News

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 21:1-14 – 1 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing. …

By Auguste Meyrat, The Federalist – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his new anti-Christian bill (C-9). Not content with the current hate speech laws in force in Canada, Carney is pushing stricter restrictions on speech with a new law that would prohibit using religious texts as a defense of speech the left deems offensive. According to a report in The Telegraph, “Bill C-9, the Act is a wide-ranging piece of legislation aimed at targeting what Carney’s government claims is ‘rising anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and transphobia.’”

By Ellie Gardey Holmes, The American Spectator – Abortions have only continued to increase post-Dobbs… The data is in, and the conclusion is depressing: Planned Parenthood killed 434,450 babies in 2024, according to a new report released this week… That totals up to an impressive kill-to-patient ratio: 434,450 murders and 2.09 million patients “treated.”… This of course shows that abortions are all Planned Parenthood cares about. The additional services they render, like STD testing and pap smears, are just window dressing for their systematic murder machine.

By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International – On Thursday, March 26, Finland’s Supreme Court convicted Päivi Räsänen – a sitting member of parliament and former Minister of the Interior – of criminal “hate speech” for a pamphlet she wrote for her church more than twenty years ago… The pamphlet, titled Male and Female He Created Them, affirmed the biblical understanding of marriage and sexuality. For that, Räsänen now has a criminal record, has been fined €1,800, and the pamphlet has been ordered to be destroyed.

By Harrison Berger, The American Conservative – Indeed, Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization was not an expression of American values but the purest expression, and logical endpoint, of an ideology the United States has attached itself to under both Joe Biden and now Trump: Zionism and the Greater Israel project, first through U.S. support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, and most recently through the joint war of aggression against Iran.

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – The habitual tendency to favor “dialogue,” as if it were an end in itself, has cropped up again recently, in debates about the wars in Ukraine and in Iran. Again and again, Church leaders have called for negotiations to end the fighting and prevent further bloodshed. Of course it is always preferable to resolve conflicts by talking rather than fighting—if the talks can settle the contentious issues. But there are times when peace talks collapse, when opposing views and competing claims prove irreconcilable. …

By Zeale News, April 10, 2026 – Vice President JD Vance will reportedly lead a U.S. delegation to Islamabad for talks with Iranian officials beginning April 11. The delegation will include special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner, with Pakistan serving as mediator… Officials are expected to focus on whether the temporary pause in fighting can be extended into a broader agreement, though significant gaps remain between the two sides on core issues, including Iran’s nuclear program and regional security demands, according to The New York Times.

By Chiara McKenna, Live Action News – Anita Petersen was only 47 years old when she died suddenly in October 2024. It took an autopsy to reveal the cause of death. This revealed that she had been suffering from an intracranial meningioma—more commonly known as a brain tumor.  It was bleeding caused by this undiagnosed tumor that led to Anita’s untimely death… But what had caused the tumor itself?… The answer is Depo Provera, an injectable contraceptive containing medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA). 

By Jonah McKeown, National Catholic Register – Rob and Sam Fatzinger live in the Washington, D.C., area. They have 14 children, two of whom are adopted — nine boys and five girls — ranging in age from 9 to 35. Nearly a decade ago, the Fatzingers captured headlines when they revealed that they were living debt-free — despite their many children in college and the fact that they reside in one of the country’s most expensive metro areas.

By Anthony Esolen, PhD, OnePeterFive – Meanwhile, the passage, which tells of the woman caught in adultery, is utterly convincing as an event from the life of Christ. It is another one of those moments that defies imitation. Recall when the Pharisees and the Herodians, enemies of one another but united in their enmity of Jesus, try to set a trap for Jesus by flattery, saying, “Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”

By Misty Severi, Just the News – (Melania) Trump said she and her attorneys have fought the accusations that she was associated with Epstein and Maxwell, claiming that her response to an email from Maxwell was “casual correspondence,” and she was being polite… Trump read a statement at the White House Thursday that denied ties to the late-financier Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, but acknowledged they ran in overlapping social circles in New York and Florida… The comment comes amid online reports and accusations that the first lady personally knew of the sex offender’s crimes, stating that such “stories are completely false.”

By Jennifer Roback Morse, National Catholic Register – Welcome, converts to Catholicism! Reports from around the world indicate that there are a large number of you… Some of you converted from other faiths. Some of you come from unchurched backgrounds. Some of you had an intellectual journey: You read your way into the Church. Others had a mystical encounter with Jesus. Others were drawn by the beauty of the Church’s music, liturgy and architecture. Still others joined the Church because Jesus bonked you over the head with a two-by-four. …

By Maisey Jefferson, The Federalist – While the SAVE America Act continues to languish in the Senate under the supervision of Republican Leader John Thune, leaders and voters in several states have taken it upon themselves to secure their own elections from noncitizen voting… The overwhelmingly popular SAVE America Act would amend U.S. election law to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and voter ID when casting a ballot in federal elections. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 24:35-48 – 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. 36 As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” …

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – We who subscribe to the Catholic faith are periodically asked a very reasonable question: “What’s in it for me?” At its heart, the Catholic faith does not offer material prosperity or escape. Instead, the faith offers the grace to face suffering honestly and the hope to overcome it with love. It is a faith grounded in seeing reality clearly and finding hope within it.

By R. R. Reno, First Things – What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times of war, when the moral stakes are high. Which is why I’m troubled by the annihilationist rhetoric coming from the White House. It numbs our souls and corrodes our moral sensibilities… On Easter Sunday, as an often-extended deadline for Iranian acceptance of American terms was approaching, Donald Trump issued a statement on social media threatening the destruction of civilian infrastructure, should their leaders fail to comply.

By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú, EWTN News – A new report published by the French Bishops’ Conference presents the latest statistical data from Easter 2026, during which approximately 8,200 adolescents and 13,200 adults embraced the Catholic faith… The report indicates that the majority of converts are young adults between the ages of 18 and 25, closely followed by the 26-to-40 age group… In general, the new catechumens have no prior religious tradition, driven primarily by difficult life experiences, a profound search for meaning ….

By Randall O’Bannon, Ph.D., LifeNews – Clarification for those who will not have time to read the document. Though the service and financial data from the 2024-2025 Planned Parenthood Annual Report spends a fair amount of time complaining about efforts of the Trump administration to shut them down, data from the 2024-2025 Planned Parenthood Annual Report actually covers only the last half of 2024 and the first half of 2025 before Congress actually defunded the group.

By Romy Haber, EWTN News – Lebanon is asking the Vatican to stand with Christian villages in the southern part of the country. In recent days, these communities were widely praised across Lebanese and international media after residents chose to remain in their homes despite the dangers around them. Caught between Hezbollah infiltrations and Israeli strikes, villagers insisted on staying in their ancestral lands. …

By Brian Lonergan, Chronicles – When the Boston Red Sox’s legendary Fenway Park posted archival footage of 1950s Opening Day last week, the team expected a pleasant wave of nostalgia. But the comments section produced something else… The message was clear: The America in the video exposed the unmistakable decline of our current nation. Millions of viewers saw it and immediately understood why… The video touched a raw nerve not just because it was beautiful but because it showed how far we have fallen in what amounts to the span of a single lifetime. …

By John Daniel Davidson, Sr. Editor, The Federalist – After threatening the death of “a whole civilization” on Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump announced a two-week, “double-sided” ceasefire with Iran Tuesday evening, pending the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz… The annihilation of Iran, it seems, was averted by a last-minute deal brokered by Pakistan. In his announcement of the ceasefire, Trump said Pakistan “requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran.”

By Fr. Kevin Drew, Catholic Exchange – Something strange is happening, there is a great stillness on earth today, a great silence and stillness… So states an ancient sermon regarding Christ’s descent into the netherworld. … The earth trembled and is now still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear. …

By Catholic Culture, April 9, 2026 – Meditation for the Thursday within the Octave of Easter: Grasping What the Resurrection Means… Keeping in mind the magnitude of the change wrought by the Resurrection—a divine action in history and nature that changed history and nature in a radical way, opening new possibilities of life beyond the reach of death—we can perhaps ponder with a bit more patience yet another gospel reading in which the disciples don’t at first, get it.

By Elise Winland, Zeale – In a Truth Social post the morning of March 30, Trump said the U.S. has made “great progress” in “serious discussions with a new, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME” in Iran. He also threatened the “complete obliteration” of Kharg Island and “all” of the nation’s electric plants, oil wells, and desalination plants unless they immediately open the Strait of Hormuz for business… Later in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt faced questions about whether Trump’s threat to target desalination plants – which are considered civilian infrastructure because they supply drinking water – amounts to a war crime under international law. Leavitt said that “of course this administration and the United States armed forces will always act within the confines of the law.”

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 13:21-33,36-38 – 21 When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus; 24 so Simon Peter beckoned to him and said, “Tell us who it is of whom he speaks.” 25 So lying thus, close to the breast of Jesus, he said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it.” …

By Samantha Stephenson, Catholic Exchange – Confession and the Garden of the Soul… It was around this time that my daughter received her first Confession, which meant that I found myself coaxing and cajoling a fearful and anxious 8-year-old to our local parish for her second Confession, which held none of the excitement and glamour of the first to obscure the objectively nerve-wracking nature of bearing your weaknesses to a total stranger….

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – The Kansas Legislature on Friday overrode pro-abortion Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of legislation shielding pro-life pregnancy centers from government regulations that could restrict their ability to offer life-affirming support to women… The House voted 87-35 and the Senate voted 30-9 to enact House Bill 2635, the Pregnancy Center Autonomy and Rights of Expression (CARE) Act… The measure protects private, nonprofit pregnancy centers and medical pregnancy centers by exempting them from certain regulations on the information …

By Chris Jackson, Hiraeth In Exile, Substack – That is what Bishop Robert Barron effectively did in his March 29 Fox News column. He acknowledged that the overwhelming theological tradition regarded Judas as damned, then shifted the reader’s attention to the Vézelay image beloved by Francis, floated the hope that Judas might have been saved, invoked postconciliar caution about naming anyone in hell, and folded the whole thing into his familiar theology of overwhelming mercy. Instead of an exhortation to fear betrayal, despair, avarice, sacrilege, and final impenitence, it was another attempt to blunt the edge of Christ’s warnings.

By Francis P. Sempa, The American Spectator – Pope Leo XIV on Palm Sunday announced to the world that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” That statement would have surprised Gen. George Patton and the men of the Third Army who in December 1944 were stalled in their drive to relieve the American paratroopers at Bastogne, and it would have surprised Father James O’Neill, the Chief Chaplain of the Third Army, who responded to Patton’s request for a “weather prayer” by writing one that caused Patton to award him the Bronze Star. Perhaps Pope Leo should take the time to read Alex Kershaw’s book Patton’s Prayer,

By Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing – We pride ourselves on the fact that we don’t have a “caste system” in America, with higher and lower castes and those at the bottom who are “untouchables.” I sometimes wonder, though, whether we have something analogous in the way we distinguish “the elite” from the “deplorables.” As for “untouchables,” try going to a “Not a King” rally and saying, “I like some of the things Trump does,” and you’ll quickly discover what lepers felt like at the time of Christ.

By Nathanael Blake, The Federalis – I don’t know how our campaign against the mullahs will turn out, but it has real bombs being dropped on real targets with people really dying. In contrast, the sorts of programs Kristof promotes as better recipients of taxpayer money tend to be more ephemeral in their results — and that’s assuming that the recipients even exist. To cite a few examples that even a New York Times columnist ought to have heard of, there is the Somali daycare piracy, the California wildlife bridge to nowhere, the California high-speed rail debacle, and the embarrassing spectacle of cities spending endlessly to end homelessness while not even reducing it.

By Bridget Sielicki, Live Action News – A father and son duo in Quebec, Canada, have been court-ordered to stop donating sperm after allegations that, between them, they have fathered hundreds of children… A judge in Quebec has ordered two men to stop donating sperm after a lawsuit against them proceeds… Philippe Normand and his son Dominik Seelos have reportedly fathered over 600 children between them. …

By Mary Rose, Zeale – Violence and sectarian pressure targeting Christian communities across Africa and the Middle East have continued in the days leading up to the Easter Triduum, with deadly attacks in Nigeria on Palm Sunday, a sectarian rampage in Syria, ongoing settler incursions in the West Bank, and continued displacement of Christians in southern Lebanon.

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – Penitents concerned about their prayer life during trials should take consolation from Psalm 55: “O God, listen to my prayer; do not hide from my pleading. Hear me, Lord, as I complain.” It is holy and fitting to use fear and suffering to turn to God in prayer and complaint—provided we do not make Him the object of our anger. We honor God when we turn to Him and acknowledge His supremacy. Yet it is more common to disengage from God and complain apart from faith.

By Peter Kwasniewski, Rorate Caeli – In the recent much-discussed letter from Cardinal Parolin to the French bishops, conveying the sentiments of Leo XIV, a certain phrase sticks out: “May the Holy Spirit suggest to you concrete solutions that would generously include those sincerely attached to the Vetus Ordo, while respecting the orientations set forth by the Second Vatican Council regarding the Liturgy.”… Well, we might want to take another look at the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, promulgated December 4, 1963. Admitting that there are “wheels within wheels” and that the document’s compiler, Annibale Bugnini, had more than a few tricks up his sleeve ….

Catholic Culture, March 31, 2026 – This Holy Week Mass brings us the second description of the Christlike Suffering Servant of the Lord. It is almost a portrait of Jesus during Holy Week. These final three Lenten Gospels all describe a dinner with Judas present…. The reading from Isaiah is the second description of the Suffering Servant. Called from birth, he will toil to restore Israel and bring salvation to all the earth. The Responsorial Psalm is the prayer of the Suffering Servant. …

By Jeffrey Bruno, National Catholic Register – The five-hour drive south from New Jersey ends in a place where the world suddenly grows quiet. Roads narrow. Tall pines give way to salt marshes. And eventually the land itself thins until the Potomac River seems to surround you on all sides… Late on the afternoon of March 24, I crossed onto St. George’s Island as the sun began its descent. The sky ignited in bands of gold and crimson. The wide waters of the Potomac mirrored every color, turning the river into molten copper as the sun slipped toward the Chesapeake Bay.

By Kathy Schiffer, Catholic World Report – The numbers are in, and they are staggering. Across the United States and around the world, the number of converts entering the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil is at record highs… Shane Schaetzel, writing in Catholic Online News, reports that adult conversions here in the U.S. have reached numbers not seen for 20 years. One diocese after another confirms that: In Detroit, more than 1,400 are coming into the Church–the highest number in two decades. National Catholic Register staff reporter Matthew McDonald summarized some of the notable increases, including St. Petersburg, FL (with an 84% increase), Austin, TX (53%), Harrisburg, PA (77%) ….

By S.A. McCarthy, The American Spectator – Last week, The Atlantic’s Francis X. Rocca penned a damning indictment of America’s Catholic bishops, although I doubt he intended it as such. “The most urgent political concern for America’s Catholic leaders is no longer abortion; it’s immigration,” Rocca wrote. Noting that immigration concerns are addressed in Catholic teaching, he added, “But now immigration dominates U.S. Catholic leaders’ public messaging.”… So the slaughter of unborn children is second fiddle. The murder of Catholic college girls is just the price of doing business. The rape and murder of so many women at the hands of foreign invaders is — what? Acceptable?

By Matthew Walz, Catholic World Report – In 1846, John Henry Newman traveled to Rome to see if he could arrange to undertake seminary studies for the Catholic priesthood. He had converted a year earlier, and now, at 45 years old, he wished to be ordained a Catholic priest. He was, as we say nowadays, a “late vocation”—but one like no other. He had already published several books: Arians of the Fourth Century, Parochial and Plain Sermons in eight volumes, and his Oxford University Sermons, which he regarded as the “best, not the most perfect” of his books. Moreover, he had just completed a draft of what would become one of his own and, indeed, the Church’s most innovative pieces of theology ….

By Matthew McDonald, National Catholic Register – Many U.S. dioceses are expecting heavy increases in people joining the Catholic Church at Easter 2026, including some with record highs, a survey by the Register found… “Something’s happening,” said John Helsey, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, which is expecting a 57% increase in unbaptized people becoming Catholics at Easter — from 635 in 2025 to nearly 1,000 in 2026… In most places, this year’s increases aren’t a one-off but follow significant increases in recent years.

By Tessa Gervasini, EWTN News, (Catholic World Report) – In his pastoral letter Seitz wrote: The “current national campaign of mass detention and detention is a grave moral evil, one which must be opposed, with prayer, peaceful action, and acts of solidarity with those affected.”… In the Catholic Church, “a grave moral evil” could indicate mortal sin… When asked if agents may need to disobey orders, or even leave their jobs, to avoid mortal sin, Seitz said: “I think the first thing that is most important is that you can’t put your conscience on hold if you’re a disciple of Jesus Christ.”

By Ivan Eland, The American  Conservative – During the past three-quarters of a century, beginning in 1950 and continuing right through to the current war with Iran, U.S. presidents repeatedly have risked involvement in conflicts that resulted in military quagmires with disappointing endings. Why do presidents keep repeating the same mistakes in the name of “national security”?… By 1950, the U.S. government had taken then-poor South Korea out of the U.S. defense perimeter. The United States had withdrawn its forces after the Second World War ….

By Kelsey Reinhardt, Zeale – On the day Christians worldwide call Palm Sunday—the opening of the most sacred week of the liturgical year—Israeli national police stopped Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre… Let me be precise about what this means. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands on the ground of the Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the most sacred sit …

By Brad Miner, The Catholic Thing – The greatest artist of the Renaissance is famous for something he may never have said: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” There are other versions of the quotation, as in the epigraph above, that are genuine, and they may seem to suggest that Michelangelo believed he merely liberated a form trapped in stone.

By Sam Barron, Newsmax – More than 50,000 troops are stationed in the Middle East as the war in Iran heads into its second month… The number is 10,000 more troops than usual and comes after 2,500 Marines and 2,500 sailors arrived in the region, The New York Times reported… The Marines come from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit… The Pentagon also deployed 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East… Officials said President Donald Trump is considering whether to launch a larger attack as he weighs options to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

By Russell M. Lawson, Catholic Exchange – Jean-Louis Berlandier was a French Catholic who journeyed to America and lived in northern Mexico near the Texas border. From the 1820s to the early 1850s, he was the only great savant in the region: a physician, apothecary, botanist, meteorologist, ornithologist, and pious scientist, as his many manuscripts reveal. He served as a surgeon during the Mexican War. As a lay missionary, he worked tirelessly to heal the sick of the Rio Grande Valley.

By Dr. R. Jared Staudt, Catholic World Report – Do you feel stuck in the spiritual life, like something is holding you back? Did Lent fall short of bringing about deeper conversion?…. Holy Week, as the culmination of Lent, seeks to resolve these dangling tensions, as we celebrate the Paschal Mystery, the new Passover initiated by Jesus. It’s about experiencing liberation, the freedom that comes from being saved from deadly forces we can’t control. It only takes death.

By S.A. McCarthy, LifeNews – A strong majority of Americans of all political stripes support restoring regulations surrounding the abortion drug mifepristone, according to a new survey. A poll conducted by CRC Research found that more than two-thirds (67%) of Americans would support a decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require an in-person physician’s visit when prescribing and dispensing the abortion drug mifepristone. Over 70% of Republicans would support the move, along with a strong majority of both Independent voters (68%) and Democrats (63%).

By Julie V. Burkey, Crisis Magazine – Catholics of a certain age can still recall the Faith of the 1940s, 50s, and early 60s. These decades were largely a continuation of previous centuries of steady Church growth with full pews at most Masses. The parish priest was greatly respected for playing many roles in service to both God and parishioners: confessor, counselor, intercessor, and, most importantly, celebrant at Holy Mass. The clergy served, and the faithful received.

By St. Augustine, OnePeterFive – Yesterday’s lesson in the holy Gospel, on which we spoke as the Lord enabled us, is followed by today’s, on which we purpose to speak in the same spirit of dependence. Some passages in the Scriptures are so clear as to require a hearer rather than an expounder: over such we need not tarry, that we may have sufficient time for those which necessarily demand a fuller consideration… And the Jews’ passover was near at hand. The Jews wished to have that feast-day crimsoned with the blood of the Lord. On it that Lamb was slain, who has consecrated it as a feast-day for us by His own blood. …

By Catholic Culture – For those following the readings of daily Mass in Lent, the Biblical best has been saved for Holy Week. The book of the prophet Isaiah contains four separate descriptions of a “Suffering Servant”—a shadowy figure called by God to suffer and give his life for the people. Today we read the first description of the Christ-like Suffering Servant. Isaiah shows him as chosen by God and patiently preaching justice to the nations.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 12:1-11 – 1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” …

By Shaun McAfee, Catholic Exchange – Every year, Lent begins with a kind of spiritual adrenaline. On Ash Wednesday we hear the solemn words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and suddenly everything feels urgent. Churches are full. Prayer resolutions are bold. Fasting plans are ambitious. We promise God we will pray more, give more, sacrifice more. For a moment, it feels like we are finally becoming the disciples we should have been all along.

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – We are living in a time when there are more voices than ever – more information than ever – more images, more commentary, more analysis. And yet, there is a strange blindness. A blindness not of the eyes, but of the soul… People see events, but not their meaning. They see confusion, but they do not ask why. They see contradictions, but they explain them away. They see warning signs, but they refuse to follow where those signs lead… And perhaps most dangerously – they see what they want to see. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 11:45-56 – 45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him; 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.” ….

By Joseph Pearce, National Catholic Register – Grown-ups enjoy children’s literature; it is only those who refuse to grow up, like Peter Pan, who think that they are too grown up for it… It is said of William Shakespeare, in the words of his friend and fellow poet Ben Jonson, that he was “not of an age, but for all time.” What is true of arguably the greatest writer of all time is true of the greatest children’s literature. It is not of an age but for all ages.

By Elizabeth Yore, YoreChildren Newsletter – The lesson spoke volumes: Bergoglio elevated paganism, betrayed Catholicism, and mocked God and the Blessed Mother. From that moment on, he was the Pachamama Pope, reigning amid ridicule, suspicion and mockery, forever an indelible asterisk in the annals of Catholic patrimony… Now, to the horror of Catholics, we learn that the Robert Prevost, the successor to Francis displayed the same allegiance and reverence to pagan idols some 30 years before the Francis scandal.

By Harrison Berger, The American Conservative – One of the most bizarre contradictions of Trump’s war on Iran has been the wide gap between the scale of the war’s disruption to energy infrastructure and shipping and the surprisingly muted response from financial markets. Iran has made clear that its strategy is to impose severe economic pain on the United States, Israel, and the wider global system by keeping the Strait of Hormuz shut. If that threat were being fully priced in, argues the author Matt Stoller on Substack this week, oil prices would likely be far higher and equities far lower.

By George Caldwell, The Daily Signal – House Republican leadership and the party’s hardline conservative faction rejected the Senate’s homeland security funding deal, which omits funding for border security… “The Republicans are not going to be any part of any effort to reopen our borders or to stop immigration enforcement,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday afternoon as he announced his intention to advance an eight-week stopgap funding bill for the DHS… “We are going to deport dangerous criminal illegal aliens because it is a basic function of the government. The Democrats fundamentally disagree,” he said.

By Elise Winland, Zeale – The U.S. Senate on March 27 unanimously passed a bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid an ongoing partial government shutdown but omitted funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)… The Senate approved the measure by a voice vote around 2:20 a.m. after a marathon session. The bill would fund agencies including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) while leaving core immigration enforcement components without standard appropriations.

By Joseph Pearce, Crisis Magazine – What is real? What is reality? What is virtual reality? How real is virtual reality? How often do we think of these questions? Do we think of these questions? Do we think? Do we?… These questions spring to mind because I’ve been spending some time with the great contemporary Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft—not in person, more’s the pity, but in the pages of his new book, The Two Greatest Novels Ever Written: The Wisdom of The Lord of the Rings and The Brothers Karamazov.
Anything that Dr. Kreeft writes is worth reading.

By Fr. Raymond J. de Souza, The Catholic Thing – The feast day of the newest Doctor of the Church, John Henry Newman, is not his dies natalis (death) but 9th October, the day of his conversion in 1845. That date was definitive for the shape of the Catholic Church in England. So much good for the Catholic Church followed… On March 29, 1986,  Scott Hahn was received into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. So much good for the Catholic Church followed.

By Andrew Day, The American Conservative – Lately, Trump has been expressing positive thoughts about a dreary topic: the war with Iran. Seemingly, he’s doing so in an effort to bring that war to a close. “I think we’re gonna end it”… Days earlier, Trump said that the White House had held “very good and productive conversations” with Iran over the weekend … Unfortunately, this isn’t the kind of predicament that Trump can wishcast his way out of. As analysts have emphasized, Tehran “gets a vote” as to when this war ends, and it doesn’t plan to stop until the U.S. and Israel learn that attacking Iran comes with high costs and shouldn’t be repeated in the future.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 10:31-42 – 31 The Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, `I said, you are gods’? ……

By Francis X. Maier, The Catholic Thing – Science is an odd theme to choose on the brink of Holy Week.  Or maybe not so odd.  In a way, science is miraculous. It’s an expression of man’s dignity and genius.  It offers our species two deep satisfactions: the joy of discovering how the world works, and the means of using what we learn to improve our lives and the lives of others.  It also seems to answer the “why” of things.

By Austin Ruse, Crisis Magazine – Former university president and rock-ribbed evangelical Everett Piper writes in the Washington Times this week that Carrie Prejean is an antisemite because she believes, like all Catholics, that the Church is the New Israel and that the modern state of Israel is not Biblical Israel, that is to say, 1948 Israel is not the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy that will usher in the End Times.

By Geoffrey Dickens, Newsbusters – For this study, MRC analysts looked at the broadcast evening (ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News), morning news shows (ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, NBC Today) from February 11 through the morning of March 26… President Donald Trump’s voter ID proposal, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act proposal, is popular by a wide margin.

By Charles J. Russo, Catholic World Report – As Vermont officials finally recognized, like their counterparts in Oregon and Massachusetts—albeit not without judicial intervention—parents have the right to be free from outside interference or influences by state officials, absent abuse or other circumstances clearly lacking in any of these controversies. Yet, as reflected in all three of these controversies, public officials were unwilling to respect religious freedom because they apparently do not understand, or do not care, that mutual tolerance and acceptance are supposed to be a two-way street ….

By Angeline Tan, Live Action News – A 25-year-old Spanish woman, Noelia Castillo Ramos, who was left paralyzed after a failed suicide attempt following a brutal sexual assault, died by euthanasia on March 26… Her parents had attempted to save her life from state-sanctioned death after a previous suicide attempt left her paralyzed from the waist down. They were unsuccessful, despite multiple court appeals… She was gang-raped while institutionalized with mental health issues, which is what led to her first suicide attempt… the hospital pushed for the euthanasia to continue, as her organs had already been committed for harvesting.

Source: Catholic Culture, Lent – Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent: Pardon the offenses of your peoples, we pray, O Lord, and in your goodness set us free from the bonds of the sins we have committed in our weakness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Päivi Räsänen, a Christian lawmaker and MP from Finland was convicted Thursday of a hate crime for a 2004 church pamphlet citing biblical teaching on human sexuality… The conviction came even as the nation’s Supreme Court unanimously cleared her of charges for quoting the same Scripture on social media… Räsänen… with the Christian Democrats since 1995 and a former interior minister who is solidly pro-life, and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola were found guilty in a 3-2 split decision under the “war crimes and crimes against humanity” section of Finland’s criminal code.

By Elise Winland, Zeale – In a party-line vote, an amendment to require photo identification (ID) for voting in federal elections failed to clear a key procedural hurdle in the Senate March 26, falling short of the 60 votes needed to proceed… The amendment, offered by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, to the broader Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, failed in a 53-47 cloture vote. It would have required voters to present a valid government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license, state ID card, U.S. passport, military ID, or tribal ID when casting ballots in person, and to provide a copy of such ID when voting by mail.

By Joseph Pronechen, National Catholic Register – Five years ago, Tim and Emily Malloy resolved to accept their pastor’s challenge to families to pray at least a decade of the Rosary every night during Lent. They’d say the decade with their four young children before bedtime, then finish the other four decades themselves later…. “The fruit that this practice bore was extraordinary,” said Emily, a frequent Register contributor who is floral and food editor of the faith-centered lifestyle website Theology of the Home. So much so, the Mississippi couple decided to continue the prayer practice beyond Lent

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – When is the last time you were at Mass—in an ordinary parish, not a monastery or retreat center—for a regularly scheduled parish Mass, not connected with any special event—and noticed that the congregation was predominantly male? I don’t think it had ever happened to me before last night… where we attended Mass for the feast of the Annunciation because we are traveling. There were more men and boys than women and girls; if you counted the altar boys it wasn’t close.

By Shaun McAfee, Catholic Exchange – Every year, Lent begins with a kind of spiritual adrenaline. On Ash Wednesday we hear the solemn words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and suddenly everything feels urgent. Churches are full. Prayer resolutions are bold. Fasting plans are ambitious. We promise God we will pray more, give more, sacrifice more. For a moment, it feels like we are finally becoming the disciples we should have been all along.

By Misty Severi, Just the News – Transportation Security Administration workers are not getting paid because the Department of Homeland Security has been partially shutdown since Feb. 14… President Donald Trump said Thursday night that he will sign an executive order directing new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay Transportation Security Administration workers, following a partial government shutdown that began Feb. 14 and has since left them without paychecks.

Bishop J. Strickland, Pillars of Faith – Join The Campaign: The Nineveh Fast is a campaign of prayer and fasting asking God for mercy upon our world. … The campaign will begin with a day of prayer and fasting on Friday, March 27, and continue on the fourth Friday of each month for the next eight months, for a total of nine days of fasting (April 24, May 22, June 26, July 24, August 28, Sept. 25, Oct. 23, Nov. 27).

Source: Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima – “You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI… If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”

By Mary Beth Bracy, Catholic Exchange – Fr. Meyer’s The Stations of the Eucharist book was recently released, along with a companion booklet. In conjunction, Dynamic Catholic is offering a free Holy Week Retreat on The Stations of the Eucharist. When you sign up, you will receive links to videos by Fr. Meyer… “The Stations of the Eucharist are ‘stops’ along the way from Genesis to Revelation,” Fr. Meyer explained, “fourteen biblical reflections that help us understand the Mass as a sacrifice. As Catholics, we have this idea that ‘I don’t know Scripture.’ [But when people hear about the stations, they think] ‘I actually know these passages’ and ‘I know more than I think I know.’

By Mary Rose, Zeale – On the 26th day of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Iranian state media said Tehran rejected a 15-point U.S. ceasefire proposal and issued an onerous list of counterdemands. The White House said “productive” talks are ongoing and warned of harsher strikes if Iran does not concede. Meanwhile, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced it is imposing an 8% surcharge on shipments to cover rising fuel prices due to the Iran war.

By Jude Russo, The American Conservative – President Donald Trump is making big noises about calling off the Iran War. Good. As the local TV warlord Pete Hegseth would have it, we’ve made a complete mess of the place; you can watch it in the official Department of Defense X account… The problem is that it’s difficult to really put your heart into believing the gang at 1600 Penn. The Iranians are denying that any direct negotiations are taking place, and Washington’s latest great white hope, Iran’s Speaker of the Parliament Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, has said that the announcements to that effect are an effort to settle the stomachs of Western markets …

By Sean Fitzpatrick, Catholic Exchange – In the end, Catholics belong to a higher order, and by their faith they show an invulnerability to the trappings and terrors that the elites can launch and levy. In short, if the Catholic Church is right, then everything the elites stand for is wrong… Catholics stand on the tradition and western heritage that the elites have abandoned, the bulwark where God and the Divine order preside, which exposes and condemns the filth and lucre that these lost souls have given themselves over to wholesale. …

By Eddie Scarry, The Federalist – To be an elected Democrat is to cripple an entire government agency for weeks on end, all for the purpose of derailing law enforcement, and have the national media treat it like standard partisan bickering… We’re more than a month into the latest Democrat-led government shutdown with Transportation Security Administration agents going on a second pay period with no income, leading hundreds of them to quit and thousands of them to just not go into work. Travelers are facing security lines that stretch for hours, and that’s on top of still more flight cancellations and delays. …

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – The Senate has launched an investigation into the companies that make the deadly and dangerous abortion pill – which has killed millions of babies and injured thousands of women… U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., joined by Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and James Lankford, R-Okla., has launched an investigation into three manufacturers of the chemical abortion drug mifepristone, raising serious concerns about compliance with federal safety protocols ….

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 8:51-59 – 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, `If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you claim to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God. …

By Chris Jackson, Hiraeth in Exile, Substack – A Parolin letter to France set off a victory parade in Trad Inc. But Leo’s real agenda was visible elsewhere: Vatican II, Vatican banking, interreligious fraternity, and pressure politics… The reaction was wildly disproportionate to the actual substance. There was no motu proprio. No legal reversal of Traditionis custodes. No restoration of rights. No repudiation of Francis. No acknowledgment that the old Mass had been treated unjustly. No admission that the Vatican’s own stated rationale for the crackdown had already been badly damaged by the leaked survey material.

By Francis X. Rocca, The Atlantic – Not so long ago, when U.S. Catholic leaders said something political, they tended to sound like conservatives. American bishops’ most prominent policy statements focused on three issues: same-sex marriage, contraception, and—above all—abortion… Since Donald Trump’s reelection, however, the Church in the United States has been sounding more liberal. Its teaching hasn’t changed, but the president’s second term has shifted the bishops’ attention. The most urgent political concern for America’s Catholic leaders is no longer abortion; it’s immigration.

By Carole Novielli, Live Action News – New abortion data for 2025 published by the Guttmacher Institute estimates that “1,126,000 abortions were provided by US clinicians in 2025” — an increase of about 0.18% (less than two-tenths of a percent) from abortion totals estimated for 2024… Though this percentage seems very small and is presented as “largely unchanged” by Guttmacher, it represents the deaths of approximately 2,000 more preborn children than 2024.

By Greg Cook, Catholic Exchange – Although the Holy Catholic Church will persist until the end of time, there have been moments in time when it has seemed beyond hope of resuscitation. The year 1968 was one of those moments, so much so that we shouldn’t be afraid to call it “The Year of Catholic Death.”… 1968 featured death in many guises: the death of sanity, as students and radicals rose up in bifurcated France, eldest daughter of the Church and bastion of the Revolution; the death of the old Mass, as many priests began celebrating facing the people and in the vernacular, coupled with the death of a proper understanding of the priesthood and consecrated religious life;

By Trinity Communications – St. Ludger was born in Friesland about the year 743. His father, a nobleman of the first rank, at the child’s own request, committed him very young to the care of St. Gregory, the disciple of St. Boniface, and his successors in the government of the see of Utrecht. Gregory educated him in his monastery and gave him the clerical tonsure. Ludger, desirous of further improvement, passed over into England and spent four years and a half under Alcuin, who was rector of a famous school at York.

Catholic Culture, Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord – Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord: O God, who willed that your Word should take on the reality of human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, grant, we pray, that we, who confess our Redeemer to be God and man, may merit to become partakers even in his divine nature. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever… Again Lent’s austerity is interrupted as we solemnly keep a feast in honor of the Annunciation. The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord is a mystery that belongs to the temporal rather than to the sanctoral cycle in the Church’s calendar.

By Nate Jackson, Patriot Post – One in five mail-in voters admitted to cheating in the 2020 election, so it might just make sense to rein in the process a bit. Enter the Supreme Court, which yesterday considered arguments in Watson v. Republican National Committee, a case involving a Mississippi law that permits counting mail-in ballots up to five days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked on or before Election Day. Another 13 states — including California, New York, and Texas — and DC have similar laws.

By Julio John Orvananos Archer, Catholic Exchange – Presently, we live in a world where confusion is the stamp of reality. This dislocation of being disfigures the nature and essence of everything it touches, especially the collective understanding of the eternal truths… Amongst the many divine concepts injured by popular error, few are more damaging to the soul than the misunderstanding of the angelic world, because, in the same manner in which a bad Mariology leads to a bad Christology, a bad Angelology leads to heresy, heresy leads to apostasy, and apostasy leads to Satanism.

By Nicole Weatherholtz, NewsMax – Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., said Tuesday on Newsmax that Democrats are responsible for the ongoing partial government shutdown, accusing them of “holding Homeland Security hostage” while failing to act in the Senate… During an appearance on “National Report,” Bean said he wanted to “correct the record” and pointed to mainstream media coverage that he said blames Congress as a whole for the funding impasse instead of Democrats specifically.

By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International – Ehrlich predicted that by 1980 all important animal life in the sea would be extinct. He predicted that the United States would “be dying of thirst” by 1984. In a 1969 article, he declared that “by 1985 enough millions will have died to reduce the earth’s population to some acceptable level, like 1.5 billion people.” Visiting Britain, he announced that he would take “even money that England will not exist in the year 2000.”… Instead, the world’s population more than doubled, from 3.5 billion when his book was published to over 8 billion today, and humanity became vastly wealthier, healthier, and better fed. Extreme poverty plummeted. Life expectancy soared.

By Jacqueline O’Hara, Catholic Herald – On March 15, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas promoted an essay posted by ‘Insurrection Barbie’ that accused Catholic integralists, among others, of dividing the conservative movement and contributing to growing Evangelical scepticism about support for Israel. As the Catholic Herald previously reported, the essay heavily criticised traditional Catholic groups, frames Evangelicalism as inherently connected to Zionism, accuses Catholicism of being anti-Zionist, and ultimately concludes that Catholic integralism is hell-bent on destroying ‘Christian Zionism’.

By Novus Ordo Watch – Opening the Church to the world was the idea behind the so-called Second Vatican Council (1962-65). How that’s going can currently be seen in the Basilica of St. James in Straubing, part of the diocese of Regensburg, Germany. There a giant, illuminated replica of our globe is hanging from the ceiling as part of a touring exhibition meant to raise awareness concerning our planet… The installation is called ‘GAIA’,  just like the Greek earth goddess, and was created by artist Luke Jerram. It opened on March 6 and will run through March 27, 2026. …

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – Special Counsel Jack Smith’s targeting of Kash Patel and numerous congressional Republicans as part of his lawfare against Donald Trump was worse than originally thought, new records show… Released Tuesday by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the new documents demonstrate that Smith and his team’s efforts to acquire Patel’s phone records during his time as a private citizen were far more extensive than previously reported. The bid to acquire such information came as part of Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation, which ultimately became his elector lawfare against Trump. …

By Brian Lonergan, Chronicles – America’s “sanctuary” communities claim to possess higher levels of compassion for others, but the reality is that the measure of a human life in these places has quietly been assigned a hierarchical value based on immigration status. By the logic of sanctuary laws, illegal aliens’ lives have the highest value, while those of American citizens have virtually none… Sanctuary policies have a dehumanizing effect on our society. By design, they pick and choose whose lives matter. Illegal aliens get second, third, and fourth chances, even after committing violent crimes. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 8:31-42 – 31 Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to any one. How is it that you say, `You will be made free’?” …

By Alexander Folz, EWTN News, (Catholic World Report) – Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, the former general relator of the Synod on Synodality, has publicly called for the ordination of women, arguing that the Church cannot long endure if half of the people of God lacks access to ordained ministry… “I cannot imagine in the long run how a Church can survive if half of the people of God suffers because they have no access to ordained ministry,” Hollerich said Thursday at a symposium on synodality and Praedicate Evangelium at the University of Bonn, according to news agency KNA.

By John Horvat II, Crisis Magazine – It is easy to trace the origins of this new enemy. Modern spiritualities introduced after the Second Vatican Council attacked traditional forms of worship, hollowed out everything of substance, and left countless communities devastated. Viking theologians tore down everything in their paths… Like a Viking lightning raid, old monastic traditions were overturned. Schedules, fasts, and prayer vigils were abandoned. Churches were gutted of their old adornments, “wreckovated” in a manner far more thorough than the ignorant barbarians. Social justice causes replaced the focus on prayer and penance.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – Scholars request a formal reply from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to their detailed criticism of ‘Mater Populi Fidelis,’ which they say departs from papal and conciliar teaching on Our Lady… Members of an international group of leading theologians and Mariologists have written to Cardinal Victor Fernández, asking him to respond to their detailed criticisms of a Vatican doctrinal note published last November that diminished some long-established devotional Marian titles.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – A new report from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute estimates that more than 1.12 million babies were killed in abortions in 2025… That is a heartbreaking figure that remained virtually unchanged from the previous year despite state-level restrictions following the 2022 Dobbs decision. It provides more evidence that pro-life states need to keep fighting mail-order abortions and President Donald trump and the FDA need to step in to reverse the Biden rule allowing them.

By Chris Bray, The Federalist – Senate Democrats have repeatedly blocked funding for the TSA, the Coast Guard, and other DHS agencies, trying to force the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to agree to defunding ICE and protecting illegal immigrants in exchange for funding the rest of DHS… They shut down a bunch of government agencies, then say “Republican shutdown” over and over again. They create giant security lines at airports, then tell voters to be angry that mean Republicans are doing this to you. Deliberately inflicting pain on Americans ….

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 8:21-30 – 21 Again he said to them, “I go away, and you will seek me and die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 Then said the Jews, “Will he kill himself, since he says, `Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” …

By Scott McKay, The American Spectator – The public conversation often focuses on which company will “win” the AI race. A lot better question is one Melissa keeps asking in those fabulous Spectacle segments: what values are being programmed into these systems that will soon help govern modern life?… That question becomes especially urgent when it comes to the kids… Over the past decade, parents have slowly come to realize that the internet children inhabit is very different from the one many adults first encountered. Digital platforms, once described as harmless entertainment, are now powerful cultural ecosystems shaping our identity, behavior, and belief… And not in a way we’ve voted for.

By Elise Winland, Zeale – As the Iran war entered its 24th day, President Donald Trump halted U.S. strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure amid “constructive conversations” with Iran and suggested the U.S. could jointly control the Strait of Hormuz along with a new Iranian regime. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would continue striking targets in Iran while other Israeli officials signaled a deeper push into Lebanon.
Trump postpones strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, citing ‘productive’ talks

By S.A. McCarthy, The Washington Stand – The era of mass immigration to the U.S. is slowly, painfully drawing to a close, according to new statistics, but much work remains to be done to secure the American homeland. The Washington Post on Sunday published an analysis of new U.S. State Department numbers tracking a modest but meaningful decrease in legal immigration into the U.S., the first time in over 50 years that more immigrants left the U.S. than entered.

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – God created us to live forever. Our longing for eternal life unfolds as a continuum of human love finding its fulfillment in divine union. This yearning is not accidental; it is an essential part of our human nature. Because God created us in His image, human love cooperates with God in bringing forth new life. Our cooperation fulfills the command at creation to “be fruitful and multiply”—and extends our existence over generations. …

By John M. Grondelski, The Catholic Thing – When Fr. Richard John Neuhaus introduced the concept of the “naked public square” in a 1984 book with the same name, he argued that it was anti-democratic because it required citizens to strip off their religious identities as the price of admission to public life and discourse… The naked public square paradigm of church/state relations requires the majority of citizens, who are believers, to disavow that basic identity to participate in political and social life. Religion needs to be hidden from public view. In public life. In schools. On the subway.

By Dr. Marcus Peter, Catholic Exchange – Our sins pierced His hands. Our transgressions required His sacrifice. He entered the grave for our redemption and rose for our justification. Consequently, when we hear Him speak about the chair of Moses and the dangers of spiritual pride, we stand before Him as brothers and sisters under one Father, guided by one Teacher, redeemed by one Lord. In that humble posture, the covenant lives within us, and through the grace of the Spirit, we learn to serve with sincerity and to walk in the path that leads to exaltation in Him.

By Dr. Edward Feser, Catholic World Report – The main point of just war doctrine is to guide public authorities in determining whether a military action they are considering is morally defensible. In a democratic society, it also assists citizens in carrying out their own duties as voters, opinion makers, and so on… But what of the servicemen who have to fight in the wars their governments decide to wage? Do they have an obligation to make a moral judgment about these wars in light of just war criteria? Must they refuse to fight in an unjust war?

By Gregory Lyakhov, Patriot Post – One of the clearest indicators is generational imbalance. Millennials number roughly 74 million in the United States, while Generation Z — despite being the younger cohort — is approximately five million smaller. The older members of Generation X, at around 65 million, are already approaching retirement age. Under normal demographic patterns, each successive generation should be larger or at least comparable in size, particularly in a country with steady population growth. That pattern has broken down.

By Zeale News, March 24, 2026 – St. Catherine of Sweden was born in 1330, a noblewoman and daughter of St. Bridget of Sweden. As a young girl, Catherine was sent to a monastery to be educated until she was 13, and her parents had arranged a marriage for her… Catherine married a German nobleman named Egard, but her time in the monastery had led her to desire religious life. She persuaded her husband to take a mutual vow of celibacy with her, and the couple practiced mortification and acts of charity together.

By Joseph Ford Cotto, Chronicles – According to recent data, Pennsylvania employs over 72,000 state workers, many of whom are concentrated in and around the Harrisburg region. These employees have an average tenure of 11.6 years. This is not a dynamic, market-driven environment. It is a system designed to reward the concentration of power, ideological conformity, and institutional continuity. In other words, all of the things that benefit the Democratic Party… Washington operates on the same model, only on a vastly larger scale.

By Regis Martin, Crisis Magazine – What then is death but an event that follows upon birth, the dread certainty of which awaits us all. Indeed, says Pascal, “it makes all the difference in the world, if it is certain that we shall not be here for long, and uncertain whether we shall be here even for an hour.” There can be no exceptions, each of us having been predetermined to die at a given time and place none of us knows in advance—toward which we find ourselves inexorably moving from the first moment we begin to exist in our mother’s womb.

By Dina Fathi, Catholic Exchange – The Church’s devotion to Our Blessed Mother is simply the will of God, as we saw in the fourth article of this Magnificat series (“All Generations Will Call Me Blessed”). Pope Benedict XVI called it “a command of the Holy Spirit” (Homily, August 15, 2006)… And so it is that “the Church rightly honors [the Mother of God] with special devotion,” as the Catechism says (971), and par excellence in the prayer of the Holy Rosary. In the Hail Mary, “all generations” call Our Blessed Mother “blessed,” a fulfillment of Luke 1:48, and in the Mysteries of the Rosary we come to know the “great things” God has done for Her (Lk. 1:49).

By Ralph Rodriguez, The Federalist – Nineteen hours after the hearing began, I finally stood before the Connecticut Education Committee to testify against House Bill 5468, which would end the state’s longstanding tradition of homeschool freedom. It was 4:45 a.m. on a Thursday… Hundreds of parents, students, and supporters filled the hearing room and lobby of the legislative office building in Hartford and waited hours for their turn at the microphone, demonstrating an amazing commitment to take a stand against this bill. …

By Pam Key, Breitbart – Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Trump border czar Tom Homan said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be in U.S. airports Monday… Host Dana Bash said, “President Trump posted on Truth Social, ‘If the radical left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our country, in particular our airports, be free and safe again, I will move to move our brilliant and patriotic ICE agents to the airports where they will do security like no one has ever seen before. Now, in a subsequent post, he said that he instructed ICE agents to be ready by Monday.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 8:1-11 – 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” …

By S.A. McCarthy, The American Spectator – A Catholic Priest in Iceland becomes a test case for freedom of conscience… A Catholic priest in Iceland is facing a potential prison sentence for upholding the Catholic Church’s moral teaching on homosexuality. According to EWTN News, the French-born Fr. Jakob Rolland caused a bit of an uproar when he was interviewed for a radio program and chose to defend the Church’s age-old moral teachings on marriage, sexuality, and the Blessed Sacrament.

By Craig Bannister, Media Research Center – The iconic phrase “separation of Church and State” doesn’t mean what most people think it does, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) explained Thursday at the Catholic National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C… “It’s particularly fitting, I think, on this year, that we reflect on the essential role that faith plays, and has always played, in our national life,” Johnson said, noting that 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. “It is from the very birth of our nation, that America has always been sustained by prayer,” Johnson said.

By Michael T. Flynn LTG USA (RET), Substack – One of the clearest examples is the growing pattern of hostility directed at Catholic churches across our country. For those trained in national security and political warfare, the pattern is recognizable. It reflects a form of pressure often directed at longstanding moral institutions that shape civil society independent of government authority. When such institutions come under sustained attack without meaningful response from political leadership, law enforcement, or cultural institutions, the result is not simply vandalism. It is the gradual weakening of one of the moral guardrails that helps sustain a free sovereign nation.

By Eric Sammons, Crisis Magazine – There was just this little problem: Crisis had wedded itself to a Republican presidential administration that launched a preemptive war against a Middle Eastern country, partly at the behest of Israel—a war based on lies, including the now-debunked claims of an imminent threat of that country’s supposed weapons of mass destruction. Here is one defense of that war from the pages of Crisis, made in March 2023 at the beginning of the invasion:

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing – Just now, we’re rightly preoccupied not only about the justice of the Iran war, but also about its possible spread – along with terrorism. And we try to imagine what a “successful” end might be. We can’t help but doubt what we’re told by politicians and the media. But in all this, do we lose sight of the truth that neither war nor peace is the last word for us? … Our Christian forbears didn’t need to ask this basic question because, until quite recently, bodily death was not considered the worst thing. Some things are worth dying for. Most people knew anyway from daily experience that our years on earth are sharply limited, war or not.

By Thomas Edwards, Catholic Herald – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has closed its doors to the public. The 1,700-year-old church, built under the Roman Emperor Constantine and believed to be the site where Jesus rose from the dead, has been closed for weeks, with concerns now turning to whether it will be open for Holy Week… The closure comes after Israel and the United States began military operations against Iran on February 28, initiating Operation Epic Fury, with the Iranian regime responding with military action against Israel and across the wider Middle East.

Catholic Apostolate Center – Patron Saint of Peru – St. Turibius was born in 1538 in Spain. He was the third Bishop of Lima, Peru when he was appointed in 1580. The diocese was facing many scandals when Turibius was installed, so he focused on reforming the diocese. He then spent his episcopate working to bring the traditions of the Church to the native languages of the people in Lima. He published a trilingual catechism and mandated all seminarians learn the indigenous language, both which helped spread Catholicism in Peru.

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – In these days of great confusion, many faithful Catholics are feeling unsettled – some even shaken – by the intensity of political pressure, public accusations, and the growing hostility toward those who simply hold to the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church… Let me speak clearly, as a shepherd of souls: If you feel that the ground beneath you is shaking, it is not because the truth has changed – it is because many have unknowingly anchored themselves to things that cannot hold… Political parties cannot save us. Governments cannot define truth. And no earthly movement – no matter how powerful – can replace the Kingship of Jesus Christ.

By Peter C. Earle, The American Spectator – There is a growing, if tentative, sense that Cuba may be approaching an inflection point. Rapidly mounting economic stress owing to losing its Venezuelan oil lifeline, persistent shortages, outward migration, and quiet policy experimentation suggest that the island could rapidly begin moving, however unevenly, toward more market-oriented arrangements in the months ahead. These shifts may not resemble a clean “transition” in the textbook sense. They may come piecemeal: expanded private enterprise here, currency reform there, selective liberalization of trade or investment. ….

By Gayle Somers, Catholic Exchange – In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus turns mourning into joy when He raises Lazarus from the dead… This Gospel gives us a story about Jesus raising the dead to life, something He did on at least two other occasions (see Lk. 7:11:17, Mk. 5:21-23).  This episode, however, is profoundly different from those in three ways: (1) Lazarus was a dear friend of Jesus, not a complete stranger; (2) Jesus purposely allowed His sick friend to die; and (3) the dead man was in a tomb long enough to decay.  …

By Breccan F. Thies, The Federalist – President Donald Trump’s dispute with unnamed Israeli officials appeared to come to an end as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted his country “acted alone” in its attack on the Iranian South Pars gas field. Prior to Netanyahu’s statement, anonymous Israeli officials told the press that the American government actually had advance knowledge of the Israeli attack after Trump himself said the U.S. did not know about the operation.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 7:40-53 – 40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This is really the prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. ….

By Fr. Brian Harrison, SThD, OnePeterFive – Prominent among recent comments on the current impasse between the SSPX and the Vatican over the Society’s planned episcopal consecrations have been those of Bishop Athanasius Schneider. His intervention here was rightly described by Eric Sammons in a recent “Crisis” podcast as coming from the heart of a true shepherd. The eloquence and sense of urgency in his words reveal a deep and charitable concern for the souls of the multitude of Christ’s flock affected by this new and perilous standoff.

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture – In another life, when I used to teach Apologetics at Christendom College, I would always set aside some time to discuss “motives of credibility”. What is it about Christianity in general, and the Catholic Church in particular, that motivates us to believe and act on their claims? Clearly one important factor is the credibility of the person making the claim. For example, we tend to value the testimony of someone we have always found serious, sober, well-balanced, intelligent, trustworthy and concerned with our well-being. ..

By Thomas Griffin, National Catholic Register – Prayer is all about communion. It is a conversation with the living and true God, who is communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. During Lent, we are invited to draw intimately close to this communion and realize its power and proximity. Unfortunately, the middle of Lent can become a challenge, and we can lose our way. Thankfully, the saints have provided countless words on how to reorient our lives — and our Lent — toward union with the living God.

By The Editors, Live Action News – The abortion pill has a long — and somewhat surprising — history. The Live Action News articles below discuss the abortion pill’s history of eugenics and secrecy that still continues today, since it was first brought to the U.S. more than 25 years ago… This Live Action News article written in 2017 details individuals involved with the Population Council, which brought the abortion pill into the U.S. The article sums up below, and this summary is followed by a list of multiple individuals involved with the eugenics-based, population control organization …

By Ashley Solano, LifeNews – Texas AG Ken Paxton is once again taking strong action to protect Texan babies and their mothers… Paxton filed a lawsuit against Aid Access, the world’s largest distributor of abortion pills, along with its founder, Rebecca Gomperts, and California doctor Remy Coeytaux. The lawsuit accuses them of illegally shipping deadly abortion drugs into the state and practicing medicine without a Texas license… Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts founded Aid Access with the intent to “create social justice and improve the health status and human rights of women who do not have the possibility of accessing local abortion services.”

By Gigi Duncan, National Catholic Register – Commentator Michael Knowles believes that the U.S. Constitution may be more closely aligned with Catholic political philosophy than commonly recognized, suggesting the nation’s founding echoes ideas laid out centuries earlier.
Speaking as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, Knowles on Thursday tied the American system to Aquinas’ concept of the “mixed regime,” which combines elements of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy — a framework that, he noted, is mirrored in the Constitution’s balance of executive, legislative and judicial powers.

By Bishop Athanasius Schneider, OnePeterFive – In one of his addresses in July 2016, Cardinal Robert Sarah said, “It is very important that we return as soon as possible to a common orientation, of priests and the faithful turned together in the same direction—eastwards or at least toward the apse—to the Lord who comes.  I think it is a very important step in ensuring that in our celebrations the Lord is truly at the center.” This is a constant thread in his speeches, interviews and books. …

By Regis Martin, National Catholic Register – Why must someone so young and so dear to so many be made to suffer for so long? Where is the justice in that?… There isn’t any. At least not by any human reckoning. But because we live in a fallen world, a world infected by sin and disease, such things, while certainly shocking and deeply dislocating, ought not to come as a surprise. The serpent has long since insinuated its poison into the fruit. Death remains the most banal and predictable of all happenings that will, ineluctably, carry us all off in the end.

The LOOPcast, Youtube – They ripped out the altars. Whitewashed the saints. Built “churches” that look like airports. How did we get here? And why did Catholics go along with it? In this episode of The Deep, Erika exposes the shocking, anti-Catholic roots of the Church’s “wreckovation” era – and the modernist ideas that gutted sacred beauty. But it’s not over. Across America, parishes are rising from the ashes and restoring what was lost.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 – 1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? …

By Bradley J. Birzer, Catholic World Report – Ladies and gentlemen, far from being a religion that is dark, regressive, and superstitious, as many during the Reformation claimed, Roman Catholicism baptized common law, professed liberty through the Magna Carta, advanced Natural Law and Natural Rights through the Jesuits, helped inspire the Declaration of Independence, and gave us a truly great American patriot, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Far from being embarrassed, we should celebrate all that we’ve given to America on her 250th birthday.

By Mary Rose, Zeale – At a March 19 press conference in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew from historians Ariel and Will Durant’s book The Lessons of History to reflect on the relationship between moral virtue and political power, invoking a comparison between Jesus Christ and Genghis Khan as to illustrate his point. … “It is not enough to be moral. It is not enough to be just. It is not enough to be right.” Netanyahu said… “Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan. If you are strong enough, ruthless enough, and powerful enough, evil will overcome good.”

By Steven Tucker, Crisis Magazine – The Internet is a modern invention, yet the aspiration to create some all-knowing, omniscient mechanical device with an answer to everything—a hubristic, artificial version of God—has a much longer history than the formal inauguration of the World Wide Web back in 1991… A Brass or Brazen Head was an imaginary medieval Artificial Intelligence-type device, said in legends to have been possessed by various learned historical Christian figures, from the Franciscan friar-philosopher Roger Bacon to St. Albertus Magnus.

The Catholic Herald – The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X has written to every diocesan bishop in Italy, sending them a newly published book explaining and defending its intention to carry out episcopal consecrations… The book, titled At the Service of the Church, sets out in detail the Society’s argument that the present condition of the Church constitutes a crisis so serious that it justifies extraordinary action… Yet the contents of the book itself are far more direct, asserting that elements within the Church’s leadership have, in its words, “adulterated the faith”, thereby placing souls in danger and creating a situation in which resistance to authority becomes not only permissible but necessary. …

By Cassy Cooke, Live Action News – Paul Ehrlich, the ecologist whose 1968 book, “The Population Bomb,” set off decades of panic over overpopulation, has died at the age of 93… Paul Ehrlich died in a retirement home due to complications from cancer, according to his daughter… His 1968 book, “The Population Bomb,” ignited a global panic about overpopulation, tragically inspiring multiple governments to put population control policies into place… Ehrlich’s predictions not only failed to materialize, but the furor they caused contributed to population control-related atrocities across the globe.

By Phillip Campbell, Catholic Exchange – For most people, prayer is a struggle. Rightly does the Catechism of the Catholic Church compare the life of prayer to Jacob wrestling with the angel (CCC 2573), as most people find prayer to be a challenge that requires consistent effort to persevere in. Yet, as a wrestler trains himself to overcome through consistent, disciplined effort, so a fruitful and consistent prayer life can be attained through the same discipline.

The Dynamic Catholic Institute – Saint Cuthbert A.D. 634–687 – As a zealous missionary, a known miracle worker, and the prior of Melrose Abbey, Saint Cuthbert was a busy man. He faced constant distraction in prayer, so much so that he wanted to eliminate all distraction from his life… Fortunately, Cuthbert was able to become a hermit in what is now known as St. Cuthbert’s Cave. It wasn’t long, however, before he was pulled out and made a bishop. Saint Cuthbert once again had to deal with distraction. …

By Scott McKay, The American Spectator – What if closing the Strait of Hormuz isn’t a blunder — but the point?… It’s an awfully dumb argument. For a host of reasons… But perhaps the most interesting of them is that it might not actually be in our interest for the Strait of Hormuz to be open… Whaaaat? How can that be?

By Matthew Plese, OnePeterFive – Along with St. Patrick, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Annunciation, the feast of St. Joseph, foster father of our Lord Jesus Christ and patron of the Universal Church, falls during Lent. Yet, despite the necessity of maintaining Lenten penance in the form of fasting and abstinence, St. Joseph’s Day still provides amble opportunities for celebrating our Catholic heritage… The Church celebrates St. Joseph a few times during the year: March 19th, Wednesday preceding the Third Sunday after Easter (up until the 1955 changes), and May 1st (starting with the 1955 changes)… Who is Saint Joseph?

By Matt Gaspers, X Post, March 18, 2026 – So-Called Conservative Bishops Can’t Seem To Find The Courage To Defend Church Teaching On Israel

By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing – The Lord said: Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life… An innocent man lays down his life. He dies. He rises again to new life, eternal life. A man takes bread and wine, blesses them, and gives them to his disciples; his body and blood. If it happens once, it is a miracle. But what if that same miracle is made present to us, not once, but over and over and over again?

By Olivia Gans Turner, LifeNews – The composition of the 2026 Virginia General Assembly–the Senate and the House of Delegates–was a textbook example of the adage “elections have consequences.”  Not since 2020 have pro-abortion forces been able to do so much damage to the ability of concerned Virginians to protect innocent human life… Starting on January 14, day one of the session, the pro-abortion Democrats in control of both chambers took the steps to pass the proposed constitutional amendment, HJ1, allowing unlimited abortion in Virginia.

By Daniel B. Gallagher, Catholic World Report – The truth underlying Kaillie Humphries’s heart-wrenching story… This story, I think, will not be easy to read… So, let me start by heartily congratulating U.S. Olympic bobsledder Kaillie Humphries on her two medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics. With six medals, she’s the most decorated woman in the sport. Her unwavering dedication to the physical and mental preparation necessary to be a champion is unparalleled. After alleged harassment from Canadian coaches, Humphries crossed the border and was naturalized in time to earn a gold for the United States in the monobob event at the 2022 Olympics. …

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is back in the news after publicly commenting on “hostility” toward federal judges… The remarks came on Tuesday when the chief justice was interviewed by Senior District Judge Lee Rosenthal at a Rice University event. During her line of questioning, Rosenthal noted Roberts’ past acknowledgement that public criticism “comes with the territory” of being a judge. She then asked him how he handles such critiques of the Supreme Court or his judicial opinions.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 5:31-47 – 31 If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true; 32 there is another who bears witness to me, and I know that the testimony which he bears to me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony which I receive is from man; but I say this that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. …

By Jim Hᴏft, Editor, The Gateway Pundit – Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is now openly calling for Republicans to ram the SAVE America Act through reconciliation, a legislative maneuver that would allow passage with just 50 votes plus the Vice President… Budget reconciliation is a special parliamentary process in the U.S. Senate that allows for the expedited passage of legislation regarding spending, revenue, or the debt limit, requiring only a simple majority (51 votes or 50 + Vice President) rather than the 60 votes usually needed to overcome a filibuster. ….

By Harrison Berger, The American Conservative – Mohamad Kleit, a video journalist based in Beirut, tells The American Conservative that he witnessed similar Israeli attacks using U.S.-supplied munitions to target a residential building earlier this month. He says that since March 2, his entire family has been internally displaced… Asked who and what Israel is targeting in Lebanon, Kleit says that “what we’ve seen” in recent weeks “is a plan to create sectarian tension, by bombing hotels and residences in Christian areas. They are deliberately targeting places that are not Hezbollah in order to create sectarian tension.” ….

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – If Pope Leo hopes to swing American Catholic opinion against the war in Iraq—and still more if he hopes to convince the Trump administration to sue for peace—he’s going to need some more persuasive arguments. Those arguments are available. But to date the Holy Father hasn’t used them… Thus far, in his public statements on the war, the Pope has simply repeated his appeals for peace: a peace which, he insists, can be attained through negotiations. His call for a cease-fire, at his Angelus audience on Sunday, was typical: “May paths of dialogue be re-opened! Violence can never lead to the justice, stability, and peace for which the peoples are waiting.”

By Sean Fitzpatrick, Crisis Magazine – While the debate is settled whether curiosity killed the cat, it should be added that it can kill the Catholic, as well. Therefore, Catholics like Candace Owens should be cautious about what the Catechism calls “unhealthy curiosity.” Truth warrior as she has been, many sense that Candace has departed from the path of truth in her recent embroiling over Erika Kirk, the widow of assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, descending into a spirit of inquisitiveness.

Catholic Apostolate Center – St. Joseph is known in the Gospels as a humble carpenter, the husband of Mary, and father of Jesus. Joseph’s paternal care of Jesus, loving protection of Mary, and his commitment to the education of Jesus led to him being declared patron of the whole Church. Many popes have written about St. Joseph, including Pope Leo XIII in Quamquam pluries and Pope John Paul II in Redemptoris custos. …

By Mary Rose, Zeale – Israeli attack on oil field may lead to global consequences… Israel struck the South Pars oil field March 18 in what was widely decried as a major escalation in the war. South Pars is the world’s largest source of natural gas and is vitally important to global energy markets… Oil prices “shot up” Immediately following the strike, The Guardian reported, due to “fears that disruption to global energy supplies would worsen.”

By James Baresel, Crisis Magazine (2020) – If calls for revolution now provoke fairly limited concern, their gravity is severe enough for them to have been the subject of heavenly warnings as long ago as the 1840s, when the private revelations that made the devotion to the Holy Face known to the Servant of God Sister Mary of Saint Peter called attention to the threat posed by “revolutionary men,” including communists, whom she called by name—this, before The Communist Manifesto was published.

By Cassy Cooke, Live Action News – Irish actress Jessie Buckley won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role in the film “Hamnet,” and in her moving acceptance speech, praised motherhood in a way rarely heard in the entertainment industry… Jessie Buckley won the Oscar for her role as Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, as they grieve the loss of their son, Hamnet… In her acceptance speech, she praised marriage and motherhood, and dedicated the award to mothers everywhere… The positive message about parenting is in sharp contrast to the negative message frequently espoused by Hollywood celebrities. …

By John Zmirak, Chronicles – I’m not a native of my home state of Texas, but a New York transplant. Eleven years after moving to Dallas, I’m still uncomfortable driving on Texas’s ruthless Darwinian highways, crammed with exiles from California and uninsured illegal immigrants. But as a longtime member of the now-defunct New York Right to Life Party, I’m much more comfortable with Texas politics—at least as practiced in public. …

By Robert Wyllie, Catholic Answers – In many domains—family life, liturgy, even the nature of citizenship—Catholics rely on a centuries-old tradition of reflection. Political protest is not one such area, however. As Charles Taylor, the Catholic philosopher who won the Ratzinger Prize in 2019, explains in A Secular Age, the public sphere is less than three hundred years old. Medieval kings considered “public opinion” no more than they met anarcho-syndicalist peasants out in the fields.. There is no venerable old tradition, then, that instructs Catholics about how to protest in public.

By Virginia Allen, The Daily Signal – A team of doctors entered Shanyce Thomas’ hospital room to explain what had happened and why she could no longer have children. She never imagined her trip to Planned Parenthood would lead to multiple surgeries and a medically induced coma… Looking back nearly six years later, Thomas says her “message to Planned Parenthood is that you guys need to close down.”… Thomas is sharing her story publicly in hopes that it will prevent other women from having the experience at Planned Parenthood that she had.

By Jim DeMint, The Federalist – Congressional Republicans quickly become beholden to polls and media pressure — they need real vision and leadership… I left my foxholes in the House and Senate almost 15 years ago. And, while continuing to work in D.C. supporting conservative members of Congress and an America-first conservative agenda, my perspective is now clearer as I look at policy debates inside the Capitol from across the street.

By Andrea Gagliarducci for EWTN News, (Catholic World Report) – The Vatican Court of Appeal has ordered a partial retrial in the high-profile London property finance case, ruling that key parts of the original proceedings were invalid due to procedural issues… The case stems from the Vatican Secretariat of State’s investment of approximately 350 million pounds in a luxury property in London’s Chelsea neighborhood on Sloane Avenue, an operation that generated estimated losses of up to 139 million euros for the Holy See.

By John Aidan Byrne, LifeNews – Despite multiple applications and repeated efforts over a decade by various pro-life groups seeking permission to march, none have been successful. In 2015, parade officials said they were amending parade rules to permit pro-life groups to march. The regime of exclusion, however, continued… Eleven years after organizers pledged to permit a pro-life group to march under its own banner, the world’s most famous Saint Patrick’s Day Parade still has not welcomed right to life units to its ranks.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 5:17-30 – 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working still, and I am working.” 18 This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise. …

By Jonathan Liedl, National Catholic Register – Nearly six months after publicly criticizing Cardinal Blase Cupich’s plan to give a “lifetime achievement” award to a pro-abortion-rights senator, a long-serving lay member of the Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI) board of directors is being involuntarily phased out of his role… John Breen, a Loyola University Chicago law professor who has served on CCI’s board since 2012, will be off the board after the group’s upcoming March 20 meeting… (the move is linked to Breen’s September 2025 criticism of the Chicago cardinal’s intention to honor Sen. Dick Durbin at an archdiocesan gala.) …

By Sarah Holliday, The Washington Stand – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Border Patrol are facing major shake-ups right now — with a top enforcer retiring, a former secretary under fire for alleged misconduct, and a grinding partial government shutdown — all tied directly to fierce partisan battles in Congress that are leaving frontline agents and the American people caught in the crossfire.

By Jeffrey M. Trissell, Crisis Magazine – On March 2, 2026, the United States Supreme Court issued a watershed ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta, a case that set the binding, nationwide precedent that schools cannot secretly socially transition a gender-confused minor. The majority per curiam opinion is less than 1,800 words. Since September 2022, I have spent just over 1,800 hours working on the case alongside lead counsel Paul Jonna. That’s one hour for every word. It was 100 percent worth it.

By White Papers Policy Institute – The Republican Party speaks the language of race-neutral individualism. Judge people as individuals. Stop obsessing over identity. We’re all Americans. But it only works if it’s reciprocated. And it hasn’t been … Survey data also shows that white Americans—across political lines—are more likely to say being “American” is central to their identity than being “white.”… For black Americans, racial identity ranks higher. For Hispanic and Asian Americans, race and “American” identity are roughly equal. …

By Joseph Bevan, OnePeterFive – The current dispute between Rome and the SSPX does not involve the issue of validity of the Novus Ordo sacraments either. It is certainly true that further down the line, maybe in a few hundred years, when historians look back at this time, they will associate the preservation of the traditional sacraments and the priesthood with what happened at Écône on 30th June 1988. One of the reasons Archbishop Lefebvre gave for these consecrations is that he couldn’t abandon his priests to bishops “who, due to their doubtful intentions, confer doubtful sacraments” …

Catholic Apostolate Center – St. Cyril of Jerusalem lived during the 4th century and is known for his many writings and lectures about theology. His writings about the Liturgy left a distinct mark on the development of the Mass as we know it today. As the Bishop of Jerusalem, Cyril combatted several heresies throughout his life. He worked to spread the developments from the Council of Nicaea, even going into exile to remain faithful to the teachings from the Council. …

By Fr. Kevin Drew, Cath0lic Exchange – This Sunday was Laetare Sunday. Laetare is Latin for “rejoice.” It gets its name from the first word of the Entrance Chant: “Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow.” Sunday’s gospel passage details the healing of a man born blind, a beggar at the temple—a cause for great rejoicing for sure… The astonished crowd asked, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” And others cried, “No it just looks like him!” The Jews who interrogated the healed man claimed it was a hoax. Even after interrogating the former blind man’s parents, they still refused to believe the miracle.

By Zeale News – More U.S. registered voters now view Israel negatively than positively, according to a new poll, which also found that negative sentiment toward Israel has grown in every age group since 2023, most sharply among young voters… The NBC News poll found “American public sentiment turning against Israel since 2023,” NBC’s Sahil Kapur reported March 16. “Double-digit drops in positive views of Israel: -21 among Democrats, -19 among independents, -9 among Republicans. Overall, a double-digit increase in negative views.”

By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International – This Thursday, March 19, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and patron of the Universal Church… Of all the saints, Joseph stands as the model of faithful fatherhood: the man whom God entrusted with the protection of the Holy Family, and who fulfilled that mission with quiet, unwavering devotion. In him we see what marriage and fatherhood are meant to be, i.e. a sacrificial gift of self, ordered toward the good of spouse and children, rooted in obedience to God’s plan.

Catholic Apostolate Center – Patron Saint of Ireland – St. Patrick was a 5th century missionary to the people of Ireland. According to his autobiography, St. Patrick was captured and sold as a slave in Ireland when he was 16. There, he was forced to work as a shepherd for 6 years until he escaped and returned to his family. Later in his life, he became a priest and heard the Lord’s call to return to Ireland and spread the Gospel. There are many stories about St. Patrick’s life, and while their historicity is uncertain, they all show St. Patrick as a fervent missionary for the Irish people.

By Bradley A. Thayer, Chronicles – Time and again, the Democratic Party’s elites show through their actions, policies, and statements that they are united in opposition to traditional American life, values, and culture… That’s nothing new: it’s been this way for a generation. But it’s worsening. Today, it’s more brazen and openly revolutionary. We all saw a clear example of this at the recent State of the Union Address… “It does not make sense to me,” President Trump said about it during remarks to the Republican Members Conference at Doral, Florida, on March 9. Trump noted that he is perplexed by the Democrats’ behavior.

By Curtis Houck, Media Research Center – Since February 14, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been largely shut down after funding lapsed because Democrats demanded changes to President Trump’s deportation policies, leaving government workers such as TSA agents to work without pay and turn to food banks… A Media Research Center study found that, since the start of the DHS shutdown, only 8% – or 125 seconds – of the 26 minutes and 22 seconds on the shutdown across the flagship evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC have brought up the fact that the long lines at airports are because of the left’s obstructionism.

By Fr. Francesco Giordano, STD. Catholic Exchange – Europe is once again rallying around a slogan: My Voice, My Choice. The phrase has recently returned to the center of European political debate, especially as the European Parliament advances initiatives aimed at guaranteeing cross-border access to abortion when it is restricted in a woman’s home country. In the language of EU policy, this is framed as ensuring access to “reproductive healthcare across borders.”

By Madalaine Elhabbal, EWTN News – Bishop Robert Barron and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone spoke out against the U.S. government’s past targeting of pro-life Catholics in health care at the U.S. Religious Liberty Commission’s fifth hearing… Cordileone, who serves on the commission’s Advisory Board of Religious Leaders, highlighted the ongoing legal battle being fought by the Little Sisters of the Poor over government contraceptive mandates during his remarks at the March 16 hearing… “These are women who deserve our utmost respect and esteem, and I can vouch for this from personal experience,” Cordileone said.

By James Bogle, Crisis Magazine – While at first it might seem unusual for an American to be writing in praise of monarchy, in fact, a scholarly American writer may, ironically, be in a better position than many others to praise this most ancient of institutions… So it is with Charles Coulombe, author of the recently-published book, The Compleat Monarchist; a partly French-Canadian American; and possibly the foremost American writer on the subject of monarchy… His connection with the British monarchy—through his French-Canadian ancestry—together with his American nationality …..

By Scott McKay, The American Spectator – Castro’s crumbling regime nears its end… Monday, something inevitable happened… Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen and its power grid continues to crumble… The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and said it was investigating, noting there were no failures in the units that were operating when the grid collapsed.

By Emily Chaffins, Catholic Exchagne – Did you know St. Patrick didn’t start out as Patrick at all? His original name was Maewyn Succat—isn’t that a mouthful!… Maewyn grew up in ancient Roman Britain. When he was a teenager, he fell into the clutches of raiders, who sold him into slavery in Ireland. He was cut off from family and friends, living on this island until he successfully carried out an escape seven years later… Instead of falling into despair, Maewyn’s period of slavery drew him closer to Christ, the only one he could rely on in those difficult times.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 5:1-16 – 1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethzatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed.5 One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” …

By Jordan Boyd, The Federalist – Abortion polling is notoriously deceptive and known to (be) strategically skew and misrepresent public opinion to favor abortion activists’ radical agendas. Pew Research Center’s latest survey appears to be no different… In its 2026 American Trends Panel analysis, Pew uses its January 2026 survey of more than 8,500 U.S. adults to assert that a majority of Americans, 60 percent, “continue to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.”…

By Anna Callahan, LifeNews – Last week the U.S. Department of Justice moved to dismiss lawsuits brought by Florida and Texas against the Food and Drug Administration – siding with the abortion industry on mail-order drugs against pro-life states for the second time in a week. In response, SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser issued the following statement: “It’s a disgrace that pro-life states like Florida and Texas are having to fight the Trump-Vance administration in court to uphold their laws and that extremists like Gavin Newsom are being allowed to dictate their policy ….

By Bishop Robert Barron, Word on Fire Catholic Ministries – “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”… The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” ….

By Rob Marco, Catholic World Report – recently spoke with seven young men about what they are looking for in a potential spouse, the role of technology for Gen Z, and how their faith informs how they think of marriage… As a married Gen-Xer, with kids, who’s been out of the dating world for almost two decades, I wanted to get some insight into how young men are faring in meeting a potential mate. Healthy Catholic marriages that are open to life are important, of course, and I think the topic of issues faced by young men in dating deserves more attention. …

By Aurelio Porfiri, OnePeterFive – In recent days there has been considerable news coverage of the announcement by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X of new episcopal ordinations scheduled for July 1… This announcement has understandably caused quite a stir because, according to some, it signals a schismatic intention toward the Church of Rome… In reality, the Fraternity of Saint Pius X has specified that it does not consider itself schismatic with regard to Rome.

By Michael New Ph.D., LifeNews – Today Pew Research released the results of a new poll on public attitudes on sanctity of life issues. This poll, which surveyed over 8,500 people in late January, contains some good news for pro-lifers… The results show a gain in pro-life sentiment since the last Pew abortion poll in April 2024… Specifically, the percentage of Americans who think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases increased by two percentage points. …

By Lou Aguilar, American Spectator – Britain’s retreat from its history and identity offers a cautionary tale for an America approaching its 250th birthday… Maybe Britain can be saved, but time is running out, at ludicrous speed. All we Americans can do is make sure it never happens here, beginning this November 3rd, midterm Election Day.

By White Papers Policy Institute, American Greatness – For decades, white Americans have voted Republican in large numbers. They donate, they volunteer, they show up in midterms. They defend the Constitution, talk about free speech, wave the flag without embarrassment. They are, by every measurable standard, the party’s backbone…. (However) Republicans cheered “colorblind” meritocracy—but in practice, affirmative action shifted opportunity from white voters to Asians, leaving the party’s base unprotected.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – John 4:43-54 – 43 After the two days he departed to Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast. 46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. …

By Amanda Head, Just the News – Democrats in the United States Senate blocked another attempt by Republicans to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday, as the partial government shutdown entered its fourth week. One of the most apparent consequences of the blockade is the out-of-control TSA wait lines at airports across the country… As the issue is elevated by people like Senators Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn, and Dave McCormick, R-Pa., the argument inevitably reemerges that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is unconstitutional and should not exist anyway.

By John Daniel Davidson, The Federalist – It’s been nearly two weeks since the Trump administration launched a war against Iran, and President Trump is beginning to signal that he wants to wind it down. On Monday, he said “we’re way ahead of schedule,” and that the war would be over “very soon.” On Wednesday during a speech in Kentucky, Trump off-handedly declared “we’ve won,” and said it was all over “in the first hour.”

By Suellen Brewster, Catholic Exchange – For Catholics living in this “piecemeal World War III” learning the Church’s teachings on conflict between nations, especially the basics of Just War Theory, is incumbent upon us. Though our leaders would likely not explain it this way, the international actions being taken currently are in response to “structures of sin” in other nations, so an understanding of this Catholic idea is also helpful… Understanding these two foundational ideas will not make us experts, nor qualify us as advisors to those in authority. But they will help us navigate these turbulent waters as we pray for our military, our leaders, and every human soul involved.

By Thomas Colsy, The Europan Conservative – “Jesus became flesh in all human contexts,” he continued. “Therefore there is a right for all nations to continue with their special culture without contradiction to the others. It is a good image to say we are a family in mankind. But we are in a European family and so on.”… “We are against globalism. We are a universal Church. But a universal Church in the house of my father,” Müller clarified. “There are different habitations for everyone.”

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing – When Notre Dame de Paris almost burned down in 2019, owing to a fire started (accidentally?) by workmen, the world was stunned by the near loss of one of the West’s iconic monuments – and a religious landmark at that. But churches around the world are burned or subjected to other types of attack these days, year after year, not by accident, but deliberate anti-Christian acts. Never heard of it? Thereby hangs a tale.

By The Dynamic Catholic Institute – There are lots of ways to measure friendship, but one is particularly insightful. It surrounds how people respond when good things happen for you… A true friend is happy for you when you are successful, a true friend is happy for you when you fall in love, a true friend is happy for you when you get a promotion, win a car, go on a fabulous vacation, and all the other good things that will happen in your life.

By Anthony Esolen, Crisis Magazine – When Catholic hierarchs speak about economic issues, I beg them to keep in mind that very tax, every economic restriction, every plan to redistribute money, every establishment of a welfare entitlement, comes with consequences… Vice riddles the soul. You can no more raise a vice-ridden person out of poverty than you can fill with water a bucket punched full of holes. Vice does not necessarily result in poverty, but it does keep the poor where they are.

By Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap., The Catholic Thing – Like many people years ago, as a child, my brother and I, together with our dad, always prayed in our “night prayers” the traditional prayer to our guardian angels: “Angel of God, my guardian dear to whom God’s love entrusts me here, ever this day (or night) be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide.  Amen.”… I still ask my guardian angel at night when I go to bed and, in the morning, when I get up, to watch over and protect me.  Moreover, before writing, I always ask my guardian angel to give me clarity of thought and expression

By George Caldwell, The Daily Signal – What’s connecting with voters right now?… As Republicans seek to maintain their congressional majorities in November, it’s hard to keep up with the headlines: conflict with Iran, fierce debate in Congress, and an economy increasingly dominated by tech and artificial intelligence… These polls indicate voters’ concerns in a hectic news environment… It’s Iran, Stupid? …

By Josh Hammer, The American Spectator – Trump hasn’t said it explicitly, but the Trump administration’s goal — and thereby, definition of victory — in Operation Epic Fury seems clear enough: the neutralization of Iran as an active, ongoing threat to the US and our interests. If nothing else, at least, that is how victory in the current campaign should be defined… That does still raise at least one pressing question, though, especially in the context of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s call to the Iranian people to prepare for “the decisive stage of our final struggle”: Where does that most controversial of foreign policy goals, “regime change,” fit into the puzzle?

By Peter Wolfgang, Catholic Culture – But that it is implicit in Barron’s recent public statements—what Barron does and does not comment on—is too much for Greydanus. He believes the right is worse, and should be called out more, or at least as much. Greydanus, a man of impeccable Catholic orthodoxy, is well within his rights to believe this… But here’s the thing. Bishop Barron, also a man of impeccable Catholic orthodoxy, is well within his rights to believe the opposite. So are those of us who agree with Bishop Barron’s judgments—and who have been heartened to see at least one outspoken bishop in the U.S. hierarchy giving voice to what so many of us are experiencing.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 18:9-14 – 9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, `God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. …

By Elise Winland, Zeale – As the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran moved into its 14th day, six U.S. aircraft crew members were killed in a crash, the Pentagon reportedly ordered roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the region, and Israel threatened to do to Lebanon what it has done to Gaza… US destroyed every military target on Iran’s Kharg Island, Trump says… President Donald Trump announced March 13 that he had directed U.S. forces to carry out one of the most “powerful” bombing raids on Iran’s Kharg Island.

By Ellie Gardey Holmes, The American Spectator – The University of Oregon, which hosts 24,000 students on its Eugene, Oregon, campus, has announced that its student health services center will now abort students’ babies… Beginning this fall, students will be able to obtain mifepristone and misoprostol from the university’s health clinic. Students will then birth what is often a recognizable dead baby, presumably in their dorm rooms.

By The Dynamic Catholic Institute – We all need to be accountable to someone. It brings out the best in us. People do not do well in situations where they are not accountable to anyone or anything. In fact, the absence of accountability inevitably leads to our spinning out of control… As the Church expanded and entire nations in Europe became Catholic, there was a major need for accountability. …

By Elise Winland, Zeale – Conflicting reports and escalating tensions surrounding the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran continued March 12, as the White House rejected claims of an Iranian drone threat on U.S. soil, Iran’s new supreme leader reportedly issued his first public message, and U.S. officials signaled plans to protect global oil shipments in the Strait of Hormuz… White House issues response to reports of Iranian drone threats… White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt disputed an ABC News report claiming the FBI warned California police departments in February that Iran could retaliate for a U.S. military operation by launching drone attacks in the state.

By Colm Flynn, EWTN – Former Vatican Auditor General Lobero Milone sits down with EWTN News Colm Flynn for this exclusive one-on-one interview. Milone is currently taking a case against the Vatican for unfair dismissal, loss of earnings, and reputational damage. His case has been dismissed, and he is now lodging his final appeal. In this interview, he reveals new details about the work he was doing overseeing the Vatican finances with the late Cardinal George Pell …

By Amanda Head, Just the News – In new survey, just 23% of registered voters could accurately describe the act… In the midst of President Donald Trump’s high-stakes ultimatum to freeze all congressional business until lawmakers pass his revamped SAVE America Act — demanding strict voter ID, proof of citizenship, and curbs on mail-in ballots — a fresh Napolitan News Service survey finds a glaring irony: less than one-quarter of registered voters appear to have no clue what, in fact, the legislation is.

By McKenna Snow, Zeale – The European Union is calling on Israeli authorities to take swift action to protect West Bank communities suffering amid a reported wave of increased attacks by Israeli settlers, according to a March 11 BBC report… The death toll of Palestinians has risen to six in the past week amid the conflicts, prompting outcry from human rights activists, organizations, and others warning that the outbreak of the Iran war may have a correlation to the increased settler attacks.

By Douglas Andrews, Patriot Post – Jamie Dimon told a funny joke last November … Dimon, who grew up in New York City, was speaking at the American Business Forum in Miami, and he was asked a question about the “historic relocation of both people and capital to Florida and to South Florida”… “It’s a competitive world. It’s competitive between countries. It’s competitive between cities. It’s competitive between states. And you’re mentioning a bunch of these states that are driving business out, and it will backfire. And so, people vote with their feet … because they see a better life for them and their family.”

By Sean Fitzpatrick, Crisis Magazine – The world, now being unveiled, stands or falls on the faith and fortitude of Catholics willing to follow Christ as the persecution intensifies… These are days of disturbing disclosure, when the mask is being plucked from the overlords of politics, economics, and entertainment. Their cabal is one clearly structured by unadulterated pride: power-mongering and pressure, money and manipulation, bribes and blackmail, using people for self-service, trafficking and corruption. …

The Dynamic Catholic Institute – Saint Euphrasia was born into the loud world of royalty and politics in Constantinople, but learned to live and love the quiet life no matter what her outer circumstances were. Her father died when she was young, and when she was seven years old, her mother arranged to marry her to a young nobleman. Euphrasia serenely said no, and expressed her desire to devote her life to God. Euphrasia’s calm demeanor was so convincing that her mother agreed, and brought her to a convent in Egypt.

By Victoria Cardiel, EWTN News, (Catholic World Report) – The final report of the Synod on Synodality’s study group “Women’s Participation in the Life and Leadership of the Church” raises the possibility of “reformulating” certain competencies and functions of priests, deacons, and bishops to give women greater responsibility in the Church, while noting that the issue of the female diaconate “is not ripe.”… Regarding the female diaconate, the report states that the issue “is not yet ripe” and refers to the work carried out by previous commissions — the second of which issued an opinion against it — without reaching a definitive judgment.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 12:28-34 – 28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, `Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

By Newsmax Wires – Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., said Thursday on Newsmax’s “National Report” that passing the SAVE America Act is “ground zero to save our country,” urging the Senate to bring the election integrity legislation to the floor and put lawmakers on record… “It’s absolutely necessary, and I believe it’s going to happen under the strong leadership of President [Donald] Trump,” Miller said when asked about the possibility of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., allowing debate on the bill.

By Scott McKay, The American Spectator – It is being run by professionals, which is more than you can say about the Senate… I’m as disgusted as our readers with the Republicans in the Senate, who — with some merciful exceptions — are as gray and drab a collection of political losers as America has ever produced. As I wrote yesterday, the utter debacle that is the SAVE America Act standstill in that body is proof that, as much as we’d like to think the GOP has finally moved past its well-deserved reputation as the Stupid Party in Washington, it hasn’t.

By Sarah Holliday, LifeNews – At a press conference, the Missouri senator (Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)) unveiled his new legislation, the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act. This bill seeks to strip mifepristone — the drug responsible for the majority of U.S. abortions — of its longstanding approval from the FDA. According to recent data from the Guttmacher Institute, chemical abortions made up 63% of all abortions in 2023, with the trend only accelerating in the years since.

By Regis Martin, National Catholic Register – At the same time, however, (death) remains the most painfully bewildering of all mysteries, an intolerable affront to our dignity as children of a God who neither made death nor delights in the death of the living. It was owing instead to the envy and malice of the devil that death entered the world, thus forcing us to endure that which God never intended from the beginning. …

By Kenneth Joe Galloway, Catholic Exchange – The Cross’s Visual Simplicity and Symbolic Depth… To better understand how the cross embodies visual simplicity and symbolic depth, consider its technical qualities: it has two intersecting lines—a form so simple even a child can draw it, yet so distinct that it is immediately recognizable worldwide. This simple geometry makes it open to symbolic interpretations. The horizontal line evokes the relationships among human beings; the vertical line represents the relationship between God and humanity; ….

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Sen. Josh Hawley introduced legislation Tuesday to strip federal approval from the dangerous abortion drug mifepristone, which he described as “inherently dangerous” to women… The abortion pill has killed millions of babies and injured tens of thousands of women… The bill, titled the Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act, would prohibit the use of mifepristone, withdraw its approval by the Food and Drug Administration and classify distribution of the drug for abortion purposes as a violation of federal law.

By Thomas Gallatin, Patriot Post – President Trump and others are pushing Senate Republicans to require a talking filibuster, hoping to break the Democrats’ blockade of commonsense legislation… President Donald Trump and Republicans writ large want to see the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility or SAVE Act passed. And they are right to desire to see this commonsense election-protection legislation become law. Indeed, upwards of 80% of American voters — huge majorities in both parties and among independents — agree that requiring voters to show photo ID is a good idea.

By Carole Novielli, Live Action News – The Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary has the authority to suspend an application for a drug’s approval — including the abortion pill — if they determine that the drug would be an ‘imminent hazard to public health.’… This information was included in a response from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in an abortion pill lawsuit filed by the State of Louisiana. The lawsuit seeks an injunction over changes to the abortion pill’s safety protocols known as REMS, made in 2023, which enabled the mailing of abortion inducing drugs — an act already prohibited by federal law known as the Comstock Act.

By Carole Novielli, Live Action News – Planned Parenthood Southeast (PPSE), which currently oversees facilities in the largely pro-life states of Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi will now be managed by Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, an affiliate based in pro-abortion California that was recently awarded $90M from Governor Gavin Newsom…. Planned Parenthood Los Angeles will step in to oversee the facilities of Planned Parenthood Southeast following complaints of discrimination against PPSE’s interim CEO, Mairo Akposé.

By Michael Hichborn, Lepanto Institute, (Complicit Clergy) – This article will provide a thorough timeline regarding our discovery of CRS’ direct participation in the spread of contraception in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  It is a third article in a series exposing CRS’ continued and unchanging tactic of silencing critics by dismissing real evidence, denying any wrongdoing, and characterizing the concerned reports of faithful Catholics as “attacks.”  In part 1, we provided solid evidence and a timeline regarding the way CRS handled theologian Germain Grisez’s true and valid concerns about a condom-promoting flip-chart produced and distributed by CRS in one of its project areas. 

By Michael Pakaluk, The Catholic Thing – The New York Times reported the words, but the Wall Street Journal didn’t.  When Bam Adebayo, two days ago, was asked to describe the moment when he scored 83 points in an NBA game, second only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points, he said, “Man, I wish I could relive it twice.  I credit God, my family, my teammates, this crowd.”… A wag commented that, right after God, he should have credited the Washington Wizards, the team ostensibly defending him. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 11:14-23 – 14 Now he was casting out a demon that was dumb; when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons”; 16 while others, to test him, sought from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? …..

By Nate Guyear, Catholic Exchange – Have you ever heard someone say that God’s forgiveness removes the guilt of sin? And have you ever wondered why God would punish a person from whom He had removed guilt? In other words, if God forgives me, thereby declaring me not guilty and removing sin from my soul, why does He punish me? This article will elucidate the reasons why punishment following God’s forgiveness is necessary. Let’s begin with sin.

By Frank Wright, Substack – IN BRIEF – Most people are starting to find out how bad things really are… Then they will find out why things are so bad… Finally, they will realise how much they have been misled – all their lives… This means they will no longer know who they are or what to feel or think… The meaning of their lives is being erased by events… This will cause people to go mad in direct proportion to their belief in the supply of official narratives around which their sense of self has been arranged. … Prepare to heal the sick and to help the wounded. Put aside your differences and help your brothers and sisters in their direst hour of need.

By Chris Bray, The Federalist – This is where Talarico becomes especially interesting… The childless man in his late-30s who has never mentioned going on a date with an identifiable woman is deeply invested in the abstraction of other people’s children, who he thinks he loves. And recent reporting suggests that he has certain deeply adolescent habits: “Faith-forward Texas Senate candidate follows porn actors, escorts on Instagram.”

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture – I find myself attracted by what we call “coffee table” books, and I like having them around the house. Even if they are not often used, they remain a reminder of their subjects, which are in that sense associated with both beauty and attentiveness. This principle is certainly true of two new books from Magnificat by Dominican Fathers Andrew Hofer and Philip Nolan. These books are devoted to what are probably the most important and most-often used prayers among Catholics, namely Our Father: Our Prayer of Hope and Hail Mary: Pondering the mysteries of Love. …

By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú for EWTN News, (Catholic World Report ) – After nearly 900 years, the Trappist monks may be leaving the Abbey of Our Lady of La Trappe in Normandy, France, one of the most iconic symbols of the Cistercian tradition founded in the 12th century… The monks, who belong to the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance — also known as the Trappist order, which follows the Rule of St. Benedict — reported that they were considering leaving the monastery around 2028 due to “the shortage of vocations and the increasing burden of owning the land.”… For the approximately 20 brothers who make up the community ….

By Elise Winland, Zeale – Report: FBI warns Iran may launch drone attacks on locations in California… An FBI alert circulated to police departments in California warned that Iran could retaliate against the U.S. by launching drone attacks in the state, ABC News reported. The alert, obtained and reviewed by ABC, did not specify which parts of California could be targeted.

By Scott McKay, The American Spectator – John Thune is responsible for an absolutely worthless GOP Senate majority… The Federalist’s Sean Davis did an excellent job of summing up the predicament the Republican Party finds itself in at the moment, with lots of time until the 2026 midterms (but no real indication that will make much difference): Understand what Thune is doing right now. It’s not enough for him to kill the SAVE America Act. Thune has to kill it while also protecting his worst RINO colleagues from being exposed for opposing it. … How does Thune accomplish his? By avoiding a simple majority vote at all…

By Ann Burns, Crisis Magazine – Women are incapable of teaching men how to be men… Not long ago, I opened up an email detailing Catholic events in the area. There, in bright colors, was a men’s conference announcement. A good thing, right? But looking at the keynote speakers, I couldn’t help but wonder why a picture of a young woman graced my screen. Feeling as if I morphed into a nosy old lady, I zoomed in on the picture. Yup! My eyes had not deceived me. Presenting to a room full of men on what masculinity is, would be an ostensibly young lady.

By Sheryl Collmer, Crisis Magazine – Dear bishops, we are tired of the never-ending scandals and your pretending that nothing is amiss. We are tired of being used by you… If a particular bishop is innocent, let him at least address our concerns and give us solid, documented reasons to believe he is truthful. A clean, independent audit report would be the most direct way… Bishops, there are capable accounting firms in every diocese of this country. …

By Mark Lambert, Catholic Unscripted, Youtube – Join host Mark Lambert in a thought-provoking conversation with Reverend Doctor Alexander Lucie-Smith, a Catholic priest, moral theologian, and writer. They dive into the recent release of the Epstein files, exploring its far-reaching implications for the British establishment, the monarchy, politics, and even parallels within the Catholic Church. From Prince Andrew’s controversies to Peter Mandelson’s scandals, they discuss how wealth and power erode moral accountability, leading to institutional rot and societal disillusionment.

By Abigail James,  Catholic Online News – How to Prepare in the Two Weeks Before Ash Wednesday… You don’t need a color-coded Lent planner or a heroic self-denial strategy… You need honesty—and a little intentional space… Here are simple, realistic ways to prepare: 1. Decide what Lent is actually for… Lent is not about proving spiritual toughness. It’s about making room for God. Before choosing what to “give up,” ask what you want more of: peace, prayer, patience, clarity, healing.

By Constance T. Hull, Catholic Exchange – When the opportunity presented itself for me to read and review Rebuilding Trust: Clergy Morale in the Wake of the Abuse Crisis, I jumped at the chance. I have spent the last eight years studying the state of the priesthood ever since the abuse crisis blew wide open in the summer of 2018. I have had many conversations with priests, seminarians, and friends who minister to priests in multiple dioceses. I have seen firsthand much of what is reported in the book.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 6:7-13 – 7 And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. 10 And he said to them, “Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. …

By Complicit Clergy, Staff – This week we learned that the Archdiocese of New York was being OPPOSED BY ITS OWN INSURANCE COMPANY because of its ongoing cover-up of the sexual abuse of minors… Later this week, Bishop Ronald Hicks of the diocese of Joliet will be installed as Archbishop of New York, replacing Timothy Dolan.  Hicks is a protegee of Cardinal Blase Cupich, having acted as Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Chicago before being elevated to Bishop of Joliet.  A recent column highlights the influence Cupich has had in U.S. bishop appointments.

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – So now the Chinese Communist Party is learning another painful lesson—and it is a lesson that Western governments should learn as well: Economic incentives alone do not produce population growth. Couples do not have children because they want tax breaks or maternity benefits or special bonus payments. Babies are produced not by government policies but by acts of love. Not love for the nation or the Communist Party or the Five-Year Plan or the prospect of world domination, but the love of men and women for each other.

By Carol Tobias, LifeNews – In January, the Trump administration took several giant steps forward in protecting innocent, preborn human life. Here’s just a partial list… *The Mexico City Policy [MCP], first issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, prevented US tax dollars from being given to international organizations that “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.”  That policy was rescinded and re-enacted several times as pro-abortion Democrat presidents and pro-life Republican presidents cycled through the White House. …

By Noel Yaxley, Chronicles – Recently, a female skier in China was rescued from a mountaintop after being seriously injured in an attack by a snow leopard… upon spotting the rare animal on her drive back to her hotel, somehow decided that it would be a good idea to get out of her car, approach the animal, and take photos. In video footage, she is seen lying motionless in the snow with the predator nearby… Apparently, the woman was credulous enough to believe that an unpredictable wild animal might take a break from its hunt for an Asiatic ibex to pose for a selfie with her.

By Elise Winland, CatholicVote – Johnson concluded that mercy and justice are complementary, not competing, principles in Christian teaching, writing: “God specifically requires His people to practice both (Micah 6:8). Despite the unfounded claims of the Left, supporting a strong national border is a very Christian thing to do. The Bible tells us so.”… In a post on X, CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt praised Johnson’s remarks to reporters and highlighted CatholicVote’s recent analysis of immigration enforcement and Christian moral teaching.

By Catholic Apostolate Center – St. Agatha was a Christian virgin and martyr. Along with our Blessed Mother, St. Agatha is one of seven women commemorated by name in the Roman Canon of the Mass. Agatha dedicated her life to God at an early age, but was sought out by many men. One of these men became angry with Agatha. He imprisoned Agatha in a brothel. During her time in the brothel, Agatha was assaulted, which led to many injuries. In time, she was miraculously healed by God from all of her injuries. The man who imprisoned Agatha ignored her miraculous healing and had Agatha rolled over hot coals. She survived this torture and returned to prison. Agatha died in the year 251. She is a patron saint of breast cancer patients.

By Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., What We Need Now, Substack – Maleness is a matter of biology. It just happens. Manhood must be learned and earned and taught. So our prayer today and every day should be that God will plant the seed of that new knighthood in the hearts of every Christian man—and make them the kind of “new men” our families, our Church, our nation, and our world need.

By Daniel Payne, EWTN – A steep decline in Catholic marriages in the U.S. over the past few decades is underscoring the need for “proactive” marriage support in the Church… Data obtained by EWTN News from the Official Catholic Directory shows a major drop-off in U.S. Catholic marriage, from about 267,000 in the year 2000 to just 111,718 in 2024, a decline of nearly 60%… The drop is even starker when compared with midcentury numbers: In 1970 there were about 426,000 Catholic marriages in the United States, compared with about 108,000 in 2025, a roughly 75% drop-off …

By Casey Chalk, The Federalist – How Leftists Accelerate Civilizational Collapse… In “Suicide of the West”, Burnham censures those of the West “who hate their own civilization, readily excuse or even praise blows struck against it, and themselves lend a willing hand, frequently enough, to pulling it down.” The reasons leftists do this originate in their beliefs about human nature and society. They believe man’s nature is not fixed but changing, “with an unlimited or at any rate indefinitely large potential for positive (good, favorable, progressive) development.”

By David Edwards, Raw Story, (Complicit Clergy) – “How would you respond to Pope Leo in scripture?” the reporter wondered… “So you want me to give you a theological dissertation?” Johnson replied. “Borders and walls are biblical. From the Old Testament to the New, God has allowed us to set up our civil societies and have separate nations. Immigration is not something that’s frowned upon in Scripture. In fact, it’s welcome. We’re to welcome the sojourner and love our neighbor as ourselves.” …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 6:1-6 – 1 He went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands! ….

By Mark Haas, Crisis Magazine – In free solo climbing, the climber ascends massive structures or rock faces without ropes, harnesses, or protective equipment. There is no safety net. No backup plan. One slip, one moment of fatigue, one miscalculation—and death is horrifically instant. Every movement must be perfect. Every grip must hold. The free climber lives, quite literally, seconds away from catastrophe at all times… Honnold himself has acknowledged this reality. He knows that his life hangs on his fingertips. He accepts the risk. He trains relentlessly. He remains intensely focused because he knows what is at stake.

By Auguste Meyrat, The Catholic Thing – What is a feminist? This used to be an easy question to answer. When feminism simply meant equal rights and opportunities for women, most people felt comfortable identifying as such. After all, who could be against women having the right to vote and owning property?… Even as feminists have broken glass ceiling after glass ceiling, however, it has become less clear what their goals are anymore. Worse still, the rise of transgenderism has undermined the core claims of feminism by questioning the objective reality of womanhood.

By Paul Kengor, Grace Reilly, The American Spectator – The woke NFL show is finally rivaled!… For years, the NFL has become more woke, less family-friendly, and less patriotic. This year’s halftime performer, Bad Bunny, is confirmation of this fact… Turning Point USA recognized that many Americans have had enough, so they’ve announced a rival All- American Half Time Show that will feature Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett… Watch the full episode …

By Jeffrey Mirus, Catholic Culture – Christmas seems to take a very long time to arrive, while Lent leaps out and grabs us before we have time to blink. Ash Wednesday 2026 is just a week away. So now we are called upon to reflect not on the baby in the manger but on the man whose “sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:44). The realities of the passion and death of Jesus Christ trigger in us a significantly different response than do the details of His nativity.

By Elise Winland, Zeale – A vast majority of Americans — including Democrats and ethnic minorities — favor requiring photo identification (ID) to vote, according to an analysis from CNN Senior Data Reporter Harry Enten… The data undercuts claims by some Democratic lawmakers that voter ID laws are broadly unpopular and intended to disenfranchise non-white voters… Speaking during a Feb. 3 segment on CNN, Enten cited recent Pew Research Center surveys showing 83% overall support for photo voter ID requirements. Support has remained consistently above 75% since 2018, the data suggest.

By Garrett Johnson, Catholic Exchange – Until I was given my true freedom, I didn’t clearly see the false freedom of the hedonistic lifestyle I’d been living. I was pleased to find that the Church had consistently fought for people’s freedom from its inception. One of the significant battles she was involved in when I returned was deeply personal to me: the battle over identity. I gladly joined this fight, in part, by joining the Courage apostolate and by writing and creating videos on my website.

Peters Pence Class Action, Feb. 3, 2026 – The Peter’s Pence class action lawsuit against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was originally filed in January 2020.  The lawsuit alleges that USCCB routinely asks Catholics throughout the country to donate money to the annual Peter’s Pence collection to “help victims of war, oppression, natural disaster, or disease,” but the money actually goes into funds which invest in such ventures as luxury condominium developments and Hollywood movies. The Plaintiff claims the USCCB is liable under theories of common law fraud, unjust enrichment, and breach of fiduciary duty.

By Jordan Boyd, The Federalist – Over the last 25 years, gunmen and gunwomen have launched around two dozen fatal attacks at Christian churches across the nation. As demonstrated by the invasion of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota last month, even congregations that haven’t encountered an armed threat still face mounting hostility against their faith and parishioners… There’s no denying houses of worship are targets for violence. There’s also no denying that death tolls in church shootings were kept at a minimum thanks to the heroic actions of good guys with guns like Jack Wilson, Caleb Engle, and Jeanne Assam.

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – Nearly two-thirds of likely 2026 midterm election voters support deporting illegal aliens from the United States, a new poll released Monday shows… In its latest survey of 1,004 likely 2026 voters, the political polling firm Cygnal found that respondents support removing illegal aliens from America and sending them back to their country of origin by a nearly 2:1 margin (61 to 34 percent). The poll also found strong support for ICE enforcement of federal immigration laws and agreement that illegally entering the United States is a violation of such laws.. “Voters see illegal immigration as a simple question of law and order,”

By Jonathan Liedl, National Catholic Register – The cardinal-archbishop of Chicago has profoundly reshaped the American hierarchy over the past 10 years and is poised to exert a lasting influence… At an upcoming Mass in Manhattan, Bishop Ronald Hicks will become the 11th archbishop of New York. But during the Feb. 6 installation in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Chicago native will also be the latest addition to another sort of lineage… Archbishop-designate Hicks is set to become the fourth former deputy of Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich to be named to a major American see in just the past 13 months. …

By James Kalb, Catholic World Report – To say that Trumpism is better politically than progressivism is not to say that it is an adequate view of politics and social life, or that it is likely, if it runs its course, to lead to a good or even sustainable society… We live in unusual times, and Donald Trump is, to put it mildly, an unusual politician… We need to understand him to deal with him, and with that in mind, I will present my own theory… What strikes me most is that Trump has distinctive ways of doing things that never seem to vary. Just as he always eats, drinks, and dresses the same, he always operates the same—he wants to make deals ….

By Chris Jackson, Hiraeth in Exile, (Substack) – On February 2, the Society of St. Pius X publicly announced that new episcopal consecrations will take place on July 1. The Superior General, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, says he requested an audience, wrote again to explain the need, received a letter from the Holy See that “in no way” answered the Society’s requests, and judged that “the objective state of grave necessity in which souls find themselves” requires the decision… The next months force the Vatican II machine to show its hand again, in public, with the same familiar pattern: thunder at Tradition, soft voices for schism, smiles for the regime in China, gentle language for Eastern separation, and a permanent allergy to precision whenever Rome’s new ecumenical theology starts contradicting itself.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 5:21-43 – 21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him; and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, 23 and begged him, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. …

By Fr. Francesco Giordano, STD, Catholic Exchange – A priest friend recently expressed his concern about the increasing fluidity of human identity and values over the past twenty years. His observation prompted me to reflect on insights drawn from Medieval philosophy—particularly from St. Thomas Aquinas—regarding the notion of tabula rasa, the idea that the human person is born as a “blank slate.”… While modern thinkers such as John Locke emphasized this concept in a radical sense, Aquinas and the classical tradition understood that it must always be held together with a robust account of nature.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – In a significant pro-life victory, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business, has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit challenging a key defunding provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that revokes its taxpayer funding… The dismissal, filed quietly on Friday, comes after a federal appeals court ruling that allows the Trump administration to continue withholding Medicaid reimbursements from abortion companies. …

Source: Catholic Apostolate Center – St. Blaise, Patron Saint of Throat Illnesses – St. Blaise was Bishop of Sebaste, modern day Turkey, in the beginning of the 4th century before his martyrdom in 316. He was a physician who was known for his miraculous healings, particularly healings involving the throat. This lead to the tradition of blessing throats on his feast day. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, being invoked against throat illnesses. “Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

By Mary Rose, Catholic Vote – A retired University of Notre Dame priest and historian has called the university’s appointment of a pro-abortion advocate to lead a campus institute “untenable,” disputing the advocate’s recent pledge to uphold academic freedom and mutual respect… Father Wilson Miscamble, a Holy Cross priest and professor emeritus of history, made the remarks in a letter published Jan. 30 in The Observer, Notre Dame’s student newspaper. His response came after Susan Ostermann, an associate professor of global affairs, defended her appointment as incoming director of the Keough School of Global Affairs’ Liu Institute of Asia and Asian Studies.

By Bridget Sielicki, Live Action News – The Indiana Senate passed a bill last week that would curtail illegal abortion pill distribution in the state by allowing private lawsuits against those who manufacture, prescribe, or distribute the pill… The Indiana Senate passed a bill that would allow civil lawsuits against those who manufacture, prescribe, or distribute the abortion pill… Indiana law protects nearly all preborn children from abortion… The bill aims to stop the flow of illegal abortion pills into the state.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic  Register – The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) announced Monday that it plans to consecrate new bishops on July 1 even without authorization from the Holy See, a move that would likely lead to automatic excommunication of all the bishops who take part and harden a decades-old split with Rome. … The SSPX, which exclusively celebrates the traditional Latin Mass and maintains doctrinal differences with certain teachings and reforms of the Second Vatican Council, has not consecrated new bishops since 1988 when the Society’s founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without Rome’s approval. …

By Randall Smith,  The Catholic Thing – If we are devoted to the truth, as our devotion to God demands, then perhaps we should take more care not to settle on any of these false, illusory “half-truths” or pass them on to others in our conversations and social media posts… Did we imagine truth would be easy?  That it would always make us “feel good,” puff us up with pride, and feed our sense of self-righteousness?  What in Christianity could possibly have led us to think that?  The truth in its fullness is more likely, like God, to humble us and cause us to realize how small our minds and hearts have been.

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – Since we spend a quarter to a third of our lives asleep, one would think that Scriptures would help us understand the mystery of sleep. It does. The beatitudes are virtues brought to perfection by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the crown jewel of discipleship. Among them is: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9) The peace of sleep becomes a kind of final beatitude, a daily reminder of God’s desire to give us rest from our toil.

By Rachel Bovard, The Federalist – What if I told you Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has the power and the votes — right now — to save Republicans’ congressional majorities, President Trump’s second-term agenda, and maybe the republic itself, all while poleaxing Democrats on the short side of an 84-15 issue?… It sounds like fantasy. But like the Lady of the Lake from Arthurian legend, 2026 is offering up to the GOP a political weapon almost as powerful as Excalibur itself: an extended Democrat talking filibuster of national voter ID legislation.

By Kevin Cohen, The American Spectator – ICE is not a substitute for local policing or courts. It is the only authority with the mandate to remove non-citizens once state and local processes conclude. In a fragmented system — where police arrest, courts adjudicate, and legislatures set policy-ICE functions as the final integrating mechanism. When that mechanism is resisted or disabled, risk does not disappear. It circulates… Recent events in Minnesota offer a clear illustration of how this dynamic plays out. Over the winter, federal agents expanded targeted enforcement operations in Minneapolis and the surrounding Twin Cities region, prompting protests, political backlash, and public clashes between local officials and federal authorities. The controversy focused largely on optics and tactics. Far less attention was paid to the profiles of those actually being arrested.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Laura Fernández, a staunch pro-life advocate who has described abortion as nothing more than murder, won Costa Rica’s presidential election on Sunday, securing a first-round victory and becoming the Central American nation’s next leader… Fernández, who previously served as planning minister and chief of staff under outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves, triumphed in what outlets described as a landslide, capturing 48.3% of the vote with 94% of polling stations counted, surpassing the threshold to avoid a runoff.

By Jennifer Gregory Miller, Catholic Culture – On February 2, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, forty days after Christmas. In the 1962 calendar the feast is called the “Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary” and commonly referred to as Candlemas. When this feast falls on a Sunday the General Norms of the Liturgical Year and Calendar specifies that Feasts of Our Lord that fall in the General Roman Calendar take precedence over the Sundays in Ordinary Time, so this feast would be celebrated instead of the Sunday in Ordinary Time.

By Adam Johnston, The Federalist – The unrest surrounding immigration enforcement in Minnesota is a flashpoint for a much deeper struggle over U.S. sovereignty… A sovereign nation, by definition, must be able to enforce its laws within its own territory… When federal immigration law is openly resisted, and elected leaders excuse, rationalize, fail to deter, or even encourage violence against those tasked with exercising constitutional authority, both the federal government and the nation lose their fundamental legitimacy.

By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International – Advocates for euthanasia and assisted suicide see “dying with dignity” as “liberation,” believing that a life with pain and suffering lacks meaning. By contrast, Catholic tradition values both the dignity of the human person and the gift of life through the lens of Christ’s redemptive love. The Church knows that suffering is an inescapable aspect of life and that this suffering ultimately unites us to God… The more our society opens the door to and positively incentivizes assisted suicide, the less free individuals (and now, couples) will be to embrace the trials of the end of life, free of the psychological, moral, and medical pressure to take the “quick and easy” way out.

By Carl E. Olson, Catholic World Report – During this Sunday’s Gospel Reading, we hear the Beatitudes, among the most well-known and oft-quoted sayings of Jesus. The Beatitudes consist of nine “Blessed are…” statements that together form an introduction and doorway to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)… In Jewish literature, beatitudes were common in works having to do with worship and wisdom, such as the Psalms, Proverbs, and the Book of Wisdom (or Wisdom of Solomon). They described a situation in which God’s blessing is experienced, and they exhorted the listener to live in a way that would lead to such a blessing.

By Ashley Herzog, The American Spectator – Much has been made of how a federal judge last week struck down the Education Department’s guidance advising schools to dismantle their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives or risk losing federal funding. Supporters of DEI have seized on the ruling as proof that their cause is resilient… But the larger picture tells a different story. Whatever its legal status, DEI has already lost cultural legitimacy — on campus, among students, and even within the academic left itself…

By Craig Bannister, CNS News – In the past 10 days, New York’s failure to honor detainer requests by U.S. ICE has resulted in the release of nearly 7,000 criminal illegal aliens, the DHS warned Friday, reacting to the plan of the state’s Democrat governor, Kathy Hochul, to legally prohibit state and local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE… In a statement, DHS said that it “condemns Governor Hochul’s legislative proposal to bar local police departments from partnering and cooperating” with ICE law enforcement, warning that such partnerships are “key to removing criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from American communities.”

By Nancy Flanders, Live Action News – Though end-of-life care has been debated for decades, well-meaning Americans have been misled by those who intentionally conflate palliative care with euthanasia and assisted suicide — but only one of these options is ethical… Some U.S. states have in recent years passed legislation allowing doctors to become both killers and suicide accomplices. While marketed to the public as a “compassionate” way to help people facing so-called “terminal” diagnoses, behind the scenes, health insurance companies and governments have touted how “assisted dying” saves them money.

By Greg Piper, Just the News – An advocacy group that fights “unwanted medical treatments” is asking the high court to take a fresh look at the case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, and how courts have interpreted it – extrapolating the holding far beyond the facts of the case – and getting an assist from several red states and a public interest law firm that seeks to rein in the administrative state… Last week, the justices considered whether to accept Health Freedom Defense Fund’s petition to review a ruling by the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, overturning a three-judge panel that said it’s irrelevant whether COVID vaccines stop infection or transmission for the purposes of Los Angeles Unified School District’s onetime employee mandate.

The Catholic Apostolate Center – The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord takes place forty days after Jesus’ birth, when Mary and Joseph take their newborn son to the Temple. There, they encounter Simeon and Anna. Simeon prophesied the redemptive mission of Jesus when he says, “For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight for all your people.” Luke 2:30-31. …

By M.C. Holbrook, Catholic Exchange – And so, the scene ends with Mary and Joseph, once again, submitting to the law in obedience. Even their act of returning home is an offering on behalf of God’s will. Which brings us to our second lesson: not all our acts of obedience will be hard for us to carry out, nor will they make us miserable. After all, it is certain that as much as it would have been lovely to see friends and family again, Mary and Joseph would have been ready and eager to go home—especially after receiving the sobering news that Simeon had to share.

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – Do you notice something missing? The clerics cite their “fear” that religious services might be disrupted “by aggressive enforcement tactics.” In their rush to place all blame on one side, they fail to notice that in Minnesota, church services already have been disrupted—not by federal enforcement officers, but by the activists who have been opposing them. Those same radical activists indeed might choose to disrupt worship services in Washington, DC, before too long. …

By Mary Eberstadt, The Catholic Thing – For over sixty years, after all, we have lived under the tyranny of a collective declaration that I am my own, and no one else’s – that I decide matters of life, and the giving, taking, or preventing of life; that I, and no one else, have the right to do with my body whatever I see fit… And this repudiation of the truth that we are not our own can now be judged by its fruits, which are everywhere around us. The declaration that I am my own, the fundamental battle cry of the sexual revolution, has rendered life radically different, and in several respects, worse for us than for any other human beings in history.

By Anne Hendershott, The American Spectator – After securing the Supreme Court majority that overturned Roe v. Wade, President Trump now finds himself lectured to by a vocal minority of pro-life activists who seem to have forgotten who delivered the greatest pro‑life victory in half a century. A movement that spent decades fighting for the end of Roe should be united in gratitude to the president, yet an increasing number of pro‑lifers have chosen to treat President Trump not as the leader who delivered the impossible, but as a disappointment measured against their ever‑shifting purity tests.

By Casey Chalk, Catholic Exchange – Most importantly, forgiveness draws us into deeper fellowship with Christ. The more we do it, there we appreciate what Christ did for us on the cross; and the more we can perceive that we can, in our own little way, extend the same grace that Jesus extended when He forgave His enemies on the cross. Friendships, families, and entire communities can in time be healed by a radical willingness to forgive. Don’t allow old grievances to oppress your soul. There is freedom to be had. You need only forgive.

By Jonah McKeown, National Catholic Register – Nashville Bishop J. Mark Spalding, speaking to the Register, noted that his is a diocese experiencing rapid, large-scale growth — about 1.5% on average per year for the Nashville metro, while the national average is well under 1% — primarily driven by large numbers of people moving into Middle Tennessee. People are primarily moving to the area for economic opportunities, he said, but also because the region is perceived as family-friendly and value-oriented, creating the soil for a vibrant and dynamic Catholic culture to spring up.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 4:35-41 – 35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?”

By Tyler Arnold for EWTN News, (Catholic World Report) – “[Hegseth] definitely wants to return the chaplaincy to responsibility for religious services, religious instruction, and advising the commanders,” Broglio said in a speech at the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 28… In December, Hegseth ended the use of the official spiritual fitness guide, which he said never mentions virtue and only references God once but makes 11 references to “feelings” and nine to “playfulness.” He said the guidelines were “pushing secular humanism” and were a disservice to military service members who have religious faith.

By Joseph Pearce, Crisis Magazine – Today, as a citizen of the United States, I hope and pray that we might move beyond the desire for power, for political “greatness,” to once again embrace the true greatness of goodness. I pray that America will be great because she is beautiful from sea to shining sea.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – The Catholic Bishop of Saskatoon in Canada has issued a strong condemnation of abortion, describing it as resulting in the killing of unborn children and contributing to a broader cultural devaluation of human life… In a pastoral message released January 24 for Reverence for Life Sunday—observed Jan. 25 in the Diocese of Saskatoon—Bishop Mark Hagemoen highlighted the ongoing impact of the 1988 Supreme Court of Canada decision in the Morgentaler case, which struck down restrictions on abortion and left in place abortions up to birth for any reason

Catholic Apostolate Center – Throughout his life, St. John Bosco was dedicated to vocational education and publishing. Today, his intercession is sought as the patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers. Inspired by Saint Francis de Sales, he and his followers informally banded together, and founded the Salesian religious order, which is among the largest and most influential communities in the Catholic Church. John Bosco and the Salesians developed a theory of education based on love and support, rather than punishment. “Young people should not only be loved but that they themselves should know that they are loved.” -St. John Bosco

By Father Jerry J. Pokorsky, Catholic World Report – In the prescient 1980s BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister, Prime Minister Jim Hacker must choose the next Anglican bishop of Bury St. Edmunds. His choice is between an atheist and a socialist. The prime minister’s adviser dryly observes, “It’s interesting, isn’t it? That politicians want to talk about moral issues, and bishops want to talk about politics.”… Catholics may notice a similar pattern today.

By Matt Kittle, The Federalist – Looking to beef up election integrity ahead of November’s midterms, Republicans are introducing the Make Elections Great Again, or MEGA, Act… The bill, led by House Administration Committee Chairman Brian Steil, R-Wisconsin, includes many of the measures that election integrity-hating Democrats have fought so feverishly to kill. It requires photo ID to cast a ballot, proof of U.S. citizenship to vote, and bans practices that have plagued election security and voter confidence for years.

By Michael Pakaluk, The Catholic Thing – Loyalty is a republican virtue, and more than that.  “The American people have been chary of the word loyalty, perhaps because they regard it as the correlative of royalty,” Orestes Brownson says, in his great work on our country, The American Republic, “but loyalty is rather the correlative of law.”… That fact pops up from a cursory glance at the components of the word. It clearly comes from the French for law,loi.  Loyalty is loi-alty.  In Medieval Latin, it was simply legalitas.   Loyalty is most fundamentally lawfulness.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – The Department of Veterans Affairs has halted the killing of unborn babies in abortions at its facilities nationwide, complying with a Justice Department opinion that restores longstanding federal prohibitions on taxpayer-funded abortions for veterans… The reversal, effective immediately, overturns a 2022 Biden administration policy that had expanded abortion access within the VA system, allowing VA doctors to perform abortions even in violation of federal law and state protections for the unborn.

By Jonah McKeown, National Catholic Register – Could computer programs ever come to truly think and understand? Can artificial intelligence (AI) possess a “mind” the way humans do and, by extension, ever be described as a “person” with a soul?… If you ask some of the leading creators and proponents of AI products, at least some of them would answer “Yes” to these questions — a “Yes” that, if true, would raise other far-reaching and potentially dangerous ideas: Should AI programs be given rights? Should they be considered as equal in dignity to humans, or even obeyed as our superiors?!

By Fr. Ignatius John Schweitzer, OP, Catholic Exchange – Some time ago, I had the practice of reading the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7) or the Last Discourse of John (Jn. 14-17) at least once a week. I did so because these passages are so fundamental to the Christian life. Regularly going through the Sermon on the Mount caused varying dimensions of the Sacred Page to come forth, such as seeing it in terms of Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit in our life as Christians. Our Gospel this Sunday, on the Beatitudes, is a brief, introductory summary of the whole sermon and so gets us to the heart of the Sermon on the Mount.

By Nate Jackson, Patriot Post – One last point: Why was Pretti there? Because he hates ICE. Why was ICE there? Because Trump is attempting to clean up the very deliberate crisis created by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and now leftist Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey. Biden and Harris may be gone, but their open border policy is still claiming American lives. Nothing ICE agents have done even remotely compares to the violence and death against entirely innocent people like another nurse named Laken Riley.

By Paul du Quenoy, Chronicles – In Democrat thinking, every illegal in the country is a potential voter, a future voter, or a parent to future voters. Trump’s closing of the border has shut off the supply of new arrivals, but his active removal of illegals and other measures—such as excluding them from the census, which determines each state’s number of congressional representatives—is reducing the absolute numbers already present and reducing their weight in American electoral politics.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 4:26-34 – 26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” …

By Katherine Matt, The Daily Signal – In recent years, many parents have begun questioning long-standing assumptions about traditional education. Concerns about bureaucracy, one-size-fits-all curricula, and institutional failures have eroded confidence in the public school system for many families… Some parents are also increasingly wary of ideological instruction in public schools, particularly when it comes to gender ideology and sex education… While debate over education is healthy in our society, a growing number of families believe the system has become less responsive to individual needs

By Jeffrey Lord, The American Spectator – Pennsylvania’s Democrat U.S. Senator John Fetterman has got it exactly right… Recently, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, also a Democrat, decided it was a good idea to call ICE agents “wannabe Nazis.”… Which prompted Senator Fetterman to condemn Krasner, correctly saying, “members of ICE are not Nazis” and that in calling them Nazis, Krasner could easily incite violence… Well exactly. Good for Senator Fetterman. …

By Greg Piper, Just the News – When a medical transparency group sought all records on the government’s approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, the Food and Drug Administration told a court it would need 55 years to redact them under Freedom of Information Act exemptions. The gambit didn’t work… The FDA won’t take that long to finish an abortion pill’s safety review, which was prompted by a think tank report last spring, promised by Commissioner Marty Makary in June and reiterated by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in September, but the agency can’t give a specific timeframe.

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture – Since the last three popes have all recommended Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson’s 1907 apocalyptic novel Lord of the World, perhaps a few words about this remarkable portrayal of the end times are in order… Benson foresees the future state of the world in which he recognized he was already living—a world focused entirely on the present material potentiality of humankind, and completely blind to spiritual reality. It is also a world in which a kind of humane gentleness (including the widespread availability of “euthanasia houses”) is maintained beneath a façade of tolerance for those still attached to the old religions, of which only Catholicism is perceived as potentially threatening.

Franciscan Media, January 30 – Today we honor a woman who submitted to God’s will throughout her life—a life filled with pain and suffering… Born in 1825 in central Poland and baptized Sophia, Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska contracted tuberculosis as a young girl. The forced period of convalescence gave her ample time for reflection. Sophia felt called to serve God by working with the poor, including street children and the elderly homeless in Warsaw’s slums. In time, her cousin joined her in the work.

By Sheena Rodriguez, Live Action News – Though the Trump administration claims to be pro-life and has made efforts to combat destructive transgender ideology, it has also disturbingly thrown support behind the expansion of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), which comes with a heavy cost in the destruction of a staggering number of the most vulnerable human beings… To make good on his intention to make IVF more accessible and affordable, President Trump promised access to discounted IVF drugs through the TrumpRX website. This month, it is set to officially launch, with the inclusion of a fertility drug from biopharmaceutical company EMD Serono.

By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, The Daily Signal – Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration has created a new assistant attorney general position to crack down on fraud nationwide… The new official will have “nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud,” Vance said at Thursday’s White House press briefing… “Unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way,” Vance said… Federal prosecutors have estimated that welfare fraud in the state could have topped $9 billion, and more than 90 individuals have been charged in connection to fraud schemes there.

By John Daniel Davidson, the Federalist – Forget January 6. It turns out January 7 might go down as the date when insurrection really arrived in America — not from the MAGA right, but from the anti-Trump left… In the aftermath of the fatal shooting Wednesday in Minneapolis of a woman who appears to have tried to ram an ICE agent with her vehicle, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced at a press conference that he had issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard to mobilize to “protect Minnesotans” from “rogue ICE agents.”… Walz said, “We’ve never been at war with our federal government,” and at one point told Minnesotans, “do not allow them to deploy federal troops here.” …

By Greg Piper, Just the News – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s in-house publication gave mainstream media ammunition to attack Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s scrutiny on vaccine safety and efficacy, running a study that implies COVID vaccines saved healthy kids from serious outcomes last season… The research appeared in the CDC’s Dec. 11 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which is not peer-reviewed and was accused of publishing methodologically weak research upholding COVID dogma between President Trump’s terms. …

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – In remarks at a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policy celebration Jan. 8, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused major health organizations of promoting nutrition advice shaped by corporate interests… Speaking one day after HHS unveiled the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030, Kennedy argued that long-standing federal warnings against saturated fat reflected conflicts of interest rather than settled science… He singled out the American Heart Association, saying it “was and continues to accept millions of dollars from the biggest processed food makers in this country” ….

By Srdja Trifkovic, Chronicles – Operation Absolute Resolve in the early hours of Jan. 3 showcased military professionalism bolstered by first-class intelligence. It opened with shock-and-awe air strikes that neutralized Venezuela’s air defenses and provided the cover for the Delta Force raid on President Nicolás Maduro’s compound and his prompt transfer to USS Iwo Jima… It was a truly unprecedented event: a de facto extradition of a head of state, with the objective of effecting major policy changes by his successors. … This was a clear demonstration, on (Jan. 3, 2026), that the world has moved beyond those nebulous and inherently dangerous constructs of Team Biden’s “rules-based international order.” …

By Anne Hendershott, Catholic World Report – Too many in the media try to force a long tradition of papal diplomacy into the narrow world of American politics while ignoring the centuries of Catholic teachings on war, peace, and justice… Pope Leo’s recent comments on the United States military operation in Venezuela were quickly labeled left‑leaning by some media outlets, including The Daily Beast, Yahoo News, and a growing list of syndicated sites… But that framing misses the point. It forces a long tradition of papal diplomacy into the narrow world of American politics while ignoring the centuries of Catholic teachings on war, peace, and justice.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – Some cardinals and faithful who have a devotion to the traditional Roman rite have expressed concern that the liturgy appears to be sidelined in the extraordinary consistory currently underway at the Vatican after the cardinals voted to give priority to other issues on the agenda… In his opening address to the consistory yesterday, Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed to the cardinal participants that they will have the opportunity to “engage in a communal reflection” on four themes already pre-announced to be on the meeting’s agenda. …

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – Since Wednesday’s shooting of a violent anti-ICE demonstrator at the hands of U.S. immigration officials in Minneapolis, Democrats and their left-wing lackies have taken to doing what they do best: lying… Within hours, these self-professed “misinformation” experts spread disinformation of their own by claiming that the now-deceased woman — who is on video obstructing law enforcement operations and accelerating her vehicle at an ICE agent — was nothing more than an innocent “legal observer.” …

By Franciscan Media – By Franciscan Media – Though Saint Adrian turned down a papal request to become Archbishop of Canterbury, England, Pope Saint Vitalian accepted the rejection on the condition that Adrian serve as the Holy Father’s assistant and adviser. Adrian accepted, but ended up spending most of his life and doing most of his work in Canterbury.

By Ryan Neuhaus, Chronicles – Politicos keep talking about an affordability crisis, and they’re not wrong; there clearly is one. But the price pressures everyone is obsessing about sit atop something deeper. The truth is that the affordability crisis is the result of choices, policy decisions made over decades, that reshaped the country in ways that no longer reward responsible behavior. The crisis is not primarily about inflation or deregulation or unemployment, or any other economic metric. It is about a generation of young Americans waking up and realizing that the path they were told to take no longer leads where they were told it would. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 4:14-22 – 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read; 17 and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. ….

By John Solomon, Just the News – Officials say movement of cash out of Minnesota was substantially abnormal and should have raised red flags during the Biden administration… Homeland Security Dept. officials said the statistics they have gathered in recent weeks show the movement of cash out of Minnesota was substantially abnormal and should have raised red flags during the Biden administration, long before the Trump administration began investigating it as part of a major fraud scheme that stole billions from taxpayers in the state.

By Chris Jackson, Hiraeth In Exile, (Complicit Clergy) – Leo XIV does not treat Vatican II as one council among many, held inside a long Catholic memory and judged by what the Church already received. He treats it like the hinge of history, the moment the Church “begins,” the point where the past becomes raw material and the future becomes mandate. He reads Lumen gentium as program, not as reference. He frames it as light. Then, almost immediately, he announces a whole catechesis series dedicated to Vatican II, presented as permanently relevant, permanently urgent, permanently required for reading the world.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – Participants in the Jan. 7-8 extraordinary consistory in Rome shared their thoughts with the Register Wednesday on Pope Leo XIV’s first major meeting with the College of Cardinals since his election in May… “It will be a moment of grace, of sharing, of deepening, and of listening on various topics,” predicted Cardinal Francis Leo of Toronto, as he walked from his Rome residence to the Synod Hall in the Paul VI Hall to attend the gathering’s opening session. “I’m going with an open heart, let’s see how it develops.”

By Matt Kittle, The Federalist – Assaults on ICE agents have exploded over the past year. In November, DHS reported that “sanctuary politicians’ rhetoric” fueled a 1,150 percent “increase in violence against ICE law enforcement.” In light of last month’s Operation Metro Surge, an ICE enforcement effort targeting “the worst of the worst who flock to Minnesota because they know sanctuary politicians will protect them,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the liberal politicians were only making things tougher for law enforcement officials.

By Dr. R. Jared Staudt, Catholic World Report – What would the collapse of civilization look like?… We might immediately think of cutoff utilities, disruptions in the supply chain, violence in the streets, and the lack of functional government. While it’s true these might serve as external indicators of a functioning modern society, they do not constitute the essence of civilization. A civilized person doesn’t just live in the city (the civitas that gives civilization its name) but conforms to an ideal of culture. A barbarian lives for immediate needs and wants …

By Craig Bannister, MRC TV – “I’ve issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard. We have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed, if necessary,” Democrat Minnesota Governor Tim Walz threatened Wednesday, denouncing the federal government’s efforts to enforce U.S. immigration law in his state… Gov. Walz made the apparent threat during a press conference following the death of a Minnesota anti-immigration enforcement protester who was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent as she, according to video of the incident, drove her vehicle into the agent. …

By Nancy Flanders, Live Action News – According to new reports, Canada is allowing prisoners to end their lives through assisted suicide despite having banned capital punishment decades ago… Canada fully banned capital punishment — the death penalty — in 1998… Medical Assistance in Dying was approved in Canada in 2016… From 2016 to 2025, at least 67 prisoners in Canada have requested assisted death, with at least 15 approved and killed. …

By M.C. Holbrook, Catholic Exchange – John the Evangelist begins his Gospel account of the wedding feast at Cana by pointing out first that Mother Mary is in attendance. That Jesus is also there is secondary. But isn’t Jesus always the most important character in any of the Gospel stories? Of course—which is perhaps the reason John references the Blessed Mother namelessly, pointing to her instead as “the mother of Jesus.” Still, the fact that John singles her out, all in her own

By Randall O’Bannon, Ph.D., LifeNews – Since the Dobbs decision, the Guttmacher Institute has been publishing monthly abortion estimates based on data submitted from a national sample of abortionists. In the last few weeks, it has compiled these monthly totals and published a new estimate for abortions in 2024 – 1,126,970… Guttmacher says this number reflects 1,050,660 abortions “provided by clinicians in U.S. states without a total ban in 2024″ plus an additional 76,310 “provided via telehealth to states with total bans in 2024,” according to estimates Guttmacher takes from the Society of Family Planning (SFP). …

By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, The Daily Signal – When Rep. Mary Miller saw President Donald Trump’s announcement of plans to ban large investors from buying single-family homes, she immediately volunteered to introduce a bill to codify it, she said… “It’s been an issue that the Family Caucus has been discussing, and I’m thrilled to see President Trump’s tweet and that he’s making this a priority,” Miller (said)… Miller expects Trump to sign an executive order banning large investors from buying single-family homes, and then her bill will codify that policy into law. ….

By Mark Alexander, Patriot Post – What an amazing year just passed, and the one ahead more so! I may be the last person wishing you a Happy New Year, but know this: I mean it from the heart!… It is fitting, with humility, that our 30th year advancing our mission “to support and defend” Freedom would fall on our nation’s 250th year in the eternal battle required to sustain American Liberty and extend it to the next generation… It did not occur to me on Constitution Day, 17 September 1996, when we launched The Patriot Post, that our 30th anniversary would coincide with such a magnificent moment in American history. …

By Veronique de Rugy, The American Spectator – Fraud is widespread and persistent… Growing national outrage over Minnesota’s welfare fraud is justified, but not because of where it took place or because it implicates members of any immigrant community. It’s much more than a “Minnesota” story… The outrage is justified because Americans are finally getting a concrete look at what happens when pushing public money out the door matters more than verifying the eligibility of the recipients, confirming services were delivered, or, ultimately, being a good steward of taxpayers’ money. …

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – Through the first eight months of his pontificate, Leo XIV has been a calming presence in Rome. There have been no shocking statements from the apostolic palace to prompt sensational headlines, no dramatic policy announcements to unveil grand new plans. Vatican-watchers are still waiting to see what sort of papacy this will be. The consistory of cardinals meeting this week— his first unexpected initiative— may answer their questions… To date Pope Leo has appeared content to continue along the path set by Pope Francis.

Franciscan Media – Some saints show marks of holiness very early. Not Angela! Born of a leading family in Foligno, Italy, she became immersed in the quest for wealth and social position. As a wife and mother, she continued this life of distraction.

By Eddie Scarry, The Federalist – That Tim Walz is abandoning his reelection campaign for Minnesota governor amid a maddening multibillion-dollar welfare fraud scandal should serve as a big reminder: Democrats are robbing you every day and hardly even trying to hide it… Recall Walz as the stereotypical self-abasing Democrat white male, presumably heterosexual, who was inexplicably chosen to be Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 election. His stint in that role was the equivalent of a 300-pound belly flop into a pool full of sand ….

By Max Dublin, The American Spectator – South America is moving on from socialist fantasies, just as the North begins to embrace them… With all the hullabaloo relating to the extraction and arrest of Venezuelan narco-dictator Nicolás Maduro, it is easy to forget that in recent years — and even recent months — good things have been happening in the southern hemisphere without America’s helping hand… Shortly before the recent election in Chile, I visited that country to attend a wedding. …

By Sarah Cain, Crisis Magazine – The new and already infamous Bishop Michael Martin began by targeting the reverent churches that have produced vocations, and he has now turned to target the seminarians themselves. He wishes to delay the ordination of young men by a year, forcing them to work as lay teachers midway through the seminary program. After they have received their bachelor’s degree in philosophy through Belmont Abbey College, and before they begin their theology education for their master’s, they will work as teachers in diocesan schools.

By Edward Welsch, Chronicles – Unlike my ancestors, the Somalis did not come to the United States to work. They came to America to become government dependents and clients of the Democratic Party… They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you, okay? Someone will say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks and we don’t want them in our country.

By Terry Hursh, Catholic Exchange – Many people are incredibly active, yet spiritually stagnant—especially in the most important aspect of life: knowing, loving, and serving God… Fr. Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009), former editor of “First Things,” once observed, “It seems like most of us spend our lives discovering we are merely ‘creatures’ and not the Creator. We want to create our own successful world…without understanding that it is the Creator—not the created—who is in control.”

By Tyler Arnold, Catholic News Agency – “Now you have to be a little flexible on Hyde,” the president said. “You know that you got to be a little flexible. You got to work something [out]. You got to use ingenuity. You got to work. We’re all big fans of everything, but you got to be flexible. You have to have flexibility.”… Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, criticized Trump for urging flexibility on the provision, calling its support “an unshakeable bedrock principle and a minimum standard in the Republican Party.”

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 6:45-52 – 45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. 47 And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. ….

By Felix Miller, Catholic Vote – The Catholic Church in the U.S. has reportedly seen a surge in requests for exorcisms in the past few years, leading to an increased number of priests being trained as exorcists, according to recent reports… The Catholic Church teaches that demons are real and that they can possess human beings. According to paragraph 1673 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, there are two forms of exorcism: the simple form, which occurs at every baptism, and the solemn or “major” exorcism, which deals with serious cases of demonic possession.

By Michael Haynes, PerMariam, Substack – Cardinal Radcliffe, who served as spiritual advisor to the Synod on Synodality, has given his support to “moving ahead quickly” with ordaining women to the diaconate… Timothy Cardinal Radcliffe OP made a number of revelatory comments, not least about the fact that he apparently fell in love with a woman just shortly after he was ordained a priest and invited her to stay at his priory to meet the Dominican community there… But it is his position on women’s access to the diaconal order which is a standout aspect of the interview.

By Ryan Colby, LifeNews – The State of Colorado must pay $5.4 million in attorneys’ fees to Becket following the state’s unconstitutional effort to outlaw abortion pill reversal. Becket represented Bella Health and Wellness, a Denver-area Catholic pro-life healthcare clinic, defending them against Colorado’s attempt to make it illegal for doctors and nurses to help women who take the first abortion pill but then decide to continue their pregnancies.

By Gina Christian, OSV News – Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans issued a formal apology to abuse survivors in that archdiocese. This follows a court approval of a $230 million settlement in a five-year-long bankruptcy case. “With this letter,” he wrote, “I express on behalf of the clergy, religious, and laity of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, my predecessors, and myself, profound regret over the tragic and inexcusable harm you have suffered at the hands of your abusers.”

By Complicit Clergy, by Staff – A year ago, the news surprised the Catholic world: on January 6, 2025, Pope Francis appointed the first woman to head a Vatican dicastery. The Consolata missionary Simona Brambilla was named to oversee more than 600,000 religious sisters and brothers (including 128,559 priests) worldwide… No less unprecedented was the appointment of a pro-prefect, a position not previously provided for by curial norms in this case. Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB, assumed this role, whose performance remains opaque.

Franciscan Media – Since Raymond lived into his hundredth year, he had a chance to do many things. As a member of the Spanish nobility, he had the resources and the education to get a good start in life… By the time he was 20, he was teaching philosophy. In his early 30s he earned a doctorate in both canon and civil law. At 41 he became a Dominican…

Patriot Post, Headlines – Maduro update: Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro appeared in a New York City court on Monday following his arrest by U.S. forces in Caracas over the weekend. Wearing a prison uniform, Maduro pleaded not guilty to charges connected to narco-terrorism, contending that he was “a decent man” and that he was “innocent” and “not guilty of anything that is mentioned here.” His wife, Cilia Flores, who was arrested and charged with him, also entered a not-guilty plea. …

By Sandra Miesel, Catholic World Report – The Wise Men—not yet called kings—make only a single appearance in Holy Scripture. St. Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 2:1-12) tells of their arrival in Jerusalem shortly after the birth of Jesus. They have come seeking the newborn King of the Jews because they had seen his star rise in the East. Herod, the current ruler, knows nothing of an upstart princeling but learns that prophecies place him in Bethlehem. Herod directs the Wise Men to search there for the Child and keep him informed. Following their star, the Wise Men find Jesus with his Mother.

By John Cassara, Crisis Magazine – Greed is part of the human condition. It has always been with us. Yet in our progressive, post-Christian, materialistic, and debased culture, it seems like we are seeing more and more instances of egregious criminality based on greed… For example, Minnesota’s Somali community has recently faced scrutiny over major fraud cases, particularly the multimillion-dollar “Feeding Our Future” scandal. It involved Covid pandemic food aid and other forms of government assistance, including Medicaid fraud, child care, housing, and autism programs. Estimates of the fraud vary from between $9 and $18 billion. …

By Katy Faust, The Federalist – Then there is Elon Musk, who has openly declared that having many children is a moral duty to save civilization. Musk has at least 14 publicly known children, many conceived through IVF, surrogacy, or relationships intentionally structured around reproduction rather than marriage. He has said that “smart people” need to have more kids — and has used reproductive technologies to curate which women will bear them. …

By Michael Hichborn, Lepanto Institute – According to the assistant chaplain, Thomas More University enrolls students who are Catholic, members of other Christian denominations, and adherents of non-Christian religions, including Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. He stated that because many such students lack transportation to off-campus houses of worship, students “on their own, were using space that was not appropriate or conducive to prayer.”… after considering space constraints, noise, and security concerns, students of all faiths were offered the use of the meditation or prayer room as an interfaith chapel.

By Father Jerry J. Pokorsky, Catholic World Report – Every person, from king to commoner, lives by a moral code. Catholic moral theology is grounded in the Ten Commandments and the principles of Natural Law…. The Catholic Church clusters its moral precepts—Natural Law, God’s positive law, and Church discipline—around the Ten Commandments. Catholic moral theology is reasonable and governs human acts. The deliberate violation of a moral precept, with freedom and full consent, renders a person guilty. Although most sins are venial and weaken the soul, some sins are mortal and rob it of sanctifying grace. God grants His grace and the sacraments to restore that grace and return us to the path of salvation.

By Christopher Jacobs, The Federalist – I could go on (and on and on), but I won’t. Here’s hoping that, regardless of what happens with the upcoming vote in the House, Republicans stop playing into Democrats’ hands and start turning their attention toward reducing the underlying cost of health care, rather than throwing good taxpayer money over bad at a failing Obamacare program.

By Cassy Cooke, Live Action News – If 2025 proved one thing, it’s that the pro-life movement is not slowing down. And Live Action continues to lead where culture, truth, and accountability meet… Here are some of the biggest victories the pro-life movement celebrated in 2025… Defunding Big Abortion of an estimated $700 million… This summer, the reconciliation bill known as the “Big Beautiful Bill” passed Congress and was subsequently signed by President Trump on July 4.

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing – Pope Leo has summoned the world’s Cardinals to a Consistory this week, a return to normal practice that was mostly sidelined for the past dozen years in favor of “synodal” gatherings. So now that the Jubilee Year has concluded, the current pope is doing something new – and old – in any event, a departure from his predecessor’s ways, in the very first days of 2026. What might that mean?

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Mark 6:34-44 – 34 As he went ashore he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the hour is now late; 36 send them away, to go into the country and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat.” ….

By Fr. Mario Alexis Portella, Crisis Magazine – The era of socialism in New York City has begun as Mayor Zohran Mamdani was ceremoniously sworn in by the socialist Democrat Senator of Vermont, Bernie Sanders. In his inauguration speech on New Year’s Day, the new mayor said: “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism…. I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist.”… Mamdani, aside from seeking to freeze rent on the city’s nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments as part of his socialist agenda, has also vowed to implement city-owned grocery stores.

By Nancy Flanders, Live Action News – Fox News contributor and liberal commentator Leslie Marshall has shared the heartbreak of her journey with in vitro fertilization (IVF), including that she went through 13 cycles and 11 miscarriages… Marshall and her husband have two children: one from adoption and one via IVF. Her first son died as an infant due to Canavan disease, a genetic condition. There was a 25% chance that any child they had would have the condition and a 75% chance that the child wouldn’t. …

By Franciscan Media – Brother André expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to Saint Joseph… Sickness and weakness dogged André from birth. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian couple near Montreal. Adopted at 12, when both parents had died, he became a farmhand. Various trades followed: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith—all failures. He was a factory worker in the United States during the boom times of the Civil War.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Radical pro-abortion Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who signed a law allowing infanticide by letting babies die who survive abortions, announced Monday he will not seek reelection amid an ongoing fraud scandal plaguing his administration… Walz, a pro-abortion Democrat who initially launched his bid for a historic third term in September, reversed course, citing the need to focus on combating widespread fraud in state programs rather than campaigning.”

By David Catron, The American Spectator – The 1973 War Powers Resolution allows him to deploy military forces without prior approval of Congress… It was hardly necessary to consult the Delphic Oracle to know that every Democrat within reach of a microphone would denounce President Trump’s military action against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. It was, however, surprising to discover how ignorant the Democrats are about the President’s authority to deploy military forces. …

By Mark Rose, Rorate Caeli – The following op-ed, by guest writer Mark Rose, is in the style of Paul Harvey’s “If I were the Devil.”… If I were the Bishop—if I were the successor to the Apostles, charged with the care of souls in the United States—I’d want to make the Church irrelevant. I wouldn’t do it with persecution; that only makes the faithful stronger. I’d do it with “modernization.”… I’d begin by whispering that the old ways are dead. I’d convince you that we need to “update” the Church, not to convert the world, but to be liked by it. I would invoke the “Spirit of Vatican II” to dismantle the structures that held the faith together for centuries, taking into account the data showing that the Council’s implementation triggered a worldwide collapse in Mass attendance. …

By Srdja Trifkovic, Chronicles – In this hope, Maurras was disappointed: Pétain was outwitted by outright Nazi collaborationists. His turn of phrase nevertheless describes President Donald Trump’s December 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) for those who hope America can be once again a regular nation in its foreign affairs: powerful, secure, and focused on its pragmatic interests, in the realist tradition…. The president prefaced the 33-page document as “a roadmap to ensure America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history and the home of freedom on earth.”

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Louisiana is pushing to temporarily reinstate an in-person requirement for dispensing abortion pills in a federal lawsuit that could protect thousands of unborn babies from chemical abortions enabled by a Biden administration rule… The state’s motion, filed December 17 in U.S. District Court, challenges the 2023 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy rule from the Food and Drug Administration, which allows remote prescription and mailing of the abortion drug mifepristone. A hearing on the request to restore the in-person safeguard is set for February 24.

By Nathanael Blake, The Federalist – Americans do not need illegal immigrants to raise our children… Atlantic writer Olga Khazan disagrees. She is angry at President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration because it is disrupting the easily exploited servant class that provides cheap childcare. As she explains, “Millions of parents in the United States … rely on immigrants to take care of their kids. … Immigrants make up at least 21 percent of the child-care workforce — and this may be an undercount.”… Fertility is about priorities and character, not immigration policy. The birth rate will go up if Americans prioritize having and raising their own children, not because they are offered a supply of cheap, easily exploited foreign women to change diapers.

By Mary Stroka, Catholic Vote – Since then, significant related developments have unfolded, including the following… Rubio explains U.S. policy in Venezuela.. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Kristen Welker of NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the U.S. is at war with drug trafficking organizations, not Venezuela. He told Welker after she asked about President Donald Trump’s statement “We’re going to run the country” that the U.S. is “running policy” regarding changes in Venezuela.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 4:12-17,23-25 – 12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — 16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” ….

By CNA Staff, Catholic World Report, Catholic News Agency – President Donald Trump announced Saturday that U.S. forces have “captured” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following a “large-scale strike” on the South American nation… “The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” Trump wrote.

By Fr. Wayne Sattler, Catholic Exchange – “Mental prayer,” St. Teresa of Avila writes, “is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us” (The Book of Her Life, ch. 8, par. 5)… When we make time frequently to be alone with anyone we love, the time will not always be filled with noticeable activity.  We come to enjoy simply being with them without much concern as to what we might be doing. …

By Casey Chalk, The Federalist – No one looms larger in the story of our nation’s struggle for independence than George Washington, who today seems almost mythical… There are many things to celebrate during our nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations, and many men to honor for their part in our country’s birth: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock among them. But no one looms larger than George Washington, who today seems almost mythical. At Washington’s funeral, Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee famously eulogized Washington as, “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” In 2026, it is our duty to ensure that honorific remains as true as when it was first spoken.

By Samantha Stephenson, Crisis Magazine – Amid so much toxicity, we find ourselves in desperate need of an antidote. (January 1st), on this Feast of Mary, Mother of God, I submit that it is she, our Queen, who is the antidote… Amid so much toxicity, we find ourselves in desperate need of an antidote. (Jan. 1st), on this Feast of Mary, Mother of God, I submit that it is she, our Queen, who is the antidote. Her example is the remedy we need to clear the poisons from our systems, and we need no other resolutions this year but to cling more closely to Mary, who mothers us all. …

By Edward Pentin, Substack – The vital importance of sacred music to the liturgy, the need for every Catholic to be watchful and prepared for the Four Last Things, and the recognition that only Christ’s kingship will bring true peace were among the key messages Cardinal Robert Sarah brought to the United States late last year… Cardinal Sarah’s visit to the U.S. was centered around the launch of his new book, The Song of the Lamb: Sacred Music and Heavenly Liturgy, co-written with Church musician Peter Carter.

By Anthony Esolen, The Catholic Thing – Will not “blood” be one of the evangelist’s most crucial motifs?  Will not “flesh” be taken up in the very next line?  Why must all the mysterious suggestions be reduced to the bald and the banal, as if John were transcribing the minutes for a committee?… If such a thing is held as inseparable from the Novus Ordo, along with the rest of the flattening – if, I say – then novus would be the wrong word.  Praeteritus, rather, for a bygone fad, like loud polyester slacks, or that palma Felicis.  Bishops, I beg you, take heed.

By Franciscan Media, January 5 – Perhaps because the United States got a later start in the history of the world, it has relatively few canonized saints, but their number is increasing… Saint John Neumann was born in what is now the Czech Republic. After studying in Prague, he came to New York at 25 and was ordained a priest. He did missionary work in New York until he was 29, when he joined the Redemptorists and became its first member to profess vows in the United States. …

By Randall O’Bannon, Ph.D., LifeNews – As you see in the accompanying chart that we have linked to, we have made substantial progress in reducing the number of abortions and lowering the abortion rate over the past thirty years. At the same time, though, as long as abortion is legal, each year we will keep adding to the total of lives lost to America’s greatest holocaust.