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Pope Leo XIV prays for Venezuela quake victims at Angelus #Catholic VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday expressed his closeness to the people of Venezuela after recent earthquakes, offering prayers for the victims and encouragement to rescue workers.“I wish to express my solidarity with our Venezuelan brothers and sisters affected by the recent earthquakes, which have caused numerous deaths and injuries, as well as extensive damage to property,” the pope said after praying the Angelus on June 28 in St. Peter’s Square.“Praying to the Lord for the eternal rest of the deceased, I renew my spiritual solidarity with their families, the injured, and all who have been shaken by this tragedy,” he continued. “I also wish to express my gratitude and encouragement to those generously working on search and rescue efforts and providing assistance.”Before the Angelus, Pope Leo reflected on the day’s Gospel reading from Matthew 10:37–42, saying that Jesus’ call to discipleship is rooted in a love that requires “detachment, loss and hospitality.”“In today’s Gospel reading, we hear some of Jesus’ exhortations on how to follow him and be witnesses to his kingdom,” the pope said. “This is not just a matter of outward acts, but of committing ourselves entirely to a loving relationship with him.”The first requirement, he said, is detachment. Citing Jesus’ words — “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” — Pope Leo said the Lord wanted the apostles to be free for mission.“When the Lord begins to send his apostles on mission, he wants them to be free from any ties,” he said. “However, this applies to everyone, as even the most significant relationships find their fullness through the love that Christ gives us.”The pope pointed to married life as an example, saying it “can only be lived fully by ‘leaving’ one’s parents’ home in order to commit to the life of marriage.” He also spoke of raising children, saying parents help them “to fulfill themselves and be happy by teaching them to ‘stand on their own two feet’ and make their own choices.”Quoting St. Augustine, Pope Leo said: “It is painful to part from what you love. Yet even the farmer temporarily loses what he sows.”“Only by ‘losing’ that seed sown in the ground, can we see it blossom,” the pope added.Pope Leo said Christians often struggle to understand that “love is also loss,” especially “in a world where losing is seen as weakness and we are obsessed with having and possessing.”“However, love only bears fruit in self-giving: when we are willing to lose a little of ourselves to make room for another; to lose a little time to listen to a friend; to lose a little comfort to share in a time of hardship,” he said.He added that “according to the Gospel, those who hold on to their lives merely for themselves actually lose them, for they do not open themselves to the joy of love and thus become barren.”“This is why Jesus invites us to embrace the cross,” the pope said. “He offered himself, lost himself, and in this very way we were enabled to receive his life in abundance. In the same way, if we live by the logic of the gift of self, we too will be capable of bringing forth new life in our relationships.”Finally, Pope Leo turned to hospitality, saying love must take shape in concrete acts.“Love is expressed through concrete choices and actions; by a commitment made up of small daily gestures, such as offering a glass of water to someone who is thirsty,” he said.Jesus, he said, sent his disciples without provisions “so that, by being dependent on the help of others, they would inspire hospitality in those they met.”“By welcoming those who come in Jesus’ name, we welcome him and the heavenly Father who sent him,” the pope said. “Indeed, love for the Lord always involves welcoming our brothers and sisters.”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.

Michigan diocese celebrates new priests after ordinations moved out of cathedral #Catholic ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, ordained four men to the priesthood on June 6 at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing after the crowd was too big for St. Mary’s Cathedral, the mother church of the diocese. In the packed church, Boyea told the ordinands: “You have been spending years being with Jesus. He’s calling you as he called those 12 so many centuries ago. Today, as you are consecrated by the Church for a sacred ministry, consecrate yourselves to drink the cup which the Lord gives and take in the word which the Spirit is providing. Though weak vessels that we are, we will not let that prevent us from following the calling we have received.”Now 75 and due to retire from his duties in Lansing, Boyea has ordained 45 priests during his 18 years of leadership of the diocese in Michigan’s capital. The diocese, one of seven Latin-rite dioceses in Michigan, is currently sponsoring 29 seminarians, and last year’s ordination class was the largest in nearly 50 years.Fathers Joshua Bauer, Jacob Derry, Ryan Ferrigan, and Peter Randolph, ordained by Boyea, all attended Sacred Heart Major Seminary of the Detroit Archdiocese.

Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, washes the feet of one of the four men he ordained to the priesthood on June 6, 2026, at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing, Michigan. | Credit: Valerie Hendrickson

Before their ordination, the men were interviewed on video, displaying the chalices they will use as priests.Ferrigan, 28, said his antique sacred vessel had been left behind at the now-shuttered St. Michael Parish church in Flint, Michigan, established more than 170 years ago. Inscribed on its base are the words of an anonymous donor: “In reparation from a friend of the Sacred Heart.”“You know, it’s a paradox because this chalice has a long history, and I don’t know who the priests are who used it in the past,” he said. “They offered the Holy Sacrifice using this vessel for over 100 years, and I get to continue faithfully offering the Mass and praying for the salvation of the world every day.”In his thanksgiving address to the congregation, Ferrigan said of his priesthood: “It’s all about the glory of God and the salvation of souls!”In an interview with EWTN News, the new priest said: “In being ordained, the palpable joy they could see in me was there because in ordination, I am seeing the purpose for which God created me coming to fruition. I have become what the Lord created me to be.”“The day of my ordination was the best day of my life. Lots of friends and family were there to support me. The Lord has blessed me and is very good to me. I’m still adjusting and realizing that I’m really a priest now and have the privilege of offering the Mass every day. This is my commission and what the Lord wants me to do for his praise and the salvation of the world. It is still sinking in,” he told EWTN News.

From left to right: Fathers Peter Randolph, Ryan Ferrigan, Jacob Derry, and Joshua Bauer at their ordaination on June 6, 2026, in East Lansing, Michigan. | Credit: Valerie Hendrickson

Ferrigan celebrated his first solo Mass that same day at St. Martha Parish in Okemos, near Lansing. He was able to distribute the Eucharist for the first time in both instances to his mother. He will serve at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Ann Arbor, which is close to the University of Michigan campus and known for its music and solemn liturgies.“I’m excited to be going there, and I expect to serve about three years at St. Thomas,” he said, adding: “I’m excited about learning to be a parish priest and diving into ministry. This is how the Lord wants me to feed his sheep.”Randolph, 27, reflected in the video about his journey to the altar, which has included profound loss. “The emphasis of this chalice upon the humanity of Christ and about receiving the chalice, and then living it out to the fullest extent, both in pain and suffering, and full self-abandonment and full self-emptying and glory, means a lot to me, because my [18-year-old] brother Xavier died less than a year ago. And the Lord has really promised me that he’s going to meet me in the place of my pain,” he said, adding: “He’s not going to leave me alone. But it’s going to come in my very broken humanity. In my humanity that is now broken in a particular way in grief.”

Peter Randolph prepares for his ordination to the priesthood on June 6, 2026, in East Lansing, Michigan. | Credit: Valerie Hendrickson

Randolph’s father and grandfather serve as deacons in the Lansing Diocese. At the July 2025 funeral for Xavier, hundreds of friends and parishioners of the close-knit Christ the King Parish in Ann Arbor were on hand to support the Randolph family with the same solidarity shown at Randolph’s ordination. He has been assigned to St. Patrick Parish in Brighton, Michigan, which is known for its healing services and charismatic liturgies.As Boyea consecrated Randolph, the newly ordained young man openly sobbed in the presence of his many friends and family members. “I want every day of my priesthood and every time that I offer Mass in this chalice, to be able to say, like, ‘Accipiam calicem,’ right, I accept the chalice,” Randolph vowed. Paraphrasing Matthew 26:42, Randolph said: “Father, I accept this chalice, and I will drink it to the dregs with your Son.”

unitedyam June 14, 2026June 14, 2026

Bishop Earl Boyea ordained four new priests at a local Lansing parish, urging them to “drink the cup which the Lord gives” as they begin their ministry.

Pope Leo XIV prayed with this young man’s rosary in Barcelona — and gave it back #Catholic Sergi, a young Catalan man, was surprised by an encounter with Pope Leo XIV in Spain on June 10 he will never forget.During the pope’s visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, an abbey northwest of Barcelona, Sergi handed Leo his rosary. The pontiff slipped it into his pocket before using it minutes later to pray.Unexpectedly, the story did not end there — after the event, Sergi managed to recover his prized sacramental, now prayed with by the pope.Sergi (who asked that his last name not be shared) told EWTN News he had not planned to go to the shrine on the day of the papal visit. He is from Terrassa, a city between Barcelona and Montserrat.The invitation to go to the popeʼs prayer came unexpectedly through a volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity, connected to his youth group, who encouraged both him and his girlfriend, María, to join the gathering. The night before, they attended the pope’s event at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona and returned so tired that they almost decided not to go again.However, they felt they could not miss the chance to see Pope Leo during his visit to their homeland, and in order to attend they both had to take the day off from work. They never imagined what would happen or the gift they would receive.Sergi, María, and their friend secured a spot in the atrium of the basilica, and when the pope arrived, Sergi managed to get very close to the mini-popemobile as it passed by. At that moment he took out his rosary, hoping it would be blessed.“I just wanted him to bless it, that’s all, but he asked me, ‘Is it for me?’ And I’m not going to say no, so of course I said yes, and he kept it,” the young man said.Indeed, in a video recorded by EWTN News, the pope can be seen taking the rosary and putting it in his pocket. A few minutes later, to the young couple’s total surprise, they saw the pope praying with Sergi’s rosary in his hands.“When we saw it on the screen, we realized it was the same one he was using to pray!” Sergi said. Pope Leo XIV prays with a simple, wooden rosary during a prayer at the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat, northwest of Barcelona, Spain, on June 10, 2026. The rosary belongs to Sergi, a young Catalan man who gave it to the pope to be blessed. | Credit: Vatican Media. But the story did not end there. María had the idea of trying to get the rosary back, and when the event ended, they tried. However, the pope was already in the official car, and the security caravan would not allow anyone to approach.“We tried to tell him, but he just passed us by,” Sergi told EWTN News.At that moment, the run of his life began. Montserrat, as its name suggests, is set on a mountain range, so he had to run downhill.“I ran the whole way down until I said, ‘Well, let the pope keep it,’ and I gave up, but my girlfriend told me, ‘Keep trying.’”So Sergi started running again, sprinting and shouting to the pope to give it back. Knowing the caravan could not stop, he took an extreme measure: asking the pope to throw it to him.“At that moment I wasn’t thinking — I just knew I wanted to get the rosary back, knowing the pope had prayed with it. I was overwhelmed with excitement by the moment and the situation.”The pope granted his request, tossing the rosary from the car window as he drove by. Then, with the help of a police officer, Sergi recovered his rosary, now prayed with by the pope.“We went without expecting anything, and we came back with the greatest gift we could have received,” the young man said, still moved by the experience.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, EWTN News' Spanish sister service. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.