News

By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, First Post - Pope Leo XIV on Sunday celebrated a special feast day traditionally used by the Catholic Church to drum up donations from the faithful, with the Vatican under the first American pope rolling out a new campaign to urge ordinary Catholics to help bail out the deficit-ridden Holy See... Leo celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, marking the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul and thanked donors who have contributed, using the language of the publicity campaign to say their financial support was a sign of union with his young pontificate.

By Victoria Cardiel, CNA - Pope Leo XIV warned new archbishops on Sunday against following “the same old pastoral plans without experiencing interior renewal and a willingness to respond to new challenges.”... Speaking on the Solemnity of Peter and Paul — saints recognized by the Catholic Church as pillars of the faith and venerated as patrons of the city of Rome — the pope also called for maintaining ecclesial unity while respecting diversity.

By Deacon Thomas L. McDonald, National Catholic Register - Rooted in centuries of Catholic tradition, these daily devotions offer a practical way to sanctify time and live your faith more intentionally all week long... In Catholic tradition, each day of the week has some particular devotional subject. These entered popular piety over time with the rise of votive Masses in the early Church. Votive Masses, offered for a special intention rather than a fixed feast, eventually led to texts being assigned to different days of the week in order to commemorate certain mysteries and persons.

By Fr. David Howell, Catholic Herald - The angel freed Peter from Herod’s prison by miraculously unlocking several doors, as if the keys of the kingdom which Jesus had given him were at work in a concrete way... These metaphorical keys allude to Isaiah 22:22, where the king invests his prime minister with his own authority through the symbol of a key. Jesus himself, in Revelation, states that the key is his (3:7), but it is lent to Peter and his successors until the last day, when Jesus will receive it back—as depicted in Michelangelo’s Last Judgement. The papacy is the gift of Christ’s own authority, given to us to open heaven.