NASA’s Lucy spacecraft visited the asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025, coming within 600 miles (920 kilometers) of the object located in the inner region of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid was named after the paleontologist Donald Johanson, who in 1974 co-discovered the first identified example of previously unknown typeContinue reading “April 20, 2025: Visiting Asteroid Donaldjohanson”
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Read More![Charlotte Diocese says priest did not violate conduct policies during confession with teens – #Catholic – The Diocese of Charlotte has found that a priest did not violate any of its conduct policies during confessions with teens at Charlotte Catholic High School in North Carolina last December.Multiple families whose teens attend the school had complained that a priest stepped over the line into “inappropriate” talk during confession, but in a statement to EWTN News, the diocese said it “looked into complaints raised about conversations that occurred during confession at Charlotte Catholic High School last December” and did not identify any “violations of our conduct policies” in the priest’s behavior.The families, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their daughters, said that during the sacrament of reconciliation, a priest asked the young women “unexpected and personal questions,” according to a report by WCNC Charlotte.One father said the priest, who has not been identified, asked his daughter about sexual sins.According to the young woman’s mother, the question was unrelated to the sins she was confessing at the time. “‘Mom, I was telling him about missing Mass and lying to you and fighting with my brother … and we were not talking about anything sexual at all and he just asked me that,’” the mother said.Another mother reported that the priest asked her daughter “if she’s ever had a sexual relationship with a boy.”Those two families and others said they informed the school as well as the Diocese of Charlotte of their concerns.In its statement, the diocese said it has communicated about the matter “with all involved at the time and has addressed the issue with all priests of the diocese, reiterating the need for pastoral sensitivity in celebrating the sacrament.”According to the Diocese of Charlotte, Bishop Michael Martin also responded by letter to the families, who told WCNC they received similar responses.“I am sorry that your daughter had a conversation in confession that made her feel uncomfortable,” Martin reportedly said in his letter.He said priests sometimes ask clarifying questions during confession or lead a penitent who has not properly examined his or her conscience.The Catholic Church teaches that the faithful should examine their consciences regularly, but especially prior to the sacrament of reconciliation in order to make a good confession.“Penitents frequently come to the sacrament having engaged in a limited examination of conscience,” Martin continued, saying a priest might “raise common age-appropriate struggles with sin … to jog his or her memory or give them the benefit of having only to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so they do not have to describe the sin in too much detail."He reminded the families that priests are prohibited from breaking what is known as the “sacramental seal,” or discussing what they hear in confession.Charlotte Catholic High School did not respond to EWTN News in time for publication.Several of the parents who raised the issue expressed dissatisfaction with the bishop’s response, however, with one parent saying she felt her concerns were “dismissed.” “The whole letter felt like we were being gaslighted,” another mother told the local news outlet. “We understand what is appropriate and inappropriate.”Nevertheless, one of the mothers said “I’m still a faithful Catholic. I just want this to be about doing the right thing.”The dioceseʼs statement continued: “Confession is a sacrament meant to address sins so a priest can offer a penitent absolution and guidance. A variety of topics come up during confession, and according to Church norms, a priest may ask clarifying questions and, if necessary, assists the penitent to make a complete confession.”“Confession is a sacrament Catholics learn about at home and at their church, through required sacramental preparation classes. Confession is offered on a voluntary basis at our schools, and as Catholics, students are encouraged but not required to participate at school,” the statement concluded.Priests' perspectiveA priest who serves as a chaplain to middle and high school students told EWTN News that he knows of only one case personally where a penitent was “scandalized that the priest was asking for clarifying information,” which he acknowledged priests sometimes do to help the penitent make a “good confession.”“People are sensitive about topics like that right now,” said the priest, who wished to remain anonymous. “Even with completely innocent intentions, things can play out really badly. We’re in the ‘Me Too’ season, we’re in the ‘priests are pedophiles’ time of history.”The priest told EWTN News that he does not “regularly lead [penitents] in examination of conscience” during confession. He added: “I donʼt know of a single priest that does.”In addition, the priest noted that there “is a beauty of the seal of confession,” he said, but because of it, a priest accused of wrongdoing “is helpless, not that he’s necessarily innocent, but his ability to defend himself is really limited.”Another priest and former high school chaplain who also wished to remain anonymous told EWTN News that it is possible there was a misunderstanding, because young people, “especially teen girls, are often embarrassed to speak of sins of a sexual nature and are sometimes not clear during confession, requiring the priest to ask clarifying questions.”“But the priest should not bring up questions unrelated to the sins the penitent is confessing, and then, they should be clarifying questions only to help him or her make a better confession,” he said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/charlotte-diocese-says-priest-did-not-violate-conduct-policies-during-confession-with-teens-catholic-the-diocese-of-charlotte-has-found-that-a-priest-did-not-violate-any-of-its-conduct-policies-d.jpg "Charlotte Diocese says priest did not violate conduct policies during confession with teens – #Catholic – The Diocese of Charlotte has found that a priest did not violate any of its conduct policies during confessions with teens at Charlotte Catholic High School in North Carolina last December.Multiple families whose teens attend the school had complained that a priest stepped over the line into “inappropriate” talk during confession, but in a statement to EWTN News, the diocese said it “looked into complaints raised about conversations that occurred during confession at Charlotte Catholic High School last December” and did not identify any “violations of our conduct policies” in the priest’s behavior.The families, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their daughters, said that during the sacrament of reconciliation, a priest asked the young women “unexpected and personal questions,” according to a report by WCNC Charlotte.One father said the priest, who has not been identified, asked his daughter about sexual sins.According to the young woman’s mother, the question was unrelated to the sins she was confessing at the time. “‘Mom, I was telling him about missing Mass and lying to you and fighting with my brother … and we were not talking about anything sexual at all and he just asked me that,’” the mother said.Another mother reported that the priest asked her daughter “if she’s ever had a sexual relationship with a boy.”Those two families and others said they informed the school as well as the Diocese of Charlotte of their concerns.In its statement, the diocese said it has communicated about the matter “with all involved at the time and has addressed the issue with all priests of the diocese, reiterating the need for pastoral sensitivity in celebrating the sacrament.”According to the Diocese of Charlotte, Bishop Michael Martin also responded by letter to the families, who told WCNC they received similar responses.“I am sorry that your daughter had a conversation in confession that made her feel uncomfortable,” Martin reportedly said in his letter.He said priests sometimes ask clarifying questions during confession or lead a penitent who has not properly examined his or her conscience.The Catholic Church teaches that the faithful should examine their consciences regularly, but especially prior to the sacrament of reconciliation in order to make a good confession.“Penitents frequently come to the sacrament having engaged in a limited examination of conscience,” Martin continued, saying a priest might “raise common age-appropriate struggles with sin … to jog his or her memory or give them the benefit of having only to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so they do not have to describe the sin in too much detail.\"He reminded the families that priests are prohibited from breaking what is known as the “sacramental seal,” or discussing what they hear in confession.Charlotte Catholic High School did not respond to EWTN News in time for publication.Several of the parents who raised the issue expressed dissatisfaction with the bishop’s response, however, with one parent saying she felt her concerns were “dismissed.” “The whole letter felt like we were being gaslighted,” another mother told the local news outlet. “We understand what is appropriate and inappropriate.”Nevertheless, one of the mothers said “I’m still a faithful Catholic. I just want this to be about doing the right thing.”The dioceseʼs statement continued: “Confession is a sacrament meant to address sins so a priest can offer a penitent absolution and guidance. A variety of topics come up during confession, and according to Church norms, a priest may ask clarifying questions and, if necessary, assists the penitent to make a complete confession.”“Confession is a sacrament Catholics learn about at home and at their church, through required sacramental preparation classes. Confession is offered on a voluntary basis at our schools, and as Catholics, students are encouraged but not required to participate at school,” the statement concluded.Priests' perspectiveA priest who serves as a chaplain to middle and high school students told EWTN News that he knows of only one case personally where a penitent was “scandalized that the priest was asking for clarifying information,” which he acknowledged priests sometimes do to help the penitent make a “good confession.”“People are sensitive about topics like that right now,” said the priest, who wished to remain anonymous. “Even with completely innocent intentions, things can play out really badly. We’re in the ‘Me Too’ season, we’re in the ‘priests are pedophiles’ time of history.”The priest told EWTN News that he does not “regularly lead [penitents] in examination of conscience” during confession. He added: “I donʼt know of a single priest that does.”In addition, the priest noted that there “is a beauty of the seal of confession,” he said, but because of it, a priest accused of wrongdoing “is helpless, not that he’s necessarily innocent, but his ability to defend himself is really limited.”Another priest and former high school chaplain who also wished to remain anonymous told EWTN News that it is possible there was a misunderstanding, because young people, “especially teen girls, are often embarrassed to speak of sins of a sexual nature and are sometimes not clear during confession, requiring the priest to ask clarifying questions.”“But the priest should not bring up questions unrelated to the sins the penitent is confessing, and then, they should be clarifying questions only to help him or her make a better confession,” he said.")
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![Christ is not ‘a guru or a good luck charm,’ pope says at Mass in Angola #Catholic SAURIMO, Angola — Pope Leo XIV warned at Mass in Saurimo, Angola, on Monday of making God into an idol that is sought only when advantageous — “when genuine faith is replaced with superstitious practices.”“There are erroneous motives for seeking Christ, particularly when he is considered to be a guru or a good luck charm,” the pope said on April 20, referring to how the crowds in the Gospel reading reacted after Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and the fishes.“They were not seeking a teacher whom they love but a leader to applaud for their own advantage,” he said.Joyful faith in Saurimo
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in Saurimo, Angola, on April 20, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
From the start of his arrival in Sub-Saharan Africa — first in Cameroon and then in Angola — Pope Leo has been welcomed by the warmth of the faithful. In Saurimo, a city in northeastern Angola, the atmosphere greeting the pope on Monday was marked by joyful faith. Everyone welcomed the successor of Peter with songs, dances, and applause.Despite the intense heat, upon reaching the esplanade before Mass, Leo XIV greeted the roughly 60,000 faithful of all ages — who had come from across the region and neighboring dioceses — by making a circuit in the popemobile.“This is the first time a pope has gone beyond Angola’s coastal belt and come — using Pope Francis’ language — to the peripheries,“ the director of the communications office of the Archdiocese of Saurimo said. ”This is a region rich in diamonds, but there is also great poverty, and he comes here to show our reality. For us, having the Holy Father in our region is a great joy.”“This is a unique and unforgettable moment in my life and in the lives of the many pilgrims here today,” Filomena Vunda, who works in the pastoral secretariat of the Archdiocese of Malanje, told ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, at the Mass.Vunda encouraged non-Catholics in Angola to “keep in mind our African word ‘Ubuntu’: The happiness of others depends on me; my happiness depends solely on the happiness of others.”Ubuntu is an African philosophy about human interconnectedness. It can be translated as “I am because we are.”‘Disciples of Christ’In his homily at Mass, concelebrated by Angolan bishops, Pope Leo said: “In every part of the world, the Church lives as a people who walk as disciples of Christ, our brother and redeemer.”"He, the Risen One, illumines for us the path to the Father and with the strength of the Spirit he sanctifies us so that we may transform our way of life in conformity with his love," the pope said. "This is the good news, the Gospel that courses through our veins like blood, sustaining us on the journey. A journey that has brought me here with you today!”
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in Saurimo, Angola, on April 20, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
Commenting on the Gospel of the day, Leo reflected: “Indeed, when the Son of God became man, he performed striking miracles in order to manifest the will of the Father: He made light shine in the darkness by giving sight to the blind, he gave a voice to the oppressed by loosening the tongues of the mute, he slaked our thirst for justice by multiplying bread for the poor and weak. Anyone who heard about these works set out in search of Jesus. At the same time, the Lord looks into our heart and asks us whether we seek him out of gratitude or for our own self-interest, with calculation or with love.”“The Lord himself says,” the pope continued, “‘you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves’ (Jn 6:26). His words reveal the designs of those who do not want to encounter a person but want to consume things. The crowd sees Jesus as means to an end, a provider of services. If he had not given them something to eat, his actions and teachings would not have interested them.”“This happens,” Leo XIV explained, “when genuine faith is replaced with superstitious practices, in which God becomes an idol that is sought only when it is advantageous to us and only for as long as it is. Even the most beautiful gifts of the Lord, which are always for the care of his people, become a pretext, a prize or a bargaining chip, and are misinterpreted by those who receive them.”“How different is Jesus’ attitude toward us,” the pontiff continued. “Yet, he does not reject this insincere search, but encourages its conversion ... Christ calls us to freedom: He does not want servants or clients, rather he seeks brothers and sisters to whom he can totally dedicate himself.”“Therefore,” Leo XIV said, “the admonition that the Lord directs to the crowd is transformed into an invitation: ‘Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life’ (Jn 6:27)."“His gift sheds light on our current situation,” the pope went on. “We can see today how the hope of many people is frustrated by violence, exploited by the powerful, and defrauded by the rich. Consequently, when injustice corrupts hearts, the bread of all becomes the possession of a few."“In the face of these evils, Christ hears the cry of the people and renews our history by lifting us up from every fall, comforting us in every suffering, and encouraging us in our mission," he said.
Crowds of people brave the heat and sun to attend Mass with Pope Leo XIV in Saurimo, Angola, on April 20, 2026. | Credit: Raúl Kangombe Sapiti/ACI Africa
“All this,” the pope exhorted, “means that, in light of our discipleship, the ecclesial journey is a ‘synod of resurrection and hope,’ as St. John Paul II affirmed in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Africa. Let us proceed in this wise direction! Christ himself guides and strengthens our journey, a journey that we want to learn to live more and more as it should be, that is, in a synodal manner.”The pope concluded by recalling the importance of the martyrs and saints, whose witness “encourages us and pushes us onto a path of hope, reconciliation, and peace, along which the gift of God becomes the responsibility of the head of the household, in the Christian community, in civil society.”"The vitality of the vocations that you experience [in Angola]," he said, "is a sign that you are responding to the Lord’s gift, which is always abundant for those who welcome it with pure hearts.”ACI Africa reporter Raúl Kangombe Sapiti contributed to this report.This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/christ-is-not-a-guru-or-a-good-luck-charm-pope-says-at-mass-in-angola-catholic-saurimo-angola-pope-leo-xiv-warned-at-mass-in-saurimo-angola-on-monday-of-making-god-int-scaled.jpg)
