Twenty-five years after World Youth Day 2000, the world watched as another pope came to meet the youth of the church, again at Tor Vergata. Leo XIV, just a few months into his pontificate, stepped onto the world stage on a summer evening in 2025.

Our family histories vary widely. But all of us share a lineage of spiritual fathers and mothers whose words and deeds also make us what we are.

I’m inspired by the old adage, “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” I’m called to ask, what saints have influenced me? How am I called to be a saint? And how do “my” saints walk with me on that journey?

The optional memorial of the Dedication of St. Mary Major, celebrated on Aug. 5, recalls the importance of Mary in the life of the church. But it also calls to mind the Marian title of “Our Lady of the Snows.”

For a moment, as I reached for the church door, I hesitated. I could go back to the car for an umbrella.

Why would God allow Satan to torture and torment Job when he knew Job was a wonderful man and if God is, indeed, omniscient? (New Jersey)

War always brings unimaginable human suffering. But the images coming out of the besieged Gaza Strip as the war between Israel and Hamas inches toward October’s two-year mark urge us to exclaim in the loudest possible voice: Enough! Men, women and children in Gaza are starving to death, and this atrocity against humanity must end.

Just as Jesus breathed on his disciples and gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit — as you kiss or hug your kids when they head off to school or daycare — the Holy Spirit remains with you, to inspire your daily labors.

The groundbreaking new law deserves accolades for its recognition of the rights of parents, but there are significant questions about how it will be implemented at the federal and state levels

Scripture is clear, then, that questions are good and necessary for seeking the truth and that we must be wary of dishonest questions.