In Case You Missed It – Tuesday, May 27, 2025

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Vatican website gets first facelift in 30 years

The Holy See website has been updated today – in an un-announced move. The new site appears much more modern and with a cleaner layout than the previous version. The original version was launched in December 1995.

See the Holy See's new website here

French President Had Embarrassing Moment When He Was Slapped By His Wife

French president Emmanuel Macron underwent a faux pas moment just before he exited a plane in Vietnam, when his wife Brigitte shoved him in the face.

According to the Daily Wire, the moment was made hilarious because Macron was facing his wife rather than the doorway off the plane and did not appear to know the doorway had opened. But when his wife shoved his face, it turned his head 90 degrees so he was facing out the door. ...

Read/see more at Catholics for Catholics

US Drops COVID Vaccine Recommendations for Healthy Children, Pregnant Women

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped recommending routine COVID-19 vaccinations for pregnant women and healthy children, U.S. health regulators said [today].

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a video posted on social media platform X that the vaccines have been removed from the CDC's immunization schedule for those groups.

Read more at US News and World Report; see video here

New president named for Pontifical Academy for Life

Pope Leo XIV has named Msgr. Renzo Pegoraro to be president of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL), succeeding the controversial Archbishop Vincenzo Paglio, who is retiring at the age of 80. ...

Msgr. Pegoraro, the new PAL president, has also given rise to controversy, with public statements suggesting that legal acceptance of assisted suicide might be preferable to euthanasia and that contraception could be permissible “in the case of a conflict between the need to avoid pregnancy for medical reasons and the preservation of a couple’s sex life.”

Read more at Catholic Culture

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Cardinal Robert Sarah as special envoy

Cdl. Sarah will preside over the July 25-26 liturgical celebrations at the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-d’Auray in the Diocese of Vannes, France, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the apparitions of Saint Anne to the Breton farmer Yvon Nicolazic.

Read more at Vatican Press Office

Moving back in: Pope Leo expected to live at Vatican's Apostolic Palace

Pope Leo XIV is expected to live in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, unlike the late Pope Francis who shunned the palace in favour of a Vatican hotel, according to several Vatican officials.

The papal apartments occupy the top floor of the palace, a 16th century building that overlooks St. Peter's Square. They feature about 10 rooms, including a bedroom, private library and study, dining room, kitchen and chapel.

Read more at Reuters

Pope Leo restores the tradition of a bonus for Vatican employees after a Conclave

With only weeks in office, Pope Leo XIV is already beginning to put his personal stamp on the Vatican. In an unexpected move—but one with a strong symbolic meaning—the new pontiff decided to restore an ancient papal tradition: granting a financial bonus to all Vatican employees upon their election.

The gesture, which had been eliminated by Pope Francis in his crusade to simplify protocols and reduce expenses, was interpreted by many as the return of a more ceremonial era within the Church. According to internal Vatican sources, each employee of the Holy See will receive a "tip" of 500 euros, which will be included in their monthly payroll.

Read more at cathcon.blogspot.com

Pro-Discrimination, Ivy League Judge Backs Harvard vs. Trump

The Ivy League judge who is backing Harvard’s new lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s enforcement of civil rights laws was rebuked in 2023 by the U.S. Supreme Court for siding with Harvard’s policy of racial discrimination.

Just hours after Harvard filed its lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Allison Dale Burroughs declared she had the power to restrain the federal government’s freeze on lucrative F-1 work permits and J-1 visas for Harvard’s students and researchers. “It is so ordered,” said the judge, who was nominated to the court in 2014 by President Barack Obama.

Read more at Breitbart

Trump to yank all remaining federal funds to Harvard in latest blow to ‘very antisemitic’ Ivy League school

The Trump administration is planning to cancel all remaining federal contracts with Harvard University — a day after the president mused about taking roughly $3 billion in federal funding that had been given to the “very antisemitic” Ivy League university and giving it to trade schools.  

The fresh cuts — believed to be worth roughly $100 million — were requested in a memo fired off to federal agencies early Tuesday, according to a copy obtained by The Post. The administration had already frozen an estimated $3.2 billion in contracts and grants with Harvard.

Read more at the New York Post

Singapore cardinal expresses hopes for liberation of traditional Latin Mass

The Cardinal Archbishop of Singapore has defended Catholics who are attached to the traditional Latin Mass.

In an interview given to Italian media, Cardinal William Goh Seng Chye said he believes Pope Leo XIV “will not be ambiguous” on matters of teaching and doctrine. ... the cardinal spoke candidly about pressing matters for the Catholic Church – ranging from persecution in Asia to sexuality and liturgy. 

Regarding Catholics who attend the Tridentine Mass, Cardinal Goh stressed there is no reason to restrict their worship. “They are not doing anything wrong or sinful,” he said.

Read more at the Catholic Herald

Archbishop Cordileone endorses Singapore cardinal’s defence of Latin Mass 

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has endorsed the recent call by a Singapore cardinal for the liberation of the traditional Latin Mass. ...

Taking to social media in response, Archbishop Cordileone said: “Let me second the idea that lifting restrictions on the use of the 1962 Missal would be grand, healing, and unifying.”

Read more at the Catholic Herald

North Carolina bishop suppresses Latin Mass by relegating it to Protestant Christian center

Bishop Michael T. Martin of Charlotte, North Carolina announced last week he will be shutting down traditional Latin Masses at parish churches in his diocese — four in total — and merging them into one non-Catholic chapel, citing Traditionis Custodes.

The traditional Catholic social media account Sensus Fidelium posted a copy of the letter to X on Friday morning explaining that the decision shutters two diocesan TLM parishes in Charlotte at St. Ann and St. Thomas Aquinas as well as [two others] ...

Read more at Lifesite News 

Commentary: The Silent Jihadi Genocide Against Christians in Nigeria

Leah Sharibu, a Nigerian Christian, was abducted alongside more than 100 other schoolgirls in Yobe State by Islamic terrorists seven years ago. She has not been released because she refuses to renounce her Christian faith and convert to Islam. On May 14, 2025, Leah turned 22 years old—the eighth birthday she spent in captivity. The last time her mother, Rebecca, saw her, Leah was only 14. 

Thousands of other Christians have since been abducted or massacred by Muslims as the jihadist genocide against Christians proceeds at full tilt in Nigeria. In April, for instance, around 113 people, including Christians, were reportedly murdered by Fulani jihadists in Plateau State, Nigeria, with thousands more displaced. Human rights organization Open Doors reports ...

Rear more in The European Conservative

We will never abandon our faith’: Nigerian archbishop on targeting of faith groups

A leading Nigerian prelate says faith-based organisations in the Sahel region have become soft targets for extremists.

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of the Abuja Archdiocese was speaking in an exclusive interview following a regional meeting of West African bishops that took place in Dakar in Senegal designed to tackle extremism.

“The number of churches, mosques, Christians, Muslims, priests, pastors, and imams being kidnapped and maimed by these radical extremists is alarming,” Kaigama said.

Read more at the Catholic Herald

Southern Poverty Law Center Puts Largest Conservative Grassroots Youth Group on ‘Hate Map’ With Klan Chapters

The Southern Poverty Law Center is comparing the largest conservative grassroots youth organization to the Ku Klux Klan, adding Turning Point USA to its “hate map” that plots KKK chapters and claims to expose “the groups upholding white supremacy in the United States.”

The latest version of the SPLC hate map, released Thursday, lists Turning Point USA for the first time, categorizing the group as an “anti-government extremist group.” The hate map also includes PragerU, a nonprofit that uses digital media to spread conservative ideas, putting it in the same category as Turning Point USA.

Read more at The Daily Signal

Texas is closer to putting the Ten Commandments in classrooms after a key vote

Texas would require all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments under a Republican proposal that cleared a major vote Saturday and would make the state the nation’s largest to impose such a mandate. 

If passed as expected, the measure is likely to draw a legal challenge from critics who consider it a constitutional violation of the separation of church and state.

Read more at DNYUZ.com

Trump Admin Rolls Out New Tool To Stop Noncitizens From ‘Hijacking’ US Elections

The Trump administration is unrolling a new initiative ... that will help prevent noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections, a high-priority policy for the White House.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program and partnering with the Social Security Administration in order to ensure “a single, reliable source for verifying immigration status and U.S. citizenship,” according to a memo exclusively shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. ...

Read more at The Daily Caller

Michigan GOP casts vote to hold Sec of State Benson in contempt for refusal to turn over documents

State Rep. Joseph Fox (R-Fremont) today voted for a resolution to hold Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in civil contempt for her refusal to turn over documents regarding election training materials. The Election Integrity Committee, where Fox is the vice chair, has been requesting the information for months. Last month, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed for the materials, and Benson refused to comply with the request.

“No one is above the law in the state of Michigan,” Fox said. “We’ve kindly asked Secretary Benson for months for these materials and we’ve been extremely patient.

After months of waiting, we’ve had to subpoena her for the documents, and yet still, she has refused to follow the law and stick to her constitutional oath.”

Read more at Michigan House Republicans; see more at YouTube

Mexican Bishops Condemn Mass Murder of Seven Catholic Youths

In an unusual move, the Mexican Bishop’s Conference strongly condemned the killing of seven young people who were at a parish festival, calling on authorities to take action against a rising tide of violence against churches and Catholics.

The May 19 attack was the second mass murder of Catholic youths in Mexico in a spate of two months. Both crimes have been unresolved, according to Mexican newspapers.

In addition, according to [Our Sunday Visitor], the Bishops also were outraged over the killing of two Mexican officials who belonged to the Mexico City government. Both were gunned down in a vehicle after they stopped outside a metro station on a busy thoroughfare in the national capital May 20.

Read more at Catholics for Catholics 

Where is Pope Francis? Essay by Sebastian Morello

It seems a decision has been made among many outlets of the Catholic commentariat to remain, for the time being, uncritical of the new pope, Leo XIV. Undoubtedly, this approach is the right one, as everyone should proceed in good will, hoping that with Prevost’s election will come a new chapter after the unhappy decade or so of Francis’s pontifical reign.

But, troublingly, for the third time since his pontificate began only a short while ago, Pope Leo XIV has declared that the soul of Pope Francis is in Heaven. Most recently, Pope Leo asserted this to be the case via an official Pontifex ‘tweet’ on the social media platform X, which stated that Francis had “returned to the Father’s house. He accompanies us and prays for the Church from Heaven.”

But this eccentric habit of declaring, outside any official canonization process ...

Read more at The Catholic Thing

Priests overwhelmed by confessions at Catholic music festival of 40,000 in Brazil

A festival of Catholic music drew more than 40,000 attendees to the Brazilian city of Santa Bábara d’Oeste, during which demand for Confession proved too much for the priests in attendance.

The city of 180,000 inhabitants is located about 85 miles away from São Paulo, Brazil’s major economic hub. The Summer Night festival on 17 May was billed as Brazil’s “largest Catholic vigil” and featured 17 singers, bands and DJs on two simultaneous stages between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning.

Read more at the Catholic Herald

‘Duck Dynasty’ Patriarch And Devout Christian Phil Robertson Dies At 79

Phil Robertson, whose company and family became the center of the popular A&E television series “Duck Dynasty,” died just months after receiving an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, his family said on Sunday. Robertson was 79. ...

An avid outdoorsman, Robertson invented his first duck call in 1972, which was patented, and he started his company the next year. Decades later — under the leadership of his son, Willie — Duck Commander became a multi-million-dollar business and was featured in the show “Duck Dynasty,” which aired for 11 seasons between 2012 and 2017 and became one of the most-watched reality shows on TV.

Read more at The Daily Wire 

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Editor-in-Chief, Souls and Liberty