By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – It was another record year for the abortion giant Planned Parenthood – killing more babies in abortions than ever before. Although Planned Parenthood bills itself as a woman’s health organization, in reality, it is little more than an abortion business… Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report, released today, shows the abortion business killed a record 402,230 babies in abortions in the past year, while generating over $2 billion in revenue.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 10:22-30 – 22 It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.

By Jimmy Akin, Catholic News Agency – May 13 is the optional memorial of Our Lady of Fátima, arguably the most prominent approved apparition of the 20th century. It became famous the world over, particularly for its three-part “secret.”… Here are nine things to know about this Marian apparition… 1. What happened at Fátima, Portugal? A young shepherd girl, Lucia dos Santos, said she experienced supernatural visitations as early as 1915, two years before the famous appearances of Our Lady of Fátima… In 1917, she and two of her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, were working as shepherds tending their families’ flocks.

By Stacy Trasancos, Catholic Exchange – Whenever I have spoken to groups about the Church’s teaching against in vitro fertilization (IVF), especially to groups of young people, someone always asks how to talk about this topic if there are people present who were themselves conceived in this way. The moral discussion about how IVF separates the unitive (love-making) from the procreative (life-giving) aspect of the conjugal act (marital sex) and how male and female gametes form an embryo in a petri dish all sounds like a condemnation of the child himself. …

By John Gizzi, Newsmax – This may have been one of the most tumultuous papal conclaves in recent memory, with the cardinals of the Roman Church settling on what appears to be a unifying Pope, Leo XIV… It is remarkable that Robert Prevost, an American, became Pope. It long had been held that an American could never become Pope… But Vatican sources, who are impeccable, tell Newsmax he was the man to beat from the minute the conclave began… Here’s what unfolded… This conclave started last Wednesday with secret meetings in the Sistine Chapel.

By Tom Colsy, The Catholic Herald – Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the former Prefect of the Papal Household, described the results of the recent papal conclave as marking the beginning of a new era for the Church – one marked by clarity, stability and a decisive break from the confusion of the past… Gänswein described the elevation of Cardinal Robert Prevost as a moment of “great and good surprise”, adding that he felt an immediate sense of hope as the new Pope appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica… “Optically and acoustically, this Pope inspires hope, hope, hope”… “We can begin to count on a papacy capable of guaranteeing stability.”

By Judie Brown, National Catholic Register – The power of creation is shared not with angels, but with mothers… We know, of course, that it is the mother who bears the child and nurtures her baby prior to birth and after. She is the central figure in that baby’s prenatal life, and hopefully in her life after birth as well. There are obvious exceptions to this, but in the normal course of events, mothers are the heroines who literally lay it all on the line to bear children.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – Cardinal Prevost to emerge. Already considered a possible compromise candidate by many cardinals going into the conclave, he began picking up votes in the third vote, including among conservative voters, helped in part by Cardinal Timothy Dolan lending his weight to Cardinal Prevost’s candidacy. By the fourth ballot, Cardinal Prevost had secured more than 100 votes, well above the two-thirds majority of 89 required to be elected.

By Michael Katz, Newsmax – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Newsmax on Monday that the impetus behind President Donald Trump’s executive order to reduce prescription drug costs for Americans was price-fixing by European nations… Kennedy said Americans account for 75% of pharmaceutical company revenue but are just 4.2% of the world’s population. The result: Americans are paying more for prescription drugs than the rest of the world.

By Liz Yore, Yore Children – Now we learn. For a dozen long miserable years, they all kept their mouths shut about Bergoglio. They all covered up the chaotic madness of this man, yet whispering and gossiping and cowering in the halls of Casa Santa Marta about the man in white… They breathed not a word about the man, who subjected the Catholic Church to 12 years of brutal tyranny, blatant material heresy, vindictive psychopathy, and rampant predator protection… Everyone is breathing a sigh of relief, as the whispers from the curia, the college of cardinals, and even, Bishop Georg Ganswein, the Pope’s Head of Household ….

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – In the 1980s, during an ordination Mass in the upper Midwest, a kindly bishop offered a thought-provoking contrarian homily. He said priests should not treat the people like sheep. Sheep are, well, kind of dumb. A bunch of sheep is a flock, not a herd. But they have a passive herd mentality as they silently line up for the slaughterhouse. A sensitive, educated priest should never malign his sensitive and educated people by calling them sheep. But this bishop’s advice soon became just another tired—and soon to be retired—religious fad.

By Msgr. Charles Pope – Here is a transcript and two short videos of Pope Leo XIV, then Bishop Prevost’s intervention at the synod on evangelization in 2012. Great stuff! really worth a read or a listen. We learn a lot about where he stood, at least then, on critical issues.  The videos where he reads aloud his thoughts are below. Here is a transcript if you prefer to read it… Transcript of Bishop Robert Francis Prevost (Pope Leo XIV) 2012 reading from address to the Synod of Bishops:  “The Counterculture of the New Evangelization” ….

By Eugenio Capozzi, The Daily Compass – The election of Leo XIV was also, by all appearances, a very decisive halt to the policy of appeasement towards the Chinese regime and a clear repositioning of the Catholic Church in the Western camp. It is not a ‘Trumpisation’ of Catholicism, but it is certainly another piece in the increasingly tense global confrontation between Washington and Beijing. One that definitely scores a point in Washington’s favour.

By Tessa Gervasini, Catholic News Agency – Kelsey Pritchard, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America political communications director, told CNA that while President Donald Trump did reinstate the Hyde Amendment, the money is “fungible” and “Planned Parenthood’s largest federal funding comes through Medicaid reimbursements.”… The money is what enables it “to do nearly 400,000 abortions annually, all while they’re getting $2 million in tax money every single day. It’s really allowing them to keep their doors open,” she said.

By Vatican News – The Holy See Press Office announced the upcoming schedule for the newly elected Pope Leo XIV. His inaugural Mass will be held in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, May 18 at 10am Rome time… In another statement, the Press Office shared the Holy Father’s “wish that the Heads and Members of the Institutions of the Roman Curia, as well as the Secretaries and the President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State, continue, on a provisional basis” in their respective roles donec aliter provideatur (until otherwise provided).