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Our Sunday Visitor

Prominent exorcist asked to step out of media spotlight for 1 year

By Gina Christian, October 19, 2026

Archbishop James R. Golka of Denver has asked Father Chad Ripperger “to consider a one-year fast from public speaking and interviews,” according to an Oct. 19 statement from the Archdiocese of Denver. The archdiocese confirmed to OSV News by email that Father Ripperger “remains a priest in good standing” within its ecclesiastical territory. The request for the media appearance “fast” was delivered during a recent meeting between the archbishop and the priest “to discuss his ministry and his community, the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother,” said the archdiocese. The archdiocese said Archbishop Golka’s recommendation will enable Father Ripperger “to devote himself to the Society and to the people it serves,” adding, “Fr. Ripperger readily agreed.” According to the statement, the archbishop and the priest “will review the arrangement” at the one-year mark.

Zeale

Pope Leo speaks on phone with Zelenskyy

By McKenna Snow, October 19, 2026

Pope Leo XIV spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Oct. 19, highlighting his concern for the grave situation in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky. Recent reports say Oleshky has no stable power, water, or heating, and the main route out of the city is laced with landmines, according to Zeale News. Access to food is also heavily limited. The conversation comes as Pope Leo continues recovering from lung surgery he underwent last week. While he was still in the hospital on Oct. 16, Pope Leo spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressing concern for Oleshky and urging a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to reach the city and to enable a safe, voluntary evacuation. The Holy See Press Office said Oct. 19 that during his conversation with Zelenskyy, Pope Leo “made reference to the request for a humanitarian ceasefire that he had presented to the President of the Russian Federation.”

EWTN News

Pope Leo XIV to resume Wednesday general audience this week

By Ishmael Adibuah, October 19, 2026

Pope Leo XIV will resume his Wednesday general audience at the Vatican this week. But he will skip his usual Monday evening through Tuesday evening stay at the papal villa of Castel Gandolfo southeast of Rome. The pontiff returned to the Vatican on Saturday, four days after surgery to remove a cancerous lung nodule. The same day, Dr. Stefano Margaritora, who operated on Pope Leo on Oct. 13 at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, cleared the pope to proceed with his apostolic journey to South America in November. The next day, Oct. 18, Leo resumed praying the Sunday Angelus from the window of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. “Having overcome this delicate phase, as you know, I will now gradually resume my activities, always with Godʼs help and your prayers,” the pope said in his Angelus address. Louis Prevost, one of Pope Leo XIV’s brothers, expressed surprise in a Sunday interview with Fox News that Margaritora had cleared the pope’s trip. “I thought maybe theyʼd postpone that,” Prevost said.

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CBCP News

Charismatic groups warned against rise of ‘spiritual celebrities’

By Norman Dequia, October 20, 2026

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan has warned Catholic charismatic communities against the rise of “spiritual celebrities,” saying spiritual gifts must serve the Church rather than personal prestige. Addressing the 2nd National Spiritual Direction Conference of CHARIS Philippines in Liloan town on Tuesday, he said spiritual gifts should strengthen the Christian community, not elevate individuals above others. “The Holy Spirit does not distribute gifts to create spiritual celebrities. The Spirit distributes gifts to build up the Body of Christ,” David said. He said gifts such as preaching, healing and discernment should strengthen the community, not become tools for gaining recognition, influence or authority within charismatic groups. “A charism is a gift of the Spirit not for the individual alone, but for the community,” David said, warning against rivalry and the pursuit of spiritual prestige.

Fides News Agency

Myanmar: Children are called to be ‘missionaries of hope’

By Fides News Agency, October 20, 2026

In a situation marked by suffering and hardship, amid countless difficulties, “you too can become a missionary of hope today”: this was the appeal made during a gathering of more than 1,650 children and young people brought together by the Pontifical Mission Societies in Myanmar in the Catholic Church of the Assumption in Twantay, in the Archdiocese of Yangon, on 18 October 2026, to celebrate World Mission Sunday. Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, presided over the Eucharistic celebration and encouraged those present to “become missionaries by sharing the love of Jesus in their daily lives”. Evangelization, the Cardinal said, “is not a task reserved for priests, religious sisters, bishops or adults. Children, too, can become missionaries wherever they live, study and meet other people, especially their peers.”

National Catholic Register

Ecuador: Death of priest struck by falling crucifix during Mass

By Walter Sánchez Silva/EWTN News/ACI Prensa, October 19, 2026

The Catholic faithful are mourning the death of Father Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari, parish priest of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Guayaquil, Ecuador, which occurred tragically on Saturday, Oct. 17. The 53-year-old Redemptorist priest passed away after a crucifix mounted on the wall behind the altar fell on him during Mass. Following the news of his passing, many colleagues and members of the faithful took to social media to express their shock and remember the priest. “For a priest, it is an honor to depart from this world to the Father’s house while celebrating Holy Mass; it is a true reflection of Jesus, who died on the cross. He is now in heaven, enjoying the delights that God had prepared for him beforehand,” remarked Carlos Alberto Pastrello.

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Aleteia

Cardinal reflects after winning defamation lawsuit

By Rose Bryan, October 20, 2026

Last summer, a Canadian judge ordered the accuser of Cardinal Marc Ouellet to pay $100,000 CAD in damages, finding that the cardinal's decades-long ministry and moral authority had been affected by the defamation he suffered over the last four years. Cardinal Ouellet consistently denied wrongdoing, acknowledging that “the enormous hype in the Catholic world [caused by the allegations, had] affected his reputation, his moral authority, and his health.” The Vatican determined there were “insufficient elements to open a canonical investigation for sexual assault by Cardinal Ouellet.” Quellet said, “I think that today, with all the cases that have been publicized, there’s actually a presumption of guilt. And so, I felt like I was under this cloud of suspicion and doubt, because I saw people who invited me and didn’t know what to do anymore. So there were cancellations, precautions, and explanations for why I was at a certain event or had been invited to give a lecture. I was a controversial figure and all these very unpleasant things.”

Crux

UK: Woman charged for praying outside abortion center

By Fionn Shiner, October 17, 2026

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, co-director of March for Life UK, who has been arrested multiple times for silently praying outside of an abortion clinic and is now facing new charges, has said that people from the pro-life movement face harsher policing than other groups. “We had physical assaults caught on camera where you could identify the person committing the assault. You could see the number plate of their car. There were other witnesses there,” she said. “We would give these videos to the police, and I remember on one occasion I asked the police officer, ‘Why are you not doing anything when we’re being assaulted?’ And he said to me, ‘If you don’t want to be assaulted, you don’t have to come out of your house.’ People talk about two-tier policing now. Those of us who are pro-life have seen that going on for many years, because if the boot were on the other foot, I have no doubt that action would have been taken, and rightly so,” Vaughan-Spruce added.

Keep informed - 10/20/26 news for Catholics

Snippets: Pulpit, EWTN, & Aleteia

BIG PULPIT

Tito Edwards’ Catholic blogger site: October 20, 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.

As the World Burns – Robert Royal, Ph.D., at The Catholic Thing
French Riots & the European Doldrums – John at Bensozia
Cardinal Parolin Faces Scrutiny for Remarks on Pope Leo XIV’s Pontificate – Diane Montagna
Those Dreaded Post-Mass Prayers. . . – Fr. Allan J. McDonald at Southern Orders

EWTN News

EWTN’s top headlines — October 20, 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.

New apostolate to atheists and agnostics takes off in Spain - By Nicolás de Cárdenas - Encuentros Siloé (Siloam Encounters), a new apostolate that introduces atheists and agnostics to the reasonableness of faith through in-home gatherings that combine personal testimonies, videos, music, and dialogue, all began with the conversion of Javier Huerta.
Young members of the Order of Malta help the homeless in St. Peter’s Square - By Patricia Ocando and Isabella Reed - Every Tuesday, the youth group of the Rome chapter of the order and other volunteers gather near St. Peterʼs Square to provide food to the homeless. Young professionals and students aged 20 to 30 dedicate one evening a week of their busy lives to help those less fortunate.
Ukrainian priest forcibly conscripted, could be sent to front lines - By Álvaro de Juana - Despite repeated efforts to provide proof of his clergy status and ongoing pastoral service, the authorities rejected documentation for Father Andrii Stebivka, a priest of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo, and sent him to a military training center. According to his parents, the 38-year-old priest, ordained two years ago, was returning from a spiritual retreat.

Aleteia

Aleteia’s global network reports for October 20, 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.

Blessed André Grasset, a priest, was the first Canadian-born person to be beatified - Similar to the United States, it took a while for Canada to receive its first native-born individual to be officially beatified by the Church — not until 1926. In 1792, he returned to France with his family and died during the French Revolution.

French Church leaders urge peace among protests - After violence marred protests across France on October 17 and the situation continues to be tense, the French Bishops’ Conference and several dioceses condemned the destruction and called for peace.

What St. Paul of the Cross did with a large inheritance - St. Paul of the Cross's uncle left him a large inheritance, newfound wealth at a young age that most would have coveted. Paul, an Italian mystic (1694-1775), founded the Passionists. He quietly renounced his large inheritance, giving it to the Church.

October 20, 2026 - USCCB Daily Mass Readings

You can listen HERE or read HERE:

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s Catholic commentary:

Dominica

Run (or swim) your own race

By Br. Pier Giorgio Gould, O.P., October 20, 2026

You’re coming into your last flip turn. Your heart is beating out of your chest. If your lungs could speak, they would be saying faintly, “Air, please air, now.” But you’re neck and neck with the swimmer in the lane next to you. Your arms and legs are moving rapidly. You try to accelerate, but you can only maintain your current pace. Have you ever heard the saying “Run your own race”? I think we could also say, “Swim your own race.” Within a Christian context, we can translate “swim your own race” as “focus on Christ.” The next question is, “How do I focus on Christ?” We can take the answer from the Gospel of Matthew: “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it’” (Matt 16:24–25).

Missio Dei Catholic

Jesus broke down the wall

By Deacon Michael Halbrook, October 20, 2026

Paul describes a wall that no longer exists. The Gentiles were once “without hope and without God in the world” - strangers to the covenants, foreigners to the commonwealth of Israel, separated by a dividing wall of enmity that was both legal and cultural and theological. He describes how Jesus broke down the wall: “He is our peace; he made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity through his Flesh.” The cross is the instrument of demolition. The new person created in Christ, regardless of tribe, nation, or background, stands on the rubble of what had kept mankind apart. “In one Spirit we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” Together = through the one door, in the one Spirit, to the one Father. The household of God has no dividing wall. This is the community Paul is describing: no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God.

The Obscure, Forgotten, and Undiscovered

Ancient sins, compared with today, are very close to virtues

By James K. Hanna, October 19, 2026

Of course, we should avoid all sin and its near occasion. But it’s here, there, and everywhere. And where would our literature be without it? The seven deadly sins run rampant throughout our most memorable poems and tomes. The seven are addressed directly by seven literary luminaries including Evelyn Waugh and W. H. Auden in a fairly light-hearted manner in a delightful little book published in 1962 by the Sunday Times of London. Waugh examines sloth; Auden, anger; Christopher Sykes, lust; Patrick Leigh-Fermor, gluttony; Cyril Connolly, covetousness; Edith Sitwell, pride; and Angus Wilson, envy. The collection of entertaining essays runs to 87 pages and is loaded with virtue as well as vice. Indeed, in the Foreword, Ian Fleming writes, “To be precise and truthful, the critical examination of these famous sins by some of the keenest brains of today has led me to the dreadful conclusion that in fact all these ancient sins, compared with the sins of today, are in fact very close to virtues.”

Catholic Stand

Righteous indignation degenerates into grumpy old men

By Jerome German, October 17, 2026

When Donald Petrie’s 1993 hit Grumpy Old Men became a movie sensation, many of us instantly related to the title, chuckling to ourselves while thinking, Humm, grumpy old men? — yeah, I know some of them. What is it about age that makes a man grumpy? Heaven knows, there is plenty to be grumpy about. For the first twenty years of their lives, we try to form our children in our own image; for the next twenty, they try to form us in theirs. I, for one, am sometimes glad. One of my sons recently gently hinted that I might be on the verge of grumpy-old-man syndrome and that, as such, my effectiveness in all areas of endeavor might suffer. I am deeply indebted to him for that. It is hard, at this age, to prevent righteous indignation from degenerating to mere grumpiness—the latter requiring much less fortitude than the former. Choose your battles very carefully. Know and pray for your allies. Pray for your enemies.

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Catholic Nutshell News: Tuesday 10/20/26