We have a new prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops this morning, Archbishop Filippo Iannone, O. Carm., until now the prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. Iannone took over that role from the previous incumbent, Cardinal Coccopalmerio, in 2018 — and at least in direct comparison he was a success. In the early days of the German Synodal Way, it was Cardinal Ouellet, Pope Leo’s own predecessor at the Dicastery for Bishops, who had to sign letters to the bishops’ conference...

When Erika Kirk gave her remarkable witness at her husband’s memorial service on Sunday, forgiving the young man who killed her husband, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, she so powerfully showed the power of radical love. A cross is not merely a decoration — around a neck or on a wall; it is a surrender to divine love, which seems only possible with supernatural grace. She also represented complementarity — the blessed difference between men and women, by God’s design:

I have been stunned at how personal Charlie Kirk’s death feels for me. Literally, I have been legit grieving. I cried off and on for a week. I fell into a funk I couldn’t describe. Many of my friends experienced the same. All for a man we had never met, and who most of us had very little awareness of until now. Why would the death of a stranger hit us so hard? I think there are several reasons...

King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be making their first state visit to the Vatican in late October, Buckingham Palace has announced. The palace said in a Sept. 27 statement that the king and queen “will join His Holiness Pope Leo XIV in celebrating the 2025 Jubilee Year,” which, it noted, is a “special time” for the Catholic Church, “traditionally marked every 25 years.” The palace also said

Pope Leo XIV announced on Sunday that he will proclaim St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church on Nov. 1, the solemnity of All Saints. “I will confer the title of doctor of the Church on St. John Henry Newman, who gave a decisive contribution to the renewal of theology and to understanding Christian doctrine in its development, in the context of the Jubilee of the World of Education,” the pope said after celebrating Mass for the Jubilee of Catechists in St. Peter’s Square.

This past June, a book appeared by a veteran Italian intellectual named Alberto Vacca, the title of which seemed to perfectly capture the tawdry reality of the Vatican’s so-called “Trial of the Century.” It was: What an Ugly Mess in the Becciu Trial: A Surreal Case of Unjust Justice. “Ugly mess” seems about right, given that we’re talking about a trial riddled with procedural irregularities...

At the massive memorial held for Charlie Kirk, he was declared a martyr several times. Notably, Vice President JD Vance called Kirk a “martyr for the Christian faith,” while President Donald Trump spoke of him as a “martyr for America’s freedom.” Coming just a week after Pope Leo XIV presided at an ecumenical service in commemoration of the 21st-century martyrs in Rome, Kirk’s consideration as a martyr echoes Catholic debates...

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