Read & Reflect
Articles, reflections, news, and homilies — thoughtful Catholic content for the faithful, published regularly.
World News
World News
Retired Nicaraguan bishop detained after Mass, hospital visit
The Nicaraguan dictatorship detained and released a retired bishop Jun. 29 after a hospital visit.Bishop Abelardo Mata, SDB. Credit: Confidencial 30 via YouTube.Eighty-year-old Bishop Abelardo Mata, SDB, emeritus Bishop of Estelí, was held in police custody for several hours on Monday after celebrat...
World News
‘A monument for politics’ — Inside one diocese’s battle against a planned border wall
The U.S. government’s attempt to build a section of border wall on a popular New Mexico pilgrimage site is being contested by the local diocese.A diocesan official told The Pillar the wall would be a political monument to a policy he said is opposed to Catholic teaching, while a federal agent told T...
World News
Vatican confirms six SSPX bishops excommunicated
The Vatican declared Thursday the excommunications of all six bishops of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X following the illicit episcopal consecration in Écône, Switzerland on July 1.Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta consecrates four new SSPX bishops in Écône, Switzerland, on July 1, 2026. Screens...
World News
Vatican offers reconciliation process for priests, laypeople wishing to leave SSPX
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published July 2 a document explaining a process for the reconciliation of priests and lay people wishing to leave the Society St. Pius X, just hours after the Holy See announced that the society had entered into schism following the illicit episcopal cons...
World News
SSPX in schism: An excommunication explainer
One day after the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X saw the illicit consecration of new bishops, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith responded with a decree declaring some excommunications, and an “explanatory note” offering additional ecclesial guidance.While the overall intent...
World News
How the Church can limit a broader SSPX schism
With a decree and explanatory note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican on Thursday declared the excommunication of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X following their illicit episcopal consecrations on July 1.Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio, the seat of the Dicastery for the...
World News
Being back, a schism if you believe it, and World Cup fever
Pillar paid subscribers can listen to Ed read this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DRHappy Friday friends,Here I am, back.Let me begin by saying thank you, sincerely, and profoundly, for the countless messages of concern, prayers — even Mass intentions — you all sent me following last week’s newslet...
World News
Why did Cardinal Nzapalainga meet Leo XIV?
Pope Leo XIV met Tuesday with one of Africa’s most prominent Catholic leaders.Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, pictured in 2017. Screenshot from @UNMINUSCA YouTube channel.That, in itself, is not surprising. But the background to the June 30 encounter between Leo XIV and Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalaing...
World News
‘Toward a more perfect union’
Letter of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of the United States of AmericaI extend my heartfelt congratulations to all Americans on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This semiquincentennial marks that defining m...
World News
American gratitude
As we approach America’s semiquincentennial, I have been thinking back to the joyful celebrations for the bicentennial, and wondering why our 250th birthday party is such a dud.Credit: UnsplashThen I thought that perhaps my recollections of the “Spirit of (19)76” were a bit tinted by rosy retrospect...
World News
How many SSPX laypeople are there?
Journalists covering this week’s illicit episcopal consecrations by the Society of St. Pius X have faced an awkward problem.More than 15,000 laypeople attended the SSPX episcopal consecrations in Écône, Switzerland, on July 1, 2026. Screenshot from @SSPX YouTube channel.It’s this: it seems impossibl...
World News
The important Catholic debate
War? Schism? Genocide? Fraud, pestilence, global conspiracies? These are all child’s play. Back in my day, Catholics used to spend our days on the internet arguing about really important things, like yoga.Simcha’s butter chicken.Oh yes. It’s finally summer, the streams are flowing, and I’d dearly li...