“We see through new tender verdant pecan leaves”

Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Crux, First Things, OSV News, & Aleteia. (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

Ultrasound captures unborn baby smiling as her father speaks

By Alyssa Murphy, July 31, 2026

A beautiful moment exposing the truth of life in the womb is going viral online today. The setting was a routine prenatal checkup for two parents anxious to meet their little bundle of joy. The quiet hum of the clinic room provided a steady rhythm to an otherwise routine appointment in Ontario, Canada. Lia Oliveira lay back as the ultrasound probe glided over her baby bump, bringing black-and-white contours to life on the nearby monitor. It was July 25, and gathered inside the room were the expectant parents, family and medical staff — all focused on the small screen. Holding her mobile phone steady, Lia’s sister began recording, intent on capturing the adorable glimpse of her unborn niece for the family archive. “Good morning. Happy Saturday,” the baby’s father whispered softly, as he leaned in close to Lia’s belly. “Are you hungry?” Across the monitor, the baby girl’s features softened, and a distinct, heartwarming smile stretched across her face.

EWTN News

California bishops slam state for targeting abortion pill reversal

By Kate Quiñones, July 31, 2026

Abortion pill reversal gives a mother the option to save the life of her child after she has taken the first chemical abortion pill. If she changes her mind, she can take the hormone progesterone to potentially save the child. Two Catholic bishops are criticizing the California government’s targeting of abortion pill reversal ministries and urging support for the right of women to choose life, a cause the bishops argue people on all sides of the aisle should support. California’s attorney general is asking the Alameda County Superior Court to stop nonprofits Heartbeat International and RealOptions from offering this reversal, demanding up to $20 million in fines for alleged false advertising, with the government calling the measure “an unproven and largely experimental procedure.” The state government is targeting those ministries for “telling women who regret swallowing the abortion pill that there is a medical treatment that can sometimes save their babies,” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and Oakland Bishop Michael Barber wrote in a July 30 op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.

Related: California’s case against second chances, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone & Bishop Michael C. Barber, Wall Street Journal (posted by The Catholic Thing), July 31, 2026

Aleteia

Coca-Cola had an earlier ‘friar’ version

By Cyriac Zeller, August 1, 2026

Father Manuel Russo, rector of the San Marco convent on Via Cavour in Florence, was sorting through the pharmacy archives when he came across a yellowed promotional flyer he did not recognize. It described an elixir vinoso ricostituente — a restorative wine elixir — made from 10 grams of Bolivian coca leaves and 30 grams of kola nut, blended with wine, and promoted as a tonic against fatigue caused by illness and aging. The flyer is believed to date to the mid-to-late 19th century. The ingredients were familiar. They are, essentially, the same ones American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton used in 1886 when he created the syrup that eventually became Coca-Cola. Pemberton’s formula — also combining coca leaf extract and kola nuts — used carbonated water instead of wine, after local alcohol laws prevented him from replicating the wine-based version he had originally developed. Father Russo said the discovery “provides a fascinating reminder that Florence’s convent pharmacies were once centers of scientific experimentation as well as spiritual life.”

Refer a friend

The Pillar

The legal ‘state’ of the Vatican updated by Pope Leo

By Luke Coppen, July 31, 2026

Pope Leo XIV issued a new Fundamental Law of Vatican City State Friday, replacing a previous version adopted in 2023. The difference between the 2023 and 2026 texts is found in Article 8, which previously said that the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State was composed solely of cardinals. The new version notes that the Pontifical Commission consists of “cardinals and other members.” The Fundamental Law of Vatican City State was first issued by Pope Pius XI in 1929, following the state’s creation under the Lateran Treaty, signed by Italy and the Holy See. Pope St. John Paul II promulgated a new version of the Fundamental Law in 2000, which Pope Francis revised in 2023. The law’s existence “reaffirms the singular distinctiveness and autonomy of the Vatican legal order, as well as the role of the Governorate, which contributes to the State’s own mission and is at the service of the Successor of Peter, to whom it answers directly.” It also identifies the Vatican City State flag, the Holy See’s coats of arms, and the state’s official seal.

OSV News

Court shields women religious from New York assisted suicide law

By Kate Scanlon, July 31, 2026

A federal judge July 30 temporarily shielded four orders of women religious and Catholic healthcare ministries from enforcement of a New York state law allowing physicians to aid terminally ill adults in dying by suicide. The Catholic entities — the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict and the Little Sisters of the Poor — sued the state July 17, arguing the law would require them to facilitate such deaths for their patients in violation of their faith. “Forcing Catholic nuns to participate in suicide — and robbing New Yorkers of the choice to receive faithful, life-affirming care — is both unlawful and unjust,” Mark Rienzi, president of Becket, a religious liberty law firm, and the lead attorney for the healthcare ministries. Bishop John O. Barres of Rockville Center, New York, said: “New York cannot force the Church to answer suffering with suicide or abandon the sick and dying when they need care most.”

Related: Catholic advocate warns of safety risks as New York assisted suicide law looms - by Tessa Gervasini - August 1, 2026

Zeale

Florida AG: Schools could lose vouchers over COVID mandates

By Zeale News, July 31, 2026

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, warning the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Catholic schools must honor parents’ religious objections to mandated shots or risk losing access to state scholarship dollars. Catholic schools could jeopardize their eligibility for state-funded scholarships and vouchers by denying religious exemptions from vaccination requirements. “Ironically, they won’t offer religious exemptions as prescribed by state law,” Uthmeier wrote in an announcement of his letter to the bishops. “This is troubling and may disqualify them from state scholarships and vouchers.” Uthmeier said he learned that Catholic schools might refuse exemptions to parents who object to vaccines developed using cell lines derived from aborted children. The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, for example, says that requests for religious exemptions “will not be considered in any Catholic schools of this diocese” because the Church does not teach that vaccination is intrinsically evil.

PME AsiaNews

Technology is the ‘servant of humanity, not its master’

By Santosh Digal, August 1, 2026

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, bishop of Kalookan and former president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has doubts about the major semiconductor and artificial intelligence project announced by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Calling for an assessment of the impact on the environment, workers, and the country’s development, he urges decision-makers to subordinate economic interests to the common good. Pax Silica is a US-led project to reduce dependence on Chinese technology supply chains by establishing a technology hub in the Philippines, a goal the government intends to pursue. In a message posted on social media yesterday, the cardinal said the creation of the new facility dedicated to semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) in the Philippines raises questions and poses possible risks for people and the environment.

Share Catholic Nutshell News

CRUX

Sri Lanka death penalty means life in prison

By Krishan Francis, July 31, 2026

A Sri Lankan court on Friday sentenced a former police chief and a former top Defense Ministry official to death after finding them guilty of criminal negligence that allowed Islamic State-inspired bomb attacks on Easter Sunday in 2019, which killed more than 260 people. A death penalty in Sri Lanka typically means life in prison because the country has had a moratorium on executions since 1976. Current President Anura Kumara Dissanayake supports maintaining the moratorium. Former Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara and former Defense Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando were convicted and sentenced Friday by the three-member High Court bench. They have the right to appeal the ruling. The near-simultaneous bombings in 2019 were carried out at three tourist hotels and three churches — two of them Catholic and one Protestant — and killed 42 foreigners.

Keep informed - 8/1/26 matters for Catholics:

Snippets: EWTN News, aciafrica, & Word on Fire

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — August 1, 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.

• Inspired by Duolingo, Catholic missionary launches Creedo faith app - By Madalaine Elhabbal - Catholic campus missionary Caleb Burbach wanted to make Church teaching more accessible and easy to digest — so he designed Creedo to do just that.

• 3 Catholic churches desecrated in a single French archdiocese - By Walter Sánchez Silva - For the seventh time in two years, churches in the Archdiocese of Tours have been desecrated. The Archdiocese of Tours in France reported that three Catholic churches within its jurisdiction have been desecrated and announced that Masses of reparation will be held at the affected churches.

• More than 2,000 Catholic Scouts gather for Mass at Scouting America National Jamboree - By Tessa Gervasini - With 70% of Scouting units in the United States chartered by religious organizations, “faith is integral to who we are as an organization,” Michael Ramsey, chief marketing officer for Scouting America, told EWTN News.

aciafrica

aciafrica’s top headlines — August 1, 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 words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See.

• Caritas Kenya Engaged in “anticipatory planning” to Minimize Floods Devastation - Aug 1, 2026 - By Agnes Aineah - The humanitarian and development arm of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) is working on its readiness to respond to the forecast that the country will receive El Niño rains later in 2026.

• Seminarian Abducted from Catholic Bishop’s Residence in Nigeria, Diocese Appeals for Prayers - Jul 31, 2026 - Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Otukpo has appealed for prayers for the “quick and safe release” of Seminarian Kelvin Ochai, who was abducted from the Bishop’s Residence in Benue State.

• Slain Mozambican Catholic Bishop’s Blood Could Become “seed of a better Church”: Apostolic Nuncio - Jul 31, 2026 - By João Vissesse - The representative of the Holy Father in Mozambique has expressed hope that the killing of Bishop Osório Citora Afonso of the Diocese of Quelimane will become a catalyst for the renewal of the Church

Word on Fire

Fresh insights from the Word on Fire Institute - August 1, 2026

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

‘Toy Story 5’ Helps Us Cultivate Wonder Anew - Dr. LuElla D’Amico - July 31, 2026 - For readers who have not yet seen the film, Toy Story 5 follows eight-year-old Bonnie as she grows increasingly attached to Lilypad, an interactive device designed to educate, entertain, and accompany children through nearly every part of the day.

Can America Disagree Better? - Jack Trent - July 30, 2026 - Disagree Better is an initiative of the National Governors Association started by Spencer Cox, governor of Utah, in 2023. Through various initiatives, Disagree Better seeks to model healthy civic disagreement. Over twenty governors have joined the movement.

Interior Silence and Accepting Reality to Foster God’s Presence - Christopher Hazell - July 29, 2026 - The importance of fostering interior silence is likely not new to us, evidenced by the somewhat common Lenten practice of giving up music or podcasts to, presumably, help improve one’s spiritual connection to God. We tend to intuitively know that to foster a deep relationship with God we must step away from the commotion and noise of our lives.

August 1, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

National Catholic Register

A Little Sister’s great mission: The legacy of Mother Maria Stieren

By Edward Pentin, July 30, 2026

A flourishing missionary congregation in the Tanzanian desert, founded against the odds by a holy and diminutive Bavarian-born religious sister who had an unwavering trust in God, celebrated its 50th jubilee on July 21. More than 800 local laity and religious, led by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, took part in the festivities, which recalled the remarkable life and witness of Mother Maria Stieren (1923-2008), the founder of the Mothers and Missionaries of the Holy Cross in Puma, near Singida in central Tanzania. Mother Maria founded the congregation in 1976 after receiving, like St. Teresa of Calcutta, a “call within a call” while she served as a German missionary Benedictine sister in Ndanda in the southern part of Tanzania in the 1960s and ’70s.

First Things

Seize the things that have ceased to astonish us

By Ephraim Radner, July 31, 2025

The dismantling of the places we live has become a modern imperative. The courageous moral critic is asked, in the phrase of the Marxist thinker Henri Lefebvre, to “demystify” the world’s streets, as it were, in order to expose their economic and political levers as they impose injustice. This is not just a left-wing vocation, but one taken up by every therapeutic adept from Freud on. Whether it’s our play or labor, our restaurants or grocery stores, the “everyday” is, we are told, the site of conflict and violence, a perverted spiritual realm. Lefebvre and theologian-sociologists like Michel de Certeau became virtuosos in describing the corners of our quotidian existence as both witness to and means of oppressive diseases. Georges Perec (1936–1982) exhorts in Approaches to What? (1973): “What we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners, our utensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms. To question that which seems to have ceased forever to astonish us.”

The European Conservative

Germany is engaged in cultural suicide

By William Grice, August 1, 2026

Angela Merkel opened Germany’s borders to vast numbers of Syrian asylum seekers in late August and early September of 2015, but in 2020 I had noticed no real issues. New police data now shows that foreign nationals feature disproportionately in violent crimes, with sharp regional disparities, according to The European Conservative. I suspect the answer is that the headline influx of one million migrants has since been eclipsed by hundreds of thousands more men from Africa and the Middle East. The data confirms Germany received 113,236 asylum applications in 2025, 229,751 in 2024, and 329,000 in 2023—a cumulative total of 672,000, albeit on a declining trend. Public sentiment appears to have shifted, too, with polling in recent years consistently showing immigration ranks among Germans’ top political concerns. A kind immigrant I recently met reminded me that we are all God’s children and immigration ultimately has a human face. Yet open borders cannot be justified by individual stories alone.

The Catholic Thing

Lucifer: The real founder of modern revolutionary spirit

By Francis X. Maier, July 31, 2026

The late political activist Saul Alinsky named the founder of the modern revolutionary spirit on the epigraph page of his Rules for Radicals: “the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer.” Alinsky was an agnostic secular Jew. He had no belief in a personal devil. He had far more interest in the power structures of this life than in any imagined next. His reference to Satan was thus purely ironic and deliberately provocative. But his epigraph does capture a distinctly modern (if discreet) sympathy for Lucifer as a kind of Prometheus; a wronged hero fighting for his dignity, insisting on his own path, and courageously resisting tyrannical authority. It’s a view that derives from 19^th-century Romantic-era writers like Blake, Shelley, and Byron, who in turn drew on John Milton’s great epic poem Paradise Lost, recasting Milton’s Lucifer as less a villain and more a tragic figure. Except they got Milton’s Satan entirely wrong.

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.}

Fridays, "Living that coconut kinda life."

Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, OSV News, Zeale, Bishop Barron, & Aleteia. (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.

Zeale News

Phone ownership in children linked to lower reading test scores

By Zeale News, July 30, 2026

Elementary school children who owned cell phones received lower total scores on a timed reading-comprehension test than children without phones in a new University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) study, although having a phone nearby during the test did not hurt performance. Published July 23 in the journal Behavioral Sciences, the study examined 106 Los Angeles County children in a younger group that was mostly composed of third graders and an older group that was mostly composed of sixth graders. After controlling for grade level, researchers found a modest but statistically significant negative correlation between phone ownership and total reading-comprehension scores (r = −.223, p = .026), meaning children who owned phones tended to receive lower scores. Students answered an average of 89% of questions correctly with their phones present and 87% without them.

OSV News

Russian attack leaves 8 dead in Ukraine

By Junno Arocho Esteves, July 31, 2026

An overnight July 30 onslaught of Russian missiles and drones struck Ukraine, leaving eight people, including several children, dead and dozens wounded in the aftermath. In a statement posted on his official Telegram channel July 30, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 70 missiles and over 280 drone strikes across the country. In a message released several days before the attack, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, condemned similar strikes by Russia, including a July 19 attack that struck a residential neighborhood. He also said a missile struck a residential building in Radushne, located in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing “parents and three children.” Rescuers, he noted, were able to pull two children from the rubble.

Aleteia

Do heaven’s choirs of angels sing constantly?

By Daniel Esparza, July 31, 2026

On the evening of Wednesday, July 29, Pope Leo XIV sat in the gardens of Borgo Laudato Si' at Castel Gandolfo and listened to 164 children from Uganda, the Holy Land, and Italy sing for peace. Andrea Bocelli sang alongside them, including a rendition of “Panis Angelicus” and, as a closing piece, “Amazing Grace.” In his greeting to the children, the Pope drew a direct line between beauty, music, and encounter with God. “Music has the remarkable ability to bring different voices together in unison, where each one contributes something unique to the whole,” he said. “In this sense, choir becomes an ideal symbol of harmony and cooperation.” He connected this to Scripture: “It is significant that Sacred Scripture and the Liturgy of the Church speak of ‘choirs of angels and saints’ when describing the joy of heaven — not because they are literally singing all the time, but because united in love they behold God together and find in him the fullness of happiness.”

Refer a friend

Catholic Exchange

Saint of the day, 31 July: St. Ignatius of Loyola

By Catholic Exchange, July 24, 2026

St. Ignatius of Loyola was born in 1491 in the Basque region of Spain. As a young man, he dreamed of fame and honor as a soldier, but his life changed forever after a severe leg injury in battle in 1521. During his long recovery, Ignatius read the lives of Christ and the saints, which stirred in him a deep desire to serve God. He dedicated himself to prayer, penance, and pilgrimage, eventually discerning a call to guide others in the spiritual life. Ignatius founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1540, a religious order dedicated to education, missionary work, and defending the faith. He authored the Spiritual Exercises, a framework of prayer and discernment that continues to guide countless people in their relationship with God. St. Ignatius died in 1556 in Rome and was canonized in 1622. He is honored as the patron saint of retreats and spiritual discernment.

EWTN News

Catholic priest sues U.S. government over visa and residency

By Tyler Arnold, July 31, 2026

A Nigerian-born Catholic priest serving in the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, sued the federal government after facing delays in processing his request for permanent residency, which has culminated in the expiration of his religious work visa and work authorization. Father Sylvester Okoh, who was serving in the diocesan hospital ministry under an R-1 religious worker visa, can remain in the country as he awaits government action. Yet, because the priest lost his work authorization amid the delays, he is unable to perform his duties in the diocese. When reached for comment, Okoh referred EWTN News to his lawyer, Alexander Smith, who said his client has done everything by the book, has not broken any laws, and “just wants to get back to work.” Smith said there “are no court orders as of yet,” and his application is still pending. He said “we are confident that the government and the court” will recognize the delay is “unreasonable” and ensure his application is processed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The Pillar

Detroit diocese grows, but also shrinks

By Brendan Hodge, July 27, 2026

Like many US dioceses, the Archdiocese of Detroit is going through a parish consolidation process. In the preparation, the archdiocese has provided the data diocesan leaders are assessing as they make these decisions about the closure or merger of parishes. The documents provide interesting insights into some hard realities of Catholic life in the Archdiocese of Detroit — much of which is likely similar to the circumstances in other U.S. dioceses, especially in traditional heartlands of American Catholicism. The diocese is growing older, not younger, pointing to the fact that funerals are now more common than baptisms in the archdiocese. The population of the Archdiocese of Detroit has actually slightly grown from 2000 to 2024, from 4.3 million residents to 4.4 million. At the same time, the number of parish-registered Catholics has declined, from 1.4 million in 2000 to about 900,000 today, according to the archdiocesan data.

Share Catholic Nutshell News

Christian Science Monitor

For the US and Iran, war aims have changed beyond recognition

By Ned Temko, July 30, 2026

The Iran war is over. That confident assertion was first made by President Donald Trump just 10 days after the war had begun with a relentless U.S. bombing and missile campaign in unprecedented military coordination with America’s closest Middle East ally, Israel. And this week, it became clear that Mr. Trump’s claim turned out to be right. Only not at all as he had intended. Not as he had hoped. For as he sat down in the White House for his first face-to-face talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since they launched the first airstrikes five months ago, the conflict had changed beyond recognition. The war, which they began with the jointly declared hope of toppling the authoritarian Islamic regime in Tehran and permanently closing off Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon, is indeed over.

Agenzia Fides

Women religious & Church networks stand alongside victims

By Fides News Agency, July 30, 2026

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 50 million people worldwide are living in conditions of modern slavery as human trafficking generates an estimated 236 billion dollars in illicit profits every year. Faced with a form of slavery that continues to evolve and take on new forms of exploitation, Church networks and religious communities are renewing their commitment to prevention, accompaniment and the defense of the dignity of victims of human trafficking. On the occasion of the World Day Against Human Trafficking, on July 30, Church networks note that behind this phenomenon lie the stories of people marked by poverty, violence, lack of opportunities and situations of extreme vulnerability. Children, women, migrants and displaced persons continue to be targeted by criminal organizations, which use deception, fraudulent job offers, threats and new digital tools to recruit their victims.

Keep informed - 7/31/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from Big Pulpit, EWTN, & the Loop

Big Pulpit

Tito Edwards Catholic site: July 24, 2026

The Big Pulpit website is a news aggregator that gathers quality insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide.

1. Ross Douthat Leaves, Joins 60 Minutes – Peter J. Wolfgang, J.D., at Catholic Culture
2. Overnight, Funeral Rites Got Corrupted Until These Became Normal – Fr. Allan J. McDonald
3. Does It Feel to You as if Something Is Building to an Explosive Point? – Fr. Z’s Blog
4. The Catholic Left in a Nutshell – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at The American Catholic

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — July 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.

• Pope Leo XIV issues new constitution, allowing non-cardinals to lead Vatican City State - By Ishmael Adibuah - The new laws, making up the Fundamental Law of Vatican City State, were published on July 31. They replace the 2023 constitution by Pope Francis, which emphasized papal authority over the sovereign state.

• Pope confirms second Chinese bishop in a week under Vatican-Beijing agreement - By Victoria Cardiel - The Holy See and China have not maintained diplomatic relations since 1951, following the rise to power of Mao Zedong’s communist government. Chinese Catholics subsequently became divided between the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and an underground Catholic community that remained loyal to Rome.

• Michigan hospital will change LGBT policies, pay fired physician assistant $400,000 after lawsuit - By Daniel Payne - Valerie Kloosterman, a Christian, had worked at the hospital for 17 years starting in 2004. She was fired in August 2021 after she refused to use LGBT pronouns and make referrals for transgender-related “transition” drugs and surgeries, according to a 2022 lawsuit filed in U.S. district court.

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 new home of the LOOP. Zeale is a project of CatholicVote, America’s top Catholic advocacy organization leading the fight for faith, family, and freedom.

BISHOPS MOBILIZE CATHOLICS AS ABORTION-PILL FIGHT HEATS UP - Archbishop Paul Coakley and Bishop Daniel Thomas called Catholics nationwide to pray and act against abortion pills through October, with a full campaign launching August 18 to target pharmacies, distributors, and drugmakers.

LEFT-WING ‘AUTONOMOUS ZONE’ SEIZES MADISON STREETS - A left-wing encampment formed after the fatal police shooting of Corey Ruiz has declared itself the Corey Ruiz Autonomous Zone Encampment (CRAZE), using staffed checkpoints, vehicles, furniture, and a makeshift spike strip to block two city blocks. Madison is keeping the streets closed “until further notice,” while nearby businesses report lost customers and police avoid the camp.

SEN. BRITT JOINS FIGHT TO RESTORE ABORTION-PILL SAFEGUARDS - Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., joined 90 Republican members of Congress in backing Louisiana’s bid to restore in-person dispensing for mifepristone, arguing Biden-era mail-order rules violated federal law and put women at risk. The case centers on a woman who says an abusive former boyfriend obtained the drug by mail and coerced her into taking it.

July 31, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Priest

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

Catholic365

Pray that child back to God

By Marianne Giltner, July 31, 2024

Nothing is more tender to the eyes and ears of God than a sincere, heartfelt prayer for a child. So many of them need it. It doesn't matter if that child is 10 years old or 50 years old. After all, we are all children of God. The path can be strewn with thorns or laid with roses. The struggles are in everyone's lives. The children, like us adults, need those extra prayers or sentiments to help with those struggles. Protection of those prayers is immense. They are an extra shield of Hope that one can give when discernment might be blinded by the world's direction to choose things that are not of God. Our precious children are just that. Precious. Precious in our sight and the sight of God. St Monica prayed for many years. Many other Saints prayed for humanity. God tests us and those tests are beautiful fragrant flowers that can blossom, especially when someone prays for us or we pray for each other.

Catholic Culture

Jesuits getting a questionable reputation on doctrine

By Peter Swindal, July 30, 2026

“Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16), Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded the Twelve Apostles. Perhaps no saint in the history of Christianity has understood this command as deeply as St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose feast we celebrate tomorrow. To many orthodox and faithful Catholics, it is apparent that something has gone horribly wrong with the Society of Jesus in the present day. Perhaps we should look no further than their vocations. The number of men who make their first vows, taken at the conclusion of a two-year novitiate and which typically precede about a decade of further formation before priestly ordination, has plummeted to catastrophically low levels. Less simple to pin down is the sense that many faithful Catholics have that many modern-day Jesuits seem to undermine the teachings of the Church, yet in a way that evades an easy condemnation.

National Catholic Register

The LeBron James Mass photo was fake after all

By Zelda Caldwell, July 29, 2026

When Father James DeGrassa posted a photo on Instagram of himself posing with LeBron James in front of the altar at his parish just north of Philadelphia, he knew his parishioners would get that it was a joke and that the photo was just an AI-generated fake, he told the Register. “I’m like, ‘Don’t people realize it’s a joke? He’s not even in the area yet,’” Father DeGrassa said. What Father DeGrassa couldn’t have imagined is that the post would soon go viral, reaching 4 million people, most of whom were not familiar with the Philadelphia native’s sense of humor. The day before, the sports-mad city had greeted the news that the NBA great would be signing with the Philadelphia 76ers in predictable fashion: Everyone went nuts. On social media, AI photos of James patronizing local businesses were everywhere. “I started seeing everybody posting pictures of him. ‘Oh, he’s at our deli,’ or ‘Oh, he’s having our cheesesteak,’” the pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church explained. “I jumped on the hype.”

Bishop Barron

The Church is Jesus’s mystical body

By Bishop Robert Barron, July 31, 2026

Friends, in today’s Gospel, on his return to Nazareth, the Lord identifies himself as a prophet. Jesus is not just one more in a long line of prophets but rather the personal and perfect embodiment of the transformative speech of God. As Pope Benedict XVI puts it in Verbum Domini, “Now the word is not simply audible; not only does it have a voice, now the word has a face, one which we can see: that of Jesus of Nazareth.” Therefore, we are not surprised that the Gospels consistently portray Jesus’s words as irresistibly powerful. At the tomb of his friend, “he cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’” and “the dead man came out.” Precisely because Jesus is the divine Word, what he says is. Origen of Alexandria said that just as all of Jesus’s acts were like words, so all his words were like acts. The Church, which is Jesus’s mystical body, is the privileged bearer of his word to the world down through the ages until the Lord returns. This is why the Church continues to unleash transformative power.

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.}

“The greatest thing since peanut butter & jelly”

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

Please support the following Catholic (and Catholic-friendly) news services and spiritual support sites. Today’s Catholic Nutshell News audio podcast is available on the Substack App.

Zeale News

Religious liberty commission cites European censorship as warning

By Zeale News, July 29, 2026

President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission recently pointed to the prosecution of two Christians in Europe as a warning of what could happen if the U.S. allows officials to place ideological conformity above freedom of speech and religion. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International on July 28 welcomed the commission’s decision to spotlight the cases of British army veteran Adam Smith-Connor and Finnish lawmaker Päivi Räsänen in its draft report. ADF has supported the legal defense of both Smith-Connor and Räsänen. As Zeale News previously reported, the commission presented its 224-page draft to Trump on June 26 after a yearlong review of religious liberty in the U.S. that included seven hearings and testimony from more than 100 witnesses. Although its principal mandate concerned threats to religious liberty inside America, the commission warned that similar conflicts are unfolding throughout the West.

Our Sunday Visitor

Urban planning challenged by homelessness, human dignity

By Isabella H. de Carvalho, July 29, 2026

Homelessness must be addressed to create sustainable cities that enable every person to flourish and contribute to the common good, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations said July 28. “The persistence of homelessness should trouble the conscience of the international community,” the mission said in a message issued for the United Nations’ 2026 high-level meeting on the world body’s New Urban Agenda. “When cities are shaped by solidarity, inclusion and care for those most in need, they become more than mere places of residence and of work; they become places of encounter, fraternity and hope,” the Holy See mission said in its message. Cities and countries to invest more to address the root causes of homelessness, such as “poverty, unemployment, drug addiction, mental health issues, family breakdown, displacement and conflict.”

Crux

UK Prime Minister delivers setback to assisted suicide push

By Crux Now Staff, July 30, 2026

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Wednesday said debate around the introduction of assisted suicide should be put on hold until palliative and social care programs in the country are properly funded. “I take the view that that debate – and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point about those issues – personally, I think there’s something that needs to happen first,” Burnham told reporters on Wednesday. “That is the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care,” said the Prime Minister, who was speaking with reporters after a speech at a London care home on Wednesday. During his Wednesday remarks, Burnham vowed to repair his country’s social care system – the day-to-day assistance network for the elderly and persons with disabilities, chronic illness, and other vulnerabilities – saying politicians’ failure to address systemic problems is a “major dereliction of public duty.”

The Pillar

Two more Irish dioceses remain, but under one bishop

By Luke Coppen, July 29, 2026

Pope Leo XIV approved the union of two more Irish dioceses under a single bishop Wednesday. Bishop Gerard Nash, who has led the Diocese of Ferns since 2021, will also serve as the Bishop of Ossory, uniting the neighboring dioceses in persona episcopi (in the person of the bishop). The Diocese of Ferns dates back to the seventh century. The Catholic Church in Ireland has 26 dioceses divided into four ecclesiastical provinces, serving roughly 4.3 million Catholics. Until now, diocesan restructuring has been limited to the Ecclesiastical Province of Tuam, which covers a largely rural area with a relatively small population. Both dioceses remain juridically separate. Commenting on his appointment, Nash said: “This amalgamation of dioceses has begun in the West of Ireland and will continue in the rest of our country as opportunity allows.” The wave of in persona episcopi appointments in the ecclesiastical province began in February 2022. The Diocese of Ossory traces its origins to the sixth century.

Share Catholic Nutshell News

Aleteia

‘Get off the couch and change the world’

By Daniel Esparza, July 30, 2025

The Church, Leo told the Peruvian youth, “needs your holy rebelliousness, your pure energy, and your desire to transform situations of suffering into spaces of hope.” Pope Leo XIV sent video messages to three different gatherings of young Catholics over the weekend of July 25-26, urging them toward missionary engagement and warning against spiritual complacency and uncritical use of technology. The most widely quoted line came from his message to young people in Chota and Cutervo, Peru, gathered for their second Diocesan Youth Day. “Jesus doesn’t want you to be ‘young couch potatoes,’ complacent or content with the comfort of ‘that’s just the way it’s always been done,’” the Pope said, quoting a phrase Pope Francis used at World Youth Day in Krakow in 2016 and on many other occasions.

National Catholic Register

Why China’s new bishops aren’t excommunicated

By Andrea Gagliarducci, July 29, 2026

The schism of the traditionalist Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), and its aftermath, has highlighted how the unity in the Church that Leo XIV set as the primary goal of his pontificate is still far from being achieved. This comparison between the traditionalist and Chinese cases is interesting because it contrasts two strikingly different situations. By ordaining bishops without papal mandate, one excommunicates oneself. For this reason, excommunication is automatic — latae sententiae being the official term — for simply having committed the act. But ordinations without papal mandate also occurred in China prior to the agreement with the Holy See, and these bishops ordained without papal mandate were also automatically excommunicated. In 2018, when Pope Francis agreed to sign the agreement with China for the appointment of bishops, one of the conditions of that agreement was precisely the return to full communion of all illicitly ordained bishops. Since the agreement was reached, there have been several extreme cases. Joseph Shen Bin was appointed bishop of Shanghai without the Pope’s approval, and Francis then had to “rectify” the situation by personally making the appointment.

ANSA Italy News

Stop treating migrants as an ‘emergency’ says Mattarella

By ANSA Staff, July 22, 2026

President Sergio Mattarella said Thursday that politicians should listen to Pope Leo XIV, stop treating migration as an emergency, and take a more balanced, long-term approach during the traditional 'fan' meeting with reporters before parliament's summer recess. "Leo XIV has appealed to the consciences of those around the world who hold institutional responsibilities about the epochal phenomenon of migration," Mattarella said. "I personally consider the pontiff's observation, that it is absolutely necessary to set aside an emergency-logic outlook — which is beyond a shadow of a doubt entirely unproductive — and to commit to strategic measures to manage the phenomenon to be indisputable” He added the change of mentality is necessary to address “the suffering chaotic consequences and trying—in vain—to silence our consciences in the face of what is happening".

Share

EWTN News

Chilean cardinal points to doctors in debate over heartbeat law

By Julieta Villar, July 29, 2026

Cardinal Fernando Chomali, the archbishop of Santiago and primate of Chile, once again addressed the country’s pending “Listen to Their Heart” bill, which seeks to mandate within the abortion protocol (authorized in Chile under three specific grounds) an opportunity for the patient to listen to the babyʼs heartbeat. According to the bill’s legislative summary, the measure would modify the country’s health code “to establish the duty of the doctor to inform the woman about the embryonic or fetal heart activity and to offer her the opportunity to hear it prior to the interruption of the pregnancy.” Speaking with the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, the cardinal highlighted the healthcare professionals involved. “It pains me that there are doctors who agree to perform an abortion,” he lamented. He stands opposed to abortion under any circumstances, even women who are enduring a “horrific ordeal” such as rape, a fetus with serious medical issues, or whose life is at risk.

Keep informed - 7/30/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from OSV, EWTN News, & ChurchPOP

OSV News

OSV’s seasoned reporters - July 30, 2026

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

• Bob Dylan makes me want to be 80 - Elizabeth Scalia, July 22, 2026 - “The best thing about being 80 is that you outlive the clocks that have been chasing you. It’s freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control.” — Bob Dylan. The New York Times asked prominent celebrity octogenarians, Bob Dylan, Gloria Steinem, Robert De Niro and others, to share their thoughts on the best and worst things about experiencing such blessed longevity.

• Pope Leo XIV at Andrea Bocelli concert: Music’s beauty points us to God - Courtney Mares, July 29, 2026 - As dusk settled over the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo on July 29, Pope Leo XIV listened as Andrea Bocelli led 164 young voices in a hymn, prompting the pope to offer a reflection on how beauty can lead us to God. “The beauty of music invites us to encounter the one who is beauty itself.”

• Wildfires in Spain force Augustinian nuns to evacuate monastery - Junno Arocho Esteves, July 29, 2026 - “We especially ask for prayers for all the volunteers and security forces who are tirelessly working to extinguish the fires.”

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — July 30, 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.

• Catholic prison ministry brings sacraments, mercy, and community to those behind bars - By Katherine Matt - For Catholics behind prison walls, incarceration does not mean separation from the Church. Catholic prison ministers and bishops say those in jail and prison remain members of the Catholic community, and they are in particular need of the sacraments, companionship, and God’s mercy.

• Charles Carroll Legacy Gala to celebrate U.S. founder, support faithful‑citizenship course - By Tessa Gervasini - Proceeds from the evening will support scholarships and the expansion of the FCIʼs CST Certification Course, which is working to equip policy workers to bring faith, reason, and the common good into civic leadership.

• Archbishop Wenski meets lawmakers to gain support for Haitian migrants amid deportation fears - By Tyler Arnold - Wenski’s meetings with lawmakers came one day after the expiration of the automatic work‑permit extension under temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians. The Supreme Court ruled last month that the administration has the authority to terminate TPS, which ended their work authorization and could subject them to deportation orders.

ChurchPOP Trending

ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - July 30, 2026

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

Our Lady Shines Again: Medjugorje Statue Fully Restored After Vandalism, Suspect Arrested - Volunteers and parish workers in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, have restored the statue of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, on Apparition Hill. The Cenacolo Community and other volunteers moved swiftly to clean and repair the damaged statues and altar area, allowing the shrine's evening prayer program to continue that same day.

A Dominican Nun Predicted Jared Goff’s NFL Future—And She Was Right - The NFL’s official Instagram account shared the clip, where it has already drawn nearly 1 million views—and even caught Jared Goff’s attention, earning a like and comment from the Lions quarterback. Sister Miriam shared a story from 2011, back when she was teaching at Marin Catholic High School, and Goff was just a skinny junior starting at quarterback.

“We won’t leave you alone”: How the Church is still helping Venezuela one month after the earthquake - While much of the country is slowly moving into recovery, the streets of La Guaira still carry deep wounds. Priests, sisters, and pastoral workers go through the hardest‑hit areas blessing homes, listening to those who have lost loved ones, and reminding everyone that God has not abandoned them — even in the midst of tragedy.

July 30, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

Exaudi News

How evil operates but never has the last word

By Miguel Morales Gabriel, July 30, 2026

St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his Rules for Discernment of Spirits, precisely defines the psychology of temptation and diabolical action. Evil has a twofold intention when it promotes an act of vandalism or an attack on the sacred: Attack the symbol to wound love, and sow despair and division. God permits evil only because He is so powerful and infinitely good that He can bring about a greater good from it. Evil always makes the same miscalculation. It believes that by destroying a statue (as in vandalism on Mount Podbrdo in Medjugorje) it extinguishes faith, failing to understand that true devotion does not reside in images, but in the souls of believers. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Do not let us be moved by anxiety or fear. Forgive from the heart, and remember that, as the Lord promised, “the gates of hell will not prevail” (Mt 16:18).

Our Sunday Visitor

Down syndrome — the joy, the humor, and the love

By Katie Yoder, June 18, 2026

Jesse Ridgway announced on social media that he and his wife had aborted their unborn baby boy. Ridgway said they made their decision after learning that their baby received a diagnosis resulting from “an error.” He wrote in early June, “Trisomy 21, also known as Down Syndrome, is caused by an extra chromosome. It is caused by an error in cell division, like a glitch.” His post went viral. Tens of millions of people saw his post on X. Many responded, including people with Down syndrome and parents of children with Down syndrome. They wanted people to know it was possible to choose the alternative: life. They encouraged people to focus on the capabilities of people with Down syndrome. “Parents facing this diagnosis deserve the full picture,” he wrote in an op-ed published by Long Island Life & Politics. “They deserve to hear about the medical challenges, yes. They also deserve to hear about the joy, the humor, the love, the contribution, the irreplaceable presence that a person with Down syndrome brings into the world.”

Zeale

Rest in peace, poet-soldier Joyce Kilmer

By James K. Hanna, July 30, 2026

On this date, July 30, in 1918, Catholic poet-soldier, thirty-two-year-old, father of five, Joyce Kilmer died on the battlefield. Historian Sister M. Fides Shepperson soon eulogized Kilmer in her nationally syndicated newspaper column. She has the date of death as August 1, but it was later determined to be July 30. She wrote, “Upon what scene in the better land did the poet eyes open? Unto what good explanation did the hero heart awaken? He had loved all that was fair and good; he had followed the light that shone in e his soul, and it led him to Christ of the Cross. There he had entered into the sublime mystery of self sacrifice, and in the strength of the supreme sacrifice who had the that men might have life …” Though Kilmer is best remembered for his poem “Trees,” I submit for your appreciation his “The White Ships and Red,” a stirring poem inspired by the tragic sinking of the defenseless Lusitania in May 1915 by a German U-boat, torpedoed without warning.

Wild at Heart

God judges us by our hearts

By John Eldredge, July 30, 2026

What makes the Day of Judgment so unnerving is that all our posing and all our charades will be pulled back, all secrets will be made known, and our Lord will “expose the motives of men’s hearts“ (1 Cor. 4:5, emphasis added). This is the point of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus first says we haven’t a hope of heaven unless our righteousness “surpasses that of the Pharisees” (Matt. 5:20). How can that be? They were fastidious rule keepers, pillars of the church, model citizens. Yes, Jesus says, and most of it was hypocrisy. The Pharisees prayed to impress men with their spirituality. They gave to impress men with their generosity. Their actions looked good, but their motives were not. Their hearts, as the saying goes, weren’t in the right place. A person’s character is determined by his motives, and motive is always a matter of the heart. This is what Scripture means when it says that man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. God doesn’t judge us by our looks or our intelligence; he judges us by our hearts.

Image of peanuts by Nicole Köhler, from Pixabay

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 services on the net. 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 the State of Colorado. Identified as a legal entity with the U.S. Treasury.}

“Here was an almond tree in bloom before me”

Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources are the Zeale News, National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Zenit, and OSV News. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the 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

Archbishop Wester defends proposed mosque in New Mexico

By Tyler Arnold, July 29, 2026

Archbishop John Charles Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, voiced support for a Muslim group’s effort to build a mosque in the suburbs of Albuquerque after the plan faced some pushback from the community. The Albuquerque Islamic Center received approval for the new mosque in North Valley in a 5-1 vote by the Bernalillo County Planning Commission on July 1. The hearing lasted about five hours, with comments from the community, and the commission ultimately approved the mosque but not the proposed school to keep the project smaller and the expected traffic lighter. Wester issued a six-paragraph statement on July 27 in support of the project, saying Muslims have a right to access worship services and religious freedom extends beyond Christians. In his statement, the archbishop said he has heard “concerns from residents” about the planned mosque and felt “compelled to speak clearly and pastorally” about the tension.

OSV News

‘Care — not suicide’: Catholics and advocates push back

By Kimberley Heatherington, July 28, 2026

The bright orange and white signs told the story of the protesters holding them outside the United Nations: “We deserve care — not suicide.”

• “Suicide is not medical treatment.”

• “Fund services — not suicide.”

• “Assisted suicide is dangerous and discriminatory.”

New York state’s Medical Aid in Dying Act — scheduled to go into effect Aug. 5 — will, as their June 11 lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York reads, “allow providers to prescribe drugs — not to alleviate pain or suffering — but to cause the death of the patient and intentionally facilitate suicide.”

Related: Bishop of Lourdes: Pope’s September Visit Will Make Shrine a Beating Heart for the Defense of Life, Solène Tadié, National Catholic Register, July 28, 2026

National Catholic Register

Rise of the Gen X bishops

By Jonathan Liedl, July 28, 2026

One East Coast bishop asked another what kind of playlist he wanted to listen to. The response was “’80s music.” And instantly, a connection was made. “I laughed, and I said, ‘Oh yeah, we must both be Gen X,’” recalled Bishop Joseph Williams of Camden, New Jersey, of his exchange with Bishop Erik Pohlmeier of St. Augustine, Florida. More deeply, they share a common set of formative factors, from the same papal hero (St. John Paul II) to a similar focus on catechesis while in seminary in the 1990s. Born between 1965 and 1980 (46-61 years old by the end of 2026), Gen X bishops already account for one-quarter of all U.S. ordinaries, the term for bishops who lead dioceses or eparchies. The figure is 28% adding auxiliary bishops. Twenty of Pope Leo’s 27 U.S. bishop appointments have been Gen Xers (74%). The rate is even higher for leaders of archdioceses. Of the four new American archbishops, three are Gen X: Archbishop James Checchio of New Orleans, 60; Archbishop James Golka of Denver, 59; and Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York, 58.

Refer a friend

Zeale News

DOJ settlement for pro-life father prosecuted by Biden admin

By Elise Winland, July 28, 2026

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and more than 50 other Republican lawmakers are demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) complete an investigation into the deaths of five late-term aborted babies whose remains have been held by the D.C. medical examiner since 2022. In a July 20 letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, the lawmakers requested autopsies, preservation of all evidence, and a determination of whether the children were killed through an illegal partial-birth abortion or by infanticide after being born. The lawmakers also asked that the children receive “a proper and respectful burial” once the investigation is complete and any responsible parties have been brought to justice.

The PIllar

Leo revamps Vatican supreme court

By Edgar Beltrán, July 28, 2026

Pope Leo XIV appointed seven new members to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest canonical court of appeal, on July 25, including the first three non-bishops ever appointed as members of the tribunal. The appointments by Leo also marked the conclusion of the five-year terms for Cardinals Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R., of Newark and Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect emeritus of the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the only two non-canonist members of the tribunal. The appointments and departures appear to close a practice by Pope Francis of appointing non-canon lawyers to the Signatura, while also bringing in the first full members who are legal experts but not bishops. Cardinals Giuseppe Versaldi, Leonardo Sandri, and Raymond Leo Burke, together with Bishop Jan Hendriks of Haarlem-Amsterdam, were confirmed for the balance of their current terms, which are due to expire between 2027 and 2028.

Related: San Francisco’s Cordileone, Kalamazoo’s Lohse join Church’s top tribunal, by Walter Sanchez Silva | Catholic News Agency - Jul 27, 2026

Vatican News

Medjugorje condemns vandalism, urges prayer and forgiveness

By Vatican News, July 22, 2026

The parish of Medjugorje has condemned acts of vandalism that damaged several of its places of prayer overnight and has invited the faithful to respond with “prayer, fasting, and forgiveness.” “It is with great sadness that we received the news of the act of vandalism,” the Medjugorje Parish Office said in a statement on Tuesday. It added that cleaning and repairs began immediately so the affected areas could once again be properly prepared for prayer. The parish thanked everyone who assisted with the work, saying their efforts were helping the shrine remain “a place of encounter with God, a place of peace.” Rather than responding with anger, the parish urged Catholics to pray for those responsible. Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina received the first report at about 4:30 a.m., after the face and hands of the image of Our Lady on Apparition Hill, or Podbrdo, were found covered in black paint and offensive messages were discovered nearby. About half an hour later, officers were informed of a fire at the outdoor altar of St. James Church.

Share Catholic Nutshell News

Graphs about Religion

More likely churchgoers: High school diploma or graduate degree?

By Ryan Burge, July 23, 2026

“Who is more likely to go to church this weekend — a person who earned no more than a high school diploma or someone with a graduate degree?” I bet that the vast majority of those being quizzed would choose the person with less education. However, an individual with a graduate degree is 4 percentage points more likely to attend a house of worship weekly than someone who stopped at high school. In the General Social Survey, there’s not a clear pattern at all. It’s 24% among high school grads compared to 25% among those with a graduate degree. That’s inside the margin of error. Among the most highly educated in Pew’s sample, 28% go to a house of worship on a weekly basis. It’s empirically false to claim that people with less education attend church more often. There’s zero evidence of that in the best data we have. In addition, those whose education stopped at high school, 20.3% say that they watch a service online every week. The college-educated crowd is much less inclined to participate this way: 11.6%.

The Jerusalem Post

The shame of Auschwitz no longer protects Jews

By Alex Carson, July 29, 2026

The year 2025 marked the deadliest year for antisemitic violence in the Jewish Diaspora since the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, according to a new report by the J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism. The report, released on Wednesday, documented 20 lives lost to targeted antisemitic attacks across the globe in 2025. From the Hanukkah massacre at Bondi Beach in Sydney that left 15 dead to shootings at the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, and two killed at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, as well as one killed in Boulder, Colorado. The J7 task force, which unites major Jewish organizations representing over 90% of the Jewish Diaspora outside Israel across Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the US, tracked over 23,000 antisemitic incidents in 2025 alone. While total incidents dipped slightly in a few nations compared to record highs in 2024, overall figures remain up 136%, and violent incidents up 97%, compared to the baseline year of 2022.

Keep informed - 7/29/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from Loop, Fides, & The Pillar

Zeale’s LOOP

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

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

• FAUCI FACES SENATE GRILLING AS PRIVATE JOURNALS REVIVE LAB-LEAK SCANDAL - Dr. Anthony Fauci is scheduled to testify before Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s committee today after Paul released more than 1,100 pages of the COVID policy architect’s journals. Paul says the entries show contradictions between Fauci’s private knowledge and public statements on the lab leak, dangerous research, and the government response.

• RISING SOCIALISTS AIM TO DISMANTLE AMERICA - CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt warned that an Ivy-educated class of Democratic Socialist candidates has “turned the ladder it climbed into a weapon against the country that provided it.” She is urging voters to defeat them at the polls and rebuild the culture in schools, parishes, and homes.

• BIDEN TAPES: ‘I JUST FOUND ALL THE CLASSIFIED STUFF DOWNSTAIRS’ - Newly released recordings capture former President Joe Biden warning his ghostwriter that notes “may be classified” and later saying he had found “all the classified stuff downstairs.” Special Counsel Robert Hur’s 2024 report found evidence Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified material after leaving office but declined to charge him.

Fides News Agency

Fides headlines — July 29, 2026

Fides was created on 5 June, 1927, by order of the Council Superior General of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, as the first Missionary Agency of the Church and among the first agencies in the world, serving to inform and promote missionary activity.

• AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - "The final word belongs not to violence or death, but to God, the Lord of life": Church renews hope while awaiting justice - Nampula (Fides News Agency) – The Catholic community continues to keep alive the memory of Bishop Osório Citora Afonso, Bishop of Quelimane and Apostolic Administrator of Beira, who was brutally killed at his episcopal residence on June 6.

• ASIA/PAKISTAN - Christian couple lynched: "An emblematic case highlighting the difficulties in prosecuting mob violence," says lawyer Anthony - Lahore (Fides News Agency) – The case of the lynching of Christian couple Shama and Shahzad Masih, a case linked to mob violence triggered by blasphemy allegations and brought to a close with the acquittal of the last three defendants, “highlighting the difficulties in prosecuting mob violence."

• Wildfires in Spain: “People have allowed themselves to be embraced”: parishes and Caritas stand alongside evacuees - Laura Gómez Ruiz Madrid (Fides News Agency) – More than 150,000 hectares of land destroyed by flames and over 79,000 people evacuated or forced to remain indoors illustrate the scale of the emergency that has struck several regions of Spain.

The Pillar

Pillar Stories from the July calendar, 7/29/26

The Pillar offers a news summary and a capsule take on Catholic News. Here are news stories from the past few weeks in the Pillar Post:

• Twenty-six priests in Germany’s Archdiocese of Munich and Freising have reportedly written to Cardinal Reinhard Marx, saying that his request for them to follow national guidelines on blessings has created a loyalty conflict because the Vatican has criticized the guidance. He asks them to choose between obedience to the German rubric and obedience to the universal Church.

• The criminal trial of 76-year-old Australian Bishop Christopher Saunders on historic sexual abuse charges began this week, with the bishop facing the prospect of lengthy incarceration if convicted. Saunders served as Bishop of Broome, Western Australia, from 1996 until his resignation in 2021. He faces 26 charges of sexual offenses against three young Aboriginal men.

• Pope Leo is set to visit his “other” home country in November: Peru, where the pontiff is a citizen. When the pope touches down in Lima, he’ll walk into a sticky ecclesiastical situation, where questions about who should be the next archbishop are roiling local ecclesiastical leaders, especially amid numerous scandals in the region.

July 29, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE or read HERE:

Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

Crisis Magazine

The real scandal is Heaven, not Hell

By Philip Primeau, July 29, 2026

In recent years, many clerics and intellectuals have labored to evade, qualify, minimize, and deny the eternal punishment of the wicked, supposing that this doctrine, as traditionally articulated, proves a stumbling block to Modern Man, that famous creature. Which is most strange, considering that a far more disturbing doctrine has attracted negligible critical attention: I mean, of course, the eternal reward of the wicked. As thoughtful souls have noted before, the scandal of heaven easily exceeds the scandal of hell. Even in an age of relativism and therapeutic spirituality, few ordinary people resist in principle the fundamental logic of damnation: evildoers should endure a post-mortem penalty for their trespasses, up to and including exclusion from the felicity of heaven. By contrast, the notion that evildoers should enjoy bliss in the next life is terribly startling, liable to arouse a storm of indignation if dwelt upon with any seriousness.

The Catholic Weekly

Going back to where you came from

By Dr Philippa Martyr, July 29, 2026

At the risk of causing even more trouble than usual, I went to see Christopher Nolan’s version of The Odyssey last week. What’s worse is that I enjoyed it immensely. But that’s because I know the story – or rather, the series of stories that makes up what we call “The Odyssey”. Knowing the original stories is part of whether you enjoy this movie. If you don’t, the movie will be harder to follow, as there are flashbacks and stories within stories. You may choose to compensate for this by getting pompous about what you consider to be woke casting decisions. Or you could just sit back, relax, and enjoy the spectacular scenery, epic battles, and truly awful monsters. There are major themes in the movie that are consistent with what the original stories were trying to say. These include the fact that human beings are a rum lot, we do terrible things sometimes, and that you should always be wary of Robert Pattinson.

Zenit

Is Pope Leo revitalizing the Church in Europe?

By Laura Marchais & Matthew Green, July 29, 2026

Pope Leo XIV’s trip to Spain has had a surprisingly powerful positive impact. This isn’t just a general impression; a survey commissioned by the Spanish Episcopal Conference has highlighted the effects of his apostolic journey. What does this mean for his future visits to the rest of Europe? French Catholics are next up, preparing to welcome Pope Leo XIV from September 25 to 28. According to the collected data, nearly all respondents (98%) view the trip positively or very positively. Furthermore, 98% say they currently have a positive or very positive image of the Pontiff. Throughout his travels — which took him from Rome to Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands — Leo XIV successfully made himself better known. Before his arrival, 57% of respondents admitted having limited knowledge about his “figure, biography, and message.” Following his visit, that figure dropped to just 14%.

The Catholic Gentleman

What marriage makes you

By C.A Rumore, July 27, 2026

I was engaged to be married when I was 22, which I understood to be the achievement of manhood. The better part of my teenage years were spent preparing for that moment. This was it, I told myself, I was finally going to be a man. I was ready. I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready for marriage, and I didn’t understand what it took to be a husband. I didn’t see this reality then, but I know that our Lord did. He gave me the gift of humility, because the next thing I knew the engagement was broken, and the relationship ended. I was left with many questions, doubts, and an abundance of advice. But I was certain of one thing: I needed to mature. I didn’t know how to receive God’s love, and I didn’t know how to give it. I had set before myself an image, a goal, and an achievement. This kept me from seeing the reality of what was about to take place in my life if my engagement had come to fruition. This would only happen when I met the woman who would become my wife.

Image of Almonds by Monfocus from Pixabay

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.

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.}

“I’ll pray for thee from my pistachio tree”

Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources are OSV News, EWTN, First Things, Big Pulpit, Aleteia, and The Pillar. (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.

Our Sunday Visitor

Lawmaker intervenes to save pilgrimage site from seizure

By Gina Christian, July 27, 2026

The Trump administration’s move to seize a New Mexico pilgrimage site for border wall construction — despite religious liberty objections — continues to be contested in court, as a Texas lawmaker has introduced legislation to stop the takeover. An attorney working to protect the site called the federal government’s claim, which seeks to dismiss any consideration of religious freedom, “a stunning and legally untenable position.” The Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, has for several weeks been battling the administration’s efforts to gain control over a 14-acre parcel that includes Mount Cristo Rey, located in Sunland Park, New Mexico. The 4,675-foot peak, capped by a 29-foot limestone statue of Jesus Christ the King, has served as a shrine for Catholic faithful for close to a century. The federal government filed a May 7 lawsuit, claiming eminent domain — or government power to seize private property for public use, with “just compensation” as required by the Fifth Amendment — over the land.

Zeale

Arkansas granted $1.7 million to pro-life pregnancy organizations

By Elizabeth Ervin, July 27, 2026

The state of Arkansas awarded more than $1.7 million in grants to dozens of pregnancy help organizations across the state during the 2026 fiscal year, according to a July 20 report from the Arkansas Family Council, a conservative Christian advocacy organization. More than three dozen pro-life service providers received state funding to assist women facing unplanned pregnancies. Among the largest grants were more than $111,000 for Arkansas Baptist Children & Family, about $96,000 for New Beginnings Pregnancy Center, and more than $77,000 for Options A Pregnancy Resource Center. The Family Council noted that Arkansas has prohibited abortion in most circumstances, except in medical emergencies defined by state law, since 2022, the year Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

EWTN News

St. Joseph the Worker College to repurpose Masonic temple

By Madalaine Elhabbal, July 28, 2026

St. Joseph the Worker College in Steubenville, Ohio, plans to renovate a former Masonic temple into a public theater, restaurant, and Catholic shrine. Spokesperson Wes Cimmarrusti said the idea took shape after Jacob Imam, president and founder, began praying a novena and walking around the building each workday, often returning on weekends with his family “like the Israelites circling Jericho.” Imam’s daily prayer‑walks preceded an unexpected call from the Freemasons within a month, asking whether he would consider buying the property. “We totally credit the favor and the opportunity to the intercession of St. Joseph and the power of prayer,” Cimmarrusti said. The Catholic trade school raised $1 million and signed a purchase agreement with the Freemasons of Steubenville to buy the property in January 2027. While no date has been set for the project’s completion, the college seeks to raise an additional $3 million to fully renovate the space.

Share Catholic Nutshell News

CBCP News

Bishops in Asia approve new governing statutes

By CBCP News, July 26, 2026

Catholic Bishops from across Asia have approved a revised set of governing statutes for their regional federation, adopting a leadership structure meant to reflect how the Church in the region has grown over the past decade. The previous statutes had been in place since 2013. Under the new structure, the federation will be led by a smaller executive board made up of the president, vice president and secretary general, replacing the previous office-bearers system. The board will carry out decisions made by the Central Committee, in what bishops described as a more collaborative model. The plenary assembly remains the federation’s highest authority, and major changes to the statutes will still require the Holy See’s confirmation, as before. The federation brings together bishops’ conferences from across Asia to support cooperation and shared pastoral life among the region’s Catholic communities.

National Catholic Register

Housing shortage is becoming a moral crisis

By Jonah McKeown, July 27, 2026

There’s no clear path to homeownership for the many families in Philadelphia, where the cost of an average single-family home has risen 69% in the past eight years. While waiting for the market to become more favorable, Daniel and Mary Colleen Drain currently live with Mary Colleen’s parents in the outer suburbs. From there, Daniel commutes an hour and a half each way to his job downtown as director of the Office of Life and Family for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. “Modest, three-bedroom homes that can be a place for our family to grow into seem just out of reach,” said Daniel, who, along with his wife, is 33 years old. U.S. home values have risen in recent decades much faster than incomes, making homeownership hard to come by for many young families. A house in America costs five times a family’s median annual income, far higher than the ratio of 3.2 seen throughout the 1990s. Home sales sit at a three-decade low with first-time homebuyers at 40 years old.

Vatican News

US strikes on Iran said to be paused amid diplomatic push

By Nathan Morley, July 28, 2026

American military action against Iran appears to have been halted, media reports suggest, though Washington has offered no public explanation for the apparent pause. However, a Pentagon source told CNN that operations were currently “on hold” but gave no timeframe for when, or whether, they might resume. Two competing explanations have since emerged from US broadcasters. CBS News, quoting regional sources, suggested the halt was timed to avoid disrupting a visit by Omani officials to Tehran, where discussions are reportedly under way over reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Some senior military advisers said American air-defense supplies were running critically low. Away from the diplomacy, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding at sea. Shipping industry figures cited by the International Maritime Organization put the number at roughly 6,000 seafarers across some 400 vessels — with an unknown further number missing altogether, thought to be stuck aboard smaller boats scattered across the Gulf.

Refer a friend

The Pillar

Transalpine Redemptorist also excommunicated for schism

By Luke Coppen, July 27, 2026

The head of a traditionalist group who was illicitly ordained a bishop on a remote Scottish island Saturday has been declared excommunicated after a diocesan canonical process found him guilty of schism. Fr. Michael Mary Sim, F.SS.R., the founder of the Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (Transalpine Redemptorists), was excommunicated, dismissed from his ecclesiastical office as superior of the community, and forbidden to offer Mass and other sacraments, Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen announced July 25. In Church law, excommunication is defined as a “medicinal” penalty that is intended to inspire the offender to seek reconciliation, rather than as a merely punitive measure. In a statement, Gilbert explained that the penalties were a consequence of Fr. Michael Mary’s adoption of sedevacantism, the position that the popes since Vatican Council II were illegitimate.

Zenit News

Vatican still hasn’t learned how to deal with abuse allegations

By Charles Collins, July 26, 2026

The news this past week put the opacity of canonical criminal proceedings squarely in the spotlight, when the Vatican was forced to deny rumors a disgraced former Jesuit and one-time celebrity artist had been acquitted in his secret Church trial. The case of Father Marko Rupnik — who somehow remains a priest apparently in good standing — also illustrates how the abuse of adults (usually women) isn’t being addressed properly. Rupnik has been investigated several times, by different Church authorities, and each investigation has uncovered and confirmed gruesome evidence of the priest’s crimes against dozens of women over a period of thirty years. The Jesuits now believe he is guilty, and they have said so. Rupnik was expelled from the Jesuits in 2023. A friendly diocese in the priest’s native Slovenia accepted him as a member of the diocesan clergy. The secrecy surrounding Rupnik has hurt the victims (who have waited too long to see too little justice) and the Church, whose faithful are scandalized and whose leaders have lost moral credibility.

Keep informed - 7/28/26 news for Catholics

Snippets: Pulpit, EWTN, & Aleteia

BIG PULPIT

Tito Edwards’ Catholic blogger site: July 28, 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.

• Leo Names Archbishop Cordileone to Vatican’s Highest Court – Michael Haynes at Catholic Herald

• Video: Open Rebellion In Germany: Bishops & Laity at War Over the Faith – Anthony P. Stine, Ph.D.

• Every Time Cardinal Grech and his Committee Speak on Synodality, They Guarantee Its Demise – Fr. Allan J. McDonald

• What’s Happened to Hospice? – Gigi Duncan at National Catholic Register

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — July 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.

• Miami archbishop calls for ‘compassionate’ protections for Haitians ahead of TPS deadline - By Tessa Gervasini - Catholic Health Services, one of the Archdiocese of Miami’s largest ministries, faces losing an estimated 40 to 50 employees, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said. Miami’s archbishop said local ministries are “preparing for the consequences” of policy changes, including the termination of work authorizations for diocesan employees.

• U.S. moves to revoke citizenship of Mexican friar convicted of child abuse - By Diego López Colín - In 2018, when the allegations first came to light, Friar Urbano Vázquez was removed from ministry by the Archdiocese of Washington. He was convicted of child sexual abuse in 2019.

• ‘The Chosen’ unveils emotional Season 6 trailer depicting Christ’s passion - By Francesca Pollio Fenton - The upcoming season of the hit series focuses on the 24 hours of Good Friday — culminating in the crucifixion of Christ. The trailer offers viewers a glimpse into the scourging at the pillar, Jesus’ arrest and trials, the walk to Calvary, and his final, powerful words on the cross.

Aleteia

Aleteia’s global network of experts, journalists, & contributors

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. Aleteia offers both general and religious content free from ideological influences.

He prayed to St. Anthony of Padua and survived skin cancer - Diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, Adam Biały was given little chance of survival. But after he prayed to Anthony of Padua. Many people have reported miraculous healings, including from cancer. His prayers are often sought for those suffering from various ailments.

LeBron James at Mass? Maybe that’s not the real story - That's exactly what appeared on the Instagram page of Queen of Peace Parish in Ardsley, Pennsylvania, where a smiling LeBron posed alongside the parish priest beneath the caption: "LeBron James came out to Mass for the Feast of Saint James this morning." No confirmation yet on the veracity of the image.

The one-second gesture that defines your whole life - Making the Sign of the Cross can be less about habit and more about choice. If we put some mental effort into it, it can be the strategy for our whole lives. The Bible makes no mention of making the Sign of the Cross. Instead, it offers us many reminders of the importance of the Cross. Early Greek-speaking Christians spoke of the Sign of the Cross as a sphragis, meaning seal.

July 28, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE - or read HERE:

Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

Aleteia

Have you been neglecting your mental health?

By Daniel Esparza, July 28, 2026

The body’s needs are visible and undeniable, and our current culture has enough language for them. The mind’s needs, most of the time, are less visible and much easier to defer. Mental health care still carries, in many circles, a faint suggestion of either weakness or indulgence — something for the anxious, the fragile, the people who have not learned to manage. Stoicism gets misread as virtue. Endurance gets confused with health. And so the interior life accumulates pain and distress in the same way the body does, until at some point the invoice arrives and it is larger than expected. The Catholic tradition has always insisted this framing is wrong — not because it is insufficiently compassionate, but because it is philosophically incoherent. The Catechism is direct on the point: “Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity” (CCC 364).

Missio Dei Catholic

Appeal to God’s own nature and character

By Deacon Michael Halbrook, July 21, 2026

Jeremiah is weeping without rest. What he sees is bad - and it’s everywhere: slain in the field, starving in the city, prophet and priest foraging in a land they no longer recognize. The wound of the daughter of his people is incurable. He has no consolation to offer because he has none himself. He looks at what is there and weeps. And then he prays. He does not petition from a viewpoint of deserved rescue. He is not claiming to have been wronged. He is acknowledging, in the middle of catastrophe, that the catastrophe has roots. But then his appeal shifts. “For your name’s sake spurn us not, disgrace not the throne of your glory; remember your covenant with us, and break it not.” The petition is rooted not in merit but in God’s own nature and character, in the covenant that precedes and survives every human failure.

The Imaginative Conservative

Christianity and the Three Cultures

By Michael De Sapio, July 26, 2026

What happened to Christianity when it expanded from its Judean homeland and entered the gentile world? Much conservative writing emphasizes the harmony and unity between the three ancient cultures (those of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome) that contributed to Western civilization. Such a celebratory stance is wonderful and necessary. But it is equally important to point out possible areas of tension. Tertullian put the question in stark terms: “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” (a rhetorical question that is best understood in context). The question of continuity in religious teaching is, of course, very important in the Catholic faith. As a Catholic, I believe that God protects, guides, and loves his Church, that he shields it from harmful error. I believe in the fundamental unity of the Church through history, and so I cannot accept the argument put forth by some critics that Christianity actually became a different religion in the fourth century when it achieved official status in the Roman Empire.

First Things

Understanding the scandal of Jewish belief

By J.H.H. Weiler, July 27, 2026

What happened to Christianity when it expanded from its Judean homeland and entered the gentile world? Much conservative writing emphasizes the harmony and unity between the three ancient cultures (those of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome) that contributed to Western civilization. Such a celebratory stance is wonderful and necessary. But it is equally important to point out possible areas of tension. Tertullian put the question in stark terms: “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” (a rhetorical question that is best understood in context). The question of continuity in religious teaching is, of course, very important in the Catholic faith. As a Catholic, I believe that God protects, guides, and loves his Church, that he shields it from harmful error. I believe in the fundamental unity of the Church through history, and so I cannot accept the argument put forth by some critics that Christianity actually became a different religion in the fourth century when it achieved official status in the Roman Empire.

Nutshell Pistachio Image by JetalProduções from Pixabay

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 on the net. 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.}

“Worth your weight in walnuts”

Your 5-minute daily Catholic briefing. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Crux, First Things, Zenit, & Aleteia. (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

Peruvian Catholics cautiously hopeful as new president prepares

By Eduardo Campos Lima, July 26, 2026

Keiko Fujimori will take office as the new President of Peru this week, facing the challenge of governing a politically divided nation and dealing with the potentially harsh consequences of a super El Niño. It took Fujimori four elections to finally be victorious — she was defeated by Ollanta Humala in 2011, by Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2016, and by Pedro Castillo in 2022 — but she has been a central figure in Peruvian politics since the 1990s. Not only was she the First Lady to her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, between 1994 and 2000 – after her mother, Susana, denounced her husband for corruption and was removed from her position – but she has also been the main leader of Fuerza Popular (“popular power,” in Spanish), the Fujimorist party, over the past several years. The Catholic Church will work with the new leader not only on coordinating Pope Leo XIV’s visit, expected to occur in November, but also on social issues, as was announced after a meeting between Fujimori and the heads of the Peruvian episcopate on July 16.

National Catholic Register

Ukraine and the limits of dialogue

By George Weigel, July 17, 2026

For months now, I have been receiving alarming, early-morning text messages from Major-Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halyč, leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The texts are typically sent after this heroic churchman has spent the entire night in a bomb shelter (as he has done many, many times over the past four and a half years), and they include a digital map of where Russian missiles and drones have lit up the nocturnal sky by hitting Ukraine’s capital city. There are no military targets on the map. Russian strikes are deliberately aimed at civilian sites. This is not war. It is terrorism. Its aim is to destroy national morale. And it isn’t working, any more than the Nazi Blitz of England did in 1940. But Kyiv shouldn’t have to take it. And it is only suffering these terror attacks because Czar Putin is losing the ground war he initiated on Feb. 24, 2022 — a war that continues despite catastrophic Russian casualty figures. Which raises urgent questions about the limits of dialogue in certain historical circumstances.

Related: Pope Leo appeals for dialogue, diplomacy, prayers for just peace in Holy Land, Middle East - by Linda Bordoni / Vatican News, July 26, 2026

EWTN News

Catholic youth ministers are experiencing more complex roles

By Tessa Gervasini, July 27, 2026

Catholic youth and young adult pastoral leaders are juggling more responsibilities and facing new challenges as they accompany young people in the evolving Church ministry, according to research from Ministry Training Source (MTS). The study found that younger generations of ministry leaders are serving in increasingly complex roles and often balancing multiple ministries. They are also facing concerns about pay, role clarity, and long-term sustainability. Despite the challenges, most continue to report that the ministry brings them joy. Of the leaders MTS examined in the 2024 research study, 87% said their ministry “often” or “always” brings them joy, 80% said the ministry they do is “always” or “often” effective, and 65% said they “always” or “often” have community support and networking available. The research names three “pressure points” of pastoral ministers serving youth and young adults — overworked, poor training, & the need to reinvent the ministry.

PIMA asia news

Tokyo is preparing a second capital for emergencies

By Japan, July 27, 2026

The Japanese parliament has passed a law paving the way for the creation of a second capital, with the aim of ensuring the continuity of national institutions in the event of major earthquakes, typhoons or other disasters affecting Tokyo. The bill, backed by the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and passed at the close of the parliamentary session before the summer, has reignited political tensions over the balance of power between central government and local authorities. The law authorizes the government to designate an alternative city capable of temporarily hosting the state’s main functions should the capital be paralyzed by a natural disaster or other emergency. The Prime Minister will identify the location, selecting it from among nominations by prefectures that meet certain criteria in terms of population, economic importance and infrastructure. Japan faces a high risk of earthquakes, and for years experts and governments have been discussing the need to establish an alternative administrative center in the event of a major earthquake in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Refer a friend

The Pillar

Trial of former Broome bishop begins

By The Pillar, July 22, 2026

The criminal trial of 76-year-old Australian Bishop Christopher Saunders on historic sexual abuse charges began this week, with the bishop facing the prospect of lengthy incarceration if convicted. Saunders, who served as Bishop of Broome, Western Australia, from 1996 until his resignation in 2021, is facing 26 charges of sexual offenses against three young Aboriginal men. He denies the charges. Prosecutor Adam Ebell told the court that Saunders was sexually attracted to Aboriginal males and invited them to “alcohol-fueled” parties at Church properties across the state’s Kimberley region, Australia’s ABC News reported. The prosecutor said the dress code at the parties was “shirts off” and there was a “seemingly endless supply of alcohol and cigarettes,” bought using Church funds. The prosecutor said the dress code at the parties was “shirts off” and there was a “seemingly endless supply of alcohol and cigarettes,” bought using Church funds.

Zeale

Abortion-inducing drug found in drinking water of 3 US cities

By Elise Winland, July 24, 2026

A new study reports detecting mifepristone, an anti-progesterone drug used in chemical abortions, in water samples from three U.S. cities, raising concerns about potential harmful implications for fertility and pregnancy. The research article, “Anti-Progesterone in Environmental Water,” collected 36 water samples near Austin, Texas; Blacksburg, Virginia; and Carbondale, Illinois. In each area, they collected four upstream and four downstream samples from a wastewater treatment facility, along with four municipal tap water samples. Eight of the nine groups of upstream, downstream, and tap water samples showed significantly greater anti-progesterone activity than the lab’s baseline control samples consisting of distilled water. Individual measurements reached as high as 0.041 micrograms per liter, or 41 parts per trillion, in one sample. “Because of the importance of progesterone for human and animal health, the presence of anti-progesterone in environmental and tap water poses potential health risks,” said co-author Elise Rose.

Aleteia

When your child dreads going back to school

By Cerith Gardiner, July 27, 2026

Towards the end of every summer, there comes a moment when parents tentatively begin mentioning school again. For some children, it's all part of the excitement. They can't wait to see their friends, compare summer stories, or fill a new pencil case with freshly sharpened pencils. For others, however, the mood shifts almost overnight. A child who has been chatty and carefree all summer suddenly goes quiet whenever school is mentioned. They insist their shoes don't fit, even though they wore them perfectly happily in June, or complain of mysterious stomach aches that seem to appear whenever the conversation turns to the first day back. It is easy to put it down to vacation ending. Some are returning to classrooms where they have been bullied, while others are simply exhausted by the constant effort of trying to fit in. And for children with additional needs, the return to noisy corridors, changing routines, and sensory overload can feel overwhelming long before the school gates come into view.

ZENIT

Franciscans ask Rubio for help from persecution by Jewish settlers

By Joachin Meisner Hertz, July 24, 2026

The crisis engulfing the Holy Land is also being measured in abandoned villages, threatened schools, blocked humanitarian aid, and the gradual disappearance of communities that have inhabited the land for centuries. For Christians, the alarm is particularly acute. In the West Bank, the Franciscan leadership in the United States has publicly urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to act against the growing violence attributed to Israeli settlers targeting Palestinian Christians. The appeal followed attacks in Taybeh, the West Bank’s last entirely Christian village, where homes and vehicles were set ablaze in late June. Israeli authorities said five suspects were arrested after the attack, which reportedly left three people dead. The Franciscan concern is not isolated. Church leaders in Jerusalem have repeatedly denounced vandalism, desecration, spitting at clergy and verbal and physical attacks attributed to extremist ultra-Orthodox Jewish elements.

Share Catholic Nutshell News

Keep informed - 7/27/26 news for Catholics:

Snippets: EWTN News, Catholic World Report, & Catholic World News

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — July 27, 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.

• New Zealand’s first new Catholic cathedral in 120 years unveiled in Christchurch - By EWTN News Staff - The Diocese of Christchurch has unveiled the design of its new Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, set to become the first Catholic cathedral built in New Zealand in more than 120 years, and launched the public campaign to fund the US$46 million project.

• Catholic book clubs: Tips for building community and growing in faith - By Diego López Colín - Betania Club de Lectura Católico (Bethany Catholic Book Club) and El Carmelo Descalzo (The Discalced Carmelite) offer some recommendations for those who want to start a similar project in their parish, university, or community.

• Major restoration in Minneapolis aims to renew ‘every square inch’ of country’s oldest basilica - By Daniel Payne - The massive church, which was dedicated in 1915 and became the first basilica in the United States when it was designated as such by Pope Pius XI in 1926, has been undergoing a major restoration project since 2025.

Catholic World Report

CWR’s Columns, Analysis, & Features

Catholic World Report is a free online magazine that examines the news from a faithful Catholic perspective.

• An Educational Perfect Storm - Dr. Randall B. Smith, July 27, 2026, The 1991 “perfect storm,” made famous by the movie of that name starring George Clooney, resulted from a rare collision of three distinct weather systems that converged to create an exceptionally massive and destructive storm.

• Exploring ‘Landscapes of Grace’: On the Virtues of Wandering Around Outside Monica Seeley, July 24, 2026 - Reminiscent of a leisurely conversation with a walking companion, Landscapes of Grace takes the reader through the reasons why simply being outside is so important, with some unhurried side trips. Along the way, Gardner takes us back to his Utah childhood, and the shadow of his father looms even as he reflects on his own parenting

• Listening Without Hearing: A Critique of Synodal Study Group 9 on Homosexuality - CWR Contributors, July 22, 2026 - Nowhere in the document is there a testimony from one of the many Catholics who have lived chastely with same-sex attraction and found therein fulfillment, spiritual depth, and peace. The “listening” the Report performs is attuned only to one particular register of human “lived experience.”

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.

The high costs of the German ‘church tax’ - Phil Lawler - The bishops find themselves presiding over an enormous bureaucracy, acting as employers and managers rather than shepherds of souls. And it shows. The Archdiocese of Munich/Freising received approximately €630 million ($718 million) from German taxpayers last year. Imagine what an American diocese could do with that amount of revenue.

St. Robert Bellarmine: Father of the Poor - Dr. James Papandrea (Audio) - St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) was a man known for his generosity. He was also well known for his writings on topics of spirituality, which were widely popular and were read by both Catholics and Protestants.

Why Catholics Should Be Rooting for J.D. Vance - Peter Wolfgang - His critics are ripping him for inconsistencies, for cynically altering his worldview to match his ambitions. My reaction is just the opposite. The JD Vance that I read in Communion is the same JD Vance that I read in Hillbilly Elegy.

July 27, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Monday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

First Things

Who gets custody of the Latin Mass?

By Stephen Daisley, July 27, 2025

In any messy breakup, there are the inevitable conflagrations over custody of the kids, the dog, the vinyl collection. The parting of ways between the Catholic Church and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has certainly been messy, with the Church saying the SSPX brought it on themselves, and the SSPX accusing the Church of dumping them without justification. Talk is turning to the division of assets, specifically the Church’s greatest treasure. Who gets custody of the Latin Mass? In the 2007 apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged that young Catholics, having discovered the Extraordinary Form, “found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist, particularly suited to them.” His successor, Pope Francis, thought otherwise. The question of what to do with the Latin Mass has been bubbling away in the background of Leo XIV’s papacy.

Aleteia

Martha, rebuked by Jesus, is still a saint

By Philip Kosloski, July 27, 2026

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42). In the Gospels, Martha isn’t given the most positive profile. She does all that she can for Jesus, and somehow is “rebuked” for it? What’s really happening? One thing to note is that some translations say Mary has chosen the “better part,” while the RSV-CE names it, “the good portion.“ This is an important distinction, as “the good portion” does less to minimize the service that Martha is doing for Jesus as a host. What she is doing is still “good,” but there is something different about what her sister Mary is doing. Pope Benedict XVI explained it this way. "The human person must indeed work and be involved in domestic and professional occupations, but first and foremost needs God, who is the inner light of Love and Truth. Without love, even the most important activities lose their value and give no joy."

Our Sunday Visitor

How deeply parables of the kingdom touch us

By Father Joshua J. Whitfield, July 24, 2026

Wearied by the world, tired of it all, tired even of myself because of my sins, nonetheless, when I take a deep breath and find the silence of prayer, I find him, my hidden Lord. He comes to me; I find rest in him. Sinful, worn out, frightened, it doesn’t matter: Jesus, gentle and lowly, gives himself to me (Mt 11:29). And he comes as mercy, as peace which passes understanding (Phil 4:7). Such is the sabbath rest that is Christ himself, what we find in Christ, for “he himself is our peace” (Eph 2:14). Such is the rest without which St. Augustine said we will always be restless. Again, I think you probably grasp what I’m talking about, because you’re looking for him the same as me. Another word for it is kingdom. The sabbath rest that is Christ, the peace which passes understanding: it’s also the kingdom of God. It’s what Jesus said is “at hand” (Mt 4:17). When he announced the arrival of the kingdom, Jesus announced his own arrival.

The Catholic Thing

My hope for Christian Europe

By Kristen Ziccarelli, July 27, 2026

French existentialist Gabriel Marcel called hope “the stuff of which the soul is made.” Dante marked the entrance to Hell by its absence: Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate (“Abandon all hope, you who enter here.”) Civilizations are not often measured in terms of hope. We are more inclined to judge them by military might, political stability, or economic outputs – all of which are fair metrics, in a way. Yet at a moment when many argue that Europe and the United States are forgetting their civilizational roots and in need of a revival of faith, love, and law, there’s a deeper, lingering question: What kind of future do our people believe is possible? I have noticed how many Americans visit Europe seeking inspiration from her Christian past. Yet when it comes to the present, I have also noticed how many Americans comment that Europe appears worse off in terms of economics, the practice of the Faith, respect for life, birthrates, and optimism about the future. And yet, as true as this might be, I’ve found increasing reason for hope, not because of Europe’s institutions, economies, or politics, but because I’ve come to know her Christians.

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.}

“We see through new tender verdant pecan leaves”

Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Crux, First Things, OSV News, & Aleteia. (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

Why do monks and nuns live longer?

By Bohumil Petrík/EWTN News, July 25, 2026

The lifespan gap between monks and nuns almost disappears inside the cloister, and community life with a rule of life, scheduled prayer, and purpose contributes to successful aging. These are some of the findings of “The German-Austrian Cloister Study“ conducted by Marc Luy of the Vienna Institute of Demography at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The research project to study health, aging, and life expectancy investigated the factors of health and longevity that revealed the so-called “successful aging” — that is, a long and healthy life. The research has drawn fresh attention in Europe this month after Benedictine Brother David Steindl-Rast marked his 100th birthday on July 12. Monks and nuns resemble one another in daily regimen, nutrition, living conditions, faith, and many other aspects that influence health and longevity, the study explains.

EWTN News

Abortion count rises as women turn to chemical abortions

By Kate Quiñones, July 24, 2026

The U.S. abortion count continues to rise even as travel abortions decrease, a recent study found. The Guttmacher Institute, a data group that openly supports abortion access, documented a decrease in people leaving their own state to get abortions in other states. Instead, abortion seekers turn toward mail-order abortions, which have seen a surge in recent years. The group tracks abortions monthly, following trends “in the post-Dobbs era” since 2023, according to Guttmacher data scientist and study lead Isaac Maddow-Zimet. “In the first three months of 2026, there were 296,130 abortions as compared to 292,590 in the first three months of 2025,” data scholar Michael New told EWTN News. “This is an increase of just over 1%.” New said this fact has gone underreported.

Aleteia

After 10 years, Father Hamel’s beatification is in limbo

By Cyriac Zeller, July 24, 2026

On July 26, 2016, two Islamist terrorists slit the throat of 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel at the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. He had been close to the end of celebrating Mass. The news caused widespread shock. The day after this tragic death, on the papal flight to World Youth Day in Krakow, Pope Francis paid tribute to “this holy priest, who died in the very moment when he was offering prayer for the whole Church.” The process was opened on April 13, 2017, and the first session was held on May 20. A few weeks earlier, Father Hamel had been recognized as a Servant of God, the first stage in the process of canonization before the titles of venerable, blessed, and saint. However, the advanced age of those present during the attack made it necessary to proceed quickly. Within 22 months, the file was completed and sent to Rome. “The Church runs on its own time,” Father Vigouroux says, brushing aside concerns. “We hurried for 22 months; the moment has now come to take our time.” One reason? Aleteia reported that Spain alone has almost 3,500 cases pending.

Refer a friend

The Pillar

Prayer app leak latest in Vatican website vulnerabilities

By Michelle La Rosa, July 24, 2026

A popular prayer app connected to the Vatican, “Click to Pray,” has been leaving user information exposed for months, the most recent in a years-long string of vulnerabilities and hacks for Vatican-related websites. The app, which is available on both iOS and Android, suffers from an insecure direct object reference (IDOR) vulnerability, cybersecurity news site Dark Reading reported Friday. As a result, names and email addresses for more than 700,000 users are easily available to any web user, the site said. The app, which is used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, is run by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which is a pontifical society entrusted to the Society of Jesus. The vulnerability was first noted in January by a hacker who goes by “BobDaHacker” on his blog. BobDaHacker and Dark Reading both reported reaching out to officials at the app and the group that runs it, but said they received no response. The Vatican’s website has been targeted repeatedly by hackers in recent years, sometimes connected to political issues.

Related: OpenAI rogue incident a call to ‘do more’ as future threats loom, says Catholic AI ethics expert, by Gina Christian, OSV News, July 24, 2026

OSV News

Catholic Scouting America is a partner with Scouting America

By Kimberley Heatherington, July 24, 2026

In June, the National Catholic Committee on Scouting announced it has a new name: Catholic Scouting America, marking the organization’s 100-plus-year commitment to faith, family and adventure through the values-based lessons of Scouting — all grounded in the Catholic faith. Catholic Scouting America is a partner with Scouting America — known as Boy Scouts of America until May 2024 — so boys and girls in Catholic Scouting have access to the activities, programs, and resources that have shaped generations of American Scouts. As of 2024, there were 130,888 active Catholic Scouts and leaders in 194 U.S. dioceses and eparchies with a Catholic Committee on Scouting, and Catholic Scouting service projects provided an estimated value of $52 million in aid. In 2024, 4,575 religious emblems were awarded, including Light of Christ and Parvuli Dei for Cub Scouts, and Ad Altare Dei (for Roman Catholic Scouts), Light is Life (for Eastern rite Catholic Scouts), and Pope Pius XII.

Zeale

Opposition to Israel has become a bipartisan consensus

By Mary Rose, July 24, 2026

Support for Israel, once a rare point of bipartisan agreement in American politics, has flipped into the opposite kind of consensus, according to CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten. Enten, who anchors CNN’s regular deep dives into polling data, made the case in a July 24 segment that Israel’s decline in American public opinion has moved well past its familiar framing as a rift within the Democratic Party. “I think there are a lot of Republicans who will be able to run against these anti-Israeli Democrats once we hit the general election, because the general electorate feels very differently from the Democrat base,” Enten said. “But the general electorate — look at these numbers on Israel. There are some absolutely huge, mammoth changes, generational changes that we're talking about," Enten said. "The general electorate has turned against Israel. This is not just the left issue. It is an American issue when it comes to opinions on Israel."

PME AsiaNews

From tragedy to success: Cambodia’s remarkable HIV turnaround

By Terry Friel, July 20, 2026

Cambodia, once one of Southeast Asia’s most AIDS-ravaged countries, has transformed itself into a model of reform and compassion, becoming the first country in the region – and one of only a handful in the world – to hit every global UN HIV target. Sometimes even ahead of deadline. It is now all but certain to hit the final UN target of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 – bringing new infections down to 250 a year or less, from about 25,000 at the mid-1990s peak, in a country of 17.5 million people. It is also only the seventh country in the world – and the first outside Africa – to hit the UN 95-95-95 benchmark of 95% of people with HIV knowing they have it, are on antiretroviral therapy, and are virally suppressed – meaning they cannot spread it by sex. “This reflects the collective action and sustained efforts of Cambodia’s multi-sectoral response to HIV and AIDS, which has been in place since the early years of the epidemic,” said Choub Sok Chamreun, executive director of Cambodia’s Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance (KHANA).

Share Catholic Nutshell News

CRUX

Caritas distributing US humanitarian aid near Havana

By Andrea Rodriguez, July 24, 2026

Hundreds of boxes of humanitarian aid from the U.S. are being distributed in two towns near the Cuban capital, the Catholic Church organization in charge of the distribution said Thursday. The aid arrived this week, and its distribution began on Wednesday. It is shrouded in controversy due to the long-standing political distrust between Cuba and the U.S., and comes amid a crisis on the island exacerbated by an energy embargo imposed in January by U.S. President Donald Trump. Caritas began distributing the boxes to unspecified parishes and religious houses in the municipalities of Bejucal and Alquízar, which border Havana. Images released by the organization showed people unloading brown cardboard boxes donning the U.S. flag, while others wearing white sweatshirts with the Caritas logo handed them out to residents after checking lists and verifying their identification. Caritas could not be immediately reached for comment.

Related: Caritas Remains Active in Somalia: Apostolic Administrator on “forgotten” African Country, By Silas Isenjia - Nairobi, 24 July, 2026, ACI Africa

Keep informed - 7/25/26 matters for Catholics:

Snippets: EWTN News, aciafrica, & Word on Fire

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — July 25, 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 Lebanese-born archbishop as permanent observer to United Nations - By Daniel Payne - The Vatican is not a full member of the United Nations, but it enjoys permanent observer status. The international organization says permanent observers “have free access to most meetings and relevant documentation.” Archbishop El-Kassis has served as apostolic delegate to the Arabian Peninsula.

• New bill would protect mothers with surrogacy contracts from forced abortions - By Kate Quiñones - The ‘‘Preventing Forced Abortions Act of 2026” would prevent federal courts from forcing a woman to have an abortion because of a surrogate contract; the act also requires that surrogate mothers still be compensated.

• Catholic parents of Texas flood victims share witness to faith amid grief - By Tessa Gervasini - Blair Harber, 13, and Brooke Harber, 11, were among the victims of the Texas Hill Country flash floods that devastated parts of the state last year. “I would say after a year, itʼs almost more difficult than it has been," RJ Harber said in an interview with host Catherine Hadro on “EWTN News In Depth” alongside his wife, Annie Harber.

aciafrica

aciafrica’s top headlines — July 25, 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 words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See.

• Improved Security Has Enabled Church’s Pastoral Growth in South Sudan, Bishop Says: “You can move day and night freely” - Jul 24, 2026 - By Jude Atemanke - Improved security in South Sudan has enabled the Catholic Church to expand its pastoral ministry, said Bishop Matthew Remijio Adam of the country’s Catholic Diocese of Wau.

• Over 1, 000 Slum Residents in Kenya Receive Medical Support at Catholic Sisters’ Medical Camp - By Agnes Aineah, 23 July, 2026 - Residents of Bangladesh, an impoverished informal settlement in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa, turned up in large numbers for a two-day medical camp organized by Mother Amadea Mission Hospital, many seeking treatment for ailments that had gone unmanaged for years.

• Catholics in the U.S. Target to Double Collections for Church in Africa in Response to Aid Cuts - By Agnes Aineah - 24 July, 2026 - Bishop John Curtis Iffert who represented the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at the assembly acknowledged that the American landscape has changed, “especially around international assistance”, a situation he said has added to the burdens of local churches in Africa.

Word on Fire

Fresh insights from the Word on Fire Institute - July 25, 2026

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

Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Did Homer Much Honor - Dr. Tod Worner - July 24, 2026 - The Odyssey, to my way of thinking, stands alone. Latter-day epics may imitate or borrow, but it was The Odyssey that first captured the punishing weariness of adventure tempered by the inextinguishable hunger for home.

Boys Will Be Boys: The B. P. J. Supreme Court Decision - Henry T. Edmondson III - July 24, 2026 - Two “consolidated cases” were combined: one involved Lindsay Hecox of Idaho, the other Becky Pepper-Jackson (B. P. J.), of West Virginia. Lindsay Hecox withdrew his complaint. With the support of his mother, B. P. J. declared himself female and began hormone therapy and did not undergo puberty.

The Liturgy of the Hours in the Fabric of Life - Nell O’Leary - July 23, 2026 - If you’re not a priest or religious and curious about why and how lay people would pray the Liturgy of the Hours, welcome to my questions for the early years of our marriage.

July 25, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Feast of Saint James, Apostle

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

National Catholic Register

Should exorcists shun the spotlight?

By Jack Figge, July 22, 2026

Among today’s most popular videos and podcasts, for Catholic and secular audiences alike, are those featuring priests discussing demons. Prominent exorcists, such as Father Chad Ripperger, Father Carlos Martins and Father Dan Reehil, have gained widespread attention through frequent media appearances, often garnering millions of views. Some exorcists have even launched their own public-facing deliverance apostolates, including Msgr. Stephen Rossetti’s St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal. But while their online content generates plenty of attention, not everyone approves of these so-called “celebrity exorcists” speaking publicly about their ministry. “My major objection is that I think the traditional role of an exorcist is a very private one,” explained Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. on July 8. “It’s a sacred one.” The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recommends that dioceses keep the identity of their exorcists a secret, “so as not to overwhelm the exorcist with random calls and inquiries.”

First Things

What has happened to all the cat videos?

By Robert Bellafiore, July 23, 2025

In a simpler time, the internet was full of cats. The public that had once tuned out politics became obsessed with it, eager to inject it into everything. Making sense of this transformation from apathy to mandatory hysteria, particularly in its digital manifestations, is the largely successful aim of Anton Jäger’s Hyperpolitics, a concise study of some of the paradoxes of contemporary public life, with its variance between spirited action and helpless indolence, its gap between agitation and all-but-null achievement. Indeed, if anything, Jäger underestimates the wackiness of the political present—a wackiness perhaps always augured by the internet’s feline avatar. As Hunter S. Thompson might have said, when the going gets political, the political turns weird.

The European Conservative

The death of the Irish canon

By Declan Hayes, July 24, 2026

Today, the ‘Wandering Rocks’ episode in James Joyce’s Ulysses is being booted bag and baggage out of Ireland’s entire educational system, and this is even more farcical than were the attempts of the French Revolutionaries to supplant French Catholicism with their own pottage of the Supreme Being and their egalitarian decree to raze all church steeples because it was not egalitarian that a steeple could be higher or more aesthetically appealing than any other building. Because Ireland lacks France’s developed paganism, Irish efforts to replicate this French nightmare are just that bit clumsier and clunkier, and nowhere more obviously than where its Leaving Certificate English, history, religious studies and politics & society courses combine to groom students and teachers into replacing Joyce’s Jesuit-derived critical thinking with doublethink, as Orwell famously put it in 1984.

The Catholic Thing

Groups who broke away insisted they were the true Church

By Randall Smith, July 21, 2026

How many of these can you identify? Marcionites, Montanists, Sabellians, Donatists, Quartodecimans, Pneumatomachians, Apollonarians, Monophysites, Nestorians, Waldensians. These are all groups that broke from the Church, insisting that they were the true Church while others were somehow less pure or less faithful. Even if you could identify some or all of them, where are they now? At one point, they welcomed thousands. Now, they’re just names almost no one knows. Many of them had interesting arguments and complaints. The Donatists, for example, had a rigorous moral code. The Monophysites rejected the notion that in Christ there were two natures, divine and human. Luther was right to complain about the corruption in the Church, the misuse of indulgences, and the priority of grace. The great irony of history is not only that the number of Lutherans is decreasing, but even those who continue to attend Lutheran services have scarce regard for the writings of Luther. Plenty who left the Catholic fold proclaiming sola Scriptura, “Scripture alone,” have no more regard today for the moral authority of the Scriptures than secularists.

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.}

Fridays, "Living that coconut kinda life."

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

Read more

“The greatest thing since peanut butter & jelly”

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

Please support the following Catholic (and Catholic-friendly) news services and spiritual support sites. Today’s Catholic Nutshell News audio podcast is available on the Substack App.

Zenit

Christian presence in the Holy Land is being squeezed

By ZENIT Staff, July 22, 2026

In the Holy Land, the crisis facing Christians is no longer confined to one battlefield, one political dispute or one act of violence. It is unfolding simultaneously through insecurity, displacement, economic pressure, legal uncertainty and the slow erosion of the conditions that allow communities to remain rooted in the land where Christianity was born. In Taybeh, the last entirely Christian Palestinian town in the West Bank, the immediate fear is physical. The parish priest, Father Bashar Fawadleh, says Israeli settlers have been building what witnesses describe as a new outpost on Jabal Al-Massis, an area belonging to the town. The site lies in Area B under the Oslo arrangements, where civil administration is entrusted to the Palestinian Authority and security responsibilities are shared with Israeli authorities. The priest warns that an outpost only a short distance from homes could make daily life more dangerous, intimidate children and discourage farmers from reaching their land and poultry farms.

Related: Why 800 million Evangelical Christians stand with Israel in an age of rising antisemitism, Greg Denham, Jerusalem Post, JULY 12, 2026

Our Sunday Visitor

Catholic agency struggles amid lapse in federal funds

By Simone Orendain, July 22, 2026

A legal aid ministry of the Diocese of El Paso, Texas, that serves tens of thousands has exhausted its reserves after seven months of not receiving payment from the federal government for its program that represents unaccompanied immigrant children. “They’ve been completely depleted by the current situation,” Melissa Lopez said July 20. She is executive director of Estrella del Paso, which used to be Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, or DMRS, the provider of legal services in West Texas and New Mexico for clients mainly from Latin America. DMRS started out as a collaboration between the El Paso Diocese and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in response to the 1986 amnesty program for those in the country without authorization. The agency’s government subcontract to provide legal representation to unaccompanied minors came under a congressional mandate. The ministry originated in 1990 and was renamed Estrella del Paso in 2023.

Crux

Vatican denies rumors of Rupnik acquittal

By Christopher R. Altieri, July 22, 2026

The Vatican on Wednesday denied rumors a verdict had been reached in the Church trial of Father Marko Rupnik, a notorious former Jesuit and a celebrity artist-priest, days after rumors of the disgraced cleric’s acquittal began circulating in Rome. “Reports concerning any deliberation by the judges handling the case of Father Marko Ivan Rupnik are entirely unfounded,” reads a statement from the press office of the Holy See shared with journalists on Wednesday. The statement comes just one day after a lawyer representing five of Rupnik’s accusers released a withering critique of the Church’s efforts to provide justice in the case, complaining of procedural irregularities and impenetrable opacity. Rupnik’s victims have been waiting for years – some of them for several decades – to see justice done on their alleged abuser, who has received extremely lenient treatment from Vatican authorities and very nearly escaped justice entirely.

Related: Rupnik trial still ongoing, reports of acquittal are baseless, Elise Winland, Zeale, July 22, 2026

Related: Trial of former Broome bishop, Christopher Saunder, begins, The Pillar, Jul 22, 2026

The Pillar

Satirical youth-led ‘Cockroach movement’ supported by bishops

By Luke Coppen, July 22, 2026

India’s bishops have condemned alleged police brutality during a march in Delhi by supporters of the country’s youth-led Cockroach movement, a satirical political party in the country that has become the center of a now serious political and social conflict. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India — which represents the nation’s Latin Catholic, Syro-Malabar, and Syro-Malankara bishops — expressed solidarity July 21 with thousands of protesters who gathered in the capital in defiance of police orders to demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The demonstrators were affiliated with the Cockroach Janta Party, a parody political party founded in May in response to comments by India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant appearing to liken unemployed youth who embrace activism to cockroaches. Delhi Police have rejected allegations that they responded to the protests with excessive force. The Cockroach Janta Party exploded in popularity online after it was launched in jest by political communications strategist Abhijeet Dipke.

Share Catholic Nutshell News

Aleteia

Monastery guesthouse offers more than a hotel

By Daniel Esparza, June 23, 2025

The Santuari del Miracle is a Benedictine monastery perched in the Catalan countryside outside Solsona, in the geographic heart of Catalonia. A small community of monks from Montserrat has been running it since 1901, following the apparition of the Virgin to two young shepherds named Celdoni and Jaumet in 1458. The Miracle is quieter, smaller, and considerably less impressive than Montserrat, the great Benedictine motherhouse an hour south. The guesthouse rooms are simple. The wi-fi is intermittent. The bells ring for the Divine Office whether you are ready or not. This is what makes it worth going. A hotel organizes itself around your preferences. A monastery organizes itself around the opus Dei — the work of God, the sevenfold rhythm of prayer that has structured monastic time since Benedict codified it 15 centuries ago. As a guest, you are invited to enter that rhythm, not to impose your own.

National Catholic Register

When people say Jesus had brothers and sisters

By Kathy Schiffer, December 22, 2021

“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are his sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:3) Did Jesus have brothers and sisters? Some people think the Gospel of Mark seems to say so. And not only in the Gospel of Mark. In Luke 8:19-21, the topic comes up again. While Jesus is speaking to a crowd, someone tells him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” The Catholic Church rejects such claims — which fly in the face of the Church’s dogmatic teaching about the perpetual virginity of Mary. It’s not uncommon to refer to someone as your “brother” when there is no physical blood relationship. We Christians are all “brothers in Christ.” The term “brother” may refer to someone with whom you share a blood relationship. In the Scriptures, the same is true. The Greek term for “brother” (adelphos), may refer not only to blood relatives, but also to distant cousins or, more widely, to others with whom one shares a spiritual bond.

Zeale News

Catholic Charities sues Michigan officials for ‘religious targeting’

By Elise Winland, July 22, 2026

Catholic Charities of Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton Counties, which is in Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit June 26 accusing state officials of excluding its counseling center from two publicly funded treatment programs because of the organization’s Catholic beliefs opposing abortion and contraception. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, names Attorney General Dana Nessel and former Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel as defendants. It accuses the state of violating Catholic Charities’ constitutional rights by revoking the organization’s Cristo Rey Counseling Center’s designation as a provider of specialized substance abuse treatment for women because of its religious policies. According to the complaint, Cristo Rey had participated in the Women’s Specialty Services and Enhanced Women’s Services programs for more than a decade without complaints, failed audits, or deficiencies in the care it provided.

Share

EWTN News

Maryland parish pays public school lunch debt for entire county

By Katherine Matt, July 22, 2026

A Catholic parish in Frederick, Maryland, is putting the Churchʼs call to care for the poor into action by eliminating school lunch debt for students across the county, building on years of providing weekend meals to children in need. Since 2014, St. Katharine Drexel Parish has partnered with Yellow Springs Elementary School to provide weekend meals for students who depend on free or reduced-price lunches during the school week. Parish volunteers say the ministry grew out of a desire to ensure children would not go hungry when school was not in session. This spring, the parish expanded that outreach by donating $11,800 to Frederick County Public Schools, paying off outstanding school lunch debt for every family in the district. “We recognized that this is a bigger issue than just one elementary school,” Brian McCrohan, pastoral associate at St. Katharine Drexel Parish, told EWTN News. “With the cost of inflation and grocery budgets being stretched, families who may not qualify for free meals are still having a hard time making ends meet.”

Keep informed - 7/23/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from OSV, EWTN News, & ChurchPOP

OSV News

OSV’s seasoned reporters - July 23, 2026

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

• Violent extremist’s sentencing a call to protect kids online, says Catholic legal scholar, July 22, 2026 - by Gina Christian - The recent sentencing of a convicted online child predator to a 40-year prison term and renewed safety warnings from federal officials mark a call for parents to double down on protecting their kids in the digital sphere, said a Catholic legal scholar.

• Florida Catholic bishops urge DeSantis to stay two executions set for July 28, July 22, 2026 - by Kate Scanlon - James Duckett was convicted for the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee. Dominick Occhicone Jr. was convicted for the 1986 murder of Martha Artzner. Occhicone also received a life sentence for the murder of Raymond Artzner.

• Peru: Historic churches severely damaged following earthquakes - July 22, 2026 - by Junno Arocho Esteves - According to Peru’s National Civil Defense Institute, at least five people were killed and 32 wounded after two earthquakes measuring magnitudes of 5.1 and 3.7 struck July 18 in the Chupaca province, located roughly 186 miles east of the Peruvian capital of Lima.

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — July 23, 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.

• Young Catholics at Eastern African assembly welcome opportunity to engage directly with bishops - By Nicholas Waigwa - Young Catholics participated in the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), welcoming the opportunity to engage directly with Catholic bishops at the event, and said they appreciate the bishops’ efforts to strengthen youth participation in the life and mission of the Church in the region.

• 5 things to know about St. Bridget of Sweden, mystic and mother - By Kate Quiñones - On July 23, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Bridget of Sweden, a mystic of the Middle Ages who was a wife, mother to a large family, lady-in-waiting to a queen, and founder of a religious order that still exists today.

• House panel clashes over Delaney Hall conditions amid accounts of detainee mistreatment - By Katherine Matt - Republicans insisted reports of medical neglect, spoiled food, and blocked oversight were “false narratives,” while Democrats pointed to deaths in ICE custody and allegations of substandard care.

ChurchPOP Trending

ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - July 23, 2026

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

How a Woman Became the Apostle to the Apostles and First Witness of the Resurrection - Mary Magdalene is celebrated on July 22 — and since 2016, her day is a full feast in the Church, like the apostles. The Gospels mention her at least a dozen times, more than many apostles. She’s often identified with three women in the Gospels: Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, and the “sinful woman” who anoints Jesus’ feet.

St. Michael the Archangel Showed this Beauty Mogul Hell, Now He is a Priest… According to Fr. Borba, St. Michael showed him not only the state of his soul but its eternal trajectory. Borba says the archangel granted him an interior grace: “He then gave me the grace of looking at my soul. It was kind of like an illumination of conscience.”

One Day After Baptizing 175 People, This Young Priest Was Gunned Down - Father Crépin Martial Monga, vicar of St. John the Baptist Parish in Zémio in the Diocese of Bangassou, was a 36-year-old Catholic priest known for his peace initiatives in the Central African Republic. He was killed by gunmen just one day after baptizing 175 people.

July 23, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

Exaudi News

‘There is someone who is helping me’

By José Miguel Ponce, July 22, 2026

While millions watched the World Cup final, hanging on every play, Luis de la Fuente, manager of Spain’s national team, was experiencing one of the most important moments of his sporting career. On his shoulders rested the responsibility of leading a group of players who represented the hopes of an entire nation. But beyond the tension of the encounter, there was also an invisible dimension. Fuente said on several occasions that he tries to live his life supported by faith and trust in God. After the World Cup final, Rodrigo Hernández Cascante, “Rodri,” told the media: “I am very Christian, and I am sure that there is someone there — Helping me.” The midfielder explained that his success is not only the result of effort, but that he attributes his ability to overcome difficult moments in his career to divine help, declaring: “There is someone who is helping me from the start.” Rodri was named best player of the tournament (Golden Ball) after guiding Spain to victory against Argentina in the final.

Our Sunday Visitor

Immigrants get absorbed in the U.S. ‘Success trap’

By M. L. Kramer, June 23, 2026

Across America, Catholic neighborhoods that were once the heart of immigrant life are fading away. Parochial schools have closed, convents have emptied, and dioceses from Boston to St. Louis have consolidated parish communities that once seemed permanent. What was unimaginable only a generation ago has become almost routine. In 2010, the Diocese of Cleveland shuttered or merged 50 parishes in a single stroke. Churches that once packed the sidewalks with Corpus Christi processions and Angelus bells that echoed across entire neighborhoods because the Church held a claim on reality that society couldn’t ignore. Now they sit abandoned or half-empty, surrounded by streets their own parishioners had long since left behind. But those explanations miss the dark punchline of the situation: Cleveland’s ethnic parish system collapsed because it actually worked. The “American” parts of town didn’t feel welcoming. Consequently, the local church became the heartbeat of everything. They wanted to be 100% American.

Zeale

HHS launches AI initiative targeting chronic disease

By Elise Winland, July 23, 2026

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced July 22 that it will use artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing to accelerate biomedical research into chronic disease, pediatric cancer, and drug development. “America will lead the next generation of medical discovery by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a department press release. “We are mobilizing the nation’s best researchers to uncover the root causes of chronic disease, accelerate lifesaving breakthroughs, and help Make America Healthy Again.” According to the release, the initiative includes the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-led Bio Genesis Mission, which aims to cut in half the time it takes for scientific discoveries to reach patients.

Wild at Heart

Are you playing proof-text poker with Genesis?

By John Eldredge, July 23, 2026

We have lived for so long with a “propositional” approach to Christianity; we have nearly lost its true meaning. As Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen says, “Much of it hinges on your view of scripture. Are you playing proof-text poker with Genesis plus the Gospels and Paul’s epistles, with everything else just sort of a big mystery in between — except maybe Psalms and Proverbs, which you use devotionally? Or do you see scripture as being a cosmic drama — creation, fall, redemption, future hope — dramatic narratives that you can apply to all areas of life?” (Prism interview) For centuries prior to our Modern Era, the church viewed the gospel as a Romance, a cosmic drama whose themes permeated our own stories and drew together all the random scenes in a redemptive wholeness. But our rationalistic approach to life, which has dominated Western culture for hundreds of years, has stripped us of that, leaving a faith that is barely more than mere fact-telling.

Image of peanuts by Nicole Köhler, from Pixabay

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 services on the net. 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 the State of Colorado. Identified as a legal entity with the U.S. Treasury.}

“Here was an almond tree in bloom before me”

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

Read more

“I’ll pray for thee from my pistachio tree”

Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources are OSV News, EWTN, First Things, Big Pulpit, Aleteia, and The Pillar. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)

Read more

“Worth your weight in walnuts”

Your 5-minute daily Catholic briefing. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Crux, First Things, Zenit, & Aleteia. (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

SSPX Latin Mass folks appear to be ignoring excommunication

By Holly Meyer, July 12, 2026

For traditionalist Catholics who worship at churches affiliated with the breakaway Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), Sunday Mass now comes with an extraordinary question. Their priests and bishops have been excommunicated after the fringe movement on the Catholic right committed what the Vatican considers one of the faith’s gravest crimes: rupturing church unity by consecrating bishops without the pope’s consent. The Vatican says Catholics should stop going to the breakaway group’s worship services and activities, and that some sacraments administered by the society’s priests are illicit and invalid. Yet inside the society’s churches, normal life has largely carried on. Service in the old Latin Mass is still being celebrated, baptisms performed, camps and pilgrimages are moving forward, and some faithful say they have no intention of leaving. Several bishops in the U.S. are echoing the Holy See’s warning to the society’s faithful, urging them to switch to churches aligned with Rome.

Related: The SSPX’s unappealing canonical prospects for recourse, Ed. Condon, The Pillar, Jul 14, 2026

National Catholic Register

97-year-old ‘Living Martyr’ cardinal forgives his torturers

By Edward Pentin, July 17, 2026

Albanian Cardinal Ernest Simoni, who spent 18 years in jail for the faith, shared his advice for those facing persecution and grave suffering today, and offered encouragement to young people: “With Jesus everything is beautiful.” Arrested on Christmas Eve 1963 after celebrating a Mass for the repose of the soul of slain President John F. Kennedy, he was condemned to death by Albania’s communist regime simply for exercising his priesthood. He spent 18 years in prison. During his time in jail, he endured torture and harsh conditions, but he continued to offer the sacraments in secret and refused every attempt to make him renounce his faith or denounce the Church in what became in 1967 the world’s first “atheist state.” After his release in 1981, he was still considered an “enemy of the people” and was forced to work in mines and sewers, but he continued to exercise his priestly ministry clandestinely until the fall of the communist regime in 1990.

EWTN News

Sigrid Undset still speaks to the Church — where to start reading

By Kate Quiñones, July 19, 2026

The canonization cause for celebrated novelist and Catholic convert Sigrid Undset is expected to open its diocesan phase this fall. One of Norway’s most celebrated writers, she still speaks powerfully to the Church in a secular age through her life of faith, suffering, and intellectual depth. Undset’s life was marked by personal challenges, public controversy, and choices that drew social scandal, giving complexity to her witness to the faith. Literary historians have noted that her life was unconventional for a woman of her time: She smoked, drank, swore, and was known for a sharp tongue and strong personality. Her work reflects the suffering and turmoil she encountered in her own life as well as the transcendent faith she discovered in Christ. She became Catholic at 42 after being raised an atheist. See a list of several of Undset’s books — fiction and nonfiction — each a starting point for discovering more about the work and life of this renowned writer and possible saint.

PIMA asia news

465 deaths in Malaysian immigration detention centers since 2021

by Steve Suwannarat, July 18, 2026

465 people have died in Malaysian immigration detention centres between 2021 and 2025, including 393 men, 60 women, and 12 minors, this according to data provided in early July to the Malaysian parliament by Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail. “Horrific conditions in detention camps are responsible for needless deaths in custody. Malaysia has a legal responsibility to treat people in its custody humanely, and to provide them with prompt and adequate medical care when needed,” said Peter Bouckaert, Senior Director at Fortify Rights. Overall, since 2024, the year the campaign to control irregular immigration began, 140 deaths have been recorded in the facilities, 31 in the first six months of this year. The ministry cited deaths due to sepsis, leptospirosis, and meningitis – conditions that can be caused or aggravated by untreated infections, contaminated water, poor sanitation, and overcrowding, and which are potentially preventable or curable.

Refer a friend

The Pillar

Ontario police investigating $600,000 in missing parish funds

By Michelle La Rosa, July 16, 2026

Father David Collins, O.F.M. Conv., has served as pastor at St. John Parish in the Archdiocese of Kingston since at least 2017. On June 13, the archdiocese announced that “[a] financial issue has come to light regarding Friar David’s use of the accounts of St. John Parish.” Archbishop Michael Mulhall of Kingston said an investigation had been launched into “significant financial irregularities” that had been discovered in the parish’s accounts. A July 10 letter from the archbishop was sent to local members of the Franciscan community, with updates on the situation. “A review of all parish accounts extending back to 2019 has determined that over $630,000.00 has been taken from the parish accounts through the issuing of irregular cheques,” said the letter, which was obtained by The Pillar.

Zeale

Pro-life groups appeal ruling on ‘Black Pre-Born Lives Matter’

By Elizabeth Ervin, July 17, 2026

Two pro-life organizations are asking a federal appeals court to uphold their First Amendment right to chalk a pro-life message on a Washington, D.C., sidewalk after two advocates were arrested for doing so in 2020. The Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America (SFLA) are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reverse a district court ruling in favor of the city and remand the case for a jury trial. The lawsuit stems from the August 2020 arrest of two pro-life advocates who wrote "Black Pre-Born Lives Matter" in chalk outside a Planned Parenthood facility. According to the release, the organizations contend city officials violated the First Amendment by prosecuting the advocates while allowing other political messages, including “Black Lives Matter” street murals, on public property. "Washington officials can't censor messages they disagree with,” said John Bursch, ADF senior counsel. “The right to free speech is for everyone.”

Aleteia

‘Bible in a Year for kids’ to begin January 1, 2027

By Theresa Civantos Barber, July 19, 2026

You’ve probably heard of Fr. Mike Schmitz’s incredibly popular The Bible in a Year podcast, which quickly vaulted to the top of “most listened” podcast charts since it premiered in 2021. Now, fans of the podcast — and Catholic parents, grandparents, and educators everywhere — can rejoice in some fantastic news. Ascension is working on a new version of the Bible in a Year podcast just for kids — and this time, each episode comes with a video. Fr. Josh Johnson will host The Bible in a Year: Family Edition, launching January 1, 2027. Designed for families with children ages 7 to 12, The Bible in a Year: Family Edition tells the story of salvation through Scripture in a way that is engaging, age-appropriate, and deeply rooted in the Catholic faith. Much like the original podcast, each episode includes a Scripture reading, an age-appropriate reflection from host and Catholic priest Fr. Josh Johnson, answers to common Bible questions from children, and prayer.

ZENIT

France legalizes euthanasia: Hospitals may be forced to kill patients

By Covadonga Asturias, July 17, 2026

France has taken a decisive step toward legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide, but the country’s most consequential debate over the end of life is not yet over. The Senate rejected the measure three times, but a constitutional mechanism allowed the National Assembly to give the bill final approval without securing the Senate’s agreement. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has now referred the legislation to the Constitutional Council, which will examine several of its most controversial provisions before the law can be promulgated. Its final passage, at 291 to 241, came after years of opposition from senators, doctors, healthcare professionals, civil society groups, and religious leaders. The legislation deliberately avoids the words “euthanasia” and “assisted suicide,” opting instead for the more politically acceptable expression “assistance to die.” Father Andrea Ciucci, of the Pontifical Academy for Life, insists that helping people to live fully through the final stage of life is vital, and caretakers should not deliberately cause death.

Related: French bishops decry vote legalizing ‘assisted dying’ as ‘turning point’ in nation’s history - by Caroline de Sury, Our Sunday Visitor, July 16, 2026

Share Catholic Nutshell News

Keep informed - 7/20/26 news for Catholics:

Snippets: EWTN News, Catholic World Report, & Catholic World News

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — July 20, 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.

• 9 tips to combat pornography during summer vacation - By Nicolás de Cárdenas - Free time during summer vacation can increase the risk of falling into pornography use, but a change in routine can also become an opportunity to leave the habit behind.

• Bishops embrace proposed grant rules to restrict gender ideology, oppose migrant provisions - By Tyler Arnold - The bishops support grant rules that restrict funding for gender ideology and call for strengthening rules on abortion and religious freedom. They oppose restrictions related to migrants.

• Steubenville Youth Conference marks 50 years, reaching over a million young people - By Francesca Pollio Fenton - In 1976, Franciscan University of Steubenville held its first youth conference on its campus in Steubenville, Ohio. This summer, the Catholic university celebrates 50 years of a conference that has changed many lives.

Catholic World Report

CWR’s Columns, Analysis, & Features

Catholic World Report is a free online magazine that examines the news from a faithful Catholic perspective.

• “This constant sword hanging over”: Life as a religious minority in Pakistan - R. Cavanaugh July 19, 2026 - Blasphemy accusations in Pakistan have been a longstanding problem — one that became far worse in recent years. In 2024, there were reportedly more than 40 times as many cases as there were in 2020.

• Why the Center Cannot Hold - Deacon David H. Delaney, Ph.D. July 16, 2026 - Christendom and the moral order of nations G.K. Chesterton once remarked that “it is impossible to have a nation without Christendom; as it is impossible to have a citizen without a city.”

• Small Catholic liberal arts colleges are doomed. Unless… - Dr. Randall B. Smith - July 13, 2026 - Trouble is brewing on several fronts. A prolonged drop in fertility rates and a projected 15% decline in high school graduates between 2025 and 2037 mean a shrinking pool of traditional college-aged students. Plus, increasing skepticism among parents and students about the value of a college degree, given rising costs and rising underemployment rates among graduates.

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.

Russia attacks Kyiv neighborhood during Vatican archbishop’s stay - Russian military launched heavy missile strikes on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, on July 19. Missiles and drones struck the neighborhood of the apostolic nunciature, where Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, and members of his delegation were spending the night. “The blasts caused the building’s glass doors to shake and forced much of its staff—as well as the author of this report—to spend the night in a designated shelter.”

God favors smallness and acts in a hidden way, Pope tells pilgrims - Pope Leo XIV told pilgrims today that “God favors smallness, a sign of his discreet love, by which he leaves us free to accept or reject him.” The Pontiff made his remarks during his midday Angelus address (video), delivered at Liberty Square in Castel Gandolfo.

Be leaven that transforms society, Cardinal Czerny tells African Catholic youth - “It is not a matter of making a flashy show of ourselves, but rather of living daily lives, quietly transforming the world from within in deep communion with God and with others,” Cardinal Czerny added. “A prudent and patient approach, characteristic of God’s Kingdom, should lead us, disciples of Jesus, to develop an everyday diplomacy, building bridges among ourselves and with everyone, both within the Church and in society.”

July 20, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

First Things

Sudden death of the African Church

By D. P. Curtin, July 20, 2025

Total civilizational collapse is unusual. In the West, ­continuity exists between the Roman past and our contemporary states, despite the invasions of “barbarian” groups. Roman North Africa, a high civilization, distinctive but immersed in the broader Roman world, was the heartbeat of this civilization. The African Church today has no living ­descendant. The African Church was among the most intellectually formidable of early Christianity. The early Church found it fertile soil. Carthage gave us Tertullian and St. Cyprian, intellectual giants who helped define the orthodoxy of the emerging Church. In the time of Augustine, North Africa was a densely Christian civilization. It boasted hundreds of bishoprics, frequent synods, and a strong sense of ecclesial discipline. Vandal Arianism hollowed out the African Church from within, by targeting its leadership and the vitality of its sacramental life. The coup de grâce took place in the late seventh century with the rise of the ­Arab armies, which spilled out of the Arabian plains and into Egypt and Syria.

Aleteia

Why the prophet Elijah is celebrated on July 20

By Philip Kosloski, July 11, 2026

The prophet Elijah is celebrated by members of the Carmelite Order and many Eastern Christians on July 20. It is a feast that honors the life of the Old Testament prophet and his fiery ascent into Heaven. Elijah is revered as a saint by both Carmelites and Eastern Christians, recognizing his extraordinary holiness and faithfulness to God. Even though he lived before the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, he is still seen as a model for all Christians. Carmelites in particular look to Elijah as the official founder of their order. It is believed that a group of monks lived on Mt. Carmel after Elijah's ascent into Heaven and continued in a life of prayer following the death and resurrection of Jesus. July 20 is an ancient commemoration, likely selected because it is outside of the Lenten and Easter season, as the date of Elijah's ascent into Heaven on a fiery chariot (see 2 Kings 2:1-18).

Our Sunday Visitor

Appeal for help in ending Israeli settler violence against Christians

By Junno Arocho Esteves, July 15, 2026

Franciscans in the United States urged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to help stop increased attacks against Christians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. According to a statement released July 9, the 12 provincial ministers representing the U.S. Franciscan provinces said they received a response to their June 16 letter following the latest attack on Palestinian Christians in the village of Taybeh. “The State Department responded on June 24th, stating, ‘Our office continues to track issues of violence against Christians in Israel and the West Bank, and we take it very seriously. We appreciate the work you do to highlight these concerns,’” the Franciscans said. “Violence continues to grow unabated. The world cannot be blind to the atrocities, and we hope the release of our letter can bring greater attention and advocacy for peace to this tragedy,” said Franciscan Father Lawrence Hayes, provincial minister of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The Catholic Thing

Christianity is foolproof against nothingness

By Michael Pakaluk, July 16, 2026

Without God, all the persons in our lives, and all our goods, have no cosmic importance. Life would be “a tale, told by an idiot.” Nihilism would be justified. A hundred years from now, your spouse will be of no importance. Go out two hundred, and your child is not. Go out a thousand, and your country is not. Everything valuable is carried downward by the flood and “flies forgotten as a dream.” We know that in Christ we’re promised eternal life. But what about immunity from the loss of any good? It would be like so many other things in Christianity: with almost no effort, we can acquire great good, and all we need to do is not neglect the proffered means. Each day in Christian life, we face a situation like that of Naaman, a general of the King of Aram, who was looking to be cured of his leprosy, and all he needed to do was bathe in the river seven times. (2 Kings 5)

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.}

“We see through new tender verdant pecan leaves”

Read more

Fridays, "Living that coconut kinda life."

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

Read more

“The greatest thing since peanut butter & jelly”

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

Please support the following Catholic (and Catholic-friendly) news services and spiritual support sites. Today’s Catholic Nutshell News audio podcast is available on the Substack App.

Zenit

Becoming a monk, living in a monastery increases life expectancy

By Joachin Meisner Hertz, July 14, 2026

For decades, scientists have searched for the keys to a longer life in diets, exercise programs, supplements, and increasingly sophisticated medical interventions. Yet one of the most intriguing findings in longevity research comes not from laboratories or wellness clinics, but from monasteries. A major long-term research project known as the German-Austrian Monastery Study has found that men living in religious orders enjoy significantly longer life expectancy than men in the general population. Even more remarkably, the study suggests that the widely accepted gap between male and female longevity nearly disappears within monastic communities. Launched in 1997, the study is one of the most extensive investigations ever conducted on religious life and health. Researchers examined the lives of nearly 16,600 members of religious orders—9,569 nuns and 7,022 monks—from sixteen monasteries in Germany and Austria.

Our Sunday Visitor

Diocese demands jury trial, just compensation in feds’ land grab

By Josephine Peterson, July 15, 2026

The Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, is demanding a jury trial as it fends off the Trump administration’s move to seize a long-revered pilgrimage site for a border wall as part of Trump’s hardline crackdown on immigration. The request comes days after a June 28 pilgrimage with Bishop Peter Baldacchino leading more than 500 faithful from the dioceses of Las Cruces and El Paso, Texas, along with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, in prayer to protect the shrine. The July 6 filing is the latest in a legal battle playing out in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, with the administration seeking to take control of a 14-acre parcel that includes Mount Cristo Rey, located in Sunland Park, New Mexico. The 4,675-foot peak, capped by a 29-foot limestone statue of Jesus Christ the King, has served as a shrine for Catholic faithful for close to a century.

Crux

Amnesty International UK regrets defamation of British bishops

By Fionn Shiner, July 15, 2026

Amnesty International UK has expressed regret for releasing a report that included the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW) and many Christian and Catholic organizations on a list of “anti-rights” organizations. The report, titled A Growing Threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK, was published last week and immediately caused a furor as it also listed a sexual violence support center set up by JK Rowling in Edinburgh as being “anti-rights.” The report listed 117 organizations it said were working to undermine the rights of women and LGBT+ people. This included the bishops’ conference, Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the Evangelical Alliance UK, the Christian Institute, Christian Concern, and the Catholic Herald. The report called for the charity status of many of the organizations to be reviewed.

The Pillar

India ‘mob’ threats against Salesian Sisters

By Luke Coppen, July 14, 2026

India’s largest lay Catholic organization condemned on Monday an incident in the state of West Bengal in which a mob reportedly threatened violence against religious sisters. The All India Catholic Union said that on July 12, a group of 60 people entered a house of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Barasat, West Bengal, and demanded that they immediately demolish a memorial chapel and cemetery or face violence. The AICU alleged that the individuals involved in the incident were linked to the Hindu Jagran Manch (Forum for Hindu Awakening), a Hindu nationalist group affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an influential umbrella body. Hindu nationalist groups often frame actions against Christian groups as arising from concerns about illegal conversions, land disputes, or local conflicts, rather than as religious persecution.

Share Catholic Nutshell News

Aleteia

The ‘brown scapular’ is not a Catholic ‘lucky charm’

By Philip Kosloski, June 15, 2025

Is the brown scapular some sort of “lucky charm” that superstitious Catholics like to wear? Our Lady’s famous words seem to say so: “Take, beloved son, this scapular of thy order as a badge of my confraternity and for thee and all Carmelites a special sign of grace; whoever dies in this garment, will not suffer everlasting fire.” The Brown Scapular, a piece of brown cloth, represents a miniature of the garment or “habit” of the Carmelite order. The scapular is categorized as a “sacramental” in the Catholic Church and functions differently from a “lucky charm.” The Catholic Catechism explains, “Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it." Sacramentals can dispose us to the graces God wants to give us, but we must respond to the invitation. The brown scapular is a conduit of grace that only works if our end isn’t capped shut.

National Catholic Register

France legalizes euthanasia: Forceful push through parliament

By Solène Tadié/EWTN News, July 15, 2026

The French National Assembly gave final approval on July 15 to a bill legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide, making France one of the few European countries to legalize the practice along with Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Spain. The 291-241 vote came three years after President Emmanuel Macron, who had made it one of his key campaign promises, first opened the question to national debate. The vote ended an unusual parliamentary stalemate between the National Assembly and the Senate. Members of the National Assembly passed the bill three times over the course of 14 months — most recently on June 30 by a vote of 295 to 232 — and senators rejected it just as many times. The end-of-life law covers both euthanasia, administered by a doctor or nurse, and assisted suicide. A person must be an adult, a resident of France, diagnosed with a serious and incurable condition, in an advanced or terminal phase, and suffering in a way that current treatment cannot relieve, while remaining able to express a free and informed decision.

Zeale News

Vance blasts Israeli influence campaign ‘attacking me obsessively’

By Mary Rose, July 15, 2026

Vice President JD Vance sat down with podcast host Joe Rogan in a July 15 interview. Vance pushed back against months of criticism over his handling of talks to end the Iran war, saying there's "this very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and try to derail the deal." Asked what form the attacks take, Vance said, "Oh, it's social media posts, they're leaking to reporters – they're attacking me obsessively, saying that we should not be negotiating with Iran, that we should just keep the military campaign going indefinitely, and that is their explicit position." He said he's also faced accusations that he's influenced by Qatar and by commentator Tucker Carlson. Vance said he doesn't object to Israeli officials disagreeing with the agreement or to foreign governments trying to influence U.S. policy in general. “Fundamentally, I think we are on the right trajectory. It's just going to be really messy, and there's going to be a lot of stops and starts," Vance said.

Related: JD Vance’s Pitch for a National Reversion - Jonathan Liedl, National Catholic Register, July 14, 2026

Share

EWTN News

Haiti plunged into deepening violence: 1,200 killed by drones

By Madalaine Elhabbal, July 15, 2026

Escalating gang violence and a 120% increase in drone attacks have driven Haiti deeper into what aid officials describe as a rapidly deteriorating situation, placing the country among the top five on the International Rescue Committeeʼs 2026 emergency watch list. “Haiti is in the grip of an overwhelming humanitarian crisis,” Ciarán Donnelly, senior vice president for crisis response, recovery, and development at the International Rescue Committee, told “EWTN News Nightly” on July 15. According to Donnelly, more than 1,200 civilians are estimated to have been killed in drone attacks in Haiti this year, including 17 children. Donnelly described the drones as “small, cheap, easier-to-operate quadcopter-type drones which are fitted with explosives and then used essentially as improvised explosive devices, some of which have exploded in public areas with children around or people who are out shopping, leading to a number of fatalities.”

Keep informed - 7/16/26 news for Catholics

Snippets from OSV, EWTN News, & ChurchPOP

OSV News

OSV’s seasoned reporters - July 16, 2026

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

• USCCB urges Trump administration to ‘advance real solutions’ instead of IVF - July 15, 2026 - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other Catholic groups submitted public comments in opposition to a proposed government regulation that would expand insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization.

• Exhibit highlights St. John Paul II’s US visits, esteem for nation’s foundational documents - July 15, 2026 - The exhibit includes audio and video, photos, and artifacts from his visits, including the future pope’s trip to America for its bicentennial in 1976. The message, reaffirmed in several ways, was that Americans are blessed to have the freedoms they have. And this merged with the pontiff’s promotion of human rights.

• Chicago priest and social activist under investigation for abuse allegation he denies - July 14, 2026 - St. Sabina senior pastor Father Michael L. Pfleger had been accused of the sexual abuse of a minor — a claim the priest has “strongly denied,” said the cardinal. “The abuse is alleged to have occurred at St. Sabina more than 30 years ago,” said Cardinal Cupich.

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — July 16, 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.

• Arkansas tops 2026 religious liberty index - Arkansas is the best state at protecting religious liberty, according to the 2026 edition of First Liberty Institute's annual Religious Liberty in the States (RLS) report. Conducted by the institute’s Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy (CRCD), the report focuses on select legal safeguards of religious exercise in laws and constitutions.

• As migrant numbers in Mexico continue to fall, a priest reveals what the figures don’t tell - Official figures show a drastic drop in irregular migration in Mexico and in encounters between undocumented migrants and U.S. authorities at the U.S.-Mexican border. However, a priest who has been helping migrants for over a decade points to a reality that goes unrecorded: routes that are less visible, more expensive, and exposed to organized crime networks.

• Kenya bishop suspends 7 priests, announces new clergy accountability measures - By ACI Africa - Bishop Hieronymus Emusugut Joya of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Maralal responded to the criticism that he had frequently appealed for financial support and failed to act against priests alleged to be living contrary to their vocation or possessing property whose acquisition could not be explained.

ChurchPOP Trending

ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - July 16, 2026

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

“I Pray Every Day, Not for Results”: Spain’s Catholic Coach Leads Team into World Cup Final - “I pray every day, but not because I’m at a World Cup or because I’m trying to get a result,” he told reporters, according to ACI Prensa. For him, prayer is not a charm to win matches, but a habit of constant gratitude. “It would be unfair to ask Him to help me and not help our opponent,” he said.

Things to know about “House of David” Catholic actor Michael Iskander - On July 10, Prime Video announced the renewal of “House of David” for Season Three. Drawing over 40 million views in its first season, the David series is quickly becoming a household name. While on Broadway, Iskander was told about a series being made about King David. He immediately felt called to audition.

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the First Native American Saint - Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, also known as the “Lily of the Mohawks,” was a remarkable Native American woman and is a canonized saint in the Catholic Church. She lived in the 17th century and is revered as a symbol of indigenous spirituality, resilience, and the transformative power of faith

July 16, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

National Catholic Register

‘Forming Intentional Disciples’ changed Catholic ministry

By Zelda Caldwell, July 15, 2026

When Sherry Weddell started working in evangelization, she made a shocking discovery: Hardly any Catholics she met even knew what it meant to be a disciple. It was the defining crisis facing the Catholic Church in the West, as Weddell, a convert to the Catholic faith who grew up as an evangelical Protestant, argued in her influential 2012 book, Forming Intentional Disciples. “It really hit me that it was possible that one of the reasons all the Catholics struggled to discern is that they didn’t have a relationship with God. They were engaged and often very active, but for all kinds of other reasons.” Weddell’s discovery would inspire her work in Catholic evangelization and become the central thesis of her book. To Weddell, being a disciple, first and foremost, requires a personal relationship with God. Even many of the most dedicated parish leaders, she found, had never developed such a relationship or even known it was possible. More than 200,000 copies have become required reading among pastoral leaders in dioceses across the world.

Related: Jesus Said, “Go and Make Disciples“ By Michel Therrien, STL, STD, What We Need Now, Jul 07, 2026

Our Sunday Visitor

Finding ‘heaven in your home’

By Kimberley Heatherington, June 17, 2026

The faithful of course expect to find heaven in their parish — but what about when Mass is over? Trinity House Community, a Catholic ministry founded and managed by husband-and-wife team Soren and Ever Johnson, can help with that, promising a taste of “Heaven in your home” through formation and fellowship designed to help parents both live and pass on the faith. That inspiration — which followed a seminar in Poland where the couple met, and almost six years of offering the John Paul II Fellowship to young adult Catholics in the Washington area — came from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Paragraph 2205 to be exact: ‘The Christian family is a communion of persons — a sign and image of the communion, of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.' In 2013, the Johnsons opened the cozy Trinity House Café in Leesburg, Virginia, less than an hour’s drive outside the District of Columbia. But they weren’t done — they next wanted to take the cheerful community of the café beyond its walls.

Zeale

Lay household communities grow across Philadelphia area

By Elizabeth Ervin, July 15, 2026

A growing number of lay Catholics in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area are choosing to live in intentional household communities centered on shared prayer, faith, and daily life, according to a July 14 article from Catholic Philly. Residents said the communities help foster spiritual growth through communal living rooted in the Catholic faith. Patrick Hohenshilt, a CCYA resident, said the community exists to help young adults deepen their relationship with the Lord. “The purpose of the CCYA is to bring young adult Catholics closer to Jesus Christ,” he said, adding that it seeks to be “a witness of faith-filled Catholic community.” According to Catholic Philly, residents regularly gather for prayer, Bible studies, and Eucharistic adoration while supporting one another in both their spiritual lives and daily responsibilities. “Faith witness is contagious,” Hohenshilt said, “which means being intentional about the space you are cultivating and communicating to others allows for others to be in the presence of faith-filled conversations which breed Catholic joy.”

Wild at Heart

God granted humans and angels the dignity of causation

By John Eldredge, July 16, 2026

One of the most crippling convictions among believers today is the idea that everything that happens is God's will. It is a poisonous belief that will destroy your confidence in God; you will end up believing terrible things about him. The news report about a pack of teenage boys who repeatedly raped a little girl with Down syndrome. That is the will of God??? Listen very carefully. The Bible makes it perfectly clear that God never causes anyone to sin: “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers” (James 1:13–16). Remember — we live in a world where God has granted to human beings and to angels the dignity of causation, the dignity of making things happen. You get to make things happen, just as God does.

Related: The theology of Causality in the Catholic Church, by Michael J. Dodds O.P., St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology, February 23, 2023

Image of peanuts by Nicole Köhler, from Pixabay

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 services on the net. 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 the State of Colorado. Identified as a legal entity with the U.S. Treasury.}

“Here was an almond tree in bloom before me”

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

Read more

“I’ll pray for thee from my pistachio tree”

Your 5-minute Catholic briefing for busy faithful. Today's sources are OSV News, EWTN, First Things, Big Pulpit, Aleteia, and The Pillar. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)

Read more

“Worth your weight in walnuts”

Your 5-minute daily Catholic briefing. Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Crux, First Things, Zenit, & Aleteia. (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

‘Death with dignity’ is a siren call: It leads to disaster

By Charles Collins, July 12, 2026

“No one is trying to kill you. You are in the hospital in Nottingham. We are here to help you.” These are the words I heard almost exactly three years ago in Nottingham City Hospital, just after I had a pacemaker installed. The medical practitioner was responding to me after I said, “Just go ahead and get it over with. Kill me. I am tired of waiting around for it.” I am not too proud to admit that I was convinced they really were trying to kill me. In early May of 2023, you see, I had a massive, severe cerebral hemorrhage stroke – that’s the technical term for it – and an unusual one. I think about this because assisted suicide is again being debated in England, where I have lived for a decade. Supporters of assisted suicide often argue that it allows people to “die with dignity.” The main group supporting the proposed legislation is called the Campaign for Dignity in Dying. There is no such thing, not as the proponents of this bill imagine it – God help them – or say they do, as they take a beautiful word for a necessary thing, and turn it into a siren call.

National Catholic Register

Café Catholicism: Parishes are upping their coffee game

By Matthew McDonald, July 12, 2026

Salvation through coffee? Not quite. But at Our Mother of Sorrows Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, opening a coffeehouse, Holy Grounds, on the first floor of a former convent in 2016 was one of many decisions that helped turn it around. Coffee and doughnuts in the parish hall after Sunday Mass has been commonplace at Catholic churches in America since at least the 1940s, but in recent years some parishes have stepped up their approach, offering a cut-above coffee in a dedicated space with regular hours. For parish coffeehouses, quality is key, say those who run them. “It’s got to be excellent. We’ve got to get past this, like, ‘If it’s the church, it’s okay to be mediocre.’ Like, that has to die,” said Father Keith O’Hare, pastor of St. Louis Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia, which in March 2021 opened Little Way Café in an 1888 wooden former one-room schoolhouse.

Related: A Lebanese Maronite Priest Introduced Coffee to Christendom, Solène Tadié, National Catholic Register, July 13, 2026

EWTN News

National Pilgrimage inspires wave of priestly & religious vocations

By Katherine Matt, July 13, 2026

Forty‑five young adults have served as perpetual pilgrims (vowed consecrated virgins) since the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage began in 2024, and organizers told EWTN News that 26 of them are discerning or pursuing consecrated life. “Being around the Blessed Sacrament all the time and just having that time of really close intimacy with him,” said Cheyenne Johnson. She said the experience strengthened her discernment of a call to religious life. It “was a very important time for me to continue to pray and see if he was still calling me.” Johnson said the opportunity to spend weeks with priests, religious sisters, and fellow pilgrims living out different vocations helped her recognize where she experienced the deepest peace. Organizers noted that eight of the men discerning the priesthood were already seminarians during their pilgrimage and continue to feel called to the priesthood.

PIMA asia news

Singapore marriages fall to a decade low, but …

By Joseph Masilamany, July 13, 2026

Fewer Singaporeans are getting married, with the city-state recording its lowest number of marriages in nearly a decade outside the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet a new government survey suggests those who do marry remain overwhelmingly satisfied with their relationships. The findings, released on 10 July by Singapore’s Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), paint a nuanced picture of family life in one of Asia’s most affluent but rapidly aging societies. A total of 24,688 marriages were registered in 2025, down 6.2% from 26,328 in 2024. It was the third consecutive annual decline post-pandemic. At the same time, the number of divorces and annulments also fell. A total of 7,242 marriages ended in divorce or annulment in 2025, down 1.9% from the previous year. Couples married between five and nine years accounted for the largest share of marital breakdowns.

Refer a friend

The Pillar

Catholic support critical in Venezuela earthquake aftermath

By Edgar Beltrán, July 10, 2026

Caritas Venezuela has received more than 14,700 tons of humanitarian aid for victims of the June 24 earthquakes, according to a July 7 announcement from the humanitarian arm of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference. More than two weeks after twin earthquakes struck Caracas, the country’s capital, and the nearby city of La Guaira, relief efforts have shifted from search and rescue to recovery and care for those affected, with Caritas Venezuela at the helm of much of the response. Official figures put the death toll at more than 4,000, with tens of thousands more unaccounted for, more than 17,000 people left homeless, and nearly 1,000 buildings partially or totally destroyed — numbers that are rising by the day, as assessment of the damage continues. Caritas Venezuela said it had already distributed 61% of the aid it has received, with the remainder still in stock. Water made up the largest share of the distribution, at 4,031 tons.

Related: Caritas, Catholic youth lead flood emergency response in Bangladesh, By Stephan Uttom Rozario, CRUX, July 11, 2026

Denver Catholic

Archbishop Golka’s pastoral guidance on SSPX: Refrain & pray

By Archbishop James Golka, July 5, 2026

“As your shepherd, I have a responsibility to provide clear guidance. Out of care for souls, I must instruct the faithful of the Archdiocese of Denver to refrain from participating in the activities of SSPX in any location, including these locations within our archdiocese: St. Isidore and Annunciation Chapel Society of St. Pius X. I know this news will be difficult for some who sincerely love the Church and have been drawn to SSPX. I encourage all the faithful to remain rooted in parish life, the celebration of the sacraments, and unity with the Holy Father. If you know individuals involved with SSPX, accompany them through this with charity, patience, and prayer, always reflecting the love of Christ. Laity involved with the SSPX community who wish to worship Christ in communion with the Church are welcome in any of our parishes.”

Aleteia

Unique Catholic university doubles its footprint

By Theresa Civantos Barber, July 13, 2026

One of the only Catholic universities dedicated to the creative arts just doubled the size of its campus in an exciting milestone. John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, California, was founded to bring a Catholic perspective to media and creative arts. “The creative arts were something that the Church totally dominated in the Middle Ages [and] the Renaissance,” said the university’s founding president, Derry Connolly, Ph.D. But today? “It’s not very clear that the Church has any great influence on the arts.” Since 2003, the university has sought to prepare entrepreneurs and experts in communications media and the creative arts to evangelize the culture. A new Creative Arts Complex in downtown Escondido will more than double the university’s academic footprint — and the $8 million project represents a significant investment in the university's ongoing work of revitalizing the town. The former home of Johnson Furniture and Sears Roebuck will host community events, outdoor performances, and other events open to the community.

ZENIT

Europe’s secular future still bears the imprint of Faith

By ZENIT Staff, July 9, 2026

For decades, Europe has often been portrayed as the world’s most secular continent, where church attendance has steadily declined, and religious practice has become increasingly private. Yet new research argues that focusing only on empty pews overlooks a deeper reality: religion continues to shape Europe’s economy, institutions, and public life in ways that remain remarkably influential. That is the central conclusion of a comprehensive review published by the Berlin-based Rockwool Foundation. Drawing on centuries of economic research from around the world, the study argues that religion continues to influence prosperity not simply through worship, but by shaping education, family life, savings habits, social norms, and the institutions that guide public policy. In Sascha Becker’s view, religion remains significant because it has shaped—and continues to shape—the norms and institutions of public policy. Becker is one of the authors of the report: Religion and Economic Growth: What We Know and Why It Matters.

Share Catholic Nutshell News

Keep informed - 7/13/26 news for Catholics:

Snippets: EWTN News, Catholic World Report, & Catholic World News

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — July 13, 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 to launch exhibit on water at the Vatican Library - By Ishmael Adibuah - The exhibit “AQVA Catastrophe and Wonder” will include artwork highlighting a “reflection on water as both a threat and a resource,” according to a July 12 press release from the library.

• A month of married saints: July brings feast days of holy husbands and wives - By Francesca Pollio Fenton - Throughout July, the Church celebrates the feast days of several holy husbands and wives whose lives continue to inspire Catholic families today. They include Blessed Joseph and Wiktoria Ulma, martyred for hiding Jewish families from the Nazis.

• Lebanon’s Christians fear sovereignty will be traded in regional diplomacy - By Romy Haber - Maronite patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai expressed hope that the ongoing negotiations between Lebanon and Israel would lead to a true, just, comprehensive, and lasting peace — but Christians there fear their country’s sovereignty may be at stake.

Catholic World Report

CWR’s Columns, Analysis, & Features

Catholic World Report is a free online magazine that examines the news from a faithful Catholic perspective.

• The mind of Christ and the limits of human logic - James V. Schall, S.J. - The basic answer at the heart of all human issues is how we stand with God. If we put God first, not ourselves, we will love others and make their lives our own. If we put ourselves first, we will repeat the history of humanity, which fashions our relations to others in terms of power and struggle, intent on protecting oneself, not on giving oneself.

• American Babylon: Place of Grace and Exile - David Paul Deavel, July 11, 2026 - This month, Americans celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. Many Catholics who love both God and country will resonate with the words of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus in his last book. In it, he wrote, “When I meet God, I expect to meet him as an American.”

• The Magnifica Humanitas case for an under-16 social media ban - Matthew Becklo, July 9, 2026 - On June 15, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced a social media ban for children under 16 in Britain. Beginning in early 2027, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, X, and other similar platforms will be prohibited for kids. England isn’t the first country to take this measure.

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.

The Scariest Thing I Heard at the ADF Summit - Peter Wolfgang - As I listened to the stories of ADF’s many clients this week, I found myself thinking time and again, “How did it come to this? Doesn’t every American believe in these things and want to defend them?” Sadly, no. It now often happens that freedoms that we thought were sacrosanct have only been preserved because ADF won a battle for us in the courts.

Human reality remains: AI is just another tool - Dr. Jeff Mirus - Some who are interested in artificial intelligence tend to conflate AI with weird theories of transhumanism. More commonly, however, the challenge is simply to prudently discern where AI machinery can be made to work well, providing speed and precision and, even once developed, an economy in performing some tasks that human persons cannot match. We must remember that AI is not really intelligence; it cannot replace the spiritual intellect and will that make us human.

St. Robert Bellarmine: Prince of Apologists - At the height of the Counter-Reformation, St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) was one of the most influential apologists of the time. He openly debated King James I of England, and his most famous book of apologetics was outlawed in England, yet it still became a bestseller. He was also responsible for an updated translation of the Vulgate, which became the Church’s official Latin Bible for centuries.

July 13, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE — or read HERE:

Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Leave a comment

Today’s Catholic commentary:

Aleteia

The world’s largest rosary is taking shape in Lebanon

By Cerith Gardiner, July 13, 2026

The extraordinary Rosaire du Liban, or Rosary of Lebanon, rises in the hills of Deir el Ahmar. At approximately 2,000 feet long and featuring 59 enormous concrete beads, this remarkable project takes one of the Catholic Church's most familiar devotional objects and transforms it into a landscape pilgrims can actually walk through. And yes, it is described as the world's largest rosary. According to The Beruiter, the project has been years in the making, with roots stretching back to a "spiritual encounter" a young Lebanese man reportedly had in Medjugorje in 2006. Inspired by the idea of creating a place dedicated to Mary and prayer, the vision eventually developed under the Lebanese Maronite Order, with work on the rosary project beginning in 2008. Descriptions of the project give the dimensions of individual beads as 4.9 meters by 3.5 meters — 16 by 11 feet.

Our Sunday Visitor

A baseball rosary found its way to Pope Leo XIV

By John Knebels, July 10, 2026

About two weeks after what he calls the most surreal moment of his life, Kevin Workman remains in awe. That’s no embellishment. After all, imagine being a humble non-celebrity living a quiet life as a devoted family man and suddenly realizing that Pope Leo XIV actually knows your name and possesses something you created just for him. “It’s just amazing,” Workman told OSV News. “Absolutely blown away.” Seven years ago, Workman began making rosaries as a hobby, giving them away at his parish, St. Peter’s, on the southeast side of Fort Wayne. He later expanded his craft by learning to make wire rosaries and eventually began selling them online, where Notre Dame fans became some of his most devoted customers. “Catholic Athletes for Christ” commissioned Workman to create a Chicago White Sox-themed rosary intended specifically for the pope. On June 24, Workman’s meticulously completed work reached the Vatican through a visit by former Chicago White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

First Things

Anti-wokeness: An obituary

By Matthew Schmitz, July 13, 2025

During Barack Obama’s presidency, several political movements arose that were to define America long after he had left the scene. The first was organized around a new view of sexual assault, enshrined in the 2011 “Dear Colleague” letter sent by the Obama administration to universities. The next was Black Lives Matter, which erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. Its indulgence of violent unrest against what was understood to be an inherently racist system would reach a crescendo in 2020. Then came transgender rights in the wake of Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court decision that declared a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Along with the FBI launched “Crossfire Hurricane.” This initiative signaled a new political aggressiveness from Western intelligence agencies, which would work with tech companies to suppress disfavored speech. Critics came to refer to this combination of causes as “wokeness,” an overweening progressivism. Now, as a coherent movement, anti-wokeness has ceased to exist.

The Catholic Thing

The depravity & demonic cruelty inflicted upon Albanian believers

By Msgr. Charles Fink, July 5, 2026

Hoxha, the “Supreme Comrade, Sole Force and Great Teacher,” after taking power in 1945, winning the Albanian “election” with an implausible 93% of the vote – his Communist Front was the only party allowed to stand – began immediately to persecute all religions, but attacked the Catholic Church with particular ferocity, alleging that it was a foreign and disloyal entity. Priests, bishops, and many laypeople were arrested, sent to work camps and prisons, tortured, and denounced. At one point, it is estimated that a third of Albanians were spied upon by their government, making Albania the world’s first true total surveillance State. Christ’s warning that children would betray their parents and parents their children came true; the possession of Bibles or religious images, if seen in the house, would lead to arrest and imprisonment. In 1967, Hoxha declared Albania to be “the world’s first atheist State.”

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.}

“We see through new tender verdant pecan leaves”

Read more

Fridays, "Living that coconut kinda life."

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

Read more