It’s Friday, the week is ending, we’ve reached mid-January and we’re continuing with a 2026 that has started very tough and promises to continue in the same vein.
Pope’s Letter on the 50th Anniversary of the Republic: «Continue seeking the truth». The Pope addressed the director and journalists of the newspaper: «The meaning of press freedom is to offer an opportunity for debate that contributes to the common good».
The German Church is willing to grant full power to the laity. What will Pope Leo do? The composition of the «Synodal Conference» will be defined at the end of January. In recent days, the Pope met with a group of opponents to the German Synod: «He expressed his concern».
The Pope met with the families of the victims of those who died in Switzerland: «Faith illuminates the darkest moments». «I tell you with all sincerity that I am deeply moved to meet with you». With these improvised words, Pope Leo XIV received this morning, around noon, a group of approximately twenty family members of the victims of the tragedy that occurred in Crans-Montana. «When I learned that someone in your name had requested this meeting, I immediately said: yes, we will find the time». He wanted at least to have the opportunity to share a moment that for you is a test of what we believe». «Why, Lord, why?». A question for which, he admitted, no human answer is really adequate. «I cannot explain to you why you and your loved ones have had to face such a trial». «Christ has truly risen», is a certainty that the Church does not propose as abstract consolation, but as a message capable of penetrating even the most extreme pain, that of those who have lost a loved one in a sudden catastrophe or that of those who see their loved ones marked forever by the consequences of a fire that has gripped the world’s imagination, precisely at a time of celebration and good wishes. Leo XIV did not hide the difficulty of finding meaning in events of this magnitude, nor that of finding a consolation that does not sound empty or superficial. The Pope invited those present to pray the Our Father together and entrusted everyone to Our Lady of Sorrows. «She is close to you in these days».
Bishop Athanasius Schneider said that he proposed to Pope Leo XIV the promulgation of an apostolic constitution to regulate the coexistence of the traditional Latin Mass and the post-conciliar Roman rite, he states this in a interview. «I would suggest, and I proposed to the Holy Father when I met with him , to draft a more solemn document than a motu proprio». «Benedict XVI drafted a motu proprio and Francis an anti-motu proprio. Therefore, I believe it would not be so appropriate to draft another anti-motu proprio against Francis, but simply a more solemn document».
News from within the Order of St. Augustine to which Pope Leo XIV belongs. Father McCarthy , director of vocations for the Midwest for 14 years , does not hide the difficulties of an order marked by the aging of its members and a global decline in interest in religious life. In recent months, something seems to have started moving again. «Especially since the election of Pope Leo, originally from Chicago, vocations are booming». According to the new prior, the «Pope Leo effect» is not just an emotional or media dynamic. The election of an Augustinian pontiff has made visible a charism that for many had remained on the margins of ecclesial perception . «They tell us: ‘Ah, you’re Augustinian. You’re like the Pope’».
We continue with good news indicating that Pope Leo wants to recover lost good customs. He will return to celebrate the Holy Mass of the Lord’s Supper with the rite of the washing of the feet in the Basilica of St. John Lateran , the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. In the morning of the same day, the Pontiff will preside over the Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica with the priests of the Diocese of Rome. In recent years, Pope Francis had opted to celebrate on Holy Thursday afternoon outside the cathedral, performing the rite in penal institutions. The exercises of the Roman Curia from February 22 to 27, 2026, will take place in the Apostolic Palace . In previous years, Pope Francis had preferred to direct them at the Divine Master House , which required significant and complicated logistical and financial resources. It’s already known that pretending to be poor usually turns out to be very expensive.
Let’s move on to other news. In recent years, the Catholic world has been saturated with a new ecclesial vocabulary. Words like listening , dialogue , participation and, above all, synodality , are presented as signs of renewal and maturity, as if the Church had now discovered the value of consultation and communal discernment. However, behind this benevolent language, many faithful see the satanic farce for what it is. What is increasingly at stake is doctrinal substance. Truths that were once taken for granted are discreetly reintroduced as open questions, and realities that were once understood as sacramental are reframed as sociological constructs. A today’s article uses as an example the so-called Convivium process launched by the Archdiocese of Madrid which was presented as a journey of reflection and participation, aimed at gathering the voices of the clergy, parishes, consecrated life and various ecclesial groups of the Archdiocese of Madrid. At first glance, this consultation seems unquestionable, since the Church has always encouraged prudent listening. However, what makes Convivium unprecedented is not that it listened, but what it decided to officially disseminate as the fruit of that listening. The Archdiocese distributed a preparatory working document that synthesized more than eight hundred pages of responses. Within this synthesis, certain proposals were highlighted under the disarming title of «peculiar proposals». Among them were statements advocating optional celibacy, a supposed «temporary priesthood» and, most revealingly, even references to «future women priests». These were not presented as errors, misunderstandings or positions incompatible with Catholic doctrine. They were simply presented as notable contributions within a legitimate ecclesial process.
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio: “The United States sends the first humanitarian shipment to Cuba to help those in need as they continue to recover from Hurricane Melissa”. “We are working with the Catholic Church and our partners to ensure that aid reaches the Cuban people directly, not the illegitimate regime”. The U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, Brian Burch, also reposted the message. The State Department said on January 14 that the Trump administration “is fulfilling our commitment to deliver 3 million dollars in much-needed humanitarian aid to the Cuban people” with the first in a series of direct humanitarian aid shipments to Cuba. The statement said that the State Department is “working closely” with the Catholic Church to deliver the assistance “without interference from the regime”.
When you see your neighbor’s beard getting shaved… The communist dictatorship of Nicaragua released dozens of political prisoners at the request of the United States shortly after the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. The brutal Murillo-Ortega dictatorship celebrates 19 years of what should have been a five-year democratic term. Nicaraguans voted for a president in 2006, not for an illegitimate and lifelong dynasty. Rewriting the constitution and suppressing dissent will not erase the aspirations of Nicaraguans to live free from tyranny, declared the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the U.S. State Department. “What happened in Venezuela has unleashed fear in the tyrannical government and hope in the people”. “It’s interesting that a simple statement from the U.S. embassy led to the release of prisoners in Nicaragua. This means that a little pressure from the United States can generate great change”. “The dictatorship is shocked by the images of Maduro, the all-powerful leader, arrested and humiliated. And those images have deeply affected the regime. The fear is so great that, although they have expressed solidarity with Maduro, they have not mentioned President Trump at any time”. The Ortega regime has relentlessly persecuted the Catholic Church over the last decades. The government has unjustly arrested priests , expelled religious congregations and shut down Catholic radio stations , among other criminal acts against Catholics.
It’s a case, one more. On the cover of the latest print issue of First Things are the titles of its two main articles: the first is » The Rise and Fall of Gay Activism «, which describes the evolution of strategies employed by homosexual activists in recent decades, which managed to establish same-sex marriage as the norm, but which are now losing popularity. Right below that title is » In the Footsteps of Aeneas «, written by Spencer Klavan, a homosexual man «married» to a man. The inevitable question is «Who needs ‘gay activism’ when a conservative Catholic publication considers the active and unrepentant homosexual conduct of one of its authors irrelevant?». The issue is this: for any Christian who feels attracted to people of the same sex, the inclusion of a piece by a writer in a homosexual “marriage” not only whispers an affirmation of homosexuality and the righteousness of same-sex “marriage”, but shouts it to the four winds. He is a brilliant author, he just needs to harmonize his personal life with his stated convictions. If he did, his life—not just his writings—would be a powerful force, as it is not,
The so-called Artificial Intelligence promises to complicate our lives. It is extending its use for financial analysts, journalists and many other jobs and it also seems that it will do so for priests. PriestChat is promoted as a platform to connect with compassionate priests those seeking guidance and support in our chat. It presents itself as confidential and individualized spiritual counseling and enriches your faith journey anytime and anywhere. It guarantees that the chats are with “real priests”, that there is “no AI behind them”. They can also hear your confession, as the website promises «absolution and guidance», something surprising, given that canon law requires confession to be done in person. PriestChat was launched in 2024 and has a small but growing audience, with just over 13,000 visits in December and offers users to choose one of four priests to chat with. Who is behind PriestChat? The founder of PriestChat and a computer scientist, who did not want to reveal his name if published. AI robots have a history of performing sacraments invalidly , and this website promised it could cleanse my soul. Another reality that we will have to face, that we are already facing and we cannot forget that even a robot priest is right twice a day.
And we end with Ukraine, this time not with the war, there are Catholics in Ukraine and it seems they are recovering their cathedral stolen by the communists, our image of the day. Known as the «Pearl of Kyiv», and celebrating its centenary in 2019, St. Nicholas Cathedral was supposed to return to Catholic Church ownership in 2022. This did not happen and after countless postponements and back-and-forth between local authorities and the Church, an agreement was signed for the free use of the church. The last four years have been dedicated to the fight for justice: through memorandums, petitions and three levels of courts, which confirmed the legitimacy of the church use request. Under the agreement, the parish receives the right to use the church, while the building remains state property. Initially, the Ministry of Culture had granted them only five years of use, then ten.
St. Nicholas Cathedral, built in neo-Gothic style between 1899 and 1909 according to the designs of architect Wladyslaw Horodecki, features two pointed towers 62 meters high and is the second oldest Catholic church in Kyiv, after St. Alexander’s Church. The church was closed by the communist regime in the 1930s, used as a warehouse and suffered severe damage during World War II. Partially renovated after the war, the cathedral housed the regional archive and the House of Organ and Chamber Music. In 1992, the Catholic Church was authorized to hold religious services in the cathedral, as well as concerts. The biggest obstacle was moving the organ to another building, as it had been built for the concert hall of the House of Organ and Chamber Music. On September 3, 2021, the instrument was destroyed by a fire caused by a technical defect in the organ, which also damaged parts of the cathedral’s interior.
«Why do you think these things in your hearts?»
Good reading.