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, Switzerland In 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 Catholic teaching can leave, he answered: “That would be protecting the perpetrator.” 2. Kathryn A. Koch, 45, Wall Street Finance Kathryn Koch spent 20 years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, became a Goldman partner and ran its approximately $300 billion public-equity business. In 2015, Koch was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Since 2024, Koch has …مزید
In Lungo’s case, it seems likely that some at least will take this same line in response to his apparent Freemasonry. But for the Vatican, the case is — or should be — much more acute, since it involves the wholesale moral condemnation by the Church of a legal category of persons.
Italian priest Lino Zatelli, 75, killed himself on August 12. He had been parish priest of San Carlo Borromeo in Trento for a quarter of a century. He was found dead inside the rectory of his parish after he didn’t show up to celebrate the Eucharist. Corriere del Trentino reported the death as a voluntary act. Two months earlier he had learned that he would have to leave San Carlo in November for another pastoral assignment. Zatelli publicly said he had not asked to leave. Sad detail: During his Easter homily, Don Zatelli preached about Judas's suicide. He discussed Judas as someone overwhelmed by despair who could no longer see beyond the obstacle before him, but emphasized Christ's forgiveness and imagined Jesus ultimately embracing Judas in heaven. Eucharists Beyond Rubrics A 2019 interview called him the “eternal bad boy of the Trentino Church.” A November 2020 profile describes Zatelli as working in a kind of laboratory parish. His Eucharists went beyond formulas and interpreted …مزید
Today, Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann, 66, of Speyer, Germany, due to health reasons. He had led the Diocese of Speyer since March 2008. Bishop Wiesemann said that "the burden of the extensive responsibility has taken a serious physical and psychological toll on me." Depression and Health Bishop Wiesemann had previously suffered from depression. In 2021, he withdrew from his duties for about seven months for health reasons, including inpatient treatment. He later publicly identified the illness as depression. In May 2026, he spoke about his experience at the Katholikentag in Würzburg during an event on depression and mental health. He attributed his depression to prolonged pressures including the demands of episcopal office, financial and structural problems in the diocese and, above all, the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis. Pro-Homosexual Bishop Bishop Wiesemann was among the German bishops supporting changes in the Church's approach to homosexuality …مزید
On 13 August 2026, Irish broadcaster Mary Kennedy delivered a roughly 15-minute guest address entitled “Faith in Full View” during the National Novena to Our Lady of Knock in Knock Basilica, Co. Mayo, following the Gospel: “I would like it if it weren’t such a male-dominated ministry. I think there is real value in having women in important positions in the Church. It’s not going to change in my lifetime, or in the lifetimes of other people present here, but I really do feel that women would have a huge contribution to make to the Church, and I would love to see women priests. I really would.”
Natalie Harp wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was October 2023, and Donald Trump was due at a New York City courthouse to fight his latest set of legal troubles. But as the motorcade idled outside his Trump Tower residence, staffers confronted a more immediate problem: There wasn’t room for Harp, the hyper-loyal aide whose devotion to Trump had quickly entrenched her within his orbit. A screaming match in the lobby ensued, with Harp insisting that Trump had personally asked her to attend the court appearance, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Denied a seat but determined not to be left behind, Harp jumped into an SUV trunk, according to the two sources and confirmed by a photo obtained by CNN. 0:00 Trump's relationship with aide Natalie Harp 3:55 Inside Natalie Harp's SUV trunk ride 6:58 Is it normal for a presidential aide to ride in a trunk? Panel discussion Watch 24/7 live news with CNN Headlines: https://bit.ly/4eIvlTr
A right of defense for accused priests is supported on paper in the Diocese of Manchester, but in this case it has been suppressed and obstructed at every turn.
Behind a “prayer gathering for peace” in the papal gardens of Castel Gandolfo on July 29 was a secret dinner with wealthy donors, primarily Americans, reports Nd.nl on August 17. The evening was organised by the Vatican foundation Borgo Laudato si’, with the Andrea Bocelli Foundation as co-organizer. Employees of the dicasteries of the Holy See, the Governorate of Vatican City State and the offices of the Roman Curia were invited. Images show that several chairs remained empty. A Vatican employee said that the invitation wasn’t put up on the notice board until the morning of the concert. The evening consisted of a concert by tenor Andrea Bocelli and an interreligious children’s choir. Leo XIV then gave interviews to the American television networks NBC and Telemundo. Journalists from other media who were present were not allowed to speak with visitors and were kept under tight control. The incoming head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, the divorced lawyer Montse Alvarado, …مزید
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Education has responded to a Catholic mother involved in a parents’ campaign against a new sexual-education framework for Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Hamburg, reports LaNuovaBq.it on August 18. Hamburg is led by Archbishop Stefan Heße. The response was sent to Varinia Arauco, a Peruvian-born mother involved with the ‘Parents’ Network for Child Protection and Prevention’. Arauco and other parents have appealed to Church authorities in Germany and Rome over the Archdiocese of Hamburg’s framework “Male, Female, Diverse: Framework for Sexual Education at Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Hamburg.” The framework was published in 2025 and is intended to be implemented in the archdiocese’s 15 Catholic school locations from the 2026/27 school year. It explicitly supports the “acceptance of diversity with regard to sexual orientations and gender identity” The parents also submitted a petition to Pope Leo XIV through the Apostolic Nuncio in Germany and …مزید
After Drone Strike, a Famed Cathedral in Ukraine Stirs Back to Life nytimes.com/…pe/ukraine-kyiv-cathedral-russia-dro… Volunteers and priests rallied to clean up Kyiv’s Dormition Cathedral, still smelling of smoke from a massive blaze, for an anniversary celebration.0:00 By Carlotta Gall and Stanislav Kozliuk Visuals by Brendan Hoffman Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine Aug. 19, 2026, 5:29 a.m. ET There was a bustle on a recent morning on the quiet grounds of Kyiv’s oldest monastery, as volunteers gathered beside Orthodox priests with hoes and rakes to assist in a grand clean up. Mostly parishioners, military veterans and charity workers, the volunteers had answered a call from the head of the monastery after a Russian drone struck the Dormition Cathedral, at the center of the monastic complex, in June. It is unclear whether the drone, which was part of a broader bombardment of Ukraine’s capital, had intentionally targeted the cathedral. Still, the strike damaged one of its golden domes …مزید
Leo XIV’s Peru Visit Prepared By Pachamama Offering: On 13–14 August, “Entrelazando Voces por la Dignidad,” a regional gathering of social organizations and Indigenous communities, took place in Cusco, Peru. Spanish-language outlets, including Vatican News, linked it to preparations for Pope Leo XIV’s November visit. Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, auxiliary bishop of Cusco and CELAM secretary-general, inaugurated the gathering; Bishop Miguel Ángel Cadenas of Iquitos also attended. InfoVaticana video shows the event opening with an Andean offering to Pachamama/Mother Earth. Participants received coca leaves, performed guided breathing, blew three times on the leaves, and placed them with food offerings in bowls on the ground. Bishop Estrada is shown adding coca leaves to the offering. Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, Vatican official overseeing the dissolution of the community Sodalitium, also took part, placing coca leaves in the offering.
Un comisario pontificio y un obispo depositan coca en un «pago a la tierra»: Jordi Bertomeu oferente a la Pachamama
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 spring 2019, she became the first Jewish scholar to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute. She has also had three audiences with Pope Francis. In a sermon at Washington National Cathedral on March 7, 2021, Levine said: “I’m a Jew. I don’t worship Jesus as Lord and Savior.” "Lectionary Revision Is Only A Start" In an interview published by The Christian Century in June 2023, Levine describes parts of the Gospel of John as …مزید
It is illogical to be considered a scholar regarding the New Testament while denying the Word and the Truth contained therein within the context of Catholic theology and doctrine. But it is both illogical and heretical to make the appointment in the first place. From the excommunicating- happy Vatican, the sound of crickets.
Ice Age Farmer So Trump comes out and declares the strait is open again — completely made up, and who even believes him at this point? But "belief" is not the point. The headlines go out, and the high-frequency algorithmic trading pushes the oil prices back down. These markets have been completely manipulated by their statements: 1. Not just to make billions through insider trading 2. Not just to push people into confusion and learned helplessness 3. But to absolutely prevent any natural demand destruction ... meaning, usually if the world is running out of something, the price rises. That's the most basic supply/demand concept. It's been undermined by this cycle of nonsense announcements and manipulated markets — and this is GUARANTEEING that we are going into an absolutely worst-case "hard landing" scenario: the engineered energy crisis that will require fuel rationing and cause massive inflation across commodities, transportation, cost of living...everything. The economy CANNOT …مزید
Amy-Jill Levine was elected the first Jewish president of the Catholic Biblical Association of America on July 20, 2026. In February 2020, Levine stated: “So I'm not a Christian, I'm not a Messianic Jew, I do not worship Jesus as Lord and Savior, and for me the New Testament is not sacred scripture.” Discussing the Gospels, she continued: “I will argue, that not all the comments the gospel writers attribute to Jesus were spoken by him. I think they added some things.” She added: “My bias or my agenda is in part to help Christians stop making Jewish practice and belief look bad in order to make Jesus look good.”
1. Jüdin Präsidentin der Catholic Biblical Association Amy-Jill Levine, 1. jüdische Präsidentin der Catholic Biblical Association (USA): "I'm not a Christian. I'm not a Messianic Jew. I do not worship Jesus as Lord and Savior and for me the New Testament is not a Sacred Sripture. I will argue, I hope convincingly or at least I'm convinced that not all the comments the gospel writers attribute to Jesus were spken by him. I think they added some things." „Ich bin keine Christin. Ich bin keine messianische Jüdin. Ich verehre Jesus nicht als Herrn und Erlöser und für mich ist das Neue Testament keine Heilige Schrift. Ich werde darlegen – hoffentlich überzeugend, oder zumindest bin ich selbst davon überzeugt –, dass nicht alle Äußerungen, die die Evangelisten Jesus zuschreiben, tatsächlich von ihm gesprochen wurden. Ich glaube, sie haben einiges hinzugefügt" Amy-Jill Levine wurde am 20. Juli 2026 zur 1. jüdische Präsidentin der Catholic Biblical Association der USA gewählt: National Catholic …مزید
He Flunked Latin but Died a Martyr: The Story of Blessed Stanley Rother with Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda "The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger." Biographer Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda joins CatholicTV to share the incredible witness of Blessed Stanley Rother, the first martyr born in the United States. What does it take for an ordinary farm boy from Okarche, Oklahoma, to become a recognized Catholic martyr? Author and biographer Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda steps into the living room on This Is the Day to unpack the life of Blessed Father Stanley Francis Rother. Maria shares Father Stan's relatable early struggles—from being sent home after flunking his first year of theology due to Latin textbooks, to discovering his true calling at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and volunteering for the Oklahoma mission in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. There, among the Tzʼutujil Mayan community, this humble farmer built schools, a hospital, translated scripture, and learned their language fluently. When civil …مزید
Italian Diocese Expands Women’s Roles in Church Administration. Worse than Germany: The Italian Diocese of Trapani, is increasingly appointing laypeople - including women - to formal Curia and diocesan roles as the number of priests declines. The diocese now has fewer than 100 diocesan priests and is bringing in priests from Madagascar, Tanzania, and religious institutes to fill parish vacancies. Among the most significant appointments, lawyer Susanna Catalano has been named the diocese’s second vice-chancellor. Four lay Catholics will receive the instituted ministry of catechist, including two women, Francesca Messina and Caterina Vesco.
Trapani, mancano i preti ma crescono i laici in Curia: Fragnelli cerca sacerdoti all’estero e nomina la seconda vicecancelliera
Ezekiel 36:23-28 “I will give you a new heart and put my Spirit within you.” For God, this has already been done, since the Spirit is life. Let us return to allowing ourselves to be loved by God. Matthew 22:1-14 Often in recent weeks, Jesus begins his parables by saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” a treasure, a landowner, yeast, a mustard seed, etc. Jesus wants us to understand that God’s love is the treasure in which we dwell. Biblical texts: NAB-RE Normand Thomas.