Read &amp; Reflect

‘Open arms and outstretched hand’ - Vatican clinic aims to uphold dignity

From the outside, the Madre di Misericordia clinic may not seem like much. In fact, it’s easy to miss the clinic entirely.Located just steps from the security lines where tourists and pilgrims wait to enter St. Peter’s Basilica, the entrance to the clinic is modest enough that a passerby could easil...

Jul 29, 2026 73

Who’s in and who’s out? Leo’s revamp of Vatican supreme court

Pope Leo XIV appointed seven new members to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest canonical court of appeal, on July 25, including the first three non-bishops ever appointed as members of the tribunal.Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome. Public domain.The appointments b...

Jul 29, 2026 64

Meet the 21st-century Brazilians on the path to sainthood

Brazil has more Catholics than any other country in the world. So it’s not surprising that it’s producing a striking number of potential 21st-century saints.Padre Léo, pictured in 2006. Screenshot from the @cancaonovaplay YouTube channel.Among the figures whose causes are progressing is Padre Léo, w...

Jul 29, 2026 70

Eddie Cotter: Spiritual maintenance after the 'mountaintop moment'

With the school year approaching, a challenge looms for Catholic teenagers across America — the dreaded post-conference spiritual crash.Eddie Cotter speaks with teenagers at a youth group event. Credit: Jack Figge.After experiencing powerful spiritual moments from jampacked summers of Steubenville C...

Jul 29, 2026 66

Two more Irish dioceses united ‘in persona episcopi’

Pope Leo XIV approved the union of two more Irish dioceses under a single bishop Wednesday.A map highlighting Ireland’s dioceses of Ferns, left, and Ossory. Sheila1988 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).The Vatican announced July 29 that Bishop Gerard Nash, who has led the Diocese of Ferns since 2021, wou...

Jul 29, 2026 67

Explaining the Vatican’s engagement with contemporary art

The Vatican is participating in the international art exhibition “La Biennale di Venezia” in Italy for the fourth consecutive year. A senior Vatican official explained the Vatican’s support for the exhibition and its recent focus on contemporary art.Irish Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Culture...

Jul 29, 2026 71

Pope Leo XIV: Use AI prudently because it can project ‘an unreal world’

Pope Leo XIV encouraged young people to use social media and artificial intelligence (AI) prudently because “they can immerse us in an unreal world.”In a video message to participants at the 2026 Halleluya Festival in Fortaleza, Brazil, the pontiff proposed St. Carlo Acutis, known for using digital...

Jul 29, 2026 51

Vatican urges UN to combat homelessness

The Vatican has urged the United Nations (U.N.) to include the homeless in efforts to create sustainable cities, stating that the “persistence of homelessness should trouble the conscience of the international community.”The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the U.N. made these remarks i...

Jul 29, 2026 57

Vatican to launch first conference of Christians and Confucians

The Vatican will launch its first conference of Christians and Confucians to expand the Catholic Church’s outreach to the Asian ethical tradition.The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue will hold the colloquium “Dialogue on the Contribution of Christianity and Confucianism to an Ideal Society: New...

Jul 29, 2026 50

Spirituality

Saints Anne and Joachim: The Parents Who Shaped a Sinless Heart

If we seek to learn more about the mother of Jesus, then perhaps the place to begin is by taking a closer look at the family from which she came. Unfortunately, we have almost no information about the parents of our Blessed Mother Mary. In fact, any “historical” information we have comes from a non-...

Jul 27, 2026 56