Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Father James Martin on the importance of going to confession (even when you’re nervous)

Posted inPodcasts

Father James Martin on the importance of going to confession (even when you’re nervous)

Credit: Shalone Cason on Unsplash


I go to confession a lot. To put that more accurately, as a priest, I not only hear confessions often but also go to a priest to confess my sins often. For some reason, I have never found it all that difficult.

That is not the case for many Catholics. One person I met recently has not confessed his sin for years because he is worried about what the priest might give him for a penance. (I tried to reassure him that penances are never impossible and, besides, the church asks priests to give penances that are doable.) One woman told me a few years ago that she was too worried that she would cry. (I asked her what was so awful about that. I have cried enough in confession.) Another person once told me that he was embarrassed because he knew his parish priests too well. (I told him that this didn’t seem insurmountable: I’ve gone to confession with Jesuits I live with!)

Budgeting for War

 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine listen while President Donald Trump answers questions from the media during a news conference April 6, 2026 (OSV News photo/Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters).

It wasn’t true of course, but there was at least a measure of honesty in President Trump’s assertion, made during a private Easter luncheon on April 1, that it is simply “not possible” for the federal government to pay for things like Medicare, Medicaid, and child care. Services like these, he opined, should be left to the states, so that the government can fund his aggression abroad: “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare…. You can’t do it on a federal [sic]. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country.” Sure, states would need to raise taxes to pay for these programs, but Trump would “lower our taxes a little bit to help them out.” 

In conversation, US bishops are learning new insights on LGBTQ+ Catholics

 

Rainbow speech bubble (Dreamstime/221308678)

In conversation, US bishops are learning new insights on LGBTQ+ Catholics

New ecological program trains US diocesan leaders to build Laudato Si' momentum

 

New ecological program trains US diocesan leaders to build Laudato Si' momentum

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Hundreds of Men to Be Ordained in US in 2026

 

Priestly ordination underway in St. Peter’s Basilica, April 25, 2021.

Hundreds of Men to Be Ordained in US in 2026

The church Pope Francis left us

Pope Francis greets people during an audience with donors of the Vatican's Christmas tree and Nativity scenes, in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Dec. 3, 2022.
Posted inFaith and Reason

The church Pope Francis left us

Pope Francis greets people during an audience with donors of the Vatican's Christmas tree and Nativity scenes, in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Dec. 3, 2022.

Editor’s note: This article is adapted from the Laetare lecture on March 26, given in New York after the author was awarded the Loyola Medal by the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. 

Pope Francis’ vast legacy will take a generation to unpack. But already it is being developed in Pope Leo XIV, who was “the last surprise of Pope Francis” according to the subtitle of a recent account of the conclave that elected him from America correspondent Gerard O’Connell and Elisabetta Piqué. The cardinals spoke in the weeks before that election a year ago of the need to press on with the era opened by Francis, which they sought to capture in such words as humble, pastoral, merciful, synodal, missionary, discerning and fraternal. 

Reflecting their desires, Leo told the cardinals right after the conclave that he would “continue on the journey” Francis had started. He described it as “renewing the path of the Second Vatican Council,” which, he said, Francis “masterfully and concretely set forth” in his first great teaching document, “The Joy of the Gospel” (“Evangelii Gaudium”).

Georgetown panel highlights Pope Leo's comments amid current war in Iran

 

Panelists participate in an April 13 dialogue hosted by the Georgetown University Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. From left, top row, are Mary Ellen O’Connell; Elisabetta Piqué; and Kim Daniels; from left, bottom row, are Phil Klay and Sohrab Ahmari. (Courtesy of Georgetown University)

Georgetown panel highlights Pope Leo's comments amid current war in Iran

Pope Francis revealed: His final days, intimate friends and a legacy to keep

 

Pope Francis receives drawings from the children of Vatican News journalist Salvatore Cernuzio at Casa Santa Marta, Vatican City, June 2022. (Courtesy of Salvatore Cernuzio)

Pope Francis revealed: His final days, intimate friends and a legacy to keep