Catholic News

  • Four German bishops refuse involvement in Synodal Committee (Die Tagespost)
    Four German Catholic bishops have announced that they will not participate in the work of a Synodal Committee that has been established by the episcopal conference despite opposition from the Vatican. Cardinal Rainer Woelki of Cologne, and Bishops Gregor Maria Hanke of Eichstatt, Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, and Stefan Oster of Passau joined in a statement that the proposed committee “cannot claim any ecclesiastical competence” over the Church in Germany, and will have no authority to direct diocesan bishops “to adopte new forms of leadership or new approaches in teaching and morality.”
  • Cardinal Kasper says Pope Benedict, Cardinal Sarah blocked change on celibacy (CWN)
    Cardinal Walter Kasper has suggested that Pope Francis was prepared to ease the discipline of priestly celibacy, but decided against the move after a book published by Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah rallied opposition to the change.
  • Pope Leo, Curial cardinals recall Pope Francis, 1 month after his death (Vatican News)
  • Vatican News warns against fraudulent video of Pope Leo (Vatican News)
    The Vatican News service has warned that a video circulating on the internet, which appears to show Pope Leo XIV praising President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso, is actually a fraud. The 36-minute video, which purports to show a speech by the Pontiff praising the African leader, was generated with the help of artificial intelligence.
  • Pope appoints woman religious as secretary of Dicastery for Religious (Vatican Press Office)
    In his first appointment to the leadership of the Roman Curia, Pope Leo XIV has named Sister Tiziana Merletti as secretary of the Dicastery for Religious. Sister Merletti—an Italian Francisan, who has been teaching canon law at the Pontifical Antonianum University—will serve under the leadership of Sister Simona Brambilla, the prefect of the dicastery, who was appointed in January as the first woman ever to head an office of the Roman Curia.
  • Bipartisan support for legislation to speed renewal of visas for priests, ministers (CatholicVote)
    Lawmakers from both major American political parties have joined in sponsoring new legislation that would help foreign-born clerics renew their visas. The Religious Workforce Protection Act is designed to relieve an enormous backlog of visa applications, which has forced many foreign-born priests and ministers to leave the US while waiting for the renewal of their visas.
  • Papal video message encourages efforts for 'ecological, social, and environmental justice' (Vatican Press Office)
    In a brief video message, Pope Francis encouraged the Red de Universidades para el Cuidado de la Casa Común. (Network of Universities for the Care of the Common Home) in its efforts to promote “ecological, social, and environmental justice.” “I know you are about to carry out synodal work of discernment in preparation for COP30,” said Pope Leo said, referring to the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference. “You will reflect together on a possible remission of the public debt and of the ecological debt, a proposal that Pope Francis had suggested in his message for the World Day of Peace,” Pope Leo continued. “And in this jubilee year, a year of hope, this message is so important.”
  • USCCB president expresses 'grave concerns' about federal budget proposal, warns of 'real and substantial harms' (USCCB)
  • Vatican diplomat welcomes WHO pandemic agreement, emphasizes health care is human right (CWN)
    Addressing the 78th World Health Assembly, a leading Vatican diplomat said on May 21 that “the right to health is a fundamental human right, based on the inherent God given dignity of every person,” and that “health care is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all.”
  • Recalling Nicaea's anniversary, Cardinal Pizzaballa calls for bold, clear proclamation of faith in Christ (CWN)
    Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, emphasized the centrality of the Nicene Creed as he recalled the 1700th anniversary of the opening of the First Council of Nicaea, the first of the 21 ecumenical councils recognized by the Catholic Church.
  • Pope lauds work of Pontifical Mission Societies (Vatican News)
    Pope Leo XIV met on May 22 with representatives of the Pontifical Mission Societies, and thanked them for their work—“which is indispensable to the Church’s mission of evangelization, as I can personally attest from my years of pastoral ministry in Peru.”
  • Federal court rules employees not required to accommodate workers' abortions (AP)
    A federal judge in Louisiana has struck down a ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which had required employers to provide workers with time off to obtain abortions. The EEOC had ruled that the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2022. requiring employers to accommodate the medical needs of pregnant women, included coverage of abortion. The Trump administration had challenged that ruling.
  • Vatican advances beatification cause of missionaries killed in Ecuador (Vatican Press Office)
    The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has confirmed the “offering of life” of two missionaries who were killed in Ecuador by the indigenous Huaorani people to whom they were ministering. Bishop Alejandro Labaka Ugarte, a Spanish Capuchin who served as apostolic vicar of Aguaricio, Ecuador, and died in Tiguino, Ecuador, in July 1987; and Sister Sister Inés Arango, a Capuchin religious from Colombian, who also died in Tiguino on the same day. The dicastery also attested to the heroic virtue of Matteo Makil (1851—1914), the first apostolic vicar of Kottayam, India.
  • Singapore cardinal: new Pontiff will bring clarity (Rorate Caeli)
    Cardinal William Goh of Singapore predicts that Pope Leo XIV “will be able to bring greater clarity on doctrine so that the Left and the Right don’t argue with each other.” “If we are not clear what the teaching of the Church is, then it is very difficult to work together in unity,” Cardinal Goh remarked in an interview with Bussola Quotidiana. Cardinal Goh also said that Pope Leo might take a different approach to building an “inclusive” Church. In some cases, he explained, “being truly inclusive means saying, “Yes, we understand that you are struggling. You are not able to live the gospel. We will help you, we will walk with you.” On one particular issue of inclusivity, the cardinal said: “I personally believe that there is no reason to stop those people who prefer the Tridentine Mass.”
  • Invoking Our Lady of Fátima, Pope Leo encourages daily Rosary for peace (CWN)
    During his May 13 general audience, Pope Leo XIV invoked the Blessed Virgin Mary’s words at Fátima as he called upon the faithful to pray the Rosary daily for peace.
  • Augustinian colleague describes leadership style of Pope Leo (CNA)
    Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, an Augustinian who has worked closely with Pope Leo, describes the new Pope’s working style as communal and synodal. “He’s not a person who governs from his office; he goes out to meet people,” says Bishop Marin, who is now the undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops. He also said that Pope Leo is a son of Vatican II: He embraces its theological development, above all, the ecclesiology of the constitution Lumen Gentium, which is a point of reference for synodality—although the term does not appear in it.
  • French bishop resigns from 2nd see, nearly 300 miles from his diocese (CWN)
    Pope Leo has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Hervé Giraud of Viviers, France, from the office of bishop of the Territorial Prelature of the Mission de France at Pontigny. The two sees are nearly 300 miles apart.
  • Ecumenical Patriarchate: Pope Leo to visit Turkey in November (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America)
    The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has announced that Pope Leo XIV will visit Nicaea in November to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council there. The announcement, unconfirmed by the Vatican, followed a May 19 meeting between Pope Leo and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches. The Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch “agreed to meet together in Nicaea toward the end of November, near the Feast of Saint Andrew, in order to commemorate together the 1,700th anniversary,” according to the announcement. “During this historic visit, Pope Leo may also visit the headquarters of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, at the Phanar in Constantinople.” Both Nicaea and the Phanar are located in Turkey. The nation of 84.1 million (map) is 98% Muslim.
  • Over 50 ecumenical, interreligious organizations sent representatives to Pope Leo's inaugural Mass (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
    The Vatican newspaper has published a list of the representatives of the over 150 nations and international organizations that sent representatives to the May 18 Mass for the beginning of Pope Leo’s pontificate. Topping the list are the members of the delegations of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, other Orthodox churches, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. (The Oriental Orthodox churches ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451.)
  • Vice President JD Vance discusses his faith, Pope Leo (New York Times)
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