By Matthew Bunson, EWTN News – As Pope Francis welcomes the latest members of the College of Cardinals — including 18 new electors eligible to vote in any prospective conclave — he continues to build on the work of his predecessors by making the college more international, even as he puts his personal stamp on its membership… As of the consistory on Sept. 30, Francis’ college will have 136 cardinal-electors, meaning they are under 80 years old and thus eligible to vote in any papal election. The composition of the 136 electors is as follows: 53 from Europe; 24 from Latin America; 22 from Asia; 19 from Africa; 15 from North America; and three from Oceania.

By Daniel Payne, CNA – Conspicuously absent from the second Republican presidential primary debate this week: much talk on abortion politics and policy… Only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were given the chance to speak on abortion — with DeSantis offering a vocal defense of pro-life beliefs before confirming that he would support a national 15-week ban on the procedure.

By Robert Lazu Kmita, The Remnant – From the entire Bible, especially the Book of Revelation, is the one that acquaints us with the figure of the dragon (Gr. δράκων), while also clearly suggesting the necessity of a challenging symbolic-spiritual exegesis of this malevolent figure in the visions of Saint Apostle John. The inexhaustible richness of the Hole Scripture contains many other references to the monstrous beings described in great epics, both older and more recent, such as Beowulf and The Lord of the Rings.

By Mary Margaret Olohan, LifeNews – The Department of Justice will not say why it has not prosecuted a Buffalo woman for vandalizing a pro-life pregnancy center, one of over 200 attacks on pro-life centers and Catholic Churches since the leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion indicating Roe v. Wade would be overturned… Forty-year-old Hannah Kamke pled guilty this month to disorderly conduct related to her March 15 vandalism of CompassCare Pregnancy Services in Amherst, New York, the Buffalo News reported, and she has agreed to pay $2,580 in restitution to the center as part of her plea arrangement.

By Jonathon Van Maren, LifeSiteNews – The World Health Organization, predictably, is leading the charge, and this year they are partnering with the Human Reproduction Programme (HRP) to “promote the fundamental importance of access to safe abortion care for the health and rights of women and girls through a photo exhibit co-hosted by the United Nations at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.” Around the world, abortion activists will march, protest, and make political demands ….

By Louis Knuffke, LifeSiteNews – The Archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini, has issued a pastoral letter in which he appears to endorse homosexuality… “Particularly delicate attention given modern-day sensibilities must be devoted to accompanying and understanding the experience of love and the different nuances of attraction, both to people of different genders and to people of the same gender. The hasty label of ‘homosexual’, ‘heterosexual’ deadens the relational dynamic and tends to reduce it to a ‘sexual practice’,” Delpini, an appointee of Pope Francis …

Franciscan Media – Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named… Michael appears in Daniel’s vision as “the great prince” who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God’s armies to final victory over the forces of evil. …

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture – When Americans think of slavery they typically have in mind the slavery in the American South, especially in the nineteenth century, which was one of several differences between North and South leading to the American Civil War. I suspect many Europeans also think of slavery in terms of the American experience… That would be a mistake. Slavery has been a significant feature of life in the world as far back as human records go (with the exception of the first few chapters of the book of Genesis).

By Austin Ruse, Crisis Magazine – In recent years, the secular Left has been working feverishly to turn Christians into violent monsters. We are told that the number one threat of terrorism in America is from the Right… It is commonplace in war to demonize the enemy. The purpose is to scare your troops, even more to make them so furiously angry they will not hesitate to kill. The civilians back home must understand the enemy are monsters.

By Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, The Catholic Thing – Prior to the 1970 revision of the liturgical calendar, September 29 was the exclusive preserve of the Archangel Michael.  In one of the more intelligent calendar revisions, Michael has been joined to the only other two archangels named in the Bible… In the Low Mass of the Extraordinary Form, the Leonine Prayers include the petition to St. Michael the Archangel to “defend us in battle” and “to be our safeguard against the wiles and snares of the Devil.”  In recent years, that prayer has been returned to usage in many dioceses – although Cardinal Cupich of Chicago has actually forbidden praying it – before, during, or after Mass.  One wonders why.

By Scarlen Valderaz, Patriot Post – A child’s primary teacher is the parent. The parent-teacher dynamic must be corrected. The parent is responsible for their child’s educational success, and the teacher is only a temporary partner… The lack of parental engagement has welcomed the state to attempt to fill in where it sees fit. This is why school districts adopt the whole-child approach and try to provide wraparound services.

By Raymond Wolfe, LifeSiteNews – A Catholic priest in Ohio blasted the transgender mutilation of children as “totally disgusting and evil” and warned that voters risk eternal damnation by supporting pro-transgender and pro-abortion policies, regardless of whether they are “personally opposed” to the practices… Father Jay McPhillips of Newbury preached a fiery homily earlier this month against LGBT ideology and abortion, imploring parishioners to reject a far-left ballot initiative in Ohio that would create a “right” to abortion and other so-called “reproductive decisions” in the state.

By Emmy Griffin, Patriot Post – Gallup recently released an analysis of past polls wherein it posed the question: What is the ideal family size? As it currently stands, 47% of Americans polled believe that one to two children is the ideal, while 45% believe that three or more children is the ideal. Only 2% of all respondents declared that zero children is the ideal. Whew! … Many Americans believe in big families. Now the next step is for couples to start creating their ideal families, one kiddo at a time.

By Casey Chalk, Crisis Magazine – The religiously unaffiliated—also known as “nones”—today account for about one quarter of American adults, or about 59 million people. The majority of those are what sociologist Stephen Bullivant calls, in his new book, “nonverts”: those who go from identifying with a religion to identifying as a “none.” And sixteen million of those nonverts were raised Catholic… Do you have any serious proposal for bringing those millions of nonvert Catholics back to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church?

By Fulton J. Sheen, Catholic Exchange – In the eyes of the Church, therefore, marriage is a permanent union patterned upon the abiding love of Christ for His Church, and not a terminable pact of selfish passion that endures only as long as the passion endures. By upholding such an ideal, by asking such a guarantee, and by teaching the sacredness of a vow, the Church makes marriage serious. She practically tells the young couple the same thing the sign over the cashier’s desk tells the customer: “Count your change. No mistakes rectified after leaving the window.”