The LOOP

The Tuesday Loop - October 21, 2025

EXCLUSIVE: COLORADANS STAND AGAINST 'TRANS' SPORTS RULE

Colorado students and parents are pushing back against state athletics rules that allow males to compete in girls’ sports. “Our daughters are being deprived of the fair and equal opportunity to participate in high school athletics that Title IX was designed to protect," one mother told CatholicVote. A student who said she was forced to play a soccer game against a male told CatholicVote it was heartbreaking that the state did nothing to protect her or her teammates.

TRUMP SAYS GAZA CEASEFIRE STILL IN PLACE AFTER FIGHTING

President Donald Trump said the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas still stands after both sides exchanged fire in Gaza over the weekend. During a Sunday interview, Trump reiterated that "we'll disarm" Hamas if the fighting continues but vowed no U.S. troops would be on the ground.

POPE SHOWS HOW NEW SAINTS ARE MODELS FOR CATHOLICS

“The men and women we proclaimed saints yesterday are for all of us shining signs of hope, because they offered their lives in love for Christ and their brothers and sisters," Pope Leo said the day after he canonized seven new Catholic saints. Speaking in the native tongue of each saint in turn, the Holy Father explained more about the holy men and women. Here is what he told about their stories and witness.

HELP US EMPTY PURGATORY!

This is the 5th year Holy Heroes is hosting this Novena of Masses for the Holy Souls in Purgatory (no stipend is required!). Unite your prayers for your dearly departed to the greatest prayer of the Church: a special Novena of Masses taking place Nov 1 – Nov 9 thanks to our friends at Holy Heroes. Please act now to add the names of your departed friends & family here.

TRUMP SIGNS MINERALS DEAL WITH AUSTRALIA

Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a $3 billion agreement yesterday to expand cooperation on rare earths and critical minerals.

LOS ANGELES CATHOLICS TO SEE SAINT CARLO RELICS

A first-class relic of Saint Carlo Acutis is being brought from the Diocese of Assisi, Italy, to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California, this week to give prisoners at a downtown jail and diocesan parishioners the opportunity for veneration.

SURVIVORS SHARE TESTIMONIES WITH POPE LEO

What began as a letter from survivors of clergy abuse evolved into an hour-long meeting filled with testimonies, proposals, and listening with Pope Leo at the Apostolic Palace yesterday.

DO YOU KNOW THIS CATHOLIC THANKSGIVING TRADITION?

Discover this fun evangelization project for everyone coming to Thanksgiving dinner!

ANGLICAN SHAKEUP AFTER APPOINTMENT OF FEMALE ARCHBISHOP

The chairman of a global Anglican conference primates' council declared that the conference is leading the Global Anglican Communion and rejects the leadership of the recently elected Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally.

BAPTIST ETHICIST CALLS CHRISTIANS TO RETHINK CONTRACEPTION

In a fascinating turn, a Baptist ethicist is encouraging Christians to think twice about birth control – though contraception is all but universally accepted among Protestants. “What I want to prevent from happening is just a wholesale acceptance [of the notion] that everyone should use contraception until they feel like now is the right time to have the 2.1 children we’re going to have,” said Evan Lenow, associate professor at Mississippi College and director of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in Clinton, Mississippi.

NOT TO BE MISSED

Here are the stories we couldn’t fit in today’s LOOP: • The Church in the U.S. is about to observe National Vocation Awareness Week! • Thieves stole the French crown jewels in a brazen daylight Louvre heist. • An Ohio diocese is set to close down three historic churches.

'HAPPILY EVER AFTER' THINKING

When we're single, we have to work hard for our happiness: stay in shape, make time for family and friends, push ourselves outside of the house for activities... But once we're married, happiness all of a sudden just comes naturally. Right? Well, no. Here's the story of someone who went through the ups and downs and came to realize that "happily ever after" doesn't just drop on your head.

CATHOLIC 101

Serving others is as essential to Christian practice as Sunday worship, prayer, and keeping the commandments, and there are many ways to serve. Here are two forms of Christian service.

SAINT OF THE DAY

Today, the Church honors Blessed Charles (Karl) of Austria (1887-1922), the last emperor of Austria-Hungary and a devoted follower of Christ. At 24, he married his lifelong love, Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Charles once said that his “entire endeavor has always been to clearly recognize the Will of God in all things and to follow it as completely as possible.”

DAILY PSALM

"Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will." (Psalm 40)

DAILY READINGS

Today's Mass readings.

THE MAN WITH A THOUSAND LIVES

He had a troubled childhood. His family fled to America during World War I. He became an orphan by the age of 16. He went on to become a hard-drinking agnostic. He was a womanizer, fathering a child out of wedlock before he graduated college. How could a man with those chapters in his past become known the world over for his gentleness, his deep insight, and his devout Catholicism? Here is the story of American Trappist monk Thomas Merton.