Catholic News
- Seek the Immaculate Virgin's support and intercession, Pope says during procession at Lourdes (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV took part in the torchlight procession last night at Lourdes (video) and said that the Blessed Virgin Mary’s support and intercession are vital for Christians. - Pope Leo laments 'false compassion' of assisted suicide, tells the sick they are not a burden (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV met with sick pilgrims at Lourdes and said that “medicine must never become the servant of programmed death.” - Pope calls for recitation of Rosary in October for peace (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV appealed to the faithful to pray the Rosary for peace during October, the month dedicated to the Rosary. - We must repent today, not tomorrow, Pope preaches at Lourdes (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV issued a call for repentance as he celebrated an outdoor Mass on September 27 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes (video 1, video 2). - Pope, in address to French bishops, emphasizes Marian devotion, bold witness to Christ (CWN)
In a wide-ranging address to the bishops of France, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the importance of Marian devotion and bold witness to Christ in the public square. - Pope meets with 7 abuse victims (Vatican News)
Pope Leo XIV held a two-hour meeting with seven abuse victims at the bishop’s residence in Lourdes on September 27. “The Pope met each of them individually and in private, listening to their stories, to the pain and suffering they had endured—sometimes, sadly, with the complicity or silence of those who could have helped them—and to their proposals to ensure that this does not happen again,” the Holy See Press Office said in a statement. “He spent a few moments in prayer with some of them.” - Cardinal Parolin, at UN, underscores dignity of human person, importance of peace (Vatican Press Office)
In a wide-ranging address to the United Nations General Assembly, Cardinal Pietro Parolin expressed concern about the breakdown of multilateralism, reiterated the Holy See’s commitment to peace, and emphasized the centrality of the dignity of the human person. Human dignity “is not conferred by the State, by economic productivity, or by technological capacity; it is intrinsic, rooted in the fact that every person is willed and loved by God,” the Secretary of State of His Holiness said on September 26. “From this flows the sacredness of life, from conception to natural death, as well as the imperative to safeguard the human person and that every society that aspires to be regarded as civilized has a duty to protect.” - Child euthanasia begins in the Netherlands (The Catholic Weekly (Sydney))
A two-year-old child with brain damage was killed by euthanasia in the Netherlands in 2025. One committee of doctors found that “all facets of ‘being human’ in terms of motor skills, behavior and personality were seriously affected, and this would not improve.” A second team of doctors, however, found “no continuous unbearable suffering.” - Blessed Sheen's baptismal church to be part of 1st parish named for him (OSV News)
The first parish named for Blessed Fulton Sheen will be located in his native Diocese of Peoria, and will include the church where he was baptized. St. Mary Catholic Church, where Blessed Sheen was baptized, is located in El Paso, Illinois, a town of 2,800. It is scheduled to be merged with the church in Benson, a nearby town of 400; the new parish will bear Sheen’s name. - Massachusetts bishop suspends 2 Stigmatine priests (iObserve.org)
The Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, announced the suspension of two Stigmatine priests from the same parish. Father Robert White, C.S.S., pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Springfield, was suspended following an allegation of an improper relationship with an adult, according to the diocesan announcement. Father Paolo Bagattini, C.S.S., was suspended following an allegation of inappropriate behavior with a minor. The Republican, a newspaper based in Springfield, subsequently reported that a 19-year-old man alleged the priests abused him—one when he was a minor, the other after he turned 18. An attorney for the young man said he had corroborating text messages. - El Paso bishop asks: Are we listening to the children at the border? (National Catholic Reporter)
Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, coauthored on op-ed with the executive director of the Hope Border Institute: “The children on the border are speaking. Are we listening?” Bishop Seitz and Dylan Corbett wrote that “the Church has long described its work among migrants as speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. The impulse is generous, but we distrust the phrase, because it risks flattering the speaker. It assumes an absence where there is none.” “The children of whom the Holy Father speaks are not silent,” they continued. “They ask, in the plain grammar of children, where their mother is and when they are going home. The angels in Matthew’s verse have no trouble hearing them. If a child seems voiceless, the fault lies with those who have stopped listening.” - Welcome catechumens with joy and respect, Pope says at Institut Catholique (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV visited the Institut Catholique of Paris this morning and met with members of the Provincial Synodal Assembly, as well as with a group of catechumens and neophytes (video). - Pope arrives in Lourdes, prays for France and the Church at Grotto of the Apparitions (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV departed from Paris this evening and flew to Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées International Airport, from which he traveled to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes (video). - 700,000 attend papal Mass in Paris (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass this afternoon at the Place de la Concorde in Paris (video 1, video 2) and emphasized in his homily that Jesus quenches the thirst present in every human heart. - Pope, at Notre-Dame Cathedral, calls France's priests, religious to missionary conversion (CWN)
An estimated 300,000 people lined the streets of Paris as Pope Leo XIV traveled from UNESCO headquarters to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame late in the afternoon of September 25 (video). There, the Pontiff adored the Blessed Sacrament, venerated Christ’s Crown of Thorns, and celebrated Vespers with bishops, priests, deacons, religious and seminarians (video). - Christ is encountered and loved in the needy, Pope says in Paris (CWN)
In a visit to a Catholic apostolate that serves migrants and refugees, Pope Leo XIV said that “Christ, poor and crucified, continues to allow himself to be encountered and loved through these men and women, who call us to go beyond ourselves and to dare to practice charity.” - Pope challenges young French Catholics to be 'radiant witnesses' to the Gospel (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV traveled from Paris to the suburb of Saint-Denis late last evening to lead a prayer vigil for 80,000 young people in the Stade de France, the national athletic stadium (video 1, video 2). - Pope Leo, in France, calls for respect for right to life, ban on nuclear weapons (CWN)
Following his arrival in Paris today—the first day of his apostolic journey to France—Pope Leo XIV traveled to Élysée Palace, where he paid a courtesy visit to President Emmanuel Macron (video). - The future depends on respecting the dignity of the human person, Pope says in address at UNESCO (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV visited the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris and delivered a wide-ranging reflection on education, culture, peace, and technology in light of the dignity of the human person (video). - Background: World Day of Migrants and Refugees (CWN)
On September 27, the Church observes the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, a commemoration instituted by St. Pius X. Pope Leo XIV’s message for the day, issued on August 11, is entitled “Even Just One of These Children” (cf. Matthew 18:10). - More...