Weekly Summary 6/6/26

The week in review, from the perspective of a veteran Catholic journalist

Don’t have time to read everything I post? I understand; it can be a lot. Just check out the list below.

If you can wait until the weekend, sign up for this Weekly Summary, take a look at what I’ve written, and settle down with your favorite items.

This week, for example:

Articles

Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, was finished and signed on May 15, and made public ten days later. But the “official” version in Latin was not available, and apparently won’t become available before the end of the summer. What does that tell you? That the Vatican is not really doing business in its own official language. But you already knew that. More interesting are the indications that the absence of a timely translation points to “a lack of trust among Vatican offices.” Pope Leo has the task (among others) of patching divisions within the Roman Curia.

The appointment of an American lay woman to head the Vatican’s communications department was a pleasant surprise. But I wonder whether Maria Monteserrat Alvarado can overcome the entrenched habits of centuries, and bring American PR knowhow to the Vatican. It might take a miracle!

The Pope has scheduled a meeting of the College of Cardinals at the end of this month. His plans for the meeting— the 2^nd such session of his young pontificate— suggest that he sees a larger role for the College of Cardinals, and tell us something about his approach to Vatican governance, as I explained for Catholic World News.

As we celebrate Corpus Christi, the Pope encourages Eucharistic processions, an Australian archbishop recommends physical manifestations of reverence (such as kneeling), and I recall the Eucharistic procession that was “the most powerful witness to the Catholic faith that I have ever seen.”

And then DO NOT MISS Leila’s devastating critique of Amoris Laetitia in this week’s this week’s Home Front podcast. It’s devastating. But the good news is that there’s movement away from the questionable teaching of Amoris Laetitia. And from Fiducia Supplicans as well. We talk about the hopeful signs from Rome.

Notes

An analysis of Magnifica Humanitas posted at Rorate Caeli— a site with impeccably traditionalist credentials— concluded that “Pope Leo is neither a socialist nor a social democrat.” I called that piece to the attention of conservative Catholics who saw nothing but leftist leanings in the encyclical, and referred to the new Pontiff as “Francis II.”

Five years ago, Canadian media outlets pounced on the claim that hundreds of Native American children were buried in unmarked graves at “residential schools” run by Catholic religious orders. The stories stirred outrage, condemnations of the Church, demands for apologies, and a spate of arson attacks on churches. Five years later, not one unmarked grave has been confirmed.

Once it was unthinkable that an American Catholic diocese would enter bankruptcy. Now it’s commonplace. But the Buffalo diocese is contemplating a more radical step: having every parish join in the bankruptcy filing.

Back to the Rorate Caeli site, for an unusually cogent argument against the illicit episcopal ordinations by the SSPX: an argument written by leading French traditionalist priest.

Washington’s Cardinal McElroy hit the headlines by cutting off archdiocesan ties with Msgr. Stephen Rossetti, who has said that UFOs may be demons. I can’t say that I understand the logic of the cardinal’s disciplinary action. But I do understand why he might be nervous about Msgr. Rossetti, the former president of the notorious St. Luke Institute. I’ve been nervous about him for years.

Are you among the readers who thought Magnifica Humanitas took an excessively worldly perspective? If so you’ll probably appreciate this response from an Eastern Catholic’s perspective, which brings out the spiritual perspective that “is already latent in the encyclical.”

Meanwhile it’s worth noticing that top executives of the firms that are leading in the race to develop AI are recognizing the moral risks, and asking for help to control them. What could happen, if AI systems develop beyond human control— a development that could be imminent, they warn— is downright frightening. Whatever else you might say about the papal encyclical, I don’t think you can deny that it’s timely.