The context of the incident, the Vatican’s response, and the implications for L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics.

Pope Francis' use of a homophobic slur has raised questions about the limits of his welcoming and inclusive stance towards L.G.B.T.Q. persons, despite a swift apology from the Vatican.

Scott VanDerveer writes his homilies in a coffee shop, where he is surrounded by strangers. “Would what I have to say speak to their life at all,” he asks himself. “Or would they say, ‘Ugh, that’s so churchy?’”

This week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley are live at Xavier University in Cincinnati with their spiritual director, Eric Sundrup, S.J., sharing their own experiences discerning their paths as young adults and offering insights from Jesuit spirituality to young people navigating big life questions.

In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle Gerard O’Connell unpack the pope’s comments and broader highlights of the interview.

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.