Year: 2026

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.


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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.

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.

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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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Miami Catholic schools receive  million in state security funding after ‘months of advocacy’ #Catholic Catholic schools in Miami will receive  million in security funding from the state government after successful petitioning by Floridaʼs Catholic bishops, the Archdiocese of Miami has announced. The archdiocese said the eight-figure security package was part of the newly approved state budget, which was passed by legislators in Tallahassee on May 29. The funding came about after “months of advocacy and budget negotiations,” the archdiocese said. "We prioritize the safety of our students in a day and age that has seen more anti-Catholic violence and generally more violence against schools,” archdiocesan schools Superintendent Jim Rigg said in the announcement. The archdiocese said that a “broader statewide reimbursement program” for Catholic school security failed to pass the Legislature. Rigg said in the archdiocesan announcement that schools have been using money to fund security measures “that could otherwise go toward textbooks, technology, and teacher salaries.”“In some cases, schools are collecting special security fees from parents," he said. Catholic schools have increased security amid shooting fearsNumerous Catholic and other Christian schools around the country have lately adopted enhanced security measures, particularly after the August 2025 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. That shooting came after Catholic bishops in Minnesota had petitioned state lawmakers to provide security funding for nonpublic schools; the state government had failed to grant those requests. Some schools have opted to hire security guards, while others have considered the possibility of allowing teachers to be armed while on campus.Still others have turned to technology to increase student safety. Trinity Catholic School in Fort Smith, Arkansas, recently adopted an AI-bolstered security system that can spot school shooters and quickly alert law enforcement ahead of a potential mass shooting. A Catholic school in Ohio has also deployed that system on its own campus.After the Minneapolis shooting, Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, told “EWTN News In Depth” that school security is “a basic public safety issue that should be available to all students, irrespective of where they go to school.”“Looking at school safety programs, nonprofit security grants, all these things — we have to take an all-of-the-above approach to looking at public policy solutions that limit gun violence in our communities,” he said.

Miami Catholic schools receive $15 million in state security funding after ‘months of advocacy’ #Catholic Catholic schools in Miami will receive $15 million in security funding from the state government after successful petitioning by Floridaʼs Catholic bishops, the Archdiocese of Miami has announced. The archdiocese said the eight-figure security package was part of the newly approved state budget, which was passed by legislators in Tallahassee on May 29. The funding came about after “months of advocacy and budget negotiations,” the archdiocese said. "We prioritize the safety of our students in a day and age that has seen more anti-Catholic violence and generally more violence against schools,” archdiocesan schools Superintendent Jim Rigg said in the announcement. The archdiocese said that a “broader statewide reimbursement program” for Catholic school security failed to pass the Legislature. Rigg said in the archdiocesan announcement that schools have been using money to fund security measures “that could otherwise go toward textbooks, technology, and teacher salaries.”“In some cases, schools are collecting special security fees from parents," he said. Catholic schools have increased security amid shooting fearsNumerous Catholic and other Christian schools around the country have lately adopted enhanced security measures, particularly after the August 2025 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. That shooting came after Catholic bishops in Minnesota had petitioned state lawmakers to provide security funding for nonpublic schools; the state government had failed to grant those requests. Some schools have opted to hire security guards, while others have considered the possibility of allowing teachers to be armed while on campus.Still others have turned to technology to increase student safety. Trinity Catholic School in Fort Smith, Arkansas, recently adopted an AI-bolstered security system that can spot school shooters and quickly alert law enforcement ahead of a potential mass shooting. A Catholic school in Ohio has also deployed that system on its own campus.After the Minneapolis shooting, Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, told “EWTN News In Depth” that school security is “a basic public safety issue that should be available to all students, irrespective of where they go to school.”“Looking at school safety programs, nonprofit security grants, all these things — we have to take an all-of-the-above approach to looking at public policy solutions that limit gun violence in our communities,” he said.

The Florida bishops had petitioned the state Legislature for the funding, though a broader statewide measure failed to pass.

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Pope calls on Catholic universities to be authentic, instill ‘passion for the truth’ #Catholic Catholic universities should reflect “authenticity as true disciples of Christ” as they guide students’ desire for knowledge into a passion for the truth, Pope Leo XIV told university presidents from the United States on Wednesday.“As young men and women come to your colleges and universities looking to study a specific degree, oftentimes motivated by future job perspectives, yours is the noble task of guiding that desire for knowledge so that they may also ‘learn to seek and love the truth, to reflect on the meaning of life, and to recognize the dignity of every person,’” the pope said June 3, quoting from his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published in May.Instilling a love for the truth “is not an easy feat,” he continued. “As you are well aware, seeking the truth requires not only learning and mentorship but also great effort. Unless Catholic education instills in students a true passion for the truth — and not only intellectual truth, but the truth that is Christ himself (cf. John 14:6) — we can hardly expect people to be willing to put forth the effort required to recognize truth and adapt one’s life accordingly.”Leo addressed presidents, senior administrators, and faculty leaders from Catholic institutions of higher education belonging to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. During the Rome Seminar, June 1–5, university leaders are meeting with senior Vatican officials and others to reflect on the opportunities and challenges faced by higher education today.In his speech, the pope acknowledged the challenge of “the increasing fragmentation of knowledge.”“While it is easy to find people who are experts in a particular field of study, many of these individuals ‘struggle to find direction in their lives, partly due to an inability to connect information with deeper knowledge or maintain a sense of purpose,’” he said, quoting from Magnifica Humanitas.Specialized experts “often lack a global vision of reality that is capable of uniting not only the various fields of knowledge but also the multiple aspects of life and the inner longings of the human heart,” he said.He invited Catholic educational institutions to be a “living environment in which the Christian vision permeates every discipline and every interaction,” as Leo wrote in his 2025 apostolic letter Drawing New Maps of Hope.“Your authenticity as true disciples of Christ,” he said, “will certainly assist you in transmitting the living Gospel in such a way that those entrusted to you can truly encounter the Lord and discover in the Catholic faith the unifying vision that truth alone can provide.”On the challenges of technological advances, the pope reflected on the prolific use of artificial intelligence, making it “increasingly difficult to evaluate the work of students, requiring educators to adapt their methods creatively to ensure the integral human formation of those in their care.”“We must be willing to invest generously in the education of future generations,” he said. “It is crucial that young men and women learn to engage positively with new technologies, while at the same time truly developing their God-given skills and capacities to reason, to think critically and commit knowledge to memory, thus preparing them to shape responsibly the world to come.”

Pope calls on Catholic universities to be authentic, instill ‘passion for the truth’ #Catholic Catholic universities should reflect “authenticity as true disciples of Christ” as they guide students’ desire for knowledge into a passion for the truth, Pope Leo XIV told university presidents from the United States on Wednesday.“As young men and women come to your colleges and universities looking to study a specific degree, oftentimes motivated by future job perspectives, yours is the noble task of guiding that desire for knowledge so that they may also ‘learn to seek and love the truth, to reflect on the meaning of life, and to recognize the dignity of every person,’” the pope said June 3, quoting from his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published in May.Instilling a love for the truth “is not an easy feat,” he continued. “As you are well aware, seeking the truth requires not only learning and mentorship but also great effort. Unless Catholic education instills in students a true passion for the truth — and not only intellectual truth, but the truth that is Christ himself (cf. John 14:6) — we can hardly expect people to be willing to put forth the effort required to recognize truth and adapt one’s life accordingly.”Leo addressed presidents, senior administrators, and faculty leaders from Catholic institutions of higher education belonging to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. During the Rome Seminar, June 1–5, university leaders are meeting with senior Vatican officials and others to reflect on the opportunities and challenges faced by higher education today.In his speech, the pope acknowledged the challenge of “the increasing fragmentation of knowledge.”“While it is easy to find people who are experts in a particular field of study, many of these individuals ‘struggle to find direction in their lives, partly due to an inability to connect information with deeper knowledge or maintain a sense of purpose,’” he said, quoting from Magnifica Humanitas.Specialized experts “often lack a global vision of reality that is capable of uniting not only the various fields of knowledge but also the multiple aspects of life and the inner longings of the human heart,” he said.He invited Catholic educational institutions to be a “living environment in which the Christian vision permeates every discipline and every interaction,” as Leo wrote in his 2025 apostolic letter Drawing New Maps of Hope.“Your authenticity as true disciples of Christ,” he said, “will certainly assist you in transmitting the living Gospel in such a way that those entrusted to you can truly encounter the Lord and discover in the Catholic faith the unifying vision that truth alone can provide.”On the challenges of technological advances, the pope reflected on the prolific use of artificial intelligence, making it “increasingly difficult to evaluate the work of students, requiring educators to adapt their methods creatively to ensure the integral human formation of those in their care.”“We must be willing to invest generously in the education of future generations,” he said. “It is crucial that young men and women learn to engage positively with new technologies, while at the same time truly developing their God-given skills and capacities to reason, to think critically and commit knowledge to memory, thus preparing them to shape responsibly the world to come.”

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday addressed presidents and senior administrators from Catholic institutions belonging to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.

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Children reminded of Jesus’ love for them in Eucharist #Catholic - On May 31, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney encouraged first communicants from the Paterson Diocese, N.J., and their families to remember Jesus’ love as they received the Eucharist during the annual Catechesis. The event at Resurrection Parish in Randolph, N.J., gathered first communicants for an afternoon of catechesis, adoration, and celebration.
Dressed as they were on the day of their First Holy Communion, the participating children represented their home parishes. The goal for the day was to remind them that receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is a special gift and an essential part of their lives.
Bishop Sweeney engaged the children with catechesis on the Eucharist, conducting the session in a question-and-answer format. Most were second-graders, and they responded with thoughtful questions, which generated a meaningful dialogue.
During his homily, Bishop Sweeney asked, “What do you remember about your first Holy Communion?” The children answered, “receiving the body and blood of Jesus,” “being proud of myself,” “my reading,” and “pictures.”
Bishop Sweeney then reminded the children that at every Mass, Jesus says, “This is my body. This is my blood. Do this in memory of me,” as at the Last Supper.
He explained, “Why is it important to remember? To honor him because he died for us. He wants us to remember his love.” Bishop Sweeney incorporated the children’s earlier answers, making his message personal.

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Additionally, in his homily, Bishop Sweeney urged the first communicants to say “please, thank you, and I love you” when praying to God.
The event also included the recitation of the Litany of St. Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, as well as a Scripture reading, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic procession, Benediction, Eucharistic blessing, and the Divine Praises. Many attendees experienced a deeper love for the Eucharist.
The diocesan Office Catechesis and Faith Formation and the Office of Worship coordinated the Eucharistic Catechesis. Father Yojaneider Garcia Ramirez, director of the Office of Catechesis and Faith Formation and pastor of Resurrection Parish, was among the priests who participated. Diocesan seminarians also assisted.
Bishop Sweeney gave each child a rosary to aid meditation on Jesus’ life and relationship with him, as well as a prayer card for each first communicant.
The event ended with a reception, during which the bishop posed for pictures with each first communicant and their families.
During the Eucharistic Catechesis, Bishop Sweeney took a moment to thank all those who helped prepare the children to receive their first Holy Communion, especially their parents.
In his introduction, Bishop Sweeney told the children, “We give thanks for the great gift of Jesus you received in First Holy Communion. Hopefully, you will be receiving Jesus every Sunday.”
BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI
 [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]  

Children reminded of Jesus’ love for them in Eucharist #Catholic – On May 31, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney encouraged first communicants from the Paterson Diocese, N.J., and their families to remember Jesus’ love as they received the Eucharist during the annual Catechesis. The event at Resurrection Parish in Randolph, N.J., gathered first communicants for an afternoon of catechesis, adoration, and celebration. Dressed as they were on the day of their First Holy Communion, the participating children represented their home parishes. The goal for the day was to remind them that receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is a special gift and an essential part of their lives. Bishop Sweeney engaged the children with catechesis on the Eucharist, conducting the session in a question-and-answer format. Most were second-graders, and they responded with thoughtful questions, which generated a meaningful dialogue. During his homily, Bishop Sweeney asked, “What do you remember about your first Holy Communion?” The children answered, “receiving the body and blood of Jesus,” “being proud of myself,” “my reading,” and “pictures.” Bishop Sweeney then reminded the children that at every Mass, Jesus says, “This is my body. This is my blood. Do this in memory of me,” as at the Last Supper. He explained, “Why is it important to remember? To honor him because he died for us. He wants us to remember his love.” Bishop Sweeney incorporated the children’s earlier answers, making his message personal. Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Additionally, in his homily, Bishop Sweeney urged the first communicants to say “please, thank you, and I love you” when praying to God. The event also included the recitation of the Litany of St. Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, as well as a Scripture reading, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic procession, Benediction, Eucharistic blessing, and the Divine Praises. Many attendees experienced a deeper love for the Eucharist. The diocesan Office Catechesis and Faith Formation and the Office of Worship coordinated the Eucharistic Catechesis. Father Yojaneider Garcia Ramirez, director of the Office of Catechesis and Faith Formation and pastor of Resurrection Parish, was among the priests who participated. Diocesan seminarians also assisted. Bishop Sweeney gave each child a rosary to aid meditation on Jesus’ life and relationship with him, as well as a prayer card for each first communicant. The event ended with a reception, during which the bishop posed for pictures with each first communicant and their families. During the Eucharistic Catechesis, Bishop Sweeney took a moment to thank all those who helped prepare the children to receive their first Holy Communion, especially their parents. In his introduction, Bishop Sweeney told the children, “We give thanks for the great gift of Jesus you received in First Holy Communion. Hopefully, you will be receiving Jesus every Sunday.” BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI [See image gallery at beaconnj.org]  

Children reminded of Jesus’ love for them in Eucharist #Catholic –

On May 31, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney encouraged first communicants from the Paterson Diocese, N.J., and their families to remember Jesus’ love as they received the Eucharist during the annual Catechesis. The event at Resurrection Parish in Randolph, N.J., gathered first communicants for an afternoon of catechesis, adoration, and celebration.

Dressed as they were on the day of their First Holy Communion, the participating children represented their home parishes. The goal for the day was to remind them that receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is a special gift and an essential part of their lives.

Bishop Sweeney engaged the children with catechesis on the Eucharist, conducting the session in a question-and-answer format. Most were second-graders, and they responded with thoughtful questions, which generated a meaningful dialogue.

During his homily, Bishop Sweeney asked, “What do you remember about your first Holy Communion?” The children answered, “receiving the body and blood of Jesus,” “being proud of myself,” “my reading,” and “pictures.”

Bishop Sweeney then reminded the children that at every Mass, Jesus says, “This is my body. This is my blood. Do this in memory of me,” as at the Last Supper.

He explained, “Why is it important to remember? To honor him because he died for us. He wants us to remember his love.” Bishop Sweeney incorporated the children’s earlier answers, making his message personal.


Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Additionally, in his homily, Bishop Sweeney urged the first communicants to say “please, thank you, and I love you” when praying to God.

The event also included the recitation of the Litany of St. Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, as well as a Scripture reading, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic procession, Benediction, Eucharistic blessing, and the Divine Praises. Many attendees experienced a deeper love for the Eucharist.

The diocesan Office Catechesis and Faith Formation and the Office of Worship coordinated the Eucharistic Catechesis. Father Yojaneider Garcia Ramirez, director of the Office of Catechesis and Faith Formation and pastor of Resurrection Parish, was among the priests who participated. Diocesan seminarians also assisted.

Bishop Sweeney gave each child a rosary to aid meditation on Jesus’ life and relationship with him, as well as a prayer card for each first communicant.

The event ended with a reception, during which the bishop posed for pictures with each first communicant and their families.

During the Eucharistic Catechesis, Bishop Sweeney took a moment to thank all those who helped prepare the children to receive their first Holy Communion, especially their parents.

In his introduction, Bishop Sweeney told the children, “We give thanks for the great gift of Jesus you received in First Holy Communion. Hopefully, you will be receiving Jesus every Sunday.”

BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI

On May 31, Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney encouraged first communicants from the Paterson Diocese, N.J., and their families to remember Jesus’ love as they received the Eucharist during the annual Catechesis. The event at Resurrection Parish in Randolph, N.J., gathered first communicants for an afternoon of catechesis, adoration, and celebration. Dressed as they were on the day of their First Holy Communion, the participating children represented their home parishes. The goal for the day was to remind them that receiving Jesus in the Eucharist is a special gift and an essential part of their lives. Bishop Sweeney engaged the children

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The brainchild of George Ellery Hale, the 200-inch Hale Telescope was dedicated June 3, 1948, at Palomar Observatory in California. In promoting and fundraising for the project, Hale had a firm science agenda for the scope, but also wrote more fancifully of “the lure of the uncharted seas of space”; though he died in 1938,Continue reading “June 3, 1948: Hale Telescope dedicated”

The post June 3, 1948: Hale Telescope dedicated appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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Archbishop Coakley: Encyclical urges keeping human dignity central in judging tech – #Catholic – Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Pope Leoʼs first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, calls for keeping the dignity of the human person, created in God’s image, at the center of any discernment about emerging technologies.Coakley spoke at a virtual panel June 2 held by Georgetown Universityʼs Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life.The dialogue explored what the encyclical is asking, how technological changes can enhance humanity’s relationship with God, and also what aspects of human creation technologies can never replace.The group also addressed the Church’s important role in the matter and why it must use its voice to speak about the emerging technologies.Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, moderated the conversation with numerous panelists including Irish Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education and a leading Vatican expert on AI.The discussion also welcomed Meghan Sullivan, founding director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good; Emilce Cuda, Argentinian theologian and secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America at the Holy See; and Daniel Daly, founding executive director of the Center for Theology and Ethics in Catholic Health.“When dealing with something new and complex” as the faithful read the encyclical, Coakley reminded them to focus on “the main thing.”Magnifica Humanitas is being “proposed and discussed as an encyclical on artificial intelligence,” Coakley said. “But I think the main thing is the need to keep the human person, made of the image and likeness of God, at the center of our discernment about these new technologies.”“So itʼs, not really, fundamentally … about the technologies. I think itʼs really about anthropology — having an adequate anthropology to really address the challenges that are being proposed by these developing and emerging technologies,” he said.Why the Church’s voice on AI mattersIn the encyclical, Coakley said, "itʼs significant that prior to beginning his reflections on AI, the Holy Father first answers a foundational question, which is ‘Why does the Church have the ability to speak at all?’”“In doing so, he affirms that it is central to the Churchʼs mission to walk alongside humanity … and be responsive to the contemporary challenges that men and women in every age, and certainly today, are facing,” Coakley said. Pope Leo “connects with what all of us, whether we are believers or unbelievers alike, at our very core understand and know instinctively to be true, and that is that the human person possesses an ontological and infinite dignity and therefore must be at the center of all of our deliberations” about AI, Coakley said.“Thatʼs the center and heart of it,” Coakley said. “I think people are concerned about whatʼs happening now and what they envision or fear might happen in the future,” he said. Pope Leo is “bringing in this essential lens to the conversation, which has the ability, I think, to activate … the consciences of all — all who create, all who regulate, all who use or all who are impacted by artificial intelligence,” he said.The Churchʼs voice on the matter goes back to “Vatican II, where the Church realized we shared our destiny with other people," Tighe said. “We journeyed together on this world. We canʼt be exempt from the struggles of our fellow brothers and sisters. We live together,” he said.Since AI is “going to impact so much what it is to be human, how we live our lives” and “impact the destiny of so many of our brothers and sisters and of ourselves, we cannot but take it seriously,” Tighe said.The Church also has a voice when it comes to how AI affects jobs, as "Pope Leo has been deeply inspired by the first encyclical to ever come out in the Catholic social tradition, Rerum Novarum,” which addresses “What does it mean to think that our work is part of our human dignity?" Sullivan said. “The Church has an incredible teaching on this,” she said. The Church says “work is an essential part of our dignity, because work is nothing more and nothing less than our ability and call to serve the common good. And so we do not want to live in a society where AI has replaced work in that sense,” she said.  The Church also must help guide the conversation as technologies impact health care. “Jesus invites his followers to proclaim the kingdom by healing the sick. So Catholic healthcare has to be a sign that God loves all persons, especially those who are poor, sick, disabled, suffering, rejected,” Daly said.“So this culture of encounter and accompaniment needs to be animated by Christ and is sacrosanct in Catholic healthcare,” Daly said. Healthcare professionals “must remain the norm,” he said. “AI can augment the care that humans provide but must not replace them.”Artificial intelligences “canʼt care for patients, they canʼt do the works of mercy. They canʼt express empathy, as Leo writes. They cannot witness the healing ministry of Jesus.”Daly did note that AI may have benefits in healthcare despite its inability to replace human beings' care.AI “could allow marginalized communities to access expert-level care in areas like radiology,” he said. “AI translation services may help patients who speak languages other than the dominant language in the area to communicate and have their concerns be listened to.”

Archbishop Coakley: Encyclical urges keeping human dignity central in judging tech – #Catholic – Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Pope Leoʼs first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, calls for keeping the dignity of the human person, created in God’s image, at the center of any discernment about emerging technologies.Coakley spoke at a virtual panel June 2 held by Georgetown Universityʼs Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life.The dialogue explored what the encyclical is asking, how technological changes can enhance humanity’s relationship with God, and also what aspects of human creation technologies can never replace.The group also addressed the Church’s important role in the matter and why it must use its voice to speak about the emerging technologies.Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, moderated the conversation with numerous panelists including Irish Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education and a leading Vatican expert on AI.The discussion also welcomed Meghan Sullivan, founding director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good; Emilce Cuda, Argentinian theologian and secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America at the Holy See; and Daniel Daly, founding executive director of the Center for Theology and Ethics in Catholic Health.“When dealing with something new and complex” as the faithful read the encyclical, Coakley reminded them to focus on “the main thing.”Magnifica Humanitas is being “proposed and discussed as an encyclical on artificial intelligence,” Coakley said. “But I think the main thing is the need to keep the human person, made of the image and likeness of God, at the center of our discernment about these new technologies.”“So itʼs, not really, fundamentally … about the technologies. I think itʼs really about anthropology — having an adequate anthropology to really address the challenges that are being proposed by these developing and emerging technologies,” he said.Why the Church’s voice on AI mattersIn the encyclical, Coakley said, "itʼs significant that prior to beginning his reflections on AI, the Holy Father first answers a foundational question, which is ‘Why does the Church have the ability to speak at all?’”“In doing so, he affirms that it is central to the Churchʼs mission to walk alongside humanity … and be responsive to the contemporary challenges that men and women in every age, and certainly today, are facing,” Coakley said. Pope Leo “connects with what all of us, whether we are believers or unbelievers alike, at our very core understand and know instinctively to be true, and that is that the human person possesses an ontological and infinite dignity and therefore must be at the center of all of our deliberations” about AI, Coakley said.“Thatʼs the center and heart of it,” Coakley said. “I think people are concerned about whatʼs happening now and what they envision or fear might happen in the future,” he said. Pope Leo is “bringing in this essential lens to the conversation, which has the ability, I think, to activate … the consciences of all — all who create, all who regulate, all who use or all who are impacted by artificial intelligence,” he said.The Churchʼs voice on the matter goes back to “Vatican II, where the Church realized we shared our destiny with other people," Tighe said. “We journeyed together on this world. We canʼt be exempt from the struggles of our fellow brothers and sisters. We live together,” he said.Since AI is “going to impact so much what it is to be human, how we live our lives” and “impact the destiny of so many of our brothers and sisters and of ourselves, we cannot but take it seriously,” Tighe said.The Church also has a voice when it comes to how AI affects jobs, as "Pope Leo has been deeply inspired by the first encyclical to ever come out in the Catholic social tradition, Rerum Novarum,” which addresses “What does it mean to think that our work is part of our human dignity?" Sullivan said. “The Church has an incredible teaching on this,” she said. The Church says “work is an essential part of our dignity, because work is nothing more and nothing less than our ability and call to serve the common good. And so we do not want to live in a society where AI has replaced work in that sense,” she said.  The Church also must help guide the conversation as technologies impact health care. “Jesus invites his followers to proclaim the kingdom by healing the sick. So Catholic healthcare has to be a sign that God loves all persons, especially those who are poor, sick, disabled, suffering, rejected,” Daly said.“So this culture of encounter and accompaniment needs to be animated by Christ and is sacrosanct in Catholic healthcare,” Daly said. Healthcare professionals “must remain the norm,” he said. “AI can augment the care that humans provide but must not replace them.”Artificial intelligences “canʼt care for patients, they canʼt do the works of mercy. They canʼt express empathy, as Leo writes. They cannot witness the healing ministry of Jesus.”Daly did note that AI may have benefits in healthcare despite its inability to replace human beings' care.AI “could allow marginalized communities to access expert-level care in areas like radiology,” he said. “AI translation services may help patients who speak languages other than the dominant language in the area to communicate and have their concerns be listened to.”

Coakley spoke at a virtual panel held by Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life that explored what the encyclical is asking.

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Pope’s AI warnings come as Americans grapple with data center expansions – #Catholic – Pope Leo XIV issued stark warnings against building “a new Tower of Babel” when developing artificial intelligence (AI) in his recently released encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, at a time when many people are growing concerned with the impact of the new technology and the rapid data center expansion that supports it.His encyclical, the title of which means "magnificent humanity,” pleads for AI development that safeguards Earth’s natural resources, preserves the dignity of work, builds up human solidarity, and does not concentrate power in the hands of a few but rather ensures all people benefit from the innovation.As American companies move fast to expand AI data centers — with over 4,000 operating and thousands more under construction — projects face local protests and critics cite environmental concerns, noise pollution, lack of long-term employment, and broader skepticism of AI’s impact on society.Although a March Gallup poll of 1,000 Americans found 71% oppose local AI data centers and only 27% support them, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum promoted data center expansion on Fox Business on May 26, citing productivity benefits across many sectors of the economy.The protests, he claimed, are “foreign-directed propaganda” campaigns from nations competing with the United States. He dismissed Leo’s guidance while laughing and said: "I didnʼt know that tech editorializing was part of the role of being pope.”Yet AI skepticism is quite prominent among the American public. A June 2025 Pew survey of 5,000 people found 50% are more concerned than excited about AI, 38% are equally excited and concerned, and just 10% are more excited than concerned. An NBC poll of 1,000 people in March found that 57% believe the risks of AI outweigh the benefits and 34% said the opposite.David Cloutier, a Notre Dame theology professor and academic director of the Business Ethics and Society Program, told EWTN News: “I think the resistance to data centers is rooted in a larger suspicion of the technology itself.”“They are a really tempting symbolic target,” he said, adding that data centers “symbolize a future that is all computer and machine and no people.”“I think people experience the arrival of this technology as something that they did not ask for and seems overwhelming to them,” Cloutier added.Dignity of work and power concentrationData centers often receive significant state and local tax incentives. At least 28 states offer tax incentives specific to data centers: Each waives certain sales tax, 14 offer energy subsidies, and 11 provide property tax reductions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.In a small number of states with significant data center growth — such as Texas and Virginia — data centers are receiving more than $1 billion annually in tax incentives. Apart from temporary construction jobs, smaller data centers often employ fewer than 150 permanent workers, while larger ones may employ a few hundred.Father Philip Larrey, a philosophy professor at Boston College, told EWTN News “it doesn’t make sense to me” to offer those incentives because “you don’t need many people to actually run these things.”“What advantage is there for the local people to have a data center in their city?” he questioned. “Probably none.”Cloutier noted the difference between incentives given to data centers and to factories, saying “the factory can only work if workers come to the factory,” but “data centers don’t employ people like factories do.”“The question is a question about power and who controls these very important entities and whether they share the wealth that is generated by these entities,” he said, pointing to Leo’s concern about the centralization of power and dignity of work.In the encyclical, Leo contrasted the Tower of Babel with the Book of Nehemiah, which details the construction of new walls for Jerusalem. The Holy Father said AI development should mirror the priorities outlined in that text: “Safeguarding humanity and the common good.”Cloutier encouraged local government officials to question “Who’s truly being benefited by these developments?” and “Is this really benefiting my local community?” when considering projects.“Listen to the community and ask questions of the company in ways that attempt to make the project more like Nehemiah building the wall,” he said.The backlash to data centers also fuels concerns about AI replacing people in the workforce, with Cloutier noting “they’re enormous but empty of people.”As the technology improves, Larrey expressed concern about the long-term impact on the labor force, saying it will be hard to convince a company to hire a person if it can achieve “the same result from an AI that you get from a human being and they cost almost nothing.” Yet, he urged employers to consider the human impact and encouraged employees to incorporate AI into their work if it can help prevent replacement.“Just because you can replace a person with AI doesn’t mean that you should,” he said.Judith McGill, marketing and content specialist for DataBank — a data center developer — and a practicing Catholic, told EWTN News that she believes critics' objections about employment are misleading, because although the centers themselves do not employ “a lot of people,” the services benefit “all of the employees of our customers” who use AI.She said governments would not offer incentives if investments were not “a net economic benefit to those communities.” Despite incentives, she said: “We pay taxes and, in fact, contribute to schools and roads.”For example, McGill said DataBank aligns itself with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for multinational enterprises, which prioritizes issues like labor rights and the environment.“Our focus is on those organizations which are building technical skills for students entering the workforce and for teachers,” she said.Environment and resourcesIn his encyclical, Leo warned of a “tendency to overlook the environmental impact” of AI and the “enormous amounts of energy and water” needed for data centers, which puts “heavy demands on natural resources” and influences carbon dioxide emissions.A report from the Electric Power Research Institute found 4%-5% of national energy is consumed by data centers, but that will rise to somewhere between 9% and 17% by 2030, mostly because of AI. It could exceed 20% in seven states and be somewhere between 39% and 57% in Virginia. Many data centers use water to cool machines.Cloutier said environmental concerns are “a very important point that is very easy to miss,” adding that “the amount of computer work that has to go on in order for the AI company to answer [a] question is very, very large.”“The environmental impact is downstream from the way we use that technology,” he said, noting that if AI progresses to be “completely embedded in our lives,” it will exacerbate the concerns.Larrey said water and energy are two concerns people have as data centers continue to be built: “They need huge data centers in order to run the servers that give us these large AI models that are only going to get larger and larger as time goes on.”Larrey said innovation can ease concerns and cited OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s investments in small nuclear reactors that could increase opportunities to employ clean energy. He referenced Nobel-Prize winning AlphaFold as well, developed by DeepMind, which significantly reduced the time and energy needed for AI protein structure prediction.“You need massive data centers in order to keep up with the competition,” he said. “Now the companies have to come up with a way of making these more efficient and using less electricity. … It’s becoming a real problem for the companies because people are protesting, actually in the street.”McGill, speaking for DataBank, said Leo’s environmental concerns and broader concerns are “well taken” and even though data center developers are not religious organizations, it “doesn’t absolve us from behaving responsibly.”She said DataBank is experimenting with hydrogenated vegetable oil for power. The company also designs the data centers with a closed-loop water cooling system, which means the water is continuously recycled through the system rather than consuming additional water.McGill added that “data centers pay for their power.” She acknowledged power consumption as a "legitimate concern” but criticized the narrative of the data center industry as “one big scary monster,” making them “the scapegoat” for higher consumption and rate hikes. She noted that inflation and foreign policy in the Middle East have a major effect on energy costs.“What we are doing toward responsible behavior, toward human beings, and toward the environment is absolutely in line with the pope’s encyclical,” she said.Amid growing protests and guidelines coming down from the Vatican, McGill said a parishioner at the parish she attends asked her how a Catholic could work for a data center company, but she said this incorrectly “implied there was a disconnection.”“My conscience is clear,” she said. “This is an industry that is not just avoiding doing bad things but actively seeking out ways to do the right thing.”

Pope’s AI warnings come as Americans grapple with data center expansions – #Catholic – Pope Leo XIV issued stark warnings against building “a new Tower of Babel” when developing artificial intelligence (AI) in his recently released encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, at a time when many people are growing concerned with the impact of the new technology and the rapid data center expansion that supports it.His encyclical, the title of which means "magnificent humanity,” pleads for AI development that safeguards Earth’s natural resources, preserves the dignity of work, builds up human solidarity, and does not concentrate power in the hands of a few but rather ensures all people benefit from the innovation.As American companies move fast to expand AI data centers — with over 4,000 operating and thousands more under construction — projects face local protests and critics cite environmental concerns, noise pollution, lack of long-term employment, and broader skepticism of AI’s impact on society.Although a March Gallup poll of 1,000 Americans found 71% oppose local AI data centers and only 27% support them, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum promoted data center expansion on Fox Business on May 26, citing productivity benefits across many sectors of the economy.The protests, he claimed, are “foreign-directed propaganda” campaigns from nations competing with the United States. He dismissed Leo’s guidance while laughing and said: "I didnʼt know that tech editorializing was part of the role of being pope.”Yet AI skepticism is quite prominent among the American public. A June 2025 Pew survey of 5,000 people found 50% are more concerned than excited about AI, 38% are equally excited and concerned, and just 10% are more excited than concerned. An NBC poll of 1,000 people in March found that 57% believe the risks of AI outweigh the benefits and 34% said the opposite.David Cloutier, a Notre Dame theology professor and academic director of the Business Ethics and Society Program, told EWTN News: “I think the resistance to data centers is rooted in a larger suspicion of the technology itself.”“They are a really tempting symbolic target,” he said, adding that data centers “symbolize a future that is all computer and machine and no people.”“I think people experience the arrival of this technology as something that they did not ask for and seems overwhelming to them,” Cloutier added.Dignity of work and power concentrationData centers often receive significant state and local tax incentives. At least 28 states offer tax incentives specific to data centers: Each waives certain sales tax, 14 offer energy subsidies, and 11 provide property tax reductions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.In a small number of states with significant data center growth — such as Texas and Virginia — data centers are receiving more than $1 billion annually in tax incentives. Apart from temporary construction jobs, smaller data centers often employ fewer than 150 permanent workers, while larger ones may employ a few hundred.Father Philip Larrey, a philosophy professor at Boston College, told EWTN News “it doesn’t make sense to me” to offer those incentives because “you don’t need many people to actually run these things.”“What advantage is there for the local people to have a data center in their city?” he questioned. “Probably none.”Cloutier noted the difference between incentives given to data centers and to factories, saying “the factory can only work if workers come to the factory,” but “data centers don’t employ people like factories do.”“The question is a question about power and who controls these very important entities and whether they share the wealth that is generated by these entities,” he said, pointing to Leo’s concern about the centralization of power and dignity of work.In the encyclical, Leo contrasted the Tower of Babel with the Book of Nehemiah, which details the construction of new walls for Jerusalem. The Holy Father said AI development should mirror the priorities outlined in that text: “Safeguarding humanity and the common good.”Cloutier encouraged local government officials to question “Who’s truly being benefited by these developments?” and “Is this really benefiting my local community?” when considering projects.“Listen to the community and ask questions of the company in ways that attempt to make the project more like Nehemiah building the wall,” he said.The backlash to data centers also fuels concerns about AI replacing people in the workforce, with Cloutier noting “they’re enormous but empty of people.”As the technology improves, Larrey expressed concern about the long-term impact on the labor force, saying it will be hard to convince a company to hire a person if it can achieve “the same result from an AI that you get from a human being and they cost almost nothing.” Yet, he urged employers to consider the human impact and encouraged employees to incorporate AI into their work if it can help prevent replacement.“Just because you can replace a person with AI doesn’t mean that you should,” he said.Judith McGill, marketing and content specialist for DataBank — a data center developer — and a practicing Catholic, told EWTN News that she believes critics' objections about employment are misleading, because although the centers themselves do not employ “a lot of people,” the services benefit “all of the employees of our customers” who use AI.She said governments would not offer incentives if investments were not “a net economic benefit to those communities.” Despite incentives, she said: “We pay taxes and, in fact, contribute to schools and roads.”For example, McGill said DataBank aligns itself with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for multinational enterprises, which prioritizes issues like labor rights and the environment.“Our focus is on those organizations which are building technical skills for students entering the workforce and for teachers,” she said.Environment and resourcesIn his encyclical, Leo warned of a “tendency to overlook the environmental impact” of AI and the “enormous amounts of energy and water” needed for data centers, which puts “heavy demands on natural resources” and influences carbon dioxide emissions.A report from the Electric Power Research Institute found 4%-5% of national energy is consumed by data centers, but that will rise to somewhere between 9% and 17% by 2030, mostly because of AI. It could exceed 20% in seven states and be somewhere between 39% and 57% in Virginia. Many data centers use water to cool machines.Cloutier said environmental concerns are “a very important point that is very easy to miss,” adding that “the amount of computer work that has to go on in order for the AI company to answer [a] question is very, very large.”“The environmental impact is downstream from the way we use that technology,” he said, noting that if AI progresses to be “completely embedded in our lives,” it will exacerbate the concerns.Larrey said water and energy are two concerns people have as data centers continue to be built: “They need huge data centers in order to run the servers that give us these large AI models that are only going to get larger and larger as time goes on.”Larrey said innovation can ease concerns and cited OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s investments in small nuclear reactors that could increase opportunities to employ clean energy. He referenced Nobel-Prize winning AlphaFold as well, developed by DeepMind, which significantly reduced the time and energy needed for AI protein structure prediction.“You need massive data centers in order to keep up with the competition,” he said. “Now the companies have to come up with a way of making these more efficient and using less electricity. … It’s becoming a real problem for the companies because people are protesting, actually in the street.”McGill, speaking for DataBank, said Leo’s environmental concerns and broader concerns are “well taken” and even though data center developers are not religious organizations, it “doesn’t absolve us from behaving responsibly.”She said DataBank is experimenting with hydrogenated vegetable oil for power. The company also designs the data centers with a closed-loop water cooling system, which means the water is continuously recycled through the system rather than consuming additional water.McGill added that “data centers pay for their power.” She acknowledged power consumption as a "legitimate concern” but criticized the narrative of the data center industry as “one big scary monster,” making them “the scapegoat” for higher consumption and rate hikes. She noted that inflation and foreign policy in the Middle East have a major effect on energy costs.“What we are doing toward responsible behavior, toward human beings, and toward the environment is absolutely in line with the pope’s encyclical,” she said.Amid growing protests and guidelines coming down from the Vatican, McGill said a parishioner at the parish she attends asked her how a Catholic could work for a data center company, but she said this incorrectly “implied there was a disconnection.”“My conscience is clear,” she said. “This is an industry that is not just avoiding doing bad things but actively seeking out ways to do the right thing.”

Catholic scholars echo Leo’s focus on the dignity of work, the environment, and avoiding power concentration as one data center spokesperson says her work is consistent with Leo’s vision.

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Anti-surrogacy advocates urge UN scrutiny of Greece and Ireland – #Catholic – In November, the United Nations Human Rights Council will conduct its universal periodic review of Greece and Ireland, a process that holds every U.N. member state accountable for its human rights record roughly once every four and a half years.Organizations working for the abolition of surrogacy are using this moment to challenge both countries' surrogacy frameworks. The practice was among 13 violations of human dignity condemned in the Vatican declaration Dignitas Infinita, issued in April 2024.Among the groups raising concerns is Juristes pour lʼEnfance, a French association of legal professionals dedicated to defending childrenʼs rights. The group has submitted two formal observations to the Human Rights Council, arguing that Ireland and Greece have repackaged what is fundamentally a commercial arrangement in the language of compassion and altruism, while children ultimately bear the consequences.EWTN News spoke with Matthieu Le Tourneur, a French jurist with Juristes pour lʼEnfance. He said the organizationʼs central concern is that “a child must never be the object of a contract” since that commodifies them. He added that “surrogacy, whether commercial or presented as altruistic or regulated, involves treating a human being as goods. This is unacceptable.”‘Children are not contracts,’ advocates sayOf the European Unionʼs 27 member states, 16 explicitly prohibit surrogacy and seven have no clear legal framework. Only four — Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, and Portugal — formally permit it.Greece and Ireland are viewed as having the broadest legal openings for surrogacy, while both heavily describe their systems as “altruistic,” meaning no direct payment is made to the surrogate mother for carrying and delivering the child.Juristes pour lʼEnfance disputes that characterization. Le Tourneur explained that under Irelandʼs Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024, a surrogate may receive compensation for up to 12 months of lost income as well as reimbursement for a wide range of expenses. In Greece, fixed payments of 10,000 euros — rising to 15,000 euros for multiple pregnancies — are permitted as compensation for what the law calls “suffering” or “fatigue.”“Altruistic for whom?” Le Tourneur asked. “It is never altruistic for the child, who will carry for life the invisible mark of having been sold or given away, of having been the object of a contract. The term ‘altruistic surrogacy’ concerns only adults; it does not concern the child.”Advocates for abolition frequently cite the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically Article 7, which guarantees a childʼs right to know and be raised by its parents. They argue that surrogacy deliberately severs the childʼs maternal bond at birth and constitutes a form of child sale under Article 35 and its Optional Protocol, even when the arrangement bears no overt price tag.Trafficking, vulnerability, and the limits of regulationThe limits of surrogacy regulation became starkly visible in 2023, when Greek authorities uncovered an alleged criminal network operating out of the Mediterranean Fertility Institute in Crete. Investigators found evidence of trafficked migrant women, primarily from Eastern Europe, who had been recruited as surrogates. The case involved falsified documents, fraudulent embryo transfers, and what prosecutors described as industrial-scale handling of embryos.“Legalizing a practice never eliminates trafficking outside the legal framework,” Le Tourneur said. “In some cases, the existence of a legal market even strengthens illegal trafficking.” He drew a parallel to debates around drug legalization, where legal supply has not always suppressed black markets.He further noted that legalization can act as a pull factor for vulnerable women, since they know that for roughly 12 months they will receive financial support, care, and “sometimes accommodation.”These concerns have increasingly been echoed by U.N. experts. Le Tourneur pointed to the 2018 findings of former special rapporteur Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a 2019 report by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and a 2025 report by Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem — all of which raised concerns about surrogacy as a form of exploitation affecting women and children.A defining debate for EuropeThis focus on surrogacy comes at a time when Europe is increasingly split on the topic. While surrogacyʼs proponents frame it as an act of generosity between willing adults, the majority of EU member states — including France, Germany, Spain, and Poland — continue to treat it as a form of exploitation incompatible with human dignity.Italy has taken one of Europeʼs toughest stances, classifying surrogacy as a universal crime. Under a law that took effect in November 2024, Italian citizens can face prosecution for obtaining surrogacy services abroad, even in countries where the practice is legal. Convictions carry prison sentences of up to two years and fines ranging from 600,000 euros to 1 million euros.Against that backdrop, Le Tourneur said Greece and Ireland matter not only for what is happening within their borders but also for the precedent they set. If the Human Rights Council issues recommendations against their surrogacy laws, it would send a powerful signal to other governments weighing similar legislation.“We hope that, thanks to our alerts, the council will urge the countries concerned to amend their national legislation,” Le Tourneur said. “Such recommendations may also deter other countries from adopting laws that the Human Rights Council would consider to be violations of human rights.”

Anti-surrogacy advocates urge UN scrutiny of Greece and Ireland – #Catholic – In November, the United Nations Human Rights Council will conduct its universal periodic review of Greece and Ireland, a process that holds every U.N. member state accountable for its human rights record roughly once every four and a half years.Organizations working for the abolition of surrogacy are using this moment to challenge both countries' surrogacy frameworks. The practice was among 13 violations of human dignity condemned in the Vatican declaration Dignitas Infinita, issued in April 2024.Among the groups raising concerns is Juristes pour lʼEnfance, a French association of legal professionals dedicated to defending childrenʼs rights. The group has submitted two formal observations to the Human Rights Council, arguing that Ireland and Greece have repackaged what is fundamentally a commercial arrangement in the language of compassion and altruism, while children ultimately bear the consequences.EWTN News spoke with Matthieu Le Tourneur, a French jurist with Juristes pour lʼEnfance. He said the organizationʼs central concern is that “a child must never be the object of a contract” since that commodifies them. He added that “surrogacy, whether commercial or presented as altruistic or regulated, involves treating a human being as goods. This is unacceptable.”‘Children are not contracts,’ advocates sayOf the European Unionʼs 27 member states, 16 explicitly prohibit surrogacy and seven have no clear legal framework. Only four — Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, and Portugal — formally permit it.Greece and Ireland are viewed as having the broadest legal openings for surrogacy, while both heavily describe their systems as “altruistic,” meaning no direct payment is made to the surrogate mother for carrying and delivering the child.Juristes pour lʼEnfance disputes that characterization. Le Tourneur explained that under Irelandʼs Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024, a surrogate may receive compensation for up to 12 months of lost income as well as reimbursement for a wide range of expenses. In Greece, fixed payments of 10,000 euros — rising to 15,000 euros for multiple pregnancies — are permitted as compensation for what the law calls “suffering” or “fatigue.”“Altruistic for whom?” Le Tourneur asked. “It is never altruistic for the child, who will carry for life the invisible mark of having been sold or given away, of having been the object of a contract. The term ‘altruistic surrogacy’ concerns only adults; it does not concern the child.”Advocates for abolition frequently cite the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically Article 7, which guarantees a childʼs right to know and be raised by its parents. They argue that surrogacy deliberately severs the childʼs maternal bond at birth and constitutes a form of child sale under Article 35 and its Optional Protocol, even when the arrangement bears no overt price tag.Trafficking, vulnerability, and the limits of regulationThe limits of surrogacy regulation became starkly visible in 2023, when Greek authorities uncovered an alleged criminal network operating out of the Mediterranean Fertility Institute in Crete. Investigators found evidence of trafficked migrant women, primarily from Eastern Europe, who had been recruited as surrogates. The case involved falsified documents, fraudulent embryo transfers, and what prosecutors described as industrial-scale handling of embryos.“Legalizing a practice never eliminates trafficking outside the legal framework,” Le Tourneur said. “In some cases, the existence of a legal market even strengthens illegal trafficking.” He drew a parallel to debates around drug legalization, where legal supply has not always suppressed black markets.He further noted that legalization can act as a pull factor for vulnerable women, since they know that for roughly 12 months they will receive financial support, care, and “sometimes accommodation.”These concerns have increasingly been echoed by U.N. experts. Le Tourneur pointed to the 2018 findings of former special rapporteur Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a 2019 report by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and a 2025 report by Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem — all of which raised concerns about surrogacy as a form of exploitation affecting women and children.A defining debate for EuropeThis focus on surrogacy comes at a time when Europe is increasingly split on the topic. While surrogacyʼs proponents frame it as an act of generosity between willing adults, the majority of EU member states — including France, Germany, Spain, and Poland — continue to treat it as a form of exploitation incompatible with human dignity.Italy has taken one of Europeʼs toughest stances, classifying surrogacy as a universal crime. Under a law that took effect in November 2024, Italian citizens can face prosecution for obtaining surrogacy services abroad, even in countries where the practice is legal. Convictions carry prison sentences of up to two years and fines ranging from 600,000 euros to 1 million euros.Against that backdrop, Le Tourneur said Greece and Ireland matter not only for what is happening within their borders but also for the precedent they set. If the Human Rights Council issues recommendations against their surrogacy laws, it would send a powerful signal to other governments weighing similar legislation.“We hope that, thanks to our alerts, the council will urge the countries concerned to amend their national legislation,” Le Tourneur said. “Such recommendations may also deter other countries from adopting laws that the Human Rights Council would consider to be violations of human rights.”

A French children’s rights group has filed formal observations with the U.N. Human Rights Council ahead of November reviews of Greece and Ireland.

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 03 June 2026 – A reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to Timothy 1:1-3, 6-12 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dear child: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God, whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.  For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God. He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher. On this account I am suffering these things; but I am not ashamed, for I know him in whom I have believed and am confident that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.From the Gospel according to Mark 12:18-27 Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her." Jesus said to them, "Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,  and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled."Here, Christ encounters men who consider themselves expert and authoritative interpreters of the Scriptures. To these men – that is, to the Sadducees – Jesus replies that a mere literal knowledge of Scripture is not enough. In fact, Scripture is above all a means of knowing the power of the living God, who reveals Himself in it, just as he revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. In this revelation, He called himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and of Jacob” – that is, of those who had been the forefathers of Moses in the faith that springs from the revelation of the living God. All of them have long since died; yet Christ completes the reference to them with His affirmation that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living”. This key statement, in which Christ interprets the words addressed to Moses from the burning bush, can only be understood if one acknowledges the reality of a life that death does not bring to an end. Moses’ forefathers in the faith, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are living persons for God, even though, by human standards, they must be counted among the dead. To read Scripture correctly, and in particular the aforementioned words of God, means to know and accept by faith the power of the Giver of life, who is not bound by the law of death, which reigns supreme in the earthly history of mankind. (Saint John Paul II, General Audience, 18 November 1981)

A reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to Timothy
1:1-3, 6-12

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God
for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my dear child:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am grateful to God,
whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.

For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. 
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.

He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel,
for which I was appointed preacher and Apostle and teacher.
On this account I am suffering these things;
but I am not ashamed,
for I know him in whom I have believed
and am confident that he is able to guard
what has been entrusted to me until that day.

From the Gospel according to Mark
12:18-27

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her."
Jesus said to them, "Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled."

Here, Christ encounters men who consider themselves expert and authoritative interpreters of the Scriptures. To these men – that is, to the Sadducees – Jesus replies that a mere literal knowledge of Scripture is not enough. In fact, Scripture is above all a means of knowing the power of the living God, who reveals Himself in it, just as he revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. In this revelation, He called himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and of Jacob” – that is, of those who had been the forefathers of Moses in the faith that springs from the revelation of the living God. All of them have long since died; yet Christ completes the reference to them with His affirmation that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living”. This key statement, in which Christ interprets the words addressed to Moses from the burning bush, can only be understood if one acknowledges the reality of a life that death does not bring to an end. Moses’ forefathers in the faith, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are living persons for God, even though, by human standards, they must be counted among the dead. To read Scripture correctly, and in particular the aforementioned words of God, means to know and accept by faith the power of the Giver of life, who is not bound by the law of death, which reigns supreme in the earthly history of mankind. (Saint John Paul II, General Audience, 18 November 1981)

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Rubio Claps Back Hard With Facts After Senator Chris Van Hollen — The Guy Who Grabs Margs With MS-13 Gang Member — Says “There Is No Evidence That Cuba Is Engaged In State-Sponsored Terrorism” – 
Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) — the same guy The Gateway Pundit previously reported on for flying to El Salvador last year for a humiliating photo op, where he was caught sipping margaritas with a MS-13 gang member and deported criminal (Bukele’s team even posted the evidence and dubbed it “Margaritagate”) — tried to lecture Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday about Cuba’s status as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The post Rubio Claps Back Hard With Facts After Senator Chris Van Hollen — The Guy Who Grabs Margs With MS-13 Gang Member — Says “There Is No Evidence That Cuba Is Engaged In State-Sponsored Terrorism” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Senators Marco Rubio and Chris Van Hollen participate in a congressional hearing, discussing key legislative issues with fellow committee members in attendance.

Senators Marco Rubio and Chris Van Hollen participate in a congressional hearing, discussing key legislative issues with fellow committee members in attendance.

Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) — the same guy The Gateway Pundit previously reported on for flying to El Salvador last year for a humiliating photo op, where he was caught sipping margaritas with a MS-13 gang member and deported criminal (Bukele’s team even posted the evidence and dubbed it “Margaritagate”) — tried to lecture Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday about Cuba’s status as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The post Rubio Claps Back Hard With Facts After Senator Chris Van Hollen — The Guy Who Grabs Margs With MS-13 Gang Member — Says “There Is No Evidence That Cuba Is Engaged In State-Sponsored Terrorism” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Preparing for Consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: The Novena, the Litany, and Dilexit Nos #Catholic – THIS IS THE HEART THAT HAS LOVED SO GREATLY
48. Devotion to the heart of Christ is not the veneration of a single organ apart from the Person of Jesus. What we contemplate and adore is the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, represented by an image that accentuates his heart. That heart of flesh is seen as the privileged sign of the inmost being of the incarnate Son and his love, both divine and human. More than any other part of his body, the heart of Jesus is “the natural sign and symbol of his boundless love.”
DILEXIT NOS
 (24 October 2024)


BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY

On June 3, 2026, a Novena will begin across the United States as part of the preparation to Consecrate our Country to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, as we look forward to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence (on July 4). If you are reading this column on June 4 or 5, or any time before or on June 12, you still “have time” to participate in the consecration that will take place on June 11 and 12, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The Novena begins on June 3, but you can “join” any time over the course of the nine days. You can find all the information you need to participate in the novena by going to the USCCB website.  
You will see that there is a theme for each day of the novena and a brief section each day with ways that you can “Pray,” “Learn,” and “Act.”
Another way to participate in the Novena is to take some time, each day or as often as possible, to pray the “Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” during the days of the Novena. For those who may not be familiar with the “Litany,” in general, as a form of prayer or the Litany of the Sacred Heart, in particular, you can find more information here.
There are many ways to participate and many resources available for those who may want to learn more about the history and development of devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. One of the best sources is Pope Francis’s final Encyclical Letter, Dilexit Nos, quoted and cited above. The subtitle of Dilexit Nos (He loved us) is: “On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.” The Encyclical is neither brief nor “light reading,” but it is a beautiful invitation to reflect on the relevance of this devotion in our lives today, as Pope Francis writes in the beginning of Chapter One:
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART
2. The symbol of the heart has often been used to express the love of Jesus Christ. Some have questioned whether this symbol is still meaningful today. Yet living as we do in an age of superficiality, rushing frenetically from one thing to another without really knowing why, and ending up as insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market unconcerned about the deeper meaning of our lives, all of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart.
DILEXIT NOS
In Chapters 3 and 4, Pope Francis offers an excellent summary of the development of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, from the Scriptures and Teaching of the Church (Magisterium). He also describes the history of the development of the spirituality of the devotion in the life of the Church and through the lives of the saints, such as St. John Eudes, St. Francis de Sales, St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, St. Claude de la Colombiere, St. Charles de Foucauld, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, and others. Taking the time to prayerfully read all or parts of Dilexit Nos would be a wonderful way of preparing for the consecration.
Two other resources I would like to offer are:

The Lives of the Saints: Take some time to Google any of the Saints mentioned above or read the section on them in Dilexit Nos. I have shared before that I have found Franciscan Media’s (Catholic) “Saint of the Day” to be a very good resource for concise, brief, and insightful summaries on the Lives of the Saints. Here are links to a few:




Margaret Mary Alocoque 
John Eudes
Charles de Foucauld 




The “Sacred Heart Enthronement Network”: As I wrote this column, I found the website of the “Sacred Heart Enthronement Network” where you can find an excellent “Brief History of the Sacred Heart Devotion” and this reminder:

In 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Since then, his successors have exhorted the faithful to turn to the Sacred Heart and make acts of personal consecration. They have also begged the faithful to offer prayers and penances to the Sacred Heart in reparation for the many sins of the world. The Sacred Heart Enthronement Network desires to follow in the footsteps of Saints who came before and hold true to the basic request of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary, “I will bless the home in which the Image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.” 
In November of last year, Pope Leo XIV declared St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church.  A “doctor” of the Church is someone who gives us special insight into God’s life and Divine Revelation through their words and example. Newman’s motto is Cor ad cor loquitur – Heart speaks to heart. The Holy Father noted that Newman teaches us that, “Beyond all our thoughts and ideas, the Lord saves us by speaking to our hearts from his Sacred Heart.” 
As we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence, it is a fitting moment to examine how deeply our own hearts receive the loving message of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Do we express openness to our brothers and sisters who seek the American dream of freedom and security? In our contributions to the fabric of our country, do we foster dialogue and respectful reception of ideas that we might not share? Is the memory of those who have laid down their lives so that freedom is preserved and human rights protected honored through our words and actions as responsible citizens? The Sacred Heart of Jesus himself gives us the resolve to answer those questions in the affirmative, but our hearts must be open to the wonders of his love to access that grace. We pray that we actively open our hearts to the Sacred Heart and ask him to speak to us as we pray, “Heart of Jesus, in whom there are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, have mercy on us.”

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

 

Preparing for Consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: The Novena, the Litany, and Dilexit Nos #Catholic – THIS IS THE HEART THAT HAS LOVED SO GREATLY 48. Devotion to the heart of Christ is not the veneration of a single organ apart from the Person of Jesus. What we contemplate and adore is the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, represented by an image that accentuates his heart. That heart of flesh is seen as the privileged sign of the inmost being of the incarnate Son and his love, both divine and human. More than any other part of his body, the heart of Jesus is “the natural sign and symbol of his boundless love.” DILEXIT NOS (24 October 2024) BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY On June 3, 2026, a Novena will begin across the United States as part of the preparation to Consecrate our Country to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, as we look forward to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence (on July 4). If you are reading this column on June 4 or 5, or any time before or on June 12, you still “have time” to participate in the consecration that will take place on June 11 and 12, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Novena begins on June 3, but you can “join” any time over the course of the nine days. You can find all the information you need to participate in the novena by going to the USCCB website.   You will see that there is a theme for each day of the novena and a brief section each day with ways that you can “Pray,” “Learn,” and “Act.” Another way to participate in the Novena is to take some time, each day or as often as possible, to pray the “Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” during the days of the Novena. For those who may not be familiar with the “Litany,” in general, as a form of prayer or the Litany of the Sacred Heart, in particular, you can find more information here. There are many ways to participate and many resources available for those who may want to learn more about the history and development of devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. One of the best sources is Pope Francis’s final Encyclical Letter, Dilexit Nos, quoted and cited above. The subtitle of Dilexit Nos (He loved us) is: “On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.” The Encyclical is neither brief nor “light reading,” but it is a beautiful invitation to reflect on the relevance of this devotion in our lives today, as Pope Francis writes in the beginning of Chapter One: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART 2. The symbol of the heart has often been used to express the love of Jesus Christ. Some have questioned whether this symbol is still meaningful today. Yet living as we do in an age of superficiality, rushing frenetically from one thing to another without really knowing why, and ending up as insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market unconcerned about the deeper meaning of our lives, all of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart. DILEXIT NOS In Chapters 3 and 4, Pope Francis offers an excellent summary of the development of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, from the Scriptures and Teaching of the Church (Magisterium). He also describes the history of the development of the spirituality of the devotion in the life of the Church and through the lives of the saints, such as St. John Eudes, St. Francis de Sales, St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, St. Claude de la Colombiere, St. Charles de Foucauld, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, and others. Taking the time to prayerfully read all or parts of Dilexit Nos would be a wonderful way of preparing for the consecration. Two other resources I would like to offer are: The Lives of the Saints: Take some time to Google any of the Saints mentioned above or read the section on them in Dilexit Nos. I have shared before that I have found Franciscan Media’s (Catholic) “Saint of the Day” to be a very good resource for concise, brief, and insightful summaries on the Lives of the Saints. Here are links to a few: Margaret Mary Alocoque  John Eudes Charles de Foucauld  The “Sacred Heart Enthronement Network”: As I wrote this column, I found the website of the “Sacred Heart Enthronement Network” where you can find an excellent “Brief History of the Sacred Heart Devotion” and this reminder: In 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Since then, his successors have exhorted the faithful to turn to the Sacred Heart and make acts of personal consecration. They have also begged the faithful to offer prayers and penances to the Sacred Heart in reparation for the many sins of the world. The Sacred Heart Enthronement Network desires to follow in the footsteps of Saints who came before and hold true to the basic request of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary, “I will bless the home in which the Image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.”  In November of last year, Pope Leo XIV declared St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church.  A “doctor” of the Church is someone who gives us special insight into God’s life and Divine Revelation through their words and example. Newman’s motto is Cor ad cor loquitur – Heart speaks to heart. The Holy Father noted that Newman teaches us that, “Beyond all our thoughts and ideas, the Lord saves us by speaking to our hearts from his Sacred Heart.”  As we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence, it is a fitting moment to examine how deeply our own hearts receive the loving message of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Do we express openness to our brothers and sisters who seek the American dream of freedom and security? In our contributions to the fabric of our country, do we foster dialogue and respectful reception of ideas that we might not share? Is the memory of those who have laid down their lives so that freedom is preserved and human rights protected honored through our words and actions as responsible citizens? The Sacred Heart of Jesus himself gives us the resolve to answer those questions in the affirmative, but our hearts must be open to the wonders of his love to access that grace. We pray that we actively open our hearts to the Sacred Heart and ask him to speak to us as we pray, “Heart of Jesus, in whom there are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, have mercy on us.” Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.  

Preparing for Consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: The Novena, the Litany, and Dilexit Nos #Catholic –

THIS IS THE HEART THAT HAS LOVED SO GREATLY

48. Devotion to the heart of Christ is not the veneration of a single organ apart from the Person of Jesus. What we contemplate and adore is the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, represented by an image that accentuates his heart. That heart of flesh is seen as the privileged sign of the inmost being of the incarnate Son and his love, both divine and human. More than any other part of his body, the heart of Jesus is “the natural sign and symbol of his boundless love.”

DILEXIT NOS
(24 October 2024)

BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY

On June 3, 2026, a Novena will begin across the United States as part of the preparation to Consecrate our Country to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, as we look forward to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence (on July 4). If you are reading this column on June 4 or 5, or any time before or on June 12, you still “have time” to participate in the consecration that will take place on June 11 and 12, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The Novena begins on June 3, but you can “join” any time over the course of the nine days. You can find all the information you need to participate in the novena by going to the USCCB website.  

You will see that there is a theme for each day of the novena and a brief section each day with ways that you can “Pray,” “Learn,” and “Act.”

Another way to participate in the Novena is to take some time, each day or as often as possible, to pray the “Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” during the days of the Novena. For those who may not be familiar with the “Litany,” in general, as a form of prayer or the Litany of the Sacred Heart, in particular, you can find more information here.

There are many ways to participate and many resources available for those who may want to learn more about the history and development of devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. One of the best sources is Pope Francis’s final Encyclical Letter, Dilexit Nos, quoted and cited above. The subtitle of Dilexit Nos (He loved us) is: “On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.” The Encyclical is neither brief nor “light reading,” but it is a beautiful invitation to reflect on the relevance of this devotion in our lives today, as Pope Francis writes in the beginning of Chapter One:

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART

2. The symbol of the heart has often been used to express the love of Jesus Christ. Some have questioned whether this symbol is still meaningful today. Yet living as we do in an age of superficiality, rushing frenetically from one thing to another without really knowing why, and ending up as insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market unconcerned about the deeper meaning of our lives, all of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart.

DILEXIT NOS

In Chapters 3 and 4, Pope Francis offers an excellent summary of the development of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, from the Scriptures and Teaching of the Church (Magisterium). He also describes the history of the development of the spirituality of the devotion in the life of the Church and through the lives of the saints, such as St. John Eudes, St. Francis de Sales, St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, St. Claude de la Colombiere, St. Charles de Foucauld, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, and others. Taking the time to prayerfully read all or parts of Dilexit Nos would be a wonderful way of preparing for the consecration.

Two other resources I would like to offer are:

  1. The Lives of the Saints: Take some time to Google any of the Saints mentioned above or read the section on them in Dilexit Nos. I have shared before that I have found Franciscan Media’s (Catholic) “Saint of the Day” to be a very good resource for concise, brief, and insightful summaries on the Lives of the Saints. Here are links to a few:
  1. The “Sacred Heart Enthronement Network”: As I wrote this column, I found the website of the “Sacred Heart Enthronement Network” where you can find an excellent “Brief History of the Sacred Heart Devotion” and this reminder:

In 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Since then, his successors have exhorted the faithful to turn to the Sacred Heart and make acts of personal consecration. They have also begged the faithful to offer prayers and penances to the Sacred Heart in reparation for the many sins of the world. The Sacred Heart Enthronement Network desires to follow in the footsteps of Saints who came before and hold true to the basic request of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary, “I will bless the home in which the Image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.” 

In November of last year, Pope Leo XIV declared St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church.  A “doctor” of the Church is someone who gives us special insight into God’s life and Divine Revelation through their words and example. Newman’s motto is Cor ad cor loquiturHeart speaks to heart. The Holy Father noted that Newman teaches us that, “Beyond all our thoughts and ideas, the Lord saves us by speaking to our hearts from his Sacred Heart.” 

As we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence, it is a fitting moment to examine how deeply our own hearts receive the loving message of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Do we express openness to our brothers and sisters who seek the American dream of freedom and security? In our contributions to the fabric of our country, do we foster dialogue and respectful reception of ideas that we might not share? Is the memory of those who have laid down their lives so that freedom is preserved and human rights protected honored through our words and actions as responsible citizens? The Sacred Heart of Jesus himself gives us the resolve to answer those questions in the affirmative, but our hearts must be open to the wonders of his love to access that grace. We pray that we actively open our hearts to the Sacred Heart and ask him to speak to us as we pray, “Heart of Jesus, in whom there are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, have mercy on us.”


Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

 

THIS IS THE HEART THAT HAS LOVED SO GREATLY 48. Devotion to the heart of Christ is not the veneration of a single organ apart from the Person of Jesus. What we contemplate and adore is the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, represented by an image that accentuates his heart. That heart of flesh is seen as the privileged sign of the inmost being of the incarnate Son and his love, both divine and human. More than any other part of his body, the heart of Jesus is “the natural sign and symbol of his boundless

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More than 50 children celebrate first Communion amid ongoing missile attacks in southern Lebanon #Catholic Amid a rocket attack launched by Hezbollah on residential homes in the village of Rmeish in southern Lebanon, more than 50 children celebrated their first Communion in a testament to faith, resilience, and hope in the midst of war.In comments to local media, Rmeish Municipality Head Hanna Al-Amil said a missile fell between inhabited homes on Sunday morning and “narrowly avoided causing a major disaster.”Al-Amil stressed that the village contains no military forces, armed groups, or weapons, emphasizing that residents “simply want to live safely on their land, away from confrontation and escalation.”The people of Rmeish remain attached to their land and continue their lives “despite difficult circumstances,” he said, calling for the protection of civilians and for the village and its residents not to be placed at risk. The incident is not an isolated one. It comes amid a series of missile launches affecting Christian villages in the south, increasing fears among local residents. On Friday, several Hezbollah rockets fired toward Israeli forces operating in the town of Dibbin landed in residential and civilian areas of Marjayoun, causing significant property damage. According to local reports, one rocket struck the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, damaging parts of the church, while another landed within the grounds of the Sacred Hearts Secondary School, leaving extensive destruction to the building and its surroundings.Speaking to ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Rizkallah Alam, a resident of Rmeish whose daughter received her first Communion, said villagers have effectively been living in a state of war since Oct. 8, 2023. “We have been living the reality of war since then,” he said, adding that the village has not experienced a genuine ceasefire at any point. “The children and their parents live in constant anxiety. We asked to postpone the first Communion to another time, but our parish priest refused and insisted that it take place.”Alam described the daily reality facing children in the village, saying they live without a sense of security or psychological stability. “My children pray and sing hymns all the time, and they live according to the news cycle. Some days schools are open, and other days they are not. Today the situation has become even worse because of the siege.”He said the restrictions affecting the village have impacted even the most basic aspects of daily life. “Everything has become unavailable. We wait for the aid convoy and hope it will be allowed to reach the village.”In previous years, families would hold large celebrations for first Communion. This year, however, circumstances forced them to scale back their plans. “This year the celebration was limited to family homes, with no large festivities,” he said. “The number of children was also lower than in previous years because families are scattered. Some are in Beirut, while others have left the country.”Alam described the immense uncertainty facing both parents and children. “The situation is extremely difficult. We cannot even plan for tomorrow,” he said. “As we speak, rockets have fallen in Rmeish again, one person has been injured, and a car has caught fire.”Between missiles and first Communion, Rmeish embodies one of southern Lebanonʼs most painful paradoxes: a village that wants to live, families determined to remain, and children learning faith in a time of fear. This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated for and adapted by EWTN News English.

More than 50 children celebrate first Communion amid ongoing missile attacks in southern Lebanon #Catholic Amid a rocket attack launched by Hezbollah on residential homes in the village of Rmeish in southern Lebanon, more than 50 children celebrated their first Communion in a testament to faith, resilience, and hope in the midst of war.In comments to local media, Rmeish Municipality Head Hanna Al-Amil said a missile fell between inhabited homes on Sunday morning and “narrowly avoided causing a major disaster.”Al-Amil stressed that the village contains no military forces, armed groups, or weapons, emphasizing that residents “simply want to live safely on their land, away from confrontation and escalation.”The people of Rmeish remain attached to their land and continue their lives “despite difficult circumstances,” he said, calling for the protection of civilians and for the village and its residents not to be placed at risk. The incident is not an isolated one. It comes amid a series of missile launches affecting Christian villages in the south, increasing fears among local residents. On Friday, several Hezbollah rockets fired toward Israeli forces operating in the town of Dibbin landed in residential and civilian areas of Marjayoun, causing significant property damage. According to local reports, one rocket struck the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, damaging parts of the church, while another landed within the grounds of the Sacred Hearts Secondary School, leaving extensive destruction to the building and its surroundings.Speaking to ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Rizkallah Alam, a resident of Rmeish whose daughter received her first Communion, said villagers have effectively been living in a state of war since Oct. 8, 2023. “We have been living the reality of war since then,” he said, adding that the village has not experienced a genuine ceasefire at any point. “The children and their parents live in constant anxiety. We asked to postpone the first Communion to another time, but our parish priest refused and insisted that it take place.”Alam described the daily reality facing children in the village, saying they live without a sense of security or psychological stability. “My children pray and sing hymns all the time, and they live according to the news cycle. Some days schools are open, and other days they are not. Today the situation has become even worse because of the siege.”He said the restrictions affecting the village have impacted even the most basic aspects of daily life. “Everything has become unavailable. We wait for the aid convoy and hope it will be allowed to reach the village.”In previous years, families would hold large celebrations for first Communion. This year, however, circumstances forced them to scale back their plans. “This year the celebration was limited to family homes, with no large festivities,” he said. “The number of children was also lower than in previous years because families are scattered. Some are in Beirut, while others have left the country.”Alam described the immense uncertainty facing both parents and children. “The situation is extremely difficult. We cannot even plan for tomorrow,” he said. “As we speak, rockets have fallen in Rmeish again, one person has been injured, and a car has caught fire.”Between missiles and first Communion, Rmeish embodies one of southern Lebanonʼs most painful paradoxes: a village that wants to live, families determined to remain, and children learning faith in a time of fear. This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated for and adapted by EWTN News English.

A resident of Rmeish whose daughter received her first Communion said villagers there have effectively been living in a state of war since Oct. 8, 2023.

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This is Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of June #Catholic Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of June is for the value of sports.“In times of war and extreme polarization, sport is one of the few things that bring us closer together,” the pope said in a video released on X on June 2.He added: “Let us pray this June that sport may be an instrument of peace, encounter, and dialogue among cultures and nations, and that it may promote values such as respect, solidarity, and personal growth.”In the full video shared on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website, Pope Leo recites an original prayer written specifically for this month’s prayer intention:In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.Lord of life,we thank you for the gift of sport,for those who glorify God through the exercise of their bodies,for the friendships born on the fieldand the joy of playing as a team.You teach us that in life, as in the game,no one is saved alone.We need others to grow,to learn respect, to overcome our limits,and to celebrate together the victories we achieve.We ask that sport may always bea school of fraternity, not of empty rivalry,a space of encounter, not exclusion,a path of peace, not violence.May those who play, train, or cheerdiscover in sport a universal languagethat brings cultures together, unites peoples,and sows respect, solidarity, and personal growth.Lord Jesus,may every sport become a parable of life lived with you,working with joy and effort,living with humility in defeatand with gratitude in the victory you offer in your resurrection.May your Spirit never be lacking in us,making us one team, united with youto build communion and fraternity in history.Amen.“Pray with the Pope” is accessible on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website and its digital platforms.

This is Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of June #Catholic Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of June is for the value of sports.“In times of war and extreme polarization, sport is one of the few things that bring us closer together,” the pope said in a video released on X on June 2.He added: “Let us pray this June that sport may be an instrument of peace, encounter, and dialogue among cultures and nations, and that it may promote values such as respect, solidarity, and personal growth.”In the full video shared on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website, Pope Leo recites an original prayer written specifically for this month’s prayer intention:In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.Lord of life,we thank you for the gift of sport,for those who glorify God through the exercise of their bodies,for the friendships born on the fieldand the joy of playing as a team.You teach us that in life, as in the game,no one is saved alone.We need others to grow,to learn respect, to overcome our limits,and to celebrate together the victories we achieve.We ask that sport may always bea school of fraternity, not of empty rivalry,a space of encounter, not exclusion,a path of peace, not violence.May those who play, train, or cheerdiscover in sport a universal languagethat brings cultures together, unites peoples,and sows respect, solidarity, and personal growth.Lord Jesus,may every sport become a parable of life lived with you,working with joy and effort,living with humility in defeatand with gratitude in the victory you offer in your resurrection.May your Spirit never be lacking in us,making us one team, united with youto build communion and fraternity in history.Amen.“Pray with the Pope” is accessible on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website and its digital platforms.

“In times of war and extreme polarization, sport is one of the few things that bring us closer together,” the pope said in a video released on X on June 2.

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Parishes in Buffalo Diocese will undergo ‘rapid’ bankruptcy as part of Chapter 11 process – #Catholic – Parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, will undergo “rapid” bankruptcy proceedings as part of a larger Chapter 11 process, the diocese has told the faithful. A statement included in parish bulletins on May 31 said all parishes in the diocese would file “rapid prepackaged bankruptcy” cases in federal court “in an effort to bring the bankruptcy proceedings of the Diocese of Buffalo to a successful conclusion.”The Buffalo Diocese has been moving through the bankruptcy process for a notable length of time. The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and has been working to finalize a major settlement since April 2025. The announcement at parishes on May 31 said the parish bankruptcy filings would occur “immediately before a hearing on confirmation of the plan.” The move “will happen if and only if sufficient votes [from abuse victims] are received for approval of the plan,” the statement said, adding that the approach “has the support of pastors and the diocese.”“The parish bankruptcy cases will not be commenced until later this year and will come at the very last minute before the ‘confirmation’ hearing on approval of the diocese’s plan,” the statement said, adding that it was “anticipated that parishes will emerge from bankruptcy within 48 hours.”Similar approaches have been taken in other dioceses undergoing bankruptcy, the statement said, including the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York as well as the Archdiocese of New Orleans.“With the prospect of officially achieving this goal, we look to the future with renewed commitment and focus on our mission and work in service to the Catholic faithful throughout Western New York and our broader community,” the diocese said in its statement. In addition to its yearslong bankruptcy proceedings, the Buffalo Diocese has also fended off both legal and ecclesial challenges from parishioners who have objected to an ongoing diocesan merger plan. Opposition to proposed closures and mergers in the diocese reached the New York Supreme Court in 2025; the state court ultimately tossed the suit out, ruling that it did not have jurisdiction over Church governance disputes.In December 2025, after appeals from parishioners, the Vatican ordered the reversal of several parish closures in the Buffalo Diocese.In April the Vatican also said that multiple parishes would not have to contribute disputed amounts of cash into the diocesan abuse settlement plan.

Parishes in Buffalo Diocese will undergo ‘rapid’ bankruptcy as part of Chapter 11 process – #Catholic – Parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, will undergo “rapid” bankruptcy proceedings as part of a larger Chapter 11 process, the diocese has told the faithful. A statement included in parish bulletins on May 31 said all parishes in the diocese would file “rapid prepackaged bankruptcy” cases in federal court “in an effort to bring the bankruptcy proceedings of the Diocese of Buffalo to a successful conclusion.”The Buffalo Diocese has been moving through the bankruptcy process for a notable length of time. The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and has been working to finalize a major settlement since April 2025. The announcement at parishes on May 31 said the parish bankruptcy filings would occur “immediately before a hearing on confirmation of the plan.” The move “will happen if and only if sufficient votes [from abuse victims] are received for approval of the plan,” the statement said, adding that the approach “has the support of pastors and the diocese.”“The parish bankruptcy cases will not be commenced until later this year and will come at the very last minute before the ‘confirmation’ hearing on approval of the diocese’s plan,” the statement said, adding that it was “anticipated that parishes will emerge from bankruptcy within 48 hours.”Similar approaches have been taken in other dioceses undergoing bankruptcy, the statement said, including the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York as well as the Archdiocese of New Orleans.“With the prospect of officially achieving this goal, we look to the future with renewed commitment and focus on our mission and work in service to the Catholic faithful throughout Western New York and our broader community,” the diocese said in its statement. In addition to its yearslong bankruptcy proceedings, the Buffalo Diocese has also fended off both legal and ecclesial challenges from parishioners who have objected to an ongoing diocesan merger plan. Opposition to proposed closures and mergers in the diocese reached the New York Supreme Court in 2025; the state court ultimately tossed the suit out, ruling that it did not have jurisdiction over Church governance disputes.In December 2025, after appeals from parishioners, the Vatican ordered the reversal of several parish closures in the Buffalo Diocese.In April the Vatican also said that multiple parishes would not have to contribute disputed amounts of cash into the diocesan abuse settlement plan.

In an effort to bring its bankruptcy proceedings to a successful conclusion, the Diocese of Buffalo announced all its parishes will file “rapid prepackaged bankruptcy” cases.

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New observatories and spacecraft missions are probing environments in our solar system that could potentially host life but have long remained hidden. Icy moons like Saturn’s Enceladus and Jupiter’s Europa likely contain oceans beneath frozen outer shells. But a layer of ice prohibits space probes from sampling them directly. Exploring these icy moons is almost forensic: Their surfaces keep aContinue reading “Scientists used a method from ecology to identify whether icy moons could hold conditions for life”

The post Scientists used a method from ecology to identify whether icy moons could hold conditions for life appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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Pakistan police shooting of Christian driver renews ‘encounter’ concerns – #Catholic – A Christian motorcycle ride-hailing driver is battling for his life after allegedly being shot nine times by members of a police anti-crime patrol, renewing concerns over police conduct and the use of force in Pakistanʼs Punjab province.Alyan Johnson, 22, was critically injured in a shooting involving personnel of the Dolphin Force in Rawalpindi, the garrison city adjoining Islamabad, on the night of May 26.According to his family, Johnson had just dropped off a passenger when police arrived in pursuit of a suspected armed man. The suspect allegedly fired into the air and attempted to flee, after which officers opened fire.Johnson, who joined a ride-hailing company six months ago to help support his family, remains hospitalized.His family has filed a complaint at Sadiqabad police station, demanding an impartial investigation, strict action against those responsible, and compensation for the injuries and losses suffered.Four Dolphin Force personnel allegedly involved in the shooting have been suspended and charged on the orders of the Rawalpindi city police officer.Joseph Michael, Johnsonʼs uncle, said the family was dissatisfied with what he described as a limited official response.“We demand justice and imprisonment for the shooters who misused their authority,” Michael told EWTN News. “Johnson raised his hands and identified himself as a rider in a loud voice, but the shooting continued. He had no weapon and no criminal record. He only wanted to help his father, who works as a sanitary worker.”Michael said Johnson suffered multiple gunshot wounds and two fractures in his right leg.“Anything could have happened. We are grateful he survived,” he added.Raja Abdul Hanif, chairman of the Punjab chief ministerʼs inspection team, visited Johnson in the hospital on May 29 and assured the family of justice. He directed authorities to ensure all medicines and treatment costs were provided by the hospital.“The law is equal for everyone and action will be taken against those involved in the incident following a transparent investigation,” Hanif said.Police have yet to issue a detailed public explanation of the shooting.The incident has triggered strong reactions among Christian activists and rights advocates.A delegation led by Tariq Mehmood Ghouri, coordinator of the Catholic bishops' National Commission for Justice and Peace in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi Diocese, visited the hospital and pledged legal and moral support to the family.“The situation was mishandled. Doctors are still uncertain whether the young laborer will ever walk normally again,” Ghouri said.“For many poor families, motorcycle ride-hailing is one of the few ways to earn a living amid soaring inflation and fuel prices. The state must recognize these realities and act with compassion.”Ghouri said the shooting raised serious questions about police training and operational procedures.“The incident is an eye-opener for those who claim that religious minorities enjoy equal rights and protection in Pakistan,” he said.A pattern of police ‘encounters’ in PunjabThe shooting comes amid growing scrutiny of police encounter practices in Punjab.A fact-finding report released in February by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) concluded that Punjabʼs Crime Control Department has pursued a policy of staged police encounters, often resulting in extrajudicial killings and undermining constitutional safeguards and the rule of law.Based on media reports, the commission documented at least 670 Crime Control Department-led encounters during the first eight months of 2025, resulting in the deaths of 924 suspects, while only two police officers were reported killed.“In genuine armed confrontations, such a ratio appears to be statistically implausible,” the report states. “This imbalance suggests deliberate executions and reckless disregard for the sanctity of life.”The report also documented allegations of intimidation against victims' families, including pressure to bury relatives quickly, obstacles to independent medical examinations, and threats against those seeking justice.Concerns over Dolphin Force operations are not new. In 2022, members of the unit shot dead a dismissed police constable and injured two others in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, after allegedly mistaking them for robbers.

Pakistan police shooting of Christian driver renews ‘encounter’ concerns – #Catholic – A Christian motorcycle ride-hailing driver is battling for his life after allegedly being shot nine times by members of a police anti-crime patrol, renewing concerns over police conduct and the use of force in Pakistanʼs Punjab province.Alyan Johnson, 22, was critically injured in a shooting involving personnel of the Dolphin Force in Rawalpindi, the garrison city adjoining Islamabad, on the night of May 26.According to his family, Johnson had just dropped off a passenger when police arrived in pursuit of a suspected armed man. The suspect allegedly fired into the air and attempted to flee, after which officers opened fire.Johnson, who joined a ride-hailing company six months ago to help support his family, remains hospitalized.His family has filed a complaint at Sadiqabad police station, demanding an impartial investigation, strict action against those responsible, and compensation for the injuries and losses suffered.Four Dolphin Force personnel allegedly involved in the shooting have been suspended and charged on the orders of the Rawalpindi city police officer.Joseph Michael, Johnsonʼs uncle, said the family was dissatisfied with what he described as a limited official response.“We demand justice and imprisonment for the shooters who misused their authority,” Michael told EWTN News. “Johnson raised his hands and identified himself as a rider in a loud voice, but the shooting continued. He had no weapon and no criminal record. He only wanted to help his father, who works as a sanitary worker.”Michael said Johnson suffered multiple gunshot wounds and two fractures in his right leg.“Anything could have happened. We are grateful he survived,” he added.Raja Abdul Hanif, chairman of the Punjab chief ministerʼs inspection team, visited Johnson in the hospital on May 29 and assured the family of justice. He directed authorities to ensure all medicines and treatment costs were provided by the hospital.“The law is equal for everyone and action will be taken against those involved in the incident following a transparent investigation,” Hanif said.Police have yet to issue a detailed public explanation of the shooting.The incident has triggered strong reactions among Christian activists and rights advocates.A delegation led by Tariq Mehmood Ghouri, coordinator of the Catholic bishops' National Commission for Justice and Peace in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi Diocese, visited the hospital and pledged legal and moral support to the family.“The situation was mishandled. Doctors are still uncertain whether the young laborer will ever walk normally again,” Ghouri said.“For many poor families, motorcycle ride-hailing is one of the few ways to earn a living amid soaring inflation and fuel prices. The state must recognize these realities and act with compassion.”Ghouri said the shooting raised serious questions about police training and operational procedures.“The incident is an eye-opener for those who claim that religious minorities enjoy equal rights and protection in Pakistan,” he said.A pattern of police ‘encounters’ in PunjabThe shooting comes amid growing scrutiny of police encounter practices in Punjab.A fact-finding report released in February by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) concluded that Punjabʼs Crime Control Department has pursued a policy of staged police encounters, often resulting in extrajudicial killings and undermining constitutional safeguards and the rule of law.Based on media reports, the commission documented at least 670 Crime Control Department-led encounters during the first eight months of 2025, resulting in the deaths of 924 suspects, while only two police officers were reported killed.“In genuine armed confrontations, such a ratio appears to be statistically implausible,” the report states. “This imbalance suggests deliberate executions and reckless disregard for the sanctity of life.”The report also documented allegations of intimidation against victims' families, including pressure to bury relatives quickly, obstacles to independent medical examinations, and threats against those seeking justice.Concerns over Dolphin Force operations are not new. In 2022, members of the unit shot dead a dismissed police constable and injured two others in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, after allegedly mistaking them for robbers.

Catholic justice officials and rights advocates say the shooting of a Christian driver in Rawalpindi reflects a broader pattern of deadly police “encounters” in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

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Magnifica Humanitas seen deepening Church-tech ties, former Silicon Valley exec says – #Catholic – Magnifica Humanitas has opened the doors for deeper conversations between the Church and the tech industry regarding “how AI is going to affect humanity,” priest and former Silicon Valley executive Father Brendan McGuire said.McGuire, pastor of St. Simon Parish in Los Altos, California, told “EWTN News Nightly” that tech companies are searching for “wisdom” right now, and Pope Leo’s encyclical can offer it.The Church has “been working with the different tech companies for a number of years … directly from Rome, in the Vatican, and also here locally,” he said.In 2024 Anthropic, an AI safety company and creator of the Claude AI system that filed to go public June 1, reached out to the Vatican for ethical guidance. McGuire helped shape Claudeʼs Constitution, the 23,000-word document governing how Claude reasons through complex moral questions.McGuire also co-founded the Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture — a formal partnership between Santa Clara Universityʼs Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and the Vaticanʼs Dicastery for Culture and Education. Earlier he had worked for the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), an industry consortium of computer hardware manufacturers.The Irish priest holds degrees in engineering and computer science from Trinity College Dublin and has a theology degree from St. Patrickʼs Seminary and University.‘Engaged in deeper conversations’“More intensely over this last year, weʼve been more deliberately, and more intentionally, engaged in deeper conversations monthly … mostly with Anthropic, and we believe this document now will be able to deepen these relationships even more,” he said.These relationships will prompt “real dialogue as to how AI is going to affect humanity,” he said.“I love the reframing that the pope has done” by asking “How do we have all of humanity … flourish inside of AI? Instead of the other way around,” McGuire said. “Itʼs a reframing of the whole issue.”While some wonder if tech companies will listen to the pope’s call, McGuire said he believes they will, as people in the industry “are looking for wisdom.”Those in the tech industry “are men and women of goodwill, and they want this AI to go well,” he said. “And if itʼs going to go well, then theyʼre going to have to have people outside of the programmers, and the mathematicians, and the technology people, and engineers.”“They need wisdom from outside. Itʼs not just the Catholic Church. Every religious tradition needs to lean into this moment,” he said.Reading the pope’s encyclical is ‘the most important thing’The encyclical comes years after AI really took off, but “itʼs not true” when people say the pope’s call is too late, McGuire said.“The technology people themselves say that itʼs not true. But I do believe that the window is closing,” he said.The “whole intention” of the popeʼs encyclical is “to start asking those more difficult questions,” McGuire said. The pope has asked: “What [does it] mean for a human being to flourish? What is good for all of humanity? And not what is just good for a handful of people, but what is good for all of us?”“So what weʼve done here is raised questions more than got answers,” McGuire said. Now we must “bring about a dialogue to go for those answers.”The “first thing I implore everyone to do is to read it,” he said. Reading it is “the most important thing” and “not relying … on soundbites from somebody else.”The first half of the encyclical “is a survey of the previous documents of the Church and social doctrine” and it is “a great summary of them,” he said.Then, focus on reading “Chapter 3 on artificial intelligence” and “Chapter 4 [on] the impact of it.”Pope Leo “uses two biblical metaphors” that “are beautiful and really important”: the Tower of Babel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, he said.He is “basically saying we donʼt want to go back to the Tower of Babel, where everyone builds it for their own … purposes,” he said. Instead, it must be like the city Jerusalem where “everyone has a role. Every family, every person, every engineer, every journalist, every philosopher.”“Everyone needs to play a role, and we need to engage with this because it will, in large part, determine our future as a humanity,” McGuire said.

Magnifica Humanitas seen deepening Church-tech ties, former Silicon Valley exec says – #Catholic – Magnifica Humanitas has opened the doors for deeper conversations between the Church and the tech industry regarding “how AI is going to affect humanity,” priest and former Silicon Valley executive Father Brendan McGuire said.McGuire, pastor of St. Simon Parish in Los Altos, California, told “EWTN News Nightly” that tech companies are searching for “wisdom” right now, and Pope Leo’s encyclical can offer it.The Church has “been working with the different tech companies for a number of years … directly from Rome, in the Vatican, and also here locally,” he said.In 2024 Anthropic, an AI safety company and creator of the Claude AI system that filed to go public June 1, reached out to the Vatican for ethical guidance. McGuire helped shape Claudeʼs Constitution, the 23,000-word document governing how Claude reasons through complex moral questions.McGuire also co-founded the Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture — a formal partnership between Santa Clara Universityʼs Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and the Vaticanʼs Dicastery for Culture and Education. Earlier he had worked for the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), an industry consortium of computer hardware manufacturers.The Irish priest holds degrees in engineering and computer science from Trinity College Dublin and has a theology degree from St. Patrickʼs Seminary and University.‘Engaged in deeper conversations’“More intensely over this last year, weʼve been more deliberately, and more intentionally, engaged in deeper conversations monthly … mostly with Anthropic, and we believe this document now will be able to deepen these relationships even more,” he said.These relationships will prompt “real dialogue as to how AI is going to affect humanity,” he said.“I love the reframing that the pope has done” by asking “How do we have all of humanity … flourish inside of AI? Instead of the other way around,” McGuire said. “Itʼs a reframing of the whole issue.”While some wonder if tech companies will listen to the pope’s call, McGuire said he believes they will, as people in the industry “are looking for wisdom.”Those in the tech industry “are men and women of goodwill, and they want this AI to go well,” he said. “And if itʼs going to go well, then theyʼre going to have to have people outside of the programmers, and the mathematicians, and the technology people, and engineers.”“They need wisdom from outside. Itʼs not just the Catholic Church. Every religious tradition needs to lean into this moment,” he said.Reading the pope’s encyclical is ‘the most important thing’The encyclical comes years after AI really took off, but “itʼs not true” when people say the pope’s call is too late, McGuire said.“The technology people themselves say that itʼs not true. But I do believe that the window is closing,” he said.The “whole intention” of the popeʼs encyclical is “to start asking those more difficult questions,” McGuire said. The pope has asked: “What [does it] mean for a human being to flourish? What is good for all of humanity? And not what is just good for a handful of people, but what is good for all of us?”“So what weʼve done here is raised questions more than got answers,” McGuire said. Now we must “bring about a dialogue to go for those answers.”The “first thing I implore everyone to do is to read it,” he said. Reading it is “the most important thing” and “not relying … on soundbites from somebody else.”The first half of the encyclical “is a survey of the previous documents of the Church and social doctrine” and it is “a great summary of them,” he said.Then, focus on reading “Chapter 3 on artificial intelligence” and “Chapter 4 [on] the impact of it.”Pope Leo “uses two biblical metaphors” that “are beautiful and really important”: the Tower of Babel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, he said.He is “basically saying we donʼt want to go back to the Tower of Babel, where everyone builds it for their own … purposes,” he said. Instead, it must be like the city Jerusalem where “everyone has a role. Every family, every person, every engineer, every journalist, every philosopher.”“Everyone needs to play a role, and we need to engage with this because it will, in large part, determine our future as a humanity,” McGuire said.

Relationships between tech companies and the Church will prompt “real dialogue as to how AI is going to affect humanity,” Father Brendan McGuire said.

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Gospel and Word of the Day – 02 June 2026 – A reading from the Second Letter of St. Peter 3:12-15a, 17-18 Beloved: Wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace. And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation. Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen.From the Gospel according to Mark 12:13-17 Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech. They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?” Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” They brought one to him and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They replied to him, “Caesar’s.” So Jesus said to them, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him.From the question posed to him by the Pharisees, Jesus draws a more radical and vital question for each of us, a question we can ask ourselves: to whom do I belong? To family, to the city, to friends, to work, to politics, to the State? Yes, of course. But first and foremost — Jesus reminds us — you belong to God. This is the fundamental belonging. It is He who has given you all that you are and have. And therefore, day by day, we can and must live our life in recognition of this fundamental belonging and in heartfelt gratitude toward our Father, who creates each one of us individually, unrepeatable, but always according to the image of his beloved Son, Jesus. It is a wondrous mystery. Christians are called to commit themselves concretely in the human and social spheres without comparing “God” and “Caesar”; comparing God and Caesar would be a fundamentalist approach. Christians are called to commit themselves concretely in earthly realities, but illuminating them with the light that comes from God. The primary entrustment to God and hope in him do not imply an escape from reality, but rather the diligent rendering to God that which belongs to him. This is why a believer looks to the future reality, that of God, so as to live earthly life to the fullest, and to meet its challenges with courage. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 22 October 2017)

A reading from the Second Letter of St. Peter
3:12-15a, 17-18

Beloved:
Wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames
and the elements melted by fire.
But according to his promise
we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,
be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.
And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation.

Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned,
be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled
and to fall from your own stability.
But grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

From the Gospel according to Mark
12:13-17

Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent
to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech.
They came and said to him,
“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion.
You do not regard a person’s status
but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?
Should we pay or should we not pay?”
Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them,
“Why are you testing me?
Bring me a denarius to look at.”
They brought one to him and he said to them,
“Whose image and inscription is this?”
They replied to him, “Caesar’s.”
So Jesus said to them,
“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
They were utterly amazed at him.

From the question posed to him by the Pharisees, Jesus draws a more radical and vital question for each of us, a question we can ask ourselves: to whom do I belong? To family, to the city, to friends, to work, to politics, to the State? Yes, of course. But first and foremost — Jesus reminds us — you belong to God. This is the fundamental belonging. It is He who has given you all that you are and have. And therefore, day by day, we can and must live our life in recognition of this fundamental belonging and in heartfelt gratitude toward our Father, who creates each one of us individually, unrepeatable, but always according to the image of his beloved Son, Jesus. It is a wondrous mystery.

Christians are called to commit themselves concretely in the human and social spheres without comparing “God” and “Caesar”; comparing God and Caesar would be a fundamentalist approach. Christians are called to commit themselves concretely in earthly realities, but illuminating them with the light that comes from God. The primary entrustment to God and hope in him do not imply an escape from reality, but rather the diligent rendering to God that which belongs to him. This is why a believer looks to the future reality, that of God, so as to live earthly life to the fullest, and to meet its challenges with courage. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 22 October 2017)

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Adult confirmations celebrated at Passaic church #Catholic - On Pentecost Sunday, May 24, Our Lady of Fatima and St. Nicholas Church in Passaic, N.J., celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation during a special 3 p.m. Mass. About 90 adults received the Sacrament of Confirmation surrounded by their sponsors, families, and parish community.
The Mass was celebrated by Father Rolands Uribe, with Deacon Gil Martinez assisting, and marked an important moment for those who completed their preparation and officially received the sacrament.
The celebration brought together members of the parish community to support and pray for the newly confirmed as they continue growing in their faith.
PHOTOS | JESSICA MARTINEZ
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Adult confirmations celebrated at Passaic church #Catholic –

On Pentecost Sunday, May 24, Our Lady of Fatima and St. Nicholas Church in Passaic, N.J., celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation during a special 3 p.m. Mass. About 90 adults received the Sacrament of Confirmation surrounded by their sponsors, families, and parish community.

The Mass was celebrated by Father Rolands Uribe, with Deacon Gil Martinez assisting, and marked an important moment for those who completed their preparation and officially received the sacrament.

The celebration brought together members of the parish community to support and pray for the newly confirmed as they continue growing in their faith.

PHOTOS | JESSICA MARTINEZ

Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

 

On Pentecost Sunday, May 24, Our Lady of Fatima and St. Nicholas Church in Passaic, N.J., celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation during a special 3 p.m. Mass. About 90 adults received the Sacrament of Confirmation surrounded by their sponsors, families, and parish community. The Mass was celebrated by Father Rolands Uribe, with Deacon Gil Martinez assisting, and marked an important moment for those who completed their preparation and officially received the sacrament. The celebration brought together members of the parish community to support and pray for the newly confirmed as they continue growing in their faith. PHOTOS | JESSICA MARTINEZ

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