Vatican News

Vatican City, Dec 4, 2024 / 15:10 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis received the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, at the Vatican on Wednesday.

The meeting, which Orbán described as “an opportunity for peace,” lasted 35 minutes and took place in a room near the Paul VI classroom in the Vatican and not in the Apostolic Palace, as is customary, because it preceded the pope’s general audience.

Just prior to his meeting with the Holy Father, Orbán, a Calvinist, attended a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In the traditional exchange of gifts, the Holy Father presented the Hungarian prime minister with a terra cotta work titled “Tenderness and Love” in addition to several volumes of papal documents, this year’s “,” and a book on the of 2020.

For his part, Orbán presented Pope Francis with a copy of “The Life of Jesus Christ,” written in 1896 by French Dominican friar Louis Henri Didon, creator of the motto of the modern Olympic Games, “Faster, higher, stronger.” He also gave him a map of the Holy Land dated 1700.

After the audience with the Holy Father, Orbán met with the secretary of state of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and with Monsignor Mirosław Wachowski, undersecretary for Relations with States.

According to the Holy See’s press office, the meeting took place “in a cordial atmosphere” of “solid and fruitful bilateral relations.”

During the meeting, “deep gratitude” was expressed for “the commitment of the Catholic Church in promoting the development and well-being of Hungarian society.” 

In addition, issues of international relevance were addressed, such as the war in Ukraine, with special emphasis on its humanitarian consequences and efforts to promote peace.

Other issues discussed in the conversations included the central role of the family and the protection of new generations. 

Since taking office in 2010, Orbán has promoted , which have contributed to an increase in the birth rate and a reduction in the number of abortions. 

Also addressed was Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, a position that the country assumed on July 1 and will maintain until Dec. 31. 

During this period, under Orbán’s leadership, Hungary has worked to strengthen the EU’s defense policy, contain illegal immigration, and address demographic challenges, among other .

The occasion marked the fifth time Pope Francis has met with Orbán. During a previous audience in April 2022, they also focused their conversations on the war in Ukraine and the Ukrainian refugees received in Hungary.

Vatican City, Dec 4, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis was handed the key to a new Mercedes-Benz “popemobile” on Wednesday by the CEO of the German luxury car brand.

Ola Källenius, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz, presented the pope with a white and chrome key fob inside a white box after showing off the new open-air vehicle in a parking lot inside Vatican City on Dec. 4.

The modified G-Wagon features a rotating heated seat and a heated hand rail to keep the pope warm while greeting pilgrims during winter rides around St. Peter’s Square.

The fully electric, white SUV is emblazoned with Francis’ coat of arms, has black detailing, and has chrome rims. Two small Holy See flags wave from the front hood.

The license plate of the papal ride is “SCV 1,” which is the Italian acronym for Vatican City State.

Mercedes-Benz has provided vehicles for the Vatican for 94 years. During the last 45 years, the pope has used “popemobiles” based on the Mercedes-Benz G-Class. 

“With the new popemobile, Pope Francis is the first pontiff to travel in an all-electric Mercedes-Benz during his public appearances. This is a great honor for our company and I would like to thank His Holiness for his trust,” Källenius said in a Dec. 4 press release.

Pope Francis has been using full or partially electric cars for several years. In 2023, the Vatican also announced a partnership with auto manufacturer Volkswagen to introduce an in the Vatican by 2030.

Vatican City, Dec 4, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis during his general audience at St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday said all evangelizing activity depends on the Holy Spirit and not on “pastoral initiatives promoted by us.”

Continuing his catechetical series on ”The Spirit and the Bride,” the Holy Father spoke about evangelization and the role of preaching in the Catholic Church. 

Stressing the importance of prayer, the pope said all Christians should ask for God’s intercession in the work of evangelization as it “does not depend on us but on the coming of the Holy Spirit.”  

“The Holy Spirit comes to those who pray because the heavenly Father — it is written — ‘give[s] the Holy Spirit to those who ask him’ (cf. Lk 11:13),” the pope told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. “Especially if we ask him in order to proclaim the Gospel of his Son!”

Pointing to the example of Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry, the Holy Father said it is necessary to imitate his example and prayer: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor” (cf. Lk 4:18). 

“Preaching with the anointing of the Holy Spirit means transmitting, together with the ideas and the doctrine, the life, and conviction of our faith,” he continued.

Emphasizing the need to prioritize prayer over “persuasive words of wisdom,” the Holy Father also told his listeners to be wary of the desire to “preach ourselves” instead of Jesus Christ.

“Not wanting to preach oneself also implies not always giving priority to pastoral initiatives promoted by us and linked to our own name,” he said.

Pope Francis also shared practical advice for preachers to “never go over 10 minutes” at the risk of their listeners losing interest in a sermon.

“Preachers must preach an idea, a feeling, and a call to action. Beyond eight minutes the preaching starts to fade, it is not understood,” Pope Francis said to applause from some pilgrims.    

In his final greetings to international pilgrims on Wednesday, the pope imparted his special Advent blessings. He encouraged the crowds to prepare well for the upcoming solemnity of the Immaculate Conception to be celebrated on Dec. 9 this year.

The Holy Father also extended his sincere greetings to Chinese pilgrims and their families at the general audience. Mandarin Chinese was today included among the official language translations of the pope’s weekly greetings and catechesis. 

Asking people to pray especially for the people of Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, and “the innocent killed in wars,” the pope implored: “Please let us continue to pray for peace, freedom.”

“War is a human defeat, a defeat of humanity. War does not solve problems. War is evil,” he said.

Vatican City, Dec 4, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The 21 new cardinals to be created by Pope Francis at the Dec. 7 consistory reflect the pontiff’s vision for a missionary Church that reaches out to the world’s peripheries.

Following the 10th consistory of his pontificate, Pope Francis will have effectively cemented the expansive geographical diversity of the College of Cardinals as well as chosen approximately 60% of all its members and almost 80% of the cardinals who will choose his successor in a future conclave.

While the College of Cardinals will still largely be European — with a high proportion who are either representing Italian churches or are of Italian origin — after the Dec. 7 consistory more than 90 countries will be represented in the college responsible for advising the pope in the care of the universal Church.

The December consistory will also see the College of Cardinals expand to a total of 253 members. Though the vast majority of cardinals are usually secular clergy, this year’s consistory will bring the number of cardinals belonging to religious congregations and institutes to 68.  

The continued expansion of the college beyond traditionally Catholic Europe is also evident in the selection of cardinals belonging to missionary congregations in countries where Catholics are a minority.

Both Cardinals-elect Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD, of Tokyo and Archbishop Ladislav Nemet, SVD, of Belgrade-Smederevo, Serbia, belong to the Society of the Divine Word religious congregation and represent the Church in countries where the Catholic population is at 5% and below.

According to Canon 349 of the Code of Canon Law, cardinals hold the duty to act collegially in choosing a pope’s successor should a conclave be convoked. However, not all cardinals hold the right to cast a vote in a conclave.  

More than half of the college after the consistory is set to be “cardinal electors.” These cardinals are below the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote for a new pope. 

Among the 140 cardinals with voting rights, the highest representation by country is Italy with 17 cardinal-electors, followed by the U.S. with 10 cardinal-electors, and then Spain with six cardinal-electors. 

The college’s remaining 113 “cardinal non-electors” are 80 years old and older. While they are eligible to participate in the meetings leading up to the start of a conclave, they do not have voting rights and so will not participate in the conclave itself. 

Both the eldest and youngest College of Cardinals members will be created at the Dec. 7 consistory. 

At 99, Italian Cardinal-elect Angelo Acerbi, the prelate emeritus of the Knights of Malta, will become the oldest member of the college. Having served the Catholic Church as a bishop for 50 years, he also has 40 years of experience working in the Holy See’s diplomatic corps. 

Between 1974 and 2001, he served as nuncio to New Zealand, Colombia, Hungary, Moldova, and the Netherlands.

Bishop Mykola Bychok of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul in Melbourne, Australia, will become the youngest cardinal at age 44. His elevation as cardinal will bring the total number of cardinals from the vast Oceania region to four.

In an Oct. 6 letter welcoming the new cardinals to the “Roman clergy,” Pope Francis said membership to the College of Cardinals “is an expression of the Church’s unity and of the bond that unites all the Churches with this Church of Rome.”

The consistory for the creation of the new cardinals will take place in the Papal Chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday afternoon.

Vatican City, Dec 4, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A small island town in northern Italy has put its heart into recreating a local lagoon in a Nativity scene for St. Peter’s Square — the first time the crèche will feature a large body of water.

“There’s not only the work behind it, but there’s the love, there’s the passion of everybody,” Andrea de Walderstein, the Nativity’s architect, designer, and construction manager, told CNA.

“We are the first to bring water to St. Peter’s [Square],” he said, explaining that the grandiose Nativity will feature the lagoon of Grado, a town of about 8,000 people located on an island and adjacent peninsula in the Adriatic Sea between Venice and Trieste.

De Walderstein said the ambitious display — which will be nearly 100 feet long and over 45 feet wide — is being assembled “like a Lego practically.” The embankment of the “lagoon” alone requires 102 Styrofoam bricks.

While not disclosing every surprise, de Walderstein and Antonio Boemo, the coordinator and leader of the project, told CNA that the replica lagoon will be set in the early 1900s and will feature a beach, islands, boats, animals, and representatives of the inhabitants of the town.

The scene, to be unveiled on Dec. 7, will also feature “casoneri,” the fishermen who used to live in huts on the islands of the Grado lagoon. According to information from the Vatican, the fishermen and women would traditionally only come into the village for three important holidays every year, including Easter and Christmas.

The traditional Nativity figures of Mary, Joseph, and the child Jesus will be inside one of the fishermen’s huts, called a “casone.”

“What we are interested in is that people will admire, become curious, and understand the feelings that we have when we go to the lagoon,” Boemo said.

But bringing a large body of water into St. Peter’s Square posed an important challenge — how to keep the seagulls of Rome from turning it into a giant birdbath. 

This was a big concern for the Vatican, de Walderstein said. “So we came up with a system with ultrasonic machines to keep them away.”

Boemo’s idea for a Nativity scene featuring the lagoon of Grado first came to him years ago. He told CNA a proposal was sent to the Vatican in 2016 and he is so happy to finally be seeing his dream become a reality.

He emphasized that this project has involved the whole community of Grado, with 40 people being physically involved in the construction and approximately 500 from the town expected to attend the unveiling.

The architect de Walderstein, too, said after being originally brought on just to design the project, will also “do the workmanship, because I really like to touch it with my own hands and build it with my own hands.”

“I have to thank Antonio, who involved me in this adventure. I am really happy,” he said.

Vatican City, Dec 3, 2024 / 17:55 pm (CNA).

On the evening Dec. 2, the rite of “recognitio”(Latin for “verification”) took place in St. Peter’s Basilica. This is a traditional ceremony to verify and ascertain that the Holy Door, closed during the last holy year, is intact, sealed, and ready to be reopened at the beginning of the new Jubilee 2025.

The pilgrimage to the Holy Doors is a central act of the jubilee. Passing through them during the holy year symbolizes entry into a new life in Christ and the beginning of a journey of conversion.

The ceremony began with a prayer led by the archpriest of the basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti. Then the “sampietrini,” employees of the Fabric of St. Peter’s who are responsible for the oversight and maintenance of the Vatican basilica, tore down the wall that seals the Holy Door inside the church.

Once the wall protecting the Holy Door was demolished, the workers removed a metal box that had been kept inside it since the closing of the Jubilee of Mercy on Nov. 20, 2016.

The box contains the key with which the Holy Father will open the Holy Door on the evening of Dec. 24. It also contains the handles, the parchment of the act certifying its closure, four golden bricks, and some medals, including those of the pontificates of Francis, Benedict XVI, and St. John Paul II.

Gambetti was in charge of leading a procession, with the singing of the litanies of the saints, from the Holy Door to the Altar of Confession, where he paused for a moment in prayer.

The participants in the rite then proceeded to the Chapter House, where the metal box removed from the Holy Door was opened. Present were Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, and Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of pontifical liturgical celebrations, who received the documents and objects of therecognitio, which will be given to Pope Francis.

On Tuesday afternoon, the same ceremony took place for the Holy Door of St. John Lateran basilica. On Dec. 5 the rite of recognitiowill take place in St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica and on Dec. 6 in St. Mary Major Basilica.

The jubilee year, one of the most anticipated and important events of the Catholic Church, is marked by different solemn ceremonies with centuries of tradition.

In 1499, Pope Alexander VI wanted to define the ceremonial norms of the jubilee. He entrusted this task to the then-master of ceremonies, Johannes Bruckard, who established different rites that continue to be celebrated today, although with some variations.

From the Jubilee of 1500 until the Jubilee of 1975, it was the pope who began the construction of the wall that enclosed the Holy Door. With a hammer, made of gold and later of silver, he would symbolically strike the wall three times. Later, the masons would take charge of demolishing it completely.

The wall was usually covered in turn by a simple wooden door, which was removed and replaced at the beginning and end of each holy year. However, on Dec. 24, 1949, it was replaced by a bronze door blessed by Pope Pius XII.

In 1975, the rite of closing the Holy Door was modified, as the trowel and bricks were no longer used, and the panels of the bronze door were simply closed, giving greater prominence to the door than to the wall. 

That same year, the tradition of including a metal chest inside the wall began, since previously symbolic elements such as golden bricks were inserted with the mortar with which the wall was rebuilt.

For the Jubilee of 1983, John Paul II did not use the hammer during the opening of the Holy Door.

During the jubilees of the 20th century, each of the steps that make up the rite ofrecognitiowere consolidated. These include the demolition of the wall, the recovery of the symbolic objects, and the solemn procession with liturgical chants.

CNA Staff, Dec 3, 2024 / 15:35 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of December is for pilgrims of hope.

“Christian hope is a gift from God that fills our lives with joy. And today, we need it a lot. The world really needs it a lot,” the Holy Father said in a video released Dec. 3.

Pope Francis pointed out that “when you don’t know if you’ll be able to feed your children tomorrow, or if what you’re studying will allow you to get a good job, it’s easy to get discouraged.”

“Where can we look for hope?” he asked.

“Hope is an anchor — an anchor that you cast over with a rope to be moored on the shore. We have to hold onto the rope of hope. Hold on tight.”

He encouraged the faithful to “help each other discover this encounter with Christ who gives us life, and let’s set out on a journey as pilgrims of hope to celebrate that life. And entering into the upcoming jubilee is the next stage within that life.”

“Day by day, let us fill our lives with the gift of hope that God gives us, and through us, let us allow it to reach everyone who is looking for it,” he said. “Don’t forget — hope never disappoints.”

He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray that this upcoming jubilee strengthens us in our faith, helping us to recognize the risen Christ in the midst of our lives, transforming us into pilgrims of Christian hope.”

Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the , which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.

Rome Newsroom, Dec 3, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

Cardinal-elect Dominique Mathieu, archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan and the highest-ranking Catholic authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran, discussed the situation of Christians in Iran, regional Middle East conflicts, and his personal life in a wide-ranging interview with EWTN News.

The 61-year-old Franciscan will be among the cardinals receiving their red hats from Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica this Saturday, Dec. 7. The pope announced the names of 21 new cardinals from the Apostolic Palace window on Oct. 6 following the Angelus prayer.

“I trembled after the nomination,” Mathieu recalled. He was in a car in Rome with a fellow friar when the announcement came over the radio. Initially, he didn’t fully grasp the news until his companion’s phone began ringing with congratulations.

“I reacted with trembling at that moment. I’m diabetic, and I began turning completely white. It took some time to recover,” the cardinal-elect said.

“It was a surprise. But if you want, you could say that afterward, I realized there might have been signals from the Holy Father during some visits I had with him.”

When asked about his past life and why he spent several years as a Conventual Franciscan friar in Lebanon — becoming a missionary in the Middle East when many were leaving — Mathieu explained that he first visited the “country of cedars” for the ordination of a priest in 1993. He saw Beirut in its post-civil-war state but was deeply moved by people’s devotion to their saints and the Virgin Mary, and their determination to rebuild despite everything.

There are nearly 2,000 Latin-rite Catholics in Iran among a population of almost 89 million people, the vast majority of whom are Shia Muslim. These Catholic Christians “can gather in churches that are recognized by the state. Only they can enter these places of worship,” Mathieu explained. “Generally, they can do this during services or during times that have been announced to the authorities regarding the churches themselves.”

“Our doors exist and are open for these people but are closed to almost everyone else. We, as Latins, also keep the doors open to our Assyrian or Armenian Church brothers and sisters — they can come, it’s not a problem, because we are not an ethnic Church,” Mathieu said. “We maintain a door, praying from within, hoping that one day perhaps the door can open to others.”

“I am convinced, perhaps strengthened by the fact that I am Franciscan, of the importance of our witness, which is not verbal,” the Tehran archbishop said regarding Christians’ role in Iranian society. “Proselytism cannot be done, but we are not prevented from living in society and bearing witness.”

Unlike in Turkey, Christians in Iran can wear religious habits and pectoral crosses in public, Mathieu noted. He emphasized that he constantly reminds people: “The importance of our witness, of praying, of having a virtuous life, of working on our sanctification, because there we are truly also a leaven for the country. We can be that salt that gives life.”

The cardinal-elect also explained the openness toward Christianity from some Muslim study centers, such as the University of Qom. He noted that the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue maintains relations with Iranian state entities.

Describing signs of hope among Iranian Catholics today, Mathieu said: “There is a great thirst for spirituality.” He explained that besides himself, the apostolic nuncio, and the nuncio’s secretary, there are no Latin Catholic bishops or priests in the country. However, there are five Daughters of Charity sisters, two of whom have worked for many years in a leprosarium in northern Iran.

Regarding the direct and indirect conflict between Iran and Israel over the past year and its influence on Christians in Iran, the cardinal-elect said: “I don’t believe there is a direct influence on Christians and the population, because their concern is really about the sanctions and embargo.”

Finally, addressing how to achieve peace in the Middle East as Christmas approaches, the cardinal-elect expressed sadness that, apart from Vatican diplomacy, peace and dialogue diplomacy seemed to be often lacking and replaced by threats and retaliation.

Rome Newsroom, Dec 3, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Close to the Pantheon in the heart of Rome, one of the city’s oldest and most popular ecclesiastical tailors is ready for Saturday’s consistory for the creation of new cardinals.

It wasn’t long after Pope Francis announced that he would be making 21 new cardinals in December that the Gammarelli tailor adjusted its window to feature the traditional dress of cardinals.

“It’s a bit of a historical showcase because not all of these items are still used,” Gammarelli manager Alessia Gammarelli told EWTN News. Gammarelli, with her cousins Lorenzo and Massimiliano, are the sixth generation to run the family business.

Gammarelli explained that while the black cassock with the red piping is still worn by cardinals today, the mantelletta, or knee-length cloak, has fallen out of use.

The red shoes worn by Pope Benedict XVI during his pontificate are also no longer in fashion, but Gammarelli said she likes to include out-of-use clerical wear in the window for historical interest.

Gammarelli tailor shop has made the ecclesiastical garments of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of priests, bishops, and cardinals since it was opened in 1798 by Giovanni Antonio Gammarelli as a tailor for Roman clergy.

The tailor has also sewn the garments of the popes starting with Pope Pius XI in the 1920s.

Today, Gammarelli’s most famous client is Pope Francis, who has chosen to simplify papal garb. The shop receives orders for the pope from his secretaries and the new clothes are completed and delivered to the Vatican in about a week, Gammarelli said.

In a Dec. 7 ceremony at the Vatican, the new cardinals will dress for the first time in the scarlet red cassocks that characterize these special assistants and advisers of the pope.

The red cassock, used for important liturgies and ceremonies, is accompanied by a shoulder cape called a “mozzetta” and by a white linen vestment with lace borders called a “rochet.” A red zucchetto, which is a small, round skull cap, completes the look.

The cardinals will receive their biretta, which is a square, red hat, and a ring from Pope Francis at the consistory.

For more everyday occasions, cardinals wear a black cassock with red trimming and a red sash.

Meanwhile, Gammarelli is working hard to fulfill any garment orders it may have received from the new cardinals, most of whom only found out they would be joining the College of Cardinals two months before the ceremony.

“It is still an artisanal company. We make all these clothes, they are all made here in the workshop by us, as well as all the sacred vestments that we cut and make ourselves,” Gammarelli told EWTN News, explaining that it is not easy to find skilled seamsters and seamstresses today.

“We try to continue this beautiful tradition. It’s not easy, though we try to do what we can,” she said. 

Ditta Annibale Gammarelli, as the shop is formally called, was added to a list of historic shops in Rome in 2000. It is believed it may be the city’s oldest shop to still be managed by direct descendants of its founder.

Another important feature always displayed in the tailor shop’s window is a white papal zucchetto.

Gammarelli said “often people come here because they want to give the Holy Father a new zucchetto, to make an exchange with his [zucchetto]. And so they buy [one] from us, we put it in a nice little box and then they do it, always hoping to make an exchange with the pope when they meet him and get the one he was wearing.”

CNA Staff, Dec 3, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Dec. 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who evangelized vast portions of Asia.

Francis Xavier was born in 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France. His mother was an esteemed heiress and his father an adviser to King John III. While his brothers entered the military, Francis followed an intellectual path to a college in Paris. There he studied philosophy and later taught it after earning his master’s degree.

In Paris, Francis would discover his destiny with the help of his longtime friend Peter Faber and an older student named Ignatius Loyola — who came to Paris in 1528 to finish a degree and brought together a group of men looking to glorify God with their lives.

At first, personal ambition kept Francis from heeding God’s call; Ignatius’ humble and austere lifestyle did not appeal to him. But the older student, who had undergone a dramatic conversion, often posed Christ’s question to Francis: “What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?”

Gradually, Ignatius convinced Francis to give up his plans and open his mind to God’s will. In 1534, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber, and four other men joined Ignatius in making a vow of poverty, chastity, and dedication to the spread of the Gospel through personal obedience to the pope.

Francis became a priest in 1537. Three years later, Pope Paul III confirmed Ignatius and his companions as a religious order: the Jesuits. During that year, the king of Portugal asked the pope to send missionaries to his newly acquired territories in India.

Together with another Jesuit, Simon Rodriguez, Francis first spent time in Portugal caring for the sick and giving instruction in the faith. Then on his 35th birthday, he set sail for Goa on India’s west coast. There, however, he found the Portuguese colonists causing disgrace to the Church through their bad behavior.

This situation spurred the Jesuit to action. He spent his days visiting prisoners and the sick, gathering groups of children together to teach them about God, and preaching to both Portuguese and Indians. Adopting the lifestyle of the common people, he lived on rice and water in a hut with a dirt floor.

His missionary efforts among them often succeeded, though he had more difficulty converting the upper classes and encountered opposition from both Hindus and Muslims. In 1545, he extended his efforts to Malaysia before moving on to Japan in 1549.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Francis instructed the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts. Many said they were willing to suffer martyrdom rather than renounce the faith brought by the far-flung Jesuit.

Francis Xavier became ill and died on Dec. 3, 1552, while seeking a way to enter the closely guarded kingdom of China. In 1622, both St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius Loyola were canonized on the same day.

Rome Newsroom, Dec 2, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

For the English seminary in Rome, Dec. 1 is an important day: the commemoration of the martyrdom of some of the school’s former students — 44 priests who were killed during the English Reformation after returning to England to serve the persecuted Catholics.

During the dark days of the English Reformation in the 16th century, the Venerable English College was founded in Rome to form young English Catholic men discerning the priesthood.

Today, the seminary continues to educate English men studying to be priests. In 2024, the college’s commemoration of “Martyrs’ Day” was moved to Dec. 2 due to the first Sunday of Advent falling on Dec. 1.

In the 16th century, “the situation in England was grave for Catholics,” Father Christopher Warren, vice rector of the Venerable English College, told Bénédicte Cedergren of EWTN News on Nov. 27. “The Protestant Reformation, which we think of now very much as a historical fact, was a live one for them. Particularly for those who would celebrate Mass, for priests, and for those who would seek to aid them in their mission, it was a question of life and death.” 

After their ordinations in Rome, the courageous young priests returned to England and Wales, where they served in secret, facing constant dangers of betrayal, arrest, and execution.  

Over the next 100 years, 44 of the college’s students were martyred, most by being tortured and then hanged, drawn, and quartered.

The rector of the Venerable English College, Father Stephen Wang, recalled that the most important martyr for the seminary is the first martyr, and one of the first students, St. Ralph Sherwin.

“He was from the north of England. He was very much an ‘establishment figure’ in England,” Wang told EWTN News on Nov. 28. “He was at Eaton School, at Oxford University, but then he converted to Catholicism, and he was full of faith and longed to share that faith with others. He studied for the priesthood, lived here for three years, and then he went back on the first mission that was sent from the seminary with a group of companions to try and share the Catholic faith back in England and Wales.”

According to the college, during the Catholic persecution in England, students would gather around the “Martyrs’ Picture” in the chapel to sing the Te Deum — a Latin hymn of thanksgiving — whenever news reached Rome of the martyrdom of a former student. 

This custom continues today on Martyrs’ Day, when the relics of the martyrs, preserved beneath the altar, are venerated by the students.

They also have morning prayer and Mass, vice rector Warren said. “And then in the evening after evening prayer, we have a public service of veneration during which the Gospel is read, but also an account of the martyrdom of one of the college martyrs. So that’s really a highlight because it sets before us the reality of their sacrifice.” 

While much of the building of the Venerable English College had to be massively restored after being commandeered and ransacked by Napoleon’s troops in 1798, the Martyrs’ Picture by Durante Alberti, dating to 1583, was saved and still hangs in the sanctuary of the college’s church today.

The painting has “an image of the Most Holy Trinity with the blood of Jesus falling onto a globe, setting it on fire,” Wang, the rector, said. “That’s our motto, the words of Jesus: ‘I have come to cast fire on the earth.’”

He explained that in the painting, the seminary’s two patron saints, St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury and St. Edmund, king of East Anglia, are depicted gesturing toward the Flaminian Gate, “which represents the road going north. So it’s the road home.”

“Our two saints are saying to us and to everyone today who’s in the Church: Your destiny, your vocation is not to stay in Rome forever. It’s to remember that you’re here for a purpose. It’s to go home. It’s to be on mission. It’s to take the good news of Jesus and your experience of being here in Rome back home to those who need to hear the Gospel,” the rector added.

Wang noted that while Catholics in England no longer face the likelihood of a physical martyrdom, they still have to confront many challenges, and seminarians returning home often have to navigate shifting modern cultural realities and anti-Christian hostility.

The future priests of the Venerable English College continue to draw inspiration from the courage of the English martyrs, whose legacy drives them to share the Gospel no matter the obstacles.  

“I think our seminarians are very inspired by the history here,” Wang said. “It’s so relevant, too, today as well, because today we need missionary priests, we need priests whose hearts are full of love, but also full of zeal and aware of the difficulties. The cultures are not always welcoming to the Gospel and to the Christian message. So, to be able to share your faith in a loving way but to have the courage and also the creativity you need to share that faith in new and difficult circumstances... The martyrs are such a model for that.” 

Vatican City, Dec 2, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has written a moving letter to Catholics in Nicaragua to express his closeness, affection, and incessant prayer to the Virgin, imploring her consolation in the midst of the persecution of the faith that the country is suffering under the regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.

In the context of the novena prior to the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Father wrote a Dec. 2 to the “beloved Church in Nicaragua.” 

The pontiff professed the affection he has for the Nicaraguan people, distinguished by their “extraordinary love for God,” whom they affectionately call “Papachú.”

“I am with you,” the Holy Father assured, encouraging the faithful to trust in Providence, “the only sure guide,” especially in the most difficult moments, when humanly “it becomes impossible to understand what God wants of us.” In these circumstances, he reminded, “we are called not to doubt his care and mercy.”

Pope Francis emphasized that trust in God and fidelity to the Church are “two great beacons” that illuminate their lives. “Be assured that faith and hope work miracles,” he said.

He also invited them to turn their gaze to the Immaculate Virgin, referring to the title of his letter: “Who causes so much joy? The Conception of Mary!” This popular expression marks the celebration of “,” a Nicaraguan tradition that fills churches every Dec. 7 in honor of the Mother of God.

The pontiff expressed his hope that this celebration will be a source of encouragement “in difficulties, uncertainties, and deprivations” and urged the faithful to abandon themselves into the arms of Jesus with the prayer “God first.”

“I want to really emphasize that the Mother of God unceasingly intercedes for you, and we continually ask Jesus to always hold you by his hand,” the Holy Father added.

He also encouraged the faithful to pray the “powerful prayer” of the rosary, where the mysteries “make their way through the intimacy of our hearts, where the freedom of the daughters and sons of God finds shelter, which no one can take away from us.”

Finally, he entrusted the people of Nicaragua to the protection of the Immaculate Conception and concluded with “that simple cry expressed with profound trust: ‘Mary belongs to Nicaragua, Nicaragua belongs to Mary.’ So be it!”

The Holy Father’s letter comes at a critical time for Nicaragua, shortly after the National Assembly approved a constitutional reform proposed by the dictatorship by which Ortega and Murillo will henceforth be “co-presidents” and will officially have total control of the government.

Among the most controversial measures is a provision that requires that “religious organizations must remain free of all foreign control.”

For years, the Ortega regime has intensified a systematic persecution against all expressions of faith in the country. Lay faithful, priests, and bishops are constantly monitored, persecuted, abducted, and even imprisoned in deplorable conditions.

Numerous members of the clergy have been deported from the country and stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship, leaving them stateless, as is the case of the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, who was e in January along with another bishop, 15 priests, and two seminarians.

Under the socialist regime, Catholics have been silenced and public expressions of faith, such as prayers for the persecuted or pastoral and spiritual activities, are strictly prohibited.

From 2018 to 2024, 870 attacks against the Catholic Church have been according to the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?”, which documents how serious the crisis is.

Vatican City, Dec 1, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).

Five Italians have been chosen by Pope Francis to become cardinals at the Dec. 7 consistory, four of whom are under 80 years old and therefore have voting rights to elect a new pope at the next conclave. 

In total, 21 cardinals — representing the Catholic Church’s geographical diversity — will be created at the upcoming consistory.

Metropolitan Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin, who edited the series “The Theology of Pope Francis,” is a theologian and former president of the Italian Theological Association educated at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. The 57-year-old prelate actively participated in both plenary sessions of the global Synod on Synodality that took place in the Vatican in 2023 and 2024. Repole also participated in the 2024 theological-pastoral forums, created by the Synod of Bishops, to deepen study and reflection on the missionary action of the Church. 

Archbishop Baldassare Reina, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, is the youngest of the Italian prelates to be elevated to the cardinalate on Dec. 7. In 2024 alone — in addition to being chosen for the College of Cardinals — the 54-year-old prelate was appointed by Pope Francis as vicar general for the Diocese of Rome, archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, titular bishop of Acque di Mauritania, apostolic administrator of Ostia, and grand chancellor of the Pontifical Lateran University.  

Father Fabio Baggio, CS, is the only one of the five Italian cardinals-elect who belongs to a religious congregation. He will become titular archbishop of Arusi. Baggio, a priest of the Missionaries of St. Charles (also known as the Scalabrinians), has worked in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development since 2017. With the appointment of Canadian Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny as the dicastery’s prefect in 2022, Baggio was subsequently promoted to be the dicastery’s undersecretary. From 2017–2022, Baggio was head of the dicastery’s Migrants and Refugees section.

Metropolitan Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, known for his love for the poor, led a drug rehabilitation center in Catanzaro, Calabria, for over 20 years during his priestly ministry. Appointed by Pope Francis as archbishop of Naples in 2022, Battaglia — also known as “Don Mimmo” — had previously served as bishop of Cerreto Sannita-Telese-Sant’Agata de’ Goti in Italy’s southwestern region of Campania from 2016–2020.

At 99 years old, Archbishop Angelo Acerbi will become the oldest member of the College of Cardinals at the upcoming consistory. Having served as a bishop in the Catholic Church for 50 years, Acerbi also has 40 years of experience working as part of the Holy See’s diplomatic corps. Between 1974 and 2001, he served as nuncio to New Zealand, Colombia, Hungary, Moldova, and the Netherlands. From 2001–2015, Acerbi was prelate of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Due to being over the age of 80, he will not have voting rights at the next papal conclave.

Following the Dec. 7 consistory there will be a total of 253 members of the College of Cardinals. Among the 52 Italians, only 17 will have voting rights at the next papal conclave. 

CNA Newsroom, Dec 1, 2024 / 08:25 am (CNA).

Pope Francis welcomed the recent Lebanon-Israel ceasefire while urging the faithful to “stand erect and raise your heads” amid global turmoil during his Sunday .

Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the first Sunday of Advent, the pontiff expressed hope that the diplomatic breakthrough between Lebanon and Israel could spark similar ceasefires elsewhere, particularly in Gaza, while delivering a powerful message about maintaining spiritual vigilance in times of tribulation.

“Jesus’ invitation is this: Raise your head high and keep your heart light and awake,” the Holy Father said, addressing a world grappling with what he called “cosmic upheavals and anxiety and fear in humanity.”

The pope noted that many people today, like Jesus’ contemporaries, faced with “catastrophic events they saw happening around them — persecutions, conflicts, natural disasters — are gripped by anxiety and think that the end of the world is coming.”

“Their hearts are weighed down with fear,” Francis observed. “Jesus, however, wants to free them from present anxieties and false convictions, showing them how to stay awake in their hearts, how to read events from the plan of God, who works salvation even within the most dramatic events of history.”

“I welcome the ceasefire that has been reached in recent days in Lebanon, and I hope that it may be respected by all parties, thus enabling the population of the regions involved in the conflict — both Lebanese and Israeli — to return home soon and safely, also with the valuable help of the Lebanese army and the United Nations peacekeeping forces,” the pope said.

The pontiff also expressed concern about Syria, “where unfortunately war has flared up again, claiming many victims,” and added: “I am very close to the Church in Syria. Let us pray!”

Addressing the situation in Ukraine, Francis noted that “for almost three years we have witnessed a terrible sequence of deaths, injuries, violence, and destruction... Children, women, the elderly, and the weak are the first victims. War is a horror, war is an affront to God and to humanity, war spares no one, war is always a defeat, a defeat for the whole of humanity.”

Looking toward Christmas, the pope connected the season’s message of hope with contemporary challenges: “All of us, in many moments of life, ask ourselves: What can I do to have a light heart, a wakeful heart, a free heart? A heart that does not let itself be crushed by sadness?”

The pontiff concluded with a stark warning about indifference to conflict, stating that “the quest for peace is the responsibility not of a few, but of all. If habituation and indifference to the horrors of war prevail, the whole, entire human family is defeated.”

Rome Newsroom, Nov 30, 2024 / 08:10 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has proposed celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea together with Orthodox leaders in a personal letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

The letter, published by the Vatican on Saturday, was delivered by Cardinal Kurt Koch — who heads the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity — during a visit to Istanbul for the patronal feast of the Orthodox Church.

“The now imminent 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea will be another opportunity to bear witness to the growing communion that already exists among all who are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Francis wrote in his message dated Nov. 30.

Reflecting on six decades of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue while looking ahead to future possibilities for unity, the pope acknowledged the progress made since Vatican II’s decree marked the Catholic Church’s official entry into the ecumenical movement 60 years ago.

Speaking to EWTN News about this anniversary on Nov. 21, Koch emphasized that unity efforts must focus on “the innermost center of self-revelation in Jesus Christ.”

The Swiss cardinal also highlighted what he called an “ecumenism of blood,” noting that “Christians are not persecuted because they are Catholic, Lutheran, or Anglican but because they are Christians.”

While celebrating the “renewed fraternity” achieved since Vatican II, Pope Francis noted in his message that full communion, particularly sharing “the one Eucharistic chalice,” remains an unfulfilled goal.

In a pointed observation about contemporary global tensions, the pontiff connected ecumenical efforts to peace-building.

“The fraternity lived and the witness given by Christians will also be a message for our world plagued by war and violence,” he wrote, specifically mentioning Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon.

The pope also highlighted the recent participation of Orthodox representatives in October’s Synod on Synodality.

The traditional exchange of delegations between Rome and Constantinople occurs twice yearly, with Catholic representatives traveling to Istanbul for St. Andrew’s feast on Nov. 30 and Orthodox delegates visiting Rome for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 29.

Koch led this year’s Vatican delegation. He was accompanied by Archbishop Flavio Pace, secretary of the dicastery; Monsignor Andrea Palmieri, undersecretary; and Archbishop Marek Solczyński, apostolic nuncio to Turkey.

The delegation participated in the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of St. George, Phanar, and held discussions with the synodal commission charged with relations with the Catholic Church.

Rome Newsroom, Nov 29, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican’s chief prosecutor confirmed at a public event on Wednesday that despite prior denials, the Vatican does possess a confidential file on the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi — the so-called “Vatican girl” who went missing over 40 years ago.

The Vatican “found” the file, it does “exist,” the Vatican’s promoter of justice, Alessandro Diddi, said at a book presentation in Rome on Nov. 27, according to Italian media.

Orlandi’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, has maintained for years that the Vatican had information on his missing sister that it was withholding from the Italian authorities.

Diddi said Wednesday the content of the dossier is confidential, but the Vatican continues to collaborate with Italy in its new investigation into how the 15-year-old Emanuela disappeared in 1983.

Orlandi was the daughter of an envoy of the prefecture of the pontifical house and a citizen of Vatican City State. Her disappearance at age 15 in June 1983 has been one of Italy’s biggest unsolved mysteries and, since it occurred, the subject of international intrigue, including speculation about the Vatican’s role.

Public interest in the case was also rekindled in 2022 after the release of the true-crime documentary “Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi” on Netflix.

At the request of Orlandi’s family, the Vatican conducted a new investigation into the case at the beginning of 2023, sharing its findings with Rome prosecutors that summer.

In November 2023, the Italian Senate voted to begin a new parliamentary inquiry into Orlandi and another girl who went missing in Rome around the same time.

The four-year parliamentary commission has “full investigative powers” and a budget of 50,000 euros (about $52,500) per year to shed light on the 1983 disappearance of the two girls. 

Vatican City, Nov 28, 2024 / 08:04 am (CNA).

Heading home after serving four and a half years in the Vatican as Australia’s ambassador to the Holy See, Chiara Porro says she has seen a rise in the participation and promotion of women’s leadership in the Catholic Church under Pope Francis.  

Officially completing her term at the Vatican post on Nov.29, Porro says the pope has made significant changes to ensure both religious sisters and laywomen have a “seat at the table” alongside men in the Vatican.  

“When I arrived it was a time when the pope started to put women into leadership positions,” Porro told CNA. “What I’ve noticed over these years is that the momentum has really increased.” 

Within the Vatican, Pope Francis has appointed a number of women in high-ranking positions since his 2013 election, including economist Sister Alessandra Smirelli as secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in 2022; Sister Nathalie Becquart as undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops in 2021; and art historian Barbara Jatta as Vatican Museums director in 2016.   

“The process of synodality that the pope has started has given women — but not only women — the opportunity to be heard,” Porro said. “The synod [in October] has been really important to just show the diversity of views among women and the importance of listening to them all and having that dialogue.”

As one of 51 women ambassadors out of a total of 130 country ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Porro shared with CNA that ambassadors regularly meet and collaborate with several women associated with the Vatican and other Catholic organizations. 

“Together we’ve tried to give support to women working in the Catholic Church, or religious women, or other groups — working in collaboration with men — to try and advance women and ensure everyone has a seat at the table,” she said.

Speaking on human rights issues — including human trafficking, protection of minors, and religious freedom — the Australian ambassador said both the state and the Church have important roles to play to promote peace and social cohesion in society. 

“As institutions we can work together to address some of these issues,” Porro said. “There are lots of areas that we’ve worked with the Vatican and I think that there’s much more that can be done — lots of partnerships.” 

The Vatican’s influence is something that I think is very critical and that states recognize,” she added.  

Having collaborated with various Vatican bodies including the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Porro has also worked closely with the Holy See’s charitable arm Caritas Internationalis “to raise the voices of the most vulnerable.”

Stephanie MacGillivray, Caritas Internationalis Senior Officer for Identity and Mission, Women's Empowerment and Inclusion, told CNA both political and faith leaders have “significant influence on social, political and cultural norms.”    

“By working with state and faith leaders, we can ensure that women’s experiences, needs and expertise are brought to the tables where decisions are made that will affect their lives,” she said.

Although “women’s leadership, protection and respect for the human rights of women within religion is sometimes contested,” MacGillivray told CNA the collaborative work of Church leaders, faith-based organisations, and government actors is key in effectively addressing and overcoming issues that undermine the rights and dignity of women and girls in different parts of the world.

Reflecting on her work in the Vatican since first presenting her credential letters to Pope Francis in 2020, Porro expressed her “hope that the work that we’ve done over these years continues to progress.”  

“It’s really been an immense privilege and honor to serve here as Australia’s ambassador and I hope I’ve grown the relationship and been able to identify areas where we have been able to work more together and influence change for the betterment of the world and society as a whole,” she said.  

Rome Newsroom, Nov 28, 2024 / 06:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis told a group of theologians on Thursday he plans to visit Turkey for the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025.

Bartholomew I, the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, anticipated that Francis would be making the trip in comments to reporters in May. In September, he confirmed that the joint trip is expected to happen at the end of May 2025.

The Council of Nicaea took place in the ancient city of Nicaea in 325 A.D. in the former Roman Empire, which is now the present-day city of İznik, in northwestern Turkey, about 70 miles from Istanbul.

“I plan to go there,” Pope Francis told members of the International Theological Commission on Nov. 28.

The Council of Nicaea, he said, “constitutes a milestone in the journey of the Church and also of all humanity, because faith in Jesus, the Son of God made flesh for us and for our salvation, was formulated and professed as a light that illuminates the meaning of reality and the destiny of all history.”

Pope Francis met with the International Theological Commission during their plenary gathering at the Vatican. He noted it is important that the commission’s meeting includes drafting a document about “the current meaning of the faith professed at Nicaea.”

“Such a document may be valuable, in the course of the Jubilee year, to nourish and deepen the faith of believers and, starting from the figure of Jesus, also offer insights and reflections useful for a new cultural and social paradigm, inspired precisely by the humanity of Christ,” the pope said.

The Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council in the Church. It is accepted by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, and other Christian communities that accept the validity of early church councils.

It predates the Chalcedonian Schism — which separated the Oriental Orthodox communion from Rome — by more than 100 years and predates the Great Schism — which separated the Eastern Orthodox Church from Rome — by more than 700 years.

During the council, the bishops condemned the heresy of Arianism, which asserted that the Son was created by the Father. Arius, a priest who faced excommunication for propagating the heresy, did not accept that the Son was coeternal with the Father.

Pope Francis said during a meeting with a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in June that he wished “wholeheartedly” to make the journey to Nicaea to mark the important anniversary with Bartholomew I.

If he travels to Turkey, a trip that has yet to be confirmed by the Vatican, it will take place amid a busy Jubilee Year for the pontiff.

“The Council of Nicaea, in affirming that the Son is of the same substance as the Father, highlights something essential: in Jesus we can know the face of God and, at the same time, also the face of man, discovering ourselves sons in the Son and brothers among ourselves,” Francis said on Thursday. “A fraternity, one rooted in Christ, that becomes a fundamental ethical task for us.”

“Today, in fact, in a complex and often polarized world, tragically marked by conflict and violence, the love of God that is revealed in Christ and given to us in the Spirit becomes an appeal to everyone to learn to walk in fraternity and to be builders of justice and peace,” he added.

In his speech to the theologians of the international commission, the pope also emphasized the importance of synodality.

“I would say that the time has come to take a courageous step: to develop a theology of synodality, a theological reflection that helps, encourages, and accompanies the synodal process, for a new, more creative and bold missionary stage that is inspired by the kerygma and involves all components of the Church,” he said.

Vatican City, Nov 27, 2024 / 13:35 pm (CNA).

Against the dramatic backdrop of a massive mosaic of Christ enthroned, entrepreneurs, researchers, and civil society leaders spoke at the Vatican’s Pontifical Lateran University this week about their big ideas for ethical innovation.

Dubbed the “World Changers Ethical & Innovation Summit,” the Nov. 25-26 event showcased groundbreaking ideas spanning artificial intelligence, regenerative medicine, ethical technology, and environmental sustainability.

Among the featured speakers was Dr. Todd Ovokaitys, a Johns Hopkins-trained medical doctor and researcher, who presented his pioneering work in regenerative medicine. 

Ovokaitys highlighted the potential of Very Small Embryonic-Like stem cells (VSELs) — which are not the ethically fraught embryonic stem cells — to reverse spinal cord injuries and other degenerative conditions. 

“We focus on issues in the nervous system, which are often irrevocable, irreversible and permanent for life, but no longer,” he said.

The doctor shared the story of a chief of police in Mexico who was shot four times, resulting in a complete mid-thoracic spinal cord injury that left him without any feeling or movement from the chest down. After being treated with VSELs using state-of-the-art Strachan-Ovokaitys Node Generator (SONG) Laser Technology and physical therapy, the police chief was able to recover the full ability to walk.

Another speaker, Karl Nagy, CEO of Kabena Group, unveiled his vision for an ambitious biorefinery project on Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake, that is designed to provide clean water, organic fertilizer, and electricity to over a million households

The summit also featured Tim Johnson, CEO of Health In Tech, who shared how he started his own insurance and medical management company to help Americans have access to all of their medical records in one place. 

Dr. Christina Rahm, a mother of four, scientist, and cancer survivor, presented some of her patented technology to create toxin-free seed patents aimed at rethinking the global food supply.

“As a scientist, I wanted to do a lot of things in my life. As … a mother of four, it became very clear to me once I had cancer, and once I lost a child, that I needed to do even more,” said Rahm, the CEO of DRC Ventures and chief science formulator at The Root Brands.

“So we launched some of the formulations that I had developed that got rid of nuclear waste and got rid of microplastics and mycotoxins that were in our seeds and in our soil,” she said.

Another innovative project was the OCEANIX initiative, presented by Manuel Rocamora. Set in Busan, South Korea, OCEANIX is developing a prototype for a sustainable floating city that could serve as a model for densely populated coastal areas.

The World Changers Summit is the brainchild of Professor Gabriele Pao-Pei Andreoli, the honorary president of the Institute for Advanced Studies and Cooperation. Since its inaugural event in 2023 at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, four World Changers summits have been hosted by the Vatican.

The November 2024 summit’s theme, Social Responsibility: Cultivating Practices for Enhanced Welfare and Justice, underscored the need for innovation grounded in human dignity.

A future World Changers summit is scheduled to take place November 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Vatican City, Nov 27, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).

The Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education is sponsoring a four-day event in Rome to honor the spiritual and intellectual legacy of Pope Saint John Paul II while marking the 25th anniversary of his encyclical .   

Twenty years into his pontificate, John Paul II released ”Faith and Reason” — on the Sept. 14 feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in 1998. 

Describing faith and reason as “two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of the truth,” the pope emphasized that the human heart ultimately seeks to know and love God. 

Organized by the John Paul II Vatican Foundation, the Church and Hospice of Saint Stanislaus Martyr in Rome, and the Pontifical John Paul II University of Krakow, the “Days of Saint John Paul II at the Pontifical Universities of Rome” event includes a series of seminars to be hosted by three pontifical universities in Rome.  

From Nov. 26-29, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas — also known as the “Angelicum” — alongside the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and the Pontifical Gregorian University will hold panel discussions in Rome to delve deeper into the teachings of St. John Paul II on a variety of topics.

The talks will include the compatibility of faith and reason; the 1981-1992 pontifical study commission on the Galileo case; and the significance of intergenerational dialogue in the development of culture.

In an interview with EWTN News, Sister Mary Angela Woelkers, SCTJM, who works at the Angelicum, said this year’s inaugural event will be the first of annual conferences hosted by pontifical universities in Rome dedicated to the legacy of the great pope saint.   

“We hope to be able to bring to university students here in the city, and also a larger audience, renewed reflection — not only to rediscover the gift of this document and this theme [] which was so present throughout the teaching of John Paul the Second — but also to think together with him to address so many challenging situations that we confront in our current moment,” Woelkers told EWTN News.

“John Paul knew that the youth had a powerful potential to not only live the faith but be witnesses of the faith in a generation where there is an eclipse of God,” she added.   

Recognizing John Paul II as the “most distinguished alumnus” of the Angelicum, Father Benedict Croell OP, public relations director at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, said he hopes this year’s conference will inspire many young students to follow in the saint’s footsteps by using faith and reason to face the challenges of our times.

“We know that he [John Paul II] walked the same halls that our students walked today, and he studied the same fundamental truths that our students study today,” he told EWTN News. 

“It's incredibly important to not only remember his story and his legacy, but know that he walks with us, and he has so much to say to us today,” he said. 

“It's a great joy to recognize the importance that he still has for the Church [and] for everybody.”

Guest panelists invited to speak at the event include Richard Swinburne, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford and Father Melchor Sánchez de Toca Alameda, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education and Vatican official of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

CNA Newsroom, Nov 27, 2024 / 10:45 am (CNA).

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Pope Francis on Wednesday morning at the Vatican.

While the Holy See did not comment on the nature of the audience, the State Department said discussions focused on ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine amid a broader European diplomatic tour.

During the Vatican meeting on Nov. 27, Blinken reportedly referenced “wonderful memories’” of his with Pope Francis in June 2021, highlighting the ongoing dialogue between the Holy See and Washington on matters of shared concern.

Key agenda items included the recently announced Israel-Lebanon ceasefire and efforts to address the humanitarian impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a State Department readout shared with reporters.

The encounter was followed by separate talks with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.

Blinken’s Vatican visit took place amid his attendance at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Italy, where representatives of the world’s leading democratic economies are gathering to address multiple international crises.

The G7 discussions, running from Nov. 23-27 under Italy’s 2024 rotating presidency, have focused heavily on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as Indo-Pacific security and the ongoing crises in Haiti and Sudan.

Last Saturday, G7 leaders reinforced their commitment to supporting Ukraine through continued sanctions on Russia and other measures.

Italy currently holds the rotating G7 presidency. The other member states are the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, and Britain.

CNA Newsroom, Nov 27, 2024 / 09:45 am (CNA).

Pope Francis called on Italian children to pray for their Ukrainian peers facing a harsh winter amid ongoing war at his general audience on Wednesday.

“Think of the Ukrainian children and young people who suffer at this time without heating in a very harsh winter,” the pope said on Nov. 27, addressing youngsters gathered around him in St. Peter’s Square at the start of the weekly event.

The pontiff broadened his appeal for peace: “Let us not forget the tormented Ukrainian people, who suffer so much,” he urged. “And let’s also pray for peace in the Holy Land, Palestine, Israel, where people are also suffering so much.”

In his continuing catechesis on the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church, Pope Francis reflected on the fruits of the Spirit listed by St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).

Francis explained the distinction between the fruits of the Spirit, which require cooperation between grace and human freedom, and charisms, which are bestowed directly by the Spirit for the good of the Church.

“The fruits always express the creativity of the person, in which’ faith works through love,’ sometimes in a surprising and joyful way,” he said.

While not everyone receives the call to be apostles or prophets, the pontiff reminded the faithful that all Christians are called to be “charitable, patient, humble workers for peace.”

Pope Francis gave particular attention to joy among these fruits, describing it as “a feeling of fullness and fulfillment.”

He emphasized its unique renewal through a personal encounter with God’s love: “The joy of the Gospel, unlike any other joy, can be renewed every day and become contagious.”

Drawing on the example of St. Philip Neri, known as the “saint of joy,” Pope Francis spoke of the 16th-century priest’s profound love for God, which at times seemed so overwhelming it “might burst in his chest.” St. Philip’s joy, the pope noted, was “a fruit of the Spirit in the fullest sense.”

Francis recalled the saint’s words to the children of his oratory: “My children, be cheerful; I do not want qualms or melancholy; it is enough for me that you do not sin.”

“The word ‘Gospel’ means glad tidings,” the pope explained, adding that it “cannot be communicated with a long face and somber countenance, but with the joy of those who have found the hidden treasure and the precious pearl.”

He concluded by quoting St. Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near” (Phil 4:4-5).

CNA Newsroom, Nov 27, 2024 / 09:25 am (CNA).

Starting next week, Chinese will be added as the ninth official language at papal general audiences, Pope Francis announced Wednesday.

“Next week, with Advent, the Chinese translation will also begin here publicly,” the pope said on Nov. 27 during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

The addition marks a significant expansion of the languages used at the weekly papal events, where key portions — including Scripture readings, summaries of the pope’s address, and greetings — are delivered in eight languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Arabic.

The translations make papal teachings accessible to pilgrims from around the world. They are traditionally delivered by staff members of the Vatican Secretariat of State or Vatican News.

Mandarin Chinese is the world's most spoken language, with nearly one billion speakers, ahead of Spanish and English. 

Varieties of Chinese — including Mandarin, Wu, Hakka, — collectively are used by more than 1.3 billion people worldwide.

The papal move to embrace Mandarin Chinese comes at a complex moment in Vatican-China relations. 

Just last month, the Holy See renewed its agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops for another four years.

The renewal followed growing concerns about religious freedom in China, corroborated by. Some studies also indicate the Christian population has after decades of expansion in the 1980s and 1990s.

Vatican City, Nov 26, 2024 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

The Vatican may make “spiritual abuse” a formalized crime in Church law, rather than merely an aggravating circumstance of other crimes.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is forming a working group with the Dicastery for Legislative Texts with “the task of analyzing this possibility and presenting concrete proposals” on the matter, according to dated Nov. 22 and posted online this week.

According to the note, which was signed by DDF Prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and approved by Pope Francis, the term "false mysticism" is an "overly broad and ambiguous expression" in need of refining in certain contexts in the Church.

The term appears in the DDF’s regulations related to “problems and behavior connected with the discipline of the faith, such as cases of pseudo-mysticism, alleged apparitions, visions, and messages attributed to supernatural origin,” the note observes.

The expression “false mysticism” is also sometimes used by canon lawyers in the context of crimes of abuse, though it is currently not a delict, or crime, according to canon law, the document said.

The DDF said that “false mysticism” also appears in the dicastery’s 2024 document , where it is specified that “the use of purported supernatural experiences or recognized mystical elements as a means of or a pretext for exerting control over people or carrying out abuses is to be considered of particular moral gravity.”

At a press conference introducing the norms in May, Cardinal Fernández warned about the ambiguity of the term “false mysticism” and the need to clarify its use.

Church authorities “must be careful…false mysticism is used a lot and in a lot of different ways,” he said.

The term can have “one meaning for one theologian and another meaning for another theologian; for some canonists it has one meaning, for others it has a broader meaning,” he added.

Fernández said the Church “must explain well what the crime is, but not use the term ‘false mysticism.’”

It is “possible to classify a delict of ‘spiritual abuse,’ avoiding the overly broad and ambiguous expression of ‘false mysticism’,” the letter this week says. 

The working group will be chaired by the prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, Italian Bishop Filippo Iannone. 

Vatican City, Nov 25, 2024 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis presided over a solemn event Monday at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Argentina and Chile that settled a border dispute between the two countries.

The pontiff denounced the hypocrisy of some countries “where there is much talk of peace” but “the highest yielding investments are in the production of arms.” 

This pharisaical attitude, he continued, always leads “to the failure of fraternity and peace. May the international community make the force of law prevail through dialogue, for dialogue “must be the soul of the international community.”

The agreement between Chile and Argentina resolved the crisis caused by a territorial dispute over the Beagle Channel and sovereignty over several islands. The Vatican played an essential role in this peace agreement after St. John Paul II sent Cardinal Antonio Samorè as mediator, who worked out the agreement between both nations, avoiding an armed conflict.

Speaking before the authorities and the diplomatic corps of both countries, among whom were the Argentine ambassador to the Holy See, Luis Pablo Beltramino and the Chilean foreign minister, Alberto van Klaveren, Pope Francis praised the papal mediation that avoided the conflict that was “about to set two brother peoples against each other.”

, the Holy Father proposed this agreement as a model to imitate, while renewing his call for peace and dialogue in the face of current conflicts, where “recourse to force” prevails.

He recalled in particular the mediation of St. John Paul II, who from the first days of his pontificate showed great concern and demonstrated a constant effort not only to prevent the dispute between Argentina and Chile “from degenerating into a disgraceful armed conflict,” but also to find “the way to definitively resolve this dispute.”

The pontiff noted that after receiving the request of both governments “accompanied by concrete and stringent commitments,” St. Pope John Paul II agreed to mediate the conflict with the aim of proposing “a just and equitable, and therefore honorable solution.”

For Pope Francis, this agreement deserves to be proposed “in the current world situation, in which so many conflicts persist and degenerate without an effective will to resolve them through the absolute exclusion of recourse to force or the threat of its use.”

The pope recalled the words of Benedict XVI on the 25th anniversary of the treaty, who said that the agreement “is a shining example of the power of the human spirit and the desire for peace in the face of the barbarity and senselessness of violence and war as a means of resolving differences.”

For the Holy Father, this is “a most timely example” of how it is necessary to persevere at all times with ”firm determination to the final consequences in an endeavor to resolve disputes with a real desire for dialogue and agreement, through patient negotiation and with the necessary compromises, always taking into account the just requirements and legitimate interests of all.”

In conclusion, Pope Francis described what is happening in Ukraine and Palestine as “two failures” of humanity today where the “arrogance of the invader prevails over dialogue.”

CNA Newsroom, Nov 25, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

, a Spanish-born prelate and prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, died today aged 72 after a long illness.

Pope Francis for the cardinal earlier this morning, telling an international Jain delegation at the Vatican that the cardinal was “very ill, near the end of his life.”

A respected , Ayuso devoted much of his career to promoting dialogue with the Muslim religion and played a key role in Pope Francis’ “Document on signed in Abu Dhabi in 2019.

He took part in Pope Francis’ historic visits to Muslim-majority nations, first as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and after October 2019, as the dicastery’s prefect.

The visits included the UAE and Morocco in 2019, and then, as dicastery prefect, to Iraq in 2021, and Kazakhstan and Bahrain in 2022. The Vatican said he “remained active in his mission until health challenges overtook him.”

Born on June 17, 1952, in Seville, Spain, Ayuso came from a large, devout Catholic family and was the fifth of nine children.

He initially studied law at the University of Seville but felt called to religious life. In 1973, he joined the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, taking his perpetual vows in 1980. He was ordained a priest the same year. He pursued further ecclesiastical education in Rome, obtaining a licentiate from the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in 1982 and later a doctorate in dogmatic theology from the University of Granada in 2000.

Following his studies, Ayuso embarked on missionary work in Egypt and Sudan from 1982 to 2002. During this time, he served as a parish priest in Cairo and directed a catechetical center in the diocese of El-Obeid, Sudan. His academic career flourished as he taught Islamology in Khartoum from 1989 and later in Cairo. In 2006, he became the president of PISAI in Rome, solidifying his reputation as an expert in Islamic studies.

Ayuso's expertise in interreligious dialogue led to his appointment as a consultor of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in 2007. His career in the Vatican progressed rapidly: In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named him Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; in 2016, Pope Francis appointed him archbishop and Titular Bishop of Luperciana; in 2019, he was named President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; and in October that same year, Pope Francis elevated him to the rank of cardinal.

One of Ayuso’s most significant achievements was his role in resuming dialogue with Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University.

Renowned as Islam’s most prestigious institution for Islamic learning, Al-Azhar with the Vatican in 2011 on the grounds that Pope Benedict XVI had made “repetitive and negative statements” about Muslims.

Ayuso’s brokered reconciliation culminated in the landmark but controversial “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” in Abu Dhabi in February 2019 by Pope Francis and el-Tayeb. The cardinal had also represented the Holy See on the board of directors of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) since its founding in 2012.

In response to critics concerned about the Vatican’s current course of interreligious dialogue and its alleged tendency toward syncretism, he emphasized that interreligious dialogue and initiatives like the “Document on Human Fraternity” were not about creating a “ where all religions were considered equal. Instead, he argued it was about recognizing “that all believers, those who seek God, and all people of good will without religious affiliation are equal in dignity.”

He asserted that the Catholic Church always engages in interreligious dialogue while remembering “the value of her own identity.” Ayuso also noted that pluralism in societies invites reflection on one’s own identity, “without which authentic interreligious dialogue is impossible.”

Responding to criticism that the “Document on Human Fraternity” could lead to syncretism, he that each faith retains its own identity in these dialogues, and used the metaphor of a “rich mixed salad” to describe how different faiths can come together while maintaining their distinct identities.

In 2023, Cardinal Ayuso strongly endorsed the , an interfaith complex in Abu Dhabi designed to promote mutual understanding, peaceful coexistence, and interfaith dialogue among Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The cardinal said the complex, which opened in 2023, was a “beacon of mutual understanding” and that he believed it could foster mutual respect and understanding while allowing each faith to maintain its distinct identity. Critics that the initiative fostered religious indifferentism and was theologically unsound.

Vatican News Nov. 25 that Cardinal Ayuso “embodied Pope Francis’ vision of fraternity,” as outlined in the 2020 encyclical (All Brothers),and that through his “tireless dedication to dialogue, he demonstrated that peaceful coexistence among diverse faiths is both possible and necessary.”

Vatican City, Nov 25, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

The Vatican on Monday publicized further initiatives undertaken by St. Peter’s Basilica in light of the 2025 Jubilee Year — including a new magazine and a livestream of the tomb of St. Peter.

Pope Francis will inaugurate the live webcam of the tomb of the apostle and first pope on Dec. 2.

The Vatican also announced the publication of a new magazine, under the direction of the leadership of St. Peter’s Basilica, called "Piazza San Pietro." A regular feature of the new monthly will be a “Letters to the Editor” column, in which Pope Francis will respond to readers’ letters.

The periodical, whose pilot issue is out now, will be published in English, Spanish, and Italian. It can be purchased at the new or via mail subscription.

In a speech introducing the periodical, the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv., called its publication “a courageous choice, which the creativity and energy of Father Enzo [Fortunato] pushed us to do…”

Father Enzo Fortunato, OFM Conv., communications director for St. Peter’s Basilica since January, has been a prominent media personality in Italy since the late 1990s. He also has experience with institutional communications for the Franciscans.

At a Nov. 25 press conference at the Vatican, Fortunato pointed out Pope Francis’ invitation to journalists to “wear out the soles of your shoes,” calling it a “strong reminder of traditional journalism, for deeper immersion in reality, for direct contact with places, but most of all with people.”

“This is our idea of communication, this is our strategy, the heart of the communication plan,” he said, speaking about St. Peter’s Basilica.

Father Orazio Pepe, secretary of the Fabric of St. Peter, read Gambetti’s remarks after the cardinal could not attend the press conference as planned.

The Vatican also announced two other novelties regarding the basilica on Monday.

The Fabric of St. Peter will make available a multipurpose room inside the basilica’s offices for holding press conferences and briefings with journalists and St. Peter’s Basilica will be rebranded with a custom font, to be used on a new website launching in 2025.

Vatican City, Nov 25, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis recognized a miracle attributed to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati’s intercession on Monday, paving the way for his canonization as a saint during the Catholic Church’s Jubilee of Youth next summer.

Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is beloved by many Catholic young people today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches “to the heights.”

The young man from the northern Italian city of Turin was an avid mountaineer and third order Dominican known for his charitable outreach.

Frassati’s canonization will occur during the Jubilee of Youth in Rome on Aug. 3, 2025.

In a decree on Nov. 25, Pope Francis recognized the miraculous healing of a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles — who was recently ordained a priest in June 2023.

Monsignor Robert Sarno, a former official of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints who served as the archiepiscopal delegate in the diocesan process in Los Angeles that examined the healing, told CNA that the seminarian had damaged his Achilles tendon in a basketball accident while playing with other seminarians. 

After the MRI showed significant damage to his Achilles tendon, his doctor recommended that he see an orthopedic surgeon.

“Being very upset about the whole thing, he started a novena to Pier Giorgio Frassati on Nov. 1,” Sarno explained. 

Midway through the novena, “he was in the chapel crying during his novena and he felt this tremendous warmth in his ankle.” 

"And then when he went to the orthopedic surgeon a week later, the orthopedic surgeon, after seeing the MRI and conducting physical investigations, said to him, 'You must have someone in heaven who likes you'"

The seminarian was able to immediately resume playing the sports that he loved without any difficulties. The healing was verified by a diocesan inquiry and the examination of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints’ medical board, theologians, and the cardinals and bishops.

Sarno noted that it is fitting that a young man playing basketball received the healing given that Frassati was known for his love of sport and outdoor activities.

Born on Holy Saturday, April 6, 1901, Frassati was the son of the founder and director of the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

At the age of 17, he joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and dedicated much of his spare time to taking care of the poor, the homeless, and the sick, as well as demobilized servicemen returning from World War I.

Frassati was also involved in the Apostleship of Prayer and Catholic Action. He obtained permission to receive daily Communion.

On a photograph of what would be his last climb, Frassati wrote the phrase, “Verso L’Alto,” which means “to the heights.” This phrase has become a motto for Catholics inspired by Frassati to strive for the summit of eternal life with Christ.

Frassati died of polio on July 4, 1925. His doctors later speculated that the young man had caught polio while serving the sick.

John Paul II, who beatified Frassati in 1990, called him a “man of the eight beatitudes,” describing him as “entirely immersed in the mystery of God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor.”

Pope Francis praised Frassati for sharing the love of Jesus with the poor in a speech on June 24.

“I am reminded of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati — soon to be a saint — who in Turin used to go into the homes of the poor to bring help,” the pope said.

“Pier Giorgio was from a wealthy, upper-middle class family, but he did not grow up ‘wrapped in cotton wool,’ he did not lose himself in the ‘good life,’ because within him there was the lifeblood of the Holy Spirit, there was love for Jesus and for his brothers,” he added.

In addition to Frassati, Pope Francis also recognized a miracle attributed to (1883-1969), an Italian religious sister from the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians who served as a missionary among indigenous peoples in Ecuador.

The pope also approved the martyrdoms of Vietnamese Servant of God Francis Xavier Tru'o'ng Bǚu Diệp (1897-1946) and Congolese Servant of God Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi (1981-2007), making possible their beatifications.

was a Vietnamese priest who defended the rights of local citizens against plunder by armed gangs at the end of the Second World War. On March 12, 1946, he was taken prisoner by a group of militiamen together with others and locked up in a rice warehouse, where he was interrogated. 

A few days later, his disfigured body was found in a ditch. Following his death, Christians began to visit his tomb, asking for his intercession and obtaining graces, according to the Vatican.

was a Congolese layman, lawyer, and member of the Saint Egidio Community. He worked as a commissioner for a customs office controlling food supplies entering the country, a role in which he opposed several attempted acts of corruption. For this, he was kidnapped, tortured, and killed in July 2007. The Vatican recognized his martyrdom in “odium fidei” because his killing was motivated by the fact that “he was a man of faith, animated by a strong sense of justice and a concrete love for his neighbor.”

In the , Pope Francis authorized the beatification of (1481-1534), the abbess of the Convent of “Santa Maria della Croce” in Cubas de Madrid, without the usually required miracle due to the recognition of the longstanding “cult,” or devotion that has spread and continued for centuries. 

The pope also recognized the heroic virtue of Croatian (1857-1924) who was known for his service to the poor and formation of seminarians.

Vatican City, Nov 25, 2024 / 11:39 am (CNA).

Pope Francis met with the academic community of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in the Vatican on Monday morning, encouraging continued collaboration with scholars and cultural institutions to better support Catholic spouses and families. 

Citing Pope St. Paul VI’s 1975 apostolic exhortation , which highlights “the rupture between the Gospel and culture,” the pope said it is necessary that the institute continues to develop a “critical understanding” of the anthropological and cultural challenges affecting marriage and family life today.

“The ability to fully carry out the evangelizing mission that engages every Christian depends on the ability to face these challenges,” the pope said to members of the pontifical institute. 

The John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences, which has its main headquarters in Rome, also has branches in other countries including the U.S., Nigeria, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, India and South Korea.   

“It is good that the Institute's branches, present in different countries of the world, carry out their activities in dialogue with scholars and cultural institutions, even those with different approaches,” the Holy Father said during the private audience.

To support the mission of spouses and families as “witnesses of fidelity, service, openness to life, and welcome,” the pope insisted that unmarried couples living together who are “postponing their marital commitment, as well as divorced and remarried people, require particular spiritual accompaniment and must not be excluded.”

“The Church does not close the door to those who struggle on the path of faith, indeed, she throws the door wide open, because everyone ‘needs merciful and encouraging pastoral attention’ (),” he said.

“Without excluding anyone, the Church promotes the family, founded on marriage, contributing in every place and at every time to make the conjugal bond more solid,” he added. 

Following the Vatican’s monthlong global Synod on Synodality meetings in October, the Holy Father said there is a heightened “ecclesial awareness” for the proper recognition and participation of the lay faithful in the life and mission of the Church.

“We know how decisive marriage and the family are for the life of peoples: the Church has always cared for them, supported them and evangelized them,” the pope said.

During the audience, the pope also praised the institute’s work in promoting the “gospel of the family,” particularly in “countries where public authorities do not respect the dignity and freedom to which every human being has an inalienable right as a child of God.” 

Referring to the evangelizing witness of Catholic families, the pope said “it is this gospel that helps everyone, in every culture, to always seek what is in accordance with humanity and with the desire for salvation rooted in every man and every woman.”

“In this regard, let us remember that the first Christian communities developed in a domestic form, expanding family units by welcoming new believers, and they met in homes,” he said.

The John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences was formed in 2017, following Pope Francis’ motu proprio and replacing the former institute founded by John Paul II in 1981. 

The institute is affiliated with the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Pontifical Academy of Life, and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. 

CNA Newsroom, Nov 24, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Marking the solemnity of Christ the King and the close of the liturgical year, Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, urging young Catholics to reject superficial acclaim and embrace authentic Christian witness.

The gathering included the annual World Youth Day observance and featured a handover of the pilgrim symbols — the WYD cross, first entrusted to youth by St. John Paul II in 1984, and the icon of Mary, known as (Protection of the Roman People) — from Portuguese youth to their Korean counterparts, who will host WYD in Seoul in 2027.

As the Church’s liturgical year drew to a close, on how Christian joy and love persist even amid global challenges.

“Only in love can we live, grow, and flourish in our full dignity,” Francis said, emphasizing that genuine love cannot be bought or sold but “is free, it is the gift of oneself.”

The pontiff highlighted what he called “little lights” that give strength to Christian witness: “these little lights: the faithful affection of spouses — a beautiful thing; the innocent joy of children — this is a beautiful joy; the enthusiasm of young people — be enthusiastic, all of you; and care for the elderly.”

“Dear young people, be careful not to get carried away by illusions. Please be concrete because reality is concrete,” the pope said in his homily. “What remains, as Christ teaches us, is different: It is the works of love. This is what remains and what makes life beautiful!”

Addressing the pervasive pressure of social media and societal acclaim, Francis warned: “Do not be ‘stars for a day’ on social media or in any other context! You are called to shine in a wider sky.”

In a powerful passage on present conflicts, the pontiff posed piercing questions about accountability before God: “Those who oppress people, who make wars, what will their faces look like when they stand before the Lord? ‘Why did you start that war? Why did you commit murder?’ How will they respond?”

Against this backdrop of global challenges, Francis emphasized the vital role of young people in bearing witness to Christ’s message of peace and hope. The World Youth Day cross — a simple wooden cross given to youth by St. John Paul II in 1984 as a symbol of Christ’s love for humanity — has since traveled worldwide, becoming a powerful sign of faith and reconciliation.

Speaking to the Korean delegates receiving this historic cross, Francis said: “You, young Koreans, will receive the cross of Our Lord, the cross of life, the sign of victory, but you are not alone: You will receive it along with our Mother. It is Mary who always accompanies us on our journey toward Jesus. It is Mary who in difficult moments is beside our cross to help us, because she is our mother, she is Mum. Keep Mary in mind.”

Pope Francis highlighted the of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a model of youthful faith and charity, whose tireless devotion to God and service to the poor continues to inspire generations. The canonization will take place during the in August 2025, offering young Catholics a powerful example of living out Christ’s love in action.

The Mass concluded with Portuguese youth handing over the WYD cross and the Marian icon to their Korean counterparts, symbolizing the continuing journey of faith toward WYD Seoul 2027.

Later, addressing pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus prayer, Francis reflected on Jesus’ dialogue with Pontius Pilate, emphasizing Christ’s kingship as radically different from worldly power. The pope focused on two key words from the day’s Gospel reading: “king” and “world.”

“Jesus is a king insofar as he is a witness: He is the one who speaks the truth,” the pope said, per the official translation. “The kingly power of Jesus, the Word incarnate, lies in his true and effective word, that transforms the world.”

While Pilate’s world is “one where the strong triumph over the weak,” Francis explained, “Jesus’ world, indeed, is the new world, the eternal world, which God prepares for all by giving his life for our salvation.”

CNA Newsroom, Nov 23, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The Holy See on Saturday confirmed the rumors that Pope Francis will undertake a one-day apostolic journey to Corsica next month — marking the first-ever papal visit to the island most famous for being Napoleon Bonaparte’s birthplace.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed that the pope had accepted an invitation from French civil and Church authorities to visit Ajaccio, the island’s capital, on Dec. 15.

The visit will be Pope Francis’ 47th apostolic journey abroad and his third visit to French territory, following trips to Strasbourg in 2014 and Marseille in 2023.

On both occasions, the pontiff spoke about migration. This visit continues Pope Francis’ engagement with the Mediterranean region, following earlier trips to Lampedusa, Lesbos, and Malta, where he emphasized the Church’s call to solidarity with migrants and coastal communities.

Pope Francis will be welcomed in Corsica’s capital, Ajaccio, by Cardinal François-Xavier Bustillo, who was made a cardinal by Francis last year and leads a diocese where more than 80% of the island’s 340,000 inhabitants identify as Catholic.

The journey from Rome to Ajaccio’s Napoleon Bonaparte Airport will take just over an hour — making this one of the pope’s shortest international trips, covering roughly 186 miles. Though technically a visit to French territory, the Mediterranean island lies closer to Italy than to mainland France.

The pontiff’s schedule includes the concluding session of a congress dedicated to in the morning followed by an afternoon Mass at the historic Place d’Austerlitz — known locally as “U Casone.”

The pope will pray the Angelus with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, and seminarians at Ajaccio’s Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.

The mountainous Mediterranean island is known for its distinctive religious traditions, including a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary. The island’s unofficial anthem, “Diu vi Salvi Regina,” is originally based on a rendition of “”

Drawing from the Acts of the Apostles (10:38), the visit’s motto, “Jesus Went About Doing Good,” reflects what Vatican sources describe as the fundamentally pastoral nature of the pope’s presence among the faithful.

The journey’s official logo prominently features Mary, venerated as Queen of Corsica, set against Mediterranean blues and incorporating traditional Christian symbolism — including a cross representing faith in Christ and a descending line suggesting the Holy Spirit’s presence.

Vatican City, Nov 22, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin awarded the Ratzinger Prize to University of Notre Dame theologian Cyril O’Regan and Japanese sculptor Etsurō Sotoo at a ceremony at the Vatican on Friday evening.

The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation chooses the annual recipients of the award, which is named in honor of the late Pope Benedict XVI.

Before the ceremony on Nov. 22, the prize recipients took part in a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Georg Gänswein in the Vatican crypts close to the tomb of Benedict XVI.

They also met with Pope Francis in his study in the apostolic palace.

O’Regan is a systematic theologian who specializes in the thought of 19th- and 20th-century Catholics like St. John Henry Newman, Henri de Lubac, and Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Born in Ireland in 1952, O’Regan is the first Irishman to win the coveted prize, which has been awarded since 2011 to distinguished scholars mostly working in theology and philosophy.

O’Regan, who earned doctorates in both theology and philosophy from Yale University, has taught at Notre Dame since 1999.

In his speech at the award ceremony on Friday, O’Regan described feeling inadequate to have received the honor, calling the prize “more gift than [just] desert.”

The other 2024 Ratzinger Prize winner, Sotoo, is a Japanese sculptor whose work appears in places like the Sagrada Família Basilica in Barcelona, Spain.

Sotoo moved from Japan to Europe in 1978. After settling in Germany, he moved to Spain, remaining in Barcelona, where he went on to become the chief sculptor of Gaudí's Sagrada Familia, the basilica that has been under construction since 1882 and on which Sotoo is responsible for approximately 500 sculptures.

He also sculpted the ambo, from which the Gospel is read, in Florence, Italy’s famous Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral.

Vatican City, Nov 22, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

St. Cecilia, widely known as the patron saint of music and musicians, is buried in the Basilica of St. Cecilia in the Roman neighborhood of Trastevere where a famous Baroque sculpture of her still puzzles scholars.

According to popular belief, Cecilia was a Roman noblewoman who lived in the third century. Despite being forced by her family to marry, she remained a virgin, as she had vowed to do as a young girl.

Her pagan husband, Valerian, converted to Christianity after their marriage, and Valerian’s brother, Tiburtius, was also baptized a Christian. Both men were martyred. St. Cecilia, too, would later be tortured and martyred. It is said she took three days to die after the executioner hit her three times on the neck with a sword.

After her martyrdom, St. Cecilia was buried in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus. The underground burial place of early Christians was created around the turn of the first century A.D. by Callixtus, a deacon who later became pope.

Located under the Appian Way, an ancient Roman road connecting the city to southeast Italy, the Catacomb of St. Callixtus once held the bodies of more than 50 martyrs, including St. Cecilia, and popes from the second to the fourth centuries.

After the end of Christian persecution, the relics of the Christians buried in the city’s many catacombs were moved to churches for veneration. St. Cecilia’s remains were transferred in the early 800s to a church built on the ruins of her former home.

It is said that hundreds of years later, during a restoration of the church in 1599, her tomb was opened, revealing her body to be, miraculously, incorrupt. Artist Stefano Maderno was commissioned to create a marble sculpture of the saint.

Sources disagree about whether the Baroque artwork, still on display today at Cecilia’s tomb in the Basilica of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, is a depiction of how the saint’s body was found in 1599 or an invention of Maderno. Either way, the sculpture — which depicts Cecilia lying on her right side, her hands tied, her face turned toward the ground and the wound of her martyrdom visible upon her neck — is considered a masterpiece.

There are several widely-told legends about St. Cecilia and her husband. One of the oft-repeated beliefs, dating to the fifth century, is that she sang to God “in her heart” as musicians played at her wedding feast.

This story about the saint comes from a Latin antiphon, but there is a competing interpretation, however.

“Cantantibus organis, Caecilia virgo in corde suo soli Domino decantabat dicens: fiat Domine cor meum et corpus meum immaculatum ut non confundar,” the Latin antiphon says. In English it means: “While the instruments played, the virgin Cecilia sang in her heart to the Lord alone, saying, ‘Let my heart and my body be made pure, that I may not be confounded.’”

Another version of the antiphon gives a slightly different opening word, “candentibus,” instead of “cantantibus,” which would change the translation from musical instruments playing to “glowing” instruments of torture.

Scholars continue to disagree about which Latin version is the correct one and which may be a copy error. What is without dispute, however, is St. Cecilia’s selfless example of faithfulness to God, even to the point of the sacrifice of her own life.

St. Cecilia’s feast day in the Church is celebrated Nov. 22.

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2024 / 17:20 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has published a addressed especially to priests in formation to promote the renewal of the study of Church history, emphasizing its importance in better interpreting reality.

At the beginning of the letter, presented Thursday at the Vatican Press Office, the Holy Father refers to the need to promote a “genuine sense of history” that takes into account the “historical dimension that is ours as human beings.”

“No one can truly know their deepest identity, or what they wish to be in the future, without attending to the bonds that link them to preceding generations,” the Holy Father says. The pontiff also points out that everyone, not only candidates for the priesthood, needs this renewal.

In this context, the Holy Father states that we must abandon an “angelic” conception of the Church and embrace its “stains and wrinkles” in order to love the Church as it is. 

In short, Pope Francis invites the faithful to see the real Church “in order to love the Church as she truly exists,” a Church that has learned “and continues to learn from her mistakes and failures.”

According to the Holy Father, this can “serve as a corrective to the misguided approach that would view reality only from a triumphalist defense of our function or role.”

In the letter Pope Francis criticizes the manipulation of history by ideologies that “destroy (or deconstruct) all differences so that they can reign unopposed.” These ideologies seek to lead young people to “spurn the spiritual and human riches inherited from past generations” and ignore everything that came before them, he says.

For the pope, this also leads to posing “false problems” and seeking “inadequate solutions,” especially in an era marked by a tendency “to dismiss the memory of the past or to invent one suited to the requirements of dominant ideologies.”

“Faced with the cancellation of past history or with clearly biased historical narratives, the work of historians, together with knowledge and dissemination of their work, can act as a curb on misrepresentations, partisan efforts at revisionism, and their use to justify” any number of evils, including wars and persecutions, the Holy Father indicated.

The pope thus points out that “we cannot come to grips with the past by hasty interpretations disconnected from their consequences” and that reality “is never a simple phenomenon reducible to naive and dangerous simplifications.”

The Holy Father warns against the efforts of those who act like “gods” who want to “cancel part of history and humanity.”

The Holy Father goes on to recognize “the human weakness of those to whom the Gospel has been entrusted” and exhorts the faithful to not ignore shortcomings and to “combat them assiduously” so that they do not hinder the spread of the Gospel.

The Holy Father reiterates that “forgiving does not mean forgetting,” and he encourages the Church “to initiate — and help initiate in society — sincere and effective paths of reconciliation and social peace.”

He also calls for avoiding the “merely chronological approach” to the history of the Church, which “would transform the history of the Church into a mere buttress for the history of theology or spirituality of past centuries.” 

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2024 / 14:50 pm (CNA).

In an address to participants of the first plenary assembly of the Dicastery for Culture and Education on Nov. 21, Pope Francis said desire, fearlessness, and Christian hope are remedies needed to overcome the “shadow of nihilism” prevalent in society.

Describing nihilism as “perhaps the most dangerous plague of today’s culture” because of its attempt to “erase hope” in the world, the pope told dicastery members that their institution should work toward inspiring humanity.

“Schools, universities, cultural centers should teach us to desire, to remain thirsty, to have dreams, because, as the Second Letter of Peter reminds us, we ‘await new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells,’” the pope said.

“Understand your mission in the educational and cultural field as a call to broaden horizons, to overflow with inner vitality, to make room for possibilities unseen, to bestow the ways of the gift that only becomes wider when it is shared,” he continued.

Reminding his listeners of the Catholic Church’s expansive cultural and educational heritage, the pope said there is “no reason to be overwhelmed by fear.”

“In a word, we are heirs to the educational and cultural passion of so many saints,” he said after citing the examples of Sts. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Edith Stein, and Catholic scientist Blaise Pascal.

“Surrounded by such a host of witnesses, let us get rid of any burden of pessimism; pessimism is not Christian,” he added.

The pope also drew upon the cultural works of musical and literary greats, including Mozart and American poet Emily Dickinson, and insisted that they, too, can be a source of inspiration for the dicastery’s various cultural and educational projects.

Identifying poverty, inequality, and exclusion as “pathologies of the present world,” the Holy Father insisted it is a “moral imperative” of the Church to ensure people — especially children and youth — have access to a comprehensive education.

“Some 250 million children and adolescents do not attend school,” he stated. “Brothers and sisters, it is cultural genocide when we steal the future from children, when we do not offer them conditions to become what they could be.”

Sharing with dicastery members the experience of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry with the hardships of refugee families, the pope said the French writer felt wounded after seeing the children.

“It torments me that in each of these men there is a little Mozart, murdered,” writes de Saint-Exupéry in his autobiographical work “Land of Men.”

Toward the conclusion of the private audience, Pope Francis referred to the dicastery’s plenary assembly theme, “Let us pass on to the other shore” (cf. Mk 4:35), and encouraged his listeners to take courage and carry out their work with a sense of hope.

“I repeat: We must not let the feeling of fear win. Remember that complex cultural passages often prove to be the most fruitful and creative for the development of human thought,” he said. 

“Contemplating the living Christ enables us to have the courage to launch into the future,” the pope added.

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The Vatican was not rocking around the Christmas tree on Thursday after a 95-foot Norway spruce from northern Italy became wreathed in controversy this fall.

An posted to change.org in mid-October garnered over 53,000 signatures in protest of the evergreen being chopped down, arguing it contradicts Pope Francis’ promotion of protection for the environment.

Despite the opposition to its removal, the tree arrived as scheduled in St. Peter’s Square at 7 a.m. on Nov. 21 but was left to lie mysteriously on the truck bed well past sunset. As of publication, the spruce on its base.

The petition’s open letter to Pope Francis and Vatican and local Italian officials lamented the “solely consumerist practice of using live trees for ephemeral use, for mere advertising purposes and a few ridiculous selfies.”

It drew attention to the pope’s writings on care for creation and the importance of having respect for nature.

The letter, drafted by the wildlife protection association Bearsandothers, also argued that the Christmas tree is a pagan tradition that has nothing to do with Christ’s birth.

The petition also expressed opposition to the estimated 60,000 euros (about $63,000) of expenses incurred by the city of Ledro, in northern Italy, which donated the main Norway spruce and about 40 other trees to the Vatican.

“We are asking your help,” the letter said, “to send a strong message of reflection on the importance of valuing and respecting the role of the plant world in the anthropocentric era of increasingly dramatic climate anomalies.”

The Vatican said in a September press release that the nearly 100-foot spruce for St. Peter’s Square was selected “with respect to sustainability.” The trees chosen are more mature trees, it noted, arguing that their removal is in line with natural replacement.

The tree comes from nearby the small town of Ledro, which is close to Lake Garda and Lake Ledro in one of Italy’s northernmost provinces.

Smaller trees from the same area and decorated by the citizens of Ledro, and other towns in Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic, will also be displayed in Vatican City buildings.

According to recent Vatican custom, the Christmas tree and a large Nativity scene displayed beside it will remain in St. Peter’s Square through Jan. 12, 2025, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

The tree-lighting ceremony and unveiling of the Nativity scene are scheduled for Dec. 7.

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2024 / 08:03 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has appointed U.S. Cardinal Kevin Farrell to oversee “new and unavoidable” reform to the Vatican’s pension system as it faces a “serious prospective imbalance” that means changes can no longer be postponed.

In a Nov. 21 letter to cardinals, dicastery prefects, and managers in the Roman Curia, the pope underlined the gravity of the unsustainability of the Vatican’s pension fund and noted the solution will require difficult decisions, “special sensitivity, generosity, and willingness to sacrifice on the part of everyone.”

To address the challenges, the pontiff said he had taken an “essential step” by naming Farrell “sole administrator” of the fund.

Farrell, 77, is prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, the Family, and Life as well as camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and president of the Pontifical Commission for Confidential Matters.

The Irish-born cardinal, who was bishop of Dallas for nine years before his transfer to Rome, has also been chair of the Pontifical Committee for Investments since 2022. 

In his roles in the confidential matters commission, Farrell is responsible for authorizing the confidentiality of economic actions of the Roman Curia, if needed “for the greater good of the Church,” according to the apostolic constitution .

Farrell also oversees the Roman Curia’s investments, ensuring they are in line with the social doctrine of the Church — a role he was named to after the Holy See came under scrutiny for , including in London, which lost the Vatican hundreds of thousands of euros and ended in a criminal trial.

Pope Francis said in his Nov. 21 letter that the pension fund is one of the central pieces of Vatican financial reform, of the pope’s project since his election in 2013.

“Different studies have been carried out from which it has been derived that the current pension management, taking into account the available assets, generates an important deficit,” the pontiff wrote on Thursday.

“Unfortunately, the figure that now emerges, at the conclusion of the latest in-depth analyses carried out by independent experts, indicates a serious prospective imbalance in the fund, the size of which tends to expand over time in the absence of intervention,” he continued. 

He added that “in concrete terms,” the Vatican cannot “guarantee in the medium term the fulfillment of the pension obligation for future generations.”

While the pope thanked those who have tried to address the pension fund’s problems until now, he said it is imperative that the Vatican move into a new phase “with promptness and unity of vision so that the necessary actions are expeditiously implemented,” and he asked for everyone’s support, cooperation, and prayers.

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Vietnam, a country with one of the highest abortion rates in the world, spearheaded a United Nations initiative this week on the health care needs of infants born prematurely.

While the event in honor of World Prematurity Day aimed to spotlight the need for better care for preterm infants, a bioethicist is pointing to the irony of a country grappling with widespread abortion leading the charge.

“It’s a completely mixed message,” Joseph Meaney, a senior fellow at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told “EWTN News Nightly” on Tuesday.

Advances in neonatal intensive care have made possible the survival of smaller and younger infants. The is Curtis Zy-Keith Means, who was born at 21 weeks and one day in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Vietnam’s laws allow unrestricted abortion procedures up to the 22nd week of pregnancy, but enforcement against later-term abortions remains lax. 

A identified the Southeast Asian nation as having the second-highest abortion rate in the world. Hanoi’s Central Obstetrics Hospital reported in 2014 that in Vietnam were terminated each year.

Meaney pointed out to “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol that “in one part of the hospital, they are delivering babies … and trying to keep them alive in the neonatal intensive care units, and in other parts of the hospital, they’re killing those same babies at the same age of gestation.”

Meaney noted that studies have found that women who have undergone multiple abortions face a of premature birth and miscarriage in subsequent pregnancies. 

was established in 2008 to raise awareness about the challenges of premature births, which is the leading cause of death for children under 5. It is estimated that 13.4 million babies are born prematurely every year, according to UNICEF, which called for universal access to high-quality care for preterm babies in honor of the day.

“Of course, if they’re concerned about infant mortality, the highest rate of infant mortality is killing babies through abortion,” Meaney said.

Catholics in Vietnam help manage special cemeteries for victims of abortion, including one in the Archdiocese of Hanoi in which 46,000 unborn children are buried and another in Xuan Loc Diocese where more than 53,000 are buried, according to La Croix International. 

A Catholic charity called the collects the remains of unborn children from state-run hospitals and private clinics, noting that the group used to gather 25-40 aborted fetuses each day to bury.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, more than 1.6 million abortions were performed in Vietnam between 2015 and 2019.

Asked by Sabol how premature births might be reduced in the U.S. and around the world, Meaney said: “One thing would be to have fewer abortions.”

As well, “actually having the hospitals help the mothers to continue their pregnancies” would help, he said.

“When they’re at risk of premature birth, the amount of days involved is very important. Just a few more days can really increase the likelihood the child will survive,” Meaney said.

“To actually have the hospitals willing to admit mothers who are in danger of premature birth” could help lower such incidences, he said.

Vatican City, Nov 20, 2024 / 13:25 pm (CNA).

To mark 1,000 days since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, Pope Francis shared the “testimony of faith” of a Ukrainian student at his general audience on Wednesday, underscoring the power of faith, love, and hope amid the tragedy of violence.

In a letter to the Holy Father, the student, whose name was not announced, expressed the desire for the pope and all pilgrims at the Wednesday audience to know of the faith — and not just the sufferings — of the people of Ukraine.

“I thank God because, through this pain, I am learning greater love. Pain is not only a road to anger and despair; if based on faith, it is a good teacher of love,” the student wrote.

Describing the horrors of war that killed family members and thousands of other men, women, and children, the student said that if one suffers because of pain it “means that you love.”

“When you speak of our pain, when you remember our thousand days of suffering, speak of our thousand days of love, too, because only love, faith, and hope give a real meaning to our wounds,” the letter to the Holy Father read.

Visibly moved by the letter and the pope’s gesture to share the testimony of faith with hundreds of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, Olena Zelenska, wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, met and personally greeted the pope at the conclusion of the audience.

During the Wednesday audience, Pope Francis announced that Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, two young Italian Catholics popularly known for their vibrant faith and desire for holiness, will be  during the Church’s jubilee.  

The long-anticipated announcement was confirmed by Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni that the two blesseds will be canonized on separate dates. Acutis’ canonization is scheduled during the Church’s Jubilee of Teenagers from April 25–27, 2025, and Frassati’s canonization will take place during the Jubilee of Youth from July 28–Aug. 3, 2025.    

Choosing World Children’s Day, celebrated annually on Nov. 20, to make an additional surprise announcement, the pope shared that the Vatican will hold an international meeting to promote the dignity and rights of children on Feb. 3, 2025. 

“It will be an occasion on how we can better protect children, especially children who live without rights, who are abused and exploited and live also in situations of war,” he said on Wednesday.  

To celebrate the occasion and special announcement, the Holy Father invited several boys and girls from the Community of Sant’Egidio to come and receive his paternal blessing and take a group photo.

The Vatican has also released details of the new Pontifical Committee for the World Day of Children on Wednesday. Pope Francis has appointed Father Enzo Fortunato, OFM, the president of the newly-established committee tasked with promoting the Catholic Church’s mission to advocate for children’s rights.  

“Family, church, and state exist for children, not the other way around,” the pope said in a Nov. 20 chirograph. “From birth, every human being is the subject of inalienable, inviolable, and universal rights.”

Speaking about the beauty of different personal and communal charisms found in the Church, Pope Francis stressed that Catholics need to “immediately dispel” the misunderstanding of identifying these “jewels” of the Holy Spirit as “spectacular and extraordinary gifts and capabilities.”

“Instead they are ordinary gifts that assume extraordinary value if inspired by the Holy Spirit and embodied with love in the situations of life,” he told those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

“Such an interpretation of the charism is important,” the pope said.

Vatican City, Nov 20, 2024 / 12:55 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has updated the liturgical book regulating the funeral rite of popes, simplifying some of the rituals at Pope Francis’ request.

The second edition of the (“Order of Funerals for Roman Pontiffs”) is a revision of the version published in 2000 and used for the funerals of Pope John Paul II in 2005 and in 2023.

Among the changes in the new edition, according to Vatican News, is the elimination of the use of three coffins of cyprus, lead, and oak, and the possibility for a deceased pope to be buried outside of the Vatican basilica.

Another change is that the public viewing before the funeral will take place with the remains already in a simple, wooden coffin, not on a raised bier, as was previously done. The ascertainment of the pope’s death will also happen in the pope’s chapel, not his room.

Pope Francis “has stated on several occasions the need to simplify and adapt certain rites so that the celebration of the funeral of the bishop of Rome may better express the faith of the Church in the risen Christ,” the master of papal ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, told Vatican News. 

“The renewed rite,” Ravelli said, “also needed to emphasize even more that the funeral of the Roman pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”

Rome Newsroom, Nov 20, 2024 / 05:58 am (CNA).

Pope Francis announced Wednesday that Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, two young Catholics beloved for their vibrant faith and witness to holiness, will be canonized during two major jubilee celebrations dedicated to young people.

The surprise announcement came at the conclusion of the pope’s weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square as Francis celebrated World Children’s Day. 

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni later confirmed that Acutis’ canonization will occur during the Church’s taking place April 25–27, 2025, and Frassati’s canonization will take place during the from July 28–Aug. 3, 2025.

According to the Diocese of Assisi, Acutis’ canonization Mass is expected to take place on Sunday, April 27, at 10:30 a.m. local time in St. Peter’s Square.

Both soon-to-be saints are beloved by many Catholic young people for their enthusiastic pursuit of holiness. The two canonizations are expected to bring many young people to the Eternal City in 2025 for the Catholic Church’s Jubilee of Hope.

Acutis, an Italian computer-coding teenager who died of cancer in 2006, is known for his great devotion to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Born in 1991, Acutis is the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church. Shortly after his first Communion at the age of 7, Acutis told his mother: “To always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.”

To accomplish this, Acutis sought to attend daily Mass as often as he could at the parish church across the street from his elementary school in Milan.

Acutis called the Eucharist “my highway to heaven,” and he did all in his power to make this presence known. His witness inspired his own parents to return to practicing the Catholic faith and his Hindu au pair to convert and be baptized.

Acutis was a tech-savvy kid who loved computers, animals, and video games. His spiritual director has recalled that Acutis was convinced that the evidence of Eucharistic miracles could be persuasive in helping people to realize that Jesus is present at every Mass.

Over the course of two and a half years, Acutis worked with his family to put together an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles that premiered in 2005 during the Year of the Eucharist proclaimed by Pope John Paul II and has since gone on to be displayed at thousands of parishes on five continents.

Many of Acutis’ classmates, friends, and family members have testified how he brought them closer to God. Acutis was a very open person and was not shy about speaking with his classmates and anyone he met about the things he loved: the Mass, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and heaven.

He is remembered for saying: “People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints.”

Acutis died at the age of 15 in 2006, shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia. Before he died, Acutis told his mother: “I offer all of my suffering to the Lord for the pope and for the Church in order not to go to purgatory but to go straight to heaven.”

Thousands of people visited Acutis’ tomb in Assisi following his beatification in the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on Oct. 10, 2020.

Since his beatification, Catholic schools from the Australian outback to England have been named after Acutis, as well as countless ministries and parish initiatives.

Pope Francis encouraged young people to imitate Acutis in prioritizing “the great gift of the Eucharist” in his message for the upcoming diocesan World Youth Days.

Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is also beloved by many today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches “to the heights.”

The young man from the northern Italian city of Turin was an avid mountaineer and Third Order Dominican known for his charitable outreach.

Born on Holy Saturday, April 6, 1901, Frassati was the son of the founder and director of the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

At the age of 17, he joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and dedicated much of his spare time to taking care of the poor, the homeless, and the sick as well as demobilized servicemen returning from World War I.

Frassati was also involved in the Apostleship of Prayer and Catholic Action. He obtained permission to receive daily Communion.

On a photograph of what would be his last climb, Frassati wrote the phrase “Verso L’Alto,” which means “to the heights.” This phrase has become a motto for Catholics inspired by Frassati to strive for the summit of eternal life with Christ.

Frassati died of polio on July 4, 1925. His doctors later speculated that the young man had caught polio while serving the sick.

John Paul II, who beatified Frassati in 1990, called him a “man of the eight beatitudes,” describing him as “entirely immersed in the mystery of God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor.”

The Vatican has yet to announce the recognition of the second miracle attributed to Frassati, which made his canonization possible.

The confirmation of the miracle from the Vatican, along with the announcement of the specific date of Frassati’s canonization Mass, are expected in the future.

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

In a letter sent to Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, on Nov. 19, Pope Francis expressed his great sorrow for the suffering of the people of Ukraine, who have now endured 1,000 days of war since the outbreak of the violent conflict there in 2022.

The letter was published in Italian by L'Osservatore Romano on Nov. 19. 

Addressing his representative in “beloved and tormented Ukraine,” the Holy Father said he wished “to embrace all its citizens, wherever they may be,” and acknowledged the extreme hardships the Ukrainian people have suffered under “large-scale military aggression” for the past 1,000 days. 

The pope told the nuncio, whom he addressed as “brother,” that his words are meant to express solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to convey “a heartfelt invocation to God,” who he said is “the only source of life, hope, and wisdom, so that he may convert hearts and make them capable of starting paths of dialogue, reconciliation, and harmony.”

Francis quoted Psalm 121: “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth,”  recalling how every day at 9 a.m., Ukrainians observe a “minute of national silence” for the victims of the conflict.

“I join them, so that the cry that rises to heaven, from which help comes, may be stronger,” the pope wrote.

He went on to pray that the Lord will “console our hearts and strengthen the hope that, while he collects all the tears shed and will ask for an account of them, he remains beside us even when human efforts seem fruitless and actions not sufficient.”

The pope ended the letter to the archbishop by entrusting the Ukrainian people to God and blessing them, “beginning with the bishops and priests, with whom you, dear brother, have remained alongside the sons and daughters of this nation throughout these 1,000 days of suffering.”

Vatican News released a short video to mark the 1,000th day of war in Ukraine:

CNA Staff, Nov 18, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis’ call for an investigation into claims that a genocide may be happening in Gaza has garnered criticism. 

In a passage of a new book published ahead of the 2025 Jubilee Year and released on Sunday, Pope Francis noted that according to some experts, “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide” and called for a careful investigation, according to .

The book by Hernán Reyes Alcaide is titled “Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Toward a Better World” and was written for the occasion of the 2025 Jubilee, which is scheduled to begin Christmas Eve. It includes interviews with Pope Francis and will be released Nov. 19 in Italy, Spain, and Latin America by Edizioni Piemme Publishers. It will be published in other languages at a later date.

Pope Francis said in the book that, “according to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

“In the Middle East, where the open doors of nations like Jordan or Lebanon continue to be a salvation for millions of people fleeing conflicts in the region: I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,” Pope Francis continued.

Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See pushed back against the claim.

Yaron Sideman to the pope’s comments on X, highlighting the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Israeli citizens by Hamas and pointing to Israel’s right to self-defense.

“There was a genocidal massacre on 7 October 2023 of Israeli citizens, and since then, Israel has exercised its right of self-defense against attempts from seven different fronts to kill its citizens,” Sideman . “Any attempt to call it by any other name is singling out the Jewish state.” 

In a Nov. 18 , the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), a global coalition combating antisemitism, also criticized the pope’s remarks, calling them “an eighth front” of the war against Israel.

“The State of Israel is currently facing a war of intended annihilation on seven fronts, and these remarks look like a possible opening of an eighth front, from of all places, the Vatican, which can also lead to the spilling of Jewish blood around the world,” Sacha Roytman, CEO of CAM. “For a pope who appears to prize even-handedness and peace, we see that the Jewish state once again appears to be the exception.” 

In December 2023, South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice for alleged violations against the Genocide Convention, according to . The court has yet to rule on the charges. 

A United Nations Special Committee on Nov. 14 released a claiming that “Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians there.”

“Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life — food, water, and fuel,” the committee stated. “These statements along with the systematic and unlawful interference of humanitarian aid make clear Israel’s intent to instrumentalize lifesaving supplies for political and military gains.”

Pope Francis on Nov. 14 met with several hostages recently freed from months of captivity in Gaza. Sixteen people attended the meeting last Thursday. One attendee, a young boy, gave the pope a football jersey with the name “Tal Shoham,” the name of a family member who was taken hostage along with his wife, children, mother-in-law, and other relatives, Vatican News.

On Oct. 7, 2023, 1,200 people died after Islamic terrorists , taking 252 people hostage. According to , Palestinian health authorities say more than 41,500 people have been killed by Israel in Gaza.

Vatican City, Nov 18, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Nov. 18 is celebrated in the Catholic Church as the feast day of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul. Here are three things to know about the historical, architectural, and spiritual significance of these two papal basilicas.  

In the fourth century, the world’s first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine, commissioned the construction of two separate basilicas over the burial sites of St. Peter and St. Paul to enable the public veneration of the two great apostles, martyrs, and evangelizers of Rome.

After Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire following the Edict of Milan issued by Constantine in 313, construction of the first Basilica of St. Peter began in 319 and was consecrated by Pope Sylvester on Nov. 18 in 326. Historical records indicate that Sylvester consecrated the first basilica built by Constantine dedicated to the apostle St. Paul on Nov. 19 around the year 330.

The masses of pilgrims who came to pray at the tombs of the “Prince of the Apostles” and the “Apostle to the Gentiles” required constant repairs, renovations, and expansion of the two basilicas built by Constantine.

In 1506, Pope Julius II ordered the demolition of the original basilica dedicated to St. Peter to construct the second Basilica of St. Peter, which still stands today. Pope Urban VIII solemnly consecrated the magnificent Basilica of St. Peter 120 years later on Nov. 18, 1626.  

Over the centuries the basilica dedicated to St. Paul underwent several renovations and two major reconstructions. The current Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls is the third basilica built above the apostle’s burial site. In 1854 — after the great fire of 1823 and over 30 years of construction work — Pius IX consecrated the newly-built basilica and fixed Nov. 18 as its commemoration date.

With histories that span nearly two millennia, both the Basilica of St. Peter and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls bear the marks of changing architectural designs dating back from the Paleo-Christian period to the present day.

The world-famous 16th-century Basilica of St. Peter, visited by millions of tourists and pilgrims yearly, took over 100 years to construct and was heavily influenced by Western artistic styles of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Designed by the Italian architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the 94-foot-tall bronze canopy, known as the , is a Baroque masterpiece that towers above the central altar and stands directly above the tomb of St. Peter. To highlight the primacy of Peter among the apostles, the baldacchino features sculptures of cherubs holding the papal tiara as well as the “keys to the kingdom of heaven,” which Jesus entrusted to St. Peter and his successors. Bernini also designed the keyhole shape of St. Peter’s Square.

Throughout its history, the Roman basilica dedicated to St. Paul was a testimony to the Catholic Church’s ancient past. Before the 1823 fire, the basilica housed artworks and historical artifacts from the Paleo-Christian, Byzantine, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.

Reconstructed to be identical to the basilica destroyed by fire, the art and architecture of St. Paul Outside the Walls has taken its inspiration from different architectural styles dating back from the 11th century to contemporary designs of the 21st century.

The holy door of this major basilica was designed by Enrico Manfrini in preparation for the 2000 Jubilee Year. Inside this door stands the Byzantine door, created in 1070, depicting scenes of the life of Christ and the first Christians.

The burial sites of the two patron saints of Rome remain significant places of pilgrimage for Christians.

St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Paul Outside the Walls, two of the four papal basilicas of Rome, are visited by millions of tourists for their historical, architectural, and artistic importance. For Christian pilgrims, the two major basilicas hold a greater spiritual significance that links their faith in Jesus and his Church to two of its most faithful apostles who led the way for Christians throughout the ages through their teachings and witness.

On the June 29 solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis invited all of the Catholic faithful to imitate their example and “open the doors” of the Church during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. 

“The jubilee will be a time of grace, during which we will open the holy door so that everyone may cross the threshold of that ‘living sanctuary’ who is Jesus,” the Holy Father said in his homily.

The holy door in the Basilica of St. Peter opens on Christmas Eve to usher in the jubilee year. The holy door of St. Paul Outside the Walls will open on Jan. 5, 2025.

Vatican City, Nov 17, 2024 / 13:46 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis was joined by thousands of pilgrims in the Vatican on Sunday to celebrate the eighth annual World Day of the Poor to renew the Church’s commitment to “be close to the suffering” through spiritual and material works of charity. 

Before the Sunday Mass celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis blessed 13 statues of keys, representing the 13 Houses Campaign of the FamVin Homeless Alliance as a sign of solidarity and the Church’s dedication to care for the poor and marginalized.

Each of the 13 “keys” blessed by the pope is dedicated to a specific country in which the FamVin Homeless Alliance — a charitable organization founded in 2017 and inspired by the legacy of St. Vincent de Paul — has built a home dedicated to the poor: in Syria, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, the Central African Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, Italy, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine.

Throughout the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, families from each of these 13 countries will meet with Pope Francis and receive the blessed statue dedicated to the poor of their country. 

During his homily and Angelus address, the Holy Father repeated his plea for Catholics to show their closeness to the poor through gestures of care infused with human warmth and tenderness.

“[To] those who give alms I always ask two things,” the pope said to the thousands of pilgrims gathered inside St. Peter’s Basilica for the eighth annual World Day of the Poor Mass. The theme of the commemoration was “The Prayer of the Poor Rises Up to God.” 

“Do you really touch the hands of these people or do you just throw the coins into their hands? Do you look into their eyes when you are giving some help and doing alms — do you look directly in their eyes or are you looking somewhere else?” he asked.     

Amid the “hour of darkness” — times of desolation and anguish — described in Sunday’s Gospel and readings, Pope Francis said, “a great proclamation of hope” is truly present for those who have put their trust in God.

“Jesus invites us to have a deeper look, to have eyes capable of reading within the events of history,” he explained. “An unshakable hope shines forth on this World Day of the Poor!”

Warning against the temptation of despair, laziness, and despondency, the pope said “we cannot condemn ourselves to powerlessness” in the face of poverty, inequality, and injustice. 

Pope Francis stressed that the poor and marginalized “have no choice but to continue to wait” and urged the Church to work with governments and international organizations to support them.

“Otherwise, the Christian faith is reduced into a harmless devotion that does not disturb the powers that be and is incapable of generating a serious commitment to charity,” the pontiff said. 

After praying the Angelus in Latin with the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the pope reiterated his homily message to live in solidarity with the poor through prayer and action, especially for “families who struggle to make ends meet.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, let us not forget that the poor cannot wait.”

Following Sunday Mass and the Angelus, 1,300 economically disadvantaged men, women, and children living in Rome joined Pope Francis for lunch inside the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.

The Italian Red Cross provided both meals and entertainment at this year’s World Day of the Poor luncheon with the pope. Three hundred forty volunteers served guests lasagna with vegetables, beef meatloaf with spinach and cheese, potatoes, fruit, and dessert.

Priests of the Congregation of the Mission, also known as the Vincentian Fathers, gifted each guest with backpacks containing food and hygiene items to bring home with them after their lunch with the pope.

Enugu, Nigeria, Nov 17, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Vatican-based Nigerian Church leader has urged priests to avoid lengthy homilies, saying a homily should not be an exhibition of “theological acrobatics” but rather a reflection of the priest’s prayer life and a clear, concise proclamation of the Gospel.

In his keynote address during the 12-day centenary celebrations of Nigeria’s , Arinze emphasized the importance of priests delivering homilies that are deeply rooted in Scripture, liturgical texts, and sound theology. 

“A homily well prepared should last around 10 minutes. A university lecture of 45 minutes is for a different setting. A homily is not a display of theological acrobatics nor a harangue about money,” the cardinal said during a Nov. 13 event.

A homily, Arinze added, “is not an exposition of the local political climate nor a social disquisition on the economic hardships of the people. It should be the sharing of the prayer life of the priest for the past week in the presence of the Lord Jesus in the holy Eucharist.”

He explained that the major points of the homily are best put in writing and that the language of a homily should be clear — “not an admixture of English and the local language, nor an exhibition of the preacher’s ability to navigate in idioms.”

“A poor homily is an offense against the Word of God and against God’s people gathered to hear his word,” the cardinal said.

In his address titled “The Impact of Formations House on Education in Nigeria,” Arinze reflected on the priestly vocation and the role of seminaries in preparing future priests.

“It is expected that the seminary will train the future priest to be a good pastor of God’s people. He is the spiritual director of individual Catholics and of their associations … [h]is patient attendance at their meetings, where he delivers well-prepared addresses, is one of the ways in which he serves them,” the cardinal continued. “Lay leaders remain necessary according to the nature of each association. But the priest is their irreplaceable shepherd. As a good shepherd, he is neither in front nor behind his people; he is in their midst. As the pope would put it, he has the smell of the sheep.”

Arinze noted the alarming trend of young people drifting from the Catholic faith, turning instead to African traditional religions and other superstitions. 

“In many parts of our country, Nigeria, there is a lamentation that many young people today are rather poor in their knowledge of the Catholic faith. Many of them relapse into practices of the African traditional religion,” he said.

“They may engage in real idol worship; they believe in charms; they consult fortune tellers and some go so far as to kill even a relative in the hope that that will attract big money. It is not a surprise if such young people keep away from the sacraments.”

Arinze continued: “The problem is not solved by blaming the catechists for a job not well done. Some Nigerian dioceses have a remarkable increase in the number of their priests … Suppose such a diocese adopts the policy that a priest is to be the teacher of religion in every class in schools primary or secondary. It is not below the dignity of the priest to teach the young about God and religion. Moreover, the teenagers need answers to life’s challenges.”

“The seminary also has the role of preparing its [students] to be good preachers. A priest should be a convinced announcer of the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.”

In his keynote address at the beginning of the 12-day centenary celebrations, Arinze reflected on the challenge of inculturation in the Catholic Church in Nigeria.

The cardinal pointed to ongoing efforts in the Church to respect local cultures, including the adoption of local names in baptism and hymns in Indigenous languages. 

However, he underscored the need for a more thorough and careful process of inculturation, involving bishops, theologians, and cultural experts. 

“For an element of culture to be inculturated, the bishops’ conference of the area or country in question has first to set up a multidisciplinary study commission of experts in theology, liturgy, scriptural studies, ethnology, psychology, and music. Such a high-powered commission will have to sift the many sides of an indicated custom or tradition and, if it considers it ripe, make recommendations to the bishops’ conference,” he said.

“Inculturation is very demanding on a local Church,” Arinze pointed out. “It is not a one-man affair. It is not the fruit of someone’s over-fertile imagination, which concocts an idea on Saturday evening and forces it down the throat of the innocent and unsuspecting Sunday Mass congregation the following morning.”

As Bigard Memorial Seminary enters its second century of formation, Arinze expressed gratitude for its successes, calling on future generations of seminarians and priests to continue the work of evangelization and faith integration. 

“Bigard Memorial Seminary has come a long way in 100 years in preparing clergy for evangelization. It has done a good job!” the cardinal said. “May the Lord of the harvest continue to bless and guide this respected alma mater of ours as it walks into its second century. May the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Apostles, intercede for Bigard.” 

Bigard Memorial Major Seminary in Enugu was founded in Onitsha in 1922 and officially opened in 1924. It was moved to its current location in 1951. It was named after benefactors Stephanie and Jeanne Bigard, a French mother and daughter who were foundresses of the Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle, who donated the funds for the main building.

In 1982, Pope John Paul II visited Bigard Memorial Major Seminary, the first Nigerian seminary to receive such a guest. 

CNA Newsroom, Nov 16, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis wants dioceses worldwide to shine a spotlight on their “saints next door” every year on Nov. 9.

In a letter released by the Vatican in Italian on Saturday, the pope established an annual commemoration of saints, blessed, venerables, and servants of God in local dioceses worldwide, set to begin with the upcoming jubilee.

“I exhort particular Churches, starting from the upcoming 2025 Jubilee, to remember and honor these figures of holiness each year,” Pope Francis wrote.

The initiative aims to help Catholics around the world rediscover and maintain the memory of those extraordinary disciples of Christ who have witnessed the presence of the risen Lord and continue to guide the faithful in those dioceses today.

He signed the letter at St. John Lateran on Nov. 9, the feast day of the basilica’s dedication.

While the pontiff chose this feast day for the yearly remembrance, he emphasized that he was not adding another liturgical celebration to the Church calendar.

Instead, the pope explained, he called on local dioceses to promote appropriate initiatives outside the liturgy or recall these figures within it, such as during homilies.

Pope Francis connected the initiative to his 2018 apostolic exhortation on the universal call to holiness.

The 2018 letter emphasized how sanctity manifests in everyday life through various examples, including married couples living their faith while being open to life, young people following Jesus with enthusiasm, and living the evangelical counsels.

“We are frequently tempted to think that holiness is only for those who can withdraw from ordinary affairs to spend much time in prayer. That is not the case,” the pope wrote in his . “We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves.”

According to the letter released Saturday, episcopal conferences may develop pastoral guidelines for implementing this commemoration.

The Vatican expects millions of pilgrims to travel to Rome for the 2025 Jubilee Year but also renewed spiritual initiatives in dioceses across the globe.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

CNA Newsroom, Nov 16, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Saturday warned of a “worrying and complex” rise in youth mental health challenges, including self-harm and suicide, while calling for a new “educational alliance” to address what he described as not just a cultural but an “anthropological metamorphosis” in society.

Speaking to members of Italy’s National Youth Council at the Vatican on Nov. 16, the pope emphasized the need for comprehensive support structures amid what he called an “epochal change” affecting young people.

“As we know — even from recent news — the challenges that concern you are many: the dignity of work, family, education, civic engagement, care for creation, and new technologies,” the pope said.

“The increase in acts of violence and self-harm, up to the most extreme gesture of taking one’s life, are signs of a worrying and complex distress,” Francis warned.

The pontiff’s remarks came as the youth council marked its 20th anniversary. Francis noted with approval their “Quarta Rilevazione dell’Indice di Fiducia” (“Fourth Trust Index Survey”), showing that hope remained the predominant “inner attitude” among Italian youth.

“We often meet disillusioned people because they look to the future with skepticism and pessimism,” Francis observed. “It is important therefore to know that Italian young people can be artisans of hope because they are capable of dreaming.”

Calling for what he termed a “village of education,” the pope urged creating networks of “human and open relationships” that place the person at the center while investing in the formation of those who will serve the community.

The pope connected his message to the upcoming 2025 jubilee year, which he noted he had announced with the words “La speranza non delude!” (“Hope does not disappoint!”).

In addressing the youth representatives serving as a consultative body at local, national, and European levels, Francis emphasized their role in giving voice “to all, especially those who have no voice.”

He highlighted challenges, including dignity of work, family life, education, civic engagement, environmental care, and new technologies.

The pope concluded by referencing Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, asking the youth leaders if they knew of him and encouraging them to learn from “his consistency and his courage.”

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, born April 6, 1901, to a prominent Italian family, died July 4, 1925, at age 24.

The young Third Order Dominican could be declared a saint during the Catholic Church’s 2025 jubilee year, according to recent statements by the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

St. John Paul II, who declared Frassati a patron for World Youth Days, called him “the man of the beatitudes” for exemplifying these blessings in his daily life. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Frassati has become “a significant global patron for youth and young adults,” with a special significance for young Catholics in the United States.

Rome Newsroom, Nov 15, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Nov. 14 marked the closing of the diocesan phase of the cause for the beatification of Father Pedro Arrupe, the 28th superior general of the Society of Jesus.

After more than five years of exhaustive research into the life, virtues, and reputation for holiness of the renowned Spanish Jesuit, mentor, and “spiritual father” of Pope Francis, of the process was concluded at the Lateran Palace in Rome.

Arrupe served as the 28th superior general of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983. In the 1970s, he emphasized social justice as one of the main focal points of Jesuit apostolic work.

Since February 2019, more than 70 witnesses from Spain, Rome, and Japan — where he lived for 27 years as a missionary — have been questioned by the tribunal of the vicariate of Rome. 

Arrupe survived the atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima in 1945 and devoted himself to caring for the injured in a field hospital set up in the novitiate.

Now the documents and minutes collected by the historical commission will be handed over to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, which will evaluate a possible miracle attributed to his intercession, a crucial step toward his prospective beatification.

The ceremony, which was held on the day that would have marked the 117th anniversary of Arrupe’s birth, was presided over by Cardinal-elect Baldassare Reina, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome.

Also present at this solemn ceremony were members of the Society of Jesus such as superior general Father Arturo Sosa Abascal and the postulator of the cause, Father Pascual Cebollada, who took an oath to have faithfully fulfilled his mission and emphasized Arrupe’s preference “for the poor and the fight for justice” as a result of his fervent prayer.

Notary Marcello Terramani was also present, as were members of the diocesan tribunal; Monsignor Giuseppe D’Alonzo, episcopal delegate; and Father Giorgio Ciucci, promoter of justice.

Reina praised the Jesuit leader, emphasizing his efforts to put the Second Vatican Council into practice as well as his profound obedience and fidelity to the Church and the popes.

He also highlighted his evangelizing mission and his “preferential option” for the poor and needy, resulting in the Jesuit Refugee Service that he founded in 1980.

Sosa referred to the long hours that Arrupe spent in prayer every day. When the priest was asked where he found the time to do so, he usually replied that “it’s simply a matter of priorities.”

The ceremony held in Rome also reflected on his charism and good relationship with those who didn’t belong to the Catholic Church. Arrupe’s efforts to get laypeople to assume responsibilities were also highlighted, as well as his welcoming nature.

After reviewing the documents from the diocesan phase, the Vatican dicastery will study the possibility of declaring Arrupe “venerable,” a title that Pope Francis can bestow upon him if it is determined that he lived a holy and virtuous life.

If this occurs, the next step would be beatification, which would grant him the title of “blessed.” This requires that at least one miracle be attributed to his intercession. For canonization and for him to be proclaimed a saint, a second miracle must be confirmed.

During his private meeting with priests of the Society of Jesus on his trip to Singapore last September, Pope Francis expressed his desire to have the Spanish Jesuit declared a saint.

Vatican City, Nov 15, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

As Rome’s temperatures drop and the jubilee year approaches, Pope Francis has asked the city’s priests and religious to open any vacant facilities on their property to the homeless and those at risk of homelessness.

Noting the housing issues that could be caused by the large influx of pilgrims expected for the jubilee in 2025, the pope asked for “a courageous gesture of love” in a letter published Nov. 15.

“I want all diocesan realities that own real estate to offer their contribution to stem the housing emergency,” he said, “with signs of charity and solidarity to generate hope in the thousands of people in the city of Rome who are in a condition of housing precariousness.”

The pontiff asked all Church realities, including movements, religious orders, and diocesan churches, to offer any vacant apartments or guesthouses to those who may need them.

He recalled the jubilee year’s theme of hope, which he said “comes from love and from feeling loved,” and said the Church’s social teaching makes clear everyone’s right to land, a home, and work.

“In view of the jubilee, I have asked my diocese to give a tangible sign of attention to housing issues so that, alongside the welcome given to all the pilgrims who will be coming, forms of protection will be activated for those who do not have a home or who are in danger of losing it,” Francis said.

The jubilee, or holy year, which will formally open on Dec. 24, has impacted the ever-growing number of tourist and short-term rentals in Rome, leading to a housing shortage for Rome’s residents, according to experts.

According to some estimates, since 2018, the number of short-term apartment rentals, such as Airbnb, has grown from 17,000 to 30,000.

“Rome’s real estate market is going through a period of increasing pressure due to the scarcity of residential housing and the increase in tourist rentals,” Rome real estate expert Silvia Dri told the financial journal Milano Finanza in October.

“This situation creates difficulties for families and students, who are forced to look for solutions increasingly far from the center or to share living spaces,” she added. 

In October, Pope Francis due to the exodus of residents from the historic center.

The high influx of tourists has also had an impact on the pastoral needs of the area, which now has only 35 Catholic parishes, many with few parishioners, he wrote.