Read & Reflect
Articles, reflections, news, and homilies — thoughtful Catholic content for the faithful, published regularly.
Vatican News
Vatican News
Pope Leo XIV, Chris Pratt come together for new documentary about the tomb of St. Peter
A new documentary is bringing Pope Leo XIV and Hollywood actor Chris Pratt together to dive into the history and archaeological discoveries surrounding the tomb of St. Peter at the Vatican.“Pétros Ení — Discovering the Origins” was produced by AF Films in collaboration with Vatican Media and the Fab...
Vatican News
Notre Dame, Boston College professors among new members of Vatican theological commission
Pope Leo XIV named 24 new members of the International Theological Commission, including University of Notre Dame theologian Father Khaled Anatolios and Boston College professor Boyd Coolman.These appointments, announced by the Vatican on Monday, are members of an advisory body to the Dicastery for...
Vatican News
Pope Leo XIV speaks with Zelenskyy about humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine
Pope Leo XIV spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, days after holding a similar conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.During Thursday’s call with Putin, Leo XIV requested a humanitarian ceasefire in Oleshky, a city in Ukraine’s Kherson region that ha...
Vatican News
Young members of the Order of Malta help the homeless in St. Peter’s Square
In a society of increased indifference, a group of young people associated with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta is living out concretely Pope Leo XIV’s call to “not let our guard down when it comes to poverty.” Every Tuesday, the youth group of the Rome chapter of the order and other volunteer...
Vatican News
New Vatican official says men and women are ‘in this together as witnesses to God’
Sister Mary Barron, a religious sister from Ireland, first landed in Tanzania as a missionary three decades ago. That experience had a huge impact on her and the roles she has held since — including her latest appointment as president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Mission Societies and adjunct secreta...
Vatican News
Pope Leo XIV tasks theologians with clarifying meaning of Church tradition
Pope Leo XIV on Monday renewed much of the International Theological Commission (ITC), appointing 24 new members, including four Latin American theologians and one Spaniard, who will take part in the bodyʼs work over the next five years.The new group consists of 16 priests, one religious sister, and...
Vatican News
The lifesaving miracle that led to St. John Henry Newman’s canonization
The sainthood of John Henry Newman, who was declared a doctor of the Church on Nov. 1, 2025, rested on two inexplicable healings that the Catholic Church officially recognized as miracles that paved the way for his beatification in 2010 and his canonization in 2019.The second and most recent of thes...
Vatican News
Cardinal Tagle elected new dean of the College of Cardinals
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has been elected dean of the College of Cardinals, succeeding Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who has held the position since 2020. The Filipino prelate is the first Asian to serve as dean.The Vatican announced Tagle’s appointment on Oct. 9. In the same announcemen...
Vatican News
Pope Leo XIV to open international congress on infertility in Rome
ROME — Pope Leo XIV will open an international congress on fertility and infertility on Oct. 16, bringing together specialists from a range of disciplines to address the scientific, anthropological, and ethical challenges related to sexuality and human reproduction.The conference, titled “The Splend...
Vatican News
Vatican meeting examines why young people are reluctant to marry
VATICAN CITY — Why are fewer young people choosing to marry in the Catholic Church, and how does contemporary society understand the relationship between sexuality, procreation, and the sacrament of marriage?Those are among the questions being addressed at an international gathering on the family at...
Vatican News
Pope Leo XIV announces he will undergo surgery to remove a lung nodule
Pope Leo XIV announced Sunday that he will undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a nodule from one of his lungs that was recently detected during medical examinations.Speaking to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square after the Angelus prayer on Oct. 11, the pontiff personally disclosed...
Vatican News
What we know about Pope Leo XIV’s health
The news that Pope Leo XIV will have surgery this week left many asking what a lung nodule is.He confirmed at the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday that the lesion was caught early and is well localized. “The doctors consider it advisable to intervene. I have decided to have the operation to r...