The LOOP
The Wednesday Loop - October 1, 2025
SENATOR DURBIN DECLINES CHICAGO ARCHDIOCESE'S AWARD
Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, yesterday announced that Democratic Senator Dick Durbin had declined to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Archdiocese. The news brings to an end a mounting scandal over Cardinal Cupich’s controversial decision to honor Durbin, a strident promoter of abortion.
POPE LEO WEIGHS IN ON DURBIN AWARD CONTROVERSY
“I’m not terribly familiar with the particular case,” Pope Leo said when asked by a reporter about the controversy surrounding Durbin. The Pope said that it is "important to look at the overall work that a senator has done during, if I’m not mistaken, 40 years of service in the United States Senate." The Holy Father also suggested that Catholics who oppose abortion but favor the death penalty or the "inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States" are not necessarily "pro-life."
POPE FAVORS TRUMP PEACE PLAN FOR GAZA
The Pope yesterday welcomed President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, calling it a “realistic proposal” and urging Hamas to accept the deal.
TRUMP PARTNERS WITH PFIZER TO LAUNCH 'TRUMPRX'
Trump yesterday announced his administration struck a deal with Pfizer to develop TrumpRx, a direct-to-consumer prescription drugs website that will lower costs for U.S. patients.
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATES ABORTION COVER-UP
The Department of Education took action against Fairfax County Public Schools this week after reports surfaced that school officials scheduled, paid for, and covered up a student's abortion without informing the minor's parents.
HEGSETH: NO MORE 'WOKE' MILITARY
Speaking to hundreds of military leaders yesterday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared an end to diversity programs and promised to restore a “warrior ethos” across U.S. armed forces. “No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris. We are done with that," he said.
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Congressional leaders have been trading blame over the government shutdown, with Republicans pushing for a short-term funding bill through Nov. 21 and Democrats demanding long-term health care provisions. But many Americans likely view the whole debate with some confusion. Here are a few points of clarity.
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DC ARCHBISHOP DENOUNCES TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICY
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy sharply denounced the Trump administration’s immigration policies during a Sept. 28 Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., calling them a “comprehensive governmental assault designed to produce fear and terror.”
CATHOLIC ARTIST CREATES CHARLIE KIRK SCULPTURE
Timothy Schmalz, whose Catholic and pro-life sculptures are displayed around the world, created a memorial sculpture of Charlie Kirk that soon will be displayed at Ave Maria University. “The day after this tragedy I started this sculpture of Charlie. This is in a sense my visual prayer," he said.
NOT TO BE MISSED
Here are the stories we couldn’t fit in today’s LOOP: • Three Austrian nuns defied their superior's orders by fleeing a retirement home to return to their former convent. • Vatican grants reopening of historic Buffalo parish. • An Indianapolis parish says its religious freedom is at stake as city officials debate its future.
HEALING THE NATION BEGINS WITH LOVING ENEMIES
In a nation reeling from political division and recent violence, Harvard professor and Catholic author Arthur Brooks offered a striking remedy at the Faith Matters Restore conference in Orem, Utah: “Love your enemies.”
CATHOLIC 101
Johan Erlandsson-Díaz reflects on hope before and after his conversion to Catholicism. We all have hope, but we feel it differently, call it differently, and understand it differently inside and outside the context of faith. Drawing from Therese of Lisieux and Maurice Blondel, Erlandsson-Díaz explores nostalgia, longing, despair, and hope from secularism into faith.
SAINT OF THE DAY
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) lived 24 years and spent all of them in “obscurity.” However, through her simple, ascetical, and sacrificial life, she brought countless souls to God and is now, over a century after her death, venerated as one of the greatest saints in the Church. The 19th-century French cloistered Carmelite nun is widely known by her beautifully fitting title “the Little Flower of Jesus.”
DAILY PSALM
"Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget you!" (Psalm 137)
DAILY READINGS
Today's Mass readings.
BEAUTY
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a Catholic, has restored the painting “Christ on the Water” to its rightful place after it was removed by the Biden administration.