Catholic News
- Pope departs from Angola, heads to Equatorial Guinea (CWN)
Following a private Mass at the apostolic nunciature and a farewell ceremony (video), Pope Leo XIV departed this morning from Luanda, Angola’s capital and largest city, for Equatorial Guinea. - Israel investigates soldier who destroyed crucifix in Catholic village in Lebanon (CNA)
Using a sledgehammer, an Israeli soldier defaced a crucifix in Debel, a largely Catholic village in southern Lebanon. The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land expressed “profound indignation and unreserved condemnation of the desecration of a representation of Jesus crucified by an Israeli soldier in a Lebanese village.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he condemned “the act in the strongest terms. Military authorities are conducting a criminal probe of the matter and will take appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender.” - Ukrainian Catholic leader reports on Russian vandalism, seizure of parish (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said that Russian forces vandalized a Greek Catholic parish in Tokmak before handing it over to Russian Orthodox clergy. Major Archbishop Shevchuk also thanked Pope Leo for his appeals for peace: It was especially important to hear this voice in the light of the Lord’s Easter—the feast of the victory of life over death—when we welcome the Risen Christ among us as the Prince of Peace. In supporting the Holy Father in this struggle against war in the modern world, we want the whole world to hear: Ukraine stands. Ukraine fights. Ukraine prays! - Iran war could worsen hunger worldwide, Vatican diplomat warns (Vatican News)
Msgr. Fernando Chica Arellano, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations food and agriculture agencies in Rome, said at a conference that “the rising costs of energy and fertilizers, coupled with uncertainty in supply chains, are driving up production costs and exacerbating food price volatility, particularly in vulnerable countries that depend on imports.” “The escalation of the current conflict in the Middle East will have consequences beyond borders and further worsen hunger worldwide, especially among the most vulnerable populations,” the diplomat warned at the 38th session of the Regional Conference for the Middle East. In its report, Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, inaccurately described the Vatican diplomat as an archbishop. The Annuario Pontificio notes that Father Arellano was named a monsignor in 2016, but has not been named a bishop. - Central Asian bishops express 'firm support' for Pope, elect Cardinal Marengo as president (Fides)
At a meeting in Uzbekistan, the bishops of the Central Asian Bishops’ Conference expressed “fervent support” for Pope Leo’s “peacemaking efforts and pastoral ministry” following President Donald Trump’s social media post blasting the Pontiff. The bishops and other ordinaries of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, and Azerbaijan elected Cardinal Giorgio Marengo (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) as the conference’s president; Bishop José Luis Mumbiela Sierra (Almaty, Kazakhstan) as vice president; and Auxiliary Bishop Yevgeniy Zinkovskiy (Karaganda, Kazakhstan) as secretary general. - USCCB committee chairmen back Clergy Act (USCCB)
The chairmen of two committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops lent their support to the Clergy Act, sponsored by Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA). The bill would “establish a two-year window for clergy to revoke their exemption from Social Security and Medicare taxes and enroll in the programs,” said Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville and Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York, who chair the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and the Committee on Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. “We are pleased that the bipartisan measure was advanced unanimously by the House Ways and Means Committee in December 2025, and we therefore urge consideration by the full House of Representatives as soon as possible,” the prelates added. - Synod announces date of meeting of presidents of world's episcopal conferences (General Secretariat of the Synod)
The General Secretariat of the Synod announced that the presidents of the world’s episcopal conferences will meet in Rome from October 7-14. Pope Leo convoked the meeting “to proceed, in mutual listening, to a synodal discernment on the steps to be taken in order to proclaim the Gospel to families today, in light of Amoris Laetitia and taking into account what is currently being done in the local Churches.” The General Secretariat also announced a June 23-25 preparatory meeting to prepare for the continental evaluation assemblies of the implementation phase of the synod on synodality. - Supreme Court agrees to hear Colorado religious freedom case (Religion Clause)
The United States Supreme Court agreed to rule on whether religious schools may be excluded from state programs for adhering to traditional Christian teaching on sexuality. The Becket Fund, which is representing Catholic parents in the case, explained: In 2022, Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood created a universal preschool program to provide all kids with 15 hours per week of free education at a private or public school of their parents’ choice in the year before kindergarten ... When implementing this program, however, the Department chose to deny this benefit to parents who send their kids to Catholic schools. Rather than work with all licensed preschools in Colorado, the Department imposed restrictions that categorically barred the Archdiocese of Denver’s Catholic preschools from participating—excluding over 1,500 kids attending over 30 different preschools simply because their parents chose a Catholic education. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops filed a brief in the case. - Massive Buenos Aires crowd attends outdoor concert in memory of Pope Francis (La Nación)
A massive crowd—estimated variously from 70,000 to 250,000 people—attended an outdoor concert in Buenos Aires’ Plaza de Mayo in memory of Pope Francis (video). Father Guilherme Peixoto was the DJ at the concert, entitled “Todos, todos, todos” (Everyone, everyone, everyone). The event took place on April 18, three days before the first anniversary of the Pontiff’s death. - 'The first path is fidelity to Christ,' Pope tells Angola's priests and religious (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV met with Angolan bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers this evening (video) and told them that “the first path is fidelity to Christ.” - Reject superstition and follow Christ in freedom, Pope preaches at Mass in Angola (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass today (video) in Saurimo, a remote city in eastern Angola, and called on the faithful to reject superstition and follow Christ in freedom. - Rabbi Skorka, Muslim theologian pay tribute to Pope Francis (CWN)
Writing in the Vatican newspaper, an Argentine rabbi and an Iranian-born Muslim theologian paid tribute to Pope Francis on the first anniversary of his death. - Typical new US priest: 33-year-old cradle Catholic devoted to Rosary, Eucharistic adoration (CWN)
The typical member of the priestly ordination class of 2026 is a 33-year-old cradle Catholic, according to a newly released survey of 334 of the 428 men slated to be ordained to the priesthood in the United States this year. The survey was conducted for the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate and posted on the USCCB’s website. - Myanmar's bishops express solidarity with Pope (Fides)
The bishops of Myanmar (map) expressed their solidarity with Pope Leo XIV following President Donald Trump’s social media post blasting Pope Leo. “We join our prayers with his [the Pope’s] and earnestly implore all nations, leaders, and peoples to lay down their weapons, open their hearts, and embark on the difficult but necessary path of dialogue and peace,” the bishops of the war-torn nation said in their statement. - Pope flies to remote Angolan city, visits nursing home (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV departed this morning (video) from Luanda, Angola’s capital and largest city, for Saurimo, a remote city of 400,000 in the eastern part of the nation. - Papal visit brought unity to both sides in Anglophone Crisis, leading Cameroon prelate says (Vatican News)
Referring to the Anglophone crisis, an ongoing armed conflict, the president of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon said that Pope Leo is “the strongest unifying factor of those who are in conflict, because both sides respect him.” “Both sides are coming out to receive him, and both sides are ready to listen to his message,” said Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda. “This is a miracle. And, although you could not identify them, the crowd in Bamenda was too big not to have separatists in there, which means that they were also on the road cheering the Pope passing.” Archbishop Fuanya added: When the Pope comes to a place, it is an event. But really that event is not as important as the aftermath of the event. The Pope has given speeches and messages. We have all clapped. We are all happy. What next? That question is very important for all of us. I think that in the whole country, we have to sit down to digest all those messages. And secondly, we have to see what it takes to be able to implement them. - Pope Leo departs from Cameroon, says his remarks there did not refer to President Trump (CWN)
Following a farewell ceremony at Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport (video), Pope Leo departed from Cameroon for Angola this afternoon. - Seek truth and goodness, not consensus and appearances, Pope writes to young Italian professionals (Holy See Press Office (Italian))
In a message to a meeting of young professionals at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Pope Leo XIV wrote that “you are called to be present where ideas are formed and decisions concerning the destiny of peoples are directed.” “Yours is not only a path of excellence: it is a mission,” Pope Leo wrote to the Toniolo Young Professional Association, named after the lay economist Blessed Giuseppe Toniolo (1845-1918). “You are not asked to emerge, but to serve. Not to affirm yourselves, but to make fruitful what you have received.” “’May you disappear so that Christ may remain’: this maxim does not diminish, but frees,” Pope Leo added in his April 18 message. “It frees you from the search for consensus, to root you in the truth; it frees you from appearances, to consign you to the substance of good.” - Cardinal Parolin, in papal message, writes that knowledge cannot be reduced to algorithms (Dicastery for Communication (Italian))
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, sent a message in the Holy Father’s name to the archbishop of Milan to mark the 102nd “Catholic University Day” at the Catholic University of Milan. Reflecting on the theme of the day—“the experience of knowledge”—Cardinal Parolin wrote that “the processes of knowledge cannot be reduced to the production of increasingly powerful algorithms, but, on the contrary, require an adequate level of human responsibility and ethical evaluation.” Cardinal Parolin also warned against the “many distortions caused by research aimed only at economic profit and objectives of dominance. Knowledge that is not oriented towards encounter and justice is at the root of many evils, as the troubled history in which we are immersed attests.” The message, dated April 12, was released on April 23. - Belarus Supreme Court upholds liquidation of 3 Greek Catholic parishes (Forum 18)
The Supreme Court of Belarus upheld a lower court’s decision to liquidate three Eastern Catholic parishes. “The three parishes first gained state registration in the 1990s,” Forum 18 reported. “Like all religious communities that wanted to continue to exist under the new Religion Law that came into force in July 2024, they were forced to seek re-registration. Officials of Brest Regional Executive Committee rejected their applications in 2025 and lodged the liquidation suits to court.” The Eastern European nation of 9.5 million (map) is 82% Christian (63% Orthodox, 17% Catholic). An autocratic president, Alexander Lukashenko, has led the nation since 1994. - More...