An evidence-based look at who becomes Catholic around the world, why, and what it means for the Church today — drawing on Pew Research Center’s 24-country study of religious switching.
What Does the Catholic Church Actually Teach About Exorcism? Exorcism occupies an unusual place in the modern Catholic imagination — simultaneously a subject of horror films and genuine, carefully regulated pastoral ministry. Contrary to sensationalized portrayals, the Church approaches exorcism with considerable caution, extensive procedural safeguards, and a strong presumption toward natural and medical explanations…
Who Was St. Joseph? Of all the major figures of the New Testament, none is more silent than Joseph of Nazareth — and none has been more richly meditated upon by the Church precisely because of that silence. Scripture records not a single word spoken by him, yet the tradition has drawn from his few…
What Was the Council of Trent? The Council of Trent stands as one of the most consequential councils in the history of the Church — the nineteenth ecumenical council, convened as the Catholic Church’s definitive theological and disciplinary response to the Protestant Reformation. Meeting intermittently across eighteen years, Trent did not merely react defensively to…
What Was “The Inquisition,” Actually? Few subjects in Church history are more distorted by popular imagination than the Inquisition. The word conjures a single, centuries-long campaign of torture and mass execution — an image built more from anti-Catholic propaganda and Hollywood than from archival evidence. In reality, “the Inquisition” was never one institution. It was…
What Was the Index of Forbidden Books? For over four hundred years, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum — the Index of Forbidden Books — stood as the Catholic Church’s official list of publications Catholics were forbidden to read without special permission. Often caricatured today as pure censorship or intellectual repression, the Index in fact reflected a…
Every November, the Catholic Church turns her gaze toward the faithful departed. This article explores what purgatory is, why the Church teaches it, and how the faithful can put its extraordinary graces into practice.
Chronicle of Marian Apparitions, Part 6 The Poor, the Sorrowful, and a Warning of Genocide: Our Lady of Beauraing to Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas (1932–1983) This sixth and final installment closes the chronicle with four of the more recent Church-approved Marian apparitions, spanning barely fifty years yet crossing three continents. Two…
Chronicle of Marian Apparitions, Part 5 Hope in Wartime and Silence in the Rain: Our Lady of Pontmain to Our Lady of Fatima (1871–1917) War, national suffering, and the eve of a global catastrophe form the backdrop to the four apparitions examined in this fifth installment. From a French village threatened by Prussian invasion, to…
Chronicle of Marian Apparitions, Part 4 Weeping and Wonders: Our Lady of La Salette to Our Lady of Good Help (1846–1859) The mid-nineteenth century produced some of the best-documented and most consequential Marian apparitions in the history of the Church, culminating in the world-famous events at Lourdes. This fourth installment follows Our Lady from a…
