Read &amp; Reflect

Padre Pio and the Popes: A Dance of Love and Hate

During the wild 1920s, the pope at the time, Pope Pius XI, had been influenced by his best friend, Fr. Agostino Gemelli, to regard Padre Pio as a malevolent villain. Gemelli was a medical doctor and a psychologist who claimed that Pio did not have the genuine stigmata and that the carmine piercings...

Sep 25, 2026 102 views

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The World Still Needs Confession

I just finished a novel set in Poland in 1942-1943. Nazi Germany had invaded, and Warsaw was turned into a living hell, full of rubble and ashes, starvation and disease. The main character, Pawel, has endured a living hell for most of his life. He’s a man in his thirties, a loner, someone the worl...

Sep 25, 2026 80

When Feeding Becomes Medicine: Artificial Nutrition, Proportionate Care, and the Dignity of the Dying

In the first part of this reflection, we considered why the Church gives a strong presumption in favor of providing food and water, even by artificial means, when they truly nourish and hydrate the patient. This presumption is rooted not in the absolute value of a medical tube, but in the inviolable...

Sep 25, 2026 79

Wonder: Receiving God’s Goodness Through Creation

For the last couple of weeks, I have been sitting on the new deck my husband built, watching hummingbirds finally discover the feeders I put out for them this summer. They are beginning their migration south, so I get new birds every week or two. The males seem to have departed, while the females fi...

Sep 25, 2026 47

Fulton Sheen’s Holy Hour: The Art of Learning to Abide

Among the many spiritual practices promoted by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, none was more central to his life than the daily Holy Hour. Before Fulton Sheen became a priest, bishop, author, broadcaster, and one of the most recognizable religious voices of the twentieth century, he first became a man o...

Sep 25, 2026 46

Words Alone Can’t Fulfill the Father’s Will: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus shocks the Jewish chief priests by telling them something about themselves that no one else would have dared to say. What was it? Gospel (Read Mt 21:28-32) Our reading is in a portion of St. Matthew’s Gospel that reports on the tangles Jesus had with the religious lea...

Sep 25, 2026 82

Padre Pio and the Power of Guardian Angels

“Send me your angel,” was a common direction St. Pio of Pietrelcina would give his spiritual children and the penitents who sought his guidance. For Padre Pio, this was not merely a vague, sentimental idea. He believed in and relied on angels throughout his ministry and had the gift of communicating...

Sep 25, 2026 46

The Devil Wants You to Move

I am online looking at a house for sale at 45 Wetzel Road, just outside the old town of Macungie, Pennsylvania. The house sits chockablock on a little-used tertiary road and is a remarkable historic stone home set on approximately 6.7 acres. It has “exposed stone, massive timbers, wide-plank floors...

Sep 25, 2026 41

Pope Leo XIV appeals for international aid as Somalia crisis deepens

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday appealed for greater international assistance to Somalia, where violence and extreme weather are worsening an already severe humanitarian crisis, particularly for women and children.After reciting the Angelus on Sept. 20, the pope said: “With great concern, I am following the...

Sep 25, 2026 0

Pope to pray rosary for peace with more than 700 children at the Vatican

Between 700 and 1,000 children will pray a rosary for peace with Pope Leo XIV on Oct. 1 at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens, part of a prayer initiative promoted by Aid to the Church in Need.Coming from schools and parishes throughout Rome, the children will join the pontiff in the “One Mil...

Sep 25, 2026 32

Pope Leo XIV’s schedule for Latin America trip released

The Vatican has published the schedule for Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey to Latin America, where he will visit Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from Nov. 6–17.As the Holy See Press Office announced on Sept. 21, the pontiff will meet with authorities, interfaith leaders, workers, and Catholic communit...

Sep 25, 2026 36

Relic of Christ’s tunic to be displayed for Pope Leo in France

For the first time, a pope will witness an exposition of the Holy Tunic, the garment worn by Christ during his passion, which is preserved in the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Argenteuil, France.The special relic is put on display during regular expositions every 50 years, as well as on extraordinary o...

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