Maria Elena Rocha recounts how despite the tragedy of losing her husband and two sons in last summer’s earthquake in Venezuela, her faith and trust in God still sustains her.
Montse Alvarado will make history Nov. 1 as the first laywoman to serve as prefect of a dicastery of the Holy See.
A Lilly Endowment grant is open to Catholic campus ministries, St. Carlo Acutis’ mother gifts Franciscan University with a relic of her son, and more in this week’s Catholic education new roundup.
Doctors say the pope is recovering exceptionally well from lung surgery but have advised against helicopter travel as a precaution.
St. John Paul II was the second-longest-serving pope in modern history with 27 years of pontificate and the first non-Italian pontiff to be elected since Pope Adrian VI in 1523.
![Conference encourages Black Catholic men to lead families, parishes, and communities #Catholic Twenty-four years ago three priests from the Society of the Divine Word and founders of the Bowman Francis Ministry had the idea to bring Black Catholic men together for fellowship, workshops, discussions, and prayer — with the hope that the men would then take what they learned back to their communities and ministries. That dream eventually became an annual conference, and its 24th gathering just took place in Birmingham, Alabama, Oct. 15–18.The Fr. Chester P. Smith National Black Catholic Men’s Conference was created by Father Chester P. Smith, Father Charles Smith, and Father Kenneth Hamilton and invites Black Catholic men from across the United States for a weekend of faith, leadership, brotherhood, and cultural reflection.This year’s conference — hosted by the Bowman Francis Ministry, the Society of the Divine Word Missionaries, and the Office of Black Catholic Ministry of the Diocese of Birmingham — had the theme of “The Rock I Stand On,” which aimed to equip participants with the spiritual and life skills needed to take on their roles as protectors and providers.Attendees were able to experience a guided, firsthand look at Birmingham’s role in the Civil Rights movement and engage in meaningful dialogue that connects faith, justice, and social responsibility. The Civil Rights Immersion Tour also included a Harambe Town Hall, which featured notable Birmingham community leaders debating todayʼs social and political climate.Cameron Beatty serves as the conference’s program chair. For him, the conference holds a special place in his heart — Father Chester P. Smith was his godfather.
Participants at the Fr. Chester P. Smith National Black Catholic Men’s Conference, which took place Oct. 15–18, 2026, in Birmingham, Alabama. | Credit: Brent Patterson
Beatty told EWTN News in an interview that he has been attending the conferences since they first started 24 years ago.“I was in high school during the first one and I would be like a reader or an altar server … then I would start leading workshops or doing the youth workshops,” Beatty recalled. “Then it kind of evolved once he [Smith] passed away. [It was] like, ‘Hey, we need somebody to step up and take on some more leadership roles,’ because he would do a lot of the planning and the executing and thatʼs how I got involved in more of a leadership role once he passed.”He added: “We want to make sure that his legacy lives on and his commitment to the ministry lives on, and I am very busy but this is something that Iʼm committed to because I believe in it strongly.”Smith grew up in Chicago’s inner city and made history when he and his identical twin — Father Charles Smith — were ordained priests in 1988, becoming the first pair of African American twins to become priests in the United States. As a priest, he rose to become an international leader in African American ministry and youth outreach.He founded Ambassadors of the Word, a peer group ministry program that fosters youth rites of passage and cross-cultural experiences. And he and his brother developed Boyhood to Manhood, a parish-based program to help young Black men realize their value, get in touch with their spirituality, and train future Church leaders. And he was a co-founder of the Bowman Francis Ministry, which is an outreach organization that evangelizes and ministers to Black Catholics.Smith died on April 8, 2020, at the age of 60. Father Charles Smith is still alive.Beatty called his godfather “an amazing, amazing person.”“We would say they’re [the Smith brothers] the Ying and the Yang,” he shared. “Father Chester was the outgoing one, the boisterous one. He was the one that would go out and do revivals in Black Catholic communities, he would go out and do the Lent services. People from all over the country knew him because they would invite him to their parish as a guest priest or a guest homilist … Father Charles, heʼs a little — and Iʼll say this to his face — heʼs a little bit more reserved. He likes to keep to himself. He can still preach, he can still minister. But, them together were just a powerful force.”Beatty explained that Smith’s great contribution to the Black Catholic community was that he remained “unapologetic” about the cultural aspect found in the identity of being a Black Catholic.A couple of years before Smith passed away, Beatty recalled an instance where Smith gave a powerful message at the men’s conference. While Smith typically never chose to include himself in the list of speakers — he preferred remaining as the planner behind the scenes — that year he decided to preach.“He preached that year and I just had never — Iʼve grown up with him, Iʼve known him my entire life — and Iʼve just never seen him preach that way,” Beatty shared. “He talked about the Promised Land, what does it mean to get to the Promised Land, and you canʼt just show up at the Promised Land, you have to work to get there … You hear it all the time, you hear the Scripture, you hear the reading, but I just had never heard it framed that way so passionately that it just resonated with me.”He added: “I could see after he had preached, he was so drained and exhausted because he put everything, his whole body, his whole spirit, into that message. And I just had never felt that or seen that from him as many times as Iʼve seen him preach. And to me that was just transformative for me, and thatʼs why I commit to this and hope to see the conference go on for many, many years.”
Mass is celebrated during the Fr. Chester P. Smith National Black Catholic Men’s Conference, which took place Oct. 15–18, 2026, in Birmingham, Alabama. | Credit: Brent Patterson
Beatty said he believes a conference like the Fr. Chester P. Smith National Black Catholic Men’s Conference is needed “for folks to feel like they have a strong community.”“Sometimes folks might be going to an African-American parish in their respective city or sometimes theyʼre the only Black family in their parish, given on where they live or practice their Catholicism,” he explained. “So, I think a conference like this gives folks an opportunity to come together with like-minded men … and itʼs an opportunity to have conversations that sometimes they canʼt have in their respective parishes.”Beatty said he hopes that those who attended the conference took away “some energy to go back to their respective communities and still evangelize about what it means to be Catholic, about what it means to be Black and Catholic, about what it means to be a man that is Black and Catholic in terms of the leaders of their family, the leaders in their community, the leaders within their parishes, their churches, and take away some tools in order to enact those types of things of ministering to folks that might not have any idea of what it means to be Christian and to be Catholic.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/conference-encourages-black-catholic-men-to-lead-families-parishes-and-communities-catholic-twenty-four-years-ago-three-priests-from-the-society-of-the-divine-word-and-founders-of-the-bowman-franci.png "Conference encourages Black Catholic men to lead families, parishes, and communities #Catholic Twenty-four years ago three priests from the Society of the Divine Word and founders of the Bowman Francis Ministry had the idea to bring Black Catholic men together for fellowship, workshops, discussions, and prayer — with the hope that the men would then take what they learned back to their communities and ministries. That dream eventually became an annual conference, and its 24th gathering just took place in Birmingham, Alabama, Oct. 15–18.The Fr. Chester P. Smith National Black Catholic Men’s Conference was created by Father Chester P. Smith, Father Charles Smith, and Father Kenneth Hamilton and invites Black Catholic men from across the United States for a weekend of faith, leadership, brotherhood, and cultural reflection.This year’s conference — hosted by the Bowman Francis Ministry, the Society of the Divine Word Missionaries, and the Office of Black Catholic Ministry of the Diocese of Birmingham — had the theme of “The Rock I Stand On,” which aimed to equip participants with the spiritual and life skills needed to take on their roles as protectors and providers.Attendees were able to experience a guided, firsthand look at Birmingham’s role in the Civil Rights movement and engage in meaningful dialogue that connects faith, justice, and social responsibility. The Civil Rights Immersion Tour also included a Harambe Town Hall, which featured notable Birmingham community leaders debating todayʼs social and political climate.Cameron Beatty serves as the conference’s program chair. For him, the conference holds a special place in his heart — Father Chester P. Smith was his godfather.
Participants at the Fr. Chester P. Smith National Black Catholic Men’s Conference, which took place Oct. 15–18, 2026, in Birmingham, Alabama. | Credit: Brent Patterson
Beatty told EWTN News in an interview that he has been attending the conferences since they first started 24 years ago.“I was in high school during the first one and I would be like a reader or an altar server … then I would start leading workshops or doing the youth workshops,” Beatty recalled. “Then it kind of evolved once he [Smith] passed away. [It was] like, ‘Hey, we need somebody to step up and take on some more leadership roles,’ because he would do a lot of the planning and the executing and thatʼs how I got involved in more of a leadership role once he passed.”He added: “We want to make sure that his legacy lives on and his commitment to the ministry lives on, and I am very busy but this is something that Iʼm committed to because I believe in it strongly.”Smith grew up in Chicago’s inner city and made history when he and his identical twin — Father Charles Smith — were ordained priests in 1988, becoming the first pair of African American twins to become priests in the United States. As a priest, he rose to become an international leader in African American ministry and youth outreach.He founded Ambassadors of the Word, a peer group ministry program that fosters youth rites of passage and cross-cultural experiences. And he and his brother developed Boyhood to Manhood, a parish-based program to help young Black men realize their value, get in touch with their spirituality, and train future Church leaders. And he was a co-founder of the Bowman Francis Ministry, which is an outreach organization that evangelizes and ministers to Black Catholics.Smith died on April 8, 2020, at the age of 60. Father Charles Smith is still alive.Beatty called his godfather “an amazing, amazing person.”“We would say they’re [the Smith brothers] the Ying and the Yang,” he shared. “Father Chester was the outgoing one, the boisterous one. He was the one that would go out and do revivals in Black Catholic communities, he would go out and do the Lent services. People from all over the country knew him because they would invite him to their parish as a guest priest or a guest homilist … Father Charles, heʼs a little — and Iʼll say this to his face — heʼs a little bit more reserved. He likes to keep to himself. He can still preach, he can still minister. But, them together were just a powerful force.”Beatty explained that Smith’s great contribution to the Black Catholic community was that he remained “unapologetic” about the cultural aspect found in the identity of being a Black Catholic.A couple of years before Smith passed away, Beatty recalled an instance where Smith gave a powerful message at the men’s conference. While Smith typically never chose to include himself in the list of speakers — he preferred remaining as the planner behind the scenes — that year he decided to preach.“He preached that year and I just had never — Iʼve grown up with him, Iʼve known him my entire life — and Iʼve just never seen him preach that way,” Beatty shared. “He talked about the Promised Land, what does it mean to get to the Promised Land, and you canʼt just show up at the Promised Land, you have to work to get there … You hear it all the time, you hear the Scripture, you hear the reading, but I just had never heard it framed that way so passionately that it just resonated with me.”He added: “I could see after he had preached, he was so drained and exhausted because he put everything, his whole body, his whole spirit, into that message. And I just had never felt that or seen that from him as many times as Iʼve seen him preach. And to me that was just transformative for me, and thatʼs why I commit to this and hope to see the conference go on for many, many years.”
Mass is celebrated during the Fr. Chester P. Smith National Black Catholic Men’s Conference, which took place Oct. 15–18, 2026, in Birmingham, Alabama. | Credit: Brent Patterson
Beatty said he believes a conference like the Fr. Chester P. Smith National Black Catholic Men’s Conference is needed “for folks to feel like they have a strong community.”“Sometimes folks might be going to an African-American parish in their respective city or sometimes theyʼre the only Black family in their parish, given on where they live or practice their Catholicism,” he explained. “So, I think a conference like this gives folks an opportunity to come together with like-minded men … and itʼs an opportunity to have conversations that sometimes they canʼt have in their respective parishes.”Beatty said he hopes that those who attended the conference took away “some energy to go back to their respective communities and still evangelize about what it means to be Catholic, about what it means to be Black and Catholic, about what it means to be a man that is Black and Catholic in terms of the leaders of their family, the leaders in their community, the leaders within their parishes, their churches, and take away some tools in order to enact those types of things of ministering to folks that might not have any idea of what it means to be Christian and to be Catholic.”")
The national Black Catholic men’s conference took place in Birmingham, Alabama, Oct. 15–18, carrying on the legacy of Father Chester P. Smith.
U.S. bishops formed the task force after meeting with AI experts and executives in September to identify how the Church could help shape the moral foundations of AI.
A Catholic parish in western Singapore hosted the play “TO GAZE: St. Clare of Assisi” as part of celebrations for the Jubilee Year of St. Francis of Assisi.
As Pope Leo XIV recovers from lung cancer surgery, meet St. Peregrine Laziosi, the Servite priest healed the night before his amputation and now patron of cancer patients.
At a Mass honoring their patron, St. Michael the Archangel, the pontiff called on gendarmes to exercise authority with humility and compassion.
“Let us repeat together: ‘I love you, Jesus. I love you, Mary,’” the pontiff said in his remarks before the rosary in the Vatican Gardens.
The beloved Carmelite nun, patron saint of the missions, and youngest doctor of the Church is celebrated in the universal Church on Oct. 1.
![Pope Leo in Lourdes: The Church must heal her ‘wounds, infidelities, and painful errors’ #Catholic LOURDES, France — Pope Leo XIV issued a firm call to conversion from sin and error in the Church, and invited all to repent and do penance, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sunday.Mary’s call to conversion in her message to St. Bernadette “also concerns the Church herself as she makes her earthly journey. She must have the courage to begin with herself,” he said at Mass on Sept. 27.“In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within her, we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze. Recognizing our own faults is essential to our spiritual growth,” the pontiff said.In 2021, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) published a nearly 2,500-page final report, estimating that 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks, or nuns in France from 1950 to 2020.TweetLeo is scheduled to meet later on Sunday with seven victims of clerical sexual abuse in France.Lourdes is an evocative backdrop to the private meeting, since it is among the first shrines to cover artwork by the accused sexual abuser Father Marko Rupnik, currently on trial at the Vatican.Rupnik’s mosaics decorating the front of the Basilica of the Rosary were covered ahead of Leo’s visit and will remain covered indefinitely, according to the local bishop.The pope celebrated Mass on a prairie across the river Gave de Pau from the grotto of the apparitions on the third day of his Sept. 25-28 visit to France.Pilgrims from France and around the world gathered on the grassy hill and along the streets of the shrine. Some waved flags or held banners of sacred images. A number of pilgrims arrived in wheelchairs. Around 150,000 people attended the Mass, according to the Vatican.Claire Banks, a nurse from the UK, said she has traveled over 100 times to Lourdes.“It was too good of an opportunity to miss coming here and seeing the pope. I think he’s wonderful,” she told EWTN News. She described an “electric atmosphere” at the shrine since Leo’s arrival.Libby Frank, another Mass attendee, is also from the UK, but has lived in Lourdes for 40 years. She recently retired after working for a charity that brings sick people to the shrine.“I worked for three papal visits and now I’ve come to one papal visit to enjoy it with my family and friends and just be part of the community,” she said, referencing two visits by St. Pope John Paul II in 1983 and 2004, and one by Pope Benedict in 2008.“There’s been a phenomenal amount of excitement locally waiting for Leo to come visit. The town [of Lourdes] has really gotten behind everything that’s happening,” she said.TweetThe Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is among the most popular Catholic shrines in the world, built on the site of Mary’s apparitions to St. Bernadette in 1858. It is particularly visited by the sick, who come to bathe in or drink its healing spring water.In his homily, Pope Leo noted that a “call to conversion, both tender and urgent,” was a central part of the message the Virgin Mary entrusted to Bernadette, and that “it is today, not tomorrow, that we must repent.”He said Jesus is quite direct about the call to repentance: “As St. Luke tells us, ‘Unless you repent, you will all perish.’ But he also extends our horizon beyond this earthly life to the horizon of eternal life.”“Did not the Virgin Mary say to St. Bernadette, ‘I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the next’?” Leo said.The pope noted that we can often forget this in an age and society focused on progress and material wellbeing.Eternal life is already won for us by Jesus’ sacrifice, he continued, but “the obstacle to grace and eternal life — the only obstacle to this love — is sin.”The Holy Father called everyone to do penance, an act of love for God and for our brothers and sisters, “who do not heed this call to conversion, and whose sins lead them towards death.”“We want to make amends for the wounds our sins have dealt to [God’s] heart,” he said.Addressing the many sick, elderly, and disabled people present at the Mass, Leo said their suffering, if lived in a “spirit of offering,” can take part “in the redemptive work that the world so greatly needs.”“In this way, you are truly at the heart of the Church, and your role is irreplaceable,” he said.“In the face of current trends that seek to redefine the value of human life in illness, suffering and old age, the grotto of Massabielle stands as a place of Christian hope,” he said. “Here, no one is turned away due to their frailty.”Earlier in the morning, Leo met with France’s bishops at the shrine, where he praised their courage in opposing the recent legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the country.“I encourage you to persevere, together with all people of good will who uphold the same values,” he told the bishops’ conference.At the end of Mass, before praying the Angelus, the pope invited those present to pray the rosary for peace, and to offer concrete acts of penance and mercy.“It was here that the Immaculate Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette with the rosary and, as it were, guided her in prayer,” he said. “For this reason, today I invite all the faithful and all Christian communities to pray the holy rosary throughout the coming month of October, with the particular intention that wars may cease and that peace may be established among peoples in conflict.”Elliot Hartley contributed to this report.This story was updated at 7:14 a.m. ET with more information about the Mass and the pope’s meeting with bishops.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/pope-leo-in-lourdes-the-church-must-heal-her-wounds-infidelities-and-painful-errors-catholic-lourdes-france-pope-leo-xiv-issued-a-firm-call-to-conversion-from-sin-and.jpg "Pope Leo in Lourdes: The Church must heal her ‘wounds, infidelities, and painful errors’ #Catholic LOURDES, France — Pope Leo XIV issued a firm call to conversion from sin and error in the Church, and invited all to repent and do penance, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sunday.Mary’s call to conversion in her message to St. Bernadette “also concerns the Church herself as she makes her earthly journey. She must have the courage to begin with herself,” he said at Mass on Sept. 27.“In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within her, we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze. Recognizing our own faults is essential to our spiritual growth,” the pontiff said.In 2021, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) published a nearly 2,500-page final report, estimating that 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks, or nuns in France from 1950 to 2020.TweetLeo is scheduled to meet later on Sunday with seven victims of clerical sexual abuse in France.Lourdes is an evocative backdrop to the private meeting, since it is among the first shrines to cover artwork by the accused sexual abuser Father Marko Rupnik, currently on trial at the Vatican.Rupnik’s mosaics decorating the front of the Basilica of the Rosary were covered ahead of Leo’s visit and will remain covered indefinitely, according to the local bishop.The pope celebrated Mass on a prairie across the river Gave de Pau from the grotto of the apparitions on the third day of his Sept. 25-28 visit to France.Pilgrims from France and around the world gathered on the grassy hill and along the streets of the shrine. Some waved flags or held banners of sacred images. A number of pilgrims arrived in wheelchairs. Around 150,000 people attended the Mass, according to the Vatican.Claire Banks, a nurse from the UK, said she has traveled over 100 times to Lourdes.“It was too good of an opportunity to miss coming here and seeing the pope. I think he’s wonderful,” she told EWTN News. She described an “electric atmosphere” at the shrine since Leo’s arrival.Libby Frank, another Mass attendee, is also from the UK, but has lived in Lourdes for 40 years. She recently retired after working for a charity that brings sick people to the shrine.“I worked for three papal visits and now I’ve come to one papal visit to enjoy it with my family and friends and just be part of the community,” she said, referencing two visits by St. Pope John Paul II in 1983 and 2004, and one by Pope Benedict in 2008.“There’s been a phenomenal amount of excitement locally waiting for Leo to come visit. The town [of Lourdes] has really gotten behind everything that’s happening,” she said.TweetThe Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is among the most popular Catholic shrines in the world, built on the site of Mary’s apparitions to St. Bernadette in 1858. It is particularly visited by the sick, who come to bathe in or drink its healing spring water.In his homily, Pope Leo noted that a “call to conversion, both tender and urgent,” was a central part of the message the Virgin Mary entrusted to Bernadette, and that “it is today, not tomorrow, that we must repent.”He said Jesus is quite direct about the call to repentance: “As St. Luke tells us, ‘Unless you repent, you will all perish.’ But he also extends our horizon beyond this earthly life to the horizon of eternal life.”“Did not the Virgin Mary say to St. Bernadette, ‘I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the next’?” Leo said.The pope noted that we can often forget this in an age and society focused on progress and material wellbeing.Eternal life is already won for us by Jesus’ sacrifice, he continued, but “the obstacle to grace and eternal life — the only obstacle to this love — is sin.”The Holy Father called everyone to do penance, an act of love for God and for our brothers and sisters, “who do not heed this call to conversion, and whose sins lead them towards death.”“We want to make amends for the wounds our sins have dealt to [God’s] heart,” he said.Addressing the many sick, elderly, and disabled people present at the Mass, Leo said their suffering, if lived in a “spirit of offering,” can take part “in the redemptive work that the world so greatly needs.”“In this way, you are truly at the heart of the Church, and your role is irreplaceable,” he said.“In the face of current trends that seek to redefine the value of human life in illness, suffering and old age, the grotto of Massabielle stands as a place of Christian hope,” he said. “Here, no one is turned away due to their frailty.”Earlier in the morning, Leo met with France’s bishops at the shrine, where he praised their courage in opposing the recent legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the country.“I encourage you to persevere, together with all people of good will who uphold the same values,” he told the bishops’ conference.At the end of Mass, before praying the Angelus, the pope invited those present to pray the rosary for peace, and to offer concrete acts of penance and mercy.“It was here that the Immaculate Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette with the rosary and, as it were, guided her in prayer,” he said. “For this reason, today I invite all the faithful and all Christian communities to pray the holy rosary throughout the coming month of October, with the particular intention that wars may cease and that peace may be established among peoples in conflict.”Elliot Hartley contributed to this report.This story was updated at 7:14 a.m. ET with more information about the Mass and the pope’s meeting with bishops.")
The pontiff spoke about the urgency of repentance and conversion at a Mass on the third day of his visit to France.
Pope Leo XIV visited the Maison Bakhita Center and celebrated an open-air Mass at Place de la Concorde in Paris before concluding his day at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.
The combined parish of St. Mary in El Paso, Illinois, and St. John in Benson, Illinois, will be the first parish in the world to be named after the new blessed.
France’s Catholic culture and the energy of the country’s young people stole the show at a prayer vigil at the national stadium in Saint-Denis, France.
The pontiff is expected to proclaim Catholic social teaching to a secular country showing signs of Christian revival.
![As beatification nears, new book explains why Fulton Sheen was ‘America’s Apostle’ #Catholic With the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen approaching, a new book on the life and legacy of the evangelist and television and radio show host explains why he was “America’s Apostle.”Allan Smith, founder and director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Mission Society of Canada, published the book “America’s Apostle” on Sept. 15, just ahead of the archbishop’s beatification on Sept. 24.“I think … the title is a perfect one — ‘Americaʼs Apostle,’ because he really was an apostle to the American people in the great tradition of apostles,” Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News Matthew Bunson told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo on Sept. 22.The book was published through EWTN Publishing and Sophia Institute Press.“[Sheen] was a brilliant communicator; he had immense gifts on television, radio, as a writer, as a poet,” Bunson said. “But all of that was geared toward proclaiming Jesus Christ in exactly the same way that a good apostle should.”Sheen began his media career as a priest, hosting an hourlong radio show called “The Catholic Hour” in 1930 until he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1951 and transitioned to television, hosting “Life Is Worth Living.” At its peak, Sheen’s radio show was reaching about 4 million people weekly, and his television show was reaching about 30 million people.“Like a good apostle, he used all the means of communications at his disposal,” Bunson said. “I just mentioned television, radio, you name it. He wanted to use it. So itʼs perfectly appropriate, I think, for him to be called ‘Americaʼs Apostle.’”Sheen also reserved one hour every day for prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, beginning this when he was ordained in 1919 until he died in 1979. He was found dead at the age of 84 in his chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament.Bunson explained that Sheen “made a promise on the day of his ordination” that he would do a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He also noted Sheen wrote in his autobiography, “Treasure in Clay,” that he prepared for his homilies, his books, and his speeches in front of the Eucharist.
The book cover for “America’s Apostle: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen” features a portrait of Sheen. It was released days before Sheen’s beatification set for Sept. 24, 2026. | Credit: EWTN
“He made the Blessed Sacrament his way of not just preparing, but making himself holy and worthy of the people he was talking to,” Bunson said. “Because thatʼs how seriously he took what he was saying.”“So as a communicator, it wasnʼt just communicating about himself,” he said. “He was always proclaiming a person, and that was Jesus Christ. And he did that by developing and fostering his love for the Eucharist. And he did it in the Holy Hour.”“Fulton Sheen, pray for us,” Bunson concluded.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/as-beatification-nears-new-book-explains-why-fulton-sheen-was-americas-apostle-catholic-with-the-beatification-of-archbishop-fulton-sheen-approaching-a-new-book-on-the-li.png "As beatification nears, new book explains why Fulton Sheen was ‘America’s Apostle’ #Catholic With the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen approaching, a new book on the life and legacy of the evangelist and television and radio show host explains why he was “America’s Apostle.”Allan Smith, founder and director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Mission Society of Canada, published the book “America’s Apostle” on Sept. 15, just ahead of the archbishop’s beatification on Sept. 24.“I think … the title is a perfect one — ‘Americaʼs Apostle,’ because he really was an apostle to the American people in the great tradition of apostles,” Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News Matthew Bunson told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo on Sept. 22.The book was published through EWTN Publishing and Sophia Institute Press.“[Sheen] was a brilliant communicator; he had immense gifts on television, radio, as a writer, as a poet,” Bunson said. “But all of that was geared toward proclaiming Jesus Christ in exactly the same way that a good apostle should.”Sheen began his media career as a priest, hosting an hourlong radio show called “The Catholic Hour” in 1930 until he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1951 and transitioned to television, hosting “Life Is Worth Living.” At its peak, Sheen’s radio show was reaching about 4 million people weekly, and his television show was reaching about 30 million people.“Like a good apostle, he used all the means of communications at his disposal,” Bunson said. “I just mentioned television, radio, you name it. He wanted to use it. So itʼs perfectly appropriate, I think, for him to be called ‘Americaʼs Apostle.’”Sheen also reserved one hour every day for prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, beginning this when he was ordained in 1919 until he died in 1979. He was found dead at the age of 84 in his chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament.Bunson explained that Sheen “made a promise on the day of his ordination” that he would do a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He also noted Sheen wrote in his autobiography, “Treasure in Clay,” that he prepared for his homilies, his books, and his speeches in front of the Eucharist.
The book cover for “America’s Apostle: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen” features a portrait of Sheen. It was released days before Sheen’s beatification set for Sept. 24, 2026. | Credit: EWTN
“He made the Blessed Sacrament his way of not just preparing, but making himself holy and worthy of the people he was talking to,” Bunson said. “Because thatʼs how seriously he took what he was saying.”“So as a communicator, it wasnʼt just communicating about himself,” he said. “He was always proclaiming a person, and that was Jesus Christ. And he did that by developing and fostering his love for the Eucharist. And he did it in the Holy Hour.”“Fulton Sheen, pray for us,” Bunson concluded.")
The book by Allan Smith was published on Sept. 15, about one week before the beatification. EWTN’s Matthew Bunson discusses the book and Sheen’s legacy on “EWTN News Nightly.”
The Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has called for prayer and fasting on December 8 for the success of the country’s general elections, calling on Nigerians to prepare spiritually for the polls.
![Vatican vegetable garden goes 100% organic #Catholic A vegetable garden and orchard inside the Vatican walls, which historically provided food for the pope’s household, is now cultivated using exclusively organic farming techniques.The private garden covers almost a tenth of an acre of cultivable land inside the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery property, where Pope Benedict XVI lived during his retirement and now reside cloistered Benedictine nuns from the Abbey of St. Scholastica in Victoria, Argentina.Sometimes known as “the pope’s garden,” the vegetable plot “has always been a defining feature of the Vatican Gardens because, in fact, the Vatican Gardens were originally created primarily for that purpose — to provide sustenance for the [Apostolic] Palace,” Stefano Giampaolo, a forestry expert and head of the Gardens and Environment Service of the Vatican, told EWTN News.Giampaolo explained that now the plot is more accurately understood as the vegetable garden of the Vatican Gardens — an area that covers roughly half of Vatican City at 57 acres.
Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, built inside Vatican City in the 1990s to house nuns who support the ministry of the pope through prayer, has an adjoining vegetable garden and orchard. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News
The Benedictine nuns at Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, who pray for the pope, eat the fruit and vegetables grown in the garden and use them to make jams and other food preserves. The excess produce is given to a Vatican soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity.The move to biological farming techniques has been underway for several years, partly in response to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, Giampaolo said.The challenges of organicAccording to Gilberto Bianchi, the gardener responsible for the orchard and vegetable patch since 2008, the Vatican has a “desire to respect nature” in how it cares for the plants and trees on its land.But it’s far from easy.“Clearly, running a completely organic vegetable garden presents challenges, partly because insects are aggressive, and we use natural predators in the soil to control them,” Bianchi said. “No chemical fertilizers or insecticides are used.”He added that soil drainage and water conservation are also challenges.“This type of soil drains very well, so to conserve water, we add coconut fiber to retain moisture. And it’s watered with a drip irrigation system specifically to target the plants and avoid wasting water,” he said.Part of an organic agriculture also means respecting the seasons, he said. “Right now, the winter crops are being planted, while the summer crops are being harvested.”
The fresh produce grown in the vegetable garden and orchard in Vatican City feeds the Benedictine nuns living in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery and supports the nearby Missionaries of Charity-run soup kitchen. | Credit: Governorate of Vatican City State
The end-of-summer harvest includes tomatoes, eggplants, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers, while the fall and winter crop has broccoli, spinach, lettuce, and pumpkins.According to Vatican Media, the garden also includes garlic, basil, and a Peruvian variety of chili peppers known for its intensity. Kiwi plants were also added recently at the request of the Argentinian nuns.Next to the garden is a small orchard of around 15 citrus trees, some of which are 150 years old.“At this time, we’re planting savoy cabbage,” Bianchi said. “In short, whatever is in season. … So whatever is planted is because nature dictates it at that moment. The plants are grown from seed. We don’t use lab-grown plants.”A historic collection of gardensBianchi, who has worked for more than three decades in the Vatican Gardens, “is the one with the most expertise in this field, and he is now passing that knowledge on to a new gardener,” Giampaolo said.The expert gardener is part of a team of around 35 gardeners and administrators who oversee the Vatican’s green spaces and provide the flower arrangements for papal ceremonies.
Stefano Giampaolo, left, head of the Gardens and Environment Service of Vatican City, and expert gardener Gilberto Bianchi, right, the main caretaker of the orchard and vegetable garden commonly known as “the pope’s garden,” share their expertise with EWTN News in the Vatican Gardens on Sept. 9, 2026. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News
“People expect to see a single garden, but in reality, as the name suggests, they are the Vatican Gardens — a collection of gardens,” Giampaolo said.The Gardens date to the mid-13th century, when Pope Nicolas III moved the papal residence from the Lateran Palace to the Vatican, had the city state’s walls built, and ordered the creation of a lawn, orchard, and “viridarium” — a Roman-style garden with flowerbeds and a fountain.Today, Giampaolo said, “there are countless different species, both trees and flowers. This is because, over time, the gardens have been enriched by donations and the search for specific botanical material, to the point of becoming a true botanical garden.”“Visitors are often struck by the diversity of the spaces — so many different gardens contained within this small area.”Ultimately, he said, the gardeners hope to one day eliminate all synthetic fertilizers and pesticides from their care of the entire Vatican territory.“It’s a process — the transformation of all the Gardens into organic ones,” he said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/vatican-vegetable-garden-goes-100-organic-catholic-a-vegetable-garden-and-orchard-inside-the-vatican-walls-which-historically-provided-food-for-the-popes-household-is-now-cultivated-using-scaled.jpg "Vatican vegetable garden goes 100% organic #Catholic A vegetable garden and orchard inside the Vatican walls, which historically provided food for the pope’s household, is now cultivated using exclusively organic farming techniques.The private garden covers almost a tenth of an acre of cultivable land inside the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery property, where Pope Benedict XVI lived during his retirement and now reside cloistered Benedictine nuns from the Abbey of St. Scholastica in Victoria, Argentina.Sometimes known as “the pope’s garden,” the vegetable plot “has always been a defining feature of the Vatican Gardens because, in fact, the Vatican Gardens were originally created primarily for that purpose — to provide sustenance for the [Apostolic] Palace,” Stefano Giampaolo, a forestry expert and head of the Gardens and Environment Service of the Vatican, told EWTN News.Giampaolo explained that now the plot is more accurately understood as the vegetable garden of the Vatican Gardens — an area that covers roughly half of Vatican City at 57 acres.
Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, built inside Vatican City in the 1990s to house nuns who support the ministry of the pope through prayer, has an adjoining vegetable garden and orchard. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News
The Benedictine nuns at Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, who pray for the pope, eat the fruit and vegetables grown in the garden and use them to make jams and other food preserves. The excess produce is given to a Vatican soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity.The move to biological farming techniques has been underway for several years, partly in response to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, Giampaolo said.The challenges of organicAccording to Gilberto Bianchi, the gardener responsible for the orchard and vegetable patch since 2008, the Vatican has a “desire to respect nature” in how it cares for the plants and trees on its land.But it’s far from easy.“Clearly, running a completely organic vegetable garden presents challenges, partly because insects are aggressive, and we use natural predators in the soil to control them,” Bianchi said. “No chemical fertilizers or insecticides are used.”He added that soil drainage and water conservation are also challenges.“This type of soil drains very well, so to conserve water, we add coconut fiber to retain moisture. And it’s watered with a drip irrigation system specifically to target the plants and avoid wasting water,” he said.Part of an organic agriculture also means respecting the seasons, he said. “Right now, the winter crops are being planted, while the summer crops are being harvested.”
The fresh produce grown in the vegetable garden and orchard in Vatican City feeds the Benedictine nuns living in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery and supports the nearby Missionaries of Charity-run soup kitchen. | Credit: Governorate of Vatican City State
The end-of-summer harvest includes tomatoes, eggplants, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers, while the fall and winter crop has broccoli, spinach, lettuce, and pumpkins.According to Vatican Media, the garden also includes garlic, basil, and a Peruvian variety of chili peppers known for its intensity. Kiwi plants were also added recently at the request of the Argentinian nuns.Next to the garden is a small orchard of around 15 citrus trees, some of which are 150 years old.“At this time, we’re planting savoy cabbage,” Bianchi said. “In short, whatever is in season. … So whatever is planted is because nature dictates it at that moment. The plants are grown from seed. We don’t use lab-grown plants.”A historic collection of gardensBianchi, who has worked for more than three decades in the Vatican Gardens, “is the one with the most expertise in this field, and he is now passing that knowledge on to a new gardener,” Giampaolo said.The expert gardener is part of a team of around 35 gardeners and administrators who oversee the Vatican’s green spaces and provide the flower arrangements for papal ceremonies.
Stefano Giampaolo, left, head of the Gardens and Environment Service of Vatican City, and expert gardener Gilberto Bianchi, right, the main caretaker of the orchard and vegetable garden commonly known as “the pope’s garden,” share their expertise with EWTN News in the Vatican Gardens on Sept. 9, 2026. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News
“People expect to see a single garden, but in reality, as the name suggests, they are the Vatican Gardens — a collection of gardens,” Giampaolo said.The Gardens date to the mid-13th century, when Pope Nicolas III moved the papal residence from the Lateran Palace to the Vatican, had the city state’s walls built, and ordered the creation of a lawn, orchard, and “viridarium” — a Roman-style garden with flowerbeds and a fountain.Today, Giampaolo said, “there are countless different species, both trees and flowers. This is because, over time, the gardens have been enriched by donations and the search for specific botanical material, to the point of becoming a true botanical garden.”“Visitors are often struck by the diversity of the spaces — so many different gardens contained within this small area.”Ultimately, he said, the gardeners hope to one day eliminate all synthetic fertilizers and pesticides from their care of the entire Vatican territory.“It’s a process — the transformation of all the Gardens into organic ones,” he said.")
The move to biological farming techniques has been underway for several years in response to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’.
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Detail of a stained glass window in St. Barbara’s Church (Kutná Hora, Czech Republic). The window depicts St. Aloysius, St. Monica, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Joseph in prayer. Today is All Saints’ Day.
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God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.
Be you humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation: 7Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you. 8Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.
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Sacred Heart is a beautiful symbol portraying Jesus immense love for humanity. The flaming heart, often surrounded by a crown of thorns and topped with a cross, represents the burning love and suffering of Christ for mankind.
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