Getting someone’s attention at the balloon counter was tricky, but when I finally found an employee, I asked her to fill up six red balloons.

Pope Leo XIV knelt in prayer at the tomb of St. Augustine June 20, returning to the basilica where he once guided the late Pope Benedict XVI as the leader of the Augustinian order, only this time as the first Augustinian pope in history.

On July 4, 2026, the United States of America will celebrate its 250th anniversary. This event will resonate in every corner of the land, but it has special significance for us in the Premier See, the Archdiocese of Baltimore. We are linked to this event both by history and by the virtue of patriotism.

Pope Leo XIV venerated a relic of the heart of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. citizen ever canonized a saint, during a visit June 20 to her hometown in northern Italy, saying that her missionary devotion to migrants speaks directly to the challenges of today’s world.

An overwhelming sense of excitement and joy filled the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland June 20. Between the sniffles, baby cries, occasional cough and heels clicking on the floor, five men – Robert J. “Tre” Bart III, Stephen Kirby, Alexander Kulik, John Russell Sullivan and Connor Schmidt – were ordained to the priesthood to the cheers of the 1,439 people gathered to celebrate with them.