The pope is speaking my language May 16, 2025By Rita Buettner Catholic Review Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window I never thought we would have an American pope, so I had no expectations for how that might different for me, as an American. I had never considered what it would be like to hear a pope talk in English with an American accent.
Question Corner: Does a married person need their marriage blessed or ‘convalidated’ once they become Catholic? May 15, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner A person does not need to be Catholic or even Christian to have a valid marriage, provided that in their matrimonial consent they committed themselves to a union that would broadly match our Catholic understanding of marriage: namely, as a permanent, faithful, and exclusive union ordered fundamentally towards children and family life.
Forcing clergy to break the seal of confession harms victims May 14, 2025By Cecilia Cicone OSV News Filed Under: Child & Youth Protection, Commentary Being unable to be honest with a doctor for fear of safety is one thing. Creating a situation in which victim-survivors may feel unsafe being honest with God is a violation of religious freedom and causes direct harm.
My church, myself: Motherhood, mystery and mercy May 14, 2025By Elizabeth Scalia OSV News Filed Under: Commentary In its exposition of the lifelong depths of concern, nurturing, love, puzzlement, understanding, clemency and prayerful accompaniment, this is a description of motherhood that anyone who has experienced it, physically or spiritually, will recognize. It is also a beautifully stated, convincing argument that the Catholic Church is, indeed, mother to all the baptized.
Our unexpected pope May 12, 2025By Greg Erlandson OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Vatican It is a reminder, as always, that when it comes to scoring papabile, usually those who know don’t say, and those who say don’t know.
The choices of our new pope May 12, 2025By Jaymie Stuart Wolfe OSV News Filed Under: Commentary We do not yet know what choices Pope Leo will make. We can, however, pay close attention to the choices our new Holy Father has already made.
Gift of grace May 12, 2025By Rita Buettner Catholic Review Filed Under: Commentary, The Domestic Church God doesn’t give us grace just at our baptism and confirmation, but over and over in abundance.
Who is our new pope, Pope Leo XIV? May 10, 2025By Rita Buettner Catholic Review Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window What a gift this pope could be—and is—to our Church. What a blessing to have a pope who has so much to bring to this time.
Question Corner: Without a pope, how do we fulfill the indulgence requirement of praying for the pope’s intentions? May 7, 2025By Jenna Marie Cooper OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Question Corner The general understanding among canon lawyers is that indulgences can still be earned during an “interregnum period” — meaning, during the period between the death or resignation of a pope and the election of his successor — because there does not need to be a reigning pope in order for the faithful to pray for the pope’s intentions.
Masses of mourning or papal auditions? May 6, 2025By Michael R. Heinlein OSV News Filed Under: 2025 Conclave, Commentary Those wielding power in these days should not be able to use official days of mourning to try to shape a conclave, especially if it’s true that the conclave is to be exercised in freedom and open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
A Grandmother’s Roses May 6, 2025By Rita Buettner Catholic Review Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Open Window The rain is just what the rosebush needs.
Our heart of darkness May 6, 2025By Greg Erlandson OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Immigration and Migration, Racial Justice The treatment of the undocumented — calling them vermin, terrorists, criminals — is hardening us.
