The president revealed that the pope always has books by Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky lying on his desk, though he did not specify the books’ titles, and that the pontiff argued that “without Dostoevsky’s books, without understanding the depth of his philosophy, one cannot be a true priest”. MORE

The 10:33 a.m. quake was centered in the Searles Valley, a remote area of Kern County about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, and was felt as far away as Long Beach and Las Vegas. MORE

In what Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople described as a “brave and bold” gesture, Pope Francis gave the patriarch a famous reliquary containing bone fragments believed to belong to St. Peter. MORE

The marble statue of Catholic Archbishop Patrick Leahy situated outside Thurles Cathedral of the Assumption in County Tipperary was decapitated and the head stolen. MORE

To one of my favorite Jesus’ SONS Father Casimir Puskorius. CMRI July 1st.
I remember helping your Dad promote his anti-Bolsheviki Magazine years ago. God bless his soul RIP.

“On July 1, 14 submariners – sailors – died in Russian territorial waters as a result of inhaling combustion products aboard a research submersible vehicle designated for studying the seafloor and the bottom of the World Ocean in the interests of the Russian Navy after a fire broke out during bathymetric measurements,” read a translation of the statement from the state-controlled Tass news service. MORE