The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ efforts to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it misled donors about the purposes of the annual Peter’s Pence collection.

Because J.R.R. Tolkien was a serious Catholic, one might assume that religion would be evident in his literary masterpiece. Yet, there is no religion in “The Lord of the Rings.” There is magic and even glimpses of the demonic, but the world Tolkien creates is a world wholly contained within itself. It is a large world, an old world, even a mythological world in its own way, but everything is within that world.

Monsignor Paul Cook, former longtime pastor of St. Joseph in Cockeysville, was remembered as being deeply attentive, compassionate and personally invested in the lives of the people he served during 37 years at the Baltimore County parish.

Coming in at 42,000 words, Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” is massive. It’s huge. It is clear-eyed and comprehensive and so chock-full of good stuff that it must be consumed bit-by-bit, like a many-coursed Roman feast — best to go at it slowly, savoring small bites, perhaps even taking a little break between morsels if you hope to make it to the caffe and cannoli.

Amid renewed tensions between the Vatican and traditionalist Catholics over the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo XIV defended Church reform as a legitimate process that adapts to current needs while remaining rooted in authentic tradition.