Aleteia

One week after announcing his surgery, the Pope made his first public appearance after leaving the hospital, leading the faithful in the midday Sunday Angelus. As is the custom, he offered his reflection on the Gospel read at today’s Mass. Here is what he said: ~ The Gospel proclaimed in today’s liturgy (Mt 22:15-21) presents us with one of Jesus’ best-known sayings: “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (cf. v. 21).  For this reason, it is important to consider these words in the context in which they were originally spoken. The evangelist Matthew describes a situation of hostility towards Jesus: the Pharisees gather together to see how they might catch him in his words (cf. v. 15).  They decide to send some people to question him on a controversial matter: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (v. 17). Read More…

God isn’t afraid of history: Pope’s thoughts

A proposed new Catholic medical school just reached a key stage in its development at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. It has been given Candidate Status by accreditors — a rare, crucial step, according to Founding Dean Marla Golden, DO, MS, FACEP.  “Our attention now turns to the next major step of achieving Pre-Accreditation Status,” she said. At that point, the proposed Benedictine College School of Osteopathic Medicine (BSOM) will no longer be just “proposed” and can start recruiting students. The sooner the better. The medical school hopes to address the crisis in medicine: America needs more physicians, more caring physicians, and more Catholic physicians. A physician shortage is already here, and worsening. The physician shortage became impossible to ignore starting with the COVID pandemic. “The Doctor Won’t See You Now,” reported the Wall Street Journal about the new “health care team” approach taking the place of doctor visits.  America will experience a shortfall of Read More…

Benedictine’s new medical school takes step forward

Construction planning for a new residential neighborhood south of Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, has uncovered something archaeologists describe as an engineering marvel: a 300-meter (roughly 1,000-foot) stretch of the Lower Aqueduct of Jerusalem, a 2,000-year-old water channel that once carried spring water from the hills south of Bethlehem all the way to the Temple Mount. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced the discovery on October 11. Excavation directors Benyamin Storchan, Gil Freid, and Rotem Cohen said the structure was “probably built in the time of the Hasmonean kings” — the Jewish dynasty that ruled Judea from roughly 140 to 37 BC — to supply water to Jerusalem’s growing population and its Temple complex. The aqueduct’s route stretched approximately 21 kilometers (13 miles) from Solomon’s Pools, a series of ancient reservoirs located south of Bethlehem in what is today the Gush Etzion area, to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It carried water Read More…

Archaeologists unearth the aqueduct that once fed the Temple Mount

I recently heard a discussion on a local sports radio station in which a caller was work-shopping a conundrum from the hosts. The problem, it turned out, was that his son’s scout troop had a camping trip planned for the weekend of the big college football game. The father was desperate to wriggle out of the camping trip so he could watch. All the participants in the discussion were agreed that this was a big problem. Only one of the hosts ventured to mention that, sometimes, a father must accept inconvenience and for the sake of his children and he ought to skip the game and make the best of the camping trip. Watching sports, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t all that important. As I listened to the discussion, at first I thought it was completely absurd. I still do think that, but slowly it dawned on me that I often fall into Read More…

What do we owe each other?

Many Catholic bishops and other religious leaders in the U.S. have spoken against immigration policies that include abrupt deportations and family separations. They’ve called for reforms, joined with other denominations to ask for reform, and even filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. Now, as Fresno, California, experiences a surge of ICE activity, its bishop has released a strongly worded pastoral letter. Bishop Joseph V. Brennan, D.D., shepherds the Diocese of Fresno, where about half of local residents are Hispanic. Besides ICE arresting more than 70 people last week, the region also saw a high-profile felony assault charge against an ICE agent, sparking widespread concern and community protests. Forced separations and abrupt deportations are “heartbreaking,” Bishop Brennan wrote in his pastoral letter: It breaks my heart to hear from some of my pastors that members of their congregations have been taken away abruptly and with little or no information coming from Read More…

Bishop: “We will not be silent” over ICE separations

Pope Leo XVI has shown ample support for World Mission Day, as he has commented on several occasions that in Peru, his faithful benefitted from it. This October 18, the initiative marks 100 years, and the Holy Father released a video message for the occasion (you can watch it in the article linked below). After praying the midday Angelus, he also noted it. Dear brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the 100th World Mission Day.  Let us think of how much missionary history has unfolded over these one hundred years!  Let us pray that the Church may always remain faithful to the mandate of the Risen Lord: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15). For this World Day, the Vatican’s Fides News Agency prepared a dossier on the latest Church statistical yearbook, with figures from 2024, measured against 2023. Catholics accounted for 17.8% of a global population Read More…

How much missionary history in these 100 years!

Pope Leo XIV returned to his regularly scheduled Sunday appointment with the faithful this October 18, leading the midday Angelus as normal from the window of his study overlooking St. Peter’s Square. An unusually large number of people were in the Square and greeted him with warm applause. After leading the prayer and giving his blessing, he noted today’s 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday, and then spoke of his hospital stay and surgery to remove a cancerous nodule, without naming it directly. I would like to thank all those who have prayed for me in recent days.  I have truly sensed your support.  Thank you! I wish to express my particular gratitude to the doctors, nurses and all the staff of the Gemelli Hospital. This experience has made me feel particularly close to all those who are living with illness or infirmity. Now that I have overcome this delicate phase, as you know, I Read More…

Smiling Pope Leo thanks faithful for prayers (Photos)

Doctor Stefano Margaritora, Professor of Thoracic Surgery at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, performed the operation on Pope Leo XIV on October 13. In an interview with Vatican News, he described a procedure that was medically routine — and personally unlike anything he had experienced before: “A deep feeling I cannot describe,” he said of operating on the Pope. The lung adenocarcinoma was not discovered through symptoms — Leo XIV had none. It appeared by chance during routine abdominal imaging: because the lower lungs appear at the top of abdominal scans, a small spot at the base of the right lung became visible. Early-stage lung cancer rarely announces itself, which is precisely why Margaritora used the occasion to stress the importance of regular checkups and lung cancer screening for those at risk. Because of the tumor’s size, the entire lower lobe of the right lung was removed. The procedure had no complications. Before Read More…

The surgeon who operated on Leo XIV: “An ideal patient”

Condé Nast Traveller has named Ireland the friendliest country in Europe in its 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards, with a rather impressive score of 98.39 out of a 100. And this isn’t a one-off burst of Irish charm either: After coming second for the previous two years, Ireland has finally nabbed the top spot. As someone who is half Irish, I’d say it’s about time, too. And I’m naturally taking this entirely impartial survey result as iron-clad scientific proof, and it may pop up in conversation whenever anyone makes an unfortunate remark about the Irish weather. But underneath the fun of the accolade is something worth thinking about. Condé Nast Traveller points particularly to Ireland’s culture of conversation, community, and hospitality, not to mention the famous “craic,” and these are things you don’t need an Irish passport to practice. So, in honor of Ireland’s latest title, here are seven ways we could all inject a little Read More…

The Irish art of being friendly (and how to steal it)

Some of the tamer Halloween decorations that many have purchased in the last few years have been skeletons, some small and some as big as your house. Most of the skeletons are simple, featuring a normal skeleton body, while others are more frightening, and are designed to scare the small trick-or-treaters who stop by on Halloween night. It’s an interesting trend, as it implies that skeletons are meant to be scary, and that their presence should remind us of the creepy Halloween season. Yet, for Christians, should skeletons really scare us? What’s so frightening about them? The main reason why skeletons are associated with Halloween is because of their association with death. A human skeleton is something unnatural, as it means that someone has died and that the rest of their body has decayed. For some people, this alone is a frightening fact, as it subconsciously reminds us of our own future death. When we Read More…

Should we be uneasy about skeletons and what they represent?

Each year parishes across the globe participate in World Mission Sunday on the 2nd to last Sunday of October. This annual day dedicated to spreading the Gospel to all corners of the world owes its origin to the Society of the Propagation of the Faith. In 1926, the Society petitioned Pope Pius XI to establish “a day of prayer and propaganda for the missions to be celebrated on the same day in every Catholic diocese, parish and institute in the world.” Ever since, the Society has continued to promote the missions on World Mission Sunday, educating Catholics on the importance for praying and supporting missionary efforts. What’s interesting to note is the remarkable connection the Society of the Propagation of the Faith has to both St. John Vianney and St. Philomena. The Society of the Propagation of the Faith was founded in 1822 by Bl. Pauline Jaricot. At the time there was a great need Read More…

World Mission Sunday’s link to St. John Vianney and St. Philomena

Just like the blockbuster hit of Titanic, The Chosen has never exactly had the luxury of keeping its biggest plot twist secret. We know Judas will betray Jesus. We know Peter will deny him. We know the disciples will scatter, and we know exactly where the road through Jerusalem ends. But, somehow, that doesn’t make the new Season 6 trailer any easier to watch. Released this week, the first full trailer for the penultimate season takes viewers into the final 24 hours of Jesus’ life. And after five seasons spent watching Jonathan Roumie’s Jesus eat, laugh, tease, teach and occasionally exasperate the people around him, we’re now seeing him bloodied beneath a crown of thorns. Seriously, can our hearts take any more? The trailer opens with Judas moving through a crowded Jerusalem, before giving us glimpses of the arrest and trial of Jesus, the fear and confusion of his followers, and the gathering horror of Read More…

We knew this was coming. ‘The Chosen’ trailer still hurts

A photo appearing to show a young Robert Francis Prevost smoking a cigarette has circulated on social media in recent days. However, I.MEDIA has discovered that the image was created by editing a real photograph. On October 13, 2026, Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery to remove the lower lobe of his right lung, which contained a cancerous tumor. Asked whether the Pope had smoked in the past, the Holy See Press Office said it had no information on the matter. One of the first to share the doctored image was an account on X. The account also drew a connection between the Pope’s hospitalization and a video in which he encouraged the faithful to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The video was published during the pandemic, when he was bishop of Chiclayo, Peru. I.MEDIA tracked down the original version of the same photograph without the cigarette. The Pope’s brother, John Prevost, had provided it to the Read More…

As Pope Leo XIV recovers, beware fake photos

October 18 marks the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday, and to honor that anniversary, a variety of events have been planned in Rome. One such event is the International Missionary Rosary, which is scheduled for 3 p.m. Rome time (9 am New York time) on Saturday, October 17. You can join the livestream at VaticanNews. This Rosary is connected to the recently beatified Fulton Sheen, who promoted it, as the Pontifical Mission Societies in Los Angeles explains. In February of 1951, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950 to 1966), in a radio address (The Catholic Hour), inaugurated a World Mission Rosary. “We must pray, and not for ourselves, but for the world. To this end, I have designed the World Mission Rosary. Each of the five decades is of a different color to represent the continents.” According to VaticanNews, on Saturday, “the mysteries will be Read More…

Join Saturday: Missionary Rosary to include prayers for Pope Leo

From the Gemelli Hospital, where he has been since his surgery on Tuesday, Leo XIV spoke on the telephone with Vladimir Putin this October 16, the Holy See Press Office reported. The Pope asked the Russian President for relief for the small city of Oleshky, in the Kherson region. This was their second official telephone conversation since the election of the American-Peruvian pontiff last May. Having undergone surgery for a cancerous lung nodule last Tuesday, Leo XIV resumed his duties in full on Thursday. He has so far had visits from three cardinals, and today, he held a telephone conversation with President Putin, to whom he expressed “his deep concern about the grave humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshky, in the Kherson region, and called for a ceasefire to allow the delivery of food and medical assistance, and the voluntary and safe evacuation of the civilian population,” according to the Vatican statement. This town Read More…

Pope talks to Putin, urges relief for besieged city

Swiss Guards, diplomats, cardinals of the Roman Curia, Eastern Catholic patriarchs in full liturgical vestments, and bishops representing nearly every country in the world: Everything about the protocol and ceremony in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, October 14, was ready for a papal Mass. Even the liturgical booklet listed the Santo Padre (“Holy Father”) as presider. But the Pope wasn’t there. Instead, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, the new dean of the College of Cardinals, presided on his behalf. The Mass concluded a weeklong Vatican gathering on the challenges facing families, held 10 years after Pope Francis published his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. “It’s wonderful that this Mass could take place today, just hours after the Pope’s cancer diagnosis was officially confirmed,” said an employee of the Roman Curia. “With representatives of bishops’ conferences from around the world here, the whole Church will be praying for the Pope’s health and showing him its Read More…

At the Vatican, Leo XIV’s absence makes him more present

Appointments of bishops in China that receive Rome’s approval are rare and scrutinized as major events. They attract a level of attention not seen for any other country. Since the beginning of Pope Leo XIV‘s pontificate, they’ve become significantly more frequent, while drawing less media interest. Is this a sign of normalization? The most recently announced appointment of a Chinese bishop — for Haimen, named on August 24 and announced on October 15, the day of his consecration — filled a diocese that had been without a bishop since 2023. This is the 21st appointment (though only the 19th episcopal consecration, excluding two transfers) since Beijing and the Vatican signed a secret, provisional agreement on episcopal appointments in 2018. More importantly, since the election of Pope Leo XIV, there has been a clear acceleration in bilateral appointments. Pope Leo has appointed seven bishops, averaging more than four per year, compared to fewer than two per Read More…

Chinese bishops: Faster appointments, ‘very small steps’

On the night of September 12–13, 1942, a daring British commando raid known as Operation Aquatint was underway. In the dark of a Normandy night, a small unit of Allied commandos made its way to the German-occupied French coast near Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes. But nothing went as planned. The small group landed on the beach but immediately came under heavy German fire. Gustavus Henry March-Phillipps, known as “Gus,” risked everything but was killed during the fighting. He was 34 years old. An extraordinary officer, novelist, sailor, horseman, and devout Catholic, he left behind an elite commando unit and a track record of successful covert operations. Yet, even today, he remains largely unknown to the general public. Gus March-Phillpps was an unconventional figure for his time, both an irreverent poet and a swashbuckling soldier. Born in 1908, he entered the abbey school of Ampleforth in Yorkshire in 1917. Run by Benedictines, it is one of England’s great Catholic Read More…

The Catholic commando who may have inspired James Bond

Many are familiar with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and her later visions of Jesus and her promotion of the Sacred Heart devotion. Few know that St. Margaret Mary was a “party animal” in her youth, frequently attending balls and parties, overindulging in activities that she would later regret. She was severely tempted by these parties, not being able to resist their allurement. Parties and balls are typically not in of themselves evil, but when we pursue them before all things and neglect our relationship with God, we often drift away from him, as St. Margaret Mary did. Emile Bougaud frames the situation as such in the Life of Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque: She delighted in pleasure parties, she shortened her prayers, she remained from confession and her soul gradually sank from the height to which it had been elevated in early childhood. “I began to see the world and to dress to please it and Read More…

The day St. Margaret Mary stopped going to parties

Few words in contemporary political life are deployed more carelessly than “ideology.” Politicians use it to dismiss opponents. Commentators use it to explain what they don’t understand. Ordinary people use it to mean something like beliefs I disagree with or politics taken too seriously. None of this is what the word actually means, or why it matters. The term idéologie was coined in 1796 by the French philosopher Antoine Destutt de Tracy. He meant it as a neutral, scientific description: the study of ideas and their origins, a kind of intellectual anatomy, not necessarily or strictly political. It was Napoleon Bonaparte, who initially welcomed the idéologues as useful intellectuals, who later turned the word into an insult — accusing them of constructing abstract systems disconnected from political reality. The pejorative sense of the word thus begins with a general-emperor who found philosophers inconvenient. Nothing new under the sun: Alexander the Great executed his official historian Read More…

What is an ideology — and why should Christians care?

What is the obligation of a Catholic living in a democratic nation? The Catechism (2239-2240) makes clear that voting in elections is a moral duty: It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom … Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country. As Americans prepare for the upcoming midterm elections on November 3, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) shared a special message reminding Catholics that “voting is both a right and a responsibility.” Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the USSCB, urged Catholics to vote and to “put their faith before politics” in making their voting decisions.  In a time of deep political division, the temptation is to be discouraged and to not participate in Read More…

Bishops’ message to Catholics: Get out and vote

At 71, Pope Leo XIV certainly gave the impression of having boundless energy during his recent visit to France. Over four packed days, he celebrated Mass before enormous crowds, delivered speeches, met countless faithful, and somehow found the strength to keep smiling and greeting people who had waited hours for a glimpse of him — and let’s not forget, blessing something like a billion babies among the way! At Lourdes, he prayed at the grotto, spent time with sick pilgrims, celebrated Mass before some 150,000 people, and joined the torchlight procession. It was an exhausting schedule for anyone, let alone a man in his 70s. Yet barely two weeks later, on October 13, the Holy Father was undergoing surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital to remove a suspicious nodule from his lung, subsequently confirmed to be cancerous. The Vatican has not revealed exactly when Leo learned of his health concerns, although the examinations and preparations required Read More…

The intriguing date of Pope Leo’s surgery

Popes have been influencing the world for centuries, but you might be surprised to discover just how often they crop up in our everyday conversations. In fact, today I was watching someone on television and found myself thinking that they were pontificating. And that got me wondering about all the other words we use in everyday life that have a little papal influence. So here are six expressions with fascinating connections to papal and Catholic history. Some might not come as much of a surprise, but others show just how deeply the Church has worked its way into our everyday language. Let’s begin with least palatable one. These days, nepotism is what happens when the boss’s thoroughly unqualified nephew somehow lands the best job in the company. And as it happens, nephews are exactly where the word comes from. The term derives from the Italian nepotismo, which comes from nipote, meaning nephew. During the Renaissance Read More…

6 Everyday expressions with surprising papal connections

You can’t stop Sr. Stephanie. The Franciscan sister completed her 15th consecutive year running the Chicago Marathon this past Sunday, October 11, raising funds for her order’s Mission of Our Lady of the Angels. One of the record 55,000-plus participants in this year’s Chicago Marathon, Sr. Stephanie and her team have raised more than $3.2 million since she founded it in 2011.  This year, she and the 192 runners—including her religious sisters Sr. Bridget and Sr. Eleanor—on her marathon team (with another 30 running the half) brought in $579,589 at last count, setting a new record. The annual marathon is her community’s only major fundraiser.  All funds go to her order’s mission, supporting its food pantry that feeds 3,000 to 4,000 families each month, as well as other outreach programs the sisters operate in an under-served Chicago neighborhood. Currently, the sisters are investing in their community’s formation process as they work to open a separate Read More…

Marathon nun sets huge fundraising record, talks spiritual growth

In his message for this year’s World Day of the Sick, celebrated annually on the February 11 feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Pope Leo XIV offered the faithful an “ancient prayer” to Mary. Now, as the Holy Father continues his recovery in the hospital, and as we await further news on the tumor, we unite ourselves with the Communion of Saints to pray it. The Pope invited, “Let us raise our prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Health of the Sick, asking her to assist all who suffer and are in need of compassion, consolation and a listening ear. Let us seek her intercession with this ancient prayer, that has been invoked in families for those living with illness and pain: Sweet Mother, do not part from me.Turn not your eyes away from me.Walk with me at every momentand never leave me alone.You who always protect meas a true Mother,obtain for me the blessing Read More…

Pope Leo recommended this prayer for the sick

There is a word embedded in Leo XIV’s theme for World Communications Day 2027 that rewards unpacking. Attention, he notes, comes from the Latin ad-tendere — to stretch toward. Not to consume, not to scroll, but to reach deliberately toward something outside yourself, something worth the effort of sustained regard. The platforms that now mediate most of human communication are engineered around the opposite movement. They stretch toward you. They learn your triggers, sharpen your compulsions, and serve you content calibrated to hold your eyes for another few seconds. The business model is not communication. It is the harvesting of attention as a raw material, sold to advertisers, through the engineering of psychological states — outrage, anxiety, craving — that make the harvest most efficient. Leo named this a spiritual crisis. He is right. But the tradition he represents has been running a counter-practice for a very long time. The Rule of Benedict, written in Read More…

How to reclaim your attention before it’s gone

Bear Grylls has eaten some truly disgusting things in his time. Stomachs have churned as he’s eaten raw snake, insects, and animal organs. And let’s not forget the various other substances that have probably made millions of viewers quietly put down whatever they were in the middle of eating. He’s also climbed Everest, crossed oceans, and survived in places where most of us would struggle to last 10 minutes. Yet one of the experiences he still remembers from his younger days is considerably less dramatic — although much more impressive — involving a few rupees, a scribbled note, and Mother Teresa. While the adventurer has shared the story before, he recently took to Facebook to share it again. Grylls explains that as a young man traveling through India with dreams of eventually climbing Everest, he decided to seek out Mother Teresa’s mission in Calcutta. What he encountered on the city’s streets was difficult to take Read More…

Why Mother Teresa’s letter to Bear Grylls means so much

Before St. Teresa of Avila entered a Carmelite convent, she was a lively young girl, who loved to gossip, wear fine clothes, and flirt with boys. Part of this was due to the influence of a relative, which she explains in her autobiography: [F]rom a relative whom we often had in the house I learned every kind of evil. This person was so frivolous in her conversation that my mother had tried very hard to prevent her from coming to the house, realizing what harm she might do me, but there were so many reasons for her coming that she was powerless. I became very fond of meeting this woman. I talked and gossiped with her frequently; she joined me in all my favorite pastimes; and she also introduced me to other pastimes and talked to me about all her conversations and vanities. This negative influence was difficult to manage and so her father devised Read More…

Why St. Teresa of Avila was sent to an Augustinian convent

Chris Pratt has certainly had some interesting co-stars over the years. He’s shared the screen with dinosaurs, superheroes, and a rather opinionated raccoon. But his latest collaboration might just be his most unexpected yet, as the Hollywood actor is about to appear in a new documentary with none other than… Pope Leo! And if that pairing weren’t intriguing enough, the documentary will see Pratt heading beneath St. Peter’s Basilica to explore ancient tombs and archaeological discoveries surrounding the burial place of St. Peter himself. With a Hollywood action star, a pope, and nearly 2,000 years of fascinating history to uncover, it seems more of a mission for Indiana Jones. The documentary, Pétros ení: Discovering the Origins, takes viewers beneath St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to explore the burial place of the apostle Peter, according to Vatican News. Pratt, whom audiences know from Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy, guides viewers through the history and Read More…

Chris Pratt’s surprising new co-star: Pope Leo XIV