Dear St. Ann,
You were truly twice blessed
To have our blessed Mother
As your daughter
And Jesus our Savior
As your grandson.
I know that every period
Of our lives
Has its responsibilities
As well as its joys.
Today, it seems
That grandparents
Have either too little
Use or too much;
Either we are shunted aside
To do nothing,
Or we are called upon
To do everything.
Help me to know
Just where my duties lie
In my particular situation
And …
A reading from the Book of Micah
5:1-4a
The LORD says:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah,
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
From you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
Whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
(Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne,
And the rest of his brethren shall return
to the children of Israel.)
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
And they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
he shall be peace.
From the Gospel according to Matthew
1:1-16, 18-23
The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham became the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah,
whose mother was Tamar.
Perez became the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab became the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
whose mother was Rahab.
Boaz became the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth.
Obed became the father of Jesse,
Jesse the father of David the king.
David became the father of Solomon,
whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.
Solomon became the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asaph.
Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah.
Uzziah became the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amos,
Amos the father of Josiah.
Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers
at the time of the Babylonian exile.
After the Babylonian exile,
Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud.
Abiud became the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok.
Zadok became the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar became the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us."
Today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of Mary, and this feast reminds us of the beginning of her extraordinary and unique journey. She was the one who gave Christ to the world and created the possibility for Him to say to many, “Follow me.” Although she did not hear the words “follow me” in the Evangelical sense, as we know them, we could say that Mary received this word and its essential meaning from the very beginning of her life, from her early years, and especially at the decisive moment when the great Good News was announced to her. This news was difficult for that young woman, but it was great and good, for her and for all humanity. And we know how Mary responded: “Behold the servant of the Lord,” and she accepted what God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, had asked of her. She accepted. (…) So, on this solemn day, this Marian day, I hope that you will encounter Mary. I hope everyone, even those who are far off, who may have lost their way, will never let go of at least some connection with this wonderful woman, this humble woman, this servant of God who is Mary. But I also wish for you, I suggest to you, to experience your “self,” the mystery of your own human and Christian “self,” together with her: with Mary of Nazareth, with Mary of Calvary, with Mary of Pentecost, of the Upper Room, with Mary of so many places. (St. John Paul II, To the youth, Pastoral visit to Vicenza, 9 September 1991)
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CNA Staff, Sep 7, 2025 / 14:56 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV announced a historic partnership between the Vatican and two famous Chicago restaurateurs, Art Smith and Phil Stefani, to open a restaurant at Borgo Laudato Si’, a 135-acre “zero environmental impact” complex in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.
Pope Leo XIV inaugurated the project during a livestreamed ceremony on Sept. 5, viewed at a Chicago watch party attended by Stefani, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and other prominent figures.
The new restaurant will be located at Borgo Laudato Si’, which is within the historic Papal Villas, a 17th-century summer residence for popes. The site promotes Pope Francis’ teachings on environmental stewardship.
At the inauguration of Borgo Laudato Si’ village on Friday, Pope Leo XIV said it “is one of the Church’s initiatives aimed at realizing the ‘vocation to be custodians of God’s handiwork.’”
Earlier this year, a committee led by the late Pope Francis selected Smith and Stefani to oversee the unprecedented project, which will debut in spring 2026 as the estate’s sole restaurant and caterer, serving breakfast and lunch, and will include a small market.
The restaurant will serve Italian fare made from fresh, locally-sourced food with international influences, blending Chicago and Peruvian flavors in honor of Pope Leo XIV.
Ingredients will come from a solar-powered greenhouse within Borgo Laudato Si’, which is modeled after St. Peter’s Square’s colonnade, and other local sources. The complex, which includes gardens, vineyards, training programs in organic farming, pesticide-free winemaking and olive harvesting, will also offer retreats for business leaders and ecology education programs.
The ecological complex also includes state-of-the-art insulation, photovoltaic, and circular water management systems.
Smith, a James Beard Award winner and former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey, is celebrated for his work with Common Threads, a nonprofit, and currently runs Reunion and Blue Door Kitchen & Garden in Chicago.
Stefani, whose Italian restaurant empire began in 1980 with Stefani’s, operates the Stefani Restaurant Group, running Tavern on Rush, Stefani Prime, Tuscany, Castaways Beach Club, Stefani’s Bottega Italiana, and Broken English Taco Pub.
“As a Catholic and Italian, this project is a dream for my family and me,” Stefani said. “To be part of a culinary experience on Vatican property is deeply meaningful to us. But we also share this honor with the city of Chicago. We have the unique opportunity to bring a taste of home, some of that unique Chicago spirit, to a global audience.”
Johnson called Smith and Stefani “true Chicago legends” and the partnership a “striking and serendipitous win” for the city.
Another Chicago tie is Father Manuel Dorantes, appointed administrative-management director of the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education in October. Previously pastor of St. Mary of the Lake-Our Lady of Lourdes Parish on Chicago’s North Side, Dorantes joined Pope Leo XIV at Friday’s ceremony.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the wake of the second consecutive poor monthly jobs report, President Trump has announced that he will be firing math and numbers.
Read MoreJames Van Allen, who was born in Iowa on Sept. 7, 1914, showed talent and interest in science and math from an early age. A major in physics from Wesleyan College in 1935 was followed by a Ph.D. in nuclear physics in 1939. Before and after World War II – during which he developed antiaircraftContinue reading “Sept. 7, 1914: The birth of James Van Allen”
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Vatican City, Sep 7, 2025 / 06:49 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV proclaimed the Italians Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis as saints of the Church on Sunday.
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Vatican City, Sep 7, 2025 / 06:37 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV proclaimed the Italians Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis as saints of the Church on Sunday, decreeing their veneration among the Catholic faithful.
The canonizations of the two men, promulgated before an estimated 70,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, were the first of Leo’s pontificate.
The congregation, which included the family of Acutis, applauded after Pope Leo pronounced the rite of canonization and declared the two patrons of young people as the Church’s newest saints.
In his homily, the Holy Father reflected on a passage from the Book of Wisdom, which was read by Acutis’s younger brother Michele, during the Mass celebration.
“[Lord], who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?” Leo said, quoting the Old Testament passage. “This question comes after two young blesseds, Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis, were proclaimed saints.”
“This is providential because in the Book of Wisdom, this question is attributed to a young man like them: King Solomon. Upon the death of his father David, he realized that he had many things: power, wealth, health, youth, beauty, and the entire kingdom,” he continued.
Leo spoke extensively about the two new saints in his homily, departing from his predecessor’s practice. Pope Francis normally said little on such occasions about the people he had just canonized.
Like Solomon, Leo said, the new Saints Carlo and Pier Giorgio understood that friendship with Jesus and faithfully following “God’s plans” is greater than any other worldly pursuits.
God “calls us to abandon ourselves without hesitation to the adventure that he offers us with the intelligence and strength that comes from his Spirit,” Leo said Sunday.
“We can receive to the extent that we empty ourselves of the things and ideas to which we are attached, in order to listen to his word,” he continued.
The Holy Father also spoke of other young saints throughout history, including St. Francis of Assisi, who saw it was wise to prefer the love of God and others over riches.
“Today we look to Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati and Saint Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for him,” he said.
“Dear friends, Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces,” he added.
Describing their “winning formula” for holiness, the Holy Father spoke about the ordinary circumstances through which they dedicated their lives to God.
“Pier Giorgio encountered the Lord through school and church groups — Catholic Action, the Conferences of Saint Vincent, the FUCI (Italian Catholic University Federation), the Dominican Third Order — and he bore witness to God with his joy of living and of being a Christian in prayer, friendship and charity,” he said.
“Carlo, for his part, encountered Jesus in his family, thanks to his parents, Andrea and Antonia — who are here today with his two siblings, Francesca and Michele — and then at school, and above all in the sacraments celebrated in the parish community,” he added.
According to the pope, the two Italian saints cultivated their love for God and for their brothers and sisters through “simple acts” of “daily Mass, prayer, and especially Eucharistic Adoration,” which are available to every Catholic.
At the end of the Mass, which he concelebrated with approximately 2,000 other priests, Pope Leo invoked the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for peace, “especially in the Holy Land and in Ukraine and in every other land that is facing blood.”
“I invite all the authorities to listen and to put down the weapons that lead to destruction and death … they never bring peace and security,” he said.
“God does not want war. God wants peace. God sustains those who fight for peace and who follow the path of dialogue,” he added, before leading the congregation in praying the Angelus.
Leo closed out the event by making a circuit of the Square in his popemobile, waving at the crowd and stopping frequently to bless babies handed to him by his bodyguards.
One pilgrim present in the Square, Australian Caroline Khouri, told CNA the celebration was one she would “remember forever.”
“The joy in the atmosphere here is incredible,” she said.
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