News - April 2026 RSS Feed

The “just war” doctrine has been in the news a lot these days.  I thought it would be useful to go to a reliable source to see what the Catholic Church teaches about this.   There are six paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which I want to cite in this column: 2307-2312.   

On Saturday, April 11, 2026, Pope Leo XIV officiated at a Prayer Vigil for Peace and preached an important message for us to consider. In my column last week, I presented the first half of the message. This week I present the rest of the Holy Father’s remarks.

Pope Leo XIV announced during his Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi address to the city of Rome and the world, that he would celebrate a Prayer Vigil for Peace on Saturday, April 11, 2026 at 6:00 pm Rome time. I want to present the message he gave at the Prayer Vigil to you. Owing to space limitations, I need to do this in in two parts. Here is the first part for your reflection and prayer.

One of the features of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening was the Presentation of the Oils. I was asked after the Mass about the significance of these oils. I want to devote the column today to this important question. I am going to use a nice explanation that was printed in the back cover of the worship aid for the Chrism Mass that was celebrated by our former Archbishop, Donald Cardinal Wuerl several years ago at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle. The blessing of the Oil of the Sick occurs during the Eucharistic Prayer, while the blessing of the Oil of Catechumens and the Holy Chrism came after Communion at that Mass. The priest present renewed their priestly promises to Cardinal Wuerl during the Chrism Mass.