My sister was upset with her adult daughter and her husband (who is a convert to Catholicism) when they took holy Communion recently after having missed Mass. She told her daughter that they had committed a mortal sin by missing Mass and then, again, by receiving Communion without first going to confession. She had brought up the matter before with her daughter. Is my sister being judgmental and wrong, or would this be considered helpful guidance in getting her daughter and her family back on God’s path? 

I am in my 50s and have now been divorced for three years. I was married in the Catholic Church and have always attended Sunday Mass regularly and received Communion. But I have begun to wonder whether I should still take Communion.

I’m wondering whether the pope’s recent pronouncement removes the death penalty completely from the Catholic conversation.

One of the beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”