Why You Should Write Letters to the People You Love...
If my experience is any indication, personal letter writing has become rarer. The difference between emails and ‘real’ letters is surely related to why we write less even as it has become easier. But here I want to reflect on the importance and beauty of writing to loved ones and friends, either way. This is another ordinary aspect of human life that will reward our attention and intentionality.
The Best Photos from Wednesday’s Solar Eclipse...
St. Edith Stein’s Answer to a World Starved of Beauty...
For St. Edith Stein, divine beauty is “the ultimate ground or cause of everything that is beautiful” and the remedy to the emptiness and superficiality of a world that seeks beauty without recourse to God. Stein saw God as “the Eternal Artist, the Divine Artist” who is “always creating, always shaping, always perfecting His creation,” Mitchell explains...
Australian Bishop Christopher Saunders Convicted of Sexual Abuse...
Am I Excommunicated If I Attend an SSPX Wedding?
The Church’s recent decree gives you no reason to fear that merely attending an SSPX wedding would incur excommunication. Even so, you must still make a prudent judgment about whether attending or declining to attend would better bear witness both to the unity of the Church and to the demands of Christian charity.
Earthquake in Colombia Causes at Least 20 Deaths, Partial Collapse of Neo-Gothic Cathedral...
This Sunday, At the Darkest Hour, Jesus Emerges From the Storms In Your Life...
The wind is raging and the swells of the sea are taller than the boat. The night seems never-ending, and Jesus has gone missing. Do you hunker down and go where the wind takes you? Do you grit your teeth and wait for the end? Or do you step out into the storm? Here are six takeaways for Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary time Year A...
Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, Opens New Seminary More Than 20 Years in the Making...
Quantum Physics and the Mystery of God’s Creation...
What Your Weariness Is Trying to Tell You...
Baby boy becomes first UK child to have pioneering surgery for rare condition while still in womb...
Pope Leo XIV to Visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November, Vatican Announces...
St. John Vianney, the News, and a French Bishop in Texas...
Pope Leo XIV Names Apostolic Administrator for Rabat in Morocco Amid Investigation of Cardinal...
The High Costs of the German ‘Church Tax’...
The Archdiocese of Munich/Freising received approximately €630 million ($718 million) from German taxpayers last year. Stunning, isn’t it? Imagine what an American diocese could do with that amount of revenue. Take, just for example, the Archdiocese of New York, which includes roughly 50% more Catholics than the Archdiocese of Munich...
Assisted Suicide Undermines Equal Protection...
I know it’s not a cheery topic, but the website EndAssistedSuicide.org is important and instructive. And, yes, the life it saves may be your own — or that of someone you love. When assisted suicide comes to town, it is marketed with the typical euphemisms that are indicative of what John Paul II called the “culture of death”: compassion, choice, mercy, dignity.
What Catholics and Print Media Lose When Ross Douthat Leaves The New York Times...
Does Speaking About Christ Terrify You?
It is not often that you encounter a group of people who exhibit a sense of terror when asked about the first time they discovered Jesus Christ in their lives. The responses to this question were wide-ranging. Some responded at baptism, others during a particular Mass, others during a near-death experience or the loss of a loved one...
Childhood Friends Find ‘Missing Piece’ When DNA Test Reveals They’re Sisters...
Alasdair MacIntyre’s Very Different Argument Against Abortion...
The abortion debate is characteristically discussed in terms of either a broadly Kantian framework of rights or a broadly utilitarian framework of maximization of happiness, so Alasdair MacIntyre’s rejection of both approaches may cast new light on the ethics of abortion. MacIntyre rejects arguments from the “right to life.” But he also rejects arguments...
Father Maurice, the News, and Going Multi...
Two things can be true at once. Take Tibet. Tibetan people have a litany of legitimate grievances against the Chinese Communist Party, and Beijing’s human rights record in Tibet is deeply troubling, especially where freedom of religion, culture, speech, and conscience are concerned. There are ample reports of forced labor and labor trafficking from Tibet, and claims of forced sterilization and abortion in the region...
Italian Bishops Cancel Masonic Funerals...
Pope Leo’s Sunday Angelus: Stop the Vicious Cycle of Violence in Sudan and Ukraine...
Paris, Lourdes, Metz: Vatican Releases Schedule for Pope Leo’s September Trip to France...
Pope Leo XIV to Assisi Youth: ‘Europe and the Whole World Are Looking to You to Be New Saints’...
Your Parish Does NOT Have a Volunteer Problem...
If you have been Catholic long enough, you have seen the local parish version of the military draft, which happens annually. Before or after Mass, someone gets up and announces a dire need of catechists, or that the parish festival is a week away and they have only half the volunteers needed. A few people are guilted into helping. A few more are nagged. A few just want the announcements to stop.
The Cristero Rebellion of 1926 Offers a Sober Warning Today...
Catholics in Canada and the United States are inclined to admire the popular piety of Mexico, looking forward to the upcoming 500th anniversary of the apparitions at Guadalupe in 2031. But 100 years ago, Mexico was suffering a fierce anti-Catholic persecution. The administration of the sacraments was suspended for three years, and faithful Catholics were hunted down and killed.
Matthew McConaughey’s latest leading role? Vatican visitor...
What Baltimore Colts Great Raymond Berry Teaches About Work...
In his June 2 Wall Street Journal column, Jason L. Riley noted a disturbing trend in our American moment: “According to the Department of Labor, 1 in 3 men were neither working nor looking for a job in April.” That sad state of affairs is multi-causal, to be sure. The hard fact, though, as Jason Riley argued and Nicholas Eberstadt demonstrated in his book Men Without Work...
The Hidden Story Behind the Ceuta Migrant Crisis...
The images circled the globe and generated debate, memes and disinformation. Thousands, actually tens of thousands, of young men flooded the Spanish African city of Ceuta on the Moroccan coast. It was presented or contested as a story about uncontrolled migration, and the events in Ceuta are certainly part of that narrative, but there is much more to the story.
Scottish Bishop Excommunicates Rector of Redemptorists After Illicit Ordination...
Bread Grows in Winter — and So Does Hope...
3 Catholic Doctrines That Appear in the Deuterocanonical Books...
This Sunday, Jesus Shows Us the Multiplying Effect of Our Love...
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The Complete List of Popes
- St. Peter (32-67)
- St. Linus (67-76)
- St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)
- St. Clement I (88-97)
- St. Evaristus (97-105)
- St. Alexander I (105-115)
- St. Sixtus I (115-125)
- St. Telesphorus (125-136)
- St. Hyginus (136-140)
- St. Pius I (140-155)
- St. Anicetus (155-166)
- St. Soter (166-175)
- St. Eleutherius (175-189)
- St. Victor I (189-199)
- St. Zephyrinus (199-217)
- St. Callistus I (217-22)
- St. Urban I (222-30)
- St. Pontian (230-35)
- St. Anterus (235-36)
- St. Fabian (236-50)
- St. Cornelius (251-53)
- St. Lucius I (253-54)
- St. Stephen I (254-257)
- St. Sixtus II (257-258)
- St. Dionysius (260-268)
- St. Felix I (269-274)
- St. Eutychian (275-283)
- St. Caius (283-296)
- St. Marcellinus (296-304)
- St. Marcellus I (308-309)
- St. Eusebius (309 or 310)
- St. Miltiades (311-14)
- St. Sylvester I (314-35)
- St. Marcus (336)
- St. Julius I (337-52)
- Liberius (352-66)
- St. Damasus I (366-84)
- St. Siricius (384-99)
- St. Anastasius I (399-401)
- St. Innocent I (401-17)
- St. Zosimus (417-18)
- St. Boniface I (418-22)
- St. Celestine I (422-32)
- St. Sixtus III (432-40)
- St. Leo I (the Great) (440-61)
- St. Hilarius (461-68)
- St. Simplicius (468-83)
- St. Felix III (II) (483-92)
- St. Gelasius I (492-96)
- Anastasius II (496-98)
- St. Symmachus (498-514)
- St. Hormisdas (514-23)
- St. John I (523-26)
- St. Felix IV (III) (526-30)
- Boniface II (530-32)
- John II (533-35)
- St. Agapetus I (535-36)
- St. Silverius (536-37)
- Vigilius (537-55)
- Pelagius I (556-61)
- John III (561-74)
- Benedict I (575-79)
- Pelagius II (579-90)
- St. Gregory I (the Great) (590-604)
- Sabinian (604-606)
- Boniface III (607)
- St. Boniface IV (608-15)
- St. Deusdedit (Adeodatus I) (615-18)
- Boniface V (619-25)
- Honorius I (625-38)
- Severinus (640)
- John IV (640-42)
- Theodore I (642-49)
- St. Martin I (649-55)
- St. Eugene I (655-57)
- St. Vitalian (657-72)
- Adeodatus (II) (672-76)
- Donus (676-78)
- St. Agatho (678-81)
- St. Leo II (682-83)
- St. Benedict II (684-85)
- John V (685-86)
- Conon (686-87)
- St. Sergius I (687-701)
- John VI (701-05)
- John VII (705-07)
- Sisinnius (708)
- Constantine (708-15)
- St. Gregory II (715-31)
- St. Gregory III (731-41)
- St. Zachary (741-52)
- Stephen II (III) (752-57)
- St. Paul I (757-67)
- Stephen III (IV) (767-72)
- Adrian I (772-95)
- St. Leo III (795-816)
- Stephen IV (V) (816-17)
- St. Paschal I (817-24)
- Eugene II (824-27)
- Valentine (827)
- Gregory IV (827-44)
- Sergius II (844-47)
- St. Leo IV (847-55)
- Benedict III (855-58)
- St. Nicholas I (the Great) (858-67)
- Adrian II (867-72)
- John VIII (872-82)
- Marinus I (882-84)
- St. Adrian III (884-85)
- Stephen V (VI) (885-91)
- Formosus (891-96)
- Boniface VI (896)
- Stephen VI (VII) (896-97)
- Romanus (897)
- Theodore II (897)
- John IX (898-900)
- Benedict IV (900-03)
- Leo V (903)
- Sergius III (904-11)
- Anastasius III (911-13)
- Lando (913-14)
- John X (914-28)
- Leo VI (928)
- Stephen VIII (929-31)
- John XI (931-35)
- Leo VII (936-39)
- Stephen IX (939-42)
- Marinus II (942-46)
- Agapetus II (946-55)
- John XII (955-63)
- Leo VIII (963-64)
- Benedict V (964)
- John XIII (965-72)
- Benedict VI (973-74)
- Benedict VII (974-83)
- John XIV (983-84)
- John XV (985-96)
- Gregory V (996-99)
- Sylvester II (999-1003)
- John XVII (1003)
- John XVIII (1003-09)
- Sergius IV (1009-12)
- Benedict VIII (1012-24)
- John XIX (1024-32)
- Benedict IX (1032-45)
- Sylvester III (1045)
- Benedict IX (1045)
- Gregory VI (1045-46)
- Clement II (1046-47)
- Benedict IX (1047-48)
- Damasus II (1048)
- St. Leo IX (1049-54)
- Victor II (1055-57)
- Stephen X (1057-58)
- Nicholas II (1058-61)
- Alexander II (1061-73)
- St. Gregory VII (1073-85)
- Blessed Victor III (1086-87)
- Blessed Urban II (1088-99)
- Paschal II (1099-1118)
- Gelasius II (1118-19)
- Callistus II (1119-24)
- Honorius II (1124-30)
- Innocent II (1130-43)
- Celestine II (1143-44)
- Lucius II (1144-45)
- Blessed Eugene III (1145-53)
- Anastasius IV (1153-54)
- Adrian IV (1154-59)
- Alexander III (1159-81)
- Lucius III (1181-85)
- Urban III (1185-87)
- Gregory VIII (1187)
- Clement III (1187-91)
- Celestine III (1191-98)
- Innocent III (1198-1216)
- Honorius III (1216-27)
- Gregory IX (1227-41)
- Celestine IV (1241)
- Innocent IV (1243-54)
- Alexander IV (1254-61)
- Urban IV (1261-64)
- Clement IV (1265-68)
- Blessed Gregory X (1271-76)
- Blessed Innocent V (1276)
- Adrian V (1276)
- John XXI (1276-77)
- Nicholas III (1277-80)
- Martin IV (1281-85)
- Honorius IV (1285-87)
- Nicholas IV (1288-92)
- St. Celestine V (1294)
- Boniface VIII (1294-1303)
- Blessed Benedict XI (1303-04)
- Clement V (1305-14)
- John XXII (1316-34)
- Benedict XII (1334-42)
- Clement VI (1342-52)
- Innocent VI (1352-62)
- Blessed Urban V (1362-70)
- Gregory XI (1370-78)
- Urban VI (1378-89)
- Boniface IX (1389-1404)
- Innocent VII (1404-06)
- Gregory XII (1406-15)
- Martin V (1417-31)
- Eugene IV (1431-47)
- Nicholas V (1447-55)
- Callistus III (1455-58)
- Pius II (1458-64)
- Paul II (1464-71)
- Sixtus IV (1471-84)
- Innocent VIII (1484-92)
- Alexander VI (1492-1503)
- Pius III (1503)
- Julius II (1503-13)
- Leo X (1513-21)
- Adrian VI (1522-23)
- Clement VII (1523-34)
- Paul III (1534-49)
- Julius III (1550-55)
- Marcellus II (1555)
- Paul IV (1555-59)
- Pius IV (1559-65)
- St. Pius V (1566-72)
- Gregory XIII (1572-85)
- Sixtus V (1585-90)
- Urban VII (1590)
- Gregory XIV (1590-91)
- Innocent IX (1591)
- Clement VIII (1592-1605)
- Leo XI (1605)
- Paul V (1605-21)
- Gregory XV (1621-23)
- Urban VIII (1623-44)
- Innocent X (1644-55)
- Alexander VII (1655-67)
- Clement IX (1667-69)
- Clement X (1670-76)
- Blessed Innocent XI (1676-89)
- Alexander VIII (1689-91)
- Innocent XII (1691-1700)
- Clement XI (1700-21)
- Innocent XIII (1721-24)
- Benedict XIII (1724-30)
- Clement XII (1730-40)
- Benedict XIV (1740-58)
- Clement XIII (1758-69)
- Clement XIV (1769-74)
- Pius VI (1775-99)
- Pius VII (1800-23)
- Leo XII (1823-29)
- Pius VIII (1829-30)
- Gregory XVI (1831-46)
- Blessed Pius IX (1846-78)
- Leo XIII (1878-1903)
- St. Pius X (1903-14)
- Benedict XV (1914-22)
- Pius XI (1922-39)
- Pius XII (1939-58)
- St. John XXIII (1958-63)
- St. Paul VI (1963-78)
- John Paul I (1978)
- St. John Paul II (1978-2005)
- Benedict XVI (2005-2013)
- Francis (2013-2025)
- Leo XIV (2025—)