A Great Teacher and a Welcome Manifesto...
Reluctant as I am to fiddle with the U.S. Constitution, I’m willing to consider an amendment banning any elementary school from opening before Labor Day. That’s the way things were when I was a boy in Baltimore and could no more imagine being in school before Labor Day than I could imagine rooting for the New York Yankees...
Wendell Berry helped me (and countless others) discover deep desires we didn’t know we had...
When someone I meet mentions with affection the name Wendell Berry, my heart immediately thrills that we will have much in common, much to talk about. I realize now that no other contemporary name has such an effect on me. This might seem odd, especially given that Berry, who died on Monday, was in no normal sense a ‘religious’ writer...
Sensational Report from China: A New Split in the Church?
A report about “terrible things happening to Catholics in China” should surprise no one who has been following events there for the past ten years—or, for that matter, for the past seventy years. But the details that follow, in bombshell story in Catholic World Report are sensational. Anthony Clark, an expert on Chinese Catholic affairs...
China Pressured a US Catholic Group to Censor Its Keynote Speaker. They Complied...
A U.S.-based Catholic organization yielded to pressure from Chinese government officials to cancel a prominent professor’s invitation to speak at its conference, emails obtained by the Register show. Fenggang Yang, a Chinese-born sociology professor at Purdue University and director of the Center on Religion and the Global East, was informed by the U.S.-China Catholic Association (USCCA) in June he would no longer be giving the keynote address...
What Made Dolly Parton So Lovable?
In the wake of Dolly Parton’s death, it is abundantly clear that she was beloved by just about everyone. Her kind, bubbly, and innocent charm, coupled with her remarkable career, disarmed even those—like Sting and King Charles—who might be critical of her genre, rhinestones, and twang. What Dolly’s life exhibited through her faith in God, generosity, and maternal instincts...
Inaugural Meeting of German Synodal Conference Postponed Indefinitely...
Israeli Court Acquits Nun’s Attacker, Orders Up to 6 Years in Psychiatric Care...
Beyond ‘The Odyssey’: The Love That Moves the Sun and Stars...
Hollywood brought us Homer this summer; Rimini gave us Dante. Both poets speak about the things of God — or of the gods. Which one has more wisdom? Homer writing of the Bronze Age, or Dante some two millennia later, formed by the Catholic scholastics? Homer gave us great epic poetry — The Iliad and The Odyssey...
Pope Leo’s Wednesday Audience: ‘Vatican II Reformed the Liturgy to Promote Active Participation’...
Today in Papal History: The Shortest Pontificate in 370 Years Begins...
Following the death of Pope St. Paul VI on August 6, 1978, the cardinals of the Catholic Church gathered in Rome to elect St. Peter’s next successor, entering the conclave on August 25. The next day – Today in Papal History – they settled on Albino Luciani, the cardinal archbishop of Venice, a man of humble origins who had spent much of the past decade...
Who Will Be Offered the First Red Hats of Leo XIV’s Pontificate?
Catholic Conversions Surge On College Campuses, Hallow Data Shows...
I Brought a Heart Full of Fury with Me to Mass. and That’s Where I Left It...
‘Fearless and Quietly Astonishing’: The Dragonfly That Migrates Further Than Any Other Insect...
Pope Leo XIV Tells Soldiers: ‘It Is Noble to Defend the Sovereignty of Your Homeland’...
Break Free From the Power of Hell Through the Authority of Peter...
Leo XIV: A New Diplomacy?
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher’s trip to Moscow marked a definitive paradigm shift in the Holy See’s diplomacy regarding the situation in Ukraine. We cannot know what was said behind closed doors during the bilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. However, a good deal can be gleaned from the opening remarks from both the Holy See and the Russian delegation...
As Spain swelters, folding hand fans are making a comeback...
Sixth Chinese Bishop Ordained Under Pope Leo XIV...
St. John the Baptist and the Tyrants of His Day...
August 29 is the obligatory Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist. In the old liturgical calendar, it was known as the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. The celebration dates back to at least the early fifth century. John the Baptist was a saint who spoke truth to power and was a fearless witness to God’s law...
Pope Leo XIV Takes Part in Historic Marian Procession on Lake Albano at Castel Gandolfo...
What It’s Like to Spend a Night Locked Inside Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre...
Is ‘A Man for All Seasons’ the most perfect film ever made?
St. Joseph Calsanz, the News, and GodGPT?
St. Joseph Calsanz is not well remembered today, probably because the religious order he founded, the Piarists, is relatively tiny — about one-tenth the size of the Jesuits. If history belongs to the victors, protracted pious devotion usually belongs to the saint with a big family tree of spiritual descendents ready to tell his story. And besides that, Calasanz is a man with a very difficult story...
How Can Lay Catholics Spur Bishops into Action?
For Your Life: A Reflection on the Upcoming 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time...
This Sunday’s First Reading catches the prophet Jeremiah in a moment of weakness. His intimate lamentation contains some of the strongest language of doubt found in the Bible. Following God’s call, he feels abandoned. Preaching His Word has brought him only derision and reproach. But God does not deceive...
Why Catholics Are Right About Mary...
St. Bartholomew, an ‘Israelite in Whom There Is No Guile,’ Meets a Gruesome End...
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” St. Bartholomew (Nathanael1) asks in the Gospel of John, and then immediately identifies Jesus as the messiah upon meeting him. The Lord called him “An Israelite in whom there is no guile.” St. Bartholomew travelled to India and then Armenia, where he exorcises a demon and heals the daughter of King Polymius. The king and his household are baptized, enraging the king’s brother...
Pope Leo’s Sunday Angelus: ‘Let Us Not Retreat Into Our Convictions but Be Open to Christ’...
Beware the Devil’s Clickbait...
A mortal sin, from pride to lust, is only one click away. The Devil has always exploited human weakness; today, technology gives temptation unprecedented reach. Clickbait may be one of his preferred modern instruments. The Devil is a narcissist, and all the clicks in the world that are occasions of sin won’t satisfy him...
Massachusetts High Court Rules Against Statues of Sts. Florian and Michael...
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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—)