Catholic News
- Pope Leo, at Holy Thursday Chrism Mass, preaches on the Christian mission in 'this dark hour of history' (CWN)
Stating that “mission is not a heroic adventure reserved for a few, but the living witness of a Body with many members,” Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica this morning (video) and reflected on the “mission to which God calls us as his people,” in a time the Pope described as “this dark hour of history.” - Syria's churches scale back Easter celebrations after attack on Christian town (EWTN News)
Armed groups attacked the Christian town of Al-Suqaylabiyah, Syria, on March 27 and 28. The March 28 attack was thwarted by security forces. Following the attacks, the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate announced that “Easter celebrations would be reduced to prayers inside churches,” EWTN News reported. - Pope taps outsider as Holy See's new HR director (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV named Paola Fanelli, who has not previously worked for the Vatican, as the director of the Holy See’s Department of Human Resources. - Pope to wash feet of 12 priests (Vatican News)
The Diocese of Rome announced that Pope Leo will wash the feet of 12 priests during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening in the Lateran Basilica. Eleven of the priests were ordained by Pope Leo; the twelfth is the spiritual director of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary. In washing the feet of priests, Pope Leo is restoring a custom abandoned by Pope Francis, who typically celebrated the Holy Thursday evening Mass in prisons. - Jerusalem bishop laments suffering in Gaza, plight of Christians in West Bank (Vatican News)
Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali of Jerusalem said that the suffering in Gaza and the West Bank should not be forgotten amid the Iran war. In Gaza, “two million people are still suffering: the issue is unresolved,” he told Vatican News. “80% of the infrastructure is still destroyed.” Referring to the Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank, Bishop Shomali said that Israeli settlers “enter whenever they want, set fire to vehicles, and prevent farmers from working their fields.” A “new settlement will now be built near Bethlehem, in Beit Sahour, in an area called Osh Ghrab, on land that belongs to Christian families,” he added. “They cannot even approach it.” - Father Patton discusses his Via Crucis meditations, laments religious, secularist zealotry (Vatican News)
Father Francesco Patton, O.F.M., said in an interview that he was “intimidated” but honored by Pope Leo’s request that he write the meditations for the Via Crucis at the Colosseum on Good Friday. “I took inspiration from the Gospel texts, favoring the Evangelist St. John, who has a penetrating view of the mystery of the Lord’s Passion; and then from the writings of Saint Francis, which are a treasure trove of Christian spirituality,” said Father Patton, who led the Franciscan province in the Holy Land from 2016 to 2025 and is now a friar at Mount Nebo. Commenting on the current situation in the Middle East, Father Patton said: We could say that the “zealots,” who at Jesus’ time justified violence in God’s name, have come back into fashion. Today, “zealots” are everywhere: we find them in the Muslim world through a galaxy of armed fundamentalist movements; we find them in the Jewish world, well represented by settlers and those who politically support them locally and internationally; we also find them among Christians, who unfortunately invoke strange blessings going in the opposite direction to that indicated last Sunday by Pope Leo XIV and 2,000 years ago by Jesus in Gethsemane; we even find them in secular form in state laicisms that censor religious expressions in a discriminatory and persecutory way. - Family members of Austrian school shooting victim meet with Pope (Vatican News (Italian))
Family members of Luzia Aloisia Haiden, a 15-year-old slain in an Austrian school shooting last June, met with Pope Leo at the conclusion of his April 1 general audience. The victim’s 21-year-old sister said that “we experience this morning with Leo XIV as an unexpected gift—almost a miracle. Having confided our sorrow to the Pontiff, showing him photos and drawings of Luzia Aloisia, and receiving his blessing brings us great relief as we face a future that will certainly not be easy.” - Hate crime reported at Queens parish (Shore News Network)
The New York Police Department is seeking a suspect who vandalized St. Anastasia Church in Queens. The suspect “poured a drink into the baptismal font, removed an undisclosed amount of money from a donation box, and took a cloth from the altar” on March 28, according to a local media report. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has documented over 400 acts of vandalism, arson, and other destruction at parishes and other Catholic sites in the United States since 2020. A tracker at CatholicVote.org lists additional attacks. - Cardinal Parolin: St. Francis offers a message of hope amid 'worrying' geopolitical situation (Vatican News)
In an interview for a Franciscan podcast, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, discussed the “worrying” geopolitical situation and said that world leaders “are not very sensitive or attentive to the voice rising from the grassroots.” “The message that comes to us today from St. Francis, who echoes Jesus’ message, is to love everyone, even our enemies,” said Cardinal Parolin. “It is only from this love that we can draw hope: a love that is all things to all people and that seeks to build a reality of peace.” - Internal divisions within SNAP lead to formation of Abuse Survivors Coalition (National Catholic Reporter)
Over two dozen local leaders of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) resigned from the organization to form the Abuse Survivors Coalition. “Several of the now-former SNAP members” said they “lost faith in the organization’s board of directors, which they characterized as arrogant, authoritarian and dishonest,” according to the National Catholic Reporter. - Pope appeals to President Trump and world leaders: Find solutions to end war (Vatican News)
Speaking with journalists as he concluded his weekly visit to Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo said, “I’m told that President Trump recently stated that he would like to end the war.” “Hopefully he’s looking for an ‘off-ramp,’” the Pope continued. “Hopefully he’s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that’s being created and that’s increasing constantly in the Middle East and elsewhere.” The Pontiff urged world leaders to “come back to the table, to dialogue. Let’s look for solutions to problems, let’s look for ways to reduce the amount of violence that we’re promoting, that peace—especially at Easter—might reign in our hearts.” - Easter a time of hope: messages from Canadian bishops (The B.C. Catholic)
This article compiles the Easter messages of Archbishop Richard Smith of Vancouver; Canada’s Ukrainian Catholic bishops; and Bishop Pierre Goudreault, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. - Pope, in audience on Vatican II, speaks about the dignity and mission of the laity (CWN)
Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV spoke today about the dignity and mission of the laity. - White House responds to Pope Leo's words on the prayers of those who wage war (C-SPAN)
During his Palm Sunday homily, Pope Leo XIV preached, “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood’ (Is 1:15).” Asked by a reporter about the Pope’s words, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded: I think our nation was a nation founded 250 years ago, almost, on Judeo-Christian values, and we’ve seen presidents, we’ve seen the leaders of the Department of War and we’ve seen our troops go to prayer during the most turbulent times in our nation’s history, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our military leaders or with the president calling on the American people to pray for our service members in those who are serving our country overseas. In fact, I think it’s a noble thing to do, and if you talk to many service members, they’ll tell you they appreciate the prayers and support from the Commander in Chief and from his Cabinet. - Pope Leo to carry cross during Good Friday Via Crucis; Holy Land friar writes meditations (Vatican News)
The Vatican announced that Pope Leo XIV will carry the cross during the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome on Good Friday evening. Father Francesco Patton, O.F.M., is writing the meditations for the 14 stations; he served as the custos (Franciscan provincial) of the Holy Land from 2016 to 2025. - Supreme Court strikes down Colorado conversion therapy ban (Religion Clause)
In an 8-1 decision, the United States Supreme Court struck down the State of Colorado’s ban on attempts by licensed counselors to change the perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of minors. “The First Amendment is no word game,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in his majority opinion. “And the rights it protects cannot be renamed away or their protections nullified.” The attorney for the Christian counselor who challenged the law said, “Kids deserve real help affirming that their bodies are not a mistake and that they are wonderfully made. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today is a significant win for free speech, common sense, and families desperate to help their children.” The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined by the Colorado Catholic Conference and the Catholic University of America, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the counselor who challenged the ban. - Vatican official: Vocation ministry should focus on the interior life (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Commenting on Pope Leo’s message for the upcoming World Day of Prayer for Vocations, a Vatican official emphasized the importance of fostering the interior life in vocation ministry. Archbishop Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli, the secretary of the Dicastery for the Clergy, told the Vatican newspaper that “pausing in prayer, spending time with the Lord Jesus, listening to and meditating on His Word, allowing ourselves to be captivated by His beauty, and fostering these dimensions within our initiatives—this is what those involved in youth, family, and, consequently, vocational ministry must absolutely keep firmly in mind.” Archbishop Redaelli added: Young people, in fact, thirst for truth, for authenticity, and for meaning in their lives; and they can find this only if they encounter the God of Jesus Christ. Here, then, I would ask myself to what extent this is present ... We must place great emphasis on this: our primary work must focus on the interior life—within that “inner room” where God sees us in secret, speaks to us, and from where our deepest and most authentic choices emerge. - Vatican cancels 2026 World Children's Day (Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life)
The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life announced the cancellation of the Second World Children’s Day, originally scheduled to take place in Rome from September 25 to 27. “All initiatives aimed at the pastoral care of children may be celebrated, at the discretion of the Ordinaries, at a diocesan or parish level and with the involvement of families, the proper place for the human and spiritual growth of every child,” the dicastery said in its announcement. Last November, Pope Leo announced the dates of the Second World Children’s Day. (The first was held in 2024.) In February, the Pope abolished the Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day. - Vatican diplomat praises EU for response to Ukrainian refugees (Holy See Mission)
Addressing a UN meeting on refugees in Europe, a Vatican diplomat praised the European Union for extending until March 2027 its temporary protection of Ukrainian refugees. “Becoming a refugee is never a choice,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. “The right to life must be prioritized, and the principle of non-refoulement must be upheld. No person in need of protection should die at sea or at land borders due to withheld, delayed, or conditional assistance.” Archbishop Balestrero added: The Holy See supports efforts to develop more predictable, route-based responses, including strengthened search-and-rescue coordination. However, such an approach must also address the root causes of forced displacement, so that no one is compelled to leave his or her home due to a well founded fear of persecution. - Cardinal Sarah: The liturgy is not a place of battle (Catholic Herald)
Speaking with the French news channel CNews, Cardinal Robert Sarah said, “I understand that the Pope is concerned about this liturgical unity. It is not a place for battle. We have made it a place of battle, of combat. That is how we destroy the liturgy.” Cardinal Sarah, who served as the prefect of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2014 until 2021, added that “the Church is nothing without God.” “God must truly be placed at the center of our existence, at the center of our life, at the centre of our concerns,” he said. “If we detach the Church from this mission … the Church is useless.” - More...