Catholic News
- The Gospel needs to reach the oppressed, Pope tells pilgrims on Easter Monday (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV today contrasted the reactions of the guards at Christ’s tomb, who spread the “fake news” that Christ’s body had been stolen, with the reaction of the women at the tomb, who spread the Good News of the Resurrection. This Good News, the Pope said, needs to “reach, above all, those oppressed by the evil that corrupts history and confuses consciences.” - Pope Leo, in Easter message, proclaims Christ's Resurrection, urges prayer for peace (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV proclaimed his Easter message urbi et orbi (to the city and the world) from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica at midday today (video). The Pontiff reflected on Christ’s Resurrection, lamented indifference to violence and the “deaths of thousands of people,” and called on the faithful to “implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars.” - Pope Leo at Easter Sunday Mass: 'Death no longer has power over us' (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Mass of Easter Sunday in St. Peter’s Square this morning (booklet, video) and emphasized that Christ’s Resurrection has overcome the power of death. - 'Bring everyone the good news that Jesus is risen,' Pope Leo preaches at Easter Vigil Mass (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica tonight (booklet, video) and called on the faithful to “bring everyone the good news that Jesus is risen.” - 'The Resurrection does not tell us to overlook evil,' Jerusalem cardinal preaches at Easter Vigil (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, O.F.M., the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (video), built on the site of the Lord’s Resurrection. “Today’s liturgy reminds us that the Resurrection does not tell us to overlook evil,” Cardinal Pizzaballa preached. “It tells us that reality itself can be transformed by the power of God. He has made a way where there stood a wall. Where there was an immovable stone, now there is a threshold.” “The Gospel does not ask us to perform extraordinary feats, but to guard life, even in small ways,” he added. “We are called not to deny the cross, but to transfigure it, making it part of the path of salvation that unites us to the life of God.” Cardinal Pizzaballa celebrated the Mass in Latin, ad orientem, with other Franciscan friars. Wartime restrictions, reminiscent of the COVID lockdowns, prevented the faithful from attending in person. - Growing fear among Iraq's Christians; Holy Week processions cancelled (CWN)
Amid attacks from Iran and rising Shiite Islamic fundamentalism within Iraq, churches in northern Iraq, from Mosul to Erbil, cancelled outdoor processions during Holy Week, the Vatican newspaper reported. - Myanmar: Easter Vigil celebrated for the first time in 3 years in Loikaw (CWN)
The Easter Vigil was celebrated in the cathedral in Loikaw, Myanmar, for the first time in three years. - In Sudan, some Christians are experiencing a 'real passion,' bishop says (CWN)
The bishop of El-Obeid, Sudan, said that Christians there are experiencing a “real passion” amid the Sudanese civil war. - To defray costs of papal journey, Spanish bishops offer top donors chance to meet Pope (Crux)
To encourage donations to cover the cost of the Pope’s upcoming apostolic journey to Spain, the nation’s bishops are offering a private papal audience to donors who contribute more than €500,000 ($577,200), as well as “a working meeting at the Vatican, and reserved spaces at the events during the trip,” the Crux news agency reported. Those who contribute between €250000 ($288,600) and €500,000 have the same benefits, “except the meeting with the Pope won’t be private,” according to the report. “Requesting support, in this case, is our way of covering the material costs of a trip of this magnitude without these falling on taxpayers,” a spokesman for the episcopal conference said. - Nigerian diocese, army deny report of attack on cathedral (CWN)
In separate statements, the Nigerian army and the Diocese of Sokoto denied a social media report that the cathedral and bishop’s residence there were attacked. - On Good Friday, only 10 Franciscan friars traverse Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem (Vatican News)
Amid wartime restrictions reminiscent of the COVID lockdowns, only ten Franciscan friars were able to gather to pray the Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem on Good Friday. Father Ibrahim Faltas, O.F.M., head of schools of the Custody (Franciscan province) of the Holy Land, wrote that “since February 28, it has not been possible to fully live the poignant liturgical season of Lent due to the war that has spread throughout the Middle East, affecting even Jerusalem ... On the journey that will lead us to Holy Easter 2026, we have encountered violence, death, and sorrow for the suffering of so many brothers and sisters who have been denied so many rights, who have been denied love.” “Jerusalem experienced Good Friday in a climate marked by war and the resulting restrictions,” Father Alberto Pari, O.F.M., of the Custody said in a statement. “The Holy City, which in these days should have welcomed thousands of faithful from all over the world, appeared silent and guarded. Yet, precisely within this fragility, the prayer of the Church continued to rise with strength, preserving the memory of the Passion of the Lord in the very place where it was accomplished.” - Pope presides at Good Friday liturgy in St. Peter's, Via Crucis at Colosseum (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV presided at the liturgical Celebration of the Passion of the Lord this afternoon in St. Peter’s Basilica before presiding at the Via Crucis at the Colosseum earlier tonight. - As Jesus washed our feet, let us serve others, Pope preaches at Holy Thursday evening Mass (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the Lateran Basilica this evening (video) and reflected on Christ’s act of washing the feet of His apostles. - Bishop Barron, Cardinal Dolan to speak at presidential event rededicating US to God (EWTN News)
Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, is among the speakers at Rededicate 250, a May 17 event at the National Mall at which the nation will be rededicated to God. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson will also speak at the event. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the retired archbishop of New York, will offer a video address. - Cardinal Pizzaballa celebrates Holy Thursday Mass in Church of Holy Sepulchre, days after he was denied entry (CWN)
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem celebrated the Holy Thursday evening Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (video), four days after Israeli police denied him access to the church on Palm Sunday. - Cardinal Woelki warns against Communion services, calls on priests to celebrate Mass daily (National Catholic Register)
Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, Germany, warned priests not to replace Sunday Masses with Communion services and called upon priests to celebrate Mass daily. “I am concerned that Communion services—often with the distribution of holy Communion—are increasingly replacing the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays,” Cardinal Woelki preached at the archdiocesan Chrism Mass. “That, dear brothers, is no longer Catholic, and I urgently ask you to counteract this from the outset!” - Vittorio Messori, who interviewed St. John Paul and Cardinal Ratzinger, dies at 84 (CWN)
Vittorio Messori, a journalist whose interview questions led to the publication of The Ratzinger Report (1985) and Pope St. John Paul II’s Crossing the Threshold of Hope (1994), died on April 3 at the age of 84. - Conversions surge in France (Pillar)
21,386 converts to Catholicism are expected to be baptized in France this Easter—up from 5,825 in 2022, 8,416 in 2023, 12,340 in 2024, and 17,788 in 2025. Of the 21,386 converts, 13,234 are adults, and 8,152 are adolescents. Among the adults, 42% are between the ages of 18 and 25, and 40% are between 26 and 40. 62% of the adult converts are women, and 71% of adult converts live in urban areas. - Church desecrated in French small town (OIDAC Europe)
A church in the small town of Chèvremont in northeastern France was recently desecrated. “The tabernacle had been forced open, consecrated hosts were scattered across the floor, and ciboriums and chalices were taken from the sacristy,” the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe reported. “Similar break-ins occurred in Meroux and Bourguignon, where church doors were forced [open] and liturgical objects stolen.” - Israeli president, Pope Leo discuss Iran war (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV discussed the need for diplomacy and the protection of civilians during a telephone conversation this morning with President Isaac Herzog of Israel. - More...