The Rosary is perhaps the most commonly known and most popular form of devotion practiced by Catholics and, believe it or not, even many non-Catholics.

While Catholics are bound by the sacraments, God is not. God, if necessary, can work beyond and outside them, because of his transcendence and authority over the very sacraments themselves, and that is exactly the reasoning the Church uses with this question.

And so, as a Catholic, the 2014 Pew study on America’s religious landscape, while interesting and informative in a certain respect, wasn’t terribly troubling to me on the whole.

Murder (killing of innocent life) is indeed a mortal sin, as is willfully missing Sunday Mass when one otherwise could have gone.

I have to admit, I’ve been beside myself for a couple weeks now in anticipation for Pope Francis’ first trip (in his whole life!) to the United States.

If you make it to Purgatory, your soul is destined for heaven. But it just needs a bit of cleaning up first.