VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Everyone must engage in politics, which is simply what it means to take part constructively in the life of a nation or society, Pope Francis said in a new book of interviews.

Even the Gospel has “a political dimension” in that it seeks to convert “the social, including religious, mindset of the people,” he said, according to a series of excerpts published by Vatican News and other outlets Feb. 26.

Journalists Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti released a book-length compilation of interviews with Pope Francis March 1, 2023. Titled, “El Pastor” (The Shepherd), the book, whose cover is shown in this screengrab, covers the “challenges, reasons and reflections” of Pope Francis over the course of his pontificate. (CNS photo/Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Argentina)

Marking the 10th anniversary of the pope’s election, journalists Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti will release a book-length compilation of a decade of interviews with the pope in Spanish March 1.

Titled “El Pastor” (“The Shepherd”), the book covers the “challenges, reasons and reflections” of Pope Francis over the course of his pontificate. Rubin and Ambrogetti had previously compiled two years of interviews with then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires for their 2010 book “The Jesuit,” which became a bestseller after the cardinal was elected pontiff, and retitled “Pope Francis. Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio: His Life in His Own Words.”

In “The Shepherd,” the authors pick up where they left off to cover his papacy and the path he has followed.

He said his plan has always been “to carry out what the cardinals expressed in the general congregations on the eve of the conclave,” which was to “revitalize the proclamation of the Gospel, reduce centralization in the Vatican,” eradicate the abuse of minors and fight economic corruption.

When asked what he would say to those who accuse him of “doing politics,” the pope said, “Yes, I am doing politics. Because everybody has to do politics. Christian people have to do politics. When we read what Jesus said we see that he was doing politics.”

The pope then explained what he meant by “politics,” saying it is “a way of life for the ‘polis,’ for the city.”

“What I do not do, nor should the church do, is party (or partisan) politics. But the Gospel has a political dimension, which is to transform the social, including religious, mindset of the people,” he said.

Speaking about the increasing polarization in the world, the pope said, “we are not water and oil, we are brothers and sisters.”

Humanity must rise above this “category of water and oil and move toward fraternity,” which is precisely what people have a hard time seeing when there is a conflict, that their vocation is fraternity, he said.

“When we ignore this, divisions begin and it’s like that everywhere,” he said.

When it comes to economic activity, Pope Francis said he does not “condemn” capitalism or the market economy, but that there needs to be what St. John Paul II advocated for, that is, a new “social economy of the market,” which would balance competition and social progress.

Today, the world of finance prevails, he said, and “where we can all agree is that the concentration of wealth and inequalities have increased and many people die of hunger.” If he focuses so much on the poor and those in need, “that’s because that is what Jesus did and what the Gospel says.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The call to make sacrifices for others out of love remains urgent as so many people continue to suffer from war, violence, exclusion and poverty, Pope Francis said.

“Let us put into practice the call to do good to everyone, taking the time to love the least and most defenseless, the abandoned and despised, those who are discriminated against and marginalized,” he said during an audience with members of the “Pro Petri Sede” Association Feb. 24 at the Vatican.

Pope Francis speaks with members of the “Pro Petri Sede” Association during an audience at the Vatican Feb. 24, 2023. He asked that the faithful “put into practice the call to do good to everyone, taking the time to love the least and most defenseless, the abandoned and despised, those who are discriminated against and marginalized.” (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

The group, founded more than 150 years ago, is active in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and collects donations for the pope’s initiatives and charitable efforts by the Holy See.

“Today the call to give yourselves for love of our brothers and sisters is no less urgent: so many of them suffer from war, violence, exclusion, material and spiritual poverty,” he said in his address.

Lent is also an opportune time for responding to this call because the season “calls us to conversion in order to move from the slavery of selfishness to the freedom to love and serve God and our brothers and sisters,” he said.

Pope Francis recalled the generosity and solidarity of the early Christians described in the Acts of the Apostles and how “they were able to put everything in common to support their more fragile brothers and sisters.”

“They understood that they were the temporary stewards of their goods: indeed, all that we possess is a gift from God and we must let ourselves be enlightened by him in the stewardship of the goods we receive,” the pope said.

The Holy Spirit, he said, “will always impel us to give to those in need, to fight poverty with what he gives us. For the Lord gives abundantly to us so that we in turn can give ourselves.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Biden administration Feb. 21 proposed its most restrictive border control measure to date, announcing it plans to issue a temporary rule blocking asylum-seekers who cross the border without authorization or who do not first apply for protections in other nations before coming to the United States. Catholic immigration advocates condemned the proposal.

The proposed rule would introduce a “presumption of asylum ineligibility for certain noncitizens” and instead “encourage migrants to avail themselves of lawful, safe and orderly pathways into the United States,” according to the text of the document. Otherwise, it said that migrants should “seek asylum or other protection in countries through which they travel, thereby reducing reliance on human smuggling networks that exploit migrants for financial gain.”

U.S. immigration policy generally differentiates those fleeing persecution in other countries from other migrants who cross the border unlawfully. The proposal, which the administration has characterized as temporary, would scale back that approach.

The move comes as Republicans have made immigration and border security a key point of contention with the Biden administration, and as the primary cycle for the November 2024 presidential election begins in earnest. Biden, a Catholic Democrat, is widely expected to seek a second term in the White House.

The proposed rule will first be subject to a 30-day public comment period before it could be formally implemented.

The U.S. bishops, however, voiced concern the rule would impose punitive restrictions on the right to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. In a statement, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, said the USCCB is “deeply troubled by this proposal, which perpetuates the misguided notion that heavy-handed enforcement measures are a viable solution to increased migration and forced displacement.”

“Decades of similar approaches have demonstrated otherwise,” Bishop Seitz said. The El Paso bishop said the U.S. bishops have recognized “our country’s right to maintain its borders,” but have “consistently rejected policies that weaken asylum access for those most in need of relief and expose them to further danger.”

“Because that is the likely result of this proposal, we strongly oppose its implementation,” Bishop Seitz said.

He added that while the USCCB appreciates the administration’s “desire to expand lawful pathways to the United States, especially through increased refugee processing,” he emphasized those efforts should not take place “at the expense of vulnerable persons urgently seeking protection at our border.”

“Above all, the sanctity of human life remains paramount,” he said.

Biden administration officials, however, said the proposed rule would incentivize lawful migration.

“We are a nation of immigrants, and we are a nation of laws,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

“We are strengthening the availability of legal, orderly pathways for migrants to come to the United States,” he said, “at the same time (we are) proposing new consequences on those who fail to use processes made available to them by the United States and its regional partners.”

Mayorkas said providing individuals a “safe, orderly and lawful path” to the U.S. makes them less likely “to risk their lives traversing thousands of miles in the hands of ruthless smugglers, only to arrive at our southern border and face the legal consequences of unlawful entry.”

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Department of Justice, which exercises oversight of the U.S. immigration courts, is establishing temporary rules for asylum eligibility to be in place once the Biden administration lifts the Title 42 public health order.

“We look forward to reviewing the public’s comments on this proposed rule,” he said.

Other Catholic immigration advocates, however, joined with the USCCB in sharply criticizing the proposal.

“The ban unfairly targets those fleeing from northern Central American countries, for whom the administration has provided no parole options,” Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute, said.

“There is nothing but a lack of courage preventing this administration from taking positive steps now to repudiate the damage of the previous administration and finally put in place a functioning, safe, rights-respecting system at the border that works for asylum-seekers and our border communities,” he said.

Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., or CLINIC, said, “In continuing with this rule, the Biden administration is betraying its own commitment to uphold asylum, as well as violating the principles of U.S. law and Catholic social teaching with respect to migration.”

CLINIC compared the proposed rule to an “asylum ban” issued by the Trump administration, which was later struck down by a federal court.

“The right to seek asylum through a full and fair process is a bedrock principle of international and domestic law,” Gallagher said. “These new restrictions undermine that right and will have inhumane and horrific consequences for our immigrant brothers and sisters.”

Ronnate Asirwatham, director of government relations at Network, a Catholic social justice lobby, said the Biden administration was “ending the right to seek asylum on our southern border.”

“(The) success of our southern border,” Asirwatham said, “should not be measured by the number of people we turn away to death and persecution, but by the number of people we welcome to safety.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis asked, “Can the Lord forgive so many crimes and so much violence? He is the God of peace.”

At the end of his weekly general audience Feb. 22 and with a group of Ukrainian parliamentarians seated in the front row, the pope noted that Feb. 24 would mark “one year since the invasion of Ukraine, a year since this absurd and cruel war – a sad anniversary.”

“The record of deaths, injuries, refugees and displaced people, destruction and economic and social damage speaks for itself,” he said.

Pope Francis signs a Ukrainian flag for a Ukrainian child at the end of his weekly general audience Feb. 22, 2023, in the Vatican audience hall. During the audience, the pope noted that the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is Feb. 24 and prayed for an end to the war. (CNS photo/Vatican Media

At every general audience and public recitation of the Angelus prayer for the past year, Pope Francis has asked people to join him in praying for peace and in offering concrete assistance to the millions of Ukrainians who have sought safety abroad and for the millions of others displaced within Ukraine or struggling to survive because of the fighting.

But, with the anniversary of Russia’s invasion just two days away, the pope’s appeal Feb. 22 was even more intense.

Promising that Catholics continue to be close to the “martyred Ukrainian people who continue to suffer,” the pope asked, “Has everything possible been done to stop the war?”

“I appeal to all those who have authority over nations to commit themselves concretely to ending the conflict, to reaching a cease-fire and to starting peace negotiations,” the pope said. “That which is built on ruins will never be a true victory.”

LOS ANGELES (OSV News) – Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Feb. 22 that the suspect arrested in the shooting death of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell has been charged with murder.

Carlos Medina, 61, was taken into custody the morning of Feb. 20 by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies as the prime suspect in the shooting death of the bishop, who was found dead in his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Hacienda Heights on the afternoon of Feb. 18.

“This was a brutal act of violence against a person who dedicated his life to making our neighborhoods safer, healthier and always serving with love and compassion,” Gascón said in a statement. “As Catholics around Los Angeles and the nation start the holy season of Lent, let us reflect on Bishop O’Connell’s life of service and dedication to those in greatest need of our care.”

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell is pictured speaking with parishioners outside St. Frances X. Cabrini Church in Los Angeles July 19, 2015. According to local news reports, Los Angeles County sheriffs found him dead of a gunshot wound at his home Feb. 18, 2023. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Feb. 22 that Carlos Medina, 61, has been charged with murder. (OSV News photo/CNS file, John Rueda, The Tidings)

“Charging Mr. Medina will never repair the tremendous harm that was caused by this callous act, but it does take us one step closer to accountability,” he added.

Medina was charged with one count of murder “and a special allegation that he personally used a firearm,” according to a news release from Gascon’s office. Medina was to be arraigned later the same day.

At an afternoon news conference Feb. 20, LA County Sheriff Robert G. Luna announced that citizen tips led to the 8:15 a.m. arrest of Medina, the husband of a housekeeper who had worked at Bishop O’Connell’s home, after an all-night search.

In an emotional press conference, Luna said “my heart grieves” for the death of Bishop O’Connell, based on all the calls of support he received in the investigation over a period of 48 hours.

“This man, this bishop, made a huge difference in our community,” said Luna. “He was loved. It is very sad that we are gathered here today about this murder.”

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, one of the speakers at the press conference, stopped several times during his remarks to collect himself. At one point, Luna put his arm around Archbishop Gomez’s shoulder to comfort him.

“On behalf of our entire community, I want to share thanks for your professionalism and sensitivity,” Archbishop Gomez said of the investigation. “It is a sad and painful moment for all of us. Let us keep praying for Bishop Dave and his family, just as he prayed for law enforcement officials.”

Bishop O’Connell was originally from Brooklodge, Glanmire, in County Cork, the largest county in Ireland. He studied for the priesthood at the former All Hallows College in Dublin and was ordained to serve in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1979.

Bishop O’Connell was named an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles by Pope Francis in July 2015. Since then, he had served as episcopal vicar for the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, one of the LA archdiocese’s five regions.

During his time as auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles, evangelization, pastoral care for immigrants, and ensuring the future of his region’s Catholic schools were all top priorities for Bishop O’Connell, who believed that “parishes and schools are powerful instruments of transformation of people’s lives and of neighborhoods.”

Before being named a bishop, he was well-known for his pastoral work in south LA — where he served as pastor of four different parishes — in the years before and after the 1992 Rodney King riots. He played a key role, along with other local faith leaders, in bringing together communities already suffering from gang violence, poverty and drugs, while working to restore trust between community members and law enforcement.

(OSV News) – The latest phase of the 2021-24 Synod on Synodality is coming to a close, with a final document to be written over the next six weeks and submitted to the Vatican by March 31.

On Feb. 17, the North American Synod Team, led by bishops from Canada and the United States, wrapped up a weeklong retreat in Orlando, Florida, to synthesize the results of synod listening sessions throughout the two countries. (According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Church in Mexico is participating in the synod with the Latin American bishops’ council, or CELAM, given its long partnership with that council.)

The team — eight bishops, three laywomen, two priests, two laymen and two women religious — spent time in prayer, discernment and discussion to distill responses for inclusion in the text, which forms a response to the Document for the Continental Stage issued by the Vatican’s general secretariat of the synod in October 2022.

The final document for the continental stage from North America, along with the contributions of the six other continental assemblies, will form the basis of the “instrumentum laboris,” or working document, to be released by the general secretariat in June 2023.

The synod itself – the theme of which is “Communion, Mission, Participation” – has been “a tremendous grace,” Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, said in a Feb. 21 statement issued by the USCCB.

Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, speaks during a Nov. 17, 2021, session of the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. (OSV News photo/CNS file, Bob Roller)

In particular, “a deep love for Jesus Christ and the church animated the continental assemblies, and the participants expressed a great desire to pray and work for a more synodal style in the church going forward,” said Bishop Flores, who has been overseeing the synodal process in the U.S. “The synodal way has focused more attention on the baptismal dignity and mission of Christ’s members, and has brought great hope that we can, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, strengthen our communion with one another and with the Lord.”

Bishop Raymond Poisson of Saint-Jérôme and of Mont-Laurier, Quebec, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), said he was grateful for a renewed sense of mission and kinship among the church in North America.

“Deepening relationships between the church in Canada and the U.S. is invaluable for the ongoing synodal path,” he said. “Bringing our two countries together in a meaningful way will serve to form the foundation for greater unity among the people of God in North America.”

Launched by Pope Francis in October 2021, the multi-year synod seeks to cultivate an ongoing dynamic of discernment, listening, humility and engagement within the church.

The word “synod” itself derives from the Greek for “with” and “path,” signifying a way in which “the people of God walk together,” according to a 2018 document by the International Theological Commission.

Initially scheduled to culminate at the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in October 2023, the synod was extended by Pope Francis to include a second session in October 2024, allowing for what he called “a more relaxed period of discernment.”

Throughout its three stages – diocesan, continental and universal – the synod has solicited the insights of all the baptized, as well as those who have left the faith and those of other faith traditions.

Marginalized communities have been especially encouraged to participate in the listening sessions, which have taken place in Catholic churches, schools and pastoral spaces throughout the world.

The continental phase gathered the USCCB and the CCCB and more than 900 bishop-selected delegates in 12 virtual sessions — variously conducted in English, Spanish and French — at which listening session reports from 236 U.S. and Canadian dioceses were presented and discussed.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Diocesan bishops must have Vatican authorization to allow the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass in a parish church, to establish a new “personal parish” for devotees of the old Mass or to allow its celebration by a priest ordained after July 2021 when Pope Francis issued rules restricting the celebration, he said.

Any bishop who has granted a dispensation from those rules must inform the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, “which will assess the individual cases,” said a rescript approved by Pope Francis during a meeting Feb. 20 with Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the dicastery.

The rescript, signed by Cardinal Roche, was released by the Vatican Feb. 21.

In July 2021 Pope Francis promulgated his apostolic letter “Traditionis Custodes” (Guardians of the Tradition), declaring the liturgical books promulgated after the Second Vatican Council to be “the unique expression of the ‘lex orandi’ (law of worship) of the Roman Rite,” restoring the obligation of priests to have their bishops’ permission to celebrate according to the “extraordinary” or pre-Vatican II Mass and ordering bishops not to establish any new groups or parishes in their dioceses devoted to the old liturgy.

At the time, Pope Francis said his decision was meant “to promote the concord and unity of the church.”

Many bishops granted temporary permission in the summer of 2021 for the liturgies to continue while they studied the papal document and consulted their priests and faithful.

Some bishops then granted dispensations to the rules, citing a paragraph of “Traditionis Custodes” that affirmed “it belongs to the diocesan bishop, as moderator, promoter and guardian of the whole liturgical life of the particular church entrusted to him, to regulate the liturgical celebrations of his diocese.”

In December 2021, then-Archbishop Roche published a formal “responsa ad dubia” — response to questions — asserting that it is up to his dicastery, “exercising the authority of the Holy See in matters within its competence,” to grant requests from bishops wanting to give dispensations from the specific norms set forth in “Traditionis Custodes” regarding the use of parish churches for the celebration of the pre-Vatican II liturgy.

And he used the same language about the authority of the dicastery to require a bishop to seek the authorization of the dicastery before allowing a newly-ordained priest to celebrate the old rite.

In the new rescript, Pope Francis affirmed that “these dispensations are reserved in a special way to the Apostolic See: the use of a parish church or the erection of a personal parish for the celebration of the Eucharist using the ‘Missale Romanum’ of 1962; and the granting of permission to priests ordained after the publication of the motu proprio ‘Traditionis Custodes’ to celebrate with the ‘Missale Romanum’ of 1962.”

“The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments exercises the authority of the Holy See in the above-mentioned cases, supervising the observance of the provisions,” it said.

The rescript added that “should a diocesan bishop have granted dispensations in the two cases mentioned above, he is obliged to inform the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which will assess the individual cases.”

ROME (CNS) – With the first anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine just days away, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church spoke about gratitude and powerlessness in the face of a “blind, absurd, sacrilegious war.”

Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of Kyiv-Halych, spoke with a small group of reporters in Rome by Zoom Feb. 20 from Kyiv, a city he has left only a couple of times and only for a few days in the past year.

Like many Ukrainians who refuse to leave or have returned even to heavily damaged homes, the archbishop said, “I have a psychological difficulty in abandoning Kyiv. Everyone asks me to come for this conference or that visit, but I can’t leave Kyiv for more than a week. I am afraid something will happen” if he does leave.

Perhaps that is for the best, he said. “A bishop must live in his see.”

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, visits the basement of the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Resurrection with Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 29, 2022. This is a space where hundreds of people took refuge during the first days of Russia’s war on Ukraine. (CNS photo/Oleksandr Savransky, courtesy Ukrainian Catholic Church)

As the archbishop was being interviewed, U.S. President Joe Biden was visiting Kyiv.

A year ago, as it appeared Russia was about to invade, all the embassies in Kyiv — except for those of the Vatican and Poland — moved operations to western Ukraine or to Poland, the archbishop said. “A year later, they’ve all returned and now the president of the United States has come.”

Archbishop Shevchuk said he obviously could not comment on the political or military importance of the visit of Biden or other world leaders, but “speaking in the name of common citizens, we feel like we have not been forgotten and abandoned.”

“It’s a great consolation that you have not abandoned us,” he said. “The Russian army condemned us to death. This solidarity, shown in the visits, gives us hope that the sentence will not be carried out and that we are able to survive, defend ourselves and build a free and democratic country.”

A year after Russia started its all-out attack on Ukraine, Archbishop Shevchuk said he felt “joy and gratitude” that Ukraine is still there, that the Ukrainian church has found myriad ways to support the people and that Catholics around the globe have shown their solidarity, including concretely by sending aid.

But, he said, he also has experienced a great sense of impotence.

“For the first time in my life, I’ve seen how modern weapons are able to destroy everything: life, cities, even the environment,” he said. “And in the face of this use of blind violence, the whole world has shown itself to be impotent.”

Yet, the archbishop said, “I am proud of my bishops, priests, monks and nuns who have seen Christ present in those people wounded by the war. We truly have met the living Christ in those who are hungry, without a home, without anything.”

Tens of thousands of people have turned to the church for material and spiritual help, he said. “They trust us completely; they have placed their lives completely in the hands of the church, and when I think about their total trust, it moves me. And I say, ‘Lord, give me the faith to entrust myself to you like these people are entrusting themselves to their pastors.'”

A year of war and death is taking its toll on everyone, including the priests and bishops, he said. “They are becoming demoralized because almost every day they must celebrate the funerals of new victims, military and civilian. A bishop said to be, ‘Your Beatitude, there are funerals without end.'”

Asked about victims of the war among the clergy, Archbishop Shevchuk again demanded the release of two Eastern-rite Redemptorist priests — Father Ivan Levitsky and Father Bohdan Geleta — who were detained by Russian troops in the occupied city of Berdyansk in November.

“For 100 days they have endured daily torture,” he said. “No negotiation, no form of diplomacy or dialogue has been able to end the suffering of these two.”

Father Vitaliy Zubak and St. Joseph Sister Darija Panast were injured by Russian artillery fire while delivering aid in late January, the archbishop said, but they are recovering.

And, he said, a small community of Incarnate Word priests are still in a Russian-occupied town — the archbishop would not say which for their safety — where they live “clandestinely. It’s a miracle that they are still there. They cannot exercise their ministry, but they are there praying.”

The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religions has identified about 500 churches, synagogues, temples and mosques that have been destroyed or heavily damaged in the fighting. Most of those are in eastern Ukraine where there were not many Catholics, Archbishop Shevchuk said.

The Ukrainian Catholic cathedral in Donetsk “is damaged, but still standing, although there are no priests left,” so no services are held inside, he said. Another 16 churches belonging to Eastern-rite Catholics have been damaged or destroyed.

The entire population has been traumatized by the repeated, piercing sound of air-raid sirens and the daily barrage of missiles exploding, he said. “We are not ashamed of these wounds of Christ that we see each day on the body of our people. And we pray for peace.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office is marking the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ election with a series of four postage stamps.

“We want to celebrate some of the most significant moments of Pope Francis’ pontificate,” the office said in a statement announcing the stamps would go on sale Feb. 27, just about two weeks before the anniversary of the pope’s election March 13, 2013.

The 1.20-euro stamp features a photo of Pope Francis praying during the Mass he celebrated to inaugurate his papacy March 19, 2013.

A Vatican postage stamp with the title “first pastoral visit” shows Pope Francis praying for migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean during a visit to Lampedusa, Italy, July 8, 2013. The Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office is marking the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ election with a series of four postage stamps. (CNS photo/Courtesy of the Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office)

The photo on the 1.25-euro stamp shows Pope Francis kissing the Book of the Gospels and, the office said, was chosen to celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God, a celebration Pope Francis decided in 2019 to add to the church’s calendar.

The third stamp, carrying a value of 2.40 euros, shows Pope Francis smiling during the sacrament of reconciliation and marks his institution of the “24 Hours for the Lord,” a Lenten observance in Rome and at the Vatican focused on making confession widely and easily available.

The final stamp, with a face value of 3.10 euros, features a photo from Pope Francis’ first pastoral trip outside of Rome. He flew to the Italian island of Lampedusa July 8, 2013, to pray for the thousands of migrants who had lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean, to offer words of hope to the asylum seekers who had made the crossing and to encourage everyone to help the newcomers.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Laypeople are not “guests” in the Catholic Church and priests are not the “bosses,” Pope Francis said; rather all the baptized belong and share responsibility for its life and mission.

To fulfill its mission, the church must “overcome autonomous ways of acting or parallel tracks that never meet: clergy separated from laity,” or the “Roman Curia separated from particular churches” or movements separated from parishes, he said.

“The path God is indicating for the church is precisely that of living more intensely and concretely the path of communion and walking together,” Pope Francis said Feb. 18 as he closed a three-day conference sponsored by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.

Pope Francis greets participants at a Vatican conference, “Pastors and lay faithful called to walk together,” Feb. 18, 2023, in the Vatican Synod Hall. The meeting was sponsored by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

The meeting brought together more than 200 participants – laypeople, priests and bishops – from 74 countries to talk about the theological basis of co-responsibility in the church and practical steps to overcome the challenges to making it a reality.

Creating silos or divisions in the church is “the most serious temptation” Catholics face today, Pope Francis told the group. “There is still a long way to go for the church to live as a body, as a true people, united by the one faith in Christ the savior, animated by the same sanctifying Spirit and oriented to the same mission of proclaiming the merciful love of God the Father.”

The aim of the conference and of the whole process of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, he said, is to remind all the baptized that they are called to be missionary disciples and that the only way to be effective is to be united and to recognize and share the gifts and talents of all.

Co-responsibility, he said, “is not learned theoretically; it is understood by living it.”

When clergy and laity are focused on sharing the Gospel and helping the poor, they naturally draw closer to another and the “complementarity” of their different gifts become obvious, he said.

From the beginning of his pontificate 10 years ago, the pope told the conference participants, “I said that I dream of a missionary church.”

But too often, he said, the church is a “prison that does not let the Lord out, that keeps him as its own when the Lord came for mission and wants us to be missionaries.”

Mission is the motive for the focus on the co-responsibility of the laity in the church, he said.

“The need to value the laity does not come from some theological novelty, or even from the functional needs left by the diminishing number of priests,” he said, and it is not about making amends “to those who have been sidelined in the past.”

“Rather, it is based on a correct vision of the church: the church as the people of God, of which the laity are a full part along with ordained ministers,” he said. “Thus, ordained ministers are not the masters, they are the servants; the shepherds, not the bosses.”

Pope Francis said that starting in the seminary, those who hope to become priests must have “a daily and normal” experience of working with laypeople so that once they are ordained, communion is a natural expression of belonging to the church and not some exceptional or occasional project.

“It is time for pastors and laity to walk together, in every area of the church’s life, in every part of the world,” the pope said. “Laypeople, and especially women, need to be more valued in their human and spiritual skills and gifts for the life of parishes and dioceses.”

In addition to “preaching” through the way they live their faith in the midst of the world, he said, they can and should collaborate with priests to strengthen parish life, in everything from helping with religious education to preparing engaged couples for marriage.

“They should always be consulted when preparing new pastoral initiatives at every level — local, national and universal,” the pope said. “They must be present in the offices of the dioceses. They can help in the spiritual accompaniment of other lay people and also make their contribution in the formation of seminarians and religious.”

“I would like all of us to have in our hearts and minds this beautiful vision of the church: a church committed to mission and where we unify our forces and walk together to evangelize; a church where what binds us is our being baptized Christians, our belonging to Jesus,” he said.