Catholic Nutshell News: Saturday 4/4/26
Topics include: IQ scores and the death penalty; Angels' role in the Easter Triduum; Warning against antisemitism; & IRGC child executioner now a devout Christian
“We see through new tender verdant pecan leaves”
Today's sources: National Catholic Register, EWTN News, The Pillar, Crux, First Things, Catholic World News, & Aleteia. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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EWTN News
Supreme Court to rule on how IQ scores weigh in the death penalty
By Stephanie Green, April 4, 2026
The Supreme Court will clarify how IQ scores should be evaluated when a death sentence is barred based on an intellectual disability. The court already ruled in 2002, in Atkins v. Virginia, that executing people with intellectual disabilities violated the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment,” but justices did not define intellectual disability. In Hamm v. Smith, the court will consider whether Joseph Smith, facing execution in Alabama for the 1998 murder of Durk Van Dam, should be spared because his IQ test scores hover so closely to the threshold of 70 established in the Atkins case. Smith was given several IQ tests ranging from 72 to 78, above the standard threshold of 70, but within the margin of error. Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, an anti-death penalty group based in Washington, D.C., said, “The surest way to protect the sanctity of life in these instances is to end the practice of capital punishment altogether.”
Aleteia
Angels have a role in the Easter Triduum
By Philip Kosloski, April 1, 2026
When reading about the events of the Easter Triduum, from the Last Supper to the Resurrection, it is interesting to note the role of the angels throughout. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes, “From the Incarnation to the Ascension, the life of the Word incarnate is surrounded by the adoration and service of angels...They protect Jesus in his infancy, serve him in the desert, strengthen him in his agony in the garden, when he could have been saved by them from the hands of his enemies as Israel had been. Again, it is the angels who “evangelize” by proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s Incarnation and Resurrection“ (CCC 333). Angels are everywhere, and are especially centered on our Jesus, serving him as their King. Certain countries celebrate the Monday after Easter as “Angel Monday.”
The Pillar
Good thief ‘Dismas’: Greek name meaning ‘sunset’ or ‘dying’
By Archbishop John Wilson, April 3, 2026
There is ancient Christian reverence for the so-called good or penitent thief who was crucified beside Jesus that first Good Friday. The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark mention two robbers hanging on either side of the Lord at Calvary, both of whom joined with passers-by in mocking Jesus. But St. Luke’s Gospel tells us something more. He alone records the plea and promise exchanged between one of the robbers and Jesus. This robber, the good thief, is called Dismas, a Greek name meaning ‘sunset’ or ‘dying.’ As the sun set on his life, Dismas pondered the salvific question: Will God forgive me for what I have done? Thinking purely in human terms, could not this Jesus, with his reputation for miracles, simply wave his hand and make everything right. The answer comes not from the Lord, but from Dismas. He defends Jesus. He speaks of the need to fear God.
OSV News
Catholic leaders warn against antisemitism in Holy Week liturgies
By Gina Christian, April 1, 2026
In the days ahead of Holy Week, several Catholic leaders issued messages denouncing antisemitism, stressing Church teaching on the issue as the faithful solemnly commemorate Christ’s passion and death. The messages come as some Catholic and Christian influencers broadly peddle antisemitic tropes — including the charge of deicide, or the alleged collective Jewish responsibility for the death of Christ — repudiated by the Church in the wake of the Council of Trent and even more explicitly at the Second Vatican Council. Among those weighing in were Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of Scranton, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs; Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, chair of the USCCB Committee on Religious Liberty; Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, founder of the Word on Fire media nonprofit; and scholar Robert P. George.
Jerusalem Post
Former IRGC child executioner now a devout Christian dissident
By Danielle Greyman-Kennard, April 4, 2026
The civilian cost of the war against the Islamic regime is a tragic but necessary sacrifice that the large majority of Iranians are willing to endure so their children may one day live in freedom. That’s the assessment of Afshin Javid, a former member of the Basij paramilitary force’s execution squad, who later became a devout Christian. “Iranian people feel they are condemned to three types of deaths,” he said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Monday. The options, he said, were to be killed by the regime; experience a death of the soul by watching Tehran brutalize, rape, and murder their loved ones; or be killed in US or Israeli strikes. The choice for Iranians is simple, he noted, as the airstrikes carry with them hope of regime change and a different future. “But for the first time, Iranian people, myself included, are saying: ‘If there is death, there may be freedom, a light at the end. But if this death does not happen, then they will kill us anyway, with no light at the end of the tunnel.’”
Related: U.S. military archbishop doubts Iran war meets just war standard, urges obedience - By Crux Now Staff, Apr 3, 2026
CatholicVote
The Liturgy of the Hours changes during the Triduum
By Grace Porto, March 30, 2026
The Liturgy of the Hours is the universal Church’s prayer for priests, monks, nuns, and religious, a cycle of psalms and prayers said at different hours throughout the day. In the three days leading up to Easter, Matins and Lauds are combined in the unique liturgical celebration of Tenebrae. Latin for “shadow” or “darkness,” Tenebrae was traditionally at night, often ending around midnight in total darkness, according to Angelus Press. Following Pope Pius XII’s 1955 liturgical reforms of Holy Week, Tenebrae began to be prayed in the early morning. Dom Prosper Gueranger explains in his book The Liturgical Year that the liturgy echoes that of a funeral: “All is sad and mournful, as though it were a funeral service.” In Tenebrae, the prayers omit the traditional invocation of “Lord, thou shalt open my lips,” and “Incline unto mine aid,” the priest added, as well as the “Glory be” usually prayed at the end of each Psalm.
CRUX
Cuba releasing 2,010 prisoners for Holy Week after US pressures
By Andrea Rodriguez, AP, April 3, 2026
The Cuban government said Thursday it would release 2,010 prisoners in a move that comes while the Trump administration puts extreme pressure on the island’s government with a suffocating oil blockade. The announcement said the pardons were a “humanitarian gesture” in connection with Holy Week and didn’t mention mounting pressures with the U.S. The government said the prisoners affected are foreigners and Cubans, including women, the elderly, and young people. It didn’t say when they were being released or under what conditions, nor did it mention the crimes they were accused of committing. Authorities also provided no details on whether any of those pardoned were protesters convicted and sentenced for terrorism, contempt, or public disorder. Cuba’s government denies holding political prisoners, but the activist group Prisoners Defended registered 1,214 people imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba as of February.
National Catholic Register
Pope Leo gets albums from chart-topping Hillbilly Thomists
By Alyssa Murphy, April 2, 2026
In a private audience at the Vatican, Dominican priest Father Thomas Joseph White gave Pope Leo XIV four albums from his bluegrass band, the Hillbilly Thomists. The priest, who is a founding member of the Billboard-chart-topping bluegrass band and currently resides at the Angelicum in Rome, told the Register he “hopes the Holy Father will listen to them.” Comprised entirely of Dominican friars, the Hillbilly Thomists have toured across the country, sharing the stage with Dominican nuns and big names like the Zac Brown Band. Their first self-titled album released in 2017 lived at the top of the Billboard Bluegrass chart for weeks. Speaking to the Register in 2022 after the release of their second album, Holy Ghost Power, Father White said of the music, “We wanted to [give] an unambiguous allusion both to Americana Christian music and also to our kind of unique style of combining Catholic theology with folk music, bluegrass music.”
EWTN News, aciafrica, & CWR for 4/4/26
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — April 4, 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.
Archbishop shares 10 characteristics of his thriving seminary - By Nicolás de Cárdenas - Archbishop Francisco Cerro of Toledo, Spain, shared in a letter 10 qualities he considers the reason the diocesan seminary is blessed with vocations. “We enter the seminary for reasons of faith, not for human reasons, and we remain for reasons of faith.”
Czech bishop’s Easter stout wins medals at international competition - By Bohumil Petrík - A microbrewery owned by the Catholic Diocese of Litoměřice took home gold and diamond medals at the Czech Brew Star 2026 competition in Brno before its Easter stout received a bishop’s blessing.
Catholic garment workers in Bangladesh stage Good Friday Passion play near Dhaka - By Stephan Uttom Rozario - Far from their home villages, about 200 migrant Catholic workers near Dhaka gathered on Good Friday to reenact the Passion at a church center that serves 1,700 faithful in the industrial zone.
aciafrica
aciafrica’s top headlines — April 4, 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.
Before Pope Leo XIV Lands in Algeria, Advocates Want the World to Know What Christians Face There - Apr 3, 2026 - By Bryan Lawrence Gonsalves - Ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s expected visit to Algeria in April, advocates told the U.N. Human Rights Council that Christians there face laws that criminalize conversion and shutter churches.
Pope Leo XIV Speaks With Israeli and Ukrainian Presidents Amid Conflicts in Holy Land, Ukraine - Apr 3, 2026 - By Ishmael Adibuah - The pontiff discussed the ongoing wars and exchanged Easter greetings with the two presidents.
“When a Priest listens without rushing,” Christ Becomes Present: Nuncio Urges Pastoral Closeness at Nairobi Chrism Mass - Apr 2, 2026 - By ACI Africa Staff - The Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, has called on Catholic Priests to cultivate a ministry marked by attentive listening, compassionate presence, and gentle accompaniment
Catholic World Report
CWR’s Columns, Analysis, & Features - April 4, 2026
Catholic World Report is a free online magazine that examines the news from a faithful Catholic perspective.
To Dwell in the Side of Christ - Matthew Becklo - April 3, 2026 - Such devotion to the side of Christ—even though it appears in the writings of some of the greatest saints and doctors of the Church—sounds more than a little jarring to us today. But it has deep roots in both Scripture and Tradition, and constitutes a unique challenge—and invitation—to Christians in our time.
Does God hear the prayers of warmongers? - Marcus Peter - March 31, 2026 - Consider what Pete Hegseth prayed at the Pentagon last Wednesday, March 25th. In leading a Pentagon Christian service for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy,” he asked that “every round find its mark,” and called for justice to be executed “swiftly and without remorse.”
Holy Week in Song and Verse - Kenneth Craycraft - March 30, 2026 - I became aware of the rich tradition of Catholic aesthetics in the process of my conversion, but it was not a central cause. Having said that, however, my Catholic faith has subsequently been sustained and enriched not merely by “Catholic” art, but by a greater appreciation of beauty more generally.
Nutshell reflections for 4/4/26:
USCCB Daily Reflection: AUDIO - April 4, 2026
Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter
Catholic Stand
Addiction theology for Holy Saturday
By Bob Kurland, April 2, 2026
Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Holy Saturday theology, proposed in Mysterium Paschale, is that Christ’s entry into Hell was not triumphant; rather, “Christ’s suffering was like that of the damned…his suffering went to the length of infernal punishment.” The Magisterium has neither accepted nor rejected Balthasar’s proposal. So, I want to present a theology for addicts that takes Christ’s suffering in Hell as a guide for recovery, a call “to embrace the darkness.” This is the call that Fr. Anthony Ciorra gives in his book, 12 Step Spirituality: A Guide for Everyone. “… on this whole topic of the human addiction, the addiction to control and our addiction to want to play God, that when the darkness comes into our lives, when things are not going well, then in fact we want to flee. Instead of staying there, instead of staying with the darkness and staying with the questions, we flee.” It is this darkness that the addict lives in before recovery.
National Catholic Register
Contemplating Christ’s wounds on the Cross
By John Clark, April 3, 2026
[Excerpt from God’s Wounds: The Remarkable Truth of Those Who Bore the Signs of Christ’s Passion (Catholic Answers Press)] We Catholics pray the Sorrowful Mysteries, during which we ponder the suffering and crucifixion Jesus endured for us. But we can also honor Jesus’ suffering by uniting it with our own. This point warrants an important point: though we Catholics speak about the value of suffering, we do not generally go around searching for ways to suffer. In a fallen world, suffering finds us, just as it finds the rest of humanity. But when we willingly accept our suffering and unite it with Jesus’ passion, we see the good that can be gained through suffering… The stigmatists give us an intense vision of his passion. These saints [who] bore the stigmata, not so that they would be noticed, but that Jesus would be. These stigmatists not only preached the Gospel, but bore it on their bodies and souls. If we tell their stories today, the stigmatists can still bring pilgrims to grace.
First Things
Canada’s offensive secularism
By Simone M. Sepe, April 3, 2025
On March 25, the Canadian House of Commons voted to repeal the good faith religious opinion defense in the Criminal Code. The defense has been there since 1970. It protected anyone who, in good faith, expressed or attempted to establish, by argument, an opinion on a religious subject or on a belief based on a religious text. The Bloc Québécois reportedly made the repeal a condition of its support for the government’s anti-hate bill, and the Liberals accepted. Until now, a Canadian pastor or imam who preached a difficult scriptural passage on sexual ethics or family law could point to an explicit provision in the Criminal Code that recognized sincere religious argument as categorically protected. That provision is now in jeopardy. Its proposed removal tells religious communities something about where they now stand in the eyes of the state. What Canada is doing, I believe, amounts to a new kind of secularism. I would call it offensive secularism … something more aggressive.
The Catholic Thing
The Lord’s descent into hell
By An Ancient Author, April 4, 2026
What is happening? Today, there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly He goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; He wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, He who is God, and Adam’s son. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, His Cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: “My Lord be with you all.” And grasping his hand, He raises him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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