This Sunday, One Word Reveals What Jesus Means By ‘Take the Lowest Place’ at Table...
Jesus continues his spiritual instruction on what it takes to enter heaven on the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, and he continues to challenge our faulty understanding of how it works. Last week we learned that hell isn’t punishment for bad behavior, but the natural consequence of failing to get to know God. This week we learn that heaven isn’t something we claim if we are strong, but something we are gifted if we are weak. Here are five takeaways drawn from Sunday Readings columns at this site and the Extraordinary Story podcast.
To Go Up Higher: A Reflection on the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time...
We come to the wedding banquet of heaven by way of humility and charity. This is the fatherly instruction we hear in today’s First Reading, and the message of today’s Gospel. Jesus is not talking simply about good table manners. He is revealing the way of the kingdom, in which the one who would be greatest would be the servant of all (see Luke 22:24–27). This is the way, too, that the Father has shown us down through the ages—filling the hungry...
How the TLM Conversation Has Changed Under Pope Leo XIV — and What It Might Mean...
In his first three months as pope, Leo XIV has not issued any significant changes to the status of the traditional Latin Mass (TLM). Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’ 2021 policy calling for restrictions like the removal of the pre-conciliar liturgy from all parish churches, is still in effect. But something else regarding the TLM has changed under Pope Leo: the conversation. Since the new Pope assumed office on May 8, several prelates who had previously kept silent under Pope Francis have spoken out in favor of the TLM...
Annunciation Church Attack Came During the Responsorial Psalm at Mass...
Sin Is the Only Obstacle to Freedom...
The old Janis Joplin tune goes, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Sorry, Janis. With freedom, we gain everything. The only obstacle to our freedom is sin. God created us in freedom. He placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden as a test of our freedom. Our first parents failed the test. The Church teaches that Original Sin didn’t destroy us. Even sin cannot obliterate God’s good creation. However, Original Sin badly wounded human nature, and we became slaves to sin in need of redemption.
Minnesota Catholic School Shooting Came After Bishops’ Pleas for Security Funds Went Unanswered...
LIVE UPDATES: Shooter Opens Fire on Children at Annunciation Catholic School Mass in Minneapolis...
Pope Leo XIV’s Wednesday Audience: ‘Jesus Shows That Christian Hope Is Not Evasion, But Decision’...
We find true hope when we give of ourselves freely and with love — encountering suffering, not running away from it, Pope Leo XIV said at his weekly audience with the public on Wednesday. Addressing thousands of pilgrims in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall, the pope emphasized Jesus’ embrace of suffering, when he gave himself up to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane before his crucifixion.
5 Catholic Truths About Politics as America Turns 250...
July 2026 marks the 250th birthday of the United States. Alas, the celebration next year will come in the midst of yet another election cycle, and at a time of deep cultural divisions. We need a “common good” politics more than ever. But that’s easier said than done. Here’s why. In Catholic thought, the political realm is primarily the responsibility of the laity...
It’s Time to Add Old Testament Saints to the Liturgical Calendar...
With apologies to the Polish Catholics celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Częstochowa on Aug. 26: Blessings for the feast of Melchizedek. Yes, that Melchizedek, from Genesis 14 and Hebrews 7 and Psalm 110 and hymned at a thousand priestly ordinations: Tu es sacerdos in aeternum, secundum ordinem Melchisedek (You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek). Melchizedek is only one of many Old Testament figures...
Pope Leo XIV: ‘Altar Servers Help Lead the Faithful Into Sacred Mystery of Mass’...
Pope Leo XIV Urges Catholic Legislators Worldwide to Look to St. Augustine’s ‘City of God’...
This Sunday, Jesus Has Very Bad News About Hell — But Don’t Miss the Very Good News...
Cardinal Burke Received in Private Audience by Pope Leo XIV...
Pope Leo XIV Calls Catholics to Pray and Fast Today for Peace in Gaza...
Asia reminded me that life is about more than the carnal and secular...
Don’t Cherry-Pick St. John Henry Newman, Say Theologians...
Why This Little-Known Catholic Classic Is Elon Musk’s Favorite Book...
Vatican Approves New Patron Saints for Entire Arabian Peninsula...
How St. Stephen’s Feast Became Hungary’s National Holiday After the Fall of Communism...
Maybe We Need Fewer Church Professionals?
St. John Eudes, the News, and Soapboxes...
We Have an Invisible Vocations Crisis — Not Just Priests, But Marriages Too...
‘If Universe Big How God Real?’ How Light Pollution Foreshadows the Antichrist...
14 Things We Learned About Pope Leo XIV From His Brother’s Latest Interview...
The Fake UN Report That Undermines the Lanciano Miracle — and Why Catholics Must Speak Up...
No Snark. No Politics. Nothing But Merriment From Another World...
This Sunday, Urgent Words From Jesus, Our Lord, Coach, and Trainer...
What happened to the Blessed Virgin Mary after the crucifixion?
Flannery O’connor’s ‘Terrifying’ Vision of Modernity...
Flannery O’Connor was a remarkable writer, who was born and passed her short life in the state of Georgia, a region beset by its “Southern Gothic” heritage, a history of slavery and passionate division, from which her own particular vision. with its Catholic undercurrents, springs. Her own religion gave her a distanced view of the peculiar culture around her...
The Risk of Making the Sign of the Cross...
There is something to consider and ponder when the expression of a religious gesture can foster such discomfort amongst people, even those who are directly associated with the gesture in question. It is fair, I argue, to propose that human beings are attracted by symbols. Whatever the symbol may reflect, e.g., a flag, an animal, a color, an illustrated scene, words from a book, clothing, or bodily movements, these objects attract the senses of the human being...
The Many Heads of St. John the Baptist...
John the Baptist has two feasts on the calendar, but only one head. The Nativity of John the Baptist on June 24 commemorates his birth, and the Beheading of John the Baptist on August 29 commemorates his death. The beheading took place at the hilltop palace fortress of Machaerus, in Jordan (shown above). I’ve made the climb and it’s steeper than it looks, and would be an impregnable redoubt. Not much is left, but it still leaves a powerful impression.
From Doorkeepers to Defenders: Catholic Men Step Up to Guard Parishes...
‘Mitis Iudex,’ 10 Years Later — Have Pope Francis’ Tribunal Reforms Worked?
More than four months after Pope Francis’ death, the big picture of the late pontiff’s place in history is still far from clear. The Church is still unpacking the Francis papacy, and is not yet far enough removed to know what it will mean for the Church in decades or centuries to come. But some elements of the late pontiff’s legacy will be shaped by how Francis’ successor, Pope Leo XIV, chooses to engage with the teaching and governing decisions of Pope Francis.
FBI Investigates Minneapolis School Shooting as Anti-Catholic Hate Crime...
A Scientist Says He’s Solved the Bermuda Triangle, Just Like That...
Augustine the Saint...
It has long been a commonplace among commentators of the Confessions that the first nine books are about Augustine’s ardent search for truth, leaving reflections on its meaning for the remaining four books. In other words, now that he’s determined to cleave to Christ, to commune with Him in the most intimate way in the life of the Church, certain implications follow which Augustine is only too eager to flesh out over the course of the final number of books.
Pope Leo XIV Expresses Sorrow Over Shooting at Catholic School Mass in Minneapolis...
On Wanting a Good Wife...
I think there is a danger for us in the two famous scriptural pericopes on a good woman, one in Proverbs 31 and the other in Sirach 26. I do not know what a woman thinks when she hears these remarkable texts. I want to consider how a man hears them. There is much beautiful but also challenging in the description of a good woman, or more specifically a good wife...
A $100 Sign of a Father’s Love at Cracker Barrel...
Since Cracker Barrel is in the news these days, I thought I’d relate a cute story that — somewhat uniquely — has nothing to do with the logo. The year after my father died, Lisa and I drove from Florida up to Virginia with a few of our children to visit my mom. Over the days we were with her, my mom kept saying that my dad had left some cash and she wanted us to take it...
Catholic Priest Forced to Leave Texas Amid Visa Backlog and Residency Denial...
Boldly Faithful: Star Trek Reveals Captain Pike Is a Christian...
Is Designing Babies a Moral Imperative?
Why Is The New York Times Afraid of Science?
What Does the Bible Say About Being Open to Children?
Why are some women’s religious orders dying while others are booming?
Carlo Acutis’ Mother: First Millennial Saint Shows ‘Holiness Is in the Ordinary’...
Pope Leo XIV to Rimini Meeting: ‘Hope Does Not Disappoint’...
Frank Caprio, Famed ‘Caught in Providence’ Judge Known for Showing Mercy, Dies at 88...
Church-Run Daycare Helps Parents in Bangladesh’s Garment Industry...
Can Pope Leo resist the Vatican culture of ‘alternative facts’?
Treat St. John Henry Newman as a Teacher, Not a Tool for an Agenda, Say Theologians...
Pope Leo XIV Urges Catholics to Pray and Fast for World Peace This Friday...
Gateway to Life: A Reflection on the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time...
Will Netflix fight the Aslan war or not?
Great Unsung Composers of Christendom...
Pope Leo XIV Names Omaha Priest as New Bishop of Jefferson City, Missouri...
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem: Satan Wants to Rule Where Jesus Lived...
We Prayed to St. Jude — and the Doctors Were Astonished...
Is the SSPX Pilgrimage an ‘Official’ Jubilee Event?
Pope Leo XIV: Bear Christ’s ‘Fire of Love’ to Spread Peace Throughout the World...
Pope Leo XIV Marks 100 Days as Supreme Pontiff...
Here’s How AI Is Being Used to Persecute Christians...
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The Complete List of Popes
- St. Peter (32-67)
- St. Linus (67-76)
- St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)
- St. Clement I (88-97)
- St. Evaristus (97-105)
- St. Alexander I (105-115)
- St. Sixtus I (115-125)
- St. Telesphorus (125-136)
- St. Hyginus (136-140)
- St. Pius I (140-155)
- St. Anicetus (155-166)
- St. Soter (166-175)
- St. Eleutherius (175-189)
- St. Victor I (189-199)
- St. Zephyrinus (199-217)
- St. Callistus I (217-22)
- St. Urban I (222-30)
- St. Pontian (230-35)
- St. Anterus (235-36)
- St. Fabian (236-50)
- St. Cornelius (251-53)
- St. Lucius I (253-54)
- St. Stephen I (254-257)
- St. Sixtus II (257-258)
- St. Dionysius (260-268)
- St. Felix I (269-274)
- St. Eutychian (275-283)
- St. Caius (283-296)
- St. Marcellinus (296-304)
- St. Marcellus I (308-309)
- St. Eusebius (309 or 310)
- St. Miltiades (311-14)
- St. Sylvester I (314-35)
- St. Marcus (336)
- St. Julius I (337-52)
- Liberius (352-66)
- St. Damasus I (366-84)
- St. Siricius (384-99)
- St. Anastasius I (399-401)
- St. Innocent I (401-17)
- St. Zosimus (417-18)
- St. Boniface I (418-22)
- St. Celestine I (422-32)
- St. Sixtus III (432-40)
- St. Leo I (the Great) (440-61)
- St. Hilarius (461-68)
- St. Simplicius (468-83)
- St. Felix III (II) (483-92)
- St. Gelasius I (492-96)
- Anastasius II (496-98)
- St. Symmachus (498-514)
- St. Hormisdas (514-23)
- St. John I (523-26)
- St. Felix IV (III) (526-30)
- Boniface II (530-32)
- John II (533-35)
- St. Agapetus I (535-36)
- St. Silverius (536-37)
- Vigilius (537-55)
- Pelagius I (556-61)
- John III (561-74)
- Benedict I (575-79)
- Pelagius II (579-90)
- St. Gregory I (the Great) (590-604)
- Sabinian (604-606)
- Boniface III (607)
- St. Boniface IV (608-15)
- St. Deusdedit (Adeodatus I) (615-18)
- Boniface V (619-25)
- Honorius I (625-38)
- Severinus (640)
- John IV (640-42)
- Theodore I (642-49)
- St. Martin I (649-55)
- St. Eugene I (655-57)
- St. Vitalian (657-72)
- Adeodatus (II) (672-76)
- Donus (676-78)
- St. Agatho (678-81)
- St. Leo II (682-83)
- St. Benedict II (684-85)
- John V (685-86)
- Conon (686-87)
- St. Sergius I (687-701)
- John VI (701-05)
- John VII (705-07)
- Sisinnius (708)
- Constantine (708-15)
- St. Gregory II (715-31)
- St. Gregory III (731-41)
- St. Zachary (741-52)
- Stephen II (III) (752-57)
- St. Paul I (757-67)
- Stephen III (IV) (767-72)
- Adrian I (772-95)
- St. Leo III (795-816)
- Stephen IV (V) (816-17)
- St. Paschal I (817-24)
- Eugene II (824-27)
- Valentine (827)
- Gregory IV (827-44)
- Sergius II (844-47)
- St. Leo IV (847-55)
- Benedict III (855-58)
- St. Nicholas I (the Great) (858-67)
- Adrian II (867-72)
- John VIII (872-82)
- Marinus I (882-84)
- St. Adrian III (884-85)
- Stephen V (VI) (885-91)
- Formosus (891-96)
- Boniface VI (896)
- Stephen VI (VII) (896-97)
- Romanus (897)
- Theodore II (897)
- John IX (898-900)
- Benedict IV (900-03)
- Leo V (903)
- Sergius III (904-11)
- Anastasius III (911-13)
- Lando (913-14)
- John X (914-28)
- Leo VI (928)
- Stephen VIII (929-31)
- John XI (931-35)
- Leo VII (936-39)
- Stephen IX (939-42)
- Marinus II (942-46)
- Agapetus II (946-55)
- John XII (955-63)
- Leo VIII (963-64)
- Benedict V (964)
- John XIII (965-72)
- Benedict VI (973-74)
- Benedict VII (974-83)
- John XIV (983-84)
- John XV (985-96)
- Gregory V (996-99)
- Sylvester II (999-1003)
- John XVII (1003)
- John XVIII (1003-09)
- Sergius IV (1009-12)
- Benedict VIII (1012-24)
- John XIX (1024-32)
- Benedict IX (1032-45)
- Sylvester III (1045)
- Benedict IX (1045)
- Gregory VI (1045-46)
- Clement II (1046-47)
- Benedict IX (1047-48)
- Damasus II (1048)
- St. Leo IX (1049-54)
- Victor II (1055-57)
- Stephen X (1057-58)
- Nicholas II (1058-61)
- Alexander II (1061-73)
- St. Gregory VII (1073-85)
- Blessed Victor III (1086-87)
- Blessed Urban II (1088-99)
- Paschal II (1099-1118)
- Gelasius II (1118-19)
- Callistus II (1119-24)
- Honorius II (1124-30)
- Innocent II (1130-43)
- Celestine II (1143-44)
- Lucius II (1144-45)
- Blessed Eugene III (1145-53)
- Anastasius IV (1153-54)
- Adrian IV (1154-59)
- Alexander III (1159-81)
- Lucius III (1181-85)
- Urban III (1185-87)
- Gregory VIII (1187)
- Clement III (1187-91)
- Celestine III (1191-98)
- Innocent III (1198-1216)
- Honorius III (1216-27)
- Gregory IX (1227-41)
- Celestine IV (1241)
- Innocent IV (1243-54)
- Alexander IV (1254-61)
- Urban IV (1261-64)
- Clement IV (1265-68)
- Blessed Gregory X (1271-76)
- Blessed Innocent V (1276)
- Adrian V (1276)
- John XXI (1276-77)
- Nicholas III (1277-80)
- Martin IV (1281-85)
- Honorius IV (1285-87)
- Nicholas IV (1288-92)
- St. Celestine V (1294)
- Boniface VIII (1294-1303)
- Blessed Benedict XI (1303-04)
- Clement V (1305-14)
- John XXII (1316-34)
- Benedict XII (1334-42)
- Clement VI (1342-52)
- Innocent VI (1352-62)
- Blessed Urban V (1362-70)
- Gregory XI (1370-78)
- Urban VI (1378-89)
- Boniface IX (1389-1404)
- Innocent VII (1404-06)
- Gregory XII (1406-15)
- Martin V (1417-31)
- Eugene IV (1431-47)
- Nicholas V (1447-55)
- Callistus III (1455-58)
- Pius II (1458-64)
- Paul II (1464-71)
- Sixtus IV (1471-84)
- Innocent VIII (1484-92)
- Alexander VI (1492-1503)
- Pius III (1503)
- Julius II (1503-13)
- Leo X (1513-21)
- Adrian VI (1522-23)
- Clement VII (1523-34)
- Paul III (1534-49)
- Julius III (1550-55)
- Marcellus II (1555)
- Paul IV (1555-59)
- Pius IV (1559-65)
- St. Pius V (1566-72)
- Gregory XIII (1572-85)
- Sixtus V (1585-90)
- Urban VII (1590)
- Gregory XIV (1590-91)
- Innocent IX (1591)
- Clement VIII (1592-1605)
- Leo XI (1605)
- Paul V (1605-21)
- Gregory XV (1621-23)
- Urban VIII (1623-44)
- Innocent X (1644-55)
- Alexander VII (1655-67)
- Clement IX (1667-69)
- Clement X (1670-76)
- Blessed Innocent XI (1676-89)
- Alexander VIII (1689-91)
- Innocent XII (1691-1700)
- Clement XI (1700-21)
- Innocent XIII (1721-24)
- Benedict XIII (1724-30)
- Clement XII (1730-40)
- Benedict XIV (1740-58)
- Clement XIII (1758-69)
- Clement XIV (1769-74)
- Pius VI (1775-99)
- Pius VII (1800-23)
- Leo XII (1823-29)
- Pius VIII (1829-30)
- Gregory XVI (1831-46)
- Blessed Pius IX (1846-78)
- Leo XIII (1878-1903)
- St. Pius X (1903-14)
- Benedict XV (1914-22)
- Pius XI (1922-39)
- Pius XII (1939-58)
- St. John XXIII (1958-63)
- St. Paul VI (1963-78)
- John Paul I (1978)
- St. John Paul II (1978-2005)
- Benedict XVI (2005-2013)
- Francis (2013-2025)
- Leo XIV (2025—)
