Daily Readings

Today is the Optional Memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian (d. 303). According to tradition, Saints Cosmas and Damian suffered martyrdom in Syria during the Roman persecution of Diocletian. Not much is known about them, but tradition holds they were twin brothers and medical doctors, never charging a fee for their medical services. Their names ... read more

Pope Leo XIV is visiting three cities in France from Sept. 25–28, making stops in Paris, Lourdes, and Metz to meet with young people, government officials, the sick, and migrants, among others.On Sept. 25, he celebrated Vespers at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, becoming the first pope to visit the church since it was rebuilt after ... read more

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Finbarr (550-623), bishop (and patron) of Cork, Ireland. He was a native of Connaught, and instituted a monastery or school at Lough Eirc, to which such numbers of disciples flocked, that it changed a desert into a large city. This was the origin of the city of Cork, which was ... read more

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Police in southeast Poland arrested a man after a stabbing at a Catholic convent on Thursday, Sept. 24, left one person dead and four others wounded, according to a news release from the regional police.Police received a report at 9:30 a.m. local time that a Ukrainian man stabbed someone with a knife at the Benedictine ... read more

ST. LOUIS — Six purported miracles are attributed to the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen as part of the process that could lead to his canonization, Monsignor Jason Gray, executive director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, said Thursday.Gray made the announcement at a press conference with Bonnie Engstrom, whose newborn child was miraculously ... read more

Pope Leo XIV called for a shift in how the world confronts climate change during a Sept. 24 address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.“We cannot respond to these challenges only after disaster has already struck,” he said. “We need to move from emergency response to prevention, from vulnerability to preparedness, and from short-term measures ... read more

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Romanian diplomat Monsignor Paul Butnaru as the new permanent observer of the Holy See to the Council of Europe.The Vatican announced Butnaru’s appointment on Sept. 24. The Council of Europe, distinct from the European Union, is Europe’s leading human rights organization. Founded in 1949 after World War II, the Council ... read more

The Memorial of Our Lady of Walsingham was reinstated to the liturgical calendar in England in 2000. The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is entrusted to Mary under this title. This feast day celebrates the shrine in Norfolk, England, which was a popular medieval pilgrimage site. In 1061, the lady of the ... read more

Do No Harm — a nonprofit that says it works to keep identity politics out of medical education — asked the Health and Human Services inspector general to investigate Planned Parenthood over alleged miscoding tied to youth cross‑sex hormone prescriptions.The group, which also campaigns against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives it argues inject gender ideology ... read more

The Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, began its third annual blood drive on Sept. 19, the feast of St. Januarius, the martyred fourth-century bishop whose blood at times miraculously liquefies.The diocese has partnered once again with the Miller-Keystone Blood Center, which during the 2025 campaign collected 821 units of blood — 40% more than the previous ... read more

The bishop of Piracicaba (São Paulo state), Brazil, Devair Araújo da Fonseca, criticized President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva following his remarks implying the Church needs to end celibacy and ordain women if it wants to grow. Da Silva is running for reelection as the Workers’ Party candidate.During a Sept. 16 meeting at the Planalto ... read more

Sri Lanka’s High Court has sentenced 15 men to prison terms of 200 to 260 years for their roles in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. The convictions are the first directly tied to the attacks on three churches and three hotels that killed 279 people.A three-judge bench in Colombo delivered the verdict Sept. 22 after ... read more

Ten years ago, Elena Lorenzo, a life coach in Spain specializing in personal identity, received the first legal complaint lodged against her by the LGBT lobby there. Now fully a decade later and after several administrative proceedings were dismissed, she is once again facing criminal charges for “discriminatory messages” and awaiting trial.Following an extensive professional ... read more

The Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), more popularly known as Padre Pio was born in 1887 in the small Italian village of Pietrelcina. He joined the Capuchin Friars at the age of sixteen and was ordained a priest seven years later. For fifty years at the monastery of San Giovanni ... read more