Gregory the Great gives us an important exhortation in today’s Office of the Readings: Whose approval governs the soul when we are mocked? Do we do things for the love of God, or because we desire our own praise and adulation? If we aren’t careful, praise can very quickly become a drug to the soul and it can turn the soul away from the altar of God. Marcus has more.

St John Henry Newman taught the Church a whole host of things, ranging from the development of doctrine to the primacy of truth to the nature of conscience. But Matthew Walz wants to consider something else – what it means to Hope in God the Creator. He joins us.

Further Reading

Trusting the One who ‘Knows What He’s About’

Guest Info

Matthew Walz will begin serving as President of Thomas More College at the beginning of the upcoming academic year after almost two decades of teaching and administrative work at the University of Dallas and Holy Trinity Seminary. His inauguration will take place in September. He and his beautiful wife, Teresa, have been blessed with eight children.

The Society of St. Pius X has announced the names of four priests who will be consecrated as bishops on July 1 without the permission of Pope Leo XIV. We talk more about this and other Church news with Matthew Bunson.

Further Reading

Vatican announces global rosary for peace with Pope Leo XIV

Society of St. Pius X names priests to be consecrated bishops July 1

Churchgoers Hear About Political, Social Issues in U.S. From Pulpit, Pew Survey Says

Pope Leo Urges Priests to Respect ‘Norms of the Liturgy’ to Avoid Confusion at Mass

Guest Info

Matthew Bunson is Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News and a Senior Fellow at St Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He’s the author or co-author of more than 50 books including the first English-language biography of Pope Francis and The Encyclopedia of Catholic History. Follow him on twitter at MattBunson. Register Radio airs Saturdays at 4 pm and Sundays at 11 am on Ave Maria Radio

10 years ago, social media was set ablaze following the death of Harambe, a zoo gorilla who was shot after a child fell into its enclosure. The White House X account tried to honor the anniversary of the incident this week with a rather bizarre post. A society that eulogizes a zoo animal while celebrating the “right” to abortion is a society doomed to fail. Marcus has more.

Further Reading

Pope Decries ‘Drastic Sterility,’ Discrimination Against Motherhood in Europe

White House commemorates ‘true patriot’ Harambe

Despite its linguistic beauty and political intrigue, Dante’s “Divine Comedy” is a work of profound theological depth. It reflects the coherence and richness of Medieval Christian philosophy and theology and has much to say about the nature and effects of sin. Mike Schramm has more.

Further Reading

8 life lessons from Dante’s Inferno

Guest Info

Mike Schramm lives in southeastern Minnesota with his wife and seven children. There, he teaches theology and philosophy at Aquinas High School and Viterbo University. He earned his MA in theology from St. Joseph’s College in Maine and an MA in philosophy from Holy Apostles College. He has written for Busted Halo, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, and the Voyage Comics Blog.

Today’s readings are united by a covenantal theme - we are no longer beggars and now belong to the family of God through the sacrifice of Christ. Marcus has more.

When Christopher Hazell was an atheistic college student, he found himself on a flight, staring out the window into the blackness. If God did not exist, he reasoned, than the entirety of life meant nothing. Sin and suffering can render the world dark and clouded, convincing us that our lives are meaningless. He joins us with more.

Further Reading

The Anti-Narrative of Sin and Evil

Chris’ Substack blog

Chris’ website

Guest Info

Christopher Hazell is a writer and editor. His writing has been published in The Saturday Evening Post, Commonweal, Plough, Viewpoint, Dappled Things, Church Life Journal, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Fare Forward, and more. He is also the author of Ends in Mind, a newsletter about culture, technology, Christian spirituality, the arts, and more.

Pope Leo’s encyclical had barely been released before some critics began complaining that the Pope should address other matters rather than something like AI, accusing him of modernism and other absurd things. As the head of the Catholic Church, the Pope should offer guidance on things that affect the modern world. Marcus has more.

Something is happening in the country that is being misread as politics. People of faith are reasserting their place in American public life, the law is increasingly vindicating them and the secular establishment has not figured out what to do about it. Andrea Picciotti-Bayer has more.

Further Reading

Religious Expression in Public Life on the Rise

Guest Info

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is a legal analyst for EWTN News.

In recent times, media coverage of papal remarks—especially in the Wild West of social media Catholicism—has come to assume a regrettable pattern. The pope gives a speech or grants an interview, and opposing factions predictably amplify selected lines to support preexisting positions they want to advance. The trend continues in the papacy of Pope Leo. Matthew Ramage has more.

Further Reading

The Digital Papacy: Newman and the Crisis of Online Catholic Discourse

Magnifica Humanitas: The Human Person Between Glory and Fragility

Guest Info

Dr. Matthew J. Ramage is professor of theology at Benedictine College where he serves as co-director of its Center for Integral Ecology. His research and writing concentrates especially on the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, the wedding of ancient and modern methods of biblical interpretation, and the dialogue between faith and science.