News

By Michele McAloon,  The Catholic Thing – Advent in Germany is brightened by its world-famous Christmas markets. The smell of grilled sausage, Germany’s famous mulled gluhwein, and gingerbread (Lebkuchen) blend together under multicolored  lights creating a cheerful experience in anticipation of Christ’s birth… Tragically, in the past ten years, festivities have been marred by violence.  Terrorists have murdered market-goers in  Magdeburg, Trier, Berlin and in several markets in France. German and French authorities have now been forced to take measures to prevent these threats almost everywhere.

By Anna Callahan, LifeNews – Abortions in the U.S. have increased this year under a remaining Biden policy that subverts the pro-life laws in 21 states. This week #WeCount issued a report showing a 40% increase in mail-order abortions from the first six months of 2024 to the first half of 2025… Biden’s mail-order abortion policy removed basic standards on mifepristone that were in place during the first Trump administration like in-person doctor visits. Since then, women have come forward after being poisoned by abusers. …

By Anne Hendershott, The American Spectator – In the end, the Vatican meeting between Pope Leo and Governor Pritzker illustrates the peril of selective alliances. While agreement on immigration may appear noble, it risks obscuring the governor’s radical opposition to Catholic teaching on life itself. By lending moral credibility to a politician so deeply invested in the culture of death, the Church jeopardizes its witness, leaving the faithful to question whether its defense of human dignity is consistent or compromised.

By Nancy Flanders, Live Action News – A new method of in vitro fertilization (IVF) known as “natural” or “ethical” IVF has gained popularity, especially among adults experiencing infertility who don’t want to create multiple embryos that will generally not survive… For individuals wishing to use IVF, but feeling conflicted about creating more embryos than they would want to carry to term, “ethical” or “natural” IVF appears to be a solution — but is it?

Complicit Clergy, by Staff – Days After Meeting With Pope Leo, Governor Pritzker Signs Euthanasia Bill Into Law – X Post by Mary Miller – @Miller_Congress – Every human life has dignity and value, no matter their age, illness, or circumstance… JB Pritzker just signed a bill that tells the sick, the elderly, and the disabled that their lives are expendable… This is a complete and total moral failure. Government should NEVER offer death as a solution.

By Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, Abp. of San Francisco, National Catholic Register – To survive and flourish, every great civilization needs to cherish the story of its origin… It is good, then, that plans are taking shape to celebrate next year’s 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence. But a country as great as America has more than one origin story to tell… This Dec. 12, millions of Hispanics will celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe as part of their own origin story as Americans…

By Matthew Plese, Fatima.org – What Are Precepts?… In a Catholic context, the word “precept” is nearly synonymous with the word “commandment.” In general, the word “commandment” makes us think of the ten moral laws which God revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). However, since Our Lord has entrusted His authority to the Catholic Church, the Church can also decree moral laws which bind us… Today the laws of the Church are generally grouped as a body in the Code of Canon Law. The faithful remain largely ignorant of most of these laws

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 17:9a,10-13 – 9a And as they were coming down the mountain 10 the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 11 He replied, “Elijah does come, and he is to restore all things; 12 but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

By Franciscan Media – .. The single fact survives that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian, and she was executed in Syracuse, Sicily, in the year 304. But it is also true that her name is mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer, geographical places are named after her, a popular song has her name as its title, and down through the centuries many thousands of little girls have been proud of the name Lucy.

By Kevin Cohen, The American Spectator – As churches empty, mosques take their place across the West… On certain Sunday mornings in America, you can still hear a church bell toll across an otherwise silent neighborhood. The sound is familiar, but the congregation it once summoned has vanished. Pews sit undisturbed, hymnals gather dust, and sanctuaries once filled with life now echo only with the footsteps of estate agents measuring out a future that will no longer be Christian. In much of the West, the bell remains — but its audience has gone. …

Franciscan Media – The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the 16th century. Chronicles of that period tell us the story… A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower, and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – The House passed the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Dec. 10, approving a roughly $900 billion military spending blueprint that includes millions in security assistance for Ukraine and Israel… The measure, which sets policy and funding priorities for the Pentagon, advanced by a vote of 312-112 and now heads to the Senate for consideration. While the bill authorizes Pentagon programs, it does not provide money for them; Congress must still pass a separate spending bill for the fiscal year ending September 2026, according to Reuters.

By Jan Bentz, Catholic Herald – In this wide-ranging conversation, Cardinal Müller reflects on the true nature of Advent as a time of purification and hope, offers counsel for resisting the noise of consumer culture, and examines Europe’s paradoxical blend of secularism and religious revival. He speaks candidly about Vatican II, the challenges posed by the SSPX, and the turbulence of the German Synodal Path. What emerges is a bracing and luminous vision of the faith — one grounded in Christ, rooted in the Tradition, and unflinching in the face of the Church’s present trials.

By Jarrett Stepman, The Daily Signal – But Scott said the Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, has been an “absolute disaster” that turned out to be based on “complete lies.”… “Oh, you’re going to keep your doctor. That was a complete lie. Oh, you get to keep your plan. Lie,” he said. “Oh, you’re going to save $2,500 per family. Lie. And so, what’s frustrating is it’s been sold on a lie.”… What’s happened since the passage of Obamacare is that “costs have skyrocketed,” Scott said. He explained that a high-deductible plan has risen in price from around $3,000 to “$6,500, $10,000, $15,000.

By Dr. Christopher Shannon, Catholic World Report – “All men are created equal!” Perhaps more than any other principle, this phrase captures the transcendent ideal that inspired the Founders to declare their independence from Great Britain. The triumph of the principle of equality in modern Western politics has dulled the contemporary mind to the radicalism of this assertion… Despite the claim of the Declaration of Independence, this principle was by no means “self-evident.” The stalemate with Parliament over the meaning of the “rights of Englishmen” forced the colonists to appeal to principles beyond the English tradition ….

By Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune – Over the last two years, Paxton has launched investigations into at least a dozen companies, mostly immigrant-serving nonprofits, claiming they were breaking the law, or in some cases, their own corporate charters. None of these allegations have yet been proven in court… What two key Texas courts and a federal appeals court have said, though, is that Paxton has wide authority to demand internal corporate records and file lawsuits to revoke a company’s right to do business in Texas if he believes they are violating the law. He can bring these legal actions without offering evidence to back up his claims, a Texas appeals court ruled. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 11:16-19 – 16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, 17 `We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon’; 19 the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ….

By Michael Augros, National Catholic Register – AI raises an endless stream of questions: Will it take our jobs? Cure diseases? Destabilize governments? Make us rich — or make us targets for hackers and terrorists?… Beneath all these loud debates sits a quieter and far more basic one: Can AI truly think? Perhaps it can “think” or “perceive” in some metaphorical sense, just as a spell-checker “thinks” you misspelled a word even when you didn’t. But does it possess real understanding — an interior awareness of itself and the world, like the awareness we find in ourselves? Or is it simply a well-designed circuit shuttling electrical signals about ….

By Tyler O’Neil, LifeNews – Senate Democrats today blocked a Republican health plan that would defund abortion by ensuring that Obamacare subsidies are not used to fund killing babies in abortions… Democrats blocked the Crapo Cassidy bill on a 51 to 48 vote, with 60 votes necessary for the measure to move forward for debate and a final vote… The vote was remarkable in the sense that over 50 Republican Senators agreed to the pro-life healthcare plan that would ensure that abortions are not funded with taxpayer dollars.

By Rob Sexton, Catholic Exchange – The spiritual life grows the way a house does. Not all at once, and not because we force it to. It grows because the foundation is sound. Ignatius knew that, which is why he begins the Spiritual Exercises with the Principle and Foundation. Before you worry about anything else in your life or in your prayer, he says, remember what you were made for: to praise, reverence, and serve God, and to let everything else in your life serve that one purpose.

By Greg Piper, Just the News – “He is swayed by data, the scientific method, and clinical experience” but a mob got Kirk Milhoan fired because he leads a CDC advisory body, wife says. Elite American magazine admits COVID vaccines “may” have killed kids, as vaccines chief says… Can medical professionals work with the Trump administration and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services without risking their careers, even as articles of faith in public health fail under the evidence?

By Ethan Savka, Crisis Magazine – Over the past five years, conservative constitutional theory has fractured over two competing visions: the dominant originalism and textualism seen across the federal courts, and the rising common good constitutionalism movement rooted in the classical legal tradition and Catholic natural law teachings. Although the conversations remain mostly esoteric, in recent months, the divide between originalists who prefer the traditional textualist ….

By Matthew Bunson, National Catholic Register – One year after the 2024 presidential election returned him to the White House, President Donald Trump remains popular among Catholic voters, whose support proved pivotal to his re-election, a new EWTN News RealClear Opinion Research Poll shows… That backing extends to the chief flashpoint of Trump’s first year since regaining the presidency: the ongoing mass deportation of hundreds of thousands of illegal or undocumented immigrants.

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture – In 2008, Dr. George Delgado, a family physician in San Diego County, California, received a phone call from a pro-life sidewalk counselor, Terry Palmquist, explaining that a woman in Texas had asked her for help after starting a chemical abortion using mifepristone. The woman had changed her mind and wanted desperately to know whether the abortion could be stopped… In response to Terry’s request for a solution, Dr. Delgado wracked his brain. Then he asked Dr. Thomas Hilgers at the Saint Paul VI Institute in San Francisco to comment on the possibility of combatting the mifepristone with progesterone. …

By Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, (Complicit Clergy) – White House border czar Tom Homan on Dec. 7 said more than 60,000 children who were illegally smuggled into the United States have been located by the Trump administration and that some were rescued from dire situations, including sex trafficking and forced labor… on Dec. 7, Homan said that the previous administration “lost track of 300,000” children who were “smuggled into” the US saying some of those children were released to ”unvetted sponsors.”… Since President Donald Trump took office in January, 62,000 children who were taken into the US had been found …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 11:11-15 – Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John; 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – In a major win for the Trump administration, a federal appellate court upheld the Pentagon’s prohibition on trans-identifying individuals from serving in the military on Tuesday… In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals fully paused a March injunction issued by Biden-appointed District Judge Ana Reyes that sought to prevent the aforementioned policy from going into effect. As The Federalist’s Joy Pullmann previously reported, Reyes “identifies as some variety of LGBT, is a longtime Democrat Party donor ….

By Doug Bandow, The American Spectator – Religious persecution remains a global scourge, and America’s nominal friends are sometimes as bad as its adversaries. Such as India, in which religious minorities suffer greatly under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. The country’s underlying intolerant attitudes have been highlighted by recent Hindu nationalist criticism of Vice President JD Vance’s Catholic faith.

By James Finn, Nola – The Archdiocese of New Orleans is allowing Catholics who are fearful of leaving their homes to miss Mass while U.S. Border Patrol agents fan out across the city in the second week of an immigration enforcement operation… Archbishop Gregory Aymond granted the dispensation for Catholics who are “rightfully afraid to participate in Mass” due to the sweeps… The dispensation will be valid “until the individual Catholic determines it is safe to attend Mass again or this dispensation is revoked or amended,” Aymond said in a letter Monday to New Orleans’ Catholic clergy.

By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing – The word “nostalgia” was coined in the seventeenth century by a Swiss physician named Johannes Hofer. The word was a Latinized combination of two Greek words: nostos, meaning “a return home” (think Odysseus), and algos, meaning “pain.” Hofer used his new word to describe a medical condition, one he noticed to be particularly common among Swiss mercenaries serving abroad, which might best be described as acute homesickness – homesickness so acute that it could sometimes be fatal.

By Jeff Minick, Intellectual Takeout 2024 – So ran the chorus to Aretha Franklin’s 1967 hit song “Chain of Fools.”… One hundred twenty years earlier, the Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels proclaimed: “Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!”… The chains of Franklin’s song and those of the Marxist slogan are linked by one word: fools… For over 175 years, believers have bought into Marxist visions of utopia. From the European revolutions of 1848 to the 2025 election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York, devotees of communism …

By Dr. Donald DeMarco, Catholic Exchange – Envy, according to the classical definition, is sadness at another’s good fortune.  Envy, which is the second of the Deadly Sins, robs one of the joy he could share with another person’s gifts.  God grants people His gifts to please the recipient, but also to be shared with others.  We should rejoice when anyone displays God’s gifts… Our duty is two-fold:  to nurture our own gifts and admire the gifts of others.  Therefore, we should be more concerned about counting our own blessings rather that those conferred on others.  Envy is a terrible intruder that places sadness where joy should abound.

By Steven Ertelt, LiveNews – The number of independent abortion clinics that ceased operations in 2025 reached 23 as of October, nearly double the 12 closures recorded in 2024 and matching the 23 from 2023…. The report from the pro-abortion group “Abortion Care Network” focuses on abortion centers not affiliated with the Planned Parenthood abortion company. They kill 58% of babies whose lives are ended in abortions… These closures represent a significant step forward in the protection of unborn babies …..

By John Zmirak, The Stream – You might not have heard about it, but the Trump administration recently issued an historic policy paper on U.S. strategy toward the world, but especially a European Union where most of the countries are technically our allies, allegedly pledged to the same values. On paper, that is. But with Britain arresting dozens of citizens each day for social media posts, when they complain about the mass importation of Third World “refugees” at public expense, and France and Germany trying to outlaw opposition parties, while Muslim mobs shut down Christmas markets and the EU threatens massive fines if Elon Musk won’t censor X … you really have to wonder. Are we on the same page as Europe?

By Donald Jacob Uitvlugt, Catholic World Report – (Dec. 10th) marks an important Marian feast arising from the devotional life of the Church and especially of the lay faithful, the feast of Our Lady of Loreto. Traditional accounts report that, on December 10, 1394, the small house in which the Virgin Mary had lived was transported by angels to the small town of Loreto (in central Italy, not too far from the Adriatic)… Much ink has been spilled, especially in modern times, over whether the stone structure housed in the Basilica della Santa Casa is or is not the structure in which the Annunciation occurred. One is not required to believe that the walls within the basilica were transported by angels, or indeed was the house of the Annunciation at all ….

By Scott Ventureyra, Crisis Magazine – Yet the real wound is not only that these boys are drifting into harder and more chaotic spaces online. The deeper wound is that most Christian leaders have offered them nothing stronger or more hopeful to cling to. Too many churches adopt a soft managerial tone instead of demonstrating genuine pastoral courage. Too many pastors behave like administrators when the moment demands fathers. These young men do not need to be analyzed, reprimanded, or told they are a problem. They need direction. They need presence. They need someone willing to stand in the gap.

By Arthur Schaper, American Greatness – America must defend its borders, culture, and citizens—mass immigration isn’t charity; it’s a threat we can no longer ignore… After the recent gruesome attack on two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., there should be no further argument about how we need to stop not only all illegal immigration but also reverse mass immigration as well… For too long, We the People have been guilt-tripped into thinking that we must become the battered women’s shelter for the entire world or that we are the only viable asylum for the world’s religious dissidents and persecuted minorities. …

By Kevin & Theresa Burke, Catholic Exchange – The U.S. abortion ratio reached its peak in 1984, with 364 abortions for every 1,000 live births.  This generation with the highest abortion rates in our nation’s history are entering their golden years.  This provides an opportunity for the Church to share a message of reconciliation, hope, and healing… Eileen Kuhlmann has been a leader for many years in an abortion healing ministry in the Dallas archdiocese.  Eileen shared the story of Joanne: “An 87-year-old woman reached out to me with a desire to heal of a past abortion.  She simply said, ‘It is time.’”

By Aubry Killion, WDSU – The Archdiocese of New Orleans’ yearslong bankruptcy has officially ended… Judge Meredith Grabill heard from church leaders, sex abuse survivors, and insurance companies over the course of two weeks and formally approved the $230 million settlement on Monday… Last week testimony wrapped up with Grabill taking the weekend to come to her final decision on the settlement… Attorneys for the Archdiocese said money for survivors will be ready before Dec. 31.

By Kevin Finn, American Thinker – Catholic NGOs accepted millions in federal tax dollars trafficking unaccompanied children… In the history of American governance, few chapters will stain the pages as darkly as the utter failure of the Biden-Harris administration to safeguard unaccompanied migrant children. I must ask this question: If their goal was to intentionally traffic children into sexual slavery and forced labor, how would their actions have been any different?

By Michael Haynes, Per Mariam, Substack, (Complicit Clergy) – Titled “¿Por qué no termino de sanarme?” or “Why can’t I finish healing myself?,” the 2002 book by then-Fr. Fernández in Argentina appears at least textually to be a sequel to his 1995 work “Heal me with your mouth: the Art of Kissing.” The 1995 book courted immense controversy due to its repeatedly sexually suggestive and explicit content, the inclusion of unmistakably erotic and often ambiguous sexual relationships in which the genders of the participants are unspecified.

By Mary Rose, Catholic Vote – A new NFL  promotional spot titled “Baby Mafia || You Better Believe It” turned the sacrament of Baptism into a punchline, Catholic commentator Tom Nash argues in a recent Catholic Answers article… Since the early 2010s, tailgating Buffalo Bills fans have a tradition of diving onto folding tables in exuberant displays of team loyalty. That same tradition now anchors a new parody “baptism,” with the Bills Mafia, the team’s fanbase, adapting it into a baby-safe initiation ritual.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 11:28-30 – 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

By David G Bonagura, Jr., The Catholic Thing – A turning point is an event that inaugurates substantial change, such as the Battles of Saratoga and Gettysburg or the Eagles’ “Philly Special” trick play in Super Bowl LII. The change is decisive – the future takes an unexpected path that would not have worked out otherwise. Its synonyms – climax, watershed, milestone – lack the critical element of beginning something new that might not have been… With Advent, we prepare for the biggest turning point the universe has ever seen: the Incarnation of the Son of God. …

The Editors, National Catholic Register – A White House message marking the Immaculate Conception repeated a common misunderstanding about when the Incarnation began — a truth central to the Church’s pro-life witness… The White House marked the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception — the first of two major Marian feasts this week with a direct connection to the sanctity of unborn human life — with a presidential message celebrating the occasion…

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – Following the installation of a new Catholic bishop in China last week, the Vatican announced that the appointment had been made “in accordance with the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.”… Not quite. The details of the Vatican-Beijing accord remain secret, but the common understanding is that the Pope chooses bishops from among candidates nominated by Beijing. But Bishop Francis Li Jianlin, who was ordained last week to head the Xianxiang prefecture, was named by the Chinese regime in April, when there was no Pope to approve the selection.

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – The U.S. Supreme Court signaled on Monday that it’s prepared to recognize what the Constitution has unequivocally held for centuries — that the president controls the executive branch of government… During oral arguments for Trump v. Slaughter, a majority of justices appeared favorable to the Trump administration’s arguments regarding President Trump’s firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democrat member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). …

By Fr. Kevin Drew, Catholic Exchange – Where did John baptize people?… The Jordan River runs south out of the Sea of Galilee, seventy miles to the north of Jerusalem. Pilgrims, headed to Jerusalem for the feasts, would take the river road south to Jericho and then head west up the Jericho Road the last fifteen miles to Jerusalem.  The Baptist positioned himself somewhere near where these two roads met.  It was a good location for business, busy with people coming and going from the big city.

By Franciscan Media – The rise of the factory system in 19th-century Germany brought many single men into cities where they faced new challenges to their faith. Father Adolph Kolping began a ministry to them, hoping that they would not be lost to the Catholic faith, as was happening to workers elsewhere in industrialized Europe.

Fr. Jason Charron, Crisis Magazine – A reunification of Orthodoxy with Catholicism could remind each of what was lost in the schism… In the wake of the 1,700-year commemoration of the Council of Nicaea, where Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I stood together on the soil of ancient İznik, the question of Church unity has taken on renewed urgency. Their meeting, at once liturgical and symbolic, recalled not only a shared origin but the enduring divergence of temperament that has shaped East and West. …

By John Horvat II, Crisis Magazine – The “Synodal Church” attempts to eradicate the hierarchical structure of the Church as instituted by Christ, replacing it with a democratic model… A small work is now circulating in the Catholic world that is shrouded in mystery. Published this fall by Catholics for Catholics, it is titled: “The Trojan Horse in the Catholic Church—Synod of Synodality: The Attempt to Invert the Bride of Christ’s Hierarchy and Moral Order.”… What makes the book so mysterious and controversial is that no one knows from whence it came. The author is listed as just Fr. Enoch. ….

By Jack Rigert, Crisis Magazine – Something remarkable is happening across America’s cities. Young adults—often bright, compassionate, and idealistic—are voting for leaders who openly identify as socialists or even Marxists. Places like New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle, once known for their entrepreneurial energy, have embraced movements that have failed everywhere they have been tried… It is easy, from a distance, to dismiss these young people as misguided or naïve. But that would be a profound mistake. They are responding to something real—something older generations do not always see.

By Maisey Jefferson, The Federalist – The Holy Family fleeing from one Roman-controlled region to another in the first century is in no way a mandate on whether America has a right to enforce immigration laws… Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem in accordance with the law to be counted as members of the “Roman world,” not to evade it or escape (Luke 2:1-15). Jesus was born in a stable, not because the Holy Family was homeless or displaced, but because “there was no guest room available for them” during their census trip to the City of David.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 18:12-14 – 12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

By Ashlynn Lemos, LifeNews – The children’s book… ““Abortion Is Everything” speaks directly to five to eight-year-olds about what abortion is, how it might feel, and why people have abortions. With accessible, inclusive language, (the book) frames abortion as the actualization of a uniquely human superpower: our capacity to imagine the future and make choices that lead us towards the life we envision. Abortion is a tool that allows human beings to shape our destinies, and which has shaped the entire world around us.”

By Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness – A border abandoned and laws ignored have turned public frustration into a sweeping backlash that now threatens even legal immigration… It is hard now even for Democrats to defend illegal immigration, given that the Biden administration allowed in more than 10 million entrants. Among them were an estimated 500,000 criminals. No one believes that was wise or should ever be repeated… Worse, the message went out that there would be few, if any, deportations and no real ICE kinetic activity beyond the border.

By Matthew Becklo, Catholic World Report – December 9 marks the anniversary of the death of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, one of the greatest evangelists of the twentieth century. Known above all for his pioneering work in radio and television—at the peak of his popularity in the 1950s, his Life Is Worth Living program beat out celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Milton Berle—Sheen was also a gifted theologian and writer. His first book, an adaptation of his doctoral dissertation, featured an introduction by G. K. Chesterton, and he went on to write dozens more, including his beloved Life of Christ.

By Gina Christian, Catholic Review – Amid immigration detention sweeps in Louisiana — part of an ongoing nationwide campaign by the Trump administration — Bishop Michael G. Duca of Baton Rouge has issued a dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass for those concerned for their safety… The dispensation, announced in a Dec. 4 statement posted to the diocese’s website, applies to Sundays and holy days of obligation, and remains “valid until the individual Catholic determines it is safe to attend Mass again or this dispensation is revoked or amended.”… He said that “those who choose to stay at home should gather as a family and spend time in prayer to keep the Lord’s Day holy.

By  Beth Brelje, The Federalist – A review of recent federal grants reveals that taxpayers are on the hook for more than $32 million in funding for programs for Somalis in Minnesota… The Somali population explosion has rendered parts of Minneapolis unrecognizable as they impose a decidedly non-American culture on every aspect of the city. Somalis are members of the police force, city council, state legislature, and even Congress, still speaking their own language in those positions and, at times, cutting English speakers out of the loop. Their business signs are not in English. To the Western eye, their women’s clothing looks oppressive on a hot day. The Muslim call to prayer can be broadcast across Minneapolis five times a day. …

By Bishop James Conley, National Catholic Register – I was led to the Catholic Church during my undergraduate years, when I was a student in the famed Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas. The program was a four-semester “Great Books” program for freshmen and sophomores and flourished during the 1970s and 1980s… It was somewhat modeled after the “Great Books” programs at St. John’s University in Annapolis, Maryland, and the University of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s. But it was different in that it was an “integrated” program ….

By Shaun McAfee, Catholic Exchange – Advent is often described simply as the season leading to Christmas—a time of wreaths, candles, carols, and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity. Yet the Church teaches that Advent is far richer than a countdown to a historical event. It is a time to contemplate the multiple “comings” of Christ, to attune our hearts to His presence, and to grow in the patient expectation that has characterized God’s people for millennia… Catholic tradition speaks of three comings of Christ, each uniquely profound ….

By Scott McKay, The American Spectator – As many of our readers know, the month of December has brought on Operation Swamp Sweep, which is a joint effort by several federal agencies to clear as many illegal aliens, and in particular criminal illegal aliens (before you offer up all your semantic objections, we’re using “criminal illegal aliens” to refer to people who not only broke the law to get here but also committed crimes while here or had criminal records back home), out of southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi. …

By Tyler Arnold, CNA – President Donald Trump honored the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, which appears to be the first time an American president formally recognized the Catholic holy day… The presidential statement recognized the role Mary played in the salvation of humanity and the importance she has in American history. The statement does, however, contain one theological error about the Incarnation. It says God became man when Christ was born, although Catholic doctrine recognizes God becoming man at the Incarnation: when Mary conceived him.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – One of the Catholic Church’s foremost associations of Mariologists has issued a strongly critical response to Mater Populi Fidelis, a recently published Vatican doctrinal note that has been criticized for its diminution of some long-established devotional Marian titles… In a 23-page document published Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the International Marian Association Theological Commission (IMATC) points to various elements of Mater Populi Fidelis (The Mother Of the Faithful People of God) which it calls erroneous, “unfortunate,” and says are in need of “substantial clarification and modification.”

By John Zmirak, The Stream – In a second extraordinary journalistic scoop, The Dallas Express released another letter from a former high-ranking official of the Venezuelan regime that President Donald Trump is trying to topple — partly to stop massive drug imports to the U.S., and partly to obtain hard proof of massive election fraud in America, using software originating in Caracas that has corrupted U.S. votes for almost 20 years. The letter reads, in part: My name is Cliver Antonio Alcalá Cordones, retired Major General of the Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela. I address you with respect and in a spirit of cooperation to share information that I consider relevant to the national security of the United States a ….

By Franciscan Media – First called Cuauhtlatohuac (“The eagle who speaks”), Juan Diego’s name is forever linked with Our Lady of Guadalupe because it was to him that she first appeared at Tepeyac hill on December 9, 1531. The most famous part of his story is told in connection with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. After the roses gathered in his tilma were transformed into the miraculous image of Our Lady, however, little more is said about Juan Diego.

By Catholic Answers, December 8th – What Is the Immaculate Conception?… The Immaculate Conception is a Catholic dogma that states that Mary, whose conception was brought about the normal way, was conceived without original sin or its stain. That’s what “immaculate” means: without stain… The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated each year on December 8, is a holy day of obligation. …

By Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, The Catholic Thing – Many Catholics misunderstand today’s feast, which is also the patronal feast of our nation (the first country to claim her under this title).  They confuse the Immaculate Conception of Mary with the virginal conception of Jesus.  But today we celebrate the fact that Mary was sinless from the very first moment of her existence – which is extremely important because it demonstrates the care with which God guided the entire process of our salvation.

By John Zmirak, The Stream – (with Pope Leo they would) install a candidate who rose through the ranks in the Chicago machine built by Saul Alinsky ally Cardinal Joseph Bernardin — the man who invented the “Seamless Garment” as a g-string for pro-abortion Democrats with Irish and Italian last names. The new pope would soft-pedal the socialism, the ecological madness, even the LGBTQMYNAMEISLEGION advocacy that was irking the Americans … as long as he stayed true to the one essential program that advanced the Globalist goal: opening the borders of every Western country to conquest by Third World immigrants. …

By Gary Bauer, Patriot Post – With each passing year that Donald Trump has been president of the United States, from his first term to now, he has become an increasingly bold and direct defender of the Gospel of Jesus Christ… This is what President Trump said Thursday night on nationwide TV about the birth of Christ: “During this holy season, Christians everywhere rejoice at the miracle in Bethlehem, more than 2,000 years ago, when the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, came down from heaven to be with us. Full of grace and truth, He brought the gift of God’s love into the world and the promise of salvation for every person and every nation…”

By Michael Dorgan, Fox News – A series of sprawling fraud schemes involving hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from Minnesota taxpayers — from COVID-relief programs to housing and autism services — have placed the state’s Somali community under a renewed, intense spotlight, raising uncomfortable questions about whether some who found refuge here are robbing their new neighbors blind… These swirling fraud cases — and claims that some ill-gotten gains were diverted to the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab — have now prompted a House investigation, a Treasury Department probe and mounting political pressure on state leaders ….

By Jed Babbin, The American Spectator – So the question in Barbara v. US can be resolved either way. A person who is born to illegal aliens should — by virtue of their illegal presence in the U.S. — not be counted as a citizen. It will depend on the justices’ determination of what the word “jurisdiction” means in the 14th Amendment… We know how the liberals on the Supreme Court will vote. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson will seek to affirm that birthright citizenship includes the children of illegal aliens. It may well come down to how the weaker conservatives vote… (Roberts, Barrett) vote with the liberals, we will continue to have the children of illegal aliens as U.S. citizens.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 5:17-26 – 17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 And behold, men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they sought to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. …

By Mark Wiltz, Live Action News – For 50 years, the pro-life movement fought to return abortion law to the states by ending Roe v. Wade. That goal was achieved. Yet this week, a ruling from a federal courtroom in Boston revealed a harder truth: while abortion policy may now rest with the states, the systems that fund and normalize abortion remain firmly under federal control… At the center of that struggle sits Planned Parenthood and the question that has defined this movement for decades: Should American taxpayers be forced to subsidize an industry built on the destruction of unborn human lives?

By Franciscan Media – A feast called the Conception of Mary arose in the Eastern Church in the seventh century. It came to the West in the eighth century. In the 11th century it received its present name, the Immaculate Conception. In the 18th century it became a feast of the universal Church. It is now recognized as a solemnity… In 1854, Pius IX solemnly proclaimed: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God ….”

Bishop Joseph Strickland, Posted on X – I share the Traditional Intentions of the Holy Father once again. They are an excellent measure of any papacy. Give thanks for the ways that Pope Leo is promoting these intentions. Pray for him to correct any course that fails to promote them. They remind us that the Roman Catholic Church, with all Her human flaws, is the one true Church established by Jesus Christ. They remind us that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. These traditional intentions are…

By Dawn Beutner, Catholic World Report – The world was shocked when Pope Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. While Protestants rejected the teaching outright, even many Catholics objected to the pope’s decision. Exalting the role of Mary in salvation history not only seemed bad for ecumenical relations, but some were concerned that the teaching also lacked theological and historical grounds… After all, theological heavyweights such as Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Aquinas had apparently opposed the idea. …

By John Mac Ghlionn, Crisis Magazine – The country is living through a spiritual vacuum of its own making, carved out by decades of nihilism dressed up as liberation. A culture that once anchored itself to God now anchors itself to nothing. And when people believe in nothing, they turn to anything—rage, tribal identity, self-invention, even violence. We are entering a time when wounded people, especially those wrestling with deep mental-health struggles, are arming themselves not out of duty but out of despair.

By Maureen Mullarkey, The Federalist – In November, the USCCB prepared for Advent by declaring war on the Trump administration with a “Special Pastoral Message on Immigration.” The insurrectionist tenor of this rare “special message” places the globalist conceits — and monetary interests — of the hierarchy ahead of the just laws of their own country. … Larded with scriptural citations isolated from historical context, the declaration erases distinctions between lawful immigration and waves of illicit, unvetted migrants. The term illegal does not appear. This is a calculated omission for emotional effect. …

By Stephen B. Presser, Chronicles – The questions at the oral argument in Calais seemed to indicate that a majority of the justices were skeptical of permitting racial redistricting without limit. A clear rejection of racially based redistricting in the Calais case would not only be a step toward the restoration of Justice Harlan’s vision but also the beginning of a restoration of the Constitution itself and a long-overdue correction of judicial usurpation of power within the American political system. 

By Peter Wolfgang, Catholic Culture – “Trump Administration Says Europe Faces ‘Civilizational Erasure,’” reads a headline in the New York Times yesterday. According to the subheading, “America’s goal should be ‘to help Europe correct its current trajectory,’ the administration said in its new National Security Strategy.”… Leaders in Europe are not happy to see the unpleasant truths about them spoken aloud in the new U.S. Strategy. But I am. This has been decades in the making. They should have listened to Pope St. John Paul II when they had the chance.

By Michael Haynes,  LifeSite News – The message of Fatima relates to the “practical apostasy of our time,” Cardinal Raymond Burke said this weekend… Offering Mass on Sunday to mark the 108th anniversary of the third apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, Cardinal Burke homilized about the importance of the First Saturday devotions and the import of the message of Fatima for current times… “The message speaks about the practical apostasy of our time that is the going away from Christ by so many in the Church and the violence and death which are its fruit,” he said. …

By Fr. Joseph, MIC, Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception – Each First Friday and First Saturday of the month, we must make a Communion of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That’s what Jesus and Mary have asked of us: to repair the sins of the world with prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners and for peace throughout the world… Look at the mess the world is in right now — morally, politically, spiritually, economically, socially, environmentally. Why are we in such a mess? Because humanity has been doing things our way. It’s time we do things our Lord’s way and Our Lady’s way.

By David G Bonagura, Jr., The Catholic Thing – The Advent of Christ in the flesh, then, sends us back to the future Advent that we celebrated first. And we arrive back there via the same bridge we crossed earlier: through repentance of sin as preached by the Baptist… Repentance is not a singular occurrence. We must repent daily because as we live, we inevitably sin. The Church urges a nightly examination of conscience to foster a habit of repentance. But our sorrow turns to joy, for we know the two sides of the bridge: the infant Christ and the judging Christ. Each fills us with awe. Each spurs us to action. Each calls us to a greater love.

By Msgr. Charles Pope – The Following are “Five Advent Reflections” I have prepared… 1. Advent is Witnessed by Creation – Autumn and early winter are times of great seasonal change. The leaves turn brilliant colors then fade and fall. The shadows lengthen as the days grow shorter and colder. The warmth of summer and vacations seem distant memories and we are reminded once again that the things of this world last but a moment and pass away. Even so, we look forward as well. …

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Pro-life advocates are bracing for a pivotal battle in 2026 as voters in seven states prepare to weigh in on ballot measures that could either safeguard legal protections for the unborn or create a fake right to kill babies in abortions… With two measures already certified for the November 3 election and five others possibly advancing toward ballots, the elections represent a critical front in the fight to protect babies from abortions… These initiatives, particularly those backed by abortion groups, threaten to undermine parental rights, medical ethics and the moral fabric of communities by prioritizing killing babies …

By Lawrence Reed, The Stream – The Declaration of Independence and the subsequent Constitution set the stage but not even the Founders believed those documents were the end of the story. Many of them were, in fact, impatient that liberty’s business was yet unfinished. But America’s birth meant that we could grow and, in time, fulfill the promise of liberty for all. So even if you think the Founding generation did not go far enough, you can be grateful that its men and women took us further in the right direction than any other generation, anywhere… I wish I could go back in a time machine to that emotional moment at Fraunces Tavern on December 4, 1783. I would shed tears just as Washington did. …

By Breccan F. Thies, The Federalist – If America’s corporate media truly cared about the truth, they would stop hyperventilating about their self-made “Signalgate” distraction and start demanding accountability for every person responsible for lying about vetting tens of thousands of Afghans… Instead, corporate media outlets are triumphantly heralding an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report that essentially draws the conclusion that the fake Signalgate non-scandal may have, possibly, perhaps had some distant chance of putting U.S. troops in danger. .

By Rob Sexton, Catholic Exchange – There is a moment in every true conversion, not the dramatic kind, but the hidden, lifelong kind, when we stop trying to look at God and finally allow Him to look at us… That shift is everything. It is the difference between effort and surrender, between striving and sonship. It is also the beginning of real intimacy. We spend much of our lives thinking that if we could only see God more clearly, we would finally have peace. Yet peace does not come from seeing Him. It comes from allowing ourselves to be seen.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 9:27-31 – 27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” 28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly charged them, “See that no one knows it.” 31 But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.

By Fr. Robert McTeigue, iCatholicRadio, (Complicit Clergy) – “Please Don’t Cancel Christmas”, Youtube by Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J. … Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J. warns of a ditty that you might hear in the coming days, “Mary did you know?” and explains how it cancels Christmas.

Complicit Clergy, by Staff – Catholic bishops have no right to armchair quarterback specific actions carried-out by members of our military services… Six Democrat lawmakers, who are also veterans of military services, have come under fire for issuing a video encouraging members of the U.S. military services to disobey so-called “illegal” orders issued by President Trump.  The Pentagon is now considering recalling some of these lawmakers to have them formally court-martialed.

By Brian Mark Weber, Patriot Post – For years now, conservative Californians have left the state in droves to escape the radical social and economic policies of Governor Gavin Newsom and his fellow Democrats in the state legislature. Likewise, with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani promising socialism for the Big Apple, residents are considering moving out of New York to find a place where they can afford to make a living. Across the country, Americans are voting with their feet to avoid politicians who no longer represent their core values or care about their economic well-being.

By Vatican News – A report presenting the results of the Commission’s work has been released. It rules out admitting women to the diaconate understood as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders, but says that it is not currently possible “to formulate a definitive judgment, as in the case of priestly ordination.”… “The status quaestionis of historical research and theological investigation, as well as their mutual implications, rules out the possibility of moving in the direction of admitting women to the diaconate understood as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders. …

Fr. Benedict Kiely, The Catholic Thing – “O God be gracious and bless us and let Your face shed its light upon us.” So begins Psalm 68, often said in the Daily Office, or Breviary, at the start of the day. In St. John’s Gospel, Philip says to Jesus, “show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus responds, “Philip, to have seen Me is to have seen the Father.” The light shining from the face of Christ is the light of the Father. The blessing of seeing the face of Christ is the gift we will soon celebrate at Christmas: God has become man, and we can look upon Him.

By Felix Miller, Catholic Vote – A new children’s picture book brings its readers on a journey through the life of Saint Nicholas, the Catholic bishop who inspired the legend of Santa Claus… Written by Mike McGrew and illustrated by Kim Merritt, The Boy Who Would be Santa aims to both inform children about Christmas’ religious significance and inspire them to pursue sanctity… In a Dec. 11 email interview, McGrew told CatholicVote that he wrote about Santa in hopes that children would cease to “see him as a secular figure but as a religious person who advocates kindness throughout the year, especially to the less fortunate.”

By Josh Hammer, The American Spectator – The public has grown skeptical, especially when faced with real problems like the cost of living… Is the American Left finally waking up from its decades-long climate catastrophism stupor? For years, climate alarmism has reigned as political catechism: The planet is burning, and only drastic action — deindustrialization, draconian regulation, even ceasing childbearing — could forestall certain apocalypse. Now, at least some signs are emerging that both the broader public and leading liberal voices may be recoiling from the doom and gloom.

By Felix Miller, Catholic Vote – After half a decade of legal battles, 18 students and employees of the University of Colorado’s Anschutz School of Medicine will be awarded $10.3 million in damages, tuition, and lawyers’ fees after they were denied religious accommodations to mandatory vaccination for COVID-19… This payout follows a 2024 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The decision ruled that the university’s medical school had violated the plaintiff’s First Amendment rights. …

By Kennedy Hall, Crisis Magazine – In my last article on the subject of Groypers and Groyperism, I focused on the concept of race in the Groyper worldview. In this article, we will discuss the public behavior made manifest in Groyperism and why it represents a deeper problem. I did my best to be constructively critical in the last piece, and I still hold to the same opinion about what the Groypers generally get right. It is not my intention to “pile on” or unnecessarily alienate its proponents, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t sharp criticisms that are warranted.

Franciscan Media – Born in Cappadocia, Sabas is one of the most highly regarded patriarchs among the monks of Palestine, and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism… After an unhappy childhood in which he was abused and ran away several times, Sabas finally sought refuge in a monastery. While family members tried to persuade him to return home, the young boy felt drawn to monastic life.

By Fiona Melton, Crisis Magazine – John Adams said in a letter to the Massachusetts militia, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” The moral framework upon which America was founded, upon which the Constitution rests, is that of Christianity. Our system of government is incapable of functioning without this framework, as we see so clearly in the current collapse of our country in response to the growth of secular humanism. Muslims will inevitably submit to Sharia, not the Constitution or Bill of Rights. The polytheistic pagan worship of Hinduism is so contrary to a Christian understanding of the human person and the Western philosophical tradition upon which our nation was founded that it can in no way be compatible with our system of law.

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – Tonight, as a watchman on the wall, I am looking not at the storms of politics or the tremors of nations, but at the horizon of the Church herself. Something decisive is taking shape. Something eternal. And the Holy Spirit is urging us to see it clearly… A new apostolic letter has been released by the Holy Father, marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. And as a bishop of the Catholic Church, a son of the Church, and a lover of the Church, I speak about it with reverence, with fidelity, and with a deep desire for the truth. For fidelity demands clarity. …

By John Zmirak, The Stream – The evidence has been emerging piece by piece that critical election software, from companies like the now-defunct Dominion Systems — which supposedly tabulated the votes in our 2020 presidential race — was compromised with software from a company founded in Venezuela, Smartmatic. That software, insiders allege, was used to steal elections for Venezuela’s leftist dictators, and later used to steal elections in many other countries, including the U.S.

By Adam Johnston, The Federalist – The Afghan ambush and the Somali fraud scandal reveal a truth elites don’t want to admit: the myth of assimilation has collapsed… Recently, the Trump administration announced that it had not only paused processing all immigration applications from Afghanistan, but also halted immigration applications of people from 19 countries subject to travel restrictions earlier this year. Officials are also seeking to remove legal immigrants who were born in countries the White House deemed “high risk.”

Gloria TV, (Complicit Clergy) – Bishop Bernard Fellay of the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X recently conducted an interview with Kenya’s Immaculata TV… Regarding Cardinal Victor (Tucho) Fernández and his recent document on the Marian titles Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of all graces, Bishop Fellay called it “pitiful.”… “It is an insult to God,” he said… He believes the motive behind Tucho’s document is ecumenical accommodation: “There is a Protestant spirit in the Church.”

By Niwa Limbu, Catholic Herald – Yet the irony is that many bishops previously maintained that the Traditional Mass “did no harm.” The widely discussed Diana Montana letters revealed notable episcopal sympathy for the continuation of the older rite, and for the Traditional Latin Mass in particular. This raises a central analytical question: who is ultimately driving the restrictions? If bishops are not the architects, their role is managerial rather than determinative… Which brings us back to the two-year exemption system itself. For many of the faithful, it appears incoherent. …

By David La Mar, Catholic Exchange – The timeless and enduring character of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol has to be considered one of the pre-eminent examples of the most intense, condensed, (albeit involuntary) three-dimensional Advent examinations of conscience on record—or, at the very least, in literary history. And it all transpires under the supervision of four unexpected “spiritual directors” in both the literal and figurative senses.

By Thomas Gallatin, Patriot Post – Speaking to a local news station, Mamdani said, “I’ve said time and again that I believe this is a city of international law, and being a city of international law means looking to uphold international law. And that means upholding the warrants from the International Criminal Court, whether they’re for Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin.”… When an anti-Israel mob surrounded Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue last week, harassed Jewish attendees, and chanted “Death to the IDF,” Mamdani’s press secretary defended the mob by claiming that the synagogue “should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.” …

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from cutting off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood in 22 states and Washington, D.C… The decision hands a temporary victory to the abortion business and Democrat-led states challenging the policy as unconstitutional… U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee in Massachusetts, issued a preliminary injunction against a provision in the Republican-led Congress’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act …

By Michael Pakaluk, The Catholic Thing – Anyone who prays the Divine Office will say the Benedictus each morning, as it is the closing hymn of Lauds (Morning Prayer).  It’s also called “The Canticle of Zechariah,” the father of John the Baptist, who sang the Benedictus (“Blessed be God”) when his infant son was circumcised, on the eighth day… More precisely, he sang it after the ceremony of naming.  If the ancient Jewish practice was like current practice: first, the baby was circumcised, which act was understood to place him within the covenant of Abraham.  Then, his father would declare the baby’s name, which the parents would have kept secret until then.

By Jonah McKeown, National Catholic Register – “I was trying to do something wholeheartedly and properly and conscientiously, and my heart wasn’t there. Especially, saying Mass became very painful… Experts who work with U.S. priests told the Register they have increasingly seen, in recent years, the issues of burnout and loneliness drive men away from their vocation. And the data support this observation: According to a recent study by The Catholic Project, younger priests are reporting higher levels of burnout and loneliness compared with their more senior peers.

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – President Donald Trump warned Dec. 2 that land-based U.S. military strikes against drug operations in Venezuela may come “very soon,” further escalating his pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. has identified as the leader of Cartel de los Soles, a designated foreign terrorist organization… Hours earlier, Pope Leo XIV — speaking to reporters while returning from Beirut — cautioned the U.S. against moving toward an invasion and instead urged a path of dialogue.

By Complicit Clergy, Staff – Minnesota has one of the largest Somali diaspora communities in the U.S., with an estimated 80,000–100,000 Somali Americans, primarily in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area.. Resettlement began in the early 1990s under the Clinton administration, driven by federal refugee programs and local voluntary agencies like Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities… As those who have been following our reporting in recent years will know, Catholic NGOs are some of the largest resettlement agencies in the nation. We have exposed how these Catholic NGOs received over $3 billion during the Biden administration helping illegal aliens invade our nation.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 7:21,24-27 – 21 “Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 24 “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; 25 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. …

By Franciscan Media – John spent most of his life in the Monastery of Saint Sabas near Jerusalem, and all of his life under Muslim rule, indeed protected by it… He was born in Damascus, received a classical and theological education, and followed his father in a government position under the Arabs. After a few years, he resigned and went to the Monastery of Saint Sabas.

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D., Live Action News – More governments than ever voted for eliminating controversial language related to abortion and LGBT issues in the ongoing UN General Assembly… In the Third Committee of the General Assembly, forty-eight governments voted in favor of removing “sexual and reproductive health” language from a resolution on children. Seventy governments voted to remove “sexual orientation and gender identity” from a resolution on persons with disabilities.

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – Three moments from the first voyage of Pope Leo XIV strike me as worthy of a second look… First, the Pope’s choice not to join an Islamic cleric in prayer… During a visit to the famous Blue Mosque, the Pope was unfailing respectful, and showed keen interest in the beauty of the mosque. But when his guide asked him whether he wanted to stop for a time of prayer, he replied—with his laconic Midwestern style—“That’s OK.”

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By Marcus Peter, Catholic World Report – Modern attention spans resemble the shattered remnants of what earlier generations possessed, and the digital ecosystem accelerates this fragmentation with relentless efficiency… The recent revelation that Meta employees privately compared themselves to drug pushers while the company suppressed evidence of severe mental health harms to children arrives with the subtlety of a fire alarm in a library. After all, nearly every adult with a pulse sensed this trajectory long before any whistleblower confirmed it.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Abortions funded through the U.S. military’s TRICARE health care system have plunged to their lowest levels in five years, with fewer babies killed in abortions… The sharp decline is attributed to President Donald Trump’s reversal of Biden-era policies that expanded access to abortions, according to Defense Health Agency records released this month.

By T. S. Flanders, OnePeterFive – Back in 2023, all orthodox Catholics of good will heard the news of His Excellency, Bishop Paprocki’s condemnation of heresy in one of the most prominent American journals, First Things. This was ostensibly a condemnation of Cardinal McElroy’s brazen challenge to Catholic moral theology in two pieces (here and here) at America—a connection underlined by Bishop Paprocki’s quoting verbatim from the cardinal’s first article. Nevertheless, His Excellency did say shortly thereafter (on Raymond Arroyo) that he did not want to name names, but had European cardinals also in mind.

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – In his line of questioning to Platkin’s chief counsel, Sundeep Iyer, Thomas asked the defendant about the Democrat attorney general’s rationale for investigating First Choice to begin with. He specifically probed whether Platkin received “any complaints that formed the basis of [his] concern about the fundraising activities [by First Choice].”… Iyer seemingly attempted to skirt the senior justice’s question. He began by saying that they “certainly had complaints about crisis pregnancy centers,” but was cut off by Thomas, who more specifically asked about “this crisis pregnancy center.”

By Amanda Farnum, Crisis Magazine – We have a crisis of decorum in dress in our country. Gone are the days when people took pride in their appearance and dressed well for all occasions. One need only to head to the nearest public space to see evidence of this crisis. What amounts to pajamas is now considered appropriate daily wear. The days of ladies in beautiful dresses and gentlemen in suits for just a normal Tuesday are behind us… U.S. Sec. Transportation, Sean Duffy, shined national attention on this crisis in his interview with Fox News regarding behavior in air travel these days. He said, “People dress up like they’re going to bed when they fly.”

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 15:29-37 – 29 And Jesus went on from there and passed along the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain, and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 so that the throng wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. ….

By Scott Richert, Catholic Answers – As the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes: Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws, and to assist in carrying civic burdens (CCC 2241).

By Francis X. Maier, The Catholic Thing – On the Church calendar, Catholics mark today, December 3, as the Feast Day of St. Francis Xavier.  Born in 1506 of a noble Basque family, he came to maturity in the turbulent early years of the Reformation.  Francis studied at the University of Paris and was originally resistant to, even sarcastic toward, a religious vocation.  It didn’t last.  His friend and fellow student, and also a fellow Basque – Ignatius of Loyola – gradually convinced him otherwise.  Once persuaded, he was fully committed.  Francis went on to be co-founder of the Society of Jesus and one of the original seven Jesuits. 

By Carole Novielli, Live Action News – Key Takeaways: The Guttmacher Institute notes that telehealth abortion with the ability to mail abortion pills to abortion seekers has contributed to the increased abortion numbers since the end of Roe v. Wade… In 2023 and 2024, Guttmacher and #WeCount reported increased abortion numbers overall, with the abortion pill comprising about 63% of those. The numbers are staggering… Federal laws already exist that ban sending drugs through the mail with intent to use them for an abortion. These laws are simply not being enforced at this time.

By Jordan Boyd, The Federalist – The same corporate media and “expert” class that cheered censorship and did their best to “fact-check” dissent out of the discussion during the peak of Covid panic are on edge after a top U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official pledged to revamp the vaccine approval process. His commitment to reform comes on the heels of an unreleased report that found children died after receiving the Covid jab.

By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV, Catholic Exchange – Before St. Francis Xavier set out on his great mission, St. Ignatius spoke these final words to him: “Go set all on fire!” Francis embarked for India, then to Japan, and died on the shore overlooking China. His missionary work was completed in only 11 years. He died of exhaustion at 46 years of age… Like Francis Xavier, all followers of Christ are called to be prophets, evangelizers, and missionaries. Followers of Christ must strive to be encountering Him as Friend and Lord and then share Him with others.

By Fr. Mario Alexis Portella, Crisis Magazine – Pope Leo XIV made his first official papal visit to Turkey last week, where he encouraged the small Catholic community to find strength in Christ. He also recited the original Creed promulgated by the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325—in an effort to bolster unity with representatives from the Apostolic Alexandrian, Antiochian, Armenian, and Chaldean Churches, which separated from Rome in 451, and the Church of Constantinople, which broke away in 1054 and once more in 1484.

By Franciscan Media – Jesus asked, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”.. The words were repeated to a young teacher of philosophy who had a highly promising career in academics, with success and a life of prestige and honor before him… Francis Xavier, 24 at the time, and living and teaching in Paris, did not heed these words at once.

By Elias Turk, CNA/ACI – Pope Leo XIV has begun conversations with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the need to halt violence and seek solutions in the Middle East, the Pope told journalists on his Tuesday flight from Beirut to Rome… The wide-ranging news conference also touched on Ukraine, the Catholic Church in Germany, and Leo’s own election as pope, among other topics.

By Michael Smith, Patriot Post – The challenge, then, is not merely to resist imported extremism or domestic radicalism, but to restore the nation’s confidence in the principles that once unified a diverse people. A republic endures only when its citizens — native and immigrant alike — agree that its foundational rules are worth upholding. Liberty, in the American sense, is not self-sustaining. It must be chosen, taught, reaffirmed, and defended against the ideologies that inevitably emerge when a people forget what made them free in the first place.

By Fr. Nnamdi Moneme, OMV, Catholic Exchange – As we recently celebrated the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, we ought to ask ourselves why we believe that Christ is truly our king. Then we must ask ourselves if we really believe it. If we do not examine these reasons and our belief in them, we will soon become disappointed in Him because we will be expecting from Him things that He does not intend to do in our lives… When the Israelites came to anoint David as their king in 2 Samuel 5:1-3, they had three reasons why they chose him to be their king. These are also three good reasons why we should believe that Jesus Christ is truly our king.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 10:21-24 – 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” …

By Michael New Ph., LifeNews – This fall, the International Journal of Women’s Health Care published a study by Paul Sullins of the Ruth Institute and the Catholic University of America. It provides strong statistical evidence that many women who obtain abortions experience emotional distress — even many years after the abortion took place. Unlike previous research, this new study only analyzed women between the ages of 41 and 45. Therefore, among women who have had abortions, the average time between the abortion and the survey was approximately 20 years.

By John and Andy Schlafly, The Federalist – President Trump is ending the gravy train of fraud in Minnesota, much of it perpetrated by Somalis who have been relocated here and who have allegedly used some of the money to fund terrorism back in Africa. Trump vows to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis, which has lasted many years longer than it should have… Joseph H. Thompson, who served as Trump’s acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota until October, recently indicted six individuals from Somalia and two others for wire fraud. They allegedly defrauded Minnesota’s Medicaid-funded housing stabilization program.

By John Mac Ghlionn, The American Spectator – Trump’s instinct — to slam the brakes after the horrific National Guard shooting by an Afghan migrant — is understandable. Any leader with a conscience wants to shield his people. The country is rattled, grieving, and wondering how a young man welcomed into America’s care ended up turning his weapon on Americans. Trump sensed that fear and moved swiftly, promising a halt to migration from all “third-world countries.” It’s blunt, straightforward, and politically explosive. But good instinct isn’t the same as good judgment, and this is where his approach deserves scrutiny.

By Gene Thomas Gomulka,  John Eighteen Thirty Seven, (Complicit Clergy) – After the man shared his history of relationships and friendships, I told him that I was not worried that he might be “turned” like many innocent and sexually inexperienced young Catholic men who today are closeted homosexual priests and bishops. While older and more experienced men have a better chance of making it through the seminary without being sexually harassed, groomed, or abused, I told him I was more worried about what might happen to him after he was ordained.

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing – Pope Leo has been traveling in Turkey and Lebanon, doing what popes do on such occasions: Visiting religious and political leaders, signing agreements about further “dialogue,” calling for peace and respect for human dignity… The main thing, the reason for the trip in the first place, was and is the truth confirmed at the Council of Nicaea (Iznik, Turkey today) in 325 A.D. that Jesus was not only a great man – as even many secular people today concede – but that He is the eternal Son of God and the Savior of the world.

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – Advent begins with the same warning that ended the liturgical year: Be watchful. Stay awake. You do not know the day nor the hour (cf. Mt. 24:37-44). Jesus speaks these words not to frighten us, but to shake us free from spiritual lethargy. Advent is our time to wake up, purify our souls with God’s grace, and clear the obstacles that keep us from receiving Jesus—in Bethlehem, at the end of time, and at every Mass… Advent is the season of spiritual readiness for the coming of Jesus. Not paranoia, not anxiety: readiness. Jesus tells us to stay awake because He desires to come to us with mercy, not catch us off guard with judgment. The Church gives us these weeks to reorder our lives, examine our habits, and prepare the way of the Lord.

By Michele Chabin, National Catholic Register – Following two years of subdued Christmas celebrations due to the ongoing Hamas-Israel war, this year the holiday will be celebrated in the Holy Land in all its splendor, especially in Bethlehem… “The tree is already up and employees are working 24 hours a day to prepare for Christmas,” Bethlehem Deputy Mayor Lucy Talgieh told the Register. “After five years of COVID closures and then the war, we want to celebrate.”… The festivities will include a tree-lighting ceremony at Manger Square, and the streets leading to the square and the Church of the Nativity will be full of decorative lights. …

By Frances Martel, Breitbart – (In Beirut Pope Leo) addressed the crisis of countries struggling with peace and prosperity losing significant percentages of their population to migration, particularly the young… He noted that, while Catholics are “concerned about the dignity of those who move away from their own countries,” the Church also “does not want anyone to be forced to leave their country.”… “Moreover, the Church wants those who wish to return home to be able to do so safely,” he expressed. “While human mobility represents an immense opportunity for encounter and mutual enrichment, it does not erase the special ties that unite each person to certain places, to which they owe their identity in a very special way.”

By Jules Gomes, The Stream – A celibate cleric waxing lyrical about the pleasures of conjugal love may be compared to a congenitally dumb man who miraculously starts speaking Mandarin and Malayalam, both at the same time. Cdl. Victor Manuel Fernández, Rome’s doctrinal rottweiler, is the epitome of such a miracle. When it comes to rhapsodising on the birds and bees, this prince of the church soars on the wings of an eagle… In 1995, the cardinal, who was consecrated to the deity Cupid, penned his own contribution to the anthology of erotica. He wrote a book titled “Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing”. In a chapter on “Male and Female Orgasm,” the vestal virgin of Catholicism assesses male and female orgasm.

By Garrett Johnson, Catholic Exchange – As I sit before the Tabernacle this morning in prayer, I repeat the Jesus Prayer slowly to myself: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. As I do, questions I often ask myself circulate in the background of my mind: What is mercy? What does it mean to ask Jesus to be merciful to me in my times of difficulty and struggle? What does it mean for me as a Catholic to be merciful to my fellows who struggle with addiction, same-sex attraction, and sexual identity confusion?

Franciscan Media – Blessed Rafal Chylinski’s Story – Born near Buk in the Poznan region of Poland, Melchior Chylinski showed early signs of religious devotion; family members nicknamed him “the little monk.” After completing his studies at the Jesuit college in Poznan, Melchior joined the cavalry and was promoted to officer rank within three years.

By Msgr. Charles Pope, National Catholic Register – The first weeks of Advent focus more on the Lord’s second coming in glory than on his first coming at Bethlehem. The Gospel clearly states that we must always be prepared, for at an hour we do not expect, the Son of Man will come. But how should we be ready? The second reading from the Mass gives us a basic recipe for readiness… … you know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake.

By Greg Maresca, The American Spectator – America’s highways, already a patchwork of potholes and billboards, face a deeper crisis with illegal drivers. This made headlines before quickly vanishing from the mainstream news’ cycle after a series of deadly crashes involving tractor-trailers… From coast to coast, these tragedies have claimed lives and revealed that illegal immigrants who obtained commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) illegally were the cause of these accidents.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Matthew 8:5-11 – 5 As he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him 6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion answered him, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. …

By M.C. Holbrook, Catholic Exchange – There is something about the Feast of St. Andrew that uplifts my heart every year. Perhaps it is simply because this feast day marks the commencement of the Advent season, more or less—not necessarily beginning on the first day of Advent (as it does this year), but always kicking off the first day of the twenty-five-day “Christmas Novena.” The season of joy has begun!… Of course, other than the fact that St. Andrew’s feast day happens to land twenty-five days before Christmas, there is really nothing linking him to the feast of Our Savior’s birth, per se. …

By McKenna Snow, Catholic Vote – After concluding his apostolic visit to Turkey, Pope Leo XIV arrived Nov. 30 in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, where he gave an address to Lebanese government officials that called for peaceful dialogue and cultivating hope in the nation… Upon arrival at the capital, the Pontiff was welcomed by people waving Lebanese and Vatican flags who had lined the streets of his route. Signs that read “Welcome Pope Leo” had also been put up.

By John Zmirak, The Stream – Import the Third World, become the Third World. Immigrants are human beings, not blank slates that get erased when they touch America’s magic soil. And those who come from countries riven by tribalism, jihad, and corruption bring those phenemona in with them — especially now that our institutions have ceased even to try assimilating them. Indeed, school curricula pushed by teachers unions instruct young people that expecting newcomers to assimilate, much less dissolve in the “Melting Pot,” is … drumroll please as we await the magic word that wins every arguement … racist… Remember when the Smithsonian was teaching that honesty, professionalism, monogamy, and even punctuality were part of toxic “white culture”?

By Jeff Cassman, Crisis Magazine – In a recent article at Crisis Magazine, my friend Mike Parrott sounded the alarm about Trump’s floated idea of a 50-year mortgage. He called it “economic poison,” a tool of financial captivity that will inflate home prices, trap families in debt, and help usher in the “you will own nothing and be happy” future. He frames the product as intrinsically anti-family and contrary to Catholic social teaching.

By Fr. Paul D. Scalia, The Catholic Thing – In the 12th and 13th centuries, monks developed some of the first fully mechanical clocks. Their purpose was simple. The monks would come to chapel seven times a day to chant the praises of God and intercede for the world. Clocks enabled them to do so in a more precise, disciplined, and uniform way. With these time pieces, they could, in effect, harness time and better place it at the service and praise of God.

By Carl E. Olson, Catholic World Report – Perhaps you’ve never thought of it in that way. But the readings for this first Sunday of Advent are revealing. I say “revealing” because the word “apocalypse”, from the Greek word apokalupsis, means “to reveal” or “to unveil”. Unfortunately, it has become primarily associated with destruction and violence. But even while that understanding is somewhat accurate, it only hits part of the target.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Pro-life advocates are urging Congress to broaden the reach of the Hyde Amendment to prevent taxpayer dollars from subsidizing abortions through Obamacare… They are warning that the health care law represents the largest expansion of abortion funding in decades and are accusing Democrats of spreading misinformation about its protections…

UPI – President Donald Trump on Saturday morning warned that airspace over and around Venezuela is “closed in its entirety” as he mulls whether to strike the country amid a U.S. military build-up off its shore… The move comes after massing naval vessels in the Caribbean, including the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its strike group, and for weeks blowing boats out of the water that are allegedly being used for trafficking drugs… “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social early Saturday ….

By Mark Haas, Catholic Exchange – Across the vast and diverse continent of Africa, a silent storm is brewing—one of both unspeakable suffering and astonishing faith. In recent years, reports have surfaced of devastating persecution against Christians in several African nations. Churches have been burned to the ground, families torn apart, and thousands have lost their lives simply for professing the name of Christ. Recently, the Trump Administration has publicly warned of a modern genocide taking place across Africa—a chilling reminder that Christian persecution is not a relic of ancient history, but a brutal reality today.

By Amy Mek, From X, (Complicit Clergy) – When Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City bragged on EWTN about resettling more Afghans than any other Catholic Charities office in America, they wrapped it in warm language about “the stranger,” “the common good,” and “serving our brothers and sisters.”… But the truth is simple: This wasn’t Christian duty… This was a federal business operation… THIS WAS NEVER ABOUT CHARITY – IT WAS ABOUT MONEY …

By Franciscan Media – Inspired by the Jews and Muslims whom he met, Charles de Foucauld resumed the practice of his Catholic faith when he returned to France in 1886. He joined a Trappist monastery in Ardeche, France, and later transferred to one in Akbes, Syria. Leaving the monastery in 1897, Charles worked as gardener and sacristan for the Poor Clare nuns in Nazareth and later in Jerusalem. In 1901, he returned to France and was ordained a priest… Later that year Charles de Foucauld journeyed to Beni-Abbes, Morocco, intending to found a monastic religious community in North Africa that offered hospitality to Christians, Muslims, Jews, or people with no religion. He lived a peaceful, hidden life but attracted no companions. …

By Brian Lonergan, Chronicles – Importing tens of thousands to a community in just a decade, via family reunification chains rather than merit-based selection, overwhelms all prospects of integration. Large numbers of immigrants eliminate incentives to learn English, fostering enclaves where Sharia sympathies and clan feuds supersede the Constitution. Good people get lost in the tide, and those in the criminal fringe—gangbangers, fraudsters, even Al-Shabaab recruiters—thrive. …

By Mary Rose, Catholic Vote – In the series trailer, Fr. Schmitz says the new series is built around a simple but often-overlooked reality: most people spend large portions of their lives waiting, yet few approach those moments with spiritual awareness… “The stats show that we spend up to several years of our lives waiting,” he said in the Waiting Well trailer. “Waiting in line, at red lights, waiting while friends and family get ready — we’re just constantly waiting. And instead of embracing those times of waiting, what do we do? We worry, we get anxious, and perhaps most of all, we check out and get lost scrolling on our phones.”

By Gayle Somers, Catholic Exchange – “The coming of the Son of Man” also refers to His promised return to this earth, when He will bring a definitive end to the evil that has haunted us since the Garden of Eden.  This coming will also bring judgment on that evil and all who willingly gave themselves to it.  For both the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Coming, the essence of Jesus’ warning is a call to “stay awake!”  Why is wakefulness so important to Him?… Jesus says that “the coming of the Son of Man” can be compared to the event of the Flood in Noah’s time, God’s first judgment on earth.  …

By Joseph Pearce, Crisis Magazine – The surprise success of the new film Sacré Coeur: Son règne n’a pas de fin (Sacred Heart: His Reign Has No End), released in French cinemas in September, has caused great controversy. It is no surprise that such a devoutly Catholic docudrama has divided opinion in French political society, in which laïcité—strictly enforced state secularism, the lingering legacy of the French Revolution—is seen by many as the very defining principle of the French Republic.

By Mary Stroka, Catholic Vote – Pope Leo’s second day in Türkiye included a prayer meeting, a visit to a nursing home for the elderly, and an ecumenical prayer service commemorating the Council of Nicaea… at the prayer meeting, which took place at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, the Pontiff delivered a homily to those gathered there, including bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers, according to a bulletin from the Holy See Press Office.

By Michael Sinkewicz, Fox News – Trump’s comments come after two National Guard members were shot just blocks from the White House in what officials called a “targeted” attack. One of the guardsman, Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of West Virginia, has died, Trump announced earlier on Thursday… (a) second service member wounded in the attack, Andrew Wolfe, 24, is still “fighting for his life.”… The suspected gunman, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is also in serious condition… (he) entered the U.S. legally in 2021 under humanitarian parole as part of the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

By Jarrett Stepman, The Daily Signal – “Affordability” has become the word of the month as American economic anxieties become a major point of political contention between Democrats and Republicans… Socialist Dem. Zohran Mamdani rode to victory in the NY City mayor’s race in part due to his promise to address the issue. Of course, he offered what socialists have been selling to the public for more than a century: free stuff, all paid for by the “rich,” the “billionaires,” or in Mamdani’s case, white neighborhoods in the city… But talk is one thing, reality is another.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 21:34-36 – 34 “But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; 35 for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. 36 But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man.”

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture – In the new Apostolic Letter In Unitate Fidei it is a pleasure to see Pope Leo doubling down on the importance of Christian unity precisely by not watering down the Catholic Faith, but rather by insisting on the absolute truth of the fundamental Catholic creed set forth by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. One of the primary purposes of that Creed was to deny the Arian view that Christ was not eternal like the Father, but somehow “made” by the Father at some point before the creation of the world.

By Victor Davis Hanson, The Daily Signal – So what’s happening, all you people in Arizona, Florida, Wyoming, Utah, you’re having like two to three kids, and four million people a year are joining you. And you people in blue states, like where I am, we’re having about 1.4 kids and nobody’s coming here. Everybody’s leaving. Our congressional districts, we’re going to surrender unless we cheat… We’re going to lose all of our congressional districts, and our economies are going to be backward… But we’ve got to keep doing it. We’ve got to keep getting left, left, left, left. Climate, climate, climate. …

By Isabella Childs, Live Action News – In 2022, when Jessica Williams was going through what she now calls “one of the hardest seasons of my life” in the midst of a divorce from her husband, she took the abortion pill after learning she was pregnant by another man… Williams took the first pill in the abortion pill regimen, mifepristone, after her husband demanded that she do so. Immediately confronted by the fact that her preborn child was dying, Williams turned to a pregnancy resource center for help.

By Daniel Payne, CNA – Multiple lawsuits allege that the Archdiocese of Chicago kept two priests in active ministry in spite of years of “mounting complaints” of child sexual abuse leveled against them… The suits, filed by the Chicago-based law firm Gould, Grieco, & Hensley, allege that archdiocesan officials allowed Father Daniel Holihan and Father John Curran to continue ministry “even after Church officials were aware of their history abusing children.”

One way to pursue gratitude is to pray a daily gratitude Examen for the season of Advent. Start or end each day by looking back over the previous 24 hours, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the gifts that have been given. Let each one gently bubble up to the surface of consciousness and write them down. In the beginning, these efforts might yield items such as being thankful that it’s eggnog time again. That’s fine. Increasing gratitude for less secular gifts will emerge: For being able to go to Daily Mass today… For the ability to help a family in need through the parish Giving Tree …

By Josh Hammer, The American Spectator – This holiday season, I’m thankful for my family — above all, my wife and our beautiful daughter, who is about to turn 1. I’m thankful for having found in recent years a resurgent commitment to the ancient religion of my forefathers. I’m thankful for my wonderful friends, who have helped serve as a stabilizing counter to the destructive political and social maladies of the day — some conspiratorial elements of which have targeted me personally. And I’m thankful to live in what still is, warts and all, the greatest country in the history of mankind.

By Franciscan Media – Clement of Rome was the third successor of Saint Peter, reigning as pope during the last decade of the first century. He’s known as one of the Church’s five “Apostolic Fathers,” those who provided a direct link between the Apostles and later generations of Church Fathers… Clement’s First Epistle to the Corinthians was preserved and widely read in the early Church. …

By Peter Wolfgang, Catholic Culture – Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Every September 8th my family and I gather together to commemorate America’s first thanksgiving, the Mass celebrated in Florida in 1565 expressing gratitude to almighty God that the Spanish crown claimed the future sunshine state for God and country… There is no widespread tradition of celebrating the 1565 Mass at St. Augustine, Florida as America’s first Thanksgiving… But there is a Catholic tradition of complaining about it on Facebook… The Catholics beat the Pilgrims to the New World, Catholics should commemorate the 1565 Mass in Florida as the first Thanksgiving in America instead of the 1621 Pilgrim feast with the Indians in Massachusetts, and so forth.

John Daniel Davidson, Sr. Editor, The Federalist – So let’s have no more nonsense about immigrants “founding America” or rapturous declamations about the blending of many different cultures in our founding. The English and the English alone created America, as only they could have done. Four centuries later, we are still profoundly indebted to the English folkways that first shaped and later defined our distinct American culture and way of life. It is our sacred patrimony, for which we Americans should be profoundly grateful this Thanksgiving.

By Charles Coulombe, Crisis Magazine – But we must place the National Socialists in their correct place historically and ideologically. Theirs was a movement not of the Right, but of the Left. “Brown-Shirted Bolsheviks” was a not inaccurate summation of them. It must also be insisted upon that—until the invasion of Russia in 1941—the Communists of each country invaded by Germany and its allies collaborated with the occupiers. It was only with the German attack on the Soviet Motherland that the local Communists suddenly decided they were really patriots and joined the resistance—then attempting to dominate it.

By Reid Smith, The American Conservative – An imperfect peace is better than a worsening war… What has been lost in the noise surrounding the Trump administration’s proposed peace plan is the recognition that the bargain at hand accomplishes the primary objective: It ends the war. Moreover, it preserves a sovereign Ukrainian state and establishes a U.S.-backed security guarantee reflecting the strongest commitment Kiev might expect to receive from the West. …

By Fr. Ignatius John Schweitzer, OP, Catholic Exchange – Imagine if we saw things how God sees them. How differently we would respond to people in our life if we saw them like God sees them, with His Fatherly heart of love! How differently we would respond to difficult events and situations in our lives if we saw them like God sees them, as part of the unfolding of His beautiful plan… To ask to see what God sees is to pray for wisdom. Solomon could have asked for anything, and the Lord praises him for asking for wisdom. Among the Church Fathers and Medieval theologians too, wisdom was held in the highest esteem. Why is this? Because wisdom means a familiar intimacy with God and His ways.

By Brianna Lyman, The Federalist – Every fact in the story underscores the massive cost and toll of illegal immigration… But before you start thinking that perhaps there was a paperwork blunder in which the government erroneously handed out the same Social Security number to two Americans and chaos transpired, I’ll save you the suspense… This was full-on identity theft by an illegal alien who had repeatedly broken into the country. Under the stolen identity of Dan Kluver, this illegal alien racked up DUIs, other offenses, giant tax bills (for the real Kluver), and fatally struck a grandfather with his vehicle.

By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International – In the past year or two, evidence has quickly been mounting that the gender insanity that swept over our culture in the past decade is in rapid retreat… The latest evidence comes from three different surveys… One survey of nearly 60,000 students from 250 of the top American universities, showed that the number of students identifying as “non-binary” has fallen precipitously in the past two years. …

By Mike Parrott, Crisis Magazine – GOP opposition to Trump is rare these days. But Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent resignation may be a reflection of where the lines are drawn… As the old saying goes, there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. But that formulation has been outdated for centuries. Since the 1694 founding of the Bank of England, there have really been three certainties: death, taxes, and debt. Lots of debt… Debt permeates all aspects of modern life, leaving no one unlevered. Every single American is under permanent financial surveillance, with the Fair Isaac Corporation infiltrating everyone’s financial position, analyzing each citizen’s debt-worthiness, and rendering an all-important FICO score. ….

By Gregory Lyakhov, Patriot Post – A nation is judged by how it protects those who cannot defend themselves… Abortion has shaped American politics for half a century, yet public debate usually reduces it to a simple formula: Republicans oppose it, and Democrats defend it. That framing avoids the real question beneath every argument — moral, legal, scientific, or philosophical. Everything ultimately depends on one factual point: when does human life begin?… No coherent moral system permits intentionally ending an innocent human life. ….

By Brendan Towell, National Catholic Register – The Vatican’s new doctrinal note moves beyond title debates to restore Mary’s role where Vatican II placed her — in perfect transparency to Christ and at the heart of the Church’s life… When the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released Mater Populi Fidelis on Nov. 4, many headlines reduced it to a single takeaway: the Vatican has rejected the title Co-Redemptrix for the Blessed Virgin Mary. That’s accurate, but incomplete.

By Paul du Quenoy, Chronicles – President Trump was understandably infuriated by this attempt by political opponents to undermine the constitutional chain of command. In a series of posts, he described their conduct as “seditious behavior at the highest level” and stated that “each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.” He later added that the behavior, if found to be treasonous, was “punishable by DEATH!” and reshared a post proclaiming: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!” ….

By Jeffrey Lord, The American Spectator – The holiday unique to America… it’s Turkey Time in America again… Yes, every Thanksgiving holiday — which usually extends into a long weekend — I open the pages written by that Pilgrim-era governor of the then-newly declared New World countryside called Massachusetts- William Bradford… Having been born and raised in Massachusetts until I was not quite 15, this is a habit I picked up early in life, as the story of the Pilgrims and their adventures on their decidedly lonely ship, the Mayflower, which took them from England to America ….

By John M. Grondelski, Crisis Magazine – No small number of contemporary problems, big and small, are related to chastity and its contemporary lack. At the same time, one can imagine the level of global derision the pope would have faced had he actually picked this very pastorally salient topic for a synod… Which makes Sophia’s recent book—Fr. T.G. Morrow’s “Achieving Chastity in an Unchaste World”—all the more germane… Chastity has always been a challenge for human beings because we are bodily beings. Sensory impressions are powerful on bodily-spiritual creatures. …

Catholic Vote News Feed – President Donald Trump signed an executive order Nov. 24 directing the Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury to begin the process of designating some chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations… “This order sets in motion a process by which certain chapters or other subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood shall be considered for designation as Foreign Terrorist Organizations … and specially designated global terrorists ” …

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Planned Parenthood has shuttered its Bixby Health Center abortion facility in Los Angeles, marking the 44th such closure nationwide this year amid federal defunding of the abortion giant… The facility at 1057 Kingston Ave. in the Boyle Heights neighborhood is no longer listed on the organization’s website or Google Maps, pro-life advocate Katie Xavios announced Monday on X. The closure comes even after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced he was spending $140 million to fund the abortion corporation.

By John Mac Ghlionn, Crisis Magazine – It would be comical if it weren’t so serious. Notre Dame eventually returned the Catholic mission to its core values, but only after enormous pressure. The reversal was forced, not heartfelt, and it doesn’t diminish the severity of the original sin… And the seriousness becomes even clearer when you look at what was happening well before the Catholic-mission debacle. In recent years, Notre Dame has swollen its diversity, equity, and inclusion machinery with the eagerness of a school chasing applause from people who want nothing to do with its faith.

By Peter Wolfgang, Catholic Culture – The phrase, “Christ is King!” is very close to my heart. Pope Pius XI instituted the feast in the 1920s to remind the world that Christ, not the state, is King. Here in North America, “¡Viva, Cristo Rey!” (“Christ is King!”) was the battle cry of the Cristeros. They were Catholic freedom-fighters who were martyred for their faith while fighting a tyrannical anti-Catholic government in Mexico in the early 20th century. … Though already present in his Church, Christ’s reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled “with power and great glory” by the King’s return to earth. This reign is still under attack by the evil powers, even though they have been defeated definitively by Christ’s Passover.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 21:5-11 – 5 And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 “As for these things which you see, the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 7 And they asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Take heed that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name, saying, `I am he!’ and, `The time is at hand!’ ….

By Angeline Tan, Live Action News – In view of the U.S. bishops’ yearly fall meeting conducted recently in Baltimore, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, who presently chairs the bishops’ pro-life committee, showcased the key role that the post-abortion ministry, Project Rachel, has in boosting pro-life efforts across the country… Project Rachel is a ministry focusing on post-abortive women… Though the Catholic Church acknowledges abortion as a sin, it likewise believes in God’s mercy… Bishop Thomas argued that compassion must lead the fight to win hearts and minds.

By Zelda Caldwell, National Catholic Register – At St. Mary’s, it all began with the relocation of a tabernacle… When Father Jay Scott Newman arrived at the parish in 2001, he had a bit of a Jesus-cleansing-the-temple moment that helps explain how the city would become home to a vibrant Catholic community attracting people from all over the country… There were, of course, no merchants or money changers to kick out of the church, but the tabernacle… had in 1984 been relegated to the side of the sanctuary. The first thing the new pastor did was to move it back to the center, on the central axis of the church.

By Rachel Greszler, The Daily Signal – The crux of socialism is that central government planners believe they know better than individual people how to allocate resources across an economy… That is why the newly elected New York City mayor, self-proclaimed Democrat socialist Zohran Mamdani, believes the wealthiest people should pay more than half of what they earn to the government. While defending his proposed 54% top marginal income tax rate in a recent Fox News interview, Mamdani said: “My point is this. If you are making $1 million in New York City, or more than that, you can afford to pay 2% more, and the reasons you can afford to do so is because that money will be used to better your quality of life as well.”

By Paul Senz, Catholic World Report – There is much debate in the Church about what is and is not appropriate in the context of the Sacred Liturgy. The so-called “liturgy wars” rage on with many battlefronts, covering many different aspects of the Mass. It is worth noting that the reason this debate is so intense is that all those involved recognize that the Mass is at the heart of the life of the Church, and thus must be treated appropriately… One of the liturgical battlefronts is on the lines of the musical staff …

By Rob Sexton, Catholic Exchange – The geography of life is marked by mountains and valleys. From new life and new love to the sorrow of loss and disappointment, our journey through this vale of tears always seems to find us ascending or descending. The same pattern is mirrored in our relationships; anyone married for a long time will attest that struggle and strife often go hand in hand with laughter and joy… Because the interior life is a relationship with God, it is not exempt from the same challenges and difficulties. The Church and the saints even tell us to expect it. Whether it is the desolation described by St. Ignatius, the harrowing Dark Night written of by St. John of the Cross, or the luminous experiences of advanced prayer recorded by St. Teresa of Avila …

By Franciscan Media – Saint Catherine of Alexandria’s Story – According to the Legend of St. Catherine, this young woman converted to Christianity after receiving a vision. At the age of 18, she debated 50 pagan philosophers. Amazed at her wisdom and debating skills, they became Christians—as did about 200 soldiers and members of the emperor’s family. All of them were martyred.

By Fr. Kevin Drew, Catholic Exchange – The emperors of this world, a class of men richer, more cunning, and scientific, are busy doling out bread and circuses to keep the rabble at bay and our eyes off the truth. Christ the King gives you bread from heaven, the bread that gives eternal life… Christ dies on the cross to give you this bread. This death of your King takes place in a mystical, timeless sacrifice so it can be applied to your soul now. Realize this and you will never come to Mass to be entertained or amused. You will be too busy bowing down and worshipping your King on His throne.

By Phillip Campbell, Catholic Exchange – Among the Church’s multitudes of saints, perhaps none is as well-recognized as St. Francis of Assisi. The little man with the brown habit, scruffy beard, and forest creatures perched upon his shoulders is one of the most universal images in Catholic iconography, recognizable to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. The passage of eight centuries since the saint’s death have not diminished his popularity. He is as beloved today as he ever was… Yet Francis has, in some respects, become a victim of his own renown—a saint better recognized than understood, easier to stereotype that to exegete. …

By Julia Smucker, LifeNews – Methodist theologian Stanley Hauerwas once wrote, “My Uncle Charlie is not much of a person but he is still my Uncle Charlie.”… This striking sentence introduced his argument on the limits of “personhood” language in medical contexts. Yet it also captures the power of having known a human being as a person, a subjective but universal human experience that belies attempts to categorize certain humans as nonpersons… It’s subjective not in the sense of being a mere matter of personal opinion, but of being rooted in personal experience (the experience of the subject). In Hauerwas’ example, I’ve experienced Uncle Charlie as a person because I’ve known him as a human individual with a name, a relationship to me, and human traits specific to him, and no ethical or philosophical abstraction can undo this.

By Thaddeus G. McCotter, Chronicles – Let’s look at illegal immigration and a hypothetical Catholic Democrat politician whom we shall call “Joe.”.. Joe spends all his time in the media and the marbled corridors of power denouncing the Trump administration’s “inhumane” treatment of “migrants.” His use of the term “migrants” when he is speaking of “illegal immigrants” further blurs the line between lawful and illegal entrants into America. Further, in decrying this allegedly inhumane treatment, Joe cites disinformation, misinformation, and exaggerates—but the one thing he never manages to provide in his descriptions of what constitutes humane treatment of illegal immigrants. …

By Anthony Esolen, Crisis Magazine – The world has become a hollowed-out set of institutions wearing the skinsuit of the now-dead body of Western Civilization. What ought we do as Catholics living in the ruins?… Attendance at Mass has plummeted since that New Springtime for the Church, heralded by the Second Vatican Council. There has been no springtime. Indeed, in no area of human culture has there been any such—not in the fine arts, film, literature, education, social institutions, civic life, folkways; not in the ordinary interchanges of human beings outside of their homes; not even in life within the home.

By Francesca Pollio Fenton, CNA – As Advent quickly approaches and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season begins to make its way into our lives, here are five resources to help you prepare to welcome Jesus this Christmas… From Ascension: Join Father Mike Schmitz this Advent for “Waiting Well: Advent with Fr. Mike Schmitz” on the Ascension app… Beginning Nov. 30, a 26-day video series will guide viewers on becoming aware of how God is shaping them through seasons of waiting and how to wait well. …

By Clark S. Judge, The American Spectator – (Bill Buckley) introduced a Catholic perspective into the American discourse at the same moment that the old Protestant establishment’s confidence in the American experiment and America’s place in the world was wavering.  And through that Catholic sensibility, he brought clarity to the great issues of his time… Clarity about the moral nature of the struggle with communism… Clarity about the moral superiority of free markets to collectivism… Clarity about the essential link between a traditional moral order and the long-term prospects for democracy and freedom. ….

By Peter Van Buren, The American Conservative – This year, Thanksgiving is ours…. It all starts with a text: “Can’t wait to see everyone for Thanksgiving! Let’s be civil this year!” You remember last year, when someone “accidentally” sent your MAGA cap down the disposal. You know the text was not intended for your cousin who livestreams her dietary needs (“I guess no one remembers—again—I’m vegan.”) The text was aimed squarely at you, the family’s only conservative.

By Brad Miner, The Catholic Thing – There’s another basilica called St. Peter’s in Rome, located near the Colosseum. San Pietro in Vincoli (“St. Peter in Chains”) is a minor basilica that gets its own share of visitors, many of whom come for just one reason… Therein lies the “tomb” of Julius II, although the late pope is not interred there. Julius (Giuliano della Rovere) now lies in the other St. Peter’s, the world’s greatest church, next to his uncle, Pope Sixtus IV.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 21:1-4 – 1 He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4 for they all contributed out of their bundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had.”

By Jonah McKeown, National Catholic Register – American college campuses are cloaked in the annual splendor of fall colors, and students are buckling down in a new semester. Amid the many diversions of campus life, Catholic chaplains say unexpectedly large numbers of students at universities across the country — including many secular institutions — are expressing interest in the Catholic faith… It’s reached the point where many Newman Centers — named, of course, for the newest Doctor of the Church and patron saint of education, St. John Henry Newman — are almost overwhelmed by the response from young men and women on campus to their educational, recreational and sacramental offerings.

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – A pro-life pregnancy center is gearing up to fight back against New Jersey Democrats’ lawfare at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court early next month… “Our state has done everything they could to make New Jersey a sanctuary state for abortion. Since pregnancy centers like ours do not perform or refer for abortions, we are targets for a government that disagrees with our views,” First Choice Women’s Resource Centers Executive Director Aimee Huber said during a Thursday press conference. “If our attorney general can bully us, it can happen in other states that promote abortion.

Patriot Post – “The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)

By Franciscan Media, November 24 – Andrew Dung-Lac, a Catholic convert ordained to the priesthood, was one of 117 people martyred in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862. Members of the companions group gave their lives for Christ in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and received beatification during four different occasions between 1900 and 1951. All were canonized during the papacy of Saint John Paul II.

By John M. Grondelski, The Catholic Thing – This year marks the centennial of the institution of the Solemnity of Christ the King.  Pope Pius XI published the encyclical Quas primas on December 11, 1925, which sketched the theology and announced the new feast of the “Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”… Contrary to this year’s protest rhetoric, America does have a king.  All men have a king, because the Kingdom of God encompasses all men.  As the Preface for the feast observes, Christ presents to His Father “an eternal and universal kingdom.”… The claims of Christ’s Kingship might seem to most people today inflated, even triumphalist. They are an offense to a modernity that makes its peace with secularism ….

By Phil Lawler, Complicit Clergy, (Catholic Culture) – Let’s look at the bishops’ statement on US immigration policy from a completely different angle… Forget the arguments for and against unrestricted immigration, for and against the Trump administration’s crackdown. Instead ask this question: Why are the bishops making any statement at all?.. We can all agree, regardless of our political perspectives, that the immigration problem in the US today is severe. We may disagree about the causes of that problem and about the appropriate remedies. Those are political issues, best resolved in political debates—which are not the bishops’ primary concern.

By Sarah Reinhard, Catholic Exchange – The Presentation of Mary is on our liturgical calendars, but what does it mean? It can’t actually be proven historically, though we read about it in early documents (namely, the Protoevangelium of James)… The Presentation of Mary follows a story of God’s faithfulness to two people. If you’ve read about Abraham and Sarah, then this will feel familiar: Joachim and Anne, Mary’s parents, were long in years and childless. Not by choice; it felt to them like a punishment… They prayed, and they fasted. They mourned separately …

By John Zmirak, Sr. Editor, The Stream – Minnesota is drowning in fraud. Billions in taxpayer dollars have been stolen during the administration of Governor Tim Walz alone. Democratic state officials, overseeing one of the most generous welfare regimes in the country, are asleep at the switch. And the media, duty-bound by progressive pieties, refuse to connect the dots… In many cases, the fraud has allegedly been perpetrated by members of Minnesota’s sizeable Somali community. Federal counterterrorism sources confirm that millions of dollars in stolen funds have been sent back to Somalia, where they ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab. As one confidential source put it: “The largest funder of Al-Shabaab is the Minnesota taxpayer.”

By Douglas Andrews, Patriot Post – A network of Somalis is defrauding the state’s Medicaid program and sending some of the funds to an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group back home…
“the state’s largest city, Minneapolis, resoundingly calls its Muslims to prayer five times a day and is represented in Congress by a Jew-hating Muslim leftist who may have married her brother to skirt our nation’s immigration laws… “Minnesota is drowning in fraud. Billions in taxpayer dollars have been stolen during the admin. of Gov. Tim Walz alone. Democratic state officials, overseeing one of the most generous welfare regimes in the country, are asleep at the switch. And the media, duty-bound by progressive pieties, refuse to connect the dots.”

By Bradley Devlin, The Daily Signal – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., announced Friday night that she will be resigning her seat in Congress come Jan. 5, 2026… “I’ve always represented the common American man and woman as a member of the House of Representatives, which is why I’ve always been despised in Washington, D.C.” Greene said, expressing extreme displeasure with how things are going within the Republican party… “Almost one year into our majority, the legislature has been mostly sidelined. We endured an eight week shutdown, wrongly… and we are entering campaign season, which means all courage leaves and only safe campaign re-election mode is turned on in the House of Representatives.”

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 20:27-40 – 27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children; 30 and the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

By Tyler Arnold, Catholic News Agency – Nathaniel Madden (Dep. Asst. Sec. for communications at DHS) said… that when considering that verse, one should recognize “a key distinction” in how to demonstrate charity “when you’re talking about people who have knowingly broken laws to get somewhere” as opposed to “a much different situation than dealing with the blameless poor who are citizens of the same country.”… St. Augustine in “City of God” on the compatibility of both justice and mercy (stated) the two are not contradictory… (said) in some cases, DHS has to deal with “severe criminals,” and in all cases, “illegal immigration is itself illegal.”… “We have to take into account that laws were broken,” Madden said. He said authorities do ensure the “human dignity” of migrants is protected.

By Tyler Arnold, CNA – Vice President JD Vance called border security “humanitarian” in response to comments from Pope Leo XIV about immigration policy in the United States… “Border security is not just good for American citizens,” Vance said in an interview with Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle on Nov. 20. “It is the humanitarian thing to do for the entire world.”… Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 18 asked Americans to listen to U.S. bishops’ message opposing “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and urged humane treatment of migrants.

By Father Jerry J. Pokorsky, Catholic World Report – the influx of illegals who came in through the back door – by the thousands, caravan after caravan, in the past four years overwhelmed our system. So they are made to wait for long periods before they could be heard in courts. That means up to five to ten years of enjoying unearned benefits (freebies) paid for by taxpayer money, while they waited their court dates. The Biden administration even gave them free cellphones to set up their own hearings, which they did up to 10 years or longer. The longer the waiting period, the more freebies they got.

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee held a private July meeting at the American Embassy in Jerusalem with Jonathan Pollard — the former Navy intelligence analyst who served 30 years in prison for spying on the U.S. on behalf of Israel — according to a New York Times report published Nov. 20… Pollard confirmed the meeting in an interview with the Times after the outlet learned of it from three anonymous U.S. officials. He reportedly said he initiated the conversation to thank Huckabee for publicly supporting his release.

By Matt Boose, Chronicles – Instead of leaving the affordability issue to regressive socialists, Trump and his team should focus on fulfilling his promise to drastically reduce immigration and argue that a less crowded America will be more livable and harmonious… There is no denying that the artificially high demand from Third World immigration is placing enormous stress on mortgage and rental costs. It is simple supply and demand. Immigration also reduces housing options by negatively affecting the desirability of neighborhoods and driving people to leave places they now consider “foreign” in search of the familiar.

By Jackson Gold, OnePeterFive – The Church is in the midst of a serious crisis, the crisis of Modernism. Modernism is a deadly and insidious heresy, but what is not often stated is how it arises. It is a fact that Modernism, like an evolving disease, has many forms. While Modernism has many components, it all boils down to trying to do the impossible, the fusing of the Catholic faith with the demonic ideologies of the so-called Enlightenment. The Enlightenment itself is what spawned classical Liberalism, a truly evil and insidious ideology that was given infallible papal condemnations in Quanta Cura, the Syllabus of Errors, Rerum Novarum, Immortale Dei, Mirari vos, and Pascendi Dominici gregis.

By Franciscan Media – Saint Cecilia’s Story – Although Cecilia is one of the most famous of the Roman martyrs, the familiar stories about her are apparently not founded on authentic material. There is no trace of honor being paid her in early times. A fragmentary inscription of the late fourth century refers to a church named after her, and her feast was celebrated at least in 545.

By Carole Novielli, Live Action News – Abortion numbers are increasing, nearing levels we have not seen in the U.S. since 2011 — and recently revised statistics from the Guttmacher Institute reveal they’re increasing more than we were originally told… We now end the lives of nearly 3,000 preborn babies by abortion every day in America, but that death toll is likely far greater, given the large numbers of uncounted chemical abortions happening across the country, even in pro-life states. …

By Kenneth Craycraft, Catholic World Report – The Catholic Project describes itself as “an initiative from Catholic University [of America] to foster effective collaboration between the clergy and the laity of the Church in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis.” But with its Wave Two Study, the initiative has broadened its scope to include a wide range of concerns related to the shifting profiles of Catholic priests in the United States. The survey does not reveal newer priests’ suspicion of one extreme of the political spectrum in favor of the other. Rather, it suggests that they are uncomfortable with the political liberalism to which practically all Americans subscribe, especially as that liberalism has distorted Catholic witness.

By Fr. Richard Heilman, Roman Catholic Man – “The final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid … because anyone who operates for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be contended and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue … however, Our Lady has already crushed its head” (Sister Lucia, one of the seers of Fatima)… The Latin phrase, motus in fine velocior, is commonly used to indicate the faster passing of the time at the end of an historical period. I’ve heard it said that it means, “Things accelerate toward the end.” We are living through an historical hour which is not necessarily the end of times, but certainly could be marked as the end of an era. …

By Monica Miller, Crisis Magazine – “Two parents have generated us for death; two parents have generated us for life.”… This is a statement St. Augustine proclaimed in Sermon 22. The parents of death are, of course, Adam and Eve—as they ushered in original sin and the Fall of man. And who are the parents of life? Namely, according to Augustine—none other than God and the Virgin Mary. It could be argued that Augustine is saying, at least on some level, that if Mary was called by God to partner with Him in the world’s salvation, Mary, properly understood, in union with God, is Co-redemptrix.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 16:9-15 – 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations. 10 “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

By T. S. Flanders, OnePeterFive – Back in 2023, all orthodox Catholics of good will heard the news of His Excellency, Bishop Paprocki’s condemnation of heresy in one of the most prominent American journals, First Things. This was ostensibly a condemnation of Cardinal McElroy’s brazen challenge to Catholic moral theology in two pieces (here and here) at America—a connection underlined by Bishop Paprocki’s quoting verbatim from the cardinal’s first article. Nevertheless, His Excellency did say shortly thereafter (on Raymond Arroyo) that he did not want to name names, but had European cardinals also in mind. …

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – Pope Leo XIV is planning to convene an extraordinary consistory of cardinals in early January, the theme of which is not yet known… the Vatican Secretariat of State said that “Holy Father Leo XIV has in mind to convene an Extraordinary Consistory for the days of January 7 and 8, 2026.”… “In due course, the Dean of the College of Cardinals will send to Your Eminence the relevant letter with further details,” continued the note, before ending: “With profound reverence, coordinating office of the Secretariat of State.”

By Ellie Gardey Holmes, The American Spectator – Average Americans have moved on from climate change, and the Left is pretending to not care either… No one cares about climate change anymore… The decline also shows up in Google searches for “climate change,” which have also decreased by half since 2023… People, it seems, have simply gotten tired of the same old story of doom and gloom and melting ice caps. The fact that life has gone on normally — with GDPs continuing to increase and heat deaths decreasing — despite the fact that we’ve surpassed date after date of proclaimed catastrophic “tipping points” isn’t helping climate change activists, either. ….

Rev. Jim Harden, LifeNews – Zohran Mamdani is now the Mayor-elect of New York City. During his campaign, he “vowed to ‘protect New Yorkers from’ pro-life pregnancy centers which he accused of spreading ‘false or deceptive information.’” His threat refers directly to CompassCare. CompassCare runs the only three pro-life medical pregnancy centers in all of New York City. His threat mimics the lawsuit brought by pro-abortion activist Letitia James, New York’s Attorney General, who endorsed Mamdani’s mayoral bid. …

By Mark Hemingway, The Federalist – Democrats have a long history of defending and electing party leaders engaged in the worst behavior imaginable, while Republican voters are still rejecting extremists… While liberal America is justifiably triumphant about Tuesday night’s election results, a lot of professionals are quietly worried about extremism infecting the party. Certainly, electing a mayor of New York who’s an unfortunate hellbroth of communism, Islamism, and “defund the police,” is not someone you want defining your party nationally. …

By Grayson Quay, Catholic Exchange – Transhumanism did not originate with the invention of CRISPR, IVF, or NeuraLink. It is not primarily a technological phenomenon, but a spiritual one… The transhumanist temptation is as old as Eden. By this, I do not mean merely that it shows up in the most ancient stories human cultures have told themselves. I mean that demonic beings literal disembodied entities have intervened in history to spread Satan’s false promises and to goad us into becoming like them… In fact, if we take Christian tradition seriously, they’ve come close to accomplishing that goal once already.

By Nancy Flanders, Live Action News – The dark truth of surrogacy: Creating children with ‘no mother at all’ … A set of twins born in New York in 2023 have lived in a foster home since birth because the Department of Social Services determined they had no mother at all and should be considered wards of the state… MaryBeth Lewis awaited the arrival of twin babies — a boy and a girl — who were being carried by a surrogate in upstate New York. But there were problems. MaryBeth wasn’t actually the biological mother of the babies, and her husband wasn’t the biological father.

By Mark Alexander, Patriot Post – Millions of Veterans have paid the heavy price of sustaining American Liberty for 250 years… We have celebrated some remarkable 250th anniversaries this year… In the spring of 1775, civil discontent with royal rulers was growing, and American Patriots in Massachusetts and other colonies were preparing to cast off their masters… On 23 March, we observed the anniversary of Patrick Henry’s impassioned “Give me Liberty or give me death” speech, which captured the spirit of the coming revolution in defense of American Liberty.

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – President Donald Trump pledged Nov. 5 that the U.S. stands “ready, willing, and able to save” Christians in countries where they are being slaughtered… “We stand ready, willing, and able to save our great Christian population around the world. This is not going to happen,” Trump said in a video message from the White House. “The killing of Christians is not going to happen.”… Trump said Christians in Nigeria face especially severe persecution as Islamist extremists continue to massacre thousands for their faith. ….

By Amira Abuzeid, Catholic News Agency – Alexandria becomes 36th U.S. diocese to declare bankruptcy… The Catholic Diocese of Alexandria, Louisiana, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, Oct. 31, making it the 41st U.S. diocese to seek court-supervised reorganization in the wake of clergy sexual abuse claims… Bishop Robert Marshall Jr., who has led the 50-parish diocese in central Louisiana since 2020, announced the petition in a letter and video posted to the diocese’s website… “As your bishop, I apologize to abuse survivors … “

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – Airlines and travelers are rushing to adjust plans after U.S. transportation officials announced a 10% reduction in flight traffic at 40 major airports beginning Nov. 7. The officials cited safety concerns related to the government shutdown as it drags into its second month… Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Nov. 5 that the cuts, coordinated through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), will “lead to more cancellations” but are necessary to maintain safety.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 16:1-8 – 1 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 And he called him and said to him, `What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ 3 And the steward said to himself, `What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? …

By Virginia Allen, The Daily Signal – President Donald Trump is drawing attention to the persecution of Christians in Africa, which has created a moment of “leverage” and momentum for “real action,” according to a new report from The Heritage Foundation… “Human rights attacks against Christians occur too often, though [they] escape mainstream America, given unfamiliarity, distance, and competing priorities,” Ned Rauch-Mannino, a visiting fellow for The Heritage Foundation’s Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for National Security, wrote in the report.

By Joshua Monnington, The Federalist – But to imply that the problem of leftist extremists in political office is limited to Mamdani and Jones would be inaccurate. There is, of course, Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota, “a big supporter of infamous anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan,” who has been accused of physical abuse by multiple women. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat congresswoman from Minnesota, has blamed Charlie Kirk for his assassination and said that on 9/11 “some people did something.” Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Maxine Waters have been anything but shy about inciting intimidation and violence against their political opponents.

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois has issued an urgent plea for Catholics and all people to contact Gov. J.B. Pritzker and demand he veto a controversial assisted suicide bill that pro-life advocates say would endanger vulnerable residents and undermine the sanctity of human life… The call to action comes just days after the Illinois State Senate approved Senate Bill 1950 in a surprise early-morning vote on October 31, amending the measure onto an unrelated food sanitation bill to legalize the use of lethal drugs for assisted suicide.

By Susan Hanssen, Crisis Magazine – Young conservatives debate “Christian nationalism” while Catholic students still ask about Washington’s connection to Freemasonry at the founding of our nation. It’s time to unpack these myths… It might strike many college professors—immersed in a campus atmosphere that writes off the American Founders for complicity in slavery—as odd that I still get, at my little Catholic liberal arts college, questions every year from students about George Washington being a Freemason.

By Anthony Esolen, The Catholic Thing – I take it as given that God commands only what is good for us and forbids only what is bad, which means sometimes also not permitting others to do what’s bad.  For we are social beings, and permission slides into participation, and participation slides into approval, and approval eventually demands celebration, and sometimes even compulsion.

Franciscan Media – Didacus is living proof that God “chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”.. As a young man in Spain, Didacus joined the Secular Franciscan Order and lived for some time as a hermit. After Didacus became a Franciscan brother, he developed a reputation for great insight into God’s ways. His penances were heroic. He was so generous with the poor that the friars sometimes grew uneasy about his charity.

By Matthew McDonald, National Catholic Register – than 25 years as a neurosurgeon… Doran, 62, who was ordained a Roman Catholic deacon in 2021, chronicles both types of exits and offers advice to fellow Catholics for how they can follow the Church’s teachings and prepare to meet their Maker in his 2023 book, To Die Well: A Catholic Neurosurgeon’s Guide to the End of Life, published by Ignatius Press. ….

By James Kalb, Catholic World Report – Compared with secular and certain other religious tendencies, Catholics and Catholic organizations seem unusually resistant to the appeal of political violence… But what about Catholic political behavior when aligned with power?… Integralism, which might be defined as the view that Catholicism ought to play a political role rather like that now played by the liberal conception of human rights, is commonly considered extreme. And indeed a pope like Innocent III exercised extensive political power—organizing crusades, intervening in the choice of emperors, annulling Magna Carta, and so on.

By Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., OnePeterFive – WHEN the bases of the interior life are considered, we cannot discuss the action of Christ, the universal Mediator, on His Mystical Body without also speaking of the influence of Mary Mediatrix. As we remarked, many persons delude themselves, maintaining that they reach union with God without having continual recourse to our Lord, Who is the way, the truth, and the life. Another error would consist in wishing to go to our Lord without going first to Mary, whom the Church calls in a special feast the Mediatrix of all graces.

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – On 4 November 2025, the Holy See released a Doctrinal Note through the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) entitled Mater Populi Fidelis, signed by DDF Prefect Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez. In the document, Cardinal Fernandez declares “it would not be appropriate to use the title ‘Co-redemptrix’ to define Mary’s cooperation.” The stated reason is that such a title “risks obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith…” (Paragraph 22)… Because many of the faithful are unsettled by these words, and because love for the Blessed Virgin is the heartbeat of authentic Catholic faith, I feel compelled as a successor of the Apostles to reaffirm the perennial teaching of the Church regarding Our Lady’s singular cooperation in the Redemption. …

By Gregory Lyakhov, Patriot Post – If the GOP wants to recover in 2026, it must rediscover its purpose and learn how to communicate it. Voters must see Democrats for what they have become — a party increasingly defined by socialism, anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, and identity politics. Democrats across the country, from mainstream leaders to grassroots organizers, supported Mamdani and others like him. That alignment gives Republicans a moral and political opening.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 15:1-10 – 1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ….

By Stephen Moore, The Daily Signal –
You’ve probably heard by now the blockbuster news that Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the richest people to ever walk the planet, has had a change of heart on climate change… For several decades, Gates poured billions of dollars into the climate-industrial complex and was howling that “the end is nigh” unless we stop using fossil fuels, cars, air conditioning, and general anesthesia… Now, he says he rejects the “doomsday” predictions of the more extreme global warming prophets.

By Michael Pakaluk, The Catholic Thing – The word “cemetery” means “place for sleeping” (from the Greek verb for sleeping, koimaō).  It was never applied to pagan graveyards, but rather coined specifically for the graveyards of Christians and Jews who believed in the resurrection of the dead… We must learn to see Christian “sleeping places” in this way.  They must come to appear to us in a certain way.  They are not dreary places of hopelessness and annihilation. – “She is not dead, but sleeping.” (Luke 8:52) Rather, they are places of anticipation, of assurance of the quick passing of this world. 

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – So now we see the price that the Catholic Church must pay for the years of confusion over matters of doctrine during the reign of Pope Francis. When the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) publishes a statement, designed to clarify the proper language to use in praise of the Virgin Mary, faithful Catholics—who in the past would have carefully heeded such a cautionary note from the Vatican’s top doctrinal body—see the document as an offense against piety and a betrayal of the perennial tradition.

By Joseph Pronechen, National Catholic Register – Despite its enormous significance, skipping a funeral Mass and instead opting for a graveside service or ‘celebration of life’ for a loved one has become increasingly common among U.S. Catholics… Death awaits at the end of every human life, and this profound event is also the entry point to the final judgment by Jesus that will determine the permanent destination of every human soul: heaven or hell. …

By Paul Kengor, The American Spectator – In this industrial, Rust Belt city in northeastern Ohio, just across the Ohio River from West Virginia and mere miles from the Pennsylvania border, something special is happening. No, it isn’t the idyllic Nutcracker Village displays that adorn downtown at Christmastime. Nor is it the latest tribute to the town’s most famous native son — the legendary Rat Pack crooner Dean Martin. It isn’t even the excellent Catholic college the city boasts, Franciscan University of Steubenville, home to renowned scholars of the faith such as Scott Hahn and Regis Martin. Though, as with Franciscan, it does relate to higher education.

By Anne Hendershott, Crisis Magazine – Every social institution is buckling under the strain imposed by the tens of millions of illegal immigrants now residing in the United States. At the center of this collapse lies Obamacare… While the government shutdown continues and health-care reform remains gridlocked, Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) burdens taxpayers with out-of-control costs. For more than a decade, Obamacare has been riddled with systemic fraud that has been denied by Democratic Party bureaucrats, ignored by much of the media, and paid for by weary taxpayers.
Built on lies including “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor,” Catholics continue to bitterly recall the duplicitous role that Sr. Carol Keehan, CEO of the Catholic Healthcare Association …

By Carl E. Olson, Catholic World Report – The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released today a “Doctrinal Note on Some Marian Titles regarding Mary’s Cooperation in the Work of Salvation” (Mater Populi Fidelis), and it has raised a few eyebrows along with quite a few questions… The document has sections of theological and historical reflection that are quite excellent. I think, however, that it doth protest too much, throws out the baby with the bath water, and strains gnats while apparently being oblivious to the various camels walking about.

By K.V. Turley, Catholic Exchange – Sheen’s outline is simple enough. There are seven deadly sins, and so there are seven chapters. Each chapter is a brief look at each sin—anger, lust, etc.—and the means to counter it. As I said, this is a hard book to review. The author was more than able to speak for himself, so I shall step aside and give you a taste, albeit all too brief, of Sheen’s thought and style: Anger – It is not hatred that is wrong; it is hating the wrong thing that is wrong. It is not anger that is wrong; it is being angry at the wrong thing that is wrong. Tell me your enemy, and I will tell you what you are. Tell me your hatred, and I will tell you your character. …

Franciscan Media, November 6 – Nicholas Tavelic and his three companions are among the 158 Franciscans who have been martyred in the Holy Land since the friars became custodians of the shrines in 1335… Nicholas Tavelic was born in 1340 to a wealthy and noble family in Croatia. He joined the Franciscans, and was sent with Deodat of Rodez to preach in Bosnia. …

By Tessa Gervasini, CNA – U.S. bishops and other Catholic leaders are offering “prayers of support and solidarity” for world leaders who will discuss climate change and other environmental matters at an upcoming conference…The 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) is scheduled for Nov. 10–21 in Belém, Brazil. World leaders, scientists, and representatives from civil society will discuss ways to implement solutions to combat climate change and form new national action plans.

By Betsy McCaughey, Patriot Post – New Yorkers, brace yourselves for crazy laws and huge tax hikes… Zohran Mamdani’s win Tuesday should send tremors far beyond New York City. A Mamdani victory will ignite wholesale legislative attacks on property owners, charter schools, law enforcement and businesses all across New York state. From Buffalo to Amagansett, nothing will be spared… In New York, the big decisions about criminal law, education, rent laws and taxation are legislated at the state level, not locally. Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America will be calling the shots in Albany as well as at City Hall. …

By Daniel McCarthy, Chronicles – In times of national emergency, should the Supreme Court dictate America’s grand strategy and international economic policies?… This question confronts the justices this week in Learning Resources v. Trump, a case that puts the president’s tariff powers to the test. If President Donald Trump loses, the Treasury faces having to refund more than $100 billion in tariff revenue, and the president’s trade strategy will be thrown into chaos… Businesses that have already changed their operations because of the tariffs, drawing jobs and supply chains back to America, will be subject to grave new uncertainties …

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Democrat Abigail Spanberger is projected to be elected Virginia’s first female governor Tuesday, defeating pro-life Republican Winsome Earle-Sears in a contest that pro-life advocates warned could transform the state into the “abortion capital of the South.” With exit polling data and early precincts reporting, the abortion activist is projected to become Virginia’s next governor and the first woman to hold the state’s highest office, according to Decision Desk HQ.

By Dave and Debbie Cowden, Catholic Exchange – If I had to summarize my prayer life in one sentence, it would be this: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (see Mt. 26:41). I imagine this is the case for many parents, who feel they are merely “scraping by” or “surviving, not thriving.” Yes, these are clichés. Yes, they ring true… We Cowdens have seen this in our lives. There are seasons when our family prays regularly together and other seasons when we feel we hardly resemble a Catholic family, outside of attending Sunday Mass. …

By Andrea Madrigal, Crisis Magazine – I know by now that I shouldn’t be surprised by anything that comes from the clergy, and yet Fr. Carter’s words left me in shock. This is a man who is supposed to be the father, the shepherd to hundreds of grieving sheep as they are spiritually abused at the hands of their bishop and Rome; but instead, his reaction was to try to gaslight those very souls he is in charge of into eating the stones they are being given in place of bread. In this article, I intend to examine this sermon more closely as a response to Fr. Carter’s words. As a regular TLM attendee myself, I grieve with my fellow Catholics in the diocese of Knoxville, as I cannot imagine what life would be like without the Traditional Latin Mass.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 14:25-33 – 25 Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them, 26 “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. ….

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – Democrats scored a string of victories Nov. 4, winning several closely watched gubernatorial and municipal races in contests seen as bellwethers ahead of the 2026 midterms… In Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to succeed term-limited Gov. Glenn Youngkin. With an estimated 98% of votes counted, Spanberger was ahead 57.6% to Earle-Sears’ 42.2%, according to the Associated Press… Meanwhile, Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares lost his re-election bid to Democrat Jay Jones, who overcame weeks of controversy over resurfaced violent text messages in which Jones mused about the deaths of Republicans. …

By John Zmirak, The Stream – Last night’s election was a wipeout for Republican candidates in almost every important race. It’s a wake-up call and a warning before next year’s midterm congressional contest… What happened? All politics is local, so different factors decided the various races. But a common theme was this: Without Donald Trump on the ballot, Republicans seem unable to overcome the advantages Democrats baked into the system — from massive Third World immigration that transformed local electorates, and still-intact corruption in vote-counting software, to the deep divisions that still plague the GOP between diehard anti-Trump elitists and populists who follow his model. …

By Caroline Manno, Crisis Magazine – The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say about intercessory prayer: Since Abraham, intercession—asking on behalf of another—has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God’s mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ’s, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks “not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,” even to the point of praying for those who do him harm. (CCC 2635) …

By Francis X. Maier, The Catholic Thing – Between half and two-thirds of U.S. adults have gambled, at least occasionally, over the past year.  Nearly 8 percent gamble every day.  This includes everything from state lotteries and online betting to local casinos.  For some, gambling is simple entertainment.  For others, it’s a serious problem… Gambling demographics are revealing.  Economic class and education matter, but not in a simplistic way… From a Catholic perspective, gambling isn’t inherently wrong, so long as it’s fair, moderate, and doesn’t compromise one’s basic needs and responsibilities to others.  But in practice, the U.S. gambling industry is organized to produce exactly the opposite results. 

By Bradley Devlin, The Daily Signal – The conservative chattering class will lament loudly and profusely about Tuesday’s results, not only because it is good for business, but because it’s their elections. Virginia, New Jersey, New York City—these are the places they call home, and they expect too much of the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. Which I only feel comfortable saying because I’m from California, a modern-day Capernaum… Certainly, the temptation to get swept up in the punishment about to be exacted on these places is strong. In New York City, Democrat Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s policies will destroy what’s left of the city’s independent working class.

By: Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – Furthering the Big Apple’s descent into communism, New York City voters elected radical Democrat Zohran Mamdani to be their next mayor on Tuesday… According to several media outlets, the Ugandan-born Mamdani is projected to defeat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the race to lead one of America’s most populous cities… As of publication, preliminary results show Mamdani winning 50.4 percent of the electorate with 90 percent of votes tabulated. Meanwhile, Cuomo and Sliwa are projected to receive 41.6 percent and 7.1 percent of the vote …

By Franciscan Media – A man who vigorously pursues a goal may produce results far beyond his expectations and his intentions. Thus it was with Peter ” of the Golden Words,” as he was called, who as a young man became bishop of Ravenna, the capital of the empire in the West… At the time there were abuses and vestiges of paganism evident in his diocese, and these Peter was determined to battle and overcome. His principal weapon was the short sermon, and many of them have come down to us.

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – When Pope John XXIII opened the Council on 11 October 1962, he announced that “the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than of severity.” The sentiment sounded generous, yet it revealed a shift: correction would give way to dialogue, severity to leniency, warning to optimism. In that same address he talked about the “prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand,” whereas he saw “a new order of human relations” emerging. The naïve trust that the modern world could be persuaded by gentleness rather than converted by truth became the keynote of his pontificate.

By Fr. Nnamdi Moneme, OMV, Catholic Exchange – My close friend, a devout Catholic, was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer some months ago. She was a woman of strong faith, passionately in love with Jesus and His Mother Mary. She believed that she would be healed by Jesus. Together with her family, we all prayed intensely for her healing even as her health slowly deteriorated… I administered the Sacrament of Anointing to her for the final time in the presence of her grieving family. After the anointing, she looked at me with her customary beautiful smile and said, “Father, I know to Whom I am going.” Her words both edified me and brought tears to my eyes. …

By John Zmirak, The Stream  – A few weeks ago, we posted the thoughtful review by survivor of Chinese Communist persecution Chenyuan Snider of the new movie One Battle After Another, which is a powerfully crafted recruitment film for Antifa terrorists. It got lavished with praise by Hollywood, and doubtless some unhinged souls were triggered by it to engage in future violence… A small consolation is that the movie had few viewers and will lose tens of millions of dollars. So did most of the other politicized, weird, or out-of-touch films released this year. In fact, a review of 2025 could be titled One Flop After Another, as Breitbart reports:

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 14:15-24 – 15 When one of those who sat at table with him heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; 17 and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, `Come; for all is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, `I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.’ ….

By Catholic Vote News Feed – A Nigerian bishop recently described the devastating reality that Islamist Fulani terrorists are committing a genocide against Christians, and he called on the world to respond… The genocide in Nigeria “should be the concern of every other human being, everybody, man and woman, of goodwill,” Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of the diocese of Makurdi, in Benue State of Nigeria, told CatholicVote in an interview this week.

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – Voters across the country will head to the polls Nov. 4 in elections that many see as early tests of the political landscape nearly a year into President Donald Trump’s second term and one year ahead of the midterms… Here are the top races drawing national attention: Virginia, New Jersey, New York and California proposition ….

By SBA ProLife, LifeNews – Virginia is one of two states holding regularly scheduled state legislative elections in 2025, making it one of the most watched “off-year” elections leading up to midterms next year. Voters will select all 100 members of the House of Delegates Tuesday, as well as the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. Party control of the House especially will set the course of the battle for life in the largest southeastern state that has not enacted protections for unborn babies and mothers in the law after Dobbs ….

By T. S. Flanders, One Peter Five – Marian devotion is the cure for heresy and the healing of all heretics. We must turn to her for refuge from the heretical depravity now consuming the Church. Marian devotion is the destruction of error, the fount of humility, and a potent safeguard for orthodox faith… The most infallible and indubitable sign by which we may distinguish a heretic, a man of bad doctrine, a reprobate, from one of the predestinate, is that the heretic and the reprobate have nothing but contempt and indifference for our Blessed Lady, endeavoring by their words and examples to diminish the veneration and love of her. (30) …

By Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist – Nearly half a dozen foreign charities have dumped more than a billion dollars into numerous U.S.-based leftist organizations and causes in recent years, according to a new investigative report… Released on Friday, the new analysis by Americans for Public Trust (APT) shows how five overseas charities have collectively funneled almost $2 billion into left-wing groups, policy fights, and more “to advance their extreme, foreign, activist agenda” in America. These causes, according to the report, range from funding climate alarmist demonstrations and campaigns to environmental-related litigation.

By David Paul Deavel, Catholic World Report – For Catholics, the end of October marked the beginning of Hallowtide—All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, All Hallows (All Saints), and All Souls. For Protestant Christians who have maintained some connection with the first Protestants, October 31 is celebrated as Reformation Day, which commemorates Martin Luther’s posting of his Ninety-five Theses… I grew up celebrating Halloween (the secular version) and, because my parents started attending a Calvinist congregation (Christian Reformed) when I was young, we sometimes attended Reformation Day services.

By Eric Sammons,  Crisis Magazine – A schism threatens to tear apart the Right, one whose epicenter lies not in America but in Israel… With last November’s election, the conservative Right in this country secured a massive victory. Donald Trump won the presidency handily, the GOP gained control of both the House and the Senate, and the Democratic Party was in disarray, with no one to bring them back to prominence. It appeared clear that the nation could look forward to years of Republican dominance… That’s not so clear anymore, because a schism threatens to tear apart the Right, one whose epicenter lies not in America but in Israel. …

By Hannah Brockhaus, CNA – The Vatican’s doctrinal office said Tuesday the titles of “Co-Redemptrix” and “Mediatrix” are not appropriate ways to describe Mary’s participation in salvation… In “Mater Populi Fidelis” (“The Mother of the Faithful People of God”), the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) said when an expression requires frequent explanation to maintain the correct meaning, it becomes unhelpful… “In this case, the expression ‘Co-redemptrix’ does not help extol Mary as the first and foremost collaborator in the work of Redemption and grace ….

By Steven Richards, Just the News – The Republican and Democratic Parties look to Election Day 2025 as a bellwether for their national chances in the upcoming midterms and are making their final pushes to get their candidates across the finish line in Virginia and New Jersey… Both parties are looking to the races as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term in order to glean how well both parties may expect to perform in next year’s midterm elections.

By Deroy Murdock, The American Spectator – If New Yorkers foolishly elect Democrat mayoral nominee Zohran Kwame Mamdani, they should expect the agenda of Karl Marx and the work ethic of Joe Biden. Mamdani’s tenure in the New York State Assembly suggests as much… The Ugandan-born, Israel-loathing, antisemite routinely sounds like an audio edition of Das Kapital… Citing a guiding principle of Communism, Mamdani told his fellow members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in 2021 that their “end goal” should be “seizing the means of production.” Mamdani proudly wears the far-far Left DSA’s seal of approval.. (one of his ) top endorsements….

Franciscan Media – The name of Charles Borromeo is associated with reform. He lived during the time of the Protestant Reformation, and had a hand in the reform of the whole Church during the final years of the Council of Trent… Although he belonged to the Milanese nobility and was related to the powerful Medici family, Charles desired to devote himself to the Church…

By Msgr. Charles Pope, National Catholic Register – When I was in seminary back in the mid-1980s, I was informed by some of my seminary teachers that the old funeral (requiem) Masses were a very dark affair. Black vestments and somber prayers, all focused on judgment, were supposedly an “extreme” that had to give way to a newer, brighter and hopeful funeral liturgy. While I had little or no memory of the older funeral rites from before 1965, I was dubious that the old requiem Mass could have been that bad. …

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 14:12-14 – 12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

By John M. Grondelski, The Catholic Thing – Pope Leo XIV has joined the chorus of those lamenting the implosion of global fertility levels. Speaking after a visit with the President of Italy, the Pope urged action to implosion of fertility and the collapse of childbearing. Encouragingly, he specifically extolled gendered names for family members: “‘Father,’ ‘mother,’ ‘son,’ ‘daughter,’ ‘grandfather,’ ‘grandmother’. . .[t]hese are words that in Italian tradition naturally express and evoke sentiments of love, respect, and dedication – sometimes heroic – for the good of the family, community, and therefore for that of society as a whole.”

By Joseph Pearce, Catholic Exchange – During St. John Henry Newman’s long and eventful life, new ideas emerged, causing seismic shifts in the way modern man perceived himself. Karl Marx adapted the ideas of Hegel in the service of revolutionary politics… Charles Darwin proposed the evolution of species from primitive beginnings, thereby initiating the notion of biological progressivism and the chronological snobbery that is its consequence. Friedrich Nietzsche declared brazenly that God was dead, thereby deifying man… Newman’s own place within the Catholic Revival is paramount. He is the very Father of the Revival itself.

By Daniel B. Gallagher, Catholic Exchange – At a certain moment, my fingers dropped from the keyboard as I came across a Capuchin priest by the name of Fr. José Pérez González. I have no idea what Fr. José or his priestly ministry looked like. All I know is that I share a birthday with him on January 5th… In an instant, it became clear to me that we venerate the saints not so much because they are different from us, but because we are like them. Fr. José must have had a set of parents and perhaps a few siblings. He went to school, played games, and somewhere along the line he decided to enter the seminary. He received the sacraments, learned how to pray, and likely had moments of fear and doubt no different from mine.

Rorate Caeli by Staff – German public broadcaster ZDF has for decades presented Sunday “divine services”: Evangelical and Catholic. This past Sunday, for the first time, the Catholic “mass” was a “Queer Divine Service.” We take the opportunity to remind all that Traditionis custodes, the document that attempted to abolish the Traditional Rite of the Latin Church, had the illegitimate audacity of stating: “The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.”

By Beth Brelje, The Federalist – Many illegal aliens who are not eligible for SNAP benefits were nonetheless saved from scrambling for food Friday when a judge forced funding for the program to continue in November… Both the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) have been under threat as the budget impasse in Congress continues. SNAP was slated for suspension on Nov. 1 when the federal SNAP funding mechanism ran out. An appropriation bill must be passed to fund it.

By  Ngala Killian Chimtom, Catholic World Report – Nelson Moda, the head of the Community of Sant’Egidio in Mozambique and a lecturer at the Catholic University of Mozambique, has described religious sects and terrorist groups as “the two wolves” that prey on the vulnerability of African youths… Africa’s defining demographic characteristic is its exceptionally young population. With an average age of just 19 years, the continent stands in stark contrast to other regions: Latin America (31), Asia (32), Oceania (33), North America (38), and Europe (42.5). …

By Pete Connolly, The American Spectator – I’m a proud Gen Xer — not because we were so great, but because we are the last generation still attached to old school. We were raised at the tail end of an America that still had connections to the texture and oddity of what Greil Marcus called that “Old, Weird America.” We still listen to classic rock on vinyl without irony, but we also knew who Glenn Miller and Perry Como were. Sinatra was still touring and still mattered. We watched old movies, lots of them — Angels with Dirty Faces, The Ox-Bow Incident, Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy. ..

By Bishop James D. Conley, The Catholic Thing – President Trump recently announced measures to expand access to and reduce costs associated with in vitro fertilization (IVF). This is being billed as a pro-family and pro-life effort to help “American families have more babies.” While the intention and goal are noble, IVF, in fact, undermines human dignity, marriage, and family life for a variety of reasons… But first, a word to those conceived through IVF, those struggling with infertility and, by extension, those wrestling with this aspect of the Church’s teaching, which can seem counterintuitive, confusing, and even harsh.

By Francesca Pollio Fenton, Catholic News Agency – On Nov. 3, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Martin de Porres, a Peruvian Dominican brother who lived a life of humble service and charity and became the first Black saint of the Americas… Here are seven fascinating facts about this inspiring saint: 1. His father refused to acknowledge him… De Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. He was the son of a Spanish nobleman and former Panamanian Black slave. His father, Don Juan de Porres, refused to publicly acknowledge the boy as his own because Martin was Black, like his mother.

By Lorenzo Prieto, The Daily Signal – President Donald Trump warned on Saturday that the U.S. will take the crisis into its own hands if local authorities do not… “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, “guns-a-blazing,” to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” the president declared on Truth Social. 

By Jennifer Gregory Miller, Catholic Culture – November 1 begins the unofficial “All Saints Octave”: the eight days of November 1 to November 8. Each day of the “octave” one can earn a plenary indulgence for the souls in Purgatory. A visit to the cemetery to pray for the dead can earn a “get out of jail free” card for a soul in Purgatory!… I love this time of year, not because of the fall season or pumpkin spice lattes (which I dislike), but because I feel a special closeness with all our brothers and sisters of the Mystical Body of Christ, particularly the departed brothers and sisters. …

By J.T. Young, LifeNews – Virginia’s and New Jersey’s gubernatorial races show the Republican candidates currently matching or beating Donald Trump’s past presidential margins. This is big for these state races and for gauging the overall country’s mood. It could be bigger still if it presages a Republican threat to Democrats’ “second blue wall” in 2026 and 2028… In Virginia, the Republican, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has been trailing the Democrat, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, by double digits as recently as the beginning of October.

By Gaetano Masciullo, Crisis Magazine – The Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, caused a deep rupture in Western public opinion, polarizing the debate between supporters of Israel and advocates of the Palestinian cause. Yet the stakes go far beyond the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the historical tensions of the Middle East: what is emerging is a strategic confrontation between blocs of power… And as long as peoples seek security in borders rather than in the pierced Heart of the Savior, they will continue to raise walls where they ought to erect altars.

Franciscan Media –

By Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Catholic World Report – How does one get to Heaven? By being a saint on earth. And how does one become a saint? By living a life of holiness. And in what does holiness consist? Here are seven elements… 1. Holiness consists in being childlike … Our Lord Himself asserted – unequivocally – “unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven” [Mt 18:3]. But, as you have undoubtedly heard many times, being childlike is quite different from being childish. Saint Thérèse, for example, was devoted to the Holy Child Jesus because she found in Him all the qualities to become a saint herself. …

By Suellen Brewster, Catholic Exchange – We would be remiss, however, in letting the prophetic pair of November 1st and 2nd pass by without receiving all the Lord means for us to receive from the Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of All Souls… We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints is always [attentive] to our prayers. (CCC 962)… As living Catholics, we are those “pilgrims on earth” referenced above.

Catholic Vote – President Donald Trump declared Nigeria a “country of particular concern” Oct. 31, answering calls from Catholic and other leaders for the U.S. government to confront the persecution of Christians there… “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” Trump said in a strongly worded statement posted to Truth Social. “I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’…”… “But that is the least of it. … When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide), something must be done!”

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 14:1, 7-11 – 1 One sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him. 7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; …

By Joseph Pearce, Crisis Magazine – As we celebrate All Saints and All Souls, it is a good time to remember that these Feast days specifically call to mind all the forgotten Saints and holy souls… If Christ so honors these humble souls by raising them from the tomb into His Kingdom in Heaven, it is surely incumbent upon us to honor them also. In doing so, and in doing what they did, we might hope to be where they are. Through their prayers and by the grace of God, we might hope to join the unsung heroes of Christendom in the song of songs that never ends.

By Jonah McKeown, National Catholic Register – This process essentially creates a ‘three-parent embryo.’… Regarding the conception of human children: What if mothers could be removed from the equation?… It’s a thought experiment that points to an idea so preposterous and unnatural that it seems almost incoherent. But researchers at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland published a paper Sept. 30 chronicling a process that could lead to exactly that — human eggs created from other human cells, such as skin cells, rather than produced naturally by a woman’s body.

By Matt Boose, Chronicles – Mamdani belongs to a generation of leftist politicians with tenuous ties to the nation they inhabit and would presume to rule. Mamdani, at least according to his mother, is “not American at all.” To his credit Mamdani has charisma … Mamdani’s parents came to the US legally in 1998, although their move clearly did nothing to inculcate a sense of loyalty or national pride in them or their then-seven-year-old son… Demographic change has transformed America since the immigration reforms of the 1960s. The Trump administration is now trying to play catch up for decades of mistakes, and is facing serious obstruction carrying out promised mass deportations. …

By Kelli Keane, Live Action News – John Pisciotta went from being a pro-life “fan” to an activist in 1994… Pisciotta, then an economics professor at Baylor University, told Live Action News that he “debated whether to attend or not,” but then “the Holy Spirit nudged me to show up.” Thomas’ and Benham’s words about the horrors of abortion changed the course of Pisciotta’s life… “I decided that day, fighting abortion would become a part of my life. From a small mustard seed, Pro-Life Waco grew over three decades to be a diverse and unflinching community action organization,” he said.

By Joy Pullmann, The Federalist – According to demographer Nicholas Eberstadt, for the first time in human history since the bubonic plague in the medieval 1300s, global population is declining. The world’s fertility rate just hit a 60-year low, and it’s set to keep decreasing. The nations with replacement-rate fertility are largely terrible places where people die young, such as Somalia, the Congo, and Afghanistan.

By Franciscan Media – The Story of the Solemnity of All Saints – The earliest certain observance of a feast in honor of all the saints is an early fourth-century commemoration of “all the martyrs.” In the early seventh century, after successive waves of invaders plundered the catacombs, Pope Boniface IV gathered up some 28 wagon-loads of bones and reinterred them beneath the Pantheon, a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. The pope rededicated the shrine as a Christian church. According to Venerable Bede, the pope intended “that the memory of all the saints might in the future be honored in the place which had formerly been dedicated to the worship not of gods but of demons”

By Anthony DeStefano, Crisis Magazine – The entirely Catholic “All Hallows’ Eve” is the beginning of a three-day feast known as “All Hallowtide.” Here’s how to take it back from the hollowed out secular celebration… Ours is the only culture in history that mocks the devil while pretending he doesn’t exist… Every Halloween, we flirt with the infernal, pretending it’s all make-believe—until something evil happens, and then we stand astonished that the line between play and peril has worn so thin. Halloween is, strangely enough, the one night when modern secular man admits he believes in something beyond himself—only he chooses to believe the wrong thing. Having lost his saints, he now settles for skeletons.

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – Speaking to more than 10,000 students at the University of Mississippi Oct. 29, Vice President JD Vance offered a defense of Christianity’s role in American public life and urged students to strengthen the nation’s culture through marriage and family — echoing the message of the late Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk… “I could just hear Charlie in my heart,” Erika Kirk said, opening the night. “I could just hear him say, go reclaim that territory, babe. Go to the battles that God’s love conquers. …

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – Some of the nation’s top airlines are calling on Congress to end the government shutdown and pay air traffic controllers, joining Republican lawmakers in pressing Democrats to vote with the GOP for a “clean continuing resolution” (CR) and reopen the government… Speaking outside the White House Oct. 30, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said lawmakers need to “get into a room behind closed doors and negotiate hard on real substantive issues that the American people want our politicians on both sides of the aisle to solve.”

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that the state will redirect more than $35 million in taxpayer funds to the Planned Parenthood Abortion business to offset federal Medicaid cuts, a move pro-life advocates decried as a blatant subsidy for the nation’s largest abortion company at the expense of vulnerable women and unborn children. The funding, allocated across five Planned Parenthood affiliates operating 47 clinics statewide, aims to sustain the abortion giant after defending under the bill Congress passed this year.

By Gayle Somers, Catholic Exchange – On the Feast of All Souls, when we remember with love all those who have died, the Church gives us a reading taken from the Bread of Life discourse in St. John’s Gospel (Jn. 6:22-71).  The context is familiar, then, as we hear portions of it throughout the liturgical year.  It’s best known for its teaching on Jesus giving His own Flesh and Blood for the life of the world, the food and drink of our salvation; however, there are other teachings in this great passage that deserve our attention, and the Church presents us with one of them now.

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 14:1-6 – 1 One Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him. 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 4 But they were silent. Then he took him and healed him, and let him go. …

By John Zmirak, The Stream – But the climate in our country is more toxic and divisive than it has been since the Vietnam War. That’s not because Trump’s actions have been outside of presidential norms, but because his political enemies decided on election night 2016 to treat him and his supporters like Nazis, and don the mantle of the “Resistance.” You see, Barack Obama’s election was meant (in his own words) to “fundamentally transform” America. To redeem it, if you will, from its foul and immoral heritage, and render it (again in Obama’s words) a “normal country,” like … Belgium.

By Hannah Brockhaus, Catholic News Agency, ( Catholic World Report) – The Vatican’s doctrine office announced Thursday it will release a document on Nov. 4 about titles of Mary that refer to her “cooperation in the work of salvation.”… Mary’s contribution to human salvation, specifically the title of “Co-Redemptrix” (“Co-Redeemer”) has been a point of theological debate for decades — with proponents calling for Mary’s role in redemption to be declared a dogma but critics saying it exaggerates her importance and could damage efforts for unity with other Christian denominations. …

By M.D. Kittle, The Federalist – ‘Autopen by Default’… Titled, “The Biden Autopen Presidency: Decline, Delusion, and Deception in the White House,” the report provides copious evidence of the former president’s incredibly shrinking cognitive and physical abilities, his “inner circle of loyalists attempting to mislead the nation to ignore what people’s eyes plainly showed them,” and the constitutional crisis his decline and the cover-up created… Ultimately, the committee report concluded that all of Biden’s executive actions signed by the autopen “without proper, corresponding, contemporaneous, written approval traceable to the president’s own consent” are “void.”

By John Mac Ghlionn, The American Spectator – More and more Americans are watching horror, not just in October but all year long. The genre has outgrown its season. Horror now floods summer streams, rules box-office charts, and stalks every corner of social media. In a culture cushioned by convenience, fear often feels refreshing… The great irony is that Hollywood can’t tell a scary story without raiding the Church. It has spent decades ridiculing saints, priests, and celibacy, but drops to its knees whenever it needs a box-office miracle.

By Solène Tadié, National Catholic Register – Can the boundary between this life and the afterlife ever blur in ways the Church has not fully defined? Each year, All Souls’ Day and the Month of All Souls renew age-old questions about life, death and the mystery that unites both… In popular culture, ghosts are often imagined as spirits trapped between two worlds, wandering among the living. This image differs significantly from the concept of “wandering souls,” who — according to theologians and exorcists — are not condemned to roam indefinitely, but may instead be souls in purgatory temporarily permitted by God to seek prayers or express repentance….

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – To date Pope Leo has not replaced a single dicastery head. His only major appointment has been that of Archbishop Filippo Iannone to fill the seat that the Pope himself had held, as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops… Nor has the new Pope been energetic in bringing in his own men at lower tiers of Vatican officialdom. text Vatican-watcher Andrea Gaggliarducci observes: “Leo XIV continues—so far—to work with the structure that preceded him, with the same ghostwriters as Pope Francis.”

By Brian Lonergan, Chronicles – SNAP was not designed as a global buffet for recent illegal border-crossers; it’s a taxpayer-funded safety net created explicitly for U.S. citizens and legal residents in genuine need. Federal law bars illegal aliens from direct eligibility, a rule enshrined since the 1996 welfare reforms and reaffirmed in 2025 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidance: “SNAP is not and has never been available to undocumented non-citizens.”… The program’s architects intended that it should combat domestic food insecurity, not subsidize lawbreaking or reward evasion of immigration laws. Benefits are calculated based on eligible household members only: specifically, U.S.-born children or qualified legal immigrants. But here’s the rub: loopholes and lax enforcement have turned this safeguard into a sieve, draining billions from coffers meant for struggling Americans.

By Franciscan Media – Wolfgang was born in Swabia, Germany, and was educated at a school located at the abbey of Reichenau. There he encountered Henry, a young noble who went on to become Archbishop of Trier. Meanwhile, Wolfgang remained in close contact with the archbishop, teaching in his cathedral school and supporting his efforts to reform the clergy… At the death of the archbishop, Wolfgang chose to become a Benedictine monk and moved to an abbey in Einsiedeln, now part of Switzerland.

By Brianna Lyman, The Federalist – Arctic Frost was an investigation led by the Biden administration to, as The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland explained, “target Republicans in key battleground states.” Then FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a memorandum to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland claiming that “fraudulent certificates of electors’ votes were submitted to the Archivist of the United States” for Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin. Wray also asserted that these votes were part of a grand conspiracy to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election. …

By Victor Davis Hanson, The Daily Signal Media – The old guard of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi are very worried about this young group of more radical, Jacobin, younger people who want to shut down the government… That was the impetus behind the shutdown: “Do not cooperate whatsoever with President Donald Trump. And then, take the House and the Senate.”… The problem that these people have is they are not in the mainstream of American politics.

By Catholic Herald,  by Staff – Chicago’s Blase Cupich has asserted that the Traditional Latin Mass was “more of a spectacle rather than the active participation of all the baptised”… In a reflection on the liturgical reforms which came from Sacrosanctum Concilium, one of the four constitutions of the Second Vatican Council, the cardinal argued that the document drew on scholarly research which revealed “adaptations that were introduced over time, which incorporated elements from imperial and royal courts.” …

Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International – A recent headline on an article published by the BBC is astonishing. “China offers parents $1,500 in bid to boost births,” it reads… Wait a minute. China’s Communist government is now paying for couples to have children? The same Communist Party that, for decades, enforced the most brutal population control regime on earth?… It’s worth briefly reminding ourselves of just how extreme, how barbaric, how iron-clad China’s population control measures were.

By Fr. David Nix, Padre Peregrino – There’s a few things to notice here. First, all three Chicagoans, Cardinal Bernadin (top left) and Bishop Prevost (middle) and Cardinal Cupich (top-right) all promoted the “Seamless Garment” theology of bioethics, also called “the consistent ethic of life.” This is not merely my suspicion or a conspiracy theory. You can hear that Prevost literally promotes “Bernadin” and “Cupich” and “consistent ethic of life” in the above two links and quotes with those exact words in bold.

Patriot Post – “Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners.” —Benjamin Franklin (1753)

By Madalaine Elhabbal, Catholic News Agency – Catholics who do not gather for anti-enforcement rallies organized by high-ranking Catholic prelates are a “silent majority,” according to conservative Catholic immigration experts… As the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts continue to intensify, Catholics across the country have committed to observe days of prayer and public witness for migrants through efforts such as the One Church One Family initiative spearheaded by the western Jesuits. However, according to some conservative Catholic immigration experts, the number of Catholics who are opting out of such vigils are “a silent majority.”

By Andrew Likoudis, National Catholic Register – Across the country, a growing number of sacred music apostolates are rediscovering this ancient vocation, using beauty to draw hearts toward God… St. John Paul II, in his 1999 “Letter to Artists,” affirmed this essential missionary function: “The link between good and beautiful stirs fruitful reflection. In a certain sense, beauty is the visible form of the good, just as the good is the metaphysical condition of beauty.”

By Stephen P. White, The Catholic Thing – In June of 1577, an Englishman by the name of Cuthbert Mayne was taken under arrest by the High Sheriff of Cornwall and imprisoned in Launceston Castle to await trial for high treason. Mayne was born in Devon, in southwest England, and had been a Protestant cleric as a young man. But during his subsequent studies at Oxford, he converted to Catholicism.

By Edward Feser, UnHerd – The Catholic Church is on a collision course with the Trump administration. And likewise with governments across the developed world that are tightening their borders and carrying out — or at least, threatening — mass deportations of illegal immigrants. In an address on Thursday, Pope Leo XIV denounced “inhuman measures” and “serious crimes” against migrants, even as he granted that “states have the right and duty to protect their borders.”

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 13:31-35 – 31 At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, `Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following; ….

By John Zmirak, Chronicles – The demon Screwtape depicted by C. S. Lewis wants us at each other’s throats in this world and in eternal flames in the next, so he plays both extremes like a fiddle. He urges us to dive in and recklessly indulge our fallen passions. When that results in the inevitable dire consequences, he goads us to the opposite error and demands we just suppress them. Sooner or later, that fails, and he nimbly reminds us that wallowing is still an option. And round and round we go.

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture – “Nigeria is the most deadly place in the world to be a Christian,” says Jeff King, the president of International Christian Concern (ICC), a group that tracks religious-freedom violations. According to ICC, at least 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since the start of the 21st century… Robert Royal, the author of The Martyrs of the New Millenium, provides equally stunning figures: “from 2019 to 2023, 33,000 Christians of various denominations and several thousand moderate Muslims were killed by Islamic extremists…”

By Steven Ertelt, LifeNews – Seven Democrat states have pledged tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to prop up Planned Parenthood amid federal defunding under Congress and President Donald Trump. The move is drawing sharp condemnation from pro-life advocates who say the states are propping up the nation’s biggest abortion company… The taxpayer-funding commitments from New York, California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Massachusetts and Hawaii come in response to a one-year moratorium on Medicaid reimbursements for nonprofits that kill babies in abortions, enacted as part of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” signed in July.

By Sr. Mary Catherine Blanding, Catholic Exchange – I feel so alone!… This aching cry—whispered in a hospital bed, shouted in despair, or left unspoken in a sleepless night—asks a simple question: Is anyone really there? Many of us have witnessed this plea, and perhaps even felt it ourselves. In a world of fewer shared meals, less face-to-face conversation, and heavy reliance on texting and social media, loneliness has become epidemic… Empathy shines as a quiet light. Society values it as a sign of friendship and leadership, but faith reveals a deeper truth: attentiveness to others’ hearts is a spiritual gift. St. John Henry exemplifies this, offering guidance both practical and profound.

Franciscan Media – Tragedy and challenge beset today’s saint early in life, but Alphonsus Rodriguez found happiness and contentment through simple service and prayer… Born in Spain in 1533, Alphonsus inherited the family textile business at 23. Within the space of three years, his wife, daughter, and mother died; meanwhile, business was poor. …

By Cassy Cooke, Live Action News – In a Stat News op-ed, Arthur Caplan expressed horror that every one of the women’s rights groups with whom he met in an online Zoom conference opposed surrogacy… “Every single speaker condemned the practice as exploitative, coercive, and inconsistent with the view that the birth mother is the ‘real’ mother of every baby,” he said. “I later found out more than 250 women’s organizations from 18 countries have called for a total ban on surrogacy — even altruistic surrogacy, when a sister, family member, or close friend assists for free.”

By John Zmirak. The Stream – Remember when the presidential autopen signed thousands of pardons in the name of a checked-out President Joe Biden, protecting Anthony Fauci, Chinese spies, and child pornography addicts? Yeah, maybe all that wasn’t kosher. Or even halal. That’s the conclusion of the House Oversight Committee, as Gateway Pundit reports: The Biden autopen scandal has taken a new turn, and the Department of Justice may soon get involved. … The House Oversight Committee, led by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), released a 100-page report today declaring all of Biden’s autopen executive actions “null and void.”…

By Scott Ventureyra, Crisis Magazine – In 2023, beloved actress Suzanne Somers succumbed to breast cancer. She was best known for her starring roles as Chrissy Snow in Three’s Company and Carol Foster Lambert in Step by Step. She also authored a number of books and was known for advertising the legendary ThighMaster device… This October, her husband, Alan Hamel, announced something both astonishing and quite unsettling: he had created an artificial-intelligence “clone” of his late wife. According to reports, this digital and robotic re-creation mimics Somers’ voice, appearance, and even her conversational habits with eerie precision. Day by day, what we once thought was science fiction is becoming more and more a reality.

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing – And on the less scandal-sheet level, consider the recent controversy over Cardinal Parolin’s remarks about the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. A spokeswoman for Aid to the Church in Need, which issued a report last week on the persecution of Catholics around the world, defended the Cardinal’s contention that Nigerian Catholics were often the victims of social – not religious – conflict. (the spokeswoman) characterized this as an off-the-cuff remark, just intended to acknowledge the complexity of the situation… it’s precisely what a person in a high position of responsibility – Parolin  is the Vatican’s Secretary of State – says almost randomly that’s revealing.

Author Don Schwager. Servants of the Word – Luke 13:22-30 – 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And some one said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, `Lord, open to us.’ He will answer you, `I do not know where you come from.’ ….

By Marcello Riccobaldi, Catholic Exchange – The publication of the summary document of the CEI synodal journey, entitled Lievito di pace e di speranza (“Leaven of Peace and Hope”), is causing quite a stir… The most serious aspect of this situation, apart from the inconsistency of wanting to be Catholic while continuing to live in a state of mortal sin and without the slightest intention of trying to change one’s life, is that it is now clear that among some Catholics, including those at the top of the Vatican hierarchy, the idea has taken hold that there is a homosexual identity… and not a disordered tendency ….

By Daniel B. Gallagher, The Catholic Thing – This October marks five years since the biggest bungle of the Francis pontificate. Sadly, it is closely connected to the very name Jorge Bergoglio chose upon his election to the See of Peter. Interpreting Saint Francis, his legacy, and the charism he bequeathed the Church has always been difficult. Fratelli Tutti massively compounded that difficulty… Most criticisms of Francis’s 2020 encyclical focus on a specific item in the laundry list of issues he presents as crucial to our time: racism, immigration, interreligious dialogue, the dignity of women, capital punishment, and others. But I’ve seen very few critiques of the document’s foundational principle.

By Thomas Griffin, National Catholic Register – St. Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582), a Carmelite nun, devoted herself to prayer and to teaching others about how to grow closer to God through it. The following are some of her most powerful quotes, centering on how prayer brings us into deep contact with the person of Christ and allows us to act for him in the real world… Teresa wrote that “prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. … Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.” Making time for him is the starting point and can be the most challenging for us. Our calendars are so full that we often neglect to make time for Jesus.

By Tyler Arnold for CNA, Catholic World Report – About three-fourths of states scored less than 50% on Napa Legal Institute’s religious freedom index, which measures how well states safeguard religious liberty for faith-based organizations… The “2025 Religious Freedom Percentage” was part of Napa’s Faith & Freedom Index published Oct. 27. Napa Legal Institute is an organization that assists faith-based nonprofits with legal compliance… Alabama scored highest, and Michigan scored lowest.

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his military Oct. 28 to immediately launch “powerful” strikes on Gaza, threatening to unravel the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas… “Following security consultations, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed the military echelon to carry out powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip immediately,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement posted to X.

By Christopher Nadon and Kathleen O’Toole, The American Spectator – Last September, professors at elite American colleges finally began to admit what has been apparent for the last dozen years: Their students cannot read. No, they are not illiterate. But they cannot read books, at least not the kind of dense and nourishing fare that once constituted the curriculum for entering freshmen. Their response to this discovery has been to stop teaching them. Professor Andrew Delbanco at Columbia removed Moby Dick to accommodate his students’ inability. Professor Victoria Kahn at Berkeley now requires only excerpts from the Iliad rather than the whole thing. Georgetown English Department Chair Professor Daniel Shore finds his students struggle to focus on the entirety of a fourteen-line sonnet.

By  S.A. McCarthy, LifeNews – President Donald Trump and his administration are undoing a Biden-era immigration provision that would have facilitated abortions for children. The Daily Signal reported that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is terminating rules and programs that violate the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal taxpayer dollars for abortions… The move includes ending a rule change from 2022 affecting the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a division of HHS that deals with unaccompanied children (UACs) encountered crossing the border.

Franciscan Media – Life in second- and third-century Jerusalem couldn’t have been easy, but Saint Narcissus managed to live well beyond 100. Some even speculate he lived to 160… Details of his life are sketchy, but there are many reports of his miracles. The miracle for which Narcissus is most remembered was turning water into oil for use in the church lamps on Holy Saturday when the deacons had forgotten to provide any.

By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, LifeNews – Trump administration officials committed to “protect unborn life at all stages” at the five-year anniversary event of a 40-nation coalition of countries that declare that there is no international right to abortion… The Geneva Consensus Declaration “seeks to expand health and thriving for women, and protect the sovereign right of nations to support health, life, and family through national policy and legislation.” The Institute of Women’s Health hosted members of Congress, Trump administration officials, and global leaders to celebrate the anniversary.

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, Catholic Culture – We sometimes imagine the Pharisees as priests—the “religious professionals” of their day. But in truth, they were laymen: men of influence, piety, and public standing. Jesus’ rebuke was a warning to all who are tempted to turn holiness into self-importance. And none of us—priest or layman—escapes that temptation for long….
The Litany of Humility.. O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, etc.
From the desire of being honored,
From the desire of being praised …

By Mollie Hemingway, Jordan Boyd, The Federalist – “The majority of Americans believe we need more restrictions on the abortion pill,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. said in a statement to The Federalist. “Mifepristone is extremely dangerous and even deadly for women, with nearly 11 percent of women who take it experiencing an adverse health event – sometimes serious enough to send them to the emergency room. Not to mention, the drug is 100 percent lethal to the child. It’s time for the FDA to restore common-sense safety standards to the chemical abortion drug immediately.”

By Scott McKay, The American Spectator – Hakeem “Temu Obama” Jeffries, the House Minority Leader and a congressman from New York City, did not want to endorse Zohran Mamdani… Jeffries especially didn’t want to endorse Mamdani in the middle of a government shutdown that his party caused by filibustering a short-term budget continuing resolution that, in a few days, will result in missed paychecks for essential federal workers and a suspension of benefits for recipients of programs like SNAP, which is what the old food stamp program has become.

By Michael Smith, Patriot Post – Like Frodo in “The Lord of the Rings,” we may not always want to confront the challenges of our time, but the choice we face is what to do with those trials… I tend to look at accusations from the Left about us, Donald Trump, and America, and test my perceptions and logic against them to validate what I think, say, and write. Let’s consider the Left’s accusations of Trump wanting to be a dictator, not for the throwaway, joking quote leftists always screws themselves into a pretzel about, but why they have any basis for it. …

By Auguste Meyrat, The Federalist – As for Pope Leo and other leftist Christians who want to help Muslim immigrants and eliminate borders, they need to honestly reckon with the carnage, destruction, and exploitation that they’ve mindlessly helped to encourage. They don’t necessarily need to launch a new crusade, but neither do they need to apologize for crusades in the past — there is a good reason they happened. Rather, these pastors need to defend their flocks, come to terms with reality, and preach the Gospel for a change. 

By Kevin Wells, Crisis Magazine – This October, my uncle Msgr. Thomas Wells has been resurfacing like a ghost of warm memory from the past. At a golf tournament held in his honor, through invitations to speak at his former parishes, and in chance encounters with his old friends, I’ve been told stories of how he impacted lives. After arriving early for an event at one of his former parishes, I sat on a bench beneath an ancient oak tree, just a few feet from where my uncle’s body rests—high on the hill in the old Sacred Heart Cemetery in Bowie, Maryland. …

By Derek Rotty, Catholic Exchange – God speaks to human beings through beauty. That is, Our Lord uses sensible realities to reach the human psyche, to touch our souls and captivate our hearts. Relying on the classical definition of beauty, made clearest in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, a thing is beautiful if it coheres and will not fall apart; if it is balanced and fits well together; if it shines forth a proverbial light that transcends itself. Beautiful things include sunsets, gardens, waterfalls, Gothic architecture, libraries, diligent scientific experiments, and the human person rightly understood, all of which can open a deeper conversation with the divine.

By Matthew Becklo, Catholic World Report – Saint Jude, whose feast the Church celebrates on October 28, is known the world over for his patronage—that of hopeless causes—and for the Children’s Research Hospital named in his honor…. But what some might not know about Jude is that he’s identified, traditionally, as the author of one of the letters of the New Testament. And that unique and power-packed epistle constitutes a kind of schema for identifying false Christian teachers, of any kind, in any age.

By Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Emeritus, Pillars of Faith – Pope Pius XII affirmed this sacred duty: “… the Church which Christ Our Lord has appointed guardian and interpreter of the whole deposit of divinely revealed truth.”… At times when this truth is dimmed or confused, old errors rise again. The Church must speak clearly: truth does not evolve; it abides forever in the Person of Jesus Christ, and it is guarded faithfully by His Church… Love indeed is the greatest commandment, but charity must always serve truth – never replace it. Listening is an act of love when it is ordered to conversion and obedience to revelation. The Good Shepherd who listens to His flock also teaches with authority ….

By Craig Bannister, Media Research Center – The virulently anti-Trump American Federal of Government Employees (AFGE) is now calling on Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown by voting to pass a continuing resolution that would temporarily extend funding at previously-approved levels… “Both political parties have made their point,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said… “[I]t’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today.”… The federal government has been shuttered since October 1 because Senate Democrats are filibustering a “clean” (unchanged) bill that would keep funding the same as the continuing resolution they voted for the last time funding was about to expire.

By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register – Thousands of faithful from all over the world took part in a solemn pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, celebrated by Cardinal Raymond Burke on Saturday, the culmination of a traditional Rome pilgrimage that saw its best-ever attendance… Part of the annual international “Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage to the See of Peter,” which began in 2012, the pontifical Mass was suspended in 2022 following Pope Francis’ apostolic letter Traditionis Custodes (Guardians of the Tradition) the preceding year,which had led to sweeping restrictions of the traditional Roman Rite. 

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 13:18-21 – 18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” 20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

By Mike McCormick,  Midnight in the Laptop of Good and Evil, Substack – Before tens of thousands of Nigerian Catholics were murdered, there was Parolin… Before millions of illegals immigrants—adults and children—were trafficked through Mexico, there was Parolin… Before the thousands of tons of cocaine and fentanyl were smuggled into the West from Venezuela, there was Parolin… And now that King Charles and Pope Leo have papered over 500 years of Freemason treachery with a meeting in the Vatican, there is Parolin… Please allow me to introduce this cardinal, he’s a man of wealth and taste. He’s been around for a long, long year, stole many a man’s soul and faith.

By Franciscan Media – Saints Simon and Jude’s Story – Jude is so named by Luke and Acts. Matthew and Mark call him Thaddeus. He is not mentioned elsewhere in the Gospels, except of course where all the apostles are mentioned. Scholars hold that he is not the author of the Letter of Jude. Actually, Jude had the same name as Judas Iscariot. Evidently because of the disgrace of that name, it was shortened to “Jude” in English.

By Fr. Paul D. Scalia, The Catholic Thing – “Thank God I’m not like that Pharisee!” Now, if that’s your response to today’s Gospel (Luke 18:9-14), then you probably missed the point. Because there’s more than a bit of the Pharisee in each of us, and not enough of the tax collector. Our Lord presents the parable as two different men in the Temple of Jerusalem. But it might as well be two different men within each of us. They represent the battle between pride and humility that rages in our souls.

By Michael J. Matt – X Post – Something else happened yesterday at the Summorum Pontificum Traditional Latin Mass in the Basilica of St Peter (October 25, 2025) that strikes me as significant. Among the well-known prelates in attendance at the Latin Mass celebrated by His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke was the renowned exorcist, Cardinal Ernest Simoni Troshani, who at 97 years of age stood at the pulpit and positively thundered an Exorcism prayer composed by Pope Leo XIII back in 1890.

By Gregory Lyakhov, Patriot Post – Survivors of communism repeatedly warn Americans not to underestimate how quickly promises of equality can turn into authoritarianism… Zohran Mamdani, a leading figure in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and now the frontrunner for New York City mayor, calls himself a socialist. His appointments argue he is a communist, and the evidence supports that conclusion… The DSA’s charter makes clear that its goal is not reforming capitalism but dismantling it entirely. …

By Elise Winland, Catholic Vote – CatholicVote has joined more than 50 pro-life leaders in a joint letter urging the Trump administration to permanently block Planned Parenthood from any taxpayer-funded program…. Students for Life Action spearheaded the Oct. 22 letter, which thanked the administration for previous efforts to cut abortion funding but urged a final step: formally debarring Planned Parenthood from every federal program. The coalition included CatholicVote, the American Life League, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life, and the Family Research Council.

By M.C. Holbrook, Catholic Exchange – M.C. Holbrook is a homeschooling mother of ten and author of the series, The Safe Haven: Scriptural Reflections for the Heart and Home. Originally from New York City, Holbrook received a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University, and a Master’s degree in School Counseling from New York University. Holbrook enjoys meals with her family, prayer with her friends, and a hot cup of coffee each morning with the Word of God… Author’s Note: Excerpt from: The Safe Haven: Scriptural Reflections for the Heart and Home (Ordinary Time Weeks 22-28). To purchase, visit Amazon or The Catholic Company, where all other volumes currently in print are also available.  

By Lapresse, by Staff – “The supreme rule in the Church is love: no one is called to command, everyone is called to serve; no one should impose their own ideas, we all must listen to one another; no one is excluded, we are all called to participate; no one possesses the entire truth, we must all humbly seek it, and seek it together.” … These were the words of Pope Leo XIV during his homily for the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and participation bodies. The Pontiff also urged attention to divisions within the Church, within the Christian community, which transform it into a “judging and excluding” place. …

By Catherine Gripp, The Federalist – “Even my teacher at the first day of class, she said, ‘everything is political,’ and I didn’t understand what she meant until I started doing the content.”… Adrianna Mobley should have been excited to be accepted to Michigan State University’s elementary education program, ranked the top elementary program in the nation. Excited, that is, until she stepped into her “Social Foundations of Justice and Equity in Education” class this fall. Required for all elementary education majors, the class dives deep into the demonization of free market principles, meritocracy, and American values.

By Matthew McDonald, National Catholic Register – San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone plans to celebrate a solemn pontifical Latin high Mass at Star of the Sea Catholic Church in San Francisco at noon Saturday, Nov. 1, which is All Saints’ Day… Pontifical Masses are celebrated by a bishop; the “pontiff” in this case refers to any bishop, not just the pope. A solemn pontifical high Mass in the traditional Latin Rite is a rare form of the Mass… The solemn pontifical high Mass is the most elaborate of the Tridentine Rite Masses. A description of it takes up 20 pages in Adrian Fortescue’s 1920 book The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described. ….

Author Don Schwager, Servants of the Word – Luke 13:10-17 – 10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” 13 And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God….

By Lorenzo Prieto, The Daily Signal – President Donald Trump’s plans to build a new White House ballroom continue to send Democrats and the Left into full meltdown mode… Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is the latest to suffer from what Republicans are calling Ballroom Derangement Syndrome…. Swalwell blasted the ballroom construction on X, demanding that Democrat presidential candidates vow to destroy the building at first opportunity. “Don’t even think of seeking the Democratic nomination for president unless you pledge to take a wrecking ball to the Trump Ballroom on DAY ONE.”

By Madison LaClare, LifeNews – A letter signed by more than 100 pro-life organizations urged lawmakers to end the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) so-called “COVID subsidies” that bypassed long-standing protections against taxpayer-funded abortion… These subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year, have become a sticking point in the ongoing government funding debate… As the government shutdown drags on with no near end in sight, members of Congress need to ask themselves what the ACA subsidies mean to them. Democratic leaders in Congress are using the extension of these subsidies as leverage to keep the government shut down. They know that Republicans have never voted for the ACA and are unlikely to do so now ….

By Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture – There has been a trend among Catholic scholars over the past few years of coming together to publish massive collective studies on difficult contemporary moral and spiritual issues. I have already called attention to three such studies on the gender crisis, and now we have a new one focusing on the widespread tendency among different kinds of “Catholics” to explain away the Magisterium of the Church. Edited by Andrew Likoudis, this new collective study is entitled Faith in Crisis: Critical Dialogues in Catholic Traditionalism, Church Authority, and Reform.

By John Zmirak, The Stream – The Democrats in America are nothing special. They share with the global Left an embrace of open borders, human traffickers, and plans to replace the native populations of Western countries with docile foreign colonists… You’ve read here how more than a dozen Britons each day are arrested and prosecuted for their social media posts, mostly complaints about Islam, immigration, and anti-white bias in government. That crackdown began after one of the thousands of “refugees” recklessly imported and dumped on the public raped a local blue collar girl. …

By Anthony Esolen, Crisis Magazine – You are the company you keep. And here, the more agreeable you are, the more susceptible you are to the infection… The seraph Abdiel has stood up against Satan’s lies to his subordinate angels and warned him to seek pardon from the Father and the Son while there is yet time. But Satan replies with haughtiness and contempt, telling Abdiel he had better get lost: “Fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.” Abdiel must bear up alone because none of all the hosts under Satan’s authority will listen to reason. He leaves, but not before he addresses Satan and his hosts one last time ….

By Franciscan Media – Dominicans honor one of their own today, Blessed Bartholomew of Vicenza. This was a man who used his skills as a preacher to challenge the heresies of his day… Bartholomew was born in Vicenza around 1200. At 20, he entered the Dominicans. Following his ordination, he served in various leadership positions. As a young priest, he founded a military order whose purpose was to keep civil peace in towns throughout Italy. …

By Craig Bannister,  Media Research Center – In a viral video, Democrat Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) says that, while Democrats’ government shutdown will cause American families to suffer, it’s worth it because it gives her party leverage to pass its political agenda… “Utterly shameful! The Democrats OPENLY ADMIT they are causing the shutdown—and using hardworking American families as their LEVERAGE,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wrote Wednesday, responding to a social media post of Clark’s statement.