Pope Francis meets with members of a pilgrimage sponsored by the Scandinavian Bishops’ Conference on Feb. 3, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 3, 2025 / 14:20 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis said Monday that Blessed Carlo Acutis shows young people that “the fullness of life” in today’s world is found in following Jesus.

Speaking to Catholic pilgrims from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland on Feb. 3, the pope shared a special message for young people, pointing to the soon-to-be canonized Acutis as an example of joyful discipleship.

“As part of this year’s events, on 27 April we will celebrate the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis,” Francis said. “This young saint of and for our times shows you, and all of us, how possible it is in today’s world for young people to follow Jesus, share his teachings with others, and so find the fullness of life in joy, freedom, and holiness.”

Pope Francis addresses a pilgrimage sponsored by the Scandinavian Bishops’ Conference on Feb. 3, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

The pope then urged young Catholics to embrace their role in the Church, quoting his apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit: “May the Holy Spirit urge you on … The Church needs your momentum, your intuitions, your faith. We need them!” 

The papal audience with the pilgrimage group organized by the Nordic bishops’ conference is one of many such audiences for the 88-year-old pope this year as pilgrims travel to Rome from across the globe for the 2025 Jubilee Year.

Reflecting on the theme of the jubilee — “Pilgrims of Hope” — Pope Francis encouraged the Scandinavian Catholics to be strengthened in their faith.

“It is my prayer, then, that your hope will be strengthened during these days,” he said. “You are surely already aware of signs of hope in your home countries, for the Church in your lands, while small, is growing in numbers.”

Despite a high level of secularization, the Catholic Church in the Nordic countries continues to expand, experiencing an annual 2% growth due to immigration, conversions, and flourishing communities, according to the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner. 

The pope attributed this increase to God’s providence. 

“It always grows,” he said. “We can thank Almighty God that the seeds of faith planted and watered there by generations of persevering pastors and people are bearing fruit. Nor should this surprise us, because God is always faithful to his promises!”

The pope also reminded the pilgrims that their journey did not end in Rome but was part of a lifelong commitment to discipleship and evangelization.

“As you visit the various holy sites in the Eternal City, especially the tombs of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, I also pray that your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your awareness of belonging to him and to one another in the communion of the Church, will be nourished and deepened,” he said.

He urged the pilgrims to bring the spirit of their journey back home, emphasizing that faith is meant to be shared with others.

“A pilgrimage does not end but shifts its focus to the daily ‘pilgrimage of discipleship’ and the call to persevere in the task of evangelization,” he said. “In this regard, I would encourage your vibrant Catholic communities to cooperate with your fellow Christians, for in these challenging times, scarred by war in Europe and around the world, how much our human family needs a unified witness to the reconciliation, healing, and peace that can come only from God.”

“There can be no greater ‘work’ than transmitting the saving message of the Gospel to others, and we are called to do this especially for those on the margins,” Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis speaks at the Children’s Rights Summit on Feb. 3, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 3, 2025 / 12:20 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis received a long round of applause at a Vatican summit on Monday after announcing he intends to make children the theme of a new papal document.

Titled “Love Them and Protect Them,” the Feb. 2–3 summit with public- and private-sector leaders from around the world includes panels on the child’s right to resources, to education, to food and health care, to family, to free time, and to live free from violence.

“To give continuity to this commitment and promote it throughout the Church, I plan to prepare a letter, an exhortation dedicated to children,” Pope Francis said on Feb. 3 in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.

World leaders participate along with Pope Francis at the Children’s Rights Summit on Feb. 3, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

The pontiff participated in most of the first day of the summit, at which he gave an opening speech on the importance of protecting children at the margins of society, including those living in war zones, unaccompanied minors, and the unborn.

“The halls of the Apostolic Palace today have become an open observatory on the reality of childhood throughout the world, a childhood that is unfortunately often wounded, exploited, denied,” he said in his remarks at the closing of Day 2 of the summit.

“Your presence, your experience, and your compassion have given rise to an observatory and, above all, to a laboratory,” he added.

“In different thematic groups you have drawn up proposals for the protection of children’s rights, considering them not as numbers but as faces. All this gives glory to God, and to him we entrust it, that his Holy Spirit may make it fruitful and fertile.”

“Children look to us, children look to us to see how we send life forward,” the Holy Father continued.

Speakers at the two-day summit include Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and author and Holocaust survivor Edith Bruck.

Filipino Cardinal Pablo Virgilio Siongco David was created a cardinal by Pope Francis during the consistory at St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 7, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Feb 3, 2025 / 11:50 am (CNA).

After a U.S abuse watchdog slammed the Philippines’ bishops for not taking action against clergy accused of sexual abuse, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David urged Filipino Catholics to report priests accused of misconduct to both Church and civil authorities.

Days after BishopsAccountability.org on Jan. 29 launched its Philippines database, which lists 82 priests and brothers publicly accused of abusing minors, David insisted the country’s Catholics must report “erring priests.” 

“Please don’t hesitate to file complaints against abusive clerics whether in the civil or Church forums,” David insisted in a Jan. 31 statement. “[Pope Francis] has been insistent on putting up structures of check and balance and accountability to prevent past mistakes from happening again.”

David conceded the Church is “not always successful” in keeping accused clergy accountable and needs “the help and participation of our laypeople, including our professional journalists” to protect minors and vulnerable adults from abuse. 

The database also includes allegations about Filipino priests who served in the U.S. and priests from other countries — the United States, Ireland, and Australia — who served in the Philippines.

Regarding U.S. priests, David said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is “at a loss” on how to take appropriate action against suspended clergy attempting to engage in active ministry or who may be in hiding in the country.

“It’s important that the local bishops to whom they are incardinated in the States should inform us bishops in the Philippines about such cases,” the cardinal said. 

The Philippine Daily Inquirer on Jan. 31 reported two bishops from the Visayas region issued separate statements addressing accusations leveled against clergy belonging to their dioceses.

Archbishop Jose Palma said most of the men mentioned by BishopsAccountability.org linked to the Archdiocese of Cebu had been dismissed from service or were dead. He noted three clergy had been reintegrated into the archdiocese after the required legal and canonical processes, reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said two priests called out by the U.S. abuse watchdog connected to the Diocese of San Carlos “are still under ecclesiastical review” by the diocesan safeguarding office.

“The diocese is steadfastly committed to cooperating with civil authorities and the Philippine courts to ensure a fair and just process,” Alminaza said in a statement last week.

Under Pope Francis, the Vatican has set up institutional processes and structures, including the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, to accompany and assist local Churches’ safeguarding ministries.

Following Rome’s mandate, the CBCP established the Office on the Protection of Minors, headed by Archbishop Florentino Lavarias. Each Philippine diocese is required to have a diocesan safeguarding office supervised by the local bishop.

Queen Rania Al Abdullah speaks along with other world leaders at the Children’s Rights Summit on Feb. 3, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 3, 2025 / 09:13 am (CNA).

Pope Francis and leaders from around the world are meeting at the Vatican this week to discuss the rights of children, including the smallest and most defenseless children — the unborn.

The pontiff opened the summit on Feb. 3 with a reflection on the many ways children are oppressed today, including living through war, poverty, as undocumented migrants, and without access to adequate food, education, and health care.

World leaders participate along with Pope Francis at the Children’s Rights Summit on Feb. 3, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

In his address to prominent leaders in the private and public sectors, he also highlighted how children are harmed through abortion, promoted by a “throwaway culture of waste and profit, in which everything is bought and sold without respect or care for life, especially when that life is small and defenseless.”

“In the name of this throwaway mentality, in which the human being becomes all-powerful, unborn life is sacrificed through the murderous practice of abortion,” Francis said. “Abortion suppresses the life of children and cuts off the source of hope for the whole of society.”

The Feb. 2–3 summit, titled “Love Them and Protect Them,” includes panels on the child’s right to resources, to education, to food and health care, to family, to free time, and to live free from violence.

Summit speakers include Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and author and Holocaust survivor Edith Bruck.

Italian Sen. Liliana Segre speaks to world leaders at the Children’s Rights Summit on Feb. 3, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

Cardinal Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states, and other Vatican officials are chairing the panels.

Speaking in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, Pope Francis also drew attention Monday to his concern that young people, themselves a sign of hope, are struggling to find hope in today’s world.

“Increasingly, those who have their whole life ahead of them are unable to approach it with optimism and confidence,” he said, pointing out the damage of “pathological individualism” in developed countries.

Pope Francis also spoke about the growing phenomenon in immigration of unaccompanied minors — including “the ‘indocumentados’ [undocumented] children at the border of the United States, those first victims of that exodus of despair and hope made by the thousands of people coming from the south toward the United States of America, and many others.”

Before the start of the summit on Monday, Pope Francis met briefly with a group of children from different countries who gave him a letter saying “together with you we want to cleanse the world of bad things, color it with friendship and respect, and help you build a beautiful future for everyone!”

The pontiff will also deliver the summit’s closing remarks on the afternoon of Feb. 3.

Pope Francis delivers his Angelus address from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 2, 2025, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Feb 2, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

In a profound reflection delivered during Sunday’s Angelus prayer, Pope Francis emphasized how Jesus Christ reveals the ultimate criterion by which all history is judged: love.

“Whoever loves lives, whoever hates dies,” the pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

The Holy Father also renewed his urgent appeal for peace in conflict zones worldwide, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, where armed groups continue to terrorize communities and millions have been displaced. “War destroys, devastates everything, takes lives, and leads to a disregard for life itself,” he said, adding that “war is always a defeat.”

Drawing from the Gospel of Luke (2:22-40), which recounts Mary and Joseph bringing the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, Pope Francis focused his catechesis on three significant aspects of Christ revealed through Simeon’s prophecy: salvation, light, and a sign of contradiction.

“God is present among his people — not because he dwells within four walls, but because he lives as a man among men,” Francis explained, highlighting the radical newness of this moment in salvation history.

The pope noted how Mary and Joseph were “deeply moved and astonished” as Simeon identified Jesus through these three significant words: salvation, light, and a sign of contradiction.

Explaining the first aspect, Francis emphasized that Jesus embodies universal salvation, calling it “an awe-inspiring truth emphasizing that God’s redemptive love is fully embodied in one person.”

Regarding the second characteristic, the pope described how Jesus illuminates the world “much like the rising sun, dispelling the darkness of suffering, evil, and death” that continues to afflict humanity today.

Finally, addressing Jesus as a sign of contradiction, Francis explained how Christ reveals the deeper truths of human hearts, with history ultimately judged by the criterion of love.

Concluding his reflection, the pope encouraged the faithful to examine their spiritual expectations, asking: “What am I waiting for in my life? What is my greatest hope? Does my heart desire to see the face of the Lord?”

He then invited all to pray together that Mary “may accompany us through the lights and shadows of history on our journey to the Lord.”

Pope Francis speaks during his general audience on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Feb 1, 2025 / 16:09 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis urged Ukrainian youth on Saturday to persist in dialogue and patriotism while acknowledging the profound challenges of forgiveness amid ongoing warfare during a virtual meeting with young people gathered in Kyiv’s Cathedral of the Resurrection.

The encounter, which connected the pope with approximately 250 young Ukrainians in Kyiv and other locations across Europe and the Americas, began with a moment of prayer followed by testimonies about the impacts of war on their lives and communities.

“War brings famine, war kills,” the pope told participants, encouraging them to be patriots and to “love your homeland, guard your homeland.” He added that “being patriots” represents “the mysticism of young Ukrainians today,” reported ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner.

The meeting carried added significance as Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk warned that air raid sirens could force participants into underground shelters at any moment. Despite a recent airstrike, restored power and internet services allowed the meeting to proceed.

Francis recalled the story of Oleksandr, a young soldier whose Gospel book and rosary the pope now keeps “as relics” on his desk. While encouraging dreams of future peace, the pontiff emphasized that “peace is built through dialogue — never tire of dialogue,” even when challenging.

Addressing a specific question about forgiveness when war leaves deep wounds, the pope acknowledged it as “one of the most difficult things” while sharing his own perspective: “I am helped by this phrase: I must forgive as I have been forgiven. Each of us must look in our own life at how we have been forgiven.”

The virtual audience included moving testimonies, including from a 17-year-old girl whose brother was wounded and surrounded by enemies but later freed and an 18-year-old from Kharkiv who spoke of fallen comrades and destroyed cities.

Before imparting his blessing, Pope Francis made a final plea to remember Ukraine’s young heroes. He encouraged perseverance: “We have all made mistakes, but when one falls, they must get back up and keep moving forward.”

Marco Mancini contributed to this report.

The exhibition “En Route” at the Vatican Apostolic Library features historical artifacts and contemporary artistic interpretations. / Credit: Iacopo Scaramuzzi

CNA Newsroom, Feb 1, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

As pilgrims make their way to Rome during the 2025 Jubilee Year, the Vatican Apostolic Library announced a new exhibition connecting historical journeys to modern pilgrimages through a collection of rare 19th-century travel documents and contemporary artistic interpretations.

Opening to the public Feb. 15, the “En Route” exhibition represents the sixth installment in the library’s ongoing dialogue between its historical patrimony and contemporary art, initiated in 2021.

“There is, of course, a connection to the jubilee, because the jubilee involves travel — pilgrims come, and then they depart. So, within the jubilee, the theme of travel is present,” Don Giacomo Cardinali, commissioner of the Exhibition Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Library, told EWTN News.

“Each person interprets this theme according to their own nature, and we have interpreted it according to the nature of the library, which is a place of research, scientific activity, encounter, and culture.”

The exhibition’s title comes from an unusual newspaper series published by French journalists Lucien Leroy and Henri Papillaud. They funded their worldwide journey by printing editions in various cities they visited. A significant portion of the exhibition features the collection of Italian diplomat Cesare Poma (1862–1932), comprising approximately 1,200 newspapers from remote regions printed in various languages across five continents.

Three contemporary artists have been commissioned to interpret these historical materials.

Lorenzo Jovanotti Cherubini, a renowned Italian singer and globe-trotter, presents his travel instruments, musical equipment, drawings, and a specially created travel journal with accompanying soundscape.

Artist Kristjana S. Williams worked directly with Vatican archives to create new artworks. “She grew up in Iceland, it’s a black-and-white monochromatic landscape and she dreamt of exotic shores as she grew up. Having access to Vatican archives and being able to choose pieces to illustrate these stories was absolutely incredible for designers,” Rachel Bushell, public relations director at Kristjana S. Williams Studio, told EWTN News.

A map created by Icelandic artist Kristjana S. Williams incorporating elements from the Vatican Library archives. Credit: Iacopo Scaramuzzi

Maria Grazia Chiuri, artistic director of Dior’s women’s collections, developed a digital installation examining six Victorian-era women who undertook solo world travels, exploring the relationship between fashion and journey.

“I’m almost sure it will inspire a great desire to travel,” Cardinali told EWTN News. “And, above all, it will make people rediscover that there are many ways to travel: You can travel by transportation, on foot, but probably we travel much more, much better, and much farther with books. In fact, we travel every time we open a book, and probably the most distant places are the ones we’ve reached through books.”

The exhibition will run through Dec. 20 at the Sala Barberini and adjacent halls of the Vatican Apostolic Library.

Bénédicte Cedergren and Victoria Cardiel contributed to this report.

Pope Francis speaks with Spanish clergy and seminarians on Jan. 30, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Feb 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis discussed in a Jan. 30 audience with seminarians and formators from the ecclesiastical province of Valencia in Spain how his mother put up quite a bit of resistance to his entering the seminary.

The bishop of Orihuela-Alicante, José Ignacio Munilla, posted on Facebook that during the meeting, in addition to his formal remarks, there was an exchange in which the Holy Father shared the experience in detail.

“The seminarians of the ecclesiastical province of Valencia were able to spend two whole hours with the pope, during which all those who wanted to freely asked him questions, to which he responded in a very charming way,” the bishop indicated.

Munilla explained that the Holy Father’s comments about his mother’s opposition to his beginning the path to the priesthood was in response to the question of a future priest who is currently experiencing a similar experience.

“One of the seminarians told the pope about his suffering because his mother has not accepted his decision to go to the seminary, because she had ‘dreamed’ of other paths for her son,” the bishop recounted.

He then said that after listening carefully to the concern of this young seminarian, Pope Francis shared with those present that he “also experienced that same situation.”

“His mother, although she was Catholic, opposed Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s vocation and did not want to visit him in the seminary. But, finally, on the day of his priestly ordination, she knelt before her son and asked for his blessing,” Munilla related.

He said the Holy Father’s advice for this young seminarian to calm his anguish was “prayer, tenderness, and patience!”

“What a great witness of spiritual fatherhood for the seminarians!” Munilla wrote.

This is not the first time the Holy Father has spoken about this experience. The then-cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires also referenced it in a book interview written together with journalists Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti titled “Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio: His Life in His Own Words” in the 2014 English edition.

“First I told my father, and he thought it was great. What’s more, he felt happy. Then he told my mom, who, like a good mother, had begun to have a feeling about it,” the pontiff explained.

Using an affectionate Argentine expression, Bergoglio commented “‘la vieja’ [the dear old lady] got very angry.”

“When I entered the seminary, my mother didn’t come with me, she didn’t want to go. For years she didn’t accept my decision. We weren’t fighting. It was just that I would come home [for a visit], but she wouldn’t go to the seminary,” Pope Francis told the seminarians. 

55 years of priesthood

Last Dec. 13 was the 55th anniversary of Pope Francis’ priestly ordination. On that day in 1969, just before his 33rd birthday, Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio was ordained a priest by Archbishop Emeritus of Córdoba, Argentina, Ramón José Castellano.

According to the above-referenced book, initially titled in Spanish “The Jesuit: Conversations with Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio” and published in 2004 before he became pope, Francis found his vocation to the priesthood while he was on his way to celebrate Spring Day. When he stopped by a church to go to confession, he left the confessional inspired by that priest.

From 1970–1971, Bergoglio continued his formation as a Jesuit in Spain. On April 22, 1973, he made his final vows in the Society of Jesus. When he returned to Argentina, he served as a professor in the San José department of theology in the town of San Miguel (on the outskirts of the city of Buenos Aires) and rector of the college. At the age of 36, he was appointed Jesuit provincial of Argentina.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Francis delivers his catechesis during the jubilee audience in the Paul VI Hall on Feb. 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Feb 1, 2025 / 06:06 am (CNA).

Pope Francis highlighted Mary Magdalene’s transformative encounter with the risen Christ as a model for personal conversion during a jubilee year audience at the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Saturday.

“The jubilee is for people and for the Earth a new beginning; everything must be rethought within the dream of God,” the pope told pilgrims gathered for the morning audience Feb. 1.

The encounter was one of a series of Saturday jubilee audiences of 2025, following a first meeting with pilgrims and a heart-to-heart with journalists.

A crowd of pilgrims reaches out to greet Pope Francis during his visit to St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Feb. 1, 2025. Credit: Vatican MediaA biblical model of transformation

Drawing from the Gospel of John’s account of Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb, Francis emphasized how she “turned around” multiple times before recognizing the risen Jesus — a detail the pontiff said was carefully chosen by the evangelist.

“The Risen One is not on the side of death but on the side of life,” the Holy Father explained. “He can be mistaken for one of the people we encounter every day.”

The pope connected Mary Magdalene’s spiritual journey to the broader meaning of conversion, noting that entering “the new world” often requires changing perspective more than once.

Francis emphasized how Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus only when he spoke her name, suggesting that personal encounter is essential for authentic conversion.

“From Mary Magdalene, whom tradition calls ‘the apostle of the apostles,’ we learn hope,” the pope said, adding that the journey of faith requires a “constant invitation to change perspective.”

The pope concluded his catechesis with a challenging question for the faithful: “Do I know how to turn around to see things differently? Do I have the desire for conversion?”

Francis warned that an overconfident and proud ego prevents recognition of the risen Jesus, noting that even today, “he appears in ordinary people who easily remain behind us.”

Following the Paul VI Hall’s main audience, the Holy Father greeted pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica via video link. After warmly welcoming them, he thanked them for their presence and led them in praying the Our Father.

Pilgrims reach out to greet Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Feb. 1, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaks at the USCCB fall plenary assembly Nov. 14, 2023. / Credit: USCCB video

Vatican City, Jan 31, 2025 / 11:10 am (CNA).

Archbishop Timothy Broglio defended the U.S. bishops’ support of migrants against “false” accusations in an interview this week with an Italian Catholic television station.

Broglio — the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as well as the archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA — told TV2000 on Jan. 29 that criticisms the bishops have received are “false” and “have strongly affected us because they are not true.”

“We spend more than we receive to help the poor,” Broglio stated in the interview with longtime Italian journalist and TV director Antonio Di Bella on the weekly news program “Di Bella sul 28” on TV2000.

TV2000 is a Catholic television network owned by the Italian Bishops’ Conference.

Broglio said the USCCB has “always insisted on respect for the law but we have to respond to the concrete situation. If there is someone who has come here even illegally and needs assistance we must help them because it is Christ himself who is asking us.”

The archbishop said the U.S. bishops have decided not to go into “the substance of the speeches” against them but to simply tell the truth about what they have done and are doing for immigrants.

Bishops in the U.S. will continue to try to work with Congress to reform the migration law, Broglio continued, adding that they would like to speak not through the media but face-to-face with President Donald Trump or Vice President JD Vance about the issue.

“In this way, I think we can try to understand each other and move forward,” he said. 

“We almost all agree that [migration law] needs to be changed and we need to do some things suitable for the year 2025,” the archbishop said. “We are willing to have a dialogue.”

In a statement issued earlier this month, Broglio criticized Trump’s immigration plans, saying that “some provisions” of the immigration orders are “deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us.”

Catholic bishops across the country have publicly responded to Trump’s recent executive orders on immigration, with many calling for a more comprehensive and humane approach to immigration policy that respects the dignity of migrants and refugees.

Pope Francis meets with the Roman Rota in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jan 31, 2025 / 09:15 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Friday extolled the “gift of indissolubility” of marriage, which he said is not a limitation on freedom but something married couples live with God’s grace.

The pontiff addressed the topic of marriage’s indissolubility, or permanence, in a meeting with members of the Roman Rota, one of three courts of the Holy See, on Jan. 31. The audience in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall took place for the opening of the tribunal’s 95th judicial year.

The Roman Rota, the Church’s highest appellate court, handles marriage nullity cases. A declaration of nullity — often referred to as an “annulment” — is a ruling by a tribunal that a marriage did not meet the conditions required to make it valid according to Church law.

Pope Francis blesses a baby during a meeting with the Roman Rota in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

“Spouses united in marriage,” Francis said, “have received the gift of indissolubility, which is not a goal to be achieved by their own effort, nor even a limitation on their freedom, but a promise from God, whose fidelity makes that of human beings possible.”

Your work of discernment at the Roman Rota “as to whether or not a valid marriage exists,” he continued, “is a service to ‘salus animarum’ [the salvation of souls] in that it enables the faithful to know and accept the truth of their personal reality.”

Pope Francis addresses the Roman Rota in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

In 2015, Pope Francis reformed Church law on the declaration of the nullity of marriage with the two motu proprios Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus and Mitis et Misericors Iesus.

The reform, which simplified and shortened the process, was aimed at making the undertaking more pastoral, with “the concern for the salvation of souls” the primary guide, the pope said.

The pontiff explained that the diocesan bishop is an important part of the reformed process, and the bishop must guarantee that the priests and laypeople in the diocesan tribunal are well-trained, suitable, and carry out their work with justice and diligence.

He said “the rules establishing the procedures must guarantee certain fundamental rights and principles, primarily the right of defense and the presumption of validity of the marriage.”

Pope Francis also encouraged anyone involved in annulment cases to approach “the marital and family reality with reverence, because the family is a living reflection of the communion of love that is God the Trinity.”

In his greeting at the audience, dean of the Roman Rota Archbishop Alejandro Arellano Cedillo said the tribunal was encouraged by the pope’s words during the opening of the Holy Door and the start of the Jubilee of Hope on Dec. 24, 2024, to “set out ‘without delay’ so as to ‘rediscover lost hope, renew it within us, sow it in the desolations of our time and our world.’”

“Holy Father, we feel directly challenged by the challenges of the present and the future, aware that the Rota Romana, as the tribunal of the Christian family, is only a ‘hem of the cloak’ of the Church,” Arellano said. 

“Nevertheless, it seems to us that it is not foreign to our hope that, from the touch of that cloak, through the administration of justice, wounded people may find peace so as to foster ‘tranquillitas ordinis’ [tranquility of order] in the Church,” he added.

Jesuit Guy Consolmagno at the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/ EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 31, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican Observatory’s summer school, known as “Specola,” has already selected students for its next edition.

During the month of June, 25 students who were selected from among 120 candidates from different countries around the world will have the opportunity to advance their education at this renowned institution of the Catholic Church located in Castel Gandolfo on the outskirts of Rome.

The director of the “Specola,” Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, explained to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that all of the students “are between 20 and 30 years old and plan to pursue doctorates in astronomy or astrophysics.”

He also noted that “the only limit is that no more than two students from the same country are chosen.” This year’s lucky winners are 25 students from 21 countries on several continents: two from Africa, two from Asia, 11 from Europe and North America, eight from Latin America, and two from Oceania.

Since 1986, the Vatican Observatory has organized this summer school at Castel Gandolfo every two years to offer young scientists from all over the world the opportunity to learn from the world’s leading experts in astronomy.

Alumni of this school are now leading many fields of astronomical research, such as notables Fernando Comeron, deputy director for science at the European Southern Observatory, and Heino Falcke, chair of the Scientific Council of the Event Horizon Telescope, which captured the first image of a black hole in 2001.

In addition, students in this year’s course will have access to the James Webb telescope, which has revolutionized astronomy through advanced research. The 2025 summer school will offer a global overview of the main achievements made possible by this telescope in its first three years of operation.

Professors at the summer school include Eiichi Egami of the University of Arizona; Consolmagno; Jesuit Father David Brown, the dean of the Vatican Observatory; Roberto Maiolino of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom; former student Almudena Alonso-Herrero from the Center for Astrobiology; and Thomas Greene from NASA.

Consolmagno confirmed to ACI Prensa that “there are no religious requirements to participate in the school.”

Furthermore, the selection process is not related to the student’s financial situation, as no tuition is charged and additional financial support for travel and accommodation is provided by benefactors through the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

This is the 19th Specola Vaticana summer school. Since the first edition in 1986, more than 450 students have participated in these summer schools.

In addition to the Specola at Castel Gandolfo, the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, located on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona, is operated by the Vatican Observatory Research Group in collaboration with the University of Arizona. 

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Former English Bishop Richard Williamson. / Credit: Joshuarodri, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Jan 30, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Bishop Richard Williamson, a former English bishop of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), died on Wednesday at the age of 84 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.

The Priestly Society of St. Pius X announced the former bishop’s death Thursday morning on its website. Williamson’s office shared an email with the Catholic Herald stating: “He was surrounded by clerics and faithful who have been keeping vigil with him for his final journey … They were praying right to the end.”

Born in London in 1940, Williamson belonged to the Church of England before being received into the Catholic Church in 1971. Soon after becoming Catholic, he joined the traditionalist Catholic movement founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and entered the SSPX seminary in Switzerland.

Lefebvre ordained Williamson as a Catholic priest in 1976 and, without the Vatican’s permission, consecrated him and three other priests — Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, and Alfonso de Galarreta — as bishops in 1988.

Subsequently, Lefebvre, Williamson, Fellay, Tissier de Mallerais, and de Galarreta were excommunicated from the Catholic Church following the illicit 1988 ordinations. 

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of the SSPX members with the hope of reconciliation with the schismatic traditionalist group that strongly opposed Vatican II and liturgical reforms of the Church’s sacraments. 

Williamson’s public denial of the Jewish Holocaust became an additional roadblock to full communion with the Catholic Church as well as a source of deep tension within the SSPX.

Following a 2009 television interview in which Williamson expressed his disbelief that Jews were killed in gas chambers in Nazi extermination camps, the SSPX took action and removed him as head of the society’s seminary in Argentina.  

Williamson was eventually expelled from the society for disobedience in 2012 after conducting confirmations in Brazil without his superior’s permission.  

Prior to his expulsion from the SSPX while carrying out pastoral ministries in South America, Williamson had held teaching positions at the society’s seminaries in the U.S. and in Europe and also served as the society’s second assistant general from 1988–1994. 

“Sadly, his path and that of the society separated many years ago,” the Jan. 30 SSPX statement reads. “We recommend the eternal rest of his soul to your fervent prayers.”

Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos of Albania, 95, died on Jan. 25, 2025, in Greece due to a recent illness. He led the Albanian Orthodox church for nearly 33 years. / Credit: Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Jan 30, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis sent his condolences to the Orthodox Church in Albania on Monday following the recent death of Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos, who led that church for nearly 33 years. 

Praising Anastasios for his “profound dedication to the Gospel,” the Holy Father expressed his fraternal esteem for the 95-year-old prelate who helped revive Christianity in the former communist country and who died on Jan. 25.

“The faith of the Orthodox community of Albania was certainly embodied in the life of our dear brother, whose zealous pastoral service helped the people rediscover its richness and beauty following the years of state-imposed atheism and persecution,” the pope said in his Jan. 27 message. 

Anastasios, who died on the feast of the conversion of St. Paul, was widely respected by Francis and other religious leaders for his decades-long ministry dedicated to peace and ecumenical dialogue with other churches and religions in Greece, Africa, and Albania.  

“He did so by following the example of St. Paul, who dedicated himself so much to Christ that he could say, ‘I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some’ (1 Cor 9:22),” the Holy Father said. 

Recalling his first meeting with Anastasios during his apostolic journey to Albania in 2014, the 88-year-old pope said he cherished “the fraternal embrace and words exchanged on that occasion” and was impressed by the Orthodox leader’s love for the country’s poor and suffering.  

“Now that his earthly life has come to an end, I pray that, through the mercy of God the Almighty Father, His Beatitude may eternally praise the Blessed Trinity, together with all the confessors of the faith and the pastors who have proclaimed the word of salvation to peoples everywhere and at all times,” the pope wrote at the end of his message.

A group of Templar volunteers in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Courtesy of Danilo Peviani

Vatican City, Jan 30, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Those making a pilgrimage today to any sacred place such as the major papal basilicas in Rome or the venerated sites in the Holy Land to obtain the graces of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope enjoy many conveniences. They have GPS as well as a complete guide downloaded on their smartphones; the roads are free of thugs and thieves and there are even volunteers on every street to kindly answer all their questions.

But in the past, traveling to Jerusalem or Rome was fraught with danger.

“In the Middle Ages, pilgrims were victims of looting, robbery, or all kinds of violence. Many died in the attempt. For example, if they arrived at night, they found [the gates to] the city walls closed and were exposed to all kinds of threats,” Daniele Borderi told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. Borderi is the secretary of Templari Oggi APS (Templars Today), a private association of lay faithful founded in March 2021.

The organization, present in 15 countries including South America and the United States, signed an agreement with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization to provide volunteer services in three of the basilicas in Rome where a plenary indulgence can be obtained: St. Peter’s, St. Paul Outside the Walls, and St. John Lateran.

Templar volunteers help pilgrims arriving in Rome during the 2025 Jubilee. Credit: Photo courtesy of Danilo Peviani

“During the entire jubilee, every weekend, between 30 and 40 members of our organization will travel to Rome to serve the Catholic Church. Each one pays for the cost of the trip and, for its part, the Dicastery for Evangelization provides them with a place to sleep in addition to ensuring their lunch and dinner,” Borderi explained.

These volunteers — dressed in a white tunic and the unmistakable cross pattée — are like the heirs of Friar Hugone de’ Pagani, the first master of the ancient Order of the Poor Knights of Christ, commonly known as the Templars, whose origins date back to the 12th century. 

At that time “they were friars, knights, and soldiers, and for 200 years they were the pope’s sword,” Borderi said. In fact, they were directly under the pontiff, enjoyed certain privileges such as not paying tithes, and were also the first bankers: “They invented what we know today as the bank check. In the documents they used for this function to lend money they cleverly placed a deliberate error to avoid fraud,” the Templar secretary added.

However, Philip IV of France tried to destroy them in 1307. “He also took their properties. It was a punishment imposed because he had contracted debts with the Templars that he could not pay off,” Borderi said.

Today the Poor Knights of Christ, called Templars, are laymen and laywomen from many countries who take up the original charism of accompanying and defending pilgrims who arrive at the holy places.

From fruit seller to TemplarAchille Ticine, 68, on Via della Conciliazione. Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News

Achille Ticini, 68, is a Templar who comes from the Italian region of Emilia Romagna, and before he retired he had a fruit stand at a local market.

He volunteers where the Via della Conciliazione starts, one of the busiest streets leading up to St. Peter’s Basilica and the Holy Door. When ACI spoke to him, a storm had already passed, but it had been raining all morning. “Let’s hope it doesn’t rain anymore,” he said, looking at the still cloudy sky.

He had just assisted a group of pilgrims from the Philippines who asked him in English where they could get something to eat without having to pay too much. “Besides Italian, I am good at English and Spanish. In the end, [pilgrims] ask us very simple questions and almost always the same ones,” he explained.

Ticini also gives information to pilgrims about where they can obtain the jubilee cross to carry on their way to a Holy Door. The cross is kept at 7 Via della Conciliazione and is the official reference point for pilgrims and tourists.

“We have it easier than our predecessors. In the Middle Ages, pilgrims had to be defended with swords not only from bandits but also from the animals that roamed around. Now the Italian police and army take care of security issues,” he commented.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Francis meets with clergy and other pilgrims during his general audience in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jan 29, 2025 / 09:15 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Wednesday told pilgrims attending his Jan. 29 general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall to imitate St. Joseph — the man who knew how to listen to God in all circumstances of life.

Reflecting on the Gospel of St. Matthew, which retells the account of Jesus Christ’s childhood from “the perspective of Joseph,” the Holy Father said people can learn from the righteous man who was always attentive to the will of God.

The pope addresses pilgrims during his general audience in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

“Thus, following the word of God, Joseph acts thoughtfully: He does not let himself be overcome by instinctive feelings and fear of accepting Mary with him but prefers to be guided by divine wisdom,” the pope said.

“This wisdom enables him not to make mistakes and to make himself open and docile to the voice of the Lord, which resounds in him through the channel of the dream,” he continued.

During the Wednesday audience, the pope invited his listeners to ask the Lord for the grace “to listen more than we speak” and “to dream God’s dreams” just like St. Joseph when faced with difficult decisions.

Pope Francis blesses a baby during his general audience in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Though St. Joseph’s love was “harshly put to the test” after discovering the pregnancy of Mary, the Holy Father said the great faith of Jesus’ foster father enabled him to turn his prayer into action after listening to the word of God.

“Faced with this revelation, Joseph does not ask for further proof; he trusts in God, he accepts God’s dream of his life and that of his betrothed,” the pope said.

“He thus enters into the grace of one who knows how to live the divine promise with faith, hope, and love,” he added.

At the end of his Jan. 29 catechesis on the theme of “Jesus Christ Our Hope,” the pope said all Christians are called to continually welcome the word of God into their lives “from the moment of baptism.”

The pope addresses the crowd during his general audience in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media

Energized by the great enthusiasm shown by several pilgrim groups at the Vatican on Wednesday, including American students from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, the Holy Father made an earnest request for all pilgrims to pray for peace in Palestine, Israel, and Myanmar as well as in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“I also follow what is happening in the capital [of Congo], Kinshasa, hoping that all the violence toward the people will end soon,” he said. “In light of the hope for peace and security, I invite all members of the international community to work hard to bring an end to the conflict.”

Pope Francis in today's General Audience urges us to pray for the grace to listen, realize God's dreams, and responsibly welcome Christ into our lives. pic.twitter.com/HTh0YlICkB

— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) January 29, 2025

Kimbal Musk speaks at the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 14, 2022, in Austin, Texas. / Credit: Chris Saucedo/Getty Images fpr SXSW

Vatican City, Jan 28, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Kimbal Musk, entrepreneur and younger brother of Elon Musk, met with Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri over the weekend to propose a drone-based musical light show for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee, according to Italian media.

Donning his signature cowboy hat, Musk discussed the concept at the Palazzo Senatorio on Jan. 25, aiming to create a privately sponsored event featuring drones choreographed to music. 

The previous day, he had met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at Palazzo Chigi, accompanied by Andrea Stroppa, Elon Musk’s representative in Italy, and Veronica Berti, the wife of tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Musk is also expected to pitch the idea for the musical drone show to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the Vatican’s chief organizer of the jubilee, according to the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

Kimbal Musk serves on the board of Tesla and owns Nova Sky Stories, a company with a fleet of 9,000 advanced drones capable of producing large-scale light displays. Drone shows have gained popularity in recent years, featuring in events such as the Olympic Games, Super Bowl halftime show, and international expos. 

Rome hosted its first drone show in 2023 over the Colosseum as part of its bid to host Expo 2030. Cardinal Mauro Gambetti has previously shown openness to integrating light show technology. In 2022, the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica was illuminated with 3-D projection mapping of art from the Vatican Museums.

Gualtieri expressed surprise at Musk’s proposal, according to Corriere Della Sera, reportedly saying: “Considering the subject, we expected a new futuristic show, but in reality, it is the same technology that we have already used, for example, on the occasion of [the bid for] Expo 2030.”

The Vatican’s approval is still needed for the drone show’s realization as the Eternal City continues to prepare for many upcoming jubilee events.

Pope Francis and the editor of his autobiography, Carlo Musso. / Credit: Courtesy or Carlo Musso

Vatican City, Jan 28, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).

“Hope is the mainstay that undergirds Pope Francis’ entire life and is the thread that holds together this long narrative, even in the pages in which he recounts true horrors,” commented Carlo Musso, the Italian editor of Pope Francis’ autobiographical work “Hope,” getting right to the point regarding the theological virtue so fundamental to the life of the pontiff.

The volume was to be published after the Holy Father’s death, but at the last moment he changed his mind, Musso told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, in an interview: “His idea was to publish a posthumous book, but then the 2025 Jubilee of Hope came along and became a propitious occasion to bring it to light,” he explained.

In the volume, which was released Jan. 14, the Holy Father makes clear the great difference between optimism — something more fleeting, which may be here today and gone tomorrow — and hope, which he understands as an active force.

The book is the fruit of a six-year process — until very recently secret — to put the Holy Father’s memoirs into writing. “In the autobiography, the reader will obviously be able to get a look into his personal life, his priestly life, and the entire pontificate. But it’s clear that hope has been the glue that holds them together, because even in difficulties, in tragedy, Pope Francis always sends a concrete and invincible message of hope,” the editor said.

“Hope” compiles conversations, messages, and texts that the Holy Father provided him. “I then wrote a first draft and then we went over it together for accuracy,” Musso related, making it clear that the pope didn’t steer clear of any topic: “He gave absolute freedom, without red lines.”

“This journey began in 2019 and comes to an end at the beginning of December 2024, when the pope created 21 new cardinals who once again demonstrated his vision of a universal Church,” he explained.

The Italian editor — who has come to know Pope Francis in all his human dimension — pointed out that he is “a man born in 1936 who only looks back in order to project his gaze even farther ahead.”

Over the course of 400 pages, the pontiff narrates in first person the twists and turns of his life that have marked his 88 years, from his childhood in Argentina in the midst of a family of Italian immigrants to becoming the successor of St. Peter.

It all begins with a terrifying episode: the sinking of the transatlantic ship Principessa Mafalda, known as the “Italian Titanic.” His grandparents, along with his father, Mario, had bought tickets to travel on the ship that set sail from Genoa on Oct. 11, 1927, bound for Buenos Aires.

However, they ultimately didn’t board the vessel because they were unable to sell their belongings in time. “That’s why I am here now; you can’t imagine how many times I have thanked divine providence for it,” the pontiff recounts in the book.

For Musso, this episode influenced the pope’s “sensitivity” on this subject, as did many others that have marked his magisterium, such as the cruelty of war or his inclination to open up paths to interreligious dialogue. “His personal experience of fraternity is clearly evident when he says that it was common for him to interact with Muslims and Jews,” Musso noted.

In the last chapter, Pope Francis imagines the future of the Church, which “will continue forward, because I am but a step.”

“I dream of a papacy that is increasingly more service and communally oriented,” he wrote. 

The Holy Father predicts, among other things, that the Catholic Church “will become increasingly universal and its future, and strength will also come from Latin America, Asia, India, Africa, and this can already be seen in the wealth of vocations.”

He also proposes that the Church and Catholics grow “in creativity, in understanding the challenges of contemporary times, openness to dialogue, and not being closed off by fear.”

For all this, Musso assured that the memory of Pope Francis is, in reality, “an ongoing present moment, so it’s not just a narration of the past.”

“Hope is his legacy for humanity,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Sacred Hart Major Seminary Professor of Scripture Mary Healy has been appointed by Pope Francis to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. / Credit: Courtesy of Professor Mary Healy

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jan 28, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).

In an interview with CNA, Professor Mary Healy of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Michigan discussed her Jan. 11 appointment by Pope Francis to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Led by British Cardinal Arthur Roche, the dicastery advises the pope regarding the practice and promotion of the sacraments, the Mass, and other liturgies of the Latin rite. Members of the dicastery include nearly two dozen cardinals, bishops, priests, religious, and laypeople from around the world. 

Healy, a native of New York, was already serving as a consultor to the dicastery. She holds a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in addition to other graduate degrees.

Since 2008, she has served as a professor of Scripture at the Detroit seminary. In 2014, Pope Francis appointed her to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, which ensures the correct interpretation of the Bible. She was reappointed to that position in 2021.

Healy has also served the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and also chairs the CHARIS Theological Commission.

Healy has authored several books, including “Healing: Bringing the Gift of God’s Mercy to the World,” “Scripture, Mercy, and Homosexuality,” and “Men and Women are from Eden.” She is also general editor of the “Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture” and author of two of its volumes, “The Gospel of Mark” and “The Gospel of Hebrews.”

Healy has long called on Catholics to familiarize themselves with the Bible and served as general editor of “The Great Adventure Catholic Bible.” She is also a consultant to the Michigan-based Renewal Ministries apostolate, dedicated to evangelization and renewing the Church. 

As explained on the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments website, the dicastery “promotes the sacred liturgy in accordance with the renewal undertaken by the Second Vatican Council. Its areas of competence include all matters that pertain by law to the Apostolic See concerning the regulation and promotion of the sacred liturgy and vigilance in ensuring that the laws of the Church and the liturgical norms are faithfully observed in every place.”

CNA: Given that there has been great debate since the council on reforms to the liturgy, what will be your role in the dicastery?

Healy: As far as I know, the dicastery is not currently working on any reforms to the liturgical rites themselves. Rather, the focus is on providing what Pope Francis called for in Desiderio Desideravi: the liturgical formation of all Catholics so that they can enter more deeply into the liturgy and experience its transformative power in their lives.

My role will be to contribute to this effort. Of course, as a layperson, I (and the other new lay member, Donna Orsuto) have a unique perspective: not that of an ordained minister who celebrates the liturgy “in persona Christi” but that of a member of the congregation who exercises the common priesthood of the faithful. I think it’s beautiful that the dicastery will now have these complementary perspectives.

What steps would you recommend to continue to reform the Church as intended by the Second Vatican Council?

The goal of Vatican II was, in a nutshell, to renew the Church in holiness for the sake of mission, to be able to proclaim the Gospel more effectively in today’s world. In the 60 years since then, there has been much progress but also lots of turbulence and confusion. Of course that goal needs to be pursued anew in every generation, including ours. As for steps I would recommend, here are a few:

1. Prioritize study of the Bible such that Catholics fall in love with Scripture and come to know it as a living word from God. Only by understanding the whole story of salvation can people fully enter into the celebration of the culmination of that story in the sacrifice of Christ. A sign of the hunger that exists to know the word of God is the popularity of Father Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” podcast and other resources, and the fact that Bibles continue to sell like hotcakes while other books lag.

2. Help all Catholics open themselves docilely to the Holy Spirit and his charisms, as Pope John Paul II urged. The Holy Spirit makes both the Scriptures and the sacraments come alive. As St. Augustine taught, at the liturgy it is the fire of the Holy Spirit that bakes the diverse grains of wheat that we are into the one bread of Christ’s body. Surrendering to the Holy Spirit and letting him have his way is the doorway to a rich, fervent, and adventurous life in Christ.

3. Continually renew the emphasis on evangelization, helping all Catholics take up Christ’s call to become missionary disciples. Nothing invigorates faith quite like seeing another person come to faith in Christ through your witness.

4. Provide liturgical formation so that Catholics can appropriate and live the awesome mystery of redemption that is made present to us in the liturgy and sacraments.

The November 2022 article you cowrote in Church Life Journal asserts: “If bishops and pastors do not reclaim and promote the authentic teaching of Vatican II, the theological and liturgical vacuum will continue to be filled by those who promote the Tridentine liturgy as a way of disparaging the council.” What would you recommend to counteract actions and movements that may disparage or misinterpret the Second Vatican Council?

The best way to counter false or misleading narratives is to proclaim the truth, which is always more interesting and more hope-filled. The documents of Vatican II are profound and inspiring, especially the constitutions on divine revelation, on the Church, and on the liturgy. 

Among their achievements is the retrieval of some truths that had become neglected, such as the baptismal priesthood of the faithful, the importance of the Holy Spirit’s charisms, the responsibility of laypeople to actively engage in the mission of the Church, and the call to pursue Christian unity. Yet many otherwise educated Catholics are woefully unfamiliar with the council’s teachings. There is a need for solid catechesis on them in seminaries and parishes.

What are the initiatives of Pope Francis that you might champion as a member of the dicastery? 

I hope I can contribute to promoting the full, active conscious participation of the faithful in the liturgy that was the aim of the council’s liturgical reforms. The Lord makes himself present to us in the liturgy, yet so many Catholics attend Mass without being truly present to him. How amazing it would be if all came to the liturgy saying to the Lord (in the biblical phrase), “Here I am” — heart, mind, soul, and body.

What must modern Catholics, especially the young, know about the Second Vatican Council?

Many young Catholics today are drawn to tradition because in a world of sound bites and one-minute fame they long for what is transcendent, sublime, beautiful, and enduring. It is crucial for them to understand that Vatican II was not a rejection of tradition but fidelity to the Church’s living tradition, which develops in accord with the needs of the age, led by the Holy Spirit. 

Vatican II recalibrated our devotion to tradition. It took out, polished, and repristinated some aspects of authentic tradition that had been forgotten or sidelined, and it set aside some aspects of tradition (small “t”) that had accrued over time but were less well suited to conveying the mystery of Christ. The implementation of the council was inconsistent and chaotic in some respects, but the council remains the lodestar for the renewal of the Church in our time.

You have been notable in the charismatic renewal of the Church. How did your involvement with the movement begin? What does this renewal offer the Church?

I became indirectly involved as a teen when my parents joined a charismatic prayer group after having experienced a personal encounter with Christ. Then I went to graduate school at Franciscan University, where the campus was full of the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

What is important about charismatic renewal is not the movement itself but the grace that gave rise to it: baptism in the Spirit, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit into one’s heart that brings an interior revelation of the love of the Father and the lordship of Jesus. This gift makes people come alive in Christ in a whole new way, and I’m eternally grateful for it. It is a grace not just for members of one movement but for all! I think it is in this sense that Pope Paul VI called the renewal “a chance for the Church.” 

Of course not all are called to the specific style and spirituality of the charismatic renewal, but all are called to receive the “sober intoxication of the Spirit” that was given to the early Christians on the day of Pentecost. All are called to be open to and exercise the manifold charisms of the Spirit, given to us by the risen Jesus to equip us for our mission.

In the referenced article in Church Life Journal you also say “a mystagogical catechesis on the doctrines of the faith is necessary in conjunction with a mystagogical catechesis on the Eucharistic liturgy itself.” Why is this necessary in the contemporary Church? How would this be accomplished? What is the dicastery’s role?

Mystagogical catechesis literally means catechesis that “leads into the mystery” — the mystery of love beyond all telling, given to us in the act of love in which Jesus died for us, made present to us in the liturgy. 

That kind of catechesis can be done effectively only by people whose lives visibly radiate Christ, who are deeply converted themselves and capable of converting others. We are greatly in need of it today because we are immersed in a culture that you could call anti-sacramental — a culture that sees the world as spiritually empty, a product of the laws of physics and random chance, incapable of mediating the invisible divine mystery. People are desperately thirsty for that invisible God who has drawn near to us and has hidden himself in sacramental signs.

The role of the dicastery is not to carry out such catechesis itself but to offer guidelines, resources, and pathways of formation so it can be carried out effectively on the local level, inculturated as needed in every part of the world.

null / Credit: Blue Planet Studio/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jan 28, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican on Tuesday released a new “note” addressing the ethical and anthropological implications of artificial intelligence (AI), highlighting distinctions between human and artificial intelligence and offering guidelines meant to ensure that the development and use of AI serve humanity and uphold human dignity.

Titled Antiqua et Nova (Latin for “old and new”), the roughly 30-page Jan. 28 document is signed by Cardinal Víctor Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), the Vatican’s teaching office; and Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

The document begins by establishing a Christian framework for understanding human intelligence as a gift from God, emphasizing humanity’s relational and truth-seeking nature within an embodied existence. Christian tradition considers the gift of intelligence an essential aspect of the creation of human beings “in the image of God,” the document notes.

In contrast, modern AI systems work largely through pattern recognition, and most are limited to certain tasks — though the document notes that AGI, or “artificial general intelligence,” is a stated goal of many AI developers and may be achieved soon. Such a system would be capable of “operating across all cognitive domains and performing any task within the scope of human intelligence,” perhaps even exceeding human intelligence.

Even in its most advanced forms, however, AI still operates based on algorithms and computational logic, the document notes, meaning it lacks the creative, spiritual, and moral dimensions of human thought.

In contrast, “human intelligence is not primarily about completing functional tasks but about understanding and actively engaging with reality in all its dimensions; it is also capable of surprising insights. Since AI lacks the richness of corporeality, relationality, and the openness of the human heart to truth and goodness, its capacities — though seemingly limitless — are incomparable with the human ability to grasp reality.”

AI is itself a product of human intelligence, not an equal or superior form of intelligence, the document stresses. 

AI and society

The document points out several potential pitfalls of AI development, such as a possibility of disruption to the labor force; a weakening of face-to-face human relationships; a degrading of privacy as new AI surveillance systems are developed; an introduction of inaccurate or biased information in the context of education, media, or society at large; and even, as the Vatican has repeatedly warned, the possibility of the deployment of AI in warfare that has the power to directly take lives. 

In the face of these potential challenges, the document calls for a strong ethical framework to guide the development and deployment of AI, guided by the principles of Catholic social teaching. Overarchingly, AI development must always respect and promote the intrinsic dignity of every human being. 

The document stresses that in contrast to a “functionalist” viewing of AI that is heavily focused on the AI’s abilities, the worth and dignity of a person, in contrast, are based on their being created in the image of God, not on their cognitive abilities or technological achievements. AI development must respect this fact and promote the intrinsic dignity of every human being, regardless of their condition, the prefects wrote. 

Further, the perfects note that AI should be used to serve the common good, promote integral human development, and not just be used for individual or corporate gain. It should as much as possible be used to reduce inequality and not reinforce existing power imbalances, they wrote. 

The prefects continued by saying that AI systems cannot be allowed to run amok without human oversight; humans, as moral agents, bear responsibility for the design, purpose, and consequences of AI systems. And in keeping with the Catholic concept of subsidiarity, decision-making related to AI should be decentralized and involve various levels of society, allowing for a broad spectrum of input, the prefects wrote. 

The development of AI should spur us to “a renewed appreciation of all that is human,” perhaps by a renewed interest in the study of the humanities, the document continues.

True wisdom

The document concludes by discussing what Pope Francis recently called the “wisdom of the heart” — the insight that true wisdom isn’t just about learning knowledge or mastering technical skills but rather about integrating human intellect with our God-given capacity to appreciate the values of truth, goodness, and beauty.

“Wisdom of the heart” is presented as a counter to the dangers of a purely technological mindset — what Pope Francis has called the “technocratic paradigm” — that emphasizes efficiency and control over human dignity and relationships, pushing back against the idea that technology alone can solve all problems.

“Since a ‘person’s perfection is measured not by the information or knowledge they possess but by the depth of their charity,’ how we incorporate AI ‘to include the least of our brothers and sisters, the vulnerable, and those most in need will be the true measure of our humanity,’” the prefects conclude.

“The ‘wisdom of the heart’ can illuminate and guide the human-centered use of this technology to help promote the common good, care for our ‘common home,’ advance the search for the truth, foster integral human development, favor human solidarity and fraternity, and lead humanity to its ultimate goal: happiness and full communion with God.”

The Vatican under Pope Francis has engaged with AI development on numerous occasions; the pope has spoken frequently about the importance of developing and using AI in an ethical manner, and the Vatican has sponsored conferences on AI in recent years.

The release of the DDF document follows new “Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence” for the Vatican City State that Pope Francis issued earlier this month establishing ethical guidelines for artificial intelligence use within the Vatican state.

Catholic experts both clerical and lay have weighed in on both the potential dangers of AI, such as the possibility of human extinction due to malicious or accidental misuse, as well as the opportunities for its ethical development and use within the Church.