Catholic Nutshell News: Saturday 5/10/25
Topics include: Initial impressions of Pope Leo, Pope Leo XIV’s religious order, The Prior Prevost in India, & Pope Leo XIV’s two-week schedule
“We see through new tender verdant pecan leaves”
Today's news sources are Aleteia, CRUX, Catholic News Agency, Our Sunday Visitor, National Catholic Register, Aleteia, and The Catholic Thing. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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National Catholic Register
Initial impressions of Pope Leo
By Father Raymond J. de Souza, May 9, 2025
Papal Ceremonial Appears To Be Back - wearing what popes are supposed to wear and doing what popes are supposed to do.
Leo is a more traditional name - Leo XIII came to the papacy at age 68 and reigned until 93, the oldest to hold the office, and the 4th longest-serving pope.
Leo XIV instantly eclipsed all previous cardinals from Chicago - The greatest of those, previously, was Cardinal Francis George.
Pope Leo XIV’s birthday - Atop the 350-ton obelisk in St. Peter’s Square, claimed to be what St. Peter saw when he was martyred, sits a bronze cross which houses a relic of the True Cross. The Exaltation of the Holy Cross feast falls on Sept. 14th, Pope Leo’s date of birth.
Catholic News Agency
The Augustinians: A look at Pope Leo XIV’s religious order
By Jonah McKeown, May 10, 2025
Pope Leo XIV, elected on Thursday, is the first pope from the Order of St. Augustine (OSA), also known as the Augustinians, an ancient religious order with thousands of members worldwide. The Order of St. Augustine first came together nearly 800 years ago, composed of several religious communities using the Rule of St. Augustine, a document written by the saint in the fourth century that continues to be highly influential among Catholic orders today. St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was an early Catholic bishop, theologian, and doctor of the Church whose ideas and writings shaped Catholic doctrine for over a millennium. Augustine’s written works, including the “Confessions” and “The City of God,” remain Christian writing and philosophy classics. Augustine led a monastic community life with his clergy; vows were not obligatory, but possessing private property was prohibited.
Agenzia Fides
Augustinians remember the Prior Prevost in India
By Agenzia Fides, May 9, 2025
“Pope Leo XIV is remembered in India with affection and gratitude. He visited our nation twice as Prior General of the Augustinian Fathers. He is remembered as a simple man who knew how to adapt to the local context, with his attitude of listening and dialogue, and his spirituality rooted in an intense life of prayer. What was most striking was the prolonged time he dedicated to silent Eucharistic adoration,” Father Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary General of the Conference of Latin Rite Bishops of India. The Indian Augustinians also remember him fondly. “When he was here, we knew him as an extraordinarily simple person, down-to-earth, always ready to face the difficulties of everyday life,” notes Father Jacob Mullassery, OSA, who accompanied him on both visits. Father Wilson Injerappu, OSA, Regional Vicar of the Order in India, said Leo’s selection is “a reminder of our responsibility: we must constantly pray for him and support his mission with our daily prayer."
Aleteia
Difference between archangels and other angels
By Philip Kosloski, May 5, 2025
The English word “angel” comes from the Latin angelus, meaning “messenger of God.” St. Augustine said, “‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’” (CCC 329). "Archangel" includes the prefix "arch-," which denotes something as "chief" or "principal." An "arch-angel" then is a "chief messenger" of God. They are higher in rank than guardian angels, but still part of the second-lowest rank. The lowest ranks of angels are believed to be the only ones interacting with humans. Archangels are given the most important messages delivered to humans; such was the task of St. Gabriel, who delivered the news to Mary that she was to bear the Messiah. Angels and archangels remain mysterious beings to humans. We know relatively little about them.
CatholicVote
Pope Leo XIV’s two-week schedule released
By CV News Feed, May 9, 2025
Like his predecessors, Pope Leo XIV can attend unscheduled events inside the Vatican or around Rome, but these are likely papal appearances:
Saturday, May 10: Meeting with the cardinals
Sunday, May 11: Regina Caeli from the central loggia of the basilica
Monday, May 12: Meeting with the world press
Friday, May 16: Meeting with the diplomats
Sunday, May 18: 10 a.m., St. Peter’s Square: Mass beginning the Pontificate
Tuesday, May 20: Possession of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls
Wednesday, May 21: First General Audience
Saturday, May 24: Meet with Roman Curia & employees of Vatican City State
Sunday, May 25: Regina Caeli, taking possession of the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran and taking possession of the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major
CRUX
Villanova, Leo’s Alma mater, is floored it taught the 1st US pope
By Tassanee Vejpongsa, Jonathan Mattise, Associated Press, May 10, 2025
When Villanova University’s president, Father Peter Donohue, was nearing graduation as a theatre student, a future pope wasn’t far away on campus, studying math two grades below him. On Thursday, church bells rang out for hours in celebration at the Augustinian school near Philadelphia after the 1977 alumnus Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the first pope from the United States in the history of the Catholic Church. Father John Lydon spent 10 years living with the pope while on a mission in Peru. But back in 1977, Lydon was the student commencement speaker for their arts and sciences class at Villanova, too. The school on the suburban Main Line near Philadelphia had reached the pinnacle of men’s college basketball three times, winning championships in 1985, 2016, and 2018. But celebrating a pope in their ranks was unprecedented.
The PILLAR
An explosive device was detonated on Penn. parish chapel altar
By The Pillar, May 9, 2025
Bishop Alfred Schlert of Allentown, Pa., condemned the detonation of an explosive device in a local parish adoration chapel this week, calling it an “act of religious hate.” No one was injured, but the monstrance was damaged when the device was set off. “I am heartbroken that such a heinous, hateful, and evil act occurred at St. Teresa of Calcutta [Parish],” said Bishop Schlert. “Belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist is central to the Catholic Faith. To use an explosive device to destroy the Blessed Sacrament is an act of darkest evil,” Schlert said. a diocesan spokeswoman told The Pillar “The device detonated, damaging the Monstrance and sacred statues inside the chapel, denting the altar, and shattering several stained-glass windows. The suspect’s motives remain unknown, and the incident is currently under active investigation.”
The Times of Israel
Terrorists near defeat in Rafah, fighting down to one neighborhood
By Emanuel Fabian, May 10, 2025
The IDF says it is close to defeating all the remaining Palestinian terror operatives in southern Gaza’s Rafah, with fighting now only taking place in the Jenina neighborhood. Troops of the Golani Brigade have been operating in Jenina in recent days. The IDF says the soldiers have destroyed dozens of “terror infrastructures,” located dozens of tunnel shafts, and killed dozens of operatives. “Jenina is the last area where fighting against terrorists in the Rafah Brigade is taking place,” the military says. Four IDF soldiers have been killed and several others have been wounded during fighting in the Jenina area in the past week. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to requests for comment on a reported strike on a tent in Gaza City, killing all members of a single family. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
From CNA & Big Pulpit to Satire for 5/10/25
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — May 10, 2025
Catholic News Agency provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and happenings of the Holy See to anyone with access to the internet.
7 Franciscan Capuchins in Nigeria die in car accident, leadership appeals for prayer - May 10, 2025 - By Jude Atemanke -In a statement, the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin’s leadership in Nigeria provided details of the car accident that occurred.
Pope Leo XIV shares vision for papacy in age of artificial intelligence - May 10, 2025 - By AC Wimmer - Pope Leo XIV explained his choice of name and the Church’s social teaching in the face of artificial intelligence.
Cardinal Bustillo: Pope Leo XIV will be ‘bold and solid’ leader for Church - May 10, 2025 - By Marco Mancini - Cardinal Bustillo says conclave was guided by the Holy Spirit with "freedom and trust," resulting in Pope Leo XIV's election.
The Big Pulpit
Tito Edwards Catholic blogger site: May 10, 2025
The Big Pulpit website is an intelligent news aggregator offering quality insight & analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide. Here are Chief Editor Tito Edward’s top recommendations for today.
Pope Leo Celebrates the TLM Daily – A. Joseph R. Shaw, Ph.D.
Pope Leo XIV: Should We Be Hopeful? – Kennedy Hall at Mere Tradition
Leo opposes Transvestite Ideology – Sachin Jose
Leo XIV is Thus a True Successor of Paul VI – The WM Review
Give the New Pope a Break – Father V
Babylon Bee’s Satire News
Reasons Republicans In Congress Haven't Gotten Around To Defunding Planned Parenthood Yet
By ProLife Across America Staff, May 8, 2024
Things don't happen quickly for a variety of reasons. Here is a list of the top reasons why the GOP Congress hasn't defunded Planned Parenthood yet:
They were going to do it last week, but they had 847 fundraising events and just forgot: Can't spend time saving babies when there's money to raise.
Making laws and stuff is hard: It requires showing up for work and knowing right from wrong and stuff. Bleh.
It will make liberals send money to Democrats, and Republicans might lose the midterms: Which would be a shame, because if you elect Republicans, they could defund Planned Parenthood.
They were under the impression that all laws were just made by executive orders now: Wait, laws aren't just made by executive orders now?
They're still wrestling with the nuanced issue of whether murdering babies is bad: It's not that simple.
Nutshell reflections for 5/10/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection - AUDIO & VIDEO - May 10, 2025
Saturday of the Third Week of Easter
Word on Fire
Carrying the cross of miscarriage
By Maria Servold, May 8, 2025
Conception produces a child with a soul, and to lose that child is to know a soul is waiting to meet its family in heaven. In today’s secular world, infants and children are often treated as many things—clumps of cells to be discarded, experiments in science labs, features of social media content—though hardly ever as what they are: unique human beings with a physical body and an eternal soul. The Catholic understanding of children—that they are “the supreme gift of marriage” (CCC 2378)—is a blessing that brings a bittersweet hope to the pain of miscarriage. A Catholic or Christian woman suffering a miscarriage feels the loss of not just the pregnancy itself but an invaluable soul—“a person from the moment of his conception”—who has already left this earth and made its way back to the Father. The body of Christ can support these women and families in many ways.
The Catholic Thing
Matthew the Investor urges us to ‘Be good bankers’
By Brad Miner, May 10, 2025
You won’t find the phrase “Be good bankers” in the New Testament. You will find it in the writings of the early Church Fathers. Michael Pakaluk discovered the phrase when reading Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life: “Be ye good bankers... Separate the precious from the vile.” It is among the brightest of Catholicism’s lights that we look to Scripture and Tradition. The phrase comes from John Cassian (c. 360-435). In Pakaluk’s Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel, with a Fresh Translation, we discover the point of view of the world’s most famous tax collector and the premise of “Christianity’s most fundamental claim is that Jesus is the Redeemer. To redeem is literally to make payment; it is to buy someone back — from debt and consequent enslavement.”
Bishop Barron
‘Do you also want to leave?’
By Bishop Robert Barron, May 10, 2025
Why has the gift of the Eucharist been, from the beginning, a source of contention? Why have we been fighting over it from Jesus’ time to the present day? Shouldn’t it be the source of our unity and deepest joy? Well, yes. But we can’t overlook the fact that it has always divided—just as Jesus himself divided people: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” When they heard Jesus lay out the teaching in all its power, many left. So many left that Jesus wondered aloud to his disciples, “Do you also want to leave?” You get the sense that the whole Church, the whole Christian project, was hanging in the balance. How wonderful that Peter responds, as he did in the synoptic Gospels, to another of Jesus’ probing questions, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” That is the great Catholic answer, the hinge, the cardinal point.
First Things
Leo XIV and the best-case scenario
By Dan Hitchens, May 9, 2025
Trawling the Holy Father’s Twitter history, as one does, suggests a churchman who has made it to the age of sixty-nine without feeling any need to choose a side in the Catholic culture wars. Yes, he is outspoken on the rights of migrants, but he’s also seriously alarmed about the trans issue. Yes, he retweets the more progressive Catholic publications, but he also shares writings from the sturdily orthodox Cardinal George and Archbishop Chaput. Yes, he admires Pope Francis and likes the idea of “synodality,” but he does not seem to regard an inspired update on the gospel that calls into question what the Church has been doing for the last two thousand years. Robert Prevost is unlikely to fulfill the liberal cardinals’ nightmare of a pope who would rip up Francis’s legacy. However, conservatives, too, expect a less harmful pontificate than a Pope Francis II would have delivered.
Image of Pecans by tseiu from Pixabay
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