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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As the world braced for Iran to retaliate for the assassination of a Hamas leader who was staying in the Iranian capital, the Vatican secretary of state pleaded with Iran's new president not to escalate the Middle East conflict.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, spoke by telephone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian early Aug. 12, according to Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.

The cardinal, Bruni said, "expressed the Holy See's serious concern about what is happening in the Middle East, reiterating the need to avoid in any way the widening of the very serious ongoing conflict and opting instead for dialogue, negotiation and peace."

Cardinal Parolin congratulated Pezeshkian on his election in July, Bruni said, and also discussed "issues of common concern" with him.

Iran's official news agency, IRNA, had quoted Pezeshkian Aug. 4 as saying the killing July 31 of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was in Tehran for Pezeshkian's inauguration, was a "big mistake" and "will not go unanswered." Israel was assumed to have been behind the killing.

Pope Francis, who consistently has called on Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire, for Hamas to release the hostages it captured in October and for Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, also has been pleading for caution and restraint since the death of Haniyeh and Israel's acknowledged killing a day earlier of Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in an airstrike in a Beirut suburb.

"I am following with great concern what is taking place in the Middle East, and I hope that the conflict, already terribly bloody and violent, will not spread even further," the pope had said Aug. 4.

Three days later the pope said he wanted to "reiterate my appeal to all the parties involved so that the conflict does not spread and there may be an immediate cease-fire on all fronts, starting with Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is dire and unsustainable."

 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God will not judge people by how many university degrees they earned, but by how well they cared for the poor, Pope Francis told a group of priests and religious women.

"The Lord won't ask us, 'What did you study?' 'How many degrees do you have?' 'How many works did you accomplish?' No, no. The Lord will say, 'Come with me because I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was persecuted and you protected me,'" the pope said.

"That is the theme of the final exam on which we will be judged," the pope said Aug. 12 as he met members of the general chapters of the Dominican Missionary Sisters of St. Sixtus, the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary and the Vocationist Fathers.

Pope Francis joked that it was "efficient" of the Vatican to group all the general chapter members together in one audience since it is chapter "season" in Rome.

All four religious orders, he said, were founded to support and educate young people from poor families who would not otherwise receive the education they needed and the guidance necessary to discover their vocations.

The founders of the four orders "saw in them a sign from God for their mission," the pope said. "In the same way, it will also be good for you, especially in these days of community discernment, to keep constantly before your eyes the face of the poor."

"Jesus speaks to us in our neediest brothers and sisters," Pope Francis said, "and in every gift given to them there is a reflection of God's love."

And while the art of spiritual discernment is a specialty of the Vocationist Fathers, the pope told the religious that learning to make decisions by listening to God, to others and to one's own heart is essential for all Christians.

Discernment, he said, involves "prayer, meditation, patient waiting, and then courage and sacrifice" to put into practice that which God, "without ever imposing his will on us, suggests to our hearts."

Having choices is a sign of the freedom God gives to each person, the pope said.

"Our world is in such need of rediscovering the taste and beauty of making a decision, especially regarding definitive choices, which cause a decisive turning point in life, such as the vocational one," he said. Young people need spiritual fathers and mothers to help them understand that "to be free is not to remain eternally at a crossroads, making little 'escapes' to the right and left, without ever really taking a road."

"Being free means betting -- betting! -- on a path, with intelligence and prudence, certainly, but also with boldness and a spirit of renunciation, in order to grow and progress in the dynamic of giving and to be happy and loving according to God's plan," the pope told them.

 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Mary is not a "motionless wax statue," but a disciple who wants to share the good news of Jesus with everyone and reaches out to help and comfort them, Pope Francis said.

Reciting the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter's Square Aug. 15, the feast of the Assumption, the pope entrusted to Mary's care the people around the world experiencing war.

"To Mary, queen of peace, whom we contemplate today in the glory of paradise, I would like once again to entrust the anxieties and sorrows of the people in so many parts of the world who suffer from social tensions and wars. I am thinking particularly of the tormented Ukraine, the Middle East, Palestine, Israel, Sudan and Myanmar."

"May our heavenly mother obtain for all consolation and a future of serenity and concord," the pope said.

As the pope was reciting the prayer, the Vatican press office issued a statement saying that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, the pope's envoy for peace in Ukraine, had a telephone conversation Aug. 14 with Li Hui, the Chinese government's special representative for Eurasian affairs. The two had met in person in Beijing last September to discuss ways China could contribute to peace between Russia and Ukraine.

"During the phone call, great concern was expressed about the situation and the need to foster dialogue between the parties, with appropriate international guarantees for a just and lasting peace," the Vatican statement said. The call took place as Ukraine said its troops were continuing the incursion into Russia, which began Aug. 6.

Writing Aug. 15 in Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference, Cardinal Zuppi said, "There are some signs of peace, solidarity and willingness to dialogue here and there." He pointed to efforts to help children in Ukraine, to free the Hamas hostages in Gaza and the recent exchange of prisoners between the United States and Russia.

But there are also small signs of peace shared whenever one person helps another, he said. "These gestures admittedly are as small as seeds that put down roots that cannot be seen, but they grow."

Pope Francis also told those gathered at the Vatican for the midday prayer that he continues "to follow with concern the very serious humanitarian situation in Gaza," and he called again "for a cease-fire on all fronts, for the release of hostages and for aid to the exhausted population. I encourage everyone to make every effort to ensure that the conflict does not widen and to pursue the avenues of negotiation so that this tragedy ends soon! Let's not forget: War is defeat."

 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians are called to be close to their brothers and sisters in the faith, especially to those who are wounded by "injustice, abuse, hatred," Pope Francis said.

"The whole of humanity, now more than ever, needs the good news of peace, and every Christian is called to announce and share it," he wrote in a letter to the "Nazarat" committee, an Italian organization that supports and prays for persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

After Christians were expelled from Iraq's Nineveh Plain by the Islamic State in 2014, a group in Rimini, Italy, began gathering to pray together for persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Nearly 10 years later, the group continues to pray the Rosary together in Rimini's central square on the 20th of each month, and the movement has spread to other cities throughout Italy.

"With particular attention toward the many brothers and sisters who live in lands struck by terrible conflict, I wanted to join myself to the joy experienced over the course of 10 years from the birth of this Marian prayer initiative," Pope Francis wrote to organization's coordinator.

The pope's letter was initially published on the group's Facebook page and its contents were later published by Vatican News Aug. 16.

In the letter, he prayed that "those who adhere to the moments of prayer, with ardent hearts filled by the Spirit, continue to be promoters of a culture of respect toward all, of welcome and of an inclusive fraternity where each person may taste the bread of communion and the happiness of solidarity."

Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan of Antioch also wrote the group to express his gratitude for their "solidarity and sincere compassion for your brothers and sisters persecuted to the point of martyrdom for Jesus' sake," Vatican News reported.

In another message to the "Nazarat" committee, Franciscan Father Bahjat Elia Karakach, parish priest of the Latin Catholic community of Aleppo, Syria, explained the widespread "indifference and complicit silence" of local leaders regarding Christian persecution, Vatican News reported. The Franciscan said the local church's efforts primarily consist of "encouraging young people to stay in our country and be proactive in contributing to its resurgence."

Beginning on the night of Aug. 6, 2014, a raid by Islamic State soldiers forced some 120,000 Christians to leave their settlements in the Ninevah Plain. The "Nazarat" committee began their monthly prayer for persecuted Christians in the Middle East the following Aug. 20, taking their name from the Islamic State soldiers' practice of marking the homes of Christians with the letter "N," for "Nazarat," which means Christian.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When receiving the Eucharist, Catholics should respond with gratitude and awe that Jesus offers himself as nourishment and salvation, Pope Francis said.

Jesus "becomes true food and true drink," the pope said. "Thank you, Lord Jesus! Let's say, 'Thank you, thank you' with all our heart," he told visitors and pilgrims who joined him in St. Peter's Square Aug. 18 for the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer.

In the day's Gospel reading from St. John, Jesus tells the crowd that he is "the living bread that came down from heaven" and that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood will have eternal life.

Some were surprised by Jesus' words, and not in a good way, the pope said. But for Catholics, "the bread from heaven is a gift that exceeds all expectations."

"The heavenly bread, which comes from the Father, is the Son himself made flesh for us," he said. More than the bread that human beings need to survive, the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist "satisfies the hunger for hope, the hunger for truth and the hunger for salvation that we all feel not in our stomachs, but in our hearts."

"Every one of us needs the Eucharist," Pope Francis said.

"He saves us, nourishing our lives with his own, and he will do this forever," the pope said. "And it is thanks to him that we can live in communion with God and with each other."

The Eucharist, he said, is not "something magical, no. It is not something that will immediately solve all problems, but it is the very body of Christ that gives hope to the poor and overcomes the arrogance of those who gorge themselves at their expense."

Pope Francis asked Catholics to ponder two questions: "Do I hunger and thirst for salvation, not just for myself, but for all my brothers and sisters? When I receive the Eucharist, which is the miracle of mercy, do I stand in awe before the body of the Lord, who died and rose again for us?"

 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Capital punishment promotes a deadly attitude of revenge and denies the possibility of change in the lives of incarcerated people, Pope Francis said.

"The death penalty is in no way the solution to the violence that can strike innocent people," the pope wrote in the preface to a new book on prison chaplaincy.

Capital executions, "far from bringing justice, fuel a sense of revenge that becomes a dangerous poison for the body of our civil societies," the pope wrote. And rather than continue the cycle of violence, governments "should focus on allowing prisoners the opportunity to truly change their lives, rather than investing money and resources in their execution, as if they were human beings no longer worthy of living and to be disposed of."

The book featuring the pope's preface, titled "A Christian on Death Row," shares the experiences of Dale Recinella, a lay Catholic prison chaplain and licensed attorney who, along with his wife, has accompanied people on death row and in solitary confinement in Florida prisons since 1998. The book, published by the Vatican publishing house, was set to go on sale Aug. 27.

Pope Francis called Recinella's work a "living and passionate witness to God's school of infinite mercy," and he said it is a "great gift to the church and to society in the United States."

In light of the upcoming Holy Year 2025, the pope wrote, Catholics should "collectively call for the abolition of the death penalty."

"As the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy taught us, we must never think that there could be a sin, a mistake, or an action of ours that distances us permanently from the Lord. His heart has already been crucified for us," he wrote. "And God can only forgive us."

In 2018, the pope formally changed the Catechism of the Catholic Church to unambiguously oppose the death penalty. While the previous language allowed for the death penalty in extreme cases, the revised entry in the catechism calls the death penalty "inadmissible" and states that the church "works for determination for its abolition worldwide."

In his preface, Pope Francis said that God's infinite mercy toward each person "can also be scandalous," noting the many criticisms and rejections Recinella has faced for his prison ministry. "But is it not true that Jesus welcomed in His embrace a thief condemned to death?" the pope asked.

"Even the most heinous of our sins does not mar our identity in God's eyes: we remain His children, loved by Him, protected by Him and considered precious."

Pope Francis explained that in one loving gaze, "like that of Christ on the cross," incarcerated people "may find a new meaning in their lives and indeed, in their deaths."

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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs has released the results of a recent diocesan survey it conducted on parishes and Hispanic/Latino ministry. The survey aligns with the launch of the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry and serves as a baseline for implementing it as a 10-year plan.

The survey featured three questions regarding the number of parishes in each diocese, the number of parishes offering Mass in Spanish, and the number of parishes with a Hispanic/Latino presence or ministry without a Mass celebrated in Spanish. The data was self-reported by the dioceses.

The summary of the findings show:

• 175 surveys were completed, representing 100% of the Latin Catholic (arch)dioceses in the United States*
• The (arch)dioceses reported a total of 16,279 parishes, with 4,479 offering the Sunday Mass in Spanish.
• 2,760 parishes have a Hispanic/Latino presence or ministry, but do not currently offer Mass in Spanish.
• 99% of the surveyed dioceses have multiple parishes offering Mass in Spanish.

The survey also highlighted the leadership in Hispanic/Latino ministry at the diocesan level, with 47% of respondents being either directors or coordinators of Hispanic/Latino ministry, while another 35% of respondents held positions in offices dedicated to cultural diversity, faith formation, and catechesis, signaling that there are other diocesan offices engaged in, or overseeing Hispanic/Latino ministry. The subcommittee reads this data point to show the correlation of a robust diocesan structure and a vibrant ministry at the parish level.

Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, chairman of the USCCB's Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs welcomed the results: "Surveys like this are vital to understand and address the response of the Church to the needs and aspirations of our Hispanic/Latino communities. There are common obstacles that dioceses face when engaging in Hispanic/Latino ministry, such as bilingual priests, or limited resources. In a practical way, this survey helps to measure our work and determine how we can continue serving this thriving part of our Church and the importance of ongoing ministry to the needs of our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters."

Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, assistant director of Hispanic Affairs under the USCCB's Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church commended the dioceses for their participation in the survey, stating, "The high participation rate reflects the dedication of our dioceses to Hispanic and Latino communities. It is heartening to see such a widespread commitment to build a more integrated and united Catholic Church in the United States."

The results of the survey, and additional information about the work of the USCCB Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs may be found at: Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs USCCB.

The survey results are also available in Spanish: Diocesan Survey (Edición en Español). 

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* The survey did not include the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, or the Eastern Catholic Archeparchies and Eparchies in the United States.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cleansed from original sin by baptism, Christians are called to spread the "good fragrance of Christ" throughout the world by their kind actions and joyful attitudes, Pope Francis said.

At his weekly general audience Aug. 21, the pope said Jesus was "anointed with the Holy Spirit" when he was baptized in the River Jordan, whereas Old Testament kings, prophets and priests were anointed with perfumed oil.

Just as those leaders received the oil on their heads, "Christ is the head, our high priest, the Holy Spirit is our perfumed oil and the church is the body of Christ in which it spreads," he told thousands of people who had joined him for the gathering in the Vatican audience hall.

During the chrism Mass each year, he said, bishops bless the sacred oils used in baptisms and confirmations by praying that recipients of the oils may "be made fragrant with the innocence of a life pleasing to you."

He related the prayer to a passage from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians: "For we are the aroma of Christ for God."

"We know that unfortunately, sometimes Christians do not spread the fragrance of Christ, but the bad odor of their own sin," the pope said.

"Let us never forget: Sin distances us from Jesus; it makes us bad oil," he added. "And the devil -- do not forget this -- usually enters through one's pockets. Be aware."

Sin, however, "should not distract us from the commitment of realizing, as far as we are able and each in their own environment, this sublime vocation of being the good fragrance of Christ in the world," Pope Francis said. Referencing St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians, the pope said that the "fragrance of Christ emanates from the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."

"If we strive to cultivate these fruits, then, without our being aware of it, someone will notice some of the fragrance of the Spirit of Christ around us," he said.

After his main talk, Pope Francis told his guests that Aug. 21 is the feast of St. Pius X, patron of catechists, and noted that many places celebrate catechists on that date to commemorate the saint. In 1905, Pope Pius mandated all parishes to teach catechism classes, and he compiled a simple, brief catechism, known as "The Catechism of Pius X," which was used around the world for instructional purposes.

"Let us think of our catechists who advance so much work and who are, in many places in the world, the first to carry forward the faith," Pope Francis said. "Let us pray for catechists today that the Lord may make them courageous and that they may continue."

The pope also asked attendees at his audience to pray for peace in Ukraine, "which suffers so much," as well as in Myanmar, South Sudan, Congo, Palestine and Israel.

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ROME (CNS) -- Very much on the beaten path of tourists and pilgrims to Rome, a frescoed ode to the rosary is visited by as few as a dozen people a day.

The cloister of the Dominican friars at the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva was built in the mid-1500s, and the frescoes are believed to be from the early 1600s, but it is the church next door that draws the visitors.

Hundreds of people go in and out of the basilica each day for Mass or confession or to pray at the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena. They go to see Michelangelo's statue of the risen Christ and Filippino Lippi's frescoed chapel in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas. At the very least, on their way to the Pantheon nearby, they stop outside to see the elephant statue designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

But they miss the door to the left of the basilica leading to the highly decorated cloister, which is a covered walkway surrounding a garden that boasts: a fountain; fruit trees, including one with peaches ripening in the sun; baskets of petunias; a pair of olive trees; oleander and geranium bushes; a blooming hibiscus; and two palm trees towering over the five-story convent and offices.

The first fresco visitors see upon entering the cloister is a large depiction of St. Dominic with Our Lady of the Rosary and "the tree of the 15 mysteries of the rosary." Dominican Father Daniel Als said members of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary paid for the frescoes at the beginning of the 17th century, and so instead of the traditional symbolism of a holy founder at the base of a "family tree" depicting the other orders his charism inspired, the cloister fresco depicts the mysteries of the rosary as the branches of a tree growing out of St. Dominic.

The paintings reflect a pious tradition that says Mary appeared to St. Dominic in 1214 and gave him the rosary, asking him to teach it to others as part of the battle against heresy.

Farther into the cloister, the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of the rosary are each given their own lunette or panel with the Annunciation leading the way. Another series of frescoes illustrate scenes from the life of St. Thomas Aquinas, who was a Dominican.

Father Als, one of the 20 friars who lives in the international community at the convent, said an average of 10 to 20 visitors enter each day with numbers increasing a bit on Saturdays. The friars opened the cloister to the public a year ago, but Rome newspapers still refer to it as a "hidden" gem.

Sitting in the porter's lodge on a bright August morning, Father Als buzzes visitors in, and he wishes them a good day as they leave. He doesn't say anything about the little metal box on the counter, though some visitors seem to know instinctively that it is a place for donations.

Sometimes there are more cats in the cloister than pilgrims. Three cat carriers -- minus their doors -- sit in the northeast corner of the cloister next to bowls of water and food. But on the morning of Aug. 20, the cats are in the southeast corner, sleeping on the green cushions of the chairs the friars use when taking a bit of cool air in the evening.

 

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 23, 2024 / 18:37 pm (CNA).

A Catholic pregnancy center in Chicago called "Aid for Women" was vandalized in the early morning hours after the closing of the Democratic National Convention.

No one was present at the center at the time of the incident. Police have been contacted and are investigating the incident as a violation of the Freedom of Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, according to Mary FioRito, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a spokesperson for Aid for Women.

Aid for Women is a non-profit which according to its website was "founded on the faith and teachings of the Catholic Church." 

The nonprofit operates five pregnancy centers and two maternity homes in the Chicago area. The group partners with the Archdiocese of Chicago and offers a range of services including ultrasounds, abortion pill reversal medications, counseling, and material aid.

FioRito, who has been a regular volunteer at Aid for Women for over two decades, told CNA that the incident occurred in north Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood at 3 a.m. Friday morning, hours after the DNC's final closing.

The act of vandalism was caught on the center's security camera. The footage has now been turned over to police.

According to FioRito, four vandals splattered red paint and painted the words "fake clinic" and "the dead babies are in Gaza" on the center's entrance. FioRito said that the vandals also cemented the center's doors shut, forcing staff to cancel all appointments on Friday — which she said were with about a dozen women.

As of Friday afternoon, the center's doors were still cemented shut and there is no timeline on when it will be able to reopen. FioRito said that this means the Aid for Women pregnancy center may have to cancel its appointments or ask women to visit another location on Saturday, which FioRito said is their busiest day.

FioRito said that when she saw the pictures of the damage to the center she was "horrified."  

Addressing the vandals she said: "You're not hurting us; you're hurting these women."

"These are working-class women. A lot of stuff for them is a struggle. Why would you do this to women who already are facing so many obstacles? It baffles me," she said.

The act of vandalism was caught on the center's security camera. The footage has now been turned over to police.

According to FioRito, there was an unusually low police presence in the neighborhood at the time of the incident due to the DNC which took place in another part of town.  

FioRito lamented that pregnancy centers have borne the brunt of anti-abortion anger since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

"It's so strange to me that pregnancy centers are somehow the collateral damage of all this anger over Roe being overturned because the pregnancy centers didn't have anything to do with it," she said. "Pregnancy centers are largely apolitical … they are not political advocates, they are not legal advocates, they simply help women."

Edgewater is an urban neighborhood as culturally diverse and "not a wealthy neighborhood."

"Many of the women we serve are not women of means," she said. "Pregnancy is hard enough. You don't need something like this layered on top of it, making your life even harder."

"If the people who did this were intending to hurt the pro-life movement or get back at the pro-life movement for Dobbs, all they're really hurting is poor women when they do something like this," said FioRito.

The DNC took place at Chicago's United Center this week, Aug. 19-22. Several of the Democratic speakers, including Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, highlighted abortion as a central issue in the 2024 election and condemned pro-life attempts to restrict abortion.

A local Planned Parenthood operated a free mobile abortion clinic just outside the convention. Planned Parenthood Great Rivers reported on Thursday that the mobile clinic had provided nine vasectomies and eight chemical abortions.

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