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The Lord Jesus Christ built his Church on a rock: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church (Matthew 16). Peter was the first pope. Pope Leo XIV is now the 267th successor of St. Peter. How has the Church survived and thrived for so long? Fidelity to the truth. Adaptability to change. Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) is indisputably the first truly modern pope: He is the earliest-born person captured on film, believe that or not. Elected in 1878, he systematically modern

What is beauty? The modern, more subjective definition is: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A more traditional – and realistic – definition is: That which when seen delights (St. Thomas Aquinas) Are we permitted to dilate St. Thomas’ definition? That which when heard, tasted, smelt and touched delights. Pope Leo XIV – Assumption of Mary into Heaven: The glorification of Mary, body and soul, teaches us that our true beauty does not lie in hiding the signs of aging, but in

St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) believed that the world is passing through a time of intense spiritual crisis: A crisis of truth. A crisis of love. The rise of identity culture and politics surely highlights the issue: I naively identify as a pensioner. But the employee at Centrelink says, ‘Bad luck buddy, you were born in 1963 – you don’t qualify.’ What I take seriously is rightly rejected by the fella behind the counter. Truth be told. In our time, too, mercy and forgivene

Pope Leo XIV recently visited Assisi, home of St. Francis and St. Clare. The occasion was a Franciscan Youth Gathering with the theme, ‘Go!’ The visit took place on 6 August 2026, and the Holy Father celebrated the Mass of the Transfiguration for the young ones: We have come here to understand where history is heading and where we ourselves are going. Assisi is a good place to get our bearings. We know that St. Francis stayed awake for many hours each night asking God two que

We have the unusual pairing of God appearing to Elijah on Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19) with Christ walking on water (Matthew 14). Why the pairing? God commands Elijah to ‘go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ He soon discovers that God is not in the form of a mighty wind, an earthquake, a fire. No, rather God is in ‘a voice of silence.’ Too many translations weaken the expression into ‘a still, small voice of silence,’ something that can do no harm. But it must stan

St. Carlo Acutis (1991-2006) realised – from a very young age – that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. So convinced of this truth, that he set about documenting 136 Eucharistic miracles throughout the history of the Church. What is a Eucharistic miracle? The Church has taught, teaches and will continue to teach that when Christ said of the bread he held in his hands at the Last Supper, ‘This is my Body,’ that he meant what he said. The bread became, becomes, wil