A consistory is a gathering of cardinals, which the Pope can convoke to give solemnity to a particular decision, or simply to ask his “Senate” to counsel him on an important issue. However, the most recent consistory, held June 28, was rather exceptional. Here are four reasons why.

A surprise consistory

The June 28 consistory was a real surprise: when Pope Francis announced it May 21, there had been none of the normal hints that he was going to call for one.

When I was a little boy and went to my catechism lessons the nuns, our teachers, used the famous Baltimore Catechism for their teaching guide. Many times they required us to memorize parts of the Baltimore Catechism and today I want to begin with its first section in which the question was asked: “Why did God make you?” The answer we memorized was: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.”

As a priest with a wonderful Catholic primary school in my parish, I often meet parents who want their children to go to the school because they like its “ethos”, but wish it didn’t have to be so obviously “Catholic”. It seems not to occur to them that its “ethos” might be connected to its Catholicism. They want the culture, but without the cult which it is founded on.

In the Mass for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul with the new metropolitan archbishops, the Pope recalls Christians persecuted in the world in a climate of “complicit silence”.

Francis to the consistory for the five new cardinals: face the reality of the innocent who suffer and die as victims of war and terrorism, of the refugee camps, which at times seem more like a hell than a purgatory

Siji Antony was initially thrilled when, after many hurdles, she received her visa for a medical nurse's job in Saudi Arabia in 2013. A handsome salary and the lure of a big city added to the excitement. But her joy was short-lived.

The restrictions on the practices of her Catholic faith in the kingdom was a major cause for concern. In her home state of Kerala in southern India, she attended Mass daily. "The prospect of living without Sunday Mass was horrifying for me," she said.

On Wednesday’s Audience (June 28): Martyrdom is not “the supreme ideal of Christian life, for there is charity above it,” but a witness and a lifestyle that “is part” of the Gospel.

Like any married couple still in love after 54 years, Larry and Marilyn Suchy cast a warm glow when they are together. Their story, however, is not one of complete marital bliss, but one that shows how dramatically God’s grace can heal. It can even take a divorced couple with one spouse having served time in federal prison and renew their marriage. In that way, they are a model couple—models of faith, forgiveness, hope, and love.

One evening, around their kitchen table in Bismarck, North Dakota, Larry and Marilyn shared their story.

I just got back from a five-day retreat with my community of the Schoenstatt Movement.

It was wonderful.

It is a very uncertain world we are living in. We do not know what is right and what is wrong. We stand at the crossroads of life not knowing which way to take. This uncertainty is very unnerving for the modern man whose one concern is to make life more secure. In the midst of this uncertainty Jesus declares "I am the Way."