Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” arrives at a defining moment in human history. Artificial intelligence and digital technologies are reshaping every dimension of modern life: communication, labor, economics, medicine, education and even our relationships. “Never has humanity had so much power over itself,” the pope writes.

Many have heard that this new technology threatens to displace all sorts of workers, but such a threat, as real and profound as it is, is by no means the only one.

Flannery O’Connor was not an evangelist. She was an artist, one of the most gifted American fiction writers of the 20th century. But a profoundly Catholic theological vision informs her art, giving her stories resonance and depth that sound deep — and sometimes deeply disturbing — spiritual chords.

Sometimes you feel like you’re faced with a problem with no apparent solution. That’s when we can turn to St. Rita.

“In the Eucharist, the mysteries of Christ’s life are all found, so to speak, concentrated in the memorial of his sacrifice and in his real presence,” Pope Leo said. “The rosary marks the rhythm of our life, continually bringing it back to Jesus and the Eucharist.”

This is the reality of a successful abortion: It always ends at least one life. And when we know that, perhaps we can also see that abortion demands a response. This is why thousands of pregnancy centers nationwide provide free services to pregnant and parenting women in need.

I wouldn’t want to hold our children back. Or maybe I would, just a little bit, to keep them close a little longer.

The short answer is that while the Latin (a.k.a. “Roman”) Catholic Church normally envisions a bishop as being the minister of confirmation, there are some scenarios where a simple priest is able to celebrate this sacrament.

In a long, fruitful career as leader of the American hierarchy, Cardinal Gibbons combined diplomacy, patriotism and a canny understanding of human nature in a manner that made him the most effective advocate before or since of the Americanization of American Catholicism. To him more than anyone, the Catholic Church owes both the advantages and the unintended consequences of assimilation into American secular culture.

Forever ago—or maybe it was just the other day—I packed a lunchbox for my 4-year-old to take to school.