Catholic Nutshell News: Saturday 5/23/26
What Catholics should know: 2026 Eucharistic Pilgrimage; Mel Gibson’s ‘Resurrection of the Christ’; ‘Listening centers’ not confessionals; & When AI goes rogue, what then?
“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, 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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National Catholic Register
2026 Eucharistic Pilgrimage to kick off in St. Augustine, Florida
By Tessa Gervasini/EWTN News, May 22, 2026
The 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, “One Nation Under God,” will kick off on May 24 in St. Augustine, Florida. In honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the pilgrimage will begin in Florida, where the first recorded Catholic Mass within the future continental United States was celebrated, highlighting the country’s Catholic roots. “We have to return to one nation under God, and I think that by beginning this pilgrimage at St. Augustine, weʼre returning to one of the major start points for Catholicism,” Jeffrey Bruno, a photojournalist and contributor to the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, said in an interview with Register Radio. The pilgrimage launch will include remarks by Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress. He will also be joined by Bishop Erik Pohlmeier of St. Augustine and the nine perpetual pilgrims who will travel the entirety of the pilgrimage, which spans more than 2,000 miles.
EWTN News
Dates for Mel Gibson’s ‘Resurrection of the Christ’ announced
By Francesca Pollio Fenton, May 23, 2026
Lionsgate, in collaboration with Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey’s Icon Productions, announced Thursday the film “The Resurrection of the Christ” will be released in theaters in two parts — Part 1 on May 6, 2027, and Part 2 will be released on May 25, 2028. The production studios also announced that filming concluded ahead of schedule after 134 days of shooting in the cities of Rome, Bari, Ginosa, Craco, Brindisi, and Matera in Italy. “Mel is a true visionary with an artist’s eye for scale and a storyteller’s instinct for emotional truth,” Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in a press release on May 21. Many believed that Caviezel would reprise his role as Jesus, but the filmmakers instead chose an entirely new cast. Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen portrays Jesus, Cuban actress Mariela Garriga plays Mary Magdalene, Kasia Smutniak plays the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Italy’s Pier Luigi Pasino will play Simon Peter.
Aleteia
How red and green are both symbolic colors for Pentecost
By Philip Kosloski, May 23, 2026
The Catholic Church has rich liturgical traditions in every part of the world, many of which differ. This is especially evident on the feast of Pentecost, where Roman Catholics are accustomed to seeing red, while Eastern Catholics are accustomed to seeing green. Heinrich Stieglitz wrote about liturgical color in his 1923 book The Church Year, explaining its symbolism: Red is a warmer and stronger color than white. It glows like fire and signifies heavenly love. The Holy Spirit is Divine Love. Red is also popularly associated with love, so red on Pentecost emphasizes this connection. The Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix helps explain the symbolism of green: On this day, every Greek Catholic and Orthodox home is adorned with green branches at the gates, on apartment balconies, and over doorways. One of the symbols of the Holy Spirit is a dove, and when Noah sent out a dove from the ark, the dove came back with a green branch.
Related: Pentecost in Brazil: Festa do Divino, The Pillar, Michelle La Rosa, May 22, 2026
The Pillar
‘Listening centers’ planned for Pope Leo's visit to Spain
By Edgar Beltrán, May 20, 2026
Confessionals will not be set up during a youth prayer vigil and other events of Pope Leo’s trip to Spain next month, while “listening centers” will be available for young people who wish to speak with lay pastoral workers dispatched as “listening agents.” But a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Madrid, which is organizing the visit, told The Pillar that the listening centers are not meant to replace confession, which is available in the city’s parishes and churches. Meanwhile, sources close to the trip’s planning told The Pillar that some organizers had proposed installing confessionals, but the idea failed to gain traction among archdiocesan planners. Madrid’s archdiocesan communications director, Sara de la Torre, said. that the listening centers do not diminish the need for the sacrament of confession, but are meant to serve as a complement. “Thankfully, in Madrid we have 476 parishes in which people can receive the sacrament of reconciliation, and that will be available for all people who want to make a confession. There’s a church in Madrid in almost every other square.”
OSV News
When AI goes rogue: A key challenge, says Catholic expert
By Gina Christian, May 22, 2026
As Pope Leo XIV releases “Magnifica Humanitas,” his new encyclical on artificial intelligence, an AI ethics scholar told OSV News that a key challenge lies in emergent misalignment, which can render AI models human adversaries. “These sorts of misaligned behaviors, where the thing is obviously not behaving the way it’s supposed to, are pretty dangerous,” said Brian Patrick Green, director of technology ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. The term “alignment” refers to the process of ensuring that technology aligns with human values, so that AI models safely serve human interests. In early 2025, AI safety researcher Jan Betley and several colleagues published findings on incidents in which fine-tuning certain AI models — making them fit for specific tasks — revealed disturbing results. Several experiments the team conducted showed that AI could render “anti-human responses.”
Zeale/EWTN
Washington state must give foster care licenses to religious families
By Hannah Hiester & Amira Abuzeid, May 22, 2026
Washington state’s foster care department has agreed to revise its policies to grant religious couples foster licenses without requiring them to use children’s preferred pronouns or promote gender ideology. The agreement between the Department of Children, Youth and Families and Shane and Jennifer DeGross encompasses a permanent injunction that bans the department from denying foster care licenses to families solely based on their religious beliefs, including their beliefs on marriage and gender, legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) stated in a press release. Represented by ADF, the DeGrosses sued the department in 2024 after the state enacted a policy requiring foster families to use children’s preferred pronouns, which blocked the couple from renewing their license. During the nine years they served as foster parents, the couple cared for multiple children and were described by their licensing agency as exemplary foster parents, according to (ADF).
CatholicVote
Green card applicants in U.S. must leave and apply from abroad
By Mary Rose, May 22, 2026
In dissents issued May 14, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito criticized the Supreme Court’s unsigned order allowing telemedicine prescriptions and mail delivery of the abortion pill mifepristone to continue while litigation proceeds. Both justices accused their colleagues of undermining the court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization by allowing abortion pills to continue crossing into states with protections of the unborn. As Zeale News previously reported, the court’s May 14 order stayed a 5th Circuit ruling that would have restored nationwide in-person dispensing requirements for mifepristone. The legal dispute stems from a Louisiana lawsuit arguing that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2023 telehealth and mail-order policies violate the state’s pro-life laws by allowing the abortion drug to be shipped into the state. After the 5th Circuit's ruling, mifepristone manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
CRUX
Rubio visits Missionaries of Charity on first day of visit to India
By Nirmala Carvalho, May 23, 2026
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Kolkata, India, early on Saturday, where he visited Mother House, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by St. Mother Teresa. Rubio spent an hour at the headquarters and then visited Nirmala Sishu Bhawan, an orphanage run by Missionaries of Charity. “It was a joy to welcome him; he wanted Blessings from Mother’s Tomb. It was like a family get-together,” said Sister Concettina. “We were also really surprised to have him visit. We did not expect such a high-ranking dignitary to come here, but it was his wish to visit Mother’s tomb and pray. So we all joined together in prayer and thanked God for the gift of his life,” the religious sister said. Hindus make up nearly 80 percent of the country, and Christians – the majority of them Catholics – only make up 2.3 percent of the nation.
Related: Rubio says US-Israel attacks on Iran could resume as early as next week, Jerusalem Post, By Jerusalem Post Staff, May 16, 2026
Keep informed - 5/16/26 matters for Catholics:
Snippets: EWTN News, aciafrica, & Word on Fire
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — May 23, 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.
In an Italian region marred by toxic waste, Pope Leo XIV praises ‘beauty no injustice can erase’ - By Veronica Giacometti - “In life, we come to understand that the more fragile a beauty is, the greater the care and responsibility it demands,” the pope told the crowd in Acerraʼs Piazza Calipari.
Hundreds of Catholic leaders protest Israel's death penalty law - By Madalaine Elhabbal - Catholic organizations worldwide are condemning legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset this week expanding the use of the death penalty for Palestinians tried in military courts.
Washington sues hospitals over treatment of pregnant, nursing employees - By Kate Quiñones - A Washington suit over hospital treatment of employees, a Pennsylvania appeal against abortion funding, and a Maine senatorʼs absence from abortion-related meetings in this weekʼs pro-life roundup.
aciafrica
aciafrica’s top headlines — May 23, 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.
Ebola Outbreak “must not become another forgotten African tragedy”: Pan-African Catholic Network Warns - May 22, 2026 - By ACI Africa Staff - Officials of the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) have called for “urgent international solidarity” in response to the escalating Ebola outbreak affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Christian Advocacy Groups Mark 23 Years of Eritrea Church Crackdown, Urge Release of Prisoners of Conscience - May 22, 2026 - By Silas Isenjia - Christian advocacy groups gathered outside the Eritrean Embassy in London on Thursday, May 21, for their annual protest vigil marking 23 years since Eritrea effectively outlawed religious groups not affiliated with the Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, and Orthodox churches or Sunni Islam.
“Stop the violence, we do not want this ”: Catholic Bishop in Mozambique Urges Action on Cabo Delgado Crisis - May 22, 2026 - By João Vissesse - Bishop Osório Citora Afonso of Mozambique’s Catholic Diocese of Quelimane has called for urgent action to end the violence in Cabo Delgado Province, warning that innocent people, including Christian, continue to suffer and die amid ongoing insurgent attacks in northern Mozambique.
Word on Fire
Fresh insights from the Word on Fire Institute - for May 23, 2026
Word on Fire reaches millions every year by effectively sharing the Gospel via podcasts, videos, books, articles, Scripture studies, and Gospel meditations.
The Masculinity of Self-Gift, by Nell O’Leary - May 23, 2026 - To ponder what it means for men to give themselves away in love in the Catholic priesthood, we draw upon the riches of Jesus’s life in Sacred Scripture, the patristics, the teachings of the Church, and our beloved Pope St. John Paul II, a particular patron for Word on Fire Catholic Ministries.
Stories That Show the Examined Life Is Very Much Worth Living - by Lindsay Schlegel - May 22, 2026 - An undercurrent of Catholic morality flows beneath the surface of these stories, occasionally coming to the fore in a line of memorized Scripture or an allusion to the Stations of the Cross, elsewhere appearing more markedly in a parish softball team or a stint at seminary. The reality of the protagonist’s conscience, an awareness of an objective good and evil, colors each narrative, quietly insisting the reader acknowledge the same in himself.
Dorothy Day and Democracy in America - by Elizabeth Bolchoz Sanford - May 20, 2026 - Recent discussions surrounding the possible canonization of twentieth-century social activist Dorothy Day have led to a renewal of debate over this public figure, as both the Church and the public try to better understand exactly who she was and what shaped her accomplishments.
Have time for today’s USCCB Daily Mass Readings?
You can listen HERE - May 23, 2026 - or READ:
Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter - Mass in the Morning
Chosen for today’s Catholic commentary:
Catholic Stand
Catholic time travel
By Ray Sullivan, May 22, 2026
According to the rational mind, we live in the present age, and time travel is only something we read about in sci-fi novels or see in the movies. But in reality, everyone participates in time travel when they look up at the stars in the night sky. The light from those stars took billions of years to reach us, and what we see may in fact no longer exist. Stars burn out all the time. One day, every star in the sky will burn out, albeit many, many years in the future. So when we look up in the night sky, our eyes are really time-traveling into the past. But time travel occurs in our modern world in other ways, too! At every Holy Mass celebrated every day (give us this day our DAILY bread!), time travel occurs for Catholics. The Greek word for “remembrance” used in the New Testament is “anamnesis,” which in Hebrew is “zikkaron,” which means “A liturgical making-present of a past saving act, where God performs again, in the present, what He did in the past.”
New Advent
The soul ‘rests in ineffable sweetness’
By Catholic Encyclopedia, 2026
The soul does not reflect on her own intelligence and will. She is completely buried in the abyss of the divinity. There she holds herself in silence, she sleeps, she rests in ineffable sweetness — Blessed Henry Suso. Suso was a German mystic, born at Constance on 21 March, likely in 1295, and died at Ulm on 25 January, 1366. He was declared Blessed in 1831 by Gregory XVI. Suso's life as a mystic began at age 18. He became foremost among the Friends of God, a society which he called the Brotherhood of the Eternal Wisdom. He was esteemed as a preacher and was heard in the cities and towns of Swabia, Switzerland, Alsace, and the Netherlands. His apostolate, however, was not with the masses, but rather with individuals of all classes who were drawn to him by his singularly attractive personality, and to whom he became a personal director in the spiritual life. A prolific writer at the time, he exercised an influence upon spiritual writers for subsequent centuries. Among his readers and admirers were Thomas à Kempis and Bl. Peter Canisius.
First Things
When a Cathedral disappears
By Paul Murray, May 22, 2025
In the center of Stepanakert, the capital city Armenians call the heart of Artsakh, there once stood a white limestone cathedral crowned with a dome and a bell tower visible across the city. It bore witness to countless prayers, baptisms, and weddings; to mothers lighting candles for sons at the front. It bore witness to a faithful community whose Armenian Christian roots in that land stretched back centuries. During the bombardment of 2020, families crowded into its basement as shells fell, and they recited the Lord’s Prayer while the sanctuary shook above. Today, satellite imagery shows only an empty scar where the Holy Mother of God Cathedral once stood. The dome is gone. The bell tower is gone. The cross is gone. Azerbaijani authorities acknowledged destroying both the Holy Mother of God Cathedral and the nearby St. Hakob Church.
The Catholic Thing
Folly in the seat of wisdom
By Anthony Esolen, May 23, 2026
Reports out of New York say that the state’s Department of Health has issued warnings to the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, whose order has, for over a century, run a hospice for patients dying of incurable cancer. Indeed, the village where their hospice is located was renamed Hawthorne in their honor. The state, however, without giving it much thought, passed a law requiring all nursing homes to accommodate women who insist that they are men, and men who insist they are women, and other permutations of sexual expression that the factory of illusions, the human fancy, can invent. The sisters are Catholic. They have responded as did Peter in Acts: “We must obey God, not men.” In the meantime, the good Sisters engage in acts of daily, gentle, human, and holy charity, acts appreciated neither by the technocrats nor by the horoscope readers in state government.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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