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First millennial saint Carlo Acutis will be canonized Sept. 7, the pope says

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Friday set Sept. 7 as the rescheduled date to canonize the Catholic Church’s first millennial-era saint Carlo Acutis. Leo made the announcement during a meeting of cardinals, known as a consistory, to set the dates for a handful of new saints. Acutis’ canonization was originally scheduled for April 27, but was postponed following the death of Pope Francis on April 21. Acutis was 15 when he died in northern Italy in 2006, after a short bout with leukemia. He has become enormously popular especially among young Catholics who have been flocking to his ...

Are you ready?

By Mark Wilmoth An old Chinese proverb says, “He who asks a question seems a fool for a moment, but he who does not ask remains a fool for life.” One of my old math teachers put it more bluntly: “There are no stupid questions except the one you’re too stupid to ask. If you don’t ask, you’ll never learn!” Good teachers know that questions lie at the root of knowledge. In the week before he went to the cross, Jesus spoke of the coming judgment on Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple: “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone ...

The lesson of greed and fear

Remember that toilet paper shortage during the COVID pandemic? There was plenty of toilet paper available and more being manufactured. But a rumor began that there was going to be a shortage of toilet paper and paper towels. Folks ran to the store and bought enough toilet paper and paper towels to last for months. Before then, they’d never thought beyond the next trip to the store. Shelves were soon bare and there was a “shortage,” not because there wasn’t enough toilet paper for everyone but because some folks hoarded all they could find; they were afraid of running ...

Foundations donate $1.5M to help restore historic Black church in Memphis gutted by arson

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Several foundations have donated $1.5 million to help rebuild after arson gutted a historic Black church in Memphis, Tennessee, that played an important role in the civil rights movement. Clayborn Temple had been undergoing a yearslong renovation when someone intentionally set a fire inside the church in the early hours of April 28, destroying almost everything but parts of the facade. Before the fire, the Romanesque revival church was in the midst of a $25 million restoration project that included restoring a 3,000-pipe grand organ. The project also sought to ...

Pope Leo XIV visits Vatican’s hilltop summer residence that Francis turned into museum

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV visited the papal summer palace south of Rome on Thursday as questions swirled whether he will use it himself to escape the heat or follow in Pope Francis’ footsteps and keep the hilltop estate as a museum and environmental center. Leo paid a visit to the Borgo Laudato Si, an educational sustainability project that grew out of Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical “Praised Be,” the Vatican said. The center is located in the gardens of the Vatican’s Castel Gandolfo property on Lake Alban in the hills south of Rome. Pope Urban VIII built the palace ...

Making sacrifices

By Mark Wilmoth Early Twentieth Century London might not seem like a breeding ground for Communism, but in 1903, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin were among the 50 or so attendees at the Second Congress of Social Democrats. Disillusioned and frustrated with the policies of Russia’s ruling family, these men discussed their desire for change and planned a revolution. The seeds planted in London at that Congress grew into the October Revolution of 1917 that gave birth to the Soviet Union. Speaking at that conference (held mostly in pubs, so that attendees could move ...