Vatican News—In an interview with Vatican News, 34-year-old Didier Grandjean recalls his journey from wearing the uniform of the Pontifical Swiss Guard to the Roman collar. His is a story of a man trained in combat who transitioned to serving the Pope and the Church in a more spiritual way. Born and raised in a…
VNN—A volleyball player left partially paralyzed by a transgender opponent has slammed the Olympics over its boxing controversy. Payton McNabb was 17 when a ball spiked by a trans opponent with force struck her in the face, threw her to the ground, and shut off her consciousness. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, McNabb…
CNA —Father Jason Nioka was ordained a Catholic priest one month ago, and his very first assignment is to spend his summer in Paris in charge of the Catholic contingent of Olympic chaplains — the largest group of chaplains at the Olympics — made up of 40 Catholic priests, religious, and lay faithful. In an…
CNA—The drag-queen-led parody of the Last Supper featured during the opening ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games sparked outrage around the world and has led C Spire, a U.S. mobile phone and internet company, to make the decision to pull all its advertising from the Olympics. “We were shocked by the mockery of the…
CNA—In a strongly worded open letter, Catholic cardinals and bishops from around the world are calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to “repudiate” and “apologize” for the “intentionally hateful mockery” of the Last Supper during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. In addition, “the undersigned commit to a day of prayer and…
CNA—Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester and Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield — both Chicagoans who have known each other since the early days of their priesthood — recently sat down to discuss the most important aspects of living the Catholic faith today, including the importance of inviting Catholics who have stopped practicing the faith back…
The motto of the modern Olympic Games, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” was coined by French Dominican friar Louis Henri Didon, who became friends with the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, five years before the 1896 Athens Games. The motto, originally formulated in Latin as “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” was used before the modern Olympic…
July 26, 2024 (first posted Dec 16 2020) — Best-selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, provides a first-hand account of growing up and then escaping a small town in Appalachia where the manufacturing jobs have been disappearing, wages have been stagnant, and opiate addiction has become rampant. The book speaks to the anger and frustration of the “forgotten” white working…
CNA—As part of its Memorandum of Understanding agreement (MoU) and partnership with the Sovereign Order of Malta, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has successfully sent a second aid delivery to the people of northern Gaza. In a July 24 press release, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem — a diocese that includes Jordan, Cyprus, Palestine, and…
CNA—Katie Ledecky, Olympic swimmer, devout Catholic, and winner of 10 Olympic medals, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Friday. “Thank you Mr. President for this honor, and thank you to everyone at the White House for an incredibly special day!” Ledecky wrote in a post on X. Olympic career began at age 15 Since…
CNA—More than 50,000 people gather in Indianapolis this week for the National Eucharistic Congress, which bishops hope will be a culminating moment in the U.S. Catholic Church’s three-year revival to inspire people to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist. Not since World War II… The five-day congress in the NFL’s Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana…
CNA—Bob Newhart, a cultural giant who is credited with pioneering modern stand-up comedy and spoke openly of his lifelong Catholic faith, died this week. He was 94. The native Illinoisan passed away at his Los Angeles home on Thursday, his publicist said. The actor had suffered from several brief illnesses prior to his death. Growing…
CNA—Elon Musk, the CEO of X and SpaceX and one of the richest men in the world, announced that he will move both multibillion-dollar companies out of California because he opposes a new law that hides information from parents about their child’s gender identity. The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, prohibits school…
VN—At an event held at the Italian Embassy to the Holy See in Rome, the Vatican Secretary of State says Pope John XXIII’ Encyclical Letter ‘Pacem in Terris’ is a testament, and affirms that the concept of ‘just war’ needs to be reviewed. Even if sometimes diplomatic efforts seem to produce small results, “we must…
VN—The Vatican Secretary of State is in Ukraine from 19 – 24 July. The cardinal is to preside over Mass at the Marian Shrine of Berdychiv for the concluding celebration of the pilgrimage of Ukrainian Latin Rite Catholics. The visit of the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to Ukraine, starting on Friday, July 19,…
CNA—The NFL’s Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis are host to more than 50,000 Catholics to the National Eucharistic Congress taking place July 17–21. The five-day congress is bringing the faithful together to inspire people to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist. The congress has opportunities for attendees to take part in…
CNA—“We are being sent forth on mission to make Christ known to others and to be Christ to others,” Christina Wheatley of Jeffersonsville, Indiana, told CNA on the eve of the National Eucharistic Congress this week. Wheatley was among the first pilgrims to arrive in Indianapolis for the five-day event, which kicked off Tuesday with…
Let me introduce you to Carlos Polo. Carlos, who heads the Latin American office of the Population Research Institute and who has dedicated his life to the pro-life cause. As a consequence, he has been viciously attacked, continually persecuted, and even subjected to lawsuits by allies of Planned Parenthood. The Blessing of the beatitude of…
July 13 marks the feast day of a dynamic, enthusiastic Catholic layman from the Caribbean who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001. Known as “Charlie” — abbreviated to just “Chali” in his most intimate circle — from childhood Carlos Manuel “Charlie” Rodríguez exuded a gift and zeal for communicating the tremendous value…
CNA, Shannon Mullen, Matthew McDonald, Peter Laffin—Catholic ecclesial and political leaders across the United States offered their prayers for Donald Trump after an attempted assassination of the former president Saturday evening at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Among them was Bishop David Zubik of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, where the shooting took place. “We are…
