Kresta in the Afternoon

Pope Francis held a private audience with German Bishop Georg Batzing this morning. Immediately afterward, the German bishop's conference issued a statement saying the Pope has "encouraged us to continue on the synodal path we have chosen, to discuss the questions openly and honestly, and to come to recommendations for a change in the way the Church operates." Matthew Bunson has the details on this story and other Church news.

Time is running out and cabins are filling fast for the 2022 Good News Marriage Cruise. On July 1, unsold cabins will be reverted to Royal Caribbean and subsequent bookings will be much harder to get. Don’t miss your chance to join Al, Teresa, Dr Ray, their spouses and many more on the Cruise! David DiFranco explains how.

Over the last several years and especially since the murder of George Floyd we have seen an increased effort to "re-examine" the heroes of the past, with statues of everyone from Columbus to Abraham Lincoln being torn down or vandalized. But surely someone like Mother Teresa is exempt from such reckonings, right? Not so, as the New York Times recently published a piece asking if the saint was really a Cult leader. We'll talk about it with Clemente Lisi.

There are some pundits (in both the Catholic and secular press) that are claiming that drafting a document on the Eucharist promotes disunity in the Church.  How can it possibly be that the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity, promotes disunity?  Al Kresta explains why this idea is false.

When opponents of the Catholic Church claim the Church is against science, the story of Galileo is the first place they look. The story goes that the Inquisition forced Galileo to recant many of his views the Church saw as incompatible with faith, culminating with an official recantation on June 22, 1633. Al looks at the real story of Galileo with Fr. Dom Paschal Scotti.

What actually  happened with Galileo and is the Catholic Church really against science?  Al Kresta takes a look.

Yesterday was the Feast of St Thomas More, well-known as a lawyer and assistant to King Henry who fought the Reformation and was martyred for his faith. But there's a lesser-known side: Thomas More the Writer. He's the author of twenty books as well as hundreds of letters and poems, many of them written from prison. Gerry Wegemer joins Al to talk about his life and writings.

A proposed change to U.S. law concerning the determination of brain death has drawn criticism from a group of doctors, lawyers, and philosophers, who say the changes could lead to incorrect diagnoses of brain death in patients who are still alive. It’s a very important, yet highly technical discussion, and Dr Steve Doran helps us understand it.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of Catholic Social Services, finding that the City of Philadelphia cannot force them to certify same-sex couples as foster parents. We can’t fully understand this case without looking at another decision – Employment Division v Smith, more commonly known as Smith v Oregon. Ed Whelan from the Ethics and Public Policy Center helps us unpack it.

Close your eyes and let your mind take you back to 1565, when five Spanish ships sailed into a cove on the coast of what we now know as Florida. They went ashore, where they soon celebrated the first Mass in the New World. You have an opportunity to see the sites for yourself this fall with Steve Ray and Al, who give us a preview.