A German cardinal has declared his participation in the controversial German Synodal Way finished, expressing deep skepticism about plans to establish a permanent synodal conference. “For me the Synodal Way is concluded,” Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne said according to CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News...

He is sent to lead a new exodus that brings Israel out of captivity to the nations and brings all the nations to God. As Moses led Israel from Egypt through the sea to give them God’s law on Mount Sinai, Jesus too has passed through the waters in baptism. Now, in today’s Gospel, He goes to the mountain to proclaim a new law, the law of His Kingdom. The Beatitudes mark the fulfillment of God’s covenant promise to Abraham...

Children are not subjects but a reminder of the revelation of God’s love, possessing a visible reality that requires any teacher to both nurture and nourish the soul of a child. The premise of any teaching environment requires and involves the exercise of a loving environment directed at the soul and care of the child, and not the initial regurgitation of information...

The long-serving apostolic nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, turns 80 on Friday. While the cardinal’s replacement may take a few days, or even a week to be announced by the Holy See, there is no doubt that the guard will soon be changed. Media reports continue to speculate on who might be named to replace Pierre...

The condemnation of Christian Zionism by the Council of Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem is prompting varied reactions by Catholics in the U.S., Israel, and Rome. In a statement last week, the council — comprised of the leaders of the historic Christian churches in the Holy City, including the Latin patriarch; the Maronite, Melkite, Syriac, and Armenian Catholic patriarchs...

People wrongly assume this is some kind of Satanic salute, with the index and pinky fingers making little devil horns (hence “throwing up the horns”). In fact, it was popularized through the late, great singer Ronnie James Dio, of Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio. Ronnie was the proud grandson of a nonna from the old country, who would make the traditional gesture to ward off the malocchio, or “evil eye.”

I want to make one very simple claim, so simple it can appear naïve and even childish: We cannot solve our problems without God. More specifically, we cannot solve them without Jesus Christ, God incarnate. Which is to say, we cannot solve them without Christians willing to live prophetic lives of counter-witness...

I told this true story on my radio show several years ago. Here’s what happened to me one night (and the following day) in Oklahoma City. I was there for a speaking event, a luncheon talk. The Archbishop of Oklahoma City had invited me to address a diocesan Catholic professionals group of roughly 150 people. It was a pro forma event—you fly in the night before, get a hotel, come in the next day, do the speaking event, fly home. A very typical kind of thing that I do.

Make no mistake, the Beatitudes are about what you get, not just what you give. For we tiny creatures in a universe where everything we see for lightyears is created by God, receptivity is the key to our existence. Even when we are being generous, we have nothing to give God and our neighbor except for what we have received from God and our neighbor...

Why would a good God allow an injured fawn to lie trapped for two weeks under a fallen tree in excruciating pain before a predator finally comes along and puts an end to its short, wretched life? Provocative questions like this one bring us face to face with the problem of animal pain...