“Pray with the Pope” is a new initiative of the Dicastery for Communication and the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network that invites people around the world to share in a real communion of prayer with Pope Leo XIV, offering prayer as a path to unity in a divided world.

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338. Such numbers are so large they become meaningless to our brains. This website chooses to express these ridiculously large numbers in time. Watch the numbers roll. Watch them never match. Imagine all the money it would cost per ticket. This is statistics working exactly as expected...

Pope Leo XIV will hold the first consistory of his pontificate on Jan. 7-8, in what is expected to be the first major programmatic event of his pontificate. The extraordinary consistory follows a papacy in which Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, mostly refrained from holding large meetings with cardinals, something that many reportedly complained about during the pre-conclave meetings last year...

New York Times bestselling author and Harvard professor Arthur Brooks encouraged attendees at SEEK 2026 to resist the temptation as missionaries to “fight fire with fire.” In his Jan. 4 keynote speech in Columbus, Ohio, Brooks said the world “is not just a cold world,” but “a world that attacks you.” In this context, he said, it can be challenging not to fight back.

The great Russell Shaw has left us. Pundit, journalist, novelist, virtuoso of friendship, he was mentor to my generation in Catholic media. In almost seventy years in the business, he wrote thousands of articles and dozens of books. Kathryn Lopez remarked on the fittingness of such a wise man passing on the Feast of Epiphany. You'll find an entertaining bio here...

Jesus presents himself for baptism in today’s Gospel not because He is a sinner, but to fulfill the word of God proclaimed by His prophets. He must be baptized to reveal that He is the Christ (“anointed one”)—the Spirit-endowed Servant promised by Isaiah in today’s First Reading. His baptism marks the start of a new world, a new creation...

Family estrangement has moved from the margins to the mainstream and this shift is now visible across popular culture and media alike. Oprah recently gave airtime to the “rising trend” of adult children who have severed ties with their parents. The New York Times offered suggestions for how to cope with family estrangement, especially around the holidays...

Say goodbye to abrupt departures, that awkward am-I-staying-or-going dance, and hovering anxiously (and conspicuously) near the door.There’s an art to bidding your host adieu, even if you’re slipping out earlier than expected—and experts say it’s a skill that can serve you well at any gathering, any time of year.Here’s exactly what to say to deliver a great goodbye.

Elites in Ancient Rome went to great lengths to advertise their status and wealth. Based on recent archaeological excavations in Egypt, at least some high-ranking military officials even showed off with their choice of pets. In the Journal of Roman Archaeology, researchers at Poland’s University of Warsaw described...

During a decade of service at the Vatican Secretariat of State, I was constantly perplexed by the Holy See’s unwillingness or inability to utilize already existing ecclesial structures for effective governance. As the Cardinals meet in Rome over the next few days, it’s worth taking a hard look at some recent ways in which the Church has been operating...