Catholic News
- Pope calls for aid for Gaza (Vatican News)
Addressing questions from journalists this evening as he left Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo XIV called for aid for the suffering people of Gaza. Stating that “the people are truly suffering,” Pope Leo urged “all authorities to assist and accompany the people of Gaza, and to help begin reconstruction.” The Pope also renewed his appeal for a disarmed AI and noted that “war is being waged with AI, without thinking about human lives, which are truly victims of all this.” - Border bishops have 'grave concerns' about $72B immigration enforcement package (Our Sunday Visitor)
Fourteen bishops, most of them from dioceses on the U.S.-Mexico border, expressed “grave concern” about legislation that would provide $72 billion in funding for immigration enforcement. “As pastors, we remain troubled by how immigrants, the vast majority of whom have committed no crimes and have built equities in the country, have become targets for enforcement, with their God-given human dignity and human rights being violated on a daily basis,” the bishops wrote. - Supreme Court declines to intervene in Peter's Pence lawsuit (National Catholic Register)
In an unsigned order, the Supreme Court declined to intervene in a class action lawsuit against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops over Peter’s Pence. A Rhode Island resident, David O’Connell, filed a lawsuit against the bishops, alleging that they misrepresented the nature of the annual collection. The case now returns to a lower federal court. - Pope Leo breaks new ground with encyclical on AI [News/Analysis] (CWN)
In choosing to be known as Pope Leo XIV, our current Pontiff made tribute to Leo XIII, the author of Rerum Novarum, the encyclical that formed the foundation of Catholic social teaching. Now Leo XIV stands alongside his illustrious predecessor, as the author of his own landmark encyclical, breaking new ground in that field. - VP Vance calls Pope Leo's AI warnings 'profound' (NBC News)
Vice President JD Vance praised Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical (CWN coverage). “What I read of it sounds very profound, and the sort of thing that you would expect and hope from a leader of the Church,” he said in an interview with NBC News. “The thing about morality is that the principles never change, but the way you apply those principles does, because the world changes, right?” “You have to kind of rethink the entire Catholic social teaching in light of the new world that we live in,” the vice president added. “And I think that’s exactly what the Pope is trying to do. So I’m glad that he did it.” In contrast, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum criticized the encyclical: he said that “I didn’t know that tech editorializing was part of the role of being Pope.” - Leading Italian prelate sees new encyclical as 'beacon of light' (Chiesa Cattolica Italiana)
The president of the Italian Episcopal Conference hailed Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical (CWN coverage) as “a precious gift, a beacon of light in the darkness of thought and violence that we sometimes feel around us.” The document “spurs us on to make the common good, the universal destination of goods, subsidiarity, solidarity and social justice the principles of reference in an era in which the great challenge is to protect the human,” said Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, as he delivered a lengthy address to his brother bishops at their spring meeting in Rome. - 'Ebola now strikes fear,' Vatican newspaper warns (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
In a prominent front page article in today’s edition, the Vatican newspaper warned that “Ebola now strikes fear.” “In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, authorities are failing to effectively contain the spread of the epidemic,” L’Osservatore Romano warned. “Interminable lines of people suffering from high fever, hemorrhaging, and spasms form outside hospitals. Inside the wards, doctors and nurses work ceaselessly, hidden behind fogged-up visors and protective suits soaked with sweat.” Staff journalist Francesco Citterich continued: The Ebola epidemic, which began almost in total silence, is striking back with a brutal violence that terrifies the world, taking on, hour by hour, the increasingly concrete contours of a new global emergency. The virus advances relentlessly, spreading at a speed that outpaces the authorities’ ability to contain it: it overwhelms isolated villages, infiltrates refugee camps, and reaches ever-more crowded cities. Health authorities speak openly of a situation spiraling out of control, as fears mount that the contagion is now slipping entirely from their grasp. - Pope, in encyclical, affirms right of self-defense, says just war theory outdated (Dicastery for Communication)
In his new encyclical letter, Pope Leo XIV wrote that “today, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the ‘just war’ theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated” (n. 192). Pope Leo cited Pope Francis’s 2020 encyclical letter Fratelli tutti: In recent decades, every single war has been ostensibly ‘justified.’ The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of the possibility of legitimate defense by means of military force, which involves demonstrating that certain ‘rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy’ have been met. Yet it is easy to fall into an overly broad interpretation of this potential right. In this way, some would also wrongly justify even ‘preventive’ attacks or acts of war that can hardly avoid entailing ‘evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.’ - 5 killed, several abducted in new attacks on Nigerian Catholics (ACI Africa)
The Archdiocese of Kaduna, Nigeria, condemned new terrorist attacks on Catholic communities within its territory. “The Archdiocese condemns these incessant attacks in the strongest terms and calls on government and the security agencies to intensify efforts towards the protection of lives and properties of such besieged areas,” Father Christian Okewu Emmanuel, the archdiocesan chancellor, said in a statement. - Vatican spokesman: New encyclical challenges us to remain human in an age of algorithms (Vatican News)
In an editorial on Pope Leo’s first encyclical letter, a Vatican spokesman wrote that “in the age of artificial intelligence, with human dignity in danger of being obscured by enormous concentrations of technological power beyond all control, and by new forms of dehumanization, Pope Leo XIV recalls us to the ‘urgent duty’ to remain deeply human.” Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, said that “the Successor of Peter invites us to let technology to advance ‘without allowing the heart to regress,’ even amid our times filled with polarization and violence, which see the expansion of a ‘culture of power’ and war rehabilitated as an instrument of international politics.” - Vatican diplomat calls for international cooperation to address health disparities (Holy See Mission)
Addressing the World Health Assembly, a Vatican diplomat called for international cooperation to address “disparities in life expectancy and health quality across and within countries.” “Shared responsibility is a call for civil authorities to consistently uphold the God-given dignity of every human being, by promoting the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health in policymaking and improving the conditions that enable people to live in good health,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. Archbishop Balestrero added that “the ethical litmus test of any reshaped global health architecture is how it treats those whose inherent dignity is most easily forgotten: the child in the womb, the elderly, persons with disabilities, the poor, the displaced.” - Amid mass protests, Bolivian bishops issue urgent plea for dialogue (Conferencia Episcopal Boliviana)
The Bolivian bishops issued an urgent plea for dialogue amid ongoing mass protests that began on May 7. The Church “reiterates her readiness to accompany every sincere effort at encounter and reconciliation, and invites the People of God to intensify their prayer for Bolivia,” the episcopal conference said in a May 25 statement. - Prelate discusses Church's response to ethnic violence in Manipur (Catholic Connect)
Three years after the outbreak of ethnic violence in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur (map), the state’s leading prelate discussed the Church’s efforts to foster reconciliation. “The Church has been deeply affected, just as the wider society in Manipur has,” said Archbishop Linus Neli of Imphal, India. “Thousands were displaced, and even after three years, only around 10% have been resettled, while many continue to live in relief camps.” - Kansas City priest arrested on suspicion of stealing $160,000 from parish (KMBC-TV)
A priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, was arrested on suspicion of stealing $160,000 from his former parish. Father Richard Storey, formerly of Curé of Ars Catholic Church in Leawood, was suspended and resigned his pastorate last fall amid a criminal investigation into an allegation that involved an adult victim. According to an archdiocesan statement, a subsequent archdiocesan review of parish finances uncovered information that “warranted referral to law enforcement.” - Leading Dominican prelate meets with Pontiff (N Digital)
Pope Leo XIV met for 30 minutes on May 25 with Coadjutor Archbishop Carlos Tomás Morel Diplán of Santo Domingo, a massive see of 2.5 million Catholics in the Dominican Republic. Archbishop Diplán, who already exercises administrative and financial authority in the archdiocese, said he was “invited to participate in several meetings at the Vatican.” The Dominican news site N Digital reported that the Pope and the archbishop discussed the prelate’s mission in the archdiocese, as well as other issues related to the Church in the Caribbean nation. - Bishop Barron warns against open borders, 'demonization' of Trump administration (Fox News)
Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said in an interview that “there are darn good reasons, moral reasons, for being concerned about an open border.” “At times, the Catholic left is great for calling for dialogue and bridge-building—until it comes to conservatives,” Bishop Barron continued, as he called for “bridges of conversation.” “What I don’t want from the Church is a kind of demonization of the Trump administration,” he added. - Philippine cardinal rips politician's defense of drug war (CBCP News)
The president of the Philippine senate praised former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war (2016-2022), which involved extrajudicial killings, as a “pro-life campaign”—evoking a sharp rebuke from a Philippine cardinal. “I wonder if he can say this straight to the faces of the thousands of women widowed and children orphaned,” Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan said in response to comments made by Alan Peter Cayetano. - USCCB president welcomes new encyclical, says 'no technology can replace a child of God' (USCCB)
The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical (CWN coverage) with “praise and gratitude.” The encyclical is “a powerful reminder that no technology can replace a child of God, and all technology should be placed at the service of helping humanity thrive,” said Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City. - Pope Leo issues 1st encyclical, urges safeguarding of human person in AI era (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV promulgated his first encyclical letter today and emphasized the importance of safeguarding the human person in the era of artificial intelligence. - Pope Leo asks pardon for Holy See's complicity in slavery (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV renewed the teaching Church’s condemnation of slavery and asked pardon for the Holy See’s complicity in the slave trade. - More...