In recent decades, canonizations have often been scheduled for October, and so frequently fall on World Mission Sunday, the second-to-last Sunday in October. It was established in 1926 by Pope Pius XI, who had the previous year established the solemnity of Christ the King, then fixed for the last Sunday in October. The mission of the Church is to proclaim that the kingdom of God is at hand.

The “Mother of Parliaments” — that’s the one in London — has been embroiled for months in a debate over “assisted dying,” which is euphemized elsewhere under other Orwellian monikers: “Medical Assistance in Dying,” “Physician Assisted Suicide,” “Physician Assisted Dying,” and so forth. The bill legalizing this odious practice narrowly passed the House of Commons on June 20 and has been subsequently debated in the House of Lords. Further parliamentary procedures may delay a final decision until next April or May; the parliamentary clock may even run out on the bill, which would be all to the good.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and an organization of Vatican-accredited journalists have spoken out in support of a free press after the recent attacks on two journalists in Italy. In a statement released Tuesday, the International Association of Journalists Accredited to the Vatican (AIGAV) condemned last week’s assault on Venezuelan Vatican journalist Edgar Beltrán by businessman Ricardo Cisneros...

Jesus draws a blunt picture in today’s Gospel. The Pharisee’s prayer is almost a parody of the thanksgiving psalms. Instead of praising God for His mighty works, the Pharisee congratulates himself for his own deeds, which he presents to God in some detail. The tax collector stands at a distance, too ashamed even to raise his eyes to God. He prays with a humble and contrite heart. He knows that before God no one is righteous, no one has cause to boast...

For Emily Hess, it was a Phidippus regius named Gretel. Hayden Shea's first was caught by her boyfriend's dad. Sunday Costell ordered her first one off eBay. Those spiders were the gateway bugs into the booming community of jumping spider pet owners. And thanks to social media videos of their head-tilting, leg waggling antics, these web-slingers are in high demand.

The moonlight towers of Austin, Texas, are the last urban municipal lighting towers in the world: because before every street was wired to the grid, how else would you light up a city?

I while back, I helped a friend move into his new home. He is a Catholic priest and got assigned as Pastor to a new parish. This parish has multiple locations, a school, a big staff, and dozens of large buildings. When he realized just how many things he is responsible for, it was a bit disorienting. It was also clear that he is stepping into a situation where some of these responsibilities are possible distractions to that which is much more important...

The causes of saints usually take decades to reach canonization. It also happens that saints long in the making — or better, in the recognizing — arrive at the altar at exactly the right time. On Nov. 12, 1989, just days after the tearing open of the Berlin Wall, Pope St. John Paul II canonized St. Agnes of Prague, 700 years after her death, and John Paul’s 19th-century fellow Cracovian, Brother Albert Chmielowski...

How strange that almost everyone will obey worldly authority with such unqualified zeal, particularly when it is evil men in charge who give the orders. Yet speak of the necessity of submission to God, and these same people who usually are willing to do slavishly as they are told act suddenly as if they have never heard of duty. When in the Acts it is said that the early Christians were described as...

The murder of a 21-year-old Italian man after trying to break up a fight has prompted two southern Italian archbishops to sound the alarm against the rise of Mafia-style killings among young people. At a prayer service Oct. 18 for Paolo Taormina, who was killed one week ago outside the family-owned bar where he worked, Archbishop Gualtiero Isacchi of Monreale, Italy, told the faithful present...