Year: 2025

(OSV News) – In a rare Saturday session, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Brian Burch, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, in a vote of 49-44 along party lines Aug. 2.

Burch, the former president of the pro-Trump political advocacy organization CatholicVote, was confirmed amid a day of voting on a slate of nominees after Democratic senators refused to reach a deal to advance Trump’s backlog of executive branch nominees by unanimous consent or voice votes.

Burch’s confirmation was previously blocked in May by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, who placed a blanket hold on all of Trump’s nominees to the State Department due to his concern over the Trump administration’s closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Vatican ambassador role is meant to represent the U.S. government’s positions on many issues to the Holy See in its capacity as a nation-state in diplomatic efforts. Burch succeeds former Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-IN, who assumed the role in April 2022 and stepped down in July 2024.

Burch holds a degree in political philosophy from the University of Dallas. In 2005, he co-founded CatholicVote, an advocacy group that officially backed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, spending over $10 million to reach 2 million Catholics that year.

Burch posted on X just after the confirmation vote that he was “profoundly grateful to President Trump and the United States Senate for this opportunity to serve as the next U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See” and expressed gratitude for “the honor and privilege of serving in this role following the historic selection of the first American pope.”

“In a remarkable coincidence, or what I prefer to attribute to Providence, Pope Leo XIV is from Chicago, which is also my hometown,” he added. “The relationship between the Holy See and the United States remains one of the most unique in the world, with the global reach and moral witness of the Catholic Church serving as a critical component of U.S. efforts to bring about peace and prosperity.”

He also asked “for the prayers of all Americans, especially my fellow Catholics, that I may serve honorably and faithfully in the noble adventure ahead.”

In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April, Burch called the relationship between the U.S. and the Holy See “unique and vital” and pledged to deepen that bond.

“It transcends traditional diplomacy, rooted instead in our shared commitments to religious freedom, human dignity, global peace, and justice,” he said at the time. “The Holy See, as the governing body of the Catholic Church, plays a critical and influential role in international affairs. We can and we must continue our strong partnership, while advancing our mutual interests in addressing an array of global challenges, including working to resolve war and conflict in multiple regions around the globe, religious persecution, the exploitation of the poor and vulnerable, the scourge of human trafficking, and the defense and promotion of human dignity and prosperity.”

When announcing Burch’s nomination, Trump posted on his social media website Truth Social that “Brian is a devout Catholic, a father of nine, and President of CatholicVote. He has received numerous awards, and demonstrated exceptional leadership, helping build one of the largest Catholic advocacy groups in the Country.”

Current CatholicVote president Kelsey Reinhardt celebrated the news just following Burch’s confirmation, posting on X “CatholicVote joyfully celebrates the confirmation of Brian Burch to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, the governing body of the largest and most important religious institution in the world.”

“For the past 17 years, Brian has faithfully championed CatholicVote’s mission to inspire American Catholics to live their faith in public life,” she wrote. “We are confident that he will similarly excel in this new role and are forever grateful for the foundation he laid and the impact he had on millions of Catholics across the Nation.”

“CatholicVote cannot wait to see all that Ambassador Burch will accomplish in this new mission with Pope Leo XIV,” she said. “Together, they will surely make Chicago and America proud. We are praying for his success through the intercession of St. Peter.”

ROME (CNS) – Addressing an estimated 1 million young people, Pope Leo XIV urged them to forge genuine relationships rooted in Christ rather than ephemeral online connections that can reduce individuals to a commodity.

“When a tool controls someone, that person becomes a tool: a commodity on the market and, in turn, a piece of merchandise,” the pope said during the evening prayer vigil for the Jubilee of Youth Aug. 2. “Only genuine relationships and stable connections can build good lives.”

The pope arrived by helicopter at the Tor Vergata field, roughly eight miles southeast of Rome’s city center, and was greeted with cheers from young people waving flags. Many of the youth were going to camp out overnight, sleeping in tents and sleeping bags on the dusty field, much like the World Youth Day celebration held 25 years ago in the same location.

Countless young people kicked up the dust from the field as they ran alongside the popemobile to catch a glimpse of the pontiff. Pope Leo smiled and waved at the youth, occasionally catching objects and plush toys that were hurled his way.

Exiting the popemobile, he was handed the large Jubilee year cross, which he carried to the main altar, accompanied by dozens of young people.

After beginning the vigil with prayers, the pope engaged in a dialogue with several young people who asked him three questions.

Dulce Maria, a 23-year-old woman from Mexico, spoke of the excitement of online friendships but also of the loneliness that comes from connections that are “not true and lasting relationships, but rather fleeting and often illusory.”

“How can we find true friendship and genuine love that will lead us to true hope? How can faith help us build our future?” she asked.

Pope Leo acknowledged the potential of the internet and social media as “an extraordinary opportunity for dialogue,” but warned that these tools “are misleading when they are controlled by commercialism and interests that fragment our relationships.”

Drawing from his Augustinian spirituality, Pope Leo urged young people to emulate St. Augustine, who had a “restless youth, but he did not settle for less.”

“How did he find true friendship and a love capable of giving hope? By finding the one who was already looking for him, Jesus Christ,” the pope said. “How did he build his future? By following the one who had always been his friend.”

Gaia, a 19-year-old woman from Italy, asked how young people can find the courage to make choices amid uncertainty.

“To choose is a fundamental human act,” the pope responded. “When we make a choice, in the strict sense, we decide who we want to become.”

He encouraged young people to remember they were chosen by God, and that “the courage to choose comes from love, which God shows us in Christ.”

The pope recalled St. John Paul II’s words spoken in the same place 25 years ago, reminding the youth that “it is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you.”

The pope called “radical and meaningful choices,” such as marriage, priesthood and religious life, “the free and liberating gift of self that makes us truly happy.”

“These choices give meaning to our lives, transforming them into the image of the perfect love that created them and redeemed them from all evil, even from death,” he said.

Departing from his prepared remarks, Pope Leo expressed condolences for the deaths of two pilgrims. Pascale Rafic, an 18-year-old pilgrim from Egypt, who died due to a heart condition. Earlier in the day, the pope met with a group of Egyptian youth with whom Rafic traveled to Rome.

Maria Cobo Vergara, a 20-year-old pilgrim from Madrid, Spain, died July 30. While the cause of death was not mentioned in a statement published Aug. 1, the Archdiocese of Madrid said the young pilgrim suffered “four years of illness.”

“Both (pilgrims) chose to come to Rome for the Jubilee of Youth, and death has taken them in these days,” the pope said at the vigil. “Let us pray together for them.”

Lastly, 20-year-old Will, a young pilgrim from the United States, asked the pope how to “truly encounter the Risen Lord in our lives and be sure of his presence even in the midst of trials and uncertainties.”

Recalling Pope Francis’ papal bull for the Holy Year 2025, “Spes non confundit” (“Hope Does Not Disappoint”), Pope Leo said that “hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come,” and that one’s understanding of good “reflects how our conscience has been shaped by the people in our lives.”

He urged them to foster their conscience by listening to Jesus’ word and to “reflect on your way of living, and seek justice in order to build a more humane world.”

“Serve the poor, and so bear witness to the good that we would always like to receive from our neighbors,” he said. “Adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, the source of eternal life. Study, work and love according to the example of Jesus, the good Teacher who always walks beside us.”

He also invited young people to pray to remain friends with Jesus and be “a companion on the journey for anyone I meet.”

“Through praying these words, our dialogue will continue each time we look at the crucified Lord, for our hearts will be united in him,” the pope concluded.

(OSV News) – St. John Henry Newman — the 19th-century theologian, intellectual and preacher who journeyed from Anglicanism to Catholicism, powerfully shaping religious thought in both faith traditions — will be named a doctor of the church by Pope Leo XIV.

The news was announced by the Vatican shortly after Pope Leo’s July 31 audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The Vatican press bulletin stated that the pope had “confirmed the affirmative opinion of the plenary session of cardinals and bishops, members of the dicastery” for sainthood causes, on conferring the title, which since the early church has been bestowed on saints whose doctrinal writing and teachings are held to have special authority. St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great and St. Jerome were the first four doctors of the church, and excluding today’s announcement, there have been 37 saints so named — including four women, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Hildegard of Bingen.

The move had been supported by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who at their November 2023 plenary assembly voted almost unanimously to support a request by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales that Newman be named a doctor of the church by Pope Francis.

Speaking at the 2023 plenary, Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, said the USCCB doctrine committee, of which he is chair, “considered this matter back in 2019 and concluded that the writings of St. John Henry Newman are truly eminent and of great relevance for the church today, especially in the areas of the development of doctrine, the moral foundations of education, the primacy of conscience, the role of the laity and the search for the truth, amongst many others.

“The committee therefore determined that St. John Henry Newman is indeed worthy of this high honor,” said Bishop Flores at the time, who was joined in his remarks by several bishops.

According to an online biography by the Oratories of England, prepared for his canonization cause, John Henry Newman — born 1801 in London and raised in a middle-class Anglican family — displayed an early interest in Scripture.

In his “Apologia Pro Su Vita” (“A Defense of His Life”), his 1864 autobiography, Cardinal Newman recounted “a great change of thought” he experienced at the age of 15, one that enabled him to “rest in the thought of two and two only absolute and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my creator.”

With the revival sparked by John Wesley, Newman converted to evangelicalism during his final year at Great Ealing School. At 16, he went on to study at Oxford, which along with Cambridge University offered seminary formation for Anglican clergy — a vocation Newman sought out, even looking to take what for that clerical tradition was the unusual vow of celibacy. He was ordained in 1825, and dedicated himself to making pastoral visits to the sick and the poor while also tutoring college students, said the Oratories biography.

However, Newman’s zealous sharing of his faith with the students led to a clash with the administration, and deprived of the opportunity to teach, he began reading the works of the Fathers of the Church, which he described in part as “music to my inward ear” and “response to ideas … I had cherished so long.”

Newman’s preaching began to attract national attention, and a near-fatal bout of illness in 1833, contracted while in Sicily — which saw him feverishly repeat, “I have a work to do in England” — intensified his desire for the renewal of the church. Upon returning to his homeland, Newman teamed up with like-minded others who feared the Church of England had become complacent and politicized, said the Oratories. The group formed what would become known as the Oxford Movement, publishing tracts to rouse faithful from their torpor and reclaim the Gospel.

The future saint fell afoul of the university and Oxford’s bishop by arguing that the Church of England’s doctrines were more Catholic than Protestant. Newman left Oxford, and took up residence in the nearby village of Littlemore, where he pursued study and prayer. Resigning from his parish, he began to discern — albeit not without struggle, as the Oratories observed — a calling to embrace the Catholic faith.

In the canonization cause biography, the Oratories pointed out that Newman’s battle with sacred tradition on matters such as purgatory and papal supremacy spurred further historical study, leading to his 1845 “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine,” in which he described ideas and doctrines as organic, with “old principles” reappearing “under new forms.” Newman observed in the work that “in a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

That same year, he was formally received into the Catholic Church — making his confession right in his home to a Passionist missionary priest, Father Dominic Barberi, and speaking at such length that the priest had him resume the following morning.

Newman’s conversion led to the loss not only of his Oxford fellowship, but of most of his Anglican friends and his family. Yet, said the Oratories, he also wrote of a great peace amid the isolation — describing the conversion as “like coming into port after a rough sea.”

In 1847, Newman — having completed additional study — was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome, where he became acquainted with the Oratorians of St. Philip Neri, whose communal way of life recalled the college fellowship of his university days. A year later, with papal approval, he established the first Oratory of St. Philip in England at Birmingham, with a second founded in London the following year.

Expanding his ministry to Ireland, Father Newman became the rector of the newly established Catholic University of Ireland, now University College Dublin, under the leadership of Ireland’s Catholic bishops. Through his religious, spiritual and intellectual thought, Newman synthesized the pursuit of knowledge and of God, writing that “knowledge is one thing, virtue is another.”

The demands of his role in Dublin — which saw him make 56 sea crossings from Britain to Ireland in just seven years — proved exhausting, said the Oratories, and in 1858 he returned to the Birmingham Oratory.

The succeeding two decades were marked by struggles with both Catholics and Anglicans — with some of the former distrustful of his conversion, and the latter claiming he had never been an honest Anglican in the first place. In response, Father Newman penned his massive 1864 Apologia to “show what I am … I wish to be known as a living man, and not as a scarecrow.”

The candor of his writing helped to assuage both Anglican and Catholic fears, and Father Newman was even invited to serve as an expert theological adviser at the First Vatican Council in 1868 — although, the Oratories noted, he declined in order to complete “The Grammar of Assent,” which considers the process by which an individual espouses convictions.

In 1874, he countered Prime Minister William Gladstone’s assertion that Catholics could not be loyal subjects due to their papal allegiance, with Newman writing in an open letter that his coreligionists did not deserve “this injurious reproach that we are captives and slaves of the Pope,” quoted the Oratories.

Three years later, Father Newman returned to Oxford and received the first honorary fellowship of Trinity College. In 1879, Pope Leo XIII named him a cardinal, extolling his fidelity to the faith, and granted his request to remain in Birmingham and forego consecration as a bishop. The elevation was lauded by Catholics and Anglicans alike, said the Oratories.

In Birmingham, Cardinal Newman continued to write, pondering in one of his final works — quoted by the Oratories in the online canonization biography — that God “has provided for the creation of the Saint out of the sinner … He enters into the heart of man, and persuades it, and prevails with it, while He changes it.”

Cardinal Newman died at age 89 in 1890 and was canonized in 2019 by Pope Francis.

(OSV News) – “He is the one Englishman of that era who upheld the ancient creed with a knowledge that only theologians possess, a Shakespearean force of style, and a fervor worthy of the saints.”

This description of Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), from the 1913 edition of The Catholic Encyclopedia, captures well three of the many impressive qualities of the man: his theological knowledge, his masterful literary abilities and his holiness.

On July 31, the Holy See announced that Pope Leo XIV would soon proclaim the saint a doctor of the church, acknowledging his significant contribution to Catholic theology.

Given Cardinal Newman’s reputation during his lifetime, both for his prodigious intellect and for his personal sanctity, support for his canonization not surprisingly began at his death. An article in America magazine in 1941, along with Pope Pius XII’s support of the 1945 “Centenary of Newman’s Conversion,” played essential roles in moving the process along.

In an address to the Cardinal Newman Academic Symposium in 1975, St. Paul VI acknowledged the powerful and ongoing witness of Cardinal Newman: “He who was convinced of being faithful throughout his life, with all his heart devoted to the light of truth, today becomes an ever brighter beacon for all who are seeking an informed orientation and sure guidance amid the uncertainties of the modern world — a world which he himself prophetically foresaw.”

In fact, the Pope had hoped that he might celebrate the Holy Year of 1975 with the beatification of the English cardinal. But more research was needed before that event could take place.

Finally, in January 1991, Pope John Paul II declared Cardinal Newman to be “venerable.” He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in London in 2010, and he was canonized by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 13, 2019.

In October 2008, Cardinal Newman’s bones were exhumed and nothing was found save a few red tassels from his cardinal’s hat. Damp conditions had led to the decomposition of the body, thus frustrating the intended move of his remains from a cemetery in Rednal, Worcestershire, to a sarcophagus at Birmingham Oratory.

Cardinal Newman had founded the oratory in the 1840s after he left the Anglican denomination to enter the Catholic Church.

It was Cardinal Newman’s dramatic conversion that captured, and still captures, the attention and imagination of so many.

Born into a family of bankers, the eldest of six children, the shy and studious Newman had a fondness for reading the Bible and the novels of Sir Walter Scott. The religion of his youth was Anglican and evangelical in nature; he described it in his biographical “Apologia Pro Vita Sua” (1864) as “Bible religion.” (It was also quite anti-Catholic.)

The future cardinal once wrote that he “had no formed religious convictions” until he was 15. “Of course,” he added, “I had a perfect knowledge of my catechism.”

The teenager experienced a profound crisis of faith in 1816, but emerged from it with a newfound fervor, evidenced by his frequent reception of communion in the Anglican Church and taking a private vow of celibacy. At 21 he was a professor at Oriel College, Oxford, and was ordained in June 1824 as a priest in the Anglican Communion.

Newman was a curate of St. Clement’s, Oxford, for two years, and then served as vicar of St. Mary the Virgin, the university church, where he overcame his shyness. Several years of impressive scholarly work followed, including his first major publication, “The Arians of the Fourth Century” (1833).

Much of that work had to do with early church history and the Church Fathers. Such study would eventually lead him to communion with Rome.

During the 1830s, Newman became a leader in the Oxford Movement, which consisted of several Oxford theologians who addressed key issues relating to the authority, nature and history of the Anglican Communion. They also sought to reinvigorate what they considered to be a spiritually lethargic institution.

Because of the many theological tracts published by Newman and others, the movement became known as Tractarianism. In Tract 90, published in 1841, Newman argued that the Thirty-Nine Articles — the defining creedal statements of Anglicanism established in 1563 — were essentially Catholic teachings.

This led to controversy and to Newman’s forced resignation from Oxford.

“From the end of 1841,” he wrote in the “Apologia,” “I was on my deathbed, as regards my membership with the Anglican Church.”

Newman retired to the village of Littlemore with a small group of followers and lived a semi-monastic life as he worked on his now-famous “Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.” It was during his years there that he worked through his various concerns and questions about Catholic doctrine.

He preached his last sermon at St. Mary’s in September 1843, and shortly thereafter he published a retraction of his previous attacks on the Catholic Church.

On Oct. 8, 1845, with his “Essay” still not completed (he never did finish it), Newman wrote: “I am this night expecting Father Dominic, the Passionist. … I mean to ask of him admission into the One Fold of Christ.”

Blessed Dominic Barberi, an Italian, received Newman into the Catholic Church the next day.

The following October, the new convert traveled to Rome, where he was ordained a Catholic priest and given a doctorate in divinity by Pope Pius IX himself. Father Newman joined the Congregation of the Oratory and, having been given a papal brief, set up an oratory in Birmingham, England.

The years of Cardinal Newman’s life were nearly equally divided between those when he was non-Catholic and those when he was Catholic, and the second half of his life, like the first, did not lack for controversy.

“Apologia Pro Vita Sua” was published in response to personal attacks against him by novelist Charles Kingsley. In it, he defended the civic loyalty of English Catholics against the accusations of William Gladstone.

At the same time, many Catholics remained wary of the new priest, not only because he was a convert, but also because some considered him to be a liberal. This accusation stemmed in part from his concerns about the First Vatican Council’s formal definition of the dogma of papal infallibility. In his “Letter to the Duke of Norfolk” (1875), however, he affirmed that he had always believed in the doctrine.

Whatever may have been the qualms of some Catholics about his thinking, in 1879 the convert priest was named a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII.

Cardinal Newman has sometimes been called the “Father of Vatican II” because of the influence of his writings on several key areas of theology and practice. Pope Paul VI, in his 1975 address, highlighted this influence:

“Many of the problems which (Newman) treated with wisdom — although he himself was frequently misunderstood and misinterpreted in his own time — were the subjects of the discussion and study of the fathers of the Second Vatican Council, as for example the question of ecumenism, the relationship between Christianity and the world, the emphasis on the role of the laity in the church and the relationship of the church to non-Christian religions.”

In a 1990 address given on the first centenary of Cardinal Newman’s death, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote:

“The characteristic of the great doctor of the church, it seems to me, is that he teaches not only through his thought and speech but also by his life, because within him, thought and life is interpenetrated and defined. If this is so, then Newman belongs to the great teachers of the church, because he both touches our hearts and enlightens our thinking.”

Shortly before his death, Cardinal Newman asked Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne of Birmingham to bless him. Bishop Ullathorne, deeply moved by the request, later wrote: “I felt annihilated in his presence. There is a saint in that man.”

WILKES-BARRE – All families are invited to join Catholic School Services and its Parents as Teachers program for an afternoon of indoor fun and education on Aug. 2, 2025.

The free event, with a back-to-school focus, will be held from noon to 4:00 p.m. at the King’s College Scandlon Gymnasium, 150 N. Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, 18711. (Free parking is available at 133 S. Franklin Street, Wilkes-Barre, 18711)

There will be face painting, free haircuts and eye exams, along with performances and demonstrations by community groups. Several dozen local organizations have committed to participating in the event.

The first one hundred children will get free water bottles and dental hygiene kits. There will also be an interactive scavenger hunt to be turned in for prizes, and interactive demonstrations by Kerri Berri kids yoga.

The Parents as Teachers program of Catholic Social Services will also be highlighting its program. The program is open for participation from conception until a child reaches kindergarten. A child must be enrolled at least one year prior to kindergarten. There are no income qualifications to participate but families must live within Luzerne County to participate in the Catholic Social Services program.

For more information on the event, or to register your community group to participate, please contact Montie Ford at MFord@cssdioceseofscranton.org.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The enthusiastic joy of young people, who love Jesus and want all wars to stop, will be heard to the ends of the earth, Pope Leo XIV said, welcoming tens of thousands of cheering young men and women to Rome for their Jubilee.

“Buona sera, buenas tardes, good evening!” he said after finishing a long ride in the popemobile, waving to more than 120,000 ecstatic visitors filling St. Peter’s Square and the long, wide boulevard that runs between the square and Castel Sant’Angelo by the Tiber River.

The pope appeared at the end of a Mass presided over by Archbishop Rino Fisichella in St. Peter’s Square July 29 as part of a series of welcome celebrations for the weeklong Jubilee of Youth.

A rainbow of colors covered the streets and squares as different pilgrim groups wore coordinated colored T-shirts or hats, and scores of national flags billowed in the gusting evening wind.

“Jesus tells us you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world,” Pope Leo said in English.

“And today, your voices, your enthusiasm, your cheers, which are all for Jesus Christ, will be heard until the ends of the earth,” he said in Spanish to huge cheers.

“Today marks the beginning of a journey, the Jubilee of Hope, and the world needs messages of hope. You are this message, and you must continue to give hope to everyone,” he said.

“Let us walk together with our faith in Jesus Christ,” he said in Italian. “And our shouts must also be for peace in the world.”

“Let’s all say it: We want peace in the world!” he shouted, as the crowd responded, “We want peace in the world.”

“Let us pray for peace” and be witnesses to “the peace of Jesus Christ, the light of the world that we are all seeking,” he said, as the evening twilight turned to night and the waxing crescent moon appeared brightly.

It was Pope Leo’s second “surprise” appearance July 29, after arriving to greet the faithful at the end of a morning Mass presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, marking the conclusion of the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers July 28-29.

The pope was scheduled to lead his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square July 30, and then lead an evening prayer vigil Aug. 2 and morning Mass Aug. 3 in Rome’s Tor Vergata neighborhood, where close to 1 million young people were expected.

Cardinal Tagle and Archbishop Fisichella lead the two sections making up the Dicastery for Evangelization as pro-prefects. The archbishop’s section has been in charge of organizing the Holy Year.

Before celebrating the evening Mass in the square July 29, Archbishop Fisichella welcomed the young people on behalf of the pope, especially those who came from war-torn regions.

“May the fraternal embrace that unites us as one body reach those from Ukraine and Palestine and other countries,” he said. Two young men from Palestine wore the traditional keffiyeh, a wide scarf, over their shoulders during the Mass as they brought up the offertory gifts.

“Make sure to show them a sign of your friendship,” the archbishop said in his greeting before Mass.

To those who had to make many sacrifices to come to Rome, he said, “The Lord will not disappoint you. He comes to meet you — remain vigilant so that you may recognize his presence in your life.”

“Live these days with joy and spirituality, discovering new friendships,” and enjoying the city of Rome, he said.

“We are here to hand on the faith and to understand the great value that Jesus Christ brings into our lives. Let us respond with enthusiasm in these days: Rome, with all that it represents, is in your hands,” Archbishop Fisichella said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In an ever-evolving era of technological advancement, including the adoption of artificial intelligence, Catholics in the digital space must focus on being authentic witnesses rather than providing endless streams of content, Pope Leo XIV said.

Arriving after the conclusion of the July 29 Jubilee Mass with digital missionaries and Catholic influencers in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope said Catholics have “a duty to work together to develop a way of thinking and a language of our time, that gives voice to love.”

“It is not simply a matter of generating content, but of creating an encounter between hearts,” he said. “This will entail seeking out those who suffer and need to know the Lord, so that they may heal their wounds, get back on their feet and find meaning in their lives.”

Hundreds of young Catholic influencers and digital missionaries participated in the Mass at the altar of the Chair of St. Peter, which was presided over by Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization.

After the final blessing, the pilgrims were surprised by Pope Leo’s arrival, with many excitedly waving and applauding. The pope approached the pews to greet them before making his way to a chair set up for him in front of the altar.

Addressing the influencers in Italian, English and Spanish, the pope echoed the same greeting of peace he made in his first address as pontiff following his election.

“Peace be with you! How much we need peace in these times marked by hostility and war, which in turn calls us to give witness to the greeting of the Risen Lord: ‘Peace be with you,'” he said.

The church’s mission of proclaiming peace to the world, he continued, is entrusted to young people celebrating the Jubilee, especially those who “nourish Christian hope in social networks and online spaces.”

“Peace needs to be sought, proclaimed, and shared everywhere, both in the places where we see the tragedy of war and in the empty hearts of those who have lost the meaning of life and the desire for introspection and the spiritual life,” the pope said.

Another challenge to their mission is the need to look for “the suffering flesh of Christ,” especially in those they meet online absorbed in “a new culture” that is “deeply characterized and formed by technology.”

Urging digital missionaries and influencers “to ensure that this culture remains human,” Pope Leo warned that science and technology influence not just how one lives, but even affects “how we understand ourselves and how we relate to God and others.”

“Nothing that comes from man and his creativity should be used to undermine the dignity of others,” the pope said. “Our mission — your mission — is to nurture a culture of Christian humanism, and to do so together. This is the beauty of the ‘network’ for us.”

Lastly, Pope Leo said that Jesus’ invitation to his disciples to mend their fishing nets extends to Catholics in the digital space. Catholic influencers and digital missionaries are called to “weave other nets” of love, sharing and truth that can “mend what has been broken, heal from loneliness, not focus on the number of followers, but experience the greatness of infinite love in every encounter.”

“Be agents of communion, capable of breaking down the logic of division and polarization, of individualism and egocentrism,” the pope said. “Center yourselves on Christ, so as to overcome the logic of the world, of fake news, of frivolity, with the beauty and light of truth.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A federal judge on July 28 ruled Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding, indefinitely blocking a provision in President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda that would strip those funds for one year.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which enacted key items of Trump’s legislative agenda on issues including taxes and immigration, included a provision eliminating funds to health providers who also perform abortions — but just for one year. Although it was not named in the provision, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, sued in response, arguing the parameters for ending these funds effectively singled it out.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston previously temporarily granted Planned Parenthood’s request for a preliminary injunction while its lawsuit against the Trump administration proceeds. But in a new order July 28, Talwani extended the injunction.

The previous order applied to only some Planned Parenthood affiliates, but the new order would apply to Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide.

Talwani wrote in the order, “Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable.”

“In particular, restricting Members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs,” Talwani wrote.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, argued in a statement, “An activist judge just issued a ruling full of falsehoods about abortion giant Planned Parenthood in a desperate effort to keep forcing taxpayers to prop up Big Abortion.”

Conversely, Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement, “As this case continues, patients across the country can still go to their trusted Planned Parenthood provider for care using Medicaid.”

“We will keep fighting this cruel law so that everyone can get birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, and other critical health care, no matter their insurance,” Johnson said.

But Dannenfelser argued, “Every day this order stands, Planned Parenthood continues to rake in millions of our tax dollars, fueling thousands of unborn lives ended daily and putting women at unacceptable risk of serious harm and even death.”

“Women have better and more comprehensive alternatives with community health centers outnumbering Planned Parenthood facilities 15 to 1,” she said. “We look forward to the Trump administration swiftly stopping this lawfare and restoring the historic victory secured through the One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Federal law generally prohibits the use of Medicaid funds for abortion. Supporters of allowing Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funds argue the group provides cancer screening and prevention services — such as pap tests and HPV vaccinations. But opponents argue the funds are fungible and could be used to facilitate abortion, and therefore the organization should be denied taxpayer funds.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Let the Jubilee of Youth be more than an event for making memories and sharing pictures; be sure to encounter Christ and share the Good News, Pope Leo XIV told a group of young people.

“I would like everything you experience during these days to be cherished in your hearts forever, but don’t keep it just for yourselves,” he told the group from Peru during an audience at the Vatican July 28, the start of the weeklong Jubilee and the day Peru commemorates its independence from Spanish colonial rule.

He welcomed them to Rome, where they came as “pilgrims of hope,” and he recognized the sacrifice and hard work of their families and communities that had made the journey possible.

“We must learn to share,” he said. “Please, don’t let all of this remain just a memory, just some nice photos, just something from the past.”

He asked that when they return home after the jubilee celebrations, they share “the joy and strength of the Gospel, with the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

Each person by himself or herself is small, “but we are not alone; the Lord has wanted us to be part of a large family, the family of the church,” he said, so that, like clusters of grapes on the vine, “we can grow and bear fruit, aided by the Lord’s grace.”

During this joyful and important event for young people from around the world, he said, “all of you will have the beautiful experience of feeling part of the people of God, part of the universal church, which encompasses and embraces the whole earth, without distinction of race, language or nation.”

“Love and serve freely, in everyday life, in small things, in hidden ways, because you have experienced the joy of being loved first, and because you have received everything freely from God our Father,” the pope said.

(OSV News) – At least 43 people, including children, were killed July 27 in a brutal overnight attack on a Catholic church in Komanda in eastern Congo.

Militants from the Allied Democratic Forces — an Islamist group linked to the Islamic State group — targeted faithful gathered for a youth retreat, opening fire and using machetes before looting homes and attacking displaced persons sheltering nearby.

The United Nations’ mission in the country called the attack a “heinous” act of violence in a July 27 statement. Victims were buried in a mass grave July 28 following a funeral Mass at the Komanda church with Father Aime Lokana Dhegoin presiding.

Pope Leo expressed “deep sorrow” over the attack in a July 28 telegram, signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican’s secretary of state, and sent to Archbishop Fulgence Muteba Mugalu of Lubumbashi, who is president of Congo’s bishops’ conference.

The pope joined “the mourning of the families and the Christian community,” expressing his closeness and assurance of prayers.

“This tragedy invites us to work even harder for the integral human development of the wounded population of this region,” the pope said.

“His Holiness implores God that the blood of these martyrs may be a seed of peace, reconciliation, brotherhood and love for all the Congolese people.”

According to reports, the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, descended on Komanda, a township about 46 miles southwest of the city of Bunia, the capital of the province, in the early morning hours of July 27. Targeted were Catholics gathering for a retreat in the Caritas hall of the Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta Catholic Church in the township.

The militants had ambushed the night prayer vigil, catching by surprise the youth who were preparing for the Sunday service. The armed men gunned down some of the worshippers, butchered others with machetes and abducted others.

Father Marcelo Oliveira, a Comboni missionary who has been in the Congo for many years, told the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need that the victims were part of a movement called Eucharistic Crusade and were participating in a prayer vigil as part of a summer holiday formation session.

“The attack occurred at around 1 o’clock in the morning. The rebels entered the church and murdered a large number of children, both inside the church building and in the compound,” he said in a message sent to the Portuguese office of ACN.

Nearby homes, shops and banks were looted by the militia, who also attacked displaced people camping in the town’s hospital.

“The people — both the youth and adults — had gathered to celebrate the jubilee of the parish church, when the attack occurred. Those who came from other regions left, but the local worshippers converged in the church hall to wait for the Sunday service,” Father Justin Zanamuzi, vicar general of the Diocese of Bunia, told OSV News in a telephone interview.

“As the church, we condemn this attack in the greatest terms possible. We feel the pain of this attack.”

ADF, an organization blamed for the attack, is a murderous militia group that was launched in Uganda in 1995, and currently operates in the mountainous region between Uganda and Congo. The group has been recruiting child soldiers, maiming, killing, and raping women and children. In 2019, the militant group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and increased its attacks.

There is an ongoing joint military offensive against the group, but Father Zanamuzi explained that the militia had recently stepped up its violence and was still carrying out killings in villages and towns in the region.

The attack in Komanda, a commercial hub connecting Tshopo, North Kivu and Maniema provinces, is the latest one. The town is an easy target of the Congolese militias due to its geographical location and economic significance.

On July 26, the priest said, the militant group had earlier begun to attack villages before targeting the church gathering at night.

“I think they are everywhere now. We cannot also rule out religious motivation. They are Muslim extremists and are known to attack Christians,” he said.

The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee, a New York-based global advocacy wing of Orthodox Christians worldwide, condemned the attack in Ituri, saying the members of the militant group had killed innocent worshippers during an overnight prayer vigil.

“The attackers … used guns and machetes, setting the church ablaze and slaughtering those in the pews. This was not a battle. This was a massacre of faithful in the house of God,” said the committee in a statement dated July 27.

The United Nations’ mission in Congo, MONUSCO, detailed the 43 killed in the church, saying they included 19 women, 15 men and nine children.

“These targeted attacks against defenseless civilians, particularly in places of worship, are not only appalling but also in violation of all human rights standards and international law,” said Vivian van de Perre, deputy special representative of the secretary general in Congo in a July 27 statement.

Days before the attack in Komanda, another militia known as CODECO, the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, had desecrated the St. John of Capistrano in Lopa, in Ituri, on July 21.

The attack on the church came a day after the Congolese army and CODECO announced an alliance to fight a new militia known as the CRP, or the Convention for Popular Revolution.

In the attack, the tabernacle was violated, consecrated Hosts spilled, the Marian shrine vandalized, and sacred and liturgical objects destroyed.

“This serious and deliberate desecration of the Catholic church in Lopa is part of a series of violent attacks announced and claimed by the CODECO spokesperson in the trading centers of Lopa and Nizi,” said Bishop Dieudonné Uringi Uuci of Bunia in a July 26 statement, which also expressed great sorrow and dismay at the attack. “It can be recalled that since 2017, this militia has been responsible for numerous gruesome atrocities against Church facilities, members of the clergy, and pastoral workers.”

These latest attacks are part of the deadly cycle of conflict that has unfolded for decades in the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu of eastern Congo, a mineral-rich region the size of Western Europe. Fueling the conflict is an intricate mix of regional politics, ethnic and national rivalries, and a fight for control of the mineral resources, according to analysts.

In the July 28 statement, ACN said: “ACN urges all parties to strive to protect civilians and places of worship in the Democratic Republic of Congo and calls on its friends and benefactors to pray for the victims of this horrific attack, and for peace to finally arrive in this African country.”