Read & Reflect
Articles, reflections, news, and homilies — thoughtful Catholic content for the faithful, published regularly.
World News
World News
‘Lawrence of,’ Sacred Scripture, and the Rupnik end game
Hey everybody,Today’s the feast of the great Capuchin saint Lawrence of Brindisi, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post.Lawrence of Brindisi. Credit: threecharlie/wikimedia.Subscribe nowLawrence — whose baptismal name was Julius Caesar Russo — was born in 1559, and cared for by Conventual Franc...
World News
Questions of next Lima bishop cast shadow over pope’s Peruvian trip
Pope Leo XIV is set to visit Peru, the country in which he developed most of his pastoral and episcopal ministry, in November.The trip will likely prove to be a memorable moment in his pontificate. But it will also be tense, due to the seemingly never-ending political crisis in Peru, as well as seve...
World News
India’s bishops decry ‘brutality’ against ‘Cockroach Party’ supporters
India’s bishops have condemned alleged police brutality during a march in Delhi by supporters of the country’s youth-led Cockroach movement, a satirical political party in the country that has become the center of a now serious political and social conflict.Cockroach Janta Party supporters at Jantar...
World News
Vatican: Rupnik acquittal rumors ‘absolutely unfounded’
The Vatican said Wednesday that the canonical trial of Fr. Marko Rupnik is still in process, after rumors emerged this week that the disgraced former Jesuit had been acquitted.Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik. Centroaletti via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Two online publications reported on Monday that Rupnik had...
World News
Spiritual calisthenics and staying where you are
Remember the Shake Weight? Remember the Abdominizer? Remember the Ab Roller, ThighMaster, Bowflex Xtreme?Once we believed all we had to do was buy this stuff, set it up, and inevitably proceed to become ripped, buff, jacked, swole, or achieve buns of steel, possibly for only five easy payments of $1...
World News
Trial of former Broome bishop begins
The criminal trial of 76-year-old Australian Bishop Christopher Saunders on historic sexual abuse charges began this week, with the bishop facing the prospect of lengthy incarceration if convicted.Bishop Christopher Saunders. Pillar file photo.Saunders, who served as Bishop of Broome, Western Austra...
World News
Munich priests to Marx: Blessing guidance creates loyalty conflict
Twenty-six priests in Germany’s Archdiocese of Munich and Freising have reportedly written to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, saying that his request that they follow national guidelines on blessings has presented them with a loyalty conflict, because the Vatican has criticized the guidance.Cardinal Reinhar...
World News
DOJ files to revoke citizenship of Capuchin priest convicted of abusing minors
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed to revoke the citizenship of a Capuchin priest from Mexico who was convicted of sexually abusing minors while working in a parish in Washington, D.C.If the federal government’s case against 53-year-old Fr. Urbano Vazquez Ortega succeeds, he will likely be dep...
World News
The seven sleepers, and good ole' Qitmir
Hey everybody,Ed Condon’s on vacation, so I’m afraid you’ve got me for the Friday Pillar Post.And so that you know, next week will be a tricky one for us. Ed continues some time away with his family, Michelle will be away with hers, and I’ll be at Cub Scout camp for just a couple days with my younge...
World News
How free is the pope to choose German bishops?
Archbishop Hubertus van Megen formally took up the role of apostolic nuncio in Germany Thursday, when he presented his credentials to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin.German bishops await the opening Mass of the bishops’ conference’s spring plenary assembly on Feb. 23, 2026, at Würzburg C...
World News
Bishop expands TLM provision ahead of illicit consecration
A Scottish bishop has expanded the availability of Traditional Latin Masses in his diocese, ahead of an illicit episcopal consecration by a local traditionalist group.Bishop Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., of Aberdeen, Scotland. Credit: Screenshot from @DioceseofAberdeen-Scotland YouTube channel.Bishop Hugh G...
World News
Patron saints for digestive woes
The United States is caught up in a mystery of explosive proportion, amid a multi-state outbreak of a parasite which causes intense…digestive discomfort.That’s as far as we’re going to explain it here at The Pillar — there’s no need for specifics. If you’ve got the parasite, after all, you know the...