Catholic News
- Pope Leo: Mystical phenomena are not indispensable for holiness (Dicastery for Communication (Italian))
Addressing participants in a conference organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo XIV said that extraordinary mystical phenomena are not “indispensable conditions for recognizing holiness,” which consists in conformity to the will of God. Such phenomena, the Pope said yesterday, are not “individual privileges,” but are “ordered to the edification of the whole Church, the Mystical Body of Christ.” The “Magisterium, theology and spiritual authors,” he said, “have also provided criteria for distinguishing authentic spiritual phenomena, which can occur in an atmosphere of prayer and sincere search for God, from manifestations that can be deceptive.” “What is most important and most must be emphasized in the examination of candidates for sainthood is their full and constant conformity to the will of God, revealed in the Scriptures and in the living apostolic Tradition,” Pope Leo added. “It is therefore important to have balance: just as Causes of Canonization should not be promoted only in the presence of exceptional phenomena, care must be taken not to penalize them if the same phenomena characterize the life of the Servants of God.” - Pope warns against 'premature, unlimited, and unsupervised digital access' for the young (Dicastery for Communication)
Addressing participants in a meeting organized by the Foundation for the Study and Research on Childhood and Adolescence, Pope Leo XIV warned against granting “premature, unlimited, and unsupervised digital access” to young people. “Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to manipulation through AI algorithms that can influence their decisions and preferences,” Pope Leo said during the audience, which took place yesterday in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. “It is essential that parents and educators be aware of these dynamics, and that tools be developed to monitor and guide young people’s interactions with technology.” “It is indeed important to draft and enforce ethical guidelines, but that is not enough,” the Pope added, as he called for “ daily, ongoing educational efforts ... Only by taking an educational, ethical and responsible approach can we ensure that artificial intelligence serves as an ally, and not a threat, in the growth and development of children and adolescents.” - Papal message: Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum is relevant today (Dicastery for Communication (Spanish))
In a message to participants in the 31st Argentine Industrial Conference, Pope Leo XIV paid recalled the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, in which Pope Leo XIII “denounced the unjust conditions of many workers” and emphasized “the right to a just wage, to form associations, and to live with dignity.” “These teachings, born in a time of profound industrial transformations, continue to have surprising relevance in the globalized world we inhabit, where the dignity of the worker often continues to be violated,” Pope Leo XIV continued. The Pope upheld the example of Ven. Enrique Shaw (1921-1962), an Argentine businessman who “demonstrated that Social Doctrine is not an abstract theory or an unrealizable utopia, but a path that is possible and transforms the lives of people and institutions by placing Christ at the center of all human activity.” - US bishops express opposition to 'indiscriminate mass deportation' (USCCB)
In a 216-5 vote at their fall meeting in Baltimore, the US bishops approved a rare special pastoral message on immigration. The bishops stated, “To our immigrant brothers and sisters, we stand with you in your suffering, since, when one member suffers, all suffer (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26). You are not alone!” “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the bishops added. “We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement. We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials.” - Cardinal Parolin: Blessed John Paul I was a 'great Pope' who left 'indelible mark' on Church history (Vatican News (Italian))
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, paid tribute to Blessed John Paul I as he dedicated a rehabilitation center named after the Pontiff. Pope John Paul I, who reigned for a month in 1978, “taught that we love God by loving our neighbor: the two loves are inseparable twins,” said Cardinal Parolin, who serves as president of the John Paul I Vatican Foundation. “His was a simple charity, manifested in everyday life; it was made up of small gestures. And it was also a smiling charity. The poor, he said, are the treasure of the Church.” Cardinal Parolin invited the employees of the rehabilitation center, located in Rome’s Romanina neighborhood, “to draw inspiration continually from the figure of this great Pope, who left an indelible mark on the history of the Church despite his brief pontificate.” - Vatican diplomat stresses value of UN peacekeeping operations (Holy See Mission)
Addressing a UN committee meeting on UN peacekeeping operations, a Vatican diplomat said that “at a time of heightened geopolitical tension and attempts to undermine multilateralism, peacekeeping serves as a reminder that the pursuit of peace is a shared responsibility.” “Despite facing challenges, its positive impact on stabilizing fragile settings, protecting civilians and facilitating political transitions is undeniable and merits renewed support,” said Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. Archbishop Caccia added: My Delegation emphasizes the urgent need to ensure that peacekeeping mandates are clear, realistic and adequately supported. It is essential to adapt mission structures, strengthen the capacity of peace operations to protect civilians, and ensure that peacekeeping is more deeply integrated into comprehensive political, humanitarian, and development strategies ... My Delegation pays heartfelt tribute to all peacekeepers, especially those who have lost their lives in serving peace. - Abducted Haitian priest freed (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Father Jean Julien Ladouceur, the national director of the Haitian episcopal conference’s Commission for Catholic Education, was freed earlier this week, the Vatican newspaper reported. Father Ladouceur and three of his associates were kidnapped last month. The associates have also been freed. - Congolese bishops' official laments 'blood minerals' (Vatican News (French))
The bishops’ conference of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has sent four delegates to COP30, the UN climate change conference in Brazil. One of them—Jeanne-Marie Abanda, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Natural Resources—decried the phenomenon of “conflict minerals,” or “blood minerals.” “We are suffering an unjust war, a war we call the mineral war,” Abanda told Vatican News. “Our minerals have become blood minerals, because neighboring countries are being armed to attack us and then seize our minerals. Every phone we hold in our hands contains the blood of Congolese people, because it is Congolese coltan that is used to make phones.” Abanda added, “The Congolese people need peace. The Congolese can sell their minerals through normal channels. They don’t have to kill us to take our minerals.” - Vatican newspaper editor critiques Palantir Technologies' meritocracy fellowship (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Andrea Monda, the director of L’Osservatore Romano, has written an op-ed criticizing the Meritocracy Fellowship of the software company Palantir Technologies. Recalling the palantir of J.R.R. Tolkien’s literature, Monda critiqued the fellowship’s goal of avoiding indoctrination in college: “the ‘Palantir’ in the novel is a tool (a kind of crystal ball that allows remote communication) that serves precisely this purpose: brainwashing! Just as the Fellowship, the Company Tolkien speaks of, is anything but meritocratic!” Monda concluded: The already disturbing meritocratic project taking hold in the most developed valley on the planet has absolutely nothing to do with the green valleys of the Hobbit Shire of Middle-earth. If “Palantir Technologies” intended to borrow Tolkien’s language, then behind it are not peaceful hobbits, but malevolent lords of evil who have already plundered this extraordinary novel, which, let’s face it, doesn’t deserve it! - Apostleship of the Sea established as canonical legal entity (Vatican News)
In an Italian-language chirograph dated November 6 and released November 13, Pope Leo XIV established the Apostleship of the Sea as a canonical legal entity to supervise the Opus Apostolatus Maris (Work of Apostleship of the Sea), which received Vatican approval in 1922. Praedicate Evangelium, the 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, entrusted the Work of Apostleship of the Sea to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The apostolate “provides for the specific pastoral care of the ‘people of the sea,’ that is, sailors, seafarers and their families, as well as other people whose lives are existentially linked to navigation and fishing on the seas, rivers and lakes,” the Pope wrote in his chirograph. - US bishops elect conference secretary, committee chairmen (USCCB)
At their fall meeting in Baltimore (recap), the US bishops elected Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend as conference secretary. He succeeds Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, who was elected conference president. The bishops also elected six committee chairmen, including Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia as chairman-elect of the Committee on International Justice and Peace. OSV News and The Pillar offered extensive coverage of the November 10-13 gathering. - Background: World Day of the Poor (CWN)
On November 16, the Sunday before the Solemnity of Christ the King, the Church commemorates the 9th World Day of the Poor. The theme of the Pope Leo’s message for the day, released on the memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, patron saint of the poor (June 13), is “You are my hope” (cf. Ps 71:5). - German bishops, Vatican officials discuss German pastoral plans (Vatican Press Office)
Representatives of the German bishops’ conference met with Vatican officials on November 12, continuing discussions on the German bishops’ plan for a synodal conference—a plan that has drawn criticism from Rome for downgrading episcopal authority. The Vatican press office said that the session had been “characterized by a sincere, open and constructive atmosphere.” Similar discussions between German bishops and Vatican officials had been held in July 2023, March 2024, and June 2024. The importance that the Vatican attaches to the meetings was highlighted by the participants: Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State; Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Archbishop Filippo Iannone, the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship; and Cardinal Kurt Koch, the prefect of the Dicastery for Christian Unity. The German bishops’ delegation was headed by Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the episcopal conference, and included Bishops Stephan Ackermann, Bertram Meier, and Franz-Josef Overbeck. - US bishops vote to bar gender-altering treatment at Catholic hospitals (Pillar)
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted on November to alter the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, explicitly barring gender-altering treatments. The guidelines will state that Catholic health-care institutions “must not provide or permit medical interventions, whether surgical, hormonal, or genetic, that aim not to restore but rather to alter the fundamental order of the human body in its form or function.” The Ethical and Religious Directives are not binding on Catholic hospitals; local bishops are responsible for oversight of the Catholic health-care institutions in their dioceses. Some Catholic hospitals have allowed for “gender-affirming” treatment. The Catholic Health Association issued a statement in response to the bishops’ vote, saying that “Catholic providers will continue to welcome those who seek medical care from us and identify as transgender.” - Vatican tribunal rules against listing 'credibly accused' priests (Pillar)
The Vatican’s top canonical court has reportedly ruled that the release of lists of priests who have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse can be a violation of the priests’ rights. According to a report in the Italian daily La Repubblica, the Roman Rota ruled in favor of an American priest who sued a religious order for publishing his name on a list of “credibly accused” priests. Such a decision, which could be subject to appeal, could challenge to policies of the many dioceses and religious orders that have released “credibly accused” lists. The Vatican has not confirmed the report of the Roman Rota’s decision. The case reportedly was brought by a priest who said that the listing of his name damaged his reputation without providing him an opportunity to defend his good name. Last September, the Vatican Dicastery for Legislative Texts issued a caution on the release of “credibly accused” lists, emphasizing the right of those accused to the presumption of innocence. The dicastery acknowledged that a listing could be justified in order “to avoid any danger or threat to individuals or to the community,” but argued forcefully against posting such lists “for alleged reasons of transparency.” - Give fishermen a voice in fishing policies, Vatican dicastery urges (Vatican Press Office)
In a statement for World Fisheries Day, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development has urged that ordinary fishermen should have a voice in the formation of international policies governing the industry. The statement from Cardinal Michael Czerny views with regret a “highly industrialized” approach to fishing, in which workers have little control over their conditions. The Vatican statement says that if fishermen are not given a voice, policies will be set by more powerful interests, and executives who “live and reason from the comfortable position of a high level of development and a quality of life well beyond the reach of the majority of the world’s population.” - Pope notes synodality in Augustinian nuns' mission (Vatican News)
Meeting on November 13 with participants in an assembly of the Italian Federation of Augustinian Monasteries, Pope Leo XIV called attention to three aspects of the Augustinian charism: “living and bearing witness to the joy of the union with God,” “the witness of charity,” and “the Federation itself.” Explaining the last item, the Pontiff said that the meetings of nuns from different communities illustrates the synodal character of the Church, “particularly needed in a world that in many ways is becoming less open to dialogue and sharing.” - Vatican conference participants: AI should assist, not replace physicians (Vatican News (Italian))
Participants in a three-day Vatican conference on AI and medicine issued a statement at the conference’s conclusion. “The intrinsic dignity of every human being and the fraternity that unites us as members of the one human family must underpin the development of new technologies and serve as indisputable criteria for evaluating them before their use,” according to the final statement at the conference, organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life and International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations. The statement continued: It is essential that AI be an aid that improves clinical judgment, supports diagnostic accuracy, and improves patient outcomes, without ever replacing the physician’s expertise, empathy, or responsibility ... Decisions regarding patient treatment and the burden of responsibility they entail must always remain the responsibility of humans and must never be delegated to AI. - Papal tribute to newly beatified Indian nun (Dicastery for Communication (Italian))
At the conclusion of his weekly general audience, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to Blessed Eliswa Vakayil (1831-1913), who was recently beatified in India. “Last Saturday in Kochi, in the Indian state of Kerala, Mother Eliswa Vakayil, who lived in the 19th century, foundress of the Third Order of the Teresian Discalced Carmelites, was beatified,” Pope Leo said to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “Her courageous commitment to the emancipation of the poorest girls is a source of inspiration for those who work, in the Church and in society, for the dignity of women.” The Vatican omitted the Pope’s words from its English translation of his remarks. - Italian bishops publish introduction to Islam for use in schools (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana)
The Italian Episcopal Conference, in conjunction with the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, has published 11 chapters on Islam for use in schools. The publication of the text follows the recent publication of An Introduction to Judaism in 16 Chapters, jointly published by the Italian Episcopal Conference and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities. - More...