Category: 2024 News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A foundation that promotes devotion to St. Pio of Pietrelcina, more widely known as Padre Pio, is making 10 never-before-seen photographs of the saint available to the devout for free.

The images provide personal insight into the life, attitude and spirituality of 20th-century saint, said the photographer. Some photos show Padre Pio solemnly celebrating Mass while in others he is smiling while surrounded by his confreres.

Elia Stelluto, Padre Pio’s personal photographer, stood proudly — camera in hand — before posters of the 10 new images for the presentation of the photos in the Vatican movie theater April 29.

“It’s enough to look at one image of his face” to understand Padre Pio, he told Catholic News Service. “With that you can understand so much; each photo has its own story, one must at them look one by one and that way you see so much more in his expressions.”

Stelluto photographed the saint for decades at the convent where he lived in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.

During the photo presentation, Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, said the new photos highlight Padre Pio’s identity as someone who was close to those around him and was filled with joy. He said that although it was not customary to smile in photos at the time, candid photos taken by Stelluto show the saint beaming broadly as he was huddled in a group.

Luciano Lamonarca, founder and CEO of the Saint Pio Foundation which promotes devotion to the Italian saint and organized the publication of the photos, said many people would come to Stelluto requesting his photos for articles and books.

“I never saw any kind of availability for the people” to see the photos directly, he said. That’s why he thought, “Padre Pio is the saint of the people, we must do something for the people.”

Lamonarca, an Italian who lives in the United States, said since many people with a devotion to Padre Pio are unable to visit the areas where the saint lived and ministered, he asked himself, “how does one bring Padre Pio to them, the true Padre Pio, the most authentic form of Padre Pio?”

That’s what spurred him to partner with Stelluto to make the photos available to the public, excluding their use for commercial purposes, by being free to download via the St. Pio Foundation website.

Lamonarca said he hoped that by “looking at the image of a greatly suffering father who could also laugh,” people would think to themselves, “if he could laugh, we can laugh too.”

Stelluto described the images he had taken of Padre Pio as “mysterious,” since they always came out clearly despite dark lighting conditions.

He recalled the challenge of taking photos in a dark convent, coupled with Padre Pio’s distaste for the flash of a camera, especially during Mass, and exclusive use of dim candles to light the altar.

“It’s not that I was talented in doing this, I still don’t understand the thing,” Stelluto said during the photo presentation. “The truth is that he was the source of light.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Religious men and women need to be setting people’s faith on fire, not stamping it out, Pope Francis said.

“It makes me sad when I see religious who seem more like firefighters” than men and women who are ardently filled with the flame of faith and ready to share it with others, he told representatives of congregations founded by St. Magdalene of Canossa during an audience at the Vatican April 29.

Members of the Canossian Sons of Charity, also known as the Canossian Fathers, and the Canossian Daughters of Charity were holding their general chapters in Rome with the theme, “The one who does not burn does not set on fire!”

Reflecting on their theme, the pope encouraged them to set people’s faith ablaze and, “please, no firefighters! We already have too many.”

The pope encouraged the Canossian family’s collaboration with each other and with laypeople, “who are increasingly active and involved.”

“This is important: to have laypeople involved in the spirituality of an institute and who collaborate with its apostolic work,” the pope said.

Their legacy also brings about challenges, he said, “but St. Magdalene showed you how to overcome difficulties.”

He encouraged them to emulate her “when the path becomes difficult.” Look at the crucified Jesus and “look into the eyes and wounds of the poor, and you will see that slowly the answers will make their way into your hearts with ever greater clarity.”

During the same audience, the pope also greeted members of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel, who were attending their general chapter in Rome April 3-May 1.

He praised their great international diversity, calling it a “richness” given to them by God.

This treasure “will do so much good for your growth and your apostolate if you know how to live by welcoming and constructively sharing diversity, among yourselves and with everyone,” the pope said.

“Uniformity in a religious institute, in a diocese, in a lay group, kills,” he said. “Diversity in harmony makes one grow.”

“This is an important message, especially in our world, often divided by selfishness” and divisive distinctions, he said.

Diversity is a precious gift to be shared, he said, encouraging them to “be prophets of this with your lives.”

During XVIII Assembly of the Italian Catholic Action in Sacrofano, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, told those gathered that “the canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is now clear on the horizon and looming for the next jubilee year” of 2025.

According to the Italian newspaper Avvenire, the declaration was met with resounding applause by the thousands of members present, marking a momentous occasion for devotees of Frassati and the wider Catholic community. An official declaration on the matter has yet to come from the Vatican.

Pier Giorgio Frassati, born in Turin in 1901, has inspired countless young people. During his life he was known for his zealous love of God and dedication to serving the less fortunate. Though brief, his life was vibrant with activities ranging from mountaineering to serving the poorest through the St. Vincent de Paul Society, showcasing his dynamic approach to faith and charity. He was also a lay Dominican. He died at the young age of 24 and was beatified in 1990.

During his homily at Pier Giorgio’s beatification Mass, St. John Paul II described Frassati as “the man of the Beatitudes.” He emphasized that Pier Giorgio lived his Christian vocation with joy and pride as part of Catholic Action, the first Catholic lay association founded in Italy in 1867, committing himself to loving Jesus and seeing Him in everyone he met.

In his message for World Youth Day 2016, Pope Francis encouraged young people to look to Pier Giorgio’s example. The pope said, “Pier Giorgio was a young man who understood what it means to have a merciful heart that responds to those most in need.” He urged young people to respond to the needs of the poor the way Pier Giorgio did, in a hidden and unassuming way.

The canonization would recognize Pier Giorgio’s impact not only as a spiritual figure but also as a social advocate in his hometown of Turin, where he is considered one of the city’s “social saints.” His efforts in defending the faith and engaging in charitable works set a powerful example of how the Christian faith can intersect with all human experiences.

Giuseppe Notarstefano, president of Italian Catholic Action, expressed immense gratitude for the news to the Italian newspaper Avvenire, seeing it as a “precious gift” to the association, especially as they celebrate their National Assembly. He reflected on how Frassati’s life embodied the ethos of Catholic Action, blending daily life with faith and creating an enduring legacy of Christian fellowship and social advocacy.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The most important outcome of the current Synod of Bishops on synodality is the synodal process itself and not the hot-button topics discussed, Pope Francis said.

With the second synod assembly scheduled for October, the pope said the synod process is approaching its “most challenging and important” stage — the point at which it must become “prophetic.”

“Now it is a matter of translating the work of the previous stages into choices that will give impetus and new life to the mission of the church in our time,” he told members of the Italian Catholic Action lay association in a packed St. Peter’s Square April 25.

But he noted that “the most important thing of this synod is synodality, the subjects and topics (discussed) are there to advance this expression of the church that is synodality.”

“For this, there is a need for people forged in the Spirit, for ‘pilgrims of hope,'” Pope Francis said, “men and women capable of charting and walking new and challenging paths.”

In March, Pope Francis decided that some of the most controversial issues raised at the first synod assembly “requiring in-depth study” will be examined by study groups; the groups are to issue preliminary reports to the synod assembly in October and give their final reports to the pope by June 2025.

The 10 themes to be explored by the study groups include the guidelines for priestly formation, the role of women in the church and their participation in community leadership, listening to the poor and the criteria for selecting bishops.

While some questions require deeper study, Pope Francis told the crowd to “be athletes and standard bearers of synodality in the dioceses and parishes of which you are part, for a full implementation of the (synodal) path taken so far.”

The Vatican said that 60,000 children, young people and adults were gathered in and around St. Peter’s Square for the association’s meeting with the pope.

Italian Catholic Action is a lay Catholic association with roots going back to 1867. In 2021, Vatican News reported that the group had more than 270,000 members.

Looking out into the crowd gathered within the arms of Bernini’s colonnade, the pope asked them to promote peace by being witnesses of the human embrace.

“At the origin of wars are often missed or rejected embraces, which are followed by prejudice, misunderstanding, suspicion, to the point of seeing the other as an enemy,” he said. “All this is unfortunately before our eyes these days in too many parts of the world.”

Pope Francis also encouraged them to let themselves be embraced by God’s love which is revealed in the Eucharist and in Christ on the cross.

“Brothers and sisters, let us be embraced by him, like children,” he said. “We each have something childlike in our hearts that needs a hug. Let us be embraced by the Lord, that way, in the embrace of the Lord we learn to embrace others.”

(OSV News) – Pope Francis sat down exclusively with “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell on April 24 for an interview ahead of the Vatican’s inaugural “World Children’s Day.” The CBS interview marks the first time a pope has given an in-depth, one-on-one interview to a U.S. broadcast network, according to the network.

In the brief portion of the interview that aired April 24, topics ranged from the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine and the plight of children in these areas to climate change and the decline in the number of U.S. Catholics.

O’Donnell asked Pope Francis about “pictures of starving children coming out of Gaza” and what he thought of those that “call that a genocide.”

The pope replied that he calls a Catholic parish of about 600 people in Gaza every afternoon, where he hears that the situation is “very hard” as “food goes in, but they have to fight for it. It’s very hard.”

In her report, O’Donnell noted that the pope condemned the Oct. 7 attack on Israelis by the terrorist group Hamas and also called on Israel to use restraint. Earlier this month, the pope met with the families of Israelis hostages still held by Hamas. O’Donnell referenced the pope’s past calls for peace and a ceasefire in the region and asked him if he could “help negotiate peace.”

“I can pray, I do,” he replied, “I pray a lot.”

In advance of World Children’s Day, O’Donnell asked about the United Nations’ estimate that “over a million people will be facing famine in Gaza, many of them children.”

“Not only Gaza,” the pope replied, “we should think about Ukraine.”

“Those kids don’t know how to smile,” he lamented. “I tell them something, but they forgot how to smile. And this is very hard when a child forgets to smile. That’s really very serious.”

“Do you have a message for Vladimir Putin when it comes to Ukraine,” O’Donnell asked.

“Please, countries at war, all of them: Stop the war,” the pope said, “look to negotiate. Look for peace. A negotiated peace is better than a war without end.”

When asked about his practice of inviting children to join him in the popemobile and to visit the Apostolic Palace, the pope said that children “always bear a message. They bear a message, and it is a way for us to have a younger heart.”

O’Donnell also asked the pope about those who deny climate change.

“There are people who are foolish and foolish even if you show them research; they don’t believe it,” he replied. “Why? Because they don’t understand the situation or because of their interest, but climate change exists.”

O’Donnell cited a statistic that in the US, only 20% of adults identify as Catholic, down from 24% in 2007. She asked Pope Francis to “speak to those who don’t go to Mass anymore, or maybe don’t see a place for themselves in the Catholic Church.”

“I would say there is always a place, always,” he replied. “If in this parish, the priest doesn’t seem welcoming, I understand, but go and look.”

“There is always a place,” he emphasized. “Do not run away from the church. The church is very big. It’s more than a temple. It’s more. You shouldn’t run away.”

In addition to the brief interview segment that aired April 24, CBS will air more of the interview on “60 Minutes” May 19 and in a primetime special on May 20. O’Donnell revealed that she had also asked the pope about “the migrant crisis, gay rights, women’s role in the church and whether he’s thinking about retirement” in the remainder of the interview.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Donations to the annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal “make a real impact on real people” by supporting pastoral ministry in U.S. mission territory and strengthening the church overall, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions.

Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, said that as subcommittee chair and as the shepherd of a mission diocese himself, he can attest that parishes and dioceses in mission territory “are places where ministry is marked by the deep commitment of parishioners and the clergy who serve them.”

“Many often travel many miles through mountains and deserts or arctic terrain to preside or participate at Mass and serve each other and their communities,” the bishop said in a column provided to OSV News. “These Catholics give sacrificially to support their parishes and essential ministries. They are deeply grateful and humbled by your prayers and generous support of the Catholic Home Missions Appeal.”

The appeal takes place during Mass the weekend of April 27-28. Some dioceses have a different date for the collection, but #iGiveCatholicTogether also accepts funds for the appeal.

This collection supports dioceses and eparchies in the United States and its territories where Catholics are too few or too materially impoverished to support local ministry without outside help. Natural disasters or economic hardships caused by unemployment can increase their need.

Gifts to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal provided more than $9.8 million in grants for 2023, according to a news release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The grants supported mission dioceses by subsidizing vocations work, seminary education, faith formation, evangelization, youth and young adult ministry, family and pro-life ministries and a wide variety of outreach among diverse ethnic or immigrant groups.

Grant recipients included:

— A mentor-driven approach to faith formation in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, where diocesan renewal initiatives are producing growth, evidenced by a rise in Mass attendance.

— A priestly vocations outreach in the Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin, that, after two years without ordinations, in 2023 yielded the largest ordination class in decades. In the program “Called North,” priests mentor and accompany young men as they discern whether they are called to the priesthood.

— A prison ministry program in the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, that one diocesan leader wrote is helping to “heal these men from their past failures and give them hope for the future.”

— An annual evangelization congress in the Diocese of Stockton, California, organized by Hispanic/Latino young adults who are leading their peers to Christ. Parish youth write and perform skits to show how following the Gospel transforms real life situations.

— Participation of Catholics from the Diocese of Salt Lake City at World Youth Day and local Eucharistic revival activities.

“Ultimately it is the Holy Spirit who transforms hearts, leads people to Christ, and inspires them to greater virtue,” Bishop McKnight wrote. “Yet the Spirit uses your financial gifts to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal to help bring this about. When you give to the collection in your diocese, no matter how large or small the amount, you are an instrument in the hands of God, bringing faith, hope and love to your neighbors.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Supreme Court on April 22 heard a case concerning the constitutionality of local laws that ban public camping and their impact on people who are homeless.

The case concerns an ordinance adopted by Grants Pass, Oregon, prohibiting public camping within city limits. The city claimed the ordinance prohibiting public camping – which it defined as sleeping outside and using materials including blankets – applies to everyone, but challengers argued the ordinance criminalized homelessness, violating the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

The case, City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, is the most significant case concerning homelessness to reach the high court in decades.

During oral arguments lasting more than two hours, justices and lawyers grappled with the balance between the civil rights of individuals experiencing homelessness and city officials seeking to regulate public spaces.

Justice Elena Kagan suggested the city’s ordinance may have veered too far from protecting public spaces into criminalizing a basic human function.

“Sleeping is a biological necessity,” Kagan said. “Sleeping in public is kind of like breathing in public.”

In a tense line of questioning, Kagan asked a lawyer for the city where homeless individuals were expected to go.

“Where do we put them if every city, every village, every town lacks compassion? And passes a law identical to this? Where are they supposed to sleep? Are they supposed to kill themselves not sleeping?” she asked.

Meanwhile, some of the court’s justices from its conservative wing expressed concern that implementing such policies was improperly falling to judges rather than state and local lawmakers. Chief Justice John Roberts at one point asked a lawyer for the federal government why “these nine people” – referring to the high court – were the right venue for the question.

The case made for some strange political bedfellows, with some liberal or progressive leaders joining conservatives in backing stricter ordinances.

In a friend-of-the-court brief urging the justices to side with Grant’s Pass, Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., acknowledged problems presented by criminalizing homelessness, but argued that state and local officials are “trapped, at risk of suit for taking action but also accountable for the consequences of inaction.”

Newsom pointed out that the problem of homeless camping is nationwide and requires officials to balance competing concerns. He stated the National Park Service, after attempting to get individuals into long-term housing, ultimately had to clear a homeless encampment in Washington’s McPherson Square near the White House – but noted that the City of San Francisco, facing a similar situation, has its hands tied by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

As some of the arguments in the case centered around how many beds in homeless shelters were available in the city, Becket, a Washington-based religious liberty law firm, filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that religious shelters were improperly excluded from the city’s tally of available beds in shelters for the homeless.

“Ignoring the good work of religious homeless shelters flouts basic human decency and common sense,” Daniel Chen, counsel at Becket, said in a statement. “These ministries should not be treated as suspect when they are on the front lines helping solve our nation’s homelessness problem.”

A decision in the case is expected by the end of the Supreme Court’s term, typically in June.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – When Jesus called himself the “good shepherd,” he was telling people not only that he was their guide, but that they were important to him and “that he thinks of each of us as the love of his life,” Pope Francis said.

“Consider this: for Christ, I am important, he thinks of me, I am irreplaceable, worth the infinite price of his life,” which he laid down for the salvation of all, the pope said April 21 before reciting the “Regina Coeli” prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square.

Jesus was not just saying something nice, the pope said. Each believer should recognize that “he truly gave his life for me; he died and rose again for me. Why? Because he loves me, and he finds in me a beauty that I often do not see myself.”

Many people think of themselves as inadequate or undeserving of love, he said. Or they believe their value comes from what they have or are able to do.

In the day’s Gospel reading, Jn 10:11-18, “Jesus tells us that we are always infinitely worthy in his eyes,” the pope said.

To understand and experience the truth of that statement, Pope Francis said, “the first thing to do is to place ourselves in his presence, allowing ourselves to be welcomed and lifted up by the loving arms of our good shepherd.”

The pope asked people in the square to consider if they find or make the time each day “to embrace this assurance that gives value to my life” and “for a moment of prayer, of adoration, of praise, to be in the presence of Christ and to let myself be caressed by him.”

That time in prayer, he said, will remind a person that “he gave his life for you, for me, for all of us. And that for him, we are all important, each and every one of us.”

After reciting the “Regina Coeli,” Pope Francis told the crowd that he continues to follow the tensions in Israel, Palestine and throughout the Middle East “with concern and also with grief.”

“I renew my appeal not to give in to the logic of vengeance and war. May the paths of dialogue and diplomacy, which can do so much, prevail,” he said. “I pray every day for peace in Palestine and Israel, and I hope that these two peoples may stop suffering soon.”

He also asked Catholics to continue to pray for peace in Ukraine and for the people who are suffering because of the war.

 

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Peace can spread and grow from “small seeds” like including someone who is left out of an activity, showing concern for someone who is struggling, picking up some litter and praying for God’s help, Pope Francis told Italian schoolchildren.

“At a time still marked by war, I ask you to be artisans of peace,” the pope told some 6,000 Italian schoolchildren involved in the National Network of Schools of Peace, a civic education program designed to teach the children to care for themselves, their friends, their communities, the world and the environment.

During the gathering April 19 in the Vatican audience hall, Pope Francis led the children in a moment of silent prayer for their peers in Ukraine and in Gaza.

“In a society still prisoner of a throwaway culture,” he told them, “I ask you to be protagonists of inclusion; in a world torn by global crises, I ask you to be builders of the future, so that our common home may become a place of fraternity.”

The pope drew the children’s attention to the U.N. Summit of the Future, which is scheduled for Sept. 22-23 in New York to draft a “Pact for the Future,” focused on promoting international cooperation and partnerships to ensure “a world that is safer, more peaceful, more just, more equal, more inclusive, more sustainable, and more prosperous.”

While government leaders and experts in a variety of fields obviously must get involved to make that hope a reality, the pope said, the pact will remain “just words on a page” without a commitment by all people of good will to take concrete steps aimed at changing harmful behavior and building communities and societies where everyone feels they are cared for and belong.

“This is a dream that requires being awake and not asleep,” he told the young people. The world can change for the better only when people are out in the world, “not lying on the couch,” using media to create connections and not just waste time, “and then — listen carefully — this kind of dream is realized by praying, that is, together with God, not by our strength alone.”

“Peace, in fact, is not only a silence of weapons and absence of war,” Pope Francis said. “It is a climate of benevolence, trust and love that can mature in a society based on caring relationships, in which individualism, distraction and indifference give way to the ability to pay attention to others, to listen to their needs, to heal their wounds, to be instruments of compassion and healing.”