Dear Friends,

In the days leading up to the conclave, I published a YouTube video that offered some thoughts on it. You can view the video here.

Now that Pope Leo XIV has been elected, let’s pray that God will use him to help the Church gather around the person of Christ and the revealed Word of God and be strengthened for our mission. As things unfold, I will offer any useful thoughts I may have, but I won’t be jumping to conclusions or responding to every flurry of the day. I’ll only respond when I think the Lord Himself is giving me some helpful insight.

That being said, we’re pushing on!

I want to share with you an amazing week I had in Rome shortly before the conclave. I was particularly interested in meeting Fr. Anthony Lusvardi, SJ, who teaches at the Gregorian University in Rome. He wrote a very significant book, called Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation, that I have commented on from time to time. It is Fr. Lusvardi’s doctoral dissertation put into book form. It is a very solid and brave work of scholarship that faithfully presents the doctrinal and moral implications of the Church’s—and Jesus’—insistence on baptism to be saved.

The book concludes that while baptism of desire is possible, it is neither easy nor widespread. It reaches a similar conclusion to the one in the book based on my doctoral dissertation, Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Taught and Its Implications for the New Evangelization. I came to this conclusion after studying what Vatican II actually teaches on this question—basing itself as it must on Scripture and Tradition. While people who haven’t heard the Gospel through no fault of their own may be saved if they sincerely seek God and try to live according to the natural law embedded in each person’s conscience, it’s not automatic. The Council concludes in Lumen Gentium 16 that “often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator.”

In other words, people often fall prey to the world, the flesh, and the devil and don’t respond to the light that God is giving, which they so urgently need.

It was a joy to meet Fr. Tony and an additional joy to meet Professor Gavin D’Costa, perhaps the leading Catholic theological expert on the relationship of the Church to various world religions. While I was in Rome, Professor D’Costa spoke on this topic at a conference at the Angelicum University—and I was able to attend. A while back, Professor D’Costa asked me to write a chapter on related subjects for a book he published, and we have been “kindred spirits” for a long time, but we had never met in person. Meeting him was such a gift! I also had the opportunity to meet with Fr. Ezra Sullivan, OP, a classmate from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. He currently is teaching in Rome at the Angelicum. Years ago, he participated in our mission to Vietnam, and he may be in a position to do so again.

My wife, Anne, traveled with me, and we caught up with old friends from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal’s international office, which started in our basement in Ann Arbor and is now in a Vatican palace! We also visited with Ashley and John Noronha, old friends who helped us so much when we lived in Rome while I was working on my doctorate. Among many other things, they provide the best-guided tours in Rome, combining both the amazing secular and Catholic histories of this amazing city. Learn more here!

As good as these contacts were, something happened on our second-to-last night in Rome that absolutely amazed me. Several of us at Renewal Ministries have been collaborating with a dedicated Catholic man in Poland who, via his podcast and YouTube channel, helps people keep clear on the truth of the faith amid confusion that sometimes comes from Rome. He had mentioned to me that his son and daughter-in-law would be in Rome for a year, taking a course on the thought of St. John Paul II. I had fleetingly thought of how good it would be to meet them but then forgot about it amid the flurry of other preparations.

Then, on our second-to-last night, we went to a neighborhood restaurant that had tables set so close to each other that we were almost sharing a table with our neighbors, two young women studying abroad. As we got up to leave, a young man came over and said, “You’re Ralph Martin, aren’t you?” Our Polish friend’s son and his wife had been sitting nearby and recognized us!

I was flabbergasted! I keep saying to Anne and to whomever I share this with: “How does God do things like this? This is a city of over three-million people and thousands of restaurants!” They told us that they had been planning to go to another restaurant but the person they were with changed their mind at the last minute. We were able to meet them for lunch the next day, our last day in Rome. They traveled over an hour each way with trains, buses, and metros to do so, but were happy for another opportunity to meet. They are an amazing young Catholic couple, and it was very good to both be inspired by them and to encourage them on the long journey they have embarked on.

Why do I share this? Because God truly is amazing, and our hairs are indeed counted! Although He doesn’t often show Himself as He did so strikingly in that unexpected meeting, He is always with us, always watching over us, always ready to assist us directly and through his angels and human servants. May He be praised forever, and may we live in a spirit of daily gratitude whatever our difficulties.

May the peace of Christ be with you,

Ralph

This article originally appeared in Renewal Ministries’ July 2025 newsletter.