When the Rev. Daniel Ciucci stands before his Denver parish to deliver a homily, he looks out onto a congregation divided over whether he’s fit to lead.
A rift within the Most Precious Blood Catholic Church parish fueled a petition with more than 750 signatures calling for Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila to address Ciucci’s leadership, accusing the pastor of eroding a vibrant, welcoming faith community with “fire and brimstone,” dogmatic messaging and a refusal to listen to parishioners.
Former Most Precious Blood parishioners said the fracture within the church since Ciucci was installed four years ago — in part because of more progressive Catholics clashing with a traditionalist priest — represents a microcosm of what’s happening within the local archdiocese.
“There has been a liberal schism in the Denver Archdiocese,” said David Thomas, a former Most Precious Blood parishioner. “I really view this as a problem with Aquila and not a problem with Daniel. I think Daniel is a symptom. The bigger problem is the overreach or micromanagement of the parish from Aquila in order to reel it back into compliance with his personal philosophy about what a Catholic parish ought to be.”
After reading the online petition and dozens of accompanying testimonials, Ciucci delivered a homily earlier this month — titled “Why Hell Is Welcoming” — that he said was inspired by the conflict. He lectured about the dangers of putting anything or anyone above God and the sin of not attending Mass every Sunday.
“This petition has broken open now the real conversation, because the thing that is most argued against implicitly, although almost nobody is willing to do it, is the fact that people get offended that they need to be saved by Jesus,” Ciucci told his congregation, according to video of the Aug. 3 homily.
Continue reading at the Denver Post
“O Jesus! Do not let me be damned. O Lord! Do not send me to hell, because in hell, I cannot love Thee.”
- St. Alphonsus Liguori
The shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis is being investigated by the FBI as an anti-Catholic hate crime.
Two children, aged eight and 10, were killed when an attacker opened fire through the windows of Annunciation Church as school children and adult worshippers were celebrating Mass on the morning of 27 August to mark the first week back at school after the summer break.
"The FBI is investigating this shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X.
He concluded his message by saying: "The FBI will continue to provide updates on our ongoing investigation with the public as we are able."
The shooter, who died beside the church from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was later named by police as 23-year-old Robin Westman.
Police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters: "This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping."
"The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible," he said.
Authorities have not yet released a suspected motive for the attack, though it has emerged that the shooter was a male who self-identified as a "trans woman" and had in 2020 officially changed his birth name of Robert to Robin on the basis of identifying as "female".
The revelations have led to questions around gender dysphoria and mental health, and whether that should be getting as much, if not more, attention as the issue of gun violence and accessibility to fire arms in the US, as the country tries to process and understand another horrific mass shooting occurring at a school.
A now-deleted YouTube account believed to belong to Westman featured what is being reported as a type of "manifesto" video that aired hours before the shooting. In the video can be seen a drawing of a church and a person repeatedly stabbing the paper on which it was drawn. In the same drawing of the church are outlines of multiple box shapes laid out in a neat pattern, which could represent coffins.
Other video clips posted to the YouTubeaccount show gun parts, a semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and various gun magazines with messages scrawled on them.
One video clip shows what appears to be a target, typically used on a gun range, with an image of the head of Christ wearing the crown of thorns put on the head area of the target.
The Catholic News Agency (CNA) reportsthat below the image of Christ's head was displayed the text: “He came to pay a debt he didn’t owe because we owe a debt we cannot repay."
It adds that the individual pointing the camera at the shooting target, believed to be Westman, then laughed before moving the camera to show anti-Christian messages and drawings on his guns and loaded magazines.
One message scrawled on a rifle states “take this all of you and eat", mocking the words Jesus said at the Last Supper and the words said in the Eucharistic prayer during every Mass, CNA notes.
It also reports that Westman drew an inverted pentagram on one of the gun magazines, explaining that the symbol is often used to promote Satanism and also sometimes used in other occult practices. The number “666” was also written on the gun magazine.
An inverted cross was drawn on the barrel of one of the rifles, which is a traditional Christian symbol that has since been co-opted by Satanists.
The person filming the video at one point sings the word “tomorrow” while also saying: “I’m sorry to my family … that’s the only people I’m sorry to. “I regret everything. I didn’t ask for life. You didn’t ask for death.”
Among the various gun magazines with messages scrawled on them, one reads: “For the children"; another reads: "Where is your God?"
Address to the national pilgrimage of altar servers of France
(August 25, 2025)
“… the Church, from generation to generation, carefully preserves the memory of the Lord's death and resurrection, of which she is a witness, as her most precious treasure. She preserves and transmits it by celebrating the Eucharist, which you have the joy and honor of serving. The Eucharist is the Treasure of the Church, the Treasure of Treasures. From the first day of its existence, and then for centuries, the Church has celebrated Mass, Sunday after Sunday, to remember what her Lord has done for her. In the hands of the priest and with his words, “This is my Body, this is my Blood,” Jesus still gives his life on the Altar, He still pours out his Blood for us today. Dear Altar Servers, the celebration of Mass saves us today! It saves the world today! It is the most important event in the life of a Christian and in the life of the Church, because it is the rendezvous where God gives himself to us out of love, again and again. Christians do not go to Mass out of duty, but because they absolutely need it; they need the life of God, who gives himself without return!
“Dear friends, I thank you for your commitment: you are doing your parish a great and generous service, and I encourage you to persevere faithfully. When you approach the altar, always keep in mind the greatness and holiness of what is being celebrated. Mass is a time of celebration and joy. How, indeed, can we not have joy in our hearts in the presence of Jesus? But Mass is also a serious, solemn moment, marked by gravity. May your attitude, your silence, the dignity of your service, the beauty of the liturgy, the order and majesty of the gestures, draw the faithful into the sacred grandeur of the Mystery.
“I also hope that you will be attentive to the call that Jesus may address to you to follow him more closely in the priesthood….”
Read the rest: https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2025/08/pope-leo-xiv-to-altar-servers-mass-is.html
No arrests have been made in what Mayor Jacob Frey called “horrific violence.” At least five people have died and several others injured.
The intense focus on the daily minutia of the Holy Father can veer into unhealthy voyeurism.
POPE LEO XIV
ANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 24 August 2025
Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!
At the heart of today’s Gospel (Lk 13:22-30), we find the image of the “narrow gate,” which Jesus uses in his answer to someone who asks him if only a few will be saved. Jesus says, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able” (v 24).
At first glance, this image can make us think: if God is the Father of love and mercy, who always stands with open arms to welcome us, why does Jesus say that the gate of salvation is narrow?
Certainly, the Lord does not want to discourage us. Rather, his words are meant primarily to challenge the presumption of those people who think they are already saved, who perform religious acts and feel that is all that is needed. They have not realized that it is not enough to perform religious acts unless they change hearts. The Lord does not want worship detached from life. He is not pleased with sacrifices and prayers, unless they lead to greater love for others and justice for our brothers and sisters. For this reason, when such people come before the Lord boasting that they ate and drank with him and heard him teaching in their streets, they will hear him reply: “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!” (v 28).
Brothers and sisters, the challenge presented to us in today’s Gospel is worth considering. While we may sometimes be judgmental towards those distant from the faith, Jesus calls into question “the security of believers.” He tells us that it is not enough to profess the faith with words, to eat and drink with him by celebrating the Eucharist or to have a good knowledge of Christian doctrine. Our faith is authentic when it embraces our whole life, when it becomes a criterion for our decisions, when it makes us women and men committed to doing what is right and who take risks out of love, even as Jesus did. He did not choose the easy path of success or power; instead, in order to save us, he loved us to the point of walking through the “narrow gate” of the Cross. Jesus is the true measure of our faith; he is the gate through which we must pass in order to be saved (cf. Jn 10:9) by experiencing his love and by working, in our daily lives, to promote justice and peace.
There are times when this involves making difficult and unpopular decisions, resisting our selfish inclinations, placing ourselves at the service of others, and persevering in doing what is right when the logic of evil seems to prevail, and so on. Once we cross that threshold, however, we will discover that life flourishes anew. From that moment on, we will enter into the immense heart of God and the joy of the eternal banquet that he has prepared for us.
Let us ask the Virgin Mary to help us find the courage to pass through the “narrow gate” of the Gospel, so that we may open ourselves with joy to the wide embrace of God our loving Father.
On 13 August 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania ruled in favour of Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
striking down a “religious conscience” rule from Donald Trump’s first term that
granted the Little Sisters and other religious organisations exemptions from
the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive requirements. The court declared the
exemptions “arbitrary [and] capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act
and vacated them “in their entirety”.
The decision reopens the possibility that the Little Sisters, an
international congregation of Catholic women religious founded in 1839 by Saint
Jeanne Jugan to care for the elderly poor, could face a stark choice: provide
abortion-inducing drugs in employee health plans or incur millions of dollars
in fines.
More: https://thecatholicherald.com/article/court-ruling-may-force-little-sisters-to-cover-abortion-and-contraceptives
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) ordered a criminal investigation Wednesday into allegations that educators in the Fairfax County Public School system facilitated abortions.
The governor’s office cited reports that school officials arranged and paid for abortions with school funding. The reports indicated that the FCPS administration knew such things were happening.
“I am deeply concerned with the allegations that Fairfax County Public Schools officials arranged for minors to get abortions without parental consent and may have misused public funds to pay for them. I am directing the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation to open a full criminal investigation into the matter immediately,” Youngkin said in a statement.
The school system said earlier this month that it was investigating the abortion allegations. Two former students alleged that in 2021, a school social worker scheduled the abortion procedures, paid for them, and did not involve their families.
Virginia law requires that at least one parent be notified before a minor receives an abortion unless a judge grants a bypass.
More: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/education/3499179/youngkin-criminal-investigation-school-funded-abortions-fairfax-county/
Heavenly and
provident God and Father
You who are almighty,
ever-living and all-knowing,
We turn to you on this anniversary occasion
Remembering with prayerful reflection and somber recollection
The auspicious
events which took place in Benedict
210 years
ago.
As this
anniversary of invasion and ultimate victory passes,
As we honor
in prayer and sacrifice, mourning the fallen in our nation’s conflicts,
Let us learn
well and always remember the lessons of history:
The need for
solid and adequate defense of human life and all that is good, and thus the
duty of support spiritual and material welfare for all who are dedicated to our
defense,
While never forgetting
to ever pray and to work for peace.
Grant that
we may look to the future with renewed vigor and hope as we reflect
Today with
profit upon and celebrate our history.
Grant these
and all our prayers through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord, Who lives and
reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
July 29, 2025
The beneficiary of the maternal kindness of the Immaculate is a 67-year-old Italian woman, Antonia Lofiégo, née Raco. The miracle is not new, having occurred in the summer of 2009, when this woman, then ill, came to Lourdes during a pilgrimage and immersed herself in one of the pools fed by water from the miraculous spring.
It was in the cathedral of his diocese, located in the heart of the charming, steep town of Tursi, in Basilicata, that the miracle was officially proclaimed by Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino on April 16. He formally recognized and declared "the prodigious miraculous nature of Mrs. Raco's healing and the unequivocal value of the divine sign of this healing."
This woman suffered from primary lateral sclerosis (PLS). The bishop recalled that, during the pilgrimage to Lourdes with the Union of Pilgrimages of the Italian Episcopate in 2009, Mrs. Raco "after a swim in the pools" felt an improvement in her health. She noted that "the effects of this unfortunate illness had immediately and definitively disappeared."
The recipient of the miracle initially remained discreet about the improvement she felt. Once back in Basilicata, she consulted her doctors, who confirmed the disappearance of her symptoms. In March 2010, she reported what was then only a "supposed cure" to the Lourdes Medical Examination Bureau (BCM). Five sessions of peer-reviewed medical analyses followed over several years.
More: https://fsspx.news/en/news/lourdes-72nd-miracle-recognized-53654
The Priestly Society of St. Pius X, a traditionalist Catholic society that has experienced a troubled relationship with the church hierarchy since the 1970s, has been approved for a pilgrimage to the Vatican later this month.
The society’s pilgrimage has been added to the Vatican’s calendar in the ongoing jubilee year, a time of celebration and forgiveness of sins held in the Catholic Church every 25 years. SSPX’s inclusion is notable due to the society’s irregular canonical status, a designation that signifies a lack of full communion with the Catholic Church.
“Following in the footsteps of its founder, Archbishop Lefebvre, the Society of St. Pius X is making its third Jubilee pilgrimage to the Eternal City,” James Vogel, the society’s director of communications, told the Washington Examiner.
He continued, “As Catholics, it is equal parts penance, to obtain the indulgence, to proclaim our attachment to the Holy Father, and in a special way, for the Church to ‘regain Her splendor’ for the salvation of souls.”
However, approval to participate in the pilgrimage does not signify endorsement or sponsorship from the Vatican. Church leaders previously clarified this stance regarding a pro-LGBT Catholic group that received approval for a prayer vigil in 2024.
While the presence of a new pope has drawn speculation about whether the pilgrimage will open doors for dialogue, SSPX has been preparing for the trip since before Pope Francis’s death in April.
“We are going to Rome to purify ourselves of our sins, to obtain indulgences for our sins and to sanctify our souls in this city of grace,” the SSPX said of the pilgrimage in a letter published in February. “We will go to Rome to proclaim and manifest our unwavering attachment to the Apostolic See, to the Pope, successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ, to the bishops, successors of the Apostles, to the priests, their collaborators, and to the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church.”
“We will go to Rome, simply because we are Catholics, children of the Church, and because we want to remain Catholics no matter what happens,” it added.
More: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/3500162/traditionalist-catholic-society-vatican-pilgrimage-despite-canonical-irregularity/
