SCRANTON – Parishes across the Diocese of Scranton, including the Cathedral of Saint Peter, are busy preparing for Holy Week and Easter. The faithful are invited and encouraged to attend Masses in-person to experience the joy, hope and love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bishop Bambera blesses palms at the start of the Palm Sunday Mass in the Cathedral of Saint Peter Prayer Garden in 2022.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate several Pontifical Liturgies at the Cathedral of Saint Peter for this holiest time of the year. The dates and times are highlighted below.

CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton will provide live coverage of all of the Pontifical Masses from the Cathedral of Saint Peter. In addition to being broadcast, the Masses will also be available via livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and all Diocesan social media platforms.

PALM SUNDAY, APRIL 2

The solemn observances of Holy Week, which recall the passion and death of Jesus Christ, begin on Palm Sunday, April 2. Those attending the service receive palms, a reminder of Scripture telling us that people welcomed Jesus by laying down their cloaks and waving palm branches.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate a Pontifical Liturgy at 12:15 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

Palm Sunday Masses at the Cathedral will also be celebrated at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, and 6:30 a.m., 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Evening Prayer and Benediction will also take place at 6:00 p.m.

CHRISM MASS, APRIL 4

Priests serving throughout the Diocese will gather at the Cathedral on Tuesday, April 4, at 4:00 p.m. for the Solemn Pontifical Chrism Mass, at which the Holy Oils used during the conferral of sacraments throughout the Church year will be blessed. Bishop Bambera will be the principal celebrant and homilist.

During this Mass, priests will renew their ordination promises and acknowledge the Bishop’s role as the unifying symbol for Church governance and pastoral guidance. After Mass, they will receive the Sacred Chrism, Oil of the Sick, and the Oil of Catechumens, which are used in the celebration of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, the Anointing of the Sick and the Rites of the Catechumenate.

HOLY THURSDAY, APRIL 6

The three most sacred days of the Church’s liturgical year, known as the Sacred Paschal Triduum, begin on Holy Thursday, April 6, with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. During the Triduum (Latin for “three days”), the Church solemnly celebrates the greatest mysteries of our redemption, keeping by means of special celebrations the memorial of the Lord, crucified, buried and risen.

Holy Thursday marks the day on which Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist and the priestly Order and gave us the commandment concerning fraternal charity. At the Cathedral, Morning Prayer will be at 8:00 a.m.

The Pontifical Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which will include the Rite of the Washing of Feet, will begin at 5:30 p.m., with Bishop Bambera serving as the principal celebrant. Following this Mass there will be the transfer of the Most Blessed Sacrament to the place of repose. Adoration will continue until 9:00 p.m. Night Prayer will be celebrated at 9:00 p.m. and broadcast via livestream.

This year, on Holy Thursday, parishes in the Diocese of Scranton may resume the practice of distributing the Precious Blood to the faithful at Mass at the discretion of the pastor, administrator or parish life coordinator. For the last three years during the COVID-19 pandemic, the distribution of the Precious Blood at Mass has been suspended out of an abundance of caution to protect the health and safety of the faithful. Starting Holy Thursday 2023, the faithful will once again have the option to receive Holy Communion under one or both species, with the understanding that those who receive under only one species are not deprived in any way of the fullness of the Lord’s Presence.

GOOD FRIDAY, APRIL 7

On Good Friday, April 7, and the following day (up to the Easter Vigil Mass), by a most ancient tradition, the Church does not celebrate the sacraments at all, except for Penance and Anointing of the Sick. At the Cathedral, Morning Prayer for Good Friday will be at 8:00 a.m.

The Commemoration of the Passion and Death of the Lord celebrated by Bishop Bambera will begin at 12:10 p.m. In addition, the Stations of the Cross will be prayed at 5:00 p.m. Good Friday is a day of fast and abstinence.

HOLY SATURDAY, APRIL 8

Holy Saturday, April 8, is the day that the Church waits at the Lord’s tomb in prayer, meditating on his passion and death and awaiting his resurrection. Morning Prayer will be at 8:00 a.m. at the Cathedral.

Bishop Bambera will be the principal celebrant and homilist of the Easter Vigil Mass at the Cathedral beginning at 8:00 p.m.

On the Holy Night of Easter, many individuals who have participated in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) will become fully initiated Catholics by the celebration of their Baptism, Confirmation, and reception of the Eucharist for the first time. This year, 162 people are expected to celebrate in parishes throughout the Diocese. They join tens of thousands of other individuals throughout the world who will become members of the Church that night.

EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 9

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord is the most joyous day in the Church year. This joy overflows into the 50 days of the Easter season, which concludes on Pentecost Sunday. On Easter Day, Bishop Bambera will celebrate a Pontifical Mass at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral. Additional Masses at the Cathedral during the day will be at 6:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.

Since Christ accomplished his work of human redemption and of the perfect glorification of God through his Paschal Mystery, in which by dying he has destroyed our death, and by rising restored our life, the Sacred Paschal Triduum shines forth as the high point of the entire liturgical year. Therefore, the preeminence that Sunday has in the week, the Solemnity of Easter has in the entire year.

 

ROME (CNS) – After spending the night in the hospital, Pope Francis is “steadily improving” from a respiratory infection and continuing his planned course of treatment, the Vatican press office said.

After he “rested well overnight,” the Vatican said March 30, he “read some newspapers after eating breakfast and has resumed working.”

Before lunch, Pope Francis received the Eucharist in the chapel near his room at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, the statement said.

A videographer films outside of Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 30, 2023. Pope Francis was admitted to the hospital March 29 due to concerns over breathing difficulties. The pope was diagnosed with a “respiratory infection,” according to the Vatican. (CNS photo/Justin McLellan)

Pope Francis was admitted to Gemelli hospital March 29 after having trouble breathing.

The Vatican said that the pope had complained of “some respiratory difficulties” in recent days and was admitted to the hospital for medical tests, the results of which detected a “respiratory infection” but excluded COVID-19.

The 86-year-old pope is missing a piece of his lung that was removed in 1957 when he was 20 years old and training to become a priest in his native Argentina. He has insisted the operation has had no lasting impact on his health.

Photographers, television cameras and reporters waited outside the hospital March 30, but they formed the only crowd gathered there for the pope.

Before going to the hospital, Pope Francis held his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square and showed no obvious signs of breathing problems.

The Vatican originally said the pope was taken to the hospital for “previously planned tests,” and later stated that he would remain the hospital for a few days. Pope Francis’ scheduled meetings for March 30 and 31 were cancelled “to make room in his agenda for the tests to continue,” an official said.

“Pope Francis is touched by the many messages received and expresses his gratitude for the closeness and prayer,” the Vatican said in its second statement March 29.

Italian media reported that the pope was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, but the Vatican press office refused to comment on those reports.

The Gemelli hospital, part of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, keeps a suite of rooms reserved for the popes on its 10th floor.

Pope Francis had spent 10 days there in July 2021 after undergoing a three-hour surgery that included a left hemicolectomy, which is the removal of the descending part of the colon, a surgery that can be recommended to treat diverticulitis.

In late January, the pope told the Associated Press that his diverticulitis had returned, but insisted he was in good health for his age.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency in July 2022, he dismissed as “court gossip” rumors that cancer was found during his colon operation.

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – After having difficulty breathing, Pope Francis went to Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 29 where he was diagnosed with a respiratory infection that will be treated in the hospital for several days, the Vatican press office said.

In the past few days, the statement said, “Pope Francis complained of some respiratory difficulties and this afternoon he went to Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic for some medical tests.

The outcome of these showed a respiratory infection – a COVID-19 infection was excluded – that will require several days of appropriate medical treatment in the hospital.”

Pope Francis prays the Angelus from the balcony of his room at Gemelli hospital in this file photo taken in Rome July 11, 2021, when the pope was in the hospital for 10 days to recover from a scheduled colon surgery. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

“Pope Francis is touched by the many messages he’s received and expresses his gratitude for the closeness and prayer,” the press office said.

About six hours earlier the press office had said the pope was at the hospital for “previously planned tests.”

Before acknowledging the pope would be hospitalized for a few days, a Vatican official said audiences with the pope scheduled for March 30 and 31 had been canceled “to make room in his agenda for the tests to continue” if needed.

Several Italian media outlets and the Rome correspondent for the Argentine newspaper La Nacion reported, however, that Pope Francis was taken to Gemelli by ambulance.

La Nacion said that “a source close” to the pope told the newspaper that after his weekly general audience that morning, the pope began to feel chest pain and was advised to go to the hospital immediately.

The Gemelli hospital, part of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, keeps a suite of rooms reserved for the popes on its 10th floor.

In a late January interview with the Associated Press, Pope Francis had said that the diverticulitis, or bulges in his intestinal wall, had “returned,” but he insisted he was in good health for his age, which is 86.

Pope Francis had spent 10 days in Gemelli hospital in July 2021 after undergoing a three-hour surgery that included a left hemicolectomy, which is the removal of the descending part of the colon, a surgery that can be recommended to treat diverticulitis.

Three days after surgery, the Vatican said, “the final histological examination has confirmed a severe diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis,” a hardening of the tissue. The statement seemed to indicate that the biopsy showed no cancerous cells, although it did not say so explicitly, and rumors began.

Interviewed by the Reuters news agency in July 2022, the pope was asked about rumors that doctors had found cancer.

According to Reuters, Pope Francis laughed and said: “They didn’t tell me about it. They didn’t tell me.”

But, really, he said, “they explained everything to me well – full stop.”

The cancer rumor, he said, “is court gossip. The court spirit is still there in the Vatican. And if you think about it, the Vatican is the last European court of an absolute monarchy.”

In 1957, at the age of 20, Pope Francis was hospitalized after being misdiagnosed with the flu. In the book, “Let us Dream,” written with Austen Ivereigh, the pope said, “Straightaway they took a liter and a half of water out of the lung, and I remained there fighting for my life. The following November they operated to take out the upper right lobe of one of the lungs.”

While the pope can sometimes be heard breathing heavily, he has insisted the surgery had no lasting impact on his health.

(OSV News) – The Archdiocese of Hartford is investigating a possible Eucharistic miracle at one of its parishes, where Communion hosts seemingly multiplied during a March 5 Sunday Mass.

Father Joseph Crowley, pastor of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Thomaston, Connecticut, said in a YouTube livestream of his March 12 homily that an unnamed extraordinary minister of the Eucharist at the previous week’s liturgy had begun to run out of Communion hosts — only to find that “all of a sudden there (were) more hosts in the ciborium.” The St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish is comprised of three church locations — St. Thomas, Immaculate Conception and St. Casimir — and the alleged multiplication of Communion hosts took place at St. Thomas.

The minister continued to distribute the hosts to some “100, 150 people in the congregation,” after which “there was the same amount, if not more hosts” in the ciborium, said Father Crowley, who had celebrated the March 5 liturgy. “What happened is Our Lord multiplied himself. … I have no doubt. I know what I gave the person. I know what (was) returned (to the tabernacle). It was just very obvious and plain to me as to what happened.”

Father Crowley said in his March 12 homily he wanted to tell parishioners “from the horse’s mouth as to exactly what happened,” and “stick to the facts” to avoid confusion.

In a livestream video of his post-Communion remarks at the March 5 liturgy at St. Thomas, a visibly struck Father Crowley said the experience was “very powerful, very awesome, very real, very shocking.”

David Elliott, associate director of communications for the Archdiocese of Hartford, told OSV News that the archdiocesan judicial vicar, Father George S. Mukuka, “has been looking into the possibility of a Eucharistic miracle” at the parish.

Following the investigation, the judicial vicar will prepare a report for Hartford Archbishop Leonard P. Blair, “who will make a determination from there” regarding the event’s supernatural nature, said Elliott.

Several of the seemingly multiplied hosts had been distributed at daily Mass March 6 and 7, but were then kept in reserve as the archdiocesan investigation is still underway, said Father Crowley in his March 12 homily.

He said that the incident — which he described as “one of those moments where God showed up in a very powerful, powerful way” — had stunned him.

“I haven’t been praying for anything like this,” he said. “I’ve heard of this happening. I don’t know of any person out of my 20-plus years of dealing with the church … (and) dealing with hundreds of priests … hundreds, thousands of people, (and) many, many bishops. I know that the Lord can do anything. He does all things for nothing is impossible for God.”

At the same time, “the real miracle is the fact that we’re able to take simple bread and wine, and through the prayers of the church, through the hands of the priest, Christ is made present through transubstantiation,” said Father Crowley. “Our Lord then becomes the flesh and blood hidden under the mere presence of bread and wine.”

Through the apparent multiplication of hosts, “Our Lord gave us one of the best moments of reflection this Lent about himself, about the Eucharist,” said Father Crowley.

Father Crowley acknowledged that people often go through situations where “God seems so removed, so hidden … not part of our everyday moment because we don’t see him.”

“It’s sometimes hard to see a God that seems to be so hidden,” he said. “Perhaps the Lord had done this before, where you just give Communion out and all of a sudden there’s plenty of hosts and you just keep going. But to … be made aware is part of the miracle.”

A local saint in the making also may have played a role, Father Crowley said, since Blessed Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, served as pastor of St. Thomas Church from 1884 until his death in 1890.

“I think in a very profound way that … because of Blessed McGivney’s life here … it shows that this is a very special place. And it’s important to God,” said Father Crowley. “And I think good things are coming. I think great things are coming.”

As a parishioner pointed out to him, “we’re so easy to accept an act of evil, an act of harm,” but “it’s hard for us to accept an act of goodness or a God moment or a moment with Christ,” said Father Crowley.

“As we move forward, we really need to see our world through the lens of faith, through the eyes of faith,” he said. “And the more we get closer to our Lord, the more we’re going to see him in our everyday lives.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis’ message of hope for humanity will be shot into earth’s orbit as a “nanobook” embedded inside a small satellite and his words will also be transmitted back to earth each day for ham radio reception.

The new space mission, called “Spei Satelles,” is being promoted by the Dicastery for Communication and coordinated by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The project was unveiled at the Vatican March 27, the anniversary of Pope Francis’ prayer service he led in an empty St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Msgr. Lucio Adrián Ruiz, secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, said at the Vatican news conference that they have found many ways to spread the pope’s words and images from that historic evening three years ago: first as a global livestream, then a book “Why Are You Afraid? Have You No Faith?” which gathers together Pope Francis’ most significant speeches and comments during the pandemic.

Pope Francis holds the monstrance as he delivers his extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) during a prayer service in the portico of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican March 27, 2020. The service was livestreamed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

That book was later turned into a palm-sized edition that went to the North Pole and Norway’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s largest seed vault, as a symbol of the safeguarding of the planet’s biodiversity.

While more than 150,000 copies of the book have now been sold around the world, the monsignor said the next step was to send the book literally around the world in a low earth orbit satellite as a symbolic gesture of extending the pope’s loving embrace even farther.

In fact, the Latin name of the mission, “Spes Satelles,” can be translated as “satellite of hope” and “guardian of hope,” Msgr. Ruiz said, to signify the satellite is also a guardian, keeping the pope’s message of hope alive for all of humanity.

About two dozen students at the Polytechnic University of Turin built the mini satellite called a CubeSat, which will house the nano version of the pope’s book.

The nanobook was created by Italy’s National Research Council (CNR). The lab converted the 150-page book — about 86 square feet of printed material — into binary code that fits on a tiny chip, said Andrea Notargiacomo, head researcher in nanotechnology at CNR. The 2 mm-by-2 mm chip is about the size of the tip of a crayon.

Sabrina Corpino, a mechanical and aerospace engineer and professor who helped the polytechnical university students, said the satellite is set up to send radio signals back to earth.

If all goes as planned after its scheduled launch from Vandenberg Base (VSFB) in California June 10, any amateur radio receiver should be able to pick up its radio signals (437.5 MHz) transmitting papal messages of hope and peace in English, Italian and Spanish.

Like some other space missions, people are invited to submit their name to be put on a chip that will go with the satellite. However, this mission will take it one step further, said Father Luca Peyron, who is head of the Archdiocese of Turin’s apostolate for the digital world.

To get a “boarding pass” into space, people will be asked to carry out a corporal or spiritual work of mercy or non-Catholics can perform a gesture or deed that fosters human fraternity, he said.

This way, the pope’s words will have symbolic significance “up there” in the heavens, he said, and concrete action “down here” on earth.

People can take part by going to speisatelles.org where they can get their virtual boarding pass and follow the mission’s progress. Students and teachers at the Salesian University Institute in Venice created the “Spei Satelles” logo, which depicts beads of the rosary circling the earth, which is formed by two “S” letters.

Pope Francis was scheduled to bless the satellite and the nanobook at the end of his general audience May 29.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Gossip is the enemy of a parish’s sense of community and acceptance, Pope Francis said.

The pope warned of the dangers of gossip during a meeting at the Vatican March 25 with a parish from Rho, near Milan in northern Italy.

Gossip “kills,” the pope said, before recommending a “good medicine” to stop it.

“If you feel that you want to gossip, bite your tongue,” said the pope.

Pope Francis greets a child during a meeting with parishioners from Rho in the Archdiocese of Milan in the Vatican audience hall March 25, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Gossip, he said, “is a plague that ruins parishes, families and so many other things.”

The pope described parishes as “blessed places” where the church’s diversity is represented by bringing together different “generations, backgrounds, ways of serving and different and complementary gifts.”

“This is the church,” he said. “When the church is not like that it falls into worldliness, it falls into clericalism which is an ugly thing.”

The parish, Pope Francis said, “is the place where, following Jesus, we meet, we get to know one another, enrich one another as people from different generations and cultural and social backgrounds, each with something unique to give and receive.”

Parishes must remain places of welcome for whoever enters, he said. “If you are a priest, it’s for this reason; if you are on the parish council, it is for this reason: to open doors, to open windows, to always receive (others) with a smile and never say ‘not now.’ Total openness.”

Pope Francis also underscored the value of involving children in parish activities and regularly celebrating children’s Masses.

Parish life offers young people an opportunity to engage with their community’s elderly people, he added, urging young people to “talk, debate and listen to the elderly, because they will give you strength so you may go forth taking a piece from their (life) story.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The desecrated face of a statue of the crucified Christ in a Jerusalem church should move Catholics around the world “to recognize the pain of so many of our brothers and sisters” in the Holy Land, who have experienced the tragedy of violence and natural disasters, said a top Vatican official.

Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, has written to bishops around the world asking them to urge their people to generously support the traditional Good Friday collection for the Holy Land.

Customarily, 65% of the funds collected goes to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which ministers to Christians throughout the Middle East and is responsible for most of the shrines connected with the life of Jesus, including the Church of the Flagellation where a Jewish tourist attacked a statue of Christ in early February.

The remaining 35% of the collection goes to the Dicastery for Eastern Churches and funds seminaries, advanced education for priests and nuns and Catholic schools in the Middle East, including Bethlehem University.

The ministry of the Franciscans in supporting the Christian communities of the Middle East and keeping alive the Christian faith in the region includes humanitarian aid, especially now in Syria given the devastating earthquakes that struck in February.

“To the drama of the war that has lasted for over 12 years in Syria, the strong seismic shocks added (to the) devastation caused by collapsed buildings,” Archbishop Gugerotti wrote. “Many of our brothers and sisters in faith and in humanity have faced a new exodus from their homes, this time no longer for fear of bombs or for what the invasion of the Plain of Nineveh had meant in Iraq, but because their very houses trembled.”

Franciscan communities in the region, along with those of other religious orders, are offering shelter and food to those displaced by the earthquakes, he said.

Throughout the region, he said, the Franciscans “remain sources of hope by caring for the littlest ones, educating schoolchildren and youth, accompanying mothers in difficulty, attending to the elderly and the sick, as well as offering housing projects for new families and creating jobs,” so that living Christian communities can remain in the places where Jesus and the apostles lived.

Releasing the archbishop’s appeal March 24, the Vatican also published a summary report, which said just over $9 million was collected in 2022.

In addition to support of the Jesuit-run Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, a school of advanced studies in Eastern Christian theology, liturgy and canon law, the dicastery used its share to support scholarships for 252 students in Rome and to support regular church life in Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

The Franciscan Custody’s report was divided into categories of funds used for pilgrim facilities, for benefiting the local community, for assisting refugees and residents on the Greek island of Rhodes, for providing emergency and development aid to people in Syria and Lebanon and for helping pay the salaries of employees in Israel and Palestine to offset losses incurred because the COVID-19 pandemic meant that international pilgrimages were stopped or slowed.

(OSV News) – Powerful tornadoes tore through rural Mississippi the night of Friday, March 24, killing or injuring dozens and causing widespread destruction.

By Saturday night, an update from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) reported the death toll had risen to 25 and dozens of others were injured; four persons reported missing are accounted for. Multiple state agencies and partners have been working together to help in response and recovery efforts. News reports said that search and recovery crews continue to dig through destroyed homes and buildings on Sunday.

“The loss will be felt in these towns forever,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a Twitter post on Saturday. “Please pray for God’s hand to be over all who lost family and friends.”

Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz of the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, extended his prayers and encouraged Catholics to support all communities affected by this tragic event. “We join in prayer for all those affected by the storms that crossed our state,” he said in a statement posted on the diocesan website March 25.

An aerial view of the aftermath of a tornado, in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, U.S. March 25, 2023 in this screengrab obtained from a video. Dozens are dead or injured after a least one powerful tornado tore through rural Mississippi March 24. (OSV News photo/SevereStudios.com, Jordan Hall via Reuters)

During his Angelus, Pope Francis also prayed for the victims of the deadly weather and the people recovering from the loss of life and devastating destruction, according to Vatican News.

“We pray also for the victims of the terrible tornado that struck Mississippi in the United States,” the pope said at the end of his Angelus prayer on March 26.

Early Sunday morning, President Joe Biden ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected, due to the major disaster in Mississippi.

According to the White House disaster declaration, funding would be available to aid people in the counties of Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe, and Sharkey, and it can include grants for temporary houses and home repairs, as well as loans to cover uninsured property losses.

The National Weather Service confirmed tornado damage about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of Jackson, Mississippi, with a lot of the destruction reported in Silver City and Rolling Fork, a rural town of more than 1,800 people.

Processing information from damage surveys could take days to complete, but the National Weather Service noted the Rolling Fork/Silver City tornado has a preliminary EF-4 rating, which estimates wind speeds to have been 166-200 mph. Preliminary statistics from the National Weather Service said that tornado traveled approximately 59 miles over the course of an hour and 10 minutes. The Blackhawk/Winona tornado now has a preliminary EF-3 rating, with severe wind speeds in the 136-165 mph range.

“My city is gone. But we are resilient,” Rolling Fork Mayor Eldridge Walker said on CNN. Video and photos of the area showed houses reduced to rubble. On Twitter, Governor Reeves shared photos of relief efforts underway in Rolling Fork, Silver City, Amory and Winona, noting perseverance, unity and even prayer behind the response of responders and volunteers.

In an interview with OSV News, Marvin Edwards, a lay ecclesial minister of Sacred Heart Parish in Winona, shared what it was like to be in the tornado’s path. He said that he and his wife — who live 20 miles away from the parish — were in bed for the night when the tornado struck.

“This is the first time a tornado hit us directly. My emergency tornado watch went off on my cell phone. That’s not unusual, so I didn’t pay a lot of attention. All of a sudden, I heard this loud noise as my wife and I were laying in bed. We jumped up and the roof went away. We didn’t have time (to shelter); all of a sudden it (the tornado) was there,” he told OSV News.

Saying it all happened quickly, Edwards said they were not injured and only saw the damage once it was morning. “The tornado had a mile-wide path, and it picked up (strength) as it moved across the lake,” he said. “It took the roof off my house. I’ve got two cars with a big tree sitting across them; both of them are smashed.”

“As far as I know, all of our parishioners (at Sacred Heart) are OK. We don’t have a lot of parishioners; we’re a small mission church,” he said. “My immediate thought was, ‘I got angels protecting me evidently.’ I just thanked him (God). Something was protecting me.”

A local TV station reported a crisis shelter opened in Rolling Forks to provide a medical station, as well as cots, toiletries, and water. The state’s emergency management agency said shelters have also been opened in Belzoni and Amory to provide shelter to those affected, which includes hundreds of people who lost their homes.

On March 25, Gov. Reeves issued a State of Emergency in all counties affected by the tornado and severe storms that occurred across Mississippi. He called on agencies to set forth the emergency responsibilities delineated in Mississippi’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.

“We give thanks and pray for first responders, who are working tirelessly in affected communities trying to reach those missing, restore power and assist those surviving,” Bishop Kopacz said in a statement on the Diocese of Jackson website.

“I encourage all to continue to pray and find ways to support all affected communities,” he added. “We will be reaching out through our Catholic Charities Disaster Response team to assist in recovery efforts.”

The National Weather Service of Huntsville, Alabama, also confirmed four tornadoes touched down in their state overnight March 24-25, all of which were EF-1 or EF-2 strength. The New York Times reported Saturday morning that at least one person died in Alabama as a result of the severe storm system.

In a Saturday afternoon email, Donald Carson, the Diocese of Birmingham’s communications director, noted Alabama did not experience similar levels of lives lost or destruction as the neighboring state.

“We will pray for all whose lives were lost in Mississippi and those who love them and all affected by the storms,” he said.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency’s Twitter and Facebook page, @MSEMA, also warned Mississippians that a large portion of the state has the potential for more severe storms Sunday evening and “tornadoes cannot be ruled out.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has updated the procedures for investigating allegations of sexual abuse or the cover up of abuse, specifying that the leaders of Vatican-recognized international Catholic lay associations and movements have the same responsibilities over their members that a bishop has over the priests of his diocese.

The updated version of “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” (You are the light of the world), published March 25, also expanded the categories of victims covered by the regulations to include vulnerable adults.

The original text spoke of the crime of “sexual acts with a minor or a vulnerable person.” The updated text read, “a crime against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue committed with a minor, or with a person who habitually has an imperfect use of reason, or with a vulnerable adult.”

“Anything that expands the categories of those who should be protected is to be welcomed,” Oblate Father Andrew Small, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told Catholic News Service March 25.

Archbishop Filippo Iannone, prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, speaks to reporters in the Vatican press office March 25, 2023, after Pope Francis issued an updated text of “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” (You are the light of the world), spelling out the procedures for investigating allegations of sexual abuse or of the cover up of abuse. (CNS photo/Cindy Wooden)

Father Small also pointed to the updated document’s insistence that not only must dioceses and bishops’ conferences have a “system” for reporting abuse or its cover up, they also must have “organisms or offices easily accessible to the public” to accept reports.

Making the procedures “well known and publicly accessible is part of justice,” he said.

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Legislative Texts, told CNS the updated document was based on four years of experience operating under the previous version, but the update also was needed to incorporate changes Pope Francis made in 2021 to the Code of Canon Law’s “Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church.”

The new rules go into effect April 30.

Boston Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, said in a statement that with the updated text, “the church’s ongoing work of preventing sexual abuse by ministers of the church received a further boost.”

Updating the norms, “Pope Francis has reconfirmed the serious responsibilities on bishops and others in leadership positions to ensure robust safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and are effective,” the cardinal said.

One thing the updated version did not do, however, was provide mandatory and explicit steps for revealing publicly when a bishop has been asked to or forced to resign because of abuse or covering up abuse allegations.

Many Catholics, including bishops, have called for such public notification after news reports revealed that a bishop who “resigned” had been sanctioned by the Vatican.

In September, the Vatican confirmed it had placed restrictions on the ministry of Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of Dili, East Timor, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for nonviolent resistance to Indonesia’s 24-year occupation of his homeland.

And in November, the French bishops revealed that Bishop Michel Santier of Créteil, who announced in 2021 that he was retiring for health reasons, had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct and disciplined by the Vatican.

Archbishop Filippo Iannone, prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, was asked whether Catholics in general have a right to know when a bishop or priest has been disciplined for abuse or for covering up abuse.

“A distinction must be made between those who have a legitimate interest in the case,” specifically the victim, and the public, the archbishop said.

Asked the same question, Bishop Arrieta responded that “it depends on the level of scandal” and how widespread knowledge of the case is. “If the damage is limited to the victim and the victim is informed of the outcome (of the process), then you could argue that justice has been served.”

In his statement, Cardinal O’Malley said that “as much as possible, those impacted by abuse should be kept informed about the status and the eventual outcome of any case pursued because of any accusation made. Communicating the process of the church’s disciplinary system goes to the heart of its effectiveness. Judgments should be made available to interested parties, especially to those making accusations and the victims of sexual abuse.”

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, told Vatican News “one of the strongest changes” the pope made was to add laypeople leading Vatican-recognized organizations or movements and priests leading clerical associations to the list of those covered by “Vos Estis.” Like bishops, they must act when allegations of sexual abuse or the abuse of power are made, or they can face a “Vos Estis” process.

Cases of abuse in several Catholic movements have made headlines in the past several years. Perhaps the best known was the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, founded in Peru in 1971. An internal investigation in 2017 found that Luis Fernando Figari, who began the movement and headed it until 2010, and three other high-ranking former members abused 19 minors and 10 adults.

In 2017 the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life banned Figari from living in a Sodalitium community, participating in Sodalitium activities or contacting any Sodalitium member.

Father Small said Pope Francis’ update – declaring “Vos Estis” to be “definitive” and no longer “experimental” – shows that the church still has work to do in implementing its laws to punish abusers and those who cover up abuse. Expanding its coverage to include leaders of lay movements, he said, is an important part of the church’s global safeguarding efforts.

The definitive text of “Vos Estis,” Father Small said, “is a clear sign that a culture of impunity is over in the church.”

A detail view of the Shroud of Turin is seen at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

 

CANTON — The Knights of Columbus of Saint Michael Parish will host a one-hour presentation on the venerable Shroud of Turin on Saturday, March 25, at the Canton church.

Following the 4 p.m. vigil Mass at Saint Michael Church, the program on the mysterious burial cloth by Alex Piechochi will be offered at 5 p.m. in the parish’s social hall. The public is welcome free of charge.

Piechochi’s detailed discourse, which will be accompanied by a full size replica of the Shroud, will explore the circuitous history and intriguing facts associated with the much-scrutinized fabric that for centuries has been piously believed in the Christian world to be the sacred wrapping of the crucified Lord.

A light meal and fellowship will follow the Shroud presentation. For more information, call the parish office at (570) 673-5253.