Category: 2025 News

PITTSBURGH (OSV News) – Pittsburgh’s new shepherd, Bishop Mark A. Eckman, remarked in his homily at his July 14 installation Mass that earlier, ahead of the afternoon liturgy, he had prayed with the diocese’s priests and told them, “All I ever wanted to do was to be a parish priest.”

“But the Lord obviously has other plans, and he has a wicked sense of humor,” Bishop Eckman told the congregation filling St. Paul Cathedral to witness him becoming Pittsburgh’s 13th bishop. Previously the auxiliary of the diocese, Bishop Eckman succeeds now-retired Bishop David A. Zubik, whom he thanked at the start of his homily, calling him “No. 12.”

“Our diocese owes you so much, a debt of gratitude for all that you have done during the past 18 years serving as our bishop,” he said. “You have certainly made our diocese a church alive. You’ve confronted many challenges that were placed before you and you did it with a spirit-filled heart always concerned with the needs of the faithful of this diocese, hoping and helping them to become closer to God.”

At the start of his homily, Bishop Eckman told the priests of the diocese, “I’ve worked with you for the last 10 years as vicar for clergy, and I can say that I know you probably better than you would like. And that goes both ways.” The bishop also shared that he had asked those planning his installation to have the priests sit front and center in the cathedral.

“The priests of the diocese, of any diocese, are the heart and the soul of the bishop and the heart and the soul of the faithful,” Bishop Eckman said. “You’re the people who work on the front lines. You’re the people who proclaim the word of God and minister the sacraments to all the faithful. And the work of the church, the work of the Lord, could never be done without your commitment, without your hard work.

“And so I pledge to continue to work with you and to continue to build the church on the strong foundation that we all have received.”

He committed his willingness “to continue not only to work with you but to help us all to be able to do God’s will.” Bishop Eckman said one of the first things he plans to do as Pittsburgh’s bishop is to have meetings with all the priests in the regions of the diocese.

“I just want to come and listen to you, to hear your concerns, to hear your needs, to see what suggestions you might have on how we can continue to grow the church,” he added.

Bishop Eckman then addressed the faithful, saying, “My dear people of God who are gathered here and those who are joining by live streaming, God bless you.”

He said he had heard from so many since his June 4 appointment that “you’re keeping me in prayer and that’s certainly what I need as I begin this ministry.”

As a “homegrown boy,” the Pittsburgh native said that he plans “to travel throughout the diocese to visit each and every parish.”

In keeping with his episcopal motto — “To serve in faith and charity” — the bishop said he’ll go to listen to “the advisory councils of the parish, the pastoral councils, the finance councils, the ecclesial ministers.”

But, he continued, “I will bring one question to each parish. And that question is going to be: ‘How are you living out the works of mercy? How are you living in your parish a life of faith and charity? What are you doing for God’s people?'”

“I know already there’s so much good that goes on in various different ways throughout the diocese. So we might be looking for ways to make that even stronger … trying to make sure that all of God’s people are served, that all of God’s people know of God’s love.”

Bishop Eckman said he’s “not fooling” himself and knows “it’s going to take time” to visit all 60 parishes in the diocese. “It is probably going to take all of 2026 to finish that task … but I will have that scheduled and I’ll be looking forward to seeing each and every one of you.”

The six-county diocese in western Pennsylvania, with a Catholic population of nearly 616,000, is “composed of many different people from many different backgrounds and people who have various needs. And each and every one of us is called to be a people who work together to build the body of Christ.”

Bishop Eckman said that “a lot of folks have been asking me, ‘How do you see your role as a bishop?’ … And somebody said, ‘Well, you’re sort of like a regional manager.'”

“And I said, ‘No, it’s different than being a manager because you’re just not managing people or places or buildings. I sort of relate it to being a conductor of an orchestra. And in an orchestra, you have the various instruments, the stringed instruments, the percussions, the woodwind, the brass. And it’s up to the conductor to make all those voices heard at the right time, contributing to the piece of music that they have before them. And on the part of the musicians, they need to be committed to practicing and practicing and practicing in order that they can get the piece down right.”

“The musical piece is … loving God. It’s loving our neighbor,” he said. “It’s a one-day-at-a-time process where we live out the promises of our baptism to love our God and to love our neighbor. But we do it hopefully with open hearts and open minds, always responding to the needs of the spirit.”

Bishop Eckman asked the faithful for prayers: “I need your prayers so that I, too, can respond to the voice of the Lord; to hear how he wants me to live out my life and my faith; and then to be able to put what I’m hearing into practice.”

He also urged them to pray for priestly vocations “to help us to build our local church.”

“It’s very important for us to start now to work on building the laborers for the church,” he said, but he also stressed the importance of the vocations of marriage and the single life and to help laypeople “understand that important role that they have in building up Christ’s church.”

The bishop delivered his homily standing in front of the altar holding a microphone. Before beginning his homily, he turned to thank the many bishops up on the altar for his installation, including Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, who presided over the Mass; Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States; and Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, retired archbishop of Washington, who was Pittsburgh’s bishop from 1988-2006.

(OSV News) – Catholic scouts have several new achievements to aim for, including a Pope Leo XIV patch.

The Religious Activities Committee of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting has announced five new religious activity programs, which enable scouts to learn more about and deepen their faith.

The new activities, unveiled by the committee in a July 13 Facebook post, include the Pope Leo XIV patch, part of the NCCS’s Faith Series.

The requirements for the patch will offer the chance to learn more about “our first American born Pope,” said the NCCS in its post. “In addition, they will learn what the papacy means and its history.”

The patch, an image of which the NCCS included in its post, depicts Pope Leo wearing a stole and the papal mozzetta, or cape, as he did when he first appeared on St. Peter’s Basilica’s balcony after his election May 8. Framing the figure are the words “Pope – Vicar of Christ,” with the date of his election “ghost stitched” – or stitched in a color blending into the lavender background. The NCCS noted that the original version “will only be available for a year and then changed to remove the ‘ghost’ stitching.”

The patch also features gold stitching of the two key elements of the NCCS logo – a crozier, the staff symbolizing a bishop’s authority, and the fleur-de-lis, the central element of the BSA’s crest and a longtime symbol of purity.

The NCCS is officially related to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, led by the USCCB’s Secretariat on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. It also serves as an advisory committee to Scouting America (formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America).

The NCCS also partners with the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry and other Catholic organizations to “provide faithful and useful Church-sanctioned programming and guidance to Catholic Scouting units,” according to the NCCS website.

Along with the Pope Leo patch, NCCS has also announced a new activity series on Religious Trails, designed to spark pilgrimages “to the important religious sites in our country.”

Four sites in Washington have so far been designated for the patch: the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the St. John Paul II National Shrine, The Catholic University of America and the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America.

In addition, the NCCS has added two new activities to its American Saints series, which now includes just under 20 men and women, spanning the various stages of the canonization cause process, who lived and served in the U.S

The latest additions include Catholic army chaplain Venerable Emil Kapaun, whose heroic offering of life during the Korean War was recognized by Pope Francis, and Venerable Augustus Tolton, the first recognized U.S. Black Catholic priest, born into slavery in 1854 and – following his 1886 ordination in Rome – a pastor in Quincy, Illinois, and later Chicago.

In its International series, the NCCS has also issued a new “Be Not Afraid” patch, named for St. John Paul II’s repeated exhortation, notably stressed in his Oct. 22, 1978, homily at his papal inauguration, to exchange fear for a total surrender to Christ.

The NCCS noted that the phrase forms the theme for the 2027 World Scout Jamboree in Poland. Patch activities will focus on three modern saints from that nation — St. John Paul II and two saints he canonized: St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Franciscan priest who offered his life for a fellow Auschwitz prisoner and was ultimately killed by lethal injection, and St. Faustina Kowalska, the Polish religious sister and mystic to whom Christ revealed the Divine Mercy devotion. The limited edition patch will be available until 2028.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Serving life by caring for others is “the supreme law” that comes before all of society’s rules, Pope Leo XIV said.

“Imitating the example of Jesus, the Savior of the world, we too are called to bring consolation and hope, above all to those who are experiencing discouragement and disappointment,” he said before reciting the Angelus with thousands of visitors gathered in the square in front of the papal summer villa of Castel Gandolfo July 13.

Pope Leo arrived at the small hilltop town south of Rome July 6 for a brief vacation until July 20. He celebrated Mass in the Church of St. Thomas of Villanova July 13, and then recited the noonday prayer from the steps in front of the papal villa under a sky that oscillated between dark rainy clouds and bright bursts of sun.

In his reflection before the prayer, Pope Leo spoke about the human yearning for eternal life, that is, “for salvation, for an existence free from failure, evil and death.”

Eternal life is “not something to be gained by force, begged for or negotiated,” he said. It is something to be “inherited” by God alone, as parents do with their children.

“That is why Jesus tells us that, in order to receive God’s gift, we must do his will,” the pope said, which is to love “the Lord your God with all your heart” and “your neighbor as yourself.”

“In order to live eternally, we do not need to cheat death, but to serve life, by caring for others in this, our time together,” the pope said. “That is the supreme law that is prior to all society’s rules and gives them their meaning.”

“God’s will is the law of life that the Father himself was the first to follow, by loving us unconditionally in his Son, Jesus,” Pope Leo said.

Jesus “shows us the meaning of authentic love for God and for others,” he said. “It is a love that is generous, not possessive; a love that forgives without question; a love that reaches out and never abandons others.”

“In Christ, God made himself a neighbor to each and every man and woman. That is why each of us can and should become a neighbor to all whom we meet,” he said.

By opening one’s heart to God’s will, he said, “we will become artisans of peace every day of our lives.”

After greeting the many groups present in the square, including members of the pastoral community of Blessed Augustine of Tarano from the Colegio S. Augustin in Chiclayo, Peru, the pope shook hands with a number of special guests who were by the wooden barricades between the villa’s entrance and the square.

It was the first Angelus address at the summer villa by Pope Leo, who returned to the tradition of taking a summer break at the villa in Castel Gandolfo.

Pope Francis, instead, had spent his summers residing at the Vatican and had led just one Angelus from the papal villa July 14, 2013.

Rather than giving his address from the villa’s balcony, like his predecessors, Pope Francis had addressed the crowd at street level from the open front door of the villa. Pope Leo did the same.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I am pleased to be with you here in Castel Gandolfo,” Pope Leo said to great applause and cheers. He greeted those present and thanked “all of you for your warm welcome.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV called on every parish and church group or association to become part of a “revolution” of care and gratitude by regularly visiting older people.

“Christian hope always urges us to be more daring, to think big, to be dissatisfied with things the way they are,” the pope wrote in his message for World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, a church celebration that will take place July 27.

“In this case, it urges us to work for a change that can restore the esteem and affection to which the elderly are entitled,” he wrote in the message released July 10.

The pope’s message expanded on the theme chosen for this year’s world day, which was taken from the Book of Sirach: “Blessed are those who have not lost hope.”

The 2025 celebration marks the fifth edition of World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly and Pope Leo’s first message for the day. Pope Francis instituted the world day in 2021; it is observed each year on the fourth Sunday of July, close to the liturgical memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus.

In his message for this year’s celebration, Pope Leo said the Jubilee Year, which is a time of liberation from injustice and inequality, is an appropriate time for all the faithful to help older people “experience liberation, especially from loneliness and abandonment.”

To help everyone participate in the Holy Year, especially those who are physically unable to make a pilgrimage to Rome, the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life created a pastoral kit with suggestions for holding a Jubilee celebration in places where the elderly live.

“The grace of the Jubilee is always for everyone!” the dicastery wrote, indicating that the kit and other resources are available at www.laityfamilylife.va.

“Our societies, everywhere in the world, are growing all too accustomed to letting this significant and enriching part of their life be marginalized and forgotten,” Pope Leo wrote, speaking of the elderly.

“Given this situation, a change of pace is needed that would be readily seen in an assumption of responsibility on the part of the whole church,” he wrote.

“Every parish, association and ecclesial group is called to become a protagonist in a ‘revolution’ of gratitude and care, to be brought about by regular visits to the elderly, the creation of networks of support and prayer for them and with them, and the forging of relationships that can restore hope and dignity to those who feel forgotten,” he wrote.

“That is why Pope Francis wanted the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly to be celebrated primarily through an effort to seek out elderly persons who are living alone,” Pope Leo wrote. “For this reason, those who are unable to come to Rome on pilgrimage during this Holy Year may obtain the Jubilee indulgence if they visit, for an appropriate amount of time, the elderly who are alone… making, in a sense, a pilgrimage to Christ present in them.”

The church describes an indulgence as a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for their sins. Pilgrims are able to receive a special indulgence during the Holy Year by visiting one of four papal basilicas in Rome or other designated sites and taking part in prayer, a liturgical celebration or the sacrament of confession.

Pope Leo wrote that “visiting an elderly person is a way of encountering Jesus, who frees us from indifference and loneliness.”

“Embracing the elderly helps us to understand that life is more than just the present moment, and should not be wasted in superficial encounters and fleeting relationships,” he said in his message.

“If it is true that the weakness of the elderly needs the strength of the young, it is equally true that the inexperience of the young needs the witness of the elderly in order to build the future with wisdom,” his message said.

Grandparents offer examples of “faith and devotion, civic virtue and social commitment, memory and perseverance amid trials,” he wrote. “The precious legacy that they have handed down to us with hope and love will always be a source of gratitude and a summons to perseverance.”

Speaking as an older person, Pope Leo, who will turn 70 in September, wrote, “We possess a freedom that no difficulty can rob us of: it is the freedom to love and to pray,” and to be there for one another in faith as “shining signs of hope.”

“Let us lovingly pass on the faith we have lived for so many years, in our families and in our daily encounter with others,” he wrote. “May we always praise God for his goodness, cultivate unity with our loved ones, open our hearts to those who are far away and, in particular, to all those in need.”

“In this way, we will be signs of hope, whatever our age,” he wrote.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV urged global leaders and experts to establish a network for the governance of AI and to seek ethical clarity regarding its use.

Artificial intelligence “requires proper ethical management and regulatory frameworks centered on the human person, and which goes beyond the mere criteria of utility or efficiency,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, wrote in a message sent on the pope’s behalf.

The message was read aloud by Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, at the AI for Good Summit 2025 being held July 8-11 in Geneva. The Vatican released a copy of the message July 10.

The summit, organized by the International Telecommunication Union in partnership with some 40 U.N. agencies and the Swiss government, focused on “identifying innovative AI applications, building skills and standards, and advancing partnerships to solve global challenges,” according to the event’s website. 

“Humanity is at a crossroads, facing the immense potential generated by the digital revolution driven by Artificial Intelligence,” Cardinal Parolin wrote on behalf of the pope.

“Although responsibility for the ethical use of AI systems begins with those who develop, manage and oversee them, those who use them also share in this responsibility,” he wrote.

“On behalf of Pope Leo XIV, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to seek ethical clarity and to establish a coordinated local and global governance of AI, based on the shared recognition of the inherent dignity and fundamental freedoms of the human person,” Cardinal Parolin wrote.

“This epochal transformation requires responsibility and discernment to ensure that AI is developed and utilized for the common good, building bridges of dialogue and fostering fraternity, and ensuring it serves the interests of humanity as a whole,” he wrote.

When it comes to AI’s increasing capacity to adapt “autonomously,” the message said, “it is crucial to consider the anthropological and ethical implications, the values at stake and the duties and regulatory frameworks required to uphold those values.”

“While AI can simulate aspects of human reasoning and perform specific tasks with incredible speed and efficiency, it cannot replicate moral discernment or the ability to form genuine relationships,” the papal message said. “Therefore, the development of such technological advancements must go hand in hand with respect for human and social values, the capacity to judge with a clear conscience and growth in human responsibility.”

Cardinal Parolin congratulated and thanked the members and staff of the International Telecommunication Union, which was celebrating the 160th anniversary, “for their work and constant efforts to foster global cooperation in order to bring the benefits of communication technologies to the people across the globe.”

“Connecting the human family through telegraph, radio, telephone, digital and space communications presents challenges, particularly in rural and low-income areas, where approximately 2.6 billion persons still lack access to communication technologies,” he wrote.

“We must never lose sight of the common goal” of contributing to what St. Augustine called “the tranquility of order,” and fostering “a more humane order of social relations, and peaceful and just societies in the service of integral human development and the good of the human family,” the cardinal wrote.

GLEN LYON – The third annual Holy Spirit Parish Walking Pilgrimage is scheduled for Saturday, July 26 – the Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary – starting at St. Mary’s Church in Mocanaqua and ending at St. Adalbert’s Church in Glen Lyon.

The pilgrimage begins at 8:00 a.m. with Confessions and prayer at St. Mary’s Church, 130 Rectory Road, Mocanaqua.

Pilgrims will depart at 9:00 a.m. for the six mile journey through the Mocanaqua Tract of the Pinchot State Forest. Mass will be offered around 12:00 noon at St. Adalbert’s Church; those who cannot walk the pilgrimage route are welcome to attend the Mass.

Lunch will be served and bus transportation back to Mocanaqua will be available.

There is no cost to participate; the public is invited to walk or submit or prayer requests.

To register, text or call Raphael Micca at 570-301-9253, email rdmicca@aol.com, or register online by clicking here before July 21.

The pilgrimage will be held rain or shine: please dress accordingly and modestly.

A walking pilgrimage is an ancient Christian tradition with many continuing to this day, such as the Chartres pilgrimage in France, the Camino de Santiago in Spain, and the Pilgrimage for Restoration in upstate New York.

This local walk, now in its third year, is reminiscent of the treks made by the early coal mining families of Mocanaqua. During the 1890s and early 1900s, Mass was offered in an improvised chapel in town once a month by the pastor of St. Adalbert’s Church.

On other Sundays, the faithful walked from Mocanaqua to Glen Lyon for Mass on a route similar to the one planned for this year’s walking pilgrimage.

(OSV News) – Deadly July 4 flash floods in western Texas have so far claimed at least 107 lives, including those of 27 children at a Christian summer camp.

After his pastoral visit to flood-ravaged Kerr County, Texas, over the July 4 holiday weekend – which included the celebration of Mass at Notre Dame Catholic Church in Kerrville – Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio spoke with OSV News about faith, suffering and compassion amid the tragedy.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

OSV News: Having celebrated Mass with and for flooding victims, and as search and recovery efforts continue, what are you seeking to bring to your flock at this tragic time?

Archbishop García-Siller: As a shepherd, the main element that I bring – and it’s so important – is accompaniment.

I was with them on Friday (July 4) where the reunification of families was taking place. Many of them I didn’t know; I knew a few people there – parents, grandparents – but just to be with them (all) at that moment, there is a connection.

Besides that, when we accompany people in suffering or in tragic situations like this, we also go through some kind of process ourselves.

So, I experienced that, and that in some way helped me to — not to understand, because it’s hard to understand these things, (but) to at least to be open and ready for the encounter that I had at Notre Dame Parish in Kerrville. I was able to visit with families (who have) missing loved ones (due to the floods). One lady said, “My sister and her family are missing, and they have a few children. The youngest is 2 years old.”

(Some) are afraid, because they are immigrants, so you can imagine (their emotions).

OSV News: So along with the fear of the floods, some were also frightened of immigration detention and deportation?

Archbishop García-Siller: Exactly. It’s just horrible. But that is their experience.

OSV News: In addition to fear, what other emotions were in evidence?

Archbishop García-Siller: When they were able to reunite with their child or loved one, they didn’t even know how to express the joy, because they are a little bit numb in the waiting, in the uncertainty. So that’s why accompaniment is important; that’s why it’s important to be there (for them), because every family … every person who is waiting, or learning the information (about their loved ones), or meeting the survivors, is different.

After the Mass (on July 6 at Notre Dame Church), I talked to some families. There were a lot of people in the church, and they were very engaging. But you can tell the heaviness in their hearts. Yet if they were there, it was because they have hope. It was a sense of community, of those who feel that they are not alone. They have one another.

To walk alone in these situations, it’s almost as if your life doesn’t have an end, the journey doesn’t have another side. But walking with others is different.

OSV News: As a shepherd, one of the hardest things for you must be to explain why God permits such destruction and death at the hands of the nature he created — and especially when the victims include children and people of faith. Have you been confronted with that question in this case, and if so, how have you responded?

Archbishop García-Siller: Of course I’ve been confronted (with the question), and many times: “Where is God in all of this?” I think it’s an understandable cry — and the Lord hears the cry of the people. If we, in our limitation, can hear the cry of the people, (surely) God is willing to hear the cry of his people.

God hears the cry of his people. And we should not be afraid to do that. We need to even help people to express their cry to God. God can handle it.

We who are not in that moment experiencing directly the effects of the crisis, are (still) all touched by it, but in different ways. We are able to know that people need to express those things.

We know that is what people are saying: “This is too much. … I cannot handle it. I don’t understand. Not only a piece of my heart is broken or experiencing hurt — my whole heart hurts.” That’s what I saw on Friday.

OSV News: How, in the midst of this Good Friday moment wrought by the flooding, do we hold onto the hope of the Resurrection?

Archbishop García-Siller: In the way that happened at the very crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. At that time, do you think that the Apostles, the Blessed Mother and those who knew Jesus in one way or another were thinking about the Resurrection? They were contemplating (the crucifixion). We need to leave the moment the way it is.

It’s like prayer. I remember going to confession many years ago, and one priest was just telling me, “You want to pray in the way you cannot. (Instead), pray in the way you can.”

And so people are going, as you say, through this crucifixion — this passion, this moment of pain, suffering, sorrow, hurt. Respect the moment. Respect the people. What they need is to absorb well what they are going through.

I mentioned to some people yesterday (July 6), “You know, the history of these people in this situation is sacred, and we are not called to push them to some place that they cannot be or that we wish them to be.”

And also, may history ratify what has happened. … because to erase people’s lives, now that they are going through suffering … is a serious matter. Because people’s lives matter, and people’s deaths matter, and the journey matters.

This is a time of a lot of humility. Another thing that I experienced last Friday was vulnerability. I saw it in the people; they were in silence, very orderly, getting ready to give information and also waiting patiently to receive information, which is remarkable in itself.

But then to know they were not expressing their feelings — I said, “It is because they are vulnerable; we are vulnerable.”

I experienced my own vulnerability too. I would not bring my theology, my Scriptures, my understanding of life and death and resurrection (amid such raw pain). And so I felt vulnerable, because what then do you do?

It’s a ministry of presence: touch the person, look at the eyes. When I looked at their eyes, there was sadness — deep sadness, not a passing sadness, a very deep sadness. And besides the sadness, it was uncertainty, the fear of horrible news — that feeling in-between, knowing that your (missing) daughter, or your friend was (out) there, but not knowing the next piece of information. It was a very crucial moment, very difficult.

Even if that person at this point has feelings against the Lord — God can handle everything and anything. For us, we need to accompany them in that moment, not fix it.

OSV News: We tend to want to fix things and also forget them.

Archbishop García-Siller: That’s right, and that’s why we should not forget this history. Remember this, (even though) it’s very hard. This is part of your life — a loved one survived, or died. Sometimes we want to have some kind of answer to resolve (the uncertainty), because we cannot handle it. Be humble, and suffer with the other person.

OSV News: That is literally the meaning of the word “compassion,” which was Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of June.

Archbishop García-Siller: Yes. Of course, first of all, prayer (is essential). In that prayer, (we ask), “How can I be compassionate with the people around me right now? How can I increase compassion and be patient with the people that I am now (with)?”

It will be a long way. I walked with the people in Uvalde (the Texas town which in May 2022 experienced a mass school shooting that killed 19 children and two adults). After three years, and though some good things have been happening, it’s still a ways to go. So this (flooding) situation will take a long, long time (to heal). People don’t recover from this quickly.

We all need to do something. Wherever we are at in the world, humanity will be better, will be lifted up, (if we pray and exercise compassion), and it will be easier to see the signs of the Resurrection.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Pope Leo XIV reiterated his willingness to host representatives of Russia and Ukraine at the Vatican for peace negotiations.

“During the cordial conversation, the importance of dialogue as the preferred means of ending hostilities was reaffirmed,” the Vatican press office said in a communique released after the meeting.

The two leaders met in the early afternoon July 9 at the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, southeast of Rome, for their closed-door meeting, which lasted about 30 minutes.

The pope spoke to Zelenskyy about “the ongoing conflict and the urgent need for a just and lasting peace,” the Vatican communique said.

“The Holy Father expressed his sorrow for the victims and renewed his prayers and closeness to the Ukrainian people, encouraging every effort aimed at the release of prisoners and the search for shared solutions,” it said.

“The Holy Father reiterated the willingness to welcome representatives of Russia and Ukraine to the Vatican for negotiations,” it added.

Outside the villa after the meeting, Zelenskyy told Vatican Media reporters that “we really count on” the pope’s offer to host a meeting of “high-level leaders to finish this war.”

“I am very grateful to his holiness for this meeting, for hosting us, and of course for his help,” and the Vatican’s help, not only with prayers, but also in trying “to get back our children, stolen children by Russia during this war,” he said in English. “This is a very important question; we spoke about it.”

“We want peace, we want this war to be finished,” he said.

On the social media platform, X, Zelenskyy said the proposal for high-level talks at the Vatican “remains open and entirely possible with the goal of stopping Russian aggression and achieving a stable, lasting and genuine peace. At present, only Moscow continues to reject this proposal, as it has turned down all other peace initiatives.”

“We will continue to strengthen global solidarity so that diplomacy can still succeed,” he posted, saying he also invited the pope to visit Ukraine.

He said he thanked the pope for his support of Ukrainian children, especially those returned from Russian captivity. “Ukrainian children now have the opportunity for rehabilitation and rest in Italy, and such hospitality and sincerity are extremely important.”

He said they also spoke about “the deep respect that Ukrainian society holds for (the late Metropolitan) Andrey Sheptytsky,” who was declared “venerable” by Pope Francis in 2015.

Metropolitan Sheptytsky led the Ukrainian Catholic Church from 1901 until his death in 1944. During his leadership Ukraine and its people were ruled by seven different regimes: Austrian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Soviet, Nazi, and finally, the Soviets again.

Zelenskyy highlighted “his actions, including the rescue of Jews during the Second World War and his defense of the Christian faith,” in his post. “We hope that Metropolitan Sheptytsky’s contribution and merits will receive the recognition they deserve.”

Brief video clips released by the Vatican showed Zelenskyy arriving by car at the summer residence where the pope is staying for two weeks.

A contingent of Swiss guards stood at attention, surrounded by greenery, gardens and singing cicadas, as the Ukrainian leader was welcomed and accompanied by Msgr. Leonardo Sapienza, an official of the papal household.

Video clips showed Pope Leo greeting Zelenskyy, telling him, “Good morning, welcome,” followed by showing him the “beautiful view” outside the window of Lake Albano, a bright blue volcanic crater lake.

As they sat before the private talks, the U.S. pope conferred with the interpreter, “So, we’ll speak in English?” to which the interpreter agreed.

“How are things going?” the pope asked before the clip ended.

Another series of clips showed Pope Leo taking Zelenskyy to the roof and balcony of the papal villa to get a view of the gardens and a distant view of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Ukrainian leader thanked him for sharing the pleasant vistas, which offered him a moment of peace and relaxation. They posed for a few pictures from the balcony for the photographers below.

During an exchange of gifts, the pope gave Zelenskyy a bas-relief he called “The Dialogue of Generations,” which shows a younger, stronger man standing to help an older, bearded man sitting up on the ground.

Before Zelenskyy departed, Pope Leo told him it was a “pleasure to see you. You are in my prayers.”

Zelenskyy met with the pope and Italian President Sergio Mattarella ahead of a two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference being held in Rome July 10-11.

More than 90 countries, at least 15 heads of state and government, 40 international organizations and 2,000 companies were expected to attend the conference, according to the Italian newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore.

The Rome conference is the fourth conference dedicated to Ukraine’s recovery since 2022, the year Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and started the largest war in Europe since World War II.

ROME (CNS) – “We must pray for the conversion of many people, inside and outside of the church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for our common home,” Pope Leo XIV said while celebrating a new formulary of the Mass “for the care of creation.”

Far from the pounding organ of St. Peter’s Basilica or the throngs of faithful sprawled across St. Peter’s Square, the pope celebrated Mass July 9 to the accompaniment of chirping birds in the gardens of the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, the traditional summer residence of the popes some 15 miles southeast of Rome.

The Mass was attended by the staff of the Borgo Laudato Si’ ecology project — a space for education and training in integral ecology hosted in the gardens — as well as Vatican officials and Holy Cross Father Daniel Groody, an expert on migration and associate provost for undergraduate education at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Although Pope Leo was scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later in the day, he was not present at the Mass.

Lamenting the natural disasters around the world that “are in part caused by the excesses of human beings, with their lifestyle,” the pope urged the intimate gathering in his homily “to ask ourselves if we ourselves are living this conversion or not: how greatly it is needed!”

The formulary of the Mass “for the care of creation” was added to the Roman Missal — the liturgical book that contains the texts for celebrating Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church — by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments June 8.

The formulary, included among 17 other “civil needs” for which a priest can offer Mass, selects prayers and readings for the celebration of Mass that affirm the place of God’s creation in worship.

While the pope’s Mass was celebrated in Italian, parts of the Mass pertaining to the new formulary were read in Latin.

“In a burning world, be it because of global warming or armed conflicts,” people today find themselves filled with fear, just as the disciples were in the face of a storm that was calmed by Christ, Pope Leo said in his homily. But, he added, “there is hope! We have found it in Jesus.”

“The mission of safeguarding creation, of bringing peace and reconciliation” is “the mission which the Lord has entrusted to us,” Pope Leo said. “We listen to the cry of the earth, we listen to the cry of the poor, because this cry has reached the heart of God. Our indignation is his indignation; our work is his work.”

The church, he added, must speak prophetically before the climate crisis “even when it requires the boldness to oppose the destructive power of the ‘princes’ of this world.”

“The indestructible covenant between creator and creatures mobilizes our intellect and efforts, so that evil may be turned to good, injustice to justice, greed to communion.”

Quoting at length from Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home,” Pope Leo recalled the harmony with creation that St. Francis of Assisi achieved in his lifetime to the point of calling created things “brother, sister, mother.”

“Just one contemplative gaze can change our relationship with created things and bring us out of the ecological crisis that has, as its cause, the breakdown of relationships with God, neighbor, and the earth because of sin,” he said.

Pope Leo was scheduled to spend two weeks in July at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, reviving a custom skirted by Pope Francis. The pope moved there July 6 following his noontime recitation of the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square.

(OSV News) – The Catholic Church “maintains its stance of not endorsing or opposing political candidates,” said U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spokesperson Chieko Noguchi, following a recent court case in which a long-standing federal ban against such activity appeared to have been partly relaxed.

Noguchi issued the statement July 8, a day after the Internal Revenue Service agreed in a court filing that a house of worship addressing its congregation about electoral politics in the context of religious faith does not violate the Johnson Amendment.

Approved by Congress in 1954, the amendment prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations – a type of tax-exempt nonprofit under U.S. tax code, and the typical corporate structure for churches, worship communities and charities in the nation – from engaging in political campaign activity. In 1987, Congress clarified that the ban includes statements opposing candidates.

In August 2024, the National Religious Broadcasters – which describes itself as a “nonpartisan, international association of Christian communicators” that promotes both members’ free speech rights and professional development – and several other plaintiffs filed suit against the IRS, claiming the Johnson Amendment violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

On July 7, the NRB and the IRS jointly filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for a court-approved settlement, with the motion stating, “When a house of worship in good faith speaks to its congregation, through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services, concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith, it neither ‘participate(s)’ nor ‘intervene(s)’ in a ‘political campaign,’ within the ordinary meaning of those words.”

The motion likened such “bona fide communications internal to a house of worship, between the house of worship and its congregation, in connection with religious services,” to “a family discussion concerning candidates.”

In addition, said the motion, “this interpretation of the Johnson Amendment is in keeping with the IRS’s treatment of the Johnson Amendment in practice.”

However, said Noguchi, “The IRS was addressing a specific case, and it doesn’t change how the Catholic Church engages in public debate.”

Roger Colinvaux, a professor of law at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and an expert on nonprofit organizations and federal income tax, told OSV News that while the stipulation in this NRB-IRS suit is “obviously binding for the parties,” there is uncertainty as to “the legal authority beyond this case.”

“All that’s been agreed to is that the IRS won’t enforce the Johnson Amendment against these plaintiffs,” he said. “And they’ve kind of announced this new standard, but it doesn’t appear as a revenue ruling, it doesn’t appear as a regulation — it’s just part of this consent agreement.”

Colinvaux added that “if this really is the IRS’s position generally, then they need to follow it up with some guidance, because all we have right now is just this one document, which was filed in this one legal case.”

An internal USCCB memo — written by the bishops’ general counsel to state Catholic conference directors, and seen by OSV News — noted that the consent judgment “narrowly resolves a broader request for declaratory relief initially brought before last year’s election, which sought to include all 501(c)(3) organizations despite being led by religious groups.”

The original request “involved very specific factual scenarios and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas,” said the memo.

The memo also stated that “since the release of this judgment, the IRS has not responded to requests for comment nor issued any additional guidance,” although “the agreement appears consistent with the IRS’s historical enforcement approach (or lack thereof) in this area.”

“While credible First Amendment arguments have long existed regarding the protection of speech from the pulpit, this judgment represents the clearest concession by the IRS, indicating concerns over the constitutionality of the Johnson Amendment,” said the memo. “Its decision to concede at this time likely reflects current administration priorities and an evaluation of potential Supreme Court appeals.”

The USCCB general counsel also recommended “maintaining our current stance of refraining from endorsing political candidates until additional guidance is provided by the IRS.”

The National Council of Nonprofits strongly supports the Johnson Amendment, stating on its website the measure is a means of ensuring “organizations dedicated to the public good in communities remain above the political fray.”

“The Church seeks to help Catholics form their conscience in the Gospel so they might discern which candidates and policies would advance the common good,” Noguchi said in her statement. “The Catholic Church maintains its stance of not endorsing or opposing political candidates.”