Kresta in the Afternoon

“Religion has caused more war and violence than anything else! Just look at the Crusades, the wars in post-Reformation Europe, and the rise of Jihadist attacks!” If you dialogue with atheists, you’ve probably heard this charge. Is there any truth to it? How should you respond? Al discusses.

The victory of Girorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party in Italy’s recent election has made global headlines. She won on a platform that supports traditional families, national identity, and an opposition to the LGBT Lobby. Her critics have already begun fretting that she could open the door to a return of fascism to Italy. What do we know? Kishore Jayabalan joins us.

Brother Andrew, the man who smuggled Bibles into closed Communist countries, has died at the age of 94. Al reviews his life and legacy.

A film presenting the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta, commonly referred to as Mother Teresa, will be premiering in theaters on October 3 and 4.  “Mother Teresa: No Greater Love” was produced by the Knights of Columbus and displays the impact the saint and her Missionaries of Charity have had on the world. Director David Naglieri joins us.

President Vladimir Putin will sign documents on Friday proclaiming Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions, as Moscow rushes to lock in territorial claims that the Ukrainian army is threatening to reverse on the battlefield. We get the latest from Dakota Wood.

In this Sunday’s Gospel we hear from Luke: The Apostles ask Jesus to teach them to pray, and in response he tells them that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed, they could command a mulberry tree to move and it would obey. We open up Scriptures and Catechism with Peggy Stanton to dive into this passage.

Tomorrow we will celebrate the Feast of the Archangels. The angels are mentioned throughout Scripture and reported on by the saints. Average people have stories to tell that suggest or swear that an angel must have been involved. We celebrate them with Michael O’Neill.

A report by the USCCB says that the early stages of the Synod on Synodality has demonstrated the “joys, hopes and wounds” shared by the Church in the US. We look more at this Synthesis Document with Kelsey Wicks.

Venerable Cardinal Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was archbishop of Saigon until he was imprisoned by Communist forces in 1975. His deep devotion to the Eucharist sustained him during his time in prison and he is truly one of the great Eucharistic witnesses of the age. Fr. Roger Landry knew him and shares his life with us.

The Diocese of Matagalpa has asked the faithful to continue praying for its bishop, Rolando Álvarez, and the priests and seminarians who were arrested and abducted in the middle of the night by President Daniel Ortega’s police force. Ed Clancy has the latest on what is happening there.

A nonprofit legal organization specializing in religious liberty cases has conducted a study comparing U.S. states on the basis of how free its residents are to practice their faith. We talk with Andrea Picciotti-Bayer about how their findings.

In the tenth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Christ commands his apostles to “heal the sick and say to them, ‘the kingdom of God has come near to you.’” They were supposed to heal the sick even before they preached the Gospel. On this feast of Cosmas and Damien, Mike Aquilina takes a look at this healing imperative and how it ushered in the world of modern medicine.

In John 12, Jesus meets some Greeks who said they wanted to see him. In response, Jesus predicted his death and that the Father’s name would be glorified. What does it mean to say that Jesus shows us the way to the Father? Al discusses.

A recent piece in Slate magazine claims that the religious right did not originally form around the pro-life cause; it formed over support for segregation. But if you examine the early years of the pro-life movement, long before Roe was settled, you see just how ridiculous this is. We talk more with Daniel Williams.

Why does God allow us to feel pain? It’s a demanding question, and one that Philip Yancey has explored thoroughly in his work with the late Dr. Paul Brand, whose work as a leprosy surgeon gave him a unique perspective on the matter. We talk with Philip about the issue of pain and the marvel of how our bodies bear God’s Image.

You can’t have a kingdom of God without citizens. The whole process of discipleship is to render us fit to be disciples of that kingdom. Al takes a look.

Though she didn’t have any kind of religious formation growing up, by the time she’d reached middle school, Leah Libresco Sargeant was interested in philosophy and virtue, specifically stoicism and the thought of Immanuel Kant. As she got older, she found that pieces of her ethical orientation seemed to match up with the Christians she was meeting. She admired the internal consistency of Catholici...

There’s a popular phrase from the feminist movement of the mid-20th Century: “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle!” Both sexes suffer when the functions, values, and truths about one of them are put down. When men are not allowed to be men, then women are not allowed to be women—and neither can flourish.  Anthony Esolen joins us.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus warns us “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Have you ever wondered how the people of Noah’s day could be so clueless? He warned them of what was coming, and they did nothing to change their lives. What lessons can we learn from Noah as our own culture descends into madness? Al discusses.

New data from the United Nations projects that India will overtake China as the world’s most populous nation by 2023, and that the total global population will top 8 Billion late this fall. With this news will come the usual calls for increased birth control access to combat overpopulation, especially after the Dobbs decision. This effort goes back to the years after World War II, when US policyma...

The Diocese of Lansing is leading efforts to help equip you to educate others about Proposal 3. This weekend there will be training sessions at the diocesan high schools, and next week there will be a statewide webinar. Richard Budd has the details.

Over the last year, Archbishop Samuel Aquila has been corresponding with Bishop Georg Batzing to voice his concerns over the German Synodal Way. He joins us today to share why he decided to reach out. Join him and Al on the Good News Cruise!

The interreligious conference Pope Francis attended in Kazakhstan last week adopted a resolution that religious pluralism is an expression of “the wisdom of God’s will in creation,” prompting one alternative news site to proclaim that “Chrislam” has been confirmed. We look at what was said with Matthew Bunson.

Every year, the United Nations publishes a “World Happiness Report” to rank each country based on its citizens’ happiness. European countries, particularly in Scandinavia, have dominated the list in recent years. But other surveys show that the West overall is facing a happiness crisis, and less than a quarter of American adults say they are “very happy.” Why is true happiness so hard to define, m...

Dr. John Bruchalski is a pro-life OB/GYN who has founded two practices that help pregnant women. But he wasn’t always this way – during his years in residency, he performed abortions up into the third trimester. He tells us what brought about the change.