The Vatican has announced a new director and deputy directors of the Holy See Press Office. In a press release, the Holy See announced that Matteo Bruni will serve as the Director of the Holy See Press Office, effective July 22, 2019. Bruni, 42, is originally from Winchester, Great Britain. He graduated from La Sapienza

Parents of a comatose five-year-old are attempting to move their child to Italy from a London hospital after doctors in the United Kingdom declared any further medical treatment to be futile and ordered the removal of “life-sustaining treatment.” Tafida Raqeeb has been in a coma since February 9, after she suffered from a brain arteriovenous

The problem in the world and in the churches, the American theologian Jim Wallis suggests, is that perennially conservatives get it wrong and liberals (over-reacting to conservatives) then don’t get it at all. Nowhere is this truer, I believe, than in how we discern the finger of God in the events of our lives. Jesus tells us to

This time next week, if the opinion polls and experts are to be trusted – and they seldom are – Boris Johnson will be prime minister. It is perhaps not quite what he was aiming for as a boy – then he wanted to become King of the World – but it is the prize

Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (1831-1901) was born in Philadelphia to an Irish Catholic immigrant family. His father, a doctor, died young, and his mother opened a pawnshop. Nevertheless, he grew up in comfortable surroundings. His family home often hosted groups of Catholic intellectuals. Thanks to his mother’s hard work, he was able to attend Philadelphia’s prestigious Central High.

Cryptic across 5 Pope in Rome, Number Thirteen connected to St Lucia – that’s high (8,3) 7 Game with horses left mess all around (4) 8 Herb’s seen with girls, one after another (8) 9 Joe unfortunately hospital detained when, after initial silence, giving the name of a Judah king (7) 10 Book in Ireland

Ordinary Form Divine Office Week IV Sunday, July 21: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Gn 18:1-10A; Ps 15; Col 1:24-28; Lk 10:38-42 Monday, July 22: St Mary Magdalene Sgs 3:1-4B or 2 Cor 5:14-17; Ps 63; Jn 20:1-2, 11-18 Tuesday, July 23: St Bridget (Eu); Ss Philip Evans and John Lloyd (opt mem; W); Weekday in Ordinary Time (US)

There is a theory that the use of holy medals in the Catholic Church might have originated from pagan practices, when missionaries Christianised the amulets which were often believed to confer protection upon the wearer. Today there is no suggestion that a holy medal is a sort of charm. Instead it is a “sacramental”, listed

In the days before there were memes, Evangelical churches used to display catchy posters on their noticeboards. They included “Ch —ch. What’s missing? UR” and “If it were illegal to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Of course, it was once illegal in England to believe that Jesus Christ is

Here is the Collect for the 16th Ordinary Sunday. It has an antecedent in a 9th-century manuscript. Enjoy the fine clausula (rhythmic ending): Propitiare, Domine, famulis tuis, et clementer gratiae tuae super eos dona multiplica, ut, spe, fide et caritate ferventes, semper in mandatis tuis vigili custodia perseverent. Decades ago your pastors slammed shut the

“Abraham looked up, and there he saw three men standing before him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them. ‘My lord,’ he said, ‘I beg you, if I find favour with you, kindly do not pass your servant by.’” The account of Abraham’s encounter with

Stephen F Auth’s The Missionary of Wall Street (Sophia Institute Press, 184pp, £14.40/$15) is subtitled From Managing Money to Saving Souls on the Streets of New York. It reads as if one were watching a particularly gripping film with a traditional storyline: the cops fighting robbers with all the attendant dangers of a game of