Catholic News
- Walk along the paths of mercy and truth, Pope tells Augustinian nuns (Dicastery for Communication)
In an audience with Augustinian Recollect nuns from Mexico, Pope Leo XIV said that “to encounter the Lord in the life we have so gladly embraced, we must, as pilgrims, walk a path. It is true that there are many paths, but they all boil down to two: ‘mercy and truth.’” During the audience, which took place yesterday in the Auletta of Paul VI Audience Hall, Pope Leo cited St. Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555), a member of the Order of Saint Augustine, eight times. After the audience, Mother Bertha, the nuns’ regional superior, said, “I told him that I respect him as a Holy Father, but I felt him as our brother.” (The Pontiff is a member of the Order of Saint Augustine.) - Jordan's king meets with Pontiff, affirms efforts to preserve Christian sites (Jordan Times)
Pope Leo XIV held his first meeting yesterday with Abdullah II, Jordan’s king since 1999. The king “highlighted efforts to preserve Christian religious sites in Jordan, particularly the Baptism Site of Jesus Christ,” The Jordan Times reported. The king invited the Pontiff to visit the site and recalled the historic Hashemite custodianship of Jerusalem’s holy sites. Earlier this year, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness, hailed the strong ties between the Vatican and Jordan and consecrated the Church of the Baptism of the Lord at the site of the Lord’s Baptism, on land donated by King Abdullah II. - Jerusalem cardinal calls for new generation of leaders who can foster peace (Vatican News)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, addressed ten questions from Vatican media about the Holy Land and prospects for peace there. “Little by little, we must create the foundations and conditions, with new faces and new leadership, and above all, create environments that gradually foster a culture of respect, which will in turn bring peace,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said. The prelate also spoke about the plight of Palestinian Christians in the West Bank, where Israeli checkpoints hinder movements and officials turn a blind eye to attacks committed by settlers. “There is no authority to appeal to in order to stop these situations,” he said. - Cardinal Parolin assesses promise, pitfalls of AI in health care (Vatican News (Spanish))
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, delivered a lecture yesterday on the promise and perils of AI in health care. Speaking at the inauguration of the Center for the Study and Development of Artificial Intelligence at the Italian National Institute of Health, Cardinal Parolin spoke of AI as potentially a “powerful tool at the service of life, an ally of humanity in the fight against disease and suffering.” Cardinal Parolin, however, warned of the potential “dehumanization of care” and said that “an algorithm can provide a diagnosis, but it cannot offer a word of comfort.” He expressed concern that AI could transform a doctor “from a wise clinician into a mere supervisor of an automated process.” He also warned of a lack of accountability for algorithmic errors, which “risks generating ‘systemic irresponsibility’ in which, ultimately, no one is truly responsible.” - Younger American priests more conservative, traditional, survey shows (CWN)
An extensive new survey of American Catholic priests has found major differences between older and young priests, strong confidence in Pope Leo, but less confidence in the American Catholic hierarchy. - Consecrated religious, at jubilee, ask forgiveness for failure to listen, care (Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life)
At the recent Jubilee of Consecrated Life, some 4,000 participants issued a final message. “The Jubilee is an opportunity to ask forgiveness for the times when we failed to be a presence of listening and care, when we closed our eyes and hearts,” the participants stated. “It is also an opportunity to rejoice and give thanks for the good given and received.” The message also called for “respect for the rights of all, beginning with the poorest, the exploited, and the invisible, and appealing to those who hold responsibility in civil society, so that over the logic of profit that crushes the small may prevail the care that helps every seed of life to blossom.” - Development extends beyond economic development, Vatican diplomat tells UN (Holy See Mission)
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said in a statement for a recent UN meeting that “development cannot be comprehended exclusively in economic terms; it must also foster the cultural and spiritual development of all people.” “Integral development is therefore the overarching metric against which the collective efforts of the international community should be measured,” Archbishop Caccia said. In his statement, the prelate also emphasized the “moral imperative for the eradication of poverty,” praised multilateralism as “the sole viable avenue for progress” in development, and lamented rising military expenses. - Patriarchs welcome Gaza peace agreement (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem, echoing an earlier statement by the Latin Patriarch, welcomed the Gaza peace agreement. The Christian leaders paid tribute to the “enormous efforts of all those in the international community who worked relentlessly to accomplish this major achievement,” as well as to the perseverance of Gaza’s Christians. At the same time, they expressed “great concern” about “the increasing violence against local communities in the West Bank in connection with [Israeli] settlement expansions there.” - Cardinal Czerny: Popular movements are crucial in addressing poverty (Vatican Press Office)
At a press conference yesterday (video) for the upcoming Fifth World Meeting of Popular Movements, Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, said that “many development efforts have failed because outsiders, even very qualified ones, seem to think that development can occur without the direct involvement of the poor.” Citing Pope Leo’s apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te, Cardinal Czerny, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said that “when different institutions think about the needs of the poor, it is necessary to ‘include popular movements.’” - Candidates announced for USCCB president, vice president (USCCB)
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced the slate of ten candidates for conference president and vice president. The winning candidates will succeed Archbishops Timothy Broglio (Military Services) and William Lori (Baltimore), who were elected to three-year terms as president and vice president in November 2022. At their November meeting, the bishops will also vote for six committee chairmen. - Cardinals Cupich, Reina appointed to Vatican City State commission (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Leo XIV appointed Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome, as members of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State. The commission, led by Sister Raffaella Petrini, FSE, is the state’s legislative body. Pope Leo also affirmed the mandates of four of the commission’s members: Cardinals Kevin Farrell, Arthur Roche, Lazarus You Heung-sik, and Claudio Gugerotti, all prefects of Vatican dicasteries. The Pope, however, did not affirm the appointments of 81-year-old Cardinal Leonardo Sandri (Argentina) and Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, who remains vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City as well as archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Pope’s appointment of Cardinal Cupich to the commission comes less than a month after several US bishops criticized his decision to give Sen. Richard Durbin a lifetime achievement award. - Vatican confirms papal approval of new Chinese bishop (Vatican Press Office)
The Vatican has acknowledged the ordination of Bishop Ignatius Wu Jianlin as an auxiliary for the Shanghai diocese, announcing that Pope Leo approved the ordination on August 11. The announcement from the Vatican rebuts earlier reports that the October 15 ordination of Bishop Jianlin was scheduled without papal approval. The Chinese government had unilaterally announced the selection of the new auxiliary bishop on April 29, shortly after the death of Pope Francis, in what appeared to be a violation of the secret Beijing-Vatican agreement on the naming of bishops. The Shanghai diocese already had an auxiliary, Bishop Thadeus Ma Daqin, who was ordained in 2012, but immediately suspended from ministry when he announced he was dropping his membership in the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association. Since that time he has been living under house arrest in the diocesan seminary. - Christ's Resurrection fulfills man's deepest longing, Pope tells audience (Vatican Press Office)
At his Wednesday public audience on October 15, Pope Leo XIV said that the Resurrection of Jesus fulfills all human longings. Although “we feel deep down that we are always missing something,” the Pope said, that longing finds its answer “in the certainty that there is someone who guarantees this constitutive impulse of our humanity; in the awareness that this expectation will not be disappointed or thwarted. This certainty coincides with hope.” The Pontiff quoted from St. Augustine: “You exhaled odors, and I drew in my breath and do pant after you. I tasted, and do hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.” - Prioritize humanitarian aid for Gaza, USCCB committee chairman urges (USCCB)
The chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace said that he was “immensely grateful to the United States and multilateral partners for their tireless work to begin the process that will, God willing, culminate in the ending of the devastating war in Gaza.” Maronite Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of Los Angeles added, “I urge all international partners to urgently prioritize humanitarian assistance for the Gazan people, as well as the rebuilding of the Strip; this will lay the foundations not just for peace, but for the Gazan people’s prosperity.” Calling for continued prayer for peace, the prelate said, “Let us continue beseeching almighty God for peace and cooperation for the good of all people in the entire Middle East.” - Gaza's Christians hope for a just peace amid massive destruction, parish priest says (Vatican News (Italian))
Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Gaza’s sole Catholic parish, told Vatican media that Gaza’s Christians hope for a just peace on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border. “Despite this moment of serenity and joy, we cannot forget that Gaza is completely destroyed,” said Father Romanelli. “Schools, universities, hospitals, and all essential facilities are now completely missing ... All the wastewater systems are destroyed, there is no drinking water or electricity, and the essentials are lacking.” “We must proceed calmly and continue to pray as we always have, with daily adoration, homilies, and rosaries,” he continued. Christians “know that in God we find the strength, peace, and grace to continue living our spiritual life and serving everyone. And what is truly touching is that I have never heard a Christian express a sense of revenge or vendetta.” - Pope Leo pays tribute to Cardinal Merry del Val, Litany of Humility (Dicastery for Communication)
Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to the Servant of God Rafael Merry del Val (1865-1930), who was active in combating Modernism as Pope St. Pius X’s Secretary of State, on the 140th anniversary of his birth. Addressing members of the Merry del Val family, Pope Leo hailed the prelate’s “path of fidelity, discretion and dedication that made him one of the most significant figures in papal diplomacy in the twentieth century.” The Pontiff also reflected on the Litany of Humility, with which Merry del Val’s “name has become associated.” - Islamist insurgents are killing Muslims as well as Christians in Mozambique, missionary says (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
A missionary sister who serves in northern Mozambique told the Vatican newspaper that Islamist insurgents there, while targeting Christians, are also killing Muslims as they take over land. The anonymous Comboni missionary sister, who has served in the southeastern African nation for 25 years, said that “non-Christians are also kidnapped and killed, sometimes for no apparent reason. It’s true that if [the insurgents] encounter a community gathered for prayer or a celebration, they carry out a massacre. But this also happens in mosques.” Reflecting on the killing of a nun and other Christians, the sister said that “this is truly a Church of martyrs, of people who in their simplicity live their faith to the full, with great strength and determination.” - Europe's bishops call for peace, missionary engagement (CCEE)
The Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) concluded a three-day meeting in Fátima on the theme of “How to be Missionary Disciples in a Secularized Europe.” Appealing for prayer for peace, the bishops said: True peace is not merely the silencing of weapons, but also peace in our minds, hearts, and mutual relationships. Only in this way can we be genuine witnesses of Christ’s message and overcome hatred, division, and violence. The message of Our Lady of Fátima remains very urgent today. She invites us to take up the weapons of peace: prayer and conversion. - Vatican diplomat calls on UN to return to roots on human rights, avoid ideological colonization (Holy See Mission)
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, called on the UN to seek “true reform” through return to its “foundational principles,” particularly a focus on respect for human rights. “The roots of human rights are to be found in the God-given dignity that belongs to each human being,” Archbishop Caccia said in a statement for a recent UN meeting. “The State has the duty to promote and protect human rights, which are necessary conditions for human flourishing.” The Holy See “notes that the interpretation of human rights has often been expanded beyond the scope of both law and consensus, with unintended ramifications,” the prelate added. “Consequently, the assertion of new concepts as rights can become an instrument of ideological colonization.” Archbishop Caccia also said that the “Holy See insists on the central role of religious freedom, not because it ignores other freedoms, but because it is the litmus test for the respect of all other human rights and fundamental freedoms.” - As Madagascar's government falls, leading prelate fears possibility of civil war (Vatican News (Italian))
The president of the Madagascar’s episcopal conference urged the faithful to pray for peace amid the Malagasy mutiny, which saw the flight of President Andry Rajoelina and a military coup amid youth protests. Bishop Fabien Raharilamboniaina said that Rajoelina’s government spurned the bishops’ offer to mediate with youth protestors. The prelate asked, “What could happen now? Civil war.” The prelate asked the faithful “to pray, pray, pray. And to avoid resorting to violence, not only physical but also verbal. And to the armed forces, I say: do not use weapons against the people.” - More...