Tuesday, April 07, 2026
Monday, April 06, 2026
US lawmakers visit Cuba as embargo pressure intensifies
P.S.
Thinking of Cuba's 1959 Socialist Revolution brings to mind the idiom:
"You've made your bed, now lie in it"
Sunday, April 05, 2026
Pope Leo’s Easter message to the world: ‘Let those who have weapons lay them down!’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — As wars intensify across the globe, Pope Leo XIV used his first Easter address to deliver a stark warning against growing indifference to violence, urging both world leaders and ordinary people to reject fear and choose peace through dialogue.
Pope Leo XIV addresses the faithful after delivering the Urbi et Orbi blessing - Latin for "to the city of Rome and to the world" - from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at the end of Easter Mass he presided over in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Claire Giangravé
April 5, 2026
VATICAN CITY (RNS) – During his first Easter address on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV made an impassioned global appeal to end wars and embrace dialogue, following a series of celebrations leading up to Easter in which the pope emphasized the theme of peace.
“Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” Leo said in his Urbi et Orbi address, Latin for “to the city and to the world,” as 50,000 gathered in the square beneath him, according to Vatican News.
Recent popes have made the traditional Easter address an occasion to call out injustices and conflict in the world. Leo’s Holy Week celebrations, including a prayer vigil on Saturday to “make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts,” kept that focus — with added urgency as conflict escalates in the Middle East.
Saturday, April 04, 2026
Trump Admin Signals Clarity on Church Speech
By Charlie McCarthy | Friday, 03 April 2026 12:23 PM EDT
The Trump administration announced Friday that it will "provide additional clarity and guidance" to religious organizations after a federal judge's decision this week to dismiss a case seeking to overturn the 70-year-old ban on political activity by houses of worship.
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service issued a statement saying the move is aimed at reinforcing First Amendment protections while helping churches better understand how existing law applies to their communications.
"Religious liberty is foundational to our Constitution," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, adding that the administration is committed to ensuring Americans can "practice one's faith openly and in community" while laws are applied fairly.
The new guidance will focus on clarifying how the Johnson Amendment, the 1954 law that restricts tax-exempt organizations from endorsing political candidates, applies in real-world settings, particularly within religious services.
According to Treasury, internal communications between houses of worship and their congregations, when delivered through customary religious channels and tied to matters of faith, may not constitute prohibited political activity under current interpretations of the law.
Hegseth Says U.S. Troops Are Fighting for Jesus. The Pope Disagrees.
In sharp contrast to the Trump administration’s calls for Christian prayers for the war effort, Pope Leo XIV says military domination is “entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.”
By Motoko Rich
Reporting from Rome
April 3, 2026
Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, has asked the American people to pray “every day, on bended knee” for a military victory in the Middle East “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, has a starkly different take on what should be done in Jesus’s name.
In a homily during a Mass on Thursday morning before Easter, the pope said that the Christian mission has often been “distorted by a desire for domination, entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.”
Since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran in late February, the pope has consistently called for an end to the violence and a return to dialogue to resolve the conflict. But without naming Mr. Hegseth, he has also pointed out the ways in which Christianity has been marshaled for purposes that the pope says do not align with Catholic teaching.
Pope Leo, during the Holy Thursday Mass in Rome, said the Christian mission had often been “distorted by a desire for domination.”Credit...Vincenzo Livieri/Reuters
By Motoko Rich
Reporting from Rome
April 3, 2026
Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, has asked the American people to pray “every day, on bended knee” for a military victory in the Middle East “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, has a starkly different take on what should be done in Jesus’s name.
In a homily during a Mass on Thursday morning before Easter, the pope said that the Christian mission has often been “distorted by a desire for domination, entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.”
Since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran in late February, the pope has consistently called for an end to the violence and a return to dialogue to resolve the conflict. But without naming Mr. Hegseth, he has also pointed out the ways in which Christianity has been marshaled for purposes that the pope says do not align with Catholic teaching.
Friday, April 03, 2026
Thursday, April 02, 2026
JD Vance's New Memoir About His Conversion to Catholicism Shows a Methodist Church on the Cover
The vice president's upcoming second memoir details his return to religion as an adult
Published on April 1, 2026 03:31PM EDT
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Vice President JD Vance; the 'Communion' cover, with a stock photo by Tim Pennington.Credit :
Courtesy of the White House; HarperCollins Publishers
NEED TO KNOW
Courtesy of the White House; HarperCollins Publishers
NEED TO KNOW
- Vice President JD Vance is releasing a new book about his return to religion as an adult
- Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith will explore why the vice president initially left Christianity and how he returned to the church later in life by converting to Catholicism
- The cover of the book features a photo of a Methodist church in rural Virginia, not a Catholic one
On March 31, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced the forthcoming publication of Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, set to arrive this summer.
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