The All Saints Day proclamation of St. John Henry Newman as a Doctor of the Church was entirely welcome, if not without a certain irony. First, the good news. Newman was one of the most […]

The Process of Purgation – “Those in Purgatory are our brethren and sisters, all belonging to the larger and mystical Body of Christ. They demand our prayers. Indeed, we are linked to them—far more than […]

When Saint Charles Borromeo was born in 1538, Protestant teachings had already swept all over Europe. Wars had erupted between Catholics and Protestants in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands over the […]

Rome Newsroom, Nov 3, 2025 / 10:00 am The Basilica of St. Benedict in Norcia, Italy, reopened for worship this weekend after a four-year project to rebuild the 13th-century edifice leveled by an earthquake in […]

For Catholics, the end of October marked the beginning of Hallowtide—All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, All Hallows (All Saints), and All Souls. For Protestant Christians who have maintained some connection with the first Protestants, October […]

Rome, Italy, Nov 2, 2025 / 12:40 pm Celebrating Mass for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed at Rome’s Verano Cemetery, Pope Leo XIV invited Catholics to contemplate death “not so much as a […]

With grateful hearts, let us invoke the intercession of St. John Henry Cardinal Newman, Doctor of the Church: Ever-obedient to the voice of conscience, “the aboriginal vicar of Christ,” pray for us. Schooled in the […]

Readings: • Wis 3:1-9 • Psa 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 • Rom 6:3-9 • Jn 6:37-40 “I’ve always had a hard time explaining purgatory,” the man said. “Didn’t the Second Vatican Council say that Catholics […]

As Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger once said so well, one major difference between Protestants and Catholics is that Catholics pray for the dead: “My view is that if Purgatory did not exist, we should have to […]