Crux: Keeping our finger on the Catholic pulse

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI may make a rare public appearance in the Vatican on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, to mark the 65th anniversary of his priestly ordination.

Archbishop Luigi Negri of Ferrara in Italy has written the country's Prime Minister to say that if the city demands $112,000 in back taxes, he'll close Catholic schools.

Steven D. Greydanus says that the Jesus of "Last Days in the Desert" is a wandering ascetic, not unlike the Essenes or some of John’s disciples, seeking God in solitude and self-denial, but its promise goes unfulfilled.

Protesters in India complain of "silence" from Church leaders over the recent kidnapping and beating of a "Dalit" bishop, meaning an "untouchable," by three high-caste priests.

Practicing Catholics who have reservations about open borders, and who wonder if that puts them outside the fold, can relax: There's plenty of room to exercise prudential judgment. By Thomas D. Williams.

From Ines San Martin: “There must be no family without a home,” Francis said in a message for the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, “no refugee without a welcome, no person without dignity."

Where people turn out to be great often is precisely the same area where they once failed and got burned. For the Legionaries of Christ, that's the sexual abuse scandal in the Church.
By Austen Ivereigh.