Catholic News
- Pope, at audience, speaks on 'mystery of Holy Saturday' (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Leo XIV continued his reflection on Holy Saturday at his weekly public audience on September 24, speaking about Christ’s visit to “the realm of the dead.” That visit, the Pope said, “represents the most profound and radical gesture of God’s love for humanity.” He cited St. Peter’s remark (1 Pt. 3:19) that Jesus brought the good news of salvation even “to the spirits in prison.” The Holy Father continued that Jesus “does not return to life alone, but carries all humanity with him.” - In Gaza, 'dialogue is broken,' Pope laments (Vatican News)
Speaking with reporters at Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday evening, September 23, Pope Leo XIV reported that the Catholic parish in Gaza “is fine, although the incursions are getting closer and closer.” He said that he had spoke to the parish that afternoon. Questioned as to whether the recognition of the Palestinian state by European countries might advance the cause of peace, the Pontiff replied: “It could help, but right now there is no real willingness to listen on the part of the other side; dialogue is broken.” - Holy See deplores production, use of cluster munitions (Holy See Mission)
Addressing a UN meeting on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a Vatican diplomat said that the Holy See “deplores the fact that cluster munitions, with their extended destructive consequences on victims and land, continue to be produced, stockpiled, transferred and even used in armed conflicts.” Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said that “from a broader perspective, the vast proportion of human and economic resources allocated to armaments—with global military expenditure skyrocketing to over $2.7 trillion last year—is a matter of grave imbalance and even scandal.” Over 100 nations have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a 2008 treaty. - Pray Rosary for peace during October, Pope asks (Vatican News)
Pope Leo has called upon the faithful to pray the Rosary daily—“personally, in the family, and in the community—during the month of October for the cause of peace. The Pope invited Vatican employees to join each evening at 7 pm in St. Peter’s basilica to pray the Rosary together. - In address to brother bishops, leading Italian prelate emphasizes need for peace (CEI (Italian))
Addressing his confrères, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, emphasized the need for peace. “Peace is not a utopia for the naïve, but is the vocation of Italy, of Europe, and of every human society worthy of the name,” Cardinal Zuppi said at the opening of a three-day meeting of leaders of the episcopal conference. “Educating for peace today means forming people who know how to get out of the walls of polarization, who understand that Christianity asks for fidelity to the commandment of love. “ - New secretary of Vatican dicastery says much needs to be done to combat abuse in religious life (Vatican News (Italian))
Sister Tiziana Merletti, FSP, appointed by Pope Leo XIV as secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said in an interview that “much remains to be done” to combat abuse in religious life. A Franciscan Sister of the Poor with degrees in civil and canon law, Sister Merletti said she was referring not only to sexual abuse, but also to abuse of power and authority, spiritual abuse, abuse of conscience, and economic abuse. She spoke of “the need to find a home and meaning for what we experience: suffering, dismay, scandal, powerlessness, injustice, purification, forgiveness, starting over, but often defeat.” Sister Merletti described her dicastery—which has a woman religious as prefect, a cardinal as pro-prefect, and herself as secretary—as an “absolute novelty within the Roman Curia” and as a “a notable and promising fruit of the increasingly significant participation of women in the exercise of leadership within the Church.” - Vatican cardinal, Philippine bishops speak out against government corruption (Fides)
Bishops are actively supporting the widespread anti-corruption protests in the Philippines. “We felt called to stand alongside vulnerable people, those who have been betrayed, and those deprived of their fundamental rights,” said Bishop Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan. Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan said that “we need a revolt not just against a corrupt system, but a revolt against the corrupt hearts and souls within us that allow the corrupt to thrive.” Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, one of the two pro-prefects of the Dicastery for Evangelization, traveled to his former Archdiocese of Manila and said that government officials “are not owners of the nation’s wealth, but administrators who must manage public funds honestly and responsibly.” - Texas governor signs ban on mail-order abortion drugs (Religion Clause)
Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new Texas law that bans the manufacture and sale of abortion-inducing drugs in the nation’s second-most populous state, and also cracks down on out-of-state mail-order abortion drugs. Drug-induced abortions account for 63% of abortions in the United States, according to the Guttmacher Institute. - Only 35% of Poles say they trust the Church (Our Sunday Visitor)
An annual survey conducted by the Polish Institute for Market and Social Research Foundation found that 35% of Poles say that they trust the Church, down from 58% in 2016. On the other hand, 47% of Poles now say that they distrust the Church, up from 24% in 2016. “The blame for the significant decline in trust in the Church lies solely with the bishops,” wrote Tomasz Krzyżak, editor of Rzeczpospolita, as he referred to the “three p’s: polityka, pedofilia, pieniądze“ [politics, pedophilia, money]. - Vatican newspaper welcomes Italian youth protests against Gaza war (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
In a front-page op-ed in the Vatican newspaper’s September 23 edition, Father Elia Carria welcomed youth participation in Italian protests against the war in Gaza. “I believe we should not give victory to those violent perpetrators who tainted the peaceful demonstrations of so many,” wrote Father Carria, a theology professor and priest of the Archdiocese of Florence. “These young people, peacefully pouring into the squares and streets, have attempted to take seriously a need for justice and peace that they feel is their own.” Father Carrai called on adults to “free ourselves from the petty clichés used to describe the younger generations, revealing instead the real question: are we adults willing to truly look at and reckon with the desire for justice and goodness that these young people experience?” - 'Bullet-dodging bishop' ministers in 'hijacked' Mexican state (Aid to the Church in Need)
Bishop José de Jesus González of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, described by Aid to the Church in Need as a “bullet-dodging bishop,” spoke about his ministry in the Mexican state of Guerrero, which he said has been “hijacked” by organized crime. The Church is “the only voice that can speak for the people,” he said. “If we are not brave, the people cry, and God weeps.” “If [Jesus] died for the love of me, then I must be willing to die for the love of others,” the prelate added. “Prayer makes us brave to enter the fray.” - Participants in US Catholic-Muslim dialogue reflect on ecology (USCCB)
Participants in the National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue reflected on ecology during a recent two-day meeting at the Catholic University of America. Members of the dialogue discussed Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical on care for our common home, and Al Mizan, a recent Muslim statement on ecology. The dialogue “strives to foster greater understanding, mutual esteem, lasting friendship and cooperation for the promotion of greater solidarity with the human family,” said Auxiliary Bishop Elias Lorenzo, OSB, of Newark, the dialogue’s co-chairman. Imam Kareem Irfan, the other co-chairman, said that the meeting took place amid “urgent concerns—not just for the environmental crisis confronting the world, and the distressing realities in the Holy Land—but also given the polarized viewpoints and lines of division fracturing our nation.” - L'Osservatore Romano rues toll of world's forgotten wars (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
With the headline “Una vittima ogni due minuti e 123 milioni di persone in fuga” [One victim every two minutes and 123 million people in flight], the Vatican newspaper, in the most prominent front-page article in its September 23 edition, rued the toll of the world’s “forgotten wars.” Giada Aquilino cited statistics from the Italian charity COOPI as she reported that “the world has witnessed a dramatic increase in armed crises, which has led to an equally drastic increase in humanitarian needs.” “Over 300 million people worldwide are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection,” she added. - Defense seeks recusal of prosecutor in 'trial of the century' appeal (AP)
Lawyers for defendants who are appealing their convictions in the Vatican’s “trial of the century” have asked for the recusal of the top Vatican prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi, saying that his involvement in coaching a key witness demonstrated an improper personal interest in the outcome of the case. The defense pointed to scores of email and text messages exchanged by Diddi and two women, Francesca Chaouqui and Genevieve Ciferri, who encouraged Msgr. Alberto Perlasca to alter his testimony and become a crucial witness against his former superior, Cardinal Angelo Becciu. The defense motion said that the messages “demonstrate a disturbing activity of evidence tampering.” The Vatican tribunal accepted the defense motion, and gave Diddi three days to respond. - Jerusalem Patriarch: 'never seen a moment so dark' (Vatican News)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin-rite Patriarch of Jerusalem, says that “in 35 years, I’ve never seen a moment so dark” in the Holy Land. Cardinal Pizzaballa made the grim observation in a video message to a peace vigil organized by the Sant’Egidio community in Rome on September 22. He said that Christians should be prepared to help rebuild a community that has become dominated by “extremists on both sides.” He said: When the language of force fails, when this entire structure of violence collapses, we must be ready — to bring the strength of meekness so that all may inherit, in beauty and love, the land God has given us. - Cardinal Cupich defends award to Senator Durbin (Chicago archdiocese)
Responding to public criticism from Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Cardinal Blase Cupich has defended his decision to present a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Archdiocese of Chicago to Senator Richard Durbin. “Recently some have criticized the decision,” the cardinal acknowledged—not mentioning the name of Bishop Paprocki, in whose Springfield diocese Senator Durbin keeps his official residence. Bishop Paprocki has announced that the senator is barred from receiving Communion in that diocese, because of his outspoken support for unrestricted legal abortion. Cardinal Cupich countered, however, by saying: “Senator Durbin informed me some years ago that he had purchased a condo in Chicago, registered in a parish in the archdiocese and considers me to be his bishop,“ The cardinal said that he had opened a dialogue with Durbin about his political stands. Cardinal Cupich went on to say that “the consistent ethic of life is the recognition that Catholic teaching on life and dignity cannot be reduced to a single issue.” He said that Durbin would be honored for his work “to advance Catholic social teaching in the areas of immigration, the care of the poor, Laudato Si’, and world peace.” - Draw strength from Christ in asceticism, prayer, and the sacraments, Pope tells women religious (Dicastery for Communication)
Pope Leo XIV received participants in the general chapters of four religious institutes on September 22 and said that “the strength to remain faithful” in contemplation and apostolic service “comes from the same source: Christ.” “The Church’s experience over millennia teaches that the means by which we draw on the richness of his grace include asceticism, prayer, the sacraments, intimacy with God, his Word, and the things of heaven,” Pope Leo told members of the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres, the Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, the Discalced Carmelites of the Holy Land, and the Sisters of Saint Catherine, Virgin and Martyr. The Pontiff also told the Discalced Carmelite Sisters of the Holy Land that “what you are doing is important, through your vigilant and silent presence in places sadly torn apart by hatred and violence, through your witness of trusting abandonment to God, and through your constant entreaties for peace. We all accompany you with our prayers and, through you, draw close to those who suffer.” - Pope Leo outlines his vision of synodality as he opens Diocese of Rome's pastoral year (CWN)
In an address for the beginning of the Diocese of Rome’s pastoral year, Pope Leo XIV outlined his vision of synodality at the diocesan level. - Bishop Paprocki protests Chicago archdiocese honor for Senator Durbin (Pillar)
Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, has said that he is “shocked” that Senator Richard Durbin will receive a LIfetime Achievement Award from the Archdiocese of Chicago. In a public criticism of another prelate, Bishop Paprocki said that the decision by Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich to honor Durbin, despite a pro-abortion voting record, “sows confusion about the seriousness of abortion and the integrity of Catholic witness in public life.” He urged Cardinal Cupich to reconsider that decision, saying: Honoring a public figure who has actively worked to expand and entrench the right to end innocent human life in the womb undermines the very concept of human dignity and solidarity that the award purports to uphold. Bishop Paprocki—in whose diocese Durbin lives—reminded The Pillar that the senator is barred from receiving Communion in that diocese because of his public stances in opposition to Church teaching. He observed that the US bishops have “clearly taught that support for abortion disqualifies individuals from receiving honors from Catholic institutions.” - Cardinal, in address to Pontiff, outlines challenges facing Diocese of Rome (Diocese of Rome (Italian))
In an address to Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general for the Diocese of Rome, outlined the problems facing the diocese. “We feel dismayed not only by the many war scenarios that bloody our world but also by the many situations of suffering in Rome,” Cardinal Reina said on September 19, as the diocese opened its pastoral year. He listed the challenges facing the diocese: the distancing of young people from parishes, growing inequality and poverty, suburban crime, a housing crisis, and inadequate access to care for the poor and elderly. Cardinal Reina also referred to “a time that was not easy for our Diocese, marked by changes that led to fatigue and not a few misunderstandings”—a likely reference to the turmoil that followed structural and personnel changes made by Pope Francis. “In the face of all this, we still hear the answer indicated by the Master to the disciples who asked to send away the hungry and tired crowds: ‘Give them something to eat yourselves,’” said Cardinal Reina. “We have the duty to put this command into practice.” - More...