VATICAN CITY – The Apostolic Penitentiary has nothing to do with a jail cell and everything to do with ensuring repentant sinners experience God's mercy.

When Team USA members David Boudia and Steele Johnson emerged simultaneously crying and smiling from their final dive Aug. 8 at the Rio Olympics, the silver medal in men’s synchronized platform diving was theirs.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Aug. 21 (Isaiah 66:18-21; Psalm 117; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Luke 13:22-30)

The third section of the Book of Isaiah has a universal outlook that is both inspiring and moving. During their exile in Babylon, the people of Israel continued to reflect on their understanding of God and their new experience in an alien land. Their vision of God evolved — no longer was God merely Israel’s deity, but the God of all humanity.

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Aug. 14, (Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Psalm 40; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53)

Few people like to hear the unvarnished truth. Instead, most prefer truth that is sugar coated and in line with what they want to hear. This applies even more to those in power, for they are often surrounded by yes-men that communicate a view of reality that is very slanted and distorted.

The 2016 Summer Olympics kick off with the lighting of the Olympic Torch on Aug. 5. The Olympic Games are a secular endeavor, but religion is everywhere, if you know where to look. For example, athletes who are religious may say a little extra prayer to St. Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes and of the host city of Rio de Janeiro. Who was St. Sebastian and how did he come to be the symbol of both?

“I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world.” Socrates wrote those words more than 2,400 years ago. Today more than ever these are words which we would need to appropriate because, more and more, our world and we ourselves are sinking into some unhealthy forms of tribalism where we are concerned primarily with taking care of our own.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has appointed six men and six women to a commission to study the issue of women deacons, particularly their ministry in the early church.

WASHINGTON – Kyle Snyder's knack for making history began during his junior year of high school, when he helped win the first-ever state championship for the wrestling team of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Maryland. In March 2015, Snyder helped Ohio State win its first national title in wrestling, and in September of that same year, Snyder became the youngest world champion in the history of USA wrestling.

KRAKOW, Poland – Questions about suffering have "no easy answers," Pope Francis said in a visit to Children's University Hospital.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Mike Piazza, the superstar catcher inducted July 24 into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, gave credit to his Catholic faith for his success during his induction speech.