EWTN News reports that a Melkite Greek Catholic priest, Father Marios Khairallah, discovered a consecrated host intact after 47 days in his war-damaged church in Tbenine, Lebanon. While the event itse…
The National Catholic Register portal reports on a growing trend among Catholic couples: the search for specialized wedding photographers who can capture the “sacredness” of the traditional Latin Mass. The article profiles several photographers—Allison and John Girone, Kaylee Toole, and Victoria Cerise—who market their services to couples seeking images that reflect the “theology” and “liturgy” of the sacrament of matrimony. Testimonials from brides like Lucy Jones and Alexandra Yeryomin emphasize the importance of capturing moments such as the Consecration, the elevation of the Host, and prayers before statues of the Blessed Virgin. The article frames this trend as a vocational calling, a means of preserving beauty and honoring God through visual artistry. While the aesthetic appreciation of sacred liturgy is commendable in principle, the article’s uncritical embrace of this phenomenon within the context of the post-conciliar Church reveals a profound spiritual blindness—a substitution of external beauty for interior faith, and a dangerous flirtation with idolatry in a Church that has largely abandoned the very sacramental theology it claims to cherish.
Article from the National Catholic Register portal (April 25, 2026) reports on a new EWTN Learn series titled “The Unknown St. Francis of Assisi,” hosted by Teresa Tomeo in Italy. The series claims to explore the “unknown” aspects of St. Francis’s life, visiting sites such as Santa Maria degli Angeli, Spoleto, and Rivotorto. Tomeo states: “St. Francis brings us back to the basics of the faith… He teaches us about the importance of the Eucharist, about the Incarnational Lord, and he loved Jesus so much that he not only wanted to rebuild the Church spiritually, but physically as well.” The article also mentions St. Clare, the Poor Clares, Mother Angelica, and Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word. However, this seemingly pious presentation is riddled with omissions, equivocations, and a subtle modernist framing that dilutes the radical supernatural reality of St. Francis’s life and mission, reducing it to a palatable, humanistic narrative suitable for the conciliar sect’s ecumenical and sentimental agenda.
The National Catholic Register portal reports on an interview with Leigh Fitzpatrick Snead, an EWTN radio host and author, who during National Infertility Awareness Week encourages Catholic couples facing infertility to seek support, avoid isolation, and adhere to Church teaching against IVF, while also discussing adoption as one path to fruitfulness. The article, while superficially orthodox in its rejection of IVF, ultimately reduces the profound mystery of human suffering and God’s will to a therapeutic narrative of emotional management, community support, and personal fulfillment, conspicuously omitting the indispensable supernatural framework that alone gives meaning to the cross of infertility.
The Medicalization of a Spiritual Cross: From Supernatural Vocation to Psychological Burden
The article’s foundational premise, as articulated by Snead, is that infertility is a “particularly private cross” involving “intimate parts of your marriage,” leading to “hard stuff experienced in silence and even shame,” and a feeling that is “almost humiliating.” While acknowledging the pain, the framing is overwhelmingly naturalistic and psychological. The primary solutions offered are “good medical care that aligns with your values,” “parish support groups or a group online,” “frequent confession, spiritual direction, and counseling,” and the advice to “communicate with each other and make time to enjoy your marriage even though you’re struggling.” This approach, while not inherently evil, dangerously sidelines the primary and essential supernatural dimension of suffering, reducing a potential participation in the Passion of Christ to a problem of emotional resilience and social support.
The Church has always taught that suffering, when united to the Cross of Christ, has immense redemptive value. Pope Pius XII, in his address to the World Medical Association (1958), emphasized that “suffering is not an evil to be eliminated at all costs, but a reality to be understood and transcended in the light of faith.” The Catechism of the Council of Trent unequivocally states that afflictions are sent by God to “prove, exercise, and crown” the faithful. By focusing on “relief and comfort” through openness and community, the article implicitly diminishes the higher calling to embrace the cross as a means of sanctification and union with God, transforming a potential pathway into divine intimacy into a challenge of personal well-being.
The Obedience of Faith vs. The “Why” of Prohibition
Snead correctly states that couples should “learn and develop a good understanding of what the Church teaches, especially about the prohibition of IVF,” and stresses the importance of understanding the “why” – “not just the fact that it’s ‘not allowed’.” This is a crucial point, yet the article itself fails to articulate the profound theological and moral reasons behind the Church’s teaching. The prohibition of IVF is not merely a disciplinary rule but flows from the very nature of marriage, the dignity of the human person, and the inseparability of the unitive and procreative dimensions of the conjugal act, as definitively taught in Pope Pius XI’s encyclical *Casti Connubii* (1930) and reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI in *Humanae Vitae* (1968).
The Church teaches that every human life must be conceived through the loving act of intercourse between husband and wife, not manufactured in a laboratory. IVF routinely involves the destruction of embryonic lives, the commodification of human beings, and the separation of procreation from the marital act. By reducing the Church’s teaching to a matter of “values” and “views on marriage, sexuality, procreation, and human dignity,” the article subtly undermines the objective moral law, implying that adherence is a matter of personal alignment rather than an absolute divine command. The call for priests to become “fluent in the language of Catholic infertility” is commendable, but this fluency must extend beyond pastoral sensitivity to a robust proclamation of the objective moral truth, even when it is counter-cultural and demanding.
The All-Embracing Silence on God’s Will and the Primacy of Grace
Perhaps the most glaring omission in the article is any substantive discussion of God’s sovereign will and the primacy of grace in the life of a Christian couple. While Snead mentions praying together and choosing a saint to accompany them, the article lacks a clear affirmation that God is the Lord of life and death, that He alone opens and closes the womb (cf. Genesis 30:22, 1 Samuel 1:5-6), and that His grace is sufficient for every trial (2 Corinthians 12:9). The emphasis remains on human action: seeking medical care, joining support groups, communicating, and considering adoption.
The Church has always taught that children are a gift from God (Psalm 127:3), not a right to be claimed or a problem to be solved. Infertility, like any suffering, is an invitation to deeper trust in Divine Providence and to recognize that human fulfillment is not contingent on biological parenthood but on union with God. Pope Pius XII, in his allocution to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives (1951), stated that “the transmission of human life is entrusted by nature to a personal and conscious act, and as such is subject to the all-holy, inviolable, and immutable laws of God, which no man may ignore or infringe.” The article’s silence on the acceptance of God’s will, even in the face of profound longing, represents a significant theological void, leaving couples without the ultimate source of peace and strength.
Adoption: A Vocation, Not a “Cure” or an Obligation
Snead’s personal testimony about adoption is presented with admirable nuance: “infertility and adoption are not to be lumped together,” and “the arrival of my sons did not ‘cure’ my infertility, nor did it take away the scars infertility can leave behind.” She correctly states that “not everyone with a diagnosis of infertility will be called to adopt a child” and that “there are so many ways to be fruitful!” This is a vital correction to the common misconception that adoption is the automatic or expected solution for infertile couples.
However, even here, the article could delve deeper into the spiritual nature of adoption as a distinct vocation, a call from God to extend familial love and provide a home for a child in need, rather than primarily a response to personal loss. The Church teaches that adoption is a noble act of charity, reflecting God’s own adoption of us as His children (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:5). While acknowledging that adoption does not “cure” infertility, the article still frames it within the context of “fruitfulness” and “motherhood,” rather than emphasizing its primary character as an act of selfless love and service, irrespective of the adoptive parents’ fertility status.
The “Growing Conversation” and the Danger of Secular Frameworks
Snead’s aim to “add to the growing conversation and awareness about infertility, especially among Catholics” is presented positively. However, the very concept of “National Infertility Awareness Week” and the statistic “1 in 6 globally” who experience infertility are products of secular, often medicalized, frameworks. While raising awareness can be beneficial, the Church must be cautious not to adopt the world’s metrics and priorities uncritically. The “conversation” must be framed by faith, not by secular notions of reproductive rights or societal pressures.
The article’s reliance on such secular frameworks, even while attempting to provide a Catholic perspective, subtly shifts the focus from God’s eternal plan for each soul to a societal issue requiring collective action and awareness. The true “awareness” the Church should foster is an awareness of God’s presence in suffering, the redemptive value of the cross, and the boundless possibilities for spiritual fruitfulness beyond biological procreation. The “growing conversation” must be one rooted in prayer, sacrifice, and unwavering trust in Divine Providence, not merely in shared experiences and emotional support.
EWTN News reports that during National Infertility Awareness Week (April 19–25, 2026), author Leigh Fitzpatrick Snead shared her personal experience of infertility and encouraged Catholic couples to seek support, understand Church teaching against IVF, and consider adoption. The article presents infertility as a “private cross,” emphasizes the prohibition of in vitro fertilization, and suggests resources such as Springs in the Desert and NaProTechnology. While the article correctly rejects IVF, it operates within a framework that reduces the Church’s mission to psychological comfort and naturalistic solutions, omitting any reference to the supernatural order, the necessity of sanctifying grace, the reality of original sin, or the public duty of nations to submit to Christ the King. This silence reveals the modernist impoverishment of post-conciliar pastoral care, which offers sympathy but not salvation, and substitutes human effort for divine mercy.
The National Catholic Register reports on the 113th birthday of Sister Francis Domenici Piscatella, a Dominican nun from Amityville, New York, recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living nun. Born in 1913, she entered religious life at age 17 and has spent 94 years in service as a teacher. The article highlights her personal motto — “My whole mind is on God” — and her remarkable resilience, having lost part of her left arm at age 2 yet never allowing it to impede her vocation. She received a proclamation from “Pope” Leo XIV, the 10th pontiff to reign during her lifetime. While the article presents an edifying personal testimony, it is entirely silent on the catastrophic spiritual context in which this nun has lived out her long life — namely, the systematic destruction of the Faith she professes by the very authorities she continues to recognize.
The article from the *National Catholic Register* portal, authored by Father Joseph Thomas of Opus Dei, commemorates the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s death in 1226, framing his life as…
EWTN News portal reports that Sister Francis Domenici Piscatella, a Dominican nun from New York, celebrated her 113th birthday on April 20, 2026. Born in 1913, she entered the Sisters of St. Dominic o…
The National Catholic Register portal published on April 22, 2026, a commentary by Richard C. Lukas titled “The Great Aunt Who Held My Family Together,” a nostalgic reminiscence of a Polish-American matriarch, Wladyslawa, who presided over extended family gatherings in Massachusetts from her “velvet Victorian winged-back chair,” delivering annual tutorials on the meaning of family rooted in Catholic faith and ethnic tradition. The author recalls the beauty of the Traditional Latin Mass, the Latin hymns, the colorful vestments, the banners of saints in parish churches, and his childhood desire to become a priest — a desire nurtured by a family for whom “Polish nationalism was synonymous with Catholicism.” The article is a sentimental portrait of a world that no longer exists, and its very sentimentality, its exclusive focus on natural familial affection and ethnic nostalgia, without a single word about the supernatural dangers that were even then destroying the Church from within, makes it an unwitting elegy not merely for a family matriarch but for the Catholic civilization she believed she was preserving.
EWTN News reports on a new film, “Saint Joseph: Guardian of the Family,” which tells the story of a married couple facing a serious marital crisis. The husband, a journalist, is assigned to investigate testimonies of people who claim to have experienced the intercession of St. Joseph. Through this investigation, he is personally impacted by the saint and is inspired to become the guardian of his own family, striving to fix the struggles they face. The film, made by the Polish production studio Rafael Film through crowdfunding, will be released in theaters across the United States on April 23. Director Dariusz Regucki shared that the film was inspired by Father Jacek Płota, custodian of the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Kalisz, Poland. Regucki described St. Joseph as a “silent yet obedient man” who “simply does his work” and stated that the saint inspires him as a father and husband, confronting him with “the truth” and showing him “what true love really is.” The director hopes viewers will leave the cinema “moved and full of hope,” holding the hand of their spouse, and that they will “look upward, stop dwelling on their sadness and suffering, and begin to affirm life.” While the film’s intentions appear superficially pious, a rigorous examination through the lens of integral Catholic theology reveals a troubling reliance on emotionalism, a near-total silence on the indispensable sacramental and doctrinal framework of marriage, and a naturalistic anthropology that substitutes psychological comfort for the supernatural life of grace — all hallmarks of the post-conciliar spiritual malaise.
