Catholic News
- Pope offers encouragement, advice to Capuchin Poor Clare nuns amid declining vocations (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV offered encouragement and advice to members of the Federation of Capuchin Poor Clares of Italy amid declining vocations. - Pope, hundreds of children to pray Rosary for peace (Aid to the Church in Need)
Aid to the Church in Need announced that between 700 and 1,000 Roman children will join Pope Leo in praying the Rosary for peace. The event will take place in the Vatican Gardens on October 1, the beginning of the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary. The event is part of the charity’s A Million Children Praying the Rosary initiative. - Holy See 'deeply concerned' about continued use of cluster munitions (Holy See Mission)
A leading Vatican diplomat said that the Holy See “is deeply concerned about the continued use of cluster munitions, and the growing number of civilian lives they are costing.” “There is no time to waste, precisely because each and every human life is of inestimable value, whether that of a soldier, a civilian, a woman or a child, as it is a gift from God,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. Archbishop Balestrero’s statement, made at a UN conference on September 16, followed an earlier statement in which he called on all nations to adhere to, and implement, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a 2008 treaty. - FBI investigated, tailed Fulton Sheen during World War II (OSV News)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated then-Msgr. Fulton Sheen in 1943 because of his strong criticism of Joseph Stalin, then an American ally against Nazi Germany in World War II. “Eventually, the agents assigned to tail him came up with mostly worthless facts about Archbishop Sheen such as that he liked chocolate ice cream, kept up a rigorous and somewhat ascetic schedule (including most notably his daily Holy Hour each morning), and once talked a police officer out of giving him a speeding ticket,” OSV News reported. - Pope to meet with French abuse survivors as critics demand action (AP)
Pope Leo XIV will hold a private meeting in Lourdes on September 27 with seven survivors of sexual abuse by clergy. One is a victim of Bernard Preynat, a laicized priest who admitted abusing 75 boys. Another participant has alleged abuse by Abbé Pierre (1912-2007), a once beloved French priest known for his ministry to the poor and homeless; he was also a critic of Catholic teaching on sexual morality. - Former Vatican official transferred to huge Mexican archdiocese (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Leo XIV transferred Archbishop Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong from a large Mexican archdiocese to an even larger one. In 2013, Pope Francis named Patrón Wong the secretary for seminaries in the Dicastery of the Clergy, only one year after his installation as bishop of Papantla, Mexico. In 2021, Pope Francis named Archbishop Patrón Wong the archbishop of Jalapa, Mexico. The Archdiocese of Jalapa has 1,466,000 Catholics (2024 figure), according to the Annuario Pontificio. Pope Leo transferred the prelate, now 68, to the Archdiocese of Puebla de los Ángeles, which has 3,127,000 Catholics—smaller than the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, but larger than all other dioceses in the United States. - Russian drone strikes Ukrainian monastery; 1 killed, 4 injured (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
A 71-year-old priest was killed in Russian drone attack on a monastery in Chervonyi Maiak, Ukraine, the Vatican newspaper reported. The Kyiv Post reported that four other monks were injured in the September 19 attack. - Philippine cardinal calls for enactment of law against political dynasties (CBCP News)
Cardinal Pablo Vigilio David of Kalookan called upon Philippine lawmakers to enact a law against political dynasties. The nation’s 1987 constitution called on Congress to enact such a law, but offered no deadline. In a recent ruling, the nation’s Supreme Court urged Congress to fulfill its constitutional duty. “Congress, the Supreme Court has spoken,” said Cardinal David. “Now enact the law ... Thirty-nine years is enough.” - Program announced for Pope's apostolic journey to South America (Vatican Press Office)
The Holy See Press Office released the program of Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru (November 6-17). The Pontiff is scheduled to deliver 13 homilies and 16 addresses during his journey, which will take him to 15 cities. - Ghana's bishops call for reform in school admissions (Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference )
The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference called for an “understandable and demonstrably fair” process of admission into the nation’s secondary schools. The bishops said that they have “followed with deep concern the difficulties surrounding the ongoing placement of students into senior high schools. Each year, the process brings anxiety, disappointment, and allegations of unfairness to students, parents, and the wider public.” “No child should be unfairly denied access to a suitable school, manipulated, or humiliated during placement,” the bishops continued. “Every parent deserves a system that is open, accountable, respectful, and free from bribery, discrimination, and undue influence.” Ghana, a West African nation of 35.3 million (map), is 72% Christian (14% Catholic), 19% Muslim, and 8% ethnic religionist. - Pope visits Dicastery for Culture and Education (Vatican News)
Pope Leo XIV visited the offices of the Dicastery for Culture and Education on September 21. The Pontiff “noted how culture—through sport and art—has created numerous opportunities for encounter, fostering dialogue via a universal language capable of conveying the values of humanism to all,” the dicastery said in a statement following the visit. - Vatican hosts filmmaker's peace exhibit in colonnade of St. Peter's Basilica (Vatican News)
The Dicastery for Culture and Education, Dicastery for Communication, and Fabric of St. Peter’s Basilica are hosting Sounds of Loss, an exhibit in the colonnade of St. Peter’s Basilica. The exhibit, which commemorates the International Day of Peace, began September 20 and concluded today. The exhibit, by German filmmaker Philip Gröning, consists of 1,096 sounds played over a 49-hour period. The sounds represented the estimated number of lives lost in war each day. In 2005, Gröning directed Into Great Silence, a film on the Carthusian hermits of the Grande Chartreuse, discussed here on Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast. - Vatican newspaper highlights International Day of Peace (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
L’Osservatore Romano devoted a prominent front-page article in its September 21 edition to the International Day of Peace. “There exists an ‘economy’ that does not aim for monetary gain, but rather for the good of humanity,” the unsigned article began. “It is an ‘economy’ that views peace not merely as the absence of conflict, but also, and above all, as a gift, an investment in the future of peoples.” The article continued, “This vision is reflected in the theme of today’s International Day of Peace, established by the United Nations 45 years ago: ‘Investing in peace—For everyone, everywhere, every day,’ so as to bring security, dignity, and cooperation into the life of everyone.” - Pope Leo calls for aid to Somalia, recalls WWII POWs (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV called for generous assistance for the people of Somalia, where drought and civil strife have led to widespread malnutrition. - Pope Leo exhorts Latin American bishops to visit parishes, be prayerful, teach clearly (CWN)
In a letter for the third centenary of the canonization of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo (1538-1606), Pope Leo XIV offered advice to Latin American bishops, Pope Leo XIV wrote that “the best way to honor his memory will be to allow ourselves to be challenged by the way he lived out the ministry that we also have received, and to imitate him.” - God's plans are infinitely greater than our plans, Pope tells pilgrims (CWN)
Reflecting on the Scripture readings of the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Pope Leo XIV said that “God’s plans are infinitely greater—and, let us say, more ‘human’—than those that we men and women, marked by sin, can conceive or bring to fruition.” - Pope offers encouragement to Special Olympics athletes (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV offered encouragement to members of a delegation from the Special Olympics. - France has over 27,000 fewer parishes than in 1980 (Vatican Press Office)
The number of parishes in France plummeted from 38,391 in 1980 to 10,925 in 2024, according to statistics released by the Vatican ahead of the Pope’s apostolic journey to France. The number of priests fell from 38,876 to 12,590; the number of religious sisters fell from 87,044 to 17,452; and the number of baptisms fell from 513,501 to 186,165. The number of marriages fell sharply from 217,479 to 40,678. The decline in the number of major seminarians, from 1,278 to 1,075, was less stark. France’s Catholic population rose from 45,503,000 to 49,720,000 between 1980 to 2024, even as the Catholic share of the nation’s population declined, from 84.72% to 74.93%. - Pope calls for evaluation of Diocese of Rome's activities, advises priests to 'do less, and do it better' (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV challenged the priests of the Diocese of Rome to “do less and do it better” at the beginning of the diocesan pastoral year. - In Havana's darkness, Cubans turn to faith (USA Today)
USA Today published an article on the ministry of Father Ariel Suárez Jáuregui, a Havana parish priest and Cuban bishops’ conference official. “It’s the toughest—and probably the saddest—of all the times I have lived through,” the priest said of the current situation in Cuba, amid the U.S. oil embargo. “We are witnessing a growing deterioration in recent months across every aspect of national life.” - More...