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Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, First Things, & Aleteia. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)

Please support the following Catholic news services and spiritual support sites. Click here to view this email on the Catholic Nutshell News website. Today’s Catholic Nutshell News audio podcast is available on the Substack App.

National Catholic Register

EWTN to end shortwave radio operations after 34 years

By Daniel Payne/EWTN, October 24, 2026

EWTN Global Catholic Network (EWTN) will cease the operation of its long-running shortwave radio service this month, EWTN Chairman of the Board and CEO Michael Warsaw announced on Oct. 30. The shortwave service, which has operated under the call sign WEWN since its launch in 1992, will shut down on Oct. 31. EWTN’s board of governors recently confirmed the decision. Warsaw pointed to the decline in shortwave radio consumption as a key driver of the station’s closure. A widely used media source in the 20th century, shortwave’s popularity has decreased in the 21st century amid the rapid global uptake in streaming and digital platforms. Operating costs at the WEWN network have been high relative to the declining number of shortwave listeners, Warsaw said, and the aging facility needs significant, expensive repairs, which he said would not be a “prudent stewardship of our resources.”

EWTN News

Documentary seeks to demystify the rite of exorcism

By Francesca Pollio Fenton, October 31, 2026

A new three-part documentary series will explore the reality of evil, exorcism, demonic oppression, and the spiritual battle for the human soul. “In Jesus’ Name” takes viewers into the world of what an exorcist does and why exorcisms were established, and offers guidance on what the faithful should avoid to keep themselves safe. The docuseries features prominent exorcists, theologians, and survivors of demonic oppression and examines how evil operates, how it enters human lives, and how it can be overcome. Through personal testimonies and expert insight, the docuseries explores the tension between good and evil, biblical teaching on exorcism, the reality of spiritual warfare, and, above all, the hope and power of Jesus Christ. The creators of “In Jesus’ Name” seek to take exorcisms out of the sensational and instead provide an accurate view of how they are conducted and how people have found deliverance.

Aleteia

A new apostolic visitor appointed to Medjugorje

By Kathleen N. Hattrup, October 31, 2026

The Medjugorje site in Bosnia and Herzegovina has had an "apostolic visitor" since 2018, when Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Henryk Hoser, the retired archbishop of Warsaw-Praga, Poland, to that role. Archbishop Hoser first went to the Bosnian town as Francis' personal envoy to study the pastoral needs of the townspeople and the thousands of pilgrims who flock to the site each year. The Medjugorje shrine, whose fame has spread worldwide, has provoked conflicting views within the Catholic hierarchy. Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Francesco Cavina, retired bishop of Carpi, Italy, as Medjugorje’s new Apostolic Visitor. The Catholic Church officially authorized pilgrimages in 2019. The visionaries of Medjugorje say they still receive apparitions of the Mother of Jesus, some daily.

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The Pillar

China’s AI Girl’s Idol group write in a ‘Maternity Leave’ drama

By Ed. Condon, October 23, 2026

The Chinese girlband BABYQUEEN is a wholly digital creation by K-pop fans from Liaoning. The powers behind the program did something… unexpected. One of the bandbots announced on Weibo (Chinese Twitter) that she was pregnant and taking a leave of absence. People went nuts, accusing the band’s creators of “commodifying” a sensitive topic and introducing an utterly ludicrous storyline into the digital drama of the band, since, as one commentator observed, “real idols wouldn’t dare mention pregnancy.” One moral to this story reveals the limits of anthropomorphizing chatbots and computer programs — even the most digitally native demographics will reject an idea. What is interesting to me is what the backlash says about Chinese attitudes to pregnancy, not AI. China’s demographic time bomb is well documented. The BABYQUEEN debacle is an interesting illustration of clearly deeply felt and somewhat conflicted social attitudes about pregnancy

OSV News

Interfaith migration policy summit seeks common ground

By Kate Scanlon, October 30, 2026

An Oct. 29-30 interfaith immigration policy summit hosted by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, also known as CLINIC, brought together faith leaders, legal practitioners, advocates, and scholars from Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faith traditions to find common ground in their work serving immigrant communities. The summit came during what participants described as a challenging time for their cause. A joint report from the National Association of Evangelicals, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and World Relief estimated that more than 10 million Christians living in the U.S. would be vulnerable to deportation under Trump administration policies implemented in 2025, and 61% were Catholic.

Zeale

Judge delays giving testosterone to girl taken from Catholic parents

By David Uebbing, October 30, 2026

A Massachusetts juvenile court judge has postponed the state’s plan to give testosterone to a 17-year-old girl in its custody over her parents’ objections and pushed back the start of a trial on whether they can regain custody to March, shortly before her 18th birthday, the parents’ attorney told the Boston Herald. “Thankfully the court continues to demonstrate some good common sense,” Vernadette Broyles, the attorney for Joseph and Arlene Kutzko, told the Herald by phone after an Oct. 29 hearing. She said the parents are grateful to the judge for protecting their daughter, Sophie. The custody trial had been scheduled to begin in November and finish in December, Broyles said. Since Sophie turns 18 in April, Broyles said it “seems like” the state is just “running out the clock” on her time as a minor. The Kutzkos will next appear in court in mid-March, the Herald reported.

Zenit

1.5 million people to attend Pope Leo XIV’s Mass in Lima

By Enrique Villegas, October 29, 2026

Peru is preparing to welcome Pope Leo XIV with an extraordinary combination of popular enthusiasm, military coordination and medical precautions. His six-day visit, scheduled for November 11–16, will take him back to a country where he spent more than two decades as a missionary priest and bishop. The scale of the expected crowds is already evident in the arrangements for the closing Mass in Lima. Organizers anticipate up to 1.2 million people at Las Palmas Air Base in the Surco district on November 16. Admission will be free, but access will require a digital ticket obtained in advance. According to the Archdiocese of Lima, Ticketmaster registration will open from November 5 to 8. Each account can obtain up to eight tickets, and attendees must present the corresponding QR code, either printed or on a mobile device, along with the identity document or passport used during registration.

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Pima Asia News

Russia: Cynicism is the side-effect of propaganda

By Vladimir Rozanskij, October 31, 2026

For the sociologist Anna Kulešova, the main outcome of propaganda is not enthusiasm or support for war. Rather, it ‘constantly distances people from moral judgment’, because this is far more beneficial to the authorities. It is widely believed that the main result of Russian propaganda is support for military action; the most common narrative is that television has allegedly brainwashed millions of people, turning them into aggressive and ideological supporters of the armed conflict. However, a closer look at the actual social situation shows that propaganda's main destructive consequences are quite different, said Kulešova. In 2025, researchers recorded almost equal proportions of ‘staunch supporters of peace’ (21%) and ‘staunch supporters of war’ (18%). Between these two extremes lies a silent majority. The devaluation of human life has led to its cynical reduction to monetization: propaganda skilfully plays on patriarchal notions that a man should be the ‘main breadwinner of the family’, protection primarily through money. Before our very eyes, a terrifying social calculus has emerged.

Keep informed - 10/31/26 matters for Catholics:

Snippets: EWTN News, aciafrica, & Word on Fire

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 31, 2026

EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See.

• Cardinal Simoni says faith sustained him through death sentence for Mass honoring President Kennedy - By Emma R.C. Lyons - In 1963, Albanian Cardinal Ernest Simoni was arrested and sentenced to death by Albaniaʼs communist, officially atheist government after celebrating a Mass for the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy for the repose of his soul.

• U.S. bishops celebrate pro-life pregnancy centers for Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week - By Tyler Arnold - “We express our sincere gratitude for all those who work to provide necessary resources to women, babies, and families during pregnancy and beyond,” Bishop Daniel Thomas, chair of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in an Oct. 27 statement.

• Catholics can get 8 plenary indulgences during the first week of November - By Daniel Payne - Many Catholics may be unaware that they can obtain not one but eight plenary indulgences for departed souls in the first week of November. For centuries, the Catholic Church widely observed All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1) as an octave, extending the holy celebration to eight days.

aciafrica

aciafrica’s top headlines — October 31, 2026

ACI Africa was founded in 2019 to provide free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Catholic Church in Africa, with particular emphasis on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See's activities.

• New Report on Persecuted Christians Warns of Expanding Terrorism Across the Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa - Terrorist groups are expanding their reach across borders in the Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa, where they are driving the growing persecution of Christians, a new report by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) UK has established.

• Caritas Nairobi Official Highlights Family Conflict, Limited Parental Participation as Challenges to Boys’ Mentorship - Boys participating in a mentorship program run by Caritas Nairobi are reporting conflict and violence at home, while limited parental participation is hampering efforts to address their experiences, the organization’s Gender and Youth Empowerment Program Coordinator has said.

• U.S. Congresswoman Concerned Over Media Silence after Over 52,000 Killed in Religious-Based Violence in Nigeria - U.S. lawmaker Nancy Mace has lamented what she describes as the silence of major media outlets amid the ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Since 2021, Mace has expressed particular concern over attacks targeting Christian communities in the West African country, including killings (52,000 Christians have been murdered), the burning of churches, and the displacement of families from their homes.

Word on Fire

Fresh insights from the Word on Fire Institute - October 31, 2026

Word on Fire reaches millions each year by sharing the Gospel through podcasts, videos, books, articles, Scripture studies, and Gospel meditations.

‘Defend Us From Evil’: Lessons from the Inklings - Henry T. Edmondson III - The core members of the Inklings were C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield. In his upcoming book Tolkien and the Inklings: Men of the West, scholar Bradley J. Birzer notes that, among the four, Williams may have done the most to sharpen his fellow Inklings’ sense of evil, especially C. S. Lewis, although Tolkien’s contributions may be the most elegant and far‑reaching.

What ‘The Conjuring’ Taught Me About the Struggle for Holiness - Carly Kashmanian - For those unfamiliar with the plot, Carolyn, a mother of five, becomes possessed by a demonic spirit that had been haunting the Rhode Island farmhouse she and her family recently purchased. Her lack of faith makes her an easy target.

Should Catholics Reclaim Halloween? - Madeleine Dobrowski - Interestingly, it is not just the secular world that has fallen in love with Halloween. It is the Catholic world too. The idea of reclaiming Halloween is trending right now among many Catholics. Open Instagram in October, and you'll be hit with a slew of educational videos from Catholic influencers and major companies.

October 31, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

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Today’s Catholic commentary:

National Catholic Register

The man behind ‘Padre Pio’s Stairway to Heaven’

By Solène TadiéIn, October 30, 2026

Patrick Gabarrou, the famous French mountaineer, knows the irresistible urge to ascend to the earth’s highest peaks — to draw a little closer to the divine. At 75, he has completed more than 300 first ascents — meaning he is the first documented climber to reach the summit of a given mountain route. In 2015, Gabarrou, then 65, set out to open a new route ascending the Matterhorn. A devout Catholic, he named his route “Padre Pio, une Échelle Vers le Ciel” (a “Stairway to Heaven”). A documentary of the same name, which follows his journey to the summit, was screened on the sidelines of the International Zermatt Summit for the Common Good, Sept. 17-19. “This name choice was in response to the prayer that my companions and I often repeated: ‘Padre Pio, lamp of love, intercede for us and for the whole world,’” Gabarrou told the Register.

First Things

The Gospel: Not ‘listening’ is the message

By George Weigel, October 28, 2026

After a recent Roman meeting to discuss the Church’s twenty-first-century mission to marriage and the family, Pope Leo XIV asked the participating bishops to share their reflections on that experience. Bishop Erik Varden, O.C.S.O., of Trondheim posted on his indispensable blog, Coram Fratribus, the most persuasive, pastorally useful, and moving statement on marriage and the family to have come out of the synodal process that began in 2014–15 and eventually led to the Vatican meeting earlier this month. Please take a moment to read it here. With the clarity and wit characteristic of his writing, the Norwegian monk-bishop explains the Church’s understanding of the primordial sacrament and the Christian concept of the family with biblical and theological depth, while leavening his exquisite catechesis with charming bits of popular culture. “The message” of the Church is not “listening.” The Church's message is the gospel.

The Imaginative Conservative

Horror and holiness for Halloween

By Joseph Pearce, October 30, 2026

Should Christians spurn the cult of the dead which seems to possess millions of people in the weeks leading up to Halloween? If so, should they also spurn anything creepy on All Hallows Eve? Should they boycott Halloween altogether, keeping their eyes focused on the great feast of All Hallows on the following day? These are good questions. Perhaps, however, we might ask another question before we rush to hasty answers. What about the older tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas? What about Scrooge's haunting by the ghost of Jacob Marley and the visitations of the three holy ghosts of Christmas, who bring Scrooge to his festive senses? Do we concede that there’s a place for spookiness and perhaps, therefore, a place for creepy stories on Halloween? If so, what sort of spookiness and creepy stories? Can there be any connection between the morbid and macabre fascination for horror and the goodness, truth and beauty of Christian literature?

The Catholic Thing

The crucial questions are anthropological and central to man

By John M. Grondelski, October 28, 2026

Kennedy knew that there was a “Catholic vote,” Democrats needed it, and JFK could deliver it. The problem was that the United States had never had a Catholic president. Could a Catholic candidate overcome Protestant prejudice and deliver? Carl Anderson, former Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, said in his book Conscience as a Political Problem that Kennedy believed he could by invoking “conscience” as his guarantee of freedom from papal interference in the nation’s affairs. Anderson argues that, in context, Kennedy was right. Most Protestants who opposed Kennedy did so out of fear that a Catholic president would send an ambassador to the Holy See and push parochial school aid. But as Anderson notes, those were questions of prudential politics: Catholics were not bound to do either.

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Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, OSV News, Zeale, Bishop Barron, & Aleteia. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)

Please support the following Catholic news services and spiritual support sites. Click here to view this email on the Catholic Nutshell News website. Today’s Catholic Nutshell News audio podcast is available on the Substack App.

Crux

‘Document fatigue’ from Vatican hard on local Churches

By Charles Collins, October 30, 2026

“Beatings will continue until morale improves.” That’s a cynical phrase passed around offices worldwide, and I thought of it while reading Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández’s interview with the Spanish Catholic website Religión Confidencial. In the interview, Fernández discussed Venite ad me, the 25,000-word document issued by Fernández’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on October 22, a week ago. The book-sized set of “considerations” from the DDF looks at how the passing on of the Faith has changed, saying the Church is experiencing an “epochal change.” Some early reporting of Fernandez’s remarks suggested the cardinal blamed conservatives, who were ignoring it because of their obsession with sex. He actually criticized both conservatives and progressives, saying liberals are mostly concerned with “structural change and dialogue with society” while conservatives are kept “up at night [by] the transmission of sexual morality.”

Zeale News

Catholic leaders decry USCCB ‘personhood’ comments on census

By Zeale News Team, October 29, 2026

A recent public comment published in the name of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is drawing criticism from prominent Catholics for misrepresenting the teachings and priorities of the Catholic Church in the U.S. USCCB General Counsel William Quinn published an Oct. 22 comment to the U.S. Department of Commerce and its subsidiary, the U.S. Census Bureau, opposing proposed new rules for the census. The new rule would apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives based only on the number of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents (LPRs) in the country. Currently, the census apportions House seats based on the “whole number of persons” living in a state at the time of the census, including foreign nationals visiting temporarily and illegal aliens. CatholicVote CEO and President Kelsey Reinhardt said that Quinn relied on “faulty logic” in claiming that not counting non-citizens and non-LPRs for apportionment would deny their “personhood.”

Related: Scholars criticize U.S. bishops for comparing proposed census rule to 18th-century slave compromise, By Amira Abuzeid, EWTN News, October 29, 2026

OSV News

Pope Leo voted in the mid-term elections in Illinois

By Gina Christian, October 29, 2026

Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV requested a mail ballot for the upcoming Illinois midterm elections, according to a county official. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Oct. 29 that the pope had placed the request Oct. 3. Pope Leo — who remains a U.S. citizen, as well as a citizen of Peru — stands to become the first pontiff to vote in a U.S. election should he cast his ballot. The newspaper confirmed the ballot request with Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff for the Will County, Illinois, clerk’s office. Speaking to the Sun-Times, Fladhammer said that “Robert Francis Prevost” — the pope’s given name prior to his papal election — “is on the list of individuals who requested a vote by mail ballot for the upcoming election” in Illinois. The newspaper said the pope is registered at a New Lenox, Illinois, address — the same town in which his elder brother John lives. Citing voting records, the future pope voted in the Republican primaries of 2012, 2014 and 2016; the Democratic primaries of 2008 and 2010; and the general elections of 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2024.

Related: Pope Leo XIV becomes the first pope in history to vote in a US general election, by Associated Press, Crux, October 30, 2026

Aleteia

Archbishop of Paris: Church can help rebuild trust

By I.Media, October 30, 2025

“The Church has a particular responsibility here. It doesn’t claim to have all the answers to our country’s problems. But it can help rebuild relationships.” Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris recently visited Rome, where he presented his book Les papes, la guerre, la paix (The Popes, War, and Peace). In an interview with I.MEDIA, he reflects on Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France a month earlier and its impact on Catholics and French society as a whole, amid a serious political and social crisis. The images of violence we’ve seen in recent days are extremely painful. Nothing can justify attacks like these on people and property. At the same time, I believe we must take seriously the concerns that people in our society are facing today, especially the many young people who struggle to imagine a future for themselves.”

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National Catholic Register

Pro-life’s have signatures to challenge MA abortion law, but …

By Matthew McDonald, October 29, 2026

Organizers of a grassroots petition drive to stop Massachusetts’ new unrestricted abortion law claim to have enough signatures to put the measure before voters in November 2028. The group spearheading the effort said it already had 97,276 certified signatures of registered voters as of midday Thursday, Oct. 29, about 160% more than the 37,289 needed to challenge the bill the state Legislature approved this past summer, the group said. That figure is also theoretically enough to suspend the law from taking effect Sunday, Nov. 8, as currently scheduled — since pro-lifers say they have exceeded the 49,716 threshold to accomplish that. But that’s unlikely to happen. Gov. Maura Healy, who signed the bill Aug. 10 during a festive ceremony at the State House, can override that suspension and enact the law by attaching an emergency preamble.

EWTN News

Has the Church done enough to resist totalitarian regimes?

By Ishmael Adibuah, October 29, 2026

“The Holy See in the Face of Totalitarian Systems in the 20th Century: New Perspectives and Research Directions” was held at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from Oct. 28–29, and examined how the Church addressed totalitarian regimes in the 20th century. “[Totalitarianism] arises from the human temptation to want to ‘be like God,’ to control how humanity lives and thinks, and to impose one’s own ideological convictions on it,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said. Parolin maintained that Pius XII condemned wars in a way “that would not provoke even greater persecution” and that he displayed “a diplomacy of charity on an unprecedented scale.” Others at the conference described the Church’s stance during this period as “sustainable.”

Religion News Service

Ohio will elect its first Hindu or Jewish governor

By Trisha Mukherjee, October 29, 2026

No matter who wins, the Ohio governor’s race will be historic. If Democrat Dr. Amy Acton wins, she would be Ohio’s first Jewish governor and first female governor. If Republican Vivek Ramaswamy wins, he would be the first Hindu governor in the country’s history. About 65% of Ohio adults identify as Christian, while about 30% are religiously unaffiliated, according to 2024 Pew Research Center data. For both candidates to be among the 5% who follow minority religions is unprecedented in state politics. The race has captivated the nation for its vitriol. Acton’s campaign has painted Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire, as a swindler who promoted fraudulent medical treatments, which he’s denied. Ramaswamy disgusted some voters with an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother calling Acton a liar. At the time of publication, Acton holds a narrow lead over Ramaswamy in a state that went for Donald Trump in the last three presidential elections.

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Catholic News of Australia

Catholic cemeteries await Church guidance on human composting

By New South Wales, October 9, 2026

Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria has no immediate plans to offer human composting after the New South Wales Parliament approved the practice, and has yet to decide whether it could accept remains produced elsewhere. Chief executive officer Lauren Hardgrove said the organization would consider the regulatory requirements and relevant Church guidance before determining its approach. The Public Health Amendment (Terramation) Bill passed parliament on October 21 and received assent on Wednesday. Relevant regulatory provisions are not expected to commence for two years, allowing time to develop safeguards. Terramation, also known as natural organic reduction, involves placing a body in an above-ground vessel with organic materials such as straw and mulch to accelerate decomposition into a large quantity of soil-like material. “As a Catholic organization serving families of all faiths and beliefs, we will assess the implications as further details become available and seek appropriate Church guidance where relevant,” she said.

Keep informed - 10/30/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from Big Pulpit, EWTN, & the Loop

Big Pulpit

Tito Edwards Catholic site: October 30, 2026

The Big Pulpit website aggregates quality insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide.

• The Most Helpful Spiritual Work I Have Ever Read – Leila Miller

• Bishop Eleganti: Rome is Putting on a Bad Show, the So-Called Synodality – Michael Haynes

• Some Very Interesting Comments by Cardinal Fernandez – Amy Welborn at Charlotte Was Both

• Fr. James Martin & Mendacity – Katherine Bennett at Catholic Unscripted

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 30, 2026

EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See.

• Pope Leo XIV appoints 2 new undersecretaries to Synod office - By Victoria Cardiel - Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa and Salesian Sister Elena Massimi take on leadership roles following the departure of Sister Nathalie Becquart, who had served as undersecretary since February 2021.

• Polish court convicts bishop of failing to promptly report abuse - By EWTN News Staff - A district court in Tarnów, southern Poland, on Oct. 29 found Bishop Andrzej Jeż of Tarnów guilty and sentenced him to two years' “restriction of liberty,” a noncustodial penalty. Instead of prison, 1,000 zlotys (about $254) of his monthly salary will go to a childrenʼs charity.

• Holy See postpones Nicaraguan bishops’ ad limina visit - By Walter Sánchez Silva - There is a factor “related to the reality, the context in which we live here in Nicaragua, that must be taken into account: [the bishops] can’t leave, and the fear is real. If someone leaves [to go to Rome], it‘s possible they might not be allowed to return.”

The Loop

Zeale is CatholicVote, hosting the LOOP

Over half a million people receive the LOOP news rundown six days a week. Zeale is the LOOP's new home. Zeale is a project of CatholicVote, America’s top Catholic advocacy organization leading the fight for faith, family, and freedom.

CHICAGO CANONS INVITE CATHOLICS TO PRAY FOR DEPARTED, JOIN MOZART REQUIEM MASS - The Canons Regular of St. John Cantius are inviting Catholics worldwide to join the final days of their All Souls’ novena, reflecting on death, eternity, and the Church’s call to pray for the faithful departed. The novena concludes Nov. 1, ahead of the community’s annual Mozart Requiem Mass in Chicago on All Souls’ Day, Nov. 2, which will also be livestreamed.

OP-ED: EL-SAYED’S JFK COMPARISON REFLECTS ‘OBVIOUS ANTI-CATHOLICISM’ - Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s invocation of former President John F. Kennedy’s Catholicism is “one long distraction” from legitimate questions about his views on the Muslim Brotherhood, columnist Kathryn Jean Lopez argued in a National Review op-ed.

VILLANOVA, NOTRE DAME TO OPEN BASKETBALL SEASON IN ROME - Two Catholic universities will tip off their basketball seasons in the Eternal City on Nov. 1. Inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s election, the event also offers packages featuring a private Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica and a planned papal audience.

October 30, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

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Today’s Catholic commentary:

Catholic365

All God’s creatures, given free will, govern their path of direction

By Eileen Renders, October 30, 2024

Marriage, family, traditions, equality, how our government is managed, and much more have changed. Never before might we have imagined Robots and drones, cars without human drivers, or the possibility that these mechanical “creatures” might become a threat to humanity! It seems as though only the Oligarchs could have created thousands of these robots. It is as though some have been “Playing God?” Did we lose track of the meaning of life, the path to follow, the very children we are raising? To some degree, I believe we have. Many of us have deviated from the path God chose for us; through our own free will, we have made education, power, money, comfort, and materialism our focus and priority, rather than following God’s will. But this is exactly how God will judge each of us when we stand before Him at the end of life, is it not? It is never too late, however, to reflect on our priorities through God’s mercy, love, and forgiveness.

The Pillar

What will the bishops be voting on at the November meeting?

By Michelle La Rosa, October 28, 2026

The U.S. bishops will meet in Baltimore next month for their annual fall plenary assembly. During the meeting, the bishops will vote on the conference budget, a new edition of the lectionary, and updates to conference guidelines on socially responsible investments and diocesan financial reporting, as well as an annual Day of Prayer for Racial Justice. They will also hear updates from the committees on migration, cultural diversity, and the newly created task force on artificial intelligence. They will hold a canonical consultation on two sainthood causes – Maria Middleton, a young woman in Pennsylvania known for her holiness despite developing a fatal brain cancer in her late teens; and Thomas Vander Woude, a Virginia man who died in 2008 while saving the life of his son with Down syndrome who had fallen into a septic tank.

The Haeft

When someone you love stops going to Church, then what?

By John J. Boucher., October 26, 2026

At one time, my wife and I were contributing authors for a book called Keeping Your Kids Catholic. Just before its release, our oldest son Charles returned home from a summer art workshop with long hair and body piercings. That night he stood up at dinner and announced, “I don’t believe in all that God stuff and will not be going to church anymore.” Dumbfounded, I stumbled through something like, “Charles, we still love you, and God loves you!” I called the editor of the book saying, “Please delete our chapters. What we wrote doesn’t seem to be working in our family.” The editor laughed and admitted that not all of his children were churchgoers either. He said, “We can do things right and teach Jesus to our families, but we are not God. We can only do our best to hand on the faith — and must leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit.”

Bishop Barron

‘Something greater than the temple is here’

By Bishop Robert Barron, October 30, 2026

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, thus demonstrating his authority over the law. The Jesus portrayed in the Gospels consistently speaks and acts in the very person of Yahweh, the God of Israel. On another occasion, defending his disciples against the charge of picking grain on the Sabbath, Jesus reminds his interlocutors that priests serving in the temple can, under certain circumstances, violate the Sabbath and still remain innocent; then he adds with breathtaking laconicism, “I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.” The only one who could reasonably claim to be “greater” than the temple is the one worshipped in the temple. Once more, the only one who could legitimately overrule the Torah with such insouciance would be the one who wrote the Torah.

Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay

Listen to an audio podcast of today’s Catholic Nutshell News on the Substack App!

At the top of your phone, while in the app and reading a post, you can press the ▶️ play button and have Catholic Nutshell News read to you every day …

Catholic Nutshell News is a subscription service hosted by SubStack. Get up to a dozen recent articles, Monday-Saturday, to review regarding newsworthy issues. An easy way to browse top Catholic news and information services on the net. Edited by John Pearring.

Unless otherwise noted, the bible references linked in the posts are from the USCCB website online publication of the Books of the Bible.

{Catholic Nutshell News, LLC is a registered Trade Name in Colorado. Identified as a legal entity with the U.S. Treasury.}

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Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources include Aleteia, EWTN News, National Catholic Register, Our Sunday Visitor, Zeale News, John Eldredge, and ChurchPOP. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the Catholic News Muscle)

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Zeale News

Texas Children’s Hospital opens nation’s first detransition clinic

By Elise Winland, October 28, 2026

Texas Children’s Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in the U.S., has opened what Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton describes as the nation’s first dedicated detransition clinic, fulfilling a central requirement of a settlement announced in May. Paxton’s office announced the clinic’s launch Oct. 27, saying the multidisciplinary program provides medical care to patients who previously underwent gender “transition” interventions. The clinic stems from a settlement Paxton secured with the Houston-based hospital in May as Zeale News previously reported. Under the agreement, Texas Children’s agreed to pay $10 million to resolve claims brought under the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act and the federal False Claims Act. Those claims alleged the hospital improperly billed Texas Medicaid for illegal gender “transition” interventions.

Our Sunday Visitor

Scripture highlights the devil’s numerous guises: He does exist

By Carl E. Olson, October 28, 2026

In “Life of Christ,” Blessed Fulton J. Sheen wrote, “Very few people believe in the devil these days, which suits the devil very well. He is always helping to circulate the news of his own death. The essence of God is existence, and he defines himself as: ‘I am Who am.’ The essence of the devil is the lie, and he defines himself as: ‘I am who am not.’ Satan has very little trouble with those who do not believe in him; they are already on his side.” While it is undoubtedly the case that many Catholics, including even some priests and catechists, prefer to remain silent about the subject of Satan, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is not. “Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church’s tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called ‘Satan’ or the ‘devil’” (No. 391).

National Catholic Register

Catholics in Salem, Massachusetts wage a battle for souls

By Matthew McDonald, October 30, 2024

On an unseasonably warm October afternoon in the Witch City, America’s unofficial Halloween capital, thousands of people pass a lay Catholic street preacher. The preacher, Anthony Correnti, 35, isn’t in costume. Instead, he’s wearing a black T-shirt that says “Need Prayer?” Why are we out here? Because if you’re in Salem, you know there’s more. You know there’s a supernatural realm, that there’s a King of the supernatural realm,” Correnti said. Salem is the site of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and city officials have heavily marketed it to tourists over the last several decades. Today, more than 1 million people visit this city of about 40,000 during October. Correnti is one of several thousand Catholics in Salem, which nowadays is a mecca for the occult. Since around the early 1970s, self-identified witches and Satanists have flocked to Salem and stayed. Dozens of stores cater to them. Many sell witch accessories. Some even sell a kit meant to de-Catholicize, including a renunciation of baptism.

The Pillar

Ireland offers insight into using ‘synodality’: Common sense

By Luke Coppen, October 19, 2026

Delegates at Ireland’s national synodal assembly voted to prioritize catechesis, healing, and youth ministry, while offering less support for proposals to create new national bodies and address the role of women in the Church. Ireland is slightly ahead of the synodal curve compared with most other European nations. Their document, titled “Is not this what God asks of you?” identified what it called “five pathways for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Ireland.” Bishop Tom Deenihan of Meath said the five-year national pathway helped erode misgivings about the concept of synodality. Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, said, “Do not measure the future of the Church simply by what is disappearing. Discern what the Holy Spirit is bringing to birth. Do not simply manage a diminishing ecclesial landscape. Reposition the Church for mission within it.” Next, the group entered a stage known as “bishops’ discernment,” in which the bishops’ conference considers the assembly’s recommendations.”

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Aleteia

What you pay for in ‘news’ will train you, but watch what you click

By Daniel Esparza, October 28, 2026

Paying for news may be a small act of defiance, but it may also be something more: a form of asceticism. The word asceticism often evokes images of desert fathers and hair shirts. But the original Greek — askesis — simply means “practice” or “exercise.” The ascetic does not punish the body. The ascetic is someone who trains. The image captures something true about how serious thinking actually works: not in isolation from events, but in constant, demanding conversation with them. If what passes for news is a click-optimized feed of outrage, the conversation collapses. You can barely bring the Gospel into contact with reality if reality has been replaced by a performance of reality designed to keep you scrolling. Your attention is the product. Every scroll, every click, every moment of outrage or delight is being harvested. The news you see is not selected because it makes you better informed. It is selected because it keeps you engaged — which is not the same thing, and is often the opposite.

Vatican News

Vatican celebrates 100 years of the Popemobile

By India Iammancini, October 29, 2026

The Vatican Museums inaugurated the exhibition A Century of the Popemobile on 28 October, marking nearly a century of collaboration between Mercedes-Benz and the Holy See. The exhibition traces the development of papal vehicles, from formal limousines to modern Popemobiles designed to allow the Pope to greet and bless the faithful during public appearances. The formal relationship between Mercedes-Benz and the Vatican began in 1930, when the company supplied a Nürburg 460 Pullman limousine to Pope Pius XI. Mercedes-Benz representatives highlighted the technological demands of producing vehicles for the Vatican, particularly comfort and protection, as well as the ethical responsibility of transporting the Pope. The company also maintains strict standards in preserving the historic vehicles. At its Stuttgart facilities, where the Popemobiles are kept, the company treats the cars with particular care. According to Breitschwerdt, no one may sit in the Pope's reserved seat.

The Angelus

Undecided Catholic voters are true swing bloc

By Kate Scanlon | OSV News, October 28, 2026

Undecided Catholic voters are a swing voting bloc, but reliably show up to the polls, said a report conducted by Untold Research on behalf of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby. “Catholics are swing voters in the truest sense of the term.” It found that 4% of respondents who described themselves as Catholics and as undecided, uncommitted voters in this election cycle did not vote in any of the past three presidential elections. Laurie Carafone, Network’s executive director, said because “many voters, including Catholic voters, are undecided even close to the election, and we wanted just to have a better insight into what issues and factors motivate undecided Catholic voters.” Catholics are a reliable voting bloc in terms of casting a ballot, the Network report found, but "what they offer in terms of dependability to show up at the polls, they lack in predictability for whom they will pull the lever."

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EWTN News

Pew report challenges narrative on rising religiosity in U.S.

By Madalaine Elhabbal, October 28, 2026

The Oct. 28 Pew Research Center report found that while religious practice in the U.S. has “remained stable” since 2020, a survey of young adults about religious practice revealed “mixed signals.” Pew found that 34% of adults said they attended a religious service in the past month, while 45% said they either attended or watched a religious service online in the past month. “Both numbers are at their highest levels since the Center started asking these questions in July 2020,” the report said. However, the report said that while young adults born from 2004 to 2008 are reporting “relatively high rates of attendance at religious services,” young adults born from 2000 to 2003 “are the least religious age group when it comes to how often they pray, how important religion is in their lives and how many of them identify with religion.” In addition, the share of the older demographic that say they attend religious services regularly “is among the lowest of any age group.”

Keep informed - 10/29/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from OSV, EWTN News, & ChurchPOP

OSV News

OSV’s seasoned reporters - October 29, 2026

OSV News — an information service and evangelization partner that helps dioceses connect with the faithful and boost engagement by sharing timely, trustworthy, accurate content about what is happening in the Church and the world.

• Election cycle will influence when pope heads to US, top Vatican diplomat says - “Obviously a visit to the United States is very likely, I would say, in the not-too-distant future,” said Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations. “One of the things that will influence it is eventually the American elections.”

• Spain and its Church in shock, grief after high-speed train collision leaves dozens dead - The Church in Spain expressed its sorrow and solidarity with the victims of an Oct. 28 train accident between Urda and Los Yébenes, near the historic town of Toledo, entrusting the deceased, the injured and their families to prayer.

• Catholics must engage with modern culture, not reject it, Pope says - Catholics must not live their faith in opposition or “hostility” toward modern culture, Pope Leo XIV said, emphasizing that integrating faith and culture is essential to living out the Christian vocation and sharing the Gospel with others.

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 29, 2026

EWTN provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See, and is available to anyone with internet access.

• 5 ‘God-incidences’ will mark Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming trip to South America - By Liliana Montes - Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit to Latin America will be marked by at least five “God-incidences,” as people call the coincidences arranged by Divine Providence. Although the papal itinerary does not specify whether these dates were chosen deliberately, these circumstances provide additional insight into the pontiffʼs upcoming journey.

• Coptic youths freed after video sparks accusations of insulting Islam - By Souhail Lawand - After less than three weeks in detention, six Coptic young men — one a minor — were released, bringing to a close a case that had raised fears of sectarian tensions in the countryside of Egypt’s Minya province. The case followed the young men’s posting of a video in which they reenacted a scene from an Egyptian film.

• China-Vatican deal has imperfections, Vatican’s foreign minister says - By Ishmael Adibuah - Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, acknowledged the challenges of the Vatican-China deal on Tuesday. “Itʼs not easy; the dialogue is not easy,” Gallagher said.

ChurchPOP Trending

ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - October 29, 2026

“We publish inspiring daily stories, fun and shareable faith-centered infographics, prayers, Church history, and more.”

Your Phone Can Be a Call to Prayer: Meet the Service Connecting You to Moms in Need - Through a service called HopeSync, a pregnancy center can send you a request to pray for a woman who is considering abortion while she is meeting with one of its advocates. When you receive a text, take a moment to pray for the mother, the baby, and those meeting with her and walking alongside her.

Iconic Grandma Turns 95 and Surprises Her Birthday Guests with Mass on Her Patio - A milestone birthday, a surprise from Father John, and an opportunity to gather for Mass—a joyful way to celebrate 95 years! “The surprise was on us when Father John slipped off his fedora and came back in his vestments. That’s one way to get us all to Mass.”

This Isn’t a Haunted House. It’s a Catholic Church - The Church of Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte, Our Lady of Prayer and Death, on Via Giulia in Rome has a crypt decorated with human skulls, bones, and skeletons. It looks like something out of a horror film. But this isn't a haunted house, and the bones aren't Halloween decorations.

October 29, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

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National Catholic Register

4 States on the docket for the US Pro-Life Movement

By Patrick Brown, October 27, 2026

If pro-lifers win in Idaho and Missouri next Tuesday, it will be huge: In the 17 ballot referenda since the Supreme Court ended the Roe v. Wade regime, pro-life measures have succeeded in only two states. The House and Senate are each up for grabs, as are 36 governor’s mansions this fall. But for the pro-life movement, four states could provide a picture of where its national fortunes lie — and the track record suggests they may want to prepare for the worst. In two blue states, Nevada and Virginia, progressive advocacy groups are trying to further expand their state’s already-lax permissive stance on abortion. In the 17 ballot referenda since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the Roe v. Wade regime, pro-lifers have won in only two states. If they can come away with wins in Idaho and Missouri next month, it will be a very good night.

Matt Fradd’s Terrifying Ruminations

Stop trying to change the world

By Matt Fradd, October 17, 2026

My concern is that we—and by “we” I mean me, first and foremost, but you as well, probably—are always trying to change things outside of ourselves while at the same time remaining spectacularly ignorant of, and sometimes uninterested in, our own faults. Our spouse has to change, our kids, too, the culture, the Church. The world! Goodness gracious, the bloody world! … Are we not ashamed of our hubris? Apparently not. From Thaddeus of Vitovnica, “Our starting point is always wrong. Instead of beginning with ourselves, we always want to change others first and ourselves last. If everyone would begin first with themselves, then there would be peace all round.” Learn how to be patient in enduring the faults of others, remembering that you yourself have many which others have to put up with. If you cannot make yourself be what you would like, how can you expect another to be as you would like?

Catholic Culture

The divine architect

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, October 26, 2026

Jesus teaches us that love of God and neighbor summarizes the Law and the teaching of the Prophets. But loving God presupposes belief in His existence. God reveals Himself in creation, history, human dignity, the splendor of His moral law, and human goodness. Whatever moves or changes depends on something else. Ultimately, all things depend on an Unmoved Mover: God. In the fullness of time, God reveals Himself through His Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church, founded on St. Peter and the Apostles and born at Pentecost, faithfully hands down Christ’s teaching in every generation. The Creed summarizes God’s self-revelation in history. We look inward to see God’s handiwork. “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

Wild at Heart

Servants: There is dignity in serving

By John Eldredge, October 29, 2026

The word “servant” doesn’t translate well into our modern- day vernacular. It’s a word that feels like you’re welcome in the house— but only in certain rooms. You must stand up straight. Keep your eyes cast down. You are less than. But that is not what it means to be a servant of Jesus or a servant of the ones He loves. We are not less than. We don’t have parameters around our access to God— indeed, we have unlimited access. We can walk in the front door, and into His throne room, boldly. What if we renamed “Servant” to “Devoted Ones”? Or how about “the Smitten”? Because that is the heart of a servant of our King— both in pouring out our lives to Him in secret and in pouring them out visibly on behalf of others. It is the heart of Jesus.

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Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources are the Zeale News, National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Zeale, and Catholic World Report. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)

Click here to view this email on the Catholic Nutshell News website. Today’s Catholic Nutshell News audio podcast is available on the Substack App.

EWTN News

U.S. bishops question Census Bureau changes

By EWTN News Staff, October 27, 2026

U.S. bishops are opposing proposed Census Bureau rule changes that would determine who is counted for congressional apportionment in the 2030 census, arguing that excluding noncitizens without lawful permanent resident status would effectively deny them recognition as persons. The proposed rule changes, published Sept. 10 and open to public comment until Nov. 2, would count only citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) for apportionment, with the bureau stating that “illegal aliens (among others) should not be included in the apportionment count, as they are not true inhabitants, members of the body politic, or persons with a ‘usual residence’ in the United States due to their lack of a sufficient tie and allegiance to the United States.” Every census since 1790 has counted noncitizens, including those without permanent legal status.

Zenit

Religion still shapes Europe despite secularisation

By Elizabeth Owens, October 25, 2026

Europe’s churches may be losing regular worshippers, but religion still influences the continent in less visible, potentially more consequential ways than Sunday attendance. From educational choices and family size to migration policy and economic behavior, religious traditions remain embedded in the social norms that shape public life, according to a review of economic research published by the Rockwool Foundation Berlin. The study, “Religion and Economic Growth: What We Know and Why It Matters”, brings together evidence from different periods and regions to examine how faith influences prosperity. “Anyone who considers religion a marginal factor overlooks a fundamental part of the structure of our societies,” said Sascha Becker, an economics professor at the University of Warwick. In England, approximately one-third of state-funded schools have a religious character. Their appeal extends beyond committed believers, who choose them for discipline, a clear moral framework, and high expectations.

National Catholic Register

Is AI teaching moms not to trust themselves?

By Alyssa Murphy, October 27, 2026

While national conversations around artificial intelligence predominantly center on tech guardrails for children, policy researcher and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Abby McCloskey argues that society is overlooking a quieter, equally profound shift: how AI is fundamentally rewiring modern motherhood. McCloskey examined how algorithmic tools — used by an estimated 80% of parents — are eroding maternal confidence, heightening perfectionism, and replacing vital human-support networks. At the heart of the issue is a phenomenon known as “cognitive offloading” — the practice of turning to generative AI for everyday decision-making rather than relying on internal judgment or community advice. Citing a study from Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, McCloskey noted that a third of parents now trust AI parenting advice over their own gut instincts.

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Zeale News

Newsom says DSA movement will dominate the Democratic Party

By Elise Winland, October 27, 2026

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, predicted in a hidden-camera video that the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) push for “bold change” will become a dominant force in the Democratic Party. In the video, which Townhall released Oct. 26, a person who described herself as a younger voter told Newsom that she and others wanted to see the Democratic Party “move forward.” “You know, we don’t want Kamala Harris,” she said. “We want, you know, more, I guess, democratic socialist policies. Where do you see the Democratic Party going?” Newsom replied, “No one is arguing to manage the status quo and fail more efficiently. So the DSA, the energy and the desire and demand for bold change — not incremental change — is very much going to be dominant,” he added. “I mean, that’s going to be a mainstream democratic movement. Absolutely. No question about that.”

The PIllar

Traditionalist Mass pilgrimage in Rome denied permission

By Edgar Beltrán, October 26, 2026

After the Vatican denied a traditionalist pilgrimage in Rome permission to hold a procession to St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, Vatican officials told The Pillar that organizers did not make specific enough requests for holding a liturgical event at the basilica. As controversy over the pilgrimage played out on social media, both sides offered differing accounts of how, when, and why Vatican officials denied the traditionalist pilgrimage permission to process into St. Peter’s Basilica last weekend. The Ad Petri Sedem Pilgrimage has been held every year since 2012 and is organized by Coetus Internationalis, a coalition of traditionalist associations worldwide. Christian Marquant, president of Coetus Internationalis, announced on Friday, Oct. 23, that the pilgrimage had not been given permission to process into the basilica the next day. He said Vatican officials offered no reason for the denial, nor did they offer the group alternative arrangements for the day; instead, the group had to find an alternative venue itself.

Pime Asia News

Forced repatriation of Russian fugitives by bordering nations

By Vladimir Rozanskij, October 28, 2026

The forced repatriation of Igor Odintsov, a surveyor from the town of Sovetsk in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad in Poland, who had opposed the war and eventually fell into the hands of the Russian authorities, has shocked many, including Lithuanians, due to its brutality. Only desperation could have driven a 68-year-old man to throw himself into an icy river to escape persecution. Reports of refusals and deportations are coming in from various countries, but attention is focused on Lithuania, as it was one of the first to respond to the plight of Ukraine, welcoming refugees from the war-torn country and volunteers from various nations. However, this willingness does not extend to Russians fleeing the country. Lithuania does not even accept essential specialists holding Russian passports (psychologists, doctors, teachers); it has a long history of understandable mistrust towards Russia. Lithuania was not happy under the USSR; it has a history of violence, and the aggressor and its emissaries are always told ‘no’.

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Graphs about Religion

‘Real’ Catholics as conservative as Evangelicals? Still no.

By Ryan Burge, October 26, 2026

Lots of people who believe that Catholics are just as conservative as evangelicals. Even if we compare all evangelicals to Catholics who attend weekly, the former group is about 20 points more Republican than the latter. That’s not a small difference. There has never been a time in the last fifty years in which a weekly attending Catholic was more opposed to abortion access than a weekly attending evangelical Protestant. In 2024, one third of Catholics who attend Mass nearly every week or more favored a woman’s right to obtain an abortion if she wants one for any reason. And the vast majority of evangelicals have always considered same-sex relations to be wrong. Among all weekly attending Catholics, 75% said same-sex relations were wrong back in 1973. Today, that number stands at just 37%. Around 2020, the lines crossed, and in just the last couple of years, “not wrong at all” responses rose above 50%.

Aleteia

What new horror movies say about us

By Tom Hoopes, October 25, 2026

Horror movies are huge right now, earning critical acclaim and box-office success, and I think I know why. Our stories help us process truths we can’t face directly: dramas help us process tension in relationships, science fiction helps us think about a changing world, and horror movies let us acknowledge the supernatural forces we fear. Horror has always helped us think about the dark parts of our own minds, from Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to The Shining. Our new horror movies build on that trend. A surprising number of horror movies are about psychological trauma. Smile (2022) is about a demon that enters through psychological trauma. It causes victims to smile until it destroys them. Next, many horror movies examine family brokenness. Movies acknowledge that sex has far more importance than we give it. A few movies that show the culture trying to process religious questions.

Keep informed - 10/28/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from Loop, Catholic World Report, & EWTN

Zeale’s LOOP

Read daily news and political impact stories at the “LOOP”

Elections and politics matter. The LOOP gives you daily news gems that seek “to renew our country and culture.”

• CATHOLICVOTE URGES CARDINAL CUPICH TO RECONSIDER HONORING ABORTION DONOR - CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt urged Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago to reconsider his plan to honor businessman Michael J. Sacks at an Oct. 29 seminary fundraiser, citing reports that Sacks has given hundreds of thousands of dollars toward efforts to expand access to abortion in Illinois. “An award is not a photo op; it is a public statement about what the Church admires,” she said.

• DOJ TO DEPLOY 1,000 ELECTION MONITORS FOR MIDTERMS - Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon said the Justice Department plans to send about 1,000 monitors to polling places for the Nov. 3 midterm elections, describing the initiative as “the biggest DOJ election observer effort in history.”

• VIRGINIA BISHOP SAYS TRUTH IS ‘ON OUR SIDE’ AHEAD OF KEY BALLOT VOTE - Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, spoke in his most recent podcast episode about the efforts the diocese has made to raise awareness on voting “no” on ballot questions that undermine the sanctity of life and true marriage. “We certainly know that we have the truth on our side, and I am not underestimating the prayer and the fasting that is taking place in our diocese,” he said, “what powerful forces they are.”

Catholic World Report

CWR, a free online magazine — October 28, 2026

CWR provides full coverage of news and events affecting the Church worldwide, offering in-depth analysis while exploring issues the mainstream media avoids. It features exclusive interviews, covers a wide range of relevant topics, and remains unwavering in its commitment to the truth in light of the Gospel.

• When praying for a President becomes a scandal - Marcus Peter - We have reached such an extraordinary degree of political derangement within Catholic discourse in the U.S. that twelve bishops praying over the President of the United States now constitutes a scandal requiring public apologies and elaborate explanations from successors of the Apostles. The entire controversy is embarrassing.

• Why seminaries need to teach political philosophy and study of statesmanship - Paul Seaton - The mandatory course on moral philosophy rightly talks up prudence, but rarely (if ever) considers its highest form according to the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition: the prudentia directiva of the statesman. Studying paradigmatic embodiments of the virtue brings the teaching to life, which is good, and shows what is involved in statesmanly thinking, decision, and action, which is even better.

• On Christ the King and the idolatry of politics - Peter M.J. Stravinskas -

  We seek a Kingdom which is yet to come, to be sure, all the while gaining glimpses of that coming Kingdom in and through our life in the Church–most especially when we gather to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 28, 2026

EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See, and is available to anyone with internet access.

• Pope Leo XIV: Live the faith without ‘hostility towards the world’ - By Victoria Cardiel - Leo XIV called on the faithful not to live their faith with a spirit of “opposition” or “hostility towards the world,” while underscoring that a mature and responsible synthesis between faith and culture constitutes “a necessary condition for persevering in the Christian vocation.”

• Under the eyes of social media, Swiss Guards learn to handle threats with discretion - By Hannah Brockhaus - The pope’s personal security, the Pontifical Swiss Guard, has lengthened training for new recruits amid growing concerns about optics in an age when anyone can film everything with a cellphone. “For us it is very important to realize that the world is watching us.”

• Survey: 39% of Catholics have faced racial discrimination, 10% within parish community - By Tyler Arnold - A survey of 2,401 Catholic adults found that 39% said they have faced racial discrimination at some point in their lives, and 10% said they have faced racial discrimination within their parish community.

October 28, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE or read HERE:

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

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Today’s Catholic commentary:

Crisis Magazine

Considerations on the cardinal’s considerations

By Msgr. Richard C. Antall, October 28, 2026

Venite ad me, subtitled “Considerations on the Transmission of the Faith in an Epochal Change,” is supposedly the Dicastery's response to appeals from both Pope Francis and Pope Leo about the decline of the Catholic Faith, especially in countries traditionally “Catholic.” The document contains some strange notes, which is unusual for an anthology of quotations from papal discourses and encyclicals. “Considerations are not marked by…terminological precision and systematic treatment.” It is as if the umpire chose to give batting tips without getting too “technical.” His job is to get technical. The Dicastery is supposed to referee, not play. The deliberate exclusion of terminological precision and systematic treatment is strange. Another problem concerns precision, but it is a precision I find dubious. Venite ad me says the Church finds new members by the power of “attraction.” This seems to discount evangelization. St. Paul didn’t bring Christ to people by his charm, but by his preaching.

The Catholic Weekly

What you think you know about Neanderthals is wrong

By Michael Cook, October 28, 2026

With their low foreheads, heavy brow ridges, weathered faces, jutting jaws, and sloping shoulders, Neanderthals are the poster boys for prehistoric violence. Early in the 20th century, many scientists believed physical fitness was the sole measure of value in primitive societies. The physically vulnerable would have been a drag upon bands of hunter-gatherers because they could neither hunt nor defend themselves. But this is quite wrong. Evidence is accumulating that our distant ancestors (about two per cent of the genes of most Australians are Neanderthal) cared a lot. The archaeological record offers many examples of ancient care. The instinct to look after the sick and dying was strong amongst these primitive peoples. In the famous archaeological site of Atapuerca, in Spain, archaeologists discovered the bones of a child with craniosynostosis who lived at least five years, and perhaps as many as 12, suggesting that her/his pathological condition did not prevent her/him from receiving the same attention as any other Middle Pleistocene Homo child.

The Jerusalem Post

Netanyahu bloc wins only 53 seats, Arab parties skyrocket

By Keshet Neev, October 28, 2026

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc is currently expected to enter the Knesset with 53 seats, the Central Elections Committee (CEC) announced on Wednesday morning after almost five million votes were counted. Netanyahu’s Likud is projected to enter with 26 seats, while United Torah Judaism, Shas, and Otzma Yehudit are expected to enter with seven seats, and the Religious Zionist Party is expected to enter with six seats, respectively. The opposition bloc, comprising Yashar, B’Yachad, Yisrael Beytenu, and the Democrats, is expected to enter the Knesset with 48 seats, according to CEC data. The latest CEC results put 19 seats with the Arab parties, with the Joint List at 12 and Ra'am at 7 in the next Knesset. The prospect of a unity government involving Netanyahu and Eisenkot has appeared unlikely, as Eisenkot has rejected serving under Netanyahu, including in a rotation government. Other opposition leaders have also ruled out joining a coalition led by the prime minister.

Church Life Journal

The history of pitchfork populism

by Stephanie Slade, October 26, 2026

In August 2016, while accepting the Republican nomination for president in Cleveland, Ohio, Donald Trump uttered five words that many observers instantly recognized as a rupture from the past. The system is rigged, he declared—and “I alone can fix it.” The departure from a Reaganite political ethos was glaring. The fortieth president preached an upbeat, inclusive politics in which America stood as a beacon of freedom to the world, a city on a hill. He spoke of limiting the power of the state and trusting individuals to make decisions for themselves. Trumpism differs from old-school fusionism on at least three major dimensions: its attitude toward power, its views on economic policy, and its rhetorical emphases. Where fusionism calls for a small, decentralized government with a limited scope of action, Trump’s emergence on the political scene marked a shift toward a strongman approach to conservative politics—a sense that the lone way to combat what has gone wrong with America is by concentrating authority in the hands of someone with a willingness to wield it.

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Catholic Nutshell News is a subscription service hosted by SubStack. Get up to a dozen recent articles from Monday to Saturday to review regarding newsworthy issues. An easy way to browse top Catholic news and information services on the net. Edited by John Pearring.

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Our Sunday Visitor

Archdiocese of New York reaches $800 million abuse settlement

By Gina Christian, October 26, 2026

The Archdiocese of New York has reached an $800 million settlement to resolve some 1,300 abuse claims brought under lookback laws in that state and involving clergy and staff. Plaintiffs' attorneys confirmed the deal, slated to be inked in the coming days, in an email sent on the evening of Oct. 23 to clients, according to The New York Times. The funds will resolve “all outstanding claims brought against the Archdiocese of New York, our parishes, and affiliated agencies,” Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks said in an Oct. 24 email to archdiocesan priests. “We are on the verge of being able to, please God, bring some measure of healing and reconciliation to all victim-survivors,” while allowing the archdiocese “to turn its full attention once again to its mission” of evangelization and works of mercy, said the archbishop in the email, a copy of which was provided to OSV News by the archdiocese.

Zeale

Serious violent crime fell 25% in 2025

By David Uebbing, October 26, 2026

The rate of serious violent crime and property offenses fell 25% and 19% in the U.S. in 2025, respectively, according to preliminary findings released Oct. 26 by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The survey measures crimes whether they were reported to police or not. The Washington Examiner reported that the administration credits its efforts against illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and gang violence as being key to the declines. The department’s measure of serious violent victimization covers rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault, and excludes simple assault. Aggravated assault fell 31%, from 4.5 to 3.1 per 1,000. Burglary or trespassing fell 25%, motor vehicle theft fell 30%, and other household theft fell 19%, according to the release. In the bureau’s report, serious violent victimizations fell from about 2.8 million in 2024 to about 2.2 million in 2025.

EWTN News

Several bishops echo Golka’s Trump gathering as a net positive

By Tyler Arnold, October 26, 2026

A second bishop expressed regret over a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House last week and complained that it was “exploited” for political gain, while others who attended clarified why they went. Bishops who attended the meeting and prayer said the White House Faith Office invited them to discuss issues important to Catholics: the right to life, the dignity of migrants, religious liberty, and school choice. Several echoed Archbishop Golka, emphasizing that the meeting and prayer were not a political endorsement, while two expressed regret for going. White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement: “There has never been a greater president for Catholic Americans than President Trump, and his strong record proves it.” “He stopped the weaponization of the federal government against Christians, proudly defended and expanded our religious rights, pardoned pro-life activists, stopped the chemical mutilation of our nation’s children, and protected parents’ rights,” Rogers said but did not respond to a follow-up request for a response to the comments made by Joensen and Grob.

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CBCP News

Church cannot preach communion while its ministers are divided

By CBCP News, October 21, 2026

Preaching at the opening Mass of the Convention on Mutual Relations 2026, Bishop Elias Ayuban Jr. of Cubao urged Church ministers to prioritize relationship-building alongside their pastoral and administrative responsibilities. “We cannot give witness to a God of communion if we are divided,” Ayuban, who also heads the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Mutual Relations between Bishops and Consecrated Persons (ECMR), said in his homily at Manresa Retreat House in Quezon City. Its discussions also address challenges such as social polarization, armed conflict, disinformation, ecological destruction, abuse and poverty, which organizers say call for stronger relationships and shared responsibility among Church leaders. “Our Office is not about doing alone, it’s about signifying. It’s about building relationships. It’s not only what we do, but how we relate to one another,” he said.

Related: “There are no differences between French-speaking and English-speaking Catholics in the Church” - Fides News Agency, October 20, 2026

Fides News Agency

‘Faith arrived here through the celebration of the Eucharist’

By Fides News Agency, October 20, 2026

The Jubilee recalls the first Mass celebrated on August 7, 1901, on Ahok-Ahok Island by two missionary priests, Fathers Peter Mayer and Eugene Ender. “The Christian faith arrived here through the celebration of the Eucharist,” said Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization and Special Envoy of Pope Leo XI,. “I can imagine that 125 years ago there was no crowd, no assembly like this. It must have been just the two missionaries and their few companions. And look, after 125 years: not only people from Bougainville, but people from other parts of the world are here.” In his homily, Cardinal Tagle noted that the readings proclaimed at the Jubilee Mass were the same biblical texts heard during the first Eucharistic celebration 125 years earlier. “These were the first words from Scripture that were proclaimed here in Bougainville,” he said. “Our hearts are moved with gratitude. God has been faithful.”

National Catholic Register

The Catholic Church and Europe’s vanishing center

By Alberto M. Fernandez, October 26, 2026

France is polarized, but both left and right hate centrist French President Emmanuel Macron, who has an approval rating of 15%. One incident on Oct. 17 saw hundreds of antifa and other leftists clashing with 50 “far-right” protesters — monarchists and identitarians — carrying historic Norman flags bearing two golden lions on a red field or a Nordic cross. No moderates or centrists were on either side. This on-the-ground reality seems pertinent to recent comments by German Cardinal Reinhold Marx, who said that “the great challenge we face over the next 20 years is the threat to democracy posed by the growth of ethnic nationalism and populist far-right parties. Two powers stand for democracy, human rights, multilateral ideas, our common home and humanity: the European Union and the Holy See. Where are the others?”

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Aleteia

Christian persecution not improving, worse in 2/3 of countries

By Kathleen N. Hattrup, October 20, 2026

A new report (“Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians Oppressed for Their Faith 2024-26”) from the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) found that from mid 2024 to June of this year, conditions for Christians worsened in almost 56% of the 18 countries examined; none recorded an overall improvement. ACN figures that 413 million Christians live in countries where serious violations of religious freedom occur. About 220 million Christians worldwide are directly exposed to persecution. The report identifies displacement as a major concern. Christians are part of a wider exodus of people driven from their homes by conflicts in Africa and Asia, some of it religiously motivated. In Nigeria alone, millions of Christians are among the internally displaced. Persistent extremist violence across parts of sub-Saharan Africa is raising concerns that displacement could lead to lasting changes in the religious makeup of affected regions.

Related: ‘Constant threat from extremism’: Brother of Shahbaz Bhatti tells Crux Now of plight of Pakistan Christians, by Fionn Shiner, Crux, October 27, 2026

Crux

Venite document’s personal testimonies on rediscovering faith

By Christopher R. Altieri, October 25, 2026

The DDF’s Venite ad me: Considerations on the Transmission of the Faith in an Epochal Change addresses a crucial issue amid a major decline across the civilizational areas with the oldest and most consolidated Christian tradition. Venite’s final chapter is dedicated to “personal testimonies” from people who have rediscovered the faith. More to the point, the document explicitly states it is not meant to settle doctrinal questions, but “primarily to stimulate ecclesial reflection and pastoral commitment regarding the transmission of the faith.” “For this reason,” Venite continues, “the text examines a variety of points of view without, however, claiming to settle the matter, which remains open to further analysis and development.” Readers used to hearing the DDF called “the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog” may do a double-take at that.

Keep informed - 10/27/26 news for Catholics

Snippets: Pulpit, EWTN, & Aleteia

BIG PULPIT

Tito Edwards’ Catholic blogger site: October 27, 2026

The Big Pulpit website is an intelligent news aggregator offering insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide. Here are Chief Editor Tito Edwards’ top recommendations for today.

• Does This Explain the Election of Pope Leo XIV? – Philip E. Lawler, Ph.D., at Catholic Culture

• Ripperger Silenced? Punished Or Protected? – The Prayerful Posse via The American Catholic

• A Fortress Of Faith Rises In Pennsylvania: Carmelites Building a Stone Monastery – Rod Dreher

• The Alleged Evils of Mother Teresa – Patrick Novecosky at Catholic Answers Magazine

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 27, 2026

EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See, and is available to anyone with internet access.

• Diocese in Guatemala investigates alleged Eucharistic miracle involving host with reddish stains - By Diego López Colín - The group consists of a biologist, a physician with experience in similar cases, a psychologist, a nurse, a layperson chosen from among the faithful who participate in the community, and a priest who is not part of the local parish clergy.

• Seminarian training kicks off in Nigeria to combat sexual and gender-based violence - By Abah Anthony John - The initiative aims to reach at least 1,000 seminarians to prepare them to recognize different forms of abuse, support survivors, and promote safer communities in their future pastoral ministry.

• For first time in 500 years, pope and king of England bestow religious titles on each other - By Walter Sánchez Silva - King Charles III was given the title royal confrater, and Pope Leo XIV was given the title papal confrater. The announcement highlights that both leaders sought to underscore ties between Christian traditions in a global context marked by polarization and conflict.

Aleteia

Aleteia’s global network reports for October 27, 2026

Aleteia (aleteia.org) is an online publication distributed in six languages (English, French, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, and Slovenian). Launched in 2013, it is one of the world’s leading news websites with content free from ideological influences.

Liechtenstein’s prince vetoes law relaxing abortion ban - Matthew Green - On October 20, Liechtenstein’s Hereditary Prince Alois vetoed legislation which, if enacted, would have permitted abortion during the first trimester. Parliament approved the bill by 13 votes to 12 in early September.

US Bishops launch prayer campaign as abortion rate now higher - Philip Kosloski - While the Supreme Court decision in 2018 opened the door for states to ban abortion, abortions have actually been on the rise since then, especially with the easy access to the abortion pill.

Pope appeals for peace in Yemen, help for city under siege - Kathleen N. Hattrup - Yemen’s long conflict has intensified with the broader war in the region. The city of Taiz has been under siege from the Iran-backed Houthis since early October, leaving some 800,000 without access to supplies.

October 27, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE or read HERE:

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

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Today’s Catholic commentary:

Dominica

Christ calls us to a different kind of comfort

By Br. Amadeo Oppedisano, O.P., October 27, 2026

Have you ever seen those bumper stickers or T-shirts, probably from Hot Topic, that say “Fly Casual”? In Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, Han tells Chewie, “I don’t know. Fly casual,” to avoid the Empire's Super Star Destroyer. While it adds comedic relief, I’ve never really liked the line. Casualness in dress is pervasive in our media, workplaces, and relationships, and if we let it fly by, it will sneak past the defenses guarding our faith lives. In our attempts to be comfortable, we find ourselves unsure of how to relate to each other in different facets of our lives, and, most importantly, how to relate to God. Taking up the yoke of our Lord cannot be casual. It is fundamentally radical; it requires full surrender to the Lord. Echoing the prophet Jeremiah, Christ calls us to a different kind of comfort, one found in the yoke he bears and in the ancient paths (Jer 6:16).

Missio Dei Catholic

Marriage does not illuminate the mystery: It participates in it

By Deacon Michael Halbrook, October 20, 2026

Paul seems to be speaking about marriage, and then he broadens the image clearly and cleanly: “This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.” The Greek word Paul uses is mysterion, a hidden thing now revealed, a truth disclosed that human reasoning alone could not have worked out. He has been drawing out what it means for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church, to hand themselves over for her, to sanctify her, and to nourish and cherish her as their own flesh. He has cited Genesis: the two shall become one flesh. And then: this is a great mystery, and the mystery is not primarily about marriage. It points to what marriage is about. Marriage is the sign; the union of Christ and the Church is what it points to. Marriage does not illuminate the mystery from outside; it participates in it.

The Obscure, Forgotten, and Undiscovered

The Burggraff priests, uncle and nephew, were literary Paulists

By James K. Hanna, October 26, 2026

The Burggraffs, Uncle Aloysius and his nephew Alvin, were both Paulist (Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle) priests with an interest in the written word. Father Aloysius J. Burggraff, CSP (1898-1966) was a columnist for the Baltimore Catholic Review for several years and the author of the popular 1960 book “Handbook for New Catholics” (Paulist Press). His nephew Alvin appears in the acknowledgments of a decidedly different book from the same era. The younger Burggraff (1912-1996) is thanked by science fiction writer Walter M. Miller, Jr. in the Acknowledgments of his 1959 classic A Canticle for Leibowitz (Lippincott). The book has never gone out of print. One can speculate that as Miller was a convert to Catholicism (1947) and his novel relies heavily on monasticism, Latin language and prayers, and the Catholic Church, the priest may have provided theological insight, encouragement, and perhaps a bit of editing.

Catholic Stand

An autumnal attention to stewardship

By Tom Collingwood, October 24, 2026

Almost 10 years ago I noted in a post that many today seem to suffer from what I called “nature deficit disorder” (NDD). NDD keeps one from becoming familiar with nature. It also leads to a lack of a nature stewardship mentality or actions. Autumn in the mountains is an explosion of pre-winter animal activity and beautiful foliage. The cool and crisp fall air provides a new dimension to even the simple act of breathing! It seems that all our senses wake up and become more focused and sharp in the fall. This kind of Autumnal experience renews one’s gratitude for God’s act of creation. It also parallels the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reminder that September 1 through October 4 is the Season of Creation. This year the Holy Father invites us “to contemplate the gift of life and to cherish the earth that sustains it.” It’s a call for stewardship.

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Catholic Nutshell News is a subscription service hosted by Substack. Get up to a dozen recent articles from Monday to Saturday to review newsworthy issues. An easy way to browse top Catholic news and information services online. Edited by John Pearring.

Listen to an audio podcast of today’s Catholic Nutshell News on the Substack App!

At the top of your phone, while in the Substack app to read our post, you can press the ▶️ play button and have Catholic Nutshell News read to you daily …

Unless otherwise noted, the bible references linked in the posts are from the USCCB website online publication of the Books of the Bible.

{Catholic Nutshell News, LLC is a registered Trade Name in Colorado. Identified as a legal entity with the U.S. Treasury.}

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Your 5-minute daily Catholic briefing. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Imaginative Conservative, Zeale, & Aleteia. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)

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Our Sunday Visitor

Study will identify why some priests leave the ministry

By Gina Christian, October 23, 2026

The Catholic University of America has launched a new study to explore why some priests choose to leave ministry within a few years of ordination. “There is a perception among some bishops and other Catholic leaders that there has been an increase in the number of men leaving priestly ministry in their early years,” said university official Sara Perla. The survey — the results for which will be released sometime in the fall of 2027 — will combine quantitative and qualitative methods, with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University compiling the data set. “We’ve got 9,000 names, and we have to figure out where every one of them is today,” Jesuit Father Thomas P. Gaunt, executive director of CARA, said. The process is a “one-by-one” inquiry, he said — and, he added, “the dilemma is being able to identify and then contact those who have left the priesthood.”

National Catholic Register

Blowback pushes one bishop to apologize about Trump meeting

By Tina Dennelly/EWTN, October 25, 2026

Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee issued what he called a “public apology” on Sunday for his role in the Oct. 22 meeting of bishops at the White House. Grob said that over the last few days, he had “received many questions and comments about the October 22 meeting I and 11 other bishops attended at the White House, which was soon thereafter publicized by the administration without the consent of the participants.” He went on to say that his “intention was never to cause confusion, anger, or disappointment among the people entrusted to my care” and that he issued the Oct. 25 statement to provide context for the meeting. Grob’s statement follows another participant at the Oct. 22 meeting, Denver Archbishop James Golka, who led the prayer in the Oval Office, defending his participation in the event. Golka said he “knew people might be upset” and that it could be “use[d] for political purposes.”

Related: Denver archbishop responds to criticism over Trump prayer meeting: ‘I was being a Catholic priest’, EWTN, By Daniel Payne, October 24, 2026

Related: CatholicVote president defends bishops who prayed over Trump, McKenna Snow, Zeale, October 25, 2026

EWTN News

Catholic Church in Egypt keeping youths attached to their faith

By Amira Abuzeid, October 17, 2026

The Catholic Church in Egypt faces the challenge of keeping its young population attached to the faith, a bishop in the country said, noting that many youths abandon the Catholic faith at marriage. Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Emmanuel Bishay of Egypt’s Coptic Catholic Eparchy of Luxor clarified that relations between the Catholic and Orthodox churches are good. However, he noted the challenge of keeping youths in the Church, adding that to deepen the Catholic faith, the Church runs formation programs alongside initiatives that make it easier for young Catholics to meet and build relationships. “At the official level, relations between the Catholic and Orthodox churches are good. There is affection, and people exchange greetings on religious occasions,” Bishay said in an Oct. 19 ACN report.

PIMA Asia News

Russian Orthodox Church challenged with moral framework in war

By Vladimir Rozanskij, October 26, 2026

At a critical juncture for the Russian economy due to the war with Ukraine, which drags on with no end in sight, the Orthodox Church is also reflecting on economic issues. In an interview with the TASS news agency, also published on the Moscow Patriarchate’s website. Ilya Kuzmenkov, vice-president of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations, discussed the relationship between religion and the economy, and why the economy is not self-sufficient. If one looks at the economy from this perspective, “then a moral law emerges, an ethical question arises, and where there is an ethical question—a matter of moral choice—a religious context also emerges; questions of faith and values arise when decisions are made, whether macroeconomic or microeconomic.” Moreover, without knowledge and understanding of moral laws and the history of the Gospel, “modern people are largely unprepared, even in certain respects, including in terms of business management”.

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The Pillar

Are excommunicated SSPX confessions and weddings still valid?

By Ed. Condon, October 21, 2026

More than three months after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued its decree excommunicating the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X, questions remain about the full effects of the society’s schism. More than three months after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued its decree excommunicating the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X, questions remain about the full effects of the society’s schism. A document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that SSPX clergy invalidly performed both sacraments. However, reports of a new canonical opinion from another Vatican department suggest the DDF statement may be inaccurate—and that the Vatican faces another issue in which departments will offer dueling interpretations of the Church’s law in force.

Zeale

Pope Leo: Knowing God exists is not enough

By McKenna Snow, October 25, 2026

In his Oct. 25 Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the faithful to cultivate authentic, wholehearted love for God, emphasizing that the human heart finds its fulfillment in communion with Him. Knowing that God exists is not enough — one should strive to let love be the foundation of his or her relationship to Him, according to the Pontiff. “Christ places love at the very center of our relationship with God,” Pope Leo said. “Indeed, it is not enough to know that God exists, that He is the only God, or that he is the Almighty. The Lord seeks a personal relationship with us: the one true God wants to become our God.” His reflection comes from the Sunday Gospel passage in Matthew 22, where a scholar asks Jesus which commandment is greatest. Jesus replies by quoting Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Aleteia

Lawyer donates salary to keep pediatrician in his town

By Cecilia Zinicola, October 23, 2026

Sebastián Darrichón is an Argentine lawyer dedicated to his career, with many hours of study and extensive training. He stands out not only for his strong professional performance but also for his principles and his firm determination to do good. Sebastián took on a job with the local government, in addition to his other work. Anonymously and voluntarily, Sebastián decided to donate his pay from that job to the doctor so he could keep serving children in Puerto Gaboto. This action—taken quietly, with no other intention than to help—came to light through an informal note from the municipal president. The story took off on social media, then bigger outlets picked it up, from online news sites to television and print. Darrichón told Aleteia that his decision to use earnings from his town job to pay the pediatrician is an act of gratitude for all he has received.

Related: Woman donates kidney to ex-husband for the sake of their children, by Dolors Massot, Aleteia, September 15, 2019

Zenit

Law gives priests and other clergy an opening to Social Security

By ZENIT Staff, October 25, 2026

Thousands of American clergy members who once opted out of Social Security and Medicare will have a limited opportunity to reconsider that decision under a new law President Donald Trump signed on October 20. The legislation, backed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), reopens a path to retirement and health coverage for religious leaders who may have made that choice decades ago. The measure, H.R. 227, creates a two-year window during which eligible clergy can elect to resume paying Social Security and Medicare taxes on their ministerial earnings. The opportunity applies to tax years 2029 and 2030. Rejoining the system will not automatically guarantee benefits: priests, pastors, and other religious workers must still satisfy the ordinary contribution requirements. The change addresses a longstanding feature of U.S. tax law. Ministers can generally seek an exemption from Social Security and Medicare taxes on income earned through their ministry, subject to statutory conditions.

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Keep informed - 10/26/26 news for Catholics:

Snippets: EWTN News, Aleteia, & Catholic World News

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 26, 2026

EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See.

• Polish bishops oppose abortion bills, name historian to lead abuse commission - By EWTN News Staff - Polandʼs Catholic bishops on Oct. 24 spoke out against two bills that would ease the countryʼs abortion law and named a historian to lead their long-planned commission on the sexual abuse of minors in the Church.

• Rights group urges immediate release of 6 Christians detained over TikTok video in Egypt - By ACI Africa Staff - Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has urged Egyptian authorities to free six young Christians detained for more than two weeks after posting a TikTok video that authorities considered offensive to Islam. ADF said the six, who range in age from 17 to 23, were detained and questioned on charges of “exploiting” and “insulting” the religion of Islam.

• Virgin of Guadalupe takes center stage at U.S. Hispanic ministry meeting - By David Ramos - “It has been a moment of such joy and spirituality, of such devotion and emotion, to go on discovering who Holy Mary of Guadalupe and her humble messenger, St. Juan Diego, are during this encounter,” Chávez told EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

Aleteia

Aleteia’s free access to Catholic news

Launched in 2013, Aleteia is a free online daily news publication. The site is available in six languages (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, and Slovenian). Aleteia reaches nearly 50 million people worldwide, making it one of the leading online Catholic media outlets.

• Love fiercely, says dad of special needs daughter - Andrew Bodoh, father of Elizabeth, who has a rare brain disorder, wrote an honest and encouraging book about the blessings of raising a child with disabilities. It’s called Love Fiercely: Lessons from the Dad of a Special Needs Daughter.

• 4 People who died in the 1990s closer to sainthood - The causes for canonization of two missionary bishops have gone forward, along with four other causes advancing, according to a note published October 24. The Vatican also recognized the heroic virtues of two Italian priests, a Capuchin friar who was a disciple of Padre Pio, and a consecrated laywoman from Argentina. Four of the six cases involve people who died only in the 1990s, and a fifth died in the 1980s.

• The value of stability when we’re looking to escape - There’s a time and place for seizing opportunities and making changes, but perhaps we do it too much as an excuse for immaturity. We hardly tolerate boredom. Friendships are abandoned for a new set. Church-hopping is endemic.

Catholic World News

CatholicCulture.org from Trinity Communications

Catholic World News (CWN) is an independent Catholic news service staffed by lay Catholic journalists, dedicated to providing accurate global news from a distinctly Catholic perspective.

Ukrainian Catholic leader thanks Pontiff for support, gives him prisoners’ list - As he thanked the Pontiff for the Vatican’s efforts to secure the release of prisoners of war, the Major Archbishop gave Pope Leo a new list of prisoners. “Mother Church is working to ensure that all our prisoners of war and illegally detained hostages are released as soon as possible,” the Major Archbishop said.

Cardinal Parolin condemns anti-Semitism, distinguishes it from criticism of Israeli policies - In an address to leaders of the American Jewish Committee, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, said, “Allow me to reiterate, once again and without any ambiguity, the Holy See’s firm rejection of anti-Semitism in all its forms. Jews must be able to live, worship, and educate their children without fear.”

Vatican diplomat expresses ‘profound concern’ about nuclear landscape - “Nuclear arsenals are being modernized and expanded, and rhetoric surrounding their potential use is becoming increasingly prevalent,” Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said at a recent UN committee meeting. “Meanwhile, integrating artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies into nuclear-related systems introduces further risks by influencing the conditions under which decisions of incalculable consequence are made.”

October 26, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

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Today’s Catholic commentary:

One Magazine

War in Ukraine is reshaping children’s minds

By Anna Klochko, September Issue, 2026

For Oleksandra “Sasha” Paskal, 10, growing also means having the socket for her prosthesis adjusted or replaced every three months and getting a new artificial foot twice a year to match her right foot's growth. In 2022, when Oleksandra was 6 years old, she lost her leg in a Russian missile strike in the Odesa region of Ukraine. She also lost a finger and sustained multiple injuries to her head and torso. She survived, underwent rehabilitation, and received a bionic prosthesis. Now Oleksandra, a gymnast, is training again in Chornomorsk, southern Ukraine. The United Nations reported in July that more than 800 Ukrainian children have been killed and more than 2,950 children injured since Russia’s invasion in 2022. These numbers only detail the confirmed dead or wounded; the U.N. notes it is difficult to verify numbers in active war zones, and the fear is the numbers may be much higher.

Pillar

I actually found the new dicastery document rather powerful

By Edgar Beltrán, October 22, 2026

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) published Oct. 22 Venite ad me, a document on the transmission of the faith “in an epochal change.” It reflects on transmitting the faith within families, parishes, and Catholic institutions in an increasingly secularizing world. The document proposes returning to the kerygma, improving adult catechesis, and developing a missionary spirit within parishes. The DDF text makes clear that it is “a set of Considerations, not a Doctrinal Note. Its purpose, in fact, is primarily to stimulate ecclesial reflection and pastoral commitment regarding the transmission of the faith. Taken at a more global level, the document blames the lack of transmission of the faith also on an “incomplete inculturation of the Gospel — despite the continued prevalence of public expressions of religion in social life — [which] leads to a superficial faith: one that lacks roots and is more exposed to external influences.”

Aleteia

Their martyrdom left the diocese with only half its priests

By Daniel Esparza, October 26, 2026

On October 17, 2026, Pope Leo XIV authorized the beatification of 20 diocesan priests from the Spanish islands of Ibiza and Formentera, killed during the Spanish Civil War in the summer of 1936. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, presided over the ceremony at the Cathedral of the Virgin of the Snows in Ibiza. The Church will observe its liturgical memorial on November 6. The 20 men—parish priests, seminary professors, and pastoral workers—represented nearly half of the local clergy at the time. The diocese then counted 53 priests. In the span of a few weeks, 20 of them were dead. On September 13, following a bombardment that caused some two dozen deaths in the city, the order was given to execute all the prisoners. The massacre was carried out inside the Castle. The cause for beatification explicitly states that the only reason these men were killed was their identity as priests.

The Imaginative Conservative

The politics of Heaven

By L. Joseph Hebert, Jr., October 25, 2026

The city whose foundation we have now gone through,” Glaucon said, “has its place in speeches, since I suppose it exists nowhere on earth.” “But in heaven,” Socrates said, “perhaps, a pattern is laid up for the man who wants to see and found a city within himself on the basis of what he sees.” (Plato, Republic, 592b) Thomas More’s 1516 masterwork Utopia takes its title from a Greek conjunction of his own coinage, meaning “No Place.” This is not Plato’s word in the passage cited above: οὐδαμοῦ (oudamou), meaning “nowhere.” But as Frank Mitjans argues in his recent study, Thomas More’s Vocation, More certainly invents the now-ubiquitous term “utopia” with an eye to this exchange in Plato’s ancient dialogue—and to the argument behind it. By using an imaginary city, or polis, as a model of personal self-perfection, Socrates teaches a valuable, if negative, lesson about actual political affairs.

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National Catholic Register

Montse Alvarado named Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication

By Interviews, October 24, 2026

How did Miss Montse Alvarado get her new assignment? “I mean, the reality is that as a communications professional for Becket (Catholic law firm) and a management professional, I certainly was not on the radar of the Holy See or had any working relationship with the Vatican. That all came out of EWTN and through a couple of favors, and trying to support the work of the Holy Father, which EWTN always has done. I had the opportunity to meet with a couple of cardinals, then eventually with the Holy Father, thanks to Archbishop [Nelson] Perez. So in doing some work, the collaborations in Indianapolis, where we had 16,000 young people in a live dialogue, first ever live dialogue with the Holy Father. That was November of 2025.” She added, “I'm succeeding a lay man who is married, right. So his vocation is marriage. There are other prefects who are religious sisters, women in habits, consecrated. But you've never had someone who has a lay vocation.”

EWTN News

Bishop slams ‘clownish irrelevance’ of German Catholic academy

By Daniel Payne, October 23, 2026

Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron issued a sharply critical statement this week about what he described as an “inane” controversy involving a German Catholic institution that awarded him a prize in 2025. Barron received the Josef Pieper Prize in Münster in July 2025, a decision that generated protests from Catholic groups and political organizations. The protesters criticized the bishop for promoting “exclusionary identity politics,” among other allegations. The German news website katholisch.de reported on Oct. 21 that Barron’s 2025 receipt of the award was “still having repercussions.” It cited the Josef Pieper Foundation as reportedly having “acknowledged mistakes” in how it handled the controversy; the foundation is also reportedly developing a conference “on Barron and his theology.” “If you have any doubt that the German Catholic academy has fallen into clownish irrelevance, look no further than this inane and ginned-up ‘controversy,’” the Chicago-born prelate wrote.

Aleteia

Why the ideology of AI looks so much like religion

By Daniel Esparza, October 24, 2026

In 2017, Anthony Levandowski — former Google and Uber engineer, later convicted of trade-secret theft — filed paperwork in California to establish a religious organization. Named Way of the Future, its stated purpose was to develop and worship an artificial superintelligence he called “the Godhead.” The church has since dissolved, but the impulse behind it has not. Effective altruism, in several of its iterations, functions as a redemption narrative — the faithful calculate and donate in hope of a technologically secured future. The language of sacrifice, mission, and ultimate stakes runs through AI discourse in ways its practitioners rarely pause to examine. The Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor spent several decades building the tools to explain why this was always going to happen. In A Secular Age (2007), Taylor argues that modernity's biggest change is not the loss of belief in God but a transformation in the very structure of the self.

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The Pillar

Knoxville bishop says, ‘Not appropriate’ to add prayers to Mass

By The Pillar, October 23, 2026

The bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee, told The Pillar this week that a plan to curtail the St. Michael prayer and other public devotions before and after Masses in his diocese is meant to ensure respect for Catholics wishing to pray silently in parish churches, and that he hopes priests will offer “good catechesis” amid the change on prayer and the Church’s liturgy. In an October 16 column, Bishop Mark Beckman wrote that he had noticed in some Knoxville parishes that “additional prayers, including the Prayer to St. Michael, the ‘Prayer of St. Francis,’ a Prayer to the Holy Spirit, and others have been added regularly to the liturgy—recited together, sometimes before the entrance hymn, or immediately after the dismissal.” He explained, “Having reflected on the importance of celebrating the liturgy in accordance with the mind of the Church, I do not think it appropriate to add additional prayers associated with the celebration of the Mass itself.”

OSV News

Scandinavian Catholics address new wave of conversions

By Jonathan Luxmoore, October 24, 2026

As the northern winter approaches, Scandinavia’s Catholic Church is witnessing unprecedented growth, with more people turning to the faith in reaction to the region’s highly secularized culture. Many young people have discovered the faith after “terrifying experiences” of pagan and New Age practices, adding that Norway’s Church was now seeing a significant rise in confirmations and adult initiation courses. “The Church is gaining strength thanks to an upsurge in Catholic conversions,” explained Ragnhild Aadland Høen, public affairs officer for Norway’s Council of Catholic Bishops. “And where there was once anti-Catholic feeling, public prejudices are now much diminished. Young people are finding each other in parishes across the country, while others show a positive interest in ways we haven’t seen before,” she said. “The growth isn’t as pronounced here as in Norway and Sweden,” said Nik Bredholt, parish council chairman at St. Ansgar’s Cathedral in Copenhagen.

Zeale

First Lady secures ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine

By McKenna Snow, October 23, 2026

The White House announced Oct. 23 that First Lady Melania Trump has secured a temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky to allow for civilians to safely evacuate and receive humanitarian aid. The urgency of the circumstances in Oleshky — which has suffered from limited food access, as well as unstable power, water, and heating — came to Melania Trump’s attention during a private discussion at her event during the 81st United Nations General Assembly in late September, according to the White House. The first lady said that upon learning of the situation, she and her representative, who was not named in the statement, used the communication channels established with both countries during her previous reunification efforts for war-affected children. “Both nations promptly assigned teams to coordinate the complex mechanics involved, including demining. All parties have worked around the clock since that moment,” she said.

Zenit

Controversy over a video of Trump praying with American bishops

By ZENIT Staff, October 23, 2026

The image was striking: President Donald Trump seated in the Oval Office, his head bowed as Catholic bishops gathered around him in prayer. Yet the October 22 encounter's significance extended well beyond its faith symbolism. With the November 3 midterm elections approaching, the meeting has reopened a delicate question for the American Church: how can bishops defend the principles they consider essential to public life without letting partisan politics draw them into their pastoral mission? The White House Office of Faith, led by Jenny Korn, presented the encounter as an opportunity for substantive engagement between religious leaders and the administration. According to Korn, the discussions addressed religious freedom, school choice, religious visas, tax credits for families, and life-related policies. The meeting concluded with a collective prayer for the president. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explicitly distanced the conference from the event. This matters. The American episcopate and the federal government ordinarily communicate through established institutional channels.

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Pima Asia News

Beijing using AI to monitor religions

By Francesco Graffagnino, October 24, 2026

Files in Chinese have been compiled for Catholic cardinals in Asia, the leadership of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, Tibetan Buddhist civil society groups and the Tibetan government-in-exile, as well as Falun Gong practitioners and their affiliated media. For each target, the team gathered information on their China-related activities, any potential scandals, and possible points of leverage. According to Anthropic, an intelligence operation focused on religious affairs and aligned with the Chinese government tasked Claude, the artificial intelligence (AI) model developed by the US-based company, with this work. Anthropic detailed the case in a report titled Detecting and Countering Misuse of AI: September 2026, released on 10 September. The document examines instances of misuse of its models that were identified and countered between December 2025 and August 2026. The company has since blocked accounts and strengthened its systems to detect such abuse.

Keep informed - 10/24/26 matters for Catholics:

Snippets: EWTN News, aciafrica, & Word on Fire

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 24, 2026

EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See.

• How to face tragedy and still affirm God is your friend? The answer of a Venezuelan mother - By Andrés Henríquez - “I fought with God. I was filled with rage. ‘Why did you leave me here? Am I so bad that I have to stay here?’ Yet, I surrendered all my suffering to God for the sanctification of their souls,” she shared. Her greatest refuge has always been faith.

• Suspect arrested after fire at Virgin Mary Church in Egypt’s Giza - By Souhail Lawand - The Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Central Giza announced that a small fire broke out inside the Church of the Virgin Mary in the Barak al-Khiyam area of Giza in Egypt on Thursday, Oct. 22, after a man entered the church and set fire to some of its furnishings.

• Korean bishops elect new president, approve guidelines on sexual violence - By Madalaine Elhabbal - After electing Bishop Augustine Kim Jong-su of Daejeon as its new president, bishops also approved a question-and-answer guide on artificial intelligence and a sign-language Order of Mass. Asked about potential plans to introduce abortion pills in South Korea, Kim told reporters that people have “no right to lay a hand on life itself.”

aciafrica

aciafrica’s top headlines — October 24, 2026

ACI Africa was founded in 2019 to provide free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Catholic Church in Africa, with particular emphasis on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See's activities.

• Training of 1,000 Seminarians Kicks off in Nigeria - Already reaching more than 260 seminarians at St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Makurdi, Benue State, the Church seeks to prepare 1000 future priests to recognize different forms of abuse, support survivors and promote safer communities through their pastoral ministry.

• Catholic Bishop in Mozambique Challenges Faithful to Turn Works of Mercy into Sustained Service - Bishop Atanasio Amisse Canira of Mozambique’s Catholic Diocese of Lichinga said, “The gifts received must not be wasted, but placed at the service of our brothers and sisters, through initiatives that respond to the needs of the communities.”

• Catholic Church in Burundi Supporting Over 80,000 Congolese Refugee - The conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has roots stretching back to the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, which drove large numbers of refugees, including former combatants, into the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.

Word on Fire

Fresh insights from the Word on Fire Institute - October 24, 2026

Word on Fire reaches millions each year by sharing the Gospel through podcasts, videos, books, articles, Scripture studies, and Gospel meditations.

On Patriotism, Telephone Companies, and Gratitude - Dr. Christopher Kaczor - Failure to love one’s country and take action to aid one’s nation is ingratitude and a lack of ordered love. Alasdair MacIntyre wrote that to be asked to die for the modern state is like being asked to die for the telephone company. Reducing our nation to a bureaucratic service provider does not do justice to its history, culture, and creed.

A Tragedy in Education - Henry T. Edmondson III - Hannah-Jones, a New York Times writer and the progenitor of the infamous 1619 Project, a distortion of American history that argues the driving force behind the founding of America was the desire to preserve slavery.

The Culture of Death Is on the Ballot This November - Dr. Kody W. Cooper - Nearly half of American voters say that abortion will be a “very important” issue to them come election day. And indeed, abortion is on the ballot in a handful of states that could determine the fate of thousands of babies in the coming years.

October 24, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

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Today’s Catholic commentary:

National Catholic Register

Liechtenstein’s prince vetoes bill to legalize abortion

By EWTN News Staff, October 23, 2026

Liechtensteinʼs Hereditary Prince Alois has vetoed a bill that would have legalized abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, blocking a measure the tiny European countryʼs parliament passed by a single vote. The Princely House said in an Oct. 20 statement that the prince “will therefore withhold” approval of the bill adopted by the principalityʼs parliament. Under Liechtensteinʼs constitution—a nation of about 40,000 people between Switzerland and Austria—no law takes effect without the reigning princeʼs approval. The statement said Alois “remains convinced that the proposed reform is not compatible with ensuring adequate protection of unborn life as a fundamental legal value.” The statement added that Alois supports better information, counseling, and support for women before, during, and after pregnancy. The bill would have allowed abortion up to 12 weeks. The activists behind the initiative pushing for legalization also sought to lift the advertising ban and have health insurance cover abortions.

First Things

100 years later: Foucault’s idol of nothingness

By Carl R. Trueman, October 15, 2026

Today marks the 100th anniversary of Michel Foucault's birth. He was influential in his lifetime, but forty-two years after his death, Foucault remains a force academics must reckon with. From postcolonialism to queer theory, he remains one of the most cited and influential figures in the humanities. Indeed, he remade them in his own image. After Foucault, we are more aware of the cultural factors that shape what constitutes knowledge, more sensitive to how histories of the past serve (and are shaped by) political purposes in the present, and more suspicious of how power is pervasive, omnipresent, often invisible, and impossible to resist in any final or decisive way. Of course, the world of talented intellectuals is replete with figures whose private lives were marked by libidinous excess. But Foucault still seems extreme. A deep nihilism also underpinned his thought, precluding any sense of moral values. In his lifetime, he appeared to be a man of the left, but that was a product of context, not conviction.

The Imaginative Conservative

The problem for Pope John Paul II

By Br. Barnabas Wilson, October 21, 2026

From the time of the fall, man was disordered—self-inclined, and unaware of the great value placed within him. This was the problem of the pope. Under the Roman sun, thousands listened for the pope’s answer. So, he preached. The pope knew Who, not what, was the answer—and it was not himself. The pope was not new to preaching. The preacher, if he is to preach authentically, could not depend on his own power or authority, but only on the strength of another through hours of prayer. The preacher must be a friend of God—for we can only speak truly and lovingly of our friends. John Paul II knew he was an instrument. He could not personally stir faith and love in the hearts of his hearers, but he knew someone who could. The pope wanted to say—if you are to be good, true, and happy—you must have a new organizing principle. You must be a Person of God. Sin blinds us to who we are and what we are made for: we are made for God.

The Catholic Thing

Bring back the betrothal rite within marriage preparation

By K.E. Colombini, October 24, 2026

It is easy to understand concerns about marriage prep when one looks at divorce or annulment rates of Catholics in the United States. Historically, America has seen more annulments than any other country, and fewer than 10% of applications are rejected. This says something about the state of marriage preparation, and it's not good. The traditional betrothal ceremony would be a smart addition to marriage prep and should certainly be offered and encouraged, at the very least, by priests and others tasked with helping engaged couples. The couple exchanges a promise that is not unlike the marriage vows they will make some months down the road. Even before the Second Vatican Council, the betrothal rite was not a common experience for Catholics in America, but that certainly is no reason to discourage its expanded use today. “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote in a 2007 letter to bishops accompanying his Summorum pontificum, which allowed for greater use of the traditional rites.

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Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, OSV News, Zeale, Bishop Barron, & Aleteia. Please support their ministries and apostolates. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)

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Crux

There are now more Catholics in Africa than Europe

By Crux Now Staff, October 21, 2026

A report published by a Vatican news agency has found that Africa now has more Catholics than Europe, with Europe now falling behind both the Americas and Africa in terms of the number of Catholics. Agenzia Fides, the news agency for the Vatican's Pontifical Mission Societies, released the comprehensive report ahead of the 100th World Mission Sunday that just passed. The report, compiled by Luca Mainoldi from the latest Statistical Yearbook of the Church, found that in 2024 the Catholic Church counted 1.422 billion members, 17.8% of the world’s population. Between 2023 and 2024, Africa saw an increase of 7.58 million Catholics, bringing the continent’s total to 288.312 million, ahead of Europe’s 287.24 million. Africa’s Catholic population accounts for 19.9% of the continent’s approximately 1.4billion inhabitants. Africa is also the only continent where the number of women religious and major seminarians increased during the reporting period.

Zeale News

Foreign-born judges rule against immigration enforcement

By Zeale News Team, October 22, 2026

Foreign-born Article III federal judges are significantly more likely than their U.S.-born counterparts to rule against President Donald Trump’s agenda on border security and immigration enforcement, a new study has found. Bench Receipts — an organization that tracks judges, prosecutors, sheriffs, and their decisions or actions on key issues — published an audit Oct. 19 analyzing decisions by all 128 foreign-born judges in the U.S. and comparing them to the federal judiciary’s average baseline. They serve lifetime appointments, unless they retire or are impeached, and rule on matters related to the U.S. Constitution. Of the 128 foreign-born judges in the U.S., 58 are Article III federal judges, while the other 70 are federal magistrate, state and county trial, or state supreme and appellate court judges.

OSV News

Botched execution, proposed livestream reveal ‘inhumanity’

By Kate Scanlon, October 22, 2026

A proposed and later canceled livestream of a military execution and the botched execution of Tennessee inmate Christa Pike should prompt “renewed courage and determination” to end capital punishment, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City said Oct. 21. The archbishop, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, made the remarks in an address to death penalty opponents gathered at the apostolic nunciature, the Vatican’s diplomatic mission to the United States in Washington, for the biennial Justice Reimagined Awards and Celebration. The Catholic Mobilizing Network hosted the event, a group that advocates abolishing capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching. Archbishop Coakley recently issued a strong rebuke of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s plans to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad in December at the U.S. Army base in Texas.

Aleteia

Pope won’t fly to Assisi due to doctors’ recommendation

By Kathleen N. Hattrup, October 23, 2025

On Friday morning, the Pope’s doctor, Luigi Carbone, and the surgeon who operated on the Holy Father on October 13, Stefano Margaritora, reported that Leo XIV had undergone a follow-up chest X-ray “as scheduled.” Now 10 days after the removal of the lower lobe of his right lung, this examination showed the 71-year-old patient's "postoperative recovery is progressing very well." However, "given the short time that has elapsed since the surgery, his doctors advised against the planned helicopter journey on October 27 as a precaution." The Holy Father has returned to his engagements, and on October 21, his medical team announced that he needs no further treatment after the successful surgery to remove a cancerous nodule. However, flying after lung surgery requires sufficient time for the wound to heal and lung function to return adequately.

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National Catholic Register

Priest on a mission to transform the Church and the world

By Zelda Caldwell, October 23, 2026

Father John Riccardo may not be a household name, but when a bishop really wants to fire up his flock with a barnstorming, revival-style worship rally, he’s the man for the job. Several times a year, he crisscrosses the country to headline diocesan events aimed at kicking their evangelization efforts into high gear. What makes this Michigan priest such a popular speaker? Simply put, he has a knack for retelling the story of Christianity and getting people to seriously consider it true, and therefore life-changing. “I want them to encounter again, and perhaps for the first time, what God’s really done for us and why it is explosive news,” Father Riccardo told the Register. “I also pray that we would get awakened to the Father’s heart and his desire in creating the human race to be his family,” he said. That’s the subject of his new book, The Resistance: God’s Plan for Renewing the Human Family, published by Penguin Random House

EWTN News

Catholic bishops pray with President Trump

By Tyler Arnold, October 22, 2026

Denver Archbishop James Golka and over half a dozen fellow U.S. Catholic bishops met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Oct. 22. White House Faith Director Jenny Korn told EWTN News the meeting was organized by the White House Faith Office “as part of our ongoing engagement with faith leaders of all denominations from across the country.” In addition to praying with Trump, Korn said several topics were discussed during the meeting, including “religious freedom, the role of the White House Faith Office, school choice, religious visas, and life policy.” Participants included Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles; Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas; Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico; Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas; Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines, Iowa; Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee; and Bishop Michael Barber, SJ, of Oakland, California. Before concluding the meeting, Golka and his brother bishops gathered around Trump at the Oval Office’s iconic Resolute desk to pray.

Related: Trump meeting with bishops organized by Heritage Foundation official, The Pillar, October 22, 2026

Religion News Service

AI campaign ads use religion to stir emotions and attack candidates

By Fiona André, October 22, 2026

In a recent campaign ad for Ken Paxton, the Trump-endorsed Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Texas, his Democratic opponent James Talarico appears to sit at a desk while he scribbles on a Bible page. “I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity,” says the ad’s Talarico before adding that God was a “radical feminist” who “never asked people to worship him,” a reference to Talarico’s liberal Christian views, which have drawn criticism from political opponents. The scene seems realistic and pulls quotes from Talarico’s speeches and his sermons at his Presbyterian church. Yet, it is not an actual clip of Talarico. It was created with artificial intelligence. The 30-second clip, which has 2.6 million views on X since its September release, is part of a flurry of AI-generated political ads airing on cable, streaming, and digital platforms across the country ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

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Catholic News of Australia

Passing on the faith in a time of ‘epochal change’

By Kate Scanlon, OSV News, October 9, 2026

The Vatican’s doctrine office has published a new document on passing on the Christian faith in a time of “epochal change,” marked by a “crisis in the intergenerational transmission of the Christian faith.” (Source: OSV News.) The document, released yesterday and titled Venite ad Me (Come to Me), was issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and signed by its prefect, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández. Venite ad Me was written in response to a request the late Pope Francis made toward the end of his life and was approved for publication by Pope Leo XIV during an August 21 audience with Cardinal Fernández and Msgr Armando Matteo, the secretary of the dicastery’s doctrinal section. The more than 25,000-word document is divided into eight chapters. It discusses “the crisis in the transmission of faith” amid cultural changes, the breakdown of the family, and new digital technologies, underlining the need to communicate the kerygma, or the essential proclamation of salvation offered by Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection.

Keep informed - 10/23/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from Big Pulpit, EWTN, & the Loop

Big Pulpit

Tito Edwards Catholic site: October 23, 2026

The Big Pulpit website aggregates quality insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide.

• Feast of St. Peter of Alcantara, Spiritual Director of Teresa of Avila, October 19 – Mary O’Regan

• French Riots & the European Doldrums – John at Bensozia

• Cardinal Parolin Faces Scrutiny for Remarks on Pope Leo XIV’s Pontificate – Diane Montagna

• Those Dreaded Post-Mass Prayers. . . – Fr. Allan J. McDonald at Southern Orders

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 23, 2026

EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See.

• More than 100 churches in Panama affected by October earthquake - By Diego López Colín - The 7.5-magnitude earthquake impacted various sectors throughout the country, including in the nation’s capital city. According to an Oct. 19 statement from the National Civil Protection System, the earthquake injured 27 people and immediately killed one person. More than 9,000 homes sustained some form of damage.

• Conference in Rome addresses welcoming missionaries amid migration tensions - By Ishmael Adibuah - The conference “The Church of the Sheaves: An International Gathering in Rome on Mission as an Exchange of Gifts” began at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome on Oct. 22 and will continue through Oct. 24. It was organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization.

• Vice President Vance to EWTN: ‘We are God’s ambassadors on Earth’ - By Daniel Payne - Vice President JD Vance on Oct. 22 told Raymond Arroyo on EWTN News’ “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” that God calls Christians to be “humble in the face [of] uncertainty” and that Christians walking in faith often “take two steps toward Jesus and one step back” before arriving at Christ.

The Loop

Zeale is CatholicVote, hosting the LOOP

Over half a million people receive the LOOP news rundown six days a week. Zeale is the LOOP's new home. Zeale is a project of CatholicVote, America’s top Catholic advocacy organization leading the fight for faith, family, and freedom.

82-YEAR-OLD DEMOCRATIC STATE SENATOR CHARGED WITH MARIJUANA SCHEME - A federal indictment unsealed Oct. 22 charges Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and six others with racketeering conspiracy, marijuana distribution, money laundering, bribery-based honest services fraud, and related crimes. She allegedly used her position to legalize marijuana and pave the way for a co-conspirator to receive a retail marijuana license for a store, all while investing in the business.

FBI FOILS ALLEGED ISIS-LINKED ASSASSINATION PLOT AGAINST TEXAS CONGRESSMAN - The FBI arrested a Texas-based teenager accused of plotting an ISIS-linked terrorist attack and targeting Republican Rep. Keith Self for assassination, according to local reporting. Self, an outspoken opponent of Sharia law, thanked law enforcement and vowed not to back down.

FEDS SAY NY FAILED TO ACT ON HUGE MEDICAID FRAUD SCHEME - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Oct. 21 that it had issued New York a compliance warning letter over alleged failures to oversee its Medicare and Medicaid programs that provide daytime social activities to seniors, resulting in millions of dollars in fraud. The state has 30 days to respond and 90 days to comply.

October 23, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

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Today’s Catholic commentary:

Catholic365

Having an abortion because of wrong gender?

By The Catholic Philadelphian, October 23, 2024

Online, there has been a trend of women sharing news of their pregnancy. While it may bring joyful news, it can also bring out something cold and callous in some expectant mothers. I saw a post from an expectant mother who wanted a boy, but she is having a girl. She is distraught about the gender and told her husband that she intends to abort the child. The sad reality is that she is not the only expectant mother who turns joy into repulsive anger. A life is a life, no matter what. That’s not all. I sometimes wonder why any woman would reject a gift God has given to them. Of course, there are factors that explain why a mother has more boys during pregnancies, and vice versa. However, our society continues to play God when we decide to murder the most vulnerable in our society at the earliest stage of human development. Let God plan parenthood.

The Pillar

Motor City, and the rights of priests

By JD Flynn, October 22, 2026

The Archdiocese of Detroit announced this week a plan to reassign most of its parish priests next summer, amid a restructuring process expected to dramatically shrink the number of parishes in the archdiocese. Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger said the plan “asks much of our priests,” but is a “sacrifice they are making as brothers of one, unified presbyterate.” But while the plan's contours leave many questions open for the Archdiocese of Detroit's future, they also raise broader questions about protecting clergy rights, the Church’s canonical praxis of hierarchical intervention, and what could better protect priests' canonically established rights. Careful observers of archdiocesan consultations in the United States might suspect it is meant to convey momentum, remind reluctant priests that their archbishop expects to see his plan come to fruition, and quell anticipated clerical pushback.

The Haeft

We need romantics and evangelists with heart

By Matthew J. Ramage, Ph.D., October 12, 2026

From a marshy hideaway, alone and on the brink of defeat, Alfred the Great faced down the total annihilation of the seedling Christian nation of the Saxons. But he came out swinging to build the greatest nation the world has ever seen. Yet neither France nor England emerged with nationhood as the greatest good. Martel, Charlemagne, Alfred, and Athelstan were all Christian warriors gripped by the wider mission outlined in Acts. King Alfred did not just push back invaders; he believed the nation fell because it lost its literacy and spiritual knowledge. He systematically translated scriptures into the common tongue so people could truly understand the faith. Charles Martel is best known for defeating the Islamic invasion at the Battle of Tours, but his ongoing evangelizing impact came from his political and military protection of Saint Boniface, the apostle to the Germans. Martel secured the infrastructure that allowed missionaries to move forward safely.

Bishop Barron

God works through the world’s ordinary events

By Bishop Robert Barron, October 23, 2026

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus criticizes the crowd, saying they can interpret the earth and the clouds but not the present time. So, how do we know what’s going on in the world? How do we read the signs of the times? We could do so politically, sociologically, culturally, or economically. All these ways are valuable lenses for viewing the world. But note the important difference in the Bible. What was peculiar about ancient Israel was that they read the world through theological lenses. When they wanted to read the signs of the times, they wondered what God was doing and why. The deepest and truest reading is the theological one, which seeks the divine causality and purpose that works under and through all the other lenses. The modern period has largely been conditioned by a deist view of God, in which God is construed as a distant object only vaguely related to the world. But that’s not the biblical reading. For the biblical authors, God acts in and through all the world's ordinary events and dynamics.

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Zeale News

No require further cancer treatment for Leo, doctors confirm

By Elizabeth Ervin, October 21, 2026

Pope Leo XIV will not require additional treatment for lung cancer, the Holy See Press Office announced Oct. 21. An oncological assessment confirmed that “no further treatment is necessary,” said his doctors, Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora. They confirmed that the tumor removed Oct. 13 was a lung adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized. Pope Leo left the hospital Oct. 17 and appeared at the Apostolic Palace window for the next day's Angelus, as Zeale News previously reported. He thanked his medical team and those who had prayed for him, saying, “This experience has made me feel particularly close to all those who are living with illness or infirmity." By Oct. 15, he had also returned to work and met with Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, the Vatican’s substitute for general affairs, at the hospital.

Our Sunday Visitor

At synodal assembly in Ireland: ‘Cultural Catholicism is over’

By Ruadhán Jones, October 21, 2026

A synodal assembly in Ireland, where laypeople, religious, clergy, and bishops from across the island gathered to vote on proposals from the synod process, marked the “end of an era and the beginning of something new,” said Bishop Niall Coll of Raphoe. Cultural Catholicism “is over,” said Bishop Coll, as people know that the Church needs to form “intentional disciples.” Jessie Rogers, a member of the Irish National Synodal Team, told OSV News that the voting itself, while valuable, is a “blunt instrument,” adding that the synodal team will reflect on the written responses in the coming days. Despite repeated clarifications from the Vatican, “a very small, stubborn and vocal minority don’t seem to understand that Church teaching on core issues is not up for debate,” said Michael Kelly, who is director of public affairs for Aid to the Church in Need Ireland.

The Pillar

Uruguay is the most secularized nation on the continent

By Edgar Beltrán, October 20, 2026

As Pope Leo prepares for the longest trip of his pontificate, Church leaders in Uruguay say the pontiff will encounter a highly secularized culture, in a country with a very different Catholic history than many of its South American neighbors. The nation has not had a papal visit since 1988, and leaders who spoke with The Pillar say it has a dire need for evangelization, even amid the prospect of a small revival in faith. Popularly known as the Switzerland of the Americas, Uruguay is one of the most stable countries in Latin America — but it’s also widely regarded as the most secularized on the continent, with Mass attendance among Catholics in the single digits, and more than half the population identifying as non-believers. Uruguay was one of the first countries in Latin America to legalize gay marriage, abortion, and euthanasia. Observers say the country is in many ways more akin to Europe than the rest of the continent, as most Latin American countries are also undergoing secularization, but not to the extent Uruguay has.

Crux

Polish parliament approves two bills liberalizing abortion

By Fionn Shiner, October 22, 2026

On Tuesday, Poland’s parliament approved two bills that would liberalize the country’s strict abortion laws. One bill would seek to allow abortions for fetal abnormalities, which passed by 233 to 203, while the other bill would decriminalize helping a woman have an unlawful abortion, which passed by 217 to 213. However, even if the bills pass the Senate, it is expected that President Karol Nawrocki will veto both bills, as he previously suggested he wouldn’t sign a bill decriminalizing abortion into law. The bill allowing abortions for fetal abnormalities would reverse the ruling from the constitutional tribunal in 2020 under the Law and Justice party. That judgment, which came into force in January 2021, removed fetal abnormalities as a ground for abortion, leaving it legal in two instances: When the mother’s life or health is at risk or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. That ruling led to protests in Poland.

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Aleteia

US bishops change focus with their 1st Evangelization Summit

By Soren and Ever Johnson, October 22, 2025

Instead of a bland hotel in conference-land, 100 apostolate leaders met with 100 diocesan evangelization directors from across the country at Marian University, a vibrant, growing Catholic college in Indianapolis. This is the quite different, altogether refreshing format we experienced firsthand last week at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ first-ever Evangelization Summit, held October 13 to 15. Called “Witnessing to the Light of Christ—‘The Way, the Truth, and the Life,’” the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis hosted it. Each day began with Mass, followed by evening prayer or Adoration. The takeaway wasn’t a new method, a new program, or a new series of steps. Over and over, the participants were reminded of this: If we desire to be His missionary disciples, we must accept Jesus’ invitation to a deeper life of prayer.

Vatican News

Holy See signs religious freedom agreement with Honduras

By Guglielmo Gallone, October 14, 2026

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the President of Honduras, Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah, sign an agreement on Thursday, October 22, that consolidates existing good bilateral relations between Honduras and the Holy See, safeguards the Church's legal personality, and promotes cooperation between the Church and State. The agreement also seeks to further guarantee religious freedom, in line with the Second Vatican Council’s 1965 Declaration on this topic, Dignitatis Humanae, including freedom of worship and the Church's freedom to carry out its mission. “Furthermore, the Church’s right to establish educational and charitable institutions is recognized, as is its right to provide spiritual assistance and pastoral care,” the agreement states. “The bilateral Agreement reaffirms the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, in accordance with international human rights instruments.”

Zenit

Synodality runs up against the wall of canon law

By Jorge Enrique Mújica, October 20, 2026

A proposal to reshape the Catholic Church’s legal framework has sparked serious debate over the relationship between lay participation, episcopal authority, and the sacramental nature of Church government. Published on September 30, 2026, the Synod’s Canonical Commission's final report suggests amendments to 34 canons and calls for a longer-term review of both the Latin and Eastern codes of canon law. While its authors seek to translate the Synod on Synodality’s conclusions into practical rules, several canon lawyers warn that some recommendations could blur distinctions the Church has traditionally made between the responsibilities of baptized Catholics and the authority entrusted to ordained ministers. The controversy is not simply about administrative efficiency. At its heart lies a question with consequences for the Church’s identity: how far can participation in decision-making be expanded without altering the theological foundations of ecclesiastical authority?

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EWTN News

Vance says government tries to strike ‘balance’ on immigration

By Daniel Payne, October 21, 2026

Vice President JD Vance last week said the federal government is always attempting to strike a “balance” when dealing with mass illegal immigration into the country. Sister Nancy Sylvester of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary religious order asked him: “How would you justify to people of faith, especially those of us who try to follow the Gospel, how the behavior of the [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] men and women can constantly be justified in terms of the kind of values we want to live by?” Vance, a Catholic, responded, “When you have a country where approximately 25 million illegal aliens have come in over the past 30 or so years, many of them completely unchecked and unvetted — weʼre trying to strike a balance between how [we do] law enforcement, but how do we also do it humanely, and how do we not do so little law enforcement that you actually empower some of the worst people in the world?” Sylvester told the vice president that some of the institute’s sisters minister at the southern border and that they are “constantly seeing families who are affected by our immigration policies.”

Keep informed - 10/22/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from OSV, EWTN News, & ChurchPOP

OSV News

OSV’s seasoned reporters - October 22, 2026

OSV News — an information service and evangelization partner that helps dioceses connect with the faithful and boost engagement by sharing timely, trustworthy, accurate content about what is happening in the Church and the world.

• Former premier who led Quebec when province OK’d ‘assistance in dying’ now questions its expansion - In 2024, Canada recorded a world-leading 16,499 deaths under MAiD, or Medical Assistance in Dying, with some patients qualifying although they were not dying.

• Leo said protecting marriage more urgent than ever - Marriage requires more than physical attraction, Pope Leo XIV said in his first weekly general audience since undergoing lung cancer surgery, emphasizing that authentic love involves mutual self-giving, fidelity and a lifelong commitment between spouses.

• Holy Land Church leaders condemn settler attack on Christian village, European diplomats - “The facts on the ground show that these attacks continue because of the impunity enjoyed by those who commit them,” the statement said.

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 22, 2026

EWTN provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See, and is available to anyone with internet access.

• Accusations of corruption fly as Brazilians head to polls to elect president - By Andrés Henríquez and Nathalí Paredes - In Brazil this Sunday, Oct. 25, socialist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party, currently serving as president, will face off at the polls against Liberal Party candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.

• Confronting workplace injustice part of Christian mission, Nigerian bishop says - By Abah Anthony John - “If there is injustice in your workplace and you are there and you cannot confront it, you have failed as a missionary,” Gopep said in an interview with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, during a celebration marking the centenary of World Mission Day, organized by the Pontifical Mission Societies in Nigeria on Oct. 18.

• Catholic association launches online courses to equip faithful for mental health ministry - By Francesca Pollio Fenton - A U.S.-based Catholic association dedicated to mental health ministry has launched two new online resources to help Catholics better understand the signs of mental health struggles and how to accompany those suffering from it in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month.

ChurchPOP Trending

ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - October 22, 2026

“We publish inspiring daily stories, fun and shareable faith-centered infographics, prayers, Church history, and more.”

Catholic Saints Like St. John Paul II Are Real-Life Superheroes... According to Marvel! - These saints didn’t need radioactive spiders or super-soldier serum to change the world. Matt Murdock, who is the comic book hero Daredevil, was raised Irish-Catholic by nuns in a Hell's Kitchen orphanage in New York. In 1982, the comic book hit the shelves — “The Life of Pope John Paul II,” following Karol Wojtyła from his childhood in Poland to the papacy

A priest escorted his sister as Homecoming Queen — and his post went viral! - Proud of his sister, he shared the moment on social media with a funny comment that quickly went viral. “I had the privilege of walking my baby sister down the 50-yard line as she was acknowledged the 2026 Fort Payne High School Homecoming Queen!”

Archbishop Cordileone on Why Young Catholics Are Picking the Catholic Church Over Secularism - “This was a phrase we heard a lot: ‘The Church has to catch up to the world,’” Archbishop Cordileone recalled. “But as it turns out, we make ourselves irrelevant when we do that.”

October 22, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

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National Catholic Register

New theologians to Vatican advisory body are problematic

By Edward Pentin, October 21, 2026

Pope Leo XIV has appointed 24 new members to the International Theological Commission (ITC), each of them scholars in various fields, including biblical studies, patristics, dogmatics and moral theology, but with some publicly holding views that conflict with established Church teaching, such as on women’s ordination and the theology of salvation. Capuchin Franciscan and systematic theologian Father Thomas Weinandy, who served as a member of the commission from 2014 to 2019, told the Register that the ITC “plays a valuable role in enriching theological reflection and informing theologians and the educated laity.” in 2024 Scottish patristics professor Sara Parvis wrote an article in The Tablet in favor of it and, in a letter to the same publication, Parvis said women should be able to confer extreme unction on a sick person, adding that she had no problem with women dressed in clerical collars and cassocks. Parvis is not the only woman challenging Church teaching.

Matt Fradd’s Terrifying Ruminations

How not to make kids hate the Rosary

By Matt Fradd, October 11, 2026

If you’re a new parent or want to start praying the nightly rosary with your family but aren’t sure how, this will help. St. Josemaría makes the point: “So I recommend [the rosary] with all my heart. It’s a prayer that all families can say. But don’t oblige small children to say the Rosary. Mom can take them apart and say three Hail Marys with them, and that’s all. Don’t oblige older children to say the Rosary either. If they want to say it with everyone, fine, but if not, let them be, and they’ll come. OK? It has to be voluntary.” Don’t force your kids to say the rosary. Let the rosary be like a lovely evening fire that draws the kids in. Sometimes a child will say, “Can we just pray one decade tonight?” And I will say, “We’re going to pray all five, but if you only want to stay for one, that’s totally fine.” And what ends up happening is they stay for all five. Don't hate yourself when your family prayer doesn’t look the way you want it to.

Catholic Culture

Is a change looming for the Vatican’s second-in-command?

By Phil Lawler, October 21, 2026

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State since 2013, has recently been the subject of some unwonted—and unwanted—speculation. Is the Vatican’s second most powerful figure losing influence—even losing his position? For the Holy See, the Secretariat of State is not simply a foreign-affairs ministry, like the US Department of State. The Secretariat is the primus inter pares among the offices of the Roman Curia, guiding and coordinating the work of all the other dicasteries. When a new Pontiff takes office, after a transition period as he settles in, he might consider replacing the incumbent Secretary. His choice for that post will likely be his most important personnel decision. Until quite recently, his position seemed secure. However, two developments raised Vatican watchers' eyebrows. First, Cardinal Luis Tagle, not Parolin, was selected to become Dean of the College of Cardinals. Next, when Pope Leo’s cancer diagnosis became public, Parolin told reporters the papacy might have to be “recalibrated” while the Holy Father recovered. That remark now seems very premature.

Wild at Heart

We have a bond that is unbreakable

By John Eldredge, October 22, 2026

“He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” (Ephesians 1:5–6). We have been chosen by God. We belong to Him. We have been adopted into God’s family. We have all the rights and privileges that come with that, including inheritance. We are His now and forever. We can believe Him when he says, “You are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). “For those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29 ESV). Hebrews 2:11 states, “For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers” (ESV). Jesus is our Brother. We have a bond that is unbreakable.

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Catholic Nutshell News is a subscription service hosted by Substack. Get up to a dozen recent articles, Monday through Saturday, to review regarding newsworthy issues. An easy way to browse top Catholic news and information online. Edited by John Pearring.

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Our Sunday Visitor

The pope is back: Prayers sustained him after cancer surgery

By Courtney Mares, October 18, 2026

One week after Pope Leo XIV first revealed to the world that he would be undergoing lung surgery, the pope returned to the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Oct. 18, thanking Catholics worldwide for their prayers five days after undergoing lung cancer surgery. “I would like to thank all those who have prayed for me in recent days. I have truly sensed your support,” the pope said after leading the crowd in St. Peter’s Square in the prayer of the Angelus. It was Pope Leo’s first public appearance since he was discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital the day prior after his doctors deemed him fit to return to the Vatican earlier than had been originally expected. In his Angelus address, the pope marked the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday. Thousands in St. Peter’s Square on the cloudy Sunday cheered as the pope waved from the window of his papal apartment less than 24 hours after his hospital discharge. The surgeon estimated that it usually takes “a couple of weeks to make a truly complete physical recovery after this kind of operation.”

Related: Pope’s surgeon green lights Nov. 6–17 apostolic trip to Latin America - By EWTN News Staff, October 17, 2026

National Catholic Register

Notre Dame objects to Texas promoting the Ten Commandments

By Andrea M. Picciotti-Bayer, October 14, 2026

Texas wants its students to see the Ten Commandments. Last year, Gov. Greg Abbott signed S.B. 10, requiring a poster or framed copy of the Decalogue in every public school classroom. Louisiana had already passed a similar law. The ACLU, representing a group of objecting parents, sued, and a federal judge blocked the Texas law. As reported recently, the petition has drawn a surprising ally. The Lindsay & Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic at Notre Dame Law School, on behalf of scholars from other institutions, has urged the justices to strike the law down, saying it “forces state-sponsored religious instruction on children.” A religious liberty clinic at a Catholic law school should be the first to defend religious texts in public education. Instead, it has embraced an erroneous understanding of the Establishment Clause and a faulty view of free exercise. That is a disappointing turn. Notre Dame’s argument barely addresses the evidence that the Decalogue has long served as both a source of law and a religious text.

EWTN News

Catholic theologian challenges U.S. Senate candidate on abortion

By Amira Abuzeid, October 17, 2026

In an exchange that drew sharp responses from Catholic scholars and the local bishop, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico told University of Dallas theology professor Jodi Hunt that “the Bible is silent on the issue” of abortion during an Oct. 14 CNN/Jubilee town hall in Fort Worth. Hunt pushed back, drawing applause when she said the Bible does address abortion, as one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not kill,” and that Catholics are insulted when it is suggested otherwise. “While it’s important to look at the whole picture of a candidate when discerning who to vote for,” she said, “respect for human life must drive everything else. Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson agreed, responding to the exchange on social media: “The right to life is the premier moral issue because all human rights depend upon the human person being alive. The right to life is the common ground for the morality of all issues considered in policies involving human dignity and the common good.”

PIMA Asia News

India blocks Jesuit ordination over conversion allegations

By Nirmala Carvalho, October 19, 2026

The indefinite postponement of the priestly ordination of Jesuit deacon Basil Hadde in Chhattisgarh has reignited concerns amongst Christian leaders over allegations of religious conversion and administrative interference in the Church’s activities. Hadde’s ordination in the parish of Dhanwar, in the district of Balrampur, was postponed after local government officials reportedly requested documentary evidence of his conversion to Christianity in 1995. “The problem arose because they informed the local police station about the ordination,” the Archbishop of Raipur, Monsignor Victor Thakur, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Council of Chhattisgarh (CBCG), told AsiaNews. Officials reportedly said they received a complaint from two individuals, identified as Patras and Umesh, who sought to prevent the ordination. They expressed concern that the ceremony might encourage further conversions amongst members of the Kodaku tribal community.

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The Pillar

Rottenburg structural reform: 1,019 parishes shrinking to 73

By Luke Coppen (from Katholishe.de), October 13, 2026

By 2030, the so-called Raumschaften will be established: Germany’s Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart is advancing its structural reform. Almost all parishes took part in the first part of the proceedings. In the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, the reform of pastoral care structures towards larger units is gradually taking shape. According to current planning, the diocese will form 73 new units over the next few years from its 1,019 parishes. Forming large units should relieve pastoral care of administrative tasks and, in the long term, secure church life on the ground financially and in terms of personnel. All parishes in the diocese will be involved. Bishop Krämer said, "I was very overwhelmed that we received over 1,000 binding votes." This "phenomenal result" is a great collaborative achievement.

Zeale

Judge orders State Department to restart ‘green card lottery’

By Zeale News Team, October 16, 2026

A federal judge is blocking President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio from pausing the 2027 Diversity Immigrant Visa program, nicknamed the “green card lottery.” U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta, an appointee of former president Joe Biden, issued a preliminary injunction on Oct. 14 ordering the State Department to reinstate the registration period for the visa lottery program after it failed to open registration and allowed the statutorily required registration period to expire. Established by the Immigration Act of 1990 and signed into law by then-President George Bush, the “green card lottery” provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas annually via a lottery system. More than 22 million foreign nationals apply for the program every year. Andrew R. Arthur, resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies and a former immigration court judge, told Zeale News that the Diversity Immigrant Visa program has long been plagued with allegations of fraud.

Aleteia

Mentally ill in Canada have a victory; fight isn’t over

By Theresa Civantos Barber, October 19, 2026

Canada has one of the most expansive programs in existence for “medical assistance in dying” (MAiD): With Quebec having the highest proportion of people choosing MAiD worldwide, some call it “the euthanasia capital of the world.” Over 76,000 people have died through MAiD through 2024 (the latest available report). Catholic and pro-life groups and mental-health advocates have raised objections, especially with an expansion planned for March 2027 that would allow people whose only medical condition is mental illness to be eligible for MAiD. In June 2025, Conservative MP Tamara Jansen introduced Bill C-218, a private member’s bill that would have amended existing laws. That bill was defeated in Parliament on October 7 — but the fight isn’t over yet, says the Archdiocese of Toronto. Hope remains that the planned expansion will not take place and that people whose only medical condition is mental illness will remain ineligible for MAiD.

Zenit

Blind spots hinder addressing solutions to child sexual abuse

By ZENIT Staff, October 6, 2026

There are forms of sexual abuse that are harder for us to recognize than others. This is not necessarily because they are more concealed, but because they contradict the image we hold of abuse and of the perpetrator. For this reason, it is no coincidence that when a victim speaks out, they are not believed two times out of three. An adolescent can be the perpetrator of sexual abuse. “There is an important word we must place at the center: ‘the unthinkable,'“ said Marianna Giordano, a social worker and president of CISMAI, at the meeting in Milan. A woman can commit sexual abuse. An adult considered trustworthy and integrated into a religious community can exploit that position of trust to commit abuse. Furthermore, a child can become a victim even through a screen, without the abusive adult ever having made physical contact with them.

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Keep informed - 10/19/26 news for Catholics:

Snippets: EWTN News, Aleteia, & Catholic World News

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 19, 2026

EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See.

• Beauty, tradition, fellowship drive surge in new Catholic converts at Stanford University - By Julia Torres - At Stanford University, one of the worldʼs most prestigious academic institutions, a quiet spiritual movement is taking hold. Over the past year, the Catholic Community at Stanford (CC@S) has seen a dramatic rise in adults entering the Catholic Church through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA).

• From electric scooter to viral videos, Denver priest finds new ways to evangelize - By Francesca Pollio Fenton - When Father Witold Kaczmarzyk arrived at Christ on the Mountain Parish in Lakewood, Colorado, earlier this year, he inherited a parish unknown to many in the Denver Archdiocese and arrived with a mission from his archbishop: to breathe new life into the community.

  Kaczmarzyk’s solution involved an electric scooter.

• Jordan’s Church leaders back bill expanding legal options for Christian families - By Souhail Lawand - The proposed changes are expected to allow Christians to address a range of personal status matters under their churches’ laws, including marriage, divorce, wills, and adoption.

Aleteia

Aleteia’s free access to Catholic news

Launched in 2013, Aleteia is a free online daily news publication. The site is available in six languages (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, and Slovenian). Aleteia reaches nearly 50 million people worldwide, making it one of the leading online Catholic media outlets.

• Benedictine’s new medical school takes a step forward - “America needs more physicians.” A proposed new Catholic medical school at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, has reached a key stage in its development. It has been given Candidate Status by accreditors — a rare, crucial step, according to Founding Dean Marla Golden, DO, MS, FACEP.

• The Irish art of being friendly (and how to steal it) - Ireland has the official bragging rights, having been crowned the friendliest country in Europe. Walk into an Irish pub on your own, and you'll likely not remain socially alone for long. The great thing about a good chin-wag is that you don't actually have to be particularly interesting yourself. You just need to be interested in somebody else.

• Should we be uneasy about skeletons? - Skeletons are meant to be scary, and their presence should remind us of the creepy Halloween season. Yet, for Christians, should skeletons really scare us? What's so frightening about them? Christians, while we may have some of the same fears of death, should also look at it with hope.

Catholic World News

CatholicCulture.org from Trinity Communications

Catholic World News (CWN) is an independent Catholic news service staffed by lay Catholic journalists, dedicated to providing accurate global news from a distinctly Catholic perspective.

Cardinal Parolin calls for rediscovery of Humanae Vitae - Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, called for rediscovering Humanae Vitae, Pope St. Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical on birth regulation. The encyclical “stresses the need to respect the dignity of the person when morally evaluating methods of birth regulation. This is a choice that should be shared by the spouses, becoming a common heritage and a way of life for them.”

‘Pétros ení’: New film on St Peter’s tomb features Pope Leo - The film Pétros ení: Alla scoperta delle origini (Pétros ení: Discovering the Origins) premiered this morning, 16 October, at the Rome Film Festival, where the audience gave a warm round of applause to Pope Leo XIV, who is currently receiving treatment at Rome's Gemelli Hospital.

American bishops miss an opportunity - The confused state of Church teaching on capital punishment, and the tendency of Church leaders to issue broad aspirational statements rather than rigorous arguments—caused the American bishops to miss a teaching opportunity.

October 19, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs

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First Things

Women should not tolerate porn

By Freya India, October 16, 2025

Young women today have unrealistically high standards. When I speak to conservative young men about dating, this is something I often hear. There is some truth to this. Online, women often share rules and checklists for future partners. In one viral post, viewed over 28 million times, a woman says that her ideal man is over six feet, earns more than $130,000 a year, and has an IQ above 120. No man ever seems good enough. That doesn’t mean, though, that young women shouldn’t have standards. One standard that is valid is not wanting your partner to watch pornography. Yet some conservatives act as if that's unrealistic, too. Talk about not wanting a partner to watch porn, and they become defensive. Suddenly you are dismissed as a liberal feminist, or accused of pathologizing male sexuality. Yet, feminists are usually not the ones objecting to porn. This is something men can change, and a standard any man can meet. The porn industry is the real target here.

Pillar

I need Jesus like I need a hole in the head

By Simcha Fisher, October 16, 2026

At the end of the summer, I let a doctor cut a big hole in my head. It hurt so much, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had a trigeminal schwannoma. This is the “good” kind of brain tumor: slow-growing, benign, and extremely survivable. But it hurt, a lot. Sometime in the first few nights after surgery, I felt myself pressed up against a wall of blinding pain. I couldn’t even tell where my head was. I thought a steel beam was coming out of my face; I thought I had tusks. I thought I was all head, and made of sizzling brick. Then it got worse. I have known all my life that God is real, and God is love, and God died on the cross for me. In his mercy, I remembered those things even then, even though they sounded ludicrously implausible. What I felt was barbarically alone with pain, and I only had two choices: Pain for no reason, or pain for some reason that God knew. The second sounded better, so I picked that. It was the most terrible, glorious thing I have ever had the chance to do, and it was the most powerless I have ever been.

Aleteia

What do we owe each other?

By Fr. Michael Rennier, October 18, 2026

Recently, I heard a discussion on a local sports radio station in which a caller worked through a conundrum with the hosts. The problem, it turned out, was that his son’s scout troop had a camping trip planned for the weekend of the big college football game. Only one of the hosts mentioned that, sometimes, a father must accept inconvenience for his children's sake, and he ought to skip the game and make the best of the camping trip. In the grand scheme of things, watching sports isn’t all that important. It dawned on me that I often fall into the very same absurd pattern of thought. Personally, I’m not worried about missing a sports event on television, but I do feel reluctant when family and social obligations get in the way of spending time the way I want to, usually alone with coffee and a book. In a strange way, I ought to be thanking my children for the inconvenience they cause.

The Imaginative Conservative

Early monks taught ‘Prayer of the Heart’

By David Torkington, October 17, 2026

I never spoke to my father about his spiritual life, or my own, but after reading a book on the Desert Fathers, he became very interested in their spiritual teaching and what they called the “Prayer of the Heart.” All those early monks, like St. Antony, left home where, through meditation, they had come to know and love Christ. This love inspired and set them afire in the “world” and led them into the desert. Here, their love was prepared and purified sufficiently for the union they desired with every spiritual and physical fiber of their being. What was then called the “Desert” and what later came to be called the “Dark Night of the Soul” was the place where this purification took place, as they now prayed using a new form of prayer, because the meditation that had initially set them afire with the love of Christ was no longer possible for the reasons that we have seen. This new form of prayer became known as the “Prayer of the Heart” or the “Prayer of Faith.” It would help prepare them for what the Eastern Church called Divinization.

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Zeale News

FTC reviewing online sports gambling industry

By Elise Winland, October 14, 2026

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is launching a probe into the online sports gambling industry that is expected to focus on operators such as FanDuel and DraftKings and allegations of deceptive and misleading advertising, The Washington Sun reported Oct. 13. Three sources familiar with the matter told the outlet that both political appointees and career staff have been involved in the early evaluation. The review is not expected to include prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket. Spokespeople for FanDuel and DraftKings told Legal Sports Report that neither company had heard from the FTC. An agency spokesperson declined to confirm the review to the outlet, saying FTC investigations are generally nonpublic. This follows the Supreme Court's 2018 decision striking down a federal law that barred most states from authorizing it. Americans legally wagered nearly $167 billion on sports in 2025, according to the American Gaming Association.

Our Sunday Visitor

Pope Leo XIV starts respiratory physical therapy the next day

By Courtney Mares, October 14, 2026

Pope Leo XIV underwent more medical exams and started respiratory physical therapy on Oct. 14, the day after the lung cancer surgery that removed the lower lobe of the pope’s right lung. In the first medical update provided by the Vatican since the late-night revelation of the pope’s lung cancer diagnosis, the pope’s doctors said Wednesday that the pope’s “recovery is proceeding as expected” and the pope has begun walking around his hospital room. “This morning, the Holy Father underwent the blood tests and chest X-ray scheduled following the surgery. The results confirm a normal postoperative recovery: the values are within the normal range for the type of surgery performed,” the joint statement by Dr. Stefano Margaritora, the pope’s surgeon, and Dr. Luigi Carbone, the pope’s personal doctor, said.

Related: Pope Leo XIV’s brother reveals that he also has cancer - by Crux Now Staff, Oct 14, 2026

Related: Pope Leo’s postoperative recovery ‘progressing normally’ - by Vatican News, 15 October 2026

The Pillar

‘Different accents’ but no clashes at ‘Amoris’ meeting

By Michelle La Rosa, October 14, 2026

Participants in the Vatican’s meeting on Amoris laetitia described a gathering focused on the need to accompany families in a wide variety of vulnerable situations, rather than on the controversial situations included in the apostolic exhortation. But the apostolic exhortation generated the most attention – and controversy – over a footnote that touched on the reception of sacraments by divorced and remarried Catholics. “Mercy and truth are not in conflict, but rather through the gaze of Jesus, they can be the source of this accompaniment,” said Fr. Giacomo Costa, S.J., consultor of the General Secretariat of the Synod, who was responsible for the meeting’s methodology, concluding the week-long gathering of episcopal conferences from around the world, convened by Pope Leo XIV to reflect on the 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia.

Related: Pope Leo: ‘I will read the fruits of your work and discussions, and offer my reflections in due course’- by Courtney Mares & Junno Arocho Esteves, Our Sunday Visitor, October 15, 2026

Crux

Spain’s king asks for ‘good faith’ from Morocco after migration crisis

By Joseph Wilson, Manu Fernandez, AP, October 14, 2026

King Felipe VI delivered a staunch message of support for Ceuta as being an integral part of Spain on Tuesday when the monarch visited the North African territory amid a protracted migration crisis that has strained relations with Morocco. His visit with Queen Letizia came with the city of 84,000 residents still grappling with the mass crossing of nearly as many migrants from Morocco in July. The crossing left at least 140 migrants dead and shook the city perched on the Mediterranean coast. While Spain’s government has defended Rabat’s role in helping return most of the 80,000 who entered Ceuta, many in Spain, including police and some lawmakers, doubt Rabat could have been unaware of the mass movement. Some, including Ceuta’s mayor, called it an “invasion.” “Ceuta is Spain. Therefore its frontier … is a European border, and any threat to it is a threat to the European Union,” Felipe said.

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Aleteia

Marathon nun sets huge fundraising record

By Theresa Civantos Barber, October 15, 2025

You can’t stop Sr. Stephanie. The Franciscan sister completed her 15th consecutive year running the Chicago Marathon this past Sunday, October 11, raising funds for her order’s Mission of Our Lady of the Angels. One of the record 55,000-plus participants in this year’s Chicago Marathon, Sr. Stephanie and her team have raised more than $3.2 million since she founded it in 2011. This year, she and the 192 runners—including her religious sisters Sr. Bridget and Sr. Eleanor—on her marathon team (with another 30 running the half) brought in $579,589 at last count, setting a new record. The annual marathon is her community’s only major fundraiser. All funds support her order’s mission, including its food pantry, which feeds 3,000 to 4,000 families each month, and other outreach programs the sisters run in an underserved Chicago neighborhood.

Related: More than two million people participate in procession in Brazil - By Nathália Queiroz, EWTN News, October 14, 2026

Vatican News

‘Salama’ Center in Kenya: Young mothers learn vocational skills

By Guglielmo Gallone, October 14, 2026

Children of the young women at the “Salama” Center wait for their mothers to finish the training sessions in sewing, cooking, hairdressing, and beauty care held every morning. Courses last between three and six months. The 37 people involved include beneficiaries and staff. All hail from Kibera, Africa's largest informal settlement, home to about half a million people packed into roughly 2.5 square kilometers. Those who can tap into electricity and lighting via illegal connections—which, however, frequently spark fires that destroy the shacks. "The most important thing is that they can leave their children here and see them whenever they wish. At the same time, our child caregivers provide care. Everyone at Salama has access to clean water and clean bathing facilities, free of charge,” said Ann Achieng, a social worker in her second year at the Koinonia center. “We want to restore dignity to these girls.”

Zenit

Catholics are changing their votes

By Jorge Enrique Mújica, October 14, 2026

Catholic support for Donald Trump has weakened significantly since the beginning of his second presidential term, according to a new Pew Research Center survey that points to a potentially consequential shift ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. Although Catholic voters narrowly favor Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives overall, the figures conceal a striking divide between white and Hispanic Catholics, two constituencies whose contrasting political preferences could complicate Republican efforts to retain control of Congress. Just 30% of Catholics approve of his presidential performance, while 67% disapprove. In January 2025, his approval rating among Catholics was about 47%. However, the Catholic vote is far from uniform. Among white Catholics, 50% say they would vote Republican in their congressional district, compared with 32% who favor Democrats. Hispanic Catholics display almost the opposite pattern: 59% support Democratic candidates, while just 19% favor Republicans.

Related: Voters’ perceptions of a president are likely to influence their choices at the ballot box - by Kate Scanlon, Our Sunday Visitor, October 14, 2026

Related: Pew midterm poll: Catholics prefer Democratic House candidates by 3-point margin - By Tyler Arnold, EWTN News, October 13, 2026

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EWTN News

Pro-life: Signatures to halt Massachusetts abortion law

By Tyler Arnold, October 8, 2026

Pro-life advocates in Massachusetts are moving to halt the implementation of a recently passed law that effectively removed all limits on abortion in the state, aiming to both put the issue on the ballot before voters and potentially suspend the law as well. Massachusetts became the latest state in the U.S. to remove all restrictions on abortion when Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed the law on Aug. 10. It allows women to obtain abortions at any point in pregnancy for any reason. Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), called the policy “shocking” and “horrendous” shortly after the law was signed. He described the measure as “an affront against the dignity of life.” A pro-life coalition, meanwhile, is leading an effort to roll back the law, aiming to put the policy before voters on a statewide ballot and potentially suspend it before that vote.

Keep informed - 10/15/26 news for Catholics

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OSV News

OSV’s seasoned reporters - October 15, 2026

OSV News — an information service and evangelization partner that helps dioceses connect with the faithful and boost engagement by sharing timely, trustworthy, accurate content about what is happening in the Church and the world.

• Trump sends Pope Leo ‘get well’ wishes following cancer diagnosis - Trump offered Pope Leo XIV his “best wishes” and “love” in a short interview with reporters Oct. 14, the day after the pope’s doctors announced that the pope had been diagnosed with lung cancer.

• Catholics challenge moral, legal grounds of ‘barbaric’ US plan to livestream execution - Questions over the live execution span military and civil law, Church teaching, morality and human rights, as well as the psychological impact of broadcasting a state-sponsored killing.

• Elderly woman dies in Spain after eviction that sparked national housing fury, snap election - Maria Del Carmen Abascal, the elderly woman whose eviction made her a symbol of Spain’s devastating housing crisis, which sparked nationwide protests, has died just days after an agreement was reached for her to return home.

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 15, 2026

EWTN provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See, and is available to anyone with internet access.

• Vatican meeting on the family ends inconclusively amid Pope Leo’s hospitalization - By Hannah Brockhaus - Participants declined to elaborate on their views on various issues, especially the most controversial: the reception of holy Communion by divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

• Mexican Church holds colloquium on forgotten period of fierce persecution - By David Ramos - One hundred years after the start of the Catholic resistance that led to the Cristero War, the Church in Mexico proposes re-examining this period “objectively.” “It seems very important to fully understand this history, a history that has been erased from Mexico’s history books,” stated Bishop Héctor Mario Pérez Villarreal

• PHOTOS: Thousands follow Blessed Sacrament in annual New York City procession - By Jeffrey Bruno - The cathedral was standing room only. The Sisters of Life, the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal and Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, the Dominicans, and dozens of other religious filled the cathedral.

ChurchPOP Trending

ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - October 15, 2026

“We publish inspiring daily stories, fun and shareable faith-centered infographics, prayers, Church history, and more.”

Happy 100th birthday, Winnie the Pooh! 5 Christian lessons he has been teaching us for a century - The Hundred Acre Wood is filled with characters who are very different — from the anxious Piglet to the controlling Rabbit and know-it-all Owl — yet, despite their differences, these characters form a community. They spend time together, help each other through difficulties, and keep including one another even when their personalities clash.

The Day the Sun Danced: The Story of Fátima and the Miracle of the Sun - October 13 marked the sixth and final visit from the Blessed Mother to ten-year-old Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto. It was 1917, and much of Europe was engulfed in World War I. Portugal, where these shepherd children tended to their flock, had been hit by famine, disease, and a government trying to erase religion from public life.

17-Year-Old Creates Amazing Sculpture of St. Michael the Archangel Standing Nearly 23 Feet Tall - The 23-foot-tall monument depicts the Archangel with his traditional attributes as a defender and protector. The sculpture was installed at the entrance to the Las Mercedes neighborhood in the municipality of Baruta and officially unveiled on September 29, the liturgical feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.

October 15, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

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National Catholic Register

What Blessed Fulton Sheen said about the ‘Miracle of the Sun’

By Joseph Pronechen, October 13, 2026

At the end of September, Russia issued a warning to NATO, stating it would be ready to resort to nuclear weapons if NATO attempted ​to cut off the militarized Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. Perceptive as ever, Blessed Fulton Sheen saw and wrote about how to prevent such a war — related to a warning and strong reminder connected to Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun on Oct. 13, 1917. In 1947, in his weekly radio talk on The Catholic Hour, Sheen made the connection; then in 1952, in his book, The World’s First Love, he filled it out with even more details. On Oct. 13, 1917, 70,000 people experienced the Miracle of the Sun, the miracle our Blessed Mother promised, during her final appearance at Fatima. Those gathered watched the sun spin, dance, and change to many colors, then begin to fall and plunge toward earth on course to destroy the world. Everyone fell on their knees, begging for forgiveness and mercy.

The Angelus

Habitat for Humanity’s ‘Catholic Coalition’ helping Palisades rebuild

By Kimmy Chacón and Pablo Kay, October 5, 2026

Nearly two years since a historic wildfire leveled most of Pacific Palisades, signs of a comeback are on the horizon. Several restaurants and stores are open, an estimated 10% of homes have been rebuilt, and friends are playing bocce ball at the park again. But ordinary residents still face steep challenges. About three in four Palisades Fire survivors remain displaced. While some have rebuilt, the typical homeowner in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu faces a “gap”—the difference between the cost of rebuilding and what insurance covers—of more than $1 million. Now, Habitat for Humanity is working to close that gap. In late September, 500 volunteers from across LA pitched in at a four-day community build event Habitat organized to help wildfire survivors who want to return home but lack the resources to rebuild on their own. Many were from Habitat for Humanity LA’s “Catholic Coalition,” which includes members of 16 Catholic parishes, local Knights of Columbus councils, and Loyola High School.

Catholic Culture

Vatican diplomat calls for abolition of death penalty

By H. E. Archbishop Christophe, October 7, 2026

“Human rights are inviolable, since they are ‘inherent in the human person and in human dignity.’ Consequently, they are universal and inalienable. Precisely because they are grounded in the common dignity of every man and woman, they have practical consequences and legal effects, for ‘it would be vain to proclaim human rights if, at the same time, everything were not done to ensure the duty of respecting them, respect by all, in all places and for all.’ Among these rights, the first is the right to life.” The defense of life must therefore be consistent and universal, extending to every person, at every stage and in every circumstance. For this reason, “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” This God-given dignity is never forfeited, no matter the gravity of the crime. Advances in penal systems now allow States to protect society effectively without foreclosing the possibility of repentance and redemption.”

Wild at Heart

Our lives have become cut off from the Garden

By John Eldredge, October 15, 2026

God heals the earth, and he heals us. We are restored to one another. The earth waits for our healing, and we wait for the earth’s healing. I believe our healing brings about something of the healing of the earth, and I’m certain the healed earth helps to usher in our healing. Our Enemy is the Great Divider. His most poisonous work takes place at the level of fragmentation, dividing families, churches, and fomenting racial hatred. He uses pain and suffering to create deep divisions within our own beings. You see his work right there, in the beginning of our tragic story, when he slithers into Eden to divide humanity from God, from one another, and from the earth. He traumatizes human beings, then separates them from the earth that could bring about their healing. In his highly researched book Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv documents how postmodern human beings suffer badly the physical and mental harms of “nature deficit disorder.” Our lives have become cut off from the Garden we were meant to flourish in.

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Our Sunday Visitor

World, religious leaders unite in prayer for Pope Leo

By Junno Arocho Esteves, October 12, 2026

Prominent political and religious leaders from around the world expressed well wishes and prayers for Pope Leo XIV after he announced he would undergo surgery to remove a lung nodule. The pope made the surprise announcement on Oct. 11 while addressing pilgrims during his Sunday Angelus. After doctors detected “a small, localized nodule” in his lung, Pope Leo said he would follow their advice and “undergo surgery to remove it.” “The operation is already scheduled to take place in the coming days,” he said. ” I thank you for your spiritual closeness and entrust myself to your prayers.” The surgery announcement came as Pope Leo prepares to embark on his longest international trip to date: a 12-day apostolic visit to Latin America, including stops in Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. About the first stop on the pope’s Nov. 6-17 apostolic trip, Cardinal Daniel Sturla of Montevideo told journalists Oct. 11 that although the announcement “was a surprise,” the pope’s greetings to the Peruvian pilgrims showed that “the plans remain the same.”

Related: Pope Leo XIV to Be Admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Tuesday - Ishmael Adibuah/EWTN News, October 12, 2026

Related: Leo keeping regular schedule in lead-up to surgery - Kathleen N. Hattrup - I.Media, Aleteia, 10/12/26

National Catholic Register

Thank God we venerate the saints

By Victoria Arruda, October 6, 2026

Each saint is different, with unique qualities and struggles, yet they point us in the same direction. That is why praying before their bodies — as Masaccio shows us — is like praying before a mirror. The saints look at us as if to say, “Take courage; I have been where you are, and this cross will be worth it,” while we look at them, filled with hope, and say, “I, too, will be like you.” St. Peter is a relatable apostle; he said and did wrong many times. He doubted, failed, fled, and betrayed. Still, Jesus was willing to love and welcome him back, entrusting him even more. His life echoes the hope that we can fall, but it’s never too late to be forgiven and start again. Thank God for St. Peter; thank God for the saints. Through this beautiful practice of praying before them, the Church invites us to see not only our future (“For dust you are and to dust you shall return”), but also how our choices today have eternal consequences for our souls.

EWTN News

Leo XIV calls death penalty ‘inadmissible’: Public execution in US

By Victoria Cardiel October 12, 2026

Pope Leo XIV described the death penalty as “inadmissible” in a message posted on social media on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty on Saturday, Oct. 10. “The death penalty is inadmissible because it attacks the inviolability and dignity of the person.” He emphasized that society's protection and justice can be guaranteed without resorting to capital punishment. He said, “The common good can be protected, and the requirements of justice can be safeguarded without resorting to capital punishment: effective penitentiary systems have already been developed that protect citizens and, at the same time, do not entirely deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption.” Cardinal Pietro Parolin criticized the planned public execution. “It is truly incomprehensible that anyone would want to resort to this method in this day and age.”

PIMA Asia News

Turkey’s Christians: Names denied and properties demolished

By Turkey, October 12, 2026

Homes expropriated, properties and buildings demolished before a court ruling on the legality of the measure, and families being denied recognition of their ancestral family name linked to their Assyrian-Chaldean ethnicity. The situation of Christians in Turkey has recently seen worrying incidents of religiously motivated abuse and persecution, often perpetrated with the endorsement of local and central authorities. Last week, in the province of Şırnak in the country's south-east, the mayor of Azekh (better known as Idile) was also involved. Four Christian citizens affected by the measures have taken legal action. However, authorities demolished their buildings before the court could rule on the objections. Authorities also took action against a guesthouse belonging to the Syriac Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary. The families involved say this is an attempt to “intimidate” the Assyrian-Chaldean community and to weaken its ties with its homeland, as some of the demolished properties belonged to families who had emigrated to Europe.

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The Pillar

Museum mix-up: Fulton Sheen and the ‘Patronal Medal’

By Michelle La Rosa, October 9, 2026

The Catholic University of America created the Patronal Medal in 1974. It later became a joint honor from the university and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which sits adjacent to it. The medal — which bears a simple blue and white design — acknowledges efforts to further theology or devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is awarded at Mass at the basilica on or around December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Blessed Fulton J. Sheen became the first recipient of the Patronal Medal on April 16, 1975, a few weeks before he turned 80. Though initially envisioned as an annual award, the Patronal Medal was awarded periodically beginning in the 1990s. The award was last bestowed in 2016, to Robert Comstock and Sandra Andreas McMurtrie. At the Fulton Sheen Museum in Peoria, Ill., a placard says the medal is “a yearly Catholic honor awarded for excellence in broadcasting.” That’s not quite true, it turns out. The museum said the mistake may have been introduced accidentally during a collections reorganization and will be corrected.

Zeale

Polling predictions conflict with other voter metrics

By Zeale News Team, October 10, 2026

While numerous polls suggest a “blue wave” threatening even Republican congressional seats considered “safe” — and dead heats in Senate races like Texas’ — some data point to a potential “undertow” that may boost or bolster Republican candidates. According to CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten, Republicans are in a significantly better position in swing states in terms of voter registration than they have been in years. “So when you take a look at how people are actually registering — this is not polling data — compared to where we were eight years ago, Republicans are doing considerably better in what are the swing states, at least normally, in presidential elections,” Enten said. While most Republican voters are, according to polls, less enthusiastic to vote this year than their Democratic counterparts, there “is another definite wave we are seeing … Voters 65 and over are the most enthusiastic to vote of all demographics. And they have moved back to the GOP in big numbers,” said pollster and political analyst Matt Towery.

Aleteia

Jesus the ‘Great Persuader’ knew marketing

By Tom Hoopes, October 11, 2026

From one angle, Jesus was radical and demanding, commanding people to change themselves and spelling out the dire consequences for those who didn’t. He didn’t mince words or pull his punches, but we don’t think of him as a severe, strict taskmaster because he knew the art of persuasion. In fact, when Jesus says, “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one,” he seems to disallow modern marketing altogether. He proposed radical change to the woman at the well, confronting her with her sins — but used “positive messaging” about getting a drink in the heat of the day. While his call to action was “Repent!”, he framed repentance as being rescued like a lost sheep, recovered like a lost coin, or feasting like a returning son. He sold his “product,” the Gospel, using pre-existing categories in his audience’s minds—finding buried treasure, obtaining a costly pearl, or catching a lucrative haul of fish.

Zenit

Death threat: Mexican Bishop exposes risks facing Church leaders

By ZENIT Staff, October 11, 2026

An offer of 40,000 Mexican pesos to anyone willing to attack Bishop Juan Espinoza Jiménez of Aguascalientes has prompted condemnation from Mexico’s Catholic hierarchy, calls for protection from state legislators and a criminal investigation into online threats. The episode has also revived a wider question confronting the Church in Mexico: whether its bishops and priests can speak publicly about violence, disappearances and government accountability without becoming targets themselves. The controversy escalated after a message attributed to social media personality José Lápiz offered the money in exchange for an assault on Espinoza. The post included insults directed at priests. After criticism mounted, Lápiz reportedly questioned whether his words should be taken literally, but continued making hostile remarks against members of the Church and referred to offering money for their heads. The message was subsequently removed.

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EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 12, 2026

EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the Holy Father's words and the Holy See.

• Breaking the stigma: Rome conference highlights Catholic mental health ministry - By Ishmael Adibuah - A conference in Rome last week brought together clergy, pastoral workers, and mental health professionals to discuss how to overcome the stigma surrounding mental health in the Church. The conference, “A Healing Presence: The Church’s Call to Mental Health Ministry,” was held in Rome from Oct. 9–10.

• St. Carlo Acutis’ doctors recall his last days in the hospital - By Courtney Mares - Fifteen-year-old Carlo Acutis died within a week of being diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia. Following his beatification, his doctors and hospital chaplain recalled their memories of his final days.

• Many Australian Catholics who skip Mass still keep the faith, bishops’ study finds - By EWTN News Staff - Many Catholics in Australia who do not regularly go to Sunday Mass still pray, believe Jesus is the Son of God, and say their faith matters, according to a study released Oct. 7 by the countryʼs bishops. “Despite their irregular attendance, most participants remained deeply connected to their faith.”

Aleteia

Aleteia’s free access to Catholic news

Launched in 2013, Aleteia is a free online daily news publication. The site is available in six languages (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, and Slovenian). Aleteia reaches nearly 50 million people worldwide, making it one of the leading online Catholic media outlets.

• Vatican scholarships to keep Christians in the Middle East - Daniel Esparza - The Apostolic See is ensuring scholarships are available for the faithful in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq to receive a Catholic education. Our goal is to support young people, so that Christian families will have the assistance required to remain in the Middle East and maintain a Christian presence.”

• The Vatican’s long, ongoing conversation with Silicon Valley - Daniel Esparza - Silicon Valley does not normally lobby the papacy. The fact that it is doing so now says something about what the Vatican is perceived to represent: a moral authority with 1.4 billion followers, a long philosophical tradition, and no corporate stake in the outcome.

• Bishops of suffering Nicaragua will visit Rome this week - Cyprien Viet - The ad limina visit of Nicaragua’s bishops to Rome, during the week of October 12, comes against a backdrop of continued persecution of the Catholic Church by Daniel Ortega’s regime.

Catholic World News

CatholicCulture.org from Trinity Communications

Catholic World News (CWN) is an independent Catholic news service staffed by lay Catholic journalists, dedicated to providing accurate global news from a distinctly Catholic perspective.

Archbishop Viola has been appointed Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica - Pope Leo XIV named Archbishop Francesco Viola, O.F.M., secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as the new Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 10. Archbishop Viola succeeds Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, O.F.M. Conv., whom Pope Leo transferred last week to a small Italian archdiocese.

The dangerous myth of ‘conscious’ AI - No, Claude is not conscious, and never will be. No, an AI system cannot be a morally responsible actor. The fact that the creators of these systems are (or claim to be) uncertain about these issues is profoundly unsettling. They are offering us a very powerful tool—that much is unquestioned—and yet they are not sure whether in the long run we will use the tool or the tool will use us.

The New Right’s Antisemitism Problem Is Real. So Is the Old Right’s Agenda - In fact, Oct. 7th—the biggest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust—was the moment a lot of people around the world decided, “Hey, Hamas has a point. I’m ticked at the Jews too.” That this would be the catalyst for an uptick in global Jew-hatred is one of the strangest phenomena I have ever witnessed.

October 12, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

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Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

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Today’s Catholic commentary:

First Things

Armenia’s unbroken courage

By Gerald McDermott, October 12, 2025

In mid-September, I joined a lunch with the leaders of a village in Syunik, southern Armenia. The president of neighboring Azerbaijan has been threatening for several years to “return” this region to its “ancient” mother. (Azerbaijan was founded in 1918.) In practice, this would mean doing what Azerbaijan has already done to multiple regions of historic Armenia: expelling their Christian residents, bulldozing their churches and cemeteries, and filling them with Muslims and mosques. During lunch, I asked the wiry sixty-year-old village leader of Svarants what he and his fellow Armenians would do if the Azeris attacked. Without hesitation, he smiled and said, “We will fight.” I had no idea that for 96% of Armenians in the land today, Christianity is integral to their personal and national identity. They are proud that their country was the first Christian nation (A.D. 301). Ethnic cleansing is ongoing. Islamic Azerbaijan has seized piece after piece of Armenian territory, killing over ten thousand Armenians in several wars and attacks and erasing Christian culture.

Zenit

The Vatican clarifies its position on ‘chivalric orders’

By ZENIT Staff, October 11, 2026

After numerous requests for information about the Holy See’s position on chivalric orders dedicated to saints or bearing sacred titles, the Secretariat of State reiterates what it has published in the past. To avoid misunderstandings that are unfortunately possible due in part to the unlawful issuance of documents and the improper use of sacred places, and to prevent the continuation of abuses that ultimately harm many people acting in good faith, the Holy See reaffirms that it attaches no value to knighthood diplomas and related insignia issued by unrecognized organizations and does not consider the use of churches and chapels for so-called “investiture ceremonies” to be appropriate. The Holy See recognizes and protects only the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Catholic Weekly

Holy obedience leads to trust and communion

By Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, October 9, 2026

Amid dramatic cultural and ecclesiastical change in the post-conciliar period, many experiments to renew religious life failed, yielding not only invisibility but also disorientation, hemorrhaging, and diminishment. Particular congregations entered terminal decline, and some people questioned whether religious life had a future. Can we expect young people to commit their whole life to it? What would be their relevance, identity, mission? What is still essential about consecrated life and what is merely accidental? This year we mark three decades since St John Paul the Great’s apostolic exhortation, Vita Consecrata. Rather than reinvent the wheel of consecrated life, he began with Christ and His Gospel and then mined the riches of Christian tradition. He noted that religious life is not primarily about vows, habits, structures, or works, important as these are, but about consecration to Christ and, through Him, to the Father.

The Catholic Thing

Why are America’s indigenous seen as peaceful environmentalists?

By Robert Royal, October 12, 2026

Christopher Columbus was partly motivated by the desire to “preach the Gospel to all nations.’ He was right to do so. You don’t have to turn to the Mayan, Aztec, and Incan cultures built on human sacrifice to understand that. Anyone who looks, for instance, at how the North American Martyrs (Catholics and others used to, and should again) were brutally tortured and killed — the way all prisoners, native and European, were treated by several Northeastern tribes — may wonder why Europeans are regarded as brutal villains and Indigenous as peaceful environmentalists. Columbus didn’t bring slavery to the Americas. It was already here and widespread. Indigenous forms of imperialism and colonialism were, too. As for the acknowledgment of “stolen lands,” the history of the place tells a melancholy tale; in fact, several.

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