What happens when the pope dies? Rituals surrounding the pope’s death begin with the Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, or Camerlengo. The Camerlengo is a...
Religion
Essays explaining our faith, including stories about church teaching, Vatican documents, canon law, liturgical theology, and other Catholic topics.
On Monday April 21, 2025, at age 88, Pope Francis passed away. He had recently spent 38 days in the hospital for double pneumonia. Elected to the papacy on...
“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” • John 20:2b Once a year, we as church stand in this same spot and...
“It’s a weird job for a Jew in Tennessee, but somebody’s got to do it.” This is how A. J. Levine, a professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at the...
“What’s your confirmation name?” is a peculiarly Catholic icebreaker. The question is based on generations of Catholic children choosing a saint’s name for...
When Jesuit Father Brian Strassburger celebrates Mass at migrant shelters on the U.S.-Mexico border, he pops open the trunk of his minivan and takes out a...
“He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’...
A never-married man meets a divorced woman whose ex-husband is still alive. They fall in love and want to marry in the Catholic Church. A media outlet that...
Hermits are rarely in the news. Not only are there relatively few people who seek to become hermits, but those who do embrace a solitary existence of prayer...
