News

Lay groups in Germany push back after Vatican denies request for right to preach at Mass

by Junno Arocho Esteves - OSV News June 24, 2026

Bishops enter Würzburg Cathedral for the opening Mass of the spring plenary assembly of the German Bishops' Conference Feb. 23, 2026. Credit: OSV News photo/courtesy German bishops' conference

(OSV News) — Lay groups in Germany involved in the local Church’s controversial Synodal Way say they will continue demanding the right to preach at Mass, defying a recent rejection by the Vatican of the proposal.

In a press release published June 23, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments announced that it had denied a request by the German bishops’ conference to allow “in exceptional circumstances, a duly commissioned lay member of the faithful to preach in place of the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist.”

The new know-nothings? Anti-Catholic political rhetoric is making a comeback

by Anna Keating June 24, 2026

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, seen here at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Feb. 5, invited Rev. Doug Wilson to lead a prayer service at the Pentagon, despite the latter’s history of anti-Catholic statements. Credit: OSV News photo/Al Drago, Reuters

President Abraham Lincoln once said of the Know-Nothing Party, founded in 1844 and dissolved in 1860: “If the Know-Nothings get control, [the Declaration of Independence] will read all men are created equal, except negroes, foreigners and Catholics.”

The Know-Nothing Party dissolved in 1860, but its mix of nativism and white supremacy remained strong, and many of their proponents did not consider Catholics to be “white.” In fact, the Klu Klux Klan targeted my Catholic immigrant ancestors in the panhandle of Texas by burning crosses in their yards. My husband’s maternal grandmother in the same town told us of how her priest was tarred and feathered when she was a little girl. “He was never the same,” she said.

We need to get offline and get in person this summer

 

Guest Voices

Opinion

We need to get offline and get in person this summer

Daniel P. Horan  ncr

Catholic bishops urge protection for Haitians as TPS debate intensifies

 

Catholic bishops urge protection for Haitians as TPS debate intensifies

News

• ncr

  Camillo Barone

 

Vatican Dispatch

Vatican to German bishops: No lay people preaching homilies at Mass

by Colleen Dulle June 23, 2026

Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is pictured in a 2022 file photo. In an interview with OSV News, Cardinal Roche warned that modern culture -- especially technology and shifting ideas about identity -- can erode relationships and hinder spiritual growth. (OSV News photo/Marko Djurica, Reuters)

The Vatican has rejected a request from the German bishops for special permission (an “indult”) to allow lay men and women to preach homilies during Mass.

“Lay faithful may not preach during the celebration of the Eucharist in the place intended for the homily,” Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, wrote in a June 17 letter responding to the request.

 

Catholic Book Club

The moral witness of doctor and writer Robert Coles

by James T. Keane June 23, 2026

Robert Coles in an undated photo. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Who might we consider “the greatest moral teacher of our time”? Every country and culture surely has its own candidate, and probably most of us can volunteer our own examples from our own milieu. But some people get more votes than others, and in the U.S. context, the great peace activist Colman McCarthy’s opinion counts more than yours. On whom did he bestow the title? Robert Coles.

McCarthy obviously knew Coles, the doctor, writer, sociologist and historian who died on June 4, for many decades, as the two were frequent enough collaborators and fellow travelers in pricking the conscience of America. However, one could argue that there was a time in the United States when Robert Coles came close to a household name. Certainly the editors of America knew him well—even before he became a columnist for the magazine. 

I’m a Catholic woman who was allowed to preach at Mass—until it was banned

I’m a Catholic woman who was allowed to preach at Mass—until it was banned

by Jean Molesky-Poz July 22, 2019

iStock

Editors’ note: For another take on the question of women preaching during Mass, read “Should Catholic women preach at Mass? Here’s a better question.”

“Mary,” Jesus said to her. When she heard him call her name, she responded, “Rabbouni!” Teacher.

“Go to my brothers,” he said, delivering a direct commission to announce the “good news.”

“I have seen the Lord,” she told the disciples.

 

Can the Church Reconnect With Europe?

Leo’s travels on the continent offer signs of a new relationship.

Massimo Faggioli

June 23, 2026

Pope Leo XIV

Please email comments to letters@commonwealmagazine.org.

Pope Leo XIV greets faithful after midday prayers at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, June 9, 2026 (OSV News photo/Simone Risoluti, Vatican Media).

If the schedule imposed by the 2025 Jubilee made Pope Leo something of a “prisoner of the Vatican,” the first half of 2026 has provided much greater opportunity to travel. The summer promises more—namely, travel to key locations for the Church on the old continent. After returning from Spain, his first multiday European trip as pope, Leo headed for Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, the birthplace of St. Frances Cabrini, to be followed by Pavia, Italy, where the relics of St. Augustine are venerated. Then it’s on to Lampedusa on July 4, followed by Assisi on August 6 (for the eight-hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Francis); Rimini on August 22 (for the annual meeting of the Communion and Liberation movement); and, in late September, France.