Catholic Nutshell News: Friday 7/10/26
Catholics should know: Rubio back to the Vatican; Stained glass windows; Southern dioceses experiencing rapid growth; & Leo and lay governance
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)
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Zeale News
Rubio speaks with Vatican about escalation of Russia-Ukraine war
By McKenna Snow, July 9, 2026
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on July 9 with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia and efforts to achieve peace. “The two leaders discussed efforts to achieve a negotiated end to the Russia-Ukraine war,” U.S. Secretary of State spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a July 9 statement. No additional details were provided. The war in Ukraine saw a dramatic surge of violence earlier this month when Russia launched a missile and drone attack overnight, killing at least 21 people and injuring more than 80 in Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials, as Zeale News reported. This attack marked one of Russia’s largest combined missile and drone attacks since the war began, according to the report. More than 52,000 people sheltered overnight in Kyiv’s metro system the night of July 1 following a warning from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to seek shelter ahead of impending Russian strikes.
OSV News
Women harmed by abortion pill push for suit on FDA policy
By Kate Scanlon, July 9, 2026
Ahead of an upcoming hearing on his nomination to lead the Department of Justice, a national pro-life group urged Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche to side with states challenging a federal policy permitting Mifepristone, sometimes called the abortion pill, to be dispensed through the mail. Pro-life groups have objected to court filings by the DOJ asking courts to dismiss or pause state lawsuits to roll back the Biden administration’s eased restrictions on Mifepristone. The Trump administration has thus far left that regulation in effect while the DOJ has sought to block those challenges, notably in Louisiana. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, alongside Rosalie Markezich, who said she was coerced into taking abortifacient drugs by her then-boyfriend, previously sued the FDA over the policy permitting mifepristone to be distributed by mail.
Aleteia
Why churches have stained glass windows
By Philip Kosloski, July 7, 2026
Light is a common spiritual theme in Christian theology. In Genesis, God’s first words at creation were, “Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good” (Genesis 1:3-4). Jesus even went so far as to identify himself with light, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). With this in mind, it was fitting for Christians to spend much time and energy developing the design of windows in churches. Windows funnel sunlight and dispel the darkness of shadows. Architects saw them as the perfect opportunity to highlight a spiritual truth while serving a functional purpose. However, stained glass windows as we know them today were not developed until the 10th century. Prior to that, the Egyptians and Romans had developed a technique for creating small colored glass objects, but did not use it for large-scale windows. The oldest surviving complete stained-glass window is in the Augsburg Cathedral in Germany.
National Catholic Register
Southern Dioceses and the challenges of rapid Catholic growth
By Gigi Duncan, July 9, 2026
On a typical Sunday morning in parts of the Southeastern United States, the challenge facing Catholic parishes is not finding enough people to fill the pews — it is finding enough space for everyone who shows up for Mass. In fast-growing communities, churches are implementing additional Masses, opening overflow areas, and, in some cases, livestreaming liturgies for parishioners who cannot fit inside the sanctuary. In the Archdiocese of Atlanta alone, diocesan officials report that 30% of parishes have at least one weekend Mass at or above capacity. Parking lots fill early. Fellowship halls become temporary liturgical spaces. Parish buildings designed for a smaller Catholic presence are being asked to serve communities that have expanded far beyond their original expectations. That reality stands in stark contrast to much of the Northeast and Midwest, where many dioceses have spent the last several years navigating parish mergers, school closures and diocesan restructuring in response to declining Catholic populations.
EWTN News
Irrationality and cruelty: Characteristics of Nicaragua’s dictatorship
By Walter Sánchez Silva, July 10, 2026
Forced to leave Nicaragua in April 2019 for defending protesters opposing the regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, during a crackdown that left more than 350 people dead, exiled Auxiliary Bishop Silvio Báez of Managua decried the “irrationality” and “cruelty” of the countryʼs dictatorship. “One of the most tragic characteristics of this dictatorship is its irrationality. Along with that irrationality is cruelty. But the irrationality of this system is shocking,” Báez said in an interview with the Nicaraguan newspaper Confidencial. On April 18, 2018, in response to the brutal repression unleashed by the dictatorship, he had said: “I call upon Daniel Ortega and his wife to stop the violence and repression … For the sake of Nicaragua, be sensible!” The bishop said this message “has become even more relevant today. I would repeat it to their faces, the very same thing I told them eight years ago: Be sensible!”
National Catholic Reporter
Indian nuns help over 1,000 orphaned children
By George Kommattam, July 9, 2026
St. Joseph's Foundling Home, which is managed by the Sisters of Charity of Sts. Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa (Maria Bambina Sisters) have placed more than 1,000 orphans with families since their inception in 1974. “Our mission is to promote and protect life,” Sr. Jain Augustine Adackkanattu, the center’s president, told GSR. The center, authorized by the Kerala government to handle adoption cases, is part of the congregation’s St. Vincent’s Home, a social service institution. It now shelters 127 women and children through St. Joseph’s Foundling Home. Sr. Archana Kunnapally, 58, superintendent of the center since 2023, said the center receives 20 adoption queries a month from couples facing infertility, old age, or repeated pregnancy losses. Kunnapally said they receive infants abandoned by unwed mothers or women who cannot support them. Various government authorities also bring the infants they rescue to the center.
Christian Science Monitor
What does Leo think about lay governance?
By Ed. Condon, July 6, 2026
Pope Leo made his largest slate of curial appointments to date last week. Coming a little more than a year since his election, the pope reshuffled the senior positions of four dicasteries and, most notably, named his second female prefect to lead a Vatican department. Just as significantly, though, the pope appointed a cardinal pro-prefect, Cardinal Fabio Baggio, to serve alongside Smerilli. But what it actually says may be to rearticulate an unanswered question left by the Francis-era reforms to the curia, and to a simmering debate about the concepts of power, governance, and sacramental authority in the Church. That double appointment was widely interpreted as a kind of hedge regarding the potential scope of Francis’ overhaul of the Roman curia in the 2022 apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium. To appoint Smerilli as lay prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is, in a way, a strange half-step backward in the trend towards lay leadership in the Vatican — or at least a half-step forward very clearly not taken.
The Christian Post
Franklin Graham says attacks against Erika Kirk are ‘from the devil’
By Jon Brown, July 9, 2026
Evangelist and Samaritan’s Purse CEO Franklin Graham said during a recent interview that he believes the continued attacks against Erika Kirk, including from some self-professed Christians, are demonic in nature and intended to sow discord. Graham warned that the devil “is wanting to trap every believer, every Christian” by luring many into apathy and leveling overt attacks against others. “The devil is a deceiver, and he deceives Christians every day,” he said. “And then he’s attacking those people that put their faith and trust in God. They’re being attacked.” “I think of Erika Kirk,” continued Graham, who went on to say that he is personally offended by the onslaught of attacks against the widow of the late Turning Point USA founder, Charlie Kirk. "She has been attacked since the day her husband was assassinated. And she is a nice, sweet young lady who's grieving for the loss of her husband, and she's attacked all the time, even by Christians. It just makes my blood boil."
Keep informed - 7/10/26 news for Catholics
Snippets from Big Pulpit, EWTN, & the Loop
Big Pulpit
Tito Edwards Catholic site: July 10, 2026
The Big Pulpit website is a news aggregator that gathers quality insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide.
I.C.K.S.P. Ordains New Priests Amid Growth in Traditional Seminaries – The Catholic Herald
Jesus Didn’t Like Everyone – Guy McClung, Ph.D., J.D., at Catholic Stand Magazine
The Mass & Development of Doctrine (vs. Wes Huff) – Dave Armstrong at Biblical Evidence. . .
St. Margaret–The Missing Saint – Deacon Thomas L. McDonald at Weird Catholic
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — July 10, 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.
Northern Ireland launches inquiry into mother and baby homes with landmark bill - By Patrick J. Passmore - Northern Ireland has passed legislation to establish an inquiry-and-redress scheme concerning mother and baby institutions, which were prevalent in the country from 1922 until 1995.
SSPX Masses an ‘abuse’ of Eucharist: U.S. bishops continue to urge Catholics not to attend - By Kate Quiñones - More U.S. bishops are instructing Catholics to avoid attending Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) events in light of the recent excommunications of SSPX leadership.
Vatican commission seeks to address legal loophole facing women religious suffering abuse - By Victoria Cardiel and Javier Romero - Efforts to address the abuse crisis in the Church have focused on minors and vulnerable adults, leaving unaddressed the abuse suffered by women religious. Efforts are underway to rectify that.
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.
VANCE SAYS CHRISTIANITY CAN HELP US OVERCOME DIVISION - Vice President JD Vance’s public reflections on Christianity show how faith, far from being a cause of disunity, can actually help Americans move beyond the bitter political divisions of today.
TRUMP ADMIN LAUNCHES H-1B VISA FRAUD PROBE - The Trump administration launched a major new probe into H-1B visa fraud and abuse, with Vance saying the Department of Labor is issuing subpoenas to foreign fraudsters accused of exploiting laborers, faking applications, and displacing American workers.
POLL: JEWISH AMERICANS VIEW MAMDANI MORE FAVORABLY THAN NETANYAHU - An AP-NORC poll found Jewish Americans view New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani more favorably than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reflecting growing dissatisfaction with Israel’s military campaign in Gaza among many U.S. Jews.
July 10, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE — or read HERE:
Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Catholic commentary:
Catholic365
Never again so readily surrender your faith & freedoms
By Dan Fitzpatrick, July 6, 2024
Regrettably, too many people these days don’t have a good grasp on historical events. Worse still, it seems they don’t even remember something that happened just a few years ago. Every July 4, Americans celebrate “Independence Day” with fireworks and special events. But over time, society has changed the name of this holiday to the less meaningful moniker, “The Fourth of July.” Special events on “The Fourth” used to include, parades, patriotic concerts and the president’s speech reminding us of America’s bold fight for independence and calling us to be a unified nation. Now in the 21st Century, special events on this holiday consist of barbecuing, sunbathing, and watching a famous hot dog-eating championship. It was in March of 2020 that both the Church and State started making a lot of mistakes with their overreaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to remember what happened so that it never happens again.
Catholic Culture
Prodigal Bishops and the SSPX
By Eamonn Clark, STL, July 9, 2026
The Prodigal Son is principally a lesson about the Gentiles and the Jews. That is not to say that there is no other legitimate application—of course, it is used to exhort individual faithful to receive God’s mercy in the confessional. I propose that another way to make this story come alive in our own day is in the ecclesio-drama playing out in the aftermath of the SSPX consecrations. Viscerally heretical bishops who habitually tolerate or even commit shameful and bizarre liturgical abuses are treated with kid gloves. A group of priests who are scrupulously observing the letter of the law and striving with every sinew to understand the doctrinal content of the Church’s tradition and to be faithful to it are refused every concession and rebuked harshly. The bond of the family is its own point—the father is the real inheritance, his love is the true feast. It is the invisible reality of the union with the Father from which the true glory of the family springs.
The Catholic Gentleman
Fathers, you are the guardians of the sacred
By John Heinen, July 9, 2026
In one way or another, we fathers have to contend with the question of modesty in dress. Modesty is a virtue by which we show respect to that which deserves respect, a virtue that makes use of hiddenness to show forth the resplendence of God’s design. The problem is not that modern society thinks too much of sex, but that it thinks too little of it. By that I mean we have degraded sex from a life-giving and self-giving mystery of love in the context of a sacrament to a form of selfish recreation, mere titillation, and the irrational surrender to instinct. People think of the Church’s attitude toward sexuality and modesty as unduly restrictive, as though the Church is a little embarrassed by sex, and feels she must hide it away because it is “dirty.” On the contrary, only the Church properly reverences sexuality for the good and beautiful reality that it is. Paradoxical though it may seem, it is the modern world that does not value sex. The Church reveres sex far more than the world. She resists to the death the trivialization of love in the hands of modern hedonists. She builds walls around sex to protect it, not condemn it.
Bishop Barron
Give our lives for the sake of Christ and his gospel
By Bishop Robert Barron, July 10, 2026
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus predicts the persecution of his followers. A vast army of martyrs has, in the course of Christian history, given their lives for the sake of Christ and his gospel. They are from every culture, country, language, and background. This is the army that stands opposed to worldly armies that do their work through violence, threats, and oppression. They witness to the power and authority of the risen Lord, and therefore they are fighters—but they do not fight with the weapons of the world. One might think of St. Peter himself, crucified upside down; or Felicity and Perpetua, thrown to wild animals; or of Thomas Becket, who resisted King Henry II’s attempts to manipulate the Church and was butchered by his henchmen; or Thomas More, who resisted another King Henry and paid for it with his head.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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