Author: Eric Deabill

(OSV News) – The start of Lent is now less than one week away. Are you ready?

Lent gets its name from a word meaning “springtime,” the time of year when the hours of daylight are lengthening and the sun is bringing back its warmth and light.

The Lenten season, indeed all of springtime, is a time of hope: We deepen our relationship with Christ through our Lenten disciplines and look to his crucifixion, death and resurrection to overcome the darkness that can cause us to struggle and despair.

Some days we may not feel the love of God that is always present, but we can rely on hope to move us forward in faith, especially in the 2025 Jubilee Year, which Pope Francis gave the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” Exercise hope this Lent and find renewal for the coming Easter season, where we celebrate Christ’s joyful resurrection.

Hope is a theological virtue, a gift from God that helps us act as his children.

Received at baptism, hope gives us confidence and inspiration as we look forward to heaven and salvation. Hope allows us to move forward in faith even in the most doubtful or difficult times. Hope can help us feel secure even in the midst of our own failings or the injustices we see in the world around us.

St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Hope denotes a movement or a stretching forth of the appetite toward an arduous good.”

In other words, we are reaching for the goodness of God when we exercise hope – even when it isn’t easy.

Hope is also a form of trust in, and surrendering to, our loving God. We have faith in his goodness, and we trust his guidance for our lives and future. And, while hope is a gift, it is also an active choice we make to stretch toward God’s goodness.

This stretching exercise can take many forms as we live the days of Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

• Pray with hope. The season of Lent calls us to deepen our prayer lives.
  St. Padre Pio’s famous phrase, “Pray, hope and don’t worry,” is a reminder that prayer can give us comfort when we place our hope in God.
  Prayer shows our reliance on God as well as our confidence in God. Along with praying traditional Catholic prayers, it is helpful to pray with God’s word. This Lent, renew your prayer life by reflecting on these hope-filled Scripture passages:

“Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer” (Rom 12:12).

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13).

“Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy” (Heb 10:23).

Another way to deepen our faith this Lent is to learn and recite the Act of Hope.
Consider God’s mercy as you reflect on Christ’s death and resurrection and find hope in the promise of salvation:

“O my God, relying on your infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.”

• Fast with hope. During Lent, Catholics are called to days of fasting from food and abstinence from meat as we refocus our discipleship.

The goal of fasting is to improve our relationship with Christ as we experience sacrifice in honor of his sacrifice for us. Fasting can help us feel connected with Christ and solidarity with the poor. Many Catholics also traditionally “give up” something for Lent.

Here are some ideas to make your Lenten sacrifice a hope-building exercise.

Refrain from negative or hopeless comments; try saying things only in positive ways. Avoid watching television or movies with negative messages or dialogue. Give away items that are burdening you with clutter; find new homes for them with a charity donation. Trade the time you usually spend on screens or sports viewing to take walks with family or friends. Skip buying desserts or treats and use the money you save to purchase flowers for someone who needs a day-brightener.

As you fast, consider Pope Francis’ April 2017 TED Talk in which he addressed misconceptions around hope.

“Feeling hopeful does not mean to be optimistically naive and ignore the tragedy humanity is facing,” he said. “Hope is the virtue of a heart that doesn’t lock itself into darkness, that doesn’t dwell on the past, (that) does not simply get by in the present, but is able to see a tomorrow. … And it can do so much, because a tiny flicker of light that feeds on hope is enough to shatter the shield of darkness.”

• Give alms with hope. “It is in giving that we receive,” according to the Prayer of St. Francis. Almsgiving can seem the easiest of Lenten disciplines.

Most parishes have opportunities to donate funds to missions or the poor, and these are important works of charity.

Giving funds to help support others has been a part of Lent since the earliest days of Christianity and brings hope to others. However, as St. Teresa of Kolkata said, “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into the giving” that’s important. Exercising hope means we are relying on God’s love for us, which calls us to truly love others. This might mean that we exercise our hope this Lent by giving our love in time as well as in treasure.

This Lent, consider volunteering time at your parish during one of their Lenten activities, or help clean or decorate the church in preparation for Holy Week. Write cards to family and friends expressing ways they help you feel more hopeful and thanking them for their support.

This Lent, let us work to become more understanding, compassionate and faithful through developing a habit of hope!

An annual Lenten collection taken up by Catholics across the U.S. continues to provide life-changing hope to others.

This year, the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Rice Bowl program is celebrating its 50th year of funding hunger and poverty alleviation efforts around the world.

The program, which is supported by more than 12,000 Catholic parishes and schools across the United States, has raised more than $350 million since its inception.

“For half a century, CRS Rice Bowl has been a pillar of our work,” said Sean Callahan, CRS president and CEO. “It has given hope to millions of our sisters and brothers experiencing hunger. We are humbled by the generous support that Catholics across the United States have shown for CRS Rice Bowl and for their global family.”

In 1975, CRS Rice Bowl began in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as a response to the devastating drought and famine affecting families in the Sahel region of Africa.

“Operation Rice Bowl,” as it was known then, was adopted in 1976 under the guidance of CRS in preparation for 41st International Eucharistic Congress. The bishops in the United States voted for it to be the official program of CRS in 1977.

Sadly, the issue of hunger is just as relevant now as it was in 1975. Since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, hunger levels have remained high. In some parts of the world, the levels are increasing. Despite efforts to combat this rise, the world is still far off track to achieve the United Nations’ Zero Hunger goal.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 580 million people could be chronically undernourished in 2030 – just five years away – if the trajectory is left unchecked.

Direct donations to CRS are accepted online at crsricebowl.org/give; by phone at (877) 435-7277 between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m.; or mail. Please write “CRS Rice Bowl” on the memo line of a check and mail it to: Catholic Relief Services, Attn: Rice Bowl, PO Box 5200, Harlan, IA 51593-0700.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis’ condition showed “further slight improvement” in the previous 24 hours, the Vatican said in its evening medical bulletin Feb. 26.

The “mild renal insufficiency” previously noted in the pope’s condition “has receded,” the bulletin said, and the results of a CT scan performed Feb. 25 showed a “normal evolution” of his pulmonary inflammation.

The results come from the third CT scan the pope has received during his hospitalization; he was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs after the second scan, which was performed Feb. 18.

The 88-year-old pope, who has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14, “continues high-flow oxygen therapy” and did not have another “asthmatic respiratory crisis” like the one he experienced Feb. 22, the Vatican said. The pope began receiving oxygen through a nasal cannula after that incident and “continues respiratory physiotherapy.”

Notably, the evening bulletin did not describe the pope’s condition as “critical,” as it had each day since Feb. 22, but said his “prognosis remains guarded.”

The pope was previously given blood transfusions after tests showed signs of anemia – when blood is unable to carry healthy amounts of oxygen.

Blood tests assessing hematochemical parameters, indicators of overall blood composition, and hematocrit levels, which measure the proportion of red blood cells in the blood, “confirmed yesterday’s improvement,” the bulletin said.

“During the morning, the Holy Father received the Eucharist,” it added. “The afternoon was devoted to work activities.”

A Vatican source said the pope had not had any visitors during the day.

The Vatican had said the pope met Feb. 24 in the hospital with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute secretary of state, and signed a series of decrees related to sainthood causes which were released the following day.

In its scant morning bulletin Feb. 26, the Vatican said the pope “had a peaceful night and is resting.”

At 1 p.m. local time, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar for the Diocese of Rome, celebrated Mass in the hospital’s St. John Paul II Chapel with the special intention of praying for Pope Francis.

The 9 p.m. recitation of the rosary in St. Peter’s Square to pray for the pope’s health, which the Vatican said has become a fixed appointment, was scheduled to be led Feb. 26 by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.

(OSV News) – A multiyear decline in Christianity in the U.S. may have leveled off, according to a new survey by Pew Research Center. However, the Catholic Church, the survey found, is seeing the greatest net losses of believers compared to other religions in the U.S.

The data indicates that for every one person received into the Catholic Church, another 8.4 individuals have left the faith, either altogether or for another worship tradition. This increases the trend Pew found in 2014, when 6.5 Catholics left the faith for every person who entered.

Pew’s new survey also shows just 29% of the nation’s Catholics attend religious services weekly or more often. Altogether four in 10 Catholics attend religious services monthly or more.

In addition, support among U.S. Catholics for legalized abortion, homosexuality and other stances at odds with church teaching has increased over the past decade and a half.

On Feb. 26, Pew Research released the results of its 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study. The RLS polled 36,908 U.S. adults on a range of topics regarding religious belief and practice, as well as issues such as abortion, homosexuality, immigration and the role of government.

The survey was conducted in English and Spanish from July 2023 to March 2024, with participants sharing their thoughts online, via mail or phone.

Researchers noted that a multiyear decline in the number of U.S. adults identifying as Christian — noted in Pew’s 2007 and 2014 RLS reports — has appeared to stabilize “at least temporarily” since 2019.

The rise in those who are religiously unaffiliated, or “nones,” has also leveled off for now, after “rising rapidly for decades,” Pew noted.

However, the new survey “cannot answer definitively” whether that short-term stability will be “permanent,” cautioned Gregory A. Smith, senior associate director of research at Pew.

While he and his team “cannot predict the future,” Smith told OSV News the data “very clearly” shows that “the underlying forces that drove the long-term declines are still very much in evidence.”

“The youngest adults in the population are still far, far less religious than the oldest adults,” Smith said. “We know, furthermore, that the oldest cohort of Americans … will decline as a share of the population as the people in that cohort pass away.”

For the stability Pew has observed to prove permanent, “something would have to change,” Smith explained. “Either today’s young adults would have to become a lot more religious as they get older, or new generations are going to have to come along in the future that are far more religious than today’s young adults.”

The report found that 62% of U.S. adults currently describe themselves as Christian, with the majority (40%) Protestant, 19% Catholic and 3% as Christians from other denominations.

The total number of self-identified U.S. Christians is down from 78% in 2007 and 71% in 2014.

In 2007, 24% of the nation identified as Catholic, which dropped to 21% in 2021.

Over one quarter (29%) of the U.S. population identifies as religiously unaffiliated, with most (19%) describing themselves as religiously “nothing in particular,” 5% as atheist and 6% as agnostic. Another 7% of the U.S. population belongs to religions other than Christianity, with 2% being Jewish, and Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus counting as approximately 1% each.

Yet overall, most Americans (86%) believe people have a soul or spirit, and 83% say they believe in God or a universal spirit. A majority (79%) also hold there is a spiritual reality beyond the natural one, and 70% believe in heaven, hell or both.

Still, less than half (44%) say they pray at least once a day, a figure that has held steady since 2021, and 33% report attending religious services at least once a month.

Pew researchers speculated that “in future years we may see further declines in the religiousness of the American public.” It pointed out that “young adults are far less religious than older adults” and “no recent birth cohort has become more religious as it has aged.”

The “stickiness,” or persistence, of a religious upbringing appears to have declined, while that of a nonreligious upbringing “seems to be rising,” said Pew researchers.

Generally, “younger Americans remain far less religious than older adults,” said Pew, noting that 46% of the survey’s youngest respondents (ages 18-24) identified as Christian, with 27% praying daily and 25% attending religious services at least monthly. In comparison, the survey’s oldest respondents (ages 74 and older) saw 80% identify as Christian, 58% pray daily, and 49% attend religious services at least monthly.

Catholics polled by Pew have also shown an increased acceptance of abortion and homosexuality since 2007.

Among Catholic survey respondents, 59% said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, compared to 48% in both Pew’s 2007 and 2014 surveys. The Catholic Church holds that human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception, and since the first century has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.

A majority (59%) of religiously affiliated persons in the U.S. say homosexuality should be accepted by society, with 74% of Catholic respondents endorsing that view. The Catholic Church, which teaches that sexual activity can only morally take place in marriage between a man and a woman, also teaches that persons with homosexual inclinations “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.”

Catholics have also “experienced the greatest net losses” due to what Pew researchers called “religious switching,” with 43% of the people raised Catholic no longer identifying as such, “meaning that 12.8% of all U.S. adults are former Catholics,” said the report.

However, Smith said, “It is also important to point out that 1.5% of U.S. adults are converts to Catholicism.”

“That’s millions of people,” he said.

“That means there are more converts to Catholicism in the United States than there are Episcopalians, for example. There are more converts to Catholicism than there are members of congregational churches, and so on,” he added.

“There are lots of people who are joining the Catholic Church,” Smith said. “It’s just that they are far outnumbered by those who say they’ve left the Catholic Church.”

Smith also said that “it’s not necessarily that there’s lots and lots of people switching their religion at any one moment in time.

“These are gradual processes,” he explained. “It takes time to observe them.”

(OSV News) – A “silent genocide” – mimicking the Rwandan one of 1994 – is occurring eastern Congo, said some Catholic Church sources, as shock greeted the killing of 70 people in a Protestant church in the North Kivu Province.

The victims were found beheaded with machetes Feb. 15 near the Maiba village in Lubero, a district close to the border between Rwanda and Uganda, according to Fides, a news agency of the Dicastery of Evangelization. Many of those who died in the massacre were women, children and the elderly and had their hands tied behind their back.

The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee, an Orthodox agency that champions for Christian communities facing persecution, said the victims were taken from their homes days earlier.

“This heinous act, perpetrated within a sacred place of worship, is an egregious violation of human rights and a direct assault on religious freedom,” said the organization in a statement on Feb. 23.

Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist group originally from Uganda and aligned to the Islamic State group is believed to have carried out the killings.

According to the Orthodox committee, actions by the Islamist group have instilled fear and chaos in the region, forcing countless Christians to flee their homes.

“The local community is devastated, with churches, schools, and health centers shutting down due to the deteriorating security situation,” the statement said.

More than 100 rebel groups operate in the mineral-rich eastern Congo, with the ADF and the Rwanda-backed M23, or Movement 23, being some of the most deadly. The ADF is known for attacking churches, beheading Christians and kidnapping people for use as slaves or fighters.

But as the condemnation of the killings continued, Catholic Church sources said the latest massacre further underlined a genocide that has unfolded in the country for years.

“It is silent genocide that has not been told. It reminds of what happened in Rwanda in 1994,” a Catholic priest who requested anonymity for security reasons told OSV News. “It has been occurring for the last 30 years, but the international community has been silent.”

Since 1996, the conflict in eastern Congo has killed an estimated 6 million people.

In the first Congo war, Rwanda invaded Zaire (now Congo) in pursuit of Hutu ethnic extremists who had fled there after they committed a genocide in neighbouring Rwanda. The 1994 Rwanda genocide left nearly one million members of Tutsi and moderate Hutu people dead. In the second Congo war, two years later, Rwandan and Ugandan armies fought deadly battles in Bunia and Kisangani regions, resulting in heavy civilian casualties.

Father Dennis Dashong Pam, a Missionary of Africa priest who served in eastern Congo for more than 10 years said although the killings in Congo did not fit in the actual definition, the huge number of the deaths was equivalent to a genocide.

“Villages of the Congolese have systematically been wiped out. Yes! We can say a genocide is occurring,” said Father Dashong Pam. The cleric feared a repeat of the violence in the mid-1990s, when national armies fought in the region, leading to the fall of the then-dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko’s government.

“The people of Congo would not want to see a repeat of that. Too many people died,” the priest said.

According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, called the Genocide Convention, genocide means acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, by killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to its members, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The M23 rebels have recently surged in eastern Congo, seizing more territory and towns and leaving behind a trail of death, pain and destruction. On Jan. 27, the rebels captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu. At least 3,000 people died in the battle for the city, the humanitarian capital of the region.

The rebels captured Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, on Feb. 16. Unlike Goma, the movement met little resistance from the government forces.

Father Dashong Pam said all the fighting and violence is fueled by competition for mineral resources including tin, gold, coltan and cobalt. The last two are minerals which find wide use in electronics. Cobalt is used to make the batteries used in mobile phones and cars, and coltan is refined into tantalum, also used in the production of electronic components.

“It is all about the minerals. This story has to be told. It is a weapon: You terrorize the people and they run away from an area with plenty of minerals. When they are gone, you start exploiting the minerals,” said the priest.

During his visit to Congo and in South Sudan Jan. 31-Feb. 5, 2023, Pope Francis referred to the Congo violence as an overlooked genocide perpetrated by generations of exploiters, plunderers and power-hungry groups.

“Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa,” Pope Francis insisted Jan. 31, 2023, remarks met with applause and the stomping of feet. “Stop choking Africa: It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered.”

The people of Congo are more precious than any of the gems or minerals found in the earth beneath their feet, yet they have been slaughtered by warmongers and exploited by prospectors, Pope Francis said.

“This country, so immense and full of life, this diaphragm of Africa, struck by violence like a blow to the stomach, has seemed for some time to be gasping for breath,” the pope said at a meeting with Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, other government and political leaders, diplomats and representatives of civil society.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A federal judge in Maryland has halted a Trump administration policy rescinding long-standing restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests at what are seen as sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals.

The Feb. 24 ruling came down on the side of a group of faith communities who sued in response to the policy.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang’s action means that about 1,700 places of worship associated with the plaintiffs’ organizations in 35 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will be temporarily spared from immigration enforcement operations.

The policy change, issued by the Department of Homeland Security, was among the Trump administration’s immigration actions criticized by the U.S. bishops’ conference, although that organization did not join multiple lawsuits brought by faith communities. The Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection is representing plaintiffs in a separate, similar lawsuit.

J. Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy at the Center for Migration Studies of New York and the former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News, the judge’s decision “is certainly a good sign because the court agreed that immigration enforcement at places of worship can be a violation of religious liberty.”

“Significantly, the ruling concurred with the faith groups that the mere threat of an immigration raid can cause harm to the right to freedom of religion, as it can deter their congregants from attending services,” he said.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, a group representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement, “For decades, the government has recognized that everyone — no matter their immigration status — should be able to attend houses of worship without fear of a warrantless government raid.”

“Religious institutions should not have to go to court to fight for the right to worship and associate freely that is enshrined in our Constitution,” Perryman said. “Our plaintiffs represent a unique and diverse coalition of religious groups that have been at the forefront in protecting values of religious liberty for centuries. We are grateful to the court for acting to limit this unlawful and harmful policy.”

Previously, in a statement provided to OSV News about the policy change, Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, said, “We are protecting our schools, places of worship, and Americans who attend by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and taking safe haven there because these criminals knew law enforcement couldn’t go inside under the previous Administration.”

“DHS’s directive gives our law enforcement the ability to do their jobs,” McLaughlin said.

The previous policy, however, had exceptions for public safety or national security threats.

Appleby added that “while the judge did not issue a nationwide ban on enforcement at churches, he opened the door to that possibility in future cases.”

“Hopefully, the decision will encourage other religious groups, including the Catholic Church, to legally challenge the policy,” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis urged Christians to examine their consciences in Lent by comparing their daily lives to the hardships faced by migrants, calling it a way to grow in empathy and discover God’s call to compassion.

“It would be a good Lenten exercise for us to compare our daily life with that of some migrant or foreigner, to learn how to sympathize with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we can better advance on our journey to the house of the Father,” the pope wrote in his message for Lent 2025.

The message, signed Feb. 6, before the pope was hospitalized Feb. 14 for treatment of double pneumonia, was released by the Vatican Feb. 25.

Reflecting on the theme “Let us journey together in hope,” the pope said that Lent is a time to confront both personal and collective struggles with faith and compassion.

Comparing the Lenten journey to the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, he recalled “our brothers and sisters who in our own day are fleeing situations of misery and violence in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones.”

“A first call to conversion thus comes from the realization that all of us are pilgrims in this life,” he wrote. “Am I really on a journey, or am I standing still, not moving, either immobilized by fear and hopelessness or reluctant to move out of my comfort zone?”

Pope Francis also emphasized the importance of journeying together, saying Christians are called to walk “side by side, without shoving or stepping on others, without envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone be left behind or excluded.”

Christians, he said, should reflect on whether they are open to others or focused only on their own needs.

The pope called on Christians to journey together in hope toward Easter, living out the central message of the Jubilee Year: “Hope does not disappoint.”

Another Lenten call to conversion, he said, is to embrace hope and trust in God’s promise of eternal life, made possible through Christ’s resurrection.

Pope Francis encouraged Christians to consider whether they truly live in a way that reflects hope, trusting in God’s promise of eternal life, seeking forgiveness and committing themselves to justice, fraternity and care for creation.

“Christ,” he wrote, “lives and reigns in glory. Death has been transformed into triumph, and the faith and great hope of Christians rests in this: the resurrection of Christ!”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A light drizzle finally let up as hundreds of faithful headed to St. Peter’s Square to pray the rosary for Pope Francis on the 11th day of his hospitalization for double pneumonia.

The wet black cobblestones shone from the bright lights illuminating the fountains and the front of the square where Pope Francis normally sits for his Wednesday general audiences. An image of Mater Ecclesiae – Mary, Mother of the Church – adorned with greenery and white and pink flowers took center stage.

About 27 cardinals living in Rome and dozens of members of the Roman Curia sat to the side as Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, knelt before the image, leading a recitation of the rosary Feb. 24 at 9 p.m.

He first greeted those gathered by saying, “For 2,000 years Christians have been praying for the pope when in danger or infirm.”

“Since the Holy Father Francis has been hospitalized at Gemelli hospital, intense prayer has been raised to the Lord by individual faithful and Christian communities around the world,” he said. Starting with this evening, “we also want to join in this prayer publicly here in his home with the recitation of the holy rosary.”

Entrusting the 88-year-old pope “to the powerful intercession of most holy Mary,” the cardinal said, “may she, our caring mother, sustain him in this time of illness and trial, and help him to recover his health soon.”

Among the many Vatican officials was Korean Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for Clergy. He told reporters before the event that the moment of prayer was important because “you always pray for those who are not well.”

“The pope belongs to all of us,” he said, adding that even those who could not be in Rome were also praying at the same time. “In Korea, where it is eight hours ahead, they are praying with us.”

Father Antonio Tunecas, a priest from Angola studying in Rome, told Catholic News Service that the prayer service was a way “to be a family of the universal church, united with Pope Francis, united in prayer,” asking God, “in his goodness, to offer good health” to the pope and that “his will be done.”

Brothers Gregory Metz and John Frain, members of the Legionaries of Christ studying in Rome from Atlanta, Georgia, also attended the event.

Brother Metz told CNS it was a moment to show their closeness to the pope.

Pope Francis has been important for their growth and formation, Brother Frain said, helping him “get out of that American bubble” and to see things in different ways.

“He’s definitely been an opener of the heart to all people, to dialogue and to new ideas with an attitude of humility,” Brother Metz said. “He’s been our father. Though no father is perfect, he taught me to grow in love of neighbor.”

More than 50 Catholics from Wisconsin were in Rome for their Holy Year pilgrimage and they had been looking forward to seeing the pope at his Feb. 26 general audience, which has been canceled. Father Jordan Berghouse was leading the group from the parishes of St. James, St. Peter and St. Theresa.

“It’s really sad. We were hoping to see him in person,” Theresa Quedroro told CNS. “He is peace, love and joy.”

The group has been following their busy itinerary nonetheless and they have been praying the rosary each day wherever they are: “on a bus, in a church, at the hotel” and on other nights in St. Peter’s Square.

Sara Schmitz, Kellen Otte and Aliana Perez were in Rome as part of a study abroad program with the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

They had only been in Rome two weeks, and they said they loved hearing so many languages being spoken among the crowd and being part of such a big event in the heart of the universal church.

“It’s really cool to come all together and to pray for the pope,” Schmitz said.

They did not expect, however, to be interviewed by a TV crew from NBC for a segment that will be seen by 7 million people.

“You don’t want this to be happening,” referring to the pope being ill in the hospital, “but it feels we are here at a very important time. We hope he does better,” Schmitz said.

Dioceses worldwide were also joining in praying the rosary for the pope and everyone facing illness.

Pope Francis has been an inpatient at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14; his doctors diagnosed double pneumonia.

The Italian bishops’ conference has called for increased prayers for the rest of the time the pope remains at the hospital and is coordinating a series of special Masses to involve and unite all the churches in Italy.

The hospital began a series of “spiritual initiatives” at their facilities Feb. 24: the rosary will be recited every afternoon in the courtyard outside the hospital beneath the suite of rooms reserved for the pope on the 10th floor; and Mass preceded by Eucharistic adoration will be held starting at noon each day in the hospital chapel.

WARSAW, Poland (OSV News) – As the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine reached a tragic threshold of three years Feb. 24, religious sisters are bringing rays of sunshine to those who don’t know how to smile anymore, including children whose carefree childhood disappeared, and farmers, whose fields are mined and useless.

Sister Victoria Andruschina of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Angels didn’t leave the country when the war broke out, even though she was ordered to evacuate.

“I cried and asked my superiors to let me stay,” said Sister Victoria, “I felt that I was needed most here. With those children who stayed. I thank God and my superiors for letting me stay.”

The plainclothes congregation of the Sisters of the Angels was founded in 1889, when the church was persecuted by the Russian czar.

Before the war, Sister Victoria worked in a kindergarten. When the Russian invasion began, she decided to continue helping children — those who need it most in the reality of war. With a group of lay volunteers from the Christian Rescue Service, she travels from village to village in eastern Ukraine, right on the front line, and organizes programs for children. The initiative is called “Angels of Joy.” The purpose is simple – make them smile again.

“We never know if we’ll be able to run a program,” said Sister Victoria, “and we never know if we’ll be able to return. Being a volunteer in the war is not just about getting out of one’s comfort zone, it’s about risking one’s life,” she said.

Games, contests and music – which sometimes doesn’t drown out the war blasts – are part of the events, along with gifts and candy. “Angels bring joy to children and hope to their parents,” the sister told OSV News.

“It’s a ray of light in the darkness in which they live,” said the sister.

“These people have lived through terrible things. Our initiatives are sometimes the first opportunity to meet in such a large group. Children don’t go to school, they sit in their homes – or what’s left of them – because even being in the yard is dangerous. They have no contact with others,” Sister Victoria said.

“It is very difficult to organize these meetings, because children do not have natural childlike reactions, they are frightened, full of sadness, afraid of people, sounds, afraid to play. It’s as if they are afraid to be children,” the sister said.

“The transformation we see during our program is amazing,” she added. “The children slowly become emboldened, relaxed, participate in play … they smile — sometimes for the first time in a very long time. There is no greater reward for this effort than a child’s smile. This is the greatest reward. The risk is worth it.”

And the risk is a fact. Sister Victoria told OSV News that she is aware that any trip close to the front lines could be the last.

“Am I afraid? Yes,” she said, adding: “Not so much of death, because it means eternal life, but disability, the fact that I will no longer be able to help others. I also feel a great responsibility for the volunteers who are going with me. This is my initiative, so I carry the burden of responsibility.”

“Angels of Joy” is not a typical event with a purpose to evangelize. But a testimony of faith is omnipresent.

“We don’t tell people directly that God loves them, we don’t quote the Scripture, but our goal is to conduct the meeting with them in such a way that at the end they say – praise the Lord that my child smiled,” Sister Victoria told OSV News.

“They are the ones who ask us who we are and who is behind us. They ask: ‘who is crazy enough to risk his own life just to make children happy.’ And when they ask, I answer: ‘God is my strength, and if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here.’ And this is our evangelization. It is more difficult than words,” said Sister Victoria.

For three years of the war, the “Angels of Joy” brought smiles to more than 20,000 Ukrainian children. The campaign exists solely thanks to the support of sponsors — Catholic organizations and individuals.

Polish Orionine Sister Renata Jurczak has been in Ukraine for 30 years. In the beginning, she helped the homeless and street children. Now she works at a single mothers’ home, in Korotych near Kharkiv, and organizes classes for children to help them cope with the trauma of war.

“These children know everything – which bomb is flying in which direction, from which weapon it is released, who is shooting – our boys or soldiers from the other side. They are like adult kids. Childhood escapes them,” she told OSV News.

She and her fellow sister also go to ruined frontline villages where some of the residents have returned.

“Every morning those people go out in front of the house and look at what is around,” the sister said.

What they see is agricultural areas of which the region consists of demolished, burned, and lifeless. Everything is mined, the land cannot be cultivated. “And when they cannot seed their fields, they have lost their purpose,” Sister Renata said.

The sisters came up with an idea on how to restore that purpose to them. “The chicken campaign” was created.

“We buy small, one-day-old chickens, food for the entire rearing period, and take them to families who can raise them,” Sister Renata told OSV News. “We weren’t sure of how this campaign would come out, these people were so resigned, but the effects surprised us. People on the verge of depression cried with emotion that they had found an occupation and a new reason to live. We realized that this is what these people needed,” the sister added.

The campaign is repeated periodically, and in addition to it, the sisters also organize other events and long-term initiatives, such as sewing workshops, through which Ukrainian women gain new skills and jobs.

“When there is support, hope returns — that all is not lost, that it is possible to start anew,” said Sister Renata. “Often people say: ‘I guess God exists, since you come here, to places where no one comes anymore.'”

The Orionine sisters, at the beginning of the war, were asked if they would prefer to return to Poland. They all decided to stay.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – “Being ordained is not an ascent but a descent, whereby we make ourselves small, lower ourselves and divest ourselves,” Pope Francis said in a message to 23 men from eight countries, including three from the United States, who were ordained permanent deacons in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Feb. 23 ordination Mass at the Vatican was the culmination of a three-day Holy Year celebration that drew thousands of deacons, plus their wives and others, from more than 100 countries to Rome for communal prayer, discussion and celebration of the diaconate.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, celebrated the Mass with 2,500 deacons and delivered the homily prepared by Pope Francis. The pope was originally scheduled to preside over the Mass but remained hospitalized with pneumonia and was in “critical condition,” the Vatican said.

In his homily, the pope reflected on three essential dimensions of the diaconate: forgiveness, service and communion.

“Forgiveness means preparing a welcoming and safe future for us and our communities,” the pope wrote. “The deacon, invested in a ministry that leads him toward the world’s peripheries, must see — and teach others to see — in everyone, even those who cause suffering, a brother or sister wounded in spirit and in need of reconciliation, guidance and help.”

He asked that deacons make selfless service “an essential dimension of your very being” and encouraged them to serve with humility, quoting the Gospel of Luke: “Do good and lend, expecting nothing in return.”

“Your greatest liturgy will be charity, and your most humble service will be your greatest act of worship,” the pope wrote.

After the Gospel reading, the ordination rite began with each candidate stepping forward as his name was called, signifying his readiness to embrace a life of service. The men then lay prostrate on the floor of the basilica, symbolizing their total surrender to God as the congregation knelt and prayed the Litany of the Saints.

In the most ancient part of the sacrament of holy orders, the candidates knelt before the archbishop, who laid his hands on their heads and called the Holy Spirit upon them. Each newly ordained deacon was then vested with a stole and dalmatic, symbols of their ministry of service.

Among the newly ordained deacons was Bryan Inderhees from the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, who told Catholic News Service Feb. 21 that participating in the Jubilee of Deacons at the Vatican was a powerful reminder of the church’s global reach and the universality of the diaconate.

“Sometimes we can get stuck in our own view of the church in Columbus, the church in Ohio, the church in the United States,” he said, but the diaconate “is something that’s around the world, and this is a message from Christ as well that we need to be able to spread and share this joy for everyone.”

Inderhees said the expansive role of the diaconate in the United States, where some 40% of the world’s 50,000 permanent deacons minister, serves as a model for the wider church.

“Here’s a way that we’ve found that we can take advantage of men who have this calling,” he said. Through the diaconate “almost all of us who have already been married can support the clergy, support the church, support our priests, while still living both the sacred life and our lives as married men.”

His wife, Emelie, said that supporting her husband during his formation while raising their three children was a challenge, but ultimately one that enriched the spiritual life of her whole family.

“When he was called to formation, I think one of my biggest fears was growing apart,” she told CNS. “One of my biggest goals as he went through formation was how do we grow together, how do we grow stronger, because I didn’t want him to grow in his faith and for me to grow stagnant.”

She stressed that maintaining a balanced schedule and seeking guidance from a spiritual director helped their family stay grounded. “It’s about stopping and paying attention to the day-to-day schedule, so you can make time for the things that matter in family life,” she said.

Deacon Stephen Petrill, formation director for deacons in the Diocese of Columbus, emphasized the distinct role of the diaconate, describing it as “a vocation of service, not a stepping stone to priesthood.”

“Ministry is about serving others, not seeking status,” he said. “A deacon is called to seek the lowest place, to help without seeking recognition. We’re here to serve the church and the world, standing as a bridge between the laity and the clergy.”

Newly ordained Deacon Mike Owens of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, reflected on the deacon’s mission to serve both the church and society ahead of his ordination, emphasizing the role of deacons in bringing faith beyond the parish.

To be a deacon “is to really be the hands and feet of Christ out in the community,” he said. “I think that really lends itself to sending a message to the rest of the world of how we evangelize and get out of our parishes and into the communities.”

Although Pope Francis remained in the hospital, the Vatican released a message from him to accompany the Angelus prayer at midday. Greeting participants in the Jubilee of Deacons, the pope urged all deacons to dedicate themselves to proclaiming the Gospel and commit themselves to charity.

“Carry out your ministry in the church with words and actions, bringing God’s love and mercy to all,” he wrote. “Do not be afraid to take the risk of love!”