Catholic News
- 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. - 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.” - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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.” - USCCB: 1986 pastoral letter on the economy remains relevant today (CWN)
Economic Justice for All, the U.S. bishops’ 1986 pastoral letter on Catholic social teaching and the U.S. economy, remains relevant today, according to a resource published yesterday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. - 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. - Cardinal Brandmüller questions episcopal conferences, calls for restoration of local synods (CWN)
The president emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Historical Sciences questioned the development of episcopal conferences in recent centuries and called for a restoration of synods, understood as regional gatherings of bishops. - Cardinal Müller recounts day on film set with Mel Gibson (OSV News)
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said in an interview that he spent a day on the film set of Mel Gibson’s forthcoming movie on the Resurrection. “We spoke for some hours,” said Cardinal Müller. “We spent together the whole day ... The film is not only about a historical event 2,000 years ago, but about the present Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, present as head of the Church for all the believers.” Cardinal Müller said that Cardinal Raymond Burke, Rev. Franklin Graham, Pastor Samuel Rodriguez were also present at the filming. - Pope Leo ends COVID-era salary cuts (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV issued an apostolic letter ending Pope Francis’s COVID-era salary cuts for cardinals and senior Vatican officials. - New leader appointed at a critical time for Belarus' Byzantine Catholics (Pillar)
Pope Leo XIV appointed Father Liavoncij Tumouski, M.S.U., as apostolic administrator for Byzantine Catholics in Belarus. Father Tumouski succeeds Archimandrite Jan Sergiusz Gajek, M.I.C., 77. “For Byzantine Catholics in Belarus, Tumouski’s nomination marks a generational change,” The Pillar reported. “Gajek has led the community for more than three decades, since his appointment as apostolic visitor by Pope John Paul II in 1993. Now he is passing the responsibility to a younger man, who is called to build on Gajek’s legacy and encourage new expressions of Byzantine Rite Catholicism within parameters tightly defined by the state.” - Pope visits Vatican Library, says reading books can feed the desire for God (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV visited the Vatican Apostolic Library on September 14, his 71st birthday, and said that “if on the one hand a book brings calm, on the other it awakens a restlessness, feeding the desire and daring to search.” - Pope provides for expansion of Vatican Archive and Library (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV issued a chirograph, “Il notevole incremento,” that provides for the expansion of the Vatican Apostolic Archive and the Vatican Apostolic Library. - End deportation of 'large numbers' of Haitians, Archbishop Coakley urges President Trump (USCCB)
The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called upon President Donald Trump to “avoid further endangering innocent human life by ceasing the deportation of large numbers of people to Haiti at this time, particularly while there is not an adequate system in place to provide for their safe and orderly reception and reintegration.” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City wrote: As citizens of this great country, we have been entrusted with a tremendous moral responsibility, and this is true most of all for you as our head of state, Mr. President. To this end, I respectfully ask: What good is the immense wealth, prosperity, and influence with which we have been blessed as a nation if not used in service of our humanity? In June, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration has the authority to end temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians and Syrians whom an earlier Secretary of Homeland Security had permitted to live temporarily in the United States—in the Haitians’ case, since the 2010 earthquake there; in the Syrians’ case, since 2012, because of repression under then-President Bashar al-Assad. - Russia is not a defender of Christian values, Ukrainian Catholic leader says (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church dismissed the notion that Russia is a defender of Christian values. “Russian propaganda is based on so-called traditional values. And the tradition they refer to is by no means Christian,” Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in an interview with an Italian newspaper. “They exploit family values for military purposes and preach a theology of death rather than resurrection. This has absolutely nothing to do with Christian values or God’s commandments.” Major Archbishop Shevchuk also told Il Foglio: An Orthodox priest who does not want to pray for the war, but prays for peace, is not merely a dissident—he is considered a heretic. Wherein lies his fault? It lies in the fact that he does not support this ‘new theology,’ which combines elements of Christianity with the communist and Marxist ideology of the Soviet Union in the form of a new kind of religious syncretism - Vatican diplomat calls for subsidiarity in international development decisions (Holy See Mission)
Stating that “nobody should be a passive recipient of decisions made by others,” a Vatican diplomat emphasized the importance of subsidiarity in international development decisions. “Participation is best ensured through subsidiarity, with decisions taken as close as possible to those affected, and with higher authorities complementing, but never supplanting, families, communities and the intermediary bodies of society,” Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said during a meeting with the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to development. “Participation should also promote integral human development, addressing every person’s spiritual, cultural, moral, and relational dimensions, as well as their economic needs,” the prelate continued. “Participation therefore requires the active involvement of faith-based communities, through which individuals can express their convictions and pursue the common good.” - Chinese priest sees Sino-Vatican agreement as 'realistic response' (Fides)
Fides, the news agency of the Pontifical Mission Societies, published an article by a Chinese priest for the upcoming 100th anniversary of the consecration of six Chinese bishops by Pope Pius XI. Father Paul Han Qingping, who teaches Church history at the major seminary of Hebei, said that the 2018 provisional agreement on episcopal appointments “was not a perfect institutional design, but it at least acknowledged a fundamental fact: in contemporary China, the issue of bishop appointment cannot be separated from the State’s existing political structure, nor can it be separated from the Catholic theological principles of apostolic succession and communion with the successor of St. Peter.” “In this sense, this agreement is not a simple diplomatic compromise between the two sides, but a historical exploration,” he continued. “It attempts to find a new balance between national sovereignty and the universality of the Church.” The priest added that “for the ‘Sinicization of religion’ to have true vitality, it should not pursue a simple adaptation of Christianity to Chinese culture, nor should it be a complete assimilation of religion by culture. Rather, it should achieve a deeper mutual shaping between faith and Chinese civilization while maintaining the core of the Gospel message.” “Today, what the Chinese church needs is not merely more use of Chinese liturgy, architectural styles, and folk music, but rather the establishment of a truly Chinese expression of Christian faith at the philosophical, theological, anthropological, spiritual, and psychological levels,” he said. “The Chinese Church’s most significant contribution in the future may therefore lie not primarily in institutional development (although this is necessary and important), but in providing the world with a new humanistic perspective that integrates Christian spirit, Chinese wisdom, and modern scientific awareness.” - Amid tensions, leading Canadian bishop says 'we are neighbors' (National Catholic Reporter)
The president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops reflected on current tensions between the United States and Canada. Bishop Pierre Goudreault of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Quebec, told the National Catholic Reporter that “we have a lot in common and, very recently, the relationship was very good. We hope it will continue.” Catholics, he added, should not foment polarization, but instead “walk together in a spirit of peace.” - Massachusetts Catholic parents fighting for custody of their trans teen: report (New York Post)
A Massachusetts Catholic father and mother said that they are fighting for the custody of their 17-year-old daughter after her public school assisted with her “gender transition.” The New York Post reported that “Joseph and Arlene Kutzko are completely cut off from their 17-year-old daughter Sophie, whom child protective services removed from their care in 2024 allegedly because they would not recognize the biological female as a boy, the couple told Fox’s Lighthouse Faith podcast.” - More...