A Walgreens health care professional prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTec COVID-19 vaccine in Evanston, Ill., Feb. 22, 2021. (CNS photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, Reuters)

WASHINGTON (CNS) — On World Health Day, April 7, a new group of 31 U.S. Catholic organizations encouraged people to get the COVID-19 vaccine as an act of charity and solidarity with others.

The group also emphasized the need for vaccine equity in the United States and around the world.

“This is a clarion call for us to act,” said Mercy Sister Mary Haddad, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, noting the significance of announcing formation of the group on World Health Day and stressing the role faith-based providers can play as the world makes initial steps to recover from the global pandemic.

She said the pandemic has shown us that “we are so interconnected as a global community; we can’t just act in isolation.”

Sister Haddad said this new coalition represents all social ministries of the church coming together and is a chance to elevate the work they do and to show how they serve everyone, not just the Catholic population.

She also said it is a way for ministries to respond to this ongoing pandemic at a time when people, other than those in health care ministries, are looking for ways they can help.

“Our faith propels us to act and here is our chance to do that,” she told Catholic News Service April 7.

The coalition includes the CHA, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services and Jesuit Refugee Service along with religious orders and groups representing church ministries in education, chaplaincy, advocacy and mission work.

It aims to spread the word about the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine through each group’s social media platforms and also on the coalition’s website: www.catholiccares.com, which has resources from Catholic social teaching, words of Pope Francis and statements from the U.S. Catholic bishops about the moral responsibility to get vaccinated.

The group also is emphasizing the need to make sure the vaccine gets to everyone, particularly communities of color, those in rural areas and places with limited vaccine availability. It also is stressing the urgency of vaccine access in developing countries and among refugees and displaced persons.

Leaders of Catholic organizations that are part of this coalition issued statements about its importance in press materials issued April 7.

Sean Callahan, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, said the pandemic and its “shadow pandemics of hunger and poverty are ravishing many countries around the world” and said the most vulnerable “deserve the same access to life saving vaccines that we have.”

He also said the common good “requires that we make vaccine access equitable globally since we can only defeat this virus here if we defeat it everywhere.”

CRS is the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development agency.

Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, noted the early Christians demonstrated a “profound sense of community and concern for those in need,” which are just as important today “especially during this challenging moment as we seek to emerge from the pandemic.”

“Each of us plays a part by getting vaccinated and practicing safety measures for the good of all, and by doing everything we can to ensure that those who are most in need have access to the vaccine and protective equipment,” she said.

Sister Haddad pointed out that early on, even in the previous White House administration, she had been involved in Zoom calls about how faith groups could respond with the expected vaccine rollout amid a reported vaccine hesitancy.

Now, further in the vaccine rollout, she noted there is not just hesitancy about the COVID-19 vaccine, “but downright resistance.”

Looking at how to break through that and change behaviors, she said, often means tapping into belief systems and asking: “What does our faith call us to do? How do we care for others?”

The Mercy sister at the helm of an organization with more than 2,200 Catholic hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, systems, sponsors and related organizations in the United States, was part of a roundtable discussion on this very topic March 31 with faith leaders and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Everyone is talking about this, not just Catholics, but this is our opportunity to rise to the occasion,” she said.

 

Pope Francis lights the paschal candle at the start of the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican April 3, 2021. The Easter Vigil was celebrated in a near empty basilica for the second year in a row as Italy continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Easter liturgies — with the fire, sharing of light from the paschal candle, the renewal of baptismal promises and the proclamation that Jesus has risen – assure people that it is never too late to start again, Pope Francis said.

“It is always possible to begin anew, because there is a new life that God can awaken in us in spite of all our failures,” the pope said April 3 during his celebration of the Easter Vigil.

With Italy in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis celebrated a pared-down vigil at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica with an estimated 200 people present and returned the next morning with a similarly small congregation for Easter Mass and to give his blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).

The vigil was simpler than usual, but there still was the blessing of the fire, which blazed at the foot of the basilica’s main altar, and the lighting of the Easter candle. Then, the darkened basilica slowly began to glow with the light of candles being shared by the concelebrants and the faithful present.

Pope Francis celebrates the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican April 3, 2021. The Easter Vigil was celebrated in a near empty basilica for the second year in a row as Italy continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

In his homily at the vigil, the pope said the Gospel proclamation of the resurrection and the angel’s invitation to the women at Jesus’ tomb to “go to Galilee” was a call to return to “the place where the Lord first sought them out and called them to follow him.”

Although his followers often misunderstood Jesus and even abandoned him “in the face of the cross,” he still urges them to “begin anew,” the pope said.

“In this Galilee,” the pope said, “we learn to be amazed by the Lord’s infinite love, which opens new trails along the path of our defeats.”

The pope said the call to return to Galilee also means to set out on a new path, away from the tomb and from indulging in grief.

Like those at the tomb, he said, “many people experience such a ‘faith of memories,’ as if Jesus were someone from the past, an old friend from their youth who is now far distant, an event that took place long ago, when they attended catechism as a child.”

“Let us go to Galilee, then, to discover that God cannot be filed away among our childhood memories, but is alive and filled with surprises,” he said. “Risen from the dead, Jesus never ceases to amaze us.”

The call to go to Galilee — a region inhabited by “those farthest from the ritual purity of Jerusalem” — is a reminder for Christians to go out to the peripheries and imitate Jesus who brought the presence of God to those who were excluded.

“The Risen Lord is asking his disciples to go there even now, to the settings of daily life, the streets we travel every day, the corners of our cities,” the pope said. “There the Lord goes ahead of us and makes himself present in the lives of those around us, those who share in our day, our home, our work, our difficulties and hopes.”

Pope Francis said Jesus calls on all Christians today to “overcome barriers, banish prejudices” and to recognize the Lord “here in our Galilees, in everyday life.”

“If on this night, you are experiencing an hour of darkness, a day that has not yet dawned, a light dimmed or a dream shattered,” he said, “open your heart with amazement to the message of Easter: ‘Do not be afraid, he has risen! He awaits you in Galilee.'”

As is customary, Pope Francis did not preach at the Easter morning Mass, which featured the chanting of the Gospel in both Latin and Greek.

With Italy on another lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pope gave his Easter blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) standing inside St. Peter’s Basilica rather than from the balcony overlooking a full St. Peter’s Square.

“The Easter message does not offer us a mirage or reveal a magic formula,” the pope said before giving the blessing. “It does not point to an escape from the difficult situation we are experiencing. The pandemic is still spreading, while the social and economic crisis remains severe, especially for the poor.”

The pope offered prayers for the sick and those who have died of COVID-19 and for the doctors and nurses who have made “valiant efforts” to care for the pandemic’s victims.

And he had special words of Easter hope for young people struggling in isolation from their friends. “Experiencing real human relationships, not just virtual relationships, is something that everyone needs, especially at an age when a person’s character and personality is being formed,” he said.

“I express my closeness to young people throughout the world and, in these days, especially to the young people of Myanmar committed to supporting democracy and making their voices heard peacefully, in the knowledge that hatred can be dispelled only by love,” he said.

Pope Francis prayed for many places in the world where the need to fight the pandemic has not silenced the weapons of war and violence.

“This is scandalous,” he said. “Armed conflicts have not ended and military arsenals are being strengthened.”

The Gospel witnesses to the Resurrection, he said, “report an important detail: the risen Jesus bears the marks of the wounds in his hands, feet and side. These wounds are the everlasting seal of his love for us. All those who experience a painful trial in body or spirit can find refuge in these wounds and, through them, receive the grace of the hope that does not disappoint.”

“May the light of the risen Jesus be a source of rebirth for migrants fleeing from war and extreme poverty,” he prayed. “Let us recognize in their faces the marred and suffering face of the Lord as he walked the path to Calvary. May they never lack concrete signs of solidarity and human fraternity, a pledge of the victory of life over death that we celebrate on this day.”

And, while the pandemic restrictions meant simpler and smaller Vatican celebrations of Easter, Pope Francis noted that in many places the limitations are stricter and even prevent people from going to church.

“We pray that those restrictions, as well as all restrictions on freedom of worship and religion worldwide, may be lifted and everyone be allowed to pray and praise God freely,” he said.

Calling again for a fair and speedy distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, the pope said that “in embracing the cross, Jesus bestowed meaning on our sufferings, and now we pray that the benefits of that healing will spread throughout the world.”

 

 

Pope Francis breathes on chrism oil during the Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican April 1, 2021. (CNS photo/Andrew Medichini, Reuters pool)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Living and preaching the Gospel always involves embracing “the cross,” whether it be in the form of misunderstanding, hostility or outright persecution, Pope Francis told Rome priests gathered for the chrism Mass.

In the life of Jesus and in the lives of his disciples today, “the hour of joyful proclamation, the hour of persecution and the hour of the cross go together,” the pope said at the Mass April 1 at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Francis did not celebrate a chrism Mass last year because Italy, and much of the world, was in the midst of the first huge wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But even with vaccines being distributed and death rates dropping, Italy was under a modified lockdown, so only about 75 priests representing their confreres in the Diocese of Rome were able to attend the Mass with their bishop, the pope.

At total of about 200 people, including three dozen cardinals, were present for the liturgy. The principal concelebrants were Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the new vicar for Vatican City, and Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, vicar for Rome.

The chrism Mass has two unique characteristics: the blessing of the oils used for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick; and priests renewing the promises they made at ordination.

Deacons brought the oils in large silver urns to the pope, who prayed that God would bless them and the people who will be anointed with them.

Then the priests present vowed that they were “resolved to be more united with the Lord Jesus and more closely conformed to him,” and that, out of love for Christ, they renewed the promises they “willingly and joyfully pledged” on the day of their ordination.

The liturgy also includes the bishop asking the faithful present to pray for their priests and for him. Pope Francis slightly altered the text of the second prayer, asking the congregation, “Pray for me — I need it — so that I may be faithful to the apostolic service entrusted to me and so that in your midst I may be made day by day more the image of Christ, the priest — simply that — good shepherd, teacher and servant of all.”

In his homily, Pope Francis acknowledged how many obstacles a priest can encounter as he teaches, preaches and celebrates the sacraments.

The story from Luke’s Gospel of Jesus reading the Scriptures in the synagogue at Nazareth, arousing both admiration and anger, the pope said, shows how “Jesus’ words have the power to bring to light whatever each of us holds in the depths of our heart, often mixed like the wheat and the tares.”

“The preaching of the Gospel is always linked to the embrace of some particular cross,” Pope Francis said. “The gentle light of God’s word shines brightly in well-disposed hearts but awakens confusion and rejection in those that are not.”

That conflict is seen repeatedly in the Gospels, the pope said, noting how, for example, “the tender love of the merciful father irresistibly draws the prodigal son home, but also leads to anger and resentment on the part of the elder son” or how “the generosity of the owner of the vineyard is a reason for gratitude among the workers called at the last hour, but it also provokes a bitter reaction by one of those called first, who is offended by the generosity of his employer.”

The cross, including misunderstanding, rejection and persecution, is present in the Gospel from the very beginning of Jesus’ life, the pope said. “The cross is not an afterthought, something that happened by chance in the Lord’s life.”

And, he told the priests, “it is true that the cross is present in our preaching of the Gospel, but it is the cross of our salvation.”

“We are not scandalized” by the presence of the cross — “the large crosses of humanity and the small crosses in the lives of each of us” — he said, because “Jesus himself was not scandalized by seeing that his joyful preaching of salvation to the poor was not received wholeheartedly, but amid the shouts and threats of those who refused to hear his word.”

“We are not scandalized because Jesus was not scandalized by having to heal the sick and to set prisoners free amid the moralistic, legalistic and clerical squabbles that arose every time he did some good,” the pope continued.

“The Lord always gives us what we ask for, but he does so in his divine way,” Pope Francis said. “That way involves the cross. Not for masochism. But for love, love to the very end.”

 

Pope Francis is pictured as cardinals walk in procession at the conclusion of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican March 28, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A Christian life should be filled with amazement – astonishment at the son of God suffering and dying for humanity and awe at realizing how precious and loved people are in his eyes, Pope Francis said.

“Can we still be moved by God’s love? Have we lost the ability to be amazed by him?” the pope asked in his homily during Palm Sunday Mass, marking the start of Holy Week.

“Let us be amazed by Jesus so that we can start living again, for the grandeur of life lies not in possessions and promotions, but in realizing that we are loved and in experiencing the beauty of loving others,” he said at the Mass March 28.

Palm Sunday Mass, the liturgy that begins with a commemoration of Jesus entering Jerusalem among a jubilant crowd, began with a small procession toward the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica with a few dozen concelebrating cardinals and bishops walking ahead of Pope Francis.

Dressed in red vestments, the color of the Passion, they held large woven palm fronds while the reduced congregation of faithful were sitting distanced in the pews, wearing facemasks and holding small olive branches. Broadcast and livestreamed over a wide range of media, the pope preached in his homily about Holy Week marking an important time to be amazed by Jesus, who completely overturned people’s expectations.

Instead of being “a powerful liberator at Passover,” he arrives on a lowly donkey “to bring the Passover to fulfillment by sacrificing himself” and, instead of triumphing over the Romans by the sword, “Jesus comes to celebrate God’s triumph through the cross,” the pope said.

What is amazing, he said, “is the fact that he achieves glory through humiliation. He triumphs by accepting suffering and death, things that we, in our quest for admiration and success, would rather avoid.”

Even more astonishing is that he endures all this pain and humiliation “for us, to plumb the depths of our human experience, our entire existence, all our evil. To draw near to us and not abandon us in our suffering and our death. To redeem us, to save us,” the pope said.

With his love, sacrifice and salvation, “now we know that we are not alone: God is at our side in every affliction, in every fear; no evil, no sin will ever have the final word,” he said.

“Let us ask for the grace to be amazed,” he said, because not only is a Christian life without amazement “drab and dreary,” how can people proclaim “the joy of meeting Jesus, unless we are daily astonished and amazed by his love, which brings us forgiveness and the possibility of a new beginning?”

Pope Francis asked that people begin Holy Week with this sense of amazement, by gazing upon Jesus on the cross, and saying to him, “Lord, how much you love me! How precious I am to you!”

“With the grace of amazement we come to realize that in welcoming the dismissed and discarded, in drawing close to those ill-treated by life, we are loving Jesus. For that is where he is, in the least of our brothers and sisters, in the rejected and discarded,” the pope said.

After the Mass and before praying the Angelus, Pope Francis recalled this was the second Holy Week celebrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. While last year was experienced more as a shock, this year “it is more trying for us” and the economic crisis has become very burdensome.

The devil “is taking advantage of the crisis to disseminate distrust, desperation and discord,” he said, but Jesus is taking up the cross, taking “on the evil that this situation entails, the physical and psychological evil, and, above all, the spiritual evil.”

“What should we do?” he asked.

People should be like Mary, the mother of Jesus, and follow her son, he said.

“She took upon herself her own portion of suffering, of darkness, of confusion, and she walked the way of the Passion keeping the lamp of faith lit in her heart. With God’s grace, we too can make that journey,” the pope said.

The pope also asked that people pray for all victims of violence, “especially those of this morning’s attack in Indonesia, in front of the cathedral of Makassar.”

At least 14 people were wounded in what police suspect was a suicide bomb attack outside the cathedral. As of March 28, no group had claimed responsibility for the bombing.

 

Pope Francis prays in front of the “Miraculous Crucifix” from the Church of St. Marcellus in Rome during a prayer service in an empty St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in this March 27, 2020, file photo. The Vatican has published a book commemorating the prayer service, which made a strong impression on people around the world in the same month COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – One year ago, Pope Francis stood in a rain-drenched, empty St. Peter’s Square praying for God’s comfort as the world began experiencing the growing severity of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Vatican is commemorating that event with a book of texts and images “encapsulating the meaning of that extraordinary moment of prayer,” the Dicastery for Communication said in a March 24 press release.

The English version of the book titled, “Why are You Afraid? Have You No Faith?” is jointly published by the Vatican publishing house and Our Sunday Visitor.

The book includes Pope Francis’ recent reflections about that evening and what was going through his mind.

He said he thought about “the empty square, people united at a distance,” and about the sculpture in the square of a boat carrying migrants, which made him think how “we are all on the boat.”

“The whole drama is in front of the boat: the plague, the loneliness, in silence,” and he thought about how “everything was united: the people, the boat and everyone’s suffering,” he said.

Even though the square was completely empty of people due to the nationwide shelter-in-place order, he said, Jesus and Mary were present, which he wanted symbolized by displaying the “Miraculous Crucifix” from Rome’s Church of St. Marcellus and the icon of “Salus Populi Romani” (health of the Roman people) from the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

And, he said, “I was in contact with the people. There was no moment I was alone.”

When asked what gave him strength and hope during the intense moments of the hourlong prayer and blessing, the pope said, “Kissing the feet of the crucified Christ always gives me hope.”

“He knows what it means to walk, and he knows all about quarantine because they put two nails there to keep him there,” he said.

“Jesus’ feet are a compass for people’s lives, when to walk and when to stand still. The Lord’s feet are very touching for me,” the pope said.

The English edition can be ordered from OSV at https://www.osvcatholicbookstore.com/product/why-are-you-afraid-have-you-no-faith

 

 

 

 

Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado of the University of Scranton, Pa., participates in Georgetown University’s March 18, 2021, roundtable dialogue on “The Francis Factor at Eight Years: Global Impacts, U.S. Challenges.” (CNS photo/courtesy Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, Georgetown University)

WASHINGTON (CNS) – The qualities embodied in Pope Francis’ papacy that led to the coinage of the term “Francis Factor” to define them still exist, according to participants on a panel during a March 18 dialogue.

“The overwhelming poverty in Latin America, the majority of the poor in Latin and Central America and the Caribbean — that is very significant in shaping his worldview, his ministry and his pastoral outreach,” said Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the daughter of Cuban immigrants. “That has framed so much of his papacy.”

“I think Pope Francis challenges Catholics all over the world, not just the USA,” said Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, during the dialogue, “The Francis Factor at Eight Years: Global Impacts, U.S. Challenges,” the annual Dahlgren Dialogue sponsored by Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought.

Catholic News Service Rome bureau chief Cindy Wooden, who has been part of CNS’ Rome bureau since 1989, saw that during Pope Francis’ recent visit to Iraq.

“He honored and consoled the Christian communities in Iraq who have been so harshly tried over the past 20 years,” Wooden said, but he also “challenged them to honor the sacrifice, to live their faith and not give in to revenge or resignation.”

Panelists — including Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, a member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals, a group of key advisers — described how the Francis Factor existed early in his papacy. For Cardinal O’Malley, it started even before he was elected pope.

During the conclave at which he was elected, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires “challenged us to be outward looking. That really captured the imagination of the cardinals,” Cardinal O’Malley said.

Pope Francis “comes with a lot of discernment, after which his activity is very fast,” Cardinal Turkson said.

The symbolism of the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi, also is important, he added. “When he shed his cloak it was not to move away from the world,” Cardinal Turkson said, “it was to engage more fully within the world.”

Gonzalez Maldonado remembered teaching in Rome and being at lunch with a Muslim former student of hers when word came of the white smoke appearing, signaling the election of a new pope.

“Seeing the diversity of the races in the square” and the languages heard, “I felt so blessed and moved by the experience, and equally blessed and moved by my former student, who felt like she was part of an important event in human history,” Gonzalez Maldonado said.

“For me, that’s something definitive of Francis, who has opened up the Catholic Church in so many ways.”

“The moment that symbolizes the Francis Factor for me,” Wooden said, “is when right before giving his first apostolic blessing as pope, he asked the people in the square to ask that God would bless him, and he would bow while waiting for their prayer, To me, it’s a sign of love and respect and recognition that God is working in every single human being, individual and group, that is standing before him.”

Pope Francis “wants to see a church that is truly a church of the poor and is accessible,” Cardinal O’Malley said. “Even the Holy Father’s writings are accessible to people. The Holy Father is trying to reach out to the world and draw us all closer together. He sees our call to take care of one another. Mercy and evangelization are two of the central themes of his pontificate.”

The ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal is a challenge, Cardinal O’Malley said. “Pope Francis so often talks about pastoral conversion. That is so necessary if we are to be able to bring healing to the situation in our church due to clergy sexual abuse. The conversion begins by listening to the survivors and the victims.”

When Pope Francis created the Council of Cardinals and put Cardinal O’Malley on it, “the first thing I said is that he should meet with victims. He did, and he said it moved him profoundly” as it had with retired Pope Benedict XVI when he met with survivors during the Washington segment of his 2008 visit to the United States, the cardinal said.

That Pope Francis hails from Latin America, “the largest population of the faithful, globally,” Gonzalez Maldonado said, “means that we’re being acknowledged and recognized.”

She added, “When he talks about the fact that racism is a virus that mutates, and it never disappears, it goes into hiding … part of that is understanding our history in the church, our institutions.”

Teaching as she does in Scranton, the hometown of President Joe Biden, Gonzalez Maldonado said there can be policy consensus between the Vatican and Washington.

“An important place where we can see the church – and we have seen the church – be a prophetic voice is for the children and the men and women who are seeking asylum in this country. The Biden administration can really listen and be informed” by the church, she said.

 

U.S. Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, is pictured in Rome in this March 19, 2018, file photo. During a March 18 Vatican news conference on the “Amoris Laetitia Family Year,” Cardinal Farrell said that although the church cannot bless nonsacramental unions, the pastoral care of the church is always open to all people. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – While the Catholic Church cannot bless unions that are not sacramental marriages, the church will always welcome and accompany everyone, no matter their situation in life, said the prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.

“Nobody must ever be excluded from the pastoral care and love and concern of the church,” said the prefect, Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, March 18 during an online Vatican news conference, presenting details of the “Amoris Laetitia Family Year,” which starts March 19.

The cardinal’s comments were in response to a question about the “disappointment” expressed in parts of the world regarding a recent statement by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which said any form of blessing a same-sex union is “illicit.”

That statement, released March 15 and approved by Pope Francis, reiterated that homosexual men and women must be respected, but that it was not licit to impart a blessing on relationships or partnerships “that involve sexual activity outside of marriage — i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life — as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex.”

While such unions may not be blessed, people may still receive a blessing as individuals, the statement said.

When asked if the unfavorable reaction by some to the doctrinal congregation’s statement could have any consequences on the dicastery’s work and plans for promoting a year dedicated to the family and conjugal love, Cardinal Farrell said, “I think that it is very important that we all understand that the pastoral life of the church is open to all people.”

“It is essential and very important that we always open our arms to receive and to accompany all people in their different stages of life and in their different life situations,” he said.

What is not clear to most people and must be understood, he said, is that when the church talks about marriage, it is referring specifically to sacramental marriage. A blessing, he said, “is a sacramental that is related to the sacrament of marriage.”

But, he said, while the church can bless only a sacramental marriage, that does not mean only those who are married in the church “receive the benefits of the pastoral care of the church.”

People live and experience so many different situations, and no matter where they are in life, even when they cannot participate fully in the life of the church, “that does not mean that they are not to be accompanied by us and by the people of parishes,” the cardinal said.

“We accompany all people,” the cardinal said.

While special emphasis will be made on the beauty and importance of Christian marriage during the “Amoris Laetitia Family Year,” he said the many dioceses, associations, programs and movements that work with same-sex couples “will always work with them and accompany them.”

“There are situations where there are people who are divorced and remarried. The church will accompany them with the hope that one day they will live totally in accordance with the church’s teaching.”

“But I do want to insist that nobody, nobody must ever be excluded from the pastoral care and love and concern of the church,” he said.

 

 

CLEVELAND (CNS) – Faith leaders have an important role to play as the world continues to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and the ups and downs of vaccine distribution, participants in a webinar heard.

That role is based on trust and accurately sharing information, said Kathryn Kraft, senior research adviser for faith and development at World Vision International.

Kraft told the March 16 webinar, which was coordinated by Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, that faith leaders are essential players in the campaign to end the pandemic.

She described the findings of a World Vision report that identified faith leaders as being as important as health care workers in providing information and modeling appropriate behavior in the pandemic response.

“As trusted community members with vital social, access and spiritual capital, faith leaders can exercise considerable positive influence in many communities during the current crisis,” said the report, titled “Faith in Action: Power of faith leaders to fight a pandemic.”

Like earlier efforts in response to HIV and AIDS, Ebola and Zika, faith leaders are on the front line of responding to COVID-19, Kraft said. In addition, she explained, because of their importance to local communities, faith leaders can help their congregations navigate through the massive amount of information — and disinformation — surrounding the pandemic.

In February 2020, prior to declaring a pandemic March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization warned that a “massive infodemic” stemming from the spread of false statements posed a danger to an effective coronavirus response.

In contrast, Kraft added, the overwhelming amount of fact-based information on the coronavirus has led people to become so “paralyzed” that they think that no action in response to COVID-19 is the best course, leading to reduced adherence to safety protocols and to greater doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccines.

Faith leaders can be “very meaningful” in modeling appropriate behavior themselves, including receiving one of the vaccines, Kraft explained. Such action “helps people think through decisions for themselves,” she said.

The webinar was the most recent in a series developed by the center to bring professionals together to discuss how to improve the national and international response to the pandemic.

Katherine Marshall, executive director of the center’s World Faiths Development Dialogue and the event’s moderator, said the pandemic has exposed the inequalities between rich nations and those with high levels of poverty.

She acknowledged how care for people who have become seriously ill from COVID-19 varies greatly around the world and even in the United States, where poor communities and people of color have experienced higher death rates from the illness.

Marshall urged the rollout of the vaccine be based on equity so all people who are eligible to receive a vaccine can do so, that the logistics of distribution be leveled and that messaging be developed for people of all backgrounds so they understand the importance of being vaccinated.

Olivia Wilkinson, director of research at the Washington-based Joint Leaning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, posed a series of questions for health care professionals and religious leaders alike to consider as they address questions surrounding vaccine distribution.

The questions are included in a document the initiative developed to guide health care workers, nongovernmental agency workers and religious in forming their response to the pandemic.

Topics addressed include religious concerns about receiving the vaccine, identifying key faith leaders, building networks, establishing common ground and coordination of the pandemic response across the broader community.

Wilkinson, who studies secular and religious influences in humanitarian action in response to global concerns, also said women can play an important role in the pandemic fight because they are the caregivers in the home and often are the most active participants in religious congregations.

As for women religious leaders, Kraft said the World Vision report indicated that they often are more acutely tuned in to people’s psychosocial needs, allowing them to more readily listen, talk and pray with people — all key elements to building trust in accepting the vaccine.

Any efforts to address misinformation circulating in local communities that the vaccines are unsafe because of their rapid development are key to realizing the eventual end of the pandemic, explained Andrea Kaufmann, senior adviser for faith and external engagement at World Vision International and the report’s co-author.

Government health officials and nongovernment organizations can overcome such obstacles by working with faith leaders, Kaufmann said.

“We know that faith leaders need to be involved at all levels,” she said.

Presenter Deepa Risal Pokharel, communication for development specialist at UNICEF, agreed. She said the organization is working with faith leaders and local stakeholders and influencers to understand what is driving hesitancy in accepting the vaccine in some communities globally.

“Is it fear (of the vaccine) or are services too far away?” Pokharel asked.

Pokharel also commended religious leaders for recognizing the shortcomings in health care and the vaccine rollout and their response. She urged professionals in other sectors responding to the pandemic to follow their lead.

Note: The full World Vision report is online at bit.ly/3ts6vhc.

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (CNS) – The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature will provide relief to Americans in need amid the pandemic, but it lacks “protections for the unborn,” the U.S. bishops said.

Their March 10 statement quickly followed U.S. House passage of the measure in a 220-211 vote. After the Senate passed its version of the bill March 6, it was sent back to the House where members reconciled its changes with the version they approved Feb. 27. Biden was expected to sign it into law the afternoon of March 12.

In a joint statement, Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the chairmen of six USCCB committees praised “positive provisions” that “will save people from extremely desperate situations and will likely save lives.”

But they called it “unconscionable” that Congress passed the bill “without critical protections needed to ensure that billions of taxpayer dollars are used for life-affirming health care and not for abortion.”

Unlike all of the previous pandemic relief bills, Hyde Amendment language was not included in this measure. Hyde outlaws federal tax dollars from directly funding abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the woman would be endangered.

In addition to Archbishop Gomez, the committee chairmen who signed the statement are: Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, Committee on Pro-Life Activities; Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, Committee on International Justice and Peace; Bishop Michael C. Barber of Oakland, California, Committee on Catholic Education; Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism; and Auxiliary Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville of Washington, Committee on Migration.

“As the American Rescue Plan Act was being written, Catholic bishops reached out to every House and Senate office to express our support for providing additional relief to help poor and vulnerable people who are most at risk of harm from this pandemic, and our strong conviction that this relief should also protect the unborn and their right to life,” the bishops said.

“We are grateful this legislation addresses many positive provisions, including unemployment assistance, child and earned income tax credit enhancements, nutrition funding, vaccine distribution funding, health care funding, housing assistance, international assistance to regions stricken by COVID, conflict and hunger,” they said.

But “unlike previous COVID relief bills,” the bishops said, “sponsors of the American Rescue Plan Act refused to include the long-standing, bipartisan consensus policy to prohibit taxpayer dollars from funding abortions domestically and internationally.”

Hyde Amendment language “was needed because this bill includes many general references to health care that, absent the express exclusion of abortion, have consistently been interpreted by federal courts not only to allow, but to compel, the provision of abortion without meaningful limit,” the bishops said.

“The many important, life-saving provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act have been undermined because it facilitates and funds the destruction of life, which is antithetical to its aim of protecting the most vulnerable Americans in a time of crisis,” they added.

In remarks after its passage, Biden said the American Rescue Plan Act “represents a historic, historic victory for the American people. I look forward to signing it later this week.”

“Everything in the American Rescue Plan addresses a real need — including investments to fund our entire vaccination effort. More vaccines, more vaccinators and more vaccination sites,” he said.

No Republican in the House or Senate voted for the bill. Two House Democrats joined their Republican counterparts to vote against it Feb. 27; in the final House vote, one Democrat rejected it.

The measure includes $17 billion for vaccine-related activities and programs and $110 billion for other efforts to contain the pandemic; $130 billion for public schools; and $143 billion to expand child tax credit, child care tax credit and earned income tax credit mostly for one year.

Other provisions include $45 billion to temporarily expand Affordable Care Act subsidies for two years and subsidize 2020 and 2021 coverage; $25 billion for grants to restaurants and bars; $7 billion to allow more loans under the Paycheck Protection Program; $6 billion to increase nutrition assistance; and $350 billion for states and localities.

The bill also provides for checks of $1,400 to go to individuals who earn up to $75,000 a year and heads of households earning $112,500; married couples earning $150,000 will get $2,800. Eligible dependents, including adult dependents, also would each get $1,400.

It expressly provides $50 million for family planning, but as the bishops noted in their statement, and other national pro-life leaders have said, funding allocated in other provisions can be used for abortion.

It directs billions to state and local governments, $219 billion and $130 billion, respectively, “to mitigate the fiscal effects stemming from” COVID-19.

Because the Hyde Amendment is not applied to these funds, state and local governments could use the money to pay for abortion and abortion providers in the name of “responding to or mitigating the public health emergency,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.

Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, said the “sheer size” of the measure gives it “the potential to be the largest expansion of abortion funding since Obamacare.”

She urged Biden “to honor the wishes of the majority of Americans who don’t want to pay for abortions and to return to his pro-life roots by vetoing this bill until the bipartisan Hyde Amendment and other pro-life protections are included.”

 

WASHINGTON (CNS) – U.S. life has “dramatically changed” due to the yearlong pandemic, and alongside it, racial injustices and political divisions have shaken the nation, yet there is “comfort in God’s promise,” the U.S. bishops’ Administrative Committee said in a March 9 pastoral message.

There also “is much to learn from this global suffering,” it said, adding that going forward, people must build on the many acts of sacrifice and kindness exhibited amid the scourge of COVID-19.

March 11 marks one year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, “ushering in immense suffering,” the pastoral message said. This was WHO’s first such designation since declaring H1N1 influenza a pandemic in 2009.

To date, 525,000 lives have been lost to the disease just in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Worldwide, the death toll is 2.6 million.

“Many have endured extraordinary hardships: sickness, death, mourning, a lack of food, unstable housing, loss of work and income, struggles with education, separation, abuse, isolation, depression and anxiety,” said the message, approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Administrative Committee during its virtual meeting.

The committee is led by the USCCB president, who is Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, and is made up of all chairmen of USCCB’s committees and a representative from each U.S. episcopal region. The committee operates as the board of directors.

“We witnessed racial injustices, the diminishment of the poor and the elderly, and painful divisions in our political life,” the Administrative Committee’s message said. “Yet we know, as the Psalms remind us, that we find comfort in God’s promise that gives us life (Ps 119:50).”

The pastoral message pointed to innumerable “acts of sacrifice” and “acts of kindness” that have helped ameliorate in many ways some of the suffering — physical, emotional and financial — the pandemic has wrought.

“We also saw countless acts of sacrifice by health care workers, first responders, chaplains, those who work in our soup kitchens and homeless shelters, mail carriers, agricultural and grocery store workers, friends and even strangers,” the committee said.

“Countless acts of kindness were offered by so many people, which served to remind us that we are all in this together. For all these acts of sacrifice, we are very grateful,” it continued.

“We are also very grateful to our priests, deacons, religious, teachers, catechists and lay ecclesial ministers who have ministered to the people of God during these difficult times.”

Shortly after WHO declared a pandemic, U.S. archdioceses and dioceses, like their counterparts around the globe, adopted wide-ranging plans to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Among the most common preventative measures were urging reception of holy Communion in the hand, suspension of distribution of the Communion cup and exchanging the sign of peace without physical contact.

Bishops issued a general dispensation from the Sunday Mass obligation. With limits on the size of congregations in churches, dioceses also pivoted to using technology to livestream Mass, parish events and meetings.

“In the pandemic, God has once more revealed us to ourselves,” the committee’s pastoral message said. “As Pope Francis reminded us in St. Peter’s square last year, we are not as powerful or as in control as we thought. Rather than being ashamed of this powerlessness, or crushed by the fear of what we cannot control, our interconnectedness and dependence on God has been revealed.

“As Christians, this is a very familiar lesson: St. Paul reminds us to bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6:2). And that law is the law of love.”

The pandemic also has “revived our sense that we are a global community, and that each of us is indeed each other’s keeper,” it said.

“While the growing availability of vaccines is a clear sign of hope that this pandemic, too, will pass, that hope must be given to every human being on the planet by making the vaccines universally available,” it continued. “Richer nations and pharmaceutical companies must work together to ensure that no nation, no person is left behind.”

In the United States, two COVID-19 vaccines received emergency-use approval by the federal Food and Drug Administration in early December and a third one recently received this approval from the FDA.

ABC News reported that to date, 30 million Americans have received a COVID-19 vaccine and said that March 9, the U.S “hit a new daily record for vaccinations with 2.9 million shots in arms in just one day.”

As a result of more people being vaccinated and COVID-19 cases declining, many states are loosening some pandemic restrictions — though cautioning people to still take precautions and continue to use face masks, social distance and regularly wash their hands, because the country is not out of the woods yet. Catholic leaders also have reiterated the need to continue to take these precautions.

“There is so much to learn from this global suffering,” the Administrative Committee said in its pastoral message. “We must build on the kindness and openness that we have witnessed on the local level by creating more social structures that not only heal the fractures and isolation felt by so many during this pandemic but will prevent such divisions from occurring again.

“As Pope Francis has implored, ‘Let us dream, then, as a single human family,’ to a horizon where we are more caring of one another. Let us keep this sense alive and continue the work of promoting the common good.”

The Administrative Committee members said that “renewed by this season of Lent, we … place our confidence in the Lord, who suffered, was crucified and is resurrected.”

“We join our brother bishops in urging everyone to continue to keep God’s love alive in their hearts and in their families and communities,” they said. “And we look forward to welcoming the Catholic faithful back when we all may safely participate physically in the eucharistic celebration of the Mass and gather once more in our parishes.”