QUESTION CORNER Q: Who are the men protecting Pope Francis who are wearing suits and ties? Are they part of the Italian national police force, Swiss Guards or a private security firm? (They seem to protect the pope not only at the Vatican, but they travel with him on papal trips.) (Edison, New Jersey) A: […]

QUESTION CORNER Q: In a recent issue of our diocesan paper, I read an article about a conversation that had occurred in Italy between Pope Francis and a young boy. The boy — who was both fearful and tearful, as he whispered his question to the pope — wanted to know whether his deceased father […]

QUESTION CORNER Q: An elderly woman in our parish has terminal lung cancer. I have seen her condition deteriorate over the last two months. She is no longer driving, is very weak and is now on oxygen full time. I had been helping her to get to church, and the other day she told me […]

QUESTION CORNER Q: I read your column every week in our archdiocesan paper, and I have a question for you. What is the role of the parish priest at the time of the serious illness and death of a parish member? I recently lost my husband after a long illness, the last several months of […]

QUESTION CORNER Q: Stephen Hawking died recently. As I understand it, Professor Hawking claimed to have proven that God does not exist. And yet the pope met with him and recognized his studies; why would the pope do that and celebrate an atheist? (central Virginia) A: Professor Stephen Hawking, the renowned British theoretical physicist, died […]

THE QUESTION CORNER Q: Recently I read an article in a Catholic magazine that suggested that, in addition to the Ten Commandments, we should use the beatitudes when examining our conscience before going to confession. This sent me into a tailspin, and I had to go and review the beatitudes to see if I even […]

QUESTION CORNER Q: My friend told me that in her parish, which is a large one, only one section of the church is offered the blood of Christ. Her pastor believes that adding more eucharistic ministers would create a traffic jam. If they are going to distribute holy Communion from the chalice, shouldn’t all be […]

QUESTION CORNER Q: After receiving ashes at an Ash Wednesday morning Mass, I returned home and turned on the television news. It showed some priests in a neighboring town who were out on the sidewalk in front of their church marking with ashes the foreheads of any interested lunchtime passer-by. They were in priestly vestments […]