With an Apostolic Letter to the people of God entitled “Desiderio desideravi”, Pope Francis calls for Catholics to overcome forms of aestheticism that appreciate only outward formality or allow sloppiness in liturgy, noting that “a celebration that does not evangelize is not authentic.”

At Mass to celebrate the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, Pope Francis blesses the pallia for new Metropolitan Archbishops, and reminds the faithful that the Church is called to “get up quickly” and “fight the good fight.”

Pope Francis has proposed this Wednesday, 26 January, as a day of prayer for peace for Ukraine, and has expressed his concern over the increasing tensions that threaten peace and security in Ukraine and in the rest of Europe. In an interview with Vatican News, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, speaks of the crisis in the country, over which the spectre of conflict is hovering.

What is the Rosary, and where does it come from? Answers to some common questions about this Marian prayer. “Dear young people, learn to pray to Mary with the simple and effective prayer of the Rosary; dear sick people, may our Lady be your support in the trial of pain” (Pope Francis, General Audience of May 3, 2017)

The Feast of Corpus Christi is celebrated on the Thursday following Holy Trinity Sunday to solemnly commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist. In many places it has been moved to the following Sunday.  Calendar issues aside, it is a very powerful reason for a new appointment with the Bible.

“Early on February 24 we heard the news that Putin had invaded Ukraine. I spoke with Vova, my foster son, and heard these words on the other end that made me tremble: ‘Mother, I don’t want to die.’” Thus María José begins her story, from Seville.

I have just finished a marvelous book called The Women Are Up to Something. Written by Benjamin Lipscomb, it weaves together the biographies of four extraordinary women who arrived together as students at Oxford in the late 1930s and who flourished as scholars and writers in the mid to late twentieth century. Iris Murdoch, Mary Midgley, Philippa Foot, and Elizabeth Anscombe effected a revolution in the way in which we think about moral philosophy, and their very positive influence is much needed in the ethical conversation today.