Author: Eric Deabill

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Marking the Jan. 19 Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, urged Catholics to reflect on how they are called to be “drum majors for justice” in their own communities. He drew on the slain Civil Rights leader’s words and the Church’s Gospel mission from Jesus Christ in a Jan. 13 statement released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Archbishop Coakley reflected on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 sermon, “The Drum Major Instinct,” and challenged the faithful to consider how leadership rooted in service and humility can shape efforts for justice, peace and righteousness today.

“Let us take a moment to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose prophetic voice was a ‘drum major for justice,'” Archbishop Coakley said, referring to Rev. King by a widely-used title reflecting his doctorate in systematic theology earned from Boston University. Rev. King also received several honorary doctorates from colleges and universities that held his Civil Rights leadership in high esteem until his death at just 39 years old. He had led the Civil Rights movement from 1955 until 1968, when a white supremacist assassinated him in Memphis, Tennessee.

In reflecting on how Rev. King’s “inspiring words continue to speak to our hearts today,” Archbishop Coakley quoted the Civil Rights leader’s own description of the legacy he hoped to leave behind.

“Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice,” Rev. King said in the sermon. “Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”

Archbishop Coakley emphasized that Rev. King’s message remains relevant for Catholics seeking to live out the Gospel in concrete ways.

“Dr. King’s sermon encouraged people to be leaders in the priorities that Christ gave us,” he said.

He posed a central question for the faithful: “What does it mean to be ‘a drum major’ in our own communities?”

Answering that question, the archbishop pointed to Jesus Christ’s demands in the Gospel of Matthew, writing that the priorities Christ gave his followers are directed in the corporal works of mercy: “to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison.”

Archbishop Coakley said the Catholic Church also seeks to fulfill this mandate through ministries and charitable works across the country. But he emphasized that the call extends to every follower of Christ.

“Just as important is the challenge to help the faithful to authentically live out this call,” he said.

He cited recent efforts by the U.S. bishops as examples of striving to lead with love, noting the Nov. 2025 special message on immigration and its continued commitment to “addressing the sin of racism.”

He said both efforts are “two recent examples that serve as efforts to be drum majors of love in our communities.”

Referencing the bishops’ Nov. 2018 pastoral letter on racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts,” he highlighted the enduring influence of Rev. King’s leadership in confronting racial injustice and fostering unity grounded in faith.

“As we remember Dr. King and commemorate his legacy, let us continue this work as drum majors and engage in actions of compassion and mercy,” the USCCB president said.

Archbishop Coakley concluded by inviting Catholics to prayerful discernment and action.

“I encourage you to take time to reflect on how the Holy Spirit may be inviting you to join with others in addressing challenges within our families, neighborhoods, or communities,” he said. “May we lead the way in building a society rooted in justice, peace, righteousness, and the dignity of every human person.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of the month of January, near his Jan. 15 birthday. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of its first observance as a national holiday beginning Jan. 20, 1986.

(OSV News) – The 2026 national March for Life promises to bring tens of thousands of pro-life Americans to the nation’s capital to celebrate the beauty of every human person, born and unborn, with the theme “Life Is a Gift.”

“‘Life is a Gift’ is a universal message that speaks to the heart and cuts through the noise,” Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, told OSV News in emailed comments about the 53rd annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 23. “It invites our marchers to join the spirit of joy and celebration that is the March for Life — a spirit inspired by the inherent goodness and beauty of life itself.”

She added: “Through this theme, we are showing the world that we are a movement of compassion for women and love for unborn children, united by the simple yet world-changing belief that, no matter the circumstances, every single life is a gift.”

Every year, the national March for Life, which calls itself the “largest annual human rights demonstration in the world,” takes place on or around the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which once legalized abortion nationwide. This year’s event marks the fourth march since the high court overturned Roe with the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

Today, the March for Life seeks to impact laws at the state and federal level and to change American culture until abortion becomes unthinkable. The March for Life’s national march complements its growing state march program that advocates for life-affirming laws on the state and local level.

The 2026 march is the first led by Lichter, who began serving as president last year. The event comes following the news that the new pope, Pope Leo XIV, once attended.

“It’s very moving and very inspiring to know that the Holy Father attended the March for Life as a young man — and was surely formed by it, as so many young people have been over the years,” Lichter, a Catholic, said.

The national march regularly draws tens of thousands of marchers who brave the winter weather to challenge abortion and champion life from the moment of conception. The march attracts a diverse crowd: young and old, women and men, and people of various ethnicities and different political affiliations attend to advocate for life and remember the more than 65 million lives ended in abortion since the Roe decision.

Pro-life chants, music and prayer mark the daylong event filled with colorful banners and handmade signs as people march around the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court building.

To kick off the march on Jan. 23, the March for Life team is holding a pre-rally concert by Christian band Sanctus Real at 11 a.m. on the National Mall between Seventh and 12th Streets. Following the concert, a noon rally features the national anthem performed by the Friends of Club 21 Choir, a chorus of young adults with Down syndrome, and a slew of speakers.

Announced speakers include Sarah Hurm, a mother of four whose life changed after she sought an abortion pill reversal; Elizabeth Pillsbury Oliver, president of Georgetown University Right to Life; Cissie Graham Lynch, senior adviser and spokesperson for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse; and Lichter.

Lichter confirmed with OSV News that Rep. Chris Smith, a Catholic Republican from New Jersey, will also speak at the 2026 march.

At a launch event last year, Lichter hinted that last-minute speakers could include politicians. At the 2025 march, President Donald Trump delivered a video message while Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Rep. Smith spoke in person.

The march itself is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Marchers will leave the National Mall and trek around the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court building. Georgetown University Right to Life, a pro-life student organization, will carry the banner leading the march.

For people traveling to Washington, the March for Life recently released a travel planner, which includes the official schedule, travel information and a checklist for marchers.

Lichter spoke about the importance of the march while highlighting its longevity and the persistence of the pro-life movement. She called 2026 a “critical moment.”

“We applaud the many states that have stepped up to the plate and advanced laws to protect life,” she said. “But there’s still so much yet to do in transforming the culture to meet pregnant women with love and help when they need it most.”

The Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs overturned Roe and returned abortion policy to the states. Today, 21 states have pro-life protections restricting abortion, according to a tracker by national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

Lichter added: “We’re also still working hard to protect women from the reckless sale of chemical abortion pills, and from the predatory and self-serving Big Abortion industry.”‘

Today, medication-based abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol accounts for the majority of U.S. abortions after Dobbs, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive research organization that supports abortion.

Approved by the FDA for early abortion in 2000, mifepristone — the first of two drugs used in a medication-based abortion — gained the moniker “the abortion pill.” However, the same drug combination has become used sometimes in recent years for miscarriage care, where an unborn child has already passed, a situation that Catholic teaching would hold as morally licit use.

Lichter also called the March for Life a “crucial venue” to “meet young people where they are and speak into their desire for the truth.”

Several events surround the March for Life, including a Capitol Hill Club Breakfast with members of Congress organized by March for Life Action, the March for Life’s political arm, Jan. 23 at 8 a.m. That same day, following the march, the March for Life holds its annual Rose Dinner Gala beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Westin Hotel in downtown Washington. Together with Alliance Defending Freedom, it simultaneously offers a first-ever cocktail reception for young professionals, “Pour la Vie: For Life,” at the same location.

Other related pro-life events in Washington include the 2026 National Prayer Vigil for Life Jan. 22-23 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It opens with a 5 p.m. Mass Jan. 22 celebrated by Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, which is followed by a Holy Hour presided by Bishop James T. Ruggieri of Portland, Maine. The event concludes with an 8 a.m. Mass Jan. 23 celebrated by Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, retired archbishop of Boston.

A live television broadcast of the Masses will be provided by the Eternal Word Television Network, or EWTN, and will be available via livestream on the basilica’s website, nationalshrine.org/mass.

The fourth annual Life Fest, a morning rally by the Sisters of Life and the Knights of Columbus, takes place Jan. 23 at 6:20 a.m. at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland. The event features a Eucharistic procession, Mass, confession, musical performances and speakers including pro-life advocate Lila Rose of Live Action. Attendees will have the opportunity to venerate first-class relics of St. John Paul II, St. Teresa of Kolkata, St. Carlo Acutis, the Blessed Ulma family and Blessed Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights. A livestream will be made available.

The day after the march, on Jan. 24, Students for Life of America, together with other pro-life and conservative groups, hosts its annual National Pro-Life Summit at Grand Hyatt Washington. People can sign up to watch a livestream at the summit website, prolifesummit.com/livestream.

The 27th annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference for Life takes place that same day at Georgetown University and features Lichter as the keynote speaker.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – President Donald Trump met with Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Jan. 12, a spokesperson for the USCCB confirmed.

The private meeting, which was listed on the official White House schedule for Trump, was closed to press. The White House did not specify the topic of the meeting.

In a statement provided to OSV News, a USCCB spokesperson said, “Archbishop Coakley had the opportunity for introductory meetings with President Trump, Vice President Vance, and other Administration officials, in which they discussed areas of mutual concern, as well as areas for further dialogue.”

“Archbishop Coakley is grateful for the engagement and looks forward to ongoing discussions,” the statement said.

Although it was not immediately clear what the topic of the meeting was, it comes as the U.S. bishops have alternately praised and criticized some Trump administration policies, objecting to some of his actions on topics including immigration and the death penalty, but commending others, such as those on gender policy.

Archbishop Coakley was elected president of the USCCB in November at the bishops’ fall plenary assembly. At the same meeting, the bishops also approved a “special pastoral message” Nov. 12 — their first since 2013 when they objected to the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate — voicing “our concern here for immigrants.” The bishops’ special message opposed “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and also prayed “for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement.”

The statement, which did not name Trump, came as a growing number of bishops have acknowledged that some of the Trump administration’s immigration policies risk presenting the church with both practical challenges in administering pastoral support and charitable endeavors, as well as religious liberty challenges.

The week before Trump’s meeting with Archbishop Coakley, the U.S. president told House Republicans to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits public funding of elective abortions, in negotiations on health care subsidies. That policy has long been supported by the U.S. bishops, who defended it after Trump’s comments.

Private meetings between a sitting president of the USCCB and the president of the United States are not without precedent, but do not always happen.

The previous president of the USCCB, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, told OSV News in November, “I was never able to meet with the president of the United States. Neither with President (Joe) Biden nor with President Trump.”

Trump had a brief meeting in 2017 that included Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, who was president of the conference at the time.

USCCB presidents, including then-Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, had several meetings between the two of them with then-President Barack Obama over the course of his presidency.

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Just as we wouldn’t leave newborns without clothes or food, we cannot leave them without faith and baptism, Pope Leo XIV told parents of children he baptized in the splendor and beauty of the Sistine Chapel Jan. 11.

The tradition of baptizing children of Vatican employees started in 1981 with St. John Paul II. Pope Leo baptized 20 children on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

“The children you now hold in your arms are transformed into new creatures,” the pope told parents and godparents gathered for the ceremony in the breathtaking interior of Michelangelo’s chapel.

“Just as they received life from you, parents,” he said, “so now they receive the meaning to live it: faith.”

In seeking good for our children, we wouldn’t “leave newborns without clothes or food, waiting for them to choose how to dress and what to eat as adults,” would we? the pope asked.

Addressing the gathering as “Dearest ones,” the pope said that if “food and clothing are necessary for life, faith is more than necessary, because with God life finds salvation.”

Pope Leo said that “as a light in the darkness, the Lord makes himself available where we least expect him: He is the holy one among sinners, who wants to dwell among us without keeping his distance, but rather, fully embracing all that is human.”

Through the baptism of the Lord, “in his infinite mercy, the Father makes us righteous through his Christ, the only Savior of all” as “he who is baptized by John in the Jordan makes this gesture a new sign of death and resurrection, of forgiveness and communion. This is the sacrament we celebrate today for these children: Because God loves them, they become Christians, our brothers and sisters.”

God’s “provident love is manifested on earth through you, mothers and fathers, who ask for faith for your children,” the pope said, telling the parents that “the day will come when they will become heavy to hold in your arms; and the day will also come when they will be yours to support.”

But baptism, he said, “unites us in the one family of the Church,” sanctifying “all your families at all times, granting strength and constancy to the affection that unites you.”

Explaining the meaning of baptism rituals, the pope said that “the water of the font is the cleansing of the Spirit, which purifies from every sin,” the white robe “is the new garment, which God the Father gives us for the eternal celebration of his Kingdom,” and the candle “lit from the Paschal candle is the light of the risen Christ, which illuminates our path.”

“I hope you continue this journey with joy throughout the year just begun and throughout your lives, certain that the Lord will always accompany your steps,” Pope Leo told the lucky families who could experience the special day in a special place, with the pastor of the world as celebrant.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Every level of Church leadership must strengthen and improve its ability to listen to everyone, especially to victims of sexual abuse and those who suffer, Pope Leo XIV said.

The problem of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church “is truly a wound in the life of the Church in many places,” and “we cannot close our eyes or our hearts” to the crisis and its victims, he said at the conclusion of an extraordinary meeting with the world’s cardinals at the Vatican.

“I encourage you to share this with your bishops: often the pain of the victims has been made worse by the fact that they were not welcomed and listened to,” he said Jan. 8. The Vatican published the remarks Jan. 10.

“The abuse itself causes a deep wound that may last a lifetime, but often the scandal in the Church is because the door was closed and the victims were not welcomed and accompanied by authentic pastors,” he said.

And so, he said, “listening is profoundly important” in this and all areas. “Formation in listening, formation in a spirituality of listening” is needed in seminaries, “but also for bishops” and all levels of church leadership, including laypeople working for the Church.

The pope’s remarks came at the conclusion of an extraordinary consistory Jan. 7-8.

The overarching aim of their encounter was to grow in communion and discern together “what the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people.”

After convening the international group of cardinals in Rome, the pope decided to make the gathering an annual event, however, with an additional meeting later this year, it will be a kind of synodal journey for Pope Leo and members of his College of Cardinals.

It marked an approach that vastly expanded on what Pope Francis established after his election in 2013. Wishing for a more decentralized and listening Church, the late pope created a nine-member Council of Cardinals to help and advise him on several critical matters facing the Church, particularly the reform of the Roman Curia, by meeting at least quarterly in Rome.

Pope Leo decided he would be inviting all the world’s cardinals to Rome every year for a few days, Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, told reporters at a news conference after the consistory ended Jan. 8.

College members will meet with the pope again for at least three days sometime in June, possibly around the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, and then the gathering will be held over three to four days once a year in the following years.

The College of Cardinals is made up of 245 cardinals from all over the world. About 170 of them — about 69% — made it to Rome after the pope’s invitation Dec. 12 that they come together again for the first time since the conclave that elected him May 8.

Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, a Dominican theologian, offered a reflection Jan. 7 to help the cardinals understand their role not just as advisers to the pope, but as much-needed companions along life’s way.

He recalled St. Mark’s account of Jesus making his disciples go out ahead of him by boat, which encountered a “great storm.”

Jesus does not want Peter or any of the disciples to go into the storm alone, he said. “This is our first obedience, to be in the barque of Peter, with his successor, as he faces the storms of our times.”

Some of the storms shaking the Church, he said, include “sexual abuse and ideological division. The Lord commands us to sail out into these storms and face them truthfully, not timidly waiting on the beach. If we do so in this consistory, we shall see him coming to us. If we hide on the beach, we shall not encounter him.”

However, Cardinal Radcliffe said, “If the boat of Peter is filled with disciples who quarrel, we shall be of no use to the Holy Father. If we are at peace with each other in love, even when we disagree, God will indeed be present even when he seems to be absent.”

Pope Leo emphasized the essential element of love in his opening remarks to the cardinals in the Vatican’s Synod Hall Jan. 7.

“To the extent that we love one another as Christ has loved us, we belong to him, we are his community, and he can continue to draw others to himself through us. In fact, only love is credible; only love is trustworthy,” he said.

“Therefore, in order to be a truly missionary Church, one that is capable of witnessing to the attractive power of Christ’s love, we must first of all put into practice his commandment … ‘Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,'” the pope said. Jesus underlined that it will be by a Christian’s love that the world will know “that you are my disciples.”

The “collegial journey” that they have begun with their first consistory, he said, would be an opportunity to reflect together on two themes of their choice out of the following four themes: the mission of the Church in today’s world, especially as presented in Pope Francis’ “Evangelii Gaudium”; the synod and synodality as an instrument and a style of cooperation; the service of the Holy See, especially to the local Churches; and the liturgy, the source and summit of the Christian life. The cardinals voted with “a large majority” to discuss the first two themes — mission and synodality, Bruni told reporters.

Following a synodal structure, the cardinals were broken into 21 groups, but nine of those groups, made up of cardinals under 80 years old, who were not resident in Rome, were asked to submit reports based on their small group discussions, which followed the Synod on Synodality’s “conversation in the Spirit” method.

“I am here to listen,” Pope Leo told the cardinals before they began their two days of reflection and dialogue.

“We must not arrive at a text, but continue a conversation that will help me in serving the mission of the entire Church,” he said. Specifically, he wanted the groups to look at the next one or two years and consider what “priorities could guide the action of the Holy Father and of the Curia regarding each theme?”

The pope further encouraged the cardinals the next day in his homily during an early morning Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Their task, he said, was to discern what “the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people,” not “to promote personal or group ‘agendas.'”

Through prayer, silence, listening and sharing, he said, “we become a voice for all those whom the Lord has entrusted to our pastoral care in many different parts of the world.”

Speaking to reporters at a news conference after the consistory, Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio, archbishop of Bogotá, Colombia, said the experience “strengthened us” individually and as a group as they got to know each other better.

The pope underlined how important hope was in the life and mission of the church, he said. When Christ is at the center of one’s life, proclaiming his word “fills us and the world with hope.”

Cardinal Stephen Brislin, archbishop of Johannesburg, South Africa, told reporters the vast differences between cardinals — with their different perspectives and needs — proved to be “very enriching” and interesting, and not a source of contention.

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, bishop of Kalookan, Philippines, told reporters the synodal format and style of the consistory “was familiar” to those who had taken part in the synodal assemblies in Rome in 2023 and 2024.

When asked if it seemed the pope was going to use their sessions to inform or contribute to any kind of papal document, Cardinal David said, “I don’t know,” but the pope was “taking notes very seriously so he must be up to something.”

Cardinal Brislin said there is no indication that a document was the aim of the gathering, and it was more a concrete response to the cardinals’ request that they meet.

Cardinal Aparicio said by listening to all the world’s cardinals, the pope “listens to the different parts of the world.”

ROME (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV strongly defended the family, marriage and unborn life during his first-ever New Year’s address to the diplomatic corps Jan. 9, telling the diplomats accredited to the Holy See that abortion “cuts short a growing life and refuses to welcome the gift of life.”

“The vocation to love and to life,” he continued, “manifests itself in an important way in the exclusive and indissoluble union between a woman and a man.”

“The institution of the family faces two crucial challenges today,” the pope said, naming “a worrying tendency in the international system to neglect and underestimate its fundamental social role, leading to its progressive institutional marginalization,” and “the growing and painful reality of fragile, broken and suffering families, afflicted by internal difficulties and disturbing phenomena, including domestic violence.”

The vocation “to love and to life,” the pope said, “manifests itself in an important way in the exclusive and indissoluble union between a woman and a man,” he said of traditional marriage, and “implies a fundamental ethical imperative for enabling families to welcome and fully care for unborn life.”

Calling it “increasingly a priority, especially in those countries that are experiencing a dramatic decline in birth rates,” he said life “is a priceless gift that develops within a committed relationship based on mutual self-giving and service.”

“In light of this profound vision of life as a gift to be cherished, and of the family as its responsible guardian, we categorically reject any practice that denies or exploits the origin of life and its development,” the pope firmly stated, calling abortion a practice that “cuts short a growing life and refuses to welcome the gift of life.”

Delivering the address in English, he told the diplomats that the Holy See “considers it deplorable that public resources are allocated to suppress life, rather than being invested to support mothers and families. The primary objective must remain the protection of every unborn child and the effective and concrete support of every woman so that she is able to welcome life.”

Many of the diplomats are from countries that facilitate abortion in their legal systems, such as France, which has enshrined abortion in its constitution.

Pope Leo also expressed “deep concern” about “projects aimed at financing cross-border mobility for the purpose of accessing the so-called ‘right to safe abortion.'”

Strongly opposing surrogacy as well, he said that “by transforming gestation into a negotiable service, this violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a ‘product,’ and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process, and distorting the original relational calling of the family.”

“In light of these challenges, we firmly reiterate that the protection of the right to life constitutes the indispensable foundation of every other human right. A society is healthy and truly progresses only when it safeguards the sanctity of human life and works actively to promote it,” Pope Leo said.

Protecting life means also rejecting euthanasia, the pope emphasized, calling assisted dying methods “deceptive forms of compassion.”

“Similar considerations can be extended to the sick and to those who are elderly or isolated, who at times struggle to find a reason to continue living,” he said. “Civil society and States also have a responsibility to respond concretely to situations of vulnerability, offering solutions to human suffering, such as palliative care, and promoting policies of authentic solidarity, rather than encouraging deceptive forms of compassion such as euthanasia.”

The pope met the world’s diplomats a day after he finished a day and a half consistory with cardinals, one that strengthened his relationship with the college, and set him off for his own agenda after following Pope Francis’ calendar in the Jubilee Year.

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – With the jubilee year now officially ended, the pope’s travel schedule is also expected to ramp up, with one trip especially dear to the pontiff just confirmed: a June visit to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.

Cardinal José Cobo of Madrid confirmed that the delegation of Spanish bishops had a meeting in the Secretariat of State in the morning of Jan. 9, just after the consistory, to discuss a papal trip to Spain with “a first draft” of the plan “prepared for the Holy Father to review.”

“This came directly from the pope … this was his personal initiative,” Cardinal Cobo said of the idea behind the trip.

“Spain has long been in need and has continually requested a papal visit. So I think that the opening of this door now is a cause for hope and joy for everyone, both for the civil authorities and, of course, for the Church in Spain,” Cardinal Cobo told the media in Rome Jan. 9.

The first apostolic trip to Turkey and Lebanon was inherited by Pope Leo from Pope Francis’ calendar. Pope Francis was invited to Spain several times but never went, leaving the traditionally Catholic country — struggling with dropping Church attendance — without a papal visit for 14 years.

While there has been no official confirmation of a trip by the Vatican, OSV News learned from sources close to the Spanish bishops that the organizing committee in Madrid is hard at work planning to welcome the pope. The tentative plan is that the pope will arrive in Spain on June 6, after which he will meet with young people during a vigil that same evening.

The last time a pope visited Spain was in 2011 when Pope Benedict XVI traveled to Madrid for World Youth Day.

OSV News confirmed that Cardinal Juan José Omella Omella of Barcelona, a member of the close circle of papal advisers, or the Council of Cardinals, begun by Pope Francis convinced Pope Leo to attend the celebrations of the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí — the legendary architect of one of the world’s most iconic churches, the Basilica of the Holy Family in Barcelona, known in Spanish as Sagrada Familia.

When Pope Benedict visited Sagrada Familia in 2010 for its dedication, he said, “Gaudí, by opening his spirit to God, was capable of creating in this city a space of beauty, faith and hope which leads man to an encounter with him who is truth and beauty itself.”

A visit to Sagrada Familia would be a “central point” of the trip, Cardinal Cobo confirmed Jan. 9.

For Eva Fernández, Vatican correspondent for COPE, the radio network of the Spanish bishops’ conference, who spoke to OSV News Jan. 7, Barcelona would be a “logical stop,” not only for the completion of the main building of the Sagrada Familia, but the possible recognition of a miracle attributed to Gaudí, that could lead to a beatification ceremony that would coincide with a papal visit.

It is also possible that the Archdiocese of Madrid would take advantage of the presence of the pontiff for a beatification of a group of seminarians martyred in 1938. During the rule of the Spanish Republic (1931-1939), 13 bishops, more than 6,800 priests, and many religious men and women were killed for their faith in one of the bloodiest systematic persecutions the Church suffered in the 20th century. More than 2,000 of those who died have been already beatified, while many are still waiting.

In Madrid, Cardinal Cobo — one of the youngest in the college of cardinals — is organizing an intense agenda, including national-scope events like a Saturday night vigil with young people, World Youth Day style, most likely to be held in the just-renovated Bernabeu stadium. Pope Leo will follow other Americans who have performed in the stadium, including the NFL’s Washington Commanders and the Miami Dolphins who played there in November, and Taylor Swift, who filled it up with more than 65,000 spectators last May.

A Sunday morning Mass for families in the central avenue of Paseo de la Castellana, where both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict presided over large Masses, is also being planned, OSV News has learned.

The Church in Spain is strong, with its magnificent history and traditional Catholicism, and with Holy Week processions not seen anywhere else in the world. The number of people attending Mass, however, has been going down in recent years. Over 47% of those who consider themselves Catholics almost never attend any religious service as of June 2025, according to statistics.

In 2011, slightly over 70% of the Spanish population identified as Catholic; according to Statista, that number now stands at 56.1%.

The Church in Spain has been struggling in recent years with the clergy sexual abuse crisis, with cases being reported one-by-one in the media, especially the newspaper El Pais. The country’s bishops waited so long to commission their own report on abuse that the state — run by socialist government of Pedro Sanchez — did one on its own. On Jan. 8, an agreement between the Catholic Church and the Spanish government seeking to provide reparations to victims of clergy sexual abuse was signed.

Because the Catholic Church clashes with the Spanish government on many different issues, from abortion to euthanasia, the meeting with state authorities could be a sensitive issue for Pope Leo. No issues whatsoever await him as regards meeting the Royal Family, however, as King Felipe and Queen Letizia are both practicing Catholics.

Regarding the significance of a trip to Spain, Fernández told OSV News that a papal visit to the country has been “highly anticipated,” and should Pope Leo visit this year, he “will be very well received.”

“This year is especially important because Spain is going through some years of political turbulence. Obviously, the visit of a conciliatory spiritual leader — like Leo XIV, who also placed such emphasis on unity from the start of his pontificate — can help a great deal in recomposing the current political map of great polarization in Spanish society,” she said.

Pope Leo’s trip to Spain is to end with a visit to the Canary Islands, sources confirmed. The archipelago, which is geographically in Africa, is the destination each year of thousands of Sub-Saharan migrants looking for a better future. They arrive in poor and fragile boats called “callucos,” and many die in transit.

Pope Francis intended to visit the Canary Islands, Cardinal Cobo said, stressing that now is “also a very important moment to give voice to migrants … throughout Spain and all the major entry points, and to the situation of migration that is sometimes made invisible.” Pope Leo “is also addressing the major concerns that Francis raised,” the cardinal said.

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton will once again mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with an Ecumenical Celebration of God’s Word, which will be held on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at 12:10 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

Christians of all denominations are warmly invited to attend this prayerful gathering, which reflects the Church’s ongoing commitment to unity among all followers of Jesus Christ.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will serve as leader of prayer for the traditional ecumenical prayer service. Bishop Bambera is currently serving his final year as Chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

The guest preacher for this year’s prayer service will be Rev. Dr. Nora Foust, Regional Conference Minister, Penn Central Conference, United Church of Christ.

The Ecumenical Prayer Service will be broadcast live at 12:10 p.m. on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton. It will also be made available on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel, and across all Diocesan social media platforms.

ABOUT THE WEEK OF PRAYER OF CHRISTIAN UNITY

Observed worldwide each year from January 18-25, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity encourages Christians to pray together and to renew their dedication to working toward greater understanding, reconciliation, and communion.

The Catholic Church has participated fully in this global observance since the Second Vatican Council, and in 2025, commemorated the 61st anniversary of the Decree on Ecumenism, which formally brought the Church into the modern ecumenical movement.

The 2026 theme, chosen by Christians in Armenia and drawn from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, proclaims: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:4).

The theme emphasizes unity as both a gift and a calling – one rooted in the Holy Spirit and expressed through conversion of heart, shared hope, and love lived in community.

UNITY OF BELIEVERS

Unity is a divine mandate at the core of our Christian identity and is more than simply an ideal. It represents the essence of the Church’s calling – a call to reflect the harmonious oneness of our life in Christ amidst our diversity.

Throughout the Holy Scriptures, God’s call to unity resonates from the earliest times. Starting with the Old Testament, Abram’s plea to Lot highlights the divine desire for peace and harmony among the faithful: “Let there be no strife between you and me and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred” (Genesis 13:8).

Abram’s call for harmony and mutual respect, despite their eventual parting of ways, emphasizes the importance of living peacefully.

This divine instruction continues in Leviticus 19:18, where God commands, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Such commandments remind us that forgiveness and love are vital for maintaining unity within the community of faith.

The Psalms also celebrate the beauty of unity among God’s people.

They declare, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1). This imagery underscores the significance of unity in God’s design for His people.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ elevates the concept of unity to a spiritual dimension, mirroring the profound relationship between Him and the Father. Unity among His followers is not merely the absence of conflict but a deep, spiritual bond reflecting the unity of the Holy Trinity.

Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21 calls for believers to be one as He and the Father are one, demonstrating that our unity is grounded in our relationship with Christ and our collective mission of sharing the Good News.

 

(OSV News) – The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is back for 2026 with a special route that will travel the East Coast from St. Augustine, Florida, to Portland, Maine, ending in Philadelphia, organizers announced Jan. 8.

The pilgrimage – the third of its kind – will begin in May on Memorial Day weekend and end July 5. This year’s pilgrimage celebrates America’s 250th anniversary with the theme “One Nation Under God,” and its route incorporates key sites in the history of the country and its Catholics.

Organizers described the pilgrimage as “a nationwide call to renewal, unity and mission rooted in the Eucharist.”

In a Jan. 8 media release announcing the route, organizers noted that 2026 marked the 75th anniversary of the lobbying campaign, led by the Knights of Columbus, to add the phrase “One nation under God” to the nation’s Pledge of Allegiance.

“One Nation Under God is not a borrowed slogan; rather, it is an invitation to realign our lives, our communities, and our country under the sovereignty of Jesus Christ,” said Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress, in the media release.

The National Eucharistic Congress nonprofit organizes the pilgrimage, which first took place as four routes in 2024 ahead of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis as part of the National Eucharistic Revival, and which returned last summer with a route from Indianapolis to Los Angeles.

“Our hope is that Catholics will come together on this significant anniversary to give thanks for our country and to pray for our future,” said Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who serves as chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress, in the statement. “We want all Catholics to be inspired with missionary zeal to bring revival through the light and love of Jesus Christ.”

The pilgrimage has been placed under the patronage of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian-American immigrant and the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint. It will also take place in solidarity with the U.S. bishops’ call to consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Like previous National Eucharistic Pilgrimages, the route will be traveled by “perpetual pilgrims,” eight young adults selected among a group of applicants (plus a “media missionary”) who will attend Mass, Eucharistic adoration, other devotions and community-building events along the way.

The pilgrimage will launch Memorial Day weekend with Mass at Our Lady of La Leche Shrine in St. Augustine, the site of the first Mass celebrated on American soil in 1565. It will also include commemorations of the Georgia Martyrs, five Franciscan missionaries who were killed for their faith in 1597, whose path for beatification Pope Francis cleared in January 2025; the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi in the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia; and stops in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the nation’s first Catholic diocese.

The pilgrimage will pass through most of the original 13 colonies, with stops in 18 dioceses and archdioceses: St. Augustine; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Arlington, Virginia; Washington; Baltimore; Wilmington, Delaware; Camden, New Jersey; Paterson, New Jersey; Springfield, Massachusetts; Manchester, New Hampshire; Portland, Maine; Boston; Fall River, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and Philadelphia.

The pilgrims will also make a private, mid-point retreat at the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in New York City.

The pilgrimage will end in Philadelphia with events planned July 4-5, Independence Day weekend, to commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in the Pennsylvania State House, now the city’s Independence Hall, on July 4, 1776. That weekend will include special outreach for Catholic youth and all-day Eucharistic adoration July 4. The pilgrimage’s closing Mass will take place July 5 at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, followed by a Eucharistic procession to the National Shrine of St. John Neumann.

Organizers said in the media release that “the pilgrimage seeks to extend the fruits of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival that began in 2022 and culminated in the 2024 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and subsequent Congress in Indianapolis. The fruits of the 2025 Drexel Pilgrimage carry forward into the 2026 Cabrini Route.”

The pilgrimage also will connect with a national prayer campaign and digital lecture series “that highlights themes and topics of America through a Catholic lens and framework,” organizers said.

MINNEAPOLIS (OSV News) – Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda is continuing his call for prayers after police said a woman was pronounced dead following a shooting involving a federal agent in Minneapolis Jan. 7.

“Following this morning’s deadly shooting in Minneapolis, I reiterate my plea for all people of good will to join me in prayer for the person who was killed, for their loved ones, and for our community,” Archbishop Hebda, head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said in a statement following the incident, referring back to his request for prayers on Dec. 23 as immigration enforcement efforts in the Twin Cities drew concerns from some about attending Christmas Masses.

The incident Jan. 7 occurred in the area of 34th Street and Portland Avenue, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

The woman shot by an officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been identified by Minnesota media as Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother and poet originally from Colorado.

During a news conference, O’Hara said police responded to the area after receiving a report of a federal law enforcement officer being involved in a deadly force incident, “meaning shots had been fired.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security indicated on social media that “ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations” Jan. 7.

Upon arrival, O’Hara said officers found a woman who had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. O’Hara said CPR and other life-saving measures were administered and the woman was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

O’Hara said a preliminary investigation into the incident indicated the woman “was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue, midway between 33rd Street and 34th Street in the city.

“At some point, a federal law enforcement officer approached her, on foot, and the vehicle began to drive off. At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway,” O’Hara said.

O’Hara said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are among the agencies investigating the incident.

“This has been a very difficult time for everyone in the city and this is obviously a very, very tragic situation where a woman has lost her life,” O’Hara said.

“We’ve dreaded this moment since the early stages of this ICE presence in Minneapolis,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during his remarks at the news conference.

“We ask that the community continue to call for peace,” O’Hara said. Frey agreed. “Let’s unite around hope and love and peace and getting justice, that’s what we need to be doing right now,” Frey said.

Archbishop Hebda in his statement appealed for all people “to lower the temperature of rhetoric, stop fear-filled speculation and start seeing all people as created in the image and likeness of God.”

He said, “That is as true for our immigrant sisters and brothers as it is for our elected officials and those who are responsible for enforcing our laws.”

Archbishop Hebda also said he wanted to “echo today the repeated call of the U.S. Catholic bishops that we come together as a nation and pass meaningful immigration reform that does justice to all parties.”

He indicated that the issue is becoming “more divisive and violent” the longer the country refuses to grapple with it.

“It is only by working together — with God’s help — that we will have peace in our communities, state and world,” he said.