Category: Diocese of Scranton News

(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.”

(OSV News) – A federal judge placed a temporary restraining order on a provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which President Donald Trump signed into law July 4, that would have stopped Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid payments for a year.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston ordered the block July 7 when New York-based Planned Parenthood Federation of America, joined by its Massachusetts and Utah affiliates, filed a lawsuit against the heads of the U.S. departments of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and their agencies.

The judge ordered both HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and CMMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz to respond by July 14. Talwani placed a temporary hold on the provision until July 21, when the next hearing in the lawsuit takes place.

The budget bill, which enacts key policy priorities of the Trump administration, calls for defunding, for a year from its signing July 4, certain healthcare entities called “community health providers” that provide abortions and had more than $800,000 in Medicaid receipts in 2023. It does not name Planned Parenthood. However, the country’s largest abortion provider argued it has been effectively singled out under the conditions of the “federal payment to prohibited entities” section of the law.

According to its most recent annual report, Planned Parenthood received about $792.2 million in “Government Health Services Reimbursements & Grants” for its operations from 2022-2023 — a substantial portion of its $2 billion annual revenue.

Government reimbursement typically does not cover elective abortion, as the Hyde Amendment, which Trump reinstated upon taking office in January, prohibits such federal funding. Planned Parenthood’s non-government health services revenue (which includes elective abortion revenues) was $350.5 million in its latest report.

In its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood claimed that more than 1 million patients with low incomes will no longer be able to access services such as testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and cancer screenings, and that other health providers would be hard pressed to absorb those patients.

Planned Parenthood also argued the provision could potentially lead to reduced services, layoffs and closing down its clinics.

“The Defund Provision is instead a naked attempt to leverage the government’s control over funds to punish Planned Parenthood. It does so not only because of Planned Parenthood Members’ long history of providing legal abortions to patients across the country, but also because of Planned Parenthood’s unique role in advocating for policies to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion,” it argued.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s director of legal affairs and policy council Katie Glenn Daniel criticized Talwani’s order in a statement sent July 8 to OSV News.

“This is brazen defiance of elected leaders, both the president and Congress, who had every right to act on the will of the people to stop forced taxpayer funding of Big Abortion,” she said.

She further stated SBA was looking forward to a “swift appeal” that would cut short what it called Planned Parenthood’s push for time to “rake in every last tax dollar they can.”

“In the meantime we thank the Trump administration for standing firm on principle. We’re confident they will prevail and the abortion industry’s last-ditch money grab will fail,” said Glenn Daniel.

Defunding major abortion providers like Planned Parenthood was one of the provisions that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops strongly backed in the “Big Beautiful Bill” even as they called for “drastic changes” to other provisions that would have an impact on people in poverty, immigrants and the environment.

“Fundamental to all of the priorities expressed in this letter is the sacredness of every human life, and the intrinsic dignity of the human person, created male and female, and made in the image and likeness of God,” the bishops’ conference wrote in a June 26 letter to Congress.

The Catholic Church teaches that human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the first moment of conception, and since the first century has opposed abortion based on this teaching.

Following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, church officials in the U.S. reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child, and called for strengthening support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Local churches and bishops worldwide will be instrumental in helping implement the proposals and foster the spirit of the 2024 final document of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, the Vatican synod office said.

To more effectively carry out the mission of evangelization, the implementation phase of the synod “aims to examine new practices and structures that will make the life of the church more synodal,” the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops said in a new set of guidelines released July 7.

“Concretely, the priority is to offer the people of God new opportunities to walk together and reflect on these experiences in order to reap their fruits for the mission and share them,” the text said.

The 24-page text, titled “Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod,” is a guide for bishops and synodal teams, and an invitation to them to share their initiatives as they apply the synod on synodality’s final proposals locally. It also seeks to answer some key questions the office received recently. The text was released in multiple languages at synod.va.

Divided into four chapters, the document offers responses to: What is the implementation phase and what are its objectives?; Who will participate in the implementation phase and what are their tasks and responsibilities?; How to engage with the 2024 synod assembly’s final document during the implementation phase?; And what method and tools can help shape the implementation phase?

The guidelines underline how the local churches must play an active role in this phase, including by reaching out to diverse communities such as the marginalized, young people and those resistant to the synodal process, because, “in order to truly walk together, we cannot lose the contribution of their point of view.”

Engagement should extend beyond the parish to include schools, hospitals, prisons and digital platforms, it said, and relations with religious communities, movements and associations should be strengthened to further exchange the variety of gifts toward mission.

Synodality “cannot be a path limited to a core group of ‘supporters,'” it said.

“On the contrary, it is important that this new process contribute concretely ‘to expand possibilities for participation and for the exercise of differentiated co-responsibility by all the baptized, men and women’ in a spirit of reciprocity,” it said. “Moreover, it is crucial that it aims to involve those who have so far remained on the margins of the ecclesial renewal process established by the synod.”

The diocesan or eparchial bishop is the first person responsible for the implementation phase, the guidelines said. “It is his responsibility to initiate it, officially indicate its duration, methods and objectives, accompany its progress and conclude it, validating its results.”

This phase “will be an appropriate opportunity to exercise authority in a synodal way,” it said, reminding bishops they are not alone and should encourage all members of the church to share the journey together.

Synodal teams and participatory bodies “will be essential in the implementation phase as well,” the guidelines said, so “existing teams should be valued and, where necessary, renewed; those that have been suspended should be reactivated and appropriately integrated; and new teams should be formed where they have not been established previously.”

Every diocese or eparchy also needs to register its synodal team with the synod office by requesting a link to its database at synodus@synod.va to aid communication and effective coordination, it said.

The implementation phase of the synod was opened by Pope Francis in November 2024 when he called upon local churches, bishops’ conferences and others to implement “the authoritative proposals contained in the document through the processes of discernment and decision-making provided for by law and by the document itself,” the late pope wrote.

The three-year period of implementation and evaluation on the local, national, regional and international levels will culminate in a “celebration of the ecclesial assembly” in October 2028 at the Vatican “to share the fruits of the implementation phase and to have a kind of evaluation,” Xavière Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, said.

“The best way to start the implementation phase is really to read the final document of the synod. That is the reference for this implementation phase,” she said in an interview with Vatican News July 7.

The new guidelines then “are a kind of tool to help to dive into the final document of the synod and to take it up in a discerning way, to see how to implement it at the local level, also with this creativity that is coming from the Holy Spirit, because you can’t have just one way for everybody all over the world,” she added.

The synod’s final document “is the point of reference for the implementation phase,” the guidelines said.

The mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God “constitutes the backbone” and final goal of the synod’s final document, the text said. “Reflections on the tools to be adopted or the reforms to be implemented should always be placed within the perspective of the mission.”

The final document “firmly promotes a church that is increasingly courageous in its outreach,” it said, and “it embraces the conciliar vision of a church in the world, in dialogue with everyone, with other religious traditions and with the entire community.”

“Growing as a synodal church capable of dialogue has a prophetic value that includes a commitment to social justice and integral ecology. These dimensions cannot be neglected in the implementation phase, leading to the creation of opportunities for dialogue based on the concrete needs of the territories and societies in which we live,” the text said.

Sister Becquart said the guidelines and the implementation phase are a prime opportunity for the “exchange of gifts” between the local churches, which is “a core notion of the final document, a core notion of a synodal church.”

“We all have something to give and something to receive,” she said. “This document is also really to highlight that you can’t just do your synodal conversion alone, but it’s very important to work together as different local churches.” 

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Three North Americans are among recent appointees to Vatican dicasteries that address issues of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.

On July 3, Pope Leo XIV appointed Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski of St. Louis and Cardinal Frank Leo of Toronto as members of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, along with 19 other bishops from around the world.

The same day, Pope Leo appointed Holy Cross Father Russell McDougall as a consultor of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. Father McDougall is executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.

As an administrative body of the Roman Curia, the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue “promotes and supervises relations with members and groups of non-Christian religions, with the exception of Judaism, competence for which belongs to the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity,” according to the Vatican website.

Meanwhile, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity describes itself as promoting within the church “an authentic ecumenical spirit” and as “active in all areas that can contribute to promoting Christian unity by strengthening relationships with other Churches and Ecclesial Communities.”

Archbishop Rozanski, who has considerable experience engaging in formal and informal interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, said in a July 3 statement he was “deeply humbled” by the appointment.

“I am grateful to His Holiness for his trust and look forward to participating in the fostering of working together for deeper understanding and the common good,” said the archbishop, a member of the USCCB’s Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Committee and its chairman from 2014-2017, leading the bishops’ dialogue with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

He is also co-chair of the Polish National Church-Roman Catholic Dialogue, which examines the issues that have divided the two churches with the aim of establishing full communion.

In his July 3 statement, Cardinal Leo said he was “grateful to the Holy Father for the opportunity to serve as a member of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.”

“I very much look forward to dialogue and reflection on how the Catholic Church can work with other faith traditions in a positive and constructive manner as we identify areas of common concern and engagement,” he said.

An expert in canon law, diplomacy and international law, Cardinal Leo was also named a member of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts in January.

Father McDougall is a former rector of the University of Notre Dame’s Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem and was on faculty at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he assisted efforts to expand interfaith engagement.

The appointments do not impact the appointees’ primary ministerial roles.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) – After more than a decade without its most famous vacationer, the quiet town of Castel Gandolfo once again counts the pope among its summer residents.

Pope Leo XIV became the 16th pope to reside in the papal summer residence when he moved there July 6, following the recitation of the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square.

“This afternoon, I will travel to Castel Gandolfo, where I intend to have a short period of rest,” the pope told pilgrims gathered in the square. “I hope that everyone will be able to enjoy some vacation time in order to restore both body and spirit.”

The tradition of popes escaping the summer heat of Rome for the cooler Alban Hills began with Pope Urban VIII in 1626. While Pope Benedict XVI spent nearly three months in the papal villa during the summer of 2012, his successor, Pope Francis, chose not to stay there, opting instead for his Vatican residence at the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

In 2016, Pope Francis converted the papal property into a museum, opening the villa and gardens to the public.

That decision transformed the character of tourism in the town, said Marina Rossi, a local resident who has operated a mosaic workshop along the town’s main drag for more than 30 years.

“During the week there wasn’t this flow of people,” she told Catholic News Service July 1, since the popes only presented themselves publicly to pray the Angelus on Sundays. “Instead, by opening the palace and the pontifical villas, the type of tourism has changed,” shifting from frugal pilgrims to paying visitors. As a result, “the last 12 years were good for us.”

Still, she said, the return of a pope is “fantastic.”

“It’s an important showcase” for the town, Rossi said. “We’re happy, yes.”

Rossi, an artist, said she and others had considered creating a portrait of the pope, adding, “Yes, it’s an idea we’ve had; right now, we are doing stuff a bit different, more simple, because making a portrait is not the most ‘sell-able’ right away.”

Assunta Ferrini, who manages Sor Capanna, a restaurant right off the square at the foot of the papal palace, said the town has not lacked tourists in the pope’s absence.

“The tourists came, many of them,” she told CNS. “But to have a pope return is always an honor for the town, that he comes here to meet us.”

At a local coffee shop, barista Stefano Carosi echoed that sentiment. “To have the pope here among us after so long is a beautiful thing,” he said. “We’ve waited for it for so long.”

Without the steady presence of Pope Francis, he added, the town was “without that spark, that light, but now it seems like these 12 years have flown by and we hope that everything may return as before.”

(OSV News) – An Illinois town intends to purchase the childhood home of Pope Leo XIV, hoping to turn the property and its surroundings into a historical site.

The board of trustees of the Village of Dolton voted unanimously July 1 to buy the modest, one-story brick dwelling located at 212 E. 141st Pl. in Dolton.

Since the election of the first U.S.-born pope, the 75-year-old home – in which the former Robert Prevost was raised – has become a tourist attraction and even a place of pilgrimage.

“So many people are coming to the block,” Nakita Cloud, spokesperson for the Village of Dolton, told OSV News. “You see tour buses (here).”

Next-door-neighbor Donna Sagna Davis previously told CBS News Chicago that visitors are “bringing rosaries, flowers.”

Davis also told the outlet, “I’ve seen a lot of people; people from Greece, people from Italy, Germany. One woman came and she prayed, touched the door of the pope’s house, and she said she wanted to be healed.”

Dolton Mayor Jason House has highlighted the property’s potential to help revitalize the community.

A sale price for the house, which had been up for auction, will not be publicly disclosed until the transaction has been completed, Cloud said.

She noted the town had “negotiated directly with the seller and his agent, and we came up with an amount that is satisfactory for everyone.”

The final price, while not “millions of dollars,” was “certainly more than the $199,000 original auction price,” she said.

Images of the home on the real estate site Zillow show a fully renovated interior, with newer appliances, bathroom fixtures and flooring, as well a gray-white paint scheme and modern decor.

According to CBS News Chicago, resident Annette Mauro, who identified herself as a “practicing Catholic,” said at the July 1 village board meeting — which was open to the public — “I see no reason why you want to buy that house,” since the inside “does not look anything like when Father Prevost lived there.”

Cloud clarified that earlier reports about the village invoking eminent domain — whereby, under the Fifth Amendment, government can take control of private property for the benefit of public welfare, while providing just compensation to the owner — were related to “due diligence.”

“It was a disclaimer they put out to the auction house about the property being subject to eminent domain,” she explained. “If Mayor House is not the mayor in four years, and someone else comes in … we would hate for someone to go and bid and purchase a property at a million dollars that could be taken away from them.”

At the July 1 board meeting, town officials also decided to purchase a nearby residence located at 200 E. 141st Pl., which Cloud described as “kind of an eyesore at the end of the block.”

Online images viewed by OSV News at the Redfin real estate website showed that home as badly decayed, with heavy overgrowth, roof damage and what appeared to be a missing front door as well as broken windows.

“What we want to do is, in honoring the faith as well as the archdiocese (of Chicago), we want to turn that entire block into a historical site,” said Cloud. “So we’re going to acquire that property as well and fix it up.”

CBS News reported that the decision to buy the home was largely supported by Dolton residents, although a few expressed concerns the money would be better spent on other infrastructure and economic development projects.

Cloud said the village is not working with the Archdiocese of Chicago “at this time” on the transformation of Pope Leo’s childhood home into an historical site, although she added, “We’re trying to work it all out.”

OSV News is awaiting a response to its request for comment by the archdiocese.