Catholic News

  • Pope launches new catechetical series on parables (Vatican Press Office)
    In his weekly catechetical message for April 16, Pope Francis announced the beginning of a new series of reflection on the parables, beginning the series with a meditation on the parable of the Prodigal Son. The Pope said that the younger son wants to be loved. “But love is a precious gift; it must be treated with care. Instead, he squanders it, he disregards it, he does not respect himself.” Then, when he returns to his father, he thinks that it will be impossible to forgive him, and he will “go back to his father’s house to pick up a few “Only those who truly love us can free us from this false view of love,” the Pope continued. The father readily embraces his wayward son. “But it is the eldest son who represents those for whom the parable is told,” the Pope argued. He suggested that the eldest son “wanted to leave, too, but out of fear or duty he stayed there.” The eldest son resented the situation, he continued, and so: “Paradoxically, it is precisely the eldest son who in the end risks being left out, because he does not share his father’s joy.”
  • Cardinal Parolin, in book preface, hails greatness of Chinese civilization (Fides)
    Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, has written the preface to a new book by Father Antonio Sergianni, PIME. The priest is a missionary who became the Curial official “responsible for the affairs of the Catholic Church in China,” according to the Fides news agency.“Father Antonio captures the human greatness of the Chinese people’s and Chinese civilization’s journey through time, helping us grasp it in all its breadth,” Cardinal Parolin wrote in his preface. “A dizzying greatness, a kind of mystery of History, with a continuity spanning more than a thousand years.”Cardinal Parolin added: With the gaze of faith, Father Antonio traces all the historical periods that have marked the encounter between the proclamation of Christ and China ... This encounter, too, can mysteriously contribute to ensuring that the breath and longing for greatness of the Chinese people and all other peoples do not become closed in on themselves and fuel fears with endless wars, but are channeled toward paths of peace that promote encounters and paths of fraternity, of fraternal coexistence between different peoples.
  • UK Supreme Court rules sex is biological (BBC)
    The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has issued a unanimous ruling that sexual identity is defined biologically. The court ruled that “the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.” The case arose from a claim brought by a For Women Scotland, a group formed to “protect and strengthen women and children’s rights,” which had argued that legal protections based on sex should apply only to those people born of that sex. The Scottish government had opposed that claim, arguing that “transgender” men who identify as women should receive the same legal protections.
  • Vatican lists celebrants for Easter vigil, Easter Sunday (Vatican News)
    The Vatican has released the names of the prelates who will substitute for Pope Francis as principal celebrants of the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday services. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the Easter Vigil. Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the archpriest of St. Peter’s basilica, will preside at the morning Mass on Easter Sunday. The Vatican had earlier named celebrants for the other main liturgical ceremonies of Holy Week: Cardinal Domenico Calcago, the retired president of APSA, for the Chrism Mass on the morning of Holy Thursday; Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, the prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, for the Good Friday liturgy in St. Peter’s basilica; Cardinal Baldo Reina, the vicar general of Rome, for the Stations of the Cross.
  • Nicaragua bans processions, public Easter celebrations (CNA)
    The government of Nicaragua has issued a ban on processions during Holy Week and Easter, in its latest crackdown on the Catholic Church. The Ortega regime is reportedly ordering 14,000 police officers to prevent any procession or other public manifestation of faith. The ban will be in place for the third consecutive year.
  • Pope hosts Gemelli Hospital staff at private audience (Vatican News)
    Pope Francis welcomed dozens of doctors and other staff members from the Gemelli Hospital at a private audience on April 16, thanking them for the care that he received during his 38 days of hospitalization. Ironically, when he was discharged from the hospital, the Pontiff received doctors’ orders to avoid group meetings.
  • Vatican diplomat calls for governance of AI, rues lack of progress toward universal connectivity (Holy See Mission)
    Addressing a meeting of the UN’s Commission on Science and Technology for Development, a Vatican diplomat said that “my delegation wishes to express its concerns regarding the significant lack of progress in achieving affordable and meaningful universal connectivity, particularly in the least developed countries.”“Reliable broadband connectivity is not a goal in itself,” explained Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. “In today’s digitalized world, reduced connectivity means, inter alia, a lack of education and employment opportunities, hindered access to social services and limited economic participation.”“My delegation underscores the urgency of governance of AI, given the enormous opportunities and parallel risks presented by this technology,” the prelate added. “Moreover, the concentration of power over mainstream AI applications in the hands of a few companies raises significant ethical concerns.”
  • Phoenix diocese opens new seminary (Our Sunday Visitor)
    The Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona, has announced the opening of a new seminary, in a partnership with the University of Mary. Nazareth Seminary, as it will be known, is the first seminary established to serve the Phoenix diocese; seminarians from Phoenix have to date been trained in other states—most recently at St. John Vianney seminary, administered by the Denver archdiocese. The University of Mary, a Benedictine institution, will be charged with the academic formation of seminarians, and receive undergraduate degrees from that institution. Today 27 seminarians—the highest total that Phoenix has seen—are working toward undergraduate degrees. The graduate programs of Nazareth Seminary will be launched in the next academic year.
  • Federal judge declines to halt Trump administration's immigration-raid policy (Religion Clause)
    A federal judge declined to reinstate a “sensitive locations” policy that limited immigration raids at churches and other houses of worship. The Trump administration rescinded the policy in January.Following the rescission, 27 Christian and Jewish organizations filed suit to halt its enforcement. Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, ruled that the organizations lacked standing to challenge the policy’s recission. No Catholic organizations joined in the lawsuit.
  • Archbishop, other Catholic leaders implore Congress: Protect Medicaid, SNAP, Child Tax Credit (USCCB)
    The chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, joined by the presidents of the Catholic Health Association of the US and Catholic Charities USA, called on members of Congress to protect or expand three programs.“As Congress continues to work towards budget reconciliation legislation, we implore them to protect programs such as Medicaid and SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] and to expand the CTC [Child Tax Credit] to the most vulnerable children,” Archbishop Borys Gudziak, Sister Mary Haddad, and Kerry Alys Robinson said in an April 15 statement.The three Catholic leaders invoked Sacred Scripture: This Lent, we read the call to turn back to the Lord from the Prophet Isaiah, “Make justice your aim.” (Is. 1:17). It is for the sake of justice that the Catholic Church is committed to providing comfort, hope, and relief to those who are poor and suffering ... Tax cuts that largely favor wealthier persons should not be made possible through cuts to healthcare and food for families struggling to make ends meet ... In responding to Isaiah’s call for justice, action is urgently needed: “Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord” (Is. 1:18).”
  • Holy Land's former Custos decries indifference to Gaza's suffering (Vatican News (Italian))
    The Franciscan friar who served as Custos, or provincial, of the Holy Land from 2016 to 2022 decried indifference to the suffering in Gaza.“For more than 18 months the world has seen what is happening in Gaza, but the world does not look and does not find the possibility of stopping the death and suffering of more than two million people,” Father Ibrahim Faltas, OFM, wrote in a reflection, “The Via Dolorosa of Gaza.” He added, “For too long we have been helplessly witnessing inhumane actions in the indifference of those who see the profits of war and allow the fire that destroys people and hospitals, but do not see, pretend not to see and allow inhumane methods of death that exceed, in number and atrocity, the irrational law of revenge.”
  • Situation for Sudan's Catholics is 'dire'; Trump aid cuts, says missionary, are compounding civil war's tragedy (CWN)
    April 15 marked the second anniversary of the beginning of the Sudanese civil war, a conflict to which Pope Francis has drawn frequent attention in his Angelus addresses.
  • US author Marilynne Robinson writes front-page Easter reflection for Vatican newspaper (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
    The Vatican newspaper has published a front-page reflection on the Easter Sunday Gospel reading (John 20:1-9) by Marilynne Robinson, an American novelist and essayist.Robinson, who received a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Gilead, writes that when Mary Magdalene reached Christ’s empty tomb and saw only the linen cloths, she ran to the tell the disciples, assuming that the Romans or the Temple authorities had taken Christ’s Body.“Those linen cloths could have been taken away with the body, or, if the theft had been violent and hasty, they could have fallen to the ground,” continued Robinson, a Congregationalist Christian. “But someone seemed to have stopped for a moment to put things in order, like a courteous guest taking leave of the house of Death.”
  • Vatican sending donation to help Myanmar earthquake victims (Vatican News)
    The Vatican is sending a donation to support emergency workers in Myanmar as the nation recovers from a devastating earthquake. The contribution is being made through the Dicastery for Integral Human Development and the Dicastery of Charity.
  • New revelations bolster Cardinal Becciu's claim of unfair trial (Crux)
    An Italian newspaper’s revelations about messages exchanged by key figures in the Vatican’s “trial of the century” have strengthened the claim of Cardinal Angelo Becciu that the trial was unfair. The newspaper Domani reported on April 14 that it had obtained dozens of online messages between Francesca Chaouqui, who had been convicted earlier in the “Vatileaks” case, and Genovetta Ciferri, a friend of Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, whose testimony was crucial in the conviction of Cardinal Becciu and others. The messages, as reported by Domani, strongly suggest that Chaouqui and Ciferri helped to prepare Perlasca for his testimony, and had inside information about the prosecutor’s plans. During the trial, prosecutor Alessandro Diddi referred to the exchanges, but refused to disclose most of their content—a move bitterly protested by the defense. Raffaele Mincione, who was also convicted in the trial over mishandling of a London real-estate project, has reportedly submitted the exchanges to Magaret Sattherwaite, an American jurist who reports to the UN on issues involving the independence of judiciary systems. Mincione is seeking a UN finding that the Vatican trial did not provide the defendants with due process of law.
  • Pope updates curriculum for Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy (Vatican Press Office)
    Pope Francis has approved a new program of formation for the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the institution that trains clerics for service in Vatican diplomacy. Founded in 1701, and originally serving primarily to train priests from noble families, the Academy continues to train young men for Vatican service abroad. Pope Francis—who has emphasized the pastoral role of Vatican diplomats—explained that this service “is no longer limited to those countries where the presence of the Church has long been grounded in the preaching of the Gospel.” Consequently the revised curriculum will emphasize the diplomatic mission, helping future Vatican representatives to “be respected for their approach to the aspirations and difficulties that an increasingly synodal Church must face.”
  • 'We are not afraid,' Jerusalem Patriarch emphasizes in Palm Sunday message (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
    In his message for the annual Palm Sunday procession, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem said, “We are here today, local Christians and pilgrims, all together, to say strongly that we are not afraid.”“We should not be afraid of those who want to divide, those who want to exclude or those who want to take possession of the soul of this Holy City, because forever and ever Jerusalem will remain a house of prayer for all peoples (Isaiah 56:7), and no one will be able to possess it,” said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM.“Those who belong to Jesus will always continue to be among those who build up and not tear down, who know how to respond to hatred with love and unity, and to rejection oppose acceptance,” he continued. “For Jerusalem is the place of Christ’s death and resurrection, the place of reconciliation, of a love that saves and overcomes the boundaries of pain and death.”
  • Vatican updates on papal health, Holy Week schedule (Vatican News)
    A new Vatican bulletin on the recovery of Pope Francis from double pneumonia again reports “further slight respiratory, mobility, and voice-related improvements.” The April 15 bulletin went on to say the Pontiff has increased his work activities—including the preparation of meditations for the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday in the Coliseum—but had “nothing to add regarding the Pope’s eventual presence or participation in the Holy Week liturgies.” In fact the Pope has delegated several cardinals to preside at liturgies: Cardinal Domenico Calcago, the retired president of APSA, for the Chrism Mass on the morning of Holy Thursday; Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, the prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, for the Good Friday liturgy in St. Peter’s basilica; Cardinal Baldo Reina, the vicar general of Rome, for the Stations of the Cross. The Vatican has not yet announced the celebrant(s) for the Easter Vigil and the Easter Sunday Mass.
  • US abortions rose slightly in 2024 (Washington Times)
    There were just over 1 million abortions performed in the US in 2024, the Guttmacher Institute estimates. That number represents a 1% increase from the previous year. These statistics—provided by the Guttmacher Institute, which was established by Planned Parenthood—do not account for the growing number of abortions that occur at home, through the use of abortion pills. The Guttmacher figures show that the total number of abortions has actually risen since the Dobbs decision, which allowed states to restrict the practice. They also show a 9% decline in the number of women who crossed state lines to procure an abortion.
  • Former nun details allegations of sexual and psychological abuse against Father Rupnik (RNS)
    A former Slovenian nun, “Klara,” spoke in an interview about her allegations of abuse against Father Marko Ivan Rupnik.Klara, who met Father Rupnik in 1980, alleges that Rupnik told her that she would be rejecting Christ if she did not reject a marriage proposal and instead join the Loyola Community, which he co-founded.“He started telling me that I was missing something, that he was—so to speak—my savior, that he would give me what I was missing,” said Klara, a witness in Father Rupnik’s canonical trial. She then recounted her allegations of sexual abuse.