Read & Reflect
Articles, reflections, news, and homilies — thoughtful Catholic content for the faithful, published regularly.
World News
World News
What’s in the Vatican’s child protection commission’s new statutes?
The Vatican published the revised statutes of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Saturday.St. Peter’s Basilica, seen from Rome’s via San Lucio. Credit: Livioandronico2013/wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0.The document, issued only in Italian on June 13, replaces statutes released in 2015...
World News
Leo appoints Montse Alvarado as Vatican comms prefect
Pope Leo XIV appointed Jun. 2 María Montserrat Alvarado, president and COO of EWTN News, as prefect of the Dicastery for Communications.Pope Leo XIV and Montse Alvarado. Credit: Vatican media.Alvarado will replace Paolo Ruffini as prefect effective November 1, becoming the first non-religious female...
World News
Why were the UK Marian Franciscans dissolved?
At 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, a U.K. community known as the Marian Franciscans ceased to exist, in terms of the Church’s canon law.The friars were given oversight of St. Mary’s Church in Gosport, southern England, in 2015. Credit: Hassocks5489/wikimedia CC0 1.0.The Marian Franciscans announced Ma...
World News
Michilimackinac, Montse, and throwin bones
Hey sports fans,It’s the ninth Tuesday in ordinary time, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post.Today’s the anniversary of a memorable moment in American history, from all the way back in 1763, when native tribes in the American midwest had banded together to fight a little revolution of their o...
World News
Independent report on clerical abuse leads to 4 new convictions in Portugal
The Archdiocese of Braga announced last week that a canonical process involving Father Albino Meireles, accused of child abuse, had concluded with his dismissal from the clerical state. The announcement is the latest development in a process that has divided observers over whether the Church has don...
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German youth body keeps More as patron, despite ‘polemical’ opposition to Reformation
A German Catholic youth organization has voted to retain St. Thomas More as its patron after a two-year review of his suitability.A portrait of St. Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger. Public Domain.The Katholische Junge Gemeinde adopted a resolution at its May 27-31 annual national assembly ke...
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Andorran minister says abortion will be decriminalized before next election
An Andorran minister said Monday that the decriminalization of abortion in the country will be approved before parliamentary elections are held next year, amid negotiations with the Catholic Church in the principality.Ladislau Baró, Minister for Institutional Relations, Education and Universities.Th...
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New Chaldean patriarch urges faith, Chaldean identity
The new patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church reflected last week on the power of faith amid fear during the homily at his installation Mass last week, and outlined several “principal features” for the future the Baghdad-based Eastern Catholic Chaldean Church.The May 29 installation of Patriarch...
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Catholic clergy ‘promote China’s ethnic unity law’
The Chinese government is reportedly using state-sanctioned Church bodies to promote a contentious new law aimed at ethnic minorities.Sacred Heart Cathedral, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Credit: 三猎/wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0.The online magazine Bitter Winter published a June 2 article documenting an event...
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June consistory to focus on just war, international affairs, and 'Magnifica humanitas'
The College of Cardinals’ extraordinary consistory in June will discuss the situation of local Churches, the doctrine of just war, societal changes and the desire for God in light of Magnifica humanitas, and the next steps in the synodal process, the Vatican has announced.Cardinals at the inaugurati...
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Russian prelate sent to Brazil as police confirm cocaine in car
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow issued a decree transferring Metropolitan Hilarion from the Czech Republic to Brazil Wednesday, the same day Czech media reported that a white substance found in Hilarion’s car was confirmed to be cocaine.Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev). Credit: Kremlin.ru/wikimedia CC BY...
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Appeals court says sexual assault suit against Fr. Rosica can proceed
An appeals court in Canada has rejected a request by the Congregation of St. Basil to dismiss a lawsuit against the congregation and its prominent member Fr. Thomas Rosica.The Court of Appeal for Ontario issued a June 4 decision upholding a lower court’s ruling that the case against Rosica may move...