The surgeon who operated on Leo XIV, Prof. Stefano Margaritora, sees no medical reason to cancel the November trip to South America. He explained that the lung cancer was discovered “entirely by chance” during routine abdominal examinations. A small spot appeared at the base of the lung. Had it been slightly higher, he said, it would have gone unnoticed. The Pope had no symptoms. Margaritora also recounted finding Leo XIV rearranging chairs in the hospital chapel just two days after surgery. When staff offered to do it for him, the Pope reportedly replied: “It doesn't matter. I can do it, so I do it.” The surgeon expects a rapid recovery.
‘No Kings’ Events This Weekend to Focus on Voter Turnout, Organizers Say nytimes.com/…026/10/16/us/what-we-know-no-kings-v… Organizers are hoping to promote early voting ahead of the midterm elections in this latest round of nationwide demonstrations that have previously focused on President Trump. By Madison Malone Kircher Oct. 16, 2026 “No Kings,” the coalition known for blanketing the country in protests against President Trump, is setting its sights on a new target as midterm elections approach: voter turnout. On Oct. 17, organizers around the United States will hold “No Kings: Vote Early” events to promote early voting and help people form voting plans like requesting absentee ballots, checking on their voter registrations or finding neighbors to help them drive to the polls. “Previous No Kings mobilizations showed the strength of people standing together and rejecting abuses of power,” organizers wrote on the event website. “No Kings: Vote Early is intended to expand on this as …More
‘OF COMPUNCTION OF THE HEART...…’ ~ ‘The Imitation of Christ’ ~ Thomas A Kempis; 1872; Book I; Chapters 21; pages 36-37; part II [Thomas a Kempis – XIV-XV Century AD; Kempen, Holy Roman Empire/Zwolle, Holy Roman Empire; aged 90-91; Canon, Regular] 21. OF COMPUNCTION OF THE HEART. Meddle thee not with other men s goods, neither busy thee in great men s causes: have always an eye to thyself and diligently inform and admonish thyself before all others. If thou have not the favour of worldly-living people, sorrow not therefor: but let this be thy daily sorrow, that thou behavest not thyself in thy conversation, as it beseemeth a good religious person to do. It is more expedient and more profitable that a man sometimes lack consolations in this life, than that he have them always after his own will, namely, fleshly consolations. Nevertheless, that we have not sometimes heavenly consolations, or that we so seldom feel them as we do, is through our own default : for we seek not to have true …More
"Hold thyself therefore unworthy to have any consolation, and worthy to have much tribulation. When a man sorroweth perfectly for his sins, then all worldly comforts be painful to him. A good man findeth always matter enough why he ought justly to sorrow and to weep..."
By defying God, Prevost also demonstrates that he is not the Pope, as he contradicts the faith and morals by failing to revoke Bergoglio’s apostate pamphlets—such as the Abu Dhabi and *Laudato Si’*—which openly challenge the Kingship of Christ and deny the Most Holy Trinity. Furthermore, Prevost defies Catholic morality by reaffirming the blasphemous and heretical pamphlets *Amoris Laetitia* and *Fiducia Supplicans*—which, by profaning the name of God, purport to bless adultery and sodomy—as well as *Dignitas Infinita*, which places man above obedience to God’s commandments.
anecdote from the surgeon that operated on Pope Leo XIV: "On the second day after the operation, we turned around and found him arranging the chairs in the chapel himself. We said, “Holy Father, we can do that.” And he replied, “It doesn’t matter. I can do it, so I will.” What can I say? He really was an absolutely ideal patient."
‘How the soul, after having mounted the first step…’ ~ 'The Dialogue' of Saint Catherine of Siena; 1907; A TREATISE OF DISCRETION; pp. 152; part II [Saint Catherine of Siena /Caterina di Benincasa/; XIV-XV Century AD; born: Siena, Republic of Siena/died: Rome, Papal States; aged 33; Spiritual Writer; Mystic; Virgin; Doctor of the Church] How the soul, after having mounted the first step of the Bridge, should proceed to mount the second. But when they had persevered in fasting and in humble and continual prayer, until they had received the abundance of the Holy Spirit, they lost their fear, and followed and preached Christ crucified. So also the soul, who wishes to arrive at this perfection, after she has risen from the guilt of mortal sin, recognising it for what it is, begins to weep from fear of the penalty, whence she rises to the consideration of My mercy, in which contemplation, she finds her own pleasure and profit. This is an imperfect state, and I, in order to develop perfection …More
"But when they had persevered in fasting and in humble and continual prayer, until they had received the abundance of the Holy Spirit, they lost their fear, and followed and preached Christ crucified. So also the soul, who wishes to arrive at this perfection, after she has risen from the guilt of mortal sin, recognising it for what it is, begins to weep from fear of the penalty, whence she rises to the consideration of My mercy, in which contemplation, she finds her own pleasure and profit. "
The Trump administration’s most recent White House Press Secretary, Katie Zacharia, said the pro-life cause is deeply personal to her because she herself barely evaded abortion but was instead given a chance at life thanks to adoption. >> Trump's former press secretary was '20 minutes …
In a speech given on Oct. 7, Vatican interreligious dicastery head Cardinal George Koovakad attacked "integrists". And: The 1986 Assisi interreligious prayer meeting, "becomes part of the ordinary teaching of the Magisterium. It is no longer merely an event to be remembered: It is a criterion through which to interpret the present."
Catholic criticism of the 1986 Assisi meeting is "schismatic", and this interreligious prayer meeting is part of the "ordinary magisterium". These remarks were made by Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad in a speech on 7 October at the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome. He is the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Cardinal Koovakad recalled that, in 1986, 160 religious leaders gathered “to pray: each faithful to his own tradition, all before the Mystery”. Despite the presence of a Buddha statue on the altar and photographic evidence, Cardinal Koovakad insisted that “the encounter had been conceived and experienced without a shadow of syncretism.” He added that “not everyone understood it”: “Integrist circles contested the day, even making it one of the reasons for a schismatic rupture, while others feared syncretism or relativism, as they still do today.” Cardinal Koovakad paraphrased Leo XIV's encyclical 'Magnificent Humanity', saying that “the 'spirit of …More
Well staged: Pope Leo XIV greeted a young Ukrainian cancer survivor, who told him: “You too will overcome this and continue your work of spreading the Gospel.” The Holy Father first met Varvara, a 13-year-old Ukrainian refugee on December 31, 2025, at the conclusion of his General Audience, as she awaited surgery for cancer. She told the Pope that their hug in December had given her “the strength to overcome the illness that, fortunately, I have now beaten.” She told him that, as soon as she learned he had been hospitalized, she felt she “wanted to come to Rome to pray for him beneath his window and return that important embrace."
In 1965, there were 181,421 religious Sisters in the United States. Today, they number 33,135 with only 1% under the age of 40. Incredibly, there are more Sisters over the age of 80 than under 60.
Unknown ~ Bless your children and spouse ~ Make a sign of the Cross upon your children and spouse at bedtime. Bless them with Holy Water while giving a simple blessing...
God’s Servants Feast: October 17 John the Dwarf John the Dwarf is best known for his obedience. The most famous story about his obedience is that one day Saint Pambo gave Abba John a piece of dry wood and ordered him to plant and water it. John obeyed and went on watering it twice a day even though the water was about 12 miles from where they lived. After three years, the piece of wood sprouted and grew into a fruitful tree. Pambo took some of this tree's fruits and went around to all the elder monks, saying "take, eat from the fruit of obedience". Postumian, who was in Egypt in 402, assured that he was shown this tree which grew in the yard of the monastery and which he saw covered with shoots and green leaves. Ababius was a monk of Scetes and is a saint of the Coptic Church. He is the subject of a long biography attributed in manuscript form to John the Dwarf. The manuscript has yet to be translated into English.
St John the short. God’s Servants Feast: October 17 John the Dwarf is best known for his obedience. The most famous story about his obedience is that one day Saint Pambo gave Abba John a piece of dry wood and ordered him to plant and water it. John obeyed and went on watering it twice a day even though the water was about 12 miles from where they lived. After three years, the piece of wood sprouted and grew into a fruitful tree. Pambo took some of this tree's fruits and went around to all the elder monks, saying "take, eat from the fruit of obedience". Postumian, who was in Egypt in 402, assured that he was shown this tree which grew in the yard of the monastery and which he saw covered with shoots and green leaves. Ababius was a monk of Scetes and is a saint of the Coptic Church. He is the subject of a long biography attributed in manuscript form to John the Dwarf. The manuscript has yet to be translated into English.
Lazarus Peter Kalamation.com Saint John the Short Also known as John Colobus John Kolobos John the Little John the Dwarf Yoannis Pi Kolobos Memorial 17 October Profile Born to a poor but pious family. From age 18, he lived in an underground cave he dug in the desert of Skete. Spiritual student of Saint Poemen and Saint Ammoes. Noted for being short of stature, short of temper, and conceited by nature; he did not grow in height, but as his faith increased, so did his gentleness and humility. In later life he was known for absent-mindedness, his thoughts being on the spiritual life. As a test of his new humble obedience, his director ordered him to water a walking staff stuck in the sand; John did so. It later blossomed, and John referred to it as the “tree of obedience”. To escape Berber invaders around 395, he fled Skete and lived for years as a hermit on Mount Queolzum, near the current city of Suez. Spiritual teacher of SaintArsenius. Born c.339 at Basta, Egypt Died at Mount …More