Year: 2025

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A society cannot pretend to be pro-family if it does not adopt policies that allow parents and children to spend time together rather than always being worried about work, Pope Leo XIV said.

“In a society that often exalts productivity and speed at the expense of relationships, it becomes urgent to restore time and space to the love that is learned within the family, where the first experiences of trust, gift and forgiveness are woven – forming the very fabric of social life,” he said Oct. 24.

Pope Leo made the comments during a meeting with faculty, staff, students and alumni of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences.

Praising the intuition of St. John Paul II for launching the graduate school and Pope Francis for insisting its curriculum be multidisciplinary, Pope Leo asked for particular attention to drawing from and strengthening reflections on the role of the family in Catholic social teaching.

The institute, he said, is called to contribute to “the ongoing renewal of dialogue between family life, the world of work and social justice — addressing issues of pressing relevance such as peace, the care of life and health, integral human development, youth employment, economic sustainability and equal opportunities between men and women, all of which influence the decision to marry and to bring children into the world.”

The church and its ministers cannot be “content merely to speak about the truth” concerning marriage and family life, Pope Leo said, but it must “promote concrete and coordinated actions in support of the family,” including through government policies.

“In fact, the quality of a country’s social and political life is measured above all by how it enables families to live well — to have time for themselves and to cultivate the bonds that unite them,” the pope said.

In “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”), Pope Francis’ 2016 post-synodal exhortation on marriage, love and family life, Pope Leo said, the late pope wrote with tenderness to pregnant women, “urging them to cherish the joy of bringing a new life into the world.”

“His words express a simple yet profound truth: human life is a gift and must always be welcomed with respect, care and gratitude,” Pope Leo said. “Therefore, in the face of so many mothers who experience pregnancy in conditions of loneliness or marginalization, I feel the duty to remind everyone that both the civil and ecclesial communities must remain constantly committed to restoring full dignity to motherhood.”

The pope also spoke about what he called “the growing tendency in many parts of the world to undervalue or even reject marriage.”

The church’s first response, he said, must be “to be attentive to the action of God’s grace in the heart of every man and woman. Even when young people make choices that do not correspond to the ways proposed by the church according to the teaching of Jesus, the Lord continues to knock at the door of their hearts, preparing them to receive a new inner call.”

The church’s pastoral workers must recognize that “our time is marked not only by tensions and ideologies that confuse hearts, but also by a growing quest for spirituality, truth and justice — especially among the young,” he said. “To welcome and care for this longing is one of the most beautiful and urgent tasks before us all.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The current abuse of vulnerable migrants is not the legitimate exercise of national sovereignty, Pope Leo XIV said, but rather it represents a serious crime being committed or tolerated by the government.

“Ever more inhuman measures are being adopted – even celebrated politically – that treat these ‘undesirables’ as if they were garbage and not human beings,” he said without mentioning any specific country during an address to so-called popular movements meeting at the Vatican Oct. 23.

“States have the right and the duty to protect their borders, but this should be balanced by the moral obligation to provide refuge,” he said.

For Christians, the pope said, God is love, and he “creates us and calls us to live as brothers and sisters.”

The theme of protecting the rights and dignity of the world’s immigrants was just one issue the pope addressed in a major speech that laid out some of the “new” social ills the church must focus on, such as: the deadly opioid crisis in the United States; online gambling; consumeristic lifestyles fueled by social media; so-called “conflict minerals”; and the poor being given easy access to new technologies while their fundamental needs of food, shelter and work are cut off or ignored.

The gathering in the Paul VI Audience Hall was part of the Jubilee of Popular Movements and the Fifth World Meeting of Popular Movements taking place in Rome Oct. 21-24. The popular movements include those that organize informal workers who collect and recycle trash, gather people who live in the informal settlements on the outskirts of cities, rally citizens to promote care of the environment, assist subsistence farmers and rescue migrants at sea.

Pope Leo greeted the participants and assured them that, like his predecessor Pope Francis, he believed “housing, work and land are sacred rights, it is worthwhile to fight for them, and I would like you to hear me say ‘I am here,’ ‘I am with you!'”

He reiterated that he chose the name Leo because of Pope Leo XIII’s landmark encyclical, “Rerum Novarum.” Latin for “Of New Things,” the 1891 document addressed the new social and economic challenges posed by the Industrial Revolution, particularly its impact on labor and workers’ rights.

Too often, Pope Leo XIV said, when society looks at the “new things” of the day, it looks at “what’s new” for the privileged, the powerful and the financially secure, like “autonomous vehicles, high-end mobile phones, cryptocurrencies and other such things.”

“From the peripheries, however, things appear differently,” he said.

“Is asking for housing, work and land, including food for the excluded, a ‘new thing’?” he asked. These basic, fundamental needs are “so current” that they merit “an entire chapter in Christian social thought on the excluded in today’s world.”

In fact, he said, Pope Leo XIII “did not concentrate on industrial technology or on new sources of energy, but rather on the situation of workers,” the poor and the oppressed.

“For the first time and with absolute clarity, a pope said that the daily struggle for survival and for social justice were of fundamental importance for the church,” he said.

In his five-page speech, the pope sought to look at the “new things” happening on “the periphery,” that is, “the problems that strike the excluded” and marginalized of today.

Notably, in today’s world, many old injustices continue, he said.

Progress must always be “managed through an ethic of responsibility, overcoming the risk of idolizing profit, and putting the human person and their integral development at the center,” he said, especially by including marginalized communities “in a collective and united effort to invert the dehumanizing tendencies of social injustices.”

“We should ensure that the ‘what’s new’ be managed in an appropriate way,” he said. “The question should not remain only in the hands of the political, scientific or academic elites, but rather should involve all of us.”

“Reversing the course that continues dramatically excluding millions of people who remain on the margins,” he said, is “a central point in the debate on the ‘new things.'”

Today, he said, “exclusion is the new face of social injustice.”

However, there is a surprising paradox, he said. “The lack of land, food, housing and decent work coexists with access to the new technologies.”

“Cell phones, social networks and even artificial intelligence are in the pockets of millions of persons, including the poor,” he said, but more fundamental needs must not be neglected.

Pope Leo blamed this “systemic arbitrariness” on “bad management” that “generates and increases inequalities with the pretext of progress.” When promoting human dignity is not the focus, then “the system fails also in justice.”

Some “new things” today, such as climate change, have a more devastating impact on the poor, the pope said.

But there is also “the new thing” of the pharmaceutical industry, he said.

While advances in medicine represent “great progress for some,” he said, “a cult of physical well-being is being promoted, almost an idolatry of the body.”

Any mentality that reduces “the mystery of pain” to something totally inhuman can lead to a dependence on pain medications, he said, “the sale of which obviously goes to increasing the earnings of the same pharmaceutical companies.”

“This also leads to dependence on opioids, as has been devastating, particularly in the United States. For example, fentanyl, the drug of death, is the second most common cause of death among the poor in that country,” he said.

“The spread of new synthetic drugs, ever more lethal, is not only a crime involving the trafficking of drugs but really has to do with the production of pharmaceuticals and their profit, lacking a global ethic,” he added.

Another aspect of the “new things” that hurts the marginalized, he said, is the lifestyle of “unbridled consumerism and a totally unrealizable level of economic success” being constantly promoted, especially on social media.

Dependency on digital gambling, whose “platforms are designed to create compulsive dependence and generate addictive habits,” is another new problem, he said.

The development of new technologies for computing and telecommunication also has a disproportionate effect on the poor because it depends on minerals — like coltan and lithium — often found in poor countries, he said.

The extraction of these minerals “depends on paramilitary violence, child labor and the displacement of populations,” he said.

Nations and corporations competing to extract the “white gold” of lithium, for example, threaten the sovereignty and stability of poor states, he said, “to the point that some contractors and politicians boast of promoting coups and other forms of political destabilization.”

“And, finally, I would like to accent the theme of security,” the pope said. “With the abuse of vulnerable migrants, we are witnessing, not the legitimate exercise of national sovereignty, but rather grave crimes committed or tolerated by the state.”

“At the same time, I am encouraged to see how the popular movements, the organizations of civil society and the church are addressing these new forms of dehumanization, constantly testifying that whoever is in need is our neighbor, our brother and our sister,” he said. “This makes you champions of humanity, witnesses to justice, poets of solidarity.”

The services that popular movements provide must be animated by love, he said. “In fact, when cooperatives and projects are formed to feed the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, rescue the shipwrecked, provide daycare, create jobs, access land and build houses, remember that we are not serving an ideology but truly living the Gospel.”

“The church must be with you: a poor church for the poor, a church that reaches out, a church that runs risks, a church that is courageous, prophetic and joyful!” Pope Leo said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV welcomed Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the Vatican for a unique visit combining ceremonial flourishes and a historic moment of prayer in the Sistine Chapel.

According to Buckingham Palace, it was the first time since the Reformation in the early 16th century that the pope and a British monarch prayed together at an ecumenical service at the Vatican.

From the moment the royal couple arrived Oct. 23 in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, the high formality of the official visit was clear as a larger-than-usual contingent of Swiss Guards welcomed the king and queen, and the Vatican police band played the Vatican anthem and “God Save the King,” which is the British national anthem.

After a private meeting, Pope Leo and King Charles exchanged gifts: a mosaic of Christ for the king and an icon of St. Edward the Confessor for the pope. They also gave each other framed, autographed photos of themselves.

But the two also exchanged top honors.

The king conferred on the pope the “Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath,” which traditionally is given to heads of state, and the pope conferred on the king the “Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Vatican Order of Pope Pius IX.” Pope Leo made Queen Camilla a dame of the same order.

Their majesties originally had planned to make the visit in April in conjunction with a formal state visit to Italy. While the Italian portion of their trip went ahead as scheduled, they only went to the Vatican briefly to greet Pope Francis, who died a few weeks later.

After the private meeting and exchange of gifts, Pope Leo and Anglican Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York, the ranking prelate of the Church of England, led midday prayer in the Sistine Chapel with a focus on “care for creation.”

Pope Leo and Archbishop Cottrell sat in front of the altar under Michelangelo’s Last Judgment during the prayer service, while the king and queen sat slightly to one side.

Cantors from the Sistine Chapel choir were joined by adults from the choir of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and children from the choir of the Chapel Royal of St. James’ Palace in London.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, and Archbishop Leo Cushley of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, representing the Catholic bishops of Scotland, and the Rev. Rosie Frew, moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, joined the king and queen for the prayer service.

Briefing reporters about the visit, Archbishop Flavio Pace, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, said the moments of prayer and the exchange of honors were clear signs of the progress made in Catholic-Anglican relations since the 1960s.

Pope Leo and King Charles left the Sistine Chapel together and went into the adjoining Sala Regia to meet business leaders and activists committed to fighting climate change and promoting sustainability.

The pope personally accompanied the king back to the San Damaso Courtyard where his “Bentley State Limousine,” an armored car used for formal visits, was waiting for him and the queen.

As is customary, the Vatican press office provided no information about the pope and king’s private discussion.

However, in a meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, foreign minister, the press office said, “matters of common interest were discussed, such as environmental protection and the fight against poverty.”

“Particular attention was given to the shared commitment to promoting peace and security in the face of global challenges,” the statement said. And “recalling the history of the church in the United Kingdom, there was a shared reflection on the need to continue promoting ecumenical dialogue.”

After leaving the Vatican, King Charles and Queen Camilla went to Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls and walked through the Holy Door, prayed at the tomb of St. Paul and attended another prayer service.

With the approval of Pope Leo, King Charles was recognized as a “royal confrater” of the basilica, a decision made by U.S. Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest of the basilica, and Benedictine Abbot Donato Ogliari, head of the monastery of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

In return, Buckingham Palace said, “with the approval of the king, the dean and canons of the College of St. George Windsor have offered that Pope Leo XIV become ‘Papal Confrater’ of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and the pope has accepted.”

“These mutual gifts of ‘confraternity’ are recognitions of spiritual fellowship and are deeply symbolic of the journey the Church of England — of which His Majesty is Supreme Governor — and the Roman Catholic Church have traveled over the past 500 years,” the palace said in a statement.

(OSV News) – At their upcoming annual fall meeting, the nation’s Catholic bishops have a full agenda of both temporal and spiritual matters — including votes for key leadership roles as well as discussions on migration, health care directives, artificial intelligence, Eucharistic devotion and liturgical texts.

On Oct. 22, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced details regarding its 2025 fall plenary assembly, which will take place in Baltimore Nov. 10-13.

Public portions of the assembly will be livestreamed on Nov. 11 and 12 at usccb.org/meetings. Private executive and fraternal dialogue sessions, informational breakouts, prayer and daily liturgies will round out the schedule.

Opening the plenary will be Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, who will complete his three-year term as USCCB president upon the assembly’s conclusion. Cardinal Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the U.S., will also address the gathering.

The USCCB will vote for a new president and vice president, who will commence their three-year terms Nov. 13, along with chairmen for six USCCB committees. They typically first serve one year as chairman-elect and will begin their three-year terms following next year’s fall plenary.

While the agenda has not yet been fully finalized and remains subject to change, the USCCB said in its press release that the public session will feature “discussion and response to the evolving situation impacting migrants and refugees.”

Artificial intelligence — an issue prioritized by Pope Leo XIV — will also be treated at the assembly, with a public session presentation set to take place on “the ethical implications of AI, its growing impact on society, and the opportunities and challenges it presents to the life of the Church,” said the USCCB.
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The bishops will also discuss and vote on a revised text of the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” which guides Catholic health care facilities in the U.S.

Now in its sixth edition, the document — developed in consultation with medical professionals and theologians, and regularly reviewed by the USCCB — articulates ethical standards for health care in light of church teaching, and provides authoritative guidance on moral issues encountered by Catholic health care.

Other items to be considered by the bishops during the public sessions include a vote on the USCCB’s 2026 budget, and a vote to consecrate the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 12, 2026, as the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Following a report from the National Eucharistic Revival initiative — a three-year effort to rekindle devotion to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist — the bishops will vote on scheduling the next National Eucharistic Congress during the summer of 2029.

Two action items regarding liturgical texts from the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship will be discussed and voted upon.

The bishops will also receive updates from the USCCB Subcommittee on the Catechism on the Catechetical Accompaniment Process, and from both The Catholic University of America and the Pontifical Mission Societies USA.

The Sisters of Christian Charity (SCC) have announced the election of Sister Mary Joseph Schultz, SCC, as the Congregation’s thirteenth Superior General. The election took place during the 25^th General Chapter, which was held from August 25 to September 14, 2025, in Paderborn, Germany.

Sister Mary Joseph was elected on September 8, 2025, and will now lead the international Congregation – with Sisters in North America, South America and Germany – succeeding Sister Maria del Rosario Castro, SCC.

The role of the Superior General is to provide spiritual and administrative leadership to the Sisters of Christian Charity globally, continuing the mission of their foundress, Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt.

During her 53 years as a Sister of Christian Charity, Sister Mary Joseph has held roles in education, pastoral ministry and leadership.

A native of Poughkeepsie, NY, Sister Mary Joseph earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Felician University in Lodi, NJ, and a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry, with a concentration in Youth Ministry, from Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ.

For seven years, Sister Mary Joseph served as the President of Assumption College for Sisters in Mendham (now in Denville), NJ. Her teaching career included assignments at:

• Elementary Schools: St. Nicholas (Jersey City, NJ); St. Joseph (Mendham, NJ); Holy Family (Florham Park, NJ); St. Patrick (Chatham, NJ); St. Cecilia (Rockaway, NJ); and St. Mary (Pittston, PA).
• High Schools: Delone Catholic High School (McSherrystown, PA); Bishop Hoban High School (Wilkes-Barre, PA); Central Catholic High School (Reading, PA); and Central Catholic High School (Allentown, PA).

Prior to her election as Councilor General from North America in 2019, Sister Mary Joseph served as a Pastoral Associate at Sts. Peter and Paul in Hoboken, NJ, and at the Church of Christ the King in New Vernon, NJ. She has also served at St. Paul Inside the Walls Center for Evangelization in Madison, NJ, and in Provincial Leadership in Mendham, NJ.

The General Chapter also elected new Councilors General on September 10, 2025: Sister Mary Amata Reifsnyder, SCC, (succeeding Sister Mary Joseph as North American Councilor General), Sister Clara Schmiegel (Germany), and Sister Maria Adriana Mateos (South America).

Sister Mary Amata is a graduate of Bethlehem Catholic High School in Bethlehem, PA, and earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA.

A Sister of Christian Charity for thirteen years, Sister Mary Amata is a Registered Nurse, certified in Ambulatory Care, whose experience spans various healthcare settings, including:

• Holy Family Convent, Danville, PA.
• Sacred Heart Convent, Wilmette, IL.
• The SCC Motherhouse in Paderborn, Germany.
• North Hudson Community Action Corporation, Passaic, NJ.
• St. Joseph’s Health Paterson, both at DePaul Ambulatory Center and in the Palliative, Geriatric and Community Medicine department.

The Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity was founded by Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt in Paderborn, Germany, in 1849.  The sisters serve in education, healthcare, pastoral, social and retreat ministries in the United States, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. The Motherhouse of the SCC North American Province is in Mendham, NJ.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A coalition of Catholic organizations held prayer vigils across the country on Oct. 22 for what organizers called “a national day of public witness for our immigrant brothers and sisters.”

The vigils came amid growing concern from some faith communities — including a Catholic parish in Chicago — about the impact of the Trump administration’s rollback of a policy that prohibited immigration enforcement in sensitive locations, such as churches, schools, and hospitals.

The “One Church, One Family: Catholic Public Witness for Immigrants,” vigils took place in multiple locations around the country on Oct. 22. A second series of events is scheduled for Nov. 13, the feast day of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, universal patroness of immigrants.

The grassroots initiative was spearheaded by the Jesuits West province, with additional sponsors including Jesuit Refugee Service USA, the Ignatian Solidarity Network, Maryknoll, Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Pax Christi USA, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services and several orders of women religious.

The protest and prayer vigil in the nation’s capital took place in front of the headquarters for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as ICE employees entered the building and as rush-hour drivers occasionally honked at the group in apparent acknowledgment.

“We wanted to be a witness,” Judy Coode, communications director for Pax Christi USA told OSV News at the Washington vigil.

“Both as Catholics and also as U.S. citizens, we have a responsibility to bear witness to injustices that we see,” Coode said. “And so part of our tradition is to pray publicly. We have the right to do that, and so we take advantage of that, and we want to bear witness to those who are in power, who are making decisions. We want to call to their consciences, ask them to consider praying for another outcome, praying for another way to be.”

The day before the vigils, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, objected on social media to a CBS News article about pastors expressing concern that fear of ICE raids is keeping some of their congregants away from church. In a post on X, DHS claimed it was “PROTECTING innocent people in our churches by preventing criminal illegal aliens and gang members from exploiting these places of worship.”

“DHS’s directive gives our law enforcement the ability to do their jobs. Our agents use discretion and have secondary supervisor approval before any action can be taken in locations such as a church or a school,” the post said.

In the CBS report, ICE Director Todd Lyons claimed that despite the rollback, houses of worship are not a target.

However, earlier in October, reports of ICE agents near St. Jerome Catholic Church in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood prompted warnings of caution from its pastor, although a spokesperson for ICE denied the church was targeted, NBC Chicago reported.

The rollback of the sensitive locations policy is among the Trump administration’s immigration actions that have been met with criticism from the U.S. bishops. They recently offered their support to a lawsuit challenging the policy change, submitting an amicus brief, sometimes called a friend-of-the-court brief, to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

“The church is a sanctuary and refuge,” Art Laffin, a member of Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House, told OSV News at the Washington vigil.

Immigration enforcement actions in churches, he said, would be “a terrible sin and injustice, and so it really calls for all the people of God to stand together with those who are being targeted and criminalized, whether it’s in the sanctuary or whether it’s in the streets.”

Catholic social teaching on immigration also 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.

Sister of St. Joseph Bethany Welch, part of the national planning team for “One Church, One Family,” told OSV News in a phone interview Oct. 22, “It’s essential that we stand in solidarity, particularly with our brothers and sisters who are being detained.”

Sister Bethany had attended the Oct. 12 binational pilgrimage led by Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona, as part of a mission to stand in solidarity with migrants. She said her participation in the “One Church, One Family” Oct. 22 vigil at an immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, was a continuation of that effort — and of “the Gospel call to be attentive to those who are being harmed or marginalized.”

While immigrants are often seen “as other,” she said, “in fact, they are part of our church.”

Across the U.S., Christians account for approximately 80% of all of those at risk of Trump’s mass deportation effort, with the single largest group of affected Christians being Catholics, according to a joint Catholic-Evangelical report published by World Relief. The report found one in six Catholics (18%) are either vulnerable to deportation or live with someone who is.

“The church in Philadelphia, the church in Newark, the church in D.C. has been built and sustained through various histories of migration, whether that be Irish immigrants or Latin American immigrants or African or Haitian, etc.,” said Sister Bethany. “So often, as we become more prosperous or have more advantage, we forget our origins and our own humble beginnings.”

She added that “lack of memory,” along with a “scarcity mindset” — which fails to see that God’s love, compassion and mercy are “enough for all of us” — lie at the core of anti-immigrant sentiment.

According to Pew Research Center data released in June, more than four out of 10 Catholics in the U.S. are immigrants (29%) or the children of immigrants (14%). Eight out of 10 Hispanic Catholics are either born outside the U.S. (58%) or are the children of an immigrant (22%), while 92% of Asian Catholics are either immigrants (78%) or are the children of an immigrant (14%). In contrast, the vast majority of white Catholics are three generations or more removed from the immigrant experience: just 6% were born outside the U.S., with another 9% born in the U.S. to at least one immigrant parent.

Sister Bethany said the “One Church, One Family” vigils are “an invitation to remind ourselves where we came from,” she said.

Several dozen participants at a “One Church, One Family” vigil in Philadelphia, which took place outside of that city’s ICE offices, reflected on Christ’s announcement of his earthly mission to the poor, the blind and the captive, as recounted in Luke 4:16-30.

“Who are the poor among us who need to hear the Gospel, and who are the blind who need to recover their sight?” asked Sister of St. Joseph Linda Lukiewski, one of the event’s speakers.

Sister Linda — whose longtime ministry has included assignments in Central America and among U.S.-based Latino communities — responded, “I believe that the poor among us who most need to hear the Gospel are those who lack a sense of compassion and a sense of justice, who suffer from poverty of right judgment, and who are deficient in the knowledge that we are all brothers and sisters, and that we all deserve respect and dignity. I believe the poor among us are those starving for power and domination.”

Peter Pedemonti, founding member and co-director of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia — an immigrant advocacy nonprofit based on Catholic teaching — noted in his address that “we are standing in front of some captives right now.” He said “at least four people” had been arrested by ICE that morning and were in detention in the building behind vigil participants.

“Let us hold those people who are in holding cells behind us in our hearts, in our prayers,” said Pedemonti.

He also urged those present to “let our hearts break over and over again” so that such detentions do not become “normal.”

SCRANTON – Faithful from across the Diocese of Scranton are invited to participate in a joyful celebration as we honor the dedicated contributions of women and men in religious life during the annual Jubilee Mass for Women and Men Religious on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The Mass will begin at 12:15 p.m., with the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, serving as the principal celebrant.

This special liturgy offers an opportunity to give thanks for the invaluable witness, service, and commitment of those who have devoted their lives to God through religious vocations. From teaching in Catholic schools to providing hospital ministry, prayer and pastoral ministry, women and men religious have had a tremendous impact on the life of the Church and the communities they serve.

As we celebrate the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, this Mass will also be a powerful reminder of the ongoing importance of vocations to religious life – and our shared responsibility to pray for and support those who answer God’s call in such generous and selfless ways.

CTV: Catholic Television will broadcast the Mass live and provide a livestream on Diocesan social media platforms.

2025 Jubilarians

SISTERS OF MERCY OF THE AMERICAS (R.S.M.)

75 Years
Sister Marie Genevieve Mannix, R.S.M.

70 Years
Sister Margaret Mary Donnelly, R.S.M.
Sister Leonita Duhoski, R.S.M.
Sister Mary Eleanor Thornton, R.S.M.

60 Years
Sister Mary Ellen Brody, R.S.M.
Sister Mary Ellen Fuhrman, R.S.M.
Sister Catherine McGroarty, R.S.M.
Sister Marie Parker, R.S.M.

50 Years
Sister Imelda Sherrett, R.S.M.

SISTERS, SERVANTS OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY (I.H.M.)

75 Years
Sister Kathleen McNulty, I.H.M.

70 Years
Sister M. Leonnette Bower, I.H.M.
Sister Kathleen Hassett, I.H.M.
Sister Cor Immaculatum Heffernan, I.H.M.
Sister M. Claudette Naylor, I.H.M.

60 Years
Sister Elizabeth Bullen, I.H.M.
Sister Ann Marie McDonnell, I.H.M.

50 Years
Sister Judith Ann Ziegler, I.H.M.

SISTERS OF SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS (SS.C. M.)

60 Years
Sister Madonna Figura, SS.C.M.

SISTERS OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY (S.C.C.)

50 Years
Sister Mary Theresa Wojcicki, S.C.C.

OBLATES OF SAINT JOSEPH (O.S.J.)

60 Years
Father Joseph D. Sibilano, O.S.J.

THE CONGREGATION OF THE PASSION (C.P.)

60 Years
Father John Michael Lee, C.P.
Father Donald Ware, C.P.

25 Years
Father C. Lee Havey, C.P.

SCRANTON – In his more than 15 years as leader of the Diocese of Scranton, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, said he could not recall a local liturgy that more powerfully radiated the universality of the Catholic Church than the World Mission Sunday Mass celebrated on Oct. 19 at the Cathedral of Saint Peter.

“I don’t think I have ever experienced a Mass in this Cathedral in all of my years as Bishop that has reminded us of the fact that our hands reach across oceans and countries to one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord,” the Bishop said at the close of the liturgy. “May we continue to live in that spirit!”

The Mass, which drew a diverse crowd of religious sisters and lay faithful, featured both the Cathedral choir and a Congolese choir that sang in Swahili. Their voices highlighted the richness of the global Church – not just in song – but in shared mission.

While Bishop Bambera served as principal celebrant of the World Mission Sunday Mass, the homily was delivered by Bishop Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, Bishop of Sunyani, Ghana – a longtime friend of the Scranton Diocese.

He called on the faithful to rekindle their missionary spirit and recognize their shared role in the Church’s global mission.

“This task of evangelization to all corners of the earth was given, not only to the pope or bishops and religious, but to all of us,” Bishop Gyamfi said.

He also reminded those in attendance that the Church’s mission is far from complete.

“There are still vast areas of the world where people have never heard the name of Jesus,” he shared. “I come from one such area. There are still children growing up without a church to worship in, a priest to baptize them, or a catechist to guide them.”

Bishop Gyamfi offered a powerful scriptural image from the first reading: Moses, whose arms were held up by Aaron and Hur, to ensure victory in battle. Likewise, he said, Bishops need their priests, and the Church needs every lay person, to sustain the mission.

“Working together, we win,” he said. “Each of us has a role to play.”

The impact of that shared mission is critically important for the Diocese of Sunyani.

In recent years, financial and spiritual support from Scranton has helped fund schools, health clinics, assisted with seminarian tuition, and assisted with chapel construction in some of the most remote corners of Ghana.

Bishop Gymafi recalled how Bishop Bambera, on visits to Sunyani in 2022 and 2023, saw firsthand the impact of that support.

“On behalf of our priests, clergy, religious, and the lay faithful of the Catholic Diocese of Sunyani, I express my sincerest gratitude and profound appreciation for helping us,” Bishop Gyamfi added. “You may never come there (Ghana), but your contributions go far and make an impact.”

There are currently eight priests from the Diocese of Sunyani serving as pastors, assistant pastors, or administrators in parishes throughout the Diocese of Scranton. These men are among more than 20 international priests currently serving locally.

As the celebration concluded, Bishop Bambera expressed his admiration for Bishop Gyamfi’s words and the profound reminder they offer.

“You are not only a dear friend and colleague to me, but your presence here reminds us of the great relationship that we have with the Diocese of Sunyani,” Bishop Bambera noted.

Shannon Kowalski, Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the Diocese of Scranton, said people often think missionaries are elsewhere spread across the globe – but there are missionaries right here in Scranton.

“Today’s Mass was a vibrant illustration of what World Mission Sunday is meant to be,” she said.

Kowalski hopes people will be inspired by Bishop Gyamfi’s final words of challenge.

“The Lord calls us to go to the corners of the world,” Bishop Gyamfi said. “What have you been doing? What can you do?”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV will issue a document on Catholic education Oct. 28, marking the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on education, a top Vatican official said.

Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, also told reporters Oct. 22 that in the document Pope Leo will name St. John Henry Newman “co-patron” of Catholic education.

St. Newman, whom Pope Leo will declare a “doctor of the church” Nov. 1, will join the current patron, St. Thomas Aquinas.

Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça shared the news during a presentation about the Jubilee of the World of Education, which is scheduled for Oct. 27-Nov. 1. More than 20,000 people from 124 nations have signed up for the event celebrating the Catholic commitment to education from primary school through university, he said.

The Jubilee, the cardinal said, was planned to coincide with the anniversary of the Vatican II Declaration on Christian Education, often referred to by its Latin title, “Gravissimum Educationis.”

Promulgated Oct. 28, 1965, the declaration affirmed the right of parents to choose the type of education they want for their children, upheld the importance of Catholic schools and defended freedom of inquiry in Catholic colleges and universities.

The cardinal said the document affirmed “the universal right to education” and marked “a change in language — that is, in mentality — in speaking about schools not so much in terms of ‘institutions’ but rather as ‘educational communities.'”

Pope Leo’s document marking the anniversary, he said, insists the value of the Vatican II declaration “is not frozen in time: it is a compass that continues to point the way.”

“Rapid and profound changes are exposing children, adolescents and young people to unprecedented vulnerabilities,” the cardinal said, quoting the new document. “It is not enough to preserve; we must relaunch.”

In the new document, the cardinal said, Pope Leo asks “all educational institutions to inaugurate a new season that speaks to the hearts of the new generations, reconnecting knowledge and meaning, competence and responsibility, faith and life.”

ROME (CNS) – Religious freedom is not only a fundamental and essential human right, “it is also a pathway to truth and deeper communion with God and neighbor,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

However, religious freedom is severely restricted in 62 of the world’s 196 countries, affecting around 5.4 billion people; “in other words, almost two-thirds of the world’s population lives in countries where serious violations of religious freedom take place,” the cardinal said.

Cardinal Parolin was citing information contained in the 2025 Religious Freedom Report compiled by the papal foundation Aid to the Church in Need and released Oct. 21 during a conference at Rome’s Augustinianum Patristic Institute.

The fact that the 2025 report runs 1,248 pages, the largest in its 25-year history, “indicates that violations of religious freedom are increasing year on year,” the cardinal said.

The report, covering the period of Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2024, found that “grave and systemic violations, including violence, arrest and repression, affect more than 4.1 billion people in nations such as China, India, Nigeria and North Korea.”

Speaking to reporters after the event, Cardinal Parolin cautioned against considering all attacks on Christians in Nigeria as signs of religious persecution.

Citing local church sources, the cardinal said much of the violence in Nigeria “is not a religious conflict, it is more of a social conflict, for example between herders and farmers.”

And where Muslim extremists are attacking Christians, he said, they also attack Muslims who disagree with them. “These are extremist groups that make no distinctions in pursuing their goals. They use violence against anyone they consider an opponent.”

Aid to the Church in Need listed another 38 countries — including Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico, Turkey and Vietnam — as nations where “religious discrimination” is common. The foundation said that in those countries “religious groups face systematic restrictions on worship, expression and legal equality. While not subject to violent repression, discrimination often results in marginalization and legal inequality.”

In Mexico, as well as in Haiti, the report said, “organized crime is a key driver of persecution or discrimination” with priests and other church workers being kidnapped or murdered and house of worship and sacred objects being desecrated in “an atmosphere of blatant impunity” as the government fails to stop the drug cartels and criminal gangs.

Speaking at the presentation of the report, Cardinal Parolin focused on the Catholic Church’s support for the religious freedom of all people, no matter their faith, and on the upcoming 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom.

The council’s support for religious liberty was “a call to action based on the council’s belief that God himself has made known to mankind the way in which men are to serve him and thus be saved in Christ,” the cardinal said.

And while all people have a “moral obligation” to seek the truth, Cardinal Parolin said, no one can be compelled to do so.

“One must and can only respond in one way: freely, that is to say, out of love, with love, not by force, because Christianity is love,” the cardinal said.

On a personal level, he said, religious freedom “protects the inner sanctuary of the conscience, the God-given compass that guides ethical and spiritual choices.”

And, he said, on a collective level “it fosters vibrant communities where people of different faiths can live together, contribute to society and engage in constructive dialogue without fear of persecution.”

The 2025 Religious Freedom report found that “religious nationalism is on the increase, fueling exclusion and repression of minorities. National identity is increasingly shaped by ethno-religious nationalism, eroding minority rights.”

“In India and Myanmar,” for example, it said, religious nationalism “drives persecution; in Palestine, Israel, Sri Lanka and Nepal, it fuels discrimination.”

The report also found that “religious persecution increasingly fuels forced migration and displacement,” with victims around the world fleeing “violence, discrimination and the absence of state protection.”

Aid to the Church in Need credited the Vatican’s 2018 provisional agreement with China’s communist government for “signs of improvement” for the country’s Christians but noted that improvement applied only to Christians belonging to government-recognized Christian organizations.

Catholic priests and bishops continued to be arrested or detained for not joining the Catholic Patriotic Association, and in many parts of China anyone under the age of 18 is prevented from attending church or a church-sponsored event, the report said.

With the arrest and exile of bishops and priests, the confiscation of church property and the banning of religious processions and other public celebrations, the situation in Nicaragua also is highlighted in the book.

“During the period under review, hostility toward churches intensified, severely violating the fundamental right to religious freedom,” it said.

Aid to the Church in Need also called attention in the report: to “a sharp rise in antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes,” including in Europe and North America; arson attacks on churches in Canada; and vandalism or desecration of churches in the United States.