The Holy Father’s global challenge comes amid growing tensions in the Middle East and beyond. Pope Leo XIV greets the crowd after delivering his Easter blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 5, 2026. (Photo: CNS/Lola Gomez) In the face of increasing tensions worldwide, Pope Leo XIV has called the faithful to join him in a prayer vigil for peace on Saturday, April 11. An Easter Challenge In his

Pope Leo XIV greets visitors and pilgrims from the popemobile while riding around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his weekly general audience March 18, 2026. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez) On March 21, the Wall Street Journal published a lengthy profile of the Pope as its “Saturday Essay.” The subtitle — “Pope Leo XIV pushes back against President Trump. Can the pontiff from Chicago make a difference in an era of power politics?” — gave the game away from the git-go: the Pop

"Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary" by Raphael, c. 1516. (Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) The Way of the Cross — and the third, seventh, and ninth stations in particular — has been an especially appropriate Lenten devotion this year. Every day, it seems, some new craziness erupts in the world, the country, or the Church. Every time we think we see rays of hope and possibility, we take another fall. So it’s good to remember this Holy Week, with Hans Urs von Balt

United States Supreme Court Building Courtesy: WIX Editor’s Note: On March 31, 2026, the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling striking down Colorado’s ban on "so-called" conversion therapy for minors. The following statement is from the Colorado Catholic Conference, which represents the collective public policy voice of the Catholic bishops of Colorado. Colorado Catholic Conference Statement on the United States Supreme Court victory in Chiles v. Salazar     The Col

St. Augustine Arguing with Donatists by Charles André van Loo, c. 1753. (Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) My Lenten reading has included an interesting, if somewhat odd, book about the greatest of the Latin Fathers of the Church: Augustine the African by Catherine Conybeare, a philologist currently teaching at Bryn Mawr. The interesting part of the book reframes Augustine as a North African provincial who sees the world differently — and thus thinks differently and

After 14 years leading the Archdiocese of Denver, Archbishop Samuel Aquila will enter retirement on March 25. By Francesca Pollio Fenton/EWTN News Over the past 14 years, Archbishop Samuel Aquila has led the Archdiocese of Denver. Appointed to lead the archdiocese in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI, Aquila — who at 75 has reached the customary retirement age for prelates — now prepares to hand the role over to Bishop James Golka, who will be installed as the archdiocese’s new leade

On pilgrimage in France, two seminarians and a priest got to know the archdiocese’s earliest shepherds on their home turf.   Father Trevor Lontine, Carl Berner and Luke Metzer, all studying in Rome, went on pilgrimage to France last month, walking in the footsteps of some of Denver's spiritual leaders. (Photo provided) By Carl Berner  Seminarian Archdiocese of Denver  Every priest and seminarian has a “vocation story,” a record of God’s providence over his Church; it tells of

John Allen with Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. (Photo: Thomas S. Major via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0) Early Sunday morning, July 28, 2002, things were looking grim for the closing papal Mass of World Youth Day in Toronto. The previous four days had been a tremendous success, symbolized by hundreds of thousands of young people making the Way of the Cross up Toronto’s great north-south boulevard, University Avenue: an act of Christian witness the likes of which had never been

(Denver Catholic file photo) Editor's Note: Archbishop Emeritus Samuel J. Aquila released this statement to the faithful of the Archdiocese of Denver amid the news of the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran. Public Statement on the Conflict with Iran   February 28, 2026 Prot. N. AB 2026-0132 A Sisters and Brothers in Christ,    As news reaches us of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran and subsequent retaliatory strikes, I join with Catholics in the Archdiocese of Denver and

Pope John Paul II during his 1979 visit to Poland. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0 PL) Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, Vatican Secretary of State from 1979 to 1990 — and before that, the architect and chief diplomatic agent of the Ostpolitik  of Pope Paul VI — initially played hard-to-get when I tried to interview him for the first volume of my John Paul II biography, Witness to Hope . The cardinal was not a fan of my 1992 book, The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church a

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Fair Use) Those who remember the epic pontificate of St. John Paul II may recall a tall, handsome layman with well combed, iron-grey hair, dressed in a black business suit, white shirt, and black tie, following the clerical members of the papal household into St. Peter’s Square on many great occasions, or carrying an umbrella over the Pope’s head when it rained. That same man is at center stage in photos of the assassination attempt of May 13, 1981

(Photo: © Vatican Media) Last month, Pope Leo XIV received more than 1,000 itinerant catechists in an audience in the Hall of Blessings, responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way in 138 nations on five continents. The papal audience came at the end of a gathering held at the “Servant of Yahweh” Center in Porto San Giorgio under the guidance of the team responsible for the Neocatechumenal Way worldwide, and included Kiko Argüello, founder of the Neocatecumenal Way, as well as Fa

(Photo: Pexels) The “ Melian Dialogue ,” from Thucydides’ classic History of the Peloponnesian War , is the foundational text of the Realist school of international relations theory. It’s 416 B.C., and the island-statelet of Melos has remained neutral in the war between the local superpowers, Athens and Sparta. A diplomatic delegation from Athens goes to Melos and demands that the Melians join Team Athens. The Melians decline, first citing principles of justice. The Athenians

(Photo courtesy of Mullen High School, Denver) For Catholic school communities across Northern Colorado, moments of quiet formation often bear fruit far beyond anyone's imagination. This winter, one of those moments unfolded thousands of miles from home — on the cobblestone streets of Bergamo, Italy — as Dale O’Blia, a 2024 graduate of Mullen High School in Denver, carried the Olympic torch. Selected as one of a highly limited number of torchbearers, O'Blia took part in the 6

(Photo: Pannonhalma Archabbey, courtesy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) As Catholics begin the penitential journey of Lent, the Church once again invites the faithful to unite prayer, sacrifice and generosity in a special way. On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, parishes across the United States will take up the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, an annual appeal sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that has brought healing an

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of February is for children with incurable diseases. Pope Leo prays during Mass at the Vatican on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) By Francesca Pollio-Fenton/EWTN News Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of February is for children with incurable diseases. In a video to be released on Feb. 5, the Holy Father prayed that the faithful would realize that “the smiles, even in the midst of

Together, as one Body in Christ, the Church is called to an active love, which flows from encounter and compassion, just as it did for the Good Samaritan. Locally, that compassionate care will take shape at the annual World Day for the Sick Mass on February 15. Denver Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodríguez anoints a Massgoer during the annual World Day for the Sick Mass at Holy Ghost Parish in Denver. (Photo by Daniel Petty/Denver Catholic) It’s an uncharacteristically warm winter

Timothy Cardinal Dolan processes into Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan in 2021. (Photo courtesy of Cardinal Dolan's Facebook page) There’s a steak house on East 50 th  Street in midtown Manhattan, to which Cardinal Timothy Dolan and I would sometimes walk for dinner after a pre-prandial or two in his sitting room. The restaurant was less than a block away from the residence of the archbishops of New York, and the walk would ordinarily take two or three minutes. Wi

In his message for World Mission Day, the pope says missionary renewal depends on spiritual communion and reconciliation among Christians. Pope Leo XIV, when he was bishop of Chiclayo (Peru), recites the prayer of consecration before Our Lady of Fatima. (Photo: Courtesy of Fátima Mission Peru via EWTN News) By Angela Ambrogetti/EWTN News Pope Leo XIV has set “One in Christ, United in Mission” as the theme for World Mission Day 2026, marking the 100th anniversary of the annual

Justice Department urges Court to reverse Colorado’s exclusion of Catholics from “universal” preschool program (Photo: Denver Catholic file photo) Catholic preschools in the Archdiocese of Denver have been seeking equal treatment for more than two years, in the face of Colorado's exclusion of religious schools from their "Universal" Preschool Program (UPK). The fight began in August 2023, when a team of lawyers from Becket filed a lawsuit  against Colorado on behalf of two of