Daily Readings

St. Eugene Catholic Church in Oklahoma City is challenging parishes across the country to follow its example after helping abolish more than $6.5 million in medical debt through a partnership with a nonprofit organization.Father Jim Goins read about the “scourge of medical debt in the country” and decided to do something. About 20 million people ... read more

Pope Leo XIV is a pope of several firsts: the first American pope, the first to be an Augustinian, and the first in modern times to have done overseas missionary work.He is also the first pontiff in nearly 50 years to have studied and worked as a canon lawyer, holding a doctorate in canon law ... read more

The bishop of Springfield, Illinois, is joining a Lutheran nursing home and a group of doctors to sue the state over its assisted suicide law, with the coalition arguing that the state’s suicide regime abandons “nearly two millennia of medical practice” while requiring objectors to participate in it. The suit, brought in U.S. District Court ... read more

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has urged Catholics to prioritize attending Sunday Mass, warning that active participation in the Eucharist cannot be replaced by virtual gatherings.“I urge everyone to seek the best possible conditions so that even those who are unable to take time off work on Sundays may take part in Holy Mass,” ... read more

Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641). St. Jane was a married woman and a mother of seven children from Dijon, France. Her husband was killed in a hunting accident. In 1604, upon being deeply moved by the preaching of Francis de Sales, Jane asked him to become her spiritual ... read more

A federal court granted a request from two parents to consider whether a Michigan school district violated the First Amendment when officials began treating their daughter as a boy without informing them.Judge Paul Maloney granted the motion to reconsider Aug. 7 in light of the 2026 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta. The ... read more

The Colombian Bishops’ Conference expressed its concern for those affected by the 7.4-magnitude earthquake that struck the country on Aug. 10, with the bishops calling upon “all the faithful to support them through prayer and solidarity.”The earthquakeʼs epicenter was in the San José del Palmar subdistrict in the department of Chocó, and it was also ... read more

Pope Leo XIV has chosen “Disarming Technology, Serving Peace. Politics as Preventive Responsibility” as the theme of the 2027 World Day of Peace. The theme will be part of the celebrations for the 60th World Day of Peace, observed on Jan. 1, 2027, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development announced on Aug. 11. ... read more

More than a decade of evaluations across Africa, Asia, and Latin America found that family-led development is a consistent driver of lasting progress for families experiencing poverty in Unbound’s programs.Unbound, an international nonprofit founded by lay Catholics and grounded in Catholic social teaching, centers its numerous programs on alleviating poverty by allowing families to identify ... read more

Pope Leo XIV on Aug. 11 named eight new members, including four laypeople, to the Council for the Economy, the body that oversees the administrative and financial structures and activities of the Roman Curia and institutions connected to the Holy See.The council also approves the annual budget and the consolidated financial statements of the Holy ... read more

The Memorial of St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) is celebrated today. Clare was the first woman to practice the life of entire poverty as taught by St. Francis. Placed by him at the head of a few companions in the small convent of San Damiano, she governed her community for forty-two years thus founding at ... read more

The apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta in Spain, Bishop Ramón Valdivia, called for a vigil for peace, justice, and stability in Ceuta, the Spanish city located in northern Africa and the site of a recent immigration crisis.In a letter addressed to the priests, religious, and faithful of Ceuta, where the recent ... read more

Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill allowing abortion at any point in pregnancy in the state of Massachusetts, making it the 11th state to impose no limits on abortion.The legislation signed Aug. 10 removes all of the state’s restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks. An elective late-term abortion may be done based upon “the ... read more

Unique among world leaders, the pope serves simultaneously as the universal spiritual head of the Catholic Church and as the head of the Holy See, a distinct sovereign entity under international law that serves as the central government of the Catholic Church.So what do these multiple roles mean in the context of a pope’s day-to-day ... read more

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Lawrence (d. 258), who was chief among the seven deacons who served the Roman Church during the mid-third century. The young cleric held a position of great trust, caring for the goods of the Church and distributing its alms among the poor. He was arrested under the ... read more