Archbishop Orlando Beltran Quevedo / Credit: Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, May 21, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

A Catholic cardinal condemned the grenade attack on a village chapel during a Bible service that left two wounded in the southern Philippines on Sunday.

The grenade attack happened on Pentecost Sunday at Santo Niño Chapel in Cotabato City at about 10:30 a.m.

Cotabato City is in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, known as ?Bangsamoro,? an area that has experienced religious freedom challenges in recent years. 

Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, the archbishop emeritus of Cotabato, denounced the grenade attack, calling it a ?dastardly bombing,? according to the news site of the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines.

Of the about 20 people in attendance, the two churchgoers injured in the attack were Maribel Abis, 46, and Aniceta Tobil, a senior citizen. Initial reports revealed the attack was by two men riding a motorcycle. 

Quevedo called the attack a ?horrendous sacrilegious act that cries out to heaven.?

?I call upon our security, military, and investigative forces to ferret out the perpetrators and bring them to justice,? he added.

A Philippine government official condemned the attack on Tuesday, according to a local report. 

?This horrendous act of violence, carried out on Pentecost Sunday, a day of religious significance for Catholics, is a direct attack on the Filipino people?s commitment to religious freedom and peaceful coexistence and blatant disregard for human life,? said chief Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity. 

?We stand in solidarity with the Catholic community of Cotabato City and the entire Bangsamoro region during this unforeseen challenge,? he continued. ?Rest assured that this act of terror, which has no other aim but to sow fear, animosity, and mistrust, will not slow down or dampen our resolve to achieving lasting peace, mutual understanding, and solidarity in the Bangsamoro.?

?Let us all work together to prevent such tragedies from happening again and to help foster a more peaceful, inclusive, and harmonious environment that respects the diverse faiths within our communities,? Galvez added.

Only about six months ago, a bombing during a Mass on Dec. 3, 2023, at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City killed four churchgoers, most of them students. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in early May urged Catholics to join a rally to oppose the ?Equal Rights Amendment? (ERA) at the state capitol in St. Paul. The proposal ?fails to protect Minnesotans from discrimination based on religion, could constitutionally mandate legal abortion up to the moment of birth, and promotes harmful gender ideology,? the archdiocese said. / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 21, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

A controversial proposed constitutional amendment in Minnesota, which the state?s Catholic bishops had opposed due to concerns it would expand abortion access, failed to advance this week amid partisan deadlock.

The proposed amendment, sponsored by St. Paul Rep. Kaohly Her of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), would have added several protected categories to the state?s constitution, in part saying the state cannot discriminate against a person on the basis of sex.

Within the category of sex, the proposal included ?making and effectuating decisions about all matters relating to one?s own pregnancy? or decision whether to become or remain pregnant,? as well as ?gender identity or gender expression? and ?sexual orientation.?

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis had in early May urged Catholics to join a rally to oppose the ?Equal Rights Amendment? (ERA), saying the proposal ?fails to protect Minnesotans from discrimination based on religion, could constitutionally mandate legal abortion up to the moment of birth, and promotes harmful gender ideology.?

The ERA in Minnesota failed on Sunday evening after time ran out for the Democratic-controlled Senate to vote on it before the end of the legislative year, leaving the measure tabled. The amendment is dead for now until January 2025 unless a special session is called. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said Monday he will not call a special session to try again to pass the ERA, the AP reported.

The proposed amendment, if the Senate had passed it, would have been submitted to the people at the 2026 general election. If ratified by a simple majority, the amendment would have taken effect Jan. 1, 2027. 

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, speaking in a May 6 video message on behalf of the state?s bishops, warned that the proposal constitutes ?an imposition of the sexual revolution on the people of our state.?

The so-called right to abortion, which the Church has always opposed, would become enshrined in Minnesota?s constitution, making it ?so fundamental that we can?t even legislate against it,? Barron said. In addition, he noted that the proposal lacks the possibility of conscientious objection, meaning churches, schools, and health care institutions guided by faith could be mandated to endorse practices or speech that violate their beliefs. 

At the May 8 rally at the Minnesota State Capitol, Bishop Joseph Williams, then an auxiliary of St. Paul and Minneapolis, spoke against the proposal and said moments like this show that what ?unites us as people of faith is much greater than what divides us.? Williams was named coadjutor bishop of Camden, New Jersey, by Pope Francis on May 21. 

From a statutory perspective, abortion is already legal up to birth in Minnesota following the 2023 passage of the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, which enshrined a constitutional right to ?reproductive freedom,? ensuring the right to abortion in Minnesota up to birth for any reason as well as the right to contraception and sterilization.

null / Credit: Célian de La Rochefoucauld via youheritage.com

ACI Prensa Staff, May 21, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

The Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes of Madrid, an archdiocesan pilgrim service organization, concluded its 101st pilgrimage on May 19, serving 800 participants, one of whom apparently was cured of severe visual impairment. This extraordinary event, however, will have to be studied before it can be qualified as a miracle.

The most recent miracle at Lourdes, No. 70, was officially recognized in February 2018. This case could become No. 71.

The adviser to the archdiocesan association of faithful, Father Guillermo Cruz, sent a statement to the different groups that made up the pilgrimage, calling on them to accept what happened with humility and simplicity, following the example of St. Bernadette.

?The experience of making a pilgrimage and discovering the love of God through our Mother, the Virgin Mary, as St. Bernadette teaches us in simplicity and humility, will always be the greatest grace that is granted at Lourdes, since it is the one that renews life,? he said.

This consideration prefaces the announcement that during the days of the pilgrimage, ?an event has occurred that is extraordinary, although it would be misleading people if we call it a miracle,? Cruz explained.

What happened is that ?a pilgrim who suffers from several diseases and had very severe visual impairment, after making ?the water gesture? recovered her sight. This extraordinary event was immediately verified by the doctors, and the shrine was notified and has already recorded it.?

With the ?water gesture? the pilgrims in the area of the baths, in an atmosphere of meditation, prayer, and trust in providence, cup water in their hands and three times wash their face and then take a sip of the water as St. Bernadette Soubirous did when directed by the Immaculate Conception at the Masabielle grotto.

Why can?t it yet be called a miracle?

The priest also explained the reason why it is not proper at this time to speak of a miracle, since this declaration requires ?a process of medical and spiritual discernment that must be followed? in which ?the following requirements regarding the healing must concur: Immediate. Complete. Lasting. Inexplicable.?

Consequently, the adviser said: ?We can?t get ahead of ourselves. A study has to be done and above all that the healing be maintained over time.? The priest emphasized that ?jumping ahead leads to presumption and we have to be humble. Here we have to wait for the study carried out by the Church at the Lourdes shrine, and then for the bishop of Madrid to make a pronouncement, to verify not only that it is inexplicable, but that it is also miraculous.?

Cruz is well aware of the desire of the members of the Hospitality of Lourdes and the pilgrims they accompany to the shrine every year to be able to speak of a miracle, ?but that?s not our decision,? he said and noted that ?it?s always an undeserved grace that is received.?

He warned that ?we can create confusion if we are already talking about a miracle,? while at the same time we could ?create false expectations if we reduce the fruits of the pilgrimage to a single event.?

What is the Lourdes Medical Bureau?

The Medical Bureau of the Lourdes Shrine in France was founded in 1883 at the same time that the area of the baths was established. As noted on the shrine?s website, it is the only organization of its kind in the world, including pilgrimage sites of other religions.

To date, more than 70,000 cases of extraordinary events have been presented, of which 70 have been recognized as miraculous by the Catholic Church. In most of them, women are the recipients of this special grace. In 50 of the 70 cases, the miraculous event occurred through contact with the shrine?s water, which has no special properties.

It was Pope Leo XIII who in 1886 gave his approval to the procedures followed by the medical bureau. In 1902, the Holy See ratified these protocols, which have four fundamental stages:

The office director receives the person who claims to have received a miracle. If the director considers the case worthy of being taken seriously, he calls in the doctors on staff that day at the shrine. If they agree that the case should proceed, an investigation begins that can last several years. When completed, the members of the International Scientific Committee of Lourdes vote on whether the extraordinary event is ?unexplained in the current state of our knowledge.? This vote is sent to the bishop of the place where the cured person resides, who is the one who has the authority to declare the miracle.

The seven criteria doctors must take into account

The website of the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes also specifies the seven criteria that must be observed during the medical investigation of cases. Before healing, the following must be taken into account:

1) The disease must be serious and have an unfavorable prognosis.

2) The disease must be known and cataloged by medicine.

3) The disease must ?be organic, lesional,? and be examined by ?objective, biological, radiological criteria.? This means that ?even today, cures for pathologies will not be recognized without precise objective criteria, such as psychological, psychiatric, functional, and nervous diseases, etc.?

4) There should be no treatment to which the cure can be attributed.

5) The healing must be sudden, abrupt, instantaneous, immediate, and without convalescence.

After healing, two more criteria must be considered:

6) It should not be a simple regression of symptoms but rather a return to all vital functions.

7) It should not be a simple remission but rather a cure, that is, lasting and definitive.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA?s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 21, 2024 / 15:55 pm (CNA).

The United Kingdom?s Department of Education intends to prohibit the promotion of gender ideology within public schools, set age-based guidelines for sex education, and protect parental rights, according to proposed guidance for schools.

A proposed update to Relationships, Sex, and Health Education (RSHE) lesson guidance, which is now undergoing an eight-week public comment period, would prohibit schools from teaching that ?gender is a spectrum.? Rather, if asked about gender identity, schools would need to ?teach the facts about biological sex? and could not present alternative views about gender as being facts. 

?Material suggesting that someone?s gender is determined by their interests or clothing choices should not be used as it risks leading pupils who do not comply with sex stereotypes to question their gender when they might not have done so otherwise,? the proposed guidance reads. 

The proposal states that ?schools should not teach about the broader concept of gender identity? and calls the concept ?a highly contested and complex subject.? The proposal adds that schools ?should be clear that an individual must be 18 before they can legally reassign their gender.? For students under the age of 18, it states ?a child?s legal sex will always be the same as their biological sex and, at school, boys cannot be legally classified as girls or vice versa.?

When using ?external resources,? the proposed guidance would instruct schools to ?avoid materials that use cartoons or diagrams that oversimplify this complex concept or that could be interpreted as being aimed at younger children.? It also states that ?schools should consult parents on the content of external resources on this topic in advance and make all materials available to them on request.?

The guidance also states that schools should teach students about laws related to protected groups, which includes those facing discrimination for gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion, sex, and other characteristics. 

Per the proposed guidance, schools would not provide any sex education until Year 5, when the students are usually 9 or 10 years old. The proposal also sets age-based guidelines for the type of sex education students receive. 

However, parents can opt their children out of all or some sex education lessons, except for lessons that are part of the science curriculum (which teach about topics such as puberty and sexual reproduction) ? this is already part of existing guidance. A student who is at least 16 years old can opt themselves back into the sex education lessons with or without parental approval, which is also part of existing guidance.

The guidelines would establish new protections for parental rights. Per the proposal, schools would need to make all sex education material available for parents to review.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said in a statement that the proposal ?puts protecting children at its heart, and enshrines parents? right to know what their children are being taught.?

?It will support schools with how and when to teach often difficult and sensitive topics, leaving no doubt about what is appropriate to teach pupils at every stage of school,? Keegan said. ?Parents can be reassured once and for all their children will only learn age-appropriate content.?

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement that he was ?horrified? to hear reports last year that schools were providing sex education to students that was inappropriate for their ages.

?I will always act swiftly to protect our children and this new guidance will do exactly that, while supporting teachers to teach these important topics sensitively and giving parents access to curriculum content if they wish,? Sunak said.

Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), which is a nonprofit based in London, expressed support for the proposed guidelines. 

?We are glad and relieved that primary school children will now be protected from such lessons,? CLC Chief Executive Andrea Williams said in a statement. ?But this must only be a beginning. So much harm has been done and so much confusion sown. Schools must return to their Christian roots and the biblical beliefs on identity and sexual ethics, which set children and stable families up for life.?

The changes come just months after England ended the prescription of sex-change drugs to minors back in March. Scotland soon followed, ending such prescriptions in April. The policy changes stem from an independent review from Dr. Hilary Cass, which found insufficient evidence to support the efficacy and safety of providing these drugs to children. 

Pope Francis delivers a video message to the conference ?100 Years Since the ?Concilium Sinense?? at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. / Credit: Fabio Gonnella/EWTN

Rome Newsroom, May 21, 2024 / 13:57 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has praised the Catholic Church?s first council in China 100 years ago as ?an authentic synodal journey? that opened the way for the Church in China ?to increasingly have a Chinese face.?

In a video message to a conference in Rome on the Catholic Church in China, the pope noted that Chinese Catholics have endured ?times of patience and trial? in the past century.

?The Lord in China has safeguarded the faith of the people of God along the way. And the faith of God?s people has been the compass that has shown the way throughout this time,? Pope Francis said in the May 21 address.

The pope pointed to a Church council that took place in Shanghai 25 years before the Chinese Communist Revolution as an example of a moment when ?the communion between the Holy See and the Church in China manifested its fruits, fruits of good for all the Chinese people.? 

The 1924 council, called the Primum Concilium Sinense, brought together 105 Catholic missionaries, bishops, and Chinese Catholics to establish a framework for a native Chinese hierarchy.

?The Fathers gathered in the Concilium Sinense lived an authentically synodal experience and made important decisions together,? Pope Francis said.

?Remembering the Council of Shanghai can also suggest today new paths to the entire Church and open paths to be undertaken with boldness to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel in the present,? he added. 

Among the crowd listening to the pope?s video message were representatives from the People?s Republic of China, including Bishop Shen Bin of Shanghai, who was unilaterally installed by Chinese authorities as bishop of Shanghai in April 2023 without a papal mandate, thereby breaking the terms of the Vatican-China deal. Pope Francis confirmed his appointment in July 2023.

The Holy See first entered into a provisional two-year agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops in 2018, which has since been renewed twice and is again up for renewal this fall. 

Pope Francis opted not to speak of the Vatican?s diplomatic efforts with Beijing or religious freedom in China in his message but said that Chinese Catholics today ?bear witness to their faith through works of mercy and charity, and in their witness they give a real contribution to the harmony of social coexistence.?

A large statue of Our Lady of Sheshan stood on the pope?s desk as he spoke. The pope noted that during the month of May many Chinese Catholics usually go on pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Sheshan, located near Shanghai.

?I too ideally climb the hill of Sheshan, and let us all together entrust to Mary, Help of Christians, our brothers and sisters in the faith who are in China, all the Chinese people, and all our poor world, asking for her intercession, so that peace may always win everywhere,? Pope Francis said.

Following the pope?s message, Shen Bin delivered a 15-minute speech in Chinese to the packed auditorium of the Pontifical Urban University on the Janiculum Hill overlooking St. Peter?s Basilica.

The Chinese bishop offered a different interpretation of the 1924 council from the pope in his speech, saying that ?the Council of Shanghai did not lead to an immediate and radical change in the Church in China,? adding that by the 1949 Communist Revolution ?only 29 of China?s 137 dioceses had Chinese bishops, and only three of 20 archbishops were Chinese.?

?The Catholic Church in China had not really freed itself from foreign powers to become a work led by Chinese Christians and had not yet managed to shed the label of ?foreign religion,?? he said.

Shen Bin, who has held leadership positions in the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association established by the Chinese Communist Party and under the control of the United Front Work Department, went on to defend Beijing?s religious freedom record and underlined the need for the Church in China to ?follow a path of sinicization.?

?The policy of religious freedom implemented by the Chinese government has no interest in changing the Catholic faith but only hopes that the Catholic clergy and faithful will defend the interests of the Chinese people and free themselves from the control of foreign powers,? Shen Bin said in his speech.

?Today the Chinese people are carrying out the great rebirth of the Chinese nation in a global way with Chinese-style modernization, and the Catholic Church in China must move in the same direction, following a path of sinicization that is in line with Chinese society and culture today,? the Shanghai bishop added.

The conference, titled ?100 Years Since the ?Concilium Sinense?: Between History and the Present,? was held in Chinese and Italian in the Great Hall of the Pontifical Urban University. The Pastoral Commission for China and Agenzia Fides, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies, organized the conference, which featured Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as speakers.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the conference, Parolin said the Holy See would like to increase and deepen its contacts in China.

?We have been hoping for a long time now to have a stable presence in China, even if initially it may not have the form of a papal representation of an apostolic nunciature,? Parolin said.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/CNA Deutsch

CNA Newsroom, May 21, 2024 / 12:56 pm (CNA).

Priests in Germany are not supportive of the controversial German Synodal Way, according to a new study commissioned by the German Bishops? Conference.

The study, officially titled ?Who Becomes a Priest??, found that priests are ?alienated from the concerns of Church reform,? lead author Matthias Sellmann said on May 17.

?Priests are also clearly not supporters of the German Synodal Way,? Sellmann emphasized. 

According to a statement by the bishops? conference, the study aimed to investigate ?the socio-religious background and motivations of newly ordained priests in order to make strategic personnel decisions based on the results.? 

Researchers contacted all of the 847 priests who were ordained between 2010 and 2021 in Germany to take part in the study. ?In total, a representative sample of 17.8% took part.?

Among other findings, more than 70% of those surveyed said that silent prayer was where they discovered their vocation. ?So where do we create such places of silent prayer in our pastoral landscape?? asked Bishop Michael Gerber of Fulda, who heads the bishops? vocations commission.

Lead author Sellmann voiced concerns that priests were more interested in being a pastor and the liturgy than performing as a supervisor or team leader, which was not in line with the role they were expected to play ?as managers of ever-larger and more resource-rich complexes.? 

Another critical concern identified by the study, according to Sellmann, is that the priest occupies a particular and idealized position in ?Roman theology,? reported CNA Deutsch, CNA?s German-language news partner. 

This also required addressing and change management, the German theologian demanded: ?What is needed is a determined, consistent, and both spiritually and theologically well-founded will to change course.?

It is unclear whether any course changes will provide for priests who support the Synodal Way, however ? or indeed priests in the future: As Sellmann admitted, vocations are likely to dwindle even further, given priests tend to come from faithful families with many children, a source that was ?drying up.?

Criticism and indifference

Inaugurated by Cardinal Reinhard Marx in 2019, the multiyear, multimillion-dollar project has not only failed to convince German priests but also has drawn fire for itsverypremise, approach, andresolutions by Pope Francis, cardinals, theologians, andmanybishopsaroundtheworld. 

At the same time, most German Catholics reportedly are indifferent to the exercise. According to CNA Deutsch, a survey in September 2020 showed that only 19% of Catholics agreed with the statement that the Synodal Way was of interest to them. The vast majority of Germans responded in the negative.

This finding starkly contrasted claims made by Marx, who said in September 2019 that ?countless believers in Germany consider [these issues] to be in need of discussion.?

Since then, the Synodal Way has passed resolutions demanding the Church adopt transgender ideology, women?s ordination, and othercontroversial goals. Organizers are now working to turn the project into a permanent controlling body ? called the ?Synodal Council? ? to oversee the Church in Germany.

The schismatic decision of the Poor Clares "seems absolutely wrong to me" but we must see "if it is possible to heal it, cure it, reverse it," said Spanish Archbishop Mario Iceta. / Credit: Archdiocese of Burgos, Spain

ACI Prensa Staff, May 21, 2024 / 12:26 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Mario Iceta of Burgos, Spain, in whose jurisdiction is located the convent of the Poor Clares of Belorado and Orduña, expressed his surprise and concern over the nuns there going into schism and noted: ?I don?t know if they realize the profound consequences? of their decision.

The prelate made the remarks May 17 on the ?La Linterna de la Iglesia? (?The Church?s Lantern?) program broadcast by the Spanish radio station COPE following the schismatic decision of the Poor Clares of Belorado to leave the Catholic Church to place themselves under the authority of Pablo de Rojas, a false bishop excommunicated in 2019. 

?I?m worried about the situation, thinking about what has come about in such a surprising way on Monday [May 13],? Iceta said. Regarding what surprised him the most, the archbishop responded: ?First of all, the secrecy with which all this has been proposed and that, indeed, when early on Monday morning, around 6 in the morning, I receive a WhatsApp message from a priest telling me that these nuns are leaving the Catholic Church, I thought it was fake news.?

?After that first surprise and verifying with the vicaress of the congregation itself, of the monastery itself, that this was the case, little by little we have learned the news. First of all [they said] that it was unanimous, and the next day a sister left [the monastery].?

In fact, on May 16, Sister María Amparo left the convent and said that she left ?above all, so as not to belong to this sect,? noting that before her departure she endured ?three days without Mass and without anything? and that ?I suffered total surveillance so that I couldn?t speak with the older sisters,? she complained.

In the conversation with ?La Linterna de la Iglesia,? the archbishop of Burgos commented that he was able to speak with that nun and that ?it?s clear that they didn?t want her to be well informed about what was happening and she found out on Sunday afternoon when Pablo de Rojas showed up.?

The prelate also said that recently a person wrote a letter in which he praised the ?fervor? of the nuns during Holy Week, which is why what has happened is even more surprising. ?It?s all absolutely strange and I don?t know if the sisters themselves realize the consequences,? Iceta lamented.

Schism of the Poor Clares of Belorado

On May 13, when they announced their departure from the Catholic Church, the Poor Clares of Belorado indicated in a letter and a declaration that they recognize ?H.H. Pius XII as the last valid Supreme Pontiff,? a decision that was explained through an attached 70-page text titled ?Catholic Manifesto? claiming that ?the see of St. Peter is vacant and usurped.? 

At the time, the nuns stated that their community ?is leaving the Conciliar Church to which it belonged to become part of the Catholic Church.? They complained that in recent years there have been ?contradictions, double and confusing language, ambiguity, and loopholes in clear doctrine have been coming from the Chair of Peter.? 

The archbishop stressed that if for them ?after Pius XII everything that follows is invalid, then the ministry of apostolic succession is invalid and this means that all the sacramental acts, except baptism, are invalid and evidently all vows and legal issues. Therefore this means that they haven?t taken vows as religious either.?

?When I saw on a television network that they were happy, content, well I am glad that they are well but I don?t know if they are really aware that this is not like changing your room or changing your habit or dress,? the prelate continued. 

?I don?t know if they realize the profound consequences that this step has and that is why my option or my opinion is that this should not be done precipitously, let this media tidal wave pass, let?s see if it?s possible to establish a relationship with them and dialogue and look at these issues and give them time to reconsider this situation that seems so surprising and strange to me,? the archbishop said.

After pointing out that Sister Paz, the vicaress, told him that the decision to separate from the Catholic Church was unanimous, Iceta said that on the contrary, ?the sister who left [the monastery] says that there was no chapter, there was no vote, and therefore it is totally irregular? since ?the proper capitular and voting mechanisms of the congregations? have not been respected.

Path of reconciliation for the Poor Clares of Belorado

A possible path of reconciliation for these Poor Clares, the Spanish prelate noted, involves ?first a meeting and a reconsideration, and also listening to them about how they got to this point. They express discontent, they express difficulties, things that they have not conveyed to the [bishop?s] delegate for religious? nor to the chaplain.

Then it is necessary to listen to ?what are the reasons for profound discontentment, because life is complicated, but to the point of saying I am leaving the Catholic faith to embrace another type of doctrine, it seems to me to be so extreme.? 

This decision of the Poor Clares ?seems absolutely wrong to me,? but we must see ?if it is possible to heal it, cure it, reverse it? and ?give time for this to happen,? he emphasized.

?It seems to me that a 90-something-year-old nun, after 70 years? of religious life, can?t just go over to ?another worldview of life.? For these sisters, the archbishop said, it would be good to spend ?the last years of their lives in the Catholic Church.?

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA?s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

People participate in a funeral procession of president Ebrahim Raisi and his seven aides in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan province, on May 21, 2024. / Credit: Photo by AZIN HAGHIGHI/MOJ News Agency/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, May 21, 2024 / 11:56 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Monday offered prayers to the Islamic Republic of Iran after the country?s president was killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday. 

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was among eight killed in the Iranian Air Force helicopter crash in the country?s East Azerbaijan Province on May 19.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also among those killed. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. 

In a telegram signed by Pope Francis on Monday, the Holy Father wrote that he sent ?condolences upon the deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and all who perished? in the disaster.

?Entrusting the souls of the deceased to the mercy of the Almighty, and with prayers for those who mourn their loss, especially their families, I send the assurance of spiritual closeness to the nation at this difficult time,? the pope said. 

The letter was addressed to Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic republic. 

The Holy Father had spoken with Raisi last November about a month after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. In that discussion, the Iranian president reportedly asked the pope to use his influence to bring an end to Israel?s offensive in Gaza. 

Raisi reportedly also asked the pope to ?correctly explain the position of the oppressor and the oppressed? in the conflict. Iran and Israel have been engaged in a decades-long ?proxy war.? 

Amir-Abdollahian, meanwhile, spoke with Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher in October, with the two diplomats also discussing the Israel-Hamas war. 

Mohammad Mokhber, formerly the vice president of Iran, is currently serving as acting president of the country following Raisi?s death. 

Pope Francis sits down for an interview with Norah O'Donnell on CBS' "60 Minutes," which aired Monday, May 20, 2024. / Credit: CBS News/Adam Verdugo

CNA Staff, May 21, 2024 / 11:26 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has once again come out strongly against an ordained female diaconate, reiterating what for the Holy Father has been a consistently firm stance against women becoming clergy. 

The pope made the remarks this week in an interview with CBS News anchor Norah O?Donnell during an appearance on the network?s flagship magazine program, ?60 Minutes.?

?You will have many young boys and girls that will come here at the end of next month for World Children?s Day,? O?Donnell said to the pope at one point during the interview. ?And I?m curious, for a little girl growing up Catholic today, will she ever have the opportunity to be a deacon and participate as a clergy member in the Church??

?No,? the pope replied. 

Pressed by O?Donnell as to whether a female diaconate was ?something you?re open to,? Francis replied: ?If it is deacons with holy orders, no.? 

?But women have always had, I would say, the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right?? he said. ?Women are of great service as women, not as ministers, as ministers in this regard, within the holy orders.?

The Holy Father in the interview stressed the importance of women?s roles in the Catholic Church, describing them as ?the ones who move changes forward, all sorts of changes.? 

?They are braver than the men. They know how best to protect life,? the pope said. ?Women are masterful custodians of life. Women are great. They are very great. And making space in the Church for women does not mean giving them a ministry, no. The Church is a mother, and women in the Church are the ones who help foster that motherliness.? 

?Don?t forget that the ones who never abandoned Jesus were the women,? he pointed out. ?The men all fled.?

Francis last year reaffirmed the impossibility of women becoming priests, or even modern Church deacons, stating that ?holy orders is reserved for men.?

The pope in his discussion with O?Donnell ? his first in-depth interview with a U.S. broadcast network ? touched on a wide variety of subjects, from immigration to war to antisemitism.

Here are some other highlights from the Holy Father?s remarks during the interview, which aired in full on Monday evening: 

On immigrants fleeing violent countries for safer nations:

?The solution is migration, to open the doors to migration. For an immigration policy to be good, it must have four things: for the migrant to be received, assisted, promoted, and integrated. This is what is most important, to integrate them into the new life.?

On washing the feet of female prisoners at a women?s prison in Rome on Holy Thursday: 

?It is true, this time it was only women because it was a women?s jail. And the message is that men and women, we are all children of God. That men and women we are all apostles and we all can lead. Let us not forget that the bravest apostles, the most courageous, were the women: Mary Magdalene, Mary Salomé, and Mary of Santiago. They stayed with Jesus to the very end.?

On climate change: 

?Unfortunately, we have gotten to a point of no return. It?s sad, but that?s what it is. Global warming is a serious problem. Climate change at this moment is a road to death. A road to death, eh? And it is an artificial climate change, no? Something provoked, not the normal climate change, right? ?

?In great measure, [wealthy countries are to blame], because they are the ones that have more of an economy and an energy based on fossil fuels that are creating this situation, right? They are the countries that can make the most difference, given their industry and all, aren?t they? But it is very difficult to create an awareness of this. They hold a conference, everybody is in agreement, they all sign, and then bye-bye. But we have to be very clear, global warming is alarming.?

On his plans for retirement:

?It has never occurred to me. Maybe if the day comes when my health can go no further. Perhaps because the only infirmity I have is in my knee, and that is getting much better. But it never occurred to me.?

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix is archbishop of Quebec, Canada. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Staff, May 21, 2024 / 10:50 am (CNA).

The Vatican on Tuesday said it would take ?no further canonical procedure? after an investigation into abuse allegations against a Canadian cardinal revealed no evidence of misconduct or abuse.

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the archbishop of Quebec and member of the Council of Cardinals that advises Pope Francis, was accused as part of a class-action lawsuit against his archdiocese of abusing a 17-year-old girl almost four decades ago. The cardinal has denied the accusation. 

The Vatican in March commissioned André Denis, a former judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, to conduct an investigation into the allegations.

In a Tuesday statement, the Vatican said Denis? investigation concluded on May 6 and had been ?consigned to the Holy Father in the following days.?

?In the light of the facts examined by the judge, the report does not permit to identify any actions that amount to misconduct or abuse on the part of Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix,? the statement said. ?Consequently, no further canonical procedure is foreseen.?

Pope Francis has authorized Denis himself to issue a statement ?summarizing the elements of his investigation,? the Holy See said. Denis is also permitted to ?answer any questions that may arise on the matter.?

?The Holy Father extends his profound thanks to Judge André Denis for having completed, within the prescribed time, the mandate entrusted to him and which he carried out with impartiality in the context of the class-action lawsuit brought against the Archdiocese of Quebec,? the statement continued. 

In January LaCroix said he ?categorically? denied the allegations made against him.

?Never, to my knowledge, have I made any inappropriate actions towards anyone, whether minors or adults,? he said. ?My soul and my conscience are at peace in the face of these accusations, which I refute.?

When it was filed in 2022, the class-action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec included the testimony of 101 people who said they were sexually assaulted by dozens of clerics or Church staff from 1940 to the present. 

In that filing, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet was also accused of sexual assault. The Vatican in 2022 said an investigation revealed ?no elements to initiate a trial? against the prelate.

Bishop-elect Joseph A. Williams. / Credit: Courtesy of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Rome Newsroom, May 21, 2024 / 09:06 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Tuesday named Bishop Joseph Williams as coadjutor bishop of Camden, New Jersey.

Williams, 50, has served as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis since 2022.

As coadjutor, Williams will assist 79-year-old Bishop Dennis Sullivan in the administration of the Camden Diocese and will automatically succeed him as bishop upon Sullivan?s retirement next year. 

?I am overjoyed in coming to a diocese whose bishop is held in such high esteem by both the faithful and the Holy Father,? Williams said after the announcement was made public.

?I look forward to learning from Bishop Sullivan, my brother priests in Camden, the deacons, consecrated women and men, and the faithful of South Jersey about their needs and their hopes for the future.?

According to the Diocese of Camden, Sullivan submitted his letter of resignation to the pope on his 75th birthday in 2020. Pope Francis recently notified the bishop that his resignation will be accepted on his 80th birthday on March 17, 2025.

?I am also humbled that the Holy Father is allowing me the opportunity to complete my time as the bishop of Camden working alongside my successor,? said Sullivan, who has led the Camden Diocese for more than a decade.

?I am immensely thankful to Pope Francis for his decision to appoint to the Diocese of Camden a bishop with so much experience as a pastor, and one so familiar with Latino culture,? he said.

Williams was born in Minneapolis on May 2, 1974, as the third of nine children. He studied at the University of Minnesota-Morris and at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, where he discerned a vocation to the priesthood.

He began his priestly training at the Saint Paul Seminary in Minnesota in 1998, earning a master?s of divinity degree.

He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis at the age of 28 on May 28, 2002, by Archbishop Harry J. Flynn. His brother, Father Peter Williams, was also ordained a priest in the archdiocese in 2004. 

Williams took on an active role in ministry to Latino and Spanish-speaking Catholics while serving at the Cathedral of Saint Paul and the Divine Mercy Parish in Faribault. He then went on to serve the parishes of St. Mathias in Hampton and St. Mary in New Trier.

He was appointed pastor of St. Stephen in 2008, taking on responsibility for Holy Rosary Parish in 2020. He was named episcopal vicar for Hispanic ministry in 2018. 

Williams was ordained a bishop on Jan. 25, 2022, the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. He chose ?Misericordiam Volo? as his episcopal motto, meaning ?I desire mercy? (Mt 9:13).

The Diocese of Camden serves more than 486,000 Catholics across 62 parishes in South Jersey. 

Sullivan will retain full responsibility for the diocese until March 17, 2025, when Williams will automatically succeed him.

The President of the Communications Commission of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress, Father Livingston Olivares (left), accompanies EWTN Vice President for Programming and Production Peter Gagnon (center-right), EWTN Vice President for Spanish-language Production, Marketing, and Radio Enrique Duprat (center-left), EWTN Production Director Michael Holmes (far right), and IEC Quito 2024 Communications Coordinator Marcelo Mejía (front, kneeling) at the Monument to the Equator, the exact location of the Equator (from which the country of Ecuador takes its name) on the outskirts of the country's capital city of Quito, site of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress. / Credit: Communications Commission of the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress

ACI Prensa Staff, May 21, 2024 / 06:40 am (CNA).

The 53rd International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) has chosen EWTN as the official channel for providing live coverage of the event, which will take place from Sept. 8?15 in Quito, Ecuador.

?The 53rd International Eucharistic Congress, which will be held in Quito Sept. 8?15, has chosen EWTN as its official channel, which will broadcast everything related? to this great event, said Father Juan Carlos Garzón, secretary-general of the IEC Quito 2024, in a statement sent from Rome to ACI Prensa, CNA?s Spanish-language news partner.

The theme for this year?s International Eucharistic Congress is ?Fraternity to Heal the World.? On Monday, the Vatican also announced that Pope Francis designated Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect for the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, as pontifical legate to the congress.

Garzón was in Rome last week as part of a delegation, chaired by Alfredo Espinoza Mateus, archbishop of Quito and primate of Ecuador, ?to hold a series of meetings with the main papal authorities.?

Since the beginning of the preparations for IEC 2024, Garzón added: ?EWTN has been present at the orientation and training for IEC 2024 communications personnel.?

EWTN preparations for IEC Quito 2024 

In tandem, to coordinate EWTN?s transmissions of IEC Quito 2024, a team from the network visited the Ecuadorian capital, including the Quito Metropolitan Convention Center, where the congress will be held.

The team was comprised of EWTN Vice President for Programming and Production Peter Gagnon, EWTN Director of Production Michael Holmes, and EWTN Vice President for Spanish-language Production, Marketing, and Radio Enrique Duprat.

Gagnon said EWTN transmissions of the event will be offered in Spanish, English, and German. ?This will be a wonderful event for those attending and for those watching,? Gagnon said. 

?For EWTN, it is an immense joy to be the channel for the Quito 2024 International Eucharistic Congress,? Duprat said. ?It is essential for us to be the platform on which, no matter where our audience is, everyone can enjoy the most important Catholic events in the Church.?

As for coverage details, Duprat said: ?The plan is to be able to offer this International Eucharistic Congress live and direct from Quito and in multiple languages [Spanish, English, and German] both through our television and radio signals, the internet, and through our digital app.?

The event coincides with the 150th anniversary of the 1874 consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1886, Quito was also the site of the first National Eucharistic Congress.

During their preparatory visit, the EWTN team traveled the route of a procession that will take place on Sept. 14 in the historic center of Quito, which will begin with a Mass in San Francisco Plaza and then head to the Basilica of the National Vow, where benediction will be given.

They also visited the IEC offices, where they were received by Garzón, who explained how the organization of the event is progressing, including the schedule of a theological symposium to be held Sept. 4?7, just prior to the Sept. 8?15 congress.

The EWTN delegation also visited the Middle of the World Park and Monument to the Equator, marking the equator dividing the northern and southern hemispheres and where a Liturgy of the Word is planned with emphasis on care for creation.

Registration underway

Registration for the International Eucharistic Congress, both for the theological symposium and for the congress itself, is underway and available through the event website.

The largest Catholic media organization in the world, EWTN?s 11 global TV channels and numerous regional channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 425 million television households in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and more than 600 domestic and international AM and FM radio affiliates and a worldwide shortwave radio service.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EWTN News operates multiple global news services, including Catholic News Agency; The National Catholic Register newspaper and digital platform; ACI Prensa in Spanish; ACI Digital in Portuguese; ACI Stampa in Italian; ACI Africa in English, French, and Portuguese; ACI Mena in Arabic; CNA Deutsch in German; and ChurchPop, a digital platform that creates content in several languages. It also produces numerous television news programs including ?EWTN News Nightly,? ?EWTN News In Depth,? ?EWTN Pro-Life Weekly,? and ?The World Over.?

This story was simultaneously published by ACI Prensa, CNA?s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Mother of twin priests Eliete Dahan dos Santos says ?there is no greater wealth than having priest sons.? / Credit: Personal album of Father Wallace Dahan dos Santos

ACI Digital, May 21, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

?I believe there is no greater wealth for parents than having sons who are priests, because the priest, especially when he administers the sacraments, is Jesus in them. It?s something very sacred,? said Eliete Dahan dos Santos, 79, mother of twin priests Wallace and Wellington Dahan dos Santos of the Archdiocese of Niterói in Brazil.

?People say: ?Can my son be a priest?? They are very happy if that happens with other people?s sons but not with their own. They want them to be doctors, lawyers, people with a lot of power,? continued Eliete, who said that ?it?s a great gift from God? to have sons who are priests.

For Eliete, seeing today?s world, listening to today?s news, there is eternal gratitude to God for having called her sons, ?both of them.?

?I find myself within a great mystery, a very visible love of God for my family,? she said.

The twin priests Wallace and Wellington, 51, were born in Cabo Frío in the state of Río de Janeiro, where their mother, Eliete, still lives today. They also have an older brother, Jennerson Dahan dos Santos, who is married and has a daughter.

Eliete shared with ACI Digital, CNA?s Portuguese-language news partner, that she was born into a Catholic family but that she ?wasn?t assiduous or persevering.? After marrying Jenner Antônio dos Santos, she began to participate in some events in the Catholic Church such as Marriage Encounter, Cursillos in Christianity, and the Charismatic Renewal movement.

Catechist for 20 years and first Communion preparation

?I had a personal encounter with Jesus and I haven?t stopped,? she said. She was also a catechist for 20 years and was the one who prepared her sons, both future priests, for first Communion.

?God gave us the grace, to me and their father, to form and educate our children in the Christian life, and they persevered in a very beautiful way,? she said.

Seeing her twin sons priests and also her other son married and living with his family in a faithful, Catholic way is the most delicious fruit of her Christian journey, she said.

?I raised my children from a young age to follow God?s commandments; everything I learned in conferences and meetings I tried to live in my home,? she said. ?So, they saw concretely everything I counseled them, when I said ?no,? why I said ?no,? when I said ?yes,? why I said ?yes.??

?I think we parents should do this, guide them with the presence of God in our lives. That?s what I did in my children?s lives,? Eliete reflected.

The importance of a life of prayer

?If I gave a talk and they were present, I knew that my children were seeing how we really were in our home, there was no inconsistency, but a reality. So, this was a reason for them to fall in love with Jesus and follow religious life, because of the witness of their parents at home. I think witness is very important. We always try to live what we preach,? she explained.

Eliete also said that the family would attend Masses and have moments of prayer together. ?We did novenas; when there weren?t any at church we did them at home. It wasn?t always possible to have our prayer life together, due to schedules, but when there was a possibility, we were together in our conversations, at meals, sharing our faith,? she said.

The mother also commented that her priest sons, Wallace and Wellington, ?always had a great love for the Church.? After catechesis they continued with ongoing formation groups and participated in ecclesial activities. ?For them everything that related to God, and the Church was indispensable.?

The vocations of her priest sons

It was when they were taking college prep classes that the twins felt the call to the priesthood. First it was Wellington who made the decision to enter the seminary and then Wallace, who waited a few months to make sure he was not being influenced by his brother.

Eliete recalled how she felt when her sons told her they wanted to be priests: ?It was a shock at that time, because I didn?t see anything in them that made me think they would be priests, nor did I encourage them to be priests. It gave me and their father great joy to see them as young people participating in the Church. But does this beautiful call from God on my family cross my mind? I would never have thought that I would receive this grace, but it happened.?

The initial shock, Eliete shared, was soon replaced by ?great joy.?

?I was very moved to know that God, from my womb, called both of them, Father Wallace and Father Wellington, by name,? she said.

The ordination of her twin sons as priests

For Eliete, the day of her sons? ordination to the priesthood, June 29, 1998, was a very special day.

?I even have the words I?ve kept in my heart about what I felt at that moment. What came to my heart and remains to this day is: ?Heaven opened before my eyes,? because it was wonderful to see that my sons were being consecrated, they were being completely given to God. They were so young.?

?When they entered the seminary they were still 17 years old. They were ordained when they were 25 years old. They were still young, so I was moved by a great miracle, something divine that was happening in our family,? she said.

?To this day, with 25 years served in the priesthood I feel in my heart a joy that there are no words to express. I have great gratitude to my God,? she continued.

Eliete told ACI Digital that she lovingly keeps in a box ?the cloth that enveloped her hands on ordination day.?

This white linen cloth, called a manutergium (hand towel), is used to wipe off the oil or chrism with which the bishop anoints the hands of the new priest on the day of his ordination.

According to tradition, when the priest?s mother dies, she must be buried holding this cloth in her hands. When the mother appears before God, he will tell her: ?I gave you life. What did you give me?? Then she will hand him the manutergium and respond: ?I have given you my son as a priest.?

?We don?t know who goes first, only God, who is the Lord of life, only he knows the day and hour of each person. I don?t know if anyone will remember at that moment, but I always tell them and show them the cloth,? Eliete concluded with a smile.

This story was first published by ACI Digital, CNA?s Portuguese-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by ACI Prensa and CNA.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone processes over the Golden Gate Bridge with the Eucharist on May 19, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

CNA Staff, May 20, 2024 / 19:30 pm (CNA).

This past weekend saw the launch of the four legs of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, an unprecedented effort to walk with the Eucharist thousands of miles across the United States as a public witness to the Church?s teaching that the Eucharist is truly the body of Jesus Christ. 

Catholics on four edges of the country ? San Francisco, southern Texas, northern Minnesota, and Connecticut ? took part in the celebrations to accompany the Eucharist as well as two dozen young pilgrims on their two-month journeys, which will culminate at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis July 17?21.

From the North ? The Marian Route

On Pentecost Sunday, an outdoor Mass at Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota brought a large crowd of some 2,000 people to celebrate their love for the Eucharist. Bishop Andrew Cozzens blessed the Marian Route pilgrims at the headwaters of the Mississippi River as they began their journey thousands of miles to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. 

From the West ? The Junipero Serra Route

The longest and arguably the most challenging of the four routes, the Junipero Serra Route, began in San Francisco. Following Pentecost Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the faithful processed with the Eucharist over the Golden Gate Bridge?s iconic 1.7-mile span.

From the South ? The Juan Diego Route

In the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, Bishop Daniel Flores celebrated Mass at Immaculate Conception Cathedral before pilgrims started on their journey amid 90-degree heat. The Juan Diego Route attracted many participants and has already included numerous stops for Eucharistic adoration in Brownsville, with the next major stop being Corpus Christi, the city named after the body of Christ. 

From the East ? The Seton Route

The faithful began in New Haven, Connecticut, with a Pentecost Vigil Mass celebrated by Archbishop Christopher Coyne at St. Mary?s Church, the resting place of Blessed Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus. On Sunday morning, the procession culminated in a boat ride across the Long Island Sound, with chaplain Father Roger Landry keeping the Eucharist secure within the monstrance. 

View the entire roundup below from the EWTN News team.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life. / Credit: Lucia Ballester/CNA

ACI Prensa Staff, May 20, 2024 / 17:51 pm (CNA).

The Vatican announced that Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, as his special envoy for the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), which will be held in Quito, Ecuador, from Sept. 8?15.

Farrell, 76, was born on Sept. 2, 1947. He was ordained a priest of the Legionaries of Christ on Dec. 24, 1978. Six years later, in 1984, he was incardinated as a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where he was named auxiliary bishop in December 2001.

He received episcopal consecration on Feb. 11, 2002. On March 6, 2007, Farrell was named bishop of Dallas, where he served until 2016, when he was named prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life.

Pope Francis elevated him to the College of Cardinals at the Nov. 19, 2016, consistory.

Since 2019 Farrell is the ?camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church,? the cardinal who presides over the Apostolic Chamber (office) and carries out the task of caring for and administering the temporal goods and rights of the Holy See during the interregnum after the death or resignation of the pope.

The congress, whose theme is ?Fraternity to Heal the World,? was presented Monday in the Vatican pressroom.

In the presentation, Archbishop Alfredo Espinoza of Quito noted that this Eucharistic congress coincides with the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which made the South American country the first nation consecrated to Christ under this devotion.

After recalling that in 2021 they received the news that Quito would be the venue for the ecclesial event, Espinoza said that ?the Eucharistic congress to be held in Quito ought to be a voice, with a Latin American accent, for the Church of the entire world.?

?It will be a voice of hope that is announced from this continent of hope. It will seek to be that prophetic voice that will proclaim to everyone that brotherhood is the only possible way to make and build a new world,? he emphasized.

Father Juan Carlos Garzón, secretary-general of the IEC, went on to discuss the foundational document for the Eucharistic congress, noting that ?we live the urgency of a fraternity that springs from the Eucharistic experience and tends toward it as its end.?

Father Corrado Maggioni, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, reviewed the history of these events in the Church and explained how they are understood now.

?The re-understanding of the Eucharistic mystery that began with the liturgical movement and matured with the Second Vatican Council has also reoriented Eucharistic congresses to promote the inseparable link between the Mass and Eucharistic worship outside of it, paying attention to the lived experience,? the Italian priest highlighted.

In this way, ?the Eucharistic congress has then become an opportunity to express the Church of the Eucharist in the light of Vatican II and the liturgical reform that followed.?

Topics to be discussed during the five days of the congress are: ?Wounded World, Fraternity Redeemed in Christ, Eucharist and Transformation of the World, for a Synodal Church? and ?Eucharist: Psalm of Fraternity.? 

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA?s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, listens to a question during the May 20, 2024, press briefing with a small group of journalists at the Latin Patriarchate headquarters in Jerusalem about his recent visit to visit the Catholic community in Gaza. / Credit: Marinella Bandini

Jerusalem, May 20, 2024 / 17:04 pm (CNA).

On Monday, May 20, the day after returning from the Catholic parish in northern Gaza, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa met with a small group of journalists at the patriarchate in Jerusalem to talk about his visit.

?I was comforted by meeting the community,? said Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. 

?The situation is very complicated,? he said, but ?I found a well-organized, active community capable of living in this situation with the right attitude. I did not hear a word of anger. I heard words of pain, suffering, and lament ? but not of anger or resentment. Everyone desires for the war to end. They told me, ?We Christians don?t have violence in our blood, we can?t understand all of this.? It seemed truly significant to me.?

Above all, Pizzaballa said he found a community that still knows how to look to the future, with concern but also with hope. 

?They are concerned about the future of the children, the school, the houses... It is important and urgent to give immediate and concrete answers in order to assure them that there is a future for them,? he said.

?From a humanitarian perspective, the situation has improved,? he said, even if ?it doesn?t mean it?s good.? Many difficulties persist, and Christians, like the rest of the population, must contend with food shortages, a lack of basic sanitary conditions, psychological traumas, physical injuries, chronic illness, and the destruction of homes and infrastructure.

According to a press release from the Latin Patriarchate issued today, the cardinal?s visit began on May 15.

Pizzaballa declined to provide logistical details or information regarding coordination with the Israeli Army that made the visit happen. However, he described the impact of entering Gaza.

?I?ve been there at least 10 times before the war,? he explained. ?The first impression upon entering was one of disorientation, due to the extensive destruction. The streets are no longer the same; we passed through ruins, makeshift roads among piles of garbage. The places I was somewhat familiar with are unrecognizable. It is very difficult to find an intact house. We traveled in silence.?

Even if he had seen the images, ?seeing it in person has a totally different impact,? he added. ?You don?t just see the destruction but also the people living there, and this relationship touches the heart.?

During his stay in Gaza, ?there were continuous fights and explosions, some of them closer, some other farther, but almost continuously. At first, it?s a bit daunting, but then you get used to it,? he said. ?For them, it has become quite normal... even for the children.?

Pizzaballa met with the displaced Christian community, spoke with the faithful, celebrated Masses, and led prayers. He visited the cemetery, where he blessed the graves of the faithful departed, especially Nahida and Samar, the two women killed inside the parish compound on Dec. 16, 2023.

The patriarch also visited some destroyed parish structures and the Greek Orthodox parish of St. Porphyrius, and also blessed the bakery of a Christian family that has recently resumed its operations. He also celebrated the solemnity of Pentecost with the community of Gaza and administered the sacrament of confirmation to two young parishioners named George and Salama.

Among those who entered Gaza with Pizzaballa was Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of the Holy Family Church in Gaza, who has finally been reunited with his community. Additionally, Father Carlos Ferrero, the provincial of the Institute of the Incarnate Word; religious sisters from the Institute of the Incarnate Word; and two Missionaries of Charity sisters also entered and stayed at the parish in Gaza.

According to the Patriarchate, currently in the Catholic compound of the Holy Family there are just under 500 Christians, including 60 disabled children cared for by the sisters. In the Orthodox compound, there are about 130 Christians and 40 Muslims. About 40-50 Christians are stuck in the south of the Strip. There are only about 50 Catholics left in all of Gaza, almost all of whom are taking refuge at the Latin parish.

?I met all the families,? Pizzaballa told journalists. ?It was necessary to be together, to try to listen to each person, to be with them. Even though we don?t have immediate solutions, it?s important to be there, to offer comfort, closeness, and solidarity. I wanted to assure them the support of the Church and that we?ll be there, we?re not disengaged at all, but we?ll keep helping them as much as we can according to the current situation.?

One of the concrete signs of this closeness comes from the Memorandum of Understanding signed on May 14 between the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Order of Malta, establishing a joint humanitarian mission. 

Leaders of the Knights of Malta have been in contact with the Patriarchate since November 2023, but at that time, it was not possible to consider an intervention, and no one could imagine that the war would last so long.

?Around Easter, we felt that it was time to do something,? Pizzaballa stated.

He added: ?We want to establish a food and essential goods distribution center and a field hospital outside our compound, accessible to everyone.? The first aspect that needs to be addressed is that of essential goods.

?Some supplies are coming in; the issue lies with distribution,? the cardinal said. The other aspect is health care. 

?In the entire northern part of the Gaza Strip, there is only one operational hospital, which is not sufficient. The Knights of Malta are experts in field hospitals in war zones. What?s important is to start and then gradually expand to involve the collaboration of other institutions.?

?People are also asking for psychological support,? the Latin patriarch shared. ?We are currently figuring out how to intervene in this regard. The traumatic impact of the war on the population is enormous.?

Pizzaballa made a further appeal for an end to the conflict.

?The sooner it ends, the sooner we can start rebuilding more peaceful solutions,? he said. 

Bishop Louis Tylka. / Credit: Screenshot from BshpLou Tylka YouTube channel

CNA Staff, May 20, 2024 / 16:34 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, will have half as many parishes by 2026 as it does now, as part of a pastoral planning effort focused on helping the diocese ?be more intentional in cultivating disciples.?

Bishop Louis Tylka announced on Saturday that between now and May 2026, the diocese will be reshaped from 156 parishes to 75 parishes, with 129 worship sites. The remaining parishes will be overseen by 71 diocesan and religious order pastors; 39 priests will be reassigned. 

The Peoria Diocese covers 26 counties in Illinois. Out of a total population of 1.4 million, nearly 11% of that population is Catholic, the diocese says.

The decision to drastically downsize the diocese comes amid declining Mass attendance there as well as a prediction of a shrinking number of priests. Seventy percent of the 145 total priests ministering in the diocese are over the age of 50. According to the diocese?s projections, in the next 10 years, there may be fewer than 100 active priests.

Mass attendance shrank 22% between 2019 and 2022, the diocese says, while infant baptisms are down 27% since 2015-2016. In addition, funerals are down 10% and Catholic marriages are down 34% since 2015-2016.

In announcing the pastoral planning initiative, ?Growing Disciples,? in August 2022, Tylka said he launched the plan ?so that we can not only meet the ministry challenges of today, but we can also grow a vibrant, sustainable mission-driven Church for the future.? 

?We must recognize that in each successive generation, we are called to read the signs of the times and, entrusting our discipleship to the Holy Spirit, discern the path forward,? Tylka said at the time.

?Looking to the landscape which surrounds us, we see that year after year, the soil is tilled, planted, nurtured, and yields good fruit ? Likewise, in the Church, we must do the necessary tasks which will yield an abundant harvest for the kingdom of God.?

The diocese?s reorganization plan to greatly reduce the number of parishes is reminiscent of those undertaken in numerous others in the U.S., including much larger ones such as Chicago,Pittsburgh, St. Louis,Cincinnati, and Baltimore. Many of those reorganizations ? including the present one in Peoria ? have been administered by the Pennsylvania-based Catholic Leadership Institute (CLI) and consist of an extensive consultation process with parishioners and Catholic leaders. 

The Peoria Diocese has become well known as the home diocese of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, a renowned 20th-century Catholic bishop and televangelist whose sainthood cause has progressed in recent years. Sheen was ordained and first served as a priest in the Peoria Diocese.

After three years of legal battles, in 2019 the Archdiocese of New York, where Sheen was buried after his death in 1979, released Sheen?s body to the Diocese of Peoria, where he is now buried.

Tylka said the pastoral planning process aims to incorporate the ?five foundations? outlined in his message for Easter 2022 ? evangelization, the Eucharist, discipleship, vocations, and the legacy of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

Archbishop Cordileone and the faithful from the Archdiocese of San Francisco process across the Golden Gate Bridge in the historic first eucharistic pilgrimage to the National Eucharistic Congress. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

San Francisco, Calif., May 20, 2024 / 16:02 pm (CNA).

I?d never been to California. There?s no particular reason. It?s just that I?ve never been.

My opinions about the Golden State are based on movies like ?Dirty Harry? and ?Point Break,? which I like very much. And then there?s Columbo.

All that, but then, the headlines about the societal crises facing California problems? Not loving the news part.

So, when I landed late Saturday night in San Francisco, I had no actual knowledge of the place. Bleary-eyed, I piloted my rental car over a freeway and on unfamiliar roads to a nice hotel a few blocks from the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption.

I was there to cover the launch of the western route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, the St. Junipero Serra Route.

I always joked with my wife, Alicia, that the reason I?ve never been to California is that if I went, I might never come back. And now, having spent a whopping 19 hours here? well, let?s just say the joke might be based on some truth.

Despite all of its problems, San Francisco is amazing. But I digress.

To be in a new city among faithful Catholics makes one feel right at home. And especially on the feast of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church.

It was beautiful, serene, and surreal to experience all of this on the day of the launch of the Eucharistic pilgrimages.

Until it wasn?t.

We (the media types) departed the cathedral along with the first procession to a nearby church where the Blessed Sacrament would be placed in a special vehicle that would take Christ to the Golden Gate Bridge, where he would be carried across in a procession.

When we arrived at the bridge, we received the most unwelcome news that any photographer or videographer could receive.

?They left.?

The procession departed without us.

We looked at one another in shock and panic, knowing that all of our sponsoring agencies wanted THAT shot. Without discussion or consensus, we all began sprinting toward the towering bridge.

The procession was nowhere to be seen, blocked by countless hundreds of tourists and those in procession.

We ran. We weaved. We apologetically plowed through the crowds.

And at about mid-span?

My eyes fell upon him, and gratitude filled my heart and soul.

Perhaps it?s a metaphor of sorts.

We were pursuing Christ.

Certainly, for the photo.

But maybe also so I could share this story.

We pursue him.

But we don?t need to, because he pursues us.

We need only to stop and turn to him.

If only we would.

I can?t tell you how many times he?s ?showed up? when I needed him?

Which is always.

But if only we stop and turn to him.

It?s Pentecost.

It?s the beginning of the nationwide Eucharistic pilgrimages.

I?ll leave it at this.

You are loved beyond your wildest dreams.

You are pursued by the One who breathed life into your soul.

So stop.

Stop and turn to him.

And then run to his open arms.

Because our relationship with him is all that matters.

Period.

San Francisco?s growing on me. The climate seems nice. The hills are interesting. And I do love the bay?

But more than that, any place that brings me crashing into an encounter with Christ?s love?

Yep, sign me up for that.

null / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 20, 2024 / 15:14 pm (CNA).

The United States Commission on International Freedom (USCIRF) named five new commissioners on Friday, including three Catholics active in a variety of advocacy groups, according to a May 17 press release.

Maureen Ferguson, Stephen Schneck, and Eric Ueland, all Catholics, were appointed to the USCIRF, a government organization that reviews violations of religious freedom around the world and makes policy recommendations to the executive branch and Congress.

Government restrictions on the practice of religion reached a new peak globally in 2021 while 55 countries (28% of the 198 countries reviewed) had ?high? or ?very high? levels of government restriction, according to a Pew 2024 report. In 2021, religious groups faced harassment by governments in 183 countries, the largest number since the study began. 

USCIRF recently called on the Biden administration to address the growing religious persecution worldwide after releasing its 2024 annual report, which recommended naming 17 countries to the U.S. State Department?s list of ?countries of particular concern? including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Nigeria, and Vietnam. 

Appointed by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, Ferguson is a senior fellow with The Catholic Association, an organization that advocates for the free practice of religion in the U.S. and applies Catholic teaching to contemporary issues. She also serves on the advisory board of Belmont House, an initiative of Belmont Abbey College that works to ?defend the practice of religion in the public square.? 

Ferguson serves on the advisory committee for the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, a University of Notre Dame initiative that ?is committed to sharing the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and public engagement at the highest level and across a range of disciplines,? according to its website. 

She is also a member of the board of directors of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, which organizes an annual nonpartisan prayer group that brings more than 1,500 people together in Washington, D.C., to pray for the nation.

Ferguson has written commentary on pro-life and family issues for the National Catholic Register and co-hosts the nationally syndicated radio show ?Conversations with Consequences? on EWTN. 

Schneck, who was reappointed to the commission by President Joe Biden, is a retired political philosophy professor at the Catholic University of America, where he founded and directed the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies. 

Schneck serves on the governing board of Catholic Climate Covenant, a U.S. organization that advocates for care for creation and climate action. He also is on the board of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, an organization working to end the death penalty and promote restorative justice.

Schneck previously directed the Franciscan Action Network, which advocates for economic, racial, and social justice, and he served under the Obama administration on the White House Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Schneck was reappointed alongside Ueland, who was reappointed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. Ueland is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a public policy organization based on principles including free enterprise, limited government, and individual freedom.

Ueland also serves on the board of the Center for Constitutional Liberty, a civics program that emphasizes the founding principles of the U.S., at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

When he worked in the U.S. Department of State, Ueland served as the senior official for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights and was the assistant to the president for Legislative Affairs and Director of the Office under former president Donald Trump.

In addition to Ferguson, Vicky Hartzler and Asif Mahmood were newly appointed to the commission. Commissioner Susie Gelman?s term continues through May 2025. Gelman served as board chair of the Israel Policy Forum from 2016?2023.

Former commissioners whose terms ended this May include Abraham Cooper, David Curry, Frederick Davie, Mohamed Magid, Nury Turkel, and Frank Wolf.

This article was updated on May 21, 2024, with additional information on Catholic Eric Ueland.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the relator general of the 16th Annual General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, May 20, 2024 / 14:44 pm (CNA).

In a new interview, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, suggested that the Church?s position on female priests is not set in stone and should be discussed further, at the same time warning of triggering ?a huge backlash.? 

Speaking to the official Swiss Catholic portal kath.ch on May 17, Hollerich, who is the archbishop of Luxembourg, said the prohibition against ordaining women was ?not an infallible doctrinal decision? and could be changed over time with arguments.

?The way I see it, most bishops are in favor of a greater role for women in the Church,? the Jesuit cardinal said. ?I am in favor of women feeling fully equal in the Church. And we will also work toward this. I don?t know if that necessarily has to include ordination to the priesthood. You can?t tie everything to the priesthood alone. That would be clericalization.?

When asked whether he thought Pope Francis would introduce female priests, Hollerich replied: ?It?s very difficult to say. The pope is sometimes good for surprises.? 

The archbishop of Luxemburg added: ?But I would actually say no. Shortly before the synod, there was a ?dubia? from a few cardinals. They asked whether John Paul II?s rejection of the priesthood of women was binding for the Church. Francis replied very wisely: It is binding, but not forever. And he also said that theology would have to discuss this further.?

The cardinal, who has previously courted controversy on doctrinal matters, emphasized the need for ongoing discussion. 

?It means that it is not an infallible doctrinal decision. It can be changed. It needs arguments and time,? Hollerich said. 

At the same time, the Jesuit cautioned against pushing too hard for changes, noting that ?if you push too much, you won?t achieve much. You have to be cautious, take one step at a time, and then you might be able to go very far.?

The interview was conducted by Jacqueline Straub, who works for the official portal of the Church in Switzerland and publicly describes herself as ?called to be a Roman Catholic priest.? 

Her assertion to Hollerich that women were forced to take a back seat in the Church was ?based on a typically European principle of the individual,? the cardinal responded. 

Citing the example of blessing homosexual couples after Fiducia Supplicans, Hollerich warned of a potentially ?huge backlash? if the Vatican were to introduce the ordination of women to the priesthood. 

?We have to have these discussions with the whole Church; otherwise, we will have huge problems later. Then the Catholic Church will fall apart.?

In 1994, Pope John Paul II, citing the Church?s traditional teaching, declared in the apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis: ?Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church?s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church?s faithful.?

Queen Mathilde of Belgium meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican?s Apostolic Palace with her husband, King Philippe of the Belgians, on Sept. 14, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, May 20, 2024 / 14:06 pm (CNA).

The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis will visit Luxembourg and Belgium at the end of September.

The pope will make a one-day stopover in Luxembourg on Sept. 26 before visiting three cities in Belgium to mark the 600th anniversary of the Catholic universities of Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve from Sept. 26?29.

According to a website launched by the Catholic Church in Belgium, Pope Francis is expected to preside over a Sunday Mass in Brussels on Sept. 29 before heading back to Rome. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope?s full schedule will be released at a later date. 

The pope?s European trip comes less than two weeks after he is scheduled to make an ambitious 12-day journey to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore, the longest international trip since he was elected pope 11 years ago.

In total, Pope Francis is planning to visit six countries in the month of September after nearly a year of no international travel. 

The 87-year-old has slowed down his schedule in recent months as health issues have forced him to cancel some public appearances and travels, including a planned trip to Abu Dhabi in December. Francis, who often uses a wheelchair, has not traveled internationally since September 2023, opting instead to make pastoral visits within Italy to the northern cities of Venice and Verona in the first half of 2024.

Pope Francis first expressed his intention to visit Belgium during an interview with the Mexican television network Televisa broadcast in December. 

The Church in Belgium is grappling with a profound fallout from public outrage over the handling of clerical sexual abuse scandals. In March, Pope Francis laicized the bishop emeritus of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, many years after the former prelate admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing his nephews.

A previous archbishop of Brussels, the late Cardinal Godfried Danneels, reportedly called on a victim of Vangheluwe?s abuse to remain silent.

Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels issued an apology to abuse survivors and expressed deep regret over the inclusion of reportedly three perpetrators of sexual abuse on an electoral list for the council of priests earlier this month. 

According to the Church in Belgium?s 2023 annual report, 1,270 Catholics requested for their names to be removed from the baptismal register last year.

The pope received King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium in a formal audience at the  Vatican?s Apostolic Palace last fall. 

Philippe, who ascended the Belgian throne 10 years ago, holds the title ?Rex Catholicissimus,? or ?(Most) Catholic Majesty,? and the queen is one of only a few women in the world who can wear white, rather than the customary black, when meeting the pope, a papal privilege referred to as the ?privilège du blanc.?

The confirmation of the pope?s trip to Belgium makes the possibility of the pope visiting New York at the end of September to address the United Nations less likely.

In an interview with "60 Minutes" anchor Norah O'Donnell, Pope Francis discusses a wide range of issues. / Credit: CBS News/Adam Verdugo

CNA Staff, May 20, 2024 / 13:26 pm (CNA).

In his first in-depth interview with a U.S. broadcast network, Pope Francis addressed a wide range of topics, including the war in Ukraine, antisemitism, and U.S. immigration policy. 

A portion of the full interview, which will air Monday evening on CBS, aired Sunday evening on the network?s flagship magazine program, ?60 Minutes.?

In the segment, the pope answered questions from ?CBS Evening News? anchor Norah O?Donnell through a translator. CNA translated Pope Francis? answers below from the original Spanish.

On the threat of famine in Gaza ahead of World Children?s Day: 

?[The threat is] not just in Gaza. Think of Ukraine. Many kids from Ukraine come here. You know something? That those children don?t know how to smile? I?ll say something to them [mimics smile]? They have forgotten how to smile. And that is very painful.?

On wars in Ukraine and elsewhere:

?Please, warring countries, all of them, stop. Stop the war. Seek to negotiate. Strive for peace. A negotiated peace is always better than an endless war.?

On growing antisemitism in the U.S. amid the Israel-Hamas war:

?All ideology is bad. And antisemitism is an ideology, and it is bad. Any ?anti? is always bad. You can criticize one government or the other, the government of Israel, the Palestinian government. You can criticize all you want, but not ?anti? a people. Neither anti-Palestinian nor antisemitic. No. ? I pray a lot for peace. And also suggest, ?Please, stop. Negotiate.??

On immigration: 

?Migration is something that makes a country grow. [To O?Donnell:] They say that you Irish migrated and brought the whiskey, and that the Italians migrated and brought the mafia? [laugh] It?s a joke. Don?t take it badly. But, migrants sometimes suffer a lot. They suffer a lot.?

On Texas state effort to revoke registration of migrant-serving Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas: 

?That is madness. Sheer madness. To close the border and leave them there, that is madness. The migrant has to be received. Then you see how you are going to deal with him. Maybe you have to send him back, I don?t know, but each case ought to be considered humanely.?

On the ?globalization of indifference?:

?Do you want me to state it plainly? People wash their hands! There are so many Pontius Pilates on the loose out there? who see what is happening, the wars, the injustice, the crimes? ?That?s OK, that?s OK? and wash their hands. It?s indifference. That is what happens when the heart hardens? and becomes indifferent. Please, we have to get our hearts to feel again. We cannot remain indifferent in the face of such dramas of humanity. The globalization of indifference is a very ugly disease. Very ugly.?

On sexual abuse cases in the Church:

?[The Church] must continue working. Unfortunately, the tragedy of the abuses is enormous. And against this, an upright conscience and not only to not permit it but to put in place the conditions so that it does not happen. ? It cannot be tolerated. When there is a case of a consecrated man or woman who abuses, the full force of the law falls upon them. In this there has been a great deal of progress.?

On the Vatican?s controversial Fiducia Supplicans document allowing for limited pastoral blessings of same-sex couples: 

?What I allowed was not to bless the union. That cannot be done because that is not a sacrament. I cannot. The Lord made it that way. But to bless each person, yes. The blessing is for everyone. For everyone. To bless a homosexual-type union, however, goes against the law; the natural law, the law of the Church. But to bless each person, why not? The blessing is for all. Some people were scandalized by this. But why? For everyone! Everyone!?

When asked about criticisms from ?conservative? bishops in the United States:

?You use the adjective ?conservatives.? That is to say, a conservative is one who sticks to something and does not want to see anything else. It is a suicidal attitude. Because one thing is to take tradition into account, to take into account situations from the past, but another is to be closed inside a dogmatic box.?

On gestational surrogacy, which is forbidden by the Catholic Church: 

?In regard to surrogate motherhood, in the strictest technical sense of the term, no, it cannot happen. Sometimes surrogacy has become a business, and that is very bad. It is very bad. ... The other hope is adoption. I would say that in each case the situation should be clearly considered, considered medically and then morally. I believe in these cases there is a general rule, but you have to go into each case in particular to assess the situation, as long as the moral principle is not skirted.?

On giving hope to others as the pope: 

?You have to be open to everything. The Church is like that: Everyone, everyone, everyone. ?That so-and-so is a sinner??? Me too, I am a sinner. Everyone! The Gospel is for everyone. If the Church places a customs officer at the door, that is no longer the church of Christ. Everyone.?

When asked what gives him hope: 

?Everything. You see tragedies, but you also see so many beautiful things. You see heroic mothers, heroic men, men who have hopes and dreams, women who look to the future. That gives me a lot of hope. People want to live. People forge ahead. And people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart is good.?

The International Chair of Bioethics Jérôme Lejeune held its second annual international conference in Rome on May 17-18, 2024, to reflect on the bioethical challenges surrounding the health and care of people at different stages of life. / Credit: The International Chair of Bioethics Jérôme Lejeune

Rome, Italy, May 20, 2024 / 11:53 am (CNA).

The International Chair of Bioethics Jérôme Lejeune held its second annual international conference in Rome on May 17?18 to reflect on the bioethical challenges surrounding the health and care of people at different stages of life.

Jérôme Lejeune, who discovered Trisomony 21 in 1958 (which causes Down syndrome), has been described as a prophetic ?father of bioethics? and his legacy continues to steer the direction of bioethical thought within the Catholic Church worldwide.

?Bioethics is an interdisciplinary science,? said Dr. Mónica López Barahona, president of the International Chair of Bioethics Jerome Lejeune. ?We have tried to address [bioethics] with different experts from different fields in order to give some light on different subjects. That was the way that Professor Lejeune addressed issues ? from science to ethics ? and that?s why we decided to organize this meeting in this way of reflection.? 

Approximately 45 international speakers from 16 countries discussed critical issues surrounding scientific practices at the two-day conference including gene editing in humans and across species (CRISPR experiments), sex selection, assisted reproduction techniques, prenatal testing and diagnosis, neonatal care, euthanasia, and gender-affirming surgery.

On the opening day, Professor O. Carter Snead, an American legal scholar and bioethicist from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, shared insights from his book ?What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics,? and invited conference participants to first consider the ?anthropological question [about human nature, human flourishing, and human identity]? as a framework to examine the conference topics and case studies.

Snead stated that current laws and policies related to abortion, assisted reproduction, and end-of-life decisions in the U.S. and abroad reflect a reductive ?expressive individualism? as described by philosopher Charles Taylor and sociologist Robert Bellah, whereby a person?s worth is primarily defined according to ?their capacity to choose life pathways? and pursue personal projects.

?Expressive individualism doesn?t take our embodiment or incarnational nature into account. It can?t make sense of our vulnerability, our reciprocal dependence, and our natural limits,? Snead explained. ?It leaves entirely out of the field of view the weakest and most vulnerable, the elderly, the disabled, children both born and unborn.? 

More than 400 people from 19 countries across five continents attended the congress in person or online to listen to academics, researchers, medical doctors, health care specialists, as well as family members whose lives had been directly impacted by the work and example of Lejeune.  

?Never in my life would I have thought that a doctor, much less a prominent one, would have the humility to contact the mother of a child from a foreign country to spare them a trip to Paris,? recalled Domitília Antão, a mother of a child with Trisomy 21. ?I will never forget his gaze, which immediately infused hope in our discouraged hearts. We were amazed by such simplicity considering his great competence, so much tenderness. We were treated like his family.?  

Thirty years since his death, institutes inspired by Lejeune?s dedicated work and care of his patients have been established around the world, including the Fondation Jérôme Lejeune and the Association des Amis du Pr. Jerome Lejeune in France, and the Asociacion de Medicos Jérôme Lejeune in Spain.  

?My hope is really that, first, the figure of Professor Lejeune will be well known all over the world and that the conclusions of the congress ? in the different subjects that we have addressed ? may be transmitted and translated into the different fields in the different countries all over the world,? Barahona told CNA.

In 1994, only 33 days after his appointment as the first president of the then-newly established Pontifical Academy for Life by Pope John Paul II, Lejeune died from lung cancer on Easter Sunday. Pope Francis advanced his cause for canonization after declaring Lejeune ?venerable? within the Catholic Church in 2021. 

Jim Wahlberg speaks to CNA in an interview ahead of the premiere of the new film "Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist" in Orange County, California. / Credit: Alexis Walkenstein

CNA Staff, May 20, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

?Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist? is a new film that takes viewers on a journey to rediscover the importance of the Eucharist. Through dialogue with notable Catholic figures who explore the biblical origins of the Eucharist and share personal stories, one of the film?s producers, Jim Wahlberg, said he hopes to revive faith in the Eucharist.

In addition to Wahlberg ? the brother of actor Mark Wahlberg ? several well-known Catholics make an appearance in the film, including Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota; Father Donald Calloway, MIC; Father Robert Spitzer, SJ; Scott Hahn; Curtis Martin; and Chris Stefanick.

The film will be shown in theaters nationwide June 4, 5, and 6 distributed by Fathom Events.

Wahlberg spoke with CNA at the premiere of the film at Christ Cathedral in Orange County, California, about why he believes this movie is so important, and he also shared some of his own powerful testimony. 

?We got a big problem in our Church,? Wahlberg said. ?When the report is 70% think that the Eucharist is a symbol or that they don?t believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist ? that?s a real problem.?

A 2019 Pew Research study found that only a third of Catholics in the U.S. believed in the Church?s teaching about the Eucharist. Nearly 70% of those in the study said they saw the body and blood of Christ as a symbol. This inspired the filmmakers behind ?Jesus Thirsts? to do something about that.

Wahlberg shared that it was a true ?journey? for everyone involved and served as a means of ?reinvigorating our own faith journeys.?

The Catholic filmmaker explained that when he encounters someone who sees the Eucharist as a symbol, he shares the stories of Eucharistic miracles and encourages them to spend time with the Blessed Sacrament. 

?Just get in his presence as quickly, as fast, as you can, and as often as you can, and you won?t need somebody else to prove to you where you are,? he said.

He added: ?If there is no God, if Jesus Christ is not real, I have absolutely no explanation for my life and the journey that I took in my life, the redemption that I experienced, the grace that I experienced. I have no explanation for it. It?s not possible to get here from where I came from. It?s not possible without a loving God.?

Wahlberg has been vocal about his personal story of being incarcerated due to substance abuse and the powerful conversion he had after hearing St. Teresa of Calcutta speak when he was in prison.

Mother Teresa visits

Wahlberg shared that he grew up in a family that had ?no real faith.?

?We were Catholics by tradition,? he said. ?I never went to church with my parents. I never heard anybody invoke the name of Jesus Christ in my home ? unless it was in a very angry way.?

Despite having eight brothers and sisters, he still felt alone. Wahlberg attended a different school every year from the first to the seventh grade and was introduced to alcohol at a young age.

?When you find alcohol and drugs and you?re a broken person and all of a sudden ? just for that time while you?re under the influence ? you don?t feel the shame and the guilt and the remorse and you don?t feel any of that, you?re numb from it, and so you chase that numbing feeling, and that?s what I did,? he said.

?While under the influence I was a dangerous person. I?d rob and steal from people that loved me, kind of just as a way to push them away. I felt like I didn?t deserve their love.?

Wahlberg ended up in the juvenile justice system, and by the time he was 17 years old he was on his way to serve a five-year sentence in state prison. After completing his sentence, he picked up a drink again on his first day out.

?It?s like being dropped off on another planet,? he recalled. ?I didn?t understand the world anymore. I understood prison.?

He lasted six months on the streets before he was arrested again and received a six- to nine-year prison sentence. Knowing he would be older than 30 years old if he spent nine years in prison, Wahlberg tried ?to create an illusion that I?m trying to become rehabilitated? in an effort to be released early.

?The only person going for it was the Catholic priest, Father Jim Freitas, the greatest man I?ve ever met in my life,? Wahlberg said. 

?He approached me and he said, ?Hey, I hear good things. I hear you?re trying to change your life. I have a job opening in the chapel,?? he shared. ?Gives me a job in the chapel and within weeks tells me excitedly that Mother Teresa was coming to the prison. And I?m like, ?Fantastic! That?s so great! Who?s Mother Teresa???

Wahlberg said that he now knows, at 58, that ?she was sent there for me.?

?Without a doubt in my mind,? he said. ?I believe that there were breadcrumbs along the way in my life that I just never saw and I just kept running in the other direction away from God because I was raised with the ?God?s going to get you? [mentality] ? that?s what I was raised on. Nobody ever told me God loved me, that Jesus died for me, nobody ever told me that. She gets up and says that God loves you. That Jesus Christ died for you. And there was a moment when she was speaking that it was just me and her.?

After this profound experience, Wahlberg recalled spending the night tossing and turning thinking about her words. The next morning he ran to Freitas and told him that he wanted to know more about this God that Mother Teresa spoke of ? a God who loved him.

From that moment, Freitas began to catechize Wahlberg in preparation for his confirmation. 

?He started to teach me lovingly about our faith and about our Jesus,? he said.

A few months later, Wahlberg received the news that he was transferring prisons. He ran to Freitas concerned.

Wahlberg recalled: ?He picked the phone and he called the priest at the other prison and he said, ?Hey Father, Father Freitas here. I got a special delivery FedEx package that?s coming to you. His name is Jim Wahlberg and this is where we are in the journey.??

?These [were] loving reflections of Jesus Christ, these men of God, one at a time, the three of them that passed me off until the day I made my confirmation in prison.?

A powerful conversion, but still a process

Wahlberg admitted that he still faced challenges after getting out of prison. He fell from the faith and got caught up in the things of the world. His wife and daughter encouraged him to attend a Catholic retreat, and it was there that he felt Jesus? ?arms around me again.?

After this experience, he began to dive back into the Mass and his faith.

?I started participating in my faith and putting effort into this relationship with Jesus, that I profess to love, and that all for me starts on my knees,? he said. 

Now, Wahlberg visits prisons and speaks to the inmates about his testimony and his faith. He called these experiences ?one of the greatest honors of my life.?

As for what he hopes people will take away from this movie? ?An intimate encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist,? he said.

?My hope and my prayer is that it will cause folks to do more investigation and to spend a little time with the Eucharist, spend a little time with the Blessed Sacrament, spend a little more time with your family, and a little more time talking about our beautiful faith.?

null / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 20, 2024 / 05:00 am (CNA).

After two years of efforts by child safety advocates around the country, nearly one-third of all U.S. states have passed legislation to protect children from explicit sexual content online. 

A total of 16 U.S. states have passed and/or will soon enact laws that order porn websites to verify that their users are over 18 years of age. 

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Virginia have all enacted statutes to enforce age verification for porn laws. 

Several other states, including Arizona, Oklahoma, and Alaska, have considered or are considering similar legislation. 

The porn industry has pushed back against the regulations. Pornhub, one of the world?s most-visited pornography websites, has in some cases responded to the laws by disabling access to its website in those states.

The Free Speech Coalition (FSC), a pornography trade association, has asked courts to strike down laws requiring porn sites to confirm users are over 18 years old. The Supreme Court earlier this month struck down a plea from FSC asking for an injunction against Texas? law. 

The porn group asked a U.S. district court last week to strike down Montana?s law, with the group claiming it is ?fully committed to fighting these attacks on free speech.?

?I would consider it a success?

Louisiana State Rep. Laurie Schlegel told CNA that her state helped lead the current ongoing effort to require age verification for porn. Louisiana was the first state in the country to require age verification for porn websites. 

Schlegel was the chief sponsor of that legislation. ?I would consider it a success,? she said, ?because after I passed it in 2022 and it became enacted in January 2023, many states followed our lead and passed age verification in their states.?  

In addition to the numerous states that have already enacted their own laws, there are ?many more [with] pending legislation,? Schlegel said.

?The porn industry is fighting against the age-verification laws,? she said, citing the lawsuits in Texas and Montana. The Free Speech Coalition also sued Louisiana over its law, although a judge ultimately tossed that suit out.

?I will continue to pass legislation around protecting kids online,? Schlegel said. ?Each year since being elected I have passed laws to address child online safety.?

She pointed to a law she spearheaded, which was recently signed by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, ordering that ?no interactive computer service shall enter into a contract, including the creation of an online account, with a minor without obtaining the consent of the legal representative of the minor.?

Texas state Rep. Matt Shaheen, who sponsored that state?s age verification law, told CNA he was ?very pleased with the results? of the measure. 

?Several porn sites now block access to their sites rather than follow the law,? he said. ?I?m also extremely pleased the bill has been upheld by the Supreme Court.? 

?A coalition of porn distributors unsuccessfully sued to block the requirement that porn sites perform age verification and now Texas children are safer from their filth,? he said. ?I will continue to fight to protect children from being sexualized.?

Mike Stabile, a spokesman for FSC, told CNA that the organization supports efforts to keep kids from accessing sexual content online.

?At the end of the day, we don?t oppose efforts to keep kids from accessing adult content,? he said. ?We don?t want kids on our sites any more than their parents do.?

But these laws do very little to keep kids from accessing adult content, he argued, citing overseas websites that might not follow U.S. law as well as the presence of adult content on social media websites. 

Most users won?t comply with age-verification rules, he said, meaning porn sites that do comply with the laws see their traffic drop by upwards of 90% or more. 

?We know our industry and we know the internet, and we tried to explain to legislators why this wouldn?t work,? Stabile said. ?We think it?s an example of a law that sounds very good, that sounds common sense, but otherwise doesn?t have much effect other than punishing sites that comply.?

If the goal is to push the adult industry underground, these laws are effective, Stabile said. But they?re a ?failure? at protecting kids, he claimed.

Device-level protocols ? such as parental locks and controls on computers and mobile devices ? are more effective at keeping kids from accessing unsafe material, Stabile argued.

Porn websites rank consistently among the most-visited sites in the world. Church leaders have been warning about the dangers of pornography for years. 

In 2022 Pope Francis called pornography ?a permanent attack on the dignity of men and women,? arguing that it ?is not only a matter of protecting children ? an urgent task of the authorities and all of us ? but also of declaring pornography a threat to public health.?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meanwhile, has called pornography ?a grave offense against God and his gifts to men and women? that offers ?a means of selfish, lustful gratification? and ?attacks sexual desire and the conjugal act itself.?

In 2020, Catholic anti-porn advocates launched a new online discussion and prayer platform called SOS Porn Deliverance, which offers ?the opportunity for those affected by [porn addiction] to chat confidentially with an e-missionary trained in this mission.?

Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, blesses the crowd with the Eucharist in a monstrance during an outdoor Pentecost Sunday Mass on May 19, 2024, in Bemidji, Minnesota. The Mass at the headwaters of the Mississippi River marked the start of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, a four-route trek consisting of Eucharistic processions, community service, and other events that culminates in July at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianpolis. / Credit: Gianna Bonello/CNA

Bemidji, Minnesota, May 19, 2024 / 21:47 pm (CNA).

At the start of Mass Sunday at one of the launch sites of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, Bishop Andrew Cozzens remarked that although he had his hiking shoes on, the journey ahead would need something more than natural support to reach its intended destination.

?In order to make this pilgrimage fruitful, we need the Holy Spirit,? said the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, bishop.

If that?s the case, then the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is off to a fantastic start. 

The pilgrimage?s four routes, which will crisscross the country over the next two months, began May 19 with Pentecost Sunday liturgies, processions of the Blessed Sacrament, and fervent prayers for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to renew Eucharistic devotion throughout the United States.

?It?s perfect that we?re launching this on Pentecost because Pentecost was a revival,? Cozzens said during his homily, emphasizing that a revival is the work of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of believers, which leads ordinary people to seek extraordinary holiness.

Four routes, one pilgrimage

Joined by brother bishops, clergy, and lay faithful from Minnesota and beyond ? some 2,000 people in total ? Cozzens presided over an outdoor Mass at Itasca State Park, the starting point of both the Mississippi River but also the northern Marian Route, which will lead to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July.

The Mass was followed by a mile-long Eucharistic procession and benediction. Then, along the shores of Lake Itasca, Cozzens blessed the small cadre of ?perpetual pilgrims? who will travel the whole route, and they set off along a dirt path through the woods. 

Meanwhile, Eucharistic pilgrimage routes were also underway in the country?s east, west, and south. 

In New Haven, Connecticut, the faithful began the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route with a Pentecost Vigil Mass celebrated by Archbishop Christopher Coyne at St. Mary?s Church, where Blessed Michael McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus and is entombed today, before a Sunday morning procession and a Eucharistic pilgrimage boat ride through the Long Island Sound.

The St. Juan Diego Route kicked off in the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, with Mass at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, celebrated by Bishop Daniel Flores, before pilgrims braved 90-degree heat to join the Eucharistic Lord for the route?s opening procession.

And in San Francisco, following Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the faithful processed with the Eucharist across the 1.7-mile-long Golden Gate Bridge to kick off the St. Junipero Serra Route.

The Marian, Seton, Juan Diego, and Serra Routes will eventually converge in Indianapolis for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress July 17?21.

Cozzens has served as the U.S. bishops? leader of the wider National Eucharistic Revival, which began in 2022 and includes the pilgrimage and congress. At the Mass in Minnesota, he asked rhetorically what would happen if the bishops of the United States called for a Eucharistic revival, including two years of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and a cross-country pilgrimage that asked the Lord to pour out his Holy Spirit upon the whole country.

?What would happen if the bishops did that?? said Cozzens, who will join pilgrims in a 12-mile walk to Walker, Minnesota, in the Diocese of Duluth on Monday. ?Well, we?re about to find out.?

Come Holy Spirit

Cozzens told those gathered that, just like the first Pentecost led to Christianity?s spread throughout the Roman Empire, the Holy Spirit could act through the National Eucharistic Revival to start a fire of divine love that would engulf the nation.

But if that was going to happen, it would require those gathered to embrace repentance, prayer, and the pursuit of holiness, so that the Lord can ?enkindle in our hearts his fire so that we can be the saints he?s calling us to be.?

?Brothers and sisters, would you like to see a revival in our country? Then it has to begin with you and me.?

The thousands gathered in the grassy field for Mass included several families with young children who had brought lawn chairs from home in lieu of pews.

Instead of the Parthians, Medes, and Elamites mentioned in the Mass readings? account of the original descent of the Holy Spirit, ?out-of-towners? present for the Minnesota Pentecost liturgy included Iowans, Dakotans, and Wisconsinites, some of whom had made lengthy journeys to take part in the historic occasion.

Doug and Stephanie Carder and their four young children, ages 8 years to 4 months, came all the way from Clear Lake, Iowa, about six hours away by car. The family camped the night before in the state park and were drawn by the chance to gather outdoors with other Catholics on Pentecost, the feast of the birth of the Church, and give thanks.

?We wanted to give thanksgiving for Jesus? presence in the Eucharist and to ask that others come to know him that way and love him that way through this pilgrimage,? Stephanie Carder said.

Sunoh and Jenna Choe came from the Twin Cities to take part in the Marian Route?s start, and both shared their hopes for how the Holy Spirit would work through the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and the wider revival.

?I?m just really hopeful about the Eucharistic revival, and how this is going to change parishes and inspire people to evangelize,? Sunoh Choe said.

Mass intentions asked God to renew Eucharistic faith across the country, to bring those who had fallen away back to the Church, and to draw the nation to Jesus through the pilgrimage routes about to embark across the country. The eight perpetual pilgrims who will travel the entire Marian Route were also invited forward to receive a special blessing from Cozzens.

When Mass concluded, those gathered joined the Eucharist in a one-mile procession to the headwaters visitor center, crossing through dense pine forests and across a bridge over the Mississippi River in fledgling form.

At the front of the procession, between the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher, were about 20 father and son members of the Troop of St. George, a Catholic scouting group. Tom Schulzetenberg of Blaine, Minnesota, said he had told the participating scouts that they were taking part in a ?historic moment, that they?d probably never get to do again in their lifetime.? 

?I wanted my two sons and all of these other fathers and sons to be a part of that, to show that public expressions of our faith are important,? Schulzetenberg said.

Father Paul Shovelain, pastor of St. John the Baptist in New Brighton, Minnesota, came with about 50 of his parishioners to participate in the Marian Route?s launch. He said he was excited to see how the pilgrimage could be a witness to many that ?the Lord is staying with us? ? including people like the park rangers and state park visitors, many of whom looked on the Eucharistic procession with curiosity, asking participants what was going on.

Jim Louden, a knight of the Holy Sepulcher and lawyer in the Twin Cities, said he was grateful for the opportunity for spiritual formation at the Marian Route?s start, including the two-day Star of the North Eucharistic Congress that had taken place in nearby Bemidji the day before, featuring talks from renowned catechists such as Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz. He said he hoped the event would ?help light a spark in the world so that others can follow Christ.?

?We?re just hoping and praying that this can be the beginning.?

Pope Francis participates in Mass on the solemnity of Pentecost, May 19, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, May 19, 2024 / 08:15 am (CNA).

On the solemnity of Pentecost, Pope Francis said that Christians are called to proclaim the Gospel to everyone with gentleness and the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Speaking in St. Peter?s Basilica, the pope explained that the Holy Spirit?s ?work in us is powerful, as symbolized by the signs of wind and fire,? but it is also gentle and ?welcoming to all.?

?From the ?upper room? of this basilica, like the apostles, we too are being sent forth to proclaim the Gospel to all,? Pope Francis said in his homily on May 19.

?Thanks to the Spirit, we can and must do this with his own power and gentleness,? he added.

Pope Francis underlined that this power is not arrogant, calculating, or imposing but is ?born of fidelity to the truth that the Spirit teaches us in our hearts.?

?Consequently, we do not give up but tirelessly proclaim peace to those who desire war, forgiveness to those who seek revenge, welcome and solidarity to those who bar their doors and erect barriers, life to those who choose death, respect to those who love to humiliate, insult, and reject, fidelity to those who would sever every bond, thereby confusing freedom with a bleak and empty individualism,? he said.

?Nor are we intimidated by hardship, derision, or opposition, which, today as always, are never lacking in the apostolate.?

Pope Francis presided over the Mass the day after traveling to the northern Italian city of Verona. The 87-year-old pope was not the main celebrant but gave a shortened homily from a white chair at the front of the congregation to the right of the altar.

Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, served as the main celebrant for the Pentecost Mass.

In his homily, Pope Francis explained how the Holy Spirit helps us to overcome sinful passions, like impurity or envy, and then gently plants the seeds of virtue and helps them to grow.

?He lovingly protects these virtues, so that they can grow stronger and so that, after the toil of combatting evil, we may taste the sweetness of mercy and communion with God,? he said.

?As a beautiful prayer of the early Church says: ?Let your gentleness, O Lord, and the fruits of your love abide with me,?? he added.

Thousands were gathered inside St. Peter?s Basilica for the Pentecost Mass. After the Mass, Pope Francis appeared in the window of the Apostolic Palace and prayed the ?Regina Caeli? in Latin.

The pope told the crowd gathered in St. Peter?s Square that listening to the word of God helps to ?silence the chatter? and provides space for one to hear the consoling voice of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit repeats in us ?transformative words of love,? he added, that help us to realize the eternal love of God. The pope recommended that people spend time praying in silence in Eucharistic adoration to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. 

Pope Francis also prayed for the Holy Spirit to bring communion between Christians, harmony in families, and an end to the wars in Ukraine and the Holy Land.

The solemnity of Pentecost, which is celebrated 50 days after Easter, marks the descent of the Holy Spirit.

At the end of his Pentecost homily, Pope Francis prayed: ?Come, Creator Spirit, enlighten our minds, fill our hearts with your grace, guide our steps, grant your peace to our world.?

More than 1,000 Catholics attend the Eucharistic procession in Washington, D.C. on May 18, 2024, / Credit: Tyler Arnold/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 19, 2024 / 07:30 am (CNA).

A crowd of more than 1,000 Catholics processed with the Eucharist through the streets of downtown Washington, D.C. on Saturday morning in spite of scattered rainfall throughout the event.

The Catholic Information Center?s (CIC) second annual Eucharistic procession ? which took place just blocks from the White House ? drew participation from priests, nuns, and laypeople from the area. The May 18 procession was nearly twice the size of last year?s procession on May 20. 

?People have shown their love for the Eucharist [by] showing up in this rainy weather,? Father Charles Trullols, the director of CIC, told CNA after the procession.

Trullols said he ?wasn?t certain? whether the weather would reduce attendance, but surpassing last year?s turnout was ?even more incredible because of the rain.? He added that bystanders who saw the procession appeared ?so impressed? with the ?beauty of the procession? and ?the reverence of everyone praying.?

?[This procession] impacted so many souls,? Trullols added.

The event began with Mass inside CIC?s chapel, although a large portion of attendees viewed the Mass on a video displayed on a truck outside of the building as the whole crowd was not able to fit inside. 

This was followed by the exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament on K Street and a recitation of the Litany of St. Joseph before the procession began down the road. 

At the lead of the procession were the crossbearer and candle-bearers, followed by religious sisters. After the sisters were children who have recently received their first Communion and then the Blessed Sacrament itself inside of a monstrance and under a processional canopy. Behind the Eucharist were the priests, the choir, and the lay faithful. 

Throughout the procession, attendees said prayers, including the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. The faithful also sang various hymns and stopped at three stations to kneel in front of the Blessed Sacrament, where Trullols would read from the Gospel. 

One of the attendees, Joseph Duncan from McLean, Virginia, told CNA the procession was ?amazing? and noted the importance of a procession near the White House during an election year: ?[It can] bring a lot of grace to the country.?

Brittany Baldwin of Houston told CNA the procession was ?incredibly moving? and that she ?choked up? during the procession, and ?watching people?s reactions was equally moving.? 

Baldwin, who said she also attended CIC?s procession last year, noted the growth in attendees and added: ?I?m sure there would have been a lot more if it wasn?t for the rain.?

The CIC offers daily Mass on weekdays and regularly hosts informational events on Catholic theology and other Catholic issues. The organization also has a bookstore.

Holy Spirit stained glass in St. Peter's Basilica. / Credit: Alexey Gotovskyi/CNA

National Catholic Register, May 19, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Sunday, May 19, is Pentecost Sunday, and the Mass readings ? Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13; and John 20:19-23 ? present a number of symbols of the Holy Spirit: strong, driving wind; tongues of fire; races united; and breath of Jesus on the apostles.

The Holy Spirit is like a strong driving wind, because the Holy Spirit has a clear direction and wants to take everyone there with it. A wind is an unseen force that refreshes; so is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a tongue of fire; not a wildfire that destroys, not a stationary fire that we have to huddle next to, but a fire bestowed on us, which transforms what it touches.

The Holy Spirit unites people and breaks down barriers. When St. Peter speaks after receiving the Holy Spirit, he speaks with boldness, decisiveness, but also attractiveness, drawing many to the faith. He doesn?t condemn, insult, and disperse the people because of their weakness; he challenges them and calls them to greatness, each in his or her own language.

The Holy Spirit is the breath of God in us. He breathes on his apostles and gives them the ability to forgive sins. He breathes on us, too, and we also become his representatives. ?For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit,? as the second reading says.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Nos. 694?700) mentions other symbols of the Holy Spirit worth considering:

The Holy Spirit is like water. Water fills all things; it is gentle like dew or strong like a flood; it seeps into what will let it, bringing life, and pushes aside what will not.

The Holy Spirit is an anointing, a sacramental seal. The Spirit marks us as God?s, incorporates us into his family, and connects us with his company of saints.

The Holy Spirit is like a cloud and light. The Spirit is like a cloud because God is a mystery and like light because ?mystery? means he is too brilliant for us to fully comprehend.

The Holy Spirit is like a hand or a finger. He is a hand that works, reaches out, heals, and blesses.

The Holy Spirit is like a dove. A dove can fly high or walk lightly, and its beauty is subtle and calming.

You can also hear all of these symbols echoed powerfully in the 13th-century British prayer that St. John Paul II prayed when he visited Great Britain:

Wash what is unclean.

Water what is parched.

Heal what is diseased.

Bend what is rigid.

Warm what is cold.

Straighten what is crooked.

This story was originally published in the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, on May 15, 2016, and has been updated and adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 19, 2024 / 05:00 am (CNA).

As assisted suicide and euthanasia continue to grow more common throughout much of the developed world, services like palliative and hospice care serve as a vital counterweight to those trends, offering what one provider calls care for ?the whole person? that?s respectful of both a patient?s life ? and death. 

Assisted suicide and euthanasia have been legalized in countries such as Canada, Australia, Spain, Belgium, and in multiple U.S. states, permitting patients to take their own lives or allowing doctors to kill them outright. 

In contrast, services such as palliative care and end-of-life hospice care seek to uphold the dignity of each human life, especially as it nears its end.

What is palliative care? What about hospice?

Dian Backoff told CNA that both palliative and hospice providers are trained to minister to the ?psychosocial, spiritual, and financial needs? of patients facing debilitating or terminal illnesses. 

Backoff, the executive director of Catholic Hospice for Catholic Health Services in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, told CNA that palliative care is meant to address ?what the whole patient wants during the treatment of an illness,? whether or not the patient is terminally ill or dealing with a long-term affliction. 

Oftentimes a patient suffering from a severe illness has multiple doctors from multiple disciplines, such as neuroscientists and cardiac experts, Backoff pointed out.

?Palliative care has someone bring all that specialty work together so that we don?t forget there?s a person behind the brain, behind the liver, behind the heart,? she said.

Backoff said hospice is a part of palliative care, one that arises at the end of a patient?s life. A significant part of hospice service, she said, involves ensuring that dying patients have medication to alleviate any pain or suffering they may have as death nears. 

But, she noted, ?all of the services that are applied to the patient, other than clinical, are also applied to the family.? 

?How are you going to cope with the death? Is there anticipatory grief? Is there complicated grief pending because there are unresolved family issues?? she said.

Hospice workers ?make sure coping mechanisms are appropriate? and that family members are ?grieving appropriately instead of dealing with something years down the road.?

Hospice ?absolutely vital,? in line with Catholic teaching

Joe Zalot, an ethicist and the director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, said that hospice, when done right, is ?very, very important? for both dying patients and families.

?Hospice, when done correctly, is proper accompaniment at the end of life,? Zalot said. ?It?s palliating symptoms, it?s providing spiritual care, it?s helping people live the most full possible life that they can given the limitations of their illness. It?s helping them and their family prepare well for death.?

?When done well, it?s absolutely vital and very much in line with Catholic teaching,? he said. 

Zalot warned, however, that there are ?not-so-good? hospice practices on the market as well. 

?We get calls on our consult line and we hear horror stories, from families and doctors, where people go in and they?re medicated for whatever reason, there?s questions about nutrition and hydration, any number of different things,? he said. 

Zalot said the best hospice workers are those who support the family unobtrusively. ?If you don?t know what they did, they probably did their job correctly,? he said. 

Among the best practices of hospice, he said, are symptom management, relief from pain and nausea, and relief from complications that arise from one?s pain, conditions, or treatments.

?Another essential element is to help family members and support them as they journey with their loved ones,? he said. 

?Specifically from a Catholic perspective, a very good-quality hospice is one that provides spiritual care and access to the sacraments, through chaplains,? Zalot noted. 

Backoff said their patients are split between home and hospital settings, with the majority in the former. ?We have 750 patients, and all but about 120 are at home,? she said. ?The rest are in nursing homes or in our hospice facility.?

?The average length of stay for us is about 70 days,? she said. ?That?s average for us, and probably it?s fairly consistent around the country.?

Zalot said the Church?s opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide is because those procedures are quite literally homicide. ?You?re killing people,? he said. 

?It?s sort of like abortion,? Zalot said. ?We have all of these euphemisms ? ?reproductive rights,? et cetera. It?s the same thing with assisted suicide and euthanasia: ?Death with dignity,? ?medical aid in dying.?? 

?Euthanasia and assisted suicide are killing people,? he said. ?They are actions that kill people. And the Fifth Commandment says that thou shalt not kill. And that?s the bottom line.?