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News Briefs
  • [ August 25, 2026 ] French Council protects conscience rights for Catholics, pharmacists as euthanasia law takes effect News Briefs
  • [ August 25, 2026 ] Chicago Bears announce donation to Catholic Charities for Midwest storm relief News Briefs
  • [ August 24, 2026 ] Nevada Catholic churches open doors amid northern Nevada wildfires News Briefs
  • [ August 24, 2026 ] High-ranking Vatican official to meet with Putin’s adviser in Russia News Briefs
  • [ August 24, 2026 ] San Francisco archbishop urges new Nigerian priests to be ‘friends and fathers’ to their people News Briefs

Articles by Matthew Balan

About Matthew Balan
Matthew Balan is an alumnus of the University of Delaware. He writes for Catholic New Agency and has previously worked at the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America, the Media Research Center, Human Life International and the Heritage Foundation.
Analysis

Report on “religious extremism” focuses on Catholicism, ignores Islam

August 4, 2025 Matthew Balan 48

A recent document by a European think tank decries the “accelerating financial expansion of movements working to dismantle decades of hard-won sexual and reproductive rights across Europe.” The report, published by the Brussels-based European Parliamentary […]

The Dispatch

Entering Heaven on Earth is a beautiful education in both art and the Faith

March 28, 2025 Matthew Balan 1

The famed St. John Cantius parish in Chicago is the founding site of the Catholic Art Institute—a non-profit that aims to promote “the essential need for beauty to elevate our senses and illuminate our souls.” […]

The Dispatch

The Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne: ‘Fanatics’ of the Sacred Heart

December 19, 2024 Matthew Balan 6

On Wednesday, Pope Francis approved the universal veneration of sixteen Discalced Carmelite martyrs who were killed on July 17, 1794, at the height of the French Revolution’s bloody persecution of the Catholic Church. The limited […]

Books

“Thy will be done on earth”? On the anniversary of Quas Primas

December 10, 2024 Matthew Balan 8

“Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations.” — Psalm 145 (144): 13 St. Benedict directed his monks to pray the Psalm above during Vespers on Saturdays. While the Book […]

The Dispatch

Using a mascot misses and obscures the point of the Jubilee Year

October 31, 2024 Matthew Balan 25

A social-media firestorm erupted on October 28 after Archbishop Rino Fisichella unveiled the official mascot—Luce—for the 2025 Jubilee. The female character, which bears the Italian form of the name “Lucy” (or “Lucia”), is depicted in […]

The Dispatch

Historical ‘mother parish’ seeks to shore up centuries-old foundations

September 26, 2024 Matthew Balan 5

A former Jesuit mission church that is considered the mother church of the Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware—and connects it with the histories of three neighboring American archdioceses—is in desperate need of support, both figuratively and […]

The Dispatch: More from CWR

  • “I have called you friends”

    Thomas M. Doran August 24, 2026 3
  • Catholic conversions surge on college campuses, Hallow data shows

    Madalaine Elhabbal August 24, 2026 9
  • St. Bartholomew: From despair to discipleship and a heavenly destiny

    Fr. Charles Fox August 24, 2026 9
  • The Tapestry of Clichés

    Father Jerry J. Pokorsky August 23, 2026 13

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  • French Council protects conscience rights for Catholics, pharmacists as euthanasia law takes effect
  • Chicago Bears announce donation to Catholic Charities for Midwest storm relief
  • Babel today
  • “I have called you friends”
  • Nevada Catholic churches open doors amid northern Nevada wildfires
  • Catholic conversions surge on college campuses, Hallow data shows
  • High-ranking Vatican official to meet with Putin’s adviser in Russia
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General

Pope’s audience focuses on Mary’s prayers, role of prayer in the early Church

Carl E. Olson March 15, 2012 0

Pope Benedict XVI has begun a new series of general audiences, which will, he states, focus on “prayer in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Letters of St. Paul.” As he did so […]

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