Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture

After the Angelus, Leo XIV calls for peace in Sudan and Ukraine

Agence I.Media — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 11:29:13 +0000

Following his Angelus address on Sunday, August 9, Pope Leo XIV turned his attention to two of the world’s most acute conflicts, calling on the international community not to let Sudan and Ukraine fade from sight over the summer. Speaking in English, the Pope said he continues to follow “with concern the tragic situation” in Read More…

After the Angelus, Leo XIV calls for peace in Sudan and Ukraine

Bishop Shirahama’s 75-hour vigil linked Hiroshima to the world

D. R. Esparza — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 11:23:57 +0000

At 8 a.m. on Thursday, August 6 — the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima — Bishop Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama of Hiroshima celebrated Mass at the World Peace Memorial Cathedral in the city’s Noboricho district, at the very hour the diocese gathers each year, minutes after the 1945 blast. With that Mass, a Read More…

Bishop Shirahama’s 75-hour vigil linked Hiroshima to the world

Fragility and faith: Leo XIV’s Sunday Angelus

Agence I.Media — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 10:57:40 +0000

Pope Leo XIV delivered his Angelus address on Sunday, August 9 — the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time — from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking a sun-baked Saint Peter’s Square, where the faithful had gathered despite the Roman summer heat. His reflection centered on the Gospel passage of Jesus walking on the waters Read More…

Fragility and faith: Leo XIV’s Sunday Angelus

You know Sagrada Família. Now find Barcelona’s oldest church.

D. R. Esparza — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 08:33:34 +0000

Every visitor to Barcelona sees the Sagrada Família. Most also see the Gothic Quarter, the Picasso Museum, and the Boqueria market. And of course, all those are worth seeing, but Sant Pau del Camp is one of the city’s best-kept secrets— a Benedictine monastery church tucked into the Raval neighborhood, 10 minutes’ walk from La Read More…

You know Sagrada Família. Now find Barcelona’s oldest church.

The value of letting go of the little things

Fr. Michael Rennier — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 08:32:11 +0000

There’s an old joke that goes something like this: What you thought that becoming a dad would be – playing catch, reading bedtime stories, tea parties, watching the children grow up. What it actually is – turning lights off in empty rooms. For me, this is no joke. Most of my parenting consists in flipping Read More…

The value of letting go of the little things

Preferring darkness, I found light

Tom Hoopes — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 08:31:21 +0000

The third promise you make when you renew your baptismal promises is, “Do you reject Satan, father of lies and prince of darkness?” The congregation says “I do,” but when I began college, I didn’t. I would have told you that the truth were lies — and I preferred the darkness. In my freshman year Read More…

Preferring darkness, I found light

Five lesser-known caminos worth walking this autumn

D. R. Esparza — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 08:55:35 +0000

Every pilgrimage route began the same way: someone walked somewhere for a reason, others followed, and the path wore itself into the ground. The Camino de Santiago is the most famous example, but it is far from being the only one. Across Europe, routes dedicated to local saints, regional histories, and forgotten traditions crisscross landscapes Read More…

Five lesser-known caminos worth walking this autumn

Beams from Solomon’s Temple found under Jerusalem parking lot

D. R. Esparza — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 08:55:21 +0000

Beneath a parking lot in the City of David, archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University have uncovered massive charred wooden beams believed to date to one of the most consequential moments in the history of ancient Jerusalem: the destruction of Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BC. Read More…

Beams from Solomon’s Temple found under Jerusalem parking lot

Making a house into a home takes intention

Fr. Michael Rennier — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 10:54:53 +0000

What does it mean to build a truly good home? This is the question that John Cuddeback, a professor at Christendom College, asks in his new book The Intentional Household. As a parent, this question of giving my wife and children the best possible home is always on my mind. Perhaps you’ve noticed that some Read More…

Making a house into a home takes intention

The quiet signs of hope left emerging from French wildfires

Cerith Gardiner — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 10:41:10 +0000

When wildfires tear through a landscape, they leave behind a strange silence. Hillsides that were green only hours before become blackened and unrecognizable. Homes disappear. Familiar landmarks vanish. Even after the flames have been extinguished, people instinctively begin searching the ashes for something that survived. Not because every object left standing is a miracle, or Read More…

The quiet signs of hope left emerging from French wildfires

Pope Leo’s Transfiguration homily in Assisi

Kathleen N. Hattrup — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:47:42 +0000

Pope Leo made a morning trip to Assisi on August 6, the feast of the Transfiguration. He celebrated Mass for the thousands of young people from across Europe gathered in Assisi for Go!,the 2026 Franciscan Youth Meeting. Here is a full translation of his homily at a Mass he celebrated at the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Read More…

Pope Leo’s Transfiguration homily in Assisi

Mary who will welcome Pope Leo might have her most interesting title

D. R. Esparza — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:21:38 +0000

Pope Leo XIV will visit Uruguay from November 6 to 8 — his first trip to Latin America as pontiff, and the first papal visit to the country since John Paul II went in 1988. His itinerary includes three cities: Montevideo, Paysandú, and Florida. That last stop carries a weight that non-Uruguayans will not recognize. Read More…

Mary who will welcome Pope Leo might have her most interesting title

Leo XIV: Prayer is not a wellness technique

D. R. Esparza — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:14:56 +0000

Pope Leo XIV returned from his summer break at Castel Gandolfo to resume his weekly general audiences — held this time inside St. Peter’s Basilica, since the Paul VI Hall is currently undergoing renovation and Rome’s August heat made the square impractical. Continuing his catechetical series on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, Leo Read More…

Leo XIV: Prayer is not a wellness technique

Matthew McConaughey’s latest leading role? Vatican visitor

Cerith Gardiner — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 15:31:51 +0000

Every so often, amid the steady stream of pilgrims visiting St. Peter’s Basilica, a familiar face appears. This week it was Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, who greeted Pope Leo during a visit to the Vatican with his wife, Camila Alves McConaughey. Best known for films including Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar and The Lincoln Lawyer, McConaughey Read More…

Matthew McConaughey’s latest leading role? Vatican visitor

Pope Leo addresses Knights of Columbus at Denver convention

D. R. Esparza — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 11:07:05 +0000

Pope Leo XIV sent a video message to the 144th Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus, underway August 4-6 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Denver, urging the order’s nearly two million members to cultivate unity and charity as the foundational principles of their mission. More than 2,100 Knights, family members, Read More…

Pope Leo addresses Knights of Columbus at Denver convention

Archbishop recalls his uncle standing up for and dying for faith

Joanne McPortland — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:59:17 +0000

On August 3, 2026, the 100th anniversary of San Antonio’s elevation to a metropolitan archdiocese, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS, issued a pastoral letter titled We Will Come to You: United in Solidarity with Our Brothers and Sisters in Migration. With a deeply personal tone, the letter — addressed “to the more than 1 million Catholics Read More…

Archbishop recalls his uncle standing up for and dying for faith

Let Pope Leo teach you how to pray today

Kathleen N. Hattrup — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:52:55 +0000

Pope Leo XIV dedicated the reflection of the August 5 general audience to leading the faithful to grow in prayer. In our day, he said, “prayer may seem pointless and trivial.” But in fact, prayer is “a fundamental dimension of our humanity” and “is worth rediscovering in its true form.” Here is a full translation Read More…

Let Pope Leo teach you how to pray today

(Video) One year to go!: World Youth Day Seoul releases theme song

Kathleen N. Hattrup — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 10:40:04 +0000

The official theme song for the upcoming World Youth Day (WYD), to be held August 3–8, 2027, in Seoul, South Korea, was released on August 3, 2026 — exactly one year before the opening of this global gathering. Inspired by the Bible verse chosen as the theme of the event, it is titled Confidite, Ego Vici Read More…

(Video) One year to go!: World Youth Day Seoul releases theme song

Louis Armstrong’s life and music: Holy Spirit infused

Mary Claire Kendall — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 10:06:11 +0000

Famed for his spirited rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” larger-than-life jazz legend Louis Armstrong, nicknamed “Satchmo,” was full of flaws — too fond of things that cut his life short and impacted his married love. But he had a heart bigger than New Orleans — and a soul imprinted with baptismal grace Read More…

Louis Armstrong’s life and music: Holy Spirit infused

At 97, cardinal said Mass where he once risked death to do so

D. R. Esparza — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 09:46:58 +0000

On the morning of July 31, Cardinal Ernest Simoni celebrated Mass at Spaç — the former forced-labor prison built around a copper and pyrite mine in central Albania — in memory of those who suffered and died there under the communist regime of Enver Hoxha. He is 97 years old. He spent 18 years of Read More…

At 97, cardinal said Mass where he once risked death to do so