CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (EWTN News/CNA) — Pope Benedict XVI has urged Catholics to read the Bible while on vacation, particularly the lesser known books of sacred Scripture.

“This seems to be a good thing to do on the holidays — take a book of the Bible — so you have some relaxation and, at the same time, enter into the great expanse of the word of God and deepen your contact with the Eternal,” said the Pope in his Aug. 3 general audience address at his holiday residence 15 miles south of Rome. 

Pope Benedict noted how “each of us needs time and space for meditation, reflection and calm,” adding, “Thank God it’s so!”

He said this tells us that “we are not made only for work, but also...READ MORE

DENVER (CNA) — Former Ohio Democratic Rep. Steve Driehaus’ lawsuit against the Susan B. Anthony List will go forward, after a judge held on Aug. 1 that a statement about his alleged vote “for taxpayer-funded abortion” was not protected speech.

Susan B. Anthony List’s executive director, Emily Buchanan, said U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black mistakenly applied “a narrow reading” of the 2010 Affordable Care Act in reaching his conclusion. “The judge’s position in this case ignores the entire policy debate that took place during health-care reform,” Buchanan told CNA on Aug. 2.

“From the very beginning,” she recalled, “the Susan B. Anthony List has said that without the original...READ MORE

WASHINGTON — Although Mitt Romney will run as a pro-life candidate if he gets the Republican nod for 2012, the former Massachusetts governor’s record leaves many pro-lifers uneasy.

Some felt he showed his true colors recently when he refused to sign the Susan B. Anthony List’s “Pro-Life Leadership Pledge.” Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Thaddeus McCotter, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum all signed it.

The pledge calls on candidates to nominate to the U.S. federal bench judges who are “committed to restraint and applying the original meaning of the Constitution, not legislating from the bench”; to select “only pro-life appointees for relevant cabinet and executive branch...READ MORE

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (EWTN News) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Kansas state government from stripping federal family-planning funds from Planned Parenthood on the grounds that the action imposed new rules on a federal program and it punished the organization because it advocated for abortion rights.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt reacted critically to the ruling.

“It appears that the court declared a duly enacted Kansas statute unconstitutional without engaging in the fact-finding one would expect before reaching such a conclusion,” he said.

Schmidt said he would appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, the Kansas City Star reported.

The...READ MORE

The Real Pius XII - William Doino Jr, First Things/On the Square

Ten Reasons World Youth Day is No Woodstock - Matthew Archbold, Creative Minority Report

Book Review: The Church and the New Media - Devin Rose, St. Joseph’s Vanguard

. . . Brent Stubbs Review here . . .

The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick When Priests Are Fewer - Monsignor Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington

Pro-Life Youth Dominate U.N. Conference - Austin Ruse, The Catholic Thing

. . . Matthew Archbold: UN: Abortion & Prostitution a Right for Ten Year Olds . . .

Catholic Economics = Distributism - The Catholic Knight

Euanggelion: The Triumph of Father Barron’s “Catholicism” - Brad Miner, The Catholic...READ MORE

WASHINGTON — Health-insurance plans must provide birth control and surgical sterilization as “preventive care” for women, with no co-pays, according to a directive issued Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pro-life groups and religious-freedom advocates immediately criticized the Aug. 1 decision, expressing alarm about its narrow exemptions for religious groups, and calling on supporters to back a bill before Congress that would strengthen exemptions for employers who oppose surgical sterilizations and contraception.

“Although this new rule gives the agency the discretion to authorize a ‘religious’ exemption, it is so narrow as...READ MORE

DENVER (EWTN News/CNA) — Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver said that true reform of the Church requires deep faith and repentance from all members of the faith, including clergy, religious and laity alike.

“Renewal begins not in vilifying others, but in examining ourselves honestly, repenting of our own sins, and changing ourselves,” the archbishop said.

“We are all in need of God’s mercy. When we really understand that, we can speak to each other with both honesty and love, and restoring the mission of the Church can begin.”

Archbishop Chaput, who was recently appointed to lead the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, made his remarks at the Knight of Columbus’ 129th annual convention, this...READ MORE

Ambiguity and Eucharistic Instruction - Stanley D. Williams Ph.D, Catholic Lane

The Virtues of the City - Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing

Why Did the Law of Moses Exist? - Joe Heschmeyer, Shameless Popery

Does Religion Shrink Your Brain? - Denyse O’Leary, MercatorNet

Down Syndrome & the Purpose of Prenatal Testing - Matthew Hennessy, First Things/On the Square

Give Me that Old Time Religion to Reduce Crime - Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture

The Virtue of Fairness - Dr. Donald DeMarco, The Integrated Catholic Life™

Co-Creational Curriculum - Dr. James Knotwell, The Distributist Review

Calling Things by Their Proper Names- Anthony S. Layne, The Impractical Catholic

Bart Ehrman and...READ MORE