Students, father killed in southern Lebanon as Tyre’s Christian quarter faces new threat #Catholic A new tragedy struck southern Lebanon after an Israeli strike killed Dr. James George Karam and his two university-aged children, Tony and Theodosia, as they returned from university exams, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Wednesday. The family, from the Christian town of Qlayaa, were traveling back from Sidon when their car was reportedly targeted, deepening fears among Christians in Lebanon’s border villages. In a statement, Qlayaa’s municipality said the road linking the southern villages to Lebanon’s capital and educational centers has become a place of danger for civilians. The killing has intensified anger among students and families who say safer arrangements are needed for exams in border areas. On the same day, an Israeli warning concerning the Christian quarter of Tyre added to the anxiety, leaving civilians feeling caught between Hezbollah’s presence and Israeli military action.French lawmakers remove bill provision requiring priests to break seal of confessionLawmakers in France voted to removed a controversial provision in a bill that would have required clergy to report information learned while administering the sacrament of confession. According to Zenit, the proposal, which engendered heated debate in French Parliament, was drafted in the aftermath of a sexual abuse scandal involving hundreds of allegations linked to a Catholic school.Canon law dictates that priests may never reveal the contents of a penitentʼs confession under pain of the Church’s most severe penalties. 9 Salesians to be beatified in Poland on June 6Nine Salesians who were killed during World War II by the German Nazis will be beatified on June 6 at the Shrine of St. John Paul II in Kraków, Poland, according to Vatican News. “Despite hunger, humiliation, and torture, they continued to support their fellow prisoners, pray, and bear witness to their faith,” the report said.  Karol Wojtyła, before he became Pope John Paul II, witnessed the arrest of six of the nine men in Krakow. Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, archbishop of Kraków, said of the connection between the former saint-pope and the soon-to-be new blesseds: "I firmly believe that the priestly vocation of St. John Paul II was also born from their martyrdom.” Kenyan bioethicist-priest issues warning about Ebola facilityA priest and bioethics scholar in Kenya has raised suspicions over a controversial proposal for a U.S.-linked Ebola quarantine and treatment facility in Kenya, arguing that “the initiative raises profound ethical questions that require broader scrutiny beyond political and diplomatic considerations.”According to ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, Father Pascal Mwakio is concerned that the 50-bed Ebola quarantine and treatment center at the Laikipia Air Base in central Kenya may involve "ethical dumping," a term used when developed nations "unethically conduct research in low-setting resource countries or third-world countries.”  Patriarch Hoyek remembered as ‘pastor who helped shape modern Lebanon’The announcement of the beatification of Maronite Patriarch Elias Hoyek has renewed attention to one of the defining Church figures in Lebanon’s modern history, according to ACI MENA. Hoyek’s legacy is closely tied to the emergence of Greater Lebanon, especially through his advocacy at the Paris Peace Conference after World War I, where he defended the right of his people to a homeland rooted in dignity, freedom, and pluralism.More than a political figure, Hoyek is remembered as a pastor who saw faith as a force for building both the human person and the nation. His life joined ecclesial service with national responsibility, leaving a witness that still speaks to Lebanon’s search for hope amid crisis.First Chaldean synod under new patriarch looks to renewal Patriarch Paul III Nona presided over the first synod of Chaldean bishops since his installation, gathering 14 bishops at the patriarchal residence in Baghdad while travel difficulties prevented the participation of bishops from the United States, ACI MENA reported. Opening the meeting with a reflection on his patriarchal motto, “Do not be afraid; only believe,” Nona called the Chaldean Church to face present challenges with hope, unity, and confidence in God’s care. The bishops discussed pastoral, administrative, and institutional priorities for the coming stage, including clergy formation, the role of the patriarchal seminary, synodal structures, the selection of bishops, and the relationship between the Church in Iraq and its diaspora communities.The synod also announced that Rome will host its next gathering following the Mass of ecclesial communion presided over by Pope Leo on Oct. 14.5 bishops forced to leave dioceses in Myanmar due to violenceA civil war has been raging in Myanmar, previously called Burma, since 2021 and five bishops from the countryʼs 17 dioceses have now had to leave their dioceses to take up residences in safer areas away from the violence. According to Fides news agency, the bishops are from the dioceses ofPekhon, Loikaw, Banmaw, Mindat, and Lashio. Bishop Felice Ba Htoo of Pekhon, in Shan state, told Fides that pastors there have endured hardship as clashes between the army and rebel groups continue to wreak havoc in the country. “We bishops have not been immune to this reality either," Ba Htoo told Fides. "Many of our parishes have been closed because they have been damaged, attacked, or because they have lost their faithful."Syrian Christian villages celebrate return after 14 years The people of Hallouz and Qastal al-Burj in Syria’s Idlib countryside marked a long-awaited return after 14 years of war and displacement, gathering with Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Athanasius Fahd of Latakia for a recent celebration that carried deep symbolic weight.Amid damaged homes and ruined churches, residents sang, danced, prayed, and raised crosses, icons, and the Syrian flag, expressing hope that permanent return will become possible once reconstruction support is available, according to ACI MENA.In his remarks, Fahd said the villages are not merely places of residence but part of a centuries-old history rooted in the land, comparing the people’s attachment to their villages to the olive and oak trees planted by generations before them.

Students, father killed in southern Lebanon as Tyre’s Christian quarter faces new threat #Catholic A new tragedy struck southern Lebanon after an Israeli strike killed Dr. James George Karam and his two university-aged children, Tony and Theodosia, as they returned from university exams, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Wednesday. The family, from the Christian town of Qlayaa, were traveling back from Sidon when their car was reportedly targeted, deepening fears among Christians in Lebanon’s border villages. In a statement, Qlayaa’s municipality said the road linking the southern villages to Lebanon’s capital and educational centers has become a place of danger for civilians. The killing has intensified anger among students and families who say safer arrangements are needed for exams in border areas. On the same day, an Israeli warning concerning the Christian quarter of Tyre added to the anxiety, leaving civilians feeling caught between Hezbollah’s presence and Israeli military action.French lawmakers remove bill provision requiring priests to break seal of confessionLawmakers in France voted to removed a controversial provision in a bill that would have required clergy to report information learned while administering the sacrament of confession. According to Zenit, the proposal, which engendered heated debate in French Parliament, was drafted in the aftermath of a sexual abuse scandal involving hundreds of allegations linked to a Catholic school.Canon law dictates that priests may never reveal the contents of a penitentʼs confession under pain of the Church’s most severe penalties. 9 Salesians to be beatified in Poland on June 6Nine Salesians who were killed during World War II by the German Nazis will be beatified on June 6 at the Shrine of St. John Paul II in Kraków, Poland, according to Vatican News. “Despite hunger, humiliation, and torture, they continued to support their fellow prisoners, pray, and bear witness to their faith,” the report said.  Karol Wojtyła, before he became Pope John Paul II, witnessed the arrest of six of the nine men in Krakow. Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, archbishop of Kraków, said of the connection between the former saint-pope and the soon-to-be new blesseds: "I firmly believe that the priestly vocation of St. John Paul II was also born from their martyrdom.” Kenyan bioethicist-priest issues warning about Ebola facilityA priest and bioethics scholar in Kenya has raised suspicions over a controversial proposal for a U.S.-linked Ebola quarantine and treatment facility in Kenya, arguing that “the initiative raises profound ethical questions that require broader scrutiny beyond political and diplomatic considerations.”According to ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, Father Pascal Mwakio is concerned that the 50-bed Ebola quarantine and treatment center at the Laikipia Air Base in central Kenya may involve "ethical dumping," a term used when developed nations "unethically conduct research in low-setting resource countries or third-world countries.”  Patriarch Hoyek remembered as ‘pastor who helped shape modern Lebanon’The announcement of the beatification of Maronite Patriarch Elias Hoyek has renewed attention to one of the defining Church figures in Lebanon’s modern history, according to ACI MENA. Hoyek’s legacy is closely tied to the emergence of Greater Lebanon, especially through his advocacy at the Paris Peace Conference after World War I, where he defended the right of his people to a homeland rooted in dignity, freedom, and pluralism.More than a political figure, Hoyek is remembered as a pastor who saw faith as a force for building both the human person and the nation. His life joined ecclesial service with national responsibility, leaving a witness that still speaks to Lebanon’s search for hope amid crisis.First Chaldean synod under new patriarch looks to renewal Patriarch Paul III Nona presided over the first synod of Chaldean bishops since his installation, gathering 14 bishops at the patriarchal residence in Baghdad while travel difficulties prevented the participation of bishops from the United States, ACI MENA reported. Opening the meeting with a reflection on his patriarchal motto, “Do not be afraid; only believe,” Nona called the Chaldean Church to face present challenges with hope, unity, and confidence in God’s care. The bishops discussed pastoral, administrative, and institutional priorities for the coming stage, including clergy formation, the role of the patriarchal seminary, synodal structures, the selection of bishops, and the relationship between the Church in Iraq and its diaspora communities.The synod also announced that Rome will host its next gathering following the Mass of ecclesial communion presided over by Pope Leo on Oct. 14.5 bishops forced to leave dioceses in Myanmar due to violenceA civil war has been raging in Myanmar, previously called Burma, since 2021 and five bishops from the countryʼs 17 dioceses have now had to leave their dioceses to take up residences in safer areas away from the violence. According to Fides news agency, the bishops are from the dioceses ofPekhon, Loikaw, Banmaw, Mindat, and Lashio. Bishop Felice Ba Htoo of Pekhon, in Shan state, told Fides that pastors there have endured hardship as clashes between the army and rebel groups continue to wreak havoc in the country. “We bishops have not been immune to this reality either," Ba Htoo told Fides. "Many of our parishes have been closed because they have been damaged, attacked, or because they have lost their faithful."Syrian Christian villages celebrate return after 14 years The people of Hallouz and Qastal al-Burj in Syria’s Idlib countryside marked a long-awaited return after 14 years of war and displacement, gathering with Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Athanasius Fahd of Latakia for a recent celebration that carried deep symbolic weight.Amid damaged homes and ruined churches, residents sang, danced, prayed, and raised crosses, icons, and the Syrian flag, expressing hope that permanent return will become possible once reconstruction support is available, according to ACI MENA.In his remarks, Fahd said the villages are not merely places of residence but part of a centuries-old history rooted in the land, comparing the people’s attachment to their villages to the olive and oak trees planted by generations before them.

Family members killed in southern Lebanon, French lawmakers protect the seal of confession, Salesian martyrs to be beatified in Poland, and more in this week’s roundup of Catholic world news.

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Vatican elevates Philippine Padre Pio shrine to international status #Catholic The Vatican has elevated the National Shrine and Parish of St. Padre Pio in Batangas, Philippines, to the rank of an international shrine, making it only the second shrine in the Philippines to receive the designation from the Holy See.The decree was issued by the Dicastery for Evangelization on May 25, coinciding with the 139th anniversary of the birth of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (also known as Padre Pio), the Capuchin saint whose spirituality continues to attract millions of devotees worldwide.The recognition places the shrine among a select group of Catholic pilgrimage sites acknowledged by the universal Church for their exceptional spiritual significance and their capacity to welcome pilgrims from around the world.Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), announced the news in a video message posted on the shrineʼs official social media page.The archbishop said he personally received the official communication from Archbishop Charles John Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines.“This recognition marks a historic milestone not only for the shrine and the Archdiocese of Lipa but also for the Church in the Philippines, as it becomes a place of pilgrimage and devotion with international significance,” Garcera said in a separate statement.The elevation follows the unanimous approval by the CBCP during its plenary assembly in July 2024, when the bishops endorsed the shrineʼs application and recommended it to the Holy See for international recognition.For Father Oscar L. Andal, rector and parish priest of the shrine, the designation represents both an honor and a mission.“This distinguished recognition is both a blessing and a responsibility,” Andal told EWTN News. “As an international shrine, we are called to welcome pilgrims from every corner of the world and continue sharing Padre Pioʼs message of prayer, trust in God, and love for humanity. We receive this honor with gratitude and humility, recognizing that it strengthens our commitment to serve the faithful and bring them closer to Christ,” he said.The priest also noted that the recognition deepens the spiritual bond between the Batangas shrine and the Sanctuary of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, where the saint spent much of his priestly ministry.A historic moment for the Philippine ChurchFather Reynante Tolentino, president of the Association of Catholic Shrines and Pilgrimages of the Philippines, described the declaration as a historic milestone not only for the Church in the Philippines but also for the entire nation.“The declaration of the National Shrine of St. Padre Pio in Batangas as an international shrine is a historic and tremendous blessing,” Tolentino said.
 
 The interior of the National Shrine and Parish of St. Padre Pio in Santo Tomas, Batangas, Philippines. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Oscar Andal, National Shrine of St. Padre Pio
 
 He noted that the shrine becomes the second international shrine in the Philippines and Southeast Asia after the International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo. Tolentino was the rector of the Cathedral and National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo, Rizal province, when it became the first national shrine in the Philippines and Southeast Asia to be elevated to international shrine status.For Tolentino, the Holy Seeʼs decision affirms the enduring devotion of Filipinos to the saint known for bearing the stigmata and for his ministry of spiritual and physical healing.“This is a clear affirmation and validation of the strong devotion of Batangueños and Filipinos in general to Padre Pio,” he said.“People continue to come because everyone seeks healing — not only physical healing but spiritual healing as well.”He emphasized that while the shrineʼs administrators and devotees supported the initiative from the beginning, the formal recommendation to Rome came through the collective discernment and approval of the CBCP.Tolentino also expressed hope that all shrines in the country — whether diocesan, national, or international — would continue to serve as centers of evangelization and places of refuge for those in need.From local devotion to international pilgrimage destinationThe history of the shrine is closely linked to the rapid growth of devotion to Padre Pio following his canonization by St. John Paul II in 2002.What began as a small chapel in Santo Tomas in 2003 gradually developed into a major pilgrimage center. It was declared an archdiocesan shrine in 2008 and elevated to national shrine status in 2015.Today, the shrine welcomes hundreds of thousands of pilgrims annually who seek healing, spiritual renewal, and a deeper encounter with Christ through the intercession of Padre Pio.The shrine houses first-class relics of the saint and has become known for its vibrant sacramental life, particularly the celebration of the Eucharist, the sacrament of reconciliation, healing Masses, and devotional activities.Every 23rd day of the month, commemorating the saintʼs death on Sept. 23, thousands gather for healing Masses and pastoral activities.The shrineʼs ministry has also extended beyond Philippine shores through pilgrimages and devotional missions in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.According to Andal, the growth of the shrine has been made possible through the dedication of clergy, religious communities, benefactors, volunteers, and countless devotees whose support has enabled the expansion of its ministries while remaining faithful to its spiritual mission.Occupying more than 17 hectares (about 42 acres), the shrine continues to implement a long-term development plan aimed at creating a more prayerful and pilgrim-centered environment.A recognition of universal significanceThe title of international shrine is reserved for a church or other sacred place that possesses particular importance for the life of the universal Church.The designation recognizes the Batangas shrine not only as a center of local devotion but also as a destination capable of serving pilgrims from across Asia and the wider world.Church leaders say the recognition highlights the universal appeal of Padre Pioʼs spirituality — a spirituality rooted in prayer, repentance, trust in divine providence, and devotion to Godʼs mercy.As an international shrine, the sanctuary is expected to strengthen its pilgrim programs, expand opportunities for spiritual formation, and foster greater collaboration with Catholic communities in promoting the life and teachings of the Capuchin saint.“As we celebrate this momentous recognition,” Andal said, “we entrust ourselves to the intercession of St. Padre Pio and renew our commitment to being a beacon of faith, hope, and charity.”“May all who visit this sacred space encounter Godʼs mercy, experience spiritual renewal, and find inspiration in the example of Padre Pioʼs holy life.”The formal declaration and presentation of the Holy Seeʼs decree will take place on Sept. 23, the liturgical memorial of St. Padre Pio, marking a new chapter in the history of one of the Philippines' most beloved pilgrimage destinations.

Vatican elevates Philippine Padre Pio shrine to international status #Catholic The Vatican has elevated the National Shrine and Parish of St. Padre Pio in Batangas, Philippines, to the rank of an international shrine, making it only the second shrine in the Philippines to receive the designation from the Holy See.The decree was issued by the Dicastery for Evangelization on May 25, coinciding with the 139th anniversary of the birth of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (also known as Padre Pio), the Capuchin saint whose spirituality continues to attract millions of devotees worldwide.The recognition places the shrine among a select group of Catholic pilgrimage sites acknowledged by the universal Church for their exceptional spiritual significance and their capacity to welcome pilgrims from around the world.Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), announced the news in a video message posted on the shrineʼs official social media page.The archbishop said he personally received the official communication from Archbishop Charles John Brown, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines.“This recognition marks a historic milestone not only for the shrine and the Archdiocese of Lipa but also for the Church in the Philippines, as it becomes a place of pilgrimage and devotion with international significance,” Garcera said in a separate statement.The elevation follows the unanimous approval by the CBCP during its plenary assembly in July 2024, when the bishops endorsed the shrineʼs application and recommended it to the Holy See for international recognition.For Father Oscar L. Andal, rector and parish priest of the shrine, the designation represents both an honor and a mission.“This distinguished recognition is both a blessing and a responsibility,” Andal told EWTN News. “As an international shrine, we are called to welcome pilgrims from every corner of the world and continue sharing Padre Pioʼs message of prayer, trust in God, and love for humanity. We receive this honor with gratitude and humility, recognizing that it strengthens our commitment to serve the faithful and bring them closer to Christ,” he said.The priest also noted that the recognition deepens the spiritual bond between the Batangas shrine and the Sanctuary of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, where the saint spent much of his priestly ministry.A historic moment for the Philippine ChurchFather Reynante Tolentino, president of the Association of Catholic Shrines and Pilgrimages of the Philippines, described the declaration as a historic milestone not only for the Church in the Philippines but also for the entire nation.“The declaration of the National Shrine of St. Padre Pio in Batangas as an international shrine is a historic and tremendous blessing,” Tolentino said. The interior of the National Shrine and Parish of St. Padre Pio in Santo Tomas, Batangas, Philippines. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Oscar Andal, National Shrine of St. Padre Pio He noted that the shrine becomes the second international shrine in the Philippines and Southeast Asia after the International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo. Tolentino was the rector of the Cathedral and National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage in Antipolo, Rizal province, when it became the first national shrine in the Philippines and Southeast Asia to be elevated to international shrine status.For Tolentino, the Holy Seeʼs decision affirms the enduring devotion of Filipinos to the saint known for bearing the stigmata and for his ministry of spiritual and physical healing.“This is a clear affirmation and validation of the strong devotion of Batangueños and Filipinos in general to Padre Pio,” he said.“People continue to come because everyone seeks healing — not only physical healing but spiritual healing as well.”He emphasized that while the shrineʼs administrators and devotees supported the initiative from the beginning, the formal recommendation to Rome came through the collective discernment and approval of the CBCP.Tolentino also expressed hope that all shrines in the country — whether diocesan, national, or international — would continue to serve as centers of evangelization and places of refuge for those in need.From local devotion to international pilgrimage destinationThe history of the shrine is closely linked to the rapid growth of devotion to Padre Pio following his canonization by St. John Paul II in 2002.What began as a small chapel in Santo Tomas in 2003 gradually developed into a major pilgrimage center. It was declared an archdiocesan shrine in 2008 and elevated to national shrine status in 2015.Today, the shrine welcomes hundreds of thousands of pilgrims annually who seek healing, spiritual renewal, and a deeper encounter with Christ through the intercession of Padre Pio.The shrine houses first-class relics of the saint and has become known for its vibrant sacramental life, particularly the celebration of the Eucharist, the sacrament of reconciliation, healing Masses, and devotional activities.Every 23rd day of the month, commemorating the saintʼs death on Sept. 23, thousands gather for healing Masses and pastoral activities.The shrineʼs ministry has also extended beyond Philippine shores through pilgrimages and devotional missions in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.According to Andal, the growth of the shrine has been made possible through the dedication of clergy, religious communities, benefactors, volunteers, and countless devotees whose support has enabled the expansion of its ministries while remaining faithful to its spiritual mission.Occupying more than 17 hectares (about 42 acres), the shrine continues to implement a long-term development plan aimed at creating a more prayerful and pilgrim-centered environment.A recognition of universal significanceThe title of international shrine is reserved for a church or other sacred place that possesses particular importance for the life of the universal Church.The designation recognizes the Batangas shrine not only as a center of local devotion but also as a destination capable of serving pilgrims from across Asia and the wider world.Church leaders say the recognition highlights the universal appeal of Padre Pioʼs spirituality — a spirituality rooted in prayer, repentance, trust in divine providence, and devotion to Godʼs mercy.As an international shrine, the sanctuary is expected to strengthen its pilgrim programs, expand opportunities for spiritual formation, and foster greater collaboration with Catholic communities in promoting the life and teachings of the Capuchin saint.“As we celebrate this momentous recognition,” Andal said, “we entrust ourselves to the intercession of St. Padre Pio and renew our commitment to being a beacon of faith, hope, and charity.”“May all who visit this sacred space encounter Godʼs mercy, experience spiritual renewal, and find inspiration in the example of Padre Pioʼs holy life.”The formal declaration and presentation of the Holy Seeʼs decree will take place on Sept. 23, the liturgical memorial of St. Padre Pio, marking a new chapter in the history of one of the Philippines' most beloved pilgrimage destinations.

Only the second International Shrine in the Philippines, the Batangas sanctuary will mark its new status with a formal declaration on the saint’s Sept. 23 memorial.

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Educators weigh benefits and challenges of AI in the classroom – #Catholic – Educators are weighing the benefits and drawbacks of artificial intelligence (AI) and exploring how to successfully integrate the technology into the classroom.As Pope Leo XIV laid out in Magnifica Humanitas, AI must be used in a way that furthers human development, especially in the formational years of education.Educators are using AI tools to help them grade papers and offer extensive research capabilities, but they are simultaneously noting the need for community and connections that no technology can provide.Fernanda Psihas, a professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, said the technology tools have not replaced human instructors and human connection is still the key to success in the classroom.Concerned about the ethical use of AI, Psihas said it is necessary to preserve the “human element” to enhance the future of education.“We obviously need to prepare the students for a world with AI,” she told EWTN News. “That means learning tools, but that also means practicing proper discernment.”The data science and physics professor said it would be “dangerous” for teachers to keep teaching as if nothing had changed.“If instructors are not AI-literate, then classrooms are going to run the risk of drifting into having students faking competence and avoiding the actual learning,” she said.Taking a “values-first approach” to AI, Psihas said she tries to keep herself and her students accountable when it comes to its use.“Use it to increase efficiency so you can focus on the learning, but if you do any more than that, youʼre actually destroying the learning process,” she said.Protecting academic integrityAware that “cognitive offloading” to AI tools could disrupt the learning process of students, Psihas said certain AI tools can be useful to protect academic integrity.“I even use AI to AI-proof my own assignments,” she said. “Iʼll run my assignments through AI to see an example of an AI response … if something in my classroom is AI-generated, my students know about it, and I kind of expect the same for my students.”While AI helps Psihas accurately grade multiple-choice tests and produce datasets, she said it cannot replace her ability to engage with students through mentorship.“Education is a lot more than just skills and information-transfer, but itʼs actually the formation of the whole person,” she said. “There’s guidance. You guide and nurture the students’ curiosity and their skills.”It “is about turning knowledge into wisdom and turning skills into virtue and character,” she said.Similarly, Notre Dame Law School professor and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences member Paolo Carozza said we must ensure technology “is orienting us towards the fundamental understanding of reality, including the reality of ourselves and what weʼre made for or not,” Carozza told EWTN News.Pope Leo makes this clear in Magnifica Humanitas, that at the root it is “an integrated problem of cooperating with one another to rebuild our city that we want to live in, in the future together.”Education “plays a central role in this cooperative enterprise because weʼre forming the individuals that are then going to be putting the bricks together in the future,” he said.Advantages and disadvantages are ‘well mapped’AI’s “advantages and disadvantages are pretty well mapped,” Carozza said. AI can “positively enhance the reach of peopleʼs research and the knowledge that they can draw.”In contrast, “every educator, at every level, is seeing the really potentially drastic negative consequences of cognitive offloading and de-skilling of students' basic capacities to write and to think critically.”The “deeper challenge” for educators is “providing our students with a fundamental human formation that allows them to really think about what their personal relationship to technology is in their lives and how it affects it.”The positive and negative impacts of AI in education also differ based on age and must be addressed accordingly, said An Chih Cheng, professor at DePaul Universityʼs College of Education.“The pope warned about the danger of early exposure to digital technology,” Cheng told EWTN News.Children spending time watching screens “is not particularly conducive” for their “mental and cognitive development.”A lot of screen time for children “is passive learning” and is “devoid of social aspects that are critical for communal development,” he said.“Communality is a critical part of the pope’s idea that we are not by ourselves” and “we are all interconnected as one,” he said. Going “to the screen and being isolated” is “harmful for your own internality, your own individual growth, and also bad for communal development.”There are also risks of “digital harm” for teenagers, especially with social media use, which has “caused harm to individual teenagers in particular, even suicide,” Cheng said.Then in higher education, new technologies are often being used with “little guidance.”“For example, California [State University] signed a $13 million contract with Open AI to allow students and teachers to use ChatGPT,” he said. “But … if you just have the chatbot open there, it is absolutely not helpful for meaningful learning.”The universities are “kind of just buying these tools, convinced or led by the tech industry, thinking that they could deliver some kind of learning.”“But learning, as the pope has always said, is an inquiry, a truth-seeking endeavor that requires patience. You cannot just have an immediate answer like the prompt that gives an immediate answer,” he said.“You need to put in all the effort to seek out the truth. Thatʼs how we mentally develop — acquiring the truth.”Reimagining education in the age of AITo help students understand both the risks and benefits of AI, Carozza and Cheng are incorporating AI into their students' studies.In his seminar on law and technology, Carozza had his students take a new approach when studying their weekly scholarly works.“In addition to reading it directly and engaging in their own critical analysis of it, I actually required them to upload those papers into an AI tool and use the tool to analyze it,” he said.Then “they had to write … an essay comparing their analysis to the AI analysis, reflecting on what the use of AI was doing to their own cognitive abilities and processes.”This allowed the students “to reflect every week” and ask: “Is this displacing my ability to think? Is it helping it? How can I make it more the latter than the former?”“It was great because by the end of the semester they really had thought very deeply, in a continuous way, about their relationship to technology, what the appropriate limits were for themselves, and what to be cautious about,” he said.“That sort of reflection on who we are as knowing subjects, as free people — thatʼs exactly what the encyclical is asking us to do,” Carozza said.Cheng is also incorporating the technology into studies in his research method class where “AI can be used to help brainstorm some research questions,” he said.“More importantly,” AI “can help make things more accessible, because some of the statistical software is very expensive to purchase,” he aid. “I incorporate … statistical analysis that they can do at home. These tools are much [more] affordable than the super-expensive commercial software."Cheng also utilizes visual AI simulations so students “can see these virtually enriched environments,” which is “beneficial for preservice teachers [student teachers] to understand child development."The pope’s call is correct, that it is “not about using AI to replace teachers or professors but rather to incorporate AI in a way that can further human development and in a way that delivers … spiritual attainment,” Cheng said.

Educators weigh benefits and challenges of AI in the classroom – #Catholic – Educators are weighing the benefits and drawbacks of artificial intelligence (AI) and exploring how to successfully integrate the technology into the classroom.As Pope Leo XIV laid out in Magnifica Humanitas, AI must be used in a way that furthers human development, especially in the formational years of education.Educators are using AI tools to help them grade papers and offer extensive research capabilities, but they are simultaneously noting the need for community and connections that no technology can provide.Fernanda Psihas, a professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, said the technology tools have not replaced human instructors and human connection is still the key to success in the classroom.Concerned about the ethical use of AI, Psihas said it is necessary to preserve the “human element” to enhance the future of education.“We obviously need to prepare the students for a world with AI,” she told EWTN News. “That means learning tools, but that also means practicing proper discernment.”The data science and physics professor said it would be “dangerous” for teachers to keep teaching as if nothing had changed.“If instructors are not AI-literate, then classrooms are going to run the risk of drifting into having students faking competence and avoiding the actual learning,” she said.Taking a “values-first approach” to AI, Psihas said she tries to keep herself and her students accountable when it comes to its use.“Use it to increase efficiency so you can focus on the learning, but if you do any more than that, youʼre actually destroying the learning process,” she said.Protecting academic integrityAware that “cognitive offloading” to AI tools could disrupt the learning process of students, Psihas said certain AI tools can be useful to protect academic integrity.“I even use AI to AI-proof my own assignments,” she said. “Iʼll run my assignments through AI to see an example of an AI response … if something in my classroom is AI-generated, my students know about it, and I kind of expect the same for my students.”While AI helps Psihas accurately grade multiple-choice tests and produce datasets, she said it cannot replace her ability to engage with students through mentorship.“Education is a lot more than just skills and information-transfer, but itʼs actually the formation of the whole person,” she said. “There’s guidance. You guide and nurture the students’ curiosity and their skills.”It “is about turning knowledge into wisdom and turning skills into virtue and character,” she said.Similarly, Notre Dame Law School professor and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences member Paolo Carozza said we must ensure technology “is orienting us towards the fundamental understanding of reality, including the reality of ourselves and what weʼre made for or not,” Carozza told EWTN News.Pope Leo makes this clear in Magnifica Humanitas, that at the root it is “an integrated problem of cooperating with one another to rebuild our city that we want to live in, in the future together.”Education “plays a central role in this cooperative enterprise because weʼre forming the individuals that are then going to be putting the bricks together in the future,” he said.Advantages and disadvantages are ‘well mapped’AI’s “advantages and disadvantages are pretty well mapped,” Carozza said. AI can “positively enhance the reach of peopleʼs research and the knowledge that they can draw.”In contrast, “every educator, at every level, is seeing the really potentially drastic negative consequences of cognitive offloading and de-skilling of students' basic capacities to write and to think critically.”The “deeper challenge” for educators is “providing our students with a fundamental human formation that allows them to really think about what their personal relationship to technology is in their lives and how it affects it.”The positive and negative impacts of AI in education also differ based on age and must be addressed accordingly, said An Chih Cheng, professor at DePaul Universityʼs College of Education.“The pope warned about the danger of early exposure to digital technology,” Cheng told EWTN News.Children spending time watching screens “is not particularly conducive” for their “mental and cognitive development.”A lot of screen time for children “is passive learning” and is “devoid of social aspects that are critical for communal development,” he said.“Communality is a critical part of the pope’s idea that we are not by ourselves” and “we are all interconnected as one,” he said. Going “to the screen and being isolated” is “harmful for your own internality, your own individual growth, and also bad for communal development.”There are also risks of “digital harm” for teenagers, especially with social media use, which has “caused harm to individual teenagers in particular, even suicide,” Cheng said.Then in higher education, new technologies are often being used with “little guidance.”“For example, California [State University] signed a $13 million contract with Open AI to allow students and teachers to use ChatGPT,” he said. “But … if you just have the chatbot open there, it is absolutely not helpful for meaningful learning.”The universities are “kind of just buying these tools, convinced or led by the tech industry, thinking that they could deliver some kind of learning.”“But learning, as the pope has always said, is an inquiry, a truth-seeking endeavor that requires patience. You cannot just have an immediate answer like the prompt that gives an immediate answer,” he said.“You need to put in all the effort to seek out the truth. Thatʼs how we mentally develop — acquiring the truth.”Reimagining education in the age of AITo help students understand both the risks and benefits of AI, Carozza and Cheng are incorporating AI into their students' studies.In his seminar on law and technology, Carozza had his students take a new approach when studying their weekly scholarly works.“In addition to reading it directly and engaging in their own critical analysis of it, I actually required them to upload those papers into an AI tool and use the tool to analyze it,” he said.Then “they had to write … an essay comparing their analysis to the AI analysis, reflecting on what the use of AI was doing to their own cognitive abilities and processes.”This allowed the students “to reflect every week” and ask: “Is this displacing my ability to think? Is it helping it? How can I make it more the latter than the former?”“It was great because by the end of the semester they really had thought very deeply, in a continuous way, about their relationship to technology, what the appropriate limits were for themselves, and what to be cautious about,” he said.“That sort of reflection on who we are as knowing subjects, as free people — thatʼs exactly what the encyclical is asking us to do,” Carozza said.Cheng is also incorporating the technology into studies in his research method class where “AI can be used to help brainstorm some research questions,” he said.“More importantly,” AI “can help make things more accessible, because some of the statistical software is very expensive to purchase,” he aid. “I incorporate … statistical analysis that they can do at home. These tools are much [more] affordable than the super-expensive commercial software."Cheng also utilizes visual AI simulations so students “can see these virtually enriched environments,” which is “beneficial for preservice teachers [student teachers] to understand child development."The pope’s call is correct, that it is “not about using AI to replace teachers or professors but rather to incorporate AI in a way that can further human development and in a way that delivers … spiritual attainment,” Cheng said.

Magnifica Humanitas offers educators guidelines and tools on how to approach AI while prioritizing human dignity.

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New 30-day Catholic summer challenge helps families grow in faith at home – #Catholic – Parents and their children are being encouraged to stay rooted in the faith during the summer months by taking part in the 30 Days to an Intentional Catholic Summer program from Spirit Juice Kids.Spirit Juice Kids is best known for its YouTube Channel, Juice Box, where it creates faith-based content for children, specifically targeting 3- to 6-year-olds. With the mission to “make kids fall in love with Jesus,” the team at Spirit Juice was inspired to create a simple program that could be implemented into a family’s daily routine and foster intentional time spent with God.The free version of the summer program includes a daily reflection, a simple prayer, a family activity, and a Juice Box video. The theme for the program is focused on the domestic life of Jesus — which include topics such as holiness in ordinary days, trusting God in uncertainty, obedience, and hiddenness, and building a domestic church.If families want to dive deeper, they can sign up for the paid version where they will receive daily reflection videos with Father Tim Anastos, the chaplain at the University of Illinois-Chicago and spiritual director for Spirit Juice Studios, and Julia Jacks, director at Spirit Juice Studios, as well as activity sheets — in addition to the items included in the free version.“We wanted to create something really simple that could be implemented into every day because the work that parents do at home, the work that we do here in the cleaning and the taking care of kids is holy, sacred work,” Jacks told EWTN News in an interview. “And itʼs not that we have to go out and find Jesus somewhere else or we need to go somewhere to have God with us. He is right here in this moment. We just have to be more intentional about it.”
 
 Julia Jacks and Father Tim Anastos record a video for the 30 Days to an Intentional Catholic Summer program from Spirit Juice Kids. | Credit: Spirit Juice Kids + Juice Box
 
 Jacks explained that the theme was chosen because those hidden years can be seen as the time that “forms Jesus' life — he was holy from the beginning but he continued being formed in that domestic holy life, the type of life that weʼre all leading at home, too.”She added that the activities in the challenge are “little, simple activities that you can do as youʼre putting the dishes away from breakfast or as youʼre folding up a basket of laundry, and itʼs supposed to fit naturally into your day — whether it may be bedtime or bath time.”“So itʼs not meant to do more. Itʼs not meant to add more to your plate. Itʼs meant to naturally integrate into your everyday life and just find God where you are and in what youʼre doing,” Jacks said.While the 30-day challenge officially launches June 8, participants can begin anytime. It can also be completed at their own pace.“Weʼre trying to help parents not necessarily be perfect but strive for consistency and participation,” Jacks said.The mother of three shared that there’s great importance behind parents taking part in these faith-based activities with their children.“Our kids really look to us for their faith formation. It could be hard for them to maybe conceptualize exactly who God is, who Jesus is, and they look to us to guide them,” she explained.“I can tell you my boys, they repeat everything I do and say to a fault sometimes. So what a great opportunity for us to have them mimic our faith habits, our prayers, reading our Scripture, being grateful, things like that, and they’ll learn that through mimicking us, through learning from us,” Jacks added.She said she hopes families who participate in the summer challenge will “build small, meaningful rhythms of faith during a season — particularly with the summer faith challenge — that could otherwise be a little bit challenging.”"Weʼre just hoping to inspire parents and families to participate in these daily rhythms that hopefully they could take on into the school year, into the fall and winter and spring months,” she said. “So, itʼs not meant just to be 30 days and done; itʼs supposed to help put you on a track of thinking and participating in your faith every single day in small meaningful ways.”

New 30-day Catholic summer challenge helps families grow in faith at home – #Catholic – Parents and their children are being encouraged to stay rooted in the faith during the summer months by taking part in the 30 Days to an Intentional Catholic Summer program from Spirit Juice Kids.Spirit Juice Kids is best known for its YouTube Channel, Juice Box, where it creates faith-based content for children, specifically targeting 3- to 6-year-olds. With the mission to “make kids fall in love with Jesus,” the team at Spirit Juice was inspired to create a simple program that could be implemented into a family’s daily routine and foster intentional time spent with God.The free version of the summer program includes a daily reflection, a simple prayer, a family activity, and a Juice Box video. The theme for the program is focused on the domestic life of Jesus — which include topics such as holiness in ordinary days, trusting God in uncertainty, obedience, and hiddenness, and building a domestic church.If families want to dive deeper, they can sign up for the paid version where they will receive daily reflection videos with Father Tim Anastos, the chaplain at the University of Illinois-Chicago and spiritual director for Spirit Juice Studios, and Julia Jacks, director at Spirit Juice Studios, as well as activity sheets — in addition to the items included in the free version.“We wanted to create something really simple that could be implemented into every day because the work that parents do at home, the work that we do here in the cleaning and the taking care of kids is holy, sacred work,” Jacks told EWTN News in an interview. “And itʼs not that we have to go out and find Jesus somewhere else or we need to go somewhere to have God with us. He is right here in this moment. We just have to be more intentional about it.” Julia Jacks and Father Tim Anastos record a video for the 30 Days to an Intentional Catholic Summer program from Spirit Juice Kids. | Credit: Spirit Juice Kids + Juice Box Jacks explained that the theme was chosen because those hidden years can be seen as the time that “forms Jesus' life — he was holy from the beginning but he continued being formed in that domestic holy life, the type of life that weʼre all leading at home, too.”She added that the activities in the challenge are “little, simple activities that you can do as youʼre putting the dishes away from breakfast or as youʼre folding up a basket of laundry, and itʼs supposed to fit naturally into your day — whether it may be bedtime or bath time.”“So itʼs not meant to do more. Itʼs not meant to add more to your plate. Itʼs meant to naturally integrate into your everyday life and just find God where you are and in what youʼre doing,” Jacks said.While the 30-day challenge officially launches June 8, participants can begin anytime. It can also be completed at their own pace.“Weʼre trying to help parents not necessarily be perfect but strive for consistency and participation,” Jacks said.The mother of three shared that there’s great importance behind parents taking part in these faith-based activities with their children.“Our kids really look to us for their faith formation. It could be hard for them to maybe conceptualize exactly who God is, who Jesus is, and they look to us to guide them,” she explained.“I can tell you my boys, they repeat everything I do and say to a fault sometimes. So what a great opportunity for us to have them mimic our faith habits, our prayers, reading our Scripture, being grateful, things like that, and they’ll learn that through mimicking us, through learning from us,” Jacks added.She said she hopes families who participate in the summer challenge will “build small, meaningful rhythms of faith during a season — particularly with the summer faith challenge — that could otherwise be a little bit challenging.”"Weʼre just hoping to inspire parents and families to participate in these daily rhythms that hopefully they could take on into the school year, into the fall and winter and spring months,” she said. “So, itʼs not meant just to be 30 days and done; itʼs supposed to help put you on a track of thinking and participating in your faith every single day in small meaningful ways.”

Spirit Juice Kids is best known for its YouTube Channel, Juice Box, where it creates faith-based content for children, specifically targeting 3- to 6-year-olds.

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Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.  June 5: Check in on Mars Look east around 11 P.M. local daylight time, and you’ll see three bright stars forming a triangle — this is the famous Summer Triangle asterism, which flies high overhead in the middle of short summer nights.Continue reading “The Sky Today on Saturday, June 6: Albireo returns”

The post The Sky Today on Saturday, June 6: Albireo returns appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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First Steps: America’s Grueling Second Spacewalk – A year after America’s first spacewalk, Gemini IX-A Eugene Cernan stepped outside his spacecraft for an ambitious extravehicular activity scheduled for 167 minutes. The challenges he faced led NASA to reevaluate plans, equipment, and training for future spacewalks.

A year after America’s first spacewalk, Gemini IX-A Eugene Cernan stepped outside his spacecraft for an ambitious extravehicular activity scheduled for 167 minutes. The challenges he faced led NASA to reevaluate plans, equipment, and training for future spacewalks.

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 06 June 2026 – A reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to Timothy 4:1-8 Beloved: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.For I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.From the Gospel according to Mark 12:38-44 In the course of his teaching Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.  Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”The scene is set in the temple of Jerusalem, precisely in the place where people are tossing coins as offerings. There are many rich people putting in large sums, and there is a poor woman, a widow, who contributes only two bits, two small coins. Jesus observes the woman carefully and calls the disciples’ attention to the sharp contrast of the scene. The wealthy contributed with great ostentation what for them was superfluous, while the widow, Jesus says, “put in everything she had, her whole living” (v. 44). For this reason, Jesus says, she gave the most of all. Because of her extreme poverty, she could have offered a single coin to the temple and kept the other for herself. But she did not want to give just half to God; she divested herself of everything. In her poverty she understood that in having God, she had everything; she felt completely loved by him and in turn loved him completely. What a beautiful example this little old woman offers us! Today Jesus also tells us that the benchmark is not quantity but fullness. There is a difference between quantity and fullness. You can have a lot of money and still be empty. There is no fullness in your heart. This week, think about the difference there is between quantity and fullness. It is not a matter of the wallet, but of the heart. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 8 November 2015)

A reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to Timothy
4:1-8

Beloved:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who will judge the living and the dead,
and by his appearing and his kingly power:
proclaim the word;
be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient;
convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.
For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine
but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity,
will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth
and will be diverted to myths.
But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances;
put up with hardship;
perform the work of an evangelist;
fulfill your ministry.For I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well;
I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.

From the Gospel according to Mark
12:38-44

In the course of his teaching Jesus said,
“Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext,
recite lengthy prayers.
They will receive a very severe condemnation.”He sat down opposite the treasury
and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.
Many rich people put in large sums.
A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. 
Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them,
“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more
than all the other contributors to the treasury.
For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,
her whole livelihood.”

The scene is set in the temple of Jerusalem, precisely in the place where people are tossing coins as offerings. There are many rich people putting in large sums, and there is a poor woman, a widow, who contributes only two bits, two small coins. Jesus observes the woman carefully and calls the disciples’ attention to the sharp contrast of the scene. The wealthy contributed with great ostentation what for them was superfluous, while the widow, Jesus says, “put in everything she had, her whole living” (v. 44). For this reason, Jesus says, she gave the most of all. Because of her extreme poverty, she could have offered a single coin to the temple and kept the other for herself. But she did not want to give just half to God; she divested herself of everything. In her poverty she understood that in having God, she had everything; she felt completely loved by him and in turn loved him completely. What a beautiful example this little old woman offers us! Today Jesus also tells us that the benchmark is not quantity but fullness. There is a difference between quantity and fullness. You can have a lot of money and still be empty. There is no fullness in your heart. This week, think about the difference there is between quantity and fullness. It is not a matter of the wallet, but of the heart. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 8 November 2015)

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Thankful new Rockaway deacon preaches at first Mass #Catholic - In the afternoon of May 30, Deacon Elmer Lopez Maximo preached for the first time at a Thanksgiving Mass at his home parish, Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rockaway, N.J. in gratitude for his ordination as a permanent deacon of the Paterson Diocese, N.J.“ He preached that Saturday Mass and three Sunday Masses the following day for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.
On the morning of May 30, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney ordained Deacon Maximo and seven other men as permanent deacons of the diocese during a Mass steeped in traditions of the Church at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, N.J.
Deacon Maximo, 58, was born and raised in the Philippines. A Sacred Heart parishioner for 28 years, he has served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, a lector, a liturgical coordinator, and a parish leader, and he has also served on the Rosary Society, the Pro-Life ministry, the Finance Board, and the Pastoral Council.
At the diocesan level, Maximo serves as president of the Diocesan Commission for Catholic Filipino Ministries, which supports the faith formation and community life of Filipinos in the diocese.

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Father Cerilo Javinez, administrator of Sacred Heart and a native of the Philippines, celebrated the Mass. Deacon Maximo and Deacon Richard Van Glahn, also of Sacred Heart, assisted.
In his homily, Deacon Maximo said, “On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and on this sacred day of my ordination, I give thanks to God for calling me, sustaining me, and forming me through this beautiful village of faith.”
“My prayer is that my ministry may reflect the life of the Trinity and the meaning of the cross: a heart lifted to God in prayer and holiness, and arms stretched out to others in charity and service,” Deacon Maximo said, adding a few words in Tagalog. “This is the love I desire to live. This is the love I pray to serve, a love that comes from God and reaches out to all,” he said.
During the Mass, Deacon Maximo offered flowers in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary as part of the “Flores de Maria” tradition in the Philippines, celebrated in May.
Deacon Maximo also credited Sacred Heart’s former pastor, Father Pawel Bala, as “a tremendous source of support and encouragement throughout my diaconate journey.”
In his homily, Deacon Maximo also told the Sacred Heart community that, as their servant-deacon, he offers “his life in service to this mystery of love: to proclaim the Gospel, to serve at the altar, and to reach out especially to those who feel forgotten, lonely, or unseen.”
BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI
 [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]  

Thankful new Rockaway deacon preaches at first Mass #Catholic – In the afternoon of May 30, Deacon Elmer Lopez Maximo preached for the first time at a Thanksgiving Mass at his home parish, Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rockaway, N.J. in gratitude for his ordination as a permanent deacon of the Paterson Diocese, N.J.“ He preached that Saturday Mass and three Sunday Masses the following day for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. On the morning of May 30, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney ordained Deacon Maximo and seven other men as permanent deacons of the diocese during a Mass steeped in traditions of the Church at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, N.J. Deacon Maximo, 58, was born and raised in the Philippines. A Sacred Heart parishioner for 28 years, he has served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, a lector, a liturgical coordinator, and a parish leader, and he has also served on the Rosary Society, the Pro-Life ministry, the Finance Board, and the Pastoral Council. At the diocesan level, Maximo serves as president of the Diocesan Commission for Catholic Filipino Ministries, which supports the faith formation and community life of Filipinos in the diocese. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Father Cerilo Javinez, administrator of Sacred Heart and a native of the Philippines, celebrated the Mass. Deacon Maximo and Deacon Richard Van Glahn, also of Sacred Heart, assisted. In his homily, Deacon Maximo said, “On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and on this sacred day of my ordination, I give thanks to God for calling me, sustaining me, and forming me through this beautiful village of faith.” “My prayer is that my ministry may reflect the life of the Trinity and the meaning of the cross: a heart lifted to God in prayer and holiness, and arms stretched out to others in charity and service,” Deacon Maximo said, adding a few words in Tagalog. “This is the love I desire to live. This is the love I pray to serve, a love that comes from God and reaches out to all,” he said. During the Mass, Deacon Maximo offered flowers in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary as part of the “Flores de Maria” tradition in the Philippines, celebrated in May. Deacon Maximo also credited Sacred Heart’s former pastor, Father Pawel Bala, as “a tremendous source of support and encouragement throughout my diaconate journey.” In his homily, Deacon Maximo also told the Sacred Heart community that, as their servant-deacon, he offers “his life in service to this mystery of love: to proclaim the Gospel, to serve at the altar, and to reach out especially to those who feel forgotten, lonely, or unseen.” BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]  

Thankful new Rockaway deacon preaches at first Mass #Catholic –

In the afternoon of May 30, Deacon Elmer Lopez Maximo preached for the first time at a Thanksgiving Mass at his home parish, Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rockaway, N.J. in gratitude for his ordination as a permanent deacon of the Paterson Diocese, N.J.“ He preached that Saturday Mass and three Sunday Masses the following day for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.

On the morning of May 30, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney ordained Deacon Maximo and seven other men as permanent deacons of the diocese during a Mass steeped in traditions of the Church at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, N.J.

Deacon Maximo, 58, was born and raised in the Philippines. A Sacred Heart parishioner for 28 years, he has served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, a lector, a liturgical coordinator, and a parish leader, and he has also served on the Rosary Society, the Pro-Life ministry, the Finance Board, and the Pastoral Council.

At the diocesan level, Maximo serves as president of the Diocesan Commission for Catholic Filipino Ministries, which supports the faith formation and community life of Filipinos in the diocese.


Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Father Cerilo Javinez, administrator of Sacred Heart and a native of the Philippines, celebrated the Mass. Deacon Maximo and Deacon Richard Van Glahn, also of Sacred Heart, assisted.

In his homily, Deacon Maximo said, “On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and on this sacred day of my ordination, I give thanks to God for calling me, sustaining me, and forming me through this beautiful village of faith.”

“My prayer is that my ministry may reflect the life of the Trinity and the meaning of the cross: a heart lifted to God in prayer and holiness, and arms stretched out to others in charity and service,” Deacon Maximo said, adding a few words in Tagalog. “This is the love I desire to live. This is the love I pray to serve, a love that comes from God and reaches out to all,” he said.

During the Mass, Deacon Maximo offered flowers in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary as part of the “Flores de Maria” tradition in the Philippines, celebrated in May.

Deacon Maximo also credited Sacred Heart’s former pastor, Father Pawel Bala, as “a tremendous source of support and encouragement throughout my diaconate journey.”

In his homily, Deacon Maximo also told the Sacred Heart community that, as their servant-deacon, he offers “his life in service to this mystery of love: to proclaim the Gospel, to serve at the altar, and to reach out especially to those who feel forgotten, lonely, or unseen.”

BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI

In the afternoon of May 30, Deacon Elmer Lopez Maximo preached for the first time at a Thanksgiving Mass at his home parish, Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rockaway, N.J. in gratitude for his ordination as a permanent deacon of the Paterson Diocese, N.J.“ He preached that Saturday Mass and three Sunday Masses the following day for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. On the morning of May 30, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney ordained Deacon Maximo and seven other men as permanent deacons of the diocese during a Mass steeped in traditions of the Church at the Cathedral of

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Well-traveled Pope Leo knows Spain better than many Spaniards, author says – #Catholic – Juan Vicente Boo, the Vatican correspondent for the Spanish newspaper ABC for 23 years, says the current pontiff is, among the popes of the last five centuries, the one who “knows Spain best,” as it is a country he visited on nearly 50 occasions before becoming pope.The first of his trips to Spain dates back to July 1982. Robert Prevost was 26 years old at the time and had been a priest for just over a month and a half. Together with several companions from St. Monica International College run by the Augustinians in Rome, he embarked on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in a van, a journey not without its adventures. They ended up sleeping in tents and enjoying the Spanish landscape and cuisine.“It was a holy year, and he traveled as a pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela with four other Augustinians in a van. They spent a month and a half traveling, taking the opportunity to visit Ávila and see the sites associated with St. Teresa. In Galicia, after gaining the jubilee indulgence, they traveled on to Pontevedra, Vigo, Ourense, and Lugo. And then they headed south to Madrid,” Boo told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.That very same year — months later, in October — Spain would receive a visit from St. John Paul II. Since then, Father Robert Prevost has cultivated his relationship with Spain, to the point of having visited at least 34 cities.“His knowledge of Spain is quite extensive and not merely because of what he has witnessed firsthand, but because during his time as a missionary in Peru, first in Chulucanas and later in Trujillo, and subsequently as a bishop in Chiclayo, he saw directly what the Spanish had built in terms of culture and evangelization,” explained the veteran correspondent, who just published the book “Leo XIV: The Pope of the New Era” (Espasa Publishing, currently available only in Spanish).Boo described the pope’s personality, which entirely shapes his style of governance, through what he terms “the triads”: the convergence of three cultures, three educational backgrounds, and three dimensions related to his life experiences. “He has the best of three cultures: the American culture of Chicago and the Midwest, the most humane, serene, and European in the United States; the Latin American culture of Peru, which expands the heart especially if you’re serving people with problems, as was the case for Father Robert there in the different stages of service during 22 years; and the best of Roman culture, because he came to the Italian capital as a student in canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas and lived at the Augustinian General House near the Vatican.Added to those cultural roots are three distinct educational backgrounds: a degree in mathematics from Villanova University, a background in theology from the Chicago Theological Union, and legal training, specifically a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, the Angelicum.The third triad is his life journey: a strong missionary spirit, extensive experience as an international traveler, and a profound understanding of the inner workings of the Holy See. “For 12 years, as prior general of the Augustinians, he resided directly across from the Vatican and was a firsthand witness to its inner life. Subsequently, Pope Francis progressively appointed him to various bodies of the Curia, until he eventually served in as many as nine dicasteries including the Commission for Vatican City State, a level of involvement rarely seen in the career of a single prelate,” Boo noted.Visits to Spain during his time as prior of the AugustiniansFrom 2001 to 2013, during his time as prior general, Prevost traveled across Spain from north to south. Visits taking place from 2002 to 2011, in addition to later trips, are documented. These journeys took him from Navarre to Andalusia (north to south), with stops in cities such as Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Madrid, and Valladolid.“My impression is that he knows Spain much better than the vast majority of Spaniards, because he has visited more than 30 cities, whereas many Spaniards havenʼt even visited half that number,” Boo explained.Many of these journeys were undertaken for pastoral, educational, and community visits for the Order of St. Augustine. In 2002, he visited Oropesa in Toledo province for the canonization of Alonso de Orozco, as well as the city of Talavera de la Reina and León, the city where the centenary of the Augustinian school was being celebrated. From then on, Valladolid became one of his bases of operations; he stayed at the Royal Seminary of the Philippine Augustinians and traveled from there to monasteries such as the one in Madrigal de las Altas Torres in Ávila province.In 2003 he traveled to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where he stayed in the Augustinian community in the town of Puerto de la Cruz. That same year he also visited the Sant Roc neighborhood in the town of Badalona, ​​one of the most disadvantaged areas of metro Barcelona, to which he would later return. In 2011 he also made a private visit to the Montserrat monastery.In 2004 he traveled to Most Holy Trinity Monastery in Aldaz in Navarra province, and the Augustinian school in Calahorra in La Rioja province. Years later, in 2015, he returned to Pamplona as bishop of Chiclayo.His visits continued in 2005 with stays in Zaragoza and Valencia, where he visited the Basilica of the Virgin of the Forsaken and the cathedral. Two years later, in 2007, he toured the Balearic Islands and several Andalusian cities: Seville, Huelva, Cádiz, and Málaga, maintaining a particularly strong presence within the educational and community spheres of his order.Finally, in 2010, he returned to Madrid for the 50th anniversary of St. Augustine School, an institution with which he maintained a close relationship, and in 2011, he returned to the capital for World Youth Day.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Well-traveled Pope Leo knows Spain better than many Spaniards, author says – #Catholic – Juan Vicente Boo, the Vatican correspondent for the Spanish newspaper ABC for 23 years, says the current pontiff is, among the popes of the last five centuries, the one who “knows Spain best,” as it is a country he visited on nearly 50 occasions before becoming pope.The first of his trips to Spain dates back to July 1982. Robert Prevost was 26 years old at the time and had been a priest for just over a month and a half. Together with several companions from St. Monica International College run by the Augustinians in Rome, he embarked on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in a van, a journey not without its adventures. They ended up sleeping in tents and enjoying the Spanish landscape and cuisine.“It was a holy year, and he traveled as a pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela with four other Augustinians in a van. They spent a month and a half traveling, taking the opportunity to visit Ávila and see the sites associated with St. Teresa. In Galicia, after gaining the jubilee indulgence, they traveled on to Pontevedra, Vigo, Ourense, and Lugo. And then they headed south to Madrid,” Boo told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.That very same year — months later, in October — Spain would receive a visit from St. John Paul II. Since then, Father Robert Prevost has cultivated his relationship with Spain, to the point of having visited at least 34 cities.“His knowledge of Spain is quite extensive and not merely because of what he has witnessed firsthand, but because during his time as a missionary in Peru, first in Chulucanas and later in Trujillo, and subsequently as a bishop in Chiclayo, he saw directly what the Spanish had built in terms of culture and evangelization,” explained the veteran correspondent, who just published the book “Leo XIV: The Pope of the New Era” (Espasa Publishing, currently available only in Spanish).Boo described the pope’s personality, which entirely shapes his style of governance, through what he terms “the triads”: the convergence of three cultures, three educational backgrounds, and three dimensions related to his life experiences. “He has the best of three cultures: the American culture of Chicago and the Midwest, the most humane, serene, and European in the United States; the Latin American culture of Peru, which expands the heart especially if you’re serving people with problems, as was the case for Father Robert there in the different stages of service during 22 years; and the best of Roman culture, because he came to the Italian capital as a student in canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas and lived at the Augustinian General House near the Vatican.Added to those cultural roots are three distinct educational backgrounds: a degree in mathematics from Villanova University, a background in theology from the Chicago Theological Union, and legal training, specifically a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, the Angelicum.The third triad is his life journey: a strong missionary spirit, extensive experience as an international traveler, and a profound understanding of the inner workings of the Holy See. “For 12 years, as prior general of the Augustinians, he resided directly across from the Vatican and was a firsthand witness to its inner life. Subsequently, Pope Francis progressively appointed him to various bodies of the Curia, until he eventually served in as many as nine dicasteries including the Commission for Vatican City State, a level of involvement rarely seen in the career of a single prelate,” Boo noted.Visits to Spain during his time as prior of the AugustiniansFrom 2001 to 2013, during his time as prior general, Prevost traveled across Spain from north to south. Visits taking place from 2002 to 2011, in addition to later trips, are documented. These journeys took him from Navarre to Andalusia (north to south), with stops in cities such as Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Madrid, and Valladolid.“My impression is that he knows Spain much better than the vast majority of Spaniards, because he has visited more than 30 cities, whereas many Spaniards havenʼt even visited half that number,” Boo explained.Many of these journeys were undertaken for pastoral, educational, and community visits for the Order of St. Augustine. In 2002, he visited Oropesa in Toledo province for the canonization of Alonso de Orozco, as well as the city of Talavera de la Reina and León, the city where the centenary of the Augustinian school was being celebrated. From then on, Valladolid became one of his bases of operations; he stayed at the Royal Seminary of the Philippine Augustinians and traveled from there to monasteries such as the one in Madrigal de las Altas Torres in Ávila province.In 2003 he traveled to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where he stayed in the Augustinian community in the town of Puerto de la Cruz. That same year he also visited the Sant Roc neighborhood in the town of Badalona, ​​one of the most disadvantaged areas of metro Barcelona, to which he would later return. In 2011 he also made a private visit to the Montserrat monastery.In 2004 he traveled to Most Holy Trinity Monastery in Aldaz in Navarra province, and the Augustinian school in Calahorra in La Rioja province. Years later, in 2015, he returned to Pamplona as bishop of Chiclayo.His visits continued in 2005 with stays in Zaragoza and Valencia, where he visited the Basilica of the Virgin of the Forsaken and the cathedral. Two years later, in 2007, he toured the Balearic Islands and several Andalusian cities: Seville, Huelva, Cádiz, and Málaga, maintaining a particularly strong presence within the educational and community spheres of his order.Finally, in 2010, he returned to Madrid for the 50th anniversary of St. Augustine School, an institution with which he maintained a close relationship, and in 2011, he returned to the capital for World Youth Day.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

As an ordinary priest, prior general of the Augustinans and the bishop of Chiclayo, Pope Leo XIV traveled extensively in Spain, gaining firsthand knowledge of the country and its people.

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Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.  June 4: Jupiter passes south of Pollux Now that the Red Planet is rising roughly an hour before the Sun, let’s check in on Mars in the predawn sky. The nearby world now has time to climb well above the horizon, leadingContinue reading “The Sky Today on Friday, June 5: Check in on Mars”

The post The Sky Today on Friday, June 5: Check in on Mars appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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Catholic law firm offers guidelines to help school districts uphold parental rights – #Catholic – Thomas More Society attorneys released guidelines and recommendations to assist school districts that are working “to uphold parental rights.”The guidelines follow recent school choice cases by the U.S. Supreme Court, Mahmoud v. Taylor and Mirabelli v. Bonta, which “clarify the scope of parental rights in American schools,” according to the Catholic law firm.In the 2025 Mahmoud decision, the Supreme Court struck down a public school board’s policy refusing to provide parental notice and an opt-out when LGBT books were being taught.In the 2026 Mirabelli case, the court ruled that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that California’s gender‑transition secrecy policies violated their constitutional rights, allowing an injunction to take effect for those parents while the case continues.There “are simple steps any school district can take to remain or become compliant with these new Supreme Court cases” and using them “will also help minimize the risk of costly litigation,” the firm reported.The guidelines urge districts to “immediately and expressly adopt a parental notice and opt-out policy,” which provides prominent and regular notice that will reach all parents.The firm said the required notice should inform parents of their constitutional rights to opt their children out of any instruction, electronic applications, materials, or activities that “burden their families’ religious or other closely held beliefs.”The districts should also assign a district employee to be in charge of implementing opt-outs and require all school employees to proactively notify parents of any information that affects or reflects their children’s health, including mental health, under the guidelines.The firm also suggested that districts “immediately and expressly repeal or revoke” any policies that require or permit school employees “to conceal or forgo" sharing information about childrenʼs health with their parents.They should also repeal any policies that “facilitate a child’s social gender transition,” including those in “respect to bathroom and locker room access“ and ”sex-segregated extracurricular activities …. without the consent of the child’s parent,” the firm said.Christendom College launches free course on how to restore Catholic educationChristendom College launched a free online course on how “to restore the great tradition of Catholic education."The course, “Education at the Crossroads,” explores what the college calls “the crisis in modern education” throughout its seven lessons.Students will “trace the progressive revolution — from pragmatism to modern ideological shifts — that reshaped our schools,” the college reported. “By exploring the prophetic warnings of the Church and the wisdom of great traditional thinkers, you will rediscover a spiritual vision of learning as a pilgrimage toward God.”The course is taught by Christendom College professor Jon Kirwan, who serves as director of the Institute for Advanced Studies, director of the Center for Educational Philosophy and Leadership, and an associate professor of theology.The course will discuss how “we can rebuild education in America for our children and generations to come,” Kirwan said in a video announcing the course.Students will “uncover why classrooms stopped forming souls and started managing outcomes,” he said. They will “discover the Catholic answer — education ordered to goodness, truth, and beauty, with teaching understood as a vocation rather than a technique.”The first two lessons of Kirwan’s course are currently available, and the remaining five will be released weekly through July 2.St. Charles Borromeo Seminary launches master’s healthcare program integrating bioethicsSt. Charles Borromeo Seminary’s School of Theological Studies (STS) launched a master of arts in Catholic healthcare ministry in collaboration with the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC).The program is intended to integrate both bioethics and pastoral care, offering “the most up-to-date bioethics information conveyed to its students,” STS reported on its website.The fully online degree also meets graduate education requirements for board certification as a Catholic chaplain through the National Association of Catholic Chaplains. The program hopes to aid the “great need for Catholic healthcare professionals” and to create “well-formed” chaplains.Students will complete the 36-credit program with 27 credits through STS and nine through the NCBC. The coursework will focus on human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation.

Catholic law firm offers guidelines to help school districts uphold parental rights – #Catholic – Thomas More Society attorneys released guidelines and recommendations to assist school districts that are working “to uphold parental rights.”The guidelines follow recent school choice cases by the U.S. Supreme Court, Mahmoud v. Taylor and Mirabelli v. Bonta, which “clarify the scope of parental rights in American schools,” according to the Catholic law firm.In the 2025 Mahmoud decision, the Supreme Court struck down a public school board’s policy refusing to provide parental notice and an opt-out when LGBT books were being taught.In the 2026 Mirabelli case, the court ruled that plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that California’s gender‑transition secrecy policies violated their constitutional rights, allowing an injunction to take effect for those parents while the case continues.There “are simple steps any school district can take to remain or become compliant with these new Supreme Court cases” and using them “will also help minimize the risk of costly litigation,” the firm reported.The guidelines urge districts to “immediately and expressly adopt a parental notice and opt-out policy,” which provides prominent and regular notice that will reach all parents.The firm said the required notice should inform parents of their constitutional rights to opt their children out of any instruction, electronic applications, materials, or activities that “burden their families’ religious or other closely held beliefs.”The districts should also assign a district employee to be in charge of implementing opt-outs and require all school employees to proactively notify parents of any information that affects or reflects their children’s health, including mental health, under the guidelines.The firm also suggested that districts “immediately and expressly repeal or revoke” any policies that require or permit school employees “to conceal or forgo" sharing information about childrenʼs health with their parents.They should also repeal any policies that “facilitate a child’s social gender transition,” including those in “respect to bathroom and locker room access“ and ”sex-segregated extracurricular activities …. without the consent of the child’s parent,” the firm said.Christendom College launches free course on how to restore Catholic educationChristendom College launched a free online course on how “to restore the great tradition of Catholic education."The course, “Education at the Crossroads,” explores what the college calls “the crisis in modern education” throughout its seven lessons.Students will “trace the progressive revolution — from pragmatism to modern ideological shifts — that reshaped our schools,” the college reported. “By exploring the prophetic warnings of the Church and the wisdom of great traditional thinkers, you will rediscover a spiritual vision of learning as a pilgrimage toward God.”The course is taught by Christendom College professor Jon Kirwan, who serves as director of the Institute for Advanced Studies, director of the Center for Educational Philosophy and Leadership, and an associate professor of theology.The course will discuss how “we can rebuild education in America for our children and generations to come,” Kirwan said in a video announcing the course.Students will “uncover why classrooms stopped forming souls and started managing outcomes,” he said. They will “discover the Catholic answer — education ordered to goodness, truth, and beauty, with teaching understood as a vocation rather than a technique.”The first two lessons of Kirwan’s course are currently available, and the remaining five will be released weekly through July 2.St. Charles Borromeo Seminary launches master’s healthcare program integrating bioethicsSt. Charles Borromeo Seminary’s School of Theological Studies (STS) launched a master of arts in Catholic healthcare ministry in collaboration with the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC).The program is intended to integrate both bioethics and pastoral care, offering “the most up-to-date bioethics information conveyed to its students,” STS reported on its website.The fully online degree also meets graduate education requirements for board certification as a Catholic chaplain through the National Association of Catholic Chaplains. The program hopes to aid the “great need for Catholic healthcare professionals” and to create “well-formed” chaplains.Students will complete the 36-credit program with 27 credits through STS and nine through the NCBC. The coursework will focus on human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation.

Guidelines urge districts to “immediately and expressly adopt a parental notice and opt-out policy,” which provides prominent and regular notice that will reach all parents.

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 05 June 2026 – A reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to Timothy 3:10-17 You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, persecutions that I endured. Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me. In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.From the Gospel according to Mark 12:35-37 As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’ David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” The great crowd heard this with delight.It is painful to recall that in this very moment, there are many Christians in various parts of the world who are suffering from persecution, and we must hope and pray that their trials will soon end. They are many: today’s martyrs outnumber the martyrs of the first centuries. Let us express our closeness to these brothers and sisters. We are a single body and these Christians are the bleeding limbs of the body of Christ who is the Church. (…) If God grants us the grace to be more like the Crucified Christ and joined to his Passion, then exclusion and persecution are the manifestation of new life. This life is the same as the life of Christ who was “despised and rejected” for us men and women and for our salvation” (cf. Is 53:3; Acts 8:30-35). Welcoming his Spirit can lead us to have so much love in our heart as to offer our life for the world without making compromises with its deceit and accepting its rejection. Compromises with the world are dangerous: Christians are always tempted to make compromises with the world, with the spirit of the world. This — rejecting compromises and journeying on the way of Jesus Christ — is the life of the Kingdom of Heaven, the greatest joy and true happiness. And, in persecutions there is always the presence of Jesus who accompanies us, the presence of Jesus who comforts us and the strength of the Holy Spirit that helps us to go forward. Let us not be discouraged when a life that is faithful to the Gospel draws persecution from people. There is the Holy Spirit who sustains us in this journey. (Pope Francis, General Audience, 29 April 2020)

A reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to Timothy
3:10-17

You have followed my teaching, way of life,
purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions,
and sufferings, such as happened to me
in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra,
persecutions that I endured.
Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me.
In fact, all who want to live religiously in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted.
But wicked people and charlatans will go from bad to worse,
deceivers and deceived.
But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed,
because you know from whom you learned it,
and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures,
which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching,
for refutation, for correction,
and for training in righteousness,
so that one who belongs to God may be competent,
equipped for every good work.

From the Gospel according to Mark
12:35-37

As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,
“How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David?
David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said:
The Lord said to my lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.’
David himself calls him ‘lord’;
so how is he his son?”
The great crowd heard this with delight.

It is painful to recall that in this very moment, there are many Christians in various parts of the world who are suffering from persecution, and we must hope and pray that their trials will soon end. They are many: today’s martyrs outnumber the martyrs of the first centuries. Let us express our closeness to these brothers and sisters. We are a single body and these Christians are the bleeding limbs of the body of Christ who is the Church. (…) If God grants us the grace to be more like the Crucified Christ and joined to his Passion, then exclusion and persecution are the manifestation of new life. This life is the same as the life of Christ who was “despised and rejected” for us men and women and for our salvation” (cf. Is 53:3; Acts 8:30-35). Welcoming his Spirit can lead us to have so much love in our heart as to offer our life for the world without making compromises with its deceit and accepting its rejection.

Compromises with the world are dangerous: Christians are always tempted to make compromises with the world, with the spirit of the world. This — rejecting compromises and journeying on the way of Jesus Christ — is the life of the Kingdom of Heaven, the greatest joy and true happiness. And, in persecutions there is always the presence of Jesus who accompanies us, the presence of Jesus who comforts us and the strength of the Holy Spirit that helps us to go forward. Let us not be discouraged when a life that is faithful to the Gospel draws persecution from people. There is the Holy Spirit who sustains us in this journey. (Pope Francis, General Audience, 29 April 2020)

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U.S. bishops echo Pope Leo’s concern of AI use in war – #Catholic – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) International Justice and Peace Committee released a statement reiterating the Holy Father’s call in Magnifica Humanitas to limit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in war.“In the age of artificial intelligence, the Church’s teaching on human dignity, pursuit of justice, and comprehensive social doctrine offers a path forward that transcends the logic of zero-sum escalation,” the bishops wrote in the statement.The bishops said: “Pope Leo offers a new framework for an approach to how we must limit the use of technology in war.”The pope insists that even in the age of AI the world must preserve strict limits on the use of force, keeping lethal decisions under accountable human authority with a clear chain of responsibility, never delegating killing to automated systems, and working together as a global community to build a shared framework that restrains the arms race and protects civilians and essential infrastructure, the bishops said.‘Human control’ must remain presentThe bishops urged that “judgments over life and death, the gravest of human challenges, must remain bound to our living consciences.”In the age of AI, "by removing human agency, our ability to wage war has become more inhumane in its most fundamental sense,” the bishops wrote.As the use of AI technologies in war increases, there is an “immense harm and loss of human life these weapons present,” they said.The bishops specifically noted that lethal autonomous weapons systems are “a grave development of military technology,” which use AI to “identify, locate, and kill people or destroy infrastructure targets without human operational intervention.”Unlike drones that are remotely controlled by humans, “autonomous ‘killer bots’ are preprogrammed with algorithms that search according to target profiles, and can, theoretically, make battlefield decisions independently from human control,” they said. The bishops noted that use of AI technologies with the hope of “minimizing the risk to military personnel is a laudable goal.” But, employing them with no human agency "can create the illusion of lessening the cost of war, and thus reducing the conflict threshold.”By creating the illusion that war is “less costly,” the bishops said it will make decisions to go to war “easier.”“All people, soldiers, civilians, and leaders alike are harmed by a reality in which our actions are inherently less human, less connected to the embodiment of our human dignity that God himself ‘knit’ together,” the bishops said.

U.S. bishops echo Pope Leo’s concern of AI use in war – #Catholic – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) International Justice and Peace Committee released a statement reiterating the Holy Father’s call in Magnifica Humanitas to limit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in war.“In the age of artificial intelligence, the Church’s teaching on human dignity, pursuit of justice, and comprehensive social doctrine offers a path forward that transcends the logic of zero-sum escalation,” the bishops wrote in the statement.The bishops said: “Pope Leo offers a new framework for an approach to how we must limit the use of technology in war.”The pope insists that even in the age of AI the world must preserve strict limits on the use of force, keeping lethal decisions under accountable human authority with a clear chain of responsibility, never delegating killing to automated systems, and working together as a global community to build a shared framework that restrains the arms race and protects civilians and essential infrastructure, the bishops said.‘Human control’ must remain presentThe bishops urged that “judgments over life and death, the gravest of human challenges, must remain bound to our living consciences.”In the age of AI, "by removing human agency, our ability to wage war has become more inhumane in its most fundamental sense,” the bishops wrote.As the use of AI technologies in war increases, there is an “immense harm and loss of human life these weapons present,” they said.The bishops specifically noted that lethal autonomous weapons systems are “a grave development of military technology,” which use AI to “identify, locate, and kill people or destroy infrastructure targets without human operational intervention.”Unlike drones that are remotely controlled by humans, “autonomous ‘killer bots’ are preprogrammed with algorithms that search according to target profiles, and can, theoretically, make battlefield decisions independently from human control,” they said. The bishops noted that use of AI technologies with the hope of “minimizing the risk to military personnel is a laudable goal.” But, employing them with no human agency "can create the illusion of lessening the cost of war, and thus reducing the conflict threshold.”By creating the illusion that war is “less costly,” the bishops said it will make decisions to go to war “easier.”“All people, soldiers, civilians, and leaders alike are harmed by a reality in which our actions are inherently less human, less connected to the embodiment of our human dignity that God himself ‘knit’ together,” the bishops said.

The bishops urged that “judgments over life and death, the gravest of human challenges, must remain bound to our living consciences.”

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World’s oldest priest dies at 110 #Catholic In late February, Pope Leo XIV thanked Father Bruno Kant of the Diocese of Fulda in Germany for his “many years of faithful and devoted priestly service.” Kant, the oldest priest in the world at 110 years of age, passed away on the night of Friday, May 29. He had been a priest since 1950.In an article published on his dioceseʼs website, Bishop Michael Gerber of Fulda recalled that "just a few months ago" he had "the privilege of conveying Pope Leo XIVʼs blessing to Father Bruno Kant on the occasion of his 110th birthday.""My encounter with him left a deep impression on me. Even at his advanced age, he radiated the humility, kindness, and spiritual depth that characterized his entire priestly life. The Diocese of Fulda remembers his work and service with great gratitude," he added.Father Guido Pasanow of the parish in Eichenzell-Löschenrod, where Kant lived until his death, said that with the priest’s death, the parish “loses a person who was fundamental to it for many years.”“Even after retiring from active ministry, he remained a confidant, pastor, and spiritual guide deeply cherished by many parishioners. We are grateful for all that he contributed to our community,” he added.As reported by the Catholic news outlet katholisch in November 2025, Kant, born near Danzig in what is now Poland, had aspired to become a priest since the age of 9. He was able to begin his theological studies, but the Nazi regime thwarted his plans by conscripting him for forced labor and making him a soldier.Kant spent four years as a prisoner of war in Russia before reuniting with his family, who had fled to the West.He was finally ordained a priest in 1950. After decades of priestly service, he considerably curtailed his activities. He stopped driving at the age of 102, according to a report published on katholisch.de in November.“Over the last few years, he has refrained from celebrating holy Mass with the congregation on Wednesday evenings. However, he continued visiting the sick for as long as he was able. Now, that is no longer possible for him.”On that occasion, Kant said: “I expect to die every day. I am not far from it.” In his final years, he spent his days solving Sudokus, watching television, reading newspapers, and, of course, praying.“Praying keeps me young,” he said.This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by ACI Prensa/EWTN News English.

World’s oldest priest dies at 110 #Catholic In late February, Pope Leo XIV thanked Father Bruno Kant of the Diocese of Fulda in Germany for his “many years of faithful and devoted priestly service.” Kant, the oldest priest in the world at 110 years of age, passed away on the night of Friday, May 29. He had been a priest since 1950.In an article published on his dioceseʼs website, Bishop Michael Gerber of Fulda recalled that "just a few months ago" he had "the privilege of conveying Pope Leo XIVʼs blessing to Father Bruno Kant on the occasion of his 110th birthday.""My encounter with him left a deep impression on me. Even at his advanced age, he radiated the humility, kindness, and spiritual depth that characterized his entire priestly life. The Diocese of Fulda remembers his work and service with great gratitude," he added.Father Guido Pasanow of the parish in Eichenzell-Löschenrod, where Kant lived until his death, said that with the priest’s death, the parish “loses a person who was fundamental to it for many years.”“Even after retiring from active ministry, he remained a confidant, pastor, and spiritual guide deeply cherished by many parishioners. We are grateful for all that he contributed to our community,” he added.As reported by the Catholic news outlet katholisch in November 2025, Kant, born near Danzig in what is now Poland, had aspired to become a priest since the age of 9. He was able to begin his theological studies, but the Nazi regime thwarted his plans by conscripting him for forced labor and making him a soldier.Kant spent four years as a prisoner of war in Russia before reuniting with his family, who had fled to the West.He was finally ordained a priest in 1950. After decades of priestly service, he considerably curtailed his activities. He stopped driving at the age of 102, according to a report published on katholisch.de in November.“Over the last few years, he has refrained from celebrating holy Mass with the congregation on Wednesday evenings. However, he continued visiting the sick for as long as he was able. Now, that is no longer possible for him.”On that occasion, Kant said: “I expect to die every day. I am not far from it.” In his final years, he spent his days solving Sudokus, watching television, reading newspapers, and, of course, praying.“Praying keeps me young,” he said.This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by ACI Prensa/EWTN News English.

Ordained in 1950, Father Bruno Kant served the Diocese of Fulda in Germany for decades. After retiring from active ministry, he remained a confidant, pastor, and spiritual guide for many parishioners.

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Cardinal Koovakad to lead Sanremo meeting on interreligious dialogue #Catholic Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, will lead a meeting in Sanremo on Oct. 9 dedicated to the theme “Interreligious Dialogue Today in the Social and Cultural Context of Our Diocese.”The event is part of a broader diocesan initiative launched by Bishop Antonio Suetta, who published a pastoral letter on Pentecost Sunday outlining guidelines for charity, dialogue, and the proclamation of God’s love to Muslims “who live in our territory,” according to the diocesan website.The pastoral letter, titled “No One Has Greater Love Than This,” takes its inspiration from two significant anniversaries: the special Year of St. Francis, proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV for the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death, and the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council declaration Nostra Aetate.
 
 Bishop Antonio Suetta of Ventimiglia-San Remo, Italy. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Diocese of Ventimiglia-San Remo
 
 In the document, Suetta emphasizes esteem, welcome, and missionary courage. He recalls the example of St. Francis of Assisi and his historic 1219 encounter with the sultan of Egypt, presenting evangelization first as a witness offered through deeds and the coherence of Christian life, and only afterward through words.The letter also stresses dialogue and collaboration, beginning from the teaching of Nostra Aetate and the recognition that Christians and Muslims are creatures of the one God. This shared foundation, the bishop writes, calls believers to work together in defense of human dignity and moral values in an increasingly secularized society.At the same time, Suetta underlines what he describes as the Christian duty of proclamation. Charity and welcome, he writes, must never lead Christians to conceal their spiritual identity. To share the joy of the Gospel and to make known the true face of Jesus Christ — who for Christians is “the way, the truth, and the life” and the revelation of God who is love — is presented in the letter as the highest act of charity Christians can offer.The pastoral initiative includes concrete proposals, such as specific formation programs and opportunities for encounter promoted by the diocesan Office for Catechetical Pastoral Ministry in collaboration with Caritas.“Welcoming others with selfless charity, bearing witness to a coherent Christian life, and proclaiming the love of God in Jesus Christ with freedom and sincere respect are the human means that the Lord asks of us in order to evangelize,” the letter states.The events will take place during the Church’s missionary month of October. In addition to the Oct. 9 meeting in Sanremo with Cardinal Koovakad, the diocese will hold a missionary vigil on Oct. 17 at the Oratory of the Immaculate in Piazza San Siro.The presence of the prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue is seen as a sign of support from the Holy See for the diocesan initiative.

Cardinal Koovakad to lead Sanremo meeting on interreligious dialogue #Catholic Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, will lead a meeting in Sanremo on Oct. 9 dedicated to the theme “Interreligious Dialogue Today in the Social and Cultural Context of Our Diocese.”The event is part of a broader diocesan initiative launched by Bishop Antonio Suetta, who published a pastoral letter on Pentecost Sunday outlining guidelines for charity, dialogue, and the proclamation of God’s love to Muslims “who live in our territory,” according to the diocesan website.The pastoral letter, titled “No One Has Greater Love Than This,” takes its inspiration from two significant anniversaries: the special Year of St. Francis, proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV for the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death, and the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council declaration Nostra Aetate. Bishop Antonio Suetta of Ventimiglia-San Remo, Italy. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Diocese of Ventimiglia-San Remo In the document, Suetta emphasizes esteem, welcome, and missionary courage. He recalls the example of St. Francis of Assisi and his historic 1219 encounter with the sultan of Egypt, presenting evangelization first as a witness offered through deeds and the coherence of Christian life, and only afterward through words.The letter also stresses dialogue and collaboration, beginning from the teaching of Nostra Aetate and the recognition that Christians and Muslims are creatures of the one God. This shared foundation, the bishop writes, calls believers to work together in defense of human dignity and moral values in an increasingly secularized society.At the same time, Suetta underlines what he describes as the Christian duty of proclamation. Charity and welcome, he writes, must never lead Christians to conceal their spiritual identity. To share the joy of the Gospel and to make known the true face of Jesus Christ — who for Christians is “the way, the truth, and the life” and the revelation of God who is love — is presented in the letter as the highest act of charity Christians can offer.The pastoral initiative includes concrete proposals, such as specific formation programs and opportunities for encounter promoted by the diocesan Office for Catechetical Pastoral Ministry in collaboration with Caritas.“Welcoming others with selfless charity, bearing witness to a coherent Christian life, and proclaiming the love of God in Jesus Christ with freedom and sincere respect are the human means that the Lord asks of us in order to evangelize,” the letter states.The events will take place during the Church’s missionary month of October. In addition to the Oct. 9 meeting in Sanremo with Cardinal Koovakad, the diocese will hold a missionary vigil on Oct. 17 at the Oratory of the Immaculate in Piazza San Siro.The presence of the prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue is seen as a sign of support from the Holy See for the diocesan initiative.

The October gathering follows a pastoral letter by Bishop Antonio Suetta on charity, Christian witness, and the proclamation of the Gospel to Muslims living in the diocese.

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Prague archbishop, German ambassador mark post-WWII massacre – #Catholic – On June 3, the archbishop of Prague and the German ambassador to the Czech Republic commemorated the biggest massacre of the German-speaking population in Czechoslovakia — some say in Europe — after World War II. In the town of Postoloprty in May and June 1945, the Czechoslovak army killed at least 763 people, according to a 1947 Czechoslovak parliamentary commission, though the total number is estimated by some to be 1,000-2,000. They were mostly civilians put into mass graves, and no one was ever convicted.Archbishop Stanislav Přibyl; Rüdiger Heinrich, a military attaché from the German embassy; the faithful; and students from local schools and from Prague marched 10.5 miles from Postoloprty to Žatec. The marchers had the names of the victims written on a scarf, a stone, or a piece of cardboard to make them more visible and present.
 
 Participants walk through the countryside between Postoloprty and Žatec, Czech Republic, during the reconciliation pilgrimage on June 3, 2026. | Credit: Diocese of Litoměřice
 
 The pilgrimage concluded at the Church of the Coronation of the Virgin Mary, where Přibyl celebrated Mass. German Ambassador Peter Reuss joined the ceremony.In his homily, Přibyl admitted they were tired and sweaty. It was not just a walk from one city to another, but one through “the land of memory, through places where the history of our country touches on pain, guilt, helplessness, silence, and the desire for healing.”The topic of reconciliation is not raised to accuse anyone, “but because God invites us to the truth which is the first step towards reconciliation,” the religious leader clarified and continued: “In a time when everyone believes he has his own truth and when our truths sometimes differ diametrically, we are invited to the truth that is known and spoken, but which is accompanied by mercy, because what good would it be for us to be right if we were left alone with it?”The prelate saw the pilgrimage as a reminder that “peace is not created only by words, but sometimes by steps.” It is “a quiet step” that says “I do not want to forget, I do not want to hate,” the archbishop said.The faithful bring to the Lord “the dead, known and unknown, families whose stories have been broken, silence that has often lasted too long,” Přibyl recalled, adding: “We also bring our own fear of the truth and our own unwillingness to forgive.”He characterized the Eucharist and the Mass as “the deepest place of reconciliation.” There, Christ does not proclaim that “the past does not matter or that sin is not sin,” yet he does not reproach us, the prelate explained.“The risen Lord had been crucified before and so comes among us not without wounds,” Přibyl said. “But his wounds are healed, and by his wounds we are healed,” the archbishop concluded.
 
 A wooden cross and memorial plaque stand near the mass graves of ethnic Germans killed in 1945, marked during the reconciliation pilgrimage near Postoloprty, Czech Republic, on June 3, 2026. | Credit: Diocese of Litoměřice
 
 Part of a Year of ReconciliationThe event was part of the Year of Reconciliation in the Diocese of Litoměřice, which borders Germany. Přibyl declared it for 2026 while he was bishop of the diocese; he has since been appointed archbishop of Prague but remains its apostolic administrator.Each month, a gathering takes place in a different location linked to atrocities before and after World War II. In May, for example, Přibyl presided over an ecumenical ceremony in Terezín (Theresienstadt), which served as a Nazi transit camp and propaganda showpiece during the war.When Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, it established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. After Germanyʼs defeat in 1945, some ethnic Germans were killed or died by suicide, and approximately 3 million were expelled from Czechoslovakia.

Prague archbishop, German ambassador mark post-WWII massacre – #Catholic – On June 3, the archbishop of Prague and the German ambassador to the Czech Republic commemorated the biggest massacre of the German-speaking population in Czechoslovakia — some say in Europe — after World War II. In the town of Postoloprty in May and June 1945, the Czechoslovak army killed at least 763 people, according to a 1947 Czechoslovak parliamentary commission, though the total number is estimated by some to be 1,000-2,000. They were mostly civilians put into mass graves, and no one was ever convicted.Archbishop Stanislav Přibyl; Rüdiger Heinrich, a military attaché from the German embassy; the faithful; and students from local schools and from Prague marched 10.5 miles from Postoloprty to Žatec. The marchers had the names of the victims written on a scarf, a stone, or a piece of cardboard to make them more visible and present. Participants walk through the countryside between Postoloprty and Žatec, Czech Republic, during the reconciliation pilgrimage on June 3, 2026. | Credit: Diocese of Litoměřice The pilgrimage concluded at the Church of the Coronation of the Virgin Mary, where Přibyl celebrated Mass. German Ambassador Peter Reuss joined the ceremony.In his homily, Přibyl admitted they were tired and sweaty. It was not just a walk from one city to another, but one through “the land of memory, through places where the history of our country touches on pain, guilt, helplessness, silence, and the desire for healing.”The topic of reconciliation is not raised to accuse anyone, “but because God invites us to the truth which is the first step towards reconciliation,” the religious leader clarified and continued: “In a time when everyone believes he has his own truth and when our truths sometimes differ diametrically, we are invited to the truth that is known and spoken, but which is accompanied by mercy, because what good would it be for us to be right if we were left alone with it?”The prelate saw the pilgrimage as a reminder that “peace is not created only by words, but sometimes by steps.” It is “a quiet step” that says “I do not want to forget, I do not want to hate,” the archbishop said.The faithful bring to the Lord “the dead, known and unknown, families whose stories have been broken, silence that has often lasted too long,” Přibyl recalled, adding: “We also bring our own fear of the truth and our own unwillingness to forgive.”He characterized the Eucharist and the Mass as “the deepest place of reconciliation.” There, Christ does not proclaim that “the past does not matter or that sin is not sin,” yet he does not reproach us, the prelate explained.“The risen Lord had been crucified before and so comes among us not without wounds,” Přibyl said. “But his wounds are healed, and by his wounds we are healed,” the archbishop concluded. A wooden cross and memorial plaque stand near the mass graves of ethnic Germans killed in 1945, marked during the reconciliation pilgrimage near Postoloprty, Czech Republic, on June 3, 2026. | Credit: Diocese of Litoměřice Part of a Year of ReconciliationThe event was part of the Year of Reconciliation in the Diocese of Litoměřice, which borders Germany. Přibyl declared it for 2026 while he was bishop of the diocese; he has since been appointed archbishop of Prague but remains its apostolic administrator.Each month, a gathering takes place in a different location linked to atrocities before and after World War II. In May, for example, Přibyl presided over an ecumenical ceremony in Terezín (Theresienstadt), which served as a Nazi transit camp and propaganda showpiece during the war.When Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, it established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. After Germanyʼs defeat in 1945, some ethnic Germans were killed or died by suicide, and approximately 3 million were expelled from Czechoslovakia.

During the Diocese of Litoměřice’s Year of Reconciliation, Archbishop Stanislav Přibyl led a pilgrimage and Mass honoring hundreds killed in Czechoslovakia in 1945.

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Encíclica: Las opiniones del Papa León sobre la teoría de la guerra justa y la histórica disculpa de la Iglesia por la esclavitud #Catholic – CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) — En su primera encíclica, el Papa León XIV aprovechó una amplia reflexión sobre la inteligencia artificial para cuestionar si el marco de la guerra justa de la Iglesia Católica, vigente desde hace siglos, sigue siendo válido en la guerra moderna, y para pedir perdón por el papel de la Iglesia en la esclavitud.
La encíclica del Santo Padre, titulada “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnífica Humanidad”), se centra principalmente en el desarrollo ético de la inteligencia artificial y los peligros que plantean las armas autónomas, el poder tecnológico concentrado y la erosión de la dignidad humana. Pero en el documento, el Papa León también hace varias intervenciones más amplias sobre la guerra, la violencia y la injusticia histórica.
Al abordar estos temas, cuestionó la enseñanza católica sobre la teoría de la guerra justa en la guerra moderna y abordó la esclavitud de una manera sin precedentes.

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La teoría de la guerra justa, desarrollada en gran medida a través de los escritos de San Agustín y Santo Tomás de Aquino, ha sido aceptada durante siglos dentro de la doctrina católica para determinar si la guerra podría justificarse moralmente bajo condiciones estrictas. Establece que una nación debe hacer todo lo posible por evitar la violencia, considerando el costo humano, una causa justa y el esfuerzo por entablar negociaciones diplomáticas. Recientemente ha sido invocada por la administración Trump para justificar el conflicto en curso en el Medio Oriente.
Pero el Papa León escribió que la teoría se ha vuelto cada vez más inadecuada en una era marcada por el armamento avanzado y la inteligencia artificial y “ahora está desactualizada” (el pontífice usó la palabra “outdated” en inglés, que también se puede traducir como “desfasada”. Cabe mencionar que el párrafo en cuestión de la versión en español de la encíclica explica esto de la siguiente manera: “Hoy más que nunca es importante reiterar la superación de la teoría de la ‘guerra justa’, invocada con demasiada frecuencia para justificar cualquier guerra, sin perjuicio del derecho a la legítima defensa, entendida en el sentido más estricto”).
“La humanidad cuenta con instrumentos mucho más eficaces y capaces de promover la vida humana para afrontar los conflictos, como el diálogo, la diplomacia y el perdón”, escribió el Papa León. “El recurso a la fuerza, a la violencia y a las armas testimonia una pobreza relacional que siempre tiene consecuencias desastrosas para las poblaciones civiles”.
El pontífice también introdujo criterios adicionales que, según él, deben tenerse en cuenta antes de recurrir a la guerra, entre ellos garantizar una cadena de responsabilidad clara cuando se utilizan tecnologías automatizadas en combate, establecer un “tiempo del juicio moral” en una era en la que la inteligencia artificial puede acelerar las decisiones militares y salvaguardar a los civiles.
En otra parte de la encíclica, el Papa León abordó la participación de la Iglesia Católica en el “flagelo de la esclavitud” en términos más amplios que muchos de sus predecesores. Los papas anteriores se han disculpado por casos más específicos, como la participación cristiana en el comercio transatlántico de esclavos, pero el Papa León pareció enmarcar la responsabilidad de la Iglesia en términos más institucionales.
“Es inevitable sentir un profundo dolor al considerar el enorme sufrimiento y humillación que la esclavitud ha significado para tantas personas, en contraste con la dignidad sin límites de cada una de ellas, amadas infinitamente por el Señor”, escribió. “Por eso, en nombre de la Iglesia, pido sinceramente perdón”.
Los comentarios del Papa llamaron inmediatamente la atención porque ambos temas –la teoría de la guerra justa y la responsabilidad institucional por la esclavitud– representan enfoques novedosos. Anna Rowlands, profesora de teología política y doctrina social católica en Durham University en Inglaterra, habló con Catholic News Service sobre la importancia de las declaraciones del Papa y cómo encajan dentro de los temas más amplios de “Magnifica Humanitas”.
Esta entrevista ha sido editada para mayor claridad y brevedad:
CNS: Hablando del hecho de que esta primera encíclica aborda muchos de los temas que ha planteado a lo largo de su papado, algo que realmente nos llamó la atención fue su teoría de la guerra justa y cómo dijo que estaba desactualizada (según la traducción en inglés de la encíclica). Me gustaría conocer su opinión al respecto. Si está desactualizada, ¿habrá una nueva teoría que la reemplace? ¿Ve elementos de eso a lo largo de esta encíclica
Rowlands: Bueno, en realidad, el Papa León se suma a una conversación que lleva tiempo desarrollándose a través de encíclicas recientes y documentos eclesiásticos más amplios sobre cómo mantenemos exactamente el dinamismo del compromiso de la Iglesia con la paz como el único y verdadero objetivo final a la vista. Así que la tradición de la guerra justa se desarrolló, obviamente, desde la Iglesia primitiva, desde los primeros siglos –incluida la contribución muy significativa de Agustín a ella, la contribución de Santo Tomás de Aquino– y luego, en la era moderna, esa tradición se desarrolló para tratar de averiguar cómo mantener la paz en el mundo y fomentar la idea de que se podían construir comunidades humanas sostenibles, estables y comprometidas con la justicia.
Así que la pregunta es: ¿en qué medida la teoría de la guerra justa –que es una teoría, una forma de pensar colectivamente sobre cómo alcanzar esos fines– sirve como marco, como una especie de arquitectura moral para pensar en el mundo en el que vivimos hoy?
Y en los últimos papados –no solo el del Papa León en este momento, sino en los últimos papados– ha habido un intento de reevaluar la utilidad de esa teoría para el mundo moderno. Sin rechazar la teoría de plano, la valoración ha sido: a veces puede ser demasiado fácil invocar la teoría de la guerra justa en el mundo en el que vivimos ahora, demasiado rápido para justificar la violencia, la intervención y la fuerza, en lugar de hacer una pausa y tomar distancia de ella.
Así que la pregunta es: ¿puede la teoría de la guerra justa utilizarse a veces para justificar la violencia donde tal vez queramos ver paz? No es que la Iglesia haya rechazado esa tradición –y vimos al Papa León hacerlo muy recientemente–; él se basó en la tradición de la guerra justa en relación con Irán y el conflicto allí, para decir que debemos recordar que esto no cumple con los criterios de la teoría de la guerra justa. Eso es lo que muchos de los obispos estadounidenses –los obispos de EE.UU.– también están diciendo. Así que seguimos basándonos en eso. Se puede ver su utilidad e importancia ahí.
Pero lo que hace la encíclica es decir que no confiemos solo en eso y que debemos continuar este discernimiento permanente sobre el desempeño moral de la teoría de la guerra justa. ¿En qué medida nos ayuda a alcanzar los verdaderos fines, que son una paz justa para todos dentro de un orden global y también dentro de las naciones? Y así, en este momento, la encíclica nos insta a decir que no se puede utilizar la teoría de la guerra justa como un medio legítimo para precipitarse hacia la agresión y la violencia; y que necesitamos encontrar algo así como una teoría de la guerra justa plus para alcanzar verdaderamente los fines de la paz justa. Recuerden, ese es el enfoque. No es solo una consideración de libro de texto que nos permita legitimar la dominación.
Y lo que es realmente importante aquí es que él está evaluando la teoría de la guerra justa en una era tecnológica. Porque todo en este documento analiza lo que significa vivir en un tiempo, una era, un momento en el que la tecnología –estamos aquí sentados con micrófonos, ahora tú estás frente a una computadora portátil– está totalmente presente en esta conversación.
¿Cómo afecta eso a la guerra Y él deja muy claro que conduce a la despersonalización, conduce a una aceleración, a una rapidez en las decisiones. Y parece significar que tenemos una comprensión mucho menos tangible de lo que realmente implica cualquier uso de la violencia –incluso si fuera en defensa propia, legítima– y de cómo se crean intervalos de reflexión, verdadera transparencia y rendición de cuentas. Así que, si leen la sección del documento que sigue a su crítica de la teoría de la guerra justa, él establece algunas condiciones –las llama criterios de juicio– que nos ayudan a considerar qué haríamos ahora dado el contexto de la guerra moderna en el que nos encontramos. Así que quiere que evaluemos moralmente tanto la práctica como la teoría, casi mirando más allá de ellas hacia un marco que las abarca pero que nos lleva más allá. Y nos ofrece nuevos criterios para una era de guerra altamente impulsada por la tecnología.
CNS: Otra cosa que nos pareció muy interesante fue –creo que este fue uno de los raros momentos en los que lo vimos pedir perdón por la tolerancia de larga data de la Iglesia hacia la esclavitud. ¿Podrías hablarme un poco qué pensaste de eso y si crees que era el momento adecuado? ¿Crees que realmente tendrá un impacto?
Rowlands: Sí. Cuando leí por primera vez esos párrafos del documento, me impactaron mucho. Y me impactaron por dos razones desde dos perspectivas diferentes. Una es que las disculpas que la Iglesia ha ofrecido a los esclavos en el pasado –desde la época de Juan Pablo II en adelante, incluidas las del Papa Francisco– han sido, en general, expresiones del más profundo dolor y arrepentimiento por la participación de cristianos individuales en la legitimación de lo que siempre es la propiedad ilegítima y la subyugación de otro ser humano. Lo que hace este texto es llevarnos un poco más allá hacia el debate sobre la Iglesia y el lenguaje de la Iglesia, no solo sobre los cristianos individuales.
Así que hay un sentido mucho mayor de responsabilidad colectiva por lo que se hace en nombre de la Iglesia. Hay un cambio en el marco lingüístico aquí que, en mi opinión, tiene que ver con llevar el tema de la esclavitud y el legado de la esclavitud a un espacio colectivo de rendición de cuentas, responsabilidad y discernimiento.
Esto enlaza con la segunda parte que más me llamó la atención, que es que no se trata solo de un momento repentino de pedir perdón por la esclavitud; sino que se da en el contexto de pensar en la esclavitud contemporánea hoy y en el hecho de que, en una era tecnológica donde existen nuevas formas de subyugación y esclavitud, la Dra. (Leocadie) Lushombo habló hoy en su intervención sobre esas nuevas formas de esclavitud en la era digital: las industrias extractivas, la minería, la trata de personas, etc. Básicamente nos está diciendo: no queremos encontrarnos dentro de 100 años en otro momento de la historia en el que, una vez más, tengamos que pedir perdón por no haber abordado la esclavitud de nuestra propia era hoy. Así que está diciendo que, si voy a hablar con autoridad –habiendo comprendido ahora la urgencia del asunto–, también debo enfrentarme al pasado histórico.

Encíclica: Las opiniones del Papa León sobre la teoría de la guerra justa y la histórica disculpa de la Iglesia por la esclavitud #Catholic – CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) — En su primera encíclica, el Papa León XIV aprovechó una amplia reflexión sobre la inteligencia artificial para cuestionar si el marco de la guerra justa de la Iglesia Católica, vigente desde hace siglos, sigue siendo válido en la guerra moderna, y para pedir perdón por el papel de la Iglesia en la esclavitud. La encíclica del Santo Padre, titulada “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnífica Humanidad”), se centra principalmente en el desarrollo ético de la inteligencia artificial y los peligros que plantean las armas autónomas, el poder tecnológico concentrado y la erosión de la dignidad humana. Pero en el documento, el Papa León también hace varias intervenciones más amplias sobre la guerra, la violencia y la injusticia histórica. Al abordar estos temas, cuestionó la enseñanza católica sobre la teoría de la guerra justa en la guerra moderna y abordó la esclavitud de una manera sin precedentes. Para suscribirse a nuestro boletín electrónico semanal, haga click aquí. La teoría de la guerra justa, desarrollada en gran medida a través de los escritos de San Agustín y Santo Tomás de Aquino, ha sido aceptada durante siglos dentro de la doctrina católica para determinar si la guerra podría justificarse moralmente bajo condiciones estrictas. Establece que una nación debe hacer todo lo posible por evitar la violencia, considerando el costo humano, una causa justa y el esfuerzo por entablar negociaciones diplomáticas. Recientemente ha sido invocada por la administración Trump para justificar el conflicto en curso en el Medio Oriente. Pero el Papa León escribió que la teoría se ha vuelto cada vez más inadecuada en una era marcada por el armamento avanzado y la inteligencia artificial y “ahora está desactualizada” (el pontífice usó la palabra “outdated” en inglés, que también se puede traducir como “desfasada”. Cabe mencionar que el párrafo en cuestión de la versión en español de la encíclica explica esto de la siguiente manera: “Hoy más que nunca es importante reiterar la superación de la teoría de la ‘guerra justa’, invocada con demasiada frecuencia para justificar cualquier guerra, sin perjuicio del derecho a la legítima defensa, entendida en el sentido más estricto”). “La humanidad cuenta con instrumentos mucho más eficaces y capaces de promover la vida humana para afrontar los conflictos, como el diálogo, la diplomacia y el perdón”, escribió el Papa León. “El recurso a la fuerza, a la violencia y a las armas testimonia una pobreza relacional que siempre tiene consecuencias desastrosas para las poblaciones civiles”. El pontífice también introdujo criterios adicionales que, según él, deben tenerse en cuenta antes de recurrir a la guerra, entre ellos garantizar una cadena de responsabilidad clara cuando se utilizan tecnologías automatizadas en combate, establecer un “tiempo del juicio moral” en una era en la que la inteligencia artificial puede acelerar las decisiones militares y salvaguardar a los civiles. En otra parte de la encíclica, el Papa León abordó la participación de la Iglesia Católica en el “flagelo de la esclavitud” en términos más amplios que muchos de sus predecesores. Los papas anteriores se han disculpado por casos más específicos, como la participación cristiana en el comercio transatlántico de esclavos, pero el Papa León pareció enmarcar la responsabilidad de la Iglesia en términos más institucionales. “Es inevitable sentir un profundo dolor al considerar el enorme sufrimiento y humillación que la esclavitud ha significado para tantas personas, en contraste con la dignidad sin límites de cada una de ellas, amadas infinitamente por el Señor”, escribió. “Por eso, en nombre de la Iglesia, pido sinceramente perdón”. Los comentarios del Papa llamaron inmediatamente la atención porque ambos temas –la teoría de la guerra justa y la responsabilidad institucional por la esclavitud– representan enfoques novedosos. Anna Rowlands, profesora de teología política y doctrina social católica en Durham University en Inglaterra, habló con Catholic News Service sobre la importancia de las declaraciones del Papa y cómo encajan dentro de los temas más amplios de “Magnifica Humanitas”. Esta entrevista ha sido editada para mayor claridad y brevedad: CNS: Hablando del hecho de que esta primera encíclica aborda muchos de los temas que ha planteado a lo largo de su papado, algo que realmente nos llamó la atención fue su teoría de la guerra justa y cómo dijo que estaba desactualizada (según la traducción en inglés de la encíclica). Me gustaría conocer su opinión al respecto. Si está desactualizada, ¿habrá una nueva teoría que la reemplace? ¿Ve elementos de eso a lo largo de esta encíclica Rowlands: Bueno, en realidad, el Papa León se suma a una conversación que lleva tiempo desarrollándose a través de encíclicas recientes y documentos eclesiásticos más amplios sobre cómo mantenemos exactamente el dinamismo del compromiso de la Iglesia con la paz como el único y verdadero objetivo final a la vista. Así que la tradición de la guerra justa se desarrolló, obviamente, desde la Iglesia primitiva, desde los primeros siglos –incluida la contribución muy significativa de Agustín a ella, la contribución de Santo Tomás de Aquino– y luego, en la era moderna, esa tradición se desarrolló para tratar de averiguar cómo mantener la paz en el mundo y fomentar la idea de que se podían construir comunidades humanas sostenibles, estables y comprometidas con la justicia. Así que la pregunta es: ¿en qué medida la teoría de la guerra justa –que es una teoría, una forma de pensar colectivamente sobre cómo alcanzar esos fines– sirve como marco, como una especie de arquitectura moral para pensar en el mundo en el que vivimos hoy? Y en los últimos papados –no solo el del Papa León en este momento, sino en los últimos papados– ha habido un intento de reevaluar la utilidad de esa teoría para el mundo moderno. Sin rechazar la teoría de plano, la valoración ha sido: a veces puede ser demasiado fácil invocar la teoría de la guerra justa en el mundo en el que vivimos ahora, demasiado rápido para justificar la violencia, la intervención y la fuerza, en lugar de hacer una pausa y tomar distancia de ella. Así que la pregunta es: ¿puede la teoría de la guerra justa utilizarse a veces para justificar la violencia donde tal vez queramos ver paz? No es que la Iglesia haya rechazado esa tradición –y vimos al Papa León hacerlo muy recientemente–; él se basó en la tradición de la guerra justa en relación con Irán y el conflicto allí, para decir que debemos recordar que esto no cumple con los criterios de la teoría de la guerra justa. Eso es lo que muchos de los obispos estadounidenses –los obispos de EE.UU.– también están diciendo. Así que seguimos basándonos en eso. Se puede ver su utilidad e importancia ahí. Pero lo que hace la encíclica es decir que no confiemos solo en eso y que debemos continuar este discernimiento permanente sobre el desempeño moral de la teoría de la guerra justa. ¿En qué medida nos ayuda a alcanzar los verdaderos fines, que son una paz justa para todos dentro de un orden global y también dentro de las naciones? Y así, en este momento, la encíclica nos insta a decir que no se puede utilizar la teoría de la guerra justa como un medio legítimo para precipitarse hacia la agresión y la violencia; y que necesitamos encontrar algo así como una teoría de la guerra justa plus para alcanzar verdaderamente los fines de la paz justa. Recuerden, ese es el enfoque. No es solo una consideración de libro de texto que nos permita legitimar la dominación. Y lo que es realmente importante aquí es que él está evaluando la teoría de la guerra justa en una era tecnológica. Porque todo en este documento analiza lo que significa vivir en un tiempo, una era, un momento en el que la tecnología –estamos aquí sentados con micrófonos, ahora tú estás frente a una computadora portátil– está totalmente presente en esta conversación. ¿Cómo afecta eso a la guerra Y él deja muy claro que conduce a la despersonalización, conduce a una aceleración, a una rapidez en las decisiones. Y parece significar que tenemos una comprensión mucho menos tangible de lo que realmente implica cualquier uso de la violencia –incluso si fuera en defensa propia, legítima– y de cómo se crean intervalos de reflexión, verdadera transparencia y rendición de cuentas. Así que, si leen la sección del documento que sigue a su crítica de la teoría de la guerra justa, él establece algunas condiciones –las llama criterios de juicio– que nos ayudan a considerar qué haríamos ahora dado el contexto de la guerra moderna en el que nos encontramos. Así que quiere que evaluemos moralmente tanto la práctica como la teoría, casi mirando más allá de ellas hacia un marco que las abarca pero que nos lleva más allá. Y nos ofrece nuevos criterios para una era de guerra altamente impulsada por la tecnología. CNS: Otra cosa que nos pareció muy interesante fue –creo que este fue uno de los raros momentos en los que lo vimos pedir perdón por la tolerancia de larga data de la Iglesia hacia la esclavitud. ¿Podrías hablarme un poco qué pensaste de eso y si crees que era el momento adecuado? ¿Crees que realmente tendrá un impacto? Rowlands: Sí. Cuando leí por primera vez esos párrafos del documento, me impactaron mucho. Y me impactaron por dos razones desde dos perspectivas diferentes. Una es que las disculpas que la Iglesia ha ofrecido a los esclavos en el pasado –desde la época de Juan Pablo II en adelante, incluidas las del Papa Francisco– han sido, en general, expresiones del más profundo dolor y arrepentimiento por la participación de cristianos individuales en la legitimación de lo que siempre es la propiedad ilegítima y la subyugación de otro ser humano. Lo que hace este texto es llevarnos un poco más allá hacia el debate sobre la Iglesia y el lenguaje de la Iglesia, no solo sobre los cristianos individuales. Así que hay un sentido mucho mayor de responsabilidad colectiva por lo que se hace en nombre de la Iglesia. Hay un cambio en el marco lingüístico aquí que, en mi opinión, tiene que ver con llevar el tema de la esclavitud y el legado de la esclavitud a un espacio colectivo de rendición de cuentas, responsabilidad y discernimiento. Esto enlaza con la segunda parte que más me llamó la atención, que es que no se trata solo de un momento repentino de pedir perdón por la esclavitud; sino que se da en el contexto de pensar en la esclavitud contemporánea hoy y en el hecho de que, en una era tecnológica donde existen nuevas formas de subyugación y esclavitud, la Dra. (Leocadie) Lushombo habló hoy en su intervención sobre esas nuevas formas de esclavitud en la era digital: las industrias extractivas, la minería, la trata de personas, etc. Básicamente nos está diciendo: no queremos encontrarnos dentro de 100 años en otro momento de la historia en el que, una vez más, tengamos que pedir perdón por no haber abordado la esclavitud de nuestra propia era hoy. Así que está diciendo que, si voy a hablar con autoridad –habiendo comprendido ahora la urgencia del asunto–, también debo enfrentarme al pasado histórico.

Encíclica: Las opiniones del Papa León sobre la teoría de la guerra justa y la histórica disculpa de la Iglesia por la esclavitud #Catholic –

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) — En su primera encíclica, el Papa León XIV aprovechó una amplia reflexión sobre la inteligencia artificial para cuestionar si el marco de la guerra justa de la Iglesia Católica, vigente desde hace siglos, sigue siendo válido en la guerra moderna, y para pedir perdón por el papel de la Iglesia en la esclavitud.

La encíclica del Santo Padre, titulada “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnífica Humanidad”), se centra principalmente en el desarrollo ético de la inteligencia artificial y los peligros que plantean las armas autónomas, el poder tecnológico concentrado y la erosión de la dignidad humana. Pero en el documento, el Papa León también hace varias intervenciones más amplias sobre la guerra, la violencia y la injusticia histórica.

Al abordar estos temas, cuestionó la enseñanza católica sobre la teoría de la guerra justa en la guerra moderna y abordó la esclavitud de una manera sin precedentes.


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

La teoría de la guerra justa, desarrollada en gran medida a través de los escritos de San Agustín y Santo Tomás de Aquino, ha sido aceptada durante siglos dentro de la doctrina católica para determinar si la guerra podría justificarse moralmente bajo condiciones estrictas. Establece que una nación debe hacer todo lo posible por evitar la violencia, considerando el costo humano, una causa justa y el esfuerzo por entablar negociaciones diplomáticas. Recientemente ha sido invocada por la administración Trump para justificar el conflicto en curso en el Medio Oriente.

Pero el Papa León escribió que la teoría se ha vuelto cada vez más inadecuada en una era marcada por el armamento avanzado y la inteligencia artificial y “ahora está desactualizada” (el pontífice usó la palabra “outdated” en inglés, que también se puede traducir como “desfasada”. Cabe mencionar que el párrafo en cuestión de la versión en español de la encíclica explica esto de la siguiente manera: “Hoy más que nunca es importante reiterar la superación de la teoría de la ‘guerra justa’, invocada con demasiada frecuencia para justificar cualquier guerra, sin perjuicio del derecho a la legítima defensa, entendida en el sentido más estricto”).

“La humanidad cuenta con instrumentos mucho más eficaces y capaces de promover la vida humana para afrontar los conflictos, como el diálogo, la diplomacia y el perdón”, escribió el Papa León. “El recurso a la fuerza, a la violencia y a las armas testimonia una pobreza relacional que siempre tiene consecuencias desastrosas para las poblaciones civiles”.

El pontífice también introdujo criterios adicionales que, según él, deben tenerse en cuenta antes de recurrir a la guerra, entre ellos garantizar una cadena de responsabilidad clara cuando se utilizan tecnologías automatizadas en combate, establecer un “tiempo del juicio moral” en una era en la que la inteligencia artificial puede acelerar las decisiones militares y salvaguardar a los civiles.

En otra parte de la encíclica, el Papa León abordó la participación de la Iglesia Católica en el “flagelo de la esclavitud” en términos más amplios que muchos de sus predecesores. Los papas anteriores se han disculpado por casos más específicos, como la participación cristiana en el comercio transatlántico de esclavos, pero el Papa León pareció enmarcar la responsabilidad de la Iglesia en términos más institucionales.

“Es inevitable sentir un profundo dolor al considerar el enorme sufrimiento y humillación que la esclavitud ha significado para tantas personas, en contraste con la dignidad sin límites de cada una de ellas, amadas infinitamente por el Señor”, escribió. “Por eso, en nombre de la Iglesia, pido sinceramente perdón”.

Los comentarios del Papa llamaron inmediatamente la atención porque ambos temas –la teoría de la guerra justa y la responsabilidad institucional por la esclavitud– representan enfoques novedosos. Anna Rowlands, profesora de teología política y doctrina social católica en Durham University en Inglaterra, habló con Catholic News Service sobre la importancia de las declaraciones del Papa y cómo encajan dentro de los temas más amplios de “Magnifica Humanitas”.

Esta entrevista ha sido editada para mayor claridad y brevedad:

CNS: Hablando del hecho de que esta primera encíclica aborda muchos de los temas que ha planteado a lo largo de su papado, algo que realmente nos llamó la atención fue su teoría de la guerra justa y cómo dijo que estaba desactualizada (según la traducción en inglés de la encíclica). Me gustaría conocer su opinión al respecto. Si está desactualizada, ¿habrá una nueva teoría que la reemplace? ¿Ve elementos de eso a lo largo de esta encíclica

Rowlands: Bueno, en realidad, el Papa León se suma a una conversación que lleva tiempo desarrollándose a través de encíclicas recientes y documentos eclesiásticos más amplios sobre cómo mantenemos exactamente el dinamismo del compromiso de la Iglesia con la paz como el único y verdadero objetivo final a la vista. Así que la tradición de la guerra justa se desarrolló, obviamente, desde la Iglesia primitiva, desde los primeros siglos –incluida la contribución muy significativa de Agustín a ella, la contribución de Santo Tomás de Aquino– y luego, en la era moderna, esa tradición se desarrolló para tratar de averiguar cómo mantener la paz en el mundo y fomentar la idea de que se podían construir comunidades humanas sostenibles, estables y comprometidas con la justicia.

Así que la pregunta es: ¿en qué medida la teoría de la guerra justa –que es una teoría, una forma de pensar colectivamente sobre cómo alcanzar esos fines– sirve como marco, como una especie de arquitectura moral para pensar en el mundo en el que vivimos hoy?

Y en los últimos papados –no solo el del Papa León en este momento, sino en los últimos papados– ha habido un intento de reevaluar la utilidad de esa teoría para el mundo moderno. Sin rechazar la teoría de plano, la valoración ha sido: a veces puede ser demasiado fácil invocar la teoría de la guerra justa en el mundo en el que vivimos ahora, demasiado rápido para justificar la violencia, la intervención y la fuerza, en lugar de hacer una pausa y tomar distancia de ella.

Así que la pregunta es: ¿puede la teoría de la guerra justa utilizarse a veces para justificar la violencia donde tal vez queramos ver paz? No es que la Iglesia haya rechazado esa tradición –y vimos al Papa León hacerlo muy recientemente–; él se basó en la tradición de la guerra justa en relación con Irán y el conflicto allí, para decir que debemos recordar que esto no cumple con los criterios de la teoría de la guerra justa. Eso es lo que muchos de los obispos estadounidenses –los obispos de EE.UU.– también están diciendo. Así que seguimos basándonos en eso. Se puede ver su utilidad e importancia ahí.

Pero lo que hace la encíclica es decir que no confiemos solo en eso y que debemos continuar este discernimiento permanente sobre el desempeño moral de la teoría de la guerra justa. ¿En qué medida nos ayuda a alcanzar los verdaderos fines, que son una paz justa para todos dentro de un orden global y también dentro de las naciones? Y así, en este momento, la encíclica nos insta a decir que no se puede utilizar la teoría de la guerra justa como un medio legítimo para precipitarse hacia la agresión y la violencia; y que necesitamos encontrar algo así como una teoría de la guerra justa plus para alcanzar verdaderamente los fines de la paz justa. Recuerden, ese es el enfoque. No es solo una consideración de libro de texto que nos permita legitimar la dominación.

Y lo que es realmente importante aquí es que él está evaluando la teoría de la guerra justa en una era tecnológica. Porque todo en este documento analiza lo que significa vivir en un tiempo, una era, un momento en el que la tecnología –estamos aquí sentados con micrófonos, ahora tú estás frente a una computadora portátil– está totalmente presente en esta conversación.

¿Cómo afecta eso a la guerra Y él deja muy claro que conduce a la despersonalización, conduce a una aceleración, a una rapidez en las decisiones. Y parece significar que tenemos una comprensión mucho menos tangible de lo que realmente implica cualquier uso de la violencia –incluso si fuera en defensa propia, legítima– y de cómo se crean intervalos de reflexión, verdadera transparencia y rendición de cuentas. Así que, si leen la sección del documento que sigue a su crítica de la teoría de la guerra justa, él establece algunas condiciones –las llama criterios de juicio– que nos ayudan a considerar qué haríamos ahora dado el contexto de la guerra moderna en el que nos encontramos. Así que quiere que evaluemos moralmente tanto la práctica como la teoría, casi mirando más allá de ellas hacia un marco que las abarca pero que nos lleva más allá. Y nos ofrece nuevos criterios para una era de guerra altamente impulsada por la tecnología.

CNS: Otra cosa que nos pareció muy interesante fue –creo que este fue uno de los raros momentos en los que lo vimos pedir perdón por la tolerancia de larga data de la Iglesia hacia la esclavitud. ¿Podrías hablarme un poco qué pensaste de eso y si crees que era el momento adecuado? ¿Crees que realmente tendrá un impacto?

Rowlands: Sí. Cuando leí por primera vez esos párrafos del documento, me impactaron mucho. Y me impactaron por dos razones desde dos perspectivas diferentes. Una es que las disculpas que la Iglesia ha ofrecido a los esclavos en el pasado –desde la época de Juan Pablo II en adelante, incluidas las del Papa Francisco– han sido, en general, expresiones del más profundo dolor y arrepentimiento por la participación de cristianos individuales en la legitimación de lo que siempre es la propiedad ilegítima y la subyugación de otro ser humano. Lo que hace este texto es llevarnos un poco más allá hacia el debate sobre la Iglesia y el lenguaje de la Iglesia, no solo sobre los cristianos individuales.

Así que hay un sentido mucho mayor de responsabilidad colectiva por lo que se hace en nombre de la Iglesia. Hay un cambio en el marco lingüístico aquí que, en mi opinión, tiene que ver con llevar el tema de la esclavitud y el legado de la esclavitud a un espacio colectivo de rendición de cuentas, responsabilidad y discernimiento.

Esto enlaza con la segunda parte que más me llamó la atención, que es que no se trata solo de un momento repentino de pedir perdón por la esclavitud; sino que se da en el contexto de pensar en la esclavitud contemporánea hoy y en el hecho de que, en una era tecnológica donde existen nuevas formas de subyugación y esclavitud, la Dra. (Leocadie) Lushombo habló hoy en su intervención sobre esas nuevas formas de esclavitud en la era digital: las industrias extractivas, la minería, la trata de personas, etc. Básicamente nos está diciendo: no queremos encontrarnos dentro de 100 años en otro momento de la historia en el que, una vez más, tengamos que pedir perdón por no haber abordado la esclavitud de nuestra propia era hoy. Así que está diciendo que, si voy a hablar con autoridad –habiendo comprendido ahora la urgencia del asunto–, también debo enfrentarme al pasado histórico.

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) — En su primera encíclica, el Papa León XIV aprovechó una amplia reflexión sobre la inteligencia artificial para cuestionar si el marco de la guerra justa de la Iglesia Católica, vigente desde hace siglos, sigue siendo válido en la guerra moderna, y para pedir perdón por el papel de la Iglesia en la esclavitud. La encíclica del Santo Padre, titulada “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnífica Humanidad”), se centra principalmente en el desarrollo ético de la inteligencia artificial y los peligros que plantean las armas autónomas, el poder tecnológico concentrado y la erosión de la dignidad humana. Pero en

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Cameroon’s bishops renew call for peace, dialogue as nation faces ongoing crises – #Catholic – YAOUNDE, Cameroon — The president of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC), Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea, has renewed the Catholic Church’s call for peace and dialogue, urging both Church leaders and political authorities to address the root causes of conflict as the country continues to face security, political, and socio-economic challenges.Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 51st Plenary Assembly of NECC members, the archbishop emphasized that peace must remain a national priority, particularly in Cameroon’s conflict-affected northwest, southwest, and far north regions.“Peace is a fundamental human right, indispensable for the development of peoples, social cohesion, economic progress, and respect for human dignity,” Nkea said on Tuesday, June 2.The leader of Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese reflected on the April 15–18 apostolic journey of Pope Leo XIV to Cameroon, describing it as a historic moment for the local Church and a source of renewed hope for the nation.“At a time when our Church and our country needed it most, he accepted, against all odds, even risking his own life, to come and comfort us and renew in us the hope that does not disappoint,” Nkea said.He also highlighted the Holy Father’s appeal for reconciliation and an end to violence, recalling that Pope Leo XIV spoke of the suffering caused by the conflicts affecting parts of Cameroon, including the loss of lives, the displacement of families, disruptions to education, and growing uncertainty among young people.The Cameroonian archbishop said the Church remains committed to promoting peace, dialogue, and hope while encouraging greater investment in the countryʼs youth as an essential part of building a stable future.Quoting Pope Leo, Nkea noted that the tensions and violence affecting parts of Cameroon have caused profound suffering, including loss of life, displacement of families, disruption of education, and uncertainty among young people.“Enough of war, with all the pain it causes through death, destruction, and exile,” the archbishop said, echoing the pope’s call.He emphasized that peace cannot be achieved solely through political declarations but requires a sincere commitment to dialogue, conversion, justice, and national reconciliation.“We will never achieve lasting peace without a firm decision to choose the path that leads to it, with all its demands of conversion, love for country, change of mentality, and dialogue,” he said.As Cameroon prepares for future municipal elections, Nkea called for prayers and vigilance, noting that elections in the country are often accompanied by tensions and violence.“The appeasement that we contributed to create after the presidential election was not a sign of weakness but a necessity for our society,” he said.A significant portion of the archbishop’s address focused on the role of young people in building a peaceful and prosperous future.Drawing from Pope Leoʼs remarks during his visit, the archbishop emphasized that youth remain the nation’s greatest hope.“Young people represent the hope of the country and of the Church. Their energy and creativity are priceless treasures,” he said.He warned that unemployment, social exclusion, and lack of opportunities continue to expose many young people to violence, migration, drug abuse, prostitution, and despair.“Investing in education, training, and entrepreneurship for young people is therefore a strategic choice for peace,” Nkea said.The NECC president also encouraged the Church in Cameroon to reflect on the popeʼs recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, particularly its teaching on the ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies.“In times marked by the challenges posed by a certain use of digital technology and artificial intelligence, we must discern how to receive the Holy Father’s encyclical in our context,” he said.Nkea also used the occasion to celebrate the 60th anniversary of NECC, describing the milestone as a testament to six decades of evangelization, ecclesial maturity, and faithful service to the people of God.The 51st Ordinary Plenary Assembly of the NECC, running from May 31 to June 5, is bringing together Catholic bishops from across Cameroon to review pastoral priorities, discuss national concerns, evaluate Church projects, and strengthen their collective mission of evangelization.Throughout the gathering, Nkea said, the bishops are to continue praying for peace in Cameroon and around the world while seeking ways to respond to the challenges facing the Church and society.“We freely chose to come together and persevere in our journey toward eternity. May the Holy Spirit remain the principal protagonist of our communion and collegiality, so that our work may be for the glory of God and the salvation of all,” he said.This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

Cameroon’s bishops renew call for peace, dialogue as nation faces ongoing crises – #Catholic – YAOUNDE, Cameroon — The president of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC), Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea, has renewed the Catholic Church’s call for peace and dialogue, urging both Church leaders and political authorities to address the root causes of conflict as the country continues to face security, political, and socio-economic challenges.Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 51st Plenary Assembly of NECC members, the archbishop emphasized that peace must remain a national priority, particularly in Cameroon’s conflict-affected northwest, southwest, and far north regions.“Peace is a fundamental human right, indispensable for the development of peoples, social cohesion, economic progress, and respect for human dignity,” Nkea said on Tuesday, June 2.The leader of Cameroon’s Bamenda Archdiocese reflected on the April 15–18 apostolic journey of Pope Leo XIV to Cameroon, describing it as a historic moment for the local Church and a source of renewed hope for the nation.“At a time when our Church and our country needed it most, he accepted, against all odds, even risking his own life, to come and comfort us and renew in us the hope that does not disappoint,” Nkea said.He also highlighted the Holy Father’s appeal for reconciliation and an end to violence, recalling that Pope Leo XIV spoke of the suffering caused by the conflicts affecting parts of Cameroon, including the loss of lives, the displacement of families, disruptions to education, and growing uncertainty among young people.The Cameroonian archbishop said the Church remains committed to promoting peace, dialogue, and hope while encouraging greater investment in the countryʼs youth as an essential part of building a stable future.Quoting Pope Leo, Nkea noted that the tensions and violence affecting parts of Cameroon have caused profound suffering, including loss of life, displacement of families, disruption of education, and uncertainty among young people.“Enough of war, with all the pain it causes through death, destruction, and exile,” the archbishop said, echoing the pope’s call.He emphasized that peace cannot be achieved solely through political declarations but requires a sincere commitment to dialogue, conversion, justice, and national reconciliation.“We will never achieve lasting peace without a firm decision to choose the path that leads to it, with all its demands of conversion, love for country, change of mentality, and dialogue,” he said.As Cameroon prepares for future municipal elections, Nkea called for prayers and vigilance, noting that elections in the country are often accompanied by tensions and violence.“The appeasement that we contributed to create after the presidential election was not a sign of weakness but a necessity for our society,” he said.A significant portion of the archbishop’s address focused on the role of young people in building a peaceful and prosperous future.Drawing from Pope Leoʼs remarks during his visit, the archbishop emphasized that youth remain the nation’s greatest hope.“Young people represent the hope of the country and of the Church. Their energy and creativity are priceless treasures,” he said.He warned that unemployment, social exclusion, and lack of opportunities continue to expose many young people to violence, migration, drug abuse, prostitution, and despair.“Investing in education, training, and entrepreneurship for young people is therefore a strategic choice for peace,” Nkea said.The NECC president also encouraged the Church in Cameroon to reflect on the popeʼs recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, particularly its teaching on the ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies.“In times marked by the challenges posed by a certain use of digital technology and artificial intelligence, we must discern how to receive the Holy Father’s encyclical in our context,” he said.Nkea also used the occasion to celebrate the 60th anniversary of NECC, describing the milestone as a testament to six decades of evangelization, ecclesial maturity, and faithful service to the people of God.The 51st Ordinary Plenary Assembly of the NECC, running from May 31 to June 5, is bringing together Catholic bishops from across Cameroon to review pastoral priorities, discuss national concerns, evaluate Church projects, and strengthen their collective mission of evangelization.Throughout the gathering, Nkea said, the bishops are to continue praying for peace in Cameroon and around the world while seeking ways to respond to the challenges facing the Church and society.“We freely chose to come together and persevere in our journey toward eternity. May the Holy Spirit remain the principal protagonist of our communion and collegiality, so that our work may be for the glory of God and the salvation of all,” he said.This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

The president of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon emphasized that peace must remain a national priority, particularly in Cameroon’s conflict-ridden regions.

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Ambiente seguro, causas de canonización y el Sagrado Corazón en la agenda de la reunión de los obispos de EEUU #Catholic – (OSV News) – La agenda de los obispos católicos de Estados Unidos para su reunión anual de primavera incluye temas como protocolos de entorno seguro, causas de canonización, el sínodo sobre la sinodalidad y la consagración de los Estados Unidos al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús.
La Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos se reunirá del 10 al 12 de junio para una asamblea plenaria de primavera en Orlando, Florida.
Las sesiones públicas de la reunión, que tendrán lugar el 10 y 11 de junio, se transmitirán en vivo a través del sitio web de la USCCB (como se le conoce a la conferencia episcopal, por sus siglas en inglés) en usccb.org, según un comunicado de prensa emitido el 18 de mayo por la conferencia.
El arzobispo Paul S. Coakley, de Oklahoma City, abrirá las sesiones públicas con su primer discurso como presidente de la USCCB, tras haber sido elegido durante la reunión anual de otoño de la conferencia en noviembre de 2025.

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

También se dirigirá a los obispos el arzobispo Gabriele G. Caccia, quien fue nombrado nuncio papal en los Estados Unidos en marzo, tras haber servido anteriormente como observador permanente de la Santa Sede ante las Naciones Unidas. El arzobispo Caccia sucedió al cardenal Christophe Pierre, quien cumplió 80 años en enero y había ocupado el cargo desde 2016.
La USCCB señaló en su comunicado que la agenda de la asamblea de junio “aún no se ha finalizado y está sujeta a cambios”, pero afirmó que se espera que se voten varios puntos de acción.
Entre esos puntos se encuentra una revisión del “Estatuto para la Protección de Niños y Jóvenes” de la USCCB (“Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People”), adoptada en 2002 a raíz de la aparición de varios escándalos de abusos por parte del clero. Conocido comúnmente como el Estatuto de Dallas (o la Carta de Dallas), el documento establece un conjunto exhaustivo de procedimientos para abordar las denuncias de abuso sexual de menores por parte del clero católico, e incluye directrices para la reconciliación, la sanación, la rendición de cuentas y la prevención del abuso.
Sin especificar la revisión propuesta, la USCCB indicó en su comunicado que el punto del orden del día se refiere a “elementos de la Carta que los obispos han determinado que necesitan mejoras o un mayor desarrollo”.
La revisión “se alinearía con la intención original de la Carta de salvaguardar a los menores”, al tiempo que reafirma el “compromiso continuo” de la USCCB con la prevención del abuso y el establecimiento de mecanismos para responder a las denuncias, señaló el comunicado.
La USCCB señaló que su Comité para la Protección de Niños y Jóvenes, presidido por el obispo Barry C. Knestout de Richmond, Virginia, busca “equilibrar su atención y sensibilidad hacia las víctimas sobrevivientes, con una conciencia del debido proceso, los derechos de los acusados” y “los aspectos pertinentes” del derecho canónico y otros documentos clave sobre el manejo de las denuncias de abuso por parte del clero.
El comunicado de prensa citó en particular “Vox Estis Lux Mundi” (“Sois la luz del mundo”), el motu proprio del Papa Francisco que establece los procedimientos jurídicos a nivel mundial sobre cómo debe actuar la Iglesia ante los casos de abuso sexual por parte del clero, incluidos los incidentes que involucran a adultos vulnerables y los procedimientos para investigar a los obispos.
Además, los obispos considerarán las posibles revisiones de los estatutos a la luz del Vademécum de junio de 2022 del Dicasterio para la Doctrina de la Fe del Vaticano, o guía para obispos, sobre los procedimientos para manejar los casos de abuso por parte del clero.
También figuran en la agenda las consultas episcopales para dos causas de canonización: la de monseñor Joseph Francis Buh, un sacerdote misionero esloveno del siglo XIX que prestó su ministerio al pueblo ojibwe del norte de Minnesota; y la de John Rick Miller, un empresario estadounidense del siglo XX que fundó For the Love of God Worldwide, una asociación privada de fieles que promueve la consagración a Dios a través del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y el Inmaculado Corazón de María.
Las consultas forman parte del proceso establecido por la Iglesia para las evaluaciones de santidad. Si se obtiene la aprobación de la Santa Sede tras las consultas, el obispo diocesano puede convocar un tribunal diocesano para examinar más a fondo la vida del candidato.
El Comité de Culto Divino de la USCCB completará los puntos de acción de la agenda, presentando fragmentos de dos textos para su consideración: una nueva edición del Leccionario para la Misa, que proporciona las lecturas de las Escrituras y el salmo para la liturgia de cada día; y el Suplemento del Misal Romano-Liturgia de las Horas de 2025.
En la reunión de noviembre de la USCCB, el obispo Steven J. Lopes, presidente del Comité de Culto Divino, anunció que el Vaticano había aprobado una nueva edición de la Liturgia de las Horas, la antigua oración litúrgica diaria de la Iglesia que combina las Escrituras, los textos sagrados y los himnos para el culto en diversas horas.
La asamblea de primavera también incluirá actualizaciones sobre una serie de temas adicionales, dijo la USCCB en su comunicado.
Los obispos debatirán sobre la implementación y la evaluación del Sínodo sobre la sinodalidad, así como sobre las opiniones recabadas en los diálogos celebrados en noviembre en torno a “Formando la conciencia para ser ciudadanos files”, el documento doctrinal de la USCCB sobre la responsabilidad política de los católicos.
Además, analizarán el 25.º aniversario de la implementación de “Ex Corde Ecclesia”, la constitución apostólica de San Juan Pablo II sobre las universidades católicas.
Las discusiones también examinarán la pastoral carcelaria católica; la participación de la USCCB en la Novena Intercontinental Guadalupana en honor al 500.º aniversario de las apariciones marianas en lo que hoy es la Ciudad de México; y la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud 2027, que tendrá lugar en Seúl, Corea del Sur.
Gina Christian es reportera multimedia de OSV News. Sígala en X en @GinaJesseReina.
 

Ambiente seguro, causas de canonización y el Sagrado Corazón en la agenda de la reunión de los obispos de EEUU #Catholic – (OSV News) – La agenda de los obispos católicos de Estados Unidos para su reunión anual de primavera incluye temas como protocolos de entorno seguro, causas de canonización, el sínodo sobre la sinodalidad y la consagración de los Estados Unidos al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. La Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos se reunirá del 10 al 12 de junio para una asamblea plenaria de primavera en Orlando, Florida. Las sesiones públicas de la reunión, que tendrán lugar el 10 y 11 de junio, se transmitirán en vivo a través del sitio web de la USCCB (como se le conoce a la conferencia episcopal, por sus siglas en inglés) en usccb.org, según un comunicado de prensa emitido el 18 de mayo por la conferencia. El arzobispo Paul S. Coakley, de Oklahoma City, abrirá las sesiones públicas con su primer discurso como presidente de la USCCB, tras haber sido elegido durante la reunión anual de otoño de la conferencia en noviembre de 2025. Para suscribirse a nuestro boletín electrónico semanal, haga click aquí. También se dirigirá a los obispos el arzobispo Gabriele G. Caccia, quien fue nombrado nuncio papal en los Estados Unidos en marzo, tras haber servido anteriormente como observador permanente de la Santa Sede ante las Naciones Unidas. El arzobispo Caccia sucedió al cardenal Christophe Pierre, quien cumplió 80 años en enero y había ocupado el cargo desde 2016. La USCCB señaló en su comunicado que la agenda de la asamblea de junio “aún no se ha finalizado y está sujeta a cambios”, pero afirmó que se espera que se voten varios puntos de acción. Entre esos puntos se encuentra una revisión del “Estatuto para la Protección de Niños y Jóvenes” de la USCCB (“Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People”), adoptada en 2002 a raíz de la aparición de varios escándalos de abusos por parte del clero. Conocido comúnmente como el Estatuto de Dallas (o la Carta de Dallas), el documento establece un conjunto exhaustivo de procedimientos para abordar las denuncias de abuso sexual de menores por parte del clero católico, e incluye directrices para la reconciliación, la sanación, la rendición de cuentas y la prevención del abuso. Sin especificar la revisión propuesta, la USCCB indicó en su comunicado que el punto del orden del día se refiere a “elementos de la Carta que los obispos han determinado que necesitan mejoras o un mayor desarrollo”. La revisión “se alinearía con la intención original de la Carta de salvaguardar a los menores”, al tiempo que reafirma el “compromiso continuo” de la USCCB con la prevención del abuso y el establecimiento de mecanismos para responder a las denuncias, señaló el comunicado. La USCCB señaló que su Comité para la Protección de Niños y Jóvenes, presidido por el obispo Barry C. Knestout de Richmond, Virginia, busca “equilibrar su atención y sensibilidad hacia las víctimas sobrevivientes, con una conciencia del debido proceso, los derechos de los acusados” y “los aspectos pertinentes” del derecho canónico y otros documentos clave sobre el manejo de las denuncias de abuso por parte del clero. El comunicado de prensa citó en particular “Vox Estis Lux Mundi” (“Sois la luz del mundo”), el motu proprio del Papa Francisco que establece los procedimientos jurídicos a nivel mundial sobre cómo debe actuar la Iglesia ante los casos de abuso sexual por parte del clero, incluidos los incidentes que involucran a adultos vulnerables y los procedimientos para investigar a los obispos. Además, los obispos considerarán las posibles revisiones de los estatutos a la luz del Vademécum de junio de 2022 del Dicasterio para la Doctrina de la Fe del Vaticano, o guía para obispos, sobre los procedimientos para manejar los casos de abuso por parte del clero. También figuran en la agenda las consultas episcopales para dos causas de canonización: la de monseñor Joseph Francis Buh, un sacerdote misionero esloveno del siglo XIX que prestó su ministerio al pueblo ojibwe del norte de Minnesota; y la de John Rick Miller, un empresario estadounidense del siglo XX que fundó For the Love of God Worldwide, una asociación privada de fieles que promueve la consagración a Dios a través del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y el Inmaculado Corazón de María. Las consultas forman parte del proceso establecido por la Iglesia para las evaluaciones de santidad. Si se obtiene la aprobación de la Santa Sede tras las consultas, el obispo diocesano puede convocar un tribunal diocesano para examinar más a fondo la vida del candidato. El Comité de Culto Divino de la USCCB completará los puntos de acción de la agenda, presentando fragmentos de dos textos para su consideración: una nueva edición del Leccionario para la Misa, que proporciona las lecturas de las Escrituras y el salmo para la liturgia de cada día; y el Suplemento del Misal Romano-Liturgia de las Horas de 2025. En la reunión de noviembre de la USCCB, el obispo Steven J. Lopes, presidente del Comité de Culto Divino, anunció que el Vaticano había aprobado una nueva edición de la Liturgia de las Horas, la antigua oración litúrgica diaria de la Iglesia que combina las Escrituras, los textos sagrados y los himnos para el culto en diversas horas. La asamblea de primavera también incluirá actualizaciones sobre una serie de temas adicionales, dijo la USCCB en su comunicado. Los obispos debatirán sobre la implementación y la evaluación del Sínodo sobre la sinodalidad, así como sobre las opiniones recabadas en los diálogos celebrados en noviembre en torno a “Formando la conciencia para ser ciudadanos files”, el documento doctrinal de la USCCB sobre la responsabilidad política de los católicos. Además, analizarán el 25.º aniversario de la implementación de “Ex Corde Ecclesia”, la constitución apostólica de San Juan Pablo II sobre las universidades católicas. Las discusiones también examinarán la pastoral carcelaria católica; la participación de la USCCB en la Novena Intercontinental Guadalupana en honor al 500.º aniversario de las apariciones marianas en lo que hoy es la Ciudad de México; y la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud 2027, que tendrá lugar en Seúl, Corea del Sur. Gina Christian es reportera multimedia de OSV News. Sígala en X en @GinaJesseReina.  

Ambiente seguro, causas de canonización y el Sagrado Corazón en la agenda de la reunión de los obispos de EEUU #Catholic –

(OSV News) – La agenda de los obispos católicos de Estados Unidos para su reunión anual de primavera incluye temas como protocolos de entorno seguro, causas de canonización, el sínodo sobre la sinodalidad y la consagración de los Estados Unidos al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús.

La Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos se reunirá del 10 al 12 de junio para una asamblea plenaria de primavera en Orlando, Florida.
Las sesiones públicas de la reunión, que tendrán lugar el 10 y 11 de junio, se transmitirán en vivo a través del sitio web de la USCCB (como se le conoce a la conferencia episcopal, por sus siglas en inglés) en usccb.org, según un comunicado de prensa emitido el 18 de mayo por la conferencia.

El arzobispo Paul S. Coakley, de Oklahoma City, abrirá las sesiones públicas con su primer discurso como presidente de la USCCB, tras haber sido elegido durante la reunión anual de otoño de la conferencia en noviembre de 2025.


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

También se dirigirá a los obispos el arzobispo Gabriele G. Caccia, quien fue nombrado nuncio papal en los Estados Unidos en marzo, tras haber servido anteriormente como observador permanente de la Santa Sede ante las Naciones Unidas. El arzobispo Caccia sucedió al cardenal Christophe Pierre, quien cumplió 80 años en enero y había ocupado el cargo desde 2016.

La USCCB señaló en su comunicado que la agenda de la asamblea de junio “aún no se ha finalizado y está sujeta a cambios”, pero afirmó que se espera que se voten varios puntos de acción.

Entre esos puntos se encuentra una revisión del “Estatuto para la Protección de Niños y Jóvenes” de la USCCB (“Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People”), adoptada en 2002 a raíz de la aparición de varios escándalos de abusos por parte del clero. Conocido comúnmente como el Estatuto de Dallas (o la Carta de Dallas), el documento establece un conjunto exhaustivo de procedimientos para abordar las denuncias de abuso sexual de menores por parte del clero católico, e incluye directrices para la reconciliación, la sanación, la rendición de cuentas y la prevención del abuso.

Sin especificar la revisión propuesta, la USCCB indicó en su comunicado que el punto del orden del día se refiere a “elementos de la Carta que los obispos han determinado que necesitan mejoras o un mayor desarrollo”.

La revisión “se alinearía con la intención original de la Carta de salvaguardar a los menores”, al tiempo que reafirma el “compromiso continuo” de la USCCB con la prevención del abuso y el establecimiento de mecanismos para responder a las denuncias, señaló el comunicado.

La USCCB señaló que su Comité para la Protección de Niños y Jóvenes, presidido por el obispo Barry C. Knestout de Richmond, Virginia, busca “equilibrar su atención y sensibilidad hacia las víctimas sobrevivientes, con una conciencia del debido proceso, los derechos de los acusados” y “los aspectos pertinentes” del derecho canónico y otros documentos clave sobre el manejo de las denuncias de abuso por parte del clero.

El comunicado de prensa citó en particular “Vox Estis Lux Mundi” (“Sois la luz del mundo”), el motu proprio del Papa Francisco que establece los procedimientos jurídicos a nivel mundial sobre cómo debe actuar la Iglesia ante los casos de abuso sexual por parte del clero, incluidos los incidentes que involucran a adultos vulnerables y los procedimientos para investigar a los obispos.

Además, los obispos considerarán las posibles revisiones de los estatutos a la luz del Vademécum de junio de 2022 del Dicasterio para la Doctrina de la Fe del Vaticano, o guía para obispos, sobre los procedimientos para manejar los casos de abuso por parte del clero.

También figuran en la agenda las consultas episcopales para dos causas de canonización: la de monseñor Joseph Francis Buh, un sacerdote misionero esloveno del siglo XIX que prestó su ministerio al pueblo ojibwe del norte de Minnesota; y la de John Rick Miller, un empresario estadounidense del siglo XX que fundó For the Love of God Worldwide, una asociación privada de fieles que promueve la consagración a Dios a través del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y el Inmaculado Corazón de María.

Las consultas forman parte del proceso establecido por la Iglesia para las evaluaciones de santidad. Si se obtiene la aprobación de la Santa Sede tras las consultas, el obispo diocesano puede convocar un tribunal diocesano para examinar más a fondo la vida del candidato.

El Comité de Culto Divino de la USCCB completará los puntos de acción de la agenda, presentando fragmentos de dos textos para su consideración: una nueva edición del Leccionario para la Misa, que proporciona las lecturas de las Escrituras y el salmo para la liturgia de cada día; y el Suplemento del Misal Romano-Liturgia de las Horas de 2025.

En la reunión de noviembre de la USCCB, el obispo Steven J. Lopes, presidente del Comité de Culto Divino, anunció que el Vaticano había aprobado una nueva edición de la Liturgia de las Horas, la antigua oración litúrgica diaria de la Iglesia que combina las Escrituras, los textos sagrados y los himnos para el culto en diversas horas.

La asamblea de primavera también incluirá actualizaciones sobre una serie de temas adicionales, dijo la USCCB en su comunicado.

Los obispos debatirán sobre la implementación y la evaluación del Sínodo sobre la sinodalidad, así como sobre las opiniones recabadas en los diálogos celebrados en noviembre en torno a “Formando la conciencia para ser ciudadanos files”, el documento doctrinal de la USCCB sobre la responsabilidad política de los católicos.

Además, analizarán el 25.º aniversario de la implementación de “Ex Corde Ecclesia”, la constitución apostólica de San Juan Pablo II sobre las universidades católicas.

Las discusiones también examinarán la pastoral carcelaria católica; la participación de la USCCB en la Novena Intercontinental Guadalupana en honor al 500.º aniversario de las apariciones marianas en lo que hoy es la Ciudad de México; y la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud 2027, que tendrá lugar en Seúl, Corea del Sur.

Gina Christian es reportera multimedia de OSV News. Sígala en X en @GinaJesseReina.

 

(OSV News) – La agenda de los obispos católicos de Estados Unidos para su reunión anual de primavera incluye temas como protocolos de entorno seguro, causas de canonización, el sínodo sobre la sinodalidad y la consagración de los Estados Unidos al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. La Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos se reunirá del 10 al 12 de junio para una asamblea plenaria de primavera en Orlando, Florida. Las sesiones públicas de la reunión, que tendrán lugar el 10 y 11 de junio, se transmitirán en vivo a través del sitio web de la USCCB (como se

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Joyful Bishop confirms 59 youth at Passaic Polish parish #Catholic - A spirit of joy filled the Shrine of St. John Paul II/Holy Rosary Parish in Passaic, N.J., on May 31 as Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney celebrated Mass and confirmed 59 parish youth.
The Mass was concelebrated by Father A. Stefan Las, pastor of Holy Rosary, which serves a Polish Catholic community, along with Father Michal Dykalski, the parish’s parochial vicar.
Both Father Las and Father Dykalski used social media to congratulate the youth.

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

On behalf of the youth, the priests posted a prayer on social media: “May the Holy Spirit, whose gifts you have received today, guide you throughout your life, strengthen you in your faith, fill you with courage and wisdom, and help you discover the beauty of everyday life with the Lord God. May his light show you the right path and his grace support you in making good decisions and realizing your dreams.”
BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI
 [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]  

Joyful Bishop confirms 59 youth at Passaic Polish parish #Catholic –

A spirit of joy filled the Shrine of St. John Paul II/Holy Rosary Parish in Passaic, N.J., on May 31 as Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney celebrated Mass and confirmed 59 parish youth.

The Mass was concelebrated by Father A. Stefan Las, pastor of Holy Rosary, which serves a Polish Catholic community, along with Father Michal Dykalski, the parish’s parochial vicar.

Both Father Las and Father Dykalski used social media to congratulate the youth.


Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

On behalf of the youth, the priests posted a prayer on social media: “May the Holy Spirit, whose gifts you have received today, guide you throughout your life, strengthen you in your faith, fill you with courage and wisdom, and help you discover the beauty of everyday life with the Lord God. May his light show you the right path and his grace support you in making good decisions and realizing your dreams.”

BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI

A spirit of joy filled the Shrine of St. John Paul II/Holy Rosary Parish in Passaic, N.J., on May 31 as Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney celebrated Mass and confirmed 59 parish youth. The Mass was concelebrated by Father A. Stefan Las, pastor of Holy Rosary, which serves a Polish Catholic community, along with Father Michal Dykalski, the parish’s parochial vicar. Both Father Las and Father Dykalski used social media to congratulate the youth. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. On behalf of the youth, the priests posted a prayer on social media: “May the Holy Spirit, whose gifts

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June consistory of cardinals will address synod, war, artificial intelligence – #Catholic – Several working sessions and four themes ranging from war to synodality are planned for the next consistory convened by Pope Leo XIV. From reflection on the international situation to a possible “updating” of the doctrine of just war, to discussion of the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas to the steps of the synodal process, the cardinals are called upon for broad discussions in multiple sessions. The plans were reported Thursday by Vatican News.The themes were outlined by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, in a letter sent to all cardinals on June 3. The extraordinary consistory, the second convoked by Leo XIV, will be held June 26-27. Cardinal Re emphasized in the letter — which EWTN News has seen in the original — that the consistory “is intended, above all, to be a space for mutual listening, discernment, and shared exploration of certain issues relevant to the life and mission of the Church in the present time.”The pope “wishes to gather the experience and advice of the members of the College of Cardinals and, at the same time, to be able to count on the active help and support of each in the various places and responsibilities in which they serve the Church.”Cardinal Re wrote that “it will be important for our joint work to take place in a climate of listening, freedom, and parrhesia, so as to foster shared discernment on the issues we will be called upon to address.”Cardinal Re described the first session as “a shared meditation starting from the international situation.” He emphasized that “in a climate of prayer, we will be invited to let emerge, before the Lord, what we are experiencing in different parts of the world and in the local Churches.”Two questions will guide the reflection: “What sufferings, tensions, and questions are most pressingly affecting the peoples and ecclesial communities entrusted to your care today? What signs of hope, of fidelity to the Gospel, and of possible reconciliation do you think it is important to bring to common listening?”The encyclical Magnifica Humanitas will be the focus of the second and third working sessions. In particular, in the second session, the cardinals will be called to reflect on chapter five of the encyclical and to discuss the themes of peace as a “condition for the universal common good” (No. 182 of Magnifica Humanitas).Cardinals will be asked to “become aware of how this reality painfully affects the experience of many of you, particularly those who come from war-torn territories, and at the same time challenges other contexts, where languages, logics, and practices are re-emerging that weaken the possibility of reconciliation and coexistence.” A particular focus will be on the concept of just war, and on “what concrete ways can help Christian peoples and communities preserve and build peace.”The third session will ask the cardinals to deepen the encyclicalʼs invitation to read the transformations of our time in the light of the Gospel, as called for by Magnifica Humanitas.A fourth session will be divided into two parts: an update on the Synodʼs implementation process and then a period of “free dialogue between the members of the College and the Holy Father, with three-minute interventions.”Cardinal Re hopes for “adequate preparation for the meeting, not only through careful consideration of the issues to be addressed, but also and above all through prayer and renewed attention to the life of the Churches entrusted to his pastoral care.”The consistory will conclude with Mass on June 29, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, when the pope will impose the Pallia on the new metropolitan archbishops.

June consistory of cardinals will address synod, war, artificial intelligence – #Catholic – Several working sessions and four themes ranging from war to synodality are planned for the next consistory convened by Pope Leo XIV. From reflection on the international situation to a possible “updating” of the doctrine of just war, to discussion of the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas to the steps of the synodal process, the cardinals are called upon for broad discussions in multiple sessions. The plans were reported Thursday by Vatican News.The themes were outlined by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, in a letter sent to all cardinals on June 3. The extraordinary consistory, the second convoked by Leo XIV, will be held June 26-27. Cardinal Re emphasized in the letter — which EWTN News has seen in the original — that the consistory “is intended, above all, to be a space for mutual listening, discernment, and shared exploration of certain issues relevant to the life and mission of the Church in the present time.”The pope “wishes to gather the experience and advice of the members of the College of Cardinals and, at the same time, to be able to count on the active help and support of each in the various places and responsibilities in which they serve the Church.”Cardinal Re wrote that “it will be important for our joint work to take place in a climate of listening, freedom, and parrhesia, so as to foster shared discernment on the issues we will be called upon to address.”Cardinal Re described the first session as “a shared meditation starting from the international situation.” He emphasized that “in a climate of prayer, we will be invited to let emerge, before the Lord, what we are experiencing in different parts of the world and in the local Churches.”Two questions will guide the reflection: “What sufferings, tensions, and questions are most pressingly affecting the peoples and ecclesial communities entrusted to your care today? What signs of hope, of fidelity to the Gospel, and of possible reconciliation do you think it is important to bring to common listening?”The encyclical Magnifica Humanitas will be the focus of the second and third working sessions. In particular, in the second session, the cardinals will be called to reflect on chapter five of the encyclical and to discuss the themes of peace as a “condition for the universal common good” (No. 182 of Magnifica Humanitas).Cardinals will be asked to “become aware of how this reality painfully affects the experience of many of you, particularly those who come from war-torn territories, and at the same time challenges other contexts, where languages, logics, and practices are re-emerging that weaken the possibility of reconciliation and coexistence.” A particular focus will be on the concept of just war, and on “what concrete ways can help Christian peoples and communities preserve and build peace.”The third session will ask the cardinals to deepen the encyclicalʼs invitation to read the transformations of our time in the light of the Gospel, as called for by Magnifica Humanitas.A fourth session will be divided into two parts: an update on the Synodʼs implementation process and then a period of “free dialogue between the members of the College and the Holy Father, with three-minute interventions.”Cardinal Re hopes for “adequate preparation for the meeting, not only through careful consideration of the issues to be addressed, but also and above all through prayer and renewed attention to the life of the Churches entrusted to his pastoral care.”The consistory will conclude with Mass on June 29, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, when the pope will impose the Pallia on the new metropolitan archbishops.

The gathering will function as “a space for mutual listening, discernment, and shared exploration of certain issue,” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said.

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Beyond The Beacon podcast 113: Bishop Kevin Sweeney shares opportunities to grow in faith #Catholic – 
Learn about some “opportunities” to grow in faith individually and through community in the Diocese of Paterson and beyond. Ways to get involved include the Corpus Christi Food Drive, Consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, and priesthood ordination.
Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and Communications Director/Beacon Editor Jai Agnish also discuss Pope Leo’s new encyclical on artificial intelligence, “Magnifica Humanitas,” and the upcoming U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops June plenary assembly in Orlando, Fla.
Listen to the episode here, or on any major podcast platform, or watch it on Bishop Sweeney’s YouTube channel.

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Beyond The Beacon podcast 113: Bishop Kevin Sweeney shares opportunities to grow in faith #Catholic –

Learn about some “opportunities” to grow in faith individually and through community in the Diocese of Paterson and beyond. Ways to get involved include the Corpus Christi Food Drive, Consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, and priesthood ordination.

Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and Communications Director/Beacon Editor Jai Agnish also discuss Pope Leo’s new encyclical on artificial intelligence, “Magnifica Humanitas,” and the upcoming U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops June plenary assembly in Orlando, Fla.

Listen to the episode here, or on any major podcast platform, or watch it on Bishop Sweeney’s YouTube channel.


Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Learn about some “opportunities” to grow in faith individually and through community in the Diocese of Paterson and beyond. Ways to get involved include the Corpus Christi Food Drive, Consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, and priesthood ordination. Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney and Communications Director/Beacon Editor Jai Agnish also discuss Pope Leo’s new encyclical on artificial intelligence, “Magnifica Humanitas,” and the upcoming U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops June plenary assembly in Orlando, Fla. Listen to the episode here, or on any major podcast platform, or watch it on Bishop Sweeney’s YouTube channel. Click here to

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 04 June 2026 – A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a Moses said to the people: "Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments.  He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD. "Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers."   A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians  10:16-17 Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.  From the Gospel according to John 6:51-58 Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.  Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."Christ is God’s answer to our human hunger, because his Body is the bread of eternal life: Take this and eat of it, all of you! Jesus’ invitation reflects our daily experience: in order to remain alive, we need to nourish ourselves with life, drawing it from plants and animals. Yet eating something dead reminds us that we too, no matter how much we eat, will one day die. On the other hand, when we partake of Jesus, the living and true Bread, we live for him. By offering himself completely, the crucified and risen Lord delivers himself into our hands, and we realize that we were made to partake of God. Our hungry nature bears the mark of a need that is satisfied by the grace of the Eucharist. As Saint Augustine writes, Christ is truly bread that restores and does not run short; bread that can be eaten but not exhausted. The Eucharist, in fact, is the true, real, and substantial presence of the Saviour (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1413), who transforms bread into himself in order to transform us into himself. Living and life-giving, the Corpus Domini makes us, the Church herself, the Body of the Lord. (Pope Leo XIV, Homily, 22 June 2025)

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy
8:2-3, 14b-16a

Moses said to the people:
"Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God,
has directed all your journeying in the desert,
so as to test you by affliction
and find out whether or not it was your intention
to keep his commandments. 
He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger,
and then fed you with manna,
a food unknown to you and your fathers,
in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.

"Do not forget the LORD, your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
that place of slavery;
who guided you through the vast and terrible desert
with its saraph serpents and scorpions,
its parched and waterless ground;
who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock
and fed you in the desert with manna,
a food unknown to your fathers."

 

A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 
10:16-17

Brothers and sisters:
The cup of blessing that we bless,
is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because the loaf of bread is one,
we, though many, are one body,
for we all partake of the one loaf.
 

From the Gospel according to John
6:51-58

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you. 
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day. 
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink. 
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him. 
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me. 
This is the bread that came down from heaven. 
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."

Christ is God’s answer to our human hunger, because his Body is the bread of eternal life: Take this and eat of it, all of you! Jesus’ invitation reflects our daily experience: in order to remain alive, we need to nourish ourselves with life, drawing it from plants and animals. Yet eating something dead reminds us that we too, no matter how much we eat, will one day die. On the other hand, when we partake of Jesus, the living and true Bread, we live for him. By offering himself completely, the crucified and risen Lord delivers himself into our hands, and we realize that we were made to partake of God. Our hungry nature bears the mark of a need that is satisfied by the grace of the Eucharist. As Saint Augustine writes, Christ is truly bread that restores and does not run short; bread that can be eaten but not exhausted. The Eucharist, in fact, is the true, real, and substantial presence of the Saviour (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1413), who transforms bread into himself in order to transform us into himself. Living and life-giving, the Corpus Domini makes us, the Church herself, the Body of the Lord. (Pope Leo XIV, Homily, 22 June 2025)

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Safe environment, sainthood causes and Sacred Heart on agenda for US bishops’ meeting #Catholic – (OSV News) — The nation’s Catholic bishops have a full agenda for their annual spring meeting, with topics including safe environment protocols, sainthood causes, the Synod on Synodality and the consecration of the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will gather June 10-12 for a spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida.
The public sessions of the meeting, which will take place June 10 and 11, will be livestreamed through the USCCB’s website at usccb.org, according to a May 18 press release issued by the conference.
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City will open the public sessions with his first address as USCCB president, having been elected during the conference’s annual fall meeting in November 2025.
Also addressing the bishops will be Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, who was appointed as papal nuncio to the U.S. in March, having previously served as the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations. Archbishop Caccia succeeded Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who turned 80 in January and had served in the post since 2016.

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

The USCCB noted in its release that the agenda for the June assembly “has not yet been finalized and is subject to change,” but stated that votes are expected on several action items.
Among those items are a revision to the USCCB’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” adopted in 2002 as a number of clerical abuse scandals emerged. Commonly called the Dallas Charter, the document lays out a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, and includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of abuse.
Without specifying the proposed revision, the USCCB said in its release that the agenda item regards “elements of the Charter that the bishops have determined are in need of improvement or further development.”
The revision would “align with the Charter’s original intention of safeguarding minors,” while affirming the USCCB’s “continued commitment” to preventing abuse and providing mechanisms to respond to allegations, said the release.
The USCCB said its Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People — which is chaired by Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond, Virginia — seeks “to balance its care of and sensitivity to victim-survivors, with an awareness of due-process, the rights of the accused,” and “pertinent aspects” of canon law and other key documents on handling clergy abuse allegations.
The press release cited in particular “Vox Estis Lux Mundi” (“You are the light of the world”), Pope Francis’ motu proprio outlining global legal procedures for how the church should deal with clergy sexual abuse, including incidents involving vulnerable adults and procedures for investigating bishops.
In addition, the bishops will consider the potential charter revisions in light of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s June 2022 Vademecum, or guidebook for bishops, on procedures for handling clergy abuse cases.
Also on the agenda are episcopal consultations for two canonization causes: that of Msgr. Joseph Francis Buh, a 19th-century Slovenian missionary priest who ministered to the Ojibwe people of northern Minnesota; and John Rick Miller, a 20th-century American businessman who founded For the Love of God Worldwide, a private association of the faithful promoting consecration to God through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The consultations are part of the Church’s established process for sainthood evaluations. If approval of the Holy See is obtained following the consultations, the diocesan bishop can convene a diocesan tribunal to examine more fully the life of the candidate.
The USCCB Committee on Divine Worship will round out the agenda’s action items, presenting portions from two texts for consideration: a new edition of the Lectionary for Mass, which provides the Scripture readings and psalm for each day’s liturgy; and the 2025 Roman Missal-Liturgy of the Hours Supplement.
At the USCCB’s November meeting, Bishop Steven J. Lopes, chair of the Committee on Divine Worship, announced that the Vatican had approved a new edition of the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church’s ancient daily liturgical prayer that blends Scripture, sacred texts and hymns for worship at various hours.
The spring assembly will also include updates on a number of additional issues, said the USCCB in its release.
The bishops will discuss the implementation and evaluation of the Synod on Synodality, as well as feedback from their November dialogues on “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the USCCB’s teaching document on the political responsibility of Catholics.
In addition, they will explore the 25th anniversary of the implementation of “Ex Corde Ecclesia,” St. John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic universities.
Discussions will also examine Catholic prison ministry; the USCCB’s involvement with the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena honoring the 500th anniversary of the Marian apparitions in what is now Mexico City; and World Youth Day 2027, which will take place in Seoul, South Korea.
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
 

Safe environment, sainthood causes and Sacred Heart on agenda for US bishops’ meeting #Catholic – (OSV News) — The nation’s Catholic bishops have a full agenda for their annual spring meeting, with topics including safe environment protocols, sainthood causes, the Synod on Synodality and the consecration of the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will gather June 10-12 for a spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida. The public sessions of the meeting, which will take place June 10 and 11, will be livestreamed through the USCCB’s website at usccb.org, according to a May 18 press release issued by the conference. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City will open the public sessions with his first address as USCCB president, having been elected during the conference’s annual fall meeting in November 2025. Also addressing the bishops will be Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, who was appointed as papal nuncio to the U.S. in March, having previously served as the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations. Archbishop Caccia succeeded Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who turned 80 in January and had served in the post since 2016. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. The USCCB noted in its release that the agenda for the June assembly “has not yet been finalized and is subject to change,” but stated that votes are expected on several action items. Among those items are a revision to the USCCB’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” adopted in 2002 as a number of clerical abuse scandals emerged. Commonly called the Dallas Charter, the document lays out a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, and includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of abuse. Without specifying the proposed revision, the USCCB said in its release that the agenda item regards “elements of the Charter that the bishops have determined are in need of improvement or further development.” The revision would “align with the Charter’s original intention of safeguarding minors,” while affirming the USCCB’s “continued commitment” to preventing abuse and providing mechanisms to respond to allegations, said the release. The USCCB said its Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People — which is chaired by Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond, Virginia — seeks “to balance its care of and sensitivity to victim-survivors, with an awareness of due-process, the rights of the accused,” and “pertinent aspects” of canon law and other key documents on handling clergy abuse allegations. The press release cited in particular “Vox Estis Lux Mundi” (“You are the light of the world”), Pope Francis’ motu proprio outlining global legal procedures for how the church should deal with clergy sexual abuse, including incidents involving vulnerable adults and procedures for investigating bishops. In addition, the bishops will consider the potential charter revisions in light of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s June 2022 Vademecum, or guidebook for bishops, on procedures for handling clergy abuse cases. Also on the agenda are episcopal consultations for two canonization causes: that of Msgr. Joseph Francis Buh, a 19th-century Slovenian missionary priest who ministered to the Ojibwe people of northern Minnesota; and John Rick Miller, a 20th-century American businessman who founded For the Love of God Worldwide, a private association of the faithful promoting consecration to God through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The consultations are part of the Church’s established process for sainthood evaluations. If approval of the Holy See is obtained following the consultations, the diocesan bishop can convene a diocesan tribunal to examine more fully the life of the candidate. The USCCB Committee on Divine Worship will round out the agenda’s action items, presenting portions from two texts for consideration: a new edition of the Lectionary for Mass, which provides the Scripture readings and psalm for each day’s liturgy; and the 2025 Roman Missal-Liturgy of the Hours Supplement. At the USCCB’s November meeting, Bishop Steven J. Lopes, chair of the Committee on Divine Worship, announced that the Vatican had approved a new edition of the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church’s ancient daily liturgical prayer that blends Scripture, sacred texts and hymns for worship at various hours. The spring assembly will also include updates on a number of additional issues, said the USCCB in its release. The bishops will discuss the implementation and evaluation of the Synod on Synodality, as well as feedback from their November dialogues on “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the USCCB’s teaching document on the political responsibility of Catholics. In addition, they will explore the 25th anniversary of the implementation of “Ex Corde Ecclesia,” St. John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic universities. Discussions will also examine Catholic prison ministry; the USCCB’s involvement with the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena honoring the 500th anniversary of the Marian apparitions in what is now Mexico City; and World Youth Day 2027, which will take place in Seoul, South Korea. Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.  

Safe environment, sainthood causes and Sacred Heart on agenda for US bishops’ meeting #Catholic –

(OSV News) — The nation’s Catholic bishops have a full agenda for their annual spring meeting, with topics including safe environment protocols, sainthood causes, the Synod on Synodality and the consecration of the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will gather June 10-12 for a spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida.

The public sessions of the meeting, which will take place June 10 and 11, will be livestreamed through the USCCB’s website at usccb.org, according to a May 18 press release issued by the conference.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City will open the public sessions with his first address as USCCB president, having been elected during the conference’s annual fall meeting in November 2025.

Also addressing the bishops will be Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, who was appointed as papal nuncio to the U.S. in March, having previously served as the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations. Archbishop Caccia succeeded Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who turned 80 in January and had served in the post since 2016.


Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

The USCCB noted in its release that the agenda for the June assembly “has not yet been finalized and is subject to change,” but stated that votes are expected on several action items.

Among those items are a revision to the USCCB’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” adopted in 2002 as a number of clerical abuse scandals emerged. Commonly called the Dallas Charter, the document lays out a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, and includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of abuse.

Without specifying the proposed revision, the USCCB said in its release that the agenda item regards “elements of the Charter that the bishops have determined are in need of improvement or further development.”

The revision would “align with the Charter’s original intention of safeguarding minors,” while affirming the USCCB’s “continued commitment” to preventing abuse and providing mechanisms to respond to allegations, said the release.

The USCCB said its Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People — which is chaired by Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond, Virginia — seeks “to balance its care of and sensitivity to victim-survivors, with an awareness of due-process, the rights of the accused,” and “pertinent aspects” of canon law and other key documents on handling clergy abuse allegations.

The press release cited in particular “Vox Estis Lux Mundi” (“You are the light of the world”), Pope Francis’ motu proprio outlining global legal procedures for how the church should deal with clergy sexual abuse, including incidents involving vulnerable adults and procedures for investigating bishops.

In addition, the bishops will consider the potential charter revisions in light of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s June 2022 Vademecum, or guidebook for bishops, on procedures for handling clergy abuse cases.

Also on the agenda are episcopal consultations for two canonization causes: that of Msgr. Joseph Francis Buh, a 19th-century Slovenian missionary priest who ministered to the Ojibwe people of northern Minnesota; and John Rick Miller, a 20th-century American businessman who founded For the Love of God Worldwide, a private association of the faithful promoting consecration to God through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The consultations are part of the Church’s established process for sainthood evaluations. If approval of the Holy See is obtained following the consultations, the diocesan bishop can convene a diocesan tribunal to examine more fully the life of the candidate.

The USCCB Committee on Divine Worship will round out the agenda’s action items, presenting portions from two texts for consideration: a new edition of the Lectionary for Mass, which provides the Scripture readings and psalm for each day’s liturgy; and the 2025 Roman Missal-Liturgy of the Hours Supplement.

At the USCCB’s November meeting, Bishop Steven J. Lopes, chair of the Committee on Divine Worship, announced that the Vatican had approved a new edition of the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church’s ancient daily liturgical prayer that blends Scripture, sacred texts and hymns for worship at various hours.

The spring assembly will also include updates on a number of additional issues, said the USCCB in its release.

The bishops will discuss the implementation and evaluation of the Synod on Synodality, as well as feedback from their November dialogues on “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the USCCB’s teaching document on the political responsibility of Catholics.

In addition, they will explore the 25th anniversary of the implementation of “Ex Corde Ecclesia,” St. John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic universities.

Discussions will also examine Catholic prison ministry; the USCCB’s involvement with the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena honoring the 500th anniversary of the Marian apparitions in what is now Mexico City; and World Youth Day 2027, which will take place in Seoul, South Korea.

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.

 

(OSV News) — The nation’s Catholic bishops have a full agenda for their annual spring meeting, with topics including safe environment protocols, sainthood causes, the Synod on Synodality and the consecration of the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will gather June 10-12 for a spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida. The public sessions of the meeting, which will take place June 10 and 11, will be livestreamed through the USCCB’s website at usccb.org, according to a May 18 press release issued by the conference. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City will

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Rosary service brings ‘prayerful, peaceful presence’ to NJ immigrant detention facility #Catholic – NEWARK, N.J. (OSV News) — In response to rising tensions at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility in Newark, the Archdiocese of Newark held a prayer service about half a mile from its entrance.
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin attended the May 31 service, which included a bilingual rosary and testimony from a family whose loved one has been detained inside the facility for the past two months.
“As we saw the violence escalate at Delaney Hall since Memorial Day, the archdiocese wanted to have a prayerful, peaceful presence there,” Father Timothy Graff, archdiocesan secretary of parish mission and vitality, told Jersey Catholic, the news site of the Archdiocese of Newark.

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He was among those participating in the service, along with Father Alex Gaitan, immigration ministry coordinator, and Father Anthony Palombo, priest secretary to the cardinal.
Representatives from various parish migration teams also attended the service, along with members of Pax Christi, an organization dedicated to promoting peace and justice. Family members of detainees and protesters were also present; many of them joined in the prayer service.
Cardinal Tobin addressed all those gathered “with great humility,” acknowledging those who “give such a clear witness to the dignity of our brothers and sisters and the injustices that are being done to them.”
He encouraged people to “move forward in hope” and to follow the example of Christ.
“The greatness of Jesus is that terrible injustice and violence were done to him, yet he refused to pass it on, saying ‘The injustice will die with me,’” the cardinal said. “That is the example I want to follow, and I hope you do, too, so that we don’t multiply the injustices in our anger and frustration, and, yes, even despair.”
During the rosary, participants prayed for detainees and their families, for peace, and for those who work at the facility, that they might recognize the humanity of those held there.
Delaney Hall, a privately run, 1,000-bed facility, opened in May 2025. It is the largest immigrant detention facility on the East Coast and is operated by the GEO Group under contract for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Anti-ICE protests outside the facility have taken place since May 22 over alleged mistreatment of detainees, poor conditions and bad food, while Geo Group has denied the allegations of poor conditions. A smaller group of pro-ICE demonstrators has also gathered.
A local NBC affiliate reported that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka ordered a 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew late Saturday night, May 30, “following back-to-back nights of clashes” between anti-ICE protesters and New Jersey State Police, recently assigned to the facility by Gov. Mikie Sherrill. Multiple people were arrested over the May 30-31 weekend for breaching the curfew.
While saying she wants to protect the community from a “surge” by ICE agents into the community, Sherrill in a statement issued early May 31 called out “masked individuals” outside Delaney Hall for attacking the barrier in the protected protest area and “aggressive and dangerous actions against Newark and New Jersey State Police, including throwing projectiles, utilizing the barriers as weapons, and lighting tires on fire in the street.
Father Gaitan and volunteers from the Newark archdiocesan immigration ministry visit the facility regularly to administer sacraments, lead prayer services, and offer hope to those cut off from their families and the outside world.
In an interview after the rosary with Radio Jornalera NJ, Cardinal Tobin encouraged detainees and their families to have hope.
“Human dignity is not a concession granted by any government; it is the will of God, who created us according to his own image and nature,” he said. “And for that reason, no government can take away our dignity. Remain strong and hold your heads high, because you are daughters and sons of God, and you do not walk alone.”
John Touhey is managing editor and Shania Mosquera is digital media specialist at Jersey Catholic, the news site of the Archdiocese of Newark. This story was originally published by Jersey Catholic and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.
 

Rosary service brings ‘prayerful, peaceful presence’ to NJ immigrant detention facility #Catholic – NEWARK, N.J. (OSV News) — In response to rising tensions at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility in Newark, the Archdiocese of Newark held a prayer service about half a mile from its entrance. Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin attended the May 31 service, which included a bilingual rosary and testimony from a family whose loved one has been detained inside the facility for the past two months. “As we saw the violence escalate at Delaney Hall since Memorial Day, the archdiocese wanted to have a prayerful, peaceful presence there,” Father Timothy Graff, archdiocesan secretary of parish mission and vitality, told Jersey Catholic, the news site of the Archdiocese of Newark. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. He was among those participating in the service, along with Father Alex Gaitan, immigration ministry coordinator, and Father Anthony Palombo, priest secretary to the cardinal. Representatives from various parish migration teams also attended the service, along with members of Pax Christi, an organization dedicated to promoting peace and justice. Family members of detainees and protesters were also present; many of them joined in the prayer service. Cardinal Tobin addressed all those gathered “with great humility,” acknowledging those who “give such a clear witness to the dignity of our brothers and sisters and the injustices that are being done to them.” He encouraged people to “move forward in hope” and to follow the example of Christ. “The greatness of Jesus is that terrible injustice and violence were done to him, yet he refused to pass it on, saying ‘The injustice will die with me,’” the cardinal said. “That is the example I want to follow, and I hope you do, too, so that we don’t multiply the injustices in our anger and frustration, and, yes, even despair.” During the rosary, participants prayed for detainees and their families, for peace, and for those who work at the facility, that they might recognize the humanity of those held there. Delaney Hall, a privately run, 1,000-bed facility, opened in May 2025. It is the largest immigrant detention facility on the East Coast and is operated by the GEO Group under contract for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Anti-ICE protests outside the facility have taken place since May 22 over alleged mistreatment of detainees, poor conditions and bad food, while Geo Group has denied the allegations of poor conditions. A smaller group of pro-ICE demonstrators has also gathered. A local NBC affiliate reported that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka ordered a 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew late Saturday night, May 30, “following back-to-back nights of clashes” between anti-ICE protesters and New Jersey State Police, recently assigned to the facility by Gov. Mikie Sherrill. Multiple people were arrested over the May 30-31 weekend for breaching the curfew. While saying she wants to protect the community from a “surge” by ICE agents into the community, Sherrill in a statement issued early May 31 called out “masked individuals” outside Delaney Hall for attacking the barrier in the protected protest area and “aggressive and dangerous actions against Newark and New Jersey State Police, including throwing projectiles, utilizing the barriers as weapons, and lighting tires on fire in the street. Father Gaitan and volunteers from the Newark archdiocesan immigration ministry visit the facility regularly to administer sacraments, lead prayer services, and offer hope to those cut off from their families and the outside world. In an interview after the rosary with Radio Jornalera NJ, Cardinal Tobin encouraged detainees and their families to have hope. “Human dignity is not a concession granted by any government; it is the will of God, who created us according to his own image and nature,” he said. “And for that reason, no government can take away our dignity. Remain strong and hold your heads high, because you are daughters and sons of God, and you do not walk alone.” John Touhey is managing editor and Shania Mosquera is digital media specialist at Jersey Catholic, the news site of the Archdiocese of Newark. This story was originally published by Jersey Catholic and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.  

Rosary service brings ‘prayerful, peaceful presence’ to NJ immigrant detention facility #Catholic –

NEWARK, N.J. (OSV News) — In response to rising tensions at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility in Newark, the Archdiocese of Newark held a prayer service about half a mile from its entrance.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin attended the May 31 service, which included a bilingual rosary and testimony from a family whose loved one has been detained inside the facility for the past two months.

“As we saw the violence escalate at Delaney Hall since Memorial Day, the archdiocese wanted to have a prayerful, peaceful presence there,” Father Timothy Graff, archdiocesan secretary of parish mission and vitality, told Jersey Catholic, the news site of the Archdiocese of Newark.


Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

He was among those participating in the service, along with Father Alex Gaitan, immigration ministry coordinator, and Father Anthony Palombo, priest secretary to the cardinal.

Representatives from various parish migration teams also attended the service, along with members of Pax Christi, an organization dedicated to promoting peace and justice. Family members of detainees and protesters were also present; many of them joined in the prayer service.

Cardinal Tobin addressed all those gathered “with great humility,” acknowledging those who “give such a clear witness to the dignity of our brothers and sisters and the injustices that are being done to them.”

He encouraged people to “move forward in hope” and to follow the example of Christ.

“The greatness of Jesus is that terrible injustice and violence were done to him, yet he refused to pass it on, saying ‘The injustice will die with me,’” the cardinal said. “That is the example I want to follow, and I hope you do, too, so that we don’t multiply the injustices in our anger and frustration, and, yes, even despair.”

During the rosary, participants prayed for detainees and their families, for peace, and for those who work at the facility, that they might recognize the humanity of those held there.

Delaney Hall, a privately run, 1,000-bed facility, opened in May 2025. It is the largest immigrant detention facility on the East Coast and is operated by the GEO Group under contract for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Anti-ICE protests outside the facility have taken place since May 22 over alleged mistreatment of detainees, poor conditions and bad food, while Geo Group has denied the allegations of poor conditions. A smaller group of pro-ICE demonstrators has also gathered.

A local NBC affiliate reported that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka ordered a 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew late Saturday night, May 30, “following back-to-back nights of clashes” between anti-ICE protesters and New Jersey State Police, recently assigned to the facility by Gov. Mikie Sherrill. Multiple people were arrested over the May 30-31 weekend for breaching the curfew.

While saying she wants to protect the community from a “surge” by ICE agents into the community, Sherrill in a statement issued early May 31 called out “masked individuals” outside Delaney Hall for attacking the barrier in the protected protest area and “aggressive and dangerous actions against Newark and New Jersey State Police, including throwing projectiles, utilizing the barriers as weapons, and lighting tires on fire in the street.

Father Gaitan and volunteers from the Newark archdiocesan immigration ministry visit the facility regularly to administer sacraments, lead prayer services, and offer hope to those cut off from their families and the outside world.

In an interview after the rosary with Radio Jornalera NJ, Cardinal Tobin encouraged detainees and their families to have hope.

“Human dignity is not a concession granted by any government; it is the will of God, who created us according to his own image and nature,” he said. “And for that reason, no government can take away our dignity. Remain strong and hold your heads high, because you are daughters and sons of God, and you do not walk alone.”

John Touhey is managing editor and Shania Mosquera is digital media specialist at Jersey Catholic, the news site of the Archdiocese of Newark. This story was originally published by Jersey Catholic and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.

 

NEWARK, N.J. (OSV News) — In response to rising tensions at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility in Newark, the Archdiocese of Newark held a prayer service about half a mile from its entrance. Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin attended the May 31 service, which included a bilingual rosary and testimony from a family whose loved one has been detained inside the facility for the past two months. “As we saw the violence escalate at Delaney Hall since Memorial Day, the archdiocese wanted to have a prayerful, peaceful presence there,” Father Timothy Graff, archdiocesan secretary of parish mission and vitality, told

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