Catholic Nutshell News: Friday 3/27/26
Topics include: Political parties deeply split on moral issues; 'no more appetite for wars’; Schools to show fetal development; & Hegseth prays ‘against those who deserve no mercy’
Fridays, "Living that coconut kinda life."
Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, OSV News, ACIAfrica, CatholicVote, Zeale, & Aleteia. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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Zeale
Americans, political parties deeply split on moral issues
By Hannah Hiester, March 26, 2026
Americans are divided on the morality of issues such as homosexuality, pornography, and abortion, and opinions are even more polarized between political parties, according to a March 19 Pew Research Center report. Pew found that 52% of Americans say viewing pornography is morally wrong, while 15% say it is morally acceptable and 32% say it is not a moral issue. Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to object to pornography on moral grounds (65% vs. 39%). A similar pattern emerges on the issue of abortion. Forty-seven percent of Americans say having an abortion is morally wrong, and 21% say it is morally acceptable. About three in 10 say abortion is not a moral issue. Abortion is the issue Republicans feel most strongly about in the survey: 71% say having an abortion is morally wrong. However, only 24% of Democrats share this view. Overall, 53% of Americans say other Americans are immoral or unethical, a trend that Pew noted was not found in other countries that it surveyed.
aciafrica
‘The world has no more appetite for wars’: Nigerian Catholic scholar
By Agnes Aineah, March 26, 2026
A leading Nigerian scholar has described war as “a deep spiritual and moral crisis” that the world no longer has “appetite” for. In his inaugural lecture on Monday, March 23, at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, Fr. Stan Chu Ilo, a Senior Research Professor at the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, DePaul University, made “a personal appeal” to leaders in war-torn countries to embrace peaceful ways to end their conflicts, warning that “war never ends even after the bombing has stopped.” “As someone who was born after the three-year civil war in Nigeria that killed more than one million, mainly Igbo Easterners of Nigeria, between 1967 and 1970, I tell you friends that war never ends even after the bombing has stopped,” Fr. Stan said at the lecture he delivered at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family
CatholicVote
South Dakota’s pro-life laws: Schools to show fetal development
By Hannah Hiester, March 23, 2026
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, a Republican, signed a wave of new pro-life legislation on March 20 to clarify the state’s existing abortion law, classify providing abortion tools to pregnant women as a felony, and require schools to show students a video depicting fetal growth and development. While he signed the bills at a pregnancy resource center in Sioux Falls, Rhoden said that the legislation would help “strengthen South Dakota’s pro-life laws,” according to South Dakota Searchlight. The state already has near-total pro-life laws under a trigger law that took effect after the U.S Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The only exception in which abortion is permissible is situations where the mother’s life is endangered. The new laws add to the current regulations by making it a felony to provide or procure an abortion for a “pregnant person” — updating the law’s original language, which had said “pregnant female.”
National Catholic Register
What ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ gets right about love
By Brendan Towell, March 6, 2026
As the film unfolded — quiet, aching and unexpectedly funny — I found myself missing my wife in a way that was not sentimental, but very real. When I got home, it was one of the first things I wanted us to do together: sit down and watch it side by side. That instinct turned out to be telling because The Ballad of Wallis Island is not simply a meditation on loneliness, creativity, or finding one’s voice. It is a film about love that has been lost, love that has endured, and love that is still possible — all while differentiating the delicate moral difference between remembering and clinging. I have no evidence that the British filmmakers and writers behind the film (comedians by trade) set out to craft a work ripe for Catholic theological reflection. But theologians have long been trained to both look for and listen for what the Tradition calls the semina verbi: seeds of the Word scattered beyond the boundaries of stereotypical church settings.
EWTN News
Catholic groups offer aid, shelter to displaced people in Lebanon
By Tyler Arnold, March 27, 2026
Catholic organizations in the Middle East are helping provide aid, food, and shelter to people in Lebanon displaced by the ongoing military conflict. Some remain concerned that a possible full-scale invasion by Israel could exacerbate the crisis. Lebanon was pulled into the regional conflict when Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters launched missiles into northern Israel and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) returned fire in their strongholds, primarily southern Lebanon. Monalisa Freiha, associate editor and deputy editor-in-chief at An-Nahar Al Arabi, spoke to “EWTN News Nightly” on March 26 with concerns for Lebanese people, saying they “did not choose this war” and “are not part of the decisions that led to this war.” Israeli forces launched incursions into southern Lebanon to establish a security zone near the border, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 25 that it would move deeper into Lebanon to expand this zone. Hezbollah fighters are scattered throughout the region
The Pillar
Knanaya Catholic marriage rules dispute heads to supreme court
By Luke Coppen, March 26, 2026
The Syro-Malabar Archeparchy of Kottayam said March 23 that the high court judgment was unacceptable and it intends to appeal against it, because the ruling contradicted “the traditions, customs, and procedures followed for centuries” by the Knanaya Catholic community. The archeparchy, founded in 1911, is solely for Catholics belonging to the Knanaya people, an ethnic group tracing its origins to Jewish Christians who migrated from Mesopotamia to India in the 4th century. Membership in the archeparchy is determined by birth into a family with a Knanaya Catholic father and mother. Membership is linked to family lineage; young Knanaya Catholics are expected to marry someone within the same community, a norm known as strict endogamy. If they wed a Catholic from another diocese, they relinquish their membership in the archeparchy. A 181-page judgment by the Kerala high court, issued March 23, dealt a blow to the norms of the archeparchy, which has around 191,000 members and is based in the southern Indian state.
CRUX
Hegseth prays for violence ‘against those who deserve no mercy’
By Tiffany Stanley, March 26, 2026
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, hosting his first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, prayed Wednesday to have “every round find its mark. Every month it is fitting to be right here,” he told the gathered civilian employees and uniformed military personnel. “All the more fitting this month, at this moment, given what tens of thousands of Americans are doing right now.” He added, “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” Hegseth frequently invokes his evangelical faith as head of the armed forces, depicting a Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes with military might. “I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed,” he read from the Psalms. Ronit Stahl, author of “Enlisting Faith: How the Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion and State in Modern America,” said referring to God in broad language is not unusual in this context. “But the shift towards the specificity of Jesus Christ and therefore Christianity, and in Hegseth’s case, a particular form of Protestant Christianity, is new.”
OSV News
Vatican ‘unequivocally’ condemns slavery, countering UN
By Gina Christian, March 26, 2026
The Vatican’s top diplomat to the United Nations condemned modern and historical slavery — while countering what he called a “partial narrative” in a newly adopted U.N. resolution denouncing the transatlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity.” The resolution also called for reparations by member states to affected nations. This year, the international observance saw the passage of a resolution led by Ghana — one of several modern African nations from which millions of enslaved people were transited — declaring “the enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity.” Archbishop Caccia, who Pope Leo recently appointed the next papal ambassador to the U.S., noted that the U.N. resolution “contains a partial narrative,” one that “regrettably, does not serve the cause of truth.” The UN charged the Vatican as part of a “progressive codification of the racialized chattel enslavement of Africans across the world.” Argentina, Israel, and the U.S. voted against the resolution, while 123 favored and 52 abstained.
Big Pulpit, EWTN News & Loop for 3/27/26
Big Pulpit
Tito Edwards Catholic site: March 27, 2026
The Big Pulpit website is a news aggregator that gathers quality insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide.
Pope Leo Urges Generosity With Latin Mass – Taylor R. Marshall, Ph.D., at Canterbury Tales
Uncovering the Christian Past: New & Notable Books – Mark Bauerlein at First Things
Did You Know That There’s a Hidden Art Workshop in the Vatican? – Rome Reports
We Live In ‘The Information State’ – Rod Dreher at Rod Dreher’s Diary
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — March 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.
Remembering the ‘shenanigans’ at Mother Angelica’s first vows - By Mary Farrow - If you picture a nun’s first profession of vows, you probably picture a serene, peaceful affair with the sisters singing harmoniously and everything running joyfully and smoothly. However, the day of Mother Angelica’s first vows was anything but.
From shepherd to commander: ‘House of David’ Season 2 released globally - By Francesca Pollio Fenton - The second season of the new hit series “House of David” will be released globally on Prime Video on March 27. The new season picks up where the last one left off — the battle against the Philistines after David kills Goliath.
Finnish court finds Christian parliamentarian guilty of ‘hate speech’ - By Madalaine Elhabbal - The Supreme Court of Finland has acquitted Päivi Räsänen over her 2019 Bible verse tweet and found her guilty of hate speech over a pamphlet she wrote more than 20 years ago.
Zeale / Loop / CatholicVote
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.
ROUNDUP: IRAN WAR DAY 27 - President Donald Trump yesterday announced a further delay of 10 days before he would order strikes on Iran’s energy hubs, saying his talks with Iran are “going very well.” Meanwhile, diplomats from mediating states in the Middle East reportedly believe Trump is “leaning” toward ordering a ground invasion of Iran. READ
TOP OLYMPICS AUTHORITY PROTECTS FEMALE ATHLETES - Male athletes who identify as “transgender women" can no longer compete in female events at the Olympics thanks to a new International Olympic Committee policy announced yesterday. The historic move brings an end to years of controversy over the practice of letting men beat out women athletes on the world’s biggest stage. READ
NYTIMES REPORTS DRAMATIC IMMIGRATION SLOWDOWN UNDER TRUMP - Immigration rates dropped in every U.S. metropolitan area from July 2024 to July 2025 compared with the previous year, marking a nationwide slowdown after years of elevated immigration, according to an analysis published by The New York Times. Here are the numbers. READ
Nutshell reflections for 3/27/26:
USCCB Daily Reflection: AUDIO - March 27, 2026
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Catholic365
Don’t hide Jesus
By Marianne Giltner, March 27, 2026
Don’t hide Jesus. Don’t hide “yourself” or teach your children to hide Him either. Just a note, you “can’t”. He is everywhere. He walks with every created Soul He makes, beside the shadow of our very being. It is only when we let the Light within us shine that He is felt and seen. So many people are walking around searching. Searching for that Light of Jesus. When we acknowledge Him, whether it be in public or even just to our own souls, He breaks through. He breaks through that muck that the world and our own sins have muddied. He washes us clean. In His presence, we are renewed by that cleansing that He so mercifully and lovingly gave to us on that cross. He did not hide His love for us as He carried that heavy cross. Our Blessed Mother united Herself with Him. Not hiding Her faithfulness and trust in Her Son, who was so cruelly treated.
Catholic Weekly
George Weigel: The Donatist comeback
By George Weigel, March 27, 2026
My Lenten reading has included an interesting, if somewhat odd, book about the greatest of the Latin Fathers of the Church: Augustine the African, by Catherine Conybeare, a philologist currently teaching at Bryn Mawr College, in Pennsylvania. The oddity is that Professor Conybeare quite misses the crucial importance of the Donatist controversy in which Augustine was embroiled for decades. If Donatism had prevailed, the Church’s entire sacramental economy, as Catholicism conceives it, would have been wrecked (because of the Donatist claim that only sinless ministers could celebrate valid sacraments); the efficacy of divine grace would have been denied (because sin, in the Donatist view, could cancel the effects of baptism); and Christianity would have been reduced to a small sect of the sinless and perfect, rather than a communion of saints and sinners in which the divine mercy, always available to the penitent, is stronger than Satan, evil, and sin.
Aleteia
Why people turn to God with age (Not what you think!)
By Cerith Gardiner, March 27, 2026
There’s a slightly cynical explanation people like to give when it comes to faith and age. People turn to God later in life, they say, because they’re getting closer to death. It sounds very convenient, but it doesn’t quite ring true. What actually happens is far more interesting and far more human. As the years go by, something shifts, not out of fear, but out of experience. Life has been lived, things have been seen, and slowly, almost without noticing, faith begins to make more sense. With time comes perspective, and with perspective comes the ability to look back and connect the dots. People begin to recognize how much has been given, and how much could easily have been otherwise. Not everything can be controlled, and not everything needs to be. For many people, this is not a loss, but a relief. Over time, relationships tend to become fewer but more meaningful. With age, people often become less concerned with having everything figured out.
Bishop Barron
‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’
By Bishop Robert Barron, March 27, 2026
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jewish leaders attempt to stone Jesus because he claimed to be the Son of God. He defends his identity, saying, “If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” At the Last Supper, Jesus would further explain his intimate relationship with the Father. There he lays out for us the co-inherence that obtains at the most fundamental dimension of being—that is to say, within the very existence of God. “Master,” Philip said to him, “Show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Though Father and Son are truly distinct, they are utterly implicated in each other by a mutual act of love.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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