Day: May 7, 2026

Inspiring toe-picking guitarist amps up hope at Dover concert #Catholic –

On May 1, Tony Meléndez, a renowned toe-picking Catholic guitarist born without arms, delivered the message, “Don’t be afraid with our good Lord,” through inspiring music and personal stories of faith during a joyful bilingual concert at Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary Parish in Dover, N.J.

Meléndez has played at 11 World Youth Days, sharing the stage with St. Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis. He has visited all 50 U.S. states and more than 44 foreign countries. Recognized as an ambassador of hope and resilience, Meléndez appeals to all generations.

At the May 1 concert, Meléndez, originally from Rivas, Nicaragua, sang and played a mix of original and popular religious songs, with occasional secular tunes such as “La Bamba,” throughout the evening.

In both English and Spanish, Meléndez told the audience that he was born without arms and a clubbed foot due to the drug Thalidomide, which his mother was prescribed for morning sickness. His family later immigrated to the United States so he could undergo seven corrective surgeries on his left foot to enable him to walk.

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These challenges shaped his journey, as Meléndez learned to do almost everything with his feet. When he was 16, he taught himself to play the guitar with his toes and, over time, became proficient as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter.

“I would pray with my music when I first started to play guitar, with whatever came out of my voice—my heart,” said Meléndez, who is married with two children. “God blessed me to be able to play guitar with my toes. I thank him with all my heart.”

Meléndez’s inspirational career reached a turning point when he performed for St. Pope John Paul II during a major youth teleconference at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1987, as part of the pontiff’s 10-day U.S. tour.

That Friday evening began with Father Leonardo López, pastor of Sacred Heart/Holy Rosary, introducing the concert, with support from Father Cerilo Javinez and Father Edgar Rivera, the parish’s parochial vicars, who set a welcoming tone for the event. Father Rivera booked and organized the concert.

Adding a personal touch, Meléndez’s older brother, Jose, who serves as his manager and ministry partner, also spoke about the featured performer’s life during the event.

Meléndez will be featured on Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney’s Beyond The Beacon podcast later this month.

– On May 1, Tony Meléndez, a renowned toe-picking Catholic guitarist born without arms, delivered the message, “Don’t be afraid with our good Lord,” through inspiring music and personal stories of faith during a joyful bilingual concert at Sacred Heart and Holy Rosary Parish in Dover, N.J. Meléndez has played at 11 World Youth Days, sharing the stage with St. Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis. He has visited all 50 U.S. states and more than 44 foreign countries. Recognized as an ambassador of hope and resilience, Meléndez appeals to all generations. At the May 1 concert,

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Pope to lead Corpus Christi procession in Madrid, Vatican says as it releases Spain schedule #Catholic –

(OSV News) — The Vatican released the official schedule for Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic visit to Spain, a seven-day trip that will take the pontiff to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands for meetings with Spain’s royal family and political leaders, as well as migrants, prisoners, young people and Catholic communities across the country.

The packed June 6-12 itinerary also included public Masses, a Corpus Christi procession in Madrid, an encounter with volunteers, a visit to Barcelona’s Basilica of the Holy Family, known as Sagrada Família, and stops at migrant reception centers in the Canary Islands.

Coinciding with the Vatican’s release of the pope’s schedule, the Spanish bishops’ conference hosted a press briefing with the bishops of Madrid, Barcelona, the Canary Islands and Tenerife.

At the briefing, Archbishop Luis Argüello of Valladolid, president of the Spanish bishops’ conference, said the papal visit comes at a moment when Pope Leo has emerged as a “reference point in the current situation of the world.”

“For this reason, his words — undoubtedly words of dialogue, encounter, communion and peace — will help all of us,” Archbishop Argüello said.

Madrid

According to the official schedule, upon his arrival June 6, the pope will meet with Spanish King Felipe VI and his wife, Queen Letizia, followed by meetings with government authorities and the country’s diplomatic corps.

Noting the country’s climate of political and social tensions, Cardinal José Cobo of Madrid said the pope’s meetings with political and government leaders during his stop in the Spanish capital were highly anticipated.

“There was a hunger for a visit of this kind at a special moment in our political, social and economic life, because there is also a hunger for reference points, and I believe the pope can be a reference point to give light and direction to many who are searching,” Cardinal Cobo said.

In the evening, the pope will visit an emergency homeless shelter operated by Caritas Madrid, before a meeting with young people at the Plaza de Lima, where St. John Paul II celebrated Mass during his 1982 visit to the country.

Cardinal Cobo said the meeting will serve as a “platform” for the pope to “speak with the youth of the entire world.”

The following day, the pope will celebrate Mass on the feast of Corpus Christi at Madrid’s Plaza de Cibeles, a celebration Cardinal Cobo confirmed would include a procession reflecting the city’s local traditions.

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“The Corpus Christi procession will be beautiful,” he said. “A great many people are involved: those preparing floral carpets, those carrying the platforms, numerous associations. It will not be excessively long for reasons of time and space because we are expecting an enormous crowd.”

After the Mass, the pope will meet privately with members of the Augustinian order, followed by a meeting at Movistar Arena with representatives of the “world of culture, art, economy and sport,” the Vatican said.

On his final day in Madrid June 8, Pope Leo will meet with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, followed by a highly anticipated address to members of the Spanish Parliament.

When asked if he was concerned that the pope’s address to parliamentarians “could be politically or ideologically manipulated,” Archbishop Argüello said that “while it can always happen,” it was important to note that the decision to invite the pope to speak was “unanimous.”

“Over the years, popes have spoken in academic and political institutions throughout the world. Any later interpretations are beyond our control,” he said.

Adding that the pope would prepare “the speeches as he sees fit,” Archbishop Argüello told journalists that the church was awaiting “a possible new encyclical that seems likely to emphasize the centrality of the human person, human dignity, the common good, dialogue and encounter.”

The president of the Spanish bishops’ conference did not indicate if the encyclical would be released before the visit.

Barcelona

Pope Leo will depart for Barcelona June 9 where he will preside over midday prayer at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St. Eulalia and in the evening will take part in a prayer vigil at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium.

For Cardinal Juan José Omella of Barcelona, there is “enormous expectation” for the pontiff’s visit and that Pope Leo’s “words and gestures are reaching people very deeply.”

“The classical thinkers said that God has three attributes: ‘bonum, verum et pulchrum’ (the good, the true and the beautiful),” the cardinal said. “I believe that in some way we are expressing this through the Pope’s visit — the communion of a diverse Church. And we see it every day: diverse, yet united around the universal shepherd, who is the pope. I think this unity will become visible.”

Pope Leo will begin his first full day in Barcelona with a visit to the Brians 1 Penitentiary Center, followed by a visit to the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat, where he will pray the rosary and have lunch with the Benedictine community.

Cardinal Omella said the penitentiary represented “the world of sorrow, the deprivation of freedom and everything connected to prison ministry, which is something very present in the life of the Church,” and that the pope “wants to make himself present there.”

Additionally, the abbey, he continued, represented all the monasteries in Spain and “the world of contemplatives, which is the praying Church.”

The cardinal also said anticipation was high for the pope’s evening Mass June 10 at one of the world’s most iconic churches, the Sagrada Família, where he will inaugurate the tower of Jesus Christ. At more than 564 feet tall, the tower makes the basilica the tallest Catholic church in the world.

The pope’s visit to the basilica coincides with the 100th anniversary of the death of the basilica’s architect, Antoni Gaudí. While there were hopes for a beatification ceremony at the Mass, the official schedule did not include it.

Cardinal Omella told journalists that a miracle attributed to Gaudí’s intercession was being studied and “in a very advanced phase in Rome, but there is nothing further yet.”

Canary Islands

On June 11, Pope Leo will depart for the Canary Islands, a trip that his predecessor, Pope Francis, had wanted to make.

The archipelago, geographically located in Africa, is the destination every year for thousands of sub-Saharan migrants seeking a better future. They arrive in precarious and fragile boats called “cayucos,” and many die on the way.

According to the schedule, the pope will meet with organizations working with migrants at the port of Arguineguín, followed by a meeting with bishops, clergy and religious men and women at the Cathedral of St. Anne. In the evening, he will celebrate Mass at the Gran Canaria Stadium.

Noting the rarity of a pontiff visiting the islands, which are geographically distant from mainland Spain, Bishop José Mazuelos Pérez of the Canary Islands said the pope’s visit was “a blessing from God.”

“People are absolutely delighted,” the bishop said. “I especially want to emphasize the joy and excitement. For example, I go to the market to buy something and people immediately come up to me saying, ‘The pope is coming, the pope is coming!’”

Noting that the pope’s visit will place “greater emphasis on the reality of migration,” Bishop Mazuelos also noted anticipation for the pope’s meeting with clergy and religious “who are working tirelessly and who are eager to embark upon new paths of evangelization.”

“There is a strong secularization in the Canary Islands. There are many people who have left the Church,” he said. “But there are also many people who have deep needs and a thirst for encountering the Gospel and the Lord. And the pope comes to strengthen us, encourage us and help us continue fighting — never giving up, but rather winning hearts through the proclamation of the Gospel.”

On the pope’s final day in Spain June 12, he will depart for Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, where he will meet with migrants living at the “Las Raices Center” followed by a meeting with organizations helping to integrate migrants.

Bishop Eloy Alberto Santiago of Tenerife told journalists that at one point, the center had housed 4,000 migrants who came “from the deadly Atlantic route as well as from Latin America.”

Before departing for Rome, Pope Leo will also preside over an outdoor Mass at the port of Santa Cruz, which the bishop noted was “the ideal place because of its closeness to the sea, where so many people arrive.”

“This closeness to the sea also allows us to enter into communion and harmony with the migratory reality and with the ecclesial reality,” he said.

Bishop Santiago noted that while the pope will visit the island for “five or six very intense hours,” he was joyful that his diocese will be the final place Pope Leo will visit.

“Our Diocese of Tenerife is a diocese that welcomes many migrants, and in this case, it will also warmly bid farewell to the Holy Father after his first visit to Spain,” he said.

Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.

– (OSV News) — The Vatican released the official schedule for Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic visit to Spain, a seven-day trip that will take the pontiff to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands for meetings with Spain’s royal family and political leaders, as well as migrants, prisoners, young people and Catholic communities across the country. The packed June 6-12 itinerary also included public Masses, a Corpus Christi procession in Madrid, an encounter with volunteers, a visit to Barcelona’s Basilica of the Holy Family, known as Sagrada Família, and stops at migrant reception centers in the Canary Islands. Coinciding with the

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