Catholic News
- Syriac Catholic Church synod begins process of deposing Patriarch (Pillar)
The senior bishop of the synod of bishops of the Syriac Catholic Church initiated the process of deposing Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Yonan, who has led the Eastern Catholic church since 2009. On August 29, Pope Leo XIV amended the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches to grant Eastern Catholic synods the authority to remove Patriarchs and Major Archbishops when communion between the church’s head and synod has been “seriously and irreparably damaged.” The Pillar reported that “dissatisfaction among Syriac bishops has reportedly centered around Youssif’s refusal to convene governing synodal meetings for the Eastern Catholic Church, despite repeated requests from bishops over the past three years.” Under the procedures outlined in the papal letter, an Eastern Catholic synod may request the resignation of the Patriarch or Major Archbishop. If he refuses to resign, the synod may depose him by a two-thirds vote—but only if the Roman Pontiff consents. - Pope Leo: New martyrs are 'stars that shine out in the darkness of selfishness and oppression' (CWN)
Those who died in witnessing to their faith during this century are “like stars that shine out in the darkness of selfishness and oppression,” Pope Leo XIV said during a September 16 audience. - Pope encourages prayer for young people through intercession of St. Stanislaus Kostka, St. Aloysius Gonzaga (CWN)
At the conclusion of his September 16 general audience, Pope Leo XIV encouraged Polish pilgrims to ask St. Stanislaus Kostka (1550-1568) and St. Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591) to intercede for young people. - Turn to Our Lady of Sorrows, Pope says in rare greeting to Slovak pilgrims (Dicastery for Communication (multilingual))
At the conclusion of his September 16 general audience, Pope Leo XIV offered his customary greetings to pilgrims who speak French, English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic, and Polish—and then offered a rare greeting, in Slovak, to pilgrims from Slovakia. The Pontiff stated: I cordially greet the 20th national pilgrimage of the Ordinariate of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, led by the Military Ordinary and the representatives of the Slovak public institutions, with their families. Yesterday in Slovakia you celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, who is your principal patroness. Always renew your faith through veneration of the Mother of Jesus. Confidently implore her help to bear witness to Christian values in everyday life, and invoke her maternal intercession for the advent of a world of justice, fraternity and peace. I bless you from my heart. Praise be to Jesus Christ! - Holy See deplores continued production, use of cluster munitions (Holy See Mission)
A Vatican diplomat said that the Holy See “deplores the fact that cluster munitions, which have devastating long-term consequences for victims and land, continue to be produced, stockpiled, transferred and, even more concerning, used in armed conflicts.” “These weapons create wounds that damage the very fabric of life, harming not only individual persons and communities, but also their broader network of relationships with the whole human family,” Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, said on September 14, as he addressed a UN conference. Archbishop Balestrero called on all nations to adhere to, and implement, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a 2008 treaty. 112 states are parties to the treaty; China, Russia, and the United States are among the nations that have not adhered to it. - Cardinal Parolin urges Catholics not to emigrate from the Holy Land (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, urged Catholics not to emigrate from the Holy Land. Deacon Diab Roshrosh, O.F.M., oversees youth ministry at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Now on pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi with 40 of the parish’s young adults, Deacon Roshrosh said that he met with Cardinal Parolin on September 16, and that the prelate “urged us to stay, not to leave our land because of the tragic conflict gripping it, and to bear witness to a human identity that follows the example of Saint Francis.” The pilgrims from Nazareth also met briefly with Pope Leo at his general audience, during which the Pontiff greeted them: I greet the Arabic-speaking faithful, especially those from the Parish of the Annunciation in Nazareth. We are called to respect each person, and to care for one another, in order to build a more humane world. May the Lord bless you all and always protect you from all evil. - Cardinal Koch: Judaism is the 'mother soil from which Christianity sprang' (Vatican News)
The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity described Judaism as “the mother soil from which Christianity sprang.” “One cannot be a good member of the family without appreciating and loving one’s mother,” Cardinal Kurt Koch said in an interview devoted to the new Vatican document on interreligious dialogue. “This means that it is impossible to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and, at the same time, an anti-Semite.” Cardinal Koch called for a “deeper understanding of the profound unity between the Old and New Testaments—within Christian thought and in the Church’s liturgy.” The prelate added that “many Christians find themselves in a painful tension between their bond with the Jewish people and their ethical obligation toward those suffering in Gaza, especially the civilian victims. We must speak honestly with one another about this new situation.” - Cardinal Fernández: Interreligious dialogue does not entail hiding one's Christian identity (Vatican News)
Commenting on the new Vatican document on interreligious dialogue, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said that dialogue does not entail downplaying one’s identity. Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández recalled that Pope St. John Paul II “emphasized the urgency of combining the strongest sense of identity with the greatest openness to dialogue.” “Truly, authentic dialogue is at the same time a form of ‘proclamation,’ since, precisely within the dialogue, each person must clearly show the other their own identity and strive to reveal it in all its beauty and harmony,” Cardinal Fernández added. - Auschwitz survivor, midwives meet with Pontiff (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
At the conclusion of his September 16 general audience, Pope Leo XIV met with an Auschwitz survivor, 70 midwives, and Bishop Krzysztof Nykiel, regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary. “I was born in the Auschwitz camp on December 20, 1944, thanks to the Servant of God Stanisława Leszczyńska, the Polish midwife who, during her imprisonment in the Nazi concentration camp, assisted about 3,000 women in childbirth,” said Ewa Machaj-Antosiewicz. “This pilgrimage to Rome is to thank the Lord for giving us a figure like the Servant of God Stanisława, on the 130th anniversary of her birth, and for the good she poured out in favor of life, saving our little ones,” said Bishop Nykiel, the postulator of Leszczyńska’s canonization cause. He recalled that when Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor at Auschwitz, asked her to kill all the newborns in the camp, she replied, “One cannot kill a baby.” - Cardinal Koovakad: Vatican II's 'intuition' on interreligious dialogue has become part of Church's structure (Vatican News)
The prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue said in an interview that the dicastery and its predecessor bodies have “transformed a conciliar intuition into a permanent structure of the Curia and of the Church’s mission.” Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad described Nostra Aetate (1965), the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, as an “institutional and theological mustard seed.” “We have moved from attitudes of rejection, mistrust, or simple ignorance to lasting relationships of friendship among religious leaders, shared educational and social projects, and common declarations in the face of wars and humanitarian crises,” said Cardinal Koovakad, who also discussed the importance of “clarity regarding one’s own identity: dialogue is neither relativism nor syncretism.” - US bishops establish AI task force, meet with tech company representatives (USCCB)
The administrative committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) established a Task Force on Preserving Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, the USCCB announced yesterday. Bishop Oscar Cantù of San Jose, California, will chair the task force, whose members have not been announced. Members of the administrative committee also met yesterday with representatives of technology companies. “The dialogue focused on ways to keep any system of Artificial Intelligence at the service of humanity and the urgent need to address the real and present dangers such technology present,” said Chieko Noguchi, the USCCB’s executive director of public affairs. “Recent events have only emphasized the great need for action by everyone involved.” - Archbishop Gallagher calls for nuclear nonproliferation (Vatican News)
The Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations called upon nations that do have nuclear weapons to renounce efforts to acquire them. Addressing the International Atomic Energy Agency, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher said yesterday that “the responsible exercise of the right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology is inseparable from the accompanying commitments and responsibilities—most importantly, the commitment of non-nuclear-weapon States not to acquire nuclear weapons.” - Pope, in audience on Vatican II, reflects on the human community (CWN)
Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV today spoke about the human community. - Vatican dicasteries publish document marking 60 years of interreligious dialogue (CWN)
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue today published a document commemorating the six decades of interreligious dialogue that followed Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. - 93 ambassadors offer reflections to Pope Leo (CWN)
The Italian review Carità Politica published Pensieri di 93 ambasciatori a Papa Leone XIV (Thoughts of 93 Ambassadors to Pope Leo XIV), a volume that gathers together reflections written by ambassadors to the Holy See. - Vatican, in first, to submit film for Oscar consideration (Variety)
The Vatican will submit a film, Green Lava, to the Academy Awards for consideration, Variety magazine reported. Green Lava, directed by Lia Beltrami and Ali Aksu and created in collaboration with the Dicastery for Communication, is devoted to a young man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. - Vatican diplomat calls on companies, investors to combat slavery, human trafficking (CWN)
A Vatican diplomat called on companies and investors to combat slavery and human trafficking. - Bishop Flores asks confrères, faithful to exercise verbal self-restraint before election (National Catholic Reporter)
The vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops encouraged fellow bishops—and all the faithful—to exercise verbal self-restraint as the election approaches. “The general demeanor of the bishops in the country, I think, should be one that exemplifies before it preaches to,” Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, said in an interview. “So we need to exemplify a certain generosity of spirit that is not necessarily immediately jumping to the condemnatory or the immediately critical, but as I would ask bishops to do that I think I would ask every Catholic.” Asked a tendentious question that was critical of Bishop Robert Barron, Bishop Flores replied, “I don’t think we need to be so quick to presume a bad motive or a desire to undermine. I don’t think we should be so quick to do that, and if you don’t agree with what one bishop or another bishop says about this or that, that’s perfectly all right.” “I don’t search my internet feed to figure out which bishop is doing that and which one isn’t,” he added. “I think we’re spending a little bit too much time trying to decide which bishop is on the right side of things and which one is not. I presume good will. I just think we’re overly focused on catching people at odds with other people.” - Cardinal Farrell emphasizes the Cross as World Youth Day preparations continue (CWN)
World Youth Day exists to help young people encounter Christ on the Cross, Cardinal Kevin Farrell told 300 youth ministry delegates during the second international meeting in preparation for next year’s World Youth Day. - Vatican newspaper highlights plight of Gaza's children (CWN)
The Vatican newspaper devoted the most prominent front-page article in its September 15 edition to the plight of Gaza’s children. - More...