Category: 2025 News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The U.S. bishops urged Catholics to answer Pope Francis’ call for prayer for the people of Ukraine in their Lenten reflection as that nation fends off Russia’s invasion.

In a Lenten reflection released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops March 3, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the conference, wrote, “As we begin the holy Season of Lent, a time of prayer, penance, and charity, we join our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in his solidarity with the ‘martyred people of Ukraine.'”

“We pray and hope that the United States, in concert with the wider international community, works with perseverance for a just peace and an end to aggression,” said Archbishop Broglio, who heads the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services. “As our Holy Father reminded us in 2024, courageous negotiations require ‘boldness’ to ‘open the door’ for dialogue.”

Although the reflection did not mention either event, it was published shortly after Ukraine marked the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, and days after a tense Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance about the future of U.S. aid to Ukraine in that conflict.

“As Catholics, we are acutely aware that every past occupation of Ukraine has resulted in various degrees of repression of the Catholic Church in the country; we must not tolerate the forcing of our brothers and sisters underground again,” Archbishop Broglio wrote. “I echo Pope Francis’ plea for respecting the religious freedom of all Ukrainians, ‘Please, let no Christian church be abolished directly or indirectly. Churches are not to be touched!'”

Archbishop Broglio added that in addition to “offering prayers and sacrifices for a truly just peace in Ukraine, an opportunity for effective solidarity presents itself in the annual USCCB collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, which will be taken up in many dioceses on Ash Wednesday.”

“By contributing to this collection, Catholics in the United States can be assured that their assistance will directly help their struggling brothers and sisters in Ukraine, as well as in over twenty other countries in the region,” he said. “I invite America’s Catholics, in union with all men and women of good will, to pray for the peace of Ukraine, and to contribute generously to assisting that suffering and courageous nation.”

Lent began on Ash Wednesday, which fell this year on March 5.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has chosen “Migrants, missionaries of hope” as the theme for the Catholic Church’s celebration of World Day of Migrants and Refugees, linking the world day to the Jubilee message of hope.

“In light of the Jubilee, the theme highlights the courage and tenacity of migrants and refugees who bear witness each day to hope for the future despite difficulties,” the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said in a statement announcing the message March 3.

The hope of migrants “is the hope of achieving happiness even beyond borders, the hope that leads them to rely totally on God,” it said.

The chosen theme draws from the theme for the Holy Year 2025: “Pilgrims of hope.”

This year, the world day will not be observed on the last Sunday of September as usual but will instead take place Oct. 4-5 to coincide with both the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of the Missions at the Vatican.

“Migrants and refugees become ‘missionaries of hope’ in the communities where they are welcomed, often revitalizing their faith and promoting interreligious dialogue based on common values,” the dicastery said in its announcement. “They remind the church of the ultimate goal of the earthly pilgrimage, which is to reach the future homeland.”

ROME (CNS) – As he continues to receive treatment in Rome’s Gemelli hospital, Pope Francis sent written thanks for people’s prayers, but he did not go to his hospital window as some people had hoped.

Young people and members of the House of Mary, both groups associated with the Pontifical Academy of the Immaculate Conception, led the recitation of the Angelus prayer March 2 around a statue of St. John Paul II below the pope’s hospital window.

A couple dozen other people and many photographers and TV correspondents joined them.

The Vatican press office released a message from the 88-year-old Pope Francis with a brief reflection the day’s Gospel reading, but also with a reflection on being hospitalized since Feb. 14 with breathing difficulty and a diagnosis of double pneumonia.

In his message, the pope thanked his doctors and all the medical professionals assisting him.

But he also told people, “I feel in my heart the ‘blessing’ that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord; at the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.”

Pope Francis expressed his gratitude “for the prayers, which rise up to the Lord from the hearts of so many faithful from many parts of the world: I feel all your affection and closeness and, at this particular time, I feel as if I am ‘carried’ and supported by all God’s people.”

The pope assured people he was praying for them, too, and said, “I pray above all for peace. From here, war appears even more absurd. Let us pray for tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan and Kivu” in eastern Congo.

Giuseppe Perazzo was one of the first to arrive outside the Gemelli hospital for the midday prayer. At the time, hospital security staff were re-arranging the flowers, votive candles and cards people have been leaving for the pope at the foot of the statue.

Perazzo held a big sign encouraging Pope Francis to listen to and obey his doctors.

“He’s not just the pope,” Perazzo said, “he is also a man like us. He is one of us, so when he is released, I will feel better, too.”

A couple from India working in Rome, who identified themselves only as Alice and Tommy, said, “Today we have the day off, so we came to pray for the pope. He is a great person.”

Miguel Nascimento, an older gentleman wearing a large cross around his neck, stood tall as he recited the rosary for Pope Francis.

“I am here because I am a believer,” he said. “I used to be an altar server when I was a boy in Cape Verde.”

As people were praying at the hospital, Matteo Bruni, director of Vatican press office, confirmed that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute for general affairs in the secretariat, had paid their second visit to the pope in the hospital.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima will make a rare journey from its shrine in Portugal to Rome in October 2025 for a Jubilee celebration of Marian spirituality.

The statue will be present in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 12 for the closing Mass of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, the Vatican announced Feb. 27.

The statue has embedded in its crown one of the bullets from the attempted assassination of St. John Paul II in 1981. A Turkish gunman shot the pope on May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, and the Polish pope credited her with saving his life. He traveled to Fatima the next year to offer his thanks in person.

The Marian jubilee will offer pilgrims the chance to cross the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica and partake in a prayer vigil at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome — considered the oldest Marian shrine in the West.

According to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the statue’s visit will allow the faithful to “experience the closeness of the Virgin Mary” in a special way. Quoting Pope Francis’ Jubilee Bull of Inditction, “Spes non confundit” (“Hope does not disappoint”), he recalled how Mary is venerated as “the most affectionate of mothers, who never abandons her children.”

The Jubilee will be only the fourth time the statue has left the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima for Rome. The first occasion was in 1984 when St. John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It returned during the Holy Year 2000 and again in 2013 for the Year of Faith, which marked 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Father Carlos Cabecinhas, rector of the Fatima shrine, emphasized the exceptional nature of the event, noting that the statue is only moved upon the request of a pope. “In this Jubilee time, the Virgin of Fatima is the woman of Paschal joy, even in the painful times the world is experiencing,” he said. “Once again, the ‘Lady dressed in white’ will be a pilgrim of hope.”

Carved in 1920 from Brazilian cedar by Portuguese sculptor José Ferreira Thedim, the 104-centimeter-tall statue was crafted based on descriptions from the three shepherd children who claimed to witness the Marian apparitions in 1917. It was solemnly crowned in 1946.

Pope Francis visited the Marian shrine at Fatima for the second time in 2023 during his trip to Lisbon, Portugal, for World Youth Day. In 2017, he celebrated Mass there to mark the 100th anniversary of the apparitions.

PARIS (OSV News) – A mere three months after Notre Dame Cathedral reopened, some Catholics in France worry the massive influx of tourists has overshadowed its religious essence.

But the auxiliary bishop of Paris told OSV News it’s the opposite — with a large flow of people, more strangers are exposed to the Catholic faith, with their hearts touched by God’s presence in renovated interiors.

With 29,000 visitors a day, up from 23,500 a day before the fire in 2019, Notre Dame’s guest rates are comparable to those of the Louvre Museum, even though the museum’s surface area is considerably larger.

Auxiliary Bishop Emmanuel Tois of Paris, whose office is just about 60 feet from the cathedral, told OSV News that the number of tourists flooding the cathedral doesn’t bother him. It’s a chance to meet the Lord, he said.

Bishop Tois said that the rector and chaplains of Notre Dame often circulate among the visitors in the aisles of the cathedral. “And they are regularly approached by people who ask for explanations, and who sometimes explicitly ask them how they can be baptized.”

Bishop Tois often celebrates Mass at Notre Dame himself, and regularly goes there on Saturday mornings to hear confessions.

“People come to me for confession even if they had not thought of it when they walked in,” he recounted. “Some tell me it is the first time they have been to confession in 40 years! Others are not baptized and know nothing about faith. But they come and sit next to me and ask me lots of questions,” he said of the conversion power of the place.

“They have come to visit a historic place, which had to be seen, given its notoriety. But in the course of the visit, they are surprised by metaphysical questions that sometimes touch explicitly on faith,” Bishop Tois said.

When asked about criticism by Alain-Marc Plasman in the French Catholic paper La Croix that the cathedral “locked in its status as a monument … loses its primary function,” Bishop Tois said that “Notre Dame has been offering visitors works that speak of God for 900 years, and that intrigues them.”

He explained that “visits do not stop during Masses and liturgical services. Visitors are interested in what is going on. They are respectful. They lower their voices and watch. They see that this heritage has been handed down and is still alive today. Many are impressed.”

“The cathedral is always full, whatever the time, and it is true that when you enter it, you can be surprised by the noise and tourist bustle there,” Bishop Tois told OSV News. “It is also true that many visitors are moved by the aesthetic beauty of the cathedral, just as one might be when visiting a fine museum.”

For Mathieu Lours, too, the “historical density” of Notre Dame, which attracts the crowds, is not in contradiction with its religious life.

“As for the crowd of visitors who pass through the doors of the cathedral, how does their presence interfere with the spiritual life of the building?” the architecture historian asked in La Croix.

“Its openness to all is rather a guarantee of its vitality,” Lours wrote. “How could a cathedral, in today’s world, be a place of conversion if it only attracts the convinced? Crowds are the hallmark of great sanctuaries. And the Church must take up the challenge of maintaining, despite everything, the dignity that is due to them.”

He also pointed out that the cathedral is a witness to the living faith with the Blessed Sacrament that “has found its place within a tabernacle placed on the high altar. Every visitor, every faithful now understands — or at least has the intuition — that the centre of the cathedral is this inaccessible space … It is the very definition of the sacred that he experiences here.”

Bishop Tois agreed. “From the outset, the Archdiocese of Paris has endeavored to welcome both pilgrims — who know they are pilgrims — and other visitors,” he told OSV News.

“That’s why we don’t charge admission to the cathedral. We must not separate pilgrims from other visitors. People enter Notre Dame with many different approaches. There are those who have a very lively faith, and those who are conscious of not having faith,” he said.

“But between the two, there is a whole margin of people who are neither on one side nor the other, and who, moreover, do not want to be lumped into one side or the other. But they are receptive when they enter the cathedral, and can open up to an unexpected encounter.”

He concluded: “Many are likely to let themselves be touched by a visit to Notre Dame, even if they first entered it simply as tourists. I am a witness to that.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis marked Ash Wednesday on his 20th day in Rome’s Gemelli hospital by taking part in the rite of the blessing of the ashes and receiving them in a short prayer service, the Vatican said.

While the 88-year-old pope’s overall clinical case remained complex, his condition was “stable” and he did not experience any episodes of “respiratory insufficiency,” the Vatican said in its evening medical bulletin March 5.

The pope received ashes and the Eucharist in the morning from a celebrant, who was not named in the bulletin. It was most likely one of the hospital chaplains, a Vatican source said.

The rite was held in the private suite of rooms on the 10th floor of the hospital where the pope has been receiving treatment for double pneumonia and other respiratory ailments, the Vatican said.

The pope was diagnosed with double pneumonia Feb. 18 after being admitted to the hospital Feb. 14 for breathing difficulties. A Vatican source said the pneumonia is following a “normal evolution” that is expected to be seen in someone receiving treatment. Each case is different and “patience is needed” because the illness “does not disappear in one day,” the source said.

The pope is “in a good mood” and cooperative, the source added.

Pope Francis spent March 5 sitting in an armchair and increased the amount of “respiratory physiotherapy” he has been getting, which often consists of breathing exercises, as well as physiotherapy, the bulletin said. A source said a physiotherapist is working with him to help prevent any of the usual consequences that arise when a person has limited opportunities for movement while hospitalized.

“As scheduled, the pope receives high-flow oxygen” through a nasal cannula during the day, the bulletin said, and, at night, he wears a mask covering his nose and mouth for “noninvasive mechanical ventilation.”

Although the pope no longer needed oxygen through a breathing mask during the day March 4 and 5, a Vatican source has said mechanical ventilation is used at night so he can sleep better.

Also March 5 he telephoned Father Gabriel Romanelli, parish priest of Holy Family Church in Gaza, which, the source said, indicates the pope is able to talk. The pope spent the afternoon alternating between working and resting, the bulletin said.

Because of the continued complexity of his case, his doctors continue to hold that his “prognosis remains guarded.”

The Vatican had said in the morning that the pope had rested well overnight and had woken up a bit after 8 a.m. It was the first time doctors had communicated the waking time of the pope, whose normal schedule had been waking as early as 4 or 5 a.m. for prayer and reflection.

Pope Francis had suffered “two episodes of acute respiratory insufficiency” March 3, which occurs when the lungs are unable to effectively take in sufficient oxygen or expel enough carbon dioxide to meet the body’s needs.

Those crises led doctors to put the pope back on “noninvasive mechanical ventilation” – a treatment that delivers air with added oxygen through a tightly fitted face mask and using positive pressure to assist breathing. He also underwent two bronchoscopies that day but “remained alert, oriented and cooperative at all times,” the Vatican said.

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a church court, led the traditional Ash Wednesday celebration that usually is presided over by the pope. The celebration March 5 began with a penitential procession from the Benedictine monastery of St. Anselm on Rome’s Aventine Hill and to the Dominican-run Basilica of Santa Sabina, followed by Mass and the distribution of ashes.

The cardinal read the homily prepared by Pope Francis, however, he prefaced his reading by saying, “We are deeply united” with the pope, and “we thank him for offering his prayer and his sufferings for the good of the whole church and the entire world.”

The Vatican also announced that the pope would not be present for the March 8-9 Jubilee for Volunteers, and that the Mass March 9 would be presided over by Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. About 25,000 people from more than 100 countries were expected to attend.

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for Saints’ Causes, was scheduled to lead the nightly recitation of the rosary for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square March 5.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – After experiencing progressive improvement the past few days, Pope Francis experienced “an isolated crisis of bronchospasm” which led to coughing and “vomiting with inhalation,” which worsened his respiratory condition, the Vatican said.

The pope had spent the morning “alternating respiratory physiotherapy with prayer in the chapel” in his suite of rooms on the 10th floor of Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, according to the Vatican bulletin Feb. 28. He had also received the Eucharist.

However, around 2 p.m. local time, the pope experienced “an isolated crisis of bronchospasm” followed by “an episode of vomiting,” according to the Vatican’s evening medical bulletin.

Medical staff promptly aspirated the pope’s airways to remove any obstruction “and began noninvasive mechanical ventilation, with a good response on gas exchange,” that is, with his blood’s oxygen levels returning to the levels he had before the crisis.

The Vatican said, “The Holy Father remained alert and oriented at all times, cooperating with the therapeutic procedures.”

His prognosis remains guarded, which means, a Vatican source said, that the pope is still not out of danger.

The source said the mechanical ventilation entails pumping a greater amount of oxygen mixed with air delivered through a mask covering the pope’s nose and mouth. It offers a greater flow of oxygen than the “ventimask” that he had been using since Feb. 27 and the nasal cannula, which he had been using previously when he needed it.

Doctors will need another 24 to 48 hours to see if his condition worsens from having inhaled vomit, the source said. Usually, people who experience this have “worse consequences,” but the pope overcame the crisis.

The source said the pope is in good spirits, vigilant and reacts normally to his surroundings. The source added the pope has received “an incredible amount” of cards, letters, drawings and flowers from children and well-wishers.

The pope had experienced an asthmatic breathing crisis Feb. 22, in which the pope could not breathe, the source said. The crisis Feb. 28 was a coughing fit, which led to vomiting. Inhaling vomit can lead to irritation, infection or inflammation of lung tissue.

While Pope Francis’ condition had continued to improve, the Vatican announced Feb. 28 that he would not lead his traditional Ash Wednesday services in Rome March 5.

Instead, the Vatican said, the Ash Wednesday procession from the Rome Church of St. Anselm to the Basilica of Santa Sabina for Mass will be celebrated by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the major penitentiary or head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a church court dealing with matters of conscience.

The Vatican announcement Feb. 28 came after a brief morning bulletin that said the pope had had a peaceful night and was resting.

A source later said the pope got out of bed, had breakfast, was reading newspapers and was continuing to receive his treatment and doing his respiratory physiotherapy. Pope Francis, 88, has been undergoing treatment for double pneumonia in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14.

As of Feb. 26, the evening bulletins had no longer been describing the pope’s condition as “critical” as they had each day since Feb. 22 when he had the “asthmatic respiratory crisis.” He began receiving high-flow oxygen through a nasal cannula after that incident and, as of Feb. 27, after the pope’s breathing had improved enough, he was alternating between using the high-flow oxygen and using a “ventimask,” which offers a steady and controlled lower-flow of oxygen.

The Vatican also announced that Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and an Argentine like the pope, would lead the rosary in St. Peter’s Square Feb. 28. Cardinals have been leading a nightly rosary to pray for the pope since Feb. 24.

As of Feb. 28, the Vatican had not said what would happen with the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer March 2.

The previous two Sundays the Vatican released the text the pope had prepared for the Angelus, but the pope was not able to not send an audio message or go to the window of his hospital room to greet people gathered in the hospital courtyard to pray for him.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis’ clinical condition continued to improve Feb. 27, the Vatican said, and he had respiratory physiotherapy in the morning and the afternoon.

For the second day in a row, the 88-year-old pope’s doctors at Rome’s Gemelli hospital did not use the word “critical” when describing the pope’s condition in the medical bulletin they drafted for the Vatican press office to distribute.

Still, the bulletin said, “more days of clinical stability are needed” before the doctors will lift their “guarded” prognosis of the pope’s condition.

The medical bulletin also specified that the pope’s breathing had improved enough for him to alternate receiving high-flow oxygen through a nasal cannula and using a “ventimask” with a mix of room air.

Pope Francis has been hospitalized since Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with double pneumonia and a “polymicrobial” infection; he experienced an “asthmatic respiratory crisis” Feb. 22.

“The Holy Father devoted the morning to respiratory physiotherapy alternating with rest, while in the afternoon after an additional session of physiotherapy he spent time in prayer in the chapel” of the private suite of rooms reserved for the popes on the 10th floor of the hospital, the bulletin said.

He received the Eucharist, it said, “then he devoted himself to work.”

Earlier in the day, the Vatican announced the cancellation of the special Jubilee general audience Pope Francis was scheduled to hold March 1 for Holy Year pilgrims. But as of Feb. 27, the Vatican had not said what would happen with the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer March 2.

The previous two Sundays the Vatican released the text the pope had prepared for the Angelus, but the pope was not able to not send an audio message or go to the window of his hospital room to greet people gathered in the hospital courtyard to pray for him.

The Vatican’s customarily brief morning statement said that Pope Francis had slept well and was resting.

A few hours later, a Vatican source said the pope was out of bed and had eaten breakfast but was still using supplemental oxygen.

In the St. John Paul II Chapel of the Gemelli hospital, people gather every day at noon for an hour of Eucharistic adoration to pray for Pope Francis. At 1 p.m. each day Mass in the chapel also is offered for him.

Father Nunzio Currao, the hospital chaplain, presided over the Mass Feb. 27 and told the staff that while they were supposed to be at the now-canceled Jubilee audience March 1 during their own Holy Year pilgrimage, “we have him here, so let’s be satisfied with that.”

 

At night, in St. Peter’s Square, cardinals, Roman Curia officials and the faithful gather at 9 p.m. to pray the rosary for the pope. Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the papal vicar for Rome, was scheduled to lead the prayer Feb. 27.