Author Archive
Greg Hartman
This small diocese is leading the country in vocations to the priesthood

By Jonah McKeown CNA Staff, Feb 12, 2025 / 15:30 pm The small Midwestern diocese of Wichita, Kansas, continues to lead the nation in many metrics related to priestly vocations, according to a new report from Vocation Ministry, a Texas nonprofit that supports vocations programs in parishes and schools. The report, which serves as …
Man attacks high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican

By Walter Sánchez Silva ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 7, 2025 / 18:20 pm A man desecrated the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican by climbing on top of it and throwing six candelabras that were on the altar to the ground, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. After …
Philadelphia archbishop: ‘My heart sank’ after learning of Friday plane crash

By Tina Dennelly CNA Staff, Feb 1, 2025 / 10:55 am Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Peréz called for all to “unite in prayer” after a private medical jet carrying a pediatric patient, her mother, and four crew members crashed Friday night in northeast Philadelphia. “My heart sank when I learned that an …
Opening Mass Ushers in Jubilee Year 2025

With beautiful Christmas decor adorning the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in Cincinnati, the Opening Mass for the Jubilee Year 2025 began with solemnity and joy at 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 29, 2024. The Knights of Columbus led the grand procession toward the altar, followed by Archbishop …
Vatican simplifies funeral rite for popes

By Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Nov 20, 2024 / 12:55 pm The Vatican has updated the liturgical book regulating the funeral rite of popes, simplifying some of the rituals at Pope Francis’ request. The second edition of the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis (“Order of Funerals for Roman Pontiffs”) is a revision of the …
Prayer for the Nation

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who …
Pope Francis Prayer Intentions for November 2024

For anyone who has lost a child We pray that all parents who mourn the loss of a son or daughter find support in their community and receive peace and consolation from the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of Purity of Heart

Note: This article is part of an ongoing series on Pope St. John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” (TOB). Over the last several months, we have been exploring Pope St. John Paul II’s reflections in TOB on “historical man”—that is, human beings who are fallen, who struggle with sinful …
Book Review: True Confessions

At the conclusion of a career serving the Church, Francis X. Maier could have written a memoir of his journey from script writer to editor of the National Catholic Register and then to serving Archbishop Charles Chaput in Denver and Philadelphia. Instead, he conducted detailed interviews with bishops, lay faithful, …
Extra! Extra! Read All About . . . Your Ancestors

The gossip and society news columns were the precursor to today’s social media! For ancestors involved in a local event, there may be a series of articles over several issues and even quotes from your ancestors or people who knew them. Advertisements paid for all the published “news,” so an …