Did Jesus have to suffer to save us?
Late in his life, St. John Henry Newman declined an offer from a Protestant to explain the Atonement fully. He replied that the Atonement is a theological mystery, far too complicated to be reduced to human reason. He was correct. The reason there are many competing (sometimes only partial) explanations for how Jesus Christ made us sinners at-one again with the Father is that it is complex—both literally and figuratively a thorny topic.
‘Hamnet’ and the Quiet Triumph of the Christian Patriarchy...
A few weeks ago, Jessie Buckley videos saturated my social media feed. I guess I lingered too long on the video of her receiving an academy award. But who could blame me? It isn’t every day that you see an award-winning actress telling her husband she loves him...
Washington Post: Why Catholicism Is Drawing in Gen Z Men...
Returning to the Moon, Returning to God...
Via Crucis, 2026...
The Way of the Cross — and the third, seventh, and ninth stations in particular — has been an especially appropriate Lenten devotion this year. Every day, it seems, some new craziness erupts in the world, the country, or the Church. Every time we think we see rays of hope and possibility, we take another fall. So it’s good to remember this Holy Week...
When the Pope (Maybe) Invented April Fool’s Day...
Before we get to the invention of April Fool’s Day, we first need to pay homage to the only pontiff to have died on this particular day of the year. Pope John XV served as Bishop of Rome for a decade at the end of the 10th Century, one of the most fraught and, frankly, dark periods of the papacy the Catholic Church has ever seen. Not much of John’s reign was remarkable...
The Nails of the Crucifixion...
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.
Something Beautiful Has Changed...
The moment someone recommends a change in your life, the reaction can either be met with resignation, realizing that change is necessary, or resistance because you simply do not want to. The human perspective on change in relation to God involves a tension between a personal human desire and the desire for God in our lives. When Israel was liberated from Egyptian bondage, as recorded in the book of Exodus, change was about to occur...
Fake Cops, Fake Judges: The Hollywood-Style Scam Poised to Go Global...
Vatican Affirms Future of Anglican Ordinariates: ‘A Precious Gift and a Treasure to Be Shared’...
Jerusalem Churches Reach Temporary Deal with Israeli Authorities over Holy Week Access...
Pope Leo at Palm Sunday Mass: ‘Jesus Does Not Listen to Prayers of Those Who Wage War’...
The 1966 Romantic Comedy That Accidentally Became a Pro-Life Classic...
Inadvertently, is Alfie (1966) the most pro-life film ever made? Abortion is a key plot device — but it is also far more than that in what unfolds on screen. On release, Alfie — famously marketed with the line, “What’s it all about, Alfie?” — was billed as a romantic comedy. Watched 60 years on, however, there is only tragedy.
The Saving Sadness of Christ...
Pope Leo XIV Makes First Papal Visit to Monaco in 500 Years...
‘Something’s Happening’: Catholic Converts Surge in Many U.S. Dioceses...
Venerable Fulton Sheen Beatification Set for Sept. 24 in St. Louis...
Shia Culture of Martyrdom Is Key to Understanding Iran...
Boys Town Founder Father Flanagan Moves One Step Closer to Canonization...
Pope Leo’s Sunday Angelus: ‘Like Lazarus, May We Hear the Lord’s Call to New Life’...
5 Lines You May Have Missed Reveal the Meaning of Lazarus...
The American Catholic Philosophical Association at 100...
National Eucharistic Pilgrimage registration opens; schedule released...
Rome’s Colosseum gets a fresh look that recreates the footprints of long-gone columns...
Lay Leader Who Criticized Cardinal Cupich Phased Out of Catholic Conference Board...
100 Pop Songs Every Catholic Should Hear: ‘Ablaze’ by Alanis Morissette...
Vatican Appeals Court Declares Mistrial in ‘Trial of the Century’ Against Cardinal Becciu...
St. Patrick’s Breastplate and the Terrors of Mid-Lent...
Pope Leo XIV Appeals for Ceasefire and Dialogue in Middle East War...
Facing Away, Franciscan Horseshoe Theory, and a Moon, If You Can Keep It...
I intend this to be a short newsletter, since this of all days is better spent in contemplation before the Cross than reading (or writing) my opinions on anything. For myself, the great temptation of the day is to give in to a kind of pious sentimentality, to consider the Cross only as mawkish spectacle and Christ as a figure somehow deserving of, or interested in, my pity.
Hallow Crunches the Numbers: Catholic Church Sees Massive Growth in New Members in 2026...
NASA’s Artemis II Begins Easter Week Mission Around the Moon...
National Catholic Register Editorial: Holy Week in a Time of War...
The Word That Towers Over Betrayal...
Wednesday of Holy Week is a day traditionally focused on the betrayal of Judas Iscariot. One of the great gifts of the story of the Passion, and our commemoration of it in Holy Week, is the various characters with whom we can identify ourselves, and who reveal different aspects of Our Lord. The drama of the betrayal, almost incomprehensible in its horror, brings out as nothing else this week certain features of the heart of Our Lord.
Estranged Families Walk the Way of the Cross...
How You Walk Might Reveal Your Risk of Death...
Seeing and Believing: A Reflection on Easter Sunday...
Jesus is nowhere visible. Yet today’s Gospel tells us that Peter and John “saw and believed.” What did they see? Burial shrouds lying on the floor of an empty tomb. Maybe that convinced them that He hadn’t been carted off by grave robbers, who usually stole the expensive burial linens and left the corpses behind. But notice the repetition of the word...
An Invitation to Know Jesus...
When I began my time in the Diocese of Colorado Springs, I said I was fascinated by Jesus Christ, and I have been for much of my life. What was true then, and what was true in the Scriptures, is only truer today. I am fascinated by the way that Jesus makes himself present in our world today. I am fascinated by Jesus’ words...
This Sunday, the Passion Means the Innocent Die for the Guilty, Even Now...
Christianity is set up such that the innocent die for the guilty. That is the shocking but ultimately comforting lesson of the readings for Palm Sunday of the Passion, Year A. Here are six takeaways drawn from Sunday Readings columns at this site and the Extraordinary Story podcast. First: Palm Sunday Mass is a mini-Holy Week. None of the other Holy Week Masses is obligatory for Catholics...
All Is Fulfilled: A Reflection on Passion Sunday...
In Holy Week, Life’s Indignities Reveal Our Eternal Dignity...
I am just back home from an unexpected trip to my hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, where I was needed by my siblings to aid in getting my 90-year-old mother, who has advanced Alzheimer’s, into a nursing home. She had fallen at home in the bathroom and cracked five ribs and punctured a lung, which, beyond her major injuries, indicated that my father...
Cuba looks to Vatican for help to ease US oil embargo, Washington Post reports...
Living Lent, the Single Life, and the Price of Authenticity...
Our Quest to Live Forever...
“Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves.” God created us to live forever. Our longing for eternal life unfolds as a continuum of human love finding its fulfillment in divine union...
Mission Received, Mission Given: Archbishop James Golka Installed as Archbishop of Denver...
Pew Research: What Do Americans Consider Immoral?
I Stole a Lemon on St. Joseph’s Day — Will It Bear Fruit?
Why Does the Annunciation Loom so Large in Catholicism?
‘A Cathedral in Print’: The Rise of the Catholic Premium Bible...
100 Questions Jesus Asked and You Should Answer...
Pope Leo Calls Bishops to Rome to Discuss Families, ‘Amoris Laetitia’ in October...
Sin is the monster in the room. Suffering is our personal encounter with it...
Watch: Robot plays tennis with humans, returns shots with 96% accuracy...
What the Vatican court ruling means for papal sovereignty, and Cardinal Becciu...
Pray for Gina, and the Florida Feast...
At the Tomb of Lazarus: A Reflection on the Fifth Sunday of Lent...
Pope Leo Meets Gareth Gore, Author Urging Investigation of Opus Dei...
Human or Divine? A Battle of the Wills...
From Doo-Wop to Doctrine: Rock Legend Dion’s Musical Friendship With Mike Aquilina...
Pope Questions Christians’ Role in Wars, Implies Need for Confession...
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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—)