Cardinal Pierre has given over his entire life to serving the Church, and it is only right that, as his final departure from office looms, he enjoy the thanks of the institution he has served so faithfully for so long. He can, and should, look back with satisfaction on a full and impressive career...

The Register’s ongoing “Catholic Hubs” series has sought to highlight places where Catholicism seems to be on the upswing, rather than on the decline — places where efforts to promote and live out the Catholic faith really seem to be working. But it’s difficult to describe such places without recourse to buzzwords, like “vibrant,” “thriving” or “flourishing.”

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...

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...

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.

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...

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.”

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...

Before his freshman year at the University of Notre Dame, the only time Alex Huang had ever set foot in a church building was for a piano recital. Now, the first-year student from Minnesota is just months away from becoming Catholic. Raised by parents who never considered practicing religion due to their upbringing in atheist China...

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...