Thursday, September 18, 2025

Weekly Insight

Saint Joseph of Cupertino and Learning to Fly

According to the laws of physics, a man should not be able to fly, at least without technological help. But are not the 'laws of physics', as Chesterton posits, themselves miracles? Why should trees...

Pope Benedict and Saint Hildegarde of Bingen

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo Wednesday, 1st September 2010  Saint Hildegard of Bingen Dear Brothers and Sisters, In 1988, on the occasion of the Marian Year, Venerable John Paul II wrote an Apostolic Letter entitled Mulieris Dignitatem on...

Saint Hildegarde von Bingen, a Woman for All Seasons

Hildegarde von Bingen (+1179)  is one of the newest saints in the liturgical calendar, canonized 'equipollently' by Pope Benedict XVI on May 12, 2012 (since she had always been regarded as a saint, but...

Witness and Testimony: What Others Revealed About Charlie Kirk

Charlie Kirk’s assassination unleashed not only predictable smears from his critics but also some of the most grotesque and dehumanizing responses imaginable toward an innocent man who left behind a wife and two young...

Pope Benedict and Robert Bellarmine

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 23 February 2011 Saint Robert Bellarmine Dear Brothers and Sisters, Born on 4 October 1542 in Montepulciano near Siena, he was the nephew, on his mother’s side, of Pope Marcellus II....

Saint Robert Bellarmine’s Clarity of Mind and Soul

In the midst of the theological and cultural confusion in which our Church is mired, we could use a few more men with the clear, disciplined, Thomistic mind of Robert Bellarmine (+1621), bishop, cardinal,...

Charlie Kirk, Apologist for the Truth

I must confess that I knew almost nothing about Charlie Kirk before his death. When one of my former students – now a young father – mentioned his assassination as he walked by my...

Saints Cornelius and Cyprian, Shepherds for Christ and Martyrs for His Truth

Saint Cornelius was Pope for a scant two years in the middle of the third century, elected in 251 and put to death in 253 in the persecution under Emperor Decius. During his short...

Felicitationes ad Leonem, Papam

We here at Catholic Insight would like to extend our heartiest, if a bit belated, birthday greetings to Pope Leo XIV, who turned 70 on the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, a...

Mater Dolorosa, Mother of Sorrows

A blessed memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows to all. This feast was first celebrated in the year 1233 - in the youth of that greatest of centuries, when Thomas Aquinas was but a...

Vexilla Regis Prodeunt!

A blessed Feast of the Triumph of the Cross to one and all of our readers! For added devotion and splendour to this celebration of Christ's victory over death by the Cross, here are three...

Pope Saint John Paul II Reflects on the Salvific Cross

(An excerpt from a homily preached by Pope Saint John Paul II in Lesotho, in 1988): In the Gospel of this feast we are witnesses of a unusual conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. The conversation takes place...

Triumph of the Holy Cross

We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered (Entrance Antiphon, Cf. Gal 6:14). Today’s Feast of the Exaltation...

The Fifth Apparition of Fatima

On September 13th, 1917, Our Lady appeared for the fifth time to the three children at Cova de Iria in Fatima. Tens of thousands showed up, clogging the streets and byways, in the hope...

John Chrysostom: The Man with the Golden Mouth

Saint John Chrysostom (+407) was a model bishop, a doctor of the Church, an ascetic and contemplative monk who wanted only to retreat from the turmoil of life in the Eastern empire, and live...