1. Pope celebrates Mass in parish church with special ties to his Augustinian order, Pope Leo XIV has called for compassion for the poor, victims of tyranny, and those affected by wars, By Nicole Winfield and Silvia Stellacci, The Associated Press, July 13, 2025, 5:16 AM
Pope Leo XIV called Sunday for “merciful compassion” for the world’s poor, victims of tyranny and wars, as he celebrated Mass in a parish church that has special spiritual ties to Leo’s own Augustinian religious order.
Leo is on vacation and resuming the papal tradition of summering at the the papal estate of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, and celebrated Mass in the St. Thomas of Villanova church.
St. Thomas of Villanova was a 16th-century Spanish teacher who was a local and regional superior of the Augustinian order, a mendicant order inspired by the teachings of St. Augustine of Hippo. The saint is the patron and namesake of Leo’s alma mater outside Philadelphia, Villanova University, and is known for his care for the poor and for having given away his wealth to those in need.
In his homily, Leo offered a meditation on the biblical story of the Good Samaritan. Leo urged the faithful to be guided by empathy and be moved to act “with the same merciful compassion as God.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/07/13/vatican-pope-castel-gandolfo-augustinian-leo/1a906858-5fca-11f0-bf70-56d8888ebb94_story.html
__________________________________________________________
2. Pregnancy Is Going to Be Even More Dangerous in America, By Jessica Grose, The New York Times, July 14, 2025, Pg. A19, Opinion
A lot will depend on how individual states execute the law. Changes to Medicaid financing and programs vary by state and won’t take effect immediately. But considering how drastic the cuts are, it’s possible that even women who have private health insurance will be affected.
Medicaid covers over 40 percent of births in the United States, and an even higher percentage in rural areas. According to an analysis from the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonprofit advocacy organization, “144 rural hospitals across the country with labor and delivery units are at risk of closure or severe service cutbacks” based on the Medicaid cuts outlined in the bill. That’s in addition to the over 100 rural labor and delivery units that have closed or plan to close since 2020.
…
Cuts to Medicaid will have an impact on women across the country regardless of which community they live in. City maternity wards have also been closing, because labor, delivery and infant care are expensive. “Urban hospitals had the highest number of labor and delivery unit closures — 299 — between 2010 and 2022,” my newsroom colleague Sarah Kliff wrote in December.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/opinion/medicaid-pregnancy-danger.html
__________________________________________________________
3. The left needs to decide what it wants from the Supreme Court, Progressives demand a more aggressive court while undermining the legitimacy it needs to succeed, By Ramesh Ponnuru, The Washington Post, July 14, 2025, 8:00 AM, Opinion
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the left-wing Democrat from Detroit, scalded the Supreme Court for allowing President Donald Trump to proceed, pending further developments, with layoffs and reorganization in federal agencies. “This illegitimate SCOTUS continues to do Trump’s bidding,” she tweeted, adding, “We need to end this court’s corrupt grip on our democracy.”
Most Democrats wouldn’t go that far, especially since two justices appointed by Barack Obama — Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor — joined the supposedly illegitimate majority. But Tlaib has some company. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the Rhode Island Democrat, commended Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for suggesting that her colleagues appear beholden to “moneyed interests.” Neither the justice nor the senator appeared to be fazed by the collateral damage to the reputation of Kagan, who was part of the majority that Jackson denounced.
…
If the court is corrupt, as Tlaib says, the natural conclusion is that it should have less power. Accordingly, some Democrats have in recent years proposed bills to limit its jurisdiction, force some conservative justices to retire, block them from voting in constitutional cases, and order them how to decide some constitutional issues. A few progressive academics and commentators have gone so far as to call openly for defying court orders.
…
Her tweet concerned a case in which she wanted the federal courts to stop a presidential initiative. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the decision that has provoked the most vehement reaction from progressives and the public, the justices withdrew from reviewing states’ abortion policies.
…
A high regard for the court is particularly important now that progressives have (rightly) made it a priority to make Trump follow court orders. They can argue that the court is illegitimate or that Trump has a high duty to obey it. They seem unlikely to persuade the public that Trump has a solemn obligation to comply with an illegitimate court.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/14/supreme-court-liberal-critics-legitimacy/
__________________________________________________________
4. Pope Leo calls for a ‘revolution of love’ during Mass in Castel Gandolfo, By Charles Collins, Crux, July 13, 2025
Pope Leo XIV says the world needs a “revolution of love” and looked at the Parable of the Good Samaritan while celebrating Mass at the Parish of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town outside of Rome.
The pontiff began a short vacation in the town last Sunday, re-beginning a papal tradition skipped by Pope Francis, who had preferred to stay at the Vatican in Rome for the summer.
Speaking about the parable in the Gospel of Luke, Leo said it was “so challenging for each of us.”
In the parable, Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied with the story of a man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and was attacked by robbers. After not being helped by two passing Jews – one a priest and one a Levite – a Samaritan saw him, helped with his wounds and took him to an inn for safety.
“If Christ shows us the face of a compassionate God, then to believe in him and to be his disciples means allowing ourselves to be changed and to take on his same feelings. It means learning to have a heart that is moved, eyes that see and do not look away, hands that help others and soothe their wounds, shoulders that bear the burden of those in need,” Leo said.
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2025/07/pope-leo-calls-for-a-revolution-of-love-during-mass-in-castel-gandolfo
__________________________________________________________
5. Pope Leo XIV greeted by international crowd at first Angelus from Castel Gandolfo, By Hannah Brockhaus, Catholic News Agency, July 13, 2025, 10:05 AM
Pope Leo XIV recited the Angelus before a diverse and enthusiastic crowd in Castel Gandolfo on Sunday — the first time in 12 years that a pope has led the Marian prayer from the lakeside town 18 miles southeast of Rome.
The Angelus, prayed on a warm but cloudy July 13, marked the midpoint of Leo’s two-week stay for a summer break on the pontifical estate of Castel Gandolfo, a custom eschewed by Pope Francis.
Despite sporadic light rain showers, shoulder-to-shoulder pilgrims from around the world, including Brazil, Italy, Poland, and the United States, filled the town’s main square and lined the side streets, as the pope greeted them with, “happy Sunday!”
The hope of eternal life, Leo said before leading the Marian prayer, “is described as something to be ‘inherited,’ not something to be gained by force, begged for, or negotiated. Eternal life, which God alone can give, is bestowed on us as an inheritance, as parents do with their children.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/265333/pope-leo-xiv-greeted-by-international-crowd-at-first-angelus-from-castel-gandolfo
__________________________________________________________
6. Who’s spending Peter’s Pence? A look at the numbers behind the pope’s annual collection, By Brendan Hodge, The Pillar, July 11, 2025
Over the last four years, the collection has shown signs of revenue growth, allowing the Vatican to use increasingly large sums of money to fill the gaps in the Roman Curia’s budget.
Where do the Peter’s Pence funds come from? How are they spent?
The name of the annual Peter’s Pence collection is derived from a medieval practice of sending fees and donations to support the papacy.
But the modern Peter’s Pence collection was formalized in the wake of the Risorgimento – the secular unification of Italy as a modern nation state – which brought about the conquest of the Papal States and thus ended the pope’s civil sources of income.
Pope Pius IX, who in the wake of the Papal States’ fall considered himself a “prisoner of the Vatican” surrounded by a hostile Italian state, formalized the practice of asking Catholics around the world to donate directly to the papacy, in order assist in the pope’s needs and activities.
From its origin in the 1870s, the collection went both to the maintenance of the Holy See and also to individual charitable contributions selected by the pope.
…
In many ways, the funding of Peter’s Pence has seemed to come full circle. At the beginning of the modern program, in the 1870s, it was used to fund general Vatican operations after the Holy See lost its civil funding sources in the political unification of Italy.
Today, with Vatican finances in disarray, it is once again a general fund for the support of the pope’s priorities, from charitable actions to the operation of the Holy See.
And yet, even as a global source of funds, it may not be enough to stave off the financial problems which the Vatican faces. It may take a fund more explicitly focused on the general funding of the Holy See’s operations to close the holes which currently face the budget.
https://pillarcatholic.com/p/whos-spending-peters-pence
__________________________________________________________
7. How the Catholic Church helped change the conversation about capital punishment in the United States, By Austin Sarat, The Associated Press, July 10, 2025
Thirty years ago, the film “Dead Man Walking” had its debut in movie theaters around the United States. It was a box office hit, and critics lavished it with praise. Lead actress Susan Sarandon won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean, the spiritual adviser to a death row inmate played by Sean Penn.
But the film’s impact went far beyond the artistic realm. It exposed a mass audience to a perspective on the death penalty informed by the Catholic faith of a devout, if somewhat unconventional, nun.
…
That belief was featured prominently in the film and offered a counterpoint to the popular tough-on-crime rhetoric of the 1990s. Back then, 80% of the American public supported capital punishment.
Today, that is no longer true. Support for the death penalty has declined to around 50%.
As a death penalty scholar, I have studied those changes. The church’s anti-death penalty teaching has helped provide both a moral foundation and political respectability for those working to end the death penalty.
…
Legal historian Sara Mayeux argues that Catholic anti-death penalty activism in the U.S. has been less intense than anti-abortion work. Nevertheless, the impact of the church is reflected in the fact that in the past 50 years, Catholic support for capital punishment fell more than it did among evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Black Protestants and other religious groups.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jul/10/catholic-church-capital-punishment-church-changed-conversation-us/
__________________________________________________________
8. A Lesson in Faith on Fifth Avenue, ‘Can you help the lady who’s trying to cross the street?,’ Maria yelled. I’m glad I did., By Tim Busch, The Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2025, 4:15 PM, Houses of Workship
It was a rainy Sunday in January, one of those evenings when the light dances off the pavement and people rush about, eager to escape the cold and wet. My wife and I had seen a play and were walking briskly down 54th Street to dinner. As we approached Fifth Avenue, someone yelled, “Can you help the lady who’s trying to cross the street?”
In New York, your first instinct is often suspicion. But then I saw her: an elderly woman standing at the curb holding a white cane and tapping gently at the sidewalk’s edge. It took me a few moments to realize that she was blind and that she was the one who had called for help.
…
Her name was Maria Antoinette Kazan, an 80-year-old immigrant from Poland. She had lost her eyesight owing to a botched glaucoma surgery, but her inner light was undiminished. She told me she went to daily Mass at St. Patrick’s, especially the 5:30 p.m. Sunday liturgy. Her composure, joy and warmth were deeply moving.
When we arrived at the cathedral steps, I asked if she needed more help. “Take me to the ushers,” she said. “They know me and will seat me.” How would she get home? “Someone from the church will walk me.” I did as directed. The cathedral staff greeted her warmly, and I said goodbye, thanking her for her faith.
…
Five months went by, and last month Father Enrique informed me that Maria had died. She opened a window in her apartment and accidentally fell out.
The weight of those words sank deep. Her death felt like more than a tragedy. It felt like the closing of a chapter I didn’t know was being written. In our short time together, I witnessed the truth that grace is so often found in the ordinary. Maria walked by faith, not by sight. Now, I pray she walks in the full presence of the light she trusted so completely on Earth.
…
While I knew Maria only briefly, I’m grateful for how she illuminated what matters in life. In guiding her, I found that she guided me. And in remembering her, I remember that grace is often only a block away—if only we’re willing to stop, offer our arm and walk a few blocks.
Mr. Busch is co-founder of the Napa Institute, a Catholic lifestyle organization.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/a-lesson-in-faith-on-fifth-avenue-79473ae6
__________________________________________________________
9. What’s the Matter With Men?, By David French, The New York Times, July 10, 2025, Opinion
Last week, I sat down for an extended interview with Jordan Peterson about the plight of young men in America. He’d read my recent newsletter about the Democratic Party’s struggles in reaching male voters — in which I began with a story about how Peterson had positively influenced a young man I’d met — and decided to invite me to chat on his podcast.
The entire conversation was interesting, but there was one moment that I thought crystallized not just how and why so many Americans see the world differently from one another, but also how and why our political disputes become so vicious.
Peterson and I were in broad agreement on a number of fronts, including on the urgent need to address the problems afflicting millions of young men. Simply put, they are flailing and falling behind. While men still do very well at the apex of American society (the chief executives of Fortune 500 companies are still overwhelmingly male, to give one example), men are lagging women in educational attainment, struggling disproportionately with their mental health, and dying by suicide at rates much greater than women.
But why? At this point, the evidence of men’s tribulations is so overwhelming that very few seriously dispute the problem. But understanding the reasons behind the crisis is indispensable to finding a solution.
Early in the podcast, Peterson, a clinical psychologist, made the case for what I’ll call the ideological explanation: Men are suffering because of what’s been done to them by malign actors, by people who either hate men or see men as fundamentally flawed. Peterson was telling a story about how his son came home from school and told Peterson that he believed he was “doing really well for a boy.”
Peterson’s explanation for the struggles of young men in schools was rooted in the culture war. “The vast majority of teachers are not only female, but infantilizing female and radically left,” he said. Boys, Peterson argued, are “required to sit for hours at a time, which is not in keeping with their nature — especially if they’re active, in which case they get diagnosed with A.D.H.D. and get put on methylphenidate.”
…
And yet men in rural America arguably struggle even more than the men who live in America’s bluest, most progressive cities. Deaths of despair, for example, are worse in rural America, yet rural America is mostly untouched by the “woke mind virus” that the manosphere loves to hate.
…
I appreciated the chance to talk with Jordan Peterson. I admire his desire to help struggling young men. But the culture war offers false hope. Angry and alienated young men could defeat all their ideological foes and still find that they don’t have the jobs or relationships that can give them the meaning and purpose they so desperately crave.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/opinion/jordan-peterson-men-boys.html
__________________________________________________________
10. Defense of the Constitution and Judicial Modesty Win the Term, By Carrie Campbell Severino, National Review – Bench Memos, July 10, 2025 10:56 AM
The strong finish to the Supreme Court’s term felt like Christmas in June. That has been the case for a few years, thanks to the originalist majority of the 2020s. This term was a worthy successor to the previous three terms, when the Court corrected past grave errors in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (abortion), Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (racial discrimination in college admissions), and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (Chevron deference).
Rarely do we see a procedural case of the gravity of Trump v. CASA, where the Court put an end to a novel but pernicious procedural practice—universal injunctions—that had plagued the judicial landscape and frustrated presidential governance for decades even before district courts became increasingly profligate with them this year. Justice Barrett’s decision for the Court applied sound originalist analysis, recognizing the bounds of equitable relief during the founding period that should never have been abandoned. The dissents focused alternately on the underlying merits of the executive order—which the Court didn’t need to reach—or the notion that judges simply had to have universal injunctions available to effect justice. The latter idea earned Justice Barrett’s scorn for embracing an “imperial judiciary.”
…
Besides declining to invent new rights on the constitutional front, the Court added to its track record of protecting rights that the Constitution enumerates as it extended its string of decisions protecting religious freedom. Although an equally divided Court missed the opportunity to set precedent allowing the participation of a Catholic school in a charter school program in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, a unanimous Court reversed the denial of an exemption for Catholic Charities from Wisconsin’s unemployment-insurance tax in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission. And in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a 6–3 Court overrode a rogue school board that had denied parents of diverse religious backgrounds the ability to opt out of having their young children subjected to “LGBTQ+”-themed content designed to mold their thinking in accordance with that ideology.
…
To understand how revolutionary this era is, consider what came before it. The years of the Warren and Burger Courts gave us regular bouts of thinly disguised judicial legislation. The Rehnquist Court regularly ended its terms with more judicial activism, aided by one or more of the Republican-appointed “swing” justices and typically over the dissent of the distinguished chief justice. No other aspect of American government has been so fundamentally transformed as the Supreme Court. None. This Court presents a remarkable and welcome contrast with those that preceded it.
https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/defense-of-the-constitution-and-judicial-modesty-win-the-term/
__________________________________________________________
TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association.
|
