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Our Sunday Visitor
Livestream execution met with widespread condemnation
By Kate Scanlon, October 12, 2026
A plan by Pentagon officials to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad in December has been met with mounting bipartisan criticism from lawmakers and condemnation by leading Catholic figures. Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates abolishing capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, said in a statement that the timing of the livestream announcement “is particularly bleak.” She noted it came shortly after Tennessee officials failed in their attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Gail Pike, “which horrified the world; days before the World Day Against the Death Penalty; and in October when American Catholics celebrate Respect Life Month … This is a time when we should be talking about dismantling the culture of death, not promoting it.”
Related: US Military Services archbishop obliges any Catholics in Hasan execution firing squad to request to be excused from task, McKenna Snow, Zeale, October 12, 2026
Zeale
HHS to provide newborn essentials to mothers, families
By Elizabeth Ervin, October 12, 2026
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched the next phase of a federal initiative on Oct. 9 to support mothers and newborns by distributing essential supply kits to families around the time of birth. The Newborn Essentials Support Toolkit (NEST) will provide families with supplies including diapers and wipes, an infant thermometer, postpartum recovery and breastfeeding supplies, and a blood pressure monitor, according to an Oct. 9 HHS press release. The release noted that hospitals, federally qualified health centers, and other organizations providing maternity care will distribute NEST kits. “Through NEST, HHS is delivering essential supplies and trusted health information directly to families around the time of birth, including in rural and underserved communities,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
EWTN News
What we know about Pope Leo XIV’s health
By Victoria Cardiel October 11, 2026
The news that Pope Leo XIV will undergo surgery this week has led many to ask what a lung nodule is. He confirmed at the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday that doctors caught the lesion early and it is well localized. “The doctors consider it advisable to intervene. I have decided to have the operation to remove it, following their advice,” he said. The condition, commonly called a “spot on the lung,” shows up on imaging as a white opacity against normal lung tissue and is generally up to 30 millimeters in diameter. “A persistent cough that has just appeared, expectoration — that is, producing phlegm with traces of blood — or chest pain can be reasons the patient undergoes studies,” he said. He added that these findings are now increasingly accidental. Patients may be scanned before an operation or a hospital stay, or as part of a screening program, especially if they are older or have been smokers. Huerta also stressed that most lung nodules are not cancerous. A 2022 study found that 95% are benign and only 5% are cancer. Cancerous nodules have certain features on X-rays, CT scans, and PET exams.
CBCP News
Green energy shift must respect indigenous rights
By CBCP News, October 12, 2026
Catholic bishops have warned that the shift to cleaner energy must not come at the expense of indigenous communities, their ancestral lands and the environment. Bishop Moises Cuevas of Calapan, chairperson of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples (ECIP), and Bishop Prudencio Andaya Jr. of Cabanatuan said the growing demand for critical minerals must not justify displacement, environmental destruction, or violations of indigenous peoples’ rights. The bishops warned of threats from extractive industries, large-scale infrastructure, fossil fuel expansion, and climate change, saying indigenous communities often bear the brunt of environmental damage, flooding, and drought. They urged government agencies to protect ancestral domains, enforce environmental safeguards and ensure accountability in development projects. “Indigenous peoples are not merely beneficiaries of assistance but partners, bearers of cultural wisdom, and active agents in shaping their future,” they said.
Fides News Agency
Missions in upheaval: World Mission Sunday in 1940 like today
By Marie-Lucile Kubacki, October 7, 2026
“Our missionaries are there, standing firm in the trenches of faith, like watchful sentinels at the outposts.” On 19 October 1940, as the war was also devastating Catholic communities in mission territories, Archbishop Celso Costantini asked, “What are our missionaries doing, how are they living, how are they carrying out their work in these times?” On that same evening, Saturday, 19 October 1940, Pius XII himself delivered a radio message addressed to the bishops and Catholics of the United States. His words crossed the Atlantic and encouraged their missionary zeal. From war to the post-war period, World Mission Sunday was never a worldly event; it was rooted in concrete realities. This is precisely why the faithful are still called today to support the mission: not as an abstract concept, but as a reality embodied in the people who remain and work to build the City of God.
National Catholic Register
Synod’s Canon Law proposals blur lines of Church authority
By Edward Pentin, October 12, 2026
Several canon lawyers have criticized the final report of a Synod on Synodality commission on canon law, describing several proposed changes as a departure from Catholic doctrine and contrary to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. According to Dominican priest and canonist Father Pius Pietrzyk, the commission report contains “maybe two decent ideas,” but otherwise ranges from “silly cosmetic changes to a betrayal of the Second Vatican Council and two millennia of ecclesiology.” A key area of contention is the report’s proposal to preface canon 749 on the doctrine of papal infallibility with a reference to the sensus fidelium, or the universal consensus of the People of God. David Long, a professor at The Catholic University of America, also wants the text to make clear that the sensus fidelium can be exercised only in communion with, and under the guidance of, the Church’s teaching authority, not simply as majority opinion.
Aleteia
The desert fathers’ three rules for a quieter mind
By Daniel Esparza, September 26, 2026
The monks of the Egyptian desert in the fourth and fifth centuries were not fleeing the world because they hated it. They were going into the desert because they understood something about the human mind that most of us only dimly recognize: that the noise outside corresponds to a noise inside, that distraction is not primarily an environmental condition but a condition of the soul, and that the soul cannot be quieted by changing locations, changing relationships, or changing circumstances. It can only be quieted by sitting still long enough to discover what is actually going on in there. The first and most counterintuitive of the desert fathers’ instructions is the one Abba Moses gave his visitor: stay in your cell. The desert fathers did not advocate permanent silence. They advocated intentional speech: saying what needed to be said, and no more. Third, interior transformation is largely invisible, proceeds on its own schedule, and cannot be accelerated by technique or effort.
Crux
Cubans turn to free community pharmacies from Catholic Charities
By Andrea Rodriguez, October 13, 2026
Every Thursday and Sunday at noon, dozens of people gather outside an apartment building in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood. Laura Mendoza comes downstairs, checks their names against a list, and hands out medicine they requested through WhatsApp. Antihistamines, diuretics, eye drops, and antibiotics are among the drugs she distributes. She charges nothing. Projects like Mendoza’s, called “Medicine Is Not for Sale,” have become a lifeline for Cubans struggling to find increasingly scarce medications as the country’s economic crisis deepens, compounded by U.S. energy and financial restrictions imposed since January. Online sellers, street vendors, and WhatsApp and Telegram groups have also stepped in to fill gaps left by state pharmacies, which for decades were the main source of subsidized medicines.
Keep informed - 10/13/26 news for Catholics
Snippets: Pulpit, EWTN, & Aleteia
BIG PULPIT
Tito Edwards’ Catholic blogger site: October 13, 2026
The Big Pulpit website is an intelligent news aggregator offering insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide. Here are Chief Editor Tito Edwards’ top recommendations for today.
How Worried Should Catholics Be About Pope Leo XIV’s Health? – Ed. Condon at The Pillar
Columbus Wanted the Gold — to Free Jerusalem – Joe McLane at A Catholic Take
Bp. Knestout Says ‘No’ Vote on Virginia Abortion Amendment is ‘Clear Christian Witness’ – Zeale
Scotland’s Catholic Church Could Have Fewer Dioceses – Silere Non Possum
EWTN News
EWTN’s top headlines — October 13, 2026
EWTN News provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the activities of the Holy See, and is available to anyone with internet access.
Across the Middle East, children answer Pope Leo’s call to pray the rosary for peace - By Romy Haber - Their prayers were part of “One Million Children Praying the Rosary,” organized by the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), and took place Oct. 1–7. This year’s campaign drew particular inspiration from Our Lady of Fátima’s promise: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
New White House press secretary describes ‘miracle’ when her mother chose adoption over abortion - By Amira Abuzeid - Newly appointed White House press secretary and pro-life advocate Katie Zacharia, whose appointment President Donald Trump announced Oct. 9, has shared that her biological mother chose life over abortion in the final moments before a scheduled procedure, calling it a “miracle.”
Carlo Acutis and the 4 popes - By Courtney Mares - Carlo went on pilgrimage to see John Paul II, offered up his suffering from cancer for Benedict XVI, was beatified during Pope Francis's pontificate, and was canonized by Pope Leo XIV.
Aleteia
Aleteia’s global network reports for October 13, 2026
Aleteia (aleteia.org) is an online publication distributed in six languages (English, French, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, and Slovenian). Launched in 2013, it is one of the world’s leading news websites with content free from ideological influences.
Nun appointed to lead Vatican group, 3rd woman heading a dicastery - Sister Alessandra Smerilli will lead the Vatican's integral human development office, which promotes human dignity in all forums around the world, from health care to migration to environmental issues.
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity taught me how to pray for others in 7 words - Whenever Elizabeth was asked for prayers, she would immediately reach into scripture and place herself with Martha and Mary, the beloved sisters of Lazarus who lived in Bethany. With them, she would petition Christ, beginning, “Lord, the one you love is sick...”
An Augustinian-inspired Bible Study plan - On the feast of a famous Augustinian bishop-saint, Thomas of Villanova, October 10, Aleteia offers an Augustinian key for Bible study. No expertise or experience needed. A printable Augustinian Worksheet, Study Questions, and Catholic Resources and Commentaries can guide your group through the steps.
October 13, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings
You can listen HERE or read HERE:
Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Catholic commentary:
Dominica
In the silent hours of night
By Br. Paul Huber, O.P., October 13, 2026
About half of our life takes place at night. Much of that, of course, is spent sleeping, though the ubiquity of electric lights often tempts us to extend our work and leisure into the hours of darkness. Perhaps you are a night owl who prefers to stay up reading or watching TV, or maybe you are an early riser who starts your day before the sun shows its face. Either way, you'll likely find yourself awake with the moon and the stars. You will be in good company; whether by choice, insomnia, biphasic sleep, or many other factors, people have long found themselves with time on their hands after the sun goes down. In the modern Liturgy of the Hours, Night Prayer is still “the last prayer of the day, said before retiring, even if that is after midnight” (GILH 84), and the Office of Readings “should retain its character as a night office of praise” (SC 89c, in translation cited in GILH 58), even if it may now be said at any time of the day.
Missio Dei Catholic
They exchanged the truth for a lie
By Deacon Michael Halbrook, October 13, 2026
“For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse” (Romans 1:16-25). The evidence is everywhere. It has always been everywhere. Creation itself bears continuous witness to the one who made it: the order of the stars, the cycles of the seasons, the beauty that greets us every morning whether we choose to receive it as a gift or not. Paul is not describing a philosophical argument. He is describing a testimony that everything that exists is already giving, constantly.
The Obscure, Forgotten, and Undiscovered
‘What of Catholic literature?’
By James K. Hanna, October 8, 2026
Sister Mary Madeleva Wolff, CSC (1887-1964), longtime president of St. Mary’s College in Indiana, said: “Catholic literature is any literature that is treated as a Catholic would treat it. It is a literature in which there is discipline, the discipline of the mind and the will, the discipline of supernatural life. The perfectly disciplined Catholic is a saint. Our greatest literature has been the work of saints, the Scriptures, the writings of the Greek and Latin Fathers, the poetry of the Middle Ages, the autobiographies that followed. Its supreme asset is the influence of sanctifying grace, the power of the Holy Ghost. We talk of a contemporary Catholic literature. We run to schools of creative writing; we gather in writers’ colonies to learn the trick. After all these things do the heathens seek. Let us first be great Catholics, profound lovers of Christ, ardent disciples of the Holy Spirit. Expression will follow. If we will become a generation of saints, I promise we shall be laurel crowned.”
Catholic Stand
The first woman playwright was a Catholic nun
By D.P. Curtin, October 9, 2026
She is Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim. She died in 973. Far beyond the claims of post-modernity, the first female authors did not emerge in the West during the 18th, 19th, or 20th centuries. She resided at a time and place when significant biographical information was scarce. We do know she lived at the imperial abbey of Gandersheim, a wealthy, intellectually vibrant religious community founded in the 9th century during the centralization of the Frankish church. Though rare, we see their voices developing in monastic communities during the alleged Obscura Tempora. Long before contemporary conversations about women’s voices in the Church and in our culture, a forgotten Saxon canoness quietly picked up a stylus and decided to answer the great playwrights of the ancient world. The result was one of the most remarkable literary projects of the burgeoning Middle Ages. Her name was largely forgotten for centuries, only rediscovered by chance during the Renaissance, with the help of sympathetic scholars.
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