The saint who settled a violent conflict #Catholic –

The little town of Cascia, Italy, in the mountainous region of Umbria, is a pilgrimage destination for those wishing to visit the relics of St. Rita of Cascia. Today, St. Rita’s incorrupt remains are housed in the Basilica that bears her name and which was built in the early 20^th century. But the town of Cascia has been a destination for pilgrims ever since her death on May 22^nd, 1457, and we now celebrate her feast day on May 22^nd.

Pilgrims continue to visit Cascia to pray for St. Rita’s intercession just as they have for hundreds of years. Carved into the holy door and façade of the basilica are scenes from her life. Many turn to her in difficult circumstances because she is a patron of impossible causes.

St. Rita wanted to become a nun from a young age but was given in marriage to a violent man embroiled in feuding that consumed Cascia. She worked tirelessly to convert her husband—and there are reports that she succeeded to a degree. But he eventually died a violent death at the hands of his enemies. Rita’s sons took up their father’s feud but later died of illness before they could exact revenge.

Having publicly forgiven her husband’s killers, Rita was happy to see her sons follow in her footsteps on their deathbeds by renouncing their feud and offering forgiveness. She mourned the loss of her sons but hoped to meet them again in heaven, confident in the state of their souls as they passed.

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At the age of 36, Rita decided to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a nun. But the Augustinian convent in Cascia she sought to enter was wary of her association with the feuding families of the town, so the nuns made a stipulation: “Bring peace to Cascia and you may enter the convent.”

What Rita accomplished next earned her the title “Peacemaker of Cascia.” To many, it seemed almost miraculous that she was able to intercede with factions at the center of the conflict to bring peace to the town and earn acceptance into the convent. Some also considered it a near miracle that Abbess Maria Teresa Fasce, head of the Augustinian convent in Cascia from 1920 to 1947, succeeded in having a basilica built to honor the enduring impact of St. Rita’s life.

But those who have shared a devotion to St. Rita throughout the centuries have always understood the importance of her example and her worthiness of such an honor. When St. Rita passed away in 1457, a local carpenter who had been partially paralyzed lamented the simple preparations for burial being made for her.

“If only I were well,” he said, “I would have prepared a place more worthy of you.” The moment he spoke those words, the carpenter was healed, and he crafted a beautiful coffin for her.

Today, the Basilica of St. Rita of Cascia displays her incorrupt body behind glass, where pilgrims can glimpse the miraculous and meditate upon the hope of being restored and reunited in peace with those we love.

The life story of St. Rita of Cascia demonstrates the immense influence we have on the world when we devote ourselves to cultivating peace. St. Rita made such a profound mark that she continues to inspire devotion. May she intercede on behalf of all those who turn to her, especially those in trying circumstances seeking help from God with the most impossible causes.

For free copies of the Christopher News Note NURTURING SEEDS OF FAITH AND HOPE, write: The Christophers, 264 West 40^th Street, Room 603, New York, NY 10018; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org

– The little town of Cascia, Italy, in the mountainous region of Umbria, is a pilgrimage destination for those wishing to visit the relics of St. Rita of Cascia. Today, St. Rita’s incorrupt remains are housed in the Basilica that bears her name and which was built in the early 20th century. But the town of Cascia has been a destination for pilgrims ever since her death on May 22nd, 1457, and we now celebrate her feast day on May 22nd. Pilgrims continue to visit Cascia to pray for St. Rita’s intercession just as they have for hundreds of years. Carved

Catholic bishops in Africa urge end to xenophobic attacks in South Africa #Catholic –

(OSV News) — As xenophobic attacks continued to unfold in South Africa, Catholic bishops in Africa urged the government to quickly tame the violence, amid reports of deaths and injuries.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, known as SECAM, condemned the violence as un-African amid armed groups marching to flush out the foreign black African migrants.

Cardinal Ambongo said SECAM is “deeply concerned” about the recent events, which “have been marked by acts of xenophobic violence against nationals of other African countries.”

The statement was issued May 5, following the attacks on black African migrants.

Such attacks are not new since the end of apartheid in South Africa, but fears have mounted as the latest wave continued to surge.

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Since late April, mobs — armed with clubs, machetes and spears — have been seen marching through the streets of key cities, demanding the departure of foreign nationals from other African countries. The protesters are rallying around lack of jobs, high unemployment and insecurity.

Attacks and intimidation have been reported in key towns, including Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, East London and Johannesburg, among other places. In most regions, vigilantes have stopped people and asked them to present their documents before demanding they leave their country.

Properties believed to be owned by foreign nationals are being targeted, looted or vandalized, with several deaths confirmed, including five Ethiopians and two Nigerians, according to local press reports. The deaths and attacks have since drawn international concerns.

“Any violence directed against foreigners constitutes not only a grave violation of the human person but also a negation of the foundations of universal brotherhood and the Africa we want,” said the cardinal in the SECAM statement.

The cardinal expressed “fraternal and ecclesial solidarity” with the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference “for its prophetic stance in support of African migrants who are victims of discrimination and xenophobia,” and extended SECAM’s sympathy “to all victims of this violence and to their families, who have been severely affected.”

South African Catholic bishops have frequently condemned the violence, describing it as acts against human dignity.

“Irrespective of legal status, all have a right in South Africa to access medical care and a right to schooling,” Cardinal Stephen Brislin of Johannesburg emphasized in October, when attacks were already occurring. “No group has the authority to abrogate the prerogative of law enforcement by mob action.”

South Africa’s national statistics agency indicated that there are about 3 million immigrants living in the country, roughly 5% of the population, including from Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Ghana.

Nigeria has since announced voluntary repatriation with at least 130 nationals registering to return home. Ghana has repatriated a national who was captured in a video being harassed in Johannesburg.

Cardinal Ambongo said the South African attacks violated African principles and continental law, undermined Africa’s fundamental rights and contradicted the continent’s core values, such as African solidarity, the spirit of Ubuntu — “I am because we are.”

He called on the African Union to fully assume its role as guardian of continental values, ensure the effective implementation of African legal instruments on human rights, and to encourage the establishment of prevention and early warning mechanisms against xenophobic violence.

“The credibility of Africa, which aspires to become a key player on the international stage, is at stake,” said Cardinal Ambongo as he called on the people to reject all forms of violence, hatred and stigmatization, discourses that divides African peoples, and to promote a culture of encounter, dialogue, and African brotherhood.

“We are all called to rediscover an ethic of closeness, where the stranger is not perceived as a threat but recognized as a brother or sister of whom we are the guardians,” he added.

The African Union, through its Commission on Human and People’s Rights, expressed a grave concern at the attacks. Solomon Ayele Dersso, the AU’s country rapporteur in South Africa, called on the South African government to take action with prompt, concrete and sustained measures to prevent recurrence and ensure accountability.

“Take decisive measures to dismantle and prevent the operation of vigilante groups engaging in unlawful enforcement activities,” urged Dersso in an April 27 statement.

Fredrick Nzwili writes for OSV News from Nairobi, Kenya.

– (OSV News) — As xenophobic attacks continued to unfold in South Africa, Catholic bishops in Africa urged the government to quickly tame the violence, amid reports of deaths and injuries. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, known as SECAM, condemned the violence as un-African amid armed groups marching to flush out the foreign black African migrants. Cardinal Ambongo said SECAM is “deeply concerned” about the recent events, which “have been marked by acts of xenophobic violence against nationals of other African countries.” The statement was issued May 5, following the attacks

45 years on, attempted assassination of St. John Paul II recalled as turning point in history #Catholic –

WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) — Before he started his general audience, Pope Leo XIV stepped out of his popemobile on May 13 and walked over to pray beside a plaque marking the spot where history took a turn that shocked the world 45 years before.

St. John Paul II was shot precisely there on May 13, 1981 — a day of the assassination attempt and one when Our Lady saved the pope’s life.

“Today we remember the memorial of Our Lady of Fátima,” Pope Leo addressed English-speaking pilgrims during his audience. “On this day 45 years ago an attempt was made on the life of Pope John Paul II, and for these reasons I dedicated my catechesis today to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” he added.

On that fateful day right before lunch, John Paul II rode slowly through St. Peter’s Square in an open white jeep, and he bent down to bless a small girl in the crowd. Seconds later, gunshots rang out.

Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca shot the pope at close range. John Paul II collapsed into the arms of his secretary, then-Father Stanislaw Dziwisz. Blood soaked his white cassock as he was immediately rushed to Gemelli hospital, in what his personal secretary later recalled as “fight with time” to get the pontiff to the operating room.

“One hand fired, and another guided the bullet,” John Paul II would later say, convinced that the Our Lady of Fátima had spared his life. The attack took place exactly on the anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal, in 1917. In 1982, the pontiff traveled to Fátima to thank the Blessed Mother for saving his life. The bullet removed from his body was later placed in the crown of the Fátima statue.

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Italian journalist Alberto Michelini, who covered the pope for decades, told OSV News that for John Paul II the connection was never symbolic. “The Marian pope was saved thanks to the hand that diverted the deadly bullet — thanks to the hand of Mary,” Michelini said. “It was a true miracle.”

Father Miroslaw Cichon, director of the John Paul II Pontificate Documentation Center in Rome, told OSV News that the center’s archives preserve moving testimonies of the worldwide prayers that followed the attack, including an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa placed on the empty papal chair in St. Peter’s Square after the wounded pope was taken to the hospital.

Michelini linked the assassination attempt to the broader collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. “I covered the pope’s first trip to Poland,” he said. “From that extraordinary encounter with the crowds — something that worried the Kremlin greatly — we witnessed, within 10 years, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, the collapse of the Berlin Wall.”

For many historians, the geopolitical dimension of the attack can no longer be dismissed as speculation. Pawel Skibinski, Polish historian and former director of the Warsaw’s Museum of John Paul II and Primate (Cardinal Stefan) Wyszynski, said Soviet authorities viewed the Polish pope as a destabilizing force almost immediately after his election in 1978. “The pontificate of John Paul II was undoubtedly a factor changing the situation of believers in the Eastern bloc,” Skibinski, who is a professor of the University of Warsaw, told OSV News.

He said Soviet intelligence services closely monitored Vatican outreach to Catholics behind the Iron Curtain. “We do not have proof of a direct Politburo decision ordering the elimination of Karol Wojtyla,” Skibinski said, mentioning the highest executive, policymaking body within a Soviet communist party. But the beginning of coordinated activity by Soviet and Bulgarian services around Agca is a historical fact.

Skibinski pointed to findings from investigations conducted by Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance indicating that Agca — after escaping from a Turkish prison — underwent training linked to Soviet intelligence networks in Tehran, Iran. “The so-called Bulgarian trail is not speculation anymore,” Skibinski said. “From a historical point of view, there is no doubt.”

Yet the pope’s survival may have ultimately strengthened his authority rather than weakened it.

“The fact that he paid with his own blood for the truths he proclaimed increased his credibility,” Skibinski said. The attack transformed John Paul II into a global moral figure during one of the most fragile phases of the Cold War.

“It is a very important date in the pontificate,” Michal Senk, director of the Center for the Thought of John Paul II, based in Warsaw, told OSV News the assassination attempt intensified themes already present in Cardinal Wojtyla’s spirituality. “It was not a radical change of direction,” he said. “But after the attack he devoted even more attention to suffering, penance and forgiveness.”

Two years after the assassination attempt, on Dec. 27, 1983, the pope visited Agca at Rome’s Rebibbia prison and publicly forgave him — a gesture that became one of the defining images of his pontificate.

Michelini said the pope’s embrace of Agca became stronger than any speech about forgiveness. “Karol Wojtyla was a man of gestures,” he said. “His ability to speak to the world even without words transformed him into one of the most extraordinary natural leaders of our era.”

Still, Senk cautioned against romanticizing Agca or describing the prison meeting as reconciliation. “Agca never asked for forgiveness,” he said. “John Paul II forgave him without being asked. That is something radically evangelical.”

Senk described the Turkish gunman as “a professional killer” and “a compulsive liar,” insisting the burden of forgiveness rested entirely on the pope, who asked Italy to grant him official pardon to his assassin in 1999 — eventually granted to Agca in the Jubilee Year 2000 by the Italian president.

Father Miroslaw Cichon told OSV News that the assassination attempt left a lasting mark on John Paul II’s teaching, especially in his 1984 apostolic letter “Salvifici Doloris,” on the Christian meaning of suffering, written in 1984 “He linked his own fate and the fate of the world even more closely to Mary and the message of Fátima,” the priest said. “The pope’s physical suffering became an integral part of his teaching,” Father Cichon told OSV News.

“That suffering deepened his relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan,” Skibinski told OSV News, “who had survived an assassination attempt just weeks earlier.” The two men did not form a kind of secret alliance, Skibinski said, but they did share a common commitment to defending religious freedom and human dignity in Eastern Europe.

Senk noted that even after recovering, John Paul II never fully regained the robust health of his early years. “From that point, he became a man who suffered more often and more visibly,” Senk said. Yet he did not retreat. Security, however, changed forever. The open vehicle in St. Peter’s Square gave way to the glass-enclosed popemobile.

On March 25, 1984, John Paul II consecrated the world — including Russia — although not named specifically in the consecration text — to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, fulfilling a request tied to the Fátima apparitions.

Weeks later, on May 13, a massive explosion at a Soviet naval base in Severomorsk destroyed a large portion of the Northern Fleet’s missile stockpile. Soviet officials blamed a cigarette; no Western government claimed responsibility.

Senk cited the episode as an example of symbolic links many Catholics drew between Fátima and the weakening of Soviet power.

“The coincidence of dates is striking,” historian Skibinski told OSV News. He and others noted that John Paul II viewed history through a spiritual lens, where grace and geopolitics were intertwined. Father Cichon added that in his 2005 book “Memory and Identity,” the pope interpreted the assassination attempt “above all in theological terms.”

By the end of the 1980s, the Berlin Wall had fallen and communist regimes across Eastern Europe had collapsed. Two years later, the Soviet Union dissolved.

Iconic Italian television journalist Michelini told OSV News: “Perhaps the full truth about the assassination will never emerge, but it was clear that the Slavic pope had become a destabilizing force for the last empire.”

Father Cichon added that the assassination attempt marked a turning point — a “threshold moment,” giving John Paul II’s ministry a more “distinctly martyr-like and mystical” dimension.

Katarzyna Szalajko writes for OSV News from Warsaw, Poland.

– WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) — Before he started his general audience, Pope Leo XIV stepped out of his popemobile on May 13 and walked over to pray beside a plaque marking the spot where history took a turn that shocked the world 45 years before. St. John Paul II was shot precisely there on May 13, 1981 — a day of the assassination attempt and one when Our Lady saved the pope’s life. “Today we remember the memorial of Our Lady of Fátima,” Pope Leo addressed English-speaking pilgrims during his audience. “On this day 45 years ago an attempt was

US bishops’ consecration of nation to Sacred Heart of Jesus affirms ‘our reliance on God’ #Catholic –

(OSV News) — How might you help a nation in political turmoil celebrate its 250th anniversary and the unlikely creation of the first large-scale, self-governing republic in the modern world?

Dedicate it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus — as the U.S. bishops will do for the United States of America on June 11, marking the first such formal consecration of the country to Christ’s heart.

The prelates made the decision to do this during a Nov. 11, 2025, session of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall plenary assembly in Baltimore — and while they were singularly focused on an exceptional gesture to mark our country’s semiquincentennial, the consecration still probably can’t come at a better time.

According to a CNN/SSRS poll released April 3, Americans are divided by intense levels of cynicism, viewing both the Democratic and Republican parties in deeply negative terms. A full 77% of Americans, the Pew Research Center reported April 15, think the nation’s political system needs major changes or complete reform.

Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon, who chairs the USCCB Committee for Religious Liberty, told OSV News there are three essential reasons the bishops voted for the consecration.

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First “would be to place our nation under the kingship of Christ,” he said. “Yes, we are a democratic republic; we are a civil society — but no civil society can long endure without being under the kingship of Christ himself; to place ourselves under God’s providence and care.”

And while our young nation fought a revolution to throw off a monarchy, Archbishop Sample emphasized the continuity between Jesus’ kingship and America’s founding ideals.

“In the history of our nation, it’s undoubtable and it’s irrefutable that the faith — and our reliance on God — really was the foundation that our Founding Fathers placed this nation on,” he said. “So at this time, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it’s to remind all of us that — whatever civil government we might have — we are all under, ultimately, the kingship of Christ.”

Second, Archbishop Sample noted “there’s a certain reparation aspect to the Sacred Heart. I think we can’t forget that part of the consecration is to make reparation for offenses against God; against the heart of Christ.”

Some of those offenses, he remarked, are part of American history.

“We are a great and blessed nation — but there are mistakes that we have made as a people over these 250 years. And so this is a good time,” the archbishop added, “to also make reparation to the heart of Christ for those offenses against his love, and his mercy, and his justice — for all peoples.”

Finally, Archbishop Sample said, “there’s this desire, through this consecration, to also call us to have a greater heart for the poor and the suffering … as we honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we can’t just honor it as a private devotion. It has to move us, and move our hearts.”

Pope Francis, he said, “was a man who loved these beautiful, rich devotions we have in the faith … and wanted to call our attention to the fact that the heart of Christ is the heart of mercy … and through the heart of Jesus, we find healing and reconciliation.”

Pope Francis brought the Sacred Heart to wider Catholic attention with the 2024 encyclical “Dilexit Nos” (“He Loved Us”), observing the devotion needs to be revived for our era.

Devotion to the Sacred of Heart of Jesus — which traces its roots to at least the second century — grew during the Middle Ages and was later extended to the universal church following Christ’s revelations of his Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 17th-century French woman religious.

Emily Schumacher-Novak — associate director of Education and Outreach at the USCCB’s Secretariat of Justice and Peace — said the June 11 consecration is accompanied by an abundance of USCCB resources, including a prayer and downloadable prayer card; a Novena to the Sacred Heart (June 3-11); a ceremony to enthrone the Sacred Heart in the home; consecration resources for parishes; materials from the Knights of Columbus and the Pope’s Prayer Network; and the “We Hold These Truths – America 250” article and video series, which feature the contributions of Catholics to the United States.

“We are also offering a resource that invites people to do 250 hours of adoration and 250 works of mercy,” Schumaker-Novak said. “It’s that connection back to charity and justice that our Church calls us to — to pray for all the things in our world that need healing — that we can do in front of the Blessed Sacrament.”

The national consecration — at Mary, Queen of the Universe Basilica in Orlando, Florida — will be live streamed via the USCCB homepage on June 11.

“As the bishops of the United States do the consecration of the whole nation to the heart of Christ, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we’re also encouraging local communities to do the same — especially in our families and in our dioceses,” concluded Archbishop Sample.

He noted family, parish and diocesan consecrations are not meant to replace the national consecration.

“It’s so we’re sort of doing it on all levels, so to speak,” said Archbishop Sample, “to really make this a meaningful moment in the light of the Church here in this great and blessed land.”

Kimberley Heatherington is a correspondent for OSV News. She writes from Virginia.

– (OSV News) — How might you help a nation in political turmoil celebrate its 250th anniversary and the unlikely creation of the first large-scale, self-governing republic in the modern world? Dedicate it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus — as the U.S. bishops will do for the United States of America on June 11, marking the first such formal consecration of the country to Christ’s heart. The prelates made the decision to do this during a Nov. 11, 2025, session of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall plenary assembly in Baltimore — and while they were singularly focused on