Catholic Nutshell News: Thursday 4/24/25
Topics include: 103 Cardinals now in Rome, Defending Rupnik’s art is possible, Pope’s funeral set for Sunday, & The cardinal electors by the numbers
“The greatest thing since peanut butter & jelly”
Today's sources are Aleteia, OSV, CNA, National Catholic Register, What We Need Now, The Pillar, John Eldredge, & Babylon Bee. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the Catholic News Muscle)
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Catholic News Agency
103 Cardinals in Rome for the second general congregation
By Martin Bürger, April 17, 2025
The College of Cardinals saw a significant increase in attendance at Wednesday’s general congregation, 103 cardinals — nearly double the 60 who participated in Tuesday’s initial gathering. The cardinals began their second meeting with prayers for Pope Francis before making several key decisions regarding the sede vacante period, including finalizing the schedule for the Novendiales — the nine-day mourning period that begins with Saturday’s requiem Mass. 252 cardinals may participate in the general congregations, but only the 135 cardinals under 80 years old will be eligible to vote in the conclave. 135 exceeds the traditional limit of 120 voting cardinals — a restriction Pope Francis waived during his pontificate.
Catholic World Report
Defending Rupnik’s art is possible, but scandalous & insulting
By Carl E. Olson, April 24, 2025
Commentary for and against the removal of Rupnik’s art has been heated. A leading proponent of keeping the art intact is Austen Ivereigh. “Many disgraced & dubious religious artists have created works that over the centuries have raised minds and hearts to God. This is pure iconoclasm, Puritan not Catholic, and heretical … it does not allow for grace to supplement sinful nature.” He is correct to note creators of good—even great—art have often been bad and “great” sinners. However, claiming those who seek removal of his artwork from churches and other places are “Puritan not Catholic” makes a judgment of soul and belief … and is hyperbolic and sloppy. His “sexual obsession was not extemporaneous,” asserted a former Italian religious sister of the Loyola Community whose accounts of abuse are harrowing, “but deeply connected to his conception of art and his theological thought.” This has been repeated and reinforced by some other twenty religious women.
Our Sunday Visitor
Pope’s funeral set for Sunday, April 26
By Cindy Wooden, April 22, 2025
The funeral Mass of Pope Francis will be celebrated April 26 in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican announced. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside over the liturgy, which begins nine days of official mourning and daily memorial Masses. The deceased pope’s body, which was taken to the chapel of his residence late April 21, the day of his death, will be carried into St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing and prayer early April 23. The public viewing was scheduled to end late April 25 with another prayer service to close the coffin. U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, the chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, presided over a prayer service for the formal verification of the pope’s death April 21 in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis celebrated an early morning Mass most days before his final illness.
Aleteia
Francis dies just weeks before a historic meet of religious leaders
By Daniel Esparza, April 24, 2025
The Pope's death comes just weeks before a historic event the two religious leaders had hoped to share in May — the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea in 2025. “Throughout these 12 years of his papacy, he was a faithful friend, companion, and supporter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” Bartholomew said. Their fraternal bond — grounded in personal friendship and a shared vision for Christian unity — was forged through more than 15 meetings since Pope Francis’ election in 2013. The most symbolic of these came in 2014, when the two knelt together in prayer at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. It was there that the Patriarch proposed a joint commemoration of the First Council of Nicaea in 2025. The Pope had embraced the idea enthusiastically, calling it “amazing.”
National Catholic Register
Missed opportunity: Doctrinal & moral identity, and boundaries
By George Weigel, April 23, 2025
When Cardinal Bergoglio was elected Pope on March 13, 2013, I anticipated a pontificate in broad continuity with its two predecessors. So, I daresay, did most of the cardinals who voted to make the archbishop of Buenos Aires the 266th bishop of Rome. Francis, it was thought, would be a reforming pope who would further energize the Church for mission and evangelization by straightening out the Vatican mess that had destabilized the pontificate of Benedict XVI. That is not quite what transpired. Pope Francis’s evident compassion for the dispossessed and the poor helped the world understand that the Catholic Church follows its Lord in extending a healing hand to the marginalized on the peripheries of society. His pattern of unsettling what was thought settled continued throughout the pontificate and engaged questions of the moral life, sexual revolution, Church order, and world power bringing the Church to heel.
Providence Magazine
The moral restoration of the Tomb
By Timothy Mallard, April 20, 2025
If Golgotha indicates the greatest expression of moral injury in history, then the mysterious and inhumanly supernatural resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is conversely the greatest expression of moral restoration in history. As Good Friday left us with the tension that humanity might have ultimately betrayed God, Easter Sunday resolves that tension with the assurance that this betrayal was only penultimate, and that not only did the Triune God remain indissoluble, but also that same God turned humanity’s betrayal on its head. Indeed, God through the empty tomb existentially restores the rupture begun in Eden, fully reconciling humanity to Himself and restoring the possibility for each person to realize an eternal, salvific relationship with God that offers identity, meaning, and hope.
The Pillar
The cardinal electors, by the numbers
By Brendan Hodge, April 24, 2025
Of the 135 eligible cardinal electors in the Church today, 133 are expected to enter the Sistine Chapel in early May to elect a new pope, while two have said they are unlikely to attend due to illness. The 2025 election will be the largest conclave held in modern Church history. Before Pope St. John XXIII, who expanded it in 1958, the size of the College of Cardinals had been set at 70 members since the 16th century. By the time Pius XII called that first post-war consistory in 1946, the number of cardinals had fallen to 38. That maximum voting age is also the result of fairly recent Church law. Pope Paul VI created the distinction between voting and non-voting cardinals in 1971. The youngest cardinal in the 2013 conclave was Cardinal Baselios Thottunkal, 53 years old. This year’s conclave has five cardinals younger than Cardinal Thottunkal, including Cardinal Mykola Bychok, who is 45.
CatholicVote
Pro-life activist Mark Houck appeals dismissed lawsuit versus DOJ
By Elise DeGeeter, April 23, 2025
Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck is appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of his lawsuit against the Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ), citing political motivations by an “activist judge.” Houck, a 40 Days for Life volunteer since 2007, sued the DOJ in 2023 for $4.3 million, alleging the Biden administration used “excessive force” when the FBI arrested him at his home in front of his wife and seven children. The early-morning raid involved 25 agents. The lawsuit stemmed from Houck’s 2021 arrest under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, after an altercation outside a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood where he regularly prayed. He was acquitted of all charges by a Pennsylvania jury in 2023. US District Judge Paul Diamond dismissed Houck’s case last month.
CatholicVote, CNA & Satire for 4/24/2025
CatholicVote - The Loop
Read daily news and political impact stories at the “LOOP”
Elections and politics matter. The LOOP gives you daily gems on the news that seek “to renew our country and culture.” CatholicVote’s advertised mission is “To inspire every Catholic in America to live out the truths of our faith in public life.”
DEMOCRATS FACE COLLAPSE OF CATHOLIC SUPPORT - Democrats are facing "an absolute crisis collapse among Catholics in America," writes Steve Cortes. "Catholics now overwhelmingly disapprove of the Democratic Party by a massive 25% margin, with only 31% approval and 56% disapproval."
POLL: YOUNG VOTERS SWING TO POLITICAL RIGHT - A new RealClear Opinion Research poll found that voters aged 70 and older disapproved of Trump’s performance by a 14-point margin, while voters aged 18-29 gave Trump a 2-point approval lead and those 30-39 backed him by 9 points.
CHILD PSYCHIATRIST 'VINDICATED' AFTER DEFENDING KIDS - Child psychiatrist Allan Josephson secured a $1.6 million settlement from the University of Louisville following his 2019 dismissal for speaking out against what he called "transgender ideology." Josephson says, he feels "vindicated."
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — April 24, 2025
Catholic News Agency provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and happenings of the Holy See to anyone with access to the internet.
How Pope Francis spread devotion to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots - Apr 24, 2025 - By Tina Dennelly - Pope Francis promoted during his pontificate devotion to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots (also referred to as Our Lady, Untier of Knots), whose feast day is observed Sept. 28.
Federal Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias gets underway - Apr 23, 2025 - By Tyler Arnold - President Donald Trump formally established the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian bias on Feb. 6 by executive order.
Handing out ice cream, visiting the poor: Charity of Pope Francis on his patron saint’s day - Apr 23, 2025 - By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú - April 23, the patron saint’s day of Pope Francis, is a holiday at the Vatican, and the pope usually celebrates by handing out ice cream.
Babylon Bee’s (Satire) News
False Alarm: Smoke Coming From Vatican Just Cardinal Steve Accidentally Burning Toast Again
By Church Staff, April 23, 2025
Millions excitedly awaited the imminent announcement of the new Pope after smoke poured out of the Vatican this morning, only to learn it was just Cardinal Steve burning the toast again. Shouts of excitement filled the city as camera crews raced to cover the news, but the smell of burnt bread soon gave way to disappointment. "Dang it, Steve," said Cardinal Erdo, coughing through the smoke. "You can't just walk away from a toaster oven! How am I supposed to go out there and tell everyone you were just making toast? This is so freaking embarrassing. No more toast during papal conclaves, that goes for everyone. While we have not selected a Pope, we have sure as heck crossed one name off the list, and that's Cardinal Steve.”
The Babylon Bee did not state which of the three Cardinals named “Steve” burnt the toast — Stephen Brislin of South Africa, Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of South Sudan, or Stephen Chow Sau-yan SJ of China (Hong Kong) — but since the cardinals are sworn to secrecy, we may never know.
A rumor recently identified Cardinal “Doug” as the actual burnt toast perpetrator since no one has been able to locate his name on any list of Cardinals.
Nutshell reflections for 4/24/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection - AUDIO & VIDEO - April 24, 2025
Thursday in the Octave of Easter
What We Need Now
25 anniversary: Pope Benedict’s time-bomb
By Joseph Pearce, April 22, 2025
If there’s one thing worth celebrating this year, it’s the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of The Spirit of the Liturgy, Cardinal Ratzinger’s great gift to the Church. Published five years before he became pope, Ratzinger’s seminal work of liturgical scholarship might yet prove to be his greatest and most enduring legacy. Its publication heralded the beginning of the restoration of the splendor of the liturgy and stemmed the tide of the liturgical vandalism of the post-conciliar period, which had seen the dumbing-down of the liturgy to the lowest common denominator of crass vulgarity. “It is strange,” Ratzinger observed, “that the post-conciliar pluralism has created uniformity in one respect at least: it will not tolerate a high standard of expression.” One is reminded of Chesterton’s prophecy more than fifty years earlier that the “coming peril” was “standardization by a low standard.”
Aleteia
For Gaza’s Catholics, Pope’s death means no more phone calls
By Daniel Esparza, April 23, 2025
In the ruins of war-torn Gaza, the small Catholic community is grieving a loss that goes beyond bombs and buildings. “We’re like orphans now,” George Anton, a parishioner at the Holy Family Catholic Church, told BBC. For them, Pope Francis wasn’t just the head of the Church — he was a voice in the dark, calling almost nightly to ask what they had eaten, how they were holding up, and to offer his quiet strength. His last call came just two days before his death, on Holy Saturday, Vatican News reported. “The Pope called us for the last time on Saturday evening, shortly before the start of the Easter Vigil, while we were praying the Rosary. He told us that he was praying for us, blessed us, and thanked us for our prayers on his behalf."
Catholic Answers
Is Confession biblical? Debunking arguments to John 20:23
By Karlo Broussard, April 24, 2025
John 20:19-31, the famous passage where Jesus tells the apostles, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained,” is the obvious apologetical topic for the Sacrament of Confession. There’s only one major objection that Protestants make to the Catholic argument from John 20:23: Jesus’ instruction is a command for the apostles to preach the forgiveness of sins, and God is the one who will forgive or retain based on how the hearer of the gospel message responds. it’s true that Jesus’ instruction in Luke’s Gospel refers only to the preaching of the forgiveness of sins. However, the objection assumes that the sequence of events in which this instruction is included (Luke 24:44-52) happened on Easter Sunday, and thus that it’s the same as the instruction in John 20:23. A careful reading, however, indicates otherwise.
Wild at Heart
I’ll bet you feel the same about being unveiled
By John Eldredge, April 24, 2025
The thought of me being called out of hiding is unnerving. I don’t think I want to be seen. Many years ago, during my life in the theater, I received a standing ovation for a performance. The audience was literally on its feet, cheering. What actor doesn’t crave a standing ovation? So you know what I did? I ran. As soon as the curtain went down, I bolted for the door, so I wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to be seen. I know, it’s weird, but I’ll bet you feel the same about being unveiled. You probably can’t imagine there being a glory to your life, let alone one that the Enemy fears. But remember—things are not what they seem. We are not what we seem. You probably believed that your heart was bad, too. I pray that the fog of poison gas from the pit of hell is fading away in the wind of God’s truth. Christ tells you that your heart is good and invites you out of the shadows to unveil your glory. You have a role you never dreamed of having.
Image of peanuts by Nicole Köhler, from Pixabay
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