By Catholic World News – The typical member of the priestly ordination class of 2026 is a 33-year-old cradle Catholic, according to a newly released survey of 334 of the 428 men slated to be ordained to the priesthood in the United States this year. The survey was conducted for the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations of the USCCB by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate and posted on the USCCB’s website… The typical ordinand regularly took part in Eucharistic adoration and prayed the Rosary before entering seminary, according to the survey. …

By Brad Miner, The Catholic Thing – When St. John Paul II went to Poland, he made no direct criticisms of the communist government. The closest he came was when he told the crowd in Warsaw’s Victory Square that “at any longitude or latitude of geography, the exclusion of Christ from the history of man is an act against man.” I imagined Edward Gierek turning to Wojciech Jaruzelski and asking, “Are we to believe in Christ now?”… Wedging Jesus into the conflict in Iran or border enforcement in the U.S., while hardly a fool’s errand, risks sinking Roman Catholicism into the very worst version of synodality: as an ongoing, transformational whatsis equal to The Blob. …

The American Conservative – At the recent oral argument in perhaps the most consequential case on the Supreme Court’s docket, the birthright citizenship case of Trump v. Barbara, Chief Justice John Roberts made a telling and illustrative quip. In an exchange with Solicitor General John Sauer concerning the problem of birth tourism, the chief justice responded to Sauer’s concern that 8 billion people around the planet are a “plane ride away from having a child who’s a U.S. citizen.”

By Francesca Pollio Fenton, EWTN News, (Catholic World Report) – According to the World Health Organization, about 1 in 6 people globally experience infertility in their lifetime. In the United States, 1 in 8 couples deal with infertility… This year, National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW) runs from April 19–25. Established in 1989 by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, NIAW is an annual initiative held each April that raises public awareness, promotes policy change — especially regarding insurance coverage — and fosters open conversations to support those struggling to build their families.

By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV, Catholic Exchange – About twenty years ago, I launched a program for daily life that has since changed thousands of lives—one based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Years later, I still frequently encounter people grateful for having gone through this ten-week program… Consequently, I decided, with the help of a team of wonderful collaborators, to format and articulate this work in book form, Ten Weeks to Spiritual Advancement, scheduled for release in mid-April 2026.

By Father Nicola Bux, Edward Pentin’s Substack – “Christ did not waste time criticising the Roman Empire, but founded the Church” — T.S. Eliot, Choruses from The Rock… Popes from John XXIII to Leo XIV have, in different ways, separated the question of peace from the concrete reality of the Church; as a result, their appeals for peace risk becoming utopian — aspirations that lack the means necessary for their fulfilment… This separation appears when peace is framed primarily as a political or humanitarian goal: ending wars, encouraging dialogue, and fostering cooperation among nations. These aims are good, but when they are presented without reference to the Church’s essential mission — the conversion of persons and peoples to Christ — they lose their foundation. …

By Fr. Joseph Gill, Crisis Magazine – We’ve all been to our fair share of banal, cringe, or even disrespectful Novus Ordo Masses. As a priest who celebrates the Novus Ordo, I can see how easy it is in the New Rite to fall into those traps. It is evermore necessary, then, for a priest who celebrates the Novus Ordo to cultivate a rich interior life of union with Christ because this is the only antidote to the myriad of temptations to trivialize the liturgy.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – HHS Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused the Biden administration of blocking Christian families from fostering children… Kennedy said Biden official were imposing rules that required placements to affirm LGBTQ identities, a policy he said dramatically reduced the pool of available homes for vulnerable kids… Kennedy made the remarks while highlighting efforts to roll back the Biden-era regulations during congressional testimony this week.

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – We are living in a time when the world feels as though it is unraveling before our eyes. Nations rise against nations. Conflicts escalate. Voices grow louder, angrier, more divided. And even among Catholics – among those who should be united in the truth of Jesus Christ – we see confusion, tension, and sometimes even hostility… In moments like this, many people ask, “Who is right? Which side should I support? What position should I take?”… But before we ask any of those questions, there is a deeper and more important one that must come first: “Are we thinking with the mind of Christ … or with the mind of the world?” …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 6:16-21 – 16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea rose because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat. They were frightened, 20 but he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” …

By Carole Novielli, Live Action – DOJ urged to investigate ‘predatory’ abortion pill manufacturer.. Senator Josh Hawley has sent a demand letter, urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Danco Laboratories, the original manufacturer of the “chemical abortion drug mifepristone” — including the company’s “its original FDA approval [and] ongoing regulatory compliance.”

By Tyler Arnold, EWTN News – U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch said he intends to focus on issues that unite President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV in his role to foster a relationship between the two leaders rather than on recent disagreements about the Iran War… “As the U.S ambassador for the Holy See, my efforts are many, but one of the roles as a diplomat is to remind stakeholders of what unites us and what must never divide us,” Burch said after delivering remarks on the persecution of Nigerian Christians at the U.S. embassy to the Vatican in Rome.

By Chris Nesi, NY Post – President Trump says Iran has ‘agreed to give us back the nuclear dust’… President Trump had stern words for Israel as he made clear that the US is in the driver’s seat for the 10-day cease-fire between the Jewish state and Lebanon… “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!” the president wrote in a sharply worded Truth Social post Friday… Trump also threw cold water on a cash component being part of the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Iran ….

By Marcus Peter, Catholic World Report – Christians worship the crucified and risen Son. Muslims reject His Sonship, His Cross, and therefore His saving identity. As the late New Testament scholar Larry Hurtado once wrote, “to speak about God without reference to Jesus is inadequate discourse about God.” Tucker would do well to learn that point. The Islamic Isa is a revised religious character stripped of Calvary and emptied of divinity. Therefore, Tucker’s remark was asinine, as Muslims and Christians do not revere the same Jesus at all.

By Kevin Wells, Wellspring -This past Sunday’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles brought back the memory of an image from a book of stories I used to pull from the blue bookshelf in my childhood bedroom… It covered two pages, showing a small village in a valley, hemmed in by a cashmere blanket of green mountains. A handful of shops, a white-steepled church, and a dozen or so homes rested by a lake fed by a brook that zigzagged down a mountain. On a hill in the distance, a locomotive chugged along, passing by a few tidy homes that clung to the mountainside.  …