Sister Helen Prejean on Pope Francis’ revision of the death penalty teaching | DEVELOPING STORY

A surefire way to lose your congregation is to start a homily with “In today’s Gospel reading,” says Thomas Groome. “The purpose of good preaching,” he says, “is to bring our lives to God and God to our lives.” A homilist’s job, then, is to facilitate a meaningful conversation between the two.

In an interview with Norah Jones April 24 on “60 Minutes,” Pope Francis clarified that “Fiducia Supplicans” didn’t allow blessings of “the union” but of “each person.”

The pope devoted his entire Pentecost homily to describing how the Holy Spirit works in the lives of Christians with both “power and gentleness.”

Today’s text from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith makes clear that henceforth, as a rule, the Holy See will not declare any alleged spiritual phenomenon, such as an apparition, as authentic‚ that is, “of divine origin.”