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Daily Readings from the USCCBMemorial of Saint Pius X, PopeWhen the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Matthew 22:34–36Today’s Gospel takes place during the final week of Jesus’ public ministry, shortly after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the crowds acclaimed Him as the Messiah, the Son of David. As the week progressed, Jesus faced an onslaught of confrontations from various religious authorities: the chief priests and elders, the Pharisees and Herodians, the...

The church, whose earliest accounts are recorded in the book of Acts, was established by Jesus and given a Great Commission (see Matthew 28:18-20) to continue His work in the world. Taken seriously, what would the world look like if the church does its job? Does the ministry of pregnancy help offer a reflection of that work? Reports from of a resurgence in faith from Christian research organization Barna Group versus Pew Research Center showing a slowing and leveling off in the decline of Christianity, both from 2025, may not align, but both offer encouragement. News reports covering anecdotal trends...

Florida’s Catholic AG pushes back on archbishop for rejecting vaccine exemptions ‘Should Muslim schools teaching sharia law in violation of Florida law nevertheless get state funding? I don’t think so,’ Florida AG James Uthmeier said. Florida’s attorney general has met the archbishop of Miami’s refusal to provide vaccine religious exemptions at diocesan Catholic schools with sharp criticism.Early this month, Florida AG James Uthmeier warned the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops that Catholic schools may be disqualified from state-funded scholarships and vouchers due to their denial of vaccine religious exemptions. On Monday, Archbishop Thomas Wenski ironically insisted that Uthmeier’s challenge to...

[Catholic Caucus] Pachamama ritual performed by Vatican official took place at pro-LGBT event In addition to the idolatrous Pachamama ritual, the 'human rights' event was held in conjunction with LGBT groups.Rorate Caeli reported published a report from InfoVaticana yesterday morning showing that two Catholic bishops and a monsignor participated in a pagan ritual (venerating and praying to Pachamama) in a conference intended to prepare the way for Pope Leo’s trip to Peru this November. The initial story came from the Vatican News, and unsurprisingly, Vatican News omitted several key details.The event titled “Weaving Voices for Dignity: For Human Rights and...

Bishop Eleganti: Islam poses ‘very serious’ danger to the West“Globalism has already failed” and the crisis of predominantly Muslim migration is leading to a point of “no return”, Bishop Marian Eleganti has declared. The former auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Chur is one of a handful of prelates who publicly denounces Islam and the concept of modern migration into the West, and has regularly linked the demographic crisis in the West to the crisis of immigration simultaneously affecting Europe. Interviewed recently by La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, Eleganti warned that the Catholic Church “should not take an idealistic approach on...

20 August 2026 Saint Bernard, Abbot, Doctor on Thursday of week 20 in Ordinary Time St. Bernard Of Clairvaux Catholic church, Scottsdale, AZ Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(II).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingEzekiel 36:23-28I will remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of fleshThe word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘I mean to display the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. And the nations will learn that I...

Daily Readings from the USCCBMemorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the ChurchBut when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?’ But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:11–14Among the many layers in today’s...

"Remove St. John' Passion from Lectionary" - Jewish Woman New President of Catholic Biblical Association On July 20, at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, the 88th Annual Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association (CBA) elected Amy-Jill Levine, 70, as president for 2026–2027.She is the first Jewish president in the CBA’s history.Founded in 1936, the CBA is an independent association with longstanding institutional ties to the U.S. bishops. Its constitution says it pursues biblical scholarship “in conformity with the teaching of the magisterium of the Catholic Church.”Levine is a New Testament scholar and is a longtime member of the CBA. In...

Leo XIV’s Newest Appointments: WEF, Agenda 2030 and Women-Must-Become-Priests On 18 August 2026, Pope Leo XIV appointed twelve new consultors to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Leo XIV fills the Vatican's social-policy apparatus with mostly anti-Catholic figures.1. Peter G. Kirchschläger, 49, Social ethicist, University of Lucerne, SwitzerlandIn December 2018, he said that the Catholic Church has an unresolved human-rights problem regarding the impossibility of women's ordination to the priesthood. He even claimed that the state "may not look away" but has an obligation to press the Church on it. When presented with the argument that women dissatisfied with...

Irish TV personality endorses ‘women priests’ during ‘homily’ at Knock shrineMary Kennedy’s talk included a tepid homage to ‘Catholicism,’ her suggestions for the religion’s improvement, and self-congratulations for being a ‘good Catholic.’Irish television personality Mary Kennedy endorsed “women priests” in a talk she gave during Mass on Friday at the Knock Shrine.Kennedy, a self-described “à la carte” Catholic, was invited to give a talk after the Gospel at the Knock Shrine in commemoration of the National Public Novena to Our Lady of Knock that takes place annually at the shrine from August 14 to 22.The bulk of Kennedy’s talk was...

19 August 2026 Wednesday of week 20 in Ordinary Time St. John Eudes Church, Chatsworth, CA Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First readingEzekiel 34:1-11An oracle against bad and selfish shepherdsThe word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘“Shepherds, the Lord says this: Trouble for the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shepherds ought to feed their flock, yet you have fed on milk, you have dressed yourselves in wool, you have sacrificed the fattest sheep, but failed to feed the flock....

Daily Readings from the USCCBHe said to one of them in reply, “‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:13–16Jesus certainly cares about economic justice, especially as it relates to charity and human dignity. But today’s...

Catholic politician slams Vatican-China agreement: ‘Deal with the devil’ ‘Fear of upsetting the Chinese Communist Party has led the Vatican to remain silent about gross violations of religious freedom,’ the UK’s Lord David Alton said.Lord David Alton of Liverpool, a Catholic member of the UK’s House of Lords, in an interview published on Tuesday, slammed the Vatican’s secret agreement with the communist Chinese government as a “deal with the devil” and criticized Rome’s silence as the faithful are persecuted.During his interview with Crux, published August 18, Lord Alton, while discussing an ongoing petition launched by Aid to the Church in...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican won’t stop pro-LGBT sex ed after parents appeal to Leo XIV The Dicastery for Culture and Education reaffirmed a 2019 Vatican document against modern gender theory in educations but took no action against the controversial pro-LGBT program. Catholic parents who begged Pope Leo XIV to halt the implementation of pro-LGBT sex education in Hamburg’s Catholic schools received a brief Vatican reply reaffirming Church teaching on gender, but no direct intervention to stop the program.The pro-LGBT diocesan sex-education guidelines remain set to take effect on August 20.According to a report published by Italian outlet La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana,...

[Catholic Caucus] Priest denies bodily Assumption of Mary at Mass while allowing ‘liturgical dance’‘We should not take this literally,’ a priest in Spain said of the Virgin Mary’s Assumption, arguing that ‘No human being ascends to heaven, body and soul. Heaven is not a physical place.’ During a televised Mass celebrating the 125th anniversary of his parish’s founding on the Feast of the Assumption, a priest delivered a heretical sermon questioning the Assumption of the Virgin Mary while also allowing men and women dressed in brightly colored hoop skirts to perform a liturgical dance. The troubling liturgy took place at...

"Mother Earth" Pagan Worship by Vatican Representative: Doctrine of the Faith Official makes Offering of Coca Leaves at Pachamama Ceremony during Official Church Meeting Rorate Note: Official Vatican News covering of the event here (in Spanish); Spanish page Infovaticana adds the grotesque context.A Pontifical Commissioner and a Bishop Deposit Coca Leaves in an "Earth Offering": Jordi Bertomeu as Offerer at a Pachamama Ceremony InfovaticanaAugust 18, 2026The Southern Macroregional Encounter "Interweaving Voices for Dignity" — presented by Vatican News as part of the preparation for Pope Leo XIV's upcoming visit to Peru — opened without any Catholic prayer whatsoever. In its...

18 August 2026 Tuesday of week 20 in Ordinary Time more than 100 volunteers from the Hogar de Cristo, gather in the Shrine of Father Hurtado, to celebrate Volunteer Day. Santiago, Chile Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First readingEzekiel 28:1-10Against the arrogance of the king of TyreThe word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre, “The Lord says this:Being swollen with pride,you have said: I am a god;I am sitting on the throne of God,surrounded by the seas.Though you are a man and not a god,you consider yourself...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” Matthew 19:23–25In light of today’s Gospel, do you want to be rich? Most people do. The thought of buying a big, beautiful home (or...

[Catholic Caucus] The Friends of Governor Maura Healey The following news analysis is courtesy of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts…Catholic social media — in America and around the globe — is reacting with horror and disgust at the scene of women clapping and cheering as Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed into law a bill which eliminated all remaining restrictions on late term abortion in the Commonwealth.That scene occurred on Monday, August 10th, in the Corner Office (the Governor’s Office) of the Massachusetts State House in Boston.Joining Maura and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll were their friends from the Planned Parenthood...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Schneider defends consecrations and rejects Vatican charge of schism Bishop Athanasius Schneider has offered one of his strongest defences of the SSPX following its episcopal consecrations. In a statement published by veteran Catholic journalist Diane Montagna, he argues that disobedience to the Pope does not necessarily constitute schism and calls on the Holy See to acknowledge “objective ambiguities” in Vatican II and the New MassBishop Athanasius Schneider has offered a forceful defence of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) following its recent episcopal consecrations by arguing that disobedience to the Pope does not in itself constitute...