wearing the gold sash of a king (see 1 Maccabees 10:89). He has been exalted by the right hand of the Lord, as we sing in today’s Psalm.

This papal interregnum is a special time for Catholics to think, and act, like Catholics...

Francis, Mercy, and Truth - The Catholic ThingROYAL: Scientists say that, when a strong earthquake occurs, it sometimes causes the rotation of the earth to shift slightly, even minutely changing the shape of the planet and the length of a day. By contrast, it often seems that the Catholic Church and the papacy in these latter days have a weak and not always helpful influence around the globe...

Pope Francis and the End of the Imperial Papacy [NYTimes Paywall]

Opinion | Pope Francis and the End of the Imperial Papacy - The New York TimesDOUTHAT: Pope Francis, who passed to his reward on the morning after Easter at age 88, was a version of the liberal pope that many Catholics had earnestly desired all through the long reign of John Paul II and the shorter one of Benedict XVI — a man whose worldview was shaped and defined by the Second Vatican Council and whose pontificate sought a renewal of its revolution, a further great modernization of the Catholic Church.

St. Thomas Aquinas explains what a genuine miracle is, as opposed to other astonishing events

Explaining Miracles with St. Thomas Aquinas | Church Life Journal | University of Notre Dame: In his beautiful treatment of the resurrection in the Summa theologiae, Thomas Aquinas writes that one of the reasons why Christ had to rise from the dead is to “confirm our faith in his divinity” (ST IIIa, q. 53, a. 1) Christ’s resurrection—and his prior raising of Lazarus—are miracles that teach us about who Christ is and strengthen our hope for our own future resurrection...

Pope Francis to Be Buried at St. Mary Major Basilica Following Saturday Funeral

LIVE UPDATES: Pope Francis funeral announced for Saturday | Catholic News Agency: Pope Francis’ funeral Mass will take place Saturday, April 26, at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican announced Tuesday. The Mass will be presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.

How the Resurrection Guides our Prayers for Pope Francis

How the Resurrection Guides our Prayers for Pope Francis | Knowing Is DoingTORRE: As the world now knows about the death of Pope Francis on the first Monday of the Octave of Easter, it is important to address both the human condition and the Divine condition that both defined Pope Francis and surrounded him at the same time. As the Holy Father, Pope Francis sought the spiritually marginalized, the down-trodden, the lost, the ignored in the peripheries which defined much of his Pontificate...

Watch: Vatican releases minute-long video of the traditional sealing of the papal apartment

New Advent: Watch: Vatican releases minute-long video of the traditional sealing of the papal apartment: Apposizione dei sigilli all'appartamento papale, 21 aprile 2025...

Of Course, Pope Francis Waited for Easter to Die

Of Course, Pope Francis Waited for Easter to Die | National ReviewLOPEZ: Many things will be said about the death of Pope Francis today. Many of them will have to do with politics and controversy. That he met with the vice president of the United States the last day of his life certainly won’t be missed in the coverage. But this pope of the peripheries, as he will forever be known — from South America, so often associating himself with those who would otherwise be most forgotten...

BBC: King Charles and Queen Camilla have 'heavy hearts' after Pope's death

King Charles and Queen Camilla have 'heavy hearts' after Pope's death: King Charles has said he and Queen Camilla have "heavy hearts" after Pope Francis's death, as they paid tribute to his "compassion" and "tireless commitment" to people of faith. In a statement, the King said that though "deeply saddened", their sorrow had been "somewhat eased" by the Pope being able to share an Easter greeting with the world on Sunday, before he died aged 88.

White House releases Presidential Proclamation ordering flags to fly half-staff ‘until sunset’ on day of Pope’s interment

Honoring%20the%20Memory%20of%20His%20Holiness%20Pope%20Francis%20%u2013%20The%20White%20House: As a mark of respect for the memory of His Holiness Pope Francis, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government...

Vatican releases Pope Francis’ spiritual testament, giving instructions for his burial in St. Mary Major

Pope Francis' spiritual testament - Vatican News: As I sense the approaching twilight of my earthly life, and with firm hope in eternal life, I wish to set out my final wishes solely regarding the place of my burial. Throughout my life, and during my ministry as a priest and bishop, I have always entrusted myself to the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary. For this reason, I ask that my mortal remains rest - awaiting the day of the Resurrection - in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major.

What Francis Did: How Will the Pope Be Remembered?

What%20Francis%20Did%3A%20How%20Will%20the%20Pope%20Be%20Remembered%3F%20%u2013%20Benedictine%20College%20Media%20%26%20CultureHOOPES: How will Pope Francis be remembered? Pope Francis, 88, leader of the world’s more than one billion Catholics, died this morning at 7:35 a.m., after a brief rally from a long period of illness that began with a severe respiratory infection. Many things come next: a papal funeral, a conclave, and the announcement of a new Pope. But the question of the Argentinian pope’s legacy will linger...

Roman Missal’s ‘Prayer for a Deceased Pope’ and 4 Other Prayers You Can Offer for Pope Francis

Prayers for Pope Francis: Eternal Rest Grant Unto Francis, O Lord| National Catholic Register: God, Who, in Thine ineffable providence, didst will that Thy servant Francis ... should be numbered among the high priests; grant, we beseech Thee, that he, who on earth held the place of Thine only-begotten Son, may be joined forevermore to the fellowship of Thy holy pontiffs. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

Pope Francis Dead at 88: The Pope of the Peripheries Who Shook Up the Church

Pope Francis: The Pope of the Peripheries Who Shook Up the Church| National Catholic Register: Pope Francis’ death today on Easter Monday marks the end of a historic 12-year papacy. The first Latin American and the first member of the Society of Jesus to be elected pope, his legacy will be shaped by his efforts to bring the Gospel to the peripheries of the world and the margins of society while shaking up — sometimes vigorously and uncomfortably — what he saw as an unacceptably self-referential, unwelcoming and rigid Catholic status quo.

The Best of Francis: 5 Unforgettable Moments

The best of Francis: Five unforgettable moments - OSV NewsSCALIA: As the world absorbs the news of the death of Pope Francis — and before the ever-busy oddsmakers and deep insiders begin the game of papabile speculation that accompanies every papal death and conclave — let us rest for a moment and appreciate what were (arguably) the five most memorable moments of the Franciscan papacy:

With Pope’s Death, Vatican Announces Postponement of Blessed Cardinal Acutis’ Canonization This Sunday

Vatican%20postpones%20Carlo%20Acutis%20canonization%20following%20Pope%20Francis%u2019%20death%20%7C%20Catholic%20News%20AgencyMARES: The Vatican announced Monday that the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis has been postponed following the death of Pope Francis. More than 80,000 teenagers were expected to gather in Rome for the April 27 canonization amid the Vatican’s Jubilee of Teenagers, according to the Dicastery for Evangelization, with young people registered from the United States, Brazil, India, Spain, Portugal, France, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, and Nigeria.

Pope Francis oversaw a steep decline in the Vatican’s role as a global witness [Washington Post Subscribers Only]

Opinion%20%7C%20Pope%20Francis%u2019s%20human%20rights%20record%20left%20him%20a%20failed%20leader%20-%20The%20Washington%20PostWEIGEL: When Pope Francis was elected on March 13, 2013, the Vatican’s reputation as a forceful, effective global advocate for basic human rights and a humane world order was at its apogee, thanks to the work of Francis’s two papal predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Francis, who died Monday at age 88, does not leave a similar legacy. It will be up to his successor to rebuild a Catholic global witness now in disarray.

The Church After Francis

The Church After Francis - First ThingsCHAPUT: I have personal memories of Pope Francis that I greatly value: a friendly and generous working relationship at the 1997 Synod on America when we were both newly appointed archbishops; his personal welcome and warmth at Rome’s 2014 Humanum conference; and the extraordinary success of his 2015 visit to Philadelphia for the Eighth World Meeting of Families. He devoted himself to serving the Church and her people in ways that he felt the times demanded...

Sede Vacante: The See of Rome Is Vacant. What Happens Now, and Who Is in Charge?

(3) Sede vacante: What happens now, and who is in charge?: Following the death of Pope Francis on Monday, the See of Rome is vacant. The College of Cardinals are now making their way to Rome from around the world, where they will, in due course, meet in conclave to elect the next successor of St. Peter.

Cardinal Farrell to Preside at Rite of Ascertainment of Pope Francis’ Death at 2 p.m. ET on Monday

Cardinal%20Farrell%20to%20preside%20at%20rite%20of%20ascertainment%20of%20Pope%20Francis%u2019%20death%20-%20Vatican%20News: Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside over the rite of the ascertainment of death of Pope Francis and placement of his body in the coffin on Monday evening.

Pope Francis Dies

Pope%20Francis%20Dies%20at%2088%2C%20Leaving%20Legacy%20of%20Reform%20and%20Focus%20on%20Church%u2019s%20Peripheries%7C%20National%20Catholic%20Register: Pope Francis passed away on April 21 at 7:35am local time, as confirmed by the Holy See Press Office. The 88-year-old pontiff, who led the Catholic Church for nearly 13 years, died peacefully at his Casa Santa Marta residence at the Vatican.

Full Text: ‘Urbi et Orbi’ Message for Easter 2025

"Urbi et Orbi" - Easter 2025 | FrancisCOATOFARMS: Christ is risen, alleluia! Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter! Today at last, the singing of the “alleluia” is heard once more in the Church, passing from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, and this makes the people of God throughout the world shed tears of joy. From the empty tomb in Jerusalem, we hear unexpected good news: Jesus, who was crucified, “is not here, he has risen.” Jesus is not in the tomb, he is alive...

Mass in Christ’s tomb, the head of St. James, the sky path of the Paraclete, and the riddle of Siloam

Chapter%204%3A%20Exploring%20Little-%20and%20Some%20Well-Known%20Sites%20in%20the%20Holy%20Land%u2013Mass%20in%20Christ%u2019s%20Tomb%2C%20The%20Head%20of%20St.%20James%2C%20The%20Sky%20Path%20of%20the%20Paraclete%2C%20%26%20The%20Riddle%20of%20Siloam%20%u2013%20%u0396%u03AE%u03C3%u03C4%u03B5%20%u03B6%u03B5%u03C3%u03C4%u03CC%u2026%20%22STAY%20HOT%22BEAUDOIN: I arrived in Jerusalem from Galilee somewhat late in the evening, and it was around 9:30 p.m. after I parked my car in a nearby parking garage, walked back to my hotel, and settled down in my room. The next day was Sunday, so I needed to find a place in Jerusalem to go to Mass in the morning. I was interested in going to Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the ancient church built over both Golgotha and Jesus’s tomb, and began researching Mass times...

The amazing story of how a stolen rosary led one young woman to the Catholic Church

How a stolen rosary led one young woman to the Catholic Church | Catholic News Agency: In 2017, while working at the World Food Program office in the Azarieh building in downtown Beirut, Iman Hijaze spotted her colleague’s rosary lying on the floor. Alex Imad, a former Shiite Muslim who had converted to Christianity, had accidentally dropped it. “When I touched it, I felt an electrical shock through my body,” Hijaze recalled.

Easter Sunday: Pope Francis Delivers ‘Urbi et Orbi,’ Tours St. Peter’s Square, Meets US Vice President

Pope%20on%20Easter%3A%20Jesus%u2019%20resurrection%20makes%20Christians%20pilgrims%20of%20hope%20-%20OSV%20News: The hope Christians have is not a sign of avoiding reality but of trusting in the power of God to defeat sin and death as the resurrection of Jesus clearly shows, Pope Francis wrote in his Easter message. The pope’s voice was weak, as it has been since he was released from the hospital March 23, and he barely raised his arms as he made the sign of the cross...

Pope Francis in Easter Vigil Homily: Christ Is the ‘Turning Point’ in Human History

Pope%20Francis%20in%20Easter%20Vigil%20homily%3A%20Christ%20is%20the%20%u2018turning%20point%u2019%20in%20human%20history%20%7C%20Catholic%20News%20AgencyMARES: Candlelight illuminated St. Peter’s Basilica during the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday where Pope Francis’ homily, read on his behalf, proclaimed the resurrection of Christ as “the definitive turning point in human history.” “It falls to us to proclaim this Easter hope, this ‘turning point’ where darkness becomes light,” the pope wrote in the homily, delivered by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.

Will We Let Easter Work on Us This Time?

Will We Let Easter Work on Us This Time? | National ReviewLOPEZ: Pope Francis making snow angels. That was a cover of the New Yorker in December 2013. A coffee mug I picked up in Rome early in his pontificate shows him as a superhero, cape and all — you could trip over similar souvenirs in the Eternal City during his first years as pope. Georgetown University could have trademarked “the Francis Effect” by now; the phrase has been an ongoing theme on campus, guiding commentary on his impact on Rome and on the church globally. However you look at it, Pope Francis has gotten people’s attention.

4 converts share how they picked their Confirmation saints

Choosing Your Confirmation Saint - CHNetwork Community Responds - The Coming Home NetworkSWAIM: As Easter approaches, the question of how to pick a Confirmation saint comes up often in our work. How does one go about selecting a saint to formally identify with? For some, the nervousness over picking a Confirmation saint can come from not knowing much about the saints; for others who know a lot about saints, the difficulty can come from narrowing the choice down to a single person...

They Were the First, We Are the Latest: 7 Easter Takeaways

This%20Sunday%2C%20They%20Were%20the%20First%2C%20We%20Are%20the%20Latest%3A%207%20Easter%20Takeaways%20%u2013%20Benedictine%20College%20Media%20%26%20CultureHOOPES: The Gospel reading this Sunday for The Resurrection of the Lord, the Mass of Easter Day describes the transformation of three people by Jesus Christ at Easter. Mary Magdalene, known for her dark past, is filled with light. Peter and John, known for their bombast and tempers, become energetic preachers of the Good News. It’s fascinating to look at how the specific details of these three people’s experiences on Easter morning changed everything...

Half-Measures Or Full Devotion?

Half-Measures Or Full Devotion? | Parishable ItemsFELTES: St. Peter the Apostle proclaimed: “We are witnesses of all that [Jesus] did… They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible…to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” Jesus went to his Passion and Cross after the Last Supper, and from death and his tomb to the Resurrection. His apostles witnessed these events and were willing to die to testify to them...

Vice President Vance Meets With Cardinal Parolin at Vatican on Holy Saturday

Vice President Vance meets with Cardinal Parolin at Vatican on Holy Saturday | Catholic News Agency: Vice President J.D. Vance of the United States was received at the Vatican Secretariat of State by Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Holy Saturday morning, where the two discussed international relations, religious freedom, and humanitarian concerns. The April 19 meeting included Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher...

The Seven Falls of Christ

The Seven Falls of Christ - by Deacon Tom - Weird CatholicTOMMCDONALD: I want to look at some key devotional art that I mentioned in passing in the post on the Stations. As I wrote there, the fourteen Stations of the Cross we know today came into being by a slow process, only emerging in their current form in the 16th century. The actual number of stations and falls of Christ varies considerably, from 3 up to 37, and their connection to actual locations in Jerusalem shifts over the centuries.

How is Good Friday ... Good?

New Advent: How is Good Friday ... Good?STEFANICK: This time before we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Easter is a special time in the Church. So often, we get distracted by holiday plans and preparation that we let the week go by without reflecting on the magnitude of what really happened 2,000 years ago. I’m going to be honest, this was a tough talk for me to write, and it might be tough for you to hear. But that’s what this week is all about. Sit in those feelings and let the events that took place have that impact on you.

Who Were the Women at the Crucifixion?

Who Were the Women at the Crucifixion? - St. Paul CenterHARROLD: Let’s turn our attention to identifying the different women named by the evangelists. This task is complicated by the ambiguity in John’s description: “But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (Jn 19:25). John tells us that both the mother of Jesus and her sister were present at the crucifixion...

The Awe of Calvary

The Awe of Calvary | Knowing Is DoingTORRE: There is something both awe-inspiring and ominous about the path Jesus Christ freely chose to free man from the destruction of sin and an unholy death. Jesus came to save the lost through a sacrificial death. This act of sacrificial love, I argue, should leave a person with a sense of awe and wonder why someone would choose to die for a humanity that at first would revere him, then in a short matter of time scream for his execution. Even more, why would a Father offer his son in death for the salvation of souls he created in his image and likeness?

What's So Important About Blood and Water?

What's So Important About Blood and Water? | Catholic Answers MagazineLUCAS: This Good Friday, we will hear St. John’s account of the Passion. The entire narrative is moving. But St. John wants one part in particular to stand out to his listeners—Jesus being pierced with a lance. He speaks directly to his audience, breaks the fourth wall, and forcefully insists that what we just heard was true — Jesus’ side was pierced, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

What Good Friday Shows Us About Redemptive Struggle — and the Power of One More Step

What%20Good%20Friday%20Shows%20Us%20About%20Redemptive%20Struggle%20%u2014%20and%20the%20Power%20of%20One%20More%20Step%7C%20National%20Catholic%20RegisterCLARK: As a lifelong — albeit, not terribly strong — weightlifter, I am always searching for new ways to adjust my workout routines. The adjustments might be morning versus evening lifting, high reps versus low reps, which body parts to train together, and hundreds of other variations. I recently came upon a method called “pushing past failure,” which I incorporated into my training. And it didn’t take me long to see its application to the spiritual life.

TLM Permissions Set to Expire in Detroit: A Reflection From the Pews

Te Deum laudamus!: On the Archdiocese of Detroit and TLM permissions expiring July 1, 2025KORZENIEWSKI: It's not your imagination that this blog has 'resurrected' itself before Easter of 2025. It's been 8 years since I've posted here, but I feel compelled to offer some thoughts on a local subject in a way that can be shared. Yesterday, April 16, 2025, the Archdiocese of Detroit issued a statement regarding the celebration of Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) permissions expiring on July 1, 2025 in parish churches...

Here and Now, Avignon Again, and Just One Drink

(3) Here and now, Avignon again, and just one drinkCONDON: Happy Good Friday Friends, This year, as I usually do, I am finding today a strange day to try to live well. There are things to do, of course, to get ready for Easter, both around the office and at home. But it feels odd, slightly wrong, even, to be doing much of anything on the day of the Lord’s Passion. Somehow, no matter what I am doing...

Britain’s ‘Quiet Catholic Revival’ Is Lay-Driven, Mostly by Young Men

Britain%u2019s%20%u2018Quiet%20Catholic%20Revival%u2019%20Is%20Lay-Driven%2C%20Mostly%20by%20Young%20Men%7C%20National%20Catholic%20RegisterPENTIN: Reports of a “quiet revival” within the Catholic Church in Britain have been drawing widespread attention over the past week as parishes up and down the country witness ahead of the Easter celebrations a steady growth in interest and attendance, especially among the young. At the vigil of the Lord’s Resurrection this Saturday, the London dioceses of Southwark and Westminster will be receiving higher numbers than usual into the Church...

Welcome Home: Many Dioceses See Sharp Growth in Converts to Catholic Faith This Easter

Welcome Home: Many Dioceses See Sharp Growth in Converts to Catholic Faith This Easter| National Catholic RegisterMATTMCDONALD: For the Burns family, the path to the Catholic Church this Easter vigil started with a funeral. Steve Burns, 43, a mechanical engineer who lives in Avon Lake, Ohio, was raised a Free Methodist. His wife, Corrine, 42, a homemaker who worked for years in a wholesale greenhouse, was raised a Catholic but stopped going to Catholic church when she was an adolescent. Their son Ryan, 12, hasn’t been baptized.

9 Things You Need to Know About Good Friday

9 Things You Need to Know About Good Friday| National Catholic RegisterAKIN: Good Friday is the most somber day of the Christian year. It is the day our Savior died for us. It is the day we were redeemed from our sins by the voluntary death of God Himself at the hands of man. Here are 9 things you need to know. First, why is this day called “Good Friday?” It's not for the reason you might think. Despite the fact that "good" is a common English word, tempting us to say the name is based on...

Good Friday: ‘Christ Became Obedient to the Point of Death, Even Death on a Cross’

New%20Advent%3A%20Good%20Friday%3A%20%u2018Christ%20Became%20Obedient%20to%20the%20Point%20of%20Death%2C%20Even%20Death%20on%20a%20Cross%u2019: Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley, to where there was a garden...

New York Post: ‘Why Young People Are Converting to Catholicism En Masse’

Why young people are converting to Catholicism en masse: Sydney Johnston grew up in a nondenominational Christian household — but now the Upper West Side millennial is a devout Catholic. “There’s just something so beautiful and transcendent about the rituals and the ancient history in the Catholic Mass that’s been preserved,” Johnston, 30, told The Post. “The church really communicates a degree of reverence that I didn’t find in the more liberal, laissez-faire approach of nondenominational churches.”

The Classical Girl's Top 10 Holy Works for Holy Week

The Classical Girl's Top 10 Holy Works for Holy Week ~ The Imaginative Conservative: As a lifelong Catholic, I’ve always taken Holy Week seriously in a personal way, and the reading of “The Passion of the Lord” on Palm Sunday always deeply affects me. You’d think I’d never heard the story before— of Jesus’ triumphant arrival into Jerusalem, his Last Supper, praying in the garden of Gethsemane, his betrayal by one of his own, being tried like a criminal and dying on the cross. I’m just an emotional puddle by the end of the Mass.

Record Number of Adults Worldwide Will Become Catholic at This Year’s Easter Vigil — What’s Driving the Rise?

Adult%20baptisms%3A%20What%u2019s%20driving%20the%20rise%3F%20-%20by%20Luke%20Coppen: What kind of figures are dioceses seeing? And what are the baptismal candidates, known as catechumens, saying about their journeys to the Catholic Church?

In Landmark Ruling, Uk’s Top Court Says Legal Definition of Woman Refers to Biological Sex

In landmark ruling, UK's top court says legal definition of woman refers to biological sex | Reuters: Britain's highest court ruled on Wednesday that only biological and not trans women meet the definition of a woman under equality laws, a landmark decision greeted with concern by trans supporters but welcomed by the government as bringing clarity.

Thanks to the Pope’s 2023 visit, this Mongolian man is following his daughters into the Catholic Church this Easter

Pope Francis helps Mongolian man accept Catholicism - UCA News: When Tserenchimed Chuluunbaatar retired from his job at Mongolia’s finance ministry, he looked forward to a peaceful life like any other retiree. But heaven, as it often does, had other plans...

Dutch floral gift for Vatican Easter a tradition ‘too beautiful to let go to waste’

Dutch%20floral%20gift%20for%20Vatican%20Easter%20a%20tradition%20%u2018too%20beautiful%20to%20let%20go%20to%20waste%u2019%20%7C%20Crux: As in previous years, Bishop Hans van den Hende of Rotterdam blessed the flowers destined for St. Peter’s Square at Keukenhof (a botanical garden) in the Dutch town of Lisse. For nearly forty years it has been tradition for Dutch growers to donate flowers to the Vatican for the decoration of St. Peter’s Square around Easter time.

The Remarkable Life of Father Stanisław Kicman: Spared in Nazi Massacre to Save Souls

The%20Remarkable%20Life%20of%20Father%20Stanis%u0142aw%20Kicman%3A%20Spared%20in%20Nazi%20Massacre%20to%20Save%20Souls%7C%20National%20Catholic%20Register: Stanisław Maciej Kicman was destined to become a priest — but the path he followed to that vocation was anything but conventional. Born into a loving Catholic family in 1937, the young boy enjoyed only two years of a normal life before Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. What followed were years of brutal occupation based on terror and death that took the lives of 6 million people, almost evenly divided between Christians and Jews.

I reject rejection of Vatican Council II. But traditionalists do have a point...

(3) Ecumenical councils and their aftermath - by Larry ChappCHAPP: Much attention has been given this year to the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. And at the risk of sounding trite as I state the obvious, the council is one of the most consequential events in the history of the Church. Called by an emperor, the Nicene council established the ecclesiological principle of an “ecumenical council” as a means of adjudicating in definitive, if not dogmatic, ways between heterodox and orthodox theological views...

Worn out before God by the noisy, tiresome digital age

Worn out before God by the noisy, tiresome digital ageSCALIA: Like many writers, Flannery O’Connor once observed that she didn’t really know what she thought about anything until she’d written about it, and I suspect that became true for many as we became a keyboarding, text-based digital society. In retrospect, some of what we were thinking turned out to have been wrong-headed or plain stupid, but 20 years ago, as the century turned and blogs proliferated, it felt like we were all engaged in the discovery of our own thinking — figuring out who we really were, based on our words, which were revealing us to ourselves.

Revival in Britain: Is England becoming Catholic again?

Revival in Britain - Fr Calvin Robinson: Young people are the future of Christianity in Britain, quite literally. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales reported this week that in 2023, Mass attendance grew from 503,008 in 2022 to 554,913 in 2023. Before we get too excited, that is still a marked decrease from pre-Covid levels of 701,902 in 2019. Christianity in Britain is still at record lows, but it is hopeful to see an increase instead of yet another decrease.

How Do Hot Air Balloons Steer? (Plus 6 Other Science Mysteries)

How Do Hot Air Balloons Steer: From CrunchLabs’ Mark Rober, who goes full Tom Cruise to teach the science...

11-year-old boy who can imitate 50 birds wows at school talent show

New Advent: 11-year-old boy who can imitate 50 birds wows at school talent show: Eleven-year-old Samuel Henderson has a knack for perfectly imitating the sounds of over 50 types of birds, but will his talents impress his classmates? Steve Hartman goes "On the Road" to Choctaw, Oklahoma, for the story...

Nikki Haley’s 23-Year-Old Son, Nalin, Becomes Catholic

Nikki%20Haley%u2019s%20Son%2C%20Nalin%2C%20Becomes%20Catholic%7C%20National%20Catholic%20Register: Nalin Haley, the son of former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley, was received into the Catholic Church on Palm Sunday. “As parents, Michael and I always prayed that our children would have a faith and relationship with God,” Nikki Haley posted on social media Sunday. “Today we were so proud to support Nalin in his faith journey as he was confirmed into the Catholic Church, completed RCIA, and received his first holy Communion,” she said of her son.

‘Waking Up to God’: US Dioceses See Unexplained Rise in Catholic Converts, Echoing European Trends

%u2018Waking%20up%20to%20God%u2019%3A%20Desire%20for%20community%2C%20renewed%20faith%20interest%20may%20explain%20U.S.%20boost%20in%20numbers%20of%20new%20Catholics%20-%20OSV%20News: At the April 19 Easter Vigil at parishes across America, the church will welcome many new Catholics. Perhaps that doesn’t sound extraordinary. After all, it happens every year. True enough — but in 2025, there is a seemingly significant trend: Several dioceses, compared to the previous year, are reporting increased numbers of people who will either be baptized, confirmed and receive first Communion (catechumens), or who have already been baptized in another Christian tradition, and will be confirmed and receive their first Communion (candidates).

Why believers need to worry about dating trends

(3) Why believers need to worry about dating tends - by tmattMATTINGLY: Back in the fall of 2022, I was working on a pair of “On Religion” columns linked to the emerging “marriage crisis” trends among young adults in America. That is connected, of course, to the fertility crisis around the world. In the first column — “Old enough? Faith, family and America’s falling marriage statistics” — I talked, logically enough, with sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox, leader of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia.

On the Way of the Cross, in Ukraine and Hong Kong

On the Way of the Cross, in Ukraine and Hong KongWEIGEL: Last Christmas, I borrowed a thought from the English spiritual writer Caryll Houselander and suggested in this space that the wood of the manger anticipates the wood of the Cross: that Christmas points to Easter, but only by traversing the Via Crucis to Calvary. And I mentioned two contemporary Catholic martyr-confessors...

Social Media and Personal Research Driving France’s Record Baptism Boom, Survey Reveals

Social%20media%20and%20personal%20research%20driving%20France%u2019s%20record%20baptism%20boom%2C%20survey%20reveals%20%7C%20Catholic%20News%20Agency: A new survey in France illuminates the surprising pathways bringing young people to the Catholic faith in unprecedented numbers at the coming Easter vigil. The Catholic Church in France will welcome a record number of adults into the faith this weekend, with particularly strong growth in the numbers of young adults and teenagers, according to newly released statistics from the country’s Conference of Bishops (CEF).

France Sees Historic Surge of Conversions to Catholicism, Driven by 18-25 Demographic

France sees a record surge in conversions to Catholicism - Washington Times: More than 10,000 adults will become members of the Roman Catholic Church in France this Easter — a historic high that marks the largest wave of conversions in at least two decades, according to the Bishops’ Conference of France. The figure marks a 45% increase from last year and reflects a dramatic demographic shift: the largest share of converts are now young adults. The 18-to-25 age group, largely students and young professionals, now comprises 42% of adult catechumens, surpassing the 26-to-40 age bracket that historically dominated conversion figures. Dioceses also report a sharp rise in adolescent baptisms, with more than 7,400 teens between the ages of 11 and 17 preparing to receive the sacrament, a 33% increase over last year.

Antoni Gaudí, ‘God’s Architect’ Who Built Barcelona’s Sagrada Família Basilica, Declared Venerable

Antoni%20Gaud%ED%2C%20known%20as%20%u201CGod%u2019s%20architect%2C%u201D%20declared%20Venerable%20-%20Vatican%20News: Pope Francis has recognized a miracle attributed to Eliswa of the Blessed Virgin; the martyrdom of Fr. Nazareno Lanciotti; and the heroic virtues of Antoni Gaudí, Fr. Peter Joseph Triest, Fr. Angelo Bughetti, and Fr. Agostino Cozzolino. In an audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorized the promulgation of the Decrees concerning these six people—moving them each one step on the path to sainthood.

Is ‘Las Meninas’ a Time Machine? The World's Most Controversial Painting

New%20Advent%3A%20Is%20%u2018Las%20Meninas%u2019%20a%20Time%20Machine%3F%20The%20World%27s%20Most%20Controversial%20Painting: Las Meninas was painted in the 17th century by Diego Velazquez, that much we know, but there are a dozen unknowns associated with it. From the mysterious mirror to the man in the doorway, the red vessel and the red emblem on the painter's own chest, there's much to be debated...

In Historic Move, Burgeoning Diocese of Phoenix Opens New Seminary

In historic move, burgeoning Phoenix Diocese opens new seminary - OSV News: In an era of vocations undeniably impacted by a statistically declining priesthood, it’s perhaps among the rarest of Catholic news headlines: Seminary opens. And yet, in the Diocese of Phoenix — established in 1969, populated with 2 million Catholics, and covering 43,967 square miles — that’s indeed the story, as the diocese and the University of Mary’s Mary College at Arizona State University have partnered to establish a full seminary — Nazareth Seminary.

Why Do Religious Institutions Do So Many Wicked Things?

Why Do Religious Institutions Do So Many Wicked Things? | Church Life Journal | University of Notre DameDOUTHAT: If the case against God’s goodness almost always references the Holocaust, this argument almost always references the Inquisition. Whatever the notional benefits of religious membership, how can one reasonably subject one’s life and choices to institutions that are responsible for so much intolerance and bloodshed, so many benighted centuries of repression and persecution?

Cardinal Becciu claims new revelations prove prosecutorial misconduct in ‘Trial of the Century’

Cardinal%20claims%20new%20revelations%20prove%20prosecutorial%20misconduct%20in%20%u2018Trial%20of%20the%20Century%u2019%20%7C%20CruxALLEN: The Vatican’s “trial of the century,” which ended in December 2023 with guilty verdicts against Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu and eight other defendants for financial crimes, is back in the news this week following revelations in an Italian newspaper suggesting, according to Becciu himself and lawyers for several other defendants, possible prosecutorial misconduct and raising questions about the legitimacy of the results.

A Beginner’s Guide to Catholic Pessimism

A%20Beginner%u2019s%20Guide%20to%20Catholic%20Pessimism%7C%20National%20Catholic%20RegisterADAMLUCAS: I’m a bit of a pessimist. I’m in good company, in politics at least, as a supermajority of Americans have a similarly bad attitude toward our homeland. And I find melancholic fellows just as often in Catholic circles, which roam within shrinking and floundering dioceses around the country. In short, it’s becoming fashionable to be pessimistic. And like any true pessimist, I’d maintain this is because such pessimism is really just a pejorative word for realism.

The Vatican just announced new policies on your Mass offerings. Here's why...

(3) Money, Mass, and intentions - good and bad - The Pillar: The Dicastery for Clergy issued a decree on Palm Sunday clarifying and revising the norms around offerings for Mass intentions. The decree — which was approved in forma specifica by Pope Francis, giving it the full force of law — made some alterations to canon law about how and when Mass intentions can be gathered together and offered at the same time in a single Mass.

Insights from the Bible Belt: What’s Drawing Southerners to Catholicism

Insights from the Bible Belt - Upstream Podcast - Apple PodcastsLENCIONI: With an increasing yearning for unadulterated truth and an attraction to the beauty of the sacraments, more and more people are curious about the Catholic Church. Today, Pat talks with his good friend, Fr. John Riccardo from ACTS XXIX, about the importance of sharing the fullness of the Church with conviction and joy and without apology.

Imagining the Divine Drama This Holy Week — With the Help of Dorothy Sayers

Dorothy%20L.%20Sayers%u2019%20The%20Man%20Born%20to%20Be%20King%20Brings%20the%20Gospel%20to%20Life%20This%20EasterDEAVEL: Happy Palm Sunday! This year is special for Christians because all the Christian calendars—Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant—have us celebrating Easter on April 20. Thus, all will be meditating on the passion of Jesus Christ this week—his suffering, death, and burial—in anticipation of the celebration of His rising from the dead to new life. The radio plays of Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), a great writer and friend of C.S. Lewis, are a great way to think through the Gospel accounts.

Beware! The spiritual paradox of not being ‘everybody’

Beware%21%20The%20spiritual%20paradox%20of%20not%20being%20%u201Ceverybody%u201D%20%7C%20Catholic%20CultureMIRUS: One of the most annoying things about the Catholic Church since the 1960s is the frequency with which various bishops, priests, religious and lay people have considered themselves to be “prophetic” by aligning Catholic teaching and Catholic practice with the habits of the culture in which they live—for which they wish to be admired as both visionary and “loving”. Of course, such realignment is hardly unique to our time...

Crucifixion: What Really Happened

Crucifixion: What Really Happened | Catholic Answers MagazineCLARK: On Ash Wednesday 2004, the eagerly-awaited movie The Passion of the Christ hit the screen—and hit its viewers much harder. With ashen foreheads, Catholics across America cringed in their theater seats as they watched the portrayal of the intense whipping, beating, and stabbing of their Savior. Many in the audience openly wept.

‘But Jesus Never Said He Was God’

'But Jesus Never Said He Was God' | Catholic Answers MagazineHESCHMEYER: There’s a popular myth that Jesus never claimed to be God and wasn’t originally thought of as divine by his followers. For instance, in his book How Jesus Became God, the atheist New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman claims that “Jesus was not originally considered to be God in any sense at all, and . . . he eventually became divine for his followers in some sense before he came to be thought of as equal with God Almighty in an absolute sense.”

We rightly recall Christ’s sufferings during His Passion. But have you ever meditated upon His consolations?

Consolations In The Passion | Parishable ItemsFELTES: When Jesus went out to pray and await his betrayal at the Mount of Olives, his disciples followed him. Their flesh was weak but their spirits were willing, and in that dark hour he was glad not to be alone. Jesus also had constant recourse to his Father. Though not all of his prayers were immediately granted, he knew his Father always heard him.

‘Happy Palm Sunday and Happy Holy Week’: Pope Francis Greets Pilgrims During Surprise Visit After Mass in St. Peter’s Square

Pope Francis greets pilgrims on Palm Sunday in Saint Peter's Square - Vatican News: Pope Francis wished a "Happy Palm Sunday and Happy Holy Week" to all those gathered for the Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion celebration in Saint Peter's Square. The Pope came out into the Square from the Basilica for around ten minutes, immediately following the final blessing of the Mass where he offered his good wishes and then visited in his wheelchair among the faithful.

This Sunday, the Father Restores His Beloved Children’s Innocence on Calvary

This%20Sunday%2C%20the%20Father%20Restores%20His%20Beloved%20Children%u2019s%20Innocence%20on%20Calvary%20%u2013%20Benedictine%20College%20Media%20%26%20CultureHOOPES: On Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Year C, we hear the culmination of Jesus Christ’s extraordinary story and witness his grand plan to restore the world to its original purpose and return his people to their innocence. We all know how deep the pain of sin goes. Sin has wrecked every life, and not in some abstract way. We can each name one sin — something we did, or something that someone did to us — that left a wound as fresh today as the day it happened.

More Than 3,500 Gather for Colorado March for Life at State Capitol in Denver

More than 3,500 gather for Colorado March for Life | Catholic News Agency: When Beverly Jacobson was five months pregnant, the doctors told her she should have an abortion. Jacobson’s daughter, Verity, had Edwards syndrome, a developmental condition that their specialist said was “incompatible with life.” “He went on to say that if she survived, she would be a drain on the family mentally, emotionally, and financially," Jacobson said on Friday.

Pope Francis Prays at Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica Ahead of Holy Week Celebrations

Pope Francis prays at Santa Maria Maggiore basilica ahead of Holy Week celebrations | Catholic News AgencyWIMMER: Pope Francis made a prayerful pilgrimage to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore on Saturday afternoon, continuing the pontiff’s gradual return to public appearances ahead of Holy Week celebrations. The 88-year-old pope paused to pray before the venerated icon of the Virgin Mary known as “Salus Populi Romani” (Protectress of the Roman People), according to a Vatican statement released Saturday.

Animation Brings Dickens-Inspired ‘The King of Kings’ to Life on the Big Screen

Animation%20Brings%20Dickens-Inspired%20%u2018The%20King%20of%20Kings%u2019%20to%20Life%20on%20the%20Big%20Screen%7C%20National%20Catholic%20RegisterSCHIFFER: Moviegoers who see Angel Studios’ The King of Kings are in for a treat. The animated film tells a story within a story: The life, death and resurrection of Christ is recounted with the storytelling prowess of Charles Dickens, who explains the Passion as a bedtime story for his young children. This Lenten season, the movie industry has more Christian offerings than in any year in recent memory.

From Suffering to Sacrifice: What ‘Offer It Up’ Really Means

New%20Advent%3A%20From%20Suffering%20to%20Sacrifice%3A%20What%20%u2018Offer%20It%20Up%u2019%20Really%20Means: Most Catholics have heard the phrase “offer it up” when facing suffering. But few understand the depth behind those words...

A Bold Defense of Natural Law as Key to Human Flourishing

Natural Law Defended Anew - arcoftheuniversePHILPOTT: My enthusiasm for Melissa Moschella’s new book originates in common experience, as I learned from her introduction. She writes of being a freshman at Harvard University and taking Ethics and International Relations with Professors Stanley Hoffman and Bryan Hehir. I know this well. Both of these fine professors – Hehir also a legendary priest in the Archdiocese of Boston...

Nicaraguan Exiles Say Country’s Crackdown on Religious Freedom Worsens

Nicaraguan exiles say country's crackdown on religious freedom worsens | AP News: Preparations for popular, often daylong Lent and Holy Week processions are underway across Latin America — but not in Nicaragua. They’ve been largely banned for a second year, one of many concerns for the faithful in a country that human rights advocates, exiled priests and the U.S. government say is pursuing one of the world’s most flagrant persecutions of religion...

Stop the Game: Remembering Miller Gardner, the Son of Former Yankees Outfielder Brett Gardner

Stop the Game: Remembering Miller Gardner, the Son of a Yankee| National Catholic RegisterTOMGRIFFIN: There are still some things that we stop the game for. March 27 was Opening Day for the New York Yankees. Excitement, joy and championship hopes were on the minds of fans and players alike. The beginning of any sports season ushers in the start of countless fans’ fascination with the game. However, Opening Day began on a somber note that reminded all sports lovers about what is most important in life.

Msgr. Roger Landry Visits a Leper Colony in Vietnam...

Msgr. Roger Landry Visits a Leper Colony in Vietnam, Bringing Christ in the Eucharist| National Catholic RegisterMURPHY: Now serving as director of The Pontifical Missions Societies USA, Msgr. Roger Landry has been traveling the globe bringing Christ to the far corners of the Earth. His latest travels brought him to Vietnam, where he visited Catholics suffering from leprosy. Giving witness to what he saw after celebrating Mass in a beautifully packed church, Msgr. Landry said...

King Charles III and Queen Camilla Visit Pope Francis at Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta on 20th Wedding Anniversary

King Charles and Queen Camilla visit Pope Francis on their anniversary - Vatican News: On a particularly significant day for their family which marks their 20th wedding anniversary and the four-year anniversary of the death of the King’s father, Philip of Edinburgh, King Charles and Queen Camilla met privately with Pope Francis on Wednesday afternoon.

Communion Rails Return as Churches Embrace Beauty and Reverence

Communion Rails Return as Churches Embrace Beauty and Reverence| National Catholic RegisterPRONECHEN: Every Sunday at St. Anne Church in Richmond Hill, Georgia, the Hilleary family — mother Michelle, father Brian and five children — receives Communion at the altar rail. “It creates a more sacred space. And it draws your attention to the sacred,” Michelle Hilleary told the Register. “It sets apart the sanctuary,” observed her 15-year-old daughter, Malia. That wasn’t always the case. When St. Anne’s was built in 2016, there was no Communion rail. Today, a redwood altar rail...

The Atlantic: How the Latin Mass Split the Catholic Church

How the Latin Mass Split the Catholic Church - The AtlanticROCCA: Jessica Harvey used to worship in a church with stained glass and a soaring ceiling. The Catholic parish gave Harvey and her family a sense of community as they settled into their new hometown in Virginia. But a year later, they started worshipping at a Catholic school four miles away, in a cramped space that used to double as a ballet studio and storage room. Instead of stained glass, colored images cover the windows. Exposed ductwork hangs overhead.

Are any genuine nails from Our Lord’s crucifixion preserved as relics?

(3) The Nails of the Crucifixion: Part II - by Deacon TomTOMMCDONALD: There are perhaps 36 nails in various Churches with claims to be the real deal. Obviously, they can't all be, but it's possible that they're not all blatant frauds either. There is a middle ground. There is also the question of whether Helena did, in fact, recover the genuine nails in the Holy Land, or whether helpful locals simply passed off some old nails as the genuine article...

There Will Come Soft Rains

There Will Come Soft Rains - The Catholic ThingMAIER: I’m a 4 a.m. guy. I rise early to think and work in the silence. But every once in a while, the outside world intrudes. I’ll turn off the lights and listen in the dark to a symphony beyond my window: the long sigh of falling rain; the percussion of faraway thunder. It’s the music of nature, alive and fertile. It’s suffused with beauty. And we humans were made to be part of that beauty, with a dignity unlike any other creature...

Orpheus, Osiris, and the One Who Rose for Real

Seeds%20of%20truth%20%u2014%20Dappled%20ThingsSCHRAMM: For whatever reason the question of the similarity between the Gospels and other pagan myths strikes me as one of those perennial topics that has become tiresome for Christians to address when it comes to the story of Jesus. It is much like the question of why we no longer follow Old Testament dietary laws. Alas, in all charity, I grant the importance of both questions and I should always assume the question comes from a good place.

4 Ways to Ruin Your Life

4 Ways to Ruin Your Life | Catholic Answers MagazinePREZZIA: In 2024, the most popular French film was The Count of Monte Cristo—the latest of innumerable re-imaginings of the great novel written by Alexandre Dumas in 1846. It is a good thing to be reminded that not all that is popular is bad, and that “popular” can mean what appeals to the common sense of the common man.

Solanus Casey’s Town, Theodore McCarrick, and Make More Wolves

(3) Solanus town, McCarrick, and make more wolvesJDFLYNN: When he was 17, Blessed Solanus Casey — then he was still called Bernard Casey — moved from his family farm in Wisconsin to the small river town of Stillwater, Minnesota, where his uncle was a priest. Bernard stayed with an aunt and (different) uncle, worked in a brickyard, on streetcars, and as a guard in the Minnesota state prison where men from the Jesse James gang were incarcerated...

UK Study Finds Signs of Spiritual Revival, With Catholics Now Outnumbering Anglicans in Gen Z

Catholics now outnumber Anglicans among Gen Z in the UK, study suggests | Catholic News AgencyMCKEOWN: A new study from the United Kingdom has found that among members of Gen Z in the U.K., Catholics now outnumber Anglicans 2 to 1 — part of a pattern observed across all age groups whereby participation in Catholicism has risen in recent years while Anglicanism has declined.

‘Easy Catholicism’ doesn’t change lives

Easy Catholicism = Failure - Catholic Missionary Disciples - College Station, TXLEJEUNE: All are part of the noise which currently undergirds the Catholic Church in the eyes of modern Western culture. We certainly have problems. But all these problems (and many more) are merely the outward symptoms of a much deeper issue. The deeper issue is found in having too many Catholics who have accepted false gods in place of Jesus. These Gods can wear many faces and the world knows them well. Power. Greed. Lust. Pride. Etc.

How do we know Jesus was nailed to a cross? Here’s how...

The Nails of the Crucifixion: Part I - kcknight@gmail.com - GmailTOMMCDONALD: It seems like an easy question to answer, but the Gospels are silent on this moment of the crucifixion. If you look at the four Gospel accounts of the crucifixion itself, nowhere do they specify that Jesus was nailed to his cross. We have such specific images in our minds of this scene that this may come as a shock to some, but let’s look at the passages.

Newly Revealed Paintings by Flannery O’Connor

Newly%20Revealed%20Paintings%20by%20Flannery%20O%u2019Connor%20-%20Word%20on%20FireFERENCE: A little over a decade ago, I spent a week in Milledgeville, Georgia. I stayed at the rectory of Sacred Heart Parish; when O’Connor was a college student in the early 1940s, her Newman Club met in the parish rectory, and I was humbled and honored to be in that space. Moreover, it was edifying to celebrate Mass daily in the same church O’Connor and her mother, Regina, attended almost every morning during the last fourteen years of the former’s life...

Cherry Blossoms and the Festival of Life

Washington, D.C., Cherry Blossoms, and the Renewal of Life | National ReviewLOPEZ: Out with the selfie sticks. Not that long ago, tourists could be spotted from a mile away by Acela Corridor Americans (from Boston to New York, but mostly in D.C.) because they would slow down foot traffic, stopping in the middle of sidewalks and streets to take pictures with dead-giveaway selfie sticks. And while much remains the same — and we still have not established lanes on sidewalks so that commuter pedestrian traffic can resume in the way we are accustomed — this year, for cherry blossom season in the nation’s capital...

Have We Forgotten What Christ Did on the Cross?

Have We Forgotten What Christ Did on the Cross? | Knowing Is DoingTORRE: There comes a time when the ability to accept reality, or even more, the truth about a subject, becomes too unbearable to some because it means their position is incorrect. They will ultimately have to concede the point. The anatomy of this process is where we either encounter the exercise of humility or hubris, and in the case of hubris, potential anger or worse, hatred. This example is found quite often within sacred Scripture and becomes more vivid in Jesus’ interaction with Jewish leaders after Jesus’ miracles.

The 12 Tricks Of The Antichrist To Destroy Religion

New Advent: The 12 Tricks Of The Antichrist To Destroy Religion: In this episode of The Catholic Talk Show, Ryan & Ryan discuss Ven. Fulton Sheen’s sermon from almost 80 years ago on the 12 Tricks of The Antichrist that he would use to destroy Christianity...

Living in the end times does not give us a pass

Living in the end times does not give us a pass | Catholic Culture: We must take our baptismal promises seriously. We must find ways to bear witness to Christ, either more generally through various apostolates or in the circles of our families, friends and acquaintances. In these less formal situations, of course, a great deal depends on our good example, both in word and deed. What other opportunities might we already have for witness? And what new opportunities can we create?

Sri Lankan Buddhist Embraces Catholicism After Healing Miracle

Buddhist devotee embraces Catholicism after healing 'miracle' - UCA News: As dawn breaks, 46-year-old R. Mudiyansalage Ramyalatha begins her day with Marian devotion by lighting an oil lamp, marking the start of her sacred ritual. She says the flickering flame symbolizes more than just light; it represents hope, peace, and her deep connection to the divine. The cherished practice has grown even more meaningful to her after her miraculous recovery from a possibly fatal kidney disease.

The Christian who is furthest along the journey is one who has developed a ‘metanoia mentality’

The Metanoia Mentality ~ The Imaginative ConservativeLONGENECKER: Isn’t it curious how confession is acceptable—fashionable even, within the realm of self help and group therapy while it is considered dark, neurotic and “guilt-ridden” in the realm of religion? If you go to a therapist you will be encouraged to spill the beans because it is healthy. If you receive counseling you will be expected to haul all the skeletons out of all the cupboards without shame...

A Protestant Finds Too Many Popes

A Protestant Finds Too Many Popes | Catholic Answers MagazineBROUSSARD: The Letter of Clement to the Church of Corinth, which dates to the latter part of the first century, is often appealed to as evidence that the church of Rome, and by way of implication the bishop of Rome, had a posture of leadership relative to the other churches within the Christian world, since the letter is sent to the church of Corinth to settle certain disputes they were having in response to the church of Corinth’s request for the church of Rome to intervene.

Vatican Pension Deficit Estimated at 1.4 Billion Euros — 10 Years Ago

%283%29%20Vatican%20pension%20deficit%20estimated%20at%201.4%20billion%20euros%20%u2014%2010%20years%20ago: The Holy See pension fund had an unfunded liability of almost 1.5 billion euros a decade ago, according to internal Vatican financial reports obtained by The Pillar. The same documents show that Vatican financial authorities proposed measures to address the pension problem in 2015, while sources say that “virtually nothing” was done to implement those measures in the intervening years.