Catholic News
- Jerusalem Patriarch visits Gaza for 1st time since war began (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
For the first time since the Israel–Hamas war began, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was permitted to visit Gaza’s sole Catholic parish. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa celebrated Mass at Holy Family Parish on May 16 and “met the suffering population to encourage them and to deliver a message of hope, solidarity, and support,” according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. He also paid a courtesy visit to Gaza’s sole Eastern Orthodox church. - Myanmar military airstrikes destroy Catholic, Baptist churches (Fides)
Myanmar’s military attacked the village of Lungtak in Chin State (map) and destroyed a Catholic church and a Baptist church. The parish priest and the faithful escaped into the forest, the Fides news agency reported. The Southeast Asian nation of 58 million (map) is 76% Buddhist, 8% Christian, 8% ethnic religionist, and 3% Muslim; the nation’s constitution grants a special status to Buddhism. Chin State, however, is 92% Christian, and is a theater in the Myanmar civil war. - New Islamist attacks in Mozambique lead to mass flight of civilians (Aid to the Church in Need)
Seven years after a brutal Islamist insurgency began in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, jihadists attacked the strategic city of Macomia, leading to a mass flight of civilians. Bishop Diamantino Antunes, IMC, of Tete, Mozambique, lamented the destruction of “dozens of villages” and “of public and social infrastructure, including chapels.” “Dear brothers and sisters, please, I ask that you continue to open your hearts to the cries of these brothers of ours, praying for them,” he said. The Southeast African nation of 32.5 million (map) is 56% Christian (25% Catholic), 18% Muslim, and 25% ethnic religionist. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in 2019. - Nigeria is nation where Christians are most likely to be 'hunted and killed' (Wall Street Journal)
“Gaza and Ukraine are deadly, but if you’re a Christian, the most likely place in the world to be hunted and killed is Nigeria,” Mindy Belz, author of They Say We Are Infidels, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “According to the monitor Open Doors, during the year ending in September some 4,100 Christians were killed and 3,300 kidnapped in raids across the country,” she continued. “Christians are being wiped off the map.” The nation of 231 million (map), the most populous in Africa and sixth most populous in the world, is 47% Muslim, 46% Christian (11% Catholic), and 7% ethnic religionist. - Pope praises California death penalty moratorium, governor says (CNS)
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a speaker at the Vatican climate summit, said that Pope Francis praised California’s death penalty moratorium during a conversation on May 16. The Pope “immediately brought up the issue of the death penalty,” said Newsom. “I wasn’t anticipating that, especially in the context of this convening.” - Reverse climate change, Pope demands (Vatican News)
Pope Francis demanded action to “invert the global warming curve” in a May 16 address to participants in a Vatican-sponsored conference on climate change. In a highly detailed talk, the Pope said that the problem of climate change is becoming steadily more acute, and told an international group of political leaders that “we are working for a culture of life or for a culture of death.” The Pope said that climate change is attributable not only to human activity— a theory that remains controversial— but to human greed. He said: “The wealthier nations, around 1 billion people, produce more than half the heat trapping pollutants,” said the Pope. “On the contrary, the 3 billion poorer people contribute less than 10%, yet they suffer 75% of the resulting damage.” The damage to the world’s climate caused by human activity is “an offense against God,” the Pope insisted. “We find ourselves faced with systemic challenges that are distinct yet interconnected: climate change, the loss of biodiversity, environmental decay, global disparities, lack of food security and threats to the dignity of the peoples affected by them.” Pope Francis said that pollution causes millions of deaths every year, and demanded efforts to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Vatican News reported: “He mentioned especially the Amazon Basin and the Congo, peat bogs, mangroves, oceans, coral reefs, farmlands, and glacial icecaps.” - Ecumenical Patriarch urges environmental responsibility (Vatican News)
In his keynote address at a global dialogue forum, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople spoke about “Sacred Ecology: An Interfaith Perspective.” The Ecumenical Patriarch, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches, later told Vatican News that people should “not live in excess or abundance, but with what we really need.” “Learn to respect creation as a gift from God,” he added. “How can we say we respect God when we destroy what He created?” The Ecumenical Patriarch, who described Pope Francis as “more than a brother,” also spoke with journalists about preparations for the 1700th anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. - Maryland schools may force students to read LGBTQ books, federal appeals court rules (Bloomberg Law)
In a 2-1 decision, a federal appeals court ruled that Maryland’s largest public school system does not have to grant an opt-out option to lessons involving LGBTQ-themed books. “In the 2022-23 school year, Montgomery County added more than 22 books with LGBTQ+ themes to its language arts curriculum for use in the classroom,” Bloomberg Law reported. The school system originally granted parents an opt-out option, but then backtracked and denied parents the option. A group of six Muslim, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox parents filed suit against the school district. The appeals court ruled that “there’s no evidence at present that the Board’s decision not to permit opt-outs compels the parents or their children to change their religious beliefs or conduct, either at school or elsewhere.” “We understand the parents’ contention that the storybooks could be used in ways that would confuse or mislead children and, in particular, that discussions relating to their contents could be used to indoctrinate their children into espousing views that are contrary to their religious faith,” the court continued. “But none of that is verified by the limited record that is before us.” - Kenya's bishops call for swift government response to floods (National Catholic Reporter)
Kenya’s bishops have called on national and county governments to respond with “greater urgency” to “catastrophic” floods. “Now is the time to utilize resources allocated for such crises effectively,” the bishops said in a statement. “We call for swift action to save lives, protect property, and, in areas where the rains have subsided, begin the necessary work of rebuilding and rehabilitation.” The East African nation of 57 million (map) is 82% Christian (21% Catholic), 8% Muslim, and 8% ethnic religionist. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in 2015. - Cardinal Parolin says Vatican will attend Ukraine peace summit (CNS)
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope’s Secretary of State, said that the Holy See will participate as an observer at a Ukraine peace summit that will be held in Switzerland in June. Speaking with reporters, Cardinal Parolin also lamented the attempted assassination of Slovakia’s prime minister. “We are really concerned about what is happening; it seems that there are no limits anymore,” said the prelate. “Really all this leads to increasing violence; relations are becoming more and more violent and there are fewer and fewer hopes of building peaceful relations.” - Indonesian bishops' conference marks 100th anniversary (Fides)
The bishops of Indonesia marked the 100th anniversary of their first joint meeting with Mass and the dedication of new headquarters for the bishops’ conference. Archbishop Piero Pioppo, the apostolic nuncio, said that “Pope Francis’s visit to Indonesia next September will certainly strengthen the morale and faith of our community.” The prelate expressed hope that “a strong missionary spirit will be ignited to spread the Good News of Jesus.” The Southeast Asian nation of 279 million (map), the world’s fourth most populous, has more Muslims than any other country. The nation is 80% Muslim, 12% Christian, and 2% ethnic religionist. - Papal tweet recalls UN peace day (@Pontifex)
In a tweet for the UN’s International Day of Living Together in Peace (May 16), Pope Francis said that “we are called to be missionaries of peace.” “This choice will give us peace,” he continued. “It means making space in our hearts for all, and believing that differences are not obstacles, that others are our brothers and sisters, and that the peace Jesus brought into the world is meant for all.” - Vatican hosts climate summit for political leaders, scientists (Pontifical Academy of Sciences)
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences are hosting “ From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience: A Vatican 3-day Summit for bending the curve and bouncing forward to climate resilience.” “The Climate Crisis is upon us,” the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) warned. “It will get lot worse over the next few decades as planetary heating shoots past 1.5C by early 2030s.” “The warming curve is likely to bend around the latter half of this century in response to global scale actions to mitigate emissions of the heat trapping pollutants,” PAS continued. “We no longer have the luxury of relying just on mitigation of emissions. We need to embark on building climate resilience so that people can bend the emissions curve and bounce back from the climate crisis safer, healthier, wealthier to a sustainable world.” Speakers include scholars and political figures, including the governors of California, Massachusetts, and New York; the mayors of Rome, Sao Paolo, Paris, London, and Boston; and the White House’s deputy for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation. - 'De-ideologize' end-of-life issues and accompany the dying, Archbishop Paglia urges (Vatican News)
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, emphasized the importance of personal accompaniment of the dying. The prelate made his remarks as he prepares to take part in a Canadian symposium on palliative care. “We should urge the churches to rediscover the importance of accompaniment for an effective ‘good death,’ which for us believers is the passage to life with Jesus,” he said. “We should also help all other religions or men of good will, because at that final moment, each of us needs to physically feel closeness.” “Here, in this sense, it seems important to me that the reflection is not just ‘euthanasia yes [or] euthanasia no’: it is too dry, too frigid,” he continued. “The problem is how to accompany, how to make this transition as painless as possible and, at the same time, less desperate.” “The Church’s task is to try to ‘de-ideologize’ these topics, which are often contaminated precisely by ideologies and not by actual accompaniment,” he added. “It would only take a little reason to understand that each death is different from the other and should therefore be accompanied in a personal manner.” - Progressive Judaism leaders meet with Pope Francis, ask for prayer for release of hostages (Jerusalem Post)
Pope Francis received a delegation from the World Union for Progressive Judaism in a May 15 audience. Rabbi Sergio Bergman, the World Union’s president, “commenced the audience with heartfelt personal greetings to his dear friend of more than 25 years, Pope Francis,” the organization stated. Rabbi Bergman discussed his organization’s work and “also shared his thoughts with the Pontiff on the current situation in Israel, expressing the World Union’s hope for collaborative efforts toward the immediate release of all hostages, and his reflections on the War in Ukraine.” “The Pope talked about how important it is to meet with groups of all faiths in the name of brotherhood,” the organization’s statement continued. “He added how grateful he is to meet an old friend here in Rome and his hope for better days as we work together for unity and peace. Pope Francis personally greeted every delegation member.” - Nuncio pays tribute to vibrancy of Catholic minorities in Arab nations (Fides)
In a wide-ranging reflection, Archbishop Eugene Nugent, the apostolic nuncio to Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar, paid tribute to the vibrancy of the Catholic faith in Arab nations. “Perhaps in Europe we do not have the perception of how alive the Catholic Church really is in these predominantly Muslim countries, or even think that it barely exists,” the Irish-born prelate said. “But when you are there, you discover that it is alive and very lively. Seeing thousands and thousands of people attending these small churches impresses me, encourages me, and strengthens my faith.” - Pope lauds ecumencial ties with Greek Orthodox (Vatican News)
Pope Francis met on May 16 with a delegation from the Greek Orthodox Church, and expressed his hope that young Catholics and Orthodox would recognize each other “as brothers and sisters, united in diversity and capable of bearing witness to the love of Christ, especially in a world so divided and riven by conflict.” - Filipino bIshops oppose Chinese naval blockade (AsiaNews)
The Catholic bishops’ conference of the Philippines has supported Filipino claims to free use of the South China Sea, applauding a civilian mission that defied a Chinese blockade to bring supplies to Filipino fishermen. “We must reject imperialist bullying and geopolitical warmongering,” said Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, the president of the bishops’ conference, describing the Chinese blockade as illegal. Tensions between China and the Philippines have escalated as China seeks to impose control over sea traffic in the heavily traveled region. Bishop David also expressed satisfaction that the blockade had been challenged by a civilian group, avoiding a military confrontation. ““A stubborn civilian presence instead of a joint military show-of-force is indeed a peaceful, nonviolent approach to this conflict,” he said. - Pope blesses 'voice of the unborn' bell (Vatican News)
Pope Francis offered praise for a pro-life initiative, the “voice of the unborn” bell, and blessed it on May 15 in preparation for its use in Kazakhstan. The bell will “serve as a reminder of the importance of protecting human life from conception to natural death,” the Pope said. “One could see the enormous joy of the Holy Father,” said Archbishop Thomas Peta of Astana, Kazakhstan. “The Pope, together with the children, was the first to ring the bell. It was a momentous event, as the question of defending life from conception to natural death is a worldwide concern.” - Vatican announces ways to obtain special 2025 Jubilee Indulgence (Vatican Press Office)
The Apostolic Penitentiary has published a decree listing the conditions for obtaining a special plenary indulgence during the 2025 jubilee year. The Jubilee Indulgence may be obtained, under the conditions described in the decree, by pilgrimages to jubilee sites in Rome, the Holy Land, or elsewhere (such as cathedrals); by pious visits to sacred places in Rome or elsewhere (such cathedrals, minor basilicas, and Marian shrines); and by works of mercy and penance. As is the case with obtaining any plenary indulgence, the decree discusses the concomitant conditions for obtaining the Jubilee Indulgence: “all the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin, who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the Holy Year, purified through the Sacrament of Penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins, which can be applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory.” Typically, a plenary indulgence may be obtained only once a day. During the jubilee year, however, “the faithful who have carried out an act of charity on behalf of the souls in Purgatory, if they receive Holy Communion a second time that day, can obtain the plenary indulgence twice on the same day, applicable only to the deceased (this must take place within a Eucharistic celebration).” - More...