Category: 2025 News

November 7, 2025

Joseph Sudano, formerly an incardinated deacon in the Diocese of Scranton, has been dispensed from the clerical state, effective September 15, 2025, and is no longer authorized to provide ministry to Catholics.

In 2024, Mr. Sudano chose to leave the Catholic Church and exercise ministry within the Episcopal Church.

Mr. Sudano remains prohibited from representing the Catholic Church in any capacity. Catholic members of the Christian Faithful are not to approach Mr. Sudano for diaconal ministry in any capacity.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Vatican to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a Vatican-Palestinian agreement recognizing the State of Palestine and guaranteeing the freedom of the Catholic Church in the territory.

“During the cordial talks, it was recognized that there is an urgent need to provide assistance to the civilian population in Gaza and to end the conflict by pursuing a two-State solution,” the Vatican said in a statement released after the 30-minute meeting Nov. 6.

While it was their first meeting in person, Pope Leo and Abbas had spoken by telephone in July when the fighting was still raging in Gaza and the humanitarian disaster was increasingly intense.

The Palestinian Authority claims Gaza as part of its territory and controlled the region before Hamas took over in 2007. Abbas, who has been the president of Palestine since 2005, belongs to the Fatah party, which has been in an ongoing conflict with Hamas.

Speaking to reporters Nov. 4, Pope Leo said he was thankful that the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire was continuing even though it was “very fragile.”

But he also was asked about Israelis expanding settlements in the West Bank and settlers threatening Palestinian villagers and provoking tensions by going up to the square outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam.

Al-Aqsa is located on what is known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, where the two biblical Jewish Temples stood.

“The theme of the West Bank and these settlers is really complicated,” Pope Leo told reporters. “Israel says one thing and then does another sometimes. We want to try to work together for justice for all people.”

Soon after arriving in Rome Nov. 5, Abbas went to the Basilica of St. Mary Major and laid a bouquet of white roses on the tomb of Pope Francis.

“I came to see Pope Francis because I cannot forget what he did for Palestine and for the Palestinian people,” he told reporters, “and I cannot forget that he recognized Palestine without anyone having to ask him to do so.”

With the signing in 2015 of the “Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine,” the Holy See officially recognized the state of Palestine and restated its longtime support of a “two-state solution” to tensions in the Holy Land with both Israel and Palestine enjoying sovereignty, security and defined borders.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Amid concern about the ability of those detained by immigration enforcement authorities to receive Catholic sacraments, a key U.S. bishop said Trump administration officials have “assured” him the matter is “under careful review.”

His comments came shortly before Pope Leo XIV urged respect for “the spiritual rights” of migrants detained in the U.S. in comments to journalists Nov. 4 at Castel Gandolfo.

Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Commission, said in a Nov. 3 social media post that he and Father Alexei Woltornist, a Melkite Catholic priest and a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, “have been in touch with senior officials in both the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security and have brought forward the concerns of the Church regarding detainees’ access to Sacraments.”

Bishop Barron’s post included an OSV News article about a delegation of clergy, religious sisters and laity, and a Chicago auxiliary bishop who were barred for the second time in three weeks from bringing the Eucharist to those being held at an immigration detention center just west of Chicago on the feast of All Saints Nov. 1.

The facility in the suburb of Broadview, Illinois, has seen tense confrontations between protesters and federal law enforcement in the last several weeks as the Trump administration ramped up enforcement efforts in and around the Windy City. In a separate incident, reports of immigration authorities near St. Jerome Catholic Church in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood on Oct. 12 prompted warnings of caution from its pastor, although a spokesperson for ICE denied the church was targeted, local media reported.

Catholic bishops are among those who have acknowledged points of tension between the Trump administration’s immigration policy and religious liberty.

In a statement provided to OSV News in response to an inquiry about Bishop Barron’s post, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, said the Broadview facility is “a field office, it is not a detention facility.”

“Illegal aliens are only briefly held there for processing before being transferred to a detention facility. Religious organizations are more than welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities,” McLaughlin said. “Even before the attacks on the Broadview facility, it was not within standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out.”

McLaughlin argued the facility faces “serious public safety and officer safety threats,” and that “ICE staff has repeatedly informed religious organizations that due to Broadview’s status as a field office and the ongoing threat to civilians, detainees, and officers” they are “not able to accommodate these requests at this time.”

In his post, Bishop Barron added, “I feel that maintaining open lines of communication and engaging in dialogue with the Administration constitute the most constructive way forward.”

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles — the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

In his Nov. 4 comments, Pope Leo added, “The authorities allow pastoral workers to assist with the needs of these people. Many times they have been separated from their families and no one knows what happens”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics to join him in praying for those who struggle with suicidal thoughts, and for all people “who live in darkness and despair.”

“May they always find a community that welcomes them, listens to them and accompanies them,” including by offering comfort, support and “necessary professional help,” he prayed.

The pope’s video sharing his prayer intention for November was distributed Nov. 4 by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

“Let us pray that those who are struggling with suicidal thoughts might find the support, care and love they need in their community, and be open to the beauty of life,” he said in the video.

“May we know how to be close with respect and tenderness, helping to heal wounds, build bonds and open horizons,” Pope Leo said. “Together, may we rediscover that life is a gift, that there is still beauty and meaning, even in the midst of pain and suffering.”

“We are well aware that those who follow you are also vulnerable to sadness without hope,” he said.

The pope prayed that the Lord would “always make us feel your love so that, through your closeness to us, we can recognize and proclaim to all the infinite love of the Father who leads us by the hand to renew our trust in the life you give us.”

Choosing suicide prevention as his prayer intention for the month of November coincided with an international conference titled, “Ministry of Hope: International Catholic Forum on Mental Well-being,” being held in Rome Nov. 5-7.

Organized by the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers and under the patronage of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the conference was to discuss how the Christian community can accompany people who struggle with mental health issues, depression and extreme pain, and how to prevent the risk of suicide through listening and closeness.

The November video was filmed in the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona, which has made mental health a pastoral priority with an office dedicated to mental health ministry. The diocese celebrates an annual Mass of remembrance for those who have died by suicide and seeks to provide safe spaces for listening, to share clear guidance on how to help someone in crisis and to lead public campaigns to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.

Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix told the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, “I have personally walked the difficult road of suicide loss,” having lost a brother, two sisters and a brother-in-law to death by suicide.

“There are certain wounds and mysteries that we cannot comprehend. And yet, we hope,” trusting in a loving Father “who holds our loved ones near, and we turn to one another, walking forward together as companions on the journey,” he said. “If you feel broken, if you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, know that you are deeply loved and the Church is here for you. You are not alone.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2280-2283) teaches that suicide contradicts love of self, others and God. However, it also recognizes that “serious psychological disturbances, anxiety, or fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish personal responsibility,” the prayer network said in a press release.

The church “invites us not to despair of the eternal salvation of those who have taken their own life, but to entrust them to God’s mercy and to the community’s prayer,” it said.

“The general practice of the church today is to treat very respectfully those who have died by suicide, partly because in recent years, the church has progressively grown in its attentiveness to mental health, both through prayer and its pastoral care,” it added.

Jesuit Father Cristóbal Fones, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network said, “The church is not a substitute for healthcare professionals — psychologists, doctors, therapists. It can carry out an important role by offering proximity, listening, and hope.”

Catholics can learn in their parishes and dioceses how to reach out to those who suffer, comfort those who are sad, take care of each other and share in Christ’s hope, he said in the press release.

Each month, the prayer network’s Click To Pray app, has a day dedicated to praying to support those who are going through a particularly vulnerable time, he added.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 720,000 people die due to suicide each year. In the United States, the current suicide rate is about third higher than it was in 2000.

About 56% of those who choose to end their life are under the age of 50, with suicide being the third leading cause of death among people 15 to 29 years old.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – While praising devotion to Mary, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith firmly rejected moves to formally proclaim Mary as “co-redemptrix” or “co-mediatrix.”

In a lengthy doctrinal note titled “Mater Populi Fidelis” (“Mother of the Faithful People of God”), the dicastery said the title co-redemptrix or co-redeemer “carries the risk of eclipsing the exclusive role of Jesus Christ” in salvation.

And, regarding the title co-mediatrix or co-mediator, it said that Mary, “the first redeemed, could not have been the mediatrix of the grace that she herself received.”

However, it said, the title may be used when it does not cast doubt on “the unique mediation of Jesus Christ, true God and true man.”

Pope Leo XIV approved the text Oct. 7 and ordered its publication, said the note, which was released Nov. 4.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, presented the document during a conference at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome and said its teaching becomes part of the church’s “ordinary magisterium” and must be considered authoritative.

For more than 30 years, some Catholics, including some bishops, have asked for formal dogmatic declarations of Mary as co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix, the document’s introduction said. But Msgr. Armando Matteo, secretary of the dicastery’s doctrinal section, told the conference that the Vatican’s first study of the doctrinal implications of the titles goes all the way back to 1926.

Cardinal Fernández said that one time, when St. Peter’s Basilica was closed, he spent a long time in front of Michelangelo’s Pietà. The sorrow on Mary’s face because of the death of her son and, at the same time, her obvious strength, he said, “was so beautiful it was understandable why people would want to say everything and more about Mary.”

The new document said that titles used for Mary should speak of her motherly care for all people and her place as the first and perfect disciple of Jesus but must not create any doubt that Catholics believe Jesus is the redeemer of the world and the bestower of grace.

“Any gaze directed at her that distracts us from Christ or that places her on the same level as the Son of God would fall outside the dynamic proper to an authentically Marian faith,” it said, because Mary always points to her son.

The titles co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix have been used in reference to Mary by theologians and even popes in the past millennium, the doctrinal dicastery said, but without elaborating on the precise meaning and the extent to which those titles could describe Mary’s role in salvation history.

St. John Paul II “referred to Mary as ‘Co-redemptrix’ on at least seven occasions,” the note said, but after consultation with the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and its prefect, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in 1996, he did not issue a dogmatic declaration and stopped using the title.

Citing Scripture and tradition, the future Pope Benedict XVI said, “The precise meaning of these titles (co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix) is not clear, and the doctrine contained in them is not mature.”

“Everything comes from Him — Christ — as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything that she is through Him. The word ‘Co-redemptrix’ would obscure this origin,” Pope Benedict said.

Pope Francis, at a general audience in 2021, said that Jesus entrusted Mary to humanity as a mother, “not as a goddess, not as co-redemptrix,” adding that love motivated some people to call her co-redemptrix, but love often leads people to “exaggerate.”

“Given the necessity of explaining Mary’s subordinate role to Christ in the work of Redemption, it would not be appropriate to use the title ‘Co-redemptrix’ to define Mary’s cooperation,” the doctrinal note said.

The title, it said, “risks obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith, for ‘there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.'”

“When an expression requires many repeated explanations to prevent it from straying from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the People of God and becomes unhelpful,” the dicastery concluded.

The use of the title “co-mediatrix” is more complicated, the doctrinal note said, because the word “mediation” often is “understood simply as cooperation, assistance or intercession” and easily could apply to Mary without calling into question “the unique mediation of Jesus Christ, true God and true man.”

Mary’s role in salvation history is unique, the document said. She willingly accepted to become the mother of Jesus the savior, she raised him, traveled with him and stood at the foot of his cross.

While Christ, fully human and fully divine, is the one mediator between God and humanity, it said, “he enables various forms of participation in his salvific plan because, in communion with him, we can all become, in some way, cooperators with God and ‘mediators’ for one another.”

“If this holds true for every believer — whose cooperation with Christ becomes increasingly fruitful to the extent that one allows oneself to be transformed by grace — how much more must it be affirmed of Mary in a unique and supreme way,” the doctrinal note said.

The church believes that those in heaven can pray and intercede for people still on earth and, “among those chosen and glorified with Christ, first and foremost is his Mother,” the note said. “Therefore, we can affirm that Mary has a unique collaboration in the saving work that Christ carries out in his Church. With this intercession, Mary can become for us a motherly sign of the Lord’s mercy.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Trump administration has indicated that it will not appeal court orders directing it to pay SNAP benefits, but that it will only issue partial payments in November.

The Trump administration previously said funding for SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a major part of the nation’s social safety net — was scheduled to lapse Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown.

But Judge Jack McConnell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island said Oct. 31 the Agriculture Department must distribute the contingency funds “timely, or as soon as possible, for the November 1 payments to be made.”

In a Nov. 3 brief, USDA’s lawyers wrote it “will fulfill its obligation to expend the full amount of SNAP contingency funds today.”

The brief said that the Food and Nutrition Service, which administers SNAP, will spend about $450 million of the contingency funds paying for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, with another $150 million for food programs in the U.S. territories Puerto Rico and American Samoa, and the remaining $4.65 billion will pay for SNAP benefits, representing about 50% of payments to eligible households.

“This means that no funds will remain for new SNAP applicants certified in November, disaster assistance, or as a cushion against the potential catastrophic consequences of shutting down SNAP entirely,” the brief said.

About 42 million — or 1-in-8 — Americans rely on SNAP. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that in fiscal year 2023, 79% of SNAP recipient households included either a child, an elderly individual or a nonelderly individual with a disability.

Qualified SNAP recipients receive monthly allowances through electronic benefit transfer accounts, with SNAP EBT cards used like debit or credit cards to purchase essential foods and seeds to grow food. Sales tax, prepared food, pet foods, nonfood items, alcohol, tobacco, vitamins and medicine are excluded.

Catholic leaders and ministries were among those who raised alarm at the prospect of a lapse in federal food assistance.

Trump previously indicated his administration would not appeal the order in an Oct. 31 post on his social media website, Truth Social.

“Our Government lawyers do not think we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies we have available, and now two Courts have issued conflicting opinions on what we can and cannot do. I do NOT want Americans to go hungry just because the Radical Democrats refuse to do the right thing and REOPEN THE GOVERNMENT. Therefore, I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible.”

But Trump said there would be a delay, pointing at Democrats’ objections to a GOP-backed funding bill to keep the government open.

“It is already delayed enough due to the Democrats keeping the Government closed through the monthly payment date and, even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out,” he said. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay.”

However, during a lengthy government shutdown during the first Trump administration, the Department of Agriculture authorized early processing of SNAP funds to ensure there would be no disruption in service, the Huffington Post noted.

In a post on X, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer replied that “USDA has the authority to fully fund SNAP and needs to do so immediately. Anything else is unacceptable.”

“Trump’s ‘decision’ to follow the court order and only send partial SNAP benefits to 42 million hungry Americans as Thanksgiving approaches is cruel and callous,” he said.

“Trump should focus less on his ballroom and his bathroom and more on the American people,” Schumer added in reference to recent White House renovations, which include the demolition of the East Wing.

In anticipation of a lapse in federal food assistance programs, Catholic Charities USA, the network organization dedicated to carrying out the domestic humanitarian work of the Catholic Church in the United States, announced a national fundraising effort to provide an emergency supply of food to Catholic Charities agencies around the country.

ROME (CNS) – As Christians visit cemeteries on the feast of All Souls and remember their loved ones who have died, they do so with faith that at the end of this life they will be together again with the Lord, Pope Leo XIV said.

The pope celebrated Mass Nov. 2, the feast of All Souls, at Rome’s largest cemetery, Verano, which covers more than 200 acres.

“The Lord awaits us, and when we finally meet him at the end of our earthly journey, we shall rejoice with him and with our loved ones who have gone before us,” the pope told about 2,000 people who had gathered on a road among the tombs for the Mass.

“May this promise sustain us, dry our tears and raise our gaze upward toward the hope for the future that never fades,” he said.

Arriving at the cemetery, he set a bouquet of white roses on one of the tombs, and at the end of the Mass he blessed the graves with holy water before leading the traditional prayer, “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”

The pope began his homily by speaking about the loved ones buried at Verano, telling the congregation that “we continue to carry them with us in our hearts, and their memory remains always alive within us amid our daily lives”

“Often,” he said, “something brings them to mind, and we recall experiences we once shared with them. Many places, even the fragrance of our homes, speak to us of those we have loved and who have gone before us, vividly maintaining their memory for us.”

For those who believe that Jesus conquered death, the pope said, “it is not so much about looking back, but instead looking forward toward the goal of our journey, toward the safe harbor that God has promised us, toward the unending feast that awaits us.”

“There, around the Risen Lord and our loved ones, we hope to savor the joy of the eternal banquet,” he said.

Belief in eternal life, the pope said, “is not an illusion for soothing the pain of our separation from loved ones, nor is it mere human optimism. Instead, it is the hope founded on the Resurrection of Jesus who has conquered death and opened for us the path to the fullness of life.”

Earlier in the day, the pope led the recitation of the Angelus prayer with thousands of visitors gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

He told them he would be going to the cemetery to celebrate Mass for all the faithful departed.

“In spirit, I will visit the graves of my loved ones” — his mother died in 1990 and his father in 1997 — “and I will also pray for those who have no one to remember them. But our heavenly Father knows and loves each of us, and he forgets no one!”

Citing Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on hope, Pope Leo said that “eternal life” can be thought of not as “a succession of time without end, but being so immersed in an ocean of infinite love that time, before and after no longer exist.”

Such a “fullness of life and joy in Christ is what we hope for and await with all our being,” Pope Leo said.

Praying for the dead, he said, is not just about remembering a loss, but it is a sign of belief that in the death and resurrection of Jesus, no one will be lost.

Pope Leo prayed, “May the familiar voice of Jesus reach us, and reach everyone, because it is the only one that comes from the future. May he call us by name, prepare a place for us, free us from that sense of helplessness that tempts us to give up on life.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The lives of St. John Henry Newman and of all the saints teach Christians that “it is possible to live passionately amidst the complexity of the present without neglecting the apostolic mandate to ‘shine like stars in the world,'” Pope Leo XIV said.

Celebrating Mass Nov. 1, the feast of All Saints, Pope Leo concluded the Jubilee of the World of Education and proclaimed St. Newman the 38th doctor of the church, including him among the men and women of the Christian East and West who have made decisive contributions to theology and spirituality.

Earlier in the week, Pope Leo had officially recognized St. Newman as co-patron of education along with St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Newman was born in London Feb. 21, 1801, was ordained an Anglican priest in 1825, became Catholic in 1845 and was made a cardinal in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII. He died in 1890.

Leading members of the Anglican Church of England and the British government attended the Mass where he was declared a doctor of the church. The Anglican delegation was led by Archbishop Stephen Cottrell of York, currently the top-ranking prelate of the Church of England. The government delegation was led by David Lammy, deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom and secretary of state for justice.

Greeting Archbishop Cottrell publicly at the end of Mass, Pope Leo prayed that St. Newman would “accompany the journey of Christians toward full unity.”

The banner used during St. Newman’s canonization Mass in 2019 hung from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Mass and his relics were placed on a table near the altar.

While St. Newman’s theology, philosophy and thoughts about university education were cited in the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints’ presentation at the Mass, Pope Leo chose to quote in his homily from the British saint’s poem, “Lead, Kindly Light,” now a popular hymn.

“In that beautiful prayer” of St. Newman’s, the pope said, “we come to realize that we are far from home, our feet are unsteady, we cannot interpret clearly the way ahead. Yet none of this impedes us, since we have found our guide” in Jesus.

“Lead, Kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on,” the pope quoted in English while reading his homily in Italian.

Speaking to the teachers, professors and other educators gathered for the Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo said, “The task of education is precisely to offer this Kindly Light to those who might otherwise remain imprisoned by the particularly insidious shadows of pessimism and fear.”

The pope asked the educators to “reflect upon and point out to others those ‘constellations’ that transmit light and guidance at this present time, which is darkened by so much injustice and uncertainty.”

He also encouraged them “to ensure that schools, universities and every educational context, even those that are informal or street-based, are always gateways to a civilization of dialogue and peace.”

Another quote from St. Newman — “God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another” — expresses “the mystery of the dignity of every human person, and also the variety of gifts distributed by God,” the pope said.

Catholic educators, he said, have an obligation not only to transmit information but also to help their students discover how much God loves them and how he has a plan for their lives.

“Life shines brightly not because we are rich, beautiful or powerful,” the pope said. “Instead, it shines when we discover within ourselves the truth that we are called by God, have a vocation, have a mission, that our lives serve something greater than ourselves.”

“Every single creature has a role to play,” he said. “The contribution that each person can make is uniquely valuable, and the task of educational communities is to encourage and cherish that contribution.”

“At the heart of the educational journey,” Pope Leo said, “we do not find abstract individuals but real people, especially those who seem to be underperforming according to the parameters of economies that exclude or even kill them. We are called to form people, so that they may shine like stars in their full dignity.”

Lammy, the British government official, told Catholic News Service that he had had the “great honor and privilege” to meet Pope Leo before the Mass.

As a member of the Anglo-Catholic tradition within the Church of England, he said he believes “John Henry Newman really encapsulates the deep connections between our countries and between the Christian communities, across the Christian community.”

The proclamation was “a moment of unity and reflection,” Lammy said. “It’s not just a religious honor, but a powerful moment of cohesion that shows how engaging in our differences can also unite us.”

St. Newman’s legacy, he said, “reminds us that Britain’s religious story is broader than one tradition. It’s been enriched by Catholic thought, courage and contribution.”

In addition, the deputy prime minister said, “I think his life and his writings show how belief and reason together can guide moral leadership, diplomacy, compassion, and I think in an age of polarization, Newman’s insistence on moral reflection calls us back to what truly matters, which is leadership in the cause of what is right and just, which is a principle that should shape our politics.”

(OSV News) – It seems unusual that our church liturgical calendar schedules two major celebrations on days that are back-to-back. But that is precisely the situation
with the solemnity of All Saints, a liturgical feast, and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls), a liturgical observance.

All Saints is a churchwide holy day of obligation and normally celebrated on Nov. 1. If the first day of November falls on a Saturday or Monday, at least in the United States, the obligation to attend Mass is abrogated. All Souls’ Day takes place on Nov. 2, unless it falls on a Sunday, then the celebration is held Nov. 3.

During these early November celebrations, those of us still living (the “church militant”) unite our hearts with, and in a special way remember, the faithful departed, whether they be in heaven (“church triumphant”) or in purgatory (“church suffering”).

All Saints’ Day, which began most likely as All Martyrs’ Day, can be traced to the earliest Christians. By the third century, the followers of Christ were annually honoring their brothers and sisters who had given their lives (martyred) while witnessing for and defending Jesus Christ. Typically, on the anniversary of a martyr’s death, those living would gather to remember and offer prayers at the tomb or place where the deceased had died.

Tombs were sometimes decorated and altars built over the tomb. According to church historian Henry Chadwick, “From the third century the anniversary of a martyr’s death, called his ‘birthday,’ was commemorated at his grave by a celebration.” The belief among the first Christians, which continues today, is that believers who died defending Christ were borne by angels to heaven and are face-to-face with the living God, in the presence of the beatific vision.

In those first centuries, especially during the savage reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305), there were more and more Christians who accepted death at the hands of the Romans rather than deny Christ, rather than worship false gods or the personage of the emperor.

Additionally, others who had publicly confessed their Christian faith (confessors) and somehow survived the Romans were also honored. Thus the number of martyrs and confessors became greater than the opportunities to give each one an anniversary
celebration, and the need for a common feast day was recognized.

By the fifth century there is evidence of locations, such as in Antioch, where the fledgling church had set aside the first Sunday following Pentecost to collectively honor these holy and courageous people.

In 609, during the reign of Pope Boniface IV (608-615), the Eastern Emperor Phocas (r. 602-610) gifted a temple in Rome to the Holy See. The temple, still standing today and still known as the Pantheon, was originally built in the first century. Destroyed by fire and rebuilt between 118 and 128, it was a public place to worship and honor all the Roman gods and goddesses — a spectacular monument to pagan Rome.

Pope Boniface accepted this temple, removed all the pagan embellishments, all the statues of false gods and, according to legend, relocated and buried the remains of hundreds of Christian martyrs beneath the Pantheon. The pope then consecrated the Pantheon as a Christian church to the Blessed Mother and all the Holy Martyrs (Sanctae Mariae and Martyrs). The consecration took place on May 13, and that was the annual date of the feast of All Martyrs for the next 125 years.

On Nov. 1, 735, Pope Gregory III (731-741) dedicated an oratory in St. Peter’s Basilica to house the relics of the apostles, martyrs, saints and confessors. Thereafter, Nov. 1 became, at least for the churches in Rome, the feast of All Saints, and the May 13 date was suppressed. Other countries and cities began to celebrate the feast on the same day as the Rome churches, and soon a vigil of All Saints was added. Eventually, Pope Gregory IV (827-844) assigned Nov. 1 as the date of the feast of All Saints throughout the Latin Church and proclaimed it a holy day of obligation.

In the 15th century, octave days were added by Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) and the octaves of All Saints were part of the church calendar until suppressed in 1954. In sum, there is ample historical evidence that Christians have annually, on some date or another, been acknowledging the collective lives of all martyrs and saints for over 1,200 years.

Today, All Saints’ Day is a solemnity and holy day of obligation on which the universal church honors the martyrs, the saints and the confessors, including all known and unknown, all who have gained the reward of heaven.

Offering prayers for those who have died is ancient in origin. In the Old Testament’s Second Book of Maccabees, written around 100 B.C., Judas Maccabeus orders his army to pray and offer sacrifices on behalf of their fallen comrades. Tombs found in the Roman catacombs are inscribed with prayer requests for the deceased.

The second-century writer Tertullian wrote in an essay, “Monogamy,” about a woman praying for her deceased spouse: “Indeed she prays for his soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice.”

The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, or All Souls’ Day, evolved onto the church calendar long after All Saints’ Day. Sometime between 998 and 1030, St. Odilo, the abbot at the Benedictine monastery in Cluny, France, encouraged all the monks to pray for the souls of those who had died, those awaiting the joys of heaven. He instituted this commemoration on the day after All Saints’ Day, and soon other religious orders and churches began, on that same date, to annually remember all who had died.

Remembering and praying for the faithful departed is tied directly to our belief in purgatory. On All Souls’ Day the universal church prays for all those in purgatory, people who were much like us, whose offense may have been less than ours. By pleading for them, we are inspired to lead purer lives.

On that day, and during the entire month of November, we remember our departed brethren as we go to the cemetery where they are buried, attain indulgences for them, give alms, do some good work, ask for Masses to be said in remembrance, all on behalf of those close to us and to others we may have neglected during the year.

We also light candles, and in some parishes the faithful display pictures of their deceased loved ones in the church. Church bells are sometimes rung to remind everyone to pray for the poor souls in purgatory. Priests are authorized to say three Masses on this holy, somber day.