EWTN News explains: What is a papal encylical? #Catholic With the announcement of Pope Leo XIVʼs first papal encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: “On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence," there is much anticipation as to what guidance the pope will provide on the digital revolution and emerging technologies such as AI.But what are papal encyclicals, and what can they reveal about the popeʼs priorities on the world stage and for the Church?The pope’s pastoral letterA papal encyclical is a pastoral letter written by the pope, primarily addressed to bishops but also to Catholics and all people, typically reflecting on Church teachings and suggesting ways to apply them to modern issues.According to the 1917 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, encyclicals were “letters sent to all the bishops of Christendom, or at least to all those in one particular country, and intended to guide them in their relations with their flocks.”Encyclicals are part of the pope’s everyday teaching authority, known as his “ordinary magisterium.” They are among the most common ways he presents Church doctrine and serve as authoritative and valuable sources of Catholic teaching and guidance on contemporary topics, including sexuality, Catholic social teaching, and stewardship of the earth.Since Pope Leo XIII, encyclicals have become one of the most common means by which popes are heard across the globe on the most pressing issues of our time.Are Catholics required to believe them?A pope does not normally use an encyclical to make an "ex cathedra" declaration — a solemn, and rare, statement on faith or morals, normally promulgated in an apostolic constitution. Modern examples of "ex cathedra" proclamations include the popes' definitions of the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950).Encyclicals, however, are not merely letters or expressions of the popeʼs opinion. They carry significant doctrinal weight and are frequently cited as important sources of Catholic teaching.According to canon law, Catholics are required to give “a religious submission of the intellect and will” to these letters and to “take care to avoid those things which do not agree with it.”Simply put, Catholics are to presume that the pope teaches the truth in these letters and to sincerely respect the teachings they contain.Recent encyclical trendsInitially addressed exclusively to bishops, papal encyclicals began reaching broader audiences in the modern period, beginning with Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. It marked the first time in many years that the bishop of Rome had written a pastoral letter on matters other than doctrine or internal affairs of the Church, instead addressing workers’ rights, the right to private property, and the dangers of socialism.With St. John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris in 1963, pontiffs increasingly addressed their letters to “all men of goodwill,” shifting from a mainly Catholic audience to the global stage. Pope Leo XIII in 1898. | Credit: Francesco De Federicis/Wikimedia Commons Since the Second Vatican Council, papal encyclicals have increasingly focused on threats to the dignity of the human person and authentic human development. St. Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae in 1968, reiterating and applying Church teaching to the question of artificial birth control. St. John Paul II dedicated four encyclicals to promoting Catholic social teaching, building on Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. Pope Francis’ four encyclicals largely addressed the preservation of ecology and universal fraternity.Despite the importance given to these letters in the modern period, the average number of encyclicals per pope is relatively small. Francis wrote only four, while Benedict XVI, his immediate predecessor, wrote just three. John Paul II wrote 14, but the average number of encyclicals per pope since the Second Vatican Council has been just seven.Leo XIII has the most encyclicals of any pope, with 88, 11 of which are dedicated to the rosary.Pope Leo XIVʼs first encyclical builds on othersPope Leo XIV indicated at the beginning of his pontificate that he intended to follow in the footsteps of Pope Leo XIII, his predecessor, by responding to todayʼs industrial revolution: “developments in the field of artificial intelligence.” May 15 marked the 135th anniversary of the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on capital and labor, Rerum Novarum: “Of New Things” — the first in a long line of social encyclicals produced in the modern era of the Catholic Church.Addressing the College of Cardinals on May 10, 2025, Leo said: “In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”Magnifica Humanitas is expected to be released on May 25 at 11:30 a.m. Rome time in the Vaticanʼs Synod Hall.
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EWTN News explains: What is a papal encylical? #Catholic With the announcement of Pope Leo XIVʼs first papal encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas: “On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence," there is much anticipation as to what guidance the pope will provide on the digital revolution and emerging technologies such as AI.But what are papal encyclicals, and what can they reveal about the popeʼs priorities on the world stage and for the Church?The pope’s pastoral letterA papal encyclical is a pastoral letter written by the pope, primarily addressed to bishops but also to Catholics and all people, typically reflecting on Church teachings and suggesting ways to apply them to modern issues.According to the 1917 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, encyclicals were “letters sent to all the bishops of Christendom, or at least to all those in one particular country, and intended to guide them in their relations with their flocks.”Encyclicals are part of the pope’s everyday teaching authority, known as his “ordinary magisterium.” They are among the most common ways he presents Church doctrine and serve as authoritative and valuable sources of Catholic teaching and guidance on contemporary topics, including sexuality, Catholic social teaching, and stewardship of the earth.Since Pope Leo XIII, encyclicals have become one of the most common means by which popes are heard across the globe on the most pressing issues of our time.Are Catholics required to believe them?A pope does not normally use an encyclical to make an "ex cathedra" declaration — a solemn, and rare, statement on faith or morals, normally promulgated in an apostolic constitution. Modern examples of "ex cathedra" proclamations include the popes' definitions of the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950).Encyclicals, however, are not merely letters or expressions of the popeʼs opinion. They carry significant doctrinal weight and are frequently cited as important sources of Catholic teaching.According to canon law, Catholics are required to give “a religious submission of the intellect and will” to these letters and to “take care to avoid those things which do not agree with it.”Simply put, Catholics are to presume that the pope teaches the truth in these letters and to sincerely respect the teachings they contain.Recent encyclical trendsInitially addressed exclusively to bishops, papal encyclicals began reaching broader audiences in the modern period, beginning with Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. It marked the first time in many years that the bishop of Rome had written a pastoral letter on matters other than doctrine or internal affairs of the Church, instead addressing workers’ rights, the right to private property, and the dangers of socialism.With St. John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris in 1963, pontiffs increasingly addressed their letters to “all men of goodwill,” shifting from a mainly Catholic audience to the global stage. Pope Leo XIII in 1898. | Credit: Francesco De Federicis/Wikimedia Commons Since the Second Vatican Council, papal encyclicals have increasingly focused on threats to the dignity of the human person and authentic human development. St. Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae in 1968, reiterating and applying Church teaching to the question of artificial birth control. St. John Paul II dedicated four encyclicals to promoting Catholic social teaching, building on Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. Pope Francis’ four encyclicals largely addressed the preservation of ecology and universal fraternity.Despite the importance given to these letters in the modern period, the average number of encyclicals per pope is relatively small. Francis wrote only four, while Benedict XVI, his immediate predecessor, wrote just three. John Paul II wrote 14, but the average number of encyclicals per pope since the Second Vatican Council has been just seven.Leo XIII has the most encyclicals of any pope, with 88, 11 of which are dedicated to the rosary.Pope Leo XIVʼs first encyclical builds on othersPope Leo XIV indicated at the beginning of his pontificate that he intended to follow in the footsteps of Pope Leo XIII, his predecessor, by responding to todayʼs industrial revolution: “developments in the field of artificial intelligence.” May 15 marked the 135th anniversary of the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on capital and labor, Rerum Novarum: “Of New Things” — the first in a long line of social encyclicals produced in the modern era of the Catholic Church.Addressing the College of Cardinals on May 10, 2025, Leo said: “In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”Magnifica Humanitas is expected to be released on May 25 at 11:30 a.m. Rome time in the Vaticanʼs Synod Hall.

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Papal encyclicals are a powerful way the pope shapes global debates and articulates Church doctrine, but how should Catholics understand them?

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New York Diocese of Ogdensburg will pay million to sex abuse victims #Catholic The Diocese of Ogdensburg, New York, will pay out million to abuse victims, part of a yearslong bankruptcy process that began after dozens of sex abuse cases were filed against it. The diocese said in a May 19 statement that the diocesan administration, along with “parishes, schools, and other Catholic entities,” would contribute into the settlement, which would be organized as a “survivor trust.” “Once the plan is confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court, the million contributed to the survivor trust … will be available for distribution to survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated against them by clergy, religious, lay employees, and volunteers,” the diocese said. Ogdensburg Bishop Terry LaValley prayed that the settlement “will bring peace and healing to all survivors and to all the faithful whose hearts were broken by the gravely sinful conduct of Church leaders.”“The great harm that has been caused by this sinful behavior must never be allowed to happen again,“ he said. ”It is my sincere hope that this process has brought the survivors some comfort and peace.”The diocese "is committed to ensuring the safety of all persons entrusted to our care,” the bishop said. The New York-based law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates said in a May 19 press release that the diocese and abuse victims “will continue negotiations regarding significant nonmonetary provisions,” including “enhancements to child protection policies and the public disclosure of information related to clergy and other personnel accused of sexual abuse.”The Ogdensburg Diocese filed for bankruptcy in July 2023, the sixth diocese in New York state to do so. The bankruptcy filing came as the diocese was facing dozens of abuse lawsuits filed under the stateʼs 2019 Child Victims Act, which significantly expanded the window in which abuse victims could file lawsuits against abusers and institutions. At the time of the bankruptcy filing, LaValley said dealing with the lawsuits on a case-by-case basis would be “slow” and “unpredictable.” “Reorganization ensures that each survivor receives just compensation," the bishop said at the time. "It eliminates a race to the courthouse in which the earliest cases settled or brought to judgment could exhaust the resources available to pay claims, leaving nothing for victims whose cases are resolved later."Earlier this month it was announced that the Archdiocese of New York would pay 0 million into an abuse settlement there, with the amount covering around 1,300 victims who also filed under the state Child Victims Act.
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New York Diocese of Ogdensburg will pay $45 million to sex abuse victims #Catholic The Diocese of Ogdensburg, New York, will pay out $45 million to abuse victims, part of a yearslong bankruptcy process that began after dozens of sex abuse cases were filed against it. The diocese said in a May 19 statement that the diocesan administration, along with “parishes, schools, and other Catholic entities,” would contribute into the settlement, which would be organized as a “survivor trust.” “Once the plan is confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court, the $45 million contributed to the survivor trust … will be available for distribution to survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated against them by clergy, religious, lay employees, and volunteers,” the diocese said. Ogdensburg Bishop Terry LaValley prayed that the settlement “will bring peace and healing to all survivors and to all the faithful whose hearts were broken by the gravely sinful conduct of Church leaders.”“The great harm that has been caused by this sinful behavior must never be allowed to happen again,“ he said. ”It is my sincere hope that this process has brought the survivors some comfort and peace.”The diocese "is committed to ensuring the safety of all persons entrusted to our care,” the bishop said. The New York-based law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates said in a May 19 press release that the diocese and abuse victims “will continue negotiations regarding significant nonmonetary provisions,” including “enhancements to child protection policies and the public disclosure of information related to clergy and other personnel accused of sexual abuse.”The Ogdensburg Diocese filed for bankruptcy in July 2023, the sixth diocese in New York state to do so. The bankruptcy filing came as the diocese was facing dozens of abuse lawsuits filed under the stateʼs 2019 Child Victims Act, which significantly expanded the window in which abuse victims could file lawsuits against abusers and institutions. At the time of the bankruptcy filing, LaValley said dealing with the lawsuits on a case-by-case basis would be “slow” and “unpredictable.” “Reorganization ensures that each survivor receives just compensation," the bishop said at the time. "It eliminates a race to the courthouse in which the earliest cases settled or brought to judgment could exhaust the resources available to pay claims, leaving nothing for victims whose cases are resolved later."Earlier this month it was announced that the Archdiocese of New York would pay $800 million into an abuse settlement there, with the amount covering around 1,300 victims who also filed under the state Child Victims Act.

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The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2023 after nearly 150 sex abuse lawsuits were filed against it.

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Saint Elizabeth’s graduation ceremony shines for Class of 2026 seniors #Catholic - Radiating joy and pride, 277 graduates of Saint Elizabeth’s University (SEU) in the Convent Station neighborhood of Morris Township celebrated a milestone as they received their diplomas during the university’s 124th Commencement Ceremony on the bright morning of May 15. The ceremony for the Class of 2026 took place on the picturesque front lawn of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, who founded and continues to administer the university. Under clear skies, 118 graduate students and 159 undergraduates were honored, with 52 students earning special distinctions amidst applause. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney concluded the ceremony with a final prayer and blessing for the Class of 2026. Father Joseph Farias, a retired priest of the Paterson Diocese, N.J. who serves as university chaplain and advisor to the president for mission integration, offered an opening prayer. The celebration also featured the participation of Gary B. Crosby, Ph.D., the president of Saint Elizabeth’s, and Ras J. Baraka, mayor of Newark, N.J., who delivered a spirited commencement address. BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]   Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
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Saint Elizabeth’s graduation ceremony shines for Class of 2026 seniors #Catholic – Radiating joy and pride, 277 graduates of Saint Elizabeth’s University (SEU) in the Convent Station neighborhood of Morris Township celebrated a milestone as they received their diplomas during the university’s 124th Commencement Ceremony on the bright morning of May 15. The ceremony for the Class of 2026 took place on the picturesque front lawn of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, who founded and continues to administer the university. Under clear skies, 118 graduate students and 159 undergraduates were honored, with 52 students earning special distinctions amidst applause. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney concluded the ceremony with a final prayer and blessing for the Class of 2026. Father Joseph Farias, a retired priest of the Paterson Diocese, N.J. who serves as university chaplain and advisor to the president for mission integration, offered an opening prayer. The celebration also featured the participation of Gary B. Crosby, Ph.D., the president of Saint Elizabeth’s, and Ras J. Baraka, mayor of Newark, N.J., who delivered a spirited commencement address. BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]   Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

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Saint Elizabeth’s graduation ceremony shines for Class of 2026 seniors #Catholic –

Radiating joy and pride, 277 graduates of Saint Elizabeth’s University (SEU) in the Convent Station neighborhood of Morris Township celebrated a milestone as they received their diplomas during the university’s 124th Commencement Ceremony on the bright morning of May 15.

The ceremony for the Class of 2026 took place on the picturesque front lawn of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, who founded and continues to administer the university. Under clear skies, 118 graduate students and 159 undergraduates were honored, with 52 students earning special distinctions amidst applause.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney concluded the ceremony with a final prayer and blessing for the Class of 2026. Father Joseph Farias, a retired priest of the Paterson Diocese, N.J. who serves as university chaplain and advisor to the president for mission integration, offered an opening prayer.

The celebration also featured the participation of Gary B. Crosby, Ph.D., the president of Saint Elizabeth’s, and Ras J. Baraka, mayor of Newark, N.J., who delivered a spirited commencement address.

BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI

[See image gallery at beaconnj.org]
 

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

– Radiating joy and pride, 277 graduates of Saint Elizabeth’s University (SEU) in the Convent Station neighborhood of Morris Township celebrated a milestone as they received their diplomas during the university’s 124th Commencement Ceremony on the bright morning of May 15. The ceremony for the Class of 2026 took place on the picturesque front lawn of the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, who founded and continues to administer the university. Under clear skies, 118 graduate students and 159 undergraduates were honored, with 52 students earning special distinctions amidst applause. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney concluded the ceremony with

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Thousands rejoice as Bishop celebrates Fatima feast at shrine #Catholic - Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Paterson Diocese, N.J., visited the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Asbury, N.J., in the Trenton Diocese on May 13 to celebrate Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Several priests concelebrated the Mass. The visit started with a rosary procession, with the Our Lady of Fatima pilgrim statue carried around the shrine’s grounds. Thousands of pilgrims from the Paterson Diocese, N.J., and around New Jersey attended the Mass. The World Apostolate of Fatima operates the shrine. The day’s schedule included a talk by David M. Carollo, the shrine’s executive director; an exposition of the Blessed Sacrament; a Eucharistic procession and Benediction, and a blessing of religious articles. The event ended with a “Fatima farewell,” during which pilgrims sang a song and waved white handkerchiefs as the statue departed. The focus on Our Lady of Fatima during the day had special meaning. The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13 commemorates the first of six apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1917 to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. It is a recognized Optional Memorial in the Catholic Church, emphasizing messages of prayer, peace, penance, and the daily rosary, according to Franciscan Media. Pilgrims may visit the shrine and receive a plenary indulgence during the Extraordinary Marian Jubilee Year. For more information, visit BlueArmyShrine.com. BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]   Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
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Thousands rejoice as Bishop celebrates Fatima feast at shrine #Catholic – Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Paterson Diocese, N.J., visited the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Asbury, N.J., in the Trenton Diocese on May 13 to celebrate Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Several priests concelebrated the Mass. The visit started with a rosary procession, with the Our Lady of Fatima pilgrim statue carried around the shrine’s grounds. Thousands of pilgrims from the Paterson Diocese, N.J., and around New Jersey attended the Mass. The World Apostolate of Fatima operates the shrine. The day’s schedule included a talk by David M. Carollo, the shrine’s executive director; an exposition of the Blessed Sacrament; a Eucharistic procession and Benediction, and a blessing of religious articles. The event ended with a “Fatima farewell,” during which pilgrims sang a song and waved white handkerchiefs as the statue departed. The focus on Our Lady of Fatima during the day had special meaning. The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13 commemorates the first of six apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1917 to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. It is a recognized Optional Memorial in the Catholic Church, emphasizing messages of prayer, peace, penance, and the daily rosary, according to Franciscan Media. Pilgrims may visit the shrine and receive a plenary indulgence during the Extraordinary Marian Jubilee Year. For more information, visit BlueArmyShrine.com. BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]   Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

unitedyam

Thousands rejoice as Bishop celebrates Fatima feast at shrine #Catholic –

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Paterson Diocese, N.J., visited the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Asbury, N.J., in the Trenton Diocese on May 13 to celebrate Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Several priests concelebrated the Mass.

The visit started with a rosary procession, with the Our Lady of Fatima pilgrim statue carried around the shrine’s grounds. Thousands of pilgrims from the Paterson Diocese, N.J., and around New Jersey attended the Mass. The World Apostolate of Fatima operates the shrine.

The day’s schedule included a talk by David M. Carollo, the shrine’s executive director; an exposition of the Blessed Sacrament; a Eucharistic procession and Benediction, and a blessing of religious articles. The event ended with a “Fatima farewell,” during which pilgrims sang a song and waved white handkerchiefs as the statue departed.

The focus on Our Lady of Fatima during the day had special meaning. The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13 commemorates the first of six apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1917 to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. It is a recognized Optional Memorial in the Catholic Church, emphasizing messages of prayer, peace, penance, and the daily rosary, according to Franciscan Media.

Pilgrims may visit the shrine and receive a plenary indulgence during the Extraordinary Marian Jubilee Year.

For more information, visit BlueArmyShrine.com.

BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

– Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Paterson Diocese, N.J., visited the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Asbury, N.J., in the Trenton Diocese on May 13 to celebrate Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Several priests concelebrated the Mass. The visit started with a rosary procession, with the Our Lady of Fatima pilgrim statue carried around the shrine’s grounds. Thousands of pilgrims from the Paterson Diocese, N.J., and around New Jersey attended the Mass. The World Apostolate of Fatima operates the shrine. The day’s schedule included a talk by David M. Carollo, the

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 20 May 2026 – A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles Acts 20:28-38 At Miletus, Paul spoke to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus: “Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the Church of God that he acquired with his own Blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them. So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears. And now I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated. I have never wanted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You know well that these very hands have served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” When he had finished speaking he knelt down and prayed with them all. They were all weeping loudly as they threw their arms around Paul and kissed him, for they were deeply distressed that he had said that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.From the Gospel according to John 17:11b-19 Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”Divisions among Christians, while they wound the Church, wound Christ; and divided, we cause a wound to Christ: the Church is indeed the body of which Christ is the Head. We know well how much Jesus had at heart that his disciples should remain united in his love. It suffices to consider his words, written in the 17th Chapter of the Gospel according to John, in Jesus’ prayer to the Father when his passion was imminent: “Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (Jn 17:11). This unity was already threatened while Jesus was still among them: in the Gospel, in fact, it is recorded that the Apostles argued among themselves about who was the greatest, the most important (cf. Lk 9:46). The Lord, however, emphatically insisted on unity in the name of the Father, allowing us to understand how much more credible our proclamation and our witness will be if we are first able to live in communion and to love each other. (Pope Francis, General Audience, 8 October 2014)

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A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 20:28-38

At Miletus, Paul spoke to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus:
“Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock
of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers,
in which you tend the Church of God
that he acquired with his own Blood.
I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you,
and they will not spare the flock.
And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth
to draw the disciples away after them.
So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day,
I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears.
And now I commend you to God
and to that gracious word of his that can build you up
and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated.
I have never wanted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.
You know well that these very hands
have served my needs and my companions.
In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort
we must help the weak,
and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said,
‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

When he had finished speaking
he knelt down and prayed with them all.
They were all weeping loudly
as they threw their arms around Paul and kissed him,
for they were deeply distressed that he had said
that they would never see his face again.
Then they escorted him to the ship.

From the Gospel according to John
17:11b-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying:
“Holy Father, keep them in your name
that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,
and I guarded them, and none of them was lost
except the son of destruction,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you.
I speak this in the world
so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them,
because they do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world
but that you keep them from the Evil One.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them,
so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

Divisions among Christians, while they wound the Church, wound Christ; and divided, we cause a wound to Christ: the Church is indeed the body of which Christ is the Head. We know well how much Jesus had at heart that his disciples should remain united in his love. It suffices to consider his words, written in the 17th Chapter of the Gospel according to John, in Jesus’ prayer to the Father when his passion was imminent: “Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (Jn 17:11). This unity was already threatened while Jesus was still among them: in the Gospel, in fact, it is recorded that the Apostles argued among themselves about who was the greatest, the most important (cf. Lk 9:46). The Lord, however, emphatically insisted on unity in the name of the Father, allowing us to understand how much more credible our proclamation and our witness will be if we are first able to live in communion and to love each other. (Pope Francis, General Audience, 8 October 2014)

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Abigail Adams Starting To Believe Husband Made Up This Whole ‘Continental Congress’ As An Excuse To Hang Out With The Boys #BabylonBee – QUINCY, MA — Weary from a major smallpox outbreak in her area, the wife of John Adams claimed she was starting to believe this whole thing about a "Continental Congress" was made up by her husband as an excuse to go hang out with the boys.
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Abigail Adams Starting To Believe Husband Made Up This Whole ‘Continental Congress’ As An Excuse To Hang Out With The Boys #BabylonBee – QUINCY, MA — Weary from a major smallpox outbreak in her area, the wife of John Adams claimed she was starting to believe this whole thing about a "Continental Congress" was made up by her husband as an excuse to go hang out with the boys.

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QUINCY, MA — Weary from a major smallpox outbreak in her area, the wife of John Adams claimed she was starting to believe this whole thing about a "Continental Congress" was made up by her husband as an excuse to go hang out with the boys.

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Study Reveals 90% Of Data Centers Just Storing Your Wife’s Pictures Of The Kids #BabylonBee – OVERLAND PARK, KS — The need for the construction of massive data storage centers has been in the news again recently, with the results of a new study indicating that 90% of data centers are just storage for your wife’s pictures of the kids.
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Study Reveals 90% Of Data Centers Just Storing Your Wife’s Pictures Of The Kids #BabylonBee – OVERLAND PARK, KS — The need for the construction of massive data storage centers has been in the news again recently, with the results of a new study indicating that 90% of data centers are just storage for your wife’s pictures of the kids.

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OVERLAND PARK, KS — The need for the construction of massive data storage centers has been in the news again recently, with the results of a new study indicating that 90% of data centers are just storage for your wife’s pictures of the kids.

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Agreement allows daily pastoral access at Illinois ICE facility, faith leaders say – #Catholic – A group of Catholic and Christian faith leaders said it has been granted daily access to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois, since May 15 under a milestone agreement with immigration officials.The Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL), a Chicago-based Catholic and Christian advocacy group, said in a May 19 press release that it has struck a deal with ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that allows “daily pastoral visits.” The temporary agreement follows a nearly 10-month-long campaign and lawsuit filed by CSPL and other faith leaders in November. CSPL faith leaders were permitted to provide pastoral care for Ash Wednesday and Holy Week but were denied entrance at Christmas. The group noted that the agreement is not permanent and that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois requested a July status update.“During the pendency of this federal litigation, as ordered by the court, plaintiffs may access the ICE Broadview Service Staging Area Facility,” the agreement states, according to CSPL, “to offer pastoral services on a daily basis to detainees who wish to receive pastoral care, including spiritual care, prayer, or facility-approved sacramental ministry, which may include rites tied to specific religious observances.”Access to the facility will be allowed for up to five religious leaders per day between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. and between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., CSPL said. ICE personnel are required under the agreement to provide “sufficient space for religious services to be carried out within reasonable operational parameters,” CSPL said. The agreement also requires ICE to “make reasonable efforts” to facilitate privacy for detainees during the sacrament of confession, CSPL said.Visits may only take place after detainees have completed intake and must be concluded with enough time for detainees to be transported out of the facility, CSPL said. ICE is permitted to limit visitation based on safety threats and operational concerns under the agreement, CSPL said.‘Emergency room treatment’The group provided religious services to 12 detainees at Broadview under the agreement on May 17, CSPL said.“One detainee, facing deportation, expressed his gratitude for the visit and said, ‘Me siento como a volver a vivir,’ which loosely translates to a feeling of being brought back to life,” the organization said in the release.“To my mind, it’s emergency room treatment,” said Father Paul Keller, CMF, the provincial for the Claretian Missionaries and a member of the CSPL Clergy Council. “Someone is there right when the trauma has happened to attend to the immediate emotional and spiritual wounds.”“This agreement represents a recognition of the human dignity and basic human rights of our detained sisters and brothers,” CSPL Executive Director Michael N. Okińczyc-Cruz said.Another civil suit (Moreno Gonzalez v. Noem) in federal court alleged detainees at the Broadview facility faced overcrowded, “inhumane” conditions, insufficient nutrition, inadequate medical care, lack of privacy, and a squalid living environment.Although detainees are only meant to be held at Broadview for a few hours, with the maximum being 72 hours, some alleged last year that they were held there for several days and even up to one week during ICE’s Operation Midway Blitz, which detained about 3,000 immigrants illegally residing in the state.A DHS spokesperson said “religious organizations are more than welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities” and disputed detainees' claims that the Broadview facility functions as a detention center, not a temporary processing facility.“Even before the attacks on the Broadview facility, it was not within standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out," according to a DHS spokesperson.
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Agreement allows daily pastoral access at Illinois ICE facility, faith leaders say – #Catholic – A group of Catholic and Christian faith leaders said it has been granted daily access to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois, since May 15 under a milestone agreement with immigration officials.The Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL), a Chicago-based Catholic and Christian advocacy group, said in a May 19 press release that it has struck a deal with ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that allows “daily pastoral visits.” The temporary agreement follows a nearly 10-month-long campaign and lawsuit filed by CSPL and other faith leaders in November. CSPL faith leaders were permitted to provide pastoral care for Ash Wednesday and Holy Week but were denied entrance at Christmas. The group noted that the agreement is not permanent and that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois requested a July status update.“During the pendency of this federal litigation, as ordered by the court, plaintiffs may access the ICE Broadview Service Staging Area Facility,” the agreement states, according to CSPL, “to offer pastoral services on a daily basis to detainees who wish to receive pastoral care, including spiritual care, prayer, or facility-approved sacramental ministry, which may include rites tied to specific religious observances.”Access to the facility will be allowed for up to five religious leaders per day between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. and between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., CSPL said. ICE personnel are required under the agreement to provide “sufficient space for religious services to be carried out within reasonable operational parameters,” CSPL said. The agreement also requires ICE to “make reasonable efforts” to facilitate privacy for detainees during the sacrament of confession, CSPL said.Visits may only take place after detainees have completed intake and must be concluded with enough time for detainees to be transported out of the facility, CSPL said. ICE is permitted to limit visitation based on safety threats and operational concerns under the agreement, CSPL said.‘Emergency room treatment’The group provided religious services to 12 detainees at Broadview under the agreement on May 17, CSPL said.“One detainee, facing deportation, expressed his gratitude for the visit and said, ‘Me siento como a volver a vivir,’ which loosely translates to a feeling of being brought back to life,” the organization said in the release.“To my mind, it’s emergency room treatment,” said Father Paul Keller, CMF, the provincial for the Claretian Missionaries and a member of the CSPL Clergy Council. “Someone is there right when the trauma has happened to attend to the immediate emotional and spiritual wounds.”“This agreement represents a recognition of the human dignity and basic human rights of our detained sisters and brothers,” CSPL Executive Director Michael N. Okińczyc-Cruz said.Another civil suit (Moreno Gonzalez v. Noem) in federal court alleged detainees at the Broadview facility faced overcrowded, “inhumane” conditions, insufficient nutrition, inadequate medical care, lack of privacy, and a squalid living environment.Although detainees are only meant to be held at Broadview for a few hours, with the maximum being 72 hours, some alleged last year that they were held there for several days and even up to one week during ICE’s Operation Midway Blitz, which detained about 3,000 immigrants illegally residing in the state.A DHS spokesperson said “religious organizations are more than welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities” and disputed detainees' claims that the Broadview facility functions as a detention center, not a temporary processing facility.“Even before the attacks on the Broadview facility, it was not within standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out," according to a DHS spokesperson.

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A Chicago-based Catholic and Christian advocacy group said it has struck a deal allowing “daily pastoral visits” to a federal immigration facility in Broadview, Illinois.

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The Myth of Two Balanced Budgets, California and New York City – Liberal commentators are hailing Gavin Newsom and Zohran Mamdani as proof that socialist governance works, that a government can expand free programs, tax the wealthy, and still balance the books. The post The Myth of Two Balanced Budgets, California and New York City appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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The Myth of Two Balanced Budgets, California and New York City – Liberal commentators are hailing Gavin Newsom and Zohran Mamdani as proof that socialist governance works, that a government can expand free programs, tax the wealthy, and still balance the books. The post The Myth of Two Balanced Budgets, California and New York City appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Portraits of a politician and a businessman, showcasing leadership and professionalism against contrasting backgrounds.

Portraits of a politician and a businessman, showcasing leadership and professionalism against contrasting backgrounds.

Liberal commentators are hailing Gavin Newsom and Zohran Mamdani as proof that socialist governance works, that a government can expand free programs, tax the wealthy, and still balance the books.

The post The Myth of Two Balanced Budgets, California and New York City appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Another Spanish Socialist Charged With Money Laundering and Influence Peddling – Former Prime Minister and Key Sánchez Ally, Zapatero Has His Offices Raided by Police – Socialists in Spain are floundering. The post Another Spanish Socialist Charged With Money Laundering and Influence Peddling – Former Prime Minister and Key Sánchez Ally, Zapatero Has His Offices Raided by Police appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Another Spanish Socialist Charged With Money Laundering and Influence Peddling – Former Prime Minister and Key Sánchez Ally, Zapatero Has His Offices Raided by Police – Socialists in Spain are floundering. The post Another Spanish Socialist Charged With Money Laundering and Influence Peddling – Former Prime Minister and Key Sánchez Ally, Zapatero Has His Offices Raided by Police appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Portrait of a man with short hair and a neutral expression, wearing a dark suit against a black background.

Portrait of a man with short hair and a neutral expression, wearing a dark suit against a black background.

Socialists in Spain are floundering.

The post Another Spanish Socialist Charged With Money Laundering and Influence Peddling – Former Prime Minister and Key Sánchez Ally, Zapatero Has His Offices Raided by Police appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Spain’s High Court investigates former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for alleged influence peddling in the Plus Ultra case –   This is a Gateway Hispanic article. The post Spain’s High Court investigates former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for alleged influence peddling in the Plus Ultra case appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Spain’s High Court investigates former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for alleged influence peddling in the Plus Ultra case –   This is a Gateway Hispanic article. The post Spain’s High Court investigates former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for alleged influence peddling in the Plus Ultra case appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Man in a suit gestures while speaking at an outdoor event, surrounded by greenery and a metal structure in the background.

Man in a suit gestures while speaking at an outdoor event, surrounded by greenery and a metal structure in the background.

  This is a Gateway Hispanic article.

The post Spain’s High Court investigates former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for alleged influence peddling in the Plus Ultra case appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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U.S. Catholic bishops urge immigration reform to uphold ‘God-given dignity’ in budget bill – #Catholic – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging Congress to include immigration reform in the budget reconciliation package that is being negotiated by lawmakers. The bishops seek protection of the pastoral needs of detainees and changes to enforcement practices.“We encourage members of both parties to reject partisan appropriations funding and instead rededicate yourselves to a collaborative process that pursues the common good and promotes human dignity and flourishing,” they wrote in a letter to Republican and Democratic lawmakers.The letter was signed by Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the USCCB, and Victoria, Texas, Bishop Brendan Cahill, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration.In the letter, the bishops acknowledge “the legitimate role of the state to regulate immigration, including by bringing to justice those among us who seek to inflict harm,” but raise concerns about enforcement practices.“Enforcement of immigration laws cannot truly advance the common good without reasonable conditions that ensure respect for the God-given dignity of each person, inherent in which is the exercise of certain fundamental rights,” they wrote.The bishops asked for enforcement to be better aligned with “the moral order,” such as avoiding enforcement near sensitive locations like churches when there are not extreme circumstances and “mandating consistent access to religious and pastoral services” for detainees.“Rather than pursuing such measures through a bipartisan process, Congress now risks setting a concerning precedent — one in which furthering the common good is undermined for the sake of political expediency,” they wrote.Under President Donald Trump’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescinded a rule that put limits on immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations” like churches. DHS officials still urge officer discretion and contend such enforcement would be rare.DHS also says it encourages clergy to reach out for accommodations to ensure spiritual needs are met for detainees, although officials denied faith leaders' requests to bring the sacraments to an immigration processing facility in Illinois until a federal lawsuit was filed in November 2025 following repeated denials.DHS recently emerged from a prolonged fiscal 2026 funding impasse, the longest DHS shutdown on record. Congress passed a bill that funded most DHS components, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) funding was left unresolved, requiring separate legislative action. The ongoing complexity may influence the fiscal 2027 appropriations timeline, and Republicans have proposed giving ICE and CBP billion in additional funding, on top of 0 billion Congress already allocated last year.The bishops requested lawmakers “limit additional funding increases for immigration enforcement after the unprecedented amounts provided through last year’s reconciliation bill.” They expressed concern over “an enforcement-only approach to immigration,” which they said “can never meet the demands of the moral law.”“Nor does such an approach truly support the welfare and prosperity of American communities,” the bishops said.Fifty‑four people have died in ICE custody since the start of fiscal 2025, which is 125% more detainee deaths than occurred during all four previous fiscal years combined (24 deaths), according to ICE detainee death reporting data.In their letter to Congress, the bishops quoted a speech by Pope Leo XIV on Jan. 9 in which the Holy Father said: “To be authentic, democratic processes must be accompanied by the political will to pursue the common good, to strengthen social cohesion, and to promote the integral development of every person.”The bishops asked Congress to follow that guidance when putting together the budget bill.“Through this reconciliation effort and the circumstances that gave rise to it, we see the unfortunate absence of that will and therefore the failure to achieve reasonable and necessary reforms to current immigration enforcement practices,” they said.
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U.S. Catholic bishops urge immigration reform to uphold ‘God-given dignity’ in budget bill – #Catholic – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging Congress to include immigration reform in the budget reconciliation package that is being negotiated by lawmakers. The bishops seek protection of the pastoral needs of detainees and changes to enforcement practices.“We encourage members of both parties to reject partisan appropriations funding and instead rededicate yourselves to a collaborative process that pursues the common good and promotes human dignity and flourishing,” they wrote in a letter to Republican and Democratic lawmakers.The letter was signed by Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the USCCB, and Victoria, Texas, Bishop Brendan Cahill, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration.In the letter, the bishops acknowledge “the legitimate role of the state to regulate immigration, including by bringing to justice those among us who seek to inflict harm,” but raise concerns about enforcement practices.“Enforcement of immigration laws cannot truly advance the common good without reasonable conditions that ensure respect for the God-given dignity of each person, inherent in which is the exercise of certain fundamental rights,” they wrote.The bishops asked for enforcement to be better aligned with “the moral order,” such as avoiding enforcement near sensitive locations like churches when there are not extreme circumstances and “mandating consistent access to religious and pastoral services” for detainees.“Rather than pursuing such measures through a bipartisan process, Congress now risks setting a concerning precedent — one in which furthering the common good is undermined for the sake of political expediency,” they wrote.Under President Donald Trump’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescinded a rule that put limits on immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations” like churches. DHS officials still urge officer discretion and contend such enforcement would be rare.DHS also says it encourages clergy to reach out for accommodations to ensure spiritual needs are met for detainees, although officials denied faith leaders' requests to bring the sacraments to an immigration processing facility in Illinois until a federal lawsuit was filed in November 2025 following repeated denials.DHS recently emerged from a prolonged fiscal 2026 funding impasse, the longest DHS shutdown on record. Congress passed a bill that funded most DHS components, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) funding was left unresolved, requiring separate legislative action. The ongoing complexity may influence the fiscal 2027 appropriations timeline, and Republicans have proposed giving ICE and CBP $70 billion in additional funding, on top of $170 billion Congress already allocated last year.The bishops requested lawmakers “limit additional funding increases for immigration enforcement after the unprecedented amounts provided through last year’s reconciliation bill.” They expressed concern over “an enforcement-only approach to immigration,” which they said “can never meet the demands of the moral law.”“Nor does such an approach truly support the welfare and prosperity of American communities,” the bishops said.Fifty‑four people have died in ICE custody since the start of fiscal 2025, which is 125% more detainee deaths than occurred during all four previous fiscal years combined (24 deaths), according to ICE detainee death reporting data.In their letter to Congress, the bishops quoted a speech by Pope Leo XIV on Jan. 9 in which the Holy Father said: “To be authentic, democratic processes must be accompanied by the political will to pursue the common good, to strengthen social cohesion, and to promote the integral development of every person.”The bishops asked Congress to follow that guidance when putting together the budget bill.“Through this reconciliation effort and the circumstances that gave rise to it, we see the unfortunate absence of that will and therefore the failure to achieve reasonable and necessary reforms to current immigration enforcement practices,” they said.

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Fifty‑four people have died in ICE custody since the start of fiscal 2025.

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U.S. bishops plan Sacred Heart consecration, issue agenda for June meeting – #Catholic – Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City is set to deliver his first remarks as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) before bishops consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June.The USCCB is set to gather for the 2026 Spring Plenary Assembly in Orlando, Florida, on June 10–12.Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, nuncio to the United States, also is scheduled to deliver his first address to U.S. bishops since his appointment in March.In preparation for consecrating the nation, bishops will hear reflections on the Sacred Heart from several of the bishops ahead of the Mass. The USCCB said in a statement that the bishops hope the event encourages parishes and individuals to also participate in America’s 250th anniversary by contributing to 250 hours of adoration and 250 works of mercy.Lectionary changesThe full plenary agenda has not yet been finalized and is subject to change, but it is expected to include votes on a number of action items including the causes for canonization of Monsignor Joseph Francis Buh and John Rick Miller.The Committee on Divine Worship also will present elements of a revised edition of the “Lectionary for Mass” and the “2025 Roman Missal-Liturgy of the Hours Supplement” for approval.The bishops are expected to vote on a potential revision to the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” which was first addressed by bishops in 2022 meetings.The bishops have determined the charter is in need of revisions to align with its original intention of safeguarding minors, the prevention of abuse, and ensuring structures continue to be in place to respond to abuse allegations, the USCCB said.9-year novena, Catholic universities to be discussedThe U.S. bishops are also expected to talk about the USCCB’s engagement with the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena, a nine-year novena called for by Pope Francis in 2022 that anticipates the fifth centennial of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2031.For the 25th anniversary of the implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae in the U.S., there is an expected presentation and reflection on Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution to guide Catholic colleges and universities on theological and pastoral principles.The group will also discuss upcoming events including World Youth Day 2027, which will be held in Seoul, South Korea.
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U.S. bishops plan Sacred Heart consecration, issue agenda for June meeting – #Catholic – Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City is set to deliver his first remarks as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) before bishops consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June.The USCCB is set to gather for the 2026 Spring Plenary Assembly in Orlando, Florida, on June 10–12.Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, nuncio to the United States, also is scheduled to deliver his first address to U.S. bishops since his appointment in March.In preparation for consecrating the nation, bishops will hear reflections on the Sacred Heart from several of the bishops ahead of the Mass. The USCCB said in a statement that the bishops hope the event encourages parishes and individuals to also participate in America’s 250th anniversary by contributing to 250 hours of adoration and 250 works of mercy.Lectionary changesThe full plenary agenda has not yet been finalized and is subject to change, but it is expected to include votes on a number of action items including the causes for canonization of Monsignor Joseph Francis Buh and John Rick Miller.The Committee on Divine Worship also will present elements of a revised edition of the “Lectionary for Mass” and the “2025 Roman Missal-Liturgy of the Hours Supplement” for approval.The bishops are expected to vote on a potential revision to the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” which was first addressed by bishops in 2022 meetings.The bishops have determined the charter is in need of revisions to align with its original intention of safeguarding minors, the prevention of abuse, and ensuring structures continue to be in place to respond to abuse allegations, the USCCB said.9-year novena, Catholic universities to be discussedThe U.S. bishops are also expected to talk about the USCCB’s engagement with the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena, a nine-year novena called for by Pope Francis in 2022 that anticipates the fifth centennial of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2031.For the 25th anniversary of the implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae in the U.S., there is an expected presentation and reflection on Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution to guide Catholic colleges and universities on theological and pastoral principles.The group will also discuss upcoming events including World Youth Day 2027, which will be held in Seoul, South Korea.

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The bishops’ conference is set to hold its 2026 Spring Plenary Assembly in Orlando on June 10–12.

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Leo XIV laments that after receiving confirmation, many young people ‘disappear from the parish’ #Catholic Pope Leo XIV lamented that after being confirmed, many young people no longer attend church. He asked those awaiting confirmation to “pay special attention” to one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, perseverance.The pope met on Saturday, May 16, with those awaiting confirmation from the Archdiocese of Genoa, Italy. In an impromptu message, the Holy Father said that “one of the greatest joys of a bishop is celebrating confirmations, because it is truly a gift of the Holy Spirit.”“It is truly beautiful to receive this sacrament, for the fullness of the Holy Spirit gives us this enthusiasm, this strength, this ability to follow Jesus Christ, to always say ‘yes’ to the Lord, to have no fear of following him with courage, and to live out our faith in a world that so often seeks to draw us away from Jesus,” he told them.After recalling the significance of the solemnity of Pentecost — to be celebrated on Sunday, May 24 — the pope lamented a sad reality: “At times, when the bishop administers confirmation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the children are never seen again! They disappear from the parish.”“Don’t forget what you have experienced during this time, including the joy of coming to Rome to celebrate together, to pray together. And may this joy live on in your hearts as you continue to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ,” Pope Leo urged.He also invited young people to “persevere in the faith, to return to the parish — there are so many activities, so many opportunities — but above all in the life of faith, because Jesus Christ wants to walk with you, with each one of you, and with all of you in community, which is so important.”“We do not live out our faith alone; we live it together. And forming these relationships of friendship and community is a way of living with perseverance as disciples of Jesus,” he added.Finally, he called upon those to be confirmed to make a promise to the Lord: “that you truly desire to continue being his friends, his disciples, and his missionaries, and that you desire to persevere in the faith. So, I leave you with these words,” he concluded.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Leo XIV laments that after receiving confirmation, many young people ‘disappear from the parish’ #Catholic Pope Leo XIV lamented that after being confirmed, many young people no longer attend church. He asked those awaiting confirmation to “pay special attention” to one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, perseverance.The pope met on Saturday, May 16, with those awaiting confirmation from the Archdiocese of Genoa, Italy. In an impromptu message, the Holy Father said that “one of the greatest joys of a bishop is celebrating confirmations, because it is truly a gift of the Holy Spirit.”“It is truly beautiful to receive this sacrament, for the fullness of the Holy Spirit gives us this enthusiasm, this strength, this ability to follow Jesus Christ, to always say ‘yes’ to the Lord, to have no fear of following him with courage, and to live out our faith in a world that so often seeks to draw us away from Jesus,” he told them.After recalling the significance of the solemnity of Pentecost — to be celebrated on Sunday, May 24 — the pope lamented a sad reality: “At times, when the bishop administers confirmation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the children are never seen again! They disappear from the parish.”“Don’t forget what you have experienced during this time, including the joy of coming to Rome to celebrate together, to pray together. And may this joy live on in your hearts as you continue to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ,” Pope Leo urged.He also invited young people to “persevere in the faith, to return to the parish — there are so many activities, so many opportunities — but above all in the life of faith, because Jesus Christ wants to walk with you, with each one of you, and with all of you in community, which is so important.”“We do not live out our faith alone; we live it together. And forming these relationships of friendship and community is a way of living with perseverance as disciples of Jesus,” he added.Finally, he called upon those to be confirmed to make a promise to the Lord: “that you truly desire to continue being his friends, his disciples, and his missionaries, and that you desire to persevere in the faith. So, I leave you with these words,” he concluded.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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Speaking to a group of young people soon to be confirmed, Pope Leo XIV encouraged perseverance in the faith and emphasized that faith is lived in community, not in isolation.

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Archdiocese of Baltimore proposes nearly 0 million settlement for abuse victims #Catholic The Archdiocese of Baltimore is proposing nearly 0 million in compensation for abuse victims amid its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings there.A May 15 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court revealed that the archdiocese would contribute just under million to an abuse settlement for survivors, while “settling insurers” would pay a total of 5 million into the fund.The insurance amount represents a 25% increase from an earlier proposed contribution of 0 million.In a statement on the filing, the archdiocese said the overall plan “seeks to provide equitable compensation to survivors while sustaining the Church’s mission and ministries.”The proposal “reflects a commitment to transparency and a realistic assessment of available resources,” it said. The archdiocese noted that “no final agreement has yet been achieved.” The proposal would also establish a “Survivor Compensation Trust” to “evaluate claims and distribute compensation to survivors.”The archdiocese “will continue to listen, to learn, and to seek a resolution that honors the dignity of survivors and strengthens the mission of the Church for generations to come,” the statement said. In 2024 the Baltimore Archdiocese sued multiple insurers over what it claimed was a failure to pay abuse claims for which the insurers were contractually obligated.U.S. dioceses in recent years have frequently turned to insurers to help cover major abuse settlements, though insurers have at times challenged claims from dioceses on the grounds that their insurance policies did not cover instances of sex abuse. Marie Reilly, a professor of law at Penn State University and an expert in bankruptcy litigation, including Catholic diocesan bankruptcy proceedings, told EWTN News in 2025 that starting in the 1990s, insurance companies mostly changed how they cover sexual abuse.“Up until about the mid-’90s, a general liability policy used to include coverages for employee liability,” she said. “It would cover sex abuse claims against the diocese stemming from an employee’s abuse.”“After 1996, insurance policies issued under new revised standards just don’t provide that coverage anymore,” she said.
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Archdiocese of Baltimore proposes nearly $170 million settlement for abuse victims #Catholic The Archdiocese of Baltimore is proposing nearly $170 million in compensation for abuse victims amid its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings there.A May 15 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court revealed that the archdiocese would contribute just under $44 million to an abuse settlement for survivors, while “settling insurers” would pay a total of $125 million into the fund.The insurance amount represents a 25% increase from an earlier proposed contribution of $100 million.In a statement on the filing, the archdiocese said the overall plan “seeks to provide equitable compensation to survivors while sustaining the Church’s mission and ministries.”The proposal “reflects a commitment to transparency and a realistic assessment of available resources,” it said. The archdiocese noted that “no final agreement has yet been achieved.” The proposal would also establish a “Survivor Compensation Trust” to “evaluate claims and distribute compensation to survivors.”The archdiocese “will continue to listen, to learn, and to seek a resolution that honors the dignity of survivors and strengthens the mission of the Church for generations to come,” the statement said. In 2024 the Baltimore Archdiocese sued multiple insurers over what it claimed was a failure to pay abuse claims for which the insurers were contractually obligated.U.S. dioceses in recent years have frequently turned to insurers to help cover major abuse settlements, though insurers have at times challenged claims from dioceses on the grounds that their insurance policies did not cover instances of sex abuse. Marie Reilly, a professor of law at Penn State University and an expert in bankruptcy litigation, including Catholic diocesan bankruptcy proceedings, told EWTN News in 2025 that starting in the 1990s, insurance companies mostly changed how they cover sexual abuse.“Up until about the mid-’90s, a general liability policy used to include coverages for employee liability,” she said. “It would cover sex abuse claims against the diocese stemming from an employee’s abuse.”“After 1996, insurance policies issued under new revised standards just don’t provide that coverage anymore,” she said.

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The vast majority of the settlement would come from insurance contributions, according to a filing from the archdiocese.

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SMILE to give Earth’s magnetosphere its first X-ray

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Mission Highlight: SMILE The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) are targeting tonight, Monday, May 18, at 11:52 p.m. EST for the launch of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The mission was originally set to flyContinue reading “SMILE to give Earth’s magnetosphere its first X-ray”

The post SMILE to give Earth’s magnetosphere its first X-ray appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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‘God hears the cries of the victims,’ Mexican bishop assures at Walk for Peace - #Catholic - The president of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference issued a powerful call to the Church and society not to turn away from those suffering because of the violence that is the result of organized crime, declaring that “our God hears the cries of the victims, walks with them, and calls upon us, too, not to look the other way.”Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca delivered the message during the 12th annual Walk for Peace in his diocese on Saturday, May 16, as thousands gathered to reject resignation in the face of ongoing violence.This march, he said, demonstrates that the people of Morelos are “a people who keep moving forward, who don’t give up, and who continue to believe that peace is possible.”According to the most recent report by the Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, 17 Mexican localities appear on the list of the 50 most violent cities in the world. Cuernavaca ranks 23rd.Guarding the ‘flame’ of peaceAfter recalling the message of Pope Leo XIV for the 2026 World Day of Peace observed on Jan. 1, in which the Holy Father described peace as “a small flame threatened by the storm,” Castro affirmed: “That is what we have come here to do today: to guard that flame so that it’s not extinguished by the storm. And we do so together, for if we stand alone, it goes out. But together, we can keep it lit.”The Mexican prelate emphasized that his message is not “that of a politician, nor of a social analyst, nor of someone who seeks to point out the suffering of others from a distance. I speak as a shepherd, as a brother who walks alongside his people.”Tweet“I speak as a disciple of Jesus Christ who has seen too many tears on the faces of [the people of] Morelos and of Mexico, of our homeland, so deeply wounded by the violence afflicting our families,” he noted.“I have heard the mothers who break their silence, searching [for their disappeared children],” he continued. “I have seen the fear of young people who feel their future slipping away; the weariness of entire families living amid uncertainty, violence, and abandonment; the exhaustion of transport workers unable to earn an honest living because organized crime holds them in subjugation; and the fed-up frustration of so many who can no longer put up with the corruption we endure.”In the face of this suffering, he said, “the Church cannot remain indifferent, nor take refuge in the comforting atmosphere of its churches; for the God in whom we believe is not a God who observes from afar, he is the God of the burning bush, the God who said to Moses: ‘I have seen the oppression of my people, I have heard their outcry, and I have come down to deliver them.’ Our God hears the cries of the victims, walks with them, and calls upon us, too, not to look the other way.”“The Church is not here to divide or to sow confusion out of ambition or to gain power; the Church is here to build based on the truth, for only the truth can open the way to authentic reconciliation,” the prelate said.“In the face of the person mourning a child, of the one who has been forcibly disappeared, of the one being extorted, or of the one who has lost hope — there is Christ, crying out once again from the cross,” he lamented. Bishop Ramón Castro Castro blesses the participants of the 12th Walk for Peace in Cuernavaca, Morelos state, Mexico, with the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday, May 16, 2026. | Credit: Diocese of Cuernavaca A priest forced to leave his parish due to death threatsThe prelate subsequently referred to the “particular wound” afflicting the small town of Huautla, in southern Morelos — one of the “poorest and most forgotten corners of our state,” a “land of simple, hardworking people; a land hard hit for years by poverty and migration; a land that has watched its children depart in search of the daily bread they can’t get there.”There, he denounced, “organized crime has reached a level of cruelty that defies description,” exacting extortion payments, also known as protection money, “simply for living there, simply for owning a home.”“When the pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Huautla became the last bastion of hope for the community, as the priest so often is in Mexico’s most vulnerable villages, and when his presence and his words were the only support the people had left to keep from sinking into despair, organized crime threatened to take his life.”“Those threats were so serious, so real, and so concrete that he was forced to leave his community for his own physical protection; and today, Huautla is left without a shepherd,” he lamented.TweetGoverning means not abandoning the peopleCastro emphasized in his message that “governing means not abandoning the people. Governing means not refusing to take up the responsibility of guaranteeing the security and well-being of every person within the territory entrusted to them.”“Our heartfelt plea without mincing words is that Huautla not be left all alone; that the government do its job to help the mothers searching [for their disappeared children] an effort which they rightly deserve; that transport workers be afforded security; that thousands upon thousands of merchants — micro, small, and medium-sized alike — be able to work without having to pay protection money; and that our young people be provided with real alternatives: quality education, decent jobs, and personal safety, so that organized crime is not the only door open to them.”“We ask you, government officials, not to sell us false narratives. The people aren’t buying them anymore then you declare peace, while 90% of the people of Morelos are afraid to step out onto the street. That’s not governing; that’s an insult to the intelligence of the people,” he stated.At the same time, he assured the authorities of help from the Church and its priests, religious, and communities: “We’re not here to criticize for the sake of criticism; we are here to contribute, to offer accompaniment, to put forward proposals, and to walk together toward peace.”This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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‘God hears the cries of the victims,’ Mexican bishop assures at Walk for Peace – #Catholic – The president of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference issued a powerful call to the Church and society not to turn away from those suffering because of the violence that is the result of organized crime, declaring that “our God hears the cries of the victims, walks with them, and calls upon us, too, not to look the other way.”Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca delivered the message during the 12th annual Walk for Peace in his diocese on Saturday, May 16, as thousands gathered to reject resignation in the face of ongoing violence.This march, he said, demonstrates that the people of Morelos are “a people who keep moving forward, who don’t give up, and who continue to believe that peace is possible.”According to the most recent report by the Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, 17 Mexican localities appear on the list of the 50 most violent cities in the world. Cuernavaca ranks 23rd.Guarding the ‘flame’ of peaceAfter recalling the message of Pope Leo XIV for the 2026 World Day of Peace observed on Jan. 1, in which the Holy Father described peace as “a small flame threatened by the storm,” Castro affirmed: “That is what we have come here to do today: to guard that flame so that it’s not extinguished by the storm. And we do so together, for if we stand alone, it goes out. But together, we can keep it lit.”The Mexican prelate emphasized that his message is not “that of a politician, nor of a social analyst, nor of someone who seeks to point out the suffering of others from a distance. I speak as a shepherd, as a brother who walks alongside his people.”Tweet“I speak as a disciple of Jesus Christ who has seen too many tears on the faces of [the people of] Morelos and of Mexico, of our homeland, so deeply wounded by the violence afflicting our families,” he noted.“I have heard the mothers who break their silence, searching [for their disappeared children],” he continued. “I have seen the fear of young people who feel their future slipping away; the weariness of entire families living amid uncertainty, violence, and abandonment; the exhaustion of transport workers unable to earn an honest living because organized crime holds them in subjugation; and the fed-up frustration of so many who can no longer put up with the corruption we endure.”In the face of this suffering, he said, “the Church cannot remain indifferent, nor take refuge in the comforting atmosphere of its churches; for the God in whom we believe is not a God who observes from afar, he is the God of the burning bush, the God who said to Moses: ‘I have seen the oppression of my people, I have heard their outcry, and I have come down to deliver them.’ Our God hears the cries of the victims, walks with them, and calls upon us, too, not to look the other way.”“The Church is not here to divide or to sow confusion out of ambition or to gain power; the Church is here to build based on the truth, for only the truth can open the way to authentic reconciliation,” the prelate said.“In the face of the person mourning a child, of the one who has been forcibly disappeared, of the one being extorted, or of the one who has lost hope — there is Christ, crying out once again from the cross,” he lamented. Bishop Ramón Castro Castro blesses the participants of the 12th Walk for Peace in Cuernavaca, Morelos state, Mexico, with the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday, May 16, 2026. | Credit: Diocese of Cuernavaca A priest forced to leave his parish due to death threatsThe prelate subsequently referred to the “particular wound” afflicting the small town of Huautla, in southern Morelos — one of the “poorest and most forgotten corners of our state,” a “land of simple, hardworking people; a land hard hit for years by poverty and migration; a land that has watched its children depart in search of the daily bread they can’t get there.”There, he denounced, “organized crime has reached a level of cruelty that defies description,” exacting extortion payments, also known as protection money, “simply for living there, simply for owning a home.”“When the pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Huautla became the last bastion of hope for the community, as the priest so often is in Mexico’s most vulnerable villages, and when his presence and his words were the only support the people had left to keep from sinking into despair, organized crime threatened to take his life.”“Those threats were so serious, so real, and so concrete that he was forced to leave his community for his own physical protection; and today, Huautla is left without a shepherd,” he lamented.TweetGoverning means not abandoning the peopleCastro emphasized in his message that “governing means not abandoning the people. Governing means not refusing to take up the responsibility of guaranteeing the security and well-being of every person within the territory entrusted to them.”“Our heartfelt plea without mincing words is that Huautla not be left all alone; that the government do its job to help the mothers searching [for their disappeared children] an effort which they rightly deserve; that transport workers be afforded security; that thousands upon thousands of merchants — micro, small, and medium-sized alike — be able to work without having to pay protection money; and that our young people be provided with real alternatives: quality education, decent jobs, and personal safety, so that organized crime is not the only door open to them.”“We ask you, government officials, not to sell us false narratives. The people aren’t buying them anymore then you declare peace, while 90% of the people of Morelos are afraid to step out onto the street. That’s not governing; that’s an insult to the intelligence of the people,” he stated.At the same time, he assured the authorities of help from the Church and its priests, religious, and communities: “We’re not here to criticize for the sake of criticism; we are here to contribute, to offer accompaniment, to put forward proposals, and to walk together toward peace.”This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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Bishop Ramón Castro expressed the Church’s resolve to stand firm in its solidarity with victims of organized crime, decrying widespread extortion and corruption in Mexico.

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 19 May 2026 – A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles Acts 20:17-27 From Miletus Paul had the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus summoned.  When they came to him, he addressed them, "You know how I lived among you the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia. I served the Lord with all humility and with the tears and trials that came to me because of the plots of the Jews, and I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public or in your homes. I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus. But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace. "But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again. And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God."From the Gospel according to John 17:1-11a Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. "I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you."In the Gospel, John tells us that Jesus, before uttering a word, “looked up to heaven” (Jn 17:1). In these, the final hours of his life, Jesus is weighed down by anguish at the prospect of his passion, conscious of the dark night he is about to endure, feeling betrayed and abandoned. Yet in the same moment, he looks up to heaven. Jesus lifts his eyes to God. He does not resign himself to evil; he does not let himself be overwhelmed by grief; he does not retreat into the bitterness of the defeated and disappointed; instead, he looks to heaven. (…) Prayer leads us to trust in God even in times of difficulty. It helps us to hope when things seem hopeless and it sustains us in our everyday struggles. Prayer is not a retreat, an escape, in the face of problems.  Instead, it is the only weapon at our disposal for keeping love and hope alive amid the weapons of death. It is not easy to lift our gaze when we are hurting, but faith helps us resist the temptation to turn in on ourselves. We may want to protest, to cry out to God in our pain. We should not be afraid to do so, for this too is prayer. (Pope Francis, Homily on the Holy Mass with the Myanmar Community in Rome, 16 May 2021)

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A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 20:17-27

From Miletus Paul had the presbyters
of the Church at Ephesus summoned. 
When they came to him, he addressed them,
"You know how I lived among you
the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia.
I served the Lord with all humility
and with the tears and trials that came to me
because of the plots of the Jews,
and I did not at all shrink from telling you
what was for your benefit,
or from teaching you in public or in your homes.
I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks
to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus.
But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem.
What will happen to me there I do not know,
except that in one city after another
the Holy Spirit has been warning me
that imprisonment and hardships await me.
Yet I consider life of no importance to me,
if only I may finish my course
and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus,
to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.

"But now I know that none of you
to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels
will ever see my face again.
And so I solemnly declare to you this day
that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,
for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God."

From the Gospel according to John
17:1-11a

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,
"Father, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with you,
with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

"I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
because the words you gave to me I have given to them,
and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be in the world,
but they are in the world, while I am coming to you."

In the Gospel, John tells us that Jesus, before uttering a word, “looked up to heaven” (Jn 17:1). In these, the final hours of his life, Jesus is weighed down by anguish at the prospect of his passion, conscious of the dark night he is about to endure, feeling betrayed and abandoned. Yet in the same moment, he looks up to heaven. Jesus lifts his eyes to God. He does not resign himself to evil; he does not let himself be overwhelmed by grief; he does not retreat into the bitterness of the defeated and disappointed; instead, he looks to heaven. (…) Prayer leads us to trust in God even in times of difficulty. It helps us to hope when things seem hopeless and it sustains us in our everyday struggles. Prayer is not a retreat, an escape, in the face of problems.  Instead, it is the only weapon at our disposal for keeping love and hope alive amid the weapons of death. It is not easy to lift our gaze when we are hurting, but faith helps us resist the temptation to turn in on ourselves. We may want to protest, to cry out to God in our pain. We should not be afraid to do so, for this too is prayer. (Pope Francis, Homily on the Holy Mass with the Myanmar Community in Rome, 16 May 2021)

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Pope Leo XIV thanks Catholic Extension Society for its assistance to migrants and the poor – #Catholic – In an address to its board of governors, Pope Leo XIV thanked the Catholic Extension Society on May 18 for the assistance it provides to the poor.The pontiff praised the organization’s founder, Father Francis Clement Kelley, who more than 120 years ago “sought to reach out to remote faith communities across the United States in order to bring to them the very life of Christ through the sacraments and the support of a larger Catholic community.”“This missionary enthusiasm is still needed today, and so I would like to thank you for your continued efforts to minister to the needs of the poorer Catholic communities both in the United States and abroad,” the pope noted.“In a particular way, I would like to commend your work in Cuba and in Puerto Rico. The support you provide to these communities is a beautiful expression of the universality of the Church and a living reminder that ‘love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God,’" the pope emphasized, citing his apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te.He praised the pastoral care the society offers to the most disadvantaged “as well as to the numerous immigrant families in the United States.”“It is imperative that our brothers and sisters experience the warmth of a community which is marked by the presence of Christ,” he emphasized.The Catholic Extension Society raises funds to support and strengthen under-resourced mission dioceses throughout the United States. Founded in 1905, it is headquartered in Chicago.The pope, a native of the Chicago area, took this opportunity to make a joke: “When someone from Dolton, Illinois, comes, we have to open all the doors! There aren’t many of us around anymore," he quipped.As they continue their mission, he added, Catholic Extension Societyʼs dedication to not “only alleviate the temporal needs of those less fortunate” but also to “invest in building up vibrant Catholic communities is particularly necessary today.”“Faith-filled communities provide an opportunity for individuals to experience the joy of new life in Christ lived out in a daily, ordinary fashion,” the Holy Father pointed out.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Pope Leo XIV thanks Catholic Extension Society for its assistance to migrants and the poor – #Catholic – In an address to its board of governors, Pope Leo XIV thanked the Catholic Extension Society on May 18 for the assistance it provides to the poor.The pontiff praised the organization’s founder, Father Francis Clement Kelley, who more than 120 years ago “sought to reach out to remote faith communities across the United States in order to bring to them the very life of Christ through the sacraments and the support of a larger Catholic community.”“This missionary enthusiasm is still needed today, and so I would like to thank you for your continued efforts to minister to the needs of the poorer Catholic communities both in the United States and abroad,” the pope noted.“In a particular way, I would like to commend your work in Cuba and in Puerto Rico. The support you provide to these communities is a beautiful expression of the universality of the Church and a living reminder that ‘love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God,’" the pope emphasized, citing his apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te.He praised the pastoral care the society offers to the most disadvantaged “as well as to the numerous immigrant families in the United States.”“It is imperative that our brothers and sisters experience the warmth of a community which is marked by the presence of Christ,” he emphasized.The Catholic Extension Society raises funds to support and strengthen under-resourced mission dioceses throughout the United States. Founded in 1905, it is headquartered in Chicago.The pope, a native of the Chicago area, took this opportunity to make a joke: “When someone from Dolton, Illinois, comes, we have to open all the doors! There aren’t many of us around anymore," he quipped.As they continue their mission, he added, Catholic Extension Societyʼs dedication to not “only alleviate the temporal needs of those less fortunate” but also to “invest in building up vibrant Catholic communities is particularly necessary today.”“Faith-filled communities provide an opportunity for individuals to experience the joy of new life in Christ lived out in a daily, ordinary fashion,” the Holy Father pointed out.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The pope expressed his gratitude to the papal society founded in 1905, which raises funds to support and strengthen under-resourced mission dioceses throughout the United States.

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Calling nuclear weapons immoral, Archbishop Wester urges halt to production of plutonium pits – #Catholic – Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, has strongly urged the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to stop expanding production of plutonium pits, the triggers used in nuclear weapons.In a written statement, read by a priest on Wester’s behalf at a public hearing on May 14, the archbishop described nuclear weapons as “immoral” and “genocidal.” The priest who read the statement is from Hiroshima, Japan, where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb in 1945.The hearing, the fourth of five scheduled this month, drew more than 130 people in person and roughly 100 online, with the vast majority expressing opposition to the agency’s draft environmental impact statement, in which it lays out its plan to ramp up plutonium pit production.Wester directly challenged the position of the NNSA that increased pit production complies with the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). He argued that the treaty’s core bargain requires nuclear-armed states to work toward disarmament, a commitment he said has not been fulfilled.“The essential bargain of the NPT was that the nuclear weapons states try to negotiate nuclear disarmament,” Westerʼs statement said. “The nuclear weapons powers have never upheld that part of the bargain.”The NNSA proposal calls for at least 80 pits per year by 2030, as required by the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, potentially split between Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.Between the two locations, they could produce around 200 pits per year.The current number of pits being produced annually is “classified,” according to Toni Chiri, a spokesperson for the NNSA’s Los Alamos field office.Chiri stated that the agency values public input and will consider comments as it prepares a final environmental impact statement.‘Peace through atomic strength’Nevertheless, Chiri emphasized the NNSA’s mission. “We make weapons that deter our adversaries. Atomic strength is essential for U.S. nuclear deterrence and national security.”During the hearing, a screen displayed the NNSA’s slogan: “Peace through atomic strength.” The NNSA is housed within the U.S. Department of Energy.The prelate’s intervention carried particular weight coming from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which has lived for decades with the legacy of nuclear weapons development at Los Alamos in northern New Mexico.Wester’s message aligns with consistent Church teaching that the use of nuclear weapons is incompatible with peace and human dignity.The Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly condemns “indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants,” calling them “a crime against God and man.”It does not, however, explicitly declare the possession of nuclear weapons immoral. That stronger language has come more recently from Pope Francis.In 2022, Francis wrote: “I wish to reaffirm that the use of nuclear weapons, as well as their mere possession, is immoral,” in a letter to Ambassador Alexander Kmentt, president of the First Meeting of States Parties, regarding the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.During his year-old pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has made multiple calls for peace. He has also warned of the dangers of modern warfare, including the threat of nuclear escalation at a time when global tensions remain high, and he has called for renewed international efforts toward disarmament and de-escalation.Comments on the draft environmental impact statement will be accepted until July 16. The NNSA expects to issue a final decision early next year, though some commenters noted that as the agency is required by law to manufacture the pits, public hearings are useless.Chiri said, however, that “NNSA does listen; we take the comments — especially those that actually address the document — and consider those as we work towards our final document.”“Based on the turnout tonight, it’s clear that the public is paying attention and wants to provide its input,” she said.Many attendees at the hearing also raised concerns about environmental impacts, water usage, waste disposal, and the health of workers and surrounding communities. Several speakers also questioned why a genuine “no-action” alternative — meaning no new pit production — was not seriously considered.
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Calling nuclear weapons immoral, Archbishop Wester urges halt to production of plutonium pits – #Catholic – Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, has strongly urged the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to stop expanding production of plutonium pits, the triggers used in nuclear weapons.In a written statement, read by a priest on Wester’s behalf at a public hearing on May 14, the archbishop described nuclear weapons as “immoral” and “genocidal.” The priest who read the statement is from Hiroshima, Japan, where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb in 1945.The hearing, the fourth of five scheduled this month, drew more than 130 people in person and roughly 100 online, with the vast majority expressing opposition to the agency’s draft environmental impact statement, in which it lays out its plan to ramp up plutonium pit production.Wester directly challenged the position of the NNSA that increased pit production complies with the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). He argued that the treaty’s core bargain requires nuclear-armed states to work toward disarmament, a commitment he said has not been fulfilled.“The essential bargain of the NPT was that the nuclear weapons states try to negotiate nuclear disarmament,” Westerʼs statement said. “The nuclear weapons powers have never upheld that part of the bargain.”The NNSA proposal calls for at least 80 pits per year by 2030, as required by the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, potentially split between Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.Between the two locations, they could produce around 200 pits per year.The current number of pits being produced annually is “classified,” according to Toni Chiri, a spokesperson for the NNSA’s Los Alamos field office.Chiri stated that the agency values public input and will consider comments as it prepares a final environmental impact statement.‘Peace through atomic strength’Nevertheless, Chiri emphasized the NNSA’s mission. “We make weapons that deter our adversaries. Atomic strength is essential for U.S. nuclear deterrence and national security.”During the hearing, a screen displayed the NNSA’s slogan: “Peace through atomic strength.” The NNSA is housed within the U.S. Department of Energy.The prelate’s intervention carried particular weight coming from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which has lived for decades with the legacy of nuclear weapons development at Los Alamos in northern New Mexico.Wester’s message aligns with consistent Church teaching that the use of nuclear weapons is incompatible with peace and human dignity.The Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly condemns “indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants,” calling them “a crime against God and man.”It does not, however, explicitly declare the possession of nuclear weapons immoral. That stronger language has come more recently from Pope Francis.In 2022, Francis wrote: “I wish to reaffirm that the use of nuclear weapons, as well as their mere possession, is immoral,” in a letter to Ambassador Alexander Kmentt, president of the First Meeting of States Parties, regarding the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.During his year-old pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has made multiple calls for peace. He has also warned of the dangers of modern warfare, including the threat of nuclear escalation at a time when global tensions remain high, and he has called for renewed international efforts toward disarmament and de-escalation.Comments on the draft environmental impact statement will be accepted until July 16. The NNSA expects to issue a final decision early next year, though some commenters noted that as the agency is required by law to manufacture the pits, public hearings are useless.Chiri said, however, that “NNSA does listen; we take the comments — especially those that actually address the document — and consider those as we work towards our final document.”“Based on the turnout tonight, it’s clear that the public is paying attention and wants to provide its input,” she said.Many attendees at the hearing also raised concerns about environmental impacts, water usage, waste disposal, and the health of workers and surrounding communities. Several speakers also questioned why a genuine “no-action” alternative — meaning no new pit production — was not seriously considered.

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Archbishop John Wester challenged the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s position that increased pit production complies with the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

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Rosary procession in Madison reflects community’s deep faith #Catholic – On May 11, parishioners gathered at St. Vincent Martyr Church in Madison in honor of the Month of Mary for the Rosary Altar Society’s Rosary Procession, reflecting the faith and devotion of the community’s faithful. The procession began at St. Vincent Church with First Communicants crowning the statue of the Blessed Mother, then processed along the streets of Madison as members of the community stopped to watch. Led by a banner of the Blessed Mother, the procession included Father Owen B. Moran, pastor of St. Vincent’s, Father Alex Nevitt, priest in residence, and Bishop (Bish), the parish’s “beloved Director of Tail Wagging.” Also in attendance were Sister of Charity Noreen Holly, principal of St. Vincent Martyr School, and Peter Solecki, director of music ministry. Parishioners of all ages took part in the procession, while those unable to walk gathered prayerfully inside the church. Following the procession, the community returned to St. Vincent Martyr for fellowship. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
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Rosary procession in Madison reflects community’s deep faith #Catholic – On May 11, parishioners gathered at St. Vincent Martyr Church in Madison in honor of the Month of Mary for the Rosary Altar Society’s Rosary Procession, reflecting the faith and devotion of the community’s faithful. The procession began at St. Vincent Church with First Communicants crowning the statue of the Blessed Mother, then processed along the streets of Madison as members of the community stopped to watch. Led by a banner of the Blessed Mother, the procession included Father Owen B. Moran, pastor of St. Vincent’s, Father Alex Nevitt, priest in residence, and Bishop (Bish), the parish’s “beloved Director of Tail Wagging.” Also in attendance were Sister of Charity Noreen Holly, principal of St. Vincent Martyr School, and Peter Solecki, director of music ministry. Parishioners of all ages took part in the procession, while those unable to walk gathered prayerfully inside the church. Following the procession, the community returned to St. Vincent Martyr for fellowship. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

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Rosary procession in Madison reflects community’s deep faith #Catholic –

On May 11, parishioners gathered at St. Vincent Martyr Church in Madison in honor of the Month of Mary for the Rosary Altar Society’s Rosary Procession, reflecting the faith and devotion of the community’s faithful.

The procession began at St. Vincent Church with First Communicants crowning the statue of the Blessed Mother, then processed along the streets of Madison as members of the community stopped to watch.

Led by a banner of the Blessed Mother, the procession included Father Owen B. Moran, pastor of St. Vincent’s, Father Alex Nevitt, priest in residence, and Bishop (Bish), the parish’s “beloved Director of Tail Wagging.” Also in attendance were Sister of Charity Noreen Holly, principal of St. Vincent Martyr School, and Peter Solecki, director of music ministry.

Parishioners of all ages took part in the procession, while those unable to walk gathered prayerfully inside the church. Following the procession, the community returned to St. Vincent Martyr for fellowship.

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– On May 11, parishioners gathered at St. Vincent Martyr Church in Madison in honor of the Month of Mary for the Rosary Altar Society’s Rosary Procession, reflecting the faith and devotion of the community’s faithful. The procession began at St. Vincent Church with First Communicants crowning the statue of the Blessed Mother, then processed along the streets of Madison as members of the community stopped to watch. Led by a banner of the Blessed Mother, the procession included Father Owen B. Moran, pastor of St. Vincent’s, Father Alex Nevitt, priest in residence, and Bishop (Bish), the parish’s “beloved Director of

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First Holy Communion held at Clifton parish  #Catholic - St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Clifton, N.J., celebrated the First Holy Communion of 11  young parishioners on May 2. First Communicants are George Bazo, Liliana Bazo, Ariela Chiong, Patrick Diaz, Jonathan Grabowski, Edric Mineses, Jackson Rios, Ryan Valentine, Angel Velez Jr., Mariana Velez, and Jose Alejandro Zuniga. The Mass was celebrated by Father Jeider Barraza, pastor, and Father Joseph DeMarzo, parochial vicar. Surrounded by family and the parish community, the children received the Eucharist for the first time, marking a significant milestone in their Catholic faith journey. [See image gallery at beaconnj.org] Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
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First Holy Communion held at Clifton parish  #Catholic – St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Clifton, N.J., celebrated the First Holy Communion of 11  young parishioners on May 2. First Communicants are George Bazo, Liliana Bazo, Ariela Chiong, Patrick Diaz, Jonathan Grabowski, Edric Mineses, Jackson Rios, Ryan Valentine, Angel Velez Jr., Mariana Velez, and Jose Alejandro Zuniga. The Mass was celebrated by Father Jeider Barraza, pastor, and Father Joseph DeMarzo, parochial vicar. Surrounded by family and the parish community, the children received the Eucharist for the first time, marking a significant milestone in their Catholic faith journey. [See image gallery at beaconnj.org] Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

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First Holy Communion held at Clifton parish  #Catholic –

St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Clifton, N.J., celebrated the First Holy Communion of 11  young parishioners on May 2. First Communicants are George Bazo, Liliana Bazo, Ariela Chiong, Patrick Diaz, Jonathan Grabowski, Edric Mineses, Jackson Rios, Ryan Valentine, Angel Velez Jr., Mariana Velez, and Jose Alejandro Zuniga. The Mass was celebrated by Father Jeider Barraza, pastor, and Father Joseph DeMarzo, parochial vicar. Surrounded by family and the parish community, the children received the Eucharist for the first time, marking a significant milestone in their Catholic faith journey.

[See image gallery at beaconnj.org]

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

– St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Clifton, N.J., celebrated the First Holy Communion of 11  young parishioners on May 2. First Communicants are George Bazo, Liliana Bazo, Ariela Chiong, Patrick Diaz, Jonathan Grabowski, Edric Mineses, Jackson Rios, Ryan Valentine, Angel Velez Jr., Mariana Velez, and Jose Alejandro Zuniga. The Mass was celebrated by Father Jeider Barraza, pastor, and Father Joseph DeMarzo, parochial vicar. Surrounded by family and the parish community, the children received the Eucharist for the first time, marking a significant milestone in their Catholic faith journey. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

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Smart Man Saves Time By Getting Angry Now Instead Of Waiting Until All The Facts Are Known #BabylonBee – ALTOONA, PA — Local man Ted Woods got tired of all the time spent getting angry online. "There’s always something new to get angry at each day," Woods said. "And you never know what time the facts will come out confirming the need to get angry — it could be while I’m busy and don’t have time to be distracted with being angry." Thus, Woods came up with a great new strategy: Get angry at things now instead of waiting until all the facts are known.
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Smart Man Saves Time By Getting Angry Now Instead Of Waiting Until All The Facts Are Known #BabylonBee – ALTOONA, PA — Local man Ted Woods got tired of all the time spent getting angry online. "There’s always something new to get angry at each day," Woods said. "And you never know what time the facts will come out confirming the need to get angry — it could be while I’m busy and don’t have time to be distracted with being angry." Thus, Woods came up with a great new strategy: Get angry at things now instead of waiting until all the facts are known.

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ALTOONA, PA — Local man Ted Woods got tired of all the time spent getting angry online. "There’s always something new to get angry at each day," Woods said. "And you never know what time the facts will come out confirming the need to get angry — it could be while I’m busy and don’t have time to be distracted with being angry." Thus, Woods came up with a great new strategy: Get angry at things now instead of waiting until all the facts are known.

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President Trump and the Prolife Movement – Guest Post by Pro-life Leader Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life A number of articles over recent days, including the Wall Street Journal’s “The Antiabortion Movement is Turning on Trump,” do not speak for the entire pro-life movement. The post President Trump and the Prolife Movement appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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President Trump and the Prolife Movement – Guest Post by Pro-life Leader Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life A number of articles over recent days, including the Wall Street Journal’s “The Antiabortion Movement is Turning on Trump,” do not speak for the entire pro-life movement. The post President Trump and the Prolife Movement appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Man in a black shirt sits at a table with open books, discussing topics in front of a brick wall and an American flag.

Man in a black shirt sits at a table with open books, discussing topics in front of a brick wall and an American flag.

Guest Post by Pro-life Leader Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life A number of articles over recent days, including the Wall Street Journal’s “The Antiabortion Movement is Turning on Trump,” do not speak for the entire pro-life movement.

The post President Trump and the Prolife Movement appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Indian Catholics denied bail after confronting mob that disrupted Mass #Catholic UDAIPUR, India — Nine Catholics have been behind bars for more than two weeks after parishioners chased out more than a dozen people who barged into a village church during Mass, shouting accusations of conversion, in a remote village in Indiaʼs desert state of Rajasthan.“We feel frustrated that our people were denied bail a second time today on the false allegation of conversion,” Bishop Devprasad John Ganawa of Udaipur, a Divine Word missionary, told EWTN News on May 12.“When the hooligans disrupted the Mass on May 1 shouting ‘conversion,’ our people forced them out. Instead of registering a criminal case against the intruders, the police have charged our people with ‘conversion and attempt to murder’ and arrested nine Catholics of Bandaria Parish,” Ganawa explained.‘They took out a knife’“I was saying the evening Mass at the substation of my parish at Kalinjara village when the incident happened,” Father Arvind Amliyar recounted to EWTN News.“During the Communion time over a dozen people stormed into the church, shouted ‘conversion,’ and started filming with cameras. When one of them took out a knife, our people snatched it and chased them out,” Amliyar said.“Soon police came and what happened then shocked me. Instead of finding out what had happened, they arrested four Catholics the same night,” the priest said.A Hindu mob then staged a protest outside the police station and demanded action against the parishioners, according to Amliyar. Police turned away Catholics who went to them twice, including at midnight the same day and the next day, refusing to register their complaint.Police came knocking on May 4 at 2:30 a.m. and arrested five more parishioners, including Anil Rawat, 70, a retired headmaster of a government school who now runs a private school in the village.Bail denied twiceThe local magistrate court rejected the parishioners' bail application the next day, as they were charged with “serious crimes”: conversion and attempted murder. Church lawyers then moved the case to the Banswara district court, which denied bail again on May 12.“Now, we have to go to the High Court with senior lawyers,” Amliyar said of the challenging situation facing the village church, which serves about 70 Catholic families. About 70 people were attending Mass when the intruders stormed in.“I cannot understand what is going on. The police bluntly refused to register the complaint of our people and have filed a serious charge of conversion against our people and imprisoned them,” Ganawa said of the first case of alleged conversion in Udaipur Diocese, where he has served as bishop for 13 years.Anti-conversion laws ‘reduced to a tool to harass minorities’“This is another typical case of the widespread abuse of anti-conversion laws against Christians in several states, most of them ruled by the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party],” A.C. Michael, a Catholic and national coordinator of the United Christian Forum, which monitors atrocities against Christians, told EWTN News from New Delhi.Under the Indian criminal system, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution. However, under recently enacted or amended anti-conversion laws, Michael said, the burden of disproving the charge of conversion is shifted to the accused, making it difficult for defendants to secure bail from trial courts quickly, even in fraudulent cases.Under the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, enacted in 2025, the burden of disproving the allegation of conversion falls on the accused.As a result, Michael said, hundreds of Christians are languishing in jails in BJP-ruled states while protracted legal challenges drag on in higher courts.“The shocking reality is that there has been hardly any conviction in so-called conversion cases. That is why the churches and Christian groups have moved the Supreme Court for abolishing the anti-conversion laws that have been reduced to a tool to harass minorities,” Michael said.He noted that the Supreme Court in May 2024 observed that certain provisions in anti-conversion laws may be in violation of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to freely profess, practice, and propagate oneʼs religion.The Feb. 4–10 biennial assembly of more than 200 bishops in India in Bangalore also reiterated this concern in its final statement: “As many innocent individuals are incarcerated based on unfounded allegations of forceful religious conversions, we strongly demand the repealing of legislations which are inconsistent with religious freedom and right to privacy.”
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Indian Catholics denied bail after confronting mob that disrupted Mass #Catholic UDAIPUR, India — Nine Catholics have been behind bars for more than two weeks after parishioners chased out more than a dozen people who barged into a village church during Mass, shouting accusations of conversion, in a remote village in Indiaʼs desert state of Rajasthan.“We feel frustrated that our people were denied bail a second time today on the false allegation of conversion,” Bishop Devprasad John Ganawa of Udaipur, a Divine Word missionary, told EWTN News on May 12.“When the hooligans disrupted the Mass on May 1 shouting ‘conversion,’ our people forced them out. Instead of registering a criminal case against the intruders, the police have charged our people with ‘conversion and attempt to murder’ and arrested nine Catholics of Bandaria Parish,” Ganawa explained.‘They took out a knife’“I was saying the evening Mass at the substation of my parish at Kalinjara village when the incident happened,” Father Arvind Amliyar recounted to EWTN News.“During the Communion time over a dozen people stormed into the church, shouted ‘conversion,’ and started filming with cameras. When one of them took out a knife, our people snatched it and chased them out,” Amliyar said.“Soon police came and what happened then shocked me. Instead of finding out what had happened, they arrested four Catholics the same night,” the priest said.A Hindu mob then staged a protest outside the police station and demanded action against the parishioners, according to Amliyar. Police turned away Catholics who went to them twice, including at midnight the same day and the next day, refusing to register their complaint.Police came knocking on May 4 at 2:30 a.m. and arrested five more parishioners, including Anil Rawat, 70, a retired headmaster of a government school who now runs a private school in the village.Bail denied twiceThe local magistrate court rejected the parishioners' bail application the next day, as they were charged with “serious crimes”: conversion and attempted murder. Church lawyers then moved the case to the Banswara district court, which denied bail again on May 12.“Now, we have to go to the High Court with senior lawyers,” Amliyar said of the challenging situation facing the village church, which serves about 70 Catholic families. About 70 people were attending Mass when the intruders stormed in.“I cannot understand what is going on. The police bluntly refused to register the complaint of our people and have filed a serious charge of conversion against our people and imprisoned them,” Ganawa said of the first case of alleged conversion in Udaipur Diocese, where he has served as bishop for 13 years.Anti-conversion laws ‘reduced to a tool to harass minorities’“This is another typical case of the widespread abuse of anti-conversion laws against Christians in several states, most of them ruled by the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party],” A.C. Michael, a Catholic and national coordinator of the United Christian Forum, which monitors atrocities against Christians, told EWTN News from New Delhi.Under the Indian criminal system, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution. However, under recently enacted or amended anti-conversion laws, Michael said, the burden of disproving the charge of conversion is shifted to the accused, making it difficult for defendants to secure bail from trial courts quickly, even in fraudulent cases.Under the Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, enacted in 2025, the burden of disproving the allegation of conversion falls on the accused.As a result, Michael said, hundreds of Christians are languishing in jails in BJP-ruled states while protracted legal challenges drag on in higher courts.“The shocking reality is that there has been hardly any conviction in so-called conversion cases. That is why the churches and Christian groups have moved the Supreme Court for abolishing the anti-conversion laws that have been reduced to a tool to harass minorities,” Michael said.He noted that the Supreme Court in May 2024 observed that certain provisions in anti-conversion laws may be in violation of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to freely profess, practice, and propagate oneʼs religion.The Feb. 4–10 biennial assembly of more than 200 bishops in India in Bangalore also reiterated this concern in its final statement: “As many innocent individuals are incarcerated based on unfounded allegations of forceful religious conversions, we strongly demand the repealing of legislations which are inconsistent with religious freedom and right to privacy.”

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Nine parishioners face conversion and attempted murder charges after forcing out intruders who stormed a village church during Mass in Rajasthan.

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REPORT: Trump Considers Resuming War After Rejecting New Iranian Deal Proposal, Plans High Stakes Situation Room Meeting With National Security Officials – President Trump is calling for Iran to surrender after rejecting a Sunday proposal from Iran as he reportedly weighs resuming the war.  According to a report from Axios, a senior US official and a source briefed on the issue say the White House has rejected another deal from Iran. The post REPORT: Trump Considers Resuming War After Rejecting New Iranian Deal Proposal, Plans High Stakes Situation Room Meeting With National Security Officials appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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REPORT: Trump Considers Resuming War After Rejecting New Iranian Deal Proposal, Plans High Stakes Situation Room Meeting With National Security Officials – President Trump is calling for Iran to surrender after rejecting a Sunday proposal from Iran as he reportedly weighs resuming the war.  According to a report from Axios, a senior US official and a source briefed on the issue say the White House has rejected another deal from Iran. The post REPORT: Trump Considers Resuming War After Rejecting New Iranian Deal Proposal, Plans High Stakes Situation Room Meeting With National Security Officials appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Donald Trump speaking at a podium with the presidential seal, wearing a USA hat, flanked by American flags.

Donald Trump speaking at a podium with the presidential seal, wearing a USA hat, flanked by American flags.

President Trump is calling for Iran to surrender after rejecting a Sunday proposal from Iran as he reportedly weighs resuming the war.  According to a report from Axios, a senior US official and a source briefed on the issue say the White House has rejected another deal from Iran.

The post REPORT: Trump Considers Resuming War After Rejecting New Iranian Deal Proposal, Plans High Stakes Situation Room Meeting With National Security Officials appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Rededicate 250 Was a Complete Success as the USA Rededicated to God –   Rededicate 250 was a complete success as the USA rededicated itself to God. The post Rededicate 250 Was a Complete Success as the USA Rededicated to God appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Rededicate 250 Was a Complete Success as the USA Rededicated to God –   Rededicate 250 was a complete success as the USA rededicated itself to God. The post Rededicate 250 Was a Complete Success as the USA Rededicated to God appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Washington Monument surrounded by American flags with people enjoying a sunny day on the National Mall, highlighting a patriotic atmosphere.

Washington Monument surrounded by American flags with people enjoying a sunny day on the National Mall, highlighting a patriotic atmosphere.

  Rededicate 250 was a complete success as the USA rededicated itself to God.

The post Rededicate 250 Was a Complete Success as the USA Rededicated to God appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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From Budapest to Princeton, Catholic scholars mobilize to reconnect faith and political life #Catholic Catholic political and social thought, one of the foundational intellectual traditions of Western civilization, is poised for renewal as a new international initiative seeks to bring it back into conversation with new generations and decision-makers of tomorrow.CatholicPOST, the Association for the Renewal of Catholic Political and Social Thought, was born from the conviction — shared by a group of European scholars during the COVID-19 lockdowns — that the health crisis had exposed not only the fragility of modern Western societies but also a deeper anthropological confusion threatening their social foundations.That vision took concrete form at the inaugural conference of the association, titled “The Renaissance of Catholic Social Teaching,” held March 9–10 at the Ludovika University of Public Service in Budapest and attended by international academics and Vatican and Hungarian Catholic Church officials.“COVID was a tragic moment in contemporary history, and it required thinking back again on the basics of social life,” Professor Ferenc Hörcher — a Hungarian professor of political philosophy, historian of ideas, and the association’s president — told EWTN News. “And that is something you can do best on the grounds of the Catholic tradition, pointing back to Aristotle and forward to the social teaching of the Church.”For Hörcher — also director of the Research Institute for Politics and Government at Ludovika — the timing has only gained relevance with the election of Pope Leo XIV, whose choice of name evokes Pope Leo XIII, author of the landmark 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, widely regarded as the founding text of modern Catholic social teaching.Neglected intellectual inheritanceOne of CatholicPOST’s most urgent tasks is to restore Catholic social doctrine to its rightful place in intellectual life and academic discussion — a place it has progressively lost over the past century.Secularization, according to the association’s founders, has pushed Catholic intellectual traditions to the margins of public discourse. Even conservative academic circles, in their view, have often drawn more from Anglo-Saxon traditions with Protestant roots than from Catholic social thought.“Catholicism finds itself in the second row,” Hörcher said, “despite the fact that our modern and postmodern civilization is essentially built on it.”The association presents itself as a scholarly, nonpartisan platform, open not only to Catholics but also to thinkers willing to engage seriously with the tradition.“The Church cannot enter directly into political debate — that is not its mission,” Hörcher said. “But we, as Catholic intellectuals and practitioners in our own professions, can take that on.”Deeper stakesThe initiative of the group, consisting of, among others, American, Swedish, Maltese, and Hungarian scholars, emerges at a moment of mounting polarization across Western societies, as clashes over gender identity, family, bioethics, and the very understanding of the human person grow increasingly confrontational — and, at times, violent.For Hörcher, this is precisely why a recovery of serious Catholic political and social thought matters. CatholicPOST, he said, aims to reconnect contemporary debates with an intellectual tradition capable of addressing questions of philosophical anthropology that go far beyond basic politics.That ambition also helps explain the caliber of thinkers already orbiting the initiative, from French political philosopher Pierre Manent, a leading contemporary thinker on natural law and the moral foundations of political life, to scholars at the University of Notre Dame, home to the natural law tradition developed by John Finnis, and Princeton’s James Madison Program, led by natural law theorist Robert George — a circle Hörcher is set to join for a year as a visiting scholar to Princeton’s Department of Politics.The initiative has also attracted attention in Rome. In his keynote speech at the Budapest conference, Father Avelino Chico, head of office at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, presented Catholic social teaching as a living intellectual tradition still evolving in response to the “new things” of each age — from industrial modernity in the time of Rerum Novarum to contemporary social challenges such as artificial intelligence, migration, ecological crisis, and widening inequality.Chico portrayed Pope Leo XIV as continuing that trajectory, seeking to integrate the legacy of Leo XIII and Pope Francis through the lens of integral human development — an approach that takes seriously not only economic realities but also the spiritual, cultural, and political dimensions of human life.Supporting new generationsThe association is already planning a second conference in Kraków, a deliberate choice honoring Poland’s enduring Catholic intellectual tradition and the legacy of St. John Paul II.Registration in the U.S. is also underway, as CatholicPOST has roots in American educational institutions like Christendom College, as a result of its aim to strengthen its international footprint and deepen transatlantic academic ties.For Hörcher, however, the deeper hope is not merely institutional growth but helping provide intellectual substance to what he sees as a broader spiritual movement among younger Westerners rediscovering Christianity. “We hope to give munition,” he said, “intellectual support for those young people.”He sees CatholicPOST as part of a recurring pattern in Catholic history. “Each century brought a revival of Catholic political thought,” he said, citing the neo-scholastic revival of 16th- to 17th-century Spain, the Holy Alliance of the post-Napoleonic Age, the social teaching inaugurated by Leo XIII, and the contribution of Catholic thinkers such as Jacques Maritain to the postwar rise of the human rights framework.“These historical precedents help us envision what a new renaissance might look like — and why it is needed now."
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From Budapest to Princeton, Catholic scholars mobilize to reconnect faith and political life #Catholic Catholic political and social thought, one of the foundational intellectual traditions of Western civilization, is poised for renewal as a new international initiative seeks to bring it back into conversation with new generations and decision-makers of tomorrow.CatholicPOST, the Association for the Renewal of Catholic Political and Social Thought, was born from the conviction — shared by a group of European scholars during the COVID-19 lockdowns — that the health crisis had exposed not only the fragility of modern Western societies but also a deeper anthropological confusion threatening their social foundations.That vision took concrete form at the inaugural conference of the association, titled “The Renaissance of Catholic Social Teaching,” held March 9–10 at the Ludovika University of Public Service in Budapest and attended by international academics and Vatican and Hungarian Catholic Church officials.“COVID was a tragic moment in contemporary history, and it required thinking back again on the basics of social life,” Professor Ferenc Hörcher — a Hungarian professor of political philosophy, historian of ideas, and the association’s president — told EWTN News. “And that is something you can do best on the grounds of the Catholic tradition, pointing back to Aristotle and forward to the social teaching of the Church.”For Hörcher — also director of the Research Institute for Politics and Government at Ludovika — the timing has only gained relevance with the election of Pope Leo XIV, whose choice of name evokes Pope Leo XIII, author of the landmark 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, widely regarded as the founding text of modern Catholic social teaching.Neglected intellectual inheritanceOne of CatholicPOST’s most urgent tasks is to restore Catholic social doctrine to its rightful place in intellectual life and academic discussion — a place it has progressively lost over the past century.Secularization, according to the association’s founders, has pushed Catholic intellectual traditions to the margins of public discourse. Even conservative academic circles, in their view, have often drawn more from Anglo-Saxon traditions with Protestant roots than from Catholic social thought.“Catholicism finds itself in the second row,” Hörcher said, “despite the fact that our modern and postmodern civilization is essentially built on it.”The association presents itself as a scholarly, nonpartisan platform, open not only to Catholics but also to thinkers willing to engage seriously with the tradition.“The Church cannot enter directly into political debate — that is not its mission,” Hörcher said. “But we, as Catholic intellectuals and practitioners in our own professions, can take that on.”Deeper stakesThe initiative of the group, consisting of, among others, American, Swedish, Maltese, and Hungarian scholars, emerges at a moment of mounting polarization across Western societies, as clashes over gender identity, family, bioethics, and the very understanding of the human person grow increasingly confrontational — and, at times, violent.For Hörcher, this is precisely why a recovery of serious Catholic political and social thought matters. CatholicPOST, he said, aims to reconnect contemporary debates with an intellectual tradition capable of addressing questions of philosophical anthropology that go far beyond basic politics.That ambition also helps explain the caliber of thinkers already orbiting the initiative, from French political philosopher Pierre Manent, a leading contemporary thinker on natural law and the moral foundations of political life, to scholars at the University of Notre Dame, home to the natural law tradition developed by John Finnis, and Princeton’s James Madison Program, led by natural law theorist Robert George — a circle Hörcher is set to join for a year as a visiting scholar to Princeton’s Department of Politics.The initiative has also attracted attention in Rome. In his keynote speech at the Budapest conference, Father Avelino Chico, head of office at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, presented Catholic social teaching as a living intellectual tradition still evolving in response to the “new things” of each age — from industrial modernity in the time of Rerum Novarum to contemporary social challenges such as artificial intelligence, migration, ecological crisis, and widening inequality.Chico portrayed Pope Leo XIV as continuing that trajectory, seeking to integrate the legacy of Leo XIII and Pope Francis through the lens of integral human development — an approach that takes seriously not only economic realities but also the spiritual, cultural, and political dimensions of human life.Supporting new generationsThe association is already planning a second conference in Kraków, a deliberate choice honoring Poland’s enduring Catholic intellectual tradition and the legacy of St. John Paul II.Registration in the U.S. is also underway, as CatholicPOST has roots in American educational institutions like Christendom College, as a result of its aim to strengthen its international footprint and deepen transatlantic academic ties.For Hörcher, however, the deeper hope is not merely institutional growth but helping provide intellectual substance to what he sees as a broader spiritual movement among younger Westerners rediscovering Christianity. “We hope to give munition,” he said, “intellectual support for those young people.”He sees CatholicPOST as part of a recurring pattern in Catholic history. “Each century brought a revival of Catholic political thought,” he said, citing the neo-scholastic revival of 16th- to 17th-century Spain, the Holy Alliance of the post-Napoleonic Age, the social teaching inaugurated by Leo XIII, and the contribution of Catholic thinkers such as Jacques Maritain to the postwar rise of the human rights framework.“These historical precedents help us envision what a new renaissance might look like — and why it is needed now."

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CatholicPOST seeks to restore Catholic social doctrine to its rightful place in intellectual life and academic discussion.

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Beacon of Light – This latest Picture of the Month from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features Messier 77 (M77), a barred spiral galaxy famous and appreciated among astronomers for its combination of relative proximity and spectacular features to study. It is located 45 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus (The Whale).

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This latest Picture of the Month from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features Messier 77 (M77), a barred spiral galaxy famous and appreciated among astronomers for its combination of relative proximity and spectacular features to study. It is located 45 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus (The Whale).

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Healing the Hidden Wounds: A statewide Catholic response takes shape #Catholic - The doors of the Church, Pope Francis has said, must always remain open – especially for those carrying unseen wounds. On May 2, that call took concrete shape as more than 200 clergy, religious, educators, mental health professionals, ministry leaders and more gathered with a shared purpose: confronting the growing mental health crisis not from the margins, but from the heart of the faith community. “Struggle is not a failure of humanity. Silence is. When we treat addiction or mental illness as something that must be concealed or explained away or endured alone, we unintentionally transform human suffering into spiritual isolation – and isolation is where despair grows,” said Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix, the keynote speaker for the New Jersey Catholic Mental Health Conference held at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Piscataway. “One of the hardest truths to face is that a person can be deeply loved but still feel completely alone,” he said. “That’s why presence matters. Not abstract care, but real encounter.” Hosted by the Diocese of Metuchen, the conference, titled “From Isolation to Belonging: Mental Health and the Catholic Church,” brought together participants from all five New Jersey (arch)dioceses, as well as leaders from multiple religions. The daylong gathering blended pastoral reflection with practical strategy from Bishop Dolan and leading Catholic voices and experts in the field. The day started with Mass celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark. Concelebrating were: Bishop Joseph Williams of the Diocese of Camden; Father Jonathan S. Toborowsky, administrator of the Diocese of Metuchen; Bishop Dolan, and Father Tim Graff from the Archdiocese of Newark.  Coordinated by the New Jersey Catholic Conference in partnership with the state’s dioceses, Catholic Charities agencies and the Catholic Healthcare Partnership of New Jersey, the conference reflected a growing recognition among Church leaders: the mental health crisis is not only a clinical concern, but a pastoral one. That message was echoed in Cardinal Tobin’s opening remarks, where he invoked Pope Francis’ vision of the Church as “a field hospital after battle.” The image, he suggested, is more than metaphor. It is a directive – one that calls the Church to move toward those who are wounded, to listen without judgment, and to build communities where isolation gives way to belonging. Suffering in Silence In his keynote, Bishop Dolan, a survivor of suicide loss, spoke on the effects of isolation and the importance of accompaniment. He cited a 2023 report from the U.S. Surgeon General that found how chronic loneliness can increase the risk of premature death to a level comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. In addition, chronic loneliness can raise the risk of dementia in older adults by roughly 50%. “One of the hardest truths to face is that a person can be deeply loved but still feel completely alone,” he said. “That’s why presence matters. Not abstract care, but real encounter.” A person can be in a room and still be distant. One can be surrounded by people and still feel alone. To be with someone is to be present in a way that acknowledges the other and allows that person to matter. Show up. Stay. Listen. “That is why the word ‘with’ carries such weight,” Bishop Dolan said. “It points to something deeper than proximity. It speaks of relationship. It speaks of identity.” Being present for others is especially important in a world in which humanity is connected more than ever before, while true communication is lacking. “I have come to say clearly: Isolation kills but communion heals. I say that because I’ve seen it and I’ve experienced it,” he said, explaining that five of his family members have died by suicide.  “There is a silence that follows this kind of loss. It’s different,” he explained. “There are questions that don’t always have answers. You find yourself wondering, ‘What more could have been done? Where did I go wrong? Why wasn’t I there? How may I have made a difference?’” This is also true among leaders of faith, Bishop Dolan said. “I’ve met priests who waited years before seeking help, years of quiet anguish, because they feared disappointing their bishop, their community or their people. I’ve met women religious who believe their vows required endurance without expression. Endurance is not the same as holiness. Suffering in silence is not a sacrament or religious virtue.” Hope and Healing Accompaniment was among the first topics that Beth Hlabse, program director of the Fiat Program on Faith and Mental Health at Notre Dame University’s McGrath Institute for Church Life, discussed in her presentation. Overcoming mental illness “is not just a matter of willpower,” she stressed, urging anyone accompanying a loved one to look at is as a “journey of working with [that person], rather than compounding the shame by saying it’s only a matter of willpower – because it’s not.” “Remember, your role is not to diagnose,” she said. “[It is] to encounter each person according to their uniqueness, to discern their level of suffering and to ask the Lord, ‘Lord, how am I called to walk with this person? How am I called to support them in accessing a broader network of resources beyond what I and our immediate community can offer?’” With more than one in five American adults living with a mental illness (23.4%), and more than one in 20 U.S. adults living with a serious mental illness (5.6%), she also addressed contributing factors, including illness, and biological, environmental and developmental elements. Environmental factors aren’t just natural surroundings, she said. “It’s also social media and peer influence – things that put stress on us and increase our vulnerability to mental illness.” When it comes to developmental factors, consider: “What was the family environment like growing up? The school and neighborhood environments … because when we’re young, we’re more susceptible to environmental influence than we are when we’re older. … Mental illness is not the result of just any one factor.” God, she continued, is with every person in times of anxiety, depression, stress and illness, as seen when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. “God enters into the very depths of our suffering, so that even in times of desolation, we believe that God is there.” “Healing is a movement from isolation toward communion, toward an experience of hope amidst hardship,” she said. National Initiatives Ben Wortham, vice president for Behavioral Health Integration at Catholic Charities USA, and Deacon Ed Shoener, founder of the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers, presented a collaborative vision for addressing mental health during their session, “Mental Health Ministries for Our Parishes: National Initiatives and Local Action.” Their presentation emphasized that effective mental health care must extend beyond clinical treatment to include housing, community support, education, and spiritual care. Wortham stressed that “mental health doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” underscoring the need for collaboration among mental health providers, health care systems, and the social determinants of health — including housing, income, employment, education, family and social support, community safety, and access to food and transportation. He noted that even when people seek professional mental health care, recovery remains difficult if they return to unstable living conditions or lack essential support systems. “Especially with the poor and vulnerable populations, we can’t talk about mental health without talking about basic needs being met,” he said, highlighting three initiatives developed through Catholic Charities USA: Healthy Housing Initiative — a program currently operating in five major cities that integrates mental health support with housing services, helping reduce chronic homelessness by pairing affordable housing with onsite mental health care. “Sister Hope” AI Mental Health Chatbox — a 24/7 faith-aligned support platform that provides coaching programs, referrals to Catholic Charities services, and expanded access for hard-to-reach populations. “Whole Hearted” — trauma-informed workshops and parish resources designed to integrate spirituality and religious practices with behavioral health education and mental health awareness. Wortham encouraged attendees to stop viewing mental health as an isolated issue and instead focus on integrated care that addresses both emotional and material needs. He pointed to the importance of Medicaid expansion — noting that 10 states have yet to adopt the program — as well as increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates to help provide competitive salaries for mental health professionals. Above all, he emphasized the importance of continued collaboration among churches, health systems, and community organizations. Local Action on the Parish Level For Deacon Shoener, the central mission of parish mental health ministry is simple but profound: “to be a healing presence in our parishes.” His hope, he said, is that one day “the first place someone with mental health challenges would look for understanding and support is the Catholic Church.” That vision is deeply personal for Shoener. Nearly 10 years ago, he lost his daughter, who struggled with bipolar disorder and died by suicide. Reflecting on the experience, he explained that “a mental health crisis is also a spiritual crisis,” one that must be met with the love of Christ and the promise of hope. Deacon Shoener shared that the obituary he wrote for his daughter became an unexpected ministry of its own. More than a tribute to her life, it openly addressed the realities of mental illness and the needs of those who suffer in silence. The obituary spread widely online, reaching millions of readers and prompting tens of thousands of people around the world to contact him with their own stories. Again and again, he heard the same concern: many felt the Church offered little support to individuals experiencing mental illness or to their loved ones. That response ultimately led Deacon Shoener to partner with Bishop Dolan in founding the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers. Today, the lay association includes more than 7,000 members in over 75 countries and works to reduce stigma surrounding mental illness while equipping parish leaders with resources and support. Click here for more photos of “Mental Health and the Catholic Church.” “Mental illness is an illness just like all the other illnesses that doctors treat, and it needs to be understood that way,” Deacon Shoener said. He noted that current efforts focus on integrating mental health ministry into the everyday life of the Church and normalizing conversations around mental wellness in the same way physical health concerns are addressed. Addressing conference attendees directly, he challenged those interested in mental health ministry to consider their own willingness to be vulnerable. “Those of you who want to get involved in mental health ministry … are you ready to share your story?” he asked, stressing that trust and accompaniment often begin with personal witness. He also pointed to three major barriers that prevent many people from seeking support within the Church: fear that clergy or parish leaders will not understand their experience, fear of judgment and stigma, and the perception that little support exists within parish communities. Still, he encouraged participants to see their presence at the conference as a call to action. “If you are here, you are being tapped on the shoulder in some way to bring this mental health ministry to your community,” he said. To learn more about Catholic mental health ministry resources, visit the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers at https://catholicmhm.org. Jennifer Mauro is the managing editor of the Catholic Star Herald, the newspaper for the Diocese of Camden. Mary Morrell is the editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit, the newspaper for the Diocese of Metuchen. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.  
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Healing the Hidden Wounds: A statewide Catholic response takes shape #Catholic – The doors of the Church, Pope Francis has said, must always remain open – especially for those carrying unseen wounds. On May 2, that call took concrete shape as more than 200 clergy, religious, educators, mental health professionals, ministry leaders and more gathered with a shared purpose: confronting the growing mental health crisis not from the margins, but from the heart of the faith community. “Struggle is not a failure of humanity. Silence is. When we treat addiction or mental illness as something that must be concealed or explained away or endured alone, we unintentionally transform human suffering into spiritual isolation – and isolation is where despair grows,” said Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix, the keynote speaker for the New Jersey Catholic Mental Health Conference held at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Piscataway. “One of the hardest truths to face is that a person can be deeply loved but still feel completely alone,” he said. “That’s why presence matters. Not abstract care, but real encounter.” Hosted by the Diocese of Metuchen, the conference, titled “From Isolation to Belonging: Mental Health and the Catholic Church,” brought together participants from all five New Jersey (arch)dioceses, as well as leaders from multiple religions. The daylong gathering blended pastoral reflection with practical strategy from Bishop Dolan and leading Catholic voices and experts in the field. The day started with Mass celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark. Concelebrating were: Bishop Joseph Williams of the Diocese of Camden; Father Jonathan S. Toborowsky, administrator of the Diocese of Metuchen; Bishop Dolan, and Father Tim Graff from the Archdiocese of Newark.  Coordinated by the New Jersey Catholic Conference in partnership with the state’s dioceses, Catholic Charities agencies and the Catholic Healthcare Partnership of New Jersey, the conference reflected a growing recognition among Church leaders: the mental health crisis is not only a clinical concern, but a pastoral one. That message was echoed in Cardinal Tobin’s opening remarks, where he invoked Pope Francis’ vision of the Church as “a field hospital after battle.” The image, he suggested, is more than metaphor. It is a directive – one that calls the Church to move toward those who are wounded, to listen without judgment, and to build communities where isolation gives way to belonging. Suffering in Silence In his keynote, Bishop Dolan, a survivor of suicide loss, spoke on the effects of isolation and the importance of accompaniment. He cited a 2023 report from the U.S. Surgeon General that found how chronic loneliness can increase the risk of premature death to a level comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. In addition, chronic loneliness can raise the risk of dementia in older adults by roughly 50%. “One of the hardest truths to face is that a person can be deeply loved but still feel completely alone,” he said. “That’s why presence matters. Not abstract care, but real encounter.” A person can be in a room and still be distant. One can be surrounded by people and still feel alone. To be with someone is to be present in a way that acknowledges the other and allows that person to matter. Show up. Stay. Listen. “That is why the word ‘with’ carries such weight,” Bishop Dolan said. “It points to something deeper than proximity. It speaks of relationship. It speaks of identity.” Being present for others is especially important in a world in which humanity is connected more than ever before, while true communication is lacking. “I have come to say clearly: Isolation kills but communion heals. I say that because I’ve seen it and I’ve experienced it,” he said, explaining that five of his family members have died by suicide.  “There is a silence that follows this kind of loss. It’s different,” he explained. “There are questions that don’t always have answers. You find yourself wondering, ‘What more could have been done? Where did I go wrong? Why wasn’t I there? How may I have made a difference?’” This is also true among leaders of faith, Bishop Dolan said. “I’ve met priests who waited years before seeking help, years of quiet anguish, because they feared disappointing their bishop, their community or their people. I’ve met women religious who believe their vows required endurance without expression. Endurance is not the same as holiness. Suffering in silence is not a sacrament or religious virtue.” Hope and Healing Accompaniment was among the first topics that Beth Hlabse, program director of the Fiat Program on Faith and Mental Health at Notre Dame University’s McGrath Institute for Church Life, discussed in her presentation. Overcoming mental illness “is not just a matter of willpower,” she stressed, urging anyone accompanying a loved one to look at is as a “journey of working with [that person], rather than compounding the shame by saying it’s only a matter of willpower – because it’s not.” “Remember, your role is not to diagnose,” she said. “[It is] to encounter each person according to their uniqueness, to discern their level of suffering and to ask the Lord, ‘Lord, how am I called to walk with this person? How am I called to support them in accessing a broader network of resources beyond what I and our immediate community can offer?’” With more than one in five American adults living with a mental illness (23.4%), and more than one in 20 U.S. adults living with a serious mental illness (5.6%), she also addressed contributing factors, including illness, and biological, environmental and developmental elements. Environmental factors aren’t just natural surroundings, she said. “It’s also social media and peer influence – things that put stress on us and increase our vulnerability to mental illness.” When it comes to developmental factors, consider: “What was the family environment like growing up? The school and neighborhood environments … because when we’re young, we’re more susceptible to environmental influence than we are when we’re older. … Mental illness is not the result of just any one factor.” God, she continued, is with every person in times of anxiety, depression, stress and illness, as seen when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. “God enters into the very depths of our suffering, so that even in times of desolation, we believe that God is there.” “Healing is a movement from isolation toward communion, toward an experience of hope amidst hardship,” she said. National Initiatives Ben Wortham, vice president for Behavioral Health Integration at Catholic Charities USA, and Deacon Ed Shoener, founder of the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers, presented a collaborative vision for addressing mental health during their session, “Mental Health Ministries for Our Parishes: National Initiatives and Local Action.” Their presentation emphasized that effective mental health care must extend beyond clinical treatment to include housing, community support, education, and spiritual care. Wortham stressed that “mental health doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” underscoring the need for collaboration among mental health providers, health care systems, and the social determinants of health — including housing, income, employment, education, family and social support, community safety, and access to food and transportation. He noted that even when people seek professional mental health care, recovery remains difficult if they return to unstable living conditions or lack essential support systems. “Especially with the poor and vulnerable populations, we can’t talk about mental health without talking about basic needs being met,” he said, highlighting three initiatives developed through Catholic Charities USA: Healthy Housing Initiative — a program currently operating in five major cities that integrates mental health support with housing services, helping reduce chronic homelessness by pairing affordable housing with onsite mental health care. “Sister Hope” AI Mental Health Chatbox — a 24/7 faith-aligned support platform that provides coaching programs, referrals to Catholic Charities services, and expanded access for hard-to-reach populations. “Whole Hearted” — trauma-informed workshops and parish resources designed to integrate spirituality and religious practices with behavioral health education and mental health awareness. Wortham encouraged attendees to stop viewing mental health as an isolated issue and instead focus on integrated care that addresses both emotional and material needs. He pointed to the importance of Medicaid expansion — noting that 10 states have yet to adopt the program — as well as increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates to help provide competitive salaries for mental health professionals. Above all, he emphasized the importance of continued collaboration among churches, health systems, and community organizations. Local Action on the Parish Level For Deacon Shoener, the central mission of parish mental health ministry is simple but profound: “to be a healing presence in our parishes.” His hope, he said, is that one day “the first place someone with mental health challenges would look for understanding and support is the Catholic Church.” That vision is deeply personal for Shoener. Nearly 10 years ago, he lost his daughter, who struggled with bipolar disorder and died by suicide. Reflecting on the experience, he explained that “a mental health crisis is also a spiritual crisis,” one that must be met with the love of Christ and the promise of hope. Deacon Shoener shared that the obituary he wrote for his daughter became an unexpected ministry of its own. More than a tribute to her life, it openly addressed the realities of mental illness and the needs of those who suffer in silence. The obituary spread widely online, reaching millions of readers and prompting tens of thousands of people around the world to contact him with their own stories. Again and again, he heard the same concern: many felt the Church offered little support to individuals experiencing mental illness or to their loved ones. That response ultimately led Deacon Shoener to partner with Bishop Dolan in founding the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers. Today, the lay association includes more than 7,000 members in over 75 countries and works to reduce stigma surrounding mental illness while equipping parish leaders with resources and support. Click here for more photos of “Mental Health and the Catholic Church.” “Mental illness is an illness just like all the other illnesses that doctors treat, and it needs to be understood that way,” Deacon Shoener said. He noted that current efforts focus on integrating mental health ministry into the everyday life of the Church and normalizing conversations around mental wellness in the same way physical health concerns are addressed. Addressing conference attendees directly, he challenged those interested in mental health ministry to consider their own willingness to be vulnerable. “Those of you who want to get involved in mental health ministry … are you ready to share your story?” he asked, stressing that trust and accompaniment often begin with personal witness. He also pointed to three major barriers that prevent many people from seeking support within the Church: fear that clergy or parish leaders will not understand their experience, fear of judgment and stigma, and the perception that little support exists within parish communities. Still, he encouraged participants to see their presence at the conference as a call to action. “If you are here, you are being tapped on the shoulder in some way to bring this mental health ministry to your community,” he said. To learn more about Catholic mental health ministry resources, visit the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers at https://catholicmhm.org. Jennifer Mauro is the managing editor of the Catholic Star Herald, the newspaper for the Diocese of Camden. Mary Morrell is the editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit, the newspaper for the Diocese of Metuchen. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.  

unitedyam

Healing the Hidden Wounds: A statewide Catholic response takes shape #Catholic –

The doors of the Church, Pope Francis has said, must always remain open – especially for those carrying unseen wounds.

On May 2, that call took concrete shape as more than 200 clergy, religious, educators, mental health professionals, ministry leaders and more gathered with a shared purpose: confronting the growing mental health crisis not from the margins, but from the heart of the faith community.

“Struggle is not a failure of humanity. Silence is. When we treat addiction or mental illness as something that must be concealed or explained away or endured alone, we unintentionally transform human suffering into spiritual isolation – and isolation is where despair grows,” said Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix, the keynote speaker for the New Jersey Catholic Mental Health Conference held at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Piscataway.

“One of the hardest truths to face is that a person can be deeply loved but still feel completely alone,” he said. “That’s why presence matters. Not abstract care, but real encounter.”

Hosted by the Diocese of Metuchen, the conference, titled “From Isolation to Belonging: Mental Health and the Catholic Church,” brought together participants from all five New Jersey (arch)dioceses, as well as leaders from multiple religions. The daylong gathering blended pastoral reflection with practical strategy from Bishop Dolan and leading Catholic voices and experts in the field.

The day started with Mass celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Tobin of the Archdiocese of Newark. Concelebrating were: Bishop Joseph Williams of the Diocese of Camden; Father Jonathan S. Toborowsky, administrator of the Diocese of Metuchen; Bishop Dolan, and Father Tim Graff from the Archdiocese of Newark. 

Coordinated by the New Jersey Catholic Conference in partnership with the state’s dioceses, Catholic Charities agencies and the Catholic Healthcare Partnership of New Jersey, the conference reflected a growing recognition among Church leaders: the mental health crisis is not only a clinical concern, but a pastoral one.

That message was echoed in Cardinal Tobin’s opening remarks, where he invoked Pope Francis’ vision of the Church as “a field hospital after battle.” The image, he suggested, is more than metaphor. It is a directive – one that calls the Church to move toward those who are wounded, to listen without judgment, and to build communities where isolation gives way to belonging.

Suffering in Silence

In his keynote, Bishop Dolan, a survivor of suicide loss, spoke on the effects of isolation and the importance of accompaniment. He cited a 2023 report from the U.S. Surgeon General that found how chronic loneliness can increase the risk of premature death to a level comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. In addition, chronic loneliness can raise the risk of dementia in older adults by roughly 50%.

“One of the hardest truths to face is that a person can be deeply loved but still feel completely alone,” he said. “That’s why presence matters. Not abstract care, but real encounter.”

A person can be in a room and still be distant. One can be surrounded by people and still feel alone. To be with someone is to be present in a way that acknowledges the other and allows that person to matter. Show up. Stay. Listen.

“That is why the word ‘with’ carries such weight,” Bishop Dolan said. “It points to something deeper than proximity. It speaks of relationship. It speaks of identity.”

Being present for others is especially important in a world in which humanity is connected more than ever before, while true communication is lacking.

“I have come to say clearly: Isolation kills but communion heals. I say that because I’ve seen it and I’ve experienced it,” he said, explaining that five of his family members have died by suicide. 

“There is a silence that follows this kind of loss. It’s different,” he explained. “There are questions that don’t always have answers. You find yourself wondering, ‘What more could have been done? Where did I go wrong? Why wasn’t I there? How may I have made a difference?’”

This is also true among leaders of faith, Bishop Dolan said. “I’ve met priests who waited years before seeking help, years of quiet anguish, because they feared disappointing their bishop, their community or their people. I’ve met women religious who believe their vows required endurance without expression. Endurance is not the same as holiness. Suffering in silence is not a sacrament or religious virtue.”

Hope and Healing

Accompaniment was among the first topics that Beth Hlabse, program director of the Fiat Program on Faith and Mental Health at Notre Dame University’s McGrath Institute for Church Life, discussed in her presentation.

Overcoming mental illness “is not just a matter of willpower,” she stressed, urging anyone accompanying a loved one to look at is as a “journey of working with [that person], rather than compounding the shame by saying it’s only a matter of willpower – because it’s not.”

“Remember, your role is not to diagnose,” she said. “[It is] to encounter each person according to their uniqueness, to discern their level of suffering and to ask the Lord, ‘Lord, how am I called to walk with this person? How am I called to support them in accessing a broader network of resources beyond what I and our immediate community can offer?’”

With more than one in five American adults living with a mental illness (23.4%), and more than one in 20 U.S. adults living with a serious mental illness (5.6%), she also addressed contributing factors, including illness, and biological, environmental and developmental elements.

Environmental factors aren’t just natural surroundings, she said. “It’s also social media and peer influence – things that put stress on us and increase our vulnerability to mental illness.”

When it comes to developmental factors, consider: “What was the family environment like growing up? The school and neighborhood environments … because when we’re young, we’re more susceptible to environmental influence than we are when we’re older. … Mental illness is not the result of just any one factor.”

God, she continued, is with every person in times of anxiety, depression, stress and illness, as seen when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. “God enters into the very depths of our suffering, so that even in times of desolation, we believe that God is there.”

“Healing is a movement from isolation toward communion, toward an experience of hope amidst hardship,” she said.

National Initiatives

Ben Wortham, vice president for Behavioral Health Integration at Catholic Charities USA, and Deacon Ed Shoener, founder of the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers, presented a collaborative vision for addressing mental health during their session, “Mental Health Ministries for Our Parishes: National Initiatives and Local Action.” Their presentation emphasized that effective mental health care must extend beyond clinical treatment to include housing, community support, education, and spiritual care.

Wortham stressed that “mental health doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” underscoring the need for collaboration among mental health providers, health care systems, and the social determinants of health — including housing, income, employment, education, family and social support, community safety, and access to food and transportation.

He noted that even when people seek professional mental health care, recovery remains difficult if they return to unstable living conditions or lack essential support systems.

“Especially with the poor and vulnerable populations, we can’t talk about mental health without talking about basic needs being met,” he said, highlighting three initiatives developed through Catholic Charities USA:

  • Healthy Housing Initiative — a program currently operating in five major cities that integrates mental health support with housing services, helping reduce chronic homelessness by pairing affordable housing with onsite mental health care.
  • “Sister Hope” AI Mental Health Chatbox — a 24/7 faith-aligned support platform that provides coaching programs, referrals to Catholic Charities services, and expanded access for hard-to-reach populations.
  • “Whole Hearted” — trauma-informed workshops and parish resources designed to integrate spirituality and religious practices with behavioral health education and mental health awareness.

Wortham encouraged attendees to stop viewing mental health as an isolated issue and instead focus on integrated care that addresses both emotional and material needs. He pointed to the importance of Medicaid expansion — noting that 10 states have yet to adopt the program — as well as increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates to help provide competitive salaries for mental health professionals. Above all, he emphasized the importance of continued collaboration among churches, health systems, and community organizations.

Local Action on the Parish Level

For Deacon Shoener, the central mission of parish mental health ministry is simple but profound: “to be a healing presence in our parishes.” His hope, he said, is that one day “the first place someone with mental health challenges would look for understanding and support is the Catholic Church.”

That vision is deeply personal for Shoener. Nearly 10 years ago, he lost his daughter, who struggled with bipolar disorder and died by suicide. Reflecting on the experience, he explained that “a mental health crisis is also a spiritual crisis,” one that must be met with the love of Christ and the promise of hope.

Deacon Shoener shared that the obituary he wrote for his daughter became an unexpected ministry of its own. More than a tribute to her life, it openly addressed the realities of mental illness and the needs of those who suffer in silence. The obituary spread widely online, reaching millions of readers and prompting tens of thousands of people around the world to contact him with their own stories. Again and again, he heard the same concern: many felt the Church offered little support to individuals experiencing mental illness or to their loved ones.

That response ultimately led Deacon Shoener to partner with Bishop Dolan in founding the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers. Today, the lay association includes more than 7,000 members in over 75 countries and works to reduce stigma surrounding mental illness while equipping parish leaders with resources and support.

Click here for more photos of “Mental Health and the Catholic Church.”

“Mental illness is an illness just like all the other illnesses that doctors treat, and it needs to be understood that way,” Deacon Shoener said.

He noted that current efforts focus on integrating mental health ministry into the everyday life of the Church and normalizing conversations around mental wellness in the same way physical health concerns are addressed.

Addressing conference attendees directly, he challenged those interested in mental health ministry to consider their own willingness to be vulnerable. “Those of you who want to get involved in mental health ministry … are you ready to share your story?” he asked, stressing that trust and accompaniment often begin with personal witness.

He also pointed to three major barriers that prevent many people from seeking support within the Church: fear that clergy or parish leaders will not understand their experience, fear of judgment and stigma, and the perception that little support exists within parish communities.

Still, he encouraged participants to see their presence at the conference as a call to action. “If you are here, you are being tapped on the shoulder in some way to bring this mental health ministry to your community,” he said.

To learn more about Catholic mental health ministry resources, visit the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers at https://catholicmhm.org.

Jennifer Mauro is the managing editor of the Catholic Star Herald, the newspaper for the Diocese of Camden. Mary Morrell is the editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit, the newspaper for the Diocese of Metuchen.

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

 

– The doors of the Church, Pope Francis has said, must always remain open – especially for those carrying unseen wounds. On May 2, that call took concrete shape as more than 200 clergy, religious, educators, mental health professionals, ministry leaders and more gathered with a shared purpose: confronting the growing mental health crisis not from the margins, but from the heart of the faith community. “Struggle is not a failure of humanity. Silence is. When we treat addiction or mental illness as something that must be concealed or explained away or endured alone, we unintentionally transform human suffering into spiritual

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Christian faith looms large at ‘Unite The Kingdom’ protest in London – #Catholic – This weekend, tens of thousands of protesters gathered under an overcast sky in central London for a rally led by political activist and recent Christian convert, Tommy Robinson.Under Union flags and banners of ‘Make England Great Again’, protesters chanted anti-government slogans such as “We want Starmer out.” Many attendees said they felt white working-class Britons are being marginalized and Christian values eroded.Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – converted to Christianity while in prison in 2025, serving a sentence for contempt of court. Christianity has become an increasingly visible theme at these gatherings, with Robinson posting the Lord’s Prayer on X before the event.“British patriots need to realize that if they want the country to be great again, they need to go back to our Christian heritage,” Luke Barker from The Lord’s Work Trust said, as he handed out leaflets to the passing crowd titled ‘Common Sense: What the Bible has to say on the issue of immigration’. “We’re to welcome the stranger … but there are rules that come with that”, he maintains.At just 17, ‘Young Bob’, whose real name is Gregory Moffitt, has 140k followers tuning into his controversial political debates on X. Asked whether he thought the protest was in line with Jesus’ message of welcoming the stranger and loving your neighbour, he told me: “St. Thomas Aquinas talks about the economic procession of love, and he gives the example, where you obviously express more love to your mother than you would a foreigner … just because I love my neighbour doesnʼt mean they have to live in my house”.Along with many of his followers, Robinson frequently criticizes Islam. “They say theyʼre a religion of peace and love,” protester Kenny Moffett said, “but you see what goes on in those countries. People are being beheaded, women being stoned to death, women being made to cover up and never to be seen again.”London’s Metropolitan Police deployed over 4,000 officers to police three major events that coincided in the capital. By early Saturday evening, the force had confirmed 43 arrests, including at the Unite The Kingdom protest and a Palestinian demonstration taking place nearby.Some 11 foreign “far-right agitators” were blocked from entering the country to attend the event according to the Home Office, including American influencer Valentina Gomez.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer responded to the protests saying: “Weʼre in a fight for the soul of this country, and the Unite the Kingdom march this weekend is a stark reminder of exactly what we are up against."“Its organizers are peddling hatred and division, plain and simple. We will block those coming into the UK who seek to incite hatred and violence.”Asked why he thought Christianity had become such a big focus of the protests, Rev. Chris Wickland said: “Many people are beginning to realize that their heritage, and the way of life they like, comes from Christianity. And they realize that if they donʼt defend Christianity, the way of life they know is gone”. Christianity has become an increasingly visible theme at these gatherings, with Robinson posting the Lord’s Prayer on X before the event. | Credit: Elliot Hartley “My grandad was a vicar in the Church of England, and his influence pushed me in that direction,” Nathan Marwwod said while carrying a wooden cross over his shoulder. “It’s the original reason that England succeeded. It was built on Christian values, and all the other things have come with it.”“They are the values that create the most prosperous and innovative societies, and the most vibrant and rejuvenating societies,” Kieran Reid added. “The best places historically are the ones of Christian origin.”
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Christian faith looms large at ‘Unite The Kingdom’ protest in London – #Catholic – This weekend, tens of thousands of protesters gathered under an overcast sky in central London for a rally led by political activist and recent Christian convert, Tommy Robinson.Under Union flags and banners of ‘Make England Great Again’, protesters chanted anti-government slogans such as “We want Starmer out.” Many attendees said they felt white working-class Britons are being marginalized and Christian values eroded.Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – converted to Christianity while in prison in 2025, serving a sentence for contempt of court. Christianity has become an increasingly visible theme at these gatherings, with Robinson posting the Lord’s Prayer on X before the event.“British patriots need to realize that if they want the country to be great again, they need to go back to our Christian heritage,” Luke Barker from The Lord’s Work Trust said, as he handed out leaflets to the passing crowd titled ‘Common Sense: What the Bible has to say on the issue of immigration’. “We’re to welcome the stranger … but there are rules that come with that”, he maintains.At just 17, ‘Young Bob’, whose real name is Gregory Moffitt, has 140k followers tuning into his controversial political debates on X. Asked whether he thought the protest was in line with Jesus’ message of welcoming the stranger and loving your neighbour, he told me: “St. Thomas Aquinas talks about the economic procession of love, and he gives the example, where you obviously express more love to your mother than you would a foreigner … just because I love my neighbour doesnʼt mean they have to live in my house”.Along with many of his followers, Robinson frequently criticizes Islam. “They say theyʼre a religion of peace and love,” protester Kenny Moffett said, “but you see what goes on in those countries. People are being beheaded, women being stoned to death, women being made to cover up and never to be seen again.”London’s Metropolitan Police deployed over 4,000 officers to police three major events that coincided in the capital. By early Saturday evening, the force had confirmed 43 arrests, including at the Unite The Kingdom protest and a Palestinian demonstration taking place nearby.Some 11 foreign “far-right agitators” were blocked from entering the country to attend the event according to the Home Office, including American influencer Valentina Gomez.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer responded to the protests saying: “Weʼre in a fight for the soul of this country, and the Unite the Kingdom march this weekend is a stark reminder of exactly what we are up against."“Its organizers are peddling hatred and division, plain and simple. We will block those coming into the UK who seek to incite hatred and violence.”Asked why he thought Christianity had become such a big focus of the protests, Rev. Chris Wickland said: “Many people are beginning to realize that their heritage, and the way of life they like, comes from Christianity. And they realize that if they donʼt defend Christianity, the way of life they know is gone”. Christianity has become an increasingly visible theme at these gatherings, with Robinson posting the Lord’s Prayer on X before the event. | Credit: Elliot Hartley “My grandad was a vicar in the Church of England, and his influence pushed me in that direction,” Nathan Marwwod said while carrying a wooden cross over his shoulder. “It’s the original reason that England succeeded. It was built on Christian values, and all the other things have come with it.”“They are the values that create the most prosperous and innovative societies, and the most vibrant and rejuvenating societies,” Kieran Reid added. “The best places historically are the ones of Christian origin.”

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Many attendees said they felt white working-class Britons are being marginalized and Christian values eroded.

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Top U.S. leadership rededicate country as ‘One nation, under God’ – #Catholic – In a marathon ecumenical prayer and praise celebration ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary, top U.S. political figures gathered with major faith leaders and several thousand Americans on May 17 to reflect on the role of Providence in American history and rededicate the country as “One Nation, under God.”The event, which was held under the auspices of Freedom 250, the country’s public-private initiative leading the celebration of the United States' 250th birthday, also commemorated the act of the American colonies’ Continental Congress which ahead of the Revolutionary War proclaimed for May 17,1776 a “Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer."In that proclamation, the leaders of the nascent nation urged their fellow citizens to “confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his [Godʼs] righteous displeasure, and through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness.”Catholic participants at the “Rededicate 250” event, held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., included U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop Robert Barron and actor Jonathan Roumie who plays Jesus in “The Chosen” television series.President Trump did not attend or offer a customized message for the event. Instead, a video of the president from last month’s “America Reads The Bible” event was played in which Trump reads from 2 Chronicles, including verse 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”In a video message to the gathering, Cardinal Timothy Dolan noted that “in every chapter of the American story our faith in God has been the bedrock of our greatness.”“Our deepest values as a country have always been rooted in our identity as a people of God and anchored in the reality that we’re not only American citizens — you bet we are and grateful for it — but that we are bound some day to be citizens of Heaven,” Dolan emphasized, adding that “our founders knew that. They knew that in order to be faithful and productive citizens and true patriots, well we must recognize that we’re children of God first.”Driving home the point, Dolan cited the nation’s preeminent founding father and first president, George Washington, who in 1778 said “While we are zealously performing the duties of good Citizens and soldiers we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of Religion — To the distinguished Character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian.”Dolan also took the occasion to inform the audience that the nation’s bishops will “consecrate the United States of America to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 12th of this year.”The central prayer of the event was led by Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson, who at the outset of his prayer recalled the nation’s legislative forebears’ act of May 17, 1776, which he noted they did “to humble themselves and to seek Your guidance at the dawn of their fight for freedom.”The resulting nation, Johnson continued, “would become, by Your mercy and grace, the most successful, most benevolent nation in the history of the world.”“Lord, today our people gather once again in your Name,” Johnson prayed. “We have humbled ourselves before You. We acknowledge that the miracle of our founding and the countless miracles that have followed are Your doing.”“We pray that You bestow on all Americans a renewed love of country, hope for the future and faith in Your everlasting mercy and grace,” Johnson continued. “Father we pray mercy upon our land, mercy upon us for our mistakes, forgive us of our sins individually and collectively and help us to devote ourselves with renewed piety and patriotism to the eternal truths of Your Word.”As he concluded his prayer, Johnson declared that “Today, here Lord, in this 250th year of American independence, we hereby rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God” and he asked for the Holy Spirit to descend upon the American homeland.Johnson was followed by one of the country’s best known Catholic prelates, Bishop Robert Barron, who referenced Blessed Fulton Sheenʼs saying that America’s Declaration of Independence amounts to a “Declaration of Dependence” upon God.“Lord, on this great national anniversary we gather to rededicate our country to You,” Barron prayed. “Not because You need our devotion, but because by praising You we receive grace upon grace.”Recalling that the United States rests on theological foundations, Barron concluded his prayer by declaring that “as a bishop of the Catholic Church and as a proud American, I make bold to dedicate our country once more to God and to say Lord, let the light of Thy face shine upon our land. Amen.”
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Top U.S. leadership rededicate country as ‘One nation, under God’ – #Catholic – In a marathon ecumenical prayer and praise celebration ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary, top U.S. political figures gathered with major faith leaders and several thousand Americans on May 17 to reflect on the role of Providence in American history and rededicate the country as “One Nation, under God.”The event, which was held under the auspices of Freedom 250, the country’s public-private initiative leading the celebration of the United States' 250th birthday, also commemorated the act of the American colonies’ Continental Congress which ahead of the Revolutionary War proclaimed for May 17,1776 a “Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer."In that proclamation, the leaders of the nascent nation urged their fellow citizens to “confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his [Godʼs] righteous displeasure, and through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness.”Catholic participants at the “Rededicate 250” event, held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., included U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop Robert Barron and actor Jonathan Roumie who plays Jesus in “The Chosen” television series.President Trump did not attend or offer a customized message for the event. Instead, a video of the president from last month’s “America Reads The Bible” event was played in which Trump reads from 2 Chronicles, including verse 7:14 “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”In a video message to the gathering, Cardinal Timothy Dolan noted that “in every chapter of the American story our faith in God has been the bedrock of our greatness.”“Our deepest values as a country have always been rooted in our identity as a people of God and anchored in the reality that we’re not only American citizens — you bet we are and grateful for it — but that we are bound some day to be citizens of Heaven,” Dolan emphasized, adding that “our founders knew that. They knew that in order to be faithful and productive citizens and true patriots, well we must recognize that we’re children of God first.”Driving home the point, Dolan cited the nation’s preeminent founding father and first president, George Washington, who in 1778 said “While we are zealously performing the duties of good Citizens and soldiers we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of Religion — To the distinguished Character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian.”Dolan also took the occasion to inform the audience that the nation’s bishops will “consecrate the United States of America to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 12th of this year.”The central prayer of the event was led by Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson, who at the outset of his prayer recalled the nation’s legislative forebears’ act of May 17, 1776, which he noted they did “to humble themselves and to seek Your guidance at the dawn of their fight for freedom.”The resulting nation, Johnson continued, “would become, by Your mercy and grace, the most successful, most benevolent nation in the history of the world.”“Lord, today our people gather once again in your Name,” Johnson prayed. “We have humbled ourselves before You. We acknowledge that the miracle of our founding and the countless miracles that have followed are Your doing.”“We pray that You bestow on all Americans a renewed love of country, hope for the future and faith in Your everlasting mercy and grace,” Johnson continued. “Father we pray mercy upon our land, mercy upon us for our mistakes, forgive us of our sins individually and collectively and help us to devote ourselves with renewed piety and patriotism to the eternal truths of Your Word.”As he concluded his prayer, Johnson declared that “Today, here Lord, in this 250th year of American independence, we hereby rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God” and he asked for the Holy Spirit to descend upon the American homeland.Johnson was followed by one of the country’s best known Catholic prelates, Bishop Robert Barron, who referenced Blessed Fulton Sheenʼs saying that America’s Declaration of Independence amounts to a “Declaration of Dependence” upon God.“Lord, on this great national anniversary we gather to rededicate our country to You,” Barron prayed. “Not because You need our devotion, but because by praising You we receive grace upon grace.”Recalling that the United States rests on theological foundations, Barron concluded his prayer by declaring that “as a bishop of the Catholic Church and as a proud American, I make bold to dedicate our country once more to God and to say Lord, let the light of Thy face shine upon our land. Amen.”

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Catholic participants at the event included U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop Robert Barron and actor Jonathan Roumie.

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 18 May 2026 – A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles Acts 19:1-8 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior of the country and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples.  He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered him, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” He said, “How were you baptized?” They replied, “With the baptism of John.” Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Altogether there were about twelve men. He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.From the Gospel according to John 16:29-33 The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”To endure is more than simply being patient; it is to carry the burden on one’s shoulders, to bear the weight of trials. And the Christian life, too, has such moments. But Jesus tells us: “Take courage in such times. I have overcome; you too will be victorious”. These first words give us the strength to face life’s most difficult moments, those moments that cause us to suffer. (…) Entrusting something to the Lord, entrusting this difficult moment to the Lord, entrusting myself to the Lord, entrusting our faithful – we priests, bishops – entrusting our families and our friends to the Lord, and saying to the Lord: “Take care of these people, they are yours”. It is a prayer that we do not always say, the prayer of entrustment: “Lord, I entrust this to you, carry it forward yourself”. It is a beautiful Christian prayer. It is the attitude of confidence in the power of the Lord, and also in the tenderness of the Lord who is the Father. … Three words: tribulations, entrustment and peace. In life we must walk paths of tribulation, but it is the law of life. But in those moments, if we entrust ourselves to the Lord, He responds with peace. This Lord, who is our Father, loves us so much and never disappoints. (Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, 5 May 2015)

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A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 19:1-8

While Apollos was in Corinth,
Paul traveled through the interior of the country
and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples. 
He said to them,
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”
They answered him,
“We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
He said, “How were you baptized?”
They replied, “With the baptism of John.”
Paul then said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance,
telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,
that is, in Jesus.”
When they heard this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul laid his hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came upon them,
and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Altogether there were about twelve men.

He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly
with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.

From the Gospel according to John
16:29-33

The disciples said to Jesus,
“Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech.
Now we realize that you know everything
and that you do not need to have anyone question you.
Because of this we believe that you came from God.”
Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now?
Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived
when each of you will be scattered to his own home
and you will leave me alone.
But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you this so that you might have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

To endure is more than simply being patient; it is to carry the burden on one’s shoulders, to bear the weight of trials. And the Christian life, too, has such moments. But Jesus tells us: “Take courage in such times. I have overcome; you too will be victorious”. These first words give us the strength to face life’s most difficult moments, those moments that cause us to suffer. (…) Entrusting something to the Lord, entrusting this difficult moment to the Lord, entrusting myself to the Lord, entrusting our faithful – we priests, bishops – entrusting our families and our friends to the Lord, and saying to the Lord: “Take care of these people, they are yours”. It is a prayer that we do not always say, the prayer of entrustment: “Lord, I entrust this to you, carry it forward yourself”. It is a beautiful Christian prayer. It is the attitude of confidence in the power of the Lord, and also in the tenderness of the Lord who is the Father. … Three words: tribulations, entrustment and peace. In life we must walk paths of tribulation, but it is the law of life. But in those moments, if we entrust ourselves to the Lord, He responds with peace. This Lord, who is our Father, loves us so much and never disappoints. (Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, 5 May 2015)

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Uncultured Philistine Declines To Have Ice Cream Served In Waffle Cone #BabylonBee – TUCSON, AZ — Local man Dale Swanson declined to have his double scoops of mint chocolate chip and strawberry ice cream served in a delicious waffle cone, instead opting to have it in a blasphemous paper cup instead.
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Uncultured Philistine Declines To Have Ice Cream Served In Waffle Cone #BabylonBee – TUCSON, AZ — Local man Dale Swanson declined to have his double scoops of mint chocolate chip and strawberry ice cream served in a delicious waffle cone, instead opting to have it in a blasphemous paper cup instead.

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TUCSON, AZ — Local man Dale Swanson declined to have his double scoops of mint chocolate chip and strawberry ice cream served in a delicious waffle cone, instead opting to have it in a blasphemous paper cup instead.

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Los agustinos celebran un año del ‘don del Papa León’ con una Misa especial #Catholic – NEW LENOX, Illinois (OSV News) — Los hermanos agustinos del Papa León XIV y otras personas de la zona de Chicago recordaron con gratitud el año transcurrido desde la elección de uno de los suyos en una Misa especial celebrada el 8 de mayo. Los agustinos de la provincia del Medio Oeste de Estados Unidos y las hermanas agustinas residentes en el área de Chicago asistieron a la Misa de acción de gracias por el primer año del Papa en la Iglesia Católica de San Judas, en New Lenox, al suroeste de Chicago. La parroquia, dirigida por los agustinos, es el lugar donde el Papa León XIV visitó por última vez Estados Unidos, en agosto de 2024, cuando aún era el cardenal Robert F. Prevost. “Qué bendecidos y afortunados somos, y sé que muchos de nosotros, en algún momento, lo hemos conocido, hemos hablado con él, hemos pasado tiempo con él. Ahora bien, no mucha gente puede decir eso del pontífice”, dijo el padre agustino Anthony B. Pizzo al inicio de la Misa. El padre Pizzo es el superior saliente de los agustinos del Medio Oeste del país, un cargo que el mismo Papa ocupó anteriormente. Cinco agustinos y el padre pasionista Enzo Del Brocco, presidente de Catholic Theological Union (Unión Teológica Católica), donde el Papa León obtuvo su máster en teología, concelebraron la Misa. Entre ellos se encontraba el padre John Lydon, amigo cercano del Papa desde la universidad y sus días como misionero en Perú. El sacerdote agustino y el futuro Papa vivieron en Trujillo durante 10 años –en la tumultuosa década de los noventa, marcada por la inestabilidad política– enseñando y guiando a los seminaristas agustinos. Para suscribirse a nuestro boletín electrónico semanal, haga click aquí. En su homilía, el padre Lydon recordó la visita del Papa ese mismo día, con motivo del primer aniversario, a Pompeya, Italia, en la festividad de Nuestra Señora de Pompeya –un lugar que, según dijo, trajo consigo conversión, milagros y “mucha esperanza”. El padre Lydon también señaló que ese mismo día, en la tradición agustina, se honra a Nuestra Señora de la Gracia, patrona de los agustinos en Perú. Las lecturas de las fiestas marianas y la carta de San Pablo a los Gálatas, en la que dice que ya no somos esclavos, sino hijos de Dios, dijo, “nos ayudan a comprender el ministerio y la misión del Papa León”. Tras la Misa, el padre Lydon compartió con OSV News que sus primeros pensamientos al cumplirse un año de la elección de su buen amigo al Papado eran “de gratitud al Señor” por “el don del Papa León”. “Su espíritu es lo que guió a los cardenales a elegir a nuestro sumo pontífice”, dijo. Refiriéndose al Papa León, añadió: “Necesitamos su guía moral, su voz moral en nuestro mundo actual. Y él ha asumido valientemente esa responsabilidad”. El padre Lydon dijo que “cuesta creer que haya pasado ya un año” desde que el Papa fue elegido, “pero es solo una señal de la gracia infinita de Dios para con todos nosotros… y aunque las nubes de tormenta parecen densas, tenemos la certeza de que el Hijo, H-i-j-o, se abre paso y el Papa León nos ayuda a dirigirnos hacia él”. El padre agustino Ray Flores, párroco de San Judas y amigo de John Prevost, uno de los dos hermanos mayores del Papa, dijo que “ha sido un privilegio… cuando pienso en haber acompañado a John a diferentes entrevistas a lo largo del año” para conocer mejor al Papa, “lo cual he disfrutado de verdad”. “Los dos queremos compartir la buena nueva de su hermano, del Papa León y de los agustinos, así como el mensaje de paz del que el Papa León ha hablado desde el primer día de forma tan hermosa y elocuente”, afirmó. “La gente quiere eso”. El padre Flores, que anteriormente era sacerdote diocesano, ingresó en la Orden de San Agustín en 2017, cuando el Papa León era aún el obispo Prevost de la Diócesis de Chiclayo, en Perú. Sabía que el Papa era afable cada vez que lo saludaba y llegó a conocerlo mejor hace cuatro años mientras colaboraba con él en la parroquia. Uno de los primeros feligreses que el padre Flores conoció en San Judas en enero de 2023 fue John Prevost. Recién llegado de un viaje a Nueva York para una entrevista con la CNN, John Prevost asistió a la Misa, pero mantuvo un perfil bajo ante los medios de comunicación, tras un año vertiginoso en el que había concedido entrevistas con regularidad. En el vestíbulo, fuera del santuario de San Judas, las personas que asistieron a la Misa charlaban con los agustinos y entre ellas. La frase “somos tan afortunados” se oía una y otra vez. Simone Orendain es corresponsal de OSV News. Escribe desde Chicago.  
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Los agustinos celebran un año del ‘don del Papa León’ con una Misa especial #Catholic – NEW LENOX, Illinois (OSV News) — Los hermanos agustinos del Papa León XIV y otras personas de la zona de Chicago recordaron con gratitud el año transcurrido desde la elección de uno de los suyos en una Misa especial celebrada el 8 de mayo. Los agustinos de la provincia del Medio Oeste de Estados Unidos y las hermanas agustinas residentes en el área de Chicago asistieron a la Misa de acción de gracias por el primer año del Papa en la Iglesia Católica de San Judas, en New Lenox, al suroeste de Chicago. La parroquia, dirigida por los agustinos, es el lugar donde el Papa León XIV visitó por última vez Estados Unidos, en agosto de 2024, cuando aún era el cardenal Robert F. Prevost. “Qué bendecidos y afortunados somos, y sé que muchos de nosotros, en algún momento, lo hemos conocido, hemos hablado con él, hemos pasado tiempo con él. Ahora bien, no mucha gente puede decir eso del pontífice”, dijo el padre agustino Anthony B. Pizzo al inicio de la Misa. El padre Pizzo es el superior saliente de los agustinos del Medio Oeste del país, un cargo que el mismo Papa ocupó anteriormente. Cinco agustinos y el padre pasionista Enzo Del Brocco, presidente de Catholic Theological Union (Unión Teológica Católica), donde el Papa León obtuvo su máster en teología, concelebraron la Misa. Entre ellos se encontraba el padre John Lydon, amigo cercano del Papa desde la universidad y sus días como misionero en Perú. El sacerdote agustino y el futuro Papa vivieron en Trujillo durante 10 años –en la tumultuosa década de los noventa, marcada por la inestabilidad política– enseñando y guiando a los seminaristas agustinos. Para suscribirse a nuestro boletín electrónico semanal, haga click aquí. En su homilía, el padre Lydon recordó la visita del Papa ese mismo día, con motivo del primer aniversario, a Pompeya, Italia, en la festividad de Nuestra Señora de Pompeya –un lugar que, según dijo, trajo consigo conversión, milagros y “mucha esperanza”. El padre Lydon también señaló que ese mismo día, en la tradición agustina, se honra a Nuestra Señora de la Gracia, patrona de los agustinos en Perú. Las lecturas de las fiestas marianas y la carta de San Pablo a los Gálatas, en la que dice que ya no somos esclavos, sino hijos de Dios, dijo, “nos ayudan a comprender el ministerio y la misión del Papa León”. Tras la Misa, el padre Lydon compartió con OSV News que sus primeros pensamientos al cumplirse un año de la elección de su buen amigo al Papado eran “de gratitud al Señor” por “el don del Papa León”. “Su espíritu es lo que guió a los cardenales a elegir a nuestro sumo pontífice”, dijo. Refiriéndose al Papa León, añadió: “Necesitamos su guía moral, su voz moral en nuestro mundo actual. Y él ha asumido valientemente esa responsabilidad”. El padre Lydon dijo que “cuesta creer que haya pasado ya un año” desde que el Papa fue elegido, “pero es solo una señal de la gracia infinita de Dios para con todos nosotros… y aunque las nubes de tormenta parecen densas, tenemos la certeza de que el Hijo, H-i-j-o, se abre paso y el Papa León nos ayuda a dirigirnos hacia él”. El padre agustino Ray Flores, párroco de San Judas y amigo de John Prevost, uno de los dos hermanos mayores del Papa, dijo que “ha sido un privilegio… cuando pienso en haber acompañado a John a diferentes entrevistas a lo largo del año” para conocer mejor al Papa, “lo cual he disfrutado de verdad”. “Los dos queremos compartir la buena nueva de su hermano, del Papa León y de los agustinos, así como el mensaje de paz del que el Papa León ha hablado desde el primer día de forma tan hermosa y elocuente”, afirmó. “La gente quiere eso”. El padre Flores, que anteriormente era sacerdote diocesano, ingresó en la Orden de San Agustín en 2017, cuando el Papa León era aún el obispo Prevost de la Diócesis de Chiclayo, en Perú. Sabía que el Papa era afable cada vez que lo saludaba y llegó a conocerlo mejor hace cuatro años mientras colaboraba con él en la parroquia. Uno de los primeros feligreses que el padre Flores conoció en San Judas en enero de 2023 fue John Prevost. Recién llegado de un viaje a Nueva York para una entrevista con la CNN, John Prevost asistió a la Misa, pero mantuvo un perfil bajo ante los medios de comunicación, tras un año vertiginoso en el que había concedido entrevistas con regularidad. En el vestíbulo, fuera del santuario de San Judas, las personas que asistieron a la Misa charlaban con los agustinos y entre ellas. La frase “somos tan afortunados” se oía una y otra vez. Simone Orendain es corresponsal de OSV News. Escribe desde Chicago.  

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Los agustinos celebran un año del ‘don del Papa León’ con una Misa especial #Catholic –

NEW LENOX, Illinois (OSV News) — Los hermanos agustinos del Papa León XIV y otras personas de la zona de Chicago recordaron con gratitud el año transcurrido desde la elección de uno de los suyos en una Misa especial celebrada el 8 de mayo.

Los agustinos de la provincia del Medio Oeste de Estados Unidos y las hermanas agustinas residentes en el área de Chicago asistieron a la Misa de acción de gracias por el primer año del Papa en la Iglesia Católica de San Judas, en New Lenox, al suroeste de Chicago. La parroquia, dirigida por los agustinos, es el lugar donde el Papa León XIV visitó por última vez Estados Unidos, en agosto de 2024, cuando aún era el cardenal Robert F. Prevost.

“Qué bendecidos y afortunados somos, y sé que muchos de nosotros, en algún momento, lo hemos conocido, hemos hablado con él, hemos pasado tiempo con él. Ahora bien, no mucha gente puede decir eso del pontífice”, dijo el padre agustino Anthony B. Pizzo al inicio de la Misa. El padre Pizzo es el superior saliente de los agustinos del Medio Oeste del país, un cargo que el mismo Papa ocupó anteriormente.

Cinco agustinos y el padre pasionista Enzo Del Brocco, presidente de Catholic Theological Union (Unión Teológica Católica), donde el Papa León obtuvo su máster en teología, concelebraron la Misa. Entre ellos se encontraba el padre John Lydon, amigo cercano del Papa desde la universidad y sus días como misionero en Perú. El sacerdote agustino y el futuro Papa vivieron en Trujillo durante 10 años –en la tumultuosa década de los noventa, marcada por la inestabilidad política– enseñando y guiando a los seminaristas agustinos.

Para suscribirse a nuestro boletín electrónico semanal, haga click aquí.

En su homilía, el padre Lydon recordó la visita del Papa ese mismo día, con motivo del primer aniversario, a Pompeya, Italia, en la festividad de Nuestra Señora de Pompeya –un lugar que, según dijo, trajo consigo conversión, milagros y “mucha esperanza”. El padre Lydon también señaló que ese mismo día, en la tradición agustina, se honra a Nuestra Señora de la Gracia, patrona de los agustinos en Perú.

Las lecturas de las fiestas marianas y la carta de San Pablo a los Gálatas, en la que dice que ya no somos esclavos, sino hijos de Dios, dijo, “nos ayudan a comprender el ministerio y la misión del Papa León”.

Tras la Misa, el padre Lydon compartió con OSV News que sus primeros pensamientos al cumplirse un año de la elección de su buen amigo al Papado eran “de gratitud al Señor” por “el don del Papa León”.

“Su espíritu es lo que guió a los cardenales a elegir a nuestro sumo pontífice”, dijo. Refiriéndose al Papa León, añadió: “Necesitamos su guía moral, su voz moral en nuestro mundo actual. Y él ha asumido valientemente esa responsabilidad”.

El padre Lydon dijo que “cuesta creer que haya pasado ya un año” desde que el Papa fue elegido, “pero es solo una señal de la gracia infinita de Dios para con todos nosotros… y aunque las nubes de tormenta parecen densas, tenemos la certeza de que el Hijo, H-i-j-o, se abre paso y el Papa León nos ayuda a dirigirnos hacia él”.

El padre agustino Ray Flores, párroco de San Judas y amigo de John Prevost, uno de los dos hermanos mayores del Papa, dijo que “ha sido un privilegio… cuando pienso en haber acompañado a John a diferentes entrevistas a lo largo del año” para conocer mejor al Papa, “lo cual he disfrutado de verdad”.

“Los dos queremos compartir la buena nueva de su hermano, del Papa León y de los agustinos, así como el mensaje de paz del que el Papa León ha hablado desde el primer día de forma tan hermosa y elocuente”, afirmó. “La gente quiere eso”.

El padre Flores, que anteriormente era sacerdote diocesano, ingresó en la Orden de San Agustín en 2017, cuando el Papa León era aún el obispo Prevost de la Diócesis de Chiclayo, en Perú. Sabía que el Papa era afable cada vez que lo saludaba y llegó a conocerlo mejor hace cuatro años mientras colaboraba con él en la parroquia. Uno de los primeros feligreses que el padre Flores conoció en San Judas en enero de 2023 fue John Prevost.

Recién llegado de un viaje a Nueva York para una entrevista con la CNN, John Prevost asistió a la Misa, pero mantuvo un perfil bajo ante los medios de comunicación, tras un año vertiginoso en el que había concedido entrevistas con regularidad.

En el vestíbulo, fuera del santuario de San Judas, las personas que asistieron a la Misa charlaban con los agustinos y entre ellas. La frase “somos tan afortunados” se oía una y otra vez.

Simone Orendain es corresponsal de OSV News. Escribe desde Chicago.

 

– NEW LENOX, Illinois (OSV News) — Los hermanos agustinos del Papa León XIV y otras personas de la zona de Chicago recordaron con gratitud el año transcurrido desde la elección de uno de los suyos en una Misa especial celebrada el 8 de mayo. Los agustinos de la provincia del Medio Oeste de Estados Unidos y las hermanas agustinas residentes en el área de Chicago asistieron a la Misa de acción de gracias por el primer año del Papa en la Iglesia Católica de San Judas, en New Lenox, al suroeste de Chicago. La parroquia, dirigida por los agustinos, es

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May 17, 1882: Comet Tewfik is spotted during an eclipse

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On May 17, 1882, an eclipse trekked across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Many scientists gathered in Egypt to witness it even though it was a fairly short-duration event, with maximum totality at only 1 minute 50 seconds and totality in Egypt at only 70 seconds. J. Norman Lockyer, one of two astronomers whoContinue reading “May 17, 1882: Comet Tewfik is spotted during an eclipse”

The post May 17, 1882: Comet Tewfik is spotted during an eclipse appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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173 House Democrats Refused to Vote for a Resolution Honoring Law Enforcement Officers During National Police Week – Democrats don’t want to admit it publicly, but they are still the same party that tried to ‘Defund the Police’ a few years ago. The post 173 House Democrats Refused to Vote for a Resolution Honoring Law Enforcement Officers During National Police Week appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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173 House Democrats Refused to Vote for a Resolution Honoring Law Enforcement Officers During National Police Week – Democrats don’t want to admit it publicly, but they are still the same party that tried to ‘Defund the Police’ a few years ago. The post 173 House Democrats Refused to Vote for a Resolution Honoring Law Enforcement Officers During National Police Week appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Police car lights flashing in a city setting, highlighting law enforcement presence and emergency response.

Police car lights flashing in a city setting, highlighting law enforcement presence and emergency response.

Democrats don’t want to admit it publicly, but they are still the same party that tried to ‘Defund the Police’ a few years ago.

The post 173 House Democrats Refused to Vote for a Resolution Honoring Law Enforcement Officers During National Police Week appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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WATCH: DHS Secretary Confirms 50% of All Murders in Fairfax County, Virginia, Committed by Illegal Aliens — ‘That’s Just in Fairfax!’ – DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has confirmed that illegal aliens are responsible for approximately 50% of all murders in the affluent, and deep blue, Northern Virginia suburb of Fairfax County, just outside Washington, D.C. The post WATCH: DHS Secretary Confirms 50% of All Murders in Fairfax County, Virginia, Committed by Illegal Aliens — ‘That’s Just in Fairfax!’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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WATCH: DHS Secretary Confirms 50% of All Murders in Fairfax County, Virginia, Committed by Illegal Aliens — ‘That’s Just in Fairfax!’ – DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has confirmed that illegal aliens are responsible for approximately 50% of all murders in the affluent, and deep blue, Northern Virginia suburb of Fairfax County, just outside Washington, D.C. The post WATCH: DHS Secretary Confirms 50% of All Murders in Fairfax County, Virginia, Committed by Illegal Aliens — ‘That’s Just in Fairfax!’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Official speaking during a nighttime press event, surrounded by emergency vehicles and police activity.

Official speaking during a nighttime press event, surrounded by emergency vehicles and police activity.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has confirmed that illegal aliens are responsible for approximately 50% of all murders in the affluent, and deep blue, Northern Virginia suburb of Fairfax County, just outside Washington, D.C.

The post WATCH: DHS Secretary Confirms 50% of All Murders in Fairfax County, Virginia, Committed by Illegal Aliens — ‘That’s Just in Fairfax!’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Lawyer Who Took Louisiana Redistricting Fight to Supreme Court Now Warns of “Rampant Racial Discrimination” – The Supreme Court stood for a basic principle: Americans should not be divided by race for political power. The post Lawyer Who Took Louisiana Redistricting Fight to Supreme Court Now Warns of “Rampant Racial Discrimination” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Lawyer Who Took Louisiana Redistricting Fight to Supreme Court Now Warns of “Rampant Racial Discrimination” – The Supreme Court stood for a basic principle: Americans should not be divided by race for political power. The post Lawyer Who Took Louisiana Redistricting Fight to Supreme Court Now Warns of “Rampant Racial Discrimination” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Protesters gather in Alabama to voice their demands for fair voting maps following a recent Supreme Court ruling, highlighting civic engagement and activism.

Protesters gather in Alabama to voice their demands for fair voting maps following a recent Supreme Court ruling, highlighting civic engagement and activism.

The Supreme Court stood for a basic principle: Americans should not be divided by race for political power.

The post Lawyer Who Took Louisiana Redistricting Fight to Supreme Court Now Warns of “Rampant Racial Discrimination” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Pope Leo XIV: AI communication must preserve ‘human voices and faces’ #Catholic VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged Catholics and communicators to promote forms of communication that respect the truth of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, while also calling for renewed care for creation and peace as Laudato Si’ Week begins.Speaking after praying the Regina Caeli May 17 from the window of the Apostolic Palace, the pope noted that many countries were marking World Communications Day, whose theme this year, he said, is “Preserving Human Voices and Faces.”“In this era of artificial intelligence, I encourage everyone to commit themselves to promoting forms of communication that always respect the truth of the human person, on which every technological innovation should be focused,” Pope Leo XIV said.The appeal comes as the Vatican is preparing for the pope’s first encyclical, expected to treat extensively the ethical and social questions raised by artificial intelligence through the lens of Catholic social teaching.The pope also marked the start of Laudato Si’ Week, which runs through next Sunday and is dedicated to the care of creation, inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical.“In this jubilee year of Saint Francis of Assisi, we recall his message of peace with God, with our brothers and sisters, and with all creatures,” he said. “Sadly, in recent years, due to wars, progress in this direction has been greatly impeded.”Pope Leo encouraged the members of the Laudato Si’ Movement and all those who promote an “integral ecology” to renew their commitment, adding: “Indeed, caring for peace is caring for life!”In his catechesis before the Marian prayer, the pope reflected on the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, celebrated Sunday in many countries.The image of Jesus “lifted up from the earth and ascending toward heaven,” he said, may make the mystery seem like “a distant event from long ago.”“Yet this is not so, for we are united to Jesus as the members of one body united to the head,” Pope Leo said. “By ascending into heaven, then, he draws us with him toward full communion with the Father.”Quoting St. Augustine, the pope said that “the head’s advance is the hope of the members.”Christ’s whole life, he continued, is “a movement of ascent,” through which he embraces the world, redeems humanity from sin, and brings “light, forgiveness and hope where previously there was darkness, injustice and desperation.”“The Ascension, therefore, does not speak to us of a distant promise, but of a living bond, which draws us also toward heavenly glory, already elevating and expanding our horizon in this life and directing our way of thinking, feeling and acting more closely to the measure of God’s heart,” he said.The pope said this path of ascent is found in Christ’s life, example, and teaching, and is also marked out by the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.He also recalled Pope Francis’ teaching on the saints “next door” — ordinary fathers, mothers, grandparents, and people of every age and condition who “with joy and commitment, make the effort to live sincerely according to the Gospel.”“With them, with their support and thanks to their prayer, we too can learn to ascend day by day toward heaven,” Pope Leo said.The pope urged Christians, with God’s help, to put into practice all that they have “heard and seen,” so that the divine life received in baptism may grow and “spread the precious fruits of communion and peace in the world.”“May Mary, the Queen of Heaven, who illuminates and guides us in every moment, support us on our path,” he said.At the end of the Regina Caeli, the pope greeted pilgrims from Rome and abroad, including marching bands from Germany, the “Sant’Antonu di u Monti” Confraternity from Ajaccio, students from the University of Montana, young people from Oppido Mamertina, youth leaders from Lorenzaga in the Diocese of Concordia-Pordenone, and confirmation candidates from the Archdiocese of Genoa.This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Pope Leo XIV: AI communication must preserve ‘human voices and faces’ #Catholic VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged Catholics and communicators to promote forms of communication that respect the truth of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence, while also calling for renewed care for creation and peace as Laudato Si’ Week begins.Speaking after praying the Regina Caeli May 17 from the window of the Apostolic Palace, the pope noted that many countries were marking World Communications Day, whose theme this year, he said, is “Preserving Human Voices and Faces.”“In this era of artificial intelligence, I encourage everyone to commit themselves to promoting forms of communication that always respect the truth of the human person, on which every technological innovation should be focused,” Pope Leo XIV said.The appeal comes as the Vatican is preparing for the pope’s first encyclical, expected to treat extensively the ethical and social questions raised by artificial intelligence through the lens of Catholic social teaching.The pope also marked the start of Laudato Si’ Week, which runs through next Sunday and is dedicated to the care of creation, inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical.“In this jubilee year of Saint Francis of Assisi, we recall his message of peace with God, with our brothers and sisters, and with all creatures,” he said. “Sadly, in recent years, due to wars, progress in this direction has been greatly impeded.”Pope Leo encouraged the members of the Laudato Si’ Movement and all those who promote an “integral ecology” to renew their commitment, adding: “Indeed, caring for peace is caring for life!”In his catechesis before the Marian prayer, the pope reflected on the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, celebrated Sunday in many countries.The image of Jesus “lifted up from the earth and ascending toward heaven,” he said, may make the mystery seem like “a distant event from long ago.”“Yet this is not so, for we are united to Jesus as the members of one body united to the head,” Pope Leo said. “By ascending into heaven, then, he draws us with him toward full communion with the Father.”Quoting St. Augustine, the pope said that “the head’s advance is the hope of the members.”Christ’s whole life, he continued, is “a movement of ascent,” through which he embraces the world, redeems humanity from sin, and brings “light, forgiveness and hope where previously there was darkness, injustice and desperation.”“The Ascension, therefore, does not speak to us of a distant promise, but of a living bond, which draws us also toward heavenly glory, already elevating and expanding our horizon in this life and directing our way of thinking, feeling and acting more closely to the measure of God’s heart,” he said.The pope said this path of ascent is found in Christ’s life, example, and teaching, and is also marked out by the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.He also recalled Pope Francis’ teaching on the saints “next door” — ordinary fathers, mothers, grandparents, and people of every age and condition who “with joy and commitment, make the effort to live sincerely according to the Gospel.”“With them, with their support and thanks to their prayer, we too can learn to ascend day by day toward heaven,” Pope Leo said.The pope urged Christians, with God’s help, to put into practice all that they have “heard and seen,” so that the divine life received in baptism may grow and “spread the precious fruits of communion and peace in the world.”“May Mary, the Queen of Heaven, who illuminates and guides us in every moment, support us on our path,” he said.At the end of the Regina Caeli, the pope greeted pilgrims from Rome and abroad, including marching bands from Germany, the “Sant’Antonu di u Monti” Confraternity from Ajaccio, students from the University of Montana, young people from Oppido Mamertina, youth leaders from Lorenzaga in the Diocese of Concordia-Pordenone, and confirmation candidates from the Archdiocese of Genoa.This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The pontiff marked World Communications Day by urging technology to remain centered on human dignity.

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