Read & Reflect
Articles, reflections, news, and homilies — thoughtful Catholic content for the faithful, published regularly.
World News
World News
Pentecost in Brazil: Festa do Divino
Sunday is Pentecost, the feast on which the Church recalls the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles 50 days after Easter.Traditional celebrations for the feast day include novenas to the Holy Spirit, the release of doves, and the famous shower of rose petals in the Pantheon in Rome.Decora...
World News
John Carroll, the news, and the pope's encyclical
This Pillar Post is available entirely for free to all readers through a sponsorship from the Saint Sebastian Institute.You can listen to this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DRHey everybody,Today’s the seventh Tuesday of Easter, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post.In less than two months, we...
World News
The German Church’s AfD nightmare scenario
Germany’s bishops are months away from a potential showdown with a surging political party they have urged Catholics not to vote for because of its “racial-nationalist” attitudes.Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, Germany. Credit: Evangelische Kirche in Österreich/wikimedia CC BY-SA 2.0The looming c...
World News
U.S. bishops get 2027 ‘ad limina’ schedule
American bishops have been scheduled to meet next year with Pope Leo XIV, in the first of the ad limina visits to Rome for U.S. bishops during Leo’s pontificate.A video screen in St. Peter’s Square captures Pope Leo as he processes through a crowd during a papal audience. Credit: Pillar Media.In a M...
World News
Tulsa deacon pleads guilty to stealing $1.4 million from parish
A 70-year-old deacon in Tulsa pleaded guilty last week to bank fraud and unlawful monetary transactions, after stealing nearly $1.5 million while working at a local Catholic parish.Christ the King Church in Tulsa. Credit: Christ the King Parish / Facebook.Subscribe nowDeacon John Sommer, the former...
World News
‘Listening centers’ planned for Pope Leo Spain visit
Confessionals will not be set up during a youth prayer vigil and other events of Pope Leo’s trip to Spain next month, while “listening centers” will be available for young people who wish to speak with lay pastoral workers dispatched as “listening agents.”But a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Ma...
World News
Synodality, but not a synod: Inside the new timetable for the 2028 'ecclesial assembly'
The Vatican’s synod department issued a new document Wednesday defining the steps to be taken ahead of the 2028 ecclesial assembly in Rome.Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops. Credit: Screenshot from @synod-va YouTube channel.The 6,000-word text, published May 20, details...
World News
Have the German bishops lost their synodal majority?
The chairman of the German bishops’ conference has suggested that the first scheduled meeting of a controversial synodal body will be delayed absent approval of its statutes by the Vatican.German bishops’ conference chairman Bishop Heiner Wilmer attends a press conference on Feb. 24, 2026, in Würzbu...
World News
Tarsus Diocese restored after more than a century
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch has restored an episcopal presence to Tarsus after more than a century following the consecration of Bishop Paul Orduloglu in Mersin, Turkey. Orduloglu now serves the newly formed Diocese of Tarsus, Adana, and Hatay, and as patriarchal vicar in Antioch, a r...
World News
Top U.S. leadership rededicate country as 'One nation under God'
In a marathon ecumenical prayer and praise celebration ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary, top U.S. political figures gathered with major faith leaders and several thousand Americans on May 17 to reflect on the role of Providence in American history and rededicate the country as “One Nation und...
World News
Uganda postpones Martyrs’ Day celebrations over Ebola fears
KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda has postponed the 2026 Martyrs’ Day celebrations, traditionally held on June 3 at the Namugongo Martyrs Shrine in the country’s Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala, because of the Ebola outbreak in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), from where thousands of pilgrims...
World News
Vatican sets up commission on artificial intelligence
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has approved the creation of a new Vatican commission on artificial intelligence to coordinate the Holy See’s response to the rapidly expanding technology and its implications for human dignity, integral development, and the Church’s own internal use of AI.The move comes...