The Italian bishops’ conference told The Pillar Monday that its recently published norms do not change the Church's policy on homosexuality and seminary formation. The episcopal conference spoke after worldwide reporting on its norms last week claimed that Italy's bishops had taken steps toward the priestly ordination of men who identify as gay and broken with Vatican policy.

The International Association of Exorcists has expressed concern over several erroneous practices, including those carried out by some priests, which confuse the faithful who seek help when possibly facing extraordinary actions of the devil. The association, which has some 900 exorcist members worldwide, issued its warning in a Jan. 6 article on the organization’s website in order to...

Perhaps it was an upbringing exposed to life and death on a Wisconsin dairy farm. Or maybe it’s the experience of being an exorcist in the Archdiocese of Chicago for nearly two decades. Whatever the case, when Archbishop-designate Jeffrey Grob found out this past fall that Pope Francis wanted him to be the next shepherd of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, he took the news in stride.

Careful observers of papal-presidential relations were mildly surprised when President Joe Biden did not include Pope Francis in his final list of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients on Jan. 4. Alongside the Congressional Gold Medal, which is voted upon by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor.

One of the most encouraging recent news stories is this one: “Philadelphia archbishop launches plan for ‘missionary hubs’. Without intending an excessively invidious comparison, I will mention that many dioceses place a great deal of emphasis on their programs for materially assisting those who are materially poor, but far fewer seem to emphasize their programs for spiritually assisting those who are spiritually poor...

It’s often said that Catholics don’t know the Bible very well, but this isn’t entirely accurate. The truth is that Catholics who regularly attend Mass are often a lot more well versed in the Scriptures than they realize. Although we still have a lot to learn from our Protestants brothers and sisters about the value of memorizing Sacred Scripture...

The first jubilee was the result of popular piety that found papal approbation. In 1299, word spread across Europe that the pilgrims to St. Peter’s tomb would receive a plenary indulgence with the dawn of the new century. Responding to the growing crowds in the Eternal City, on February 22, 1300, Boniface VIII issued a Papal Bull declaring a Holy Year and formally offering the most indulgent of indulgences to those faithful who venerated the Apostles Peter and Paul at their respective basilicas...

There’s a 16-km-long model railway, which, if combined, could scale two Mount Everests or circle the globe 26 times...

The Italian naval ship “Amerigo Vespucci,” currently completing its global tour, has been designated a Jubilee church for the Holy Year 2025, transforming its onboard chapel into a pilgrimage destination at sea. The ship, a three-masted sailing ship that dates back to 1931 and is named after the 15th-century Italian explorer for whom “America” is named, has been touring the world as a cultural ambassador for Italy since July 2023.

This week, with the publication of his new book, Pope Francis has added one important link to the chain of evidence regarding the fight against Vatican corruption. In April 2012, Pope Benedict created a special commission of three senior cardinals (Herranz, Tomko, and DeGiorgi) to investigate the nasty Vatican infighting that had resulted in the leaking of confidential documents that was quickly dubbed the “Vatileaks” scandal...