Month: September 2025

SCRANTON – The Catholic Church recognizes the month of October as Respect Life Month and the first Sunday in October is designated as Respect Life Sunday.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate Respect Life Sunday Mass on Oct. 5, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The Mass is open to the public. Faithful from across the Diocese of Scranton are invited to attend the Respect Life Sunday Mass and focus on God’s precious gift of human life and our responsibility to care for, protect and defend the lives of our brothers and sisters.

Catholics are called to cherish, defend, and protect those who are most vulnerable, from the beginning of life to its end, and at every point in between. During the month of October, the Church asks us to reflect more deeply on the dignity of every human life.

For those unable to attend in-person, the Mass will be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton and the Diocese of Scranton’s YouTube Channel. The Mass will also be livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website with links provided on the Diocese of Scranton social media platforms.

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton’s annual Red Mass will be celebrated on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, at 12:10 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will be the principal celebrant. Reverend Paul A. McDonnell, O.S.J., will be the homilist.

Historically, the Red Mass is attended by judges, lawyers and legislators for the purpose of invoking God’s blessing and guidance in the administration of justice.

The public is invited to the Red Mass to pray for those in the legal, judicial and governmental professions. Members of the county bar associations from across the 11-county Diocese and the Diocesan Tribunal staff are also invited to participate.

Attendees will be asked to pray that decision-makers always serve the truth and to make and apply laws in ways that are right and just.

HARRISBURG – Under overcast skies and amid heightened security, more than 5,000 pro-life advocates from across the Commonwealth gathered at the State Capitol on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, for the fifth annual Pennsylvania March for Life.

Among them were hundreds of faithful people from the Diocese of Scranton who were united in their prayerful witness to the sanctity of human life. Many traveled by bus from parishes in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Poconos, and the Northern Tier.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, was one of several Pennsylvania Bishops who joined the crowds in Harrisburg. His presence was a source of encouragement for many in the crowd, especially first-time participants.

Among those making the trip to Harrisburg for his first Pennsylvania March for Life was Mike Casey of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Cresco.

“It was great. It was very emotional, and I had a great time,” Casey said. “Hopefully, it sends the message for pro-life. We need (to be) pro-life. We have to end the abortion of babies. There are other ways of dealing with that solution.”

Frank Socha, a seasoned marcher from the Northern Tier, echoed that sentiment.
“This is the fifth one I’ve been to and I’m pretty passionate about the fact that abortion is murder,” Socha said. “These unborn babies have the right to live.”

Socha’s group from the Bradford County area has grown steadily in attendance each year, requiring two buses this time.

“The first year of the March we had 29 people on the bus. Then we went to 42. Last year, we went to 70,” he added. “This year, without pushing we had over 70 people, so I said we had to get two buses.”

Cathy Moliski of Sayre said she was touched by many stories she heard while marching around the State Capitol Complex.

“A lady I was walking with, her daughter just told her, ‘I could have had an abortion, and I didn’t.’ She put her child up for adoption at some point and she said to her mom, I was on that line where I could have said I’m going to abort,” Moliski recalled.

NEXT GENERATION MARCHES FORWARD

More than a dozen students from Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre made the trip to the Pennsylvania March for Life alongside two chaperones.

Alex Snyder, a junior who plays football for the Luzerne County Catholic School, attended with his classmates at the encouragement of their teacher.

“It’s awesome the amount of people that came out,” Snyder said. “There are thousands of people here supporting the same cause.”

Noting the importance of pro-life activism, Snyder hopes to march again next year.
“One guy on our bus said he’s been coming for 35 years to all different marches, so I think it’s cool to be able to attend one. This is our first … and hopefully many more to come,” he added.

Maryann Lawhon, CEO, The VOICE of JOHN Ministry, who has been a pro-life champion for decades, found inspiration in seeing all the youth representation at the Pennsylvania March for Life.

“I love seeing our students for life out in number. This is so important,” Lawhon explained.

Lawhon shared the story of how discovering the body of an aborted child changed her life more than four decades ago.

“I found him after he had been aborted. He would be 48 years old this month. I had the privilege of baptizing him. I knew his name was John and the last words I spoke to John were: ‘I will be your voice,’” Lawhon said.

CALLS TO ACTION

Prior to the march itself, a series of speakers delivered deeply personal, faith-filled testimonies about the pro-life cause.

Dr. Robby Waller, an emergency room physician, told the story of unexpectedly adopting a newborn baby girl after her birth mother asked for her to be placed in a loving home.

“We named this little girl Amanda, which means ‘worthy of love,’” he said. “We are so grateful that her mother gave her to us because Mandi has been a source of joy since the day she came home.”

The keynote address was given by Ryan Bomberger, a nationally known pro-life advocate and founder of the Radiance Foundation.

Adopted after being conceived in rape, Bomberger said, “Although my birth mom was a victim of the violence of rape, she did not make me a victim of the violence of abortion. For that, I am forever grateful.”

Sarah Bowen, founding president of the Pennsylvania Pregnancy Wellness Collaborative, delivered a powerful message about ongoing support for women in crisis pregnancies.

“Some mothers desperately want to carry their babies but are overwhelmed by fear. They may be pressured by family or friends to choose abortion, and they look to pregnancy centers to hear that they can do it,” she explained.

Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of March for Life, also energized the crowd.

“Science is on our side,” she declared. “Let us keep marching together for as long as it takes until every woman, and every child, born and unborn, is cherished and protected.”

She highlighted current legislation in the Pennsylvania General Assembly that would require public schools to teach fetal development beginning at conception through computer-generated animation or high-def ultrasound.

“This would ensure that Pennsylvania students learn about the extraordinary journey of life that begins in the womb and open their eyes at a formative age to the humanity of the unborn child in a really powerful way,” Lichter said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV asked Catholics to pray the rosary each day in October for peace.

The pope made his request at the end of his weekly general audience Sept. 24 and the day after he said he had spoken again with the pastor of Holy Family Church in Gaza City, the only Latin-rite Catholic parish in Gaza.

“Thanks be to God everyone in the parish is fine,” but the Israeli strikes “are a little closer,” the pope told reporters in Castel Gandolfo Sept. 23 before heading back to the Vatican after a day’s rest. The parish is offering refuge and assistance to hundreds of Gaza residents.

Britain, Canada and Australia formally recognized Palestinian statehood Sept. 21, joining the Holy See and more than 150 countries that already had done so. Asked if that could help the situation, Pope Leo told reporters it “could help, but at this moment there really is no willingness to listen on the other side, so dialogue is currently broken.”

Regarding Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine, Pope Leo said that “someone is seeking an escalation, and it is continually becoming more dangerous.”

What is needed, he said, is to “halt military advances” and come to the negotiating table.

At the end of his audience Sept. 24, Pope Leo noted that October was approaching and that with the Oct. 7 feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Catholic Church traditionally dedicates the whole month to praying the rosary.

“I invite everyone to pray the rosary every day during the coming month — for peace — personally, with your families and in your communities,” he said.

The pope also invited Vatican officials and employees to pray the rosary together every October evening at 7 p.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica.

And he invited everyone to St. Peter’s Square Oct. 11 to pray the rosary together “during the vigil of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, also remembering the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council,” which began Oct. 11, 1962.

(OSV News) – President Donald Trump on Sept. 23 addressed the U.N. General Assembly amid the backdrop of conflict in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as world leaders still question the extent to which the U.S. will be involved in global affairs as the Trump administration implements its “America First” foreign policy.

But a few hours after his address to the assembly, and after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump wrote on his social media website Truth Social that Ukraine can win back all territory it lost to Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, marking a shift in tone from Trump’s previous calls on Kyiv to make concessions.

“After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Trump wrote. “With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win.”

Trump suggested there would be grave economic repercussions for Russia if they continue their invasion.

“When the people living in Moscow, and all of the Great Cities, Towns, and Districts all throughout Russia, find out what is really going on with this War, the fact that it’s almost impossible for them to get Gasoline through the long lines that are being formed, and all of the other things that are taking place in their War Economy, where most of their money is being spent on fighting Ukraine, which has Great Spirit, and only getting better, Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!” he wrote. “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act.”

Trump also said the U.S. would “continue to supply weapons to NATO for NATO to do what they want with them.”

Earlier this month, Russia conducted a drone incursion into Polish airspace. Poland is a NATO member nation. Under the terms of NATO, which was implemented in 1949, the group considers an attack against one or several of its members as an attack against all, and pledges collective defense in the face of such a scenario. There are currently 31 NATO members.

Poland and NATO allies shot down the drones, marking the first time in the history of NATO that alliance fighters engaged enemy targets in allied airspace, officials said.

During his address to the assembly, Trump said he wants a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, but said Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that the United States and other entities consider a terrorist organization, “has repeatedly rejected reasonable offers to make peace.”

“We can’t forget October 7, can we now?” Trump said in reference to Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel.

As some member countries have recognized a Palestinian state, Trump argued doing so would “encourage continued conflict.”

“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists for their atrocities,” Trump said, adding, “those who want peace should be united with one message: Release the hostages now. Just release the hostages now.”

During his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has appealed for both a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages. In his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 17, Pope Leo expressed his “profound closeness to the Palestinian people in Gaza,” and lamented
they “continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, forced once again to leave their lands.”

Elsewhere in his comments, Trump said United Nations countries were “being destroyed” by what he argued were their lax immigration policies, and touting his own hardline policies.

“Europe is in serious trouble. They’ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody’s ever seen before,” he said. “Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe.”

“Your countries are going to hell,” he added.

Trump claimed member nations are “supporting people that are illegally coming into the U.S.”
“And then we have to get them out,” he said.

“The U.N. is supposed to stop invasions, not create them and not finance them,” Trump said.

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles — the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

But Trump also questioned the organization itself, suggesting it should have supported him more in some of his attempts at conflict resolution.

“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” he said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it, it has such tremendous, tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential for the most part.”

Despite his harsh criticism of the United Nations, Trump struck a more conciliatory tone as he ended his remarks.

“Let us all work together to build a bright, beautiful planet,” he said. “A planet that we all share, a planet of peace in a world that is richer, better, and more beautiful than ever before. That can happen. It will happen.”

Earlier this month, the United Nations Annual Prayer Service, held at the Church of the Holy Family in Manhattan — just across First Avenue from U.N. headquarters and considered the U.N. parish — preceded the opening of the 80th U.N. General Assembly.

To Sign the ‘Cabrini’ Pledge, click here for English.

To Sign the ‘Cabrini’ Pledge, click here for Spanish.

 

(OSV News) – At the start of National Migration Week, taking place this year Sept. 22-28, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration invited the faithful to join “The Cabrini Pledge” and be guardians of hope for migrants and refugees.

Named after St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants and the first U.S. citizen to be canonized, the pledge was launched “as a reminder of our Church and nation’s immigrant heritage and a call to deeper engagement with our faith in response to current events,” according to a webpage explaining this initiative.

In a video message, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, recalled that “during her life of service, Mother Cabrini often faced great trials as an immigrant, a woman, and an advocate for the poor, but she never relented in her determination to build an empire of hope, sustained by her relationship with Christ in the Eucharist and in the face of those she served.”

An Italian immigrant who adopted this country as her own, Mother Cabrini also faced “discrimination and seemingly impossible odds, (yet) she never succumbed to hopelessness. With relentless faith, she accompanied her fellow immigrants and others living on the margins of society with a great missionary zeal,” the pledge’s webpage reads.

“Mother Cabrini’s challenges, and the challenges of those she served, are not unique among the generations of Catholics and immigrants in general who have come to this land,” said the initiative, and her witness can help in the “present reality in the life of our Church and nation.”

Launched in English and Spanish, the pledge-signing initiative’s call to be guardians of hope also resonates with Pope Leo XIV’s message for World Migrant and Refugee Day, in which he said that “migrants and refugees remind the Church of her pilgrim dimension, perpetually journeying towards her final homeland, sustained by a hope that is a theological virtue.”

In addition to offering resources – including USCCB documents on Catholic social teaching, prayers, and information about migration policies – the actions the pledge invites people to take include “to affirm, in word and deed, the inherent dignity of every person, regardless of immigration status or country of origin, seeing each as a child of God before all else.”

The pledge also invites people to make a commitment to fraternal encounter, civic dialogue, and prayer for all those who are searching for a new home, as well as to listen to the realities of migrants and refugees and the circumstances they face and to consider how they are called to “reflect the love and hope of Christ to others.”

The week prior, the USCCB reiterated its longstanding efforts to show solidarity with immigrants “amid the fear and anxiety prompted by current immigration enforcement efforts.” In a Sept. 28 statement, the bishops also said that “National Migration Week invites Catholics across the country to reflect on how hope can shape and inform our collective response to migration.”

In his video about “The Cabrini Pledge,” Bishop Seitz invited people to “make an intentional commitment to living out the Gospel not in abstraction but through acts of solidarity that affirm the human dignity of every person.”

“Through prayer, encounter, and civic engagement, we can transform fear into compassion and create a world where no one feels less than human because of their immigration status,” Bishop Seitz said.

NEW YORK (OSV News) – A new 25-foot-high mural that covers the walls of the entrance to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and was officially dedicated before Mass Sept. 21 celebrates New York’s sacred and secular history.

The largest permanent artwork commissioned in the 146-year history of “America’s Parish Church,” the painting depicts the apparition at Knock in Ireland, along with New York saints, servants of God, immigrants and first responders.

At a morning press event Sept. 18, New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Brooklyn artist Adam Cvijanovic unveiled the mural, and the cardinal discussed how his initial vision for a representation of the Knock apparition evolved.

“This became not only an ode to Jesus and Mary and Joseph and St. John and the faith of the Irish people who were so instrumental in this archdiocese, it also became an ode to those who followed them and found in this city, this country, and yes, in this Holy Mother Church, an embrace of welcome,” Cardinal Dolan said.

“I thought when I started making this painting, that the important thing to do was to make it about people and portraits,” Cvijanovic said of his work, which is titled, “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding.”

“So, everybody in this painting is an actual person. They’re all portraits. Even the angels,” he said. “And that seemed to me to be a really, really important thing to do, to talk about the people of the city, all of them, and to have it in some place that people could go in New York and feel themselves recognized in the context of respect and hope.”

Father Enrique Salvo, himself an immigrant from Nicaragua, said that the story told on the panels was particularly meaningful for him.

“If you would have told me that I was going to be the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, when I came to this country, I would have never believed it,” he said. “But with God, all things are possible, and hopefully it’s an inspiration for everyone that walks in, that we’re not only welcome, but we’re also invited to make a difference and to let God shine through us.”

Cardinal Dolan noted that he originally wanted the mural as part of the last major renovation of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 2012, but the cathedral’s trustees advised that he wait. He thanked them for their wise advice.

“I’m kind of glad now, because it matured — it was like a crock pot,” he said.

Cardinal Dolan said that major benefactors covered the cost of the mural, and expressed his gratitude that no further funds needed to be raised to complete the project.

“My wife and I support a lot of causes that are more direct, such as education, feeding the hungry, healthcare, social services, and things like that,” said Kevin Conway, who with his wife, Dee, were major benefactors of the mural. “But this struck me as a project that we could honor a good friend, His Eminence (Cardinal Dolan), but more importantly, you could make an impact and tell a story to the millions of people who come through these doors, and tell an important story.”

Each panel tells a different part of the New York story, along with the apparition at Knock — an 1879 vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist, angels and the Lamb of God — witnessed by more than a dozen townspeople in County Mayo, Ireland, the same year St. Patrick’s Cathedral was consecrated.

One panel depicts early immigrants to New York and features a likeness of a young girl — for whom an image of Cardinal Dolan’s late mother, Shirley, served as the model.

“I am thrilled that she is here among those,” he said, pointing out that his mother herself was not an immigrant.

Another panel features New Yorkers of consequence to the church, including Archbishop John Hughes, the first archbishop of New York; St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American and and the church’s first Indigenous from North America; former New York Gov.Al Smith; Servant of God Dorothy Day; and Venerable Pierre Toussaint.

(OSV News) – Charlie Kirk was an “influential figure” in his own election, President Donald Trump said at a memorial service for the Turning Point USA founder and conservative activist Sept. 21 at State Farm Stadium in Arizona.

“None of us will ever forget Charlie Kirk, and neither now will history,” Trump said.

Kirk was killed Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem. After his death, Kirk received praise from his allies in conservative politics for his willingness to debate and his advocacy for their cause. However, in discussions about his legacy, his critics also pointed to his controversial political rhetoric on subjects including race, persons experiencing same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria, and immigrants.

Trump’s remarks showed how tied Kirk was to his own political operation, saying sometimes Kirk would call him and ask him to speak at an event on very short notice.

“Charlie would often call me sometimes the night before a big event on the other side of the country, and ask me and say, ‘Do you think you could come and speak at the event the following day?'” Trump said. “I’d say, Charlie … I’m the president of the United States. You want me to travel four hours by plane? And you know, sometimes I did it.”

Trump also quipped at one point that Kirk “was among the first to speak to me about a man from Ohio by the name of JD Vance, have you ever heard of him?”

Vice President JD Vance and Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, and Cabinet officials were also among those who addressed the memorial.

Erika Kirk, who was named Turning Point USA’s CEO after her husband’s death, said she felt “a level of heartache that I didn’t even know existed” but that “God’s love continued to be revealed to me in the days that followed.”

“After Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence, we didn’t see rioting, we
didn’t see revolution,” she said. “Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country. We saw revival.”

Erika Kirk urged those in attendance to embrace what she called a Christian understanding of “true manhood” because she said her husband, an evangelical Christian, was passionate about reaching “lost boys.”

“Please be a leader worth following,” she said. “Your wife is not your servant, your wife is not your employee. Your wife is not your slave. She is your helper. You are not rivals. You are one flesh, working together for the glory of God.”

She also urged women to “be virtuous.”

Her husband, she said, “died with incomplete work, but not with unfinished business.”

“He wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life,” Erika said, adding, “That young man, I forgive him.”

“The answer to hate is not hate,” she said. “The answer, we know from the Gospel, is love. It’s always love.”

In his comments, Trump appeared to reference Erika Kirk’s comments, saying Kirk “did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s what I disagreed with Charlie (on), I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them.”

“I’m sorry, I am sorry, Erika, but now, Erika, you can talk to me and the whole group, and maybe they can convince me that that’s not right,” he said.

Vance said, “Our whole administration is here, but not just because we loved Charlie as a friend — even though we did — but because we know we wouldn’t be here without Charlie. He built an organization that reshaped the balance of our politics.”

Turning Point Action was among the groups the Trump campaign used to oversee its get-out-the-vote effort in Arizona, a key swing state in the 2024 election. Volunteers for the organization were registering attendees to vote before the memorial service.

Vance called Kirk “a hero to the United States of America, and “a martyr for the Christian faith.”

Law enforcement officials have identified and arrested a suspect in Kirk’s shooting. They have attributed the alleged shooter’s motive — in part — to his views on Kirk’s position on transgender issues.

Vance and other officials in the Trump administration previously suggested they would seek to target what the vice president called “left-wing extremism” after Kirk’s killing, although law enforcement officials have said they believe the shooter acted alone.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV prayed that the leaders of nations would use money and resources to promote the common good rather than using “wealth against humanity” by “turning it into weapons that destroy peoples or monopolies that humiliate workers.”

“Whoever serves God becomes free from wealth; but whoever serves wealth remains its slave,” the pope said Sept. 21 in his homily in the Vatican’s parish Church of St. Anne.

“Whoever seeks justice transforms wealth into the common good,” the pope said, and “whoever seeks domination turns the common good into prey for their own greed.”

The day’s Gospel reading was Jesus’ parable of the dishonest steward from Luke 16:1-13. It ends with Jesus saying, “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

At both the morning Mass in the small church located just inside Vatican City State and in his midday Angelus address with thousands of pilgrims and visitors in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo urged Catholics to consider their relationship to money and material goods.

He also used his Angelus address to thank Catholic organizations holding prayer vigils for peace and raising money for humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“I appreciate your initiative and many others throughout the Church that express closeness to our brothers and sisters who are suffering in that tormented land,” Pope Leo said. “Together with you and with the pastors of the churches in the Holy Land, I repeat: There is no future based on violence, forced exile or revenge. The people need peace; those who truly love them work for peace.”

A group of people in the square were holding a colorful banner that said, in Italian, “Peace for Gaza.” The pope’s call for an end to the violence was met with applause.

At the Mass earlier in the Church of St. Anne, staffed by his Augustinian confreres, the pope prayed that parishioners would “persevere with hope in a time seriously threatened by war.”

“Entire peoples today are being crushed by violence — and even more so by a shameless indifference that abandons them to a fate of misery,” the pope told parishioners. “Faced with these tragedies, we do not want to be resigned, but to proclaim in word and deed that Jesus is the savior of the world, the one who delivers us from all evil.”

Pope Leo prayed that the Holy Spirit would convert hearts “so that, nourished by the Eucharist — the church’s supreme treasure — we may become witnesses of charity and peace.”

Later, in his Angelus address, the pope said Jesus’ parable “invites us to ask ourselves: How are we managing the material goods, the resources of the earth and our very lives that God has entrusted to us?”

Each person must make a choice, he said. “We can follow the way of selfishness, placing wealth above all else and thinking only of ourselves. But this isolates us from others and spreads the poison of competition, which often fuels conflict.”

On the other hand, he said, “we can recognize everything we have as a gift from God, to be managed and used as an instrument for sharing — to create networks of friendship and solidarity, to work for the common good and to build a world that is more just, equitable and fraternal.”

ROME (CNS) – In a frescoed hall of a building housing the Catholic Church’s highest courts, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. spoke about faith, mercy, tradition and hope.

The justice, a Catholic, was in Rome for the Sept. 20 celebration of the Jubilee of Justice, which brought together thousands of judges, lawyers, prosecuting attorneys, law professors and canon lawyers from some 100 nations.

The celebration featured an audience with Pope Leo XIV, who holds a doctorate in canon law and spoke about justice as involving respect for the law and for the dignity of the person as well as promoting reconciliation and forgiveness.

In the evening, in the Vatican’s Palazzo della Cancelleria, Alito sat down for a public conversation with Msgr. Laurence Spiteri, a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and a judge on the Roman Rota, a Vatican court.

The two were introduced by Brian F. Burch, the newly arrived U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, who praised Alito as a justice who has consistently defended religious freedom.

The justice quoted Pope Francis who would often talk about how there are more martyrs today than in the first centuries of Christianity.

“Unfortunately, religious liberty is embattled today,” he said. And while there are threats to people’s religious freedom in the United States, “the situation in America and Western Europe pales in comparison with what is going on in the rest of the world” with terrorist attacks on Christians, like in parts of Nigeria, or in nations “where Christianity is hardly permitted.”

Asked about Pope Leo’s statement earlier in the day that mercy is an integral part of justice, Alito said he agreed, and that mercy should be built into laws as they are drafted and adopted, as they are enforced and, particularly, when sentences are handed down.

Alito was asked about the current composition of the Supreme Court and the frequently floated idea of changing the number of justices from its current nine members.

While the framers of Constitution did not specify the number of members, he said, it is clear they meant it to be a multimember body.

With nine justices, he said, “you are guaranteeing diverse backgrounds” in terms of experience, education and faiths, which leads to the necessary rigorous debate.

“If people of good faith talk to each other civilly and rationally,” he said, the results are better than if just one person is making the decision.

Alito, who was appointed to the court in 2005 by President George W. Bush, said the current court members sometimes “disagree quite sharply, but I can say that it has never been personal,” and no member has questioned the good faith of another. “Our role is to learn from each other.”

A member of the audience asked Alito about the role of precedence or previous court rulings in the court’s decision making. The questioner noted that for the church, laws are interpreted according to Scripture and tradition.

“The authority of the church comes from God through the Apostles,” he said, “while the authority of the Supreme Court has a secular source, it comes through our Constitution.”

The “important similarity,” he said, is “the value of the body of decisions that have been developed over time with input from different sources.”

Generally, Alito said, relying on precedence provides stability for a society and equality under the law.

“Past decisions represent the wisdom of the people who made them and are deserving of respect,” he said, “but precedence is not absolutely binding” because it is important for a society to have the ability to go back and correct mistakes.