Pax, French Clericalism, and American Iconography...
Happy Friday friends, and a happy feast of St. Benedict to you all. I am back after having taken last week off, though unfortunately this season’s edition of covid meant we had to turn around and come home after only a day away. I‘d been looking forward to this particular vacation for a while, and I nursed a certain sense of undirected injustice as we drove home early, that we’d been cheated of something we had coming to us, as a family...
That’s Some Bad Fish Story – Spielberg’s “Jaws” Turns 50...
Camp Mystic, Texas Floods and Grieving for Lost Children...
There is no emotional pain on earth greater than that of a parent who has lost a child. As we read the news of so many deaths from the Texas floods, those of the children hit particularly hard. That so many of them were attending a Christian camp is particularly troubling to many: If this is how God rewards innocent children gathered to praise his name, what does Christian faith even mean? There’s a great deal of theology about evil and suffering, but it is of little comfort in a moment like this...
A Divine Plan for Changing Diapers...
There is always a reason for the way things are, even when this is not apparent. An easily missed aspect of the natural order of household life offers a standout example of this truth. In short, the things we must do to address our bodily needs offer a perfect context to address our higher needs too. What might seem ho-hum at first shows itself on closer examination to be breathtaking...
Pope Leo XIV Shares Message to Pilgrims at Historic Mass in Canterbury Cathedral...
32 Martyrs of Orange Guillotined in Roman Theater During French Revolution...
America celebrates the Semiquincentennial of the United States in less than a year. The struggle of the United States for liberty was a defining feature of its national psychology, especially in its early years, which led to conflicted attitudes about the French Revolution that began in 1789. On the one hand, France had been an ally without whose help the young American Republic probably would not have wrested independence from the British...
The Risk of Searching for Christ...
In St. Matthew’s Gospel, we encounter an immediate sense of the risk involved in following God. As a protagonist event, the temptation of Jesus in the desert reveals what will occur if you choose to follow the will of God. In the case of Jesus, the entire temptation sequence reveals the sins he will encounter throughout his journey to save the souls of humanity through his death on the Cross...
What We Must Do: A Reflection on the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time...
We are to love God and our neighbor with all the strength of our being, as the scholar of the Law answers Jesus in this week’s Gospel. This command is nothing remote or mysterious—it’s already written in our hearts, in the book of Sacred Scripture. “You have only to carry it out,” Moses says in this week’s First Reading. Jesus tells His interrogator the same thing: “Do this and you will live.” The scholar, however, wants to know where he can draw the line. That’s the motive behind his question...
The 11 Best Affordable Family Vacations in the US...
Pope Leo XIV Arrives in Castel Gandolfo for Summer Vacation...
Defunding Planned Parenthood Is Only a Baby Step...
It’s a historic moment — defunding Planned Parenthood, now that Congress has sent the “Big, Beautiful” mess to the White House. But also make no mistake that this defunding of Planned Parenthood is a baby step. There is so much more to do to build an authentic culture of life in the United States. I’m grateful that Congress kept any defunding in it in the end...
How many new priests are there in Europe?
Pope Leo XIV Returns to 400-Year-Old Papal Tradition of Summer Retreat at Castel Gandolfo...
Tragedy at Rattlesnake Falls: Opus Dei Mourns the June 18 Drowning Deaths of Three of Its Members...
Vatican Spokesman Downplays Leaked Documents on Traditional Latin Mass...
Canonical Trial Advances for Rupnik as Vatican Appoints External Judges...
Message for the 10th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (July 2, 2025)...
Killed for Being Christian: The Personal Stories of All 22 Catholic Ugandan Martyrs...
The Tomb of St. Peter Explained...
‘Never Despair of God’s Mercy’: A Rule for Families, Not Just Monks...
Saints and popes have lauded the benefits of trade. So where do tariffs fit in?
The Blood-Curdling Permian Monsters That Ruled the Earth Before Dinosaurs...
Woman Attacks Toddler With Pepper Spray During Mass in Brazil...
What Should a Good Homily Look Like?
Deacons play a special role in the new evangelization of marriage...
A Handful of Heretics: How Arius and Others Besmirched the Church’s Glory...
Voyage teams up with the U.S. Army to honor 250 years of chaplains...
God Consecrated Rome’s First Fruits in the Blood of the Martyrs...
5 Ways the 2025 Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul Speaks to US Catholics...
Bishops Draw the Line at Border Wall Expansion...
Pope Leo XIV Shares Message to Pilgrims at Historic Mass in Canterbury Cathedral...
Catholic faithful packed Canterbury Cathedral on Monday evening for a historic Mass, complete with a papal blessing and the Eucharistic liturgy celebrated by the apostolic nuncio to honor St. Thomas Becket and the translation of his relics in 1220. Since at least the late 20th century, the Cathedral’s Anglican leaders have allowed the local Catholic parish of St. Thomas of Canterbury to celebrate the translation (transferal) of the relics every July 7 with a Mass at the high altar.
We Don’t Just Choose Right or Wrong — Our Moral Choices Make Us Who We Are...
When Protestants say Peter can't be ‘the rock,’ they have it exactly backwards...
I grew up in the American South, and I was raised in a Protestant family. But when I was six or seven years old, my parents had some kind of disagreement with the elders of our church, and they stopped going. So after that, I was raised nominally Protestant, and we’d go to church only once or twice a year when we visited my grandparents. When I was a teenager, I was involved in the New Age Movement, but I broke with that when I turned 18.
The Ascension vs. Human Composting...
There are many reasons to regret the transfer of the Solemnity of the Ascension to the seventh Sunday of the Easter season. Among other things, the transfer shortens the Church’s time to reflect on this great feast, whose meaning has become ever more important in this cultural moment. What does the Ascension of the Lord mean? The Ascension means that humanity — the human nature assumed by the second Person of the Trinity at the Incarnation — has been incorporated into the life of God himself.
What Pope Leo XIV’s Little-Seen Thesis Reveals About His Theology of Leadership...
On May 17, just over a week after white smoke rose above St. Peter’s Square, I offered the first public analysis of Pope Leo XIV’s doctoral dissertation — five days before The New York Times published its own. Since then, interest in the text has only grown. Catholic educators, theologians and many friends — both lay and clerical — have all asked me the same question: What else is in the dissertation?
The Powerful Puzzle at the Heart of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson’s ‘Teenage Symphony to God’...
I grew up near an ugly coast on the Texas-Louisiana border, where the beaches were defined by muddy, often dirty, water and swarms of mosquitoes. If the humid wind blew the wrong way, the pollution from nearby refineries was a nice touch.Thus, I have no memories of my friends listening to the Beach Boys. The local vibe was our own Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter and ZZ Top.
Catholic Evangelization 101: What is Conversion?
Have you ever actually read the entire terms of use for a new app on your phone? If so, did you understand everything in it? Even if you didn't, you probably still checked that you would “read and agree” to everything in the document. This kind of half-hearted consent is similar to what happens for a lot of Catholics every Sunday. When we get to the creed, many Catholics aren’t really paying attention to what their words mean...
Sunday Is Not the Sabbath...
One of the most appealing teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination is their insistence that Christians must obey the Ten Commandments . . . all ten of them. They rightly expose the errant thinking among many Protestant Christian sects that claims, “We don’t have to keep the Ten Commandments for salvation anymore.” Of course, Jesus has a reminder for us...
During WWII, Peter To Rot Chose Martyrdom Over Polygamy and Silence...
Russia’s ‘Sacrilegious War’ Shatters Orthodox Unity, Prompts Response From Pope Leo...
Catholics Mobilize Aid After Historic Flash Floods Devastate Texas Hill Country...
Why Was Moses Not Allowed to Enter the Promised Land?
6 Things You Should Know About This Sunday’s Readings...
God’s Answer to the Pain of Adolescence...
What I Discovered When 10 Nuns Came Over for Dinner...
How many new priests are there in Europe?
We Are Improbable, But Here We Are...
Quiet high schooler paints portraits of entire class to reconnect before graduating...
Next year is the 250th birthday of the US — and “We, the People” need to get our act together...
St. Otto, Whose Feast Day Is July 2, United the Fractured Faith of a Fractured Europe...
Pope Accepts Resignation of Archbishop Rodi, Names St. Louis Auxiliary as Successor...
Jeopardy! contestant wins thanks to wildest Final Jeopardy coincidence...
Solidarity: The Path Between Nationalism and Globalism...
What we learned about Pope Leo through the Knights of Malta...
Harvest Time: A Reflection on the Upcoming 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time...
The Nazis who wouldn't tell the truth about themselves...
Pope Leo XIV’s Angelus for Sts. Peter and Paul: ‘May Unity Be Forged in Witness and Forgiveness’...
Homily on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29, 2025)...
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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—)
