Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Leo XIV recalled the two contrasting figures from the day’s Gospel reading: the Pharisee, confident in his own righteousness, and the tax collector, conscious of his sin. The Pope was speaking just after the Jubilee Mass dedicated to synodal teams and participatory bodies on Sunday, and before his weekly recitation of the Marian prayer of the Angelus.

Today is the feast of the apostles Simon and Jude, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post. Simon and Jude are two apostles about whom we know relatively little. In fact, we know them each most by who they were not. Simon is the apostle with that name who did not become Simon Peter, the rock upon which our Church is built. Jude is in two Gospels called Thaddeus, and he is sometimes called Judas, as he was in St. John’s account of the Last Supper...

As Hurricane Melissa approached Jamaica Oct. 27, OSV News spoke with Bishop John Persaud, who shepherds the Diocese of Mandeville and is also apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Montego Bay, which together with the Archdiocese of Kingston serve the faithful on the Caribbean island nation.

His Holiness Mar Awa III, Catholicos-patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, traveled to Rome this week to participate in a ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Church’s declaration on building relations with non-Christian religions. During his stay in the Eternal City, Mar Awa III, born David Royel to Assyrian immigrant parents, met Oct. 27 with Pope Leo XIV in a private audience. The two share the same hometown of Chicago.

As a paramilitary group announced the capture of el-Fasher, the besieged capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state, Catholic Church leaders amplified calls for the protection of “forgotten” civilians — including thousands of children — trapped in the western Sudanese city.

Sixty years ago, on October 28, 1965, the Second Vatican Council adopted, and Pope Paul VI promulgated, the Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, known by the first words in the official Latin text as Nostra Aetate (In Our Age). I chart Nostra Aetate’s sometimes rocky passage through Vatican II in To Sanctify the World: The Vital Legacy of Vatican II. Suffice it to note here that the obstinate refusal of some Arab states to concede the reality and permanence of Israel as a Jewish state...

The Vatican’s doctrine office announced Thursday it will release a document on Nov. 4 about titles of Mary that refer to her “cooperation in the work of salvation.” Mary’s contribution to human salvation, specifically the title of “Co-Redemptrix” (“Co-Redeemer”) has been a point of theological debate for decades — with proponents calling for Mary’s role in redemption to be declared a dogma...

The Vatican on Monday released the full program for Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic journey, which will take him to Turkey and Lebanon from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2.The trip will center on two key moments: a pilgrimage to İznik (ancient Nicaea) to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea and a visit to the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf in Lebanon.

When the U.S. bishops meet for their plenary assembly in Baltimore next month, they’ll discuss the prospect of the 2029 National Eucharistic Congress, a new text of ethical directives for Catholic hospitals, and spend a great deal of time talking about the situation of immigrants to the United States. The bishops will no doubt approve a message to send to Pope Leo — their American brother — and receive a message in response, through apostolic nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre.

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.