Month: October 2026

Dear Friends,

During his pastoral visit to Spain earlier this year, Pope Leo XIV shared these words: “The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization. Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person. For this reason, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile.”

While the Holy Father addressed these words to the people of Spain, he could have just as easily addressed these words to most any country in the world, including our own. For every step forward that has been achieved in the endless battle to protect human life, there is always an equal and opposite step taken that diminishes respect and reverence for the sanctity of God’s greatest gift.

Human life continues to be threatened far more today than we realize or are willing to acknowledge. While the decades-long fight to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to abortion, was finally won in 2022, authority to regulate or ban the procedure was returned to individual states. As such, although abortion is prohibited or very limited in numerous states, in August, Massachusetts became the tenth state to allow the procedure at any point in a pregnancy.

What is more, euthanasia and assisted suicide practices are increasingly prevalent in various parts of the world, with assisted suicide currently authorized in thirteen states in our own land. The death penalty, opposed by the Church in recent papal pronouncements, continues to be an option for the punishment of certain crimes. Efforts to achieve human cloning and illicit reproductive technologies continue to be developed. And human trafficking is rampant as well as unjust immigration laws and actions that serve to diminish the dignity of God’s people.

The good news, however, is that the voices of faithful, selfless disciples of Jesus and countless others from different faith traditions continue to be heard in our world, proclaiming the value of human life as the treasured gift of God that it is.

The theme for this year’s Respect Life Month focuses on the Blessed Virgin Mary as Mother of Life. In becoming the mother of Jesus, her acceptance in that unplanned and unforeseen moment demonstrates how each of us is called to welcome the gift of human life, even when that gift is unexpected or calls us to make sacrifices.

This past July in his monthly prayer request, Pope Leo urged Catholics across the globe to join him in praying for respect for human life.

In his prayer, the Pope recognized that “each person is a sacred gift, from the first instant of existence to the final breath of their journey on earth.” He expressed his wish that we learn to “welcome life unconditionally,” to “accompany each stage with respect,” and “to bravely defend those who have no voice.” And the Holy Father concluded his prayer – as I do this letter – by imploring the Lord “to help His Church become a living witness of the Gospel of life, an open home where every life is celebrated, where no one feels unwanted, and where dignity is always honored and protected.”

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton

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. 4, 2026, 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.

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.

The theme for the 2026 Respect Life celebration is “Mary, Mother of Life.”

The life of the Blessed Mother teaches us to respect each human life in every stage and circumstance.

Mary’s role as the Mother of Life extends from the Annunciation all the way to the Crucifixion. On Calvary, Mary stood at the foot of the Cross with Saint John. The Gospel tells us: “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home” (Jn 19:26-27).

With his final breaths on the Cross, Jesus entrusted Mary and the Beloved Disciple to one another, and by extension established a maternal relationship between Mary and the Church.

Jesus’ words were addressed not only to Saint John, but to each one of us. In that moment, the physical mother of Jesus became the spiritual mother of the Church and all the faithful. Saint John went on to take Mary into his home and cared for her as she advanced in age, demonstrating our responsibility to continue our care for human life, from conception to natural death. Mary, who taught us how to nurture human life, became the recipient of that same honor and care.

SCRANTON – While quietly cleaning St. Peter’s Cathedral, young Pat Peyton, the Irish immigrant parish custodian, heard God’s invitation to follow Him more closely.

It was Pat’s response to this call that led him to the priesthood, his ministry to millions of families, and now his cause for canonization. Such a call did not come on the loud and busy streets of Scranton, but in the silent, prayerful space of God’s house.

How do we hear the voice of God today?

Between our calendars and the devices clamoring for our attention, it is easy to overlook life’s most important relationships with God and our family. And the busier and more distracted we get, the more these relationships suffer.

Father Peyton, candidate for Sainthood, reminded us of the Rosary’s power to unite us with both God and our family, for it is in the Rosary that we enter into the silent love of our Blessed Mother and unite as a family through her Son, Jesus Christ.

Join us at St. Peter’s Cathedral on Saturday, October 17th as we pray the Rosary in the spirit of Fr. Peyton to seek God’s blessing and our Lady’s protection over the most important relationships in life: God and family.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, urged the faithful to mark Respect Life Month with prayer, deeper reflection and action.

Respect Life Month is observed every October by the U.S. Catholic Church. This year, the theme chosen is Mary, Mother of Life.

“Our Blessed Mother is our model for upholding the sanctity of all human life in every stage and circumstance. We entrust all our efforts to protect mothers and babies to her motherly care, which we greatly need at this time,” Bishop Thomas said in a Sept. 29 statement.

“Today, with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks,” he said.

The Trump administration has sought to pause multiple state lawsuits seeking to roll back Biden administration-era eased restrictions on mifepristone, a drug commonly used for first trimester abortion, but which is also used in some miscarriage care protocols.

Thus far the administration has left that regulation in effect while seeking to block those challenges, pending a promised FDA safety review, resulting in frustration from pro-life advocates.

“The Food and Drug Administration has enabled a nationwide mail-order abortion industry by allowing the abortion pill to be prescribed in telehealth appointments, sold both at neighborhood pharmacies and online, and often shipped in the mail, circumventing state laws that protect life in the womb,” Bishop Thomas said.

“This means that more women, many of whom have been misinformed about the nature and risks of the abortion pill, will have an abortion alone at home, without any medical supervision,” he continued. “It also sets up additional opportunities for exploitation by violent partners or human traffickers. These affronts to human dignity demand our response.”

Bishop Thomas’ statement echoed joint remarks he and Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, USCCB president, made in early August ahead of the Aug. 18 launch of a nationwide call to prayer and action to mobilize Catholics to address the rising abortion rate and the increased availability of an abortion-inducing drug.

“Every abortion involves the death of a child and harm to the mother. Now with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks,” the prelates said.

In his Sept. 29 statement, Bishop Thomas thanked “the many thousands of Catholics across the country who have embraced the nationwide invitation to prayer and action on abortion pills.”

He said he wanted to ask the faithful to “continue our prayers and advocacy throughout the month of October” and invited them to visit the Respect Life Prayer and Action website, https://www.respectlife.org/abortion-pills.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV’s journey to France aimed to show that a joyful or serene rebirth is always possible even after tremendous tragedy or terrible suffering, he said.

By visiting the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral, meeting with survivors of abuse and praying at Lourdes, and celebrating the Christian faith openly in the public square of a secular nation, the pope highlighted how the miracle of new life can happen when everyone comes together out of love for one’s neighbor and the common good, he said during his weekly general audience Sept. 30.

As has been customary, Pope Leo used his first general audience after his Sept. 25-28 trip to Paris, Lourdes and Metz in France to tell people about the purpose of his visit and to thank all those who made the journey possible.

He also repeated an appeal he made in France: asking the faithful worldwide to pray the rosary throughout October, “dedicating it in a special way to ending wars and achieving peace.”

The motto of the journey, “That the world may have life,” the pope said in English, “characterized the Gospel-centered nature of my meetings throughout the visit. For God alone, through his grace, can restore the Church and renew humanity, and it was evident to me that this is precisely what is occurring.”

The Cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris, which was restored after a fire destroyed its wooden spire and most of its roof in 2019, “can symbolically shed light on this entire apostolic journey, offering a perspective that I would summarize in one word: rebirth,” he said in his main catechesis in Italian to thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Rebuilt and “more splendid than ever, the cathedral’s restoration “was a test of the possible collaboration between the Church, the state, public institutions and civil society,” Pope Leo said.

“The synergy for the common good should be the norm for institutions, political and social forces, and all those with civil and economic responsibilities,” he said.

“This is the message I wished to convey” to secular leaders and organizations, he said, “highlighting the fundamental criterion upon which such collaboration must be based: the dignity of the human person.”

According to France’s National Institute of Demographic Studies, the percentage of 18 to 49-year-olds who reported not belonging to any religion grew from 45% in 2009 to 53% in 2020, and 29% of the entire population reported being Catholic.

However, the pope said, there is also “a sign of renewal within the Church in France that has been evident for some years now, namely the remarkable and growing number of young people and adults seeking baptism.”

A tangible and visible sign of rebirth “appeared in a surprising way” during Mass Sept. 26 in Place de la Concorde, which, he said, was a highpoint of his visit. “Priests, the choir and a remarkable crowd extended all the way along the Avenue des Champs Élysées up to the Arc de Triomphe and beyond.” An estimated 800,000 people filled the streets, according to the Vatican.

Despite the vast crowds, “everyone was able to receive the Eucharist,” he said, “This is the true reconstruction, the restoration of the Church that only God can bring about, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary.”

Turning to his visit to Lourdes, he said the shrine dedicated to Our Lady also represents “a message of hope and rebirth,” especially for those who are sick “in body and spirit.”

This was another message “that I wished to openly reaffirm: every human life, in whatever condition, even in the most extreme frailty, retains its inviolable dignity and deserves to be cared for, accompanied and relieved of suffering with human compassion and with the aid of the means offered by science,” he said.

Because Lourdes “represents for the entire world a sanctuary of the civilization of love,” he said this was context for his meeting with a group of people who had experienced abuse by members of the church.

“I asked them to help me express to other victims too my own wish, and that of the whole Church, to listen to them and walk alongside them as they seek healing, acknowledging the pain inflicted upon their lives and working to prevent abuse,” he said.

Lastly, visiting the city of Metz, he said, helped symbolize its role in the process of unifying Europe “as a project for peace in the wake of the destruction wrought by war.”

After two devastating world wars, “Europe was reborn, founded on those principles of democracy, solidarity and fraternity amongst peoples, which owe much to its Christian roots,” Pope Leo said.

“Dear brothers and sisters, may the public witness of love for Jesus Christ that we have seen in France be an inspiration to the whole Church. Let us not hide our faith!” he told Portuguese-speaking pilgrims.

(OSV News) – Universal health care is “a moral imperative,” as “the Holy See has consistently reiterated,” the Vatican’s top diplomat told the United Nations.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, shared his thoughts in a statement delivered during the U.N.’s Sept. 25 High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response.

The gathering took place at the U.N.’s New York headquarters amid the multilateral body’s 81st General Assembly. The high-level events took place Sept. 18-28.

The Sept. 25 meeting was the second of its kind, with the first taking place in 2023 to assess global responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the U.N., the theme of the 2026 high-level meeting focused on developing a “multilateral and intergenerational approach” to prevent and address pandemics and public health emergencies.

That approach is based on the “principles of equity and solidarity,” the U.N. said on the official webpage for the meeting.

Cardinal Parolin quoted Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas,” in which the pope noted that scientific, technological and medical advances “are not easily accessible to the vast majority of people, as was dramatically demonstrated during the recent pandemic.”

The cardinal added, “Failing to confront this gap will make it harder to prevent and respond to pandemics effectively in the future.”

He stressed the need to “start by addressing the circumstances which often increase the risk of severe illness and death: poverty, poor living conditions, and lack of healthcare.”

Globally, about 1 in 10, or more than 826 million people, live in poverty, with some 811 million living on less than $3 per day, according to statistics from the U.N. and the World Bank.

In its 2026 “World Cities Report,” the U.N. notes that as many as 3.4 billion are estimated to lack “secure, safe, and adequate housing.”

An estimated 4.6 billion do not have access to essential health services, according to the 2025 UHC (Universal Health Care) Global Monitoring Report, jointly produced by the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group.

Cardinal Parolin said that universal health care is “rooted” in the Catholic Church’s recognition of the “equality of all in dignity and rights,” as the Church’s social teaching makes clear.

The cardinal also highlighted “our increasing interdependence and interconnectedness.”

He said that the principle of solidarity “implies building expertise and capacity in research, innovation, manufacturing, production, and regulation in developing countries.”

Those implications had been noted in the draft political declaration produced by the Sept. 25 meeting for consideration by the U.N. General Assembly. The U.S. and Italy were among the nations opposing adoption of the nonbinding agreement, which may be reconsidered at a later point.

In his statement, Cardinal Parolin also underscored the “social fragmentation” both revealed and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

At times, he said, “older persons were abandoned and many young people suffered from isolation and loneliness, inhibiting their personal and affective development.”

The cardinal drew on Pope Leo’s May address during an international conference on education and mental health, urging “greater attention” to mental health needs, especially among youth.

He quoted the pope’s address, emphasizing the need to remind people that “life has value, that each of us is loved, awaited and called to a task in the world.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The 2027 National March for Life theme is “The Truth is Pro-Life,” the March for Life Education and Defense Fund announced Sept. 29.

Hayden Sledge, chief of staff at March for Life, told reporters on a press call that “the soil is prime for us to make the case for the truth, for life.”

“Every January, people of different ages, backgrounds, faiths, and life experiences come together in Washington around one shared truth that every human life has worth,” she said.

During the second Trump administration, President Donald Trump has delivered video messages to the rally, while Vice President JD Vance has made in-person remarks.

In response to a question about whether they expect elected officials to join the Jan. 22 event, Sledge said, “In the past, we’ve been so excited to have the vice president in the past couple of years, and of course, we’re so excited about the latest addition to their family. But that’s something we’ll, of course, you know, keep you posted on.”

The 2027 event will take place while the pro-life movement faces several key challenges, such as preserving the Hyde Amendment, the recent approval of a new generic abortion drug, a policy permitting the distribution of that drug by mail and a rising abortion rate.

“We’ve, of course, seen some moves that have been good from the Trump administration regarding life with Moms.gov, but we’d also like to see some more action in reinstating safeguards from chemical abortion drugs,” Sledge said.

In his address to the rally last year, Vance acknowledged what he called “the elephant in the room,” criticism from some in the pro-life movement that the Trump administration has not rolled back a Biden administration policy permitting the shipment of mifepristone by mail.

The Trump administration has sought to pause multiple state lawsuits seeking to roll back the eased restrictions on mifepristone, a drug commonly used for first trimester abortion, but which is also used in some miscarriage care protocols. The Trump administration has thus far left that regulation in effect while seeking to block those challenges, pending a promised FDA safety review, prompting frustration from pro-life advocates.

During his January 2026 speech, Vance said rallygoers had an “ally” in the White House.

At the 2027 event, particular emphasis will be placed on the March for Life’s concerns about abortion drugs, Sledge said.

“One of our major flags this year, priorities, is showing the dangers and easy access of these chemical abortion drugs,” she said.

Clayton Kershaw, a former pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, will be the keynote speaker for the 2027 event, she added.

The March for Life is also in the midst of a leadership transition after its former president, Jennie Bradley Lichter, stepped down in July.

Organizers of the March for Life describe it as the nation’s largest annual human rights demonstration.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM METZ TO ROME (CNS) – In light of growing concerns about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, Pope Leo XIV told journalists he can still “sleep at night,” even as he cautioned against dismissing warnings about the risks the developing technology could pose to humanity.

“If someone were to ask me, am I in panic mode? No, I’m not,” he said Sept. 28 following his four-day apostolic journey to France. “I sleep at night.”

“I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI, should be taken seriously,” he said. “I don’t think that that is fake news.”

Protecting human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence has been a cornerstone of Pope Leo’s teaching for months. He dedicated his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” to AI and its role in society, urging governments, technology companies and the public to ensure that technological development remains at the service of humanity.

The pope told journalists that the Vatican has formed its own commission on artificial intelligence, initially as a way to coordinate how AI is being used within Vatican City and to examine its risks and benefits.

Since the publication of his encyclical, however, the Vatican has been contacted by people working in numerous fields interested in the issue, he said.

“We are trying to continue to promote dialogue, study, investigation, to find ways to make sure that AI does not get to a point where it could destroy humanity or remove humanity from the conversation,” Pope Leo said.

“I am relatively optimistic that that can happen,” he added, saying there are enough people seriously interested in addressing the risks. But he warned against allowing questions of power, competition and the race toward artificial general intelligence to dictate its development.

“We have to keep working,” he said. “We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen.”

“To simply say, ‘Oh, it’s not going to happen,’ and close our eyes to it, I think is probably not the most responsible way to go about that,” he said.

While in France, the pope repeatedly urged political and social leaders to place human dignity at the center of the development and use of artificial intelligence.

Speaking Sept. 25 at the Élysée Palace in Paris to French President Emmanuel Macron, government officials, civil society leaders and the diplomatic corps, Pope Leo warned against losing humanity amid what he called a “paradise of machines” and said ethical discernment is indispensable if technological progress is to promote integral human development.

Recent incidents involving unsupervised AI agents have intensified debates over safety measures for increasingly autonomous systems. During the in-flight news conference, Pope Leo noted reports that AI companies were working to introduce “guardrails” and limits into their systems.

“There is no one, however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation,” he said, calling for political leaders, technology companies and civil society to work together to examine “what is happening already and what could be down the road.”

During the roughly 20-minute news conference, Pope Leo also addressed clergy sexual abuse, the rise of far-right political movements in Europe, the war in Ukraine, France’s tradition of strict secularism and the housing crisis affecting many European cities.

During his visit, Pope Leo met privately with seven people who had suffered sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. Following the meeting, some of the survivors told reporters that the pope had acknowledged the systemic nature of abuse in the Church.

Asked about those accounts on the flight, Pope Leo said several of the survivors had spoken to him about systemic abuse and acknowledged that some organizations within the Church had, at times, been abusive “as a system.” But he said he preferred to distinguish between those cases and sexual abuse more broadly.

“Sexual abuse is first and foremost a human problem,” he said. “When it happens within the Church, it actually has another whole dimension added to it because people’s lives of faith are deeply wounded and sometimes even destroyed.”

“There’s a particular responsibility of the Church to walk with them and to help them seek healing,” he said.

The pope also responded to a question about the growth of far-right political movements in Germany and their relationship with Christianity.

Pope Leo said it would be worthwhile to examine whether there is a relationship between the decline in participation in Germany’s Christian churches and the growth of far-right groups, noting that some of those movements have themselves splintered as factions become more extreme.

He particularly warned about attempts to combine far-right political views with religion, saying Catholic and Protestant leaders in Germany have spoken out against such movements as “not an authentic expression of Christianity.”

The values of the Gospel, he said, “are not about hatred and division, but about understanding and compassion and accompanying.”

He expressed hope that people would participate in political life and “make clear choices for the common good and not for extremist ideas that perhaps will do much more damage than we are even aware of right now.”

“Again, on our part as a Church, social doctrine of the Church: talking about, teaching about, preaching about what we believe are these life-giving values and not destruction, division and hatred,” he said.

Asked about France’s tradition of strict secularism, known as “laïcité,” and whether his repeated defense of human life during the trip had crossed the line between religion and politics, Pope Leo said he did not believe it had.

“When the Church speaks about defending life, when it speaks about questions of social doctrine, we’re not entering into politics, we’re applying the Gospel to people’s lives,” he said.

The pope repeatedly spoke against euthanasia during the trip, including during his visit to Lourdes, as France implements recently approved legislation permitting the practice under certain circumstances.

“If that’s politics, I did that, but it was not to get involved in French politics,” Pope Leo told journalists. “It was to teach what the Church really believes.”

Pope Leo was also asked to clarify comments he made earlier in the trip that countries must have the courage to sacrifice certain positions for the greater good of peace, particularly in relation to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

He reiterated the Church’s opposition to violence, hatred and an escalating arms race, criticizing the enormous sums spent on weapons while hunger, health, education and other human needs remain unmet. The pope said the Church must continue to encourage negotiations even when diplomatic efforts appear to have little effect.

“I believe that the Church has a responsibility to promote these values, continually inviting the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, other countries, to come, to sit down, to dialogue, to look for how to solve problems without continuing these wars that no longer make sense,” he said.

“We cannot force anyone,” he added. “Sometimes it seems that it can be useless, but we are going to keep talking, we are going to keep inviting, we are going to keep announcing the Gospel.”

The pope also called for greater cooperation among governments, local communities and the Church in confronting housing crises that have made it increasingly difficult for people, particularly young people, to afford homes in major European cities.

A Spanish journalist asked Pope Leo about the case of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman with a disability who was forcibly removed Sept. 23 from the Madrid apartment where she had lived for more than seven decades.

Abascal had lived in the apartment since 1956 under Spain’s old system of rent-controlled leases, but subsequent changes to national rental law restricted the inheritance of such contracts. A court ultimately ruled that her decades-old lease had expired.

Pope Leo said he was unfamiliar with Abascal’s particular case but said situations like hers demonstrate the need to search for “more just solutions so that these cases don’t happen.”

“I think it would be a case where the neighbors, the community, the parish, the diocese or the state would have to come together and say: How is it possible for a case like this to happen?” he said. “What is the problem in the system that allows the case of an elderly woman with a disability or with some difficulty to be kicked out of her home?”

The Church speaks both about the throwaway culture and injustice, he said, but the housing crisis requires action from political leaders and public authorities as well.

“Many times we react only at the moment of emergency,” he said, “but we have to see in reality what is the systemic cause of this problem and how to help.”

Asked about his future travel plans beyond Latin America in November, and when he might visit Germany, Pope Leo said no date had been set.

“The only trip definitely planned is World Youth Day in Korea,” he said, which is scheduled for August 2027.

WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) – Two days after surviving a knife attack that killed a fellow priest, Father Adrian Mantykiewicz returned to the altar at the Benedictine sisters’ abbey in Jaroslaw with a message centered on forgiveness.

“As a disciple of Jesus Christ, in my own name, in Father Marek’s name and in Father Stanislaw’s name, I want to say very clearly that we forgive,” Father Mantykiewicz said during a Sept. 26 Mass at the Benedictine Sisters’ abbey in Jaroslaw in a homily that has since gone viral in Poland, sparking thousands of reactions from politicians, clergy and other users on social media.

It was the first Mass celebrated at the abbey after the Sept. 24 attack, in which five people were stabbed. Father Stanislaw Zbojniewicz died from his injuries. Father Mantykiewicz was treated and released from the hospital the same day. The abbey said Sept. 25 that Father Marek Pienkowski remained hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

“In a special way, I ask you to pray for our attacker and for the grace of conversion for him,” Father Mantykiewicz said. “I say these words from the depths of my heart. He needs this prayer most of all.”

“Whatever happened, the evil that took place here in our abbey, we must overcome with goodness, love and forgiveness,” he said.

The suspect in the attack is a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen. Father Mantykiewicz directly addressed the danger of allowing one man’s crime to become a reason for hostility toward Ukrainians living in Poland.

“I also want to ask you not to blame the nation from which the attacker came, because the evil was committed by a specific person,” he said. “A specific person, who has his own name, his own life and is responsible for his own actions. Other people did not do this. It was one person.”

He urged those listening not to “respond to evil with evil,” but with “love, support, understanding and care.” “I ask you to respect the people who live in our abbey, in our city, in our province and in our country,” he said. “I ask you to respect and support one another as two brotherly nations.”

Right after the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, Poles engaged in a massive charity campaign, accepting Ukrainians in their homes, and the border city of Jaroslaw was first on this front. But today, amid colder political relations between the two nations over historical disputes, the sentiment of the society faded as well, and some Poles were quick to blame an attack of this kind on the whole Ukrainian nation.

The priest connected his appeal to the abbey’s experience after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“When the war in Ukraine broke out, you remember well what was happening in our abbey — that we were open to people who came here, people who needed help, support, care, love, sometimes simply ordinary human kindness,” he said.

“No one here was left without help,” he added, recalling that members of the community sometimes worked through the night assisting those who arrived. Father Mantykiewicz asked that the abbey’s efforts to help Ukrainians after the war began not “go to waste.”

Meanwhile, prosecutors have drawn up charges against the suspect, identified as Ihor M., including murder, attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm. Prosecutors said psychiatric experts found that he was experiencing acute psychotic symptoms that currently prevent him from participating in procedural actions.

On Sept. 26 a court ordered him held for three months, with the detention to be carried out in a hospital ward with enhanced security. The Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reported that Ihor M. has a police record in Germany regarding an incident with officers and was entered into a Czech database as an undesirable person. The newspaper said the preliminary information had been obtained by Polish police from foreign law enforcement services. Prosecutors have not publicly established a motive for the attack.

The abbey said funeral rites for Father Zbojniewicz, 67, who had been a priest for 40 years, would begin Sept. 28 in Jaroslaw with a rosary and Mass celebrated by Archbishop Adam Szal of Przemysl. His funeral Mass and burial are scheduled for Sept. 29 in his home village of Grzeska.

“Let us care for one another,” Father Mantykiewicz told the congregation. “And let us love all those whom we meet on the road of our lives.”

ST. LOUIS (OSV News) – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen – the 20th-century theologian, evangelizer, Catholic communications pioneer, teacher and preacher – is now Blessed Fulton J. Sheen.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a pro-prefect for the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization and papal delegate, pronounced the Church’s declaration on Archbishop Sheen’s holiness of life and witness to Jesus Christ at a Sept. 24 Mass celebrated in The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.

To the applause of pilgrims, Cardinal Tagle described Archbishop Sheen as a “son of Illinois, son of the United States of America” and “indeed, son of the world.”

Hundreds of clergy, including dozens of bishops and cardinals, had processed into the arena for the Mass as choirs, accompanied by an orchestra, performed a succession of hymns. The priests’ vestments were embroidered with “JMJ,” Archbishop Sheen’s signature dedication to Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

The location had been selected by Archbishop Sheen’s home Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, to accommodate the number of pilgrims who arrived for the beatification and its surrounding events. Around 50,000 people were in attendance, according to organizers.

During a press conference a few hours prior to the Mass, Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria said that almost every U.S. state and several additional nations were represented by pilgrims. A number of the faithful hailed from Italy, Poland and Brazil, he said.

Close to 90 bishops, some 1,000 priests, an estimated 1,600 men and women religious, and almost 250 deacons were present, added Bishop Tylka, who wore Archbishop Sheen’s pectoral cross. Among the concelebrating prelates was Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The beatification — a papal act affirming an individual’s presence in heaven is worthy of belief — officially occurred between the liturgy’s Penitential Rite and the Gloria. Bishop Tylka made a formal request for Archbishop Sheen’s beatification to Cardinal Tagle.

A short biography of Archbishop Sheen, who was born in El Paso, Illinois, in 1895 and died in New York in 1979, was read by Archbishop Sheen’s great-nephew, Paul Cunningham, after which Cardinal Tagle proclaimed the apostolic letter from Pope Leo XIV declaring the beatification in Latin. Bishop Tylka then read the letter in English, as applause followed both.

With the papal decree’s public proclamation, Archbishop Sheen became formally counted among the Church’s “beati,” from the Latin word for “blessed.”

James Fulton Engstrom — whose revival from stillbirth in 2010, attributed to Archbishop Sheen’s intercession, was formally declared the miracle that moved Archbishop Sheen to beatification — processed with his parents and siblings to present a major relic of Archbishop Sheen during the liturgy.

Enclosed in a special case called a reliquary, the relic is Archbishop Sheen’s mandible, or jawbone, chosen because it represents the archbishop’s tremendous gifts as an orator, teacher and evangelist.

As part of the beatification, a portrait of a haloed Blessed Fulton Sheen was also unveiled. In the image, he is notably holding a piece of chalk, which he famously used — along with a blackboard — during his Emmy-winning television show, “Life Is Worth Living.”

The image was also simultaneously unveiled in the Diocese of Peoria at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception.

The first reading from the beatification Mass, Isaiah 52:7-10, was delivered in Spanish, with the second reading, 2 Corinthians 4:1-2, 5-7, proclaimed in Portuguese, while the Gospel taken from Mark 16:15-20 was proclaimed in English. The prayers of the faithful were offered in a variety of other languages, illustrating both the universal character of the Church and also the missionary mindset of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, who served as the U.S. director for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

In his homily, Cardinal Tagle praised Archbishop Sheen as a “storyteller of Jesus” and “a “missionary who digs deep into the heart of the poor to meet Jesus there.”

The cardinal noted then-Bishop Sheen’s passionate advocacy for the poor during the Second Vatican Council. During the 1964 discussions on the document “Ad Gentes,” on the missionary activity of the Church, then-Bishop Sheen asked his brother bishops to “affirm” the notion of poverty and the bishops who came from poor and suffering parts of the Church.

“As only a wounded Christ could convert a doubting Thomas, so only a Church wounded by poverty can convert a doubting world,” he said.

Cardinal Tagle commended Archbishop Sheen for making genuine connections with the people he met and to whom he preached and ministered.

“The missionary evangelizer is blessed by the communion with persons and peoples, especially the poor and vulnerable, and this is communion in the name of Jesus Christ,” he said.

Cardinal Tagle shared how Archbishop Sheen told a friend, who asked why he became a priest, that he was called to share the Gospel and tell the story of Jesus.

“I never tire of telling it; I never tire of improving my telling of it. I love my calling,” Archbishop Sheen said, as Cardinal Tagle recounted.

In remarks after Communion, Bishop Tylka urged all attendees to pray for Archbishop Sheen’s canonization, leading them together in a prayer for that intention.

“It is God who has given the Church the extraordinary witness of the man we may now call Blessed Fulton J. Sheen,” he said.

Thanking the many prelates involved in the Mass, including Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, whose archdiocese hosted the beatification, and representatives from the Archdiocese of New York, Diocese of Rochester and the Pontifical Mission Societies, Bishop Tylka noted, “Your presence today is a beautiful reminder that while Peoria is incredibly proud to call Fulton Sheen one of our own, he is a gift to the whole Church.”

Bishop Tylka also expressed his gratitude to Archbishop Sheen’s family, individuals and benefactors involved in preparations and liturgy, and the faithful who made the pilgrimage to attend the beatification.

“Fulton Sheen has left us a great legacy,” he said. “He fearlessly proclaimed the Gospel in challenging cultural times. He supported the Church’s missions throughout the world. He won tens of thousands of converts and preached to millions. His time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament was the source of his insight into the Son of God. He used every gift God gave him for one purpose: to bring people to Christ. And his legacy is now ours.”

Following the Mass, attendees were invited to remain in prayer to venerate Archbishop Sheen’s relics.