George WeigelOver 400 people gathered April 17 at the University of St. Thomas campus in St. Paul to hear a lecture given by world-renowned author and Catholic intellectual George Weigel about the importance of the Second Vatican Council. The lecture, which was part of The St. Paul Seminary’s Archbishop Ireland Memorial Library Lecture Series, detailed the historical build-up to the council and offered a way to understand and contextualize the controversy that sometimes surrounds it. Weigel said that he was inspired to write his recent book “To Sanctify the World: The Vital Legacy of Vatican I ..read more

The late Pauline Father Gabriele Amorth, a longtime exorcist for the Diocese of Rome who died in 2016, is pictured performing an exorcism on a woman in the documentary “The Devil and Father Amorth.” OSV News photo/LD EntertainmentWhen she died on the basement floor of a tiny San Jose, California, Pentecostal house church Sept. 24, 2021, the relatives of 3-year-old Arely Naomi Proctor Hernandez — her mother, uncle and grandfather — were convinced they were trying to save her. The toddler’s death wasn’t, however, caused by an unexpected medical emergency, and her relatives weren’t frantically re ..read more

A depiction of St. Teresa of Avila in mystical prayer. Father Timothy Sandquist made this image in May 2023, using Midjourney with several other images that formed a series depicting the life of St. Theresa of Avila. “She is one of my favorite saints,” he said. | COURTESY FATHER SANDQUISTArtificial Intelligence (AI) promises tremendous technological advances in many walks of life but also poses unprecedented challenges. Fr. Timothy Sandquist AI is likely to make entire career paths disappear. AI-fueled plagiarism is a growing problem, and the new technology has been used by some to subtly mani ..read more

Christa Johnston“Take courage.” God planted this gentle command within my soul while I was attending a silent retreat with the same name in 2018 led by Jesuit Father James Kubicki. At the retreat, I learned that the root of the word courage is “cor,” meaning heart. To truly take courage, one must take heart, and, as Father Kubicki said, “(What) better heart to take than the heart of Jesus?” Last summer, I experienced this truth in a profound way that also illustrates my answer to the question of why I’m Catholic. My husband and I have been dealing with infertility for almost two years. One par ..read more

The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen in Washington Aug. 31, 2023. The Supreme Court temporarily allowed Idaho on April 15, 2024, to enforce a ban on certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender. OSV News photo/Kevin Wurm, ReutersThe Supreme Court temporarily allowed Idaho April 15 to enforce a ban on certain types of medical or surgical gender reassignment procedures for minors who identify as transgender. State officials asked the high court to allow them to enforce the law while legal challenges to it play out. The court, on id ..read more

U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the White House in Washington April 15, 2024. OSV News photo/Iraqi Prime Minister Media Office handout via ReutersAs the White House responds to Iran’s attack against Israel, Catholic experts said U.S. officials should seek to prevent further escalation in the region. Iran’s unprecedented aerial attack on Israel overnight April 13-14 followed a suspected Israeli strike two weeks prior on an Iranian consular building in Damascus, killing 16 people including two Iranian generals. Iran launched over 300 drones, ba ..read more

A file photo shows surgeons extracting the liver and kidneys of a brain-dead woman for organ donation and transplantation. The National Catholic Bioethics Center released an April 11, 2024, statement calling for consistent clinical, legal, and ethical standards regarding the declaration of brain death. OSV News photo/Fabrizio Bensch, ReutersCatholic bioethicists are sounding the alarm about a critical lack of agreement on what constitutes brain death; and the implications for organ donation are “profound,” they said. The National Catholic Bioethics Center, based near Philadelphia, released an ..read more

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, now-retired prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, is pictured in a Dec. 12, 2022, photo at the Vatican. A civil court in Lorient in France’s Brittany region has ruled that a French religious congregation, Cardinal Ouellet and two Vatican-appointed investigators committed “serious misconduct” in expelling Sabine Baudin de la Valette, whose religious name was Sister Marie Ferréol, from her own community “without cause” after 34 years of consecrated life. CNS photo/Paul HaringThe Vatican Secretariat of State sent a formal statement to the French Embassy to the Holy ..read more

Amid plans by the government to liberalize abortion in the country, Poles organized a National March for Life in the capital, Warsaw, April 14, 2024, in which around 50,000 people participated. President of the Polish bishops’ conference, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, called April 14 a “day of prayer in defense of conceived life” throughout the country. OSV News photo/Pawel Kula, courtesy National March for LifeTens of thousands of Poles have joined church-backed street protests after legislators pressed ahead with plans to liberalize abortion in the traditionally Catholic country. “As P ..read more

Pope Francis speaks to pilgrims and visitors gathered for his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 10, 2024. CNS photo/Pablo EsparzaOne day before Iran launched missiles and exploding drones at Israel, Pope Francis sent a message to viewers of Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya Network pleading for peace throughout the Middle East. “The light of life, which shines all around us and embraces us from on high, calls us to leave behind the dark night of hatred, so that, in accordance with the Creator’s will, stars may shine brightly upon our world, rather than the glare of mis ..read more