- Become a Simon of Cyrene for one another, Pope writes in Palm Sunday homily (Vatican Press Office)
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice dean of the College of Cardinals, celebrated Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square on April 13 and read aloud the homily written by Pope Francis.“As we make our own way towards Calvary, let us reflect for a moment on Simon [of Cyrene]’s actions, try to look into his heart, and follow in his footsteps at the side of Jesus,” the Pope wrote. “Let us decide how we are meant to carry our own cross during this Holy Week: if not on our shoulders, in our hearts.”“And not only our cross, but also the cross of those who suffer all around us; perhaps even the cross of some unknown person whom chance—but is it really chance?—has placed on our way,” he concluded. “Let us prepare for the Lord’s paschal mystery by becoming each of us, for one another, a Simon of Cyrene.” - Papal Angelus address: Trust in the Father, as Jesus did (Vatican Press Office)
In his Angelus address for Palm Sunday—published, but not delivered—Pope Francis reflected on Luke 22:14-23:56, the Gospel reading of the day.“We have seen [Christ] walk towards the cross defenseless and humiliated, with the feelings and the heart of a child clinging to his father’s neck, fragile in the flesh, but strong in trusting abandonment, until he fell asleep, in death, in the Father’s arms,” Pope Francis wrote. “These are feelings that the liturgy calls us to contemplate and make our own.”“We all have sorrows, physical or moral, and faith helps us not to give in to despair, not to close ourselves off in bitterness, but to face them, feeling enveloped, like Jesus, by the providential and merciful embrace of the Father,” the Pope continued, before thanking the faithful for their prayers, and asking them to pray for those who suffer. - Vatican tightens rules for Mass stipends (Vatican News)
The Vatican Dicastery for the Clergy has issued a new decree governing the acceptance of stipends for Mass intentions, sharply reducing the use of “collective intentions.” Under the new decree, which takes effect on Easter Sunday, a priest cannot accept multiple stipends for a single Mass—known as a “collective intention”—unless each donor is informed and agrees to the arrangement. “Such consent of the donors can never be presumed,” the decree stresses. The new norm, which clarifies Canon 945 of the Code of Canon Law, confirms that priests may accept offerings for a Mass, but emphasizes that the arrangement should not appear to be a commercial deal, and urges priests to say Mass for an individual’s intention even if the individual is unable to make a donation. - Canadian bishops' leader: confront Catholic politicians on life issues (EWTN InDepth )
Bishop William McGrattan, the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, told an EWTN audience that Prime Minister Mark Carney and other Catholic politicians who support abortion and euthanasia should be rebuked for creating scandal. Asked to respond to Carney’s statement that he “unreservedly” supports a legal right to abortion, Bishop McGrattan replied: I would say that someone who is in politics and claims to be living according to their faith and making such statements, we see the disconnect, and this is unfortunate with many of our politicians. When pressed as to whether Carney should be denied Communion, Bishop McGrattan repled that “those pastoral decisions would have to be made by the local bishop”—in Carney’s case, Archbishop Marcel Damphouuse of Ottawa. But he went on to say: If it is a very challenging, scandalous position, I think, then, that is the responsibility of the bishop, in a pastoral way, to confront and to challenge various politicians in that way. - On Palm Sunday, Pope greets pilgrims in St. Peter's Square (Vatican News)
At the conclusion of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis, seated in a wheelchair, paid a surprise visit to pilgrims.The Pontiff then prayed in St. Peter’s Basilica before the tombs of St. Peter, St. Pius X, and Pope Benedict XV. - Architect Gaudi's cause for beatification advances (Vatican Press Office)
Antonio Gaudi, the Spanish architect who designed the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, is one of several candidates for beatification or canonization whose causes were advanced by Vatican decrees issued on April 14. The decrees from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints included: confirmation of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Eliswa of the Blessed Virgin Mary Vakayil (1831-1913), founder of the Teresian Carmelite order in India; confirmation of the martyrdom of Nazareno Lanciotti (1940—2001), a diocesan priest killed in Brazil; and confirmation of the ‘heroic virtue’ of Gaudi, who was born in 1852 and died in Barcelona in 1926; Angelo Bughetti (1877-1935), an Italian priest; and Petrus Jozef Triest (1760-1835), a Belgian priest. The finding of “heroic virtue” means that these three candidates will be entitled “Venerable” and will be eligible for beatification if a miracle is attributed to their intercession. - Former USCCB official sues gay-dating app for career damage (Cebu Daily News)
Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, who resigned his post as general secretary of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops after revelations that he was a regular user of Grindr, who sued the gay-dating app for damages. In the lawsuit, Burrill’s lawyers claim that because Grindr allowed information to leak, exposing his habitual use, “He was forced to leave his position as general secretary with the USCCB and his upward trajectory to the position of bishop has been permanently derailed.” - Nigerian priest fear rumors of bishop's arrest (ACI Africa)
The Nigeria Catholic Diocesan Priests’ Association has issued a statement of concern about “growing rumors” that the country’s government is planning the arrest of Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of Makurdi. Bishop Anagbe drew the ire of government leaders in March, when he called upon the US to list Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” regarding violations of human rights, because of heightened Islamic violence aimed at Christians. The priests are worried that Bishop Anagbe, who is currently abroad, could be arrested when he returns home. - President Trump issues Holy Week statement (White House)
President Donald Trump has issued a statement recognizing Holy Week as “a time of reflection for Christians to memorialize Jesus’ Crucifixion—and to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for his miraculous Resurrection from the dead.” “During this sacred week, we acknowledge that the glory of Easter Sunday cannot come without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross,” Trump said. The statement promised that Trump and his wife Melania would “join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of heaven for all of humanity.” - Bring the Gospel to all, Pope tells students at Opus Dei-affiliated conference (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis has written a message to participants in UNIV, an Opus Dei-affiliated gathering of university students in Rome.“The UNIV International Conference that you are holding in Rome brings you together during these days in the celebration of a double Jubilee event: the Holy Year 2025 and the centenary of the priestly ordination of St. Josemaría Escrivá,” the Pope wrote. “I join in your joy and accompany you with my prayer, asking the Lord that this time of pilgrimage and fraternal encounter may impel you to bring to all the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”The Pope’s message comes a dozen years after the first general audience of his pontificate, when the Pope offered a similar public greeting to UNIV students. In 2022, the Pontiff altered the status of Opus Dei, the Church’s only personal prelature. The following year, he revised canon law for personal prelatures, declaring them “similar to public clerical associations of pontifical law.” - Papal nuncio in Ukraine: nothing left but turn to God (Vatican News)
After a Russian attack on the city of Sumy killed more than 30 people and left over 100 injured, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, the apostolic nuncio in Ukraine said: “There’s nothing left but to turn to the Lord to defend us, because it seems that no other force is capable of protecting peace and life.” The missile attack struck Sumy in mid-morning on Palm Sunday, hitting the city’s center and killing many people who were headed to Mass. - Sudan is focus of renewed papal peace appeal (Vatican Press Office)
At the conclusion of his written Palm Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis renewed his appeal for peace. His comments focused on Sudan, suffering from - US bishops call for passage of Religious Workforce Protection Act (USCCB)
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the Committee on Migration, called for the passage of the Religious Workforce Protection Act (RWPA).“The RWPA is desperately needed to ensure communities across our nation can continue to enjoy the essential contributions of foreign-born religious workers who lawfully entered the United States on a nonimmigrant religious worker (R-1) visa,” the prelates explained in their letter. “Numbered among them are many Catholic priests, as well as religious sisters and brothers.”“Unfortunately, a significant backlog in the employment-based, fourth preference (EB-4) visa category depended upon by these workers for permanent status in the United States threatens to disrupt the services they provide to Americans of many different faiths, as well as those of no faith at all,” they added. - Papal preacher, in final Lenten sermon, reflects on Ascension (Vatican News)
Father Roberto Pasolini, OFM Cap, the new preacher of the papal household, devoted his final Friday Lenten sermon to the Roman Curia to the Ascension. A more complete summary of his remarks is available in Italian.In an innovation this year, Father Pasolini preached his Lenten sermons in Paul VI Audience Hall, with the faithful invited to attend. His previous Lenten sermons were devoted to Baptism, freedom in the Spirit, and the joy of the Resurrection. - Cardinals tout book on vocations and sexual orientation; Pope Francis writes preface (CWN)
Pope Francis has written the preface to Vocazioni felici: Integrare orientamento sessuale, affetti e relazioni [Happy Vocations: Integrating Sexual Orientation, Affections and Relationships], a new book by Chiara D’Urbano, a psychologist and consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy. - Vatican newspaper continues lionization of Teilhard de Chardin with 5-article tribute (CWN)
L’Osservatore Romano published a two-page, five-article tribute in its April 10 edition to Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), the French Jesuit philosopher and paleontologist whose support for eugenics continued even after the Holocaust. - Jerusalem Patriarchate's CEO offers 'bleak but realistic' assessment of situation in Holy Land (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
Sami El-Yousef, the lay CEO of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, offered what he described as a “relatively bleak but realistic” assessment of the situation in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank (map).“A tight embargo was reimposed [on Gaza] when the ceasefire collapsed on March 18 including water, medicine, food, and electricity, creating the most difficult man-made humanitarian catastrophe in modern history,” he wrote. “Gaza has become uninhabitable to its 2.2 million residents given the level of destruction, with solid plans to empty the strip of its indigenous inhabitants.”Exclaiming that “the silence around the world is deafening,” he spoke of the plight of Gaza’s Christians: Since the beginning of the war, close to 50 lost their lives with 20 killed as a result of direct hostilities and 30 due to medical neglect due to the absence of medicines and functioning hospitals. What remains is around 650 brave souls to whom we will continue to do the impossible to provide for them within our means, as around 450 of them remain as refugees at the Holy Family complex in Gaza city. - Abandon the 'fallacy of nuclear deterrence,' Holy See urges (Holy See Mission)
Addressing the UN Disarmament Commission, a Vatican diplomat said that “at a time when the threat of nuclear conflict is once again alarmingly close, it is imperative to recommit, with renewed urgency, to the path of disarmament.”Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, warned that “any use of these weapons would have catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences. These repercussions would not discriminate between combatants and non-combatants and would cause lasting damage, harming both present and future generations.”“Against this background, the Holy See reiterates its call to all States to overcome the fallacy of nuclear deterrence and to accede to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” he added. - Myanmar air strikes destroy Catholic church (Fides)
A Catholic church in the Chin state of northwestern Myanmar has been destroyed by air strikes by the country’s military. The Church of Christ the King, consecrated less than two years ago, was devastated by bombing on April 8. Only the outer walls remain. The military of Myanmar has carried out repeated air attacks in Chin, where the rebel Chinland Defense Force controls much of the territory. - Pope's health bulletin: continued 'slight' improvements (Vatican News)
The latest Vatican bulletin on the convalescence of Pope Francis reports “further slight respiratory, mobility, and voice-related improvements,” and says that the Pope’s condition is now stable. The Pontiff has resumed meetings with some Vatican officials, including Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the sostituto, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States. (The Vatican bulletin did not name the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.) He met earlier this week with Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla: the first foreign guests to meet with the Pope since his hospitalization. Regarding the Pope’s surprise visit to St. Peter’s basilica on April 10, the press office said that “the Holy Father was taking a walk and decided to prolong it by going to pray in the basilica.” The Pope himself was not walking; he was pushed in a wheelchair by aides. The Vatican said that “it is still too early to discuss the Pope’s participation in Holy Week liturgies, since weather plays a role.” However the press office did announce that Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, the vice-dean of the College of Cardinals, would substitute for the Pope as celebrate of the Mass for Palm Sunday.