Italian Diocese Expands Women’s Roles in Church Administration. Worse than Germany: The Italian Diocese of Trapani, is increasingly appointing laypeople - including women - to formal Curia and diocesan roles as the number of priests declines. The diocese now has fewer than 100 diocesan priests and is bringing in priests from Madagascar, Tanzania, and religious institutes to fill parish vacancies. Among the most significant appointments, lawyer Susanna Catalano has been named the diocese’s second vice-chancellor. Four lay Catholics will receive the instituted ministry of catechist, including two women, Francesca Messina and Caterina Vesco.
Trapani, mancano i preti ma crescono i laici in Curia: Fragnelli cerca sacerdoti all’estero e nomina la seconda vicecancelliera
Relationship With Female Staffer CALLED OUT By Press and Senators Trump is lashing out at the press as questions grow over his relationship with longtime aide Natalie Harp and Melania Trump’s absence from major public events. The scrutiny intensified after Sen. Jon Ossoff publicly questioned Harp’s unusually close role in Trump’s inner circle. Trump is now attacking CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes after she questioned him. Popok reports. Subscribe: youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community: youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA Become a member of the Legal AF Substack: Subscribe to Legal AF's Substack Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: Legal AF (@legalafmtn.bsky.social) Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: POPOK (@mspopok.bsky.social) Subscribe to the Legal AF podcast feed here: Legal AF by MeidasTouch Subscribe to the Intersection with Michael Popok podcast feed here: The Intersection with Michael Popok Subscribe to Unprecedented with …More
Natalie Harp - Wikipedia According to the journalist Alex Isenstadt, in one instance, Trump's wife Melania discovered Harp in his private quarters—an area reserved for the Trump family—delivering papers to him at night. Her proximity to Trump concerned other aides, some of whom attributed Trump's relationship with Harp to her decision to remain with him after the January 6 Capitol attack. Aides who spoke to The New York Times called Harp a "conduit" and an "instant enabler of his impulses". Trump purportedly remarked that Harp was the only aide who cared about him after his arraignment in connection with the Georgia election racketeering prosecution, according to the Times. The paper additionally reported on a series of letters Harp sent Trump in 2023 that unnerved people in Trump's inner circle, citing phrases such as "You are all that matters to me" and "I want to bring you joy." Her access to Trump allowed people to send her damaging clips of their rivals and she served as an …More
US Sisters and the Macarena Retirement Tour: The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) held its 70th anniversary gathering in Orlando, Florida, from 11 to 14 August. They posted a video on Facebook showing elderly women in civilian clothes dancing the Macarena (1995). The fitting headline: "When Catholic sisters get together, watch out for the dance parties! ". Macarena was popular when the sisters were in their 50s. The LCWR represents the leaders of many women's religious congregations in the United States.
Dance party of "nuns": The LCWR 70th Anniversary Gathering was held August 11–14, 2026, in Orlando, Florida. The event brought together Catholic women and men religious from the United States, Canada, Latin America and other parts of the Americas for prayer, worship, talks, discussion and community events.
And you wonder why vocations to the nunnery have collapsed. People who have a religious vocation take their lives seriously and look for serious opportunities
2. Historical Context and "Dance Manias" Catholic history records instances where mass dancing was interpreted through the lens of spiritual affliction or divine punishment. [1, 2] St. Vitus’ Dance (Chorea): In the Middle Ages, outbreaks of compulsive, uncontrollable dancing (now understood as a neurological or psychological phenomenon) swept through Europe. [1, 2, 3, 4] Spiritual Intercession: Victims were sent to shrines of St. Vitus, a Christian martyr, to pray for deliverance and healing from what many at the time feared was a demonic curse or affliction. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] 3. Ritual Dancing and Entry Points Catholic moral theology warns against practices that willingly open a person up to the influence of evil spirits. Trance Induction: Repetitive, frenzied, or rhythmic dancing used in occult or neo-pagan rituals is designed to lower conscious defenses and alter the state of mind. [1, 2, 3] The Danger of Invitation: Exorcists warn that participating in dances meant to invoke …More
Cardinal Pizzaballa Visits Taybeh: Standing With Palestine’s Last Christian Village | SG News Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, has visited Taybeh, Palestine’s last remaining fully Christian village, bringing a message of courage, solidarity, and hope to its residents. During Mass at the Church of Christ the Redeemer on the Feast of the Assumption, the Patriarch stood alongside a community facing growing uncertainty and restrictions. The visit follows a July Israeli military order declaring Taybeh and nearby Rimon a closed military zone. The restrictions have affected access to agricultural lands, historic sites, and religious landmarks, while also making it more difficult for pilgrims, journalists, and international volunteers to reach the area. Despite the challenges, Cardinal Pizzaballa urged the faithful not to surrender to fear, reaffirming the Church’s commitment to preserving the Christian presence and witness in the Holy Land. Watch the full report …More
"In the Middle Ages, the Christian nations and princes, enlightened by the Church, had foreseen this great social peril. On the one hand, they knew that they had a duty to bear with the Jews, and that it was impossible for them to make away with them, since the prophecies announce that they will subsist until the end of the times, and that only then will they return to the true Faith. On the other hand, they knew that they could not live in peace and security if they granted unrestricted freedom to such a grasping, all-pervading race. It is a fact of experience that, wherever the Jews establish themselves and predominate, they turn into despots and ravaging tyrants. That is why, denying them civil and political rights, which they would have abused - and do abuse - wherever wealth has made them masters, Canon Law granted them tolerance. It watched over them so that they might live in peace and go quietly about their activities and their commercial affairs without harming the Christians …More
After entering a civil ceremony in Cascais, Portugal, on August 11, Cristiano Ronaldo and his concubine Georgina Rodríguez received for their Amoris Laetitia relationship a blessing à la Fiducia Supplicans from a priest at the Shrine of Fátima. This was followed a Eucharist behind closed doors in the Chapel of Nossa Senhora das Dores. Ronaldo's management confirmed the civil marriage to Reuters. Portuguese and Spanish reports say the ceremony took place in the couple's living room. Both have publicly identified with “Catholicism”. On August 10, Ronaldo and Rodríguez signed a prenuptial agreement in Lisbon establishing separation of property. They retained their respective surnames, while the marriage record reportedly lists their residence as Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “Their” children were present at the event in Fatima. Cristiano Ronaldo Jr., born in 2010, is Ronaldo's eldest son. His mother's identity has never been publicly disclosed, and Ronaldo has said he has custody of him. Twins …More
OBAMA ADMIN WANTS TO DEPORT CHRISTIAN HOMESCHOOLERS. OBAMA ADMIN WANTS TO DEPORT CHRISTIAN HOMESCHOOLERS By:Todd Starnes 3/5/2013 03:01 PM RESIZE:AAA PRINT 413 The Romeike family fled their German homeland in 2008 seeking political asylum in the United States – where they hoped to home school their children. Instead, the Obama administration wants the evangelical Christian family deported. The fate of Uwe and Hannelore Romeikie – along with their six children – now rests with the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – after the Dept. of Homeland Security said they don’t deserve asylum. Neither the Justice Dept. nor the Dept. of Homeland Security returned calls seeking comment. “The Obama administration is basically saying there is no right to home school anywhere,” said Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association. “It’s an utter repudiation of parental liberty and religious liberty.” The Justice Dept. is arguing that German law banning home schooling does not …More
On July 20, at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, the 88th Annual Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association (CBA) elected Amy-Jill Levine, 70, as president for 2026–2027. She is the first Jewish president in the CBA’s history. Founded in 1936, the CBA is an independent association with longstanding institutional ties to the U.S. bishops. Its constitution says it pursues biblical scholarship “in conformity with the teaching of the magisterium of the Catholic Church.” Levine is a New Testament scholar and is a longtime member of the CBA. In spring 2019, she became the first Jewish scholar to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute. She has also had three audiences with Pope Francis. In a sermon at Washington National Cathedral on March 7, 2021, Levine said: “I’m a Jew. I don’t worship Jesus as Lord and Savior.” "Lectionary Revision Is Only A Start" In an interview published by The Christian Century in June 2023, Levine describes parts of the Gospel of John as …More
In Lungo’s case, it seems likely that some at least will take this same line in response to his apparent Freemasonry. But for the Vatican, the case is — or should be — much more acute, since it involves the wholesale moral condemnation by the Church of a legal category of persons.
He Flunked Latin but Died a Martyr: The Story of Blessed Stanley Rother with Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda "The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger." Biographer Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda joins CatholicTV to share the incredible witness of Blessed Stanley Rother, the first martyr born in the United States. What does it take for an ordinary farm boy from Okarche, Oklahoma, to become a recognized Catholic martyr? Author and biographer Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda steps into the living room on This Is the Day to unpack the life of Blessed Father Stanley Francis Rother. Maria shares Father Stan's relatable early struggles—from being sent home after flunking his first year of theology due to Latin textbooks, to discovering his true calling at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and volunteering for the Oklahoma mission in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. There, among the Tzʼutujil Mayan community, this humble farmer built schools, a hospital, translated scripture, and learned their language fluently. When civil …More
"You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people; that you may declare his virtues, who bath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" ( 1 Pet. 2, 9). You are a chosen generation, for the Saint of saints has elected you to the holy office of the priesthood. To you particularly He addresses these words: "But according to him that bath called you, who is holy, be you also in all manner of conversation holy; because it is written: 'You shall be holy, for I am holy"' ( 1 Pet. 1, 15-16). You are clothed and adorned with a kingly priesthood. You are priests and kings as Jesus Christ Himself is the Supreme Priest and King. You are a purchased people in a very special significance. It is true that Our Blessed Redeemer purchased all mankind at the price of His Blood and that Almighty God gave Him to all nations. Nevertheless Jesus acquired you in a particular manner and so His Heavenly Father manifests a unique love for you. After the Blessed Virgin …More