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CNA Staff, Aug 16, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

After the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAFL) last month issued a booklet summarizing the Church’s teaching on a number of bioethical issues, the section on “artificial nutrition and hydration” (ANH) has some observers concerned about what they see as a departure from previous Church teaching. 

The Pontifical Academy for Life was founded in 1994 by St. John Paul II to study and provide formation on bioethical issues for the promotion and defense of life. Published only in Italian on July 2, the PAFL’s new booklet says it has “the aim of clearing up confusion” about the Church’s teaching on a number of bioethical issues. 

In the English-speaking world, however, the booklet has garnered scrutiny for appearing to soften the Church’s stance on the importance of providing food and water to patients in a vegetative state. 

The Church’s teaching on this issue was recently in the news in the United States because of the ongoing case of Margo Naranjo, a disabled Texas woman whose parents, who are Catholic, announced last month that they had decided to allow Margo to die by starvation in hospice. They were prevented from doing so after a judge intervened. 

What has the Church taught about withdrawing food and water?

Over the years, Church leaders at the Vatican and in the U.S. have specifically addressed the question of denying food and water to a patient who is in a vegetative state. 

In a 2004 address, St. John Paul II clarified the Church’s teaching that “the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act.”

“Even our brothers and sisters who find themselves in the clinical condition of a ‘vegetative state’ retain their human dignity in all its fullness. The loving gaze of God the Father continues to fall upon them, acknowledging them as his sons and daughters especially in need of help,” the saint noted. 

The pope explained that “waning hopes” that a person in a vegetative state will recover “cannot ethically justify the cessation or interruption of minimal care for the patient, including nutrition and hydration.”

“Death by starvation or dehydration is, in fact, the only possible outcome as a result of their withdrawal. In this sense it ends up becoming, if done knowingly and willingly, true and proper euthanasia by omission,” John Paul II said.

A 2007 set of responses from the Vatican’s Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith addressed two questions from the U.S. bishops about whether a patient in a “vegetative state” can ever be denied food and water. 

The congregation, under Pope Benedict XVI, clearly affirmed that a person in a vegetative state must be supplied with food and water even if he or she seems to have no chance of recovery. The dicastery left open the possibility that the only exceptions would be instances where food and water “cannot be assimilated by the patient’s body or cannot be administered to the patient without causing significant physical discomfort.”

Those responses helped the U.S. bishops craft a 2009 revision to their “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” which states in Directive 58 that “there is an obligation to provide patients with food and water” at Catholic hospitals, an obligation that “extends to patients in chronic and presumably irreversible conditions.”

The directives leave room for the patient to choose to reject extraordinary means, however. 

“Medically assisted nutrition and hydration become morally optional when they cannot reasonably be expected to prolong life or when they would be ‘excessively burdensome for the patient or [would] cause significant physical discomfort, for example resulting from complications in the use of the means employed,’” Directive 58 continues.

“For instance, as a patient draws close to inevitable death from an underlying progressive and fatal condition, certain measures to provide nutrition and hydration may become excessively burdensome and therefore not obligatory in light of their very limited ability to prolong life or provide comfort.”

What does the Pontifical Academy’s new document say?

While reiterating the Church’s long-standing teaching against euthanasia and assisted suicide in several sections, the July booklet has garnered the most attention for its section on “Artificial Nutrition and Hydration,” Section 13. (An official English translation of the booklet is not yet available, so excerpts here come from an unofficial translation generated by Google.) 

Catholic teaching allows for the possibility of stopping “burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate” medical care — such as removing ventilators from patients who are unable to breathe on their own and allowing them to die naturally — and this is not the same as euthanasia.

In Section 13, the PAFL affirmed that for those in a permanent vegetative state — i.e., not actively dying — suspending food and water is different from removing a ventilator because “death is not caused by the disease that continues its course but rather by the action of those who suspend them.” 

“Upon closer inspection, however, this topic is the victim of a reductive conception of the disease, which is understood as an alteration of a particular function of the organism, losing sight of the totality of the person,” the document continues. 

“This reductive way of interpreting the disease then leads to an equally reductive conception of treatment, which ends up focusing on individual functions of the organism rather than on the overall good of the person. The individual functions of the organism, including nutrition — especially if affected in a stable and irreversible way — must be considered in the overall picture of the person[.]”

The PAFL continued by saying that because a person in a vegetative state has to consume food that is “prepared in the laboratory and administered through technical devices,” such interventions are “not simple health care procedures.” 

“[T]he doctor is required to respect the will of the patient who refuses them with a conscious and informed decision, also expressed in advance in anticipation of the possible loss of the ability to express himself and choose,” the PAFL wrote. 

The PAFL noted that Pope Francis has emphasized the importance of considering the whole person, not just individual bodily functions, when making medical decisions. 

A departure from previous teachings?

Father Tad Pacholczyk, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told CNA that in his reading, the PAFL document “does not significantly depart” from what the Church has said on the topic of ANH in the past. 

The Church has traditionally taught that “medically assisted nutrition and hydration become morally ‘extraordinary’ if they cannot reasonably be expected to prolong life or would cause significant physical discomfort or complications in the use of the means employed,” he said. 

In light of this, the text emphasizes the “perennial need for careful assessment and discernment in terms of the benefits and burdens that may be associated with the administration of artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) to each particular patient.”

Further, he said, the text seems to imply that such careful assessment and discernment does not always happen, but that some people rely on problematic generalizations like “ANH is always required” or “ANH is always aggressive therapy” — both of which, he said, are incorrect.

“The circumstances and particulars will be important, so that in some instances, here or there, ANH may indeed be able to be categorized as ‘aggressive therapy,’ while in many others, it clearly cannot, but must instead be understood as a proportionate, and thus an obligatory means of caring for our loved ones,” Pacholczyk said.

Taking a different view in an Aug. 13 commentary at The Pillar, Catholic ethicist Charlie Camosy warned that the PAFL’s statements could be misunderstood in the context of what Pope Francis calls a “throwaway culture” — a culture in which numerous jurisdictions around the world allow, and even promote, euthanasia and assisted suicide and which “tries to hide the value of disabled people with consciousness disorders[,] making it easier to aim at their deaths.”

“[T]he pontifical academy’s new text appears to suggest that, because the food and hydration given to disabled, so-called ‘vegetative’ patients is prepared in a laboratory and administered through technology, offering them to such patients does not amount to ‘simple care procedures.’ It could therefore be thought of as a medical treatment which could, in principle, be withdrawn, rather than the kind of basic care which can never be withheld,” Camosy wrote. 

“From a bioethical perspective, this would strike many ethicists as an odd framing of the issue, to say the least,” he continued.

“The nutrition given to such disabled human beings is no more made in a laboratory than a protein shake powder. And feeding tubes are extremely simple devices that don’t require any machine or other special technology. Many Catholic bioethicists would see feeding a disabled person through a tube as little different from feeding them with a spoon.”

An ongoing case

Section 13 of the PAFL’s document is germane to an ongoing bioethical case in the U.S., that of Margo Naranjo. 

Naranjo, 28, suffered severe brain damage in a 2020 car accident. Though not technically on “life support” and able to breathe without the use of a ventilator, she is today profoundly disabled and not able to speak, eat, or drink on her own.

Naranjo’s parents, Mike and Cathy, are Catholic and have frequently called for prayers for Margo’s healing and their family since the car accident. But in a now-deleted Facebook livestream, Cathy announced on July 7 that she and Mike — in accordance with what they believe to be Margo’s pre-accident wishes — had decided to allow Margo to die by starvation in hospice.

Court records show that a Denton County Probate Court judge appointed a temporary guardian for Margo and issued a temporary restraining order against her parents on July 19, precluding them from stopping her food and water. 

Naranjo’s situation has drawn comparisons to that of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who was left severely brain-damaged from oxygen deprivation after suffering a heart attack and lived for a decade and a half in a persistent vegetative state. In 2005, Schiavo died of starvation after her husband insisted he was complying with her wishes by removing her feeding tube, despite a protracted and very public court battle and the pleading of her family.

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for his Angelus address on the solemnity of the Assumption on Aug. 15, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Aug 15, 2024 / 09:31 am (CNA).

During his Angelus address on the solemnity of the Assumption, Pope Francis reminded Catholics that the Blessed Virgin Mary always “goes before us on the journey.”

Reflecting on the first chapter of the Gospel St. Luke, which recounts the encounter between the Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, the pope reminded pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square that the Mother of God is not a “motionless wax statue” but a “woman on the move following Jesus as a disciple of the kingdom.”

“In her we can see a sister with worn-out sandals and with so much weariness in her veins for having followed the Lord and meeting brothers and sisters, concluding her journey in the glory of heaven,” the Holy Father contemplated.

The pope said Mary, the young woman from Nazareth, is an example for all Christians who share her same desire to announce the joy of Jesus Christ with those around us.

Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for Pope Francis’ Angelus address on the solemnity of the Assumption, Aug. 15, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

“This expression of the Gospel is beautiful: "Mary set out and went (Lk 1:39). It means that Mary does not consider the news that she received from the angel as a privilege but, on the contrary, she leaves home and sets out with haste,” he said.    

During his address, Pope Francis also emphasized the reality that each person’s life on earth is a continuous journey toward the final encounter with God, in which we are not alone but accompanied by the Mother of God, who ended her earthly pilgrimage with her Assumption into heaven, where “together with her Son, she enjoys the joy of eternal life forever.”

“The Blessed Virgin is she who goes before us on the journey, reminding us all that our life is also a continuous journey toward the horizon of the final encounter with the Lord,” he said. 

“For this reason, the Blessed Virgin can help us on our journey toward the Lord,” the pope added.

After praying the Angelus in Latin together with groups of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis prayed for people suffering violence throughout the world, particularly for those in Ukraine, the Middle East, Palestine, Israel, Sudan, and Myanmar.

Pilgrims cheer in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for Pope Francis’ Angelus address on the solemnity of the Assumption, Aug. 15, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

The Holy Father again renewed his call for world leaders to pursue the path of peace in negotiations and immediately end conflicts causing so much destruction and hardship for vulnerable communities. 

“I continue to follow with concern the very serious humanitarian situation in Gaza, and I call once again for a cease-fire on all fronts, for the release of hostages, and for aid to the exhausted population,” the pope insisted.

“I encourage everyone to make every effort to ensure that the conflict does not escalate and to pursue paths of negotiation so that this tragedy ends soon!” 

The Holy Father also expressed his particular closeness to the victims of wildfires in Greece on the feast of the Assumption and prayed for the solidarity of the affected communities to support one another during this time of tragedy.

A Ukrainian military vehicle drives from the direction of the border with Russia carrying blindfolded men in Russian military uniforms in the Sumy region on Aug. 13, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. / Credit: ROMAN PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 14, 2024 / 14:06 pm (CNA).

The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, is expressing concerns about Ukraine’s recent military advances inside Russian territory, warning that the actions could further escalate the war.

“These are very worrying developments because it means opening new fronts,” Parolin told journalists in Assisi, Italy, on Sunday, Aug. 11, according to the Holy See’s official news outlet Vatican News.

“In this sense, the chances for peace could become increasingly distant,” Parolin warned.

The cardinal secretary of state made the comments at the Basilica of St. Clare of Assisi, where he concelebrated Mass in honor of the saint’s feast day. He also spoke about war during his homily, highlighting a need for love “in a world increasingly lacking in love and which at the same time hungers for love,” according to Vatican News.

“From Assisi, I want to launch a strong appeal for peace throughout the world,“ Parolin said. “As the Holy Father has reiterated several times, war is a defeat for everyone and benefits no one.”

Ukrainian forces launched a military incursion into the Kursk Oblast in western Russia on Aug. 6. On Aug. 13, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the military had taken control of 74 Russian settlements in the region.

“Despite the difficult and intense battles, our forces continue to advance in the Kursk region,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta reported on Aug. 12 that Kursk Oblast acting governor Alexei Smirnov said Ukrainian forces had only taken control of 28 settlements — fewer than what Ukrainian officials are claiming.

The military advancement into Kursk is the first major Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

Parolin met with Zelenskyy in late July during a diplomatic visit to Ukraine. The cardinal said he “reiterated the pope’s closeness and commitment to finding a just and lasting peace.” Zelenskyy said after the meeting that he is “grateful for [the] cardinal’s support of our country and people.”

The Vatican has provided Ukraine with humanitarian aid throughout the war. The most recent truckloads of food, clothing, hygiene products, and medicine arrived in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Monday, Aug. 12, according to Vatican News.

Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union Archbishop Noël Treanor at the EU council headquarters on May 27, 2024, in Brussels, Belgium. / Credit: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Aug 12, 2024 / 12:19 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Noël Treanor, the Irish prelate who had served as apostolic nuncio to the European Union since 2023, died of a heart attack on Sunday at age 73. 

Before being appointed nuncio in late 2022, Treanor served as bishop of the Diocese of Down and Connor. With his new role, Pope Francis also conferred upon him the personal title of archbishop.

Down and Connor Bishop Alan McGuckian said on Monday that Treanor “continuously dedicated and devoted his life to the proclamation of the Gospel, to the pastoral care of the vulnerable, and to the social mission of the Church.” 

“As we give thanks to God for the years of ministry and service of Archbishop Noël Treanor, we entrust him to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I commend his soul into the hands of God and pray that he may enjoy eternal rest,” the bishop said. 

Treanor was born on Christmas Day 1950 in County Monaghan. He studied at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and was ordained on June 13, 1976.

He served numerous roles in the succeeding decades including as curate and hospital chaplain in Monaghan and as coordinator of the Clogher diocesan assembly of clergy. 

He was appointed to the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union in 1989; in 1993 he was appointed secretary-general. 

He was consecrated as bishop of Down and Connor by Cardinal Seán Brady in 2008. He held that title until Pope Francis appointed him apostolic nuncio on Nov. 26, 2022.

McGuckian said on Monday that Treanor “will be remembered as a tremendously gifted academic, a proficient modern linguist, and a highly skilled diplomat.” 

“Throughout his ministry, Archbishop Noël exhibited a wonderful capacity to situate the concerns and challenges faced by the Church within a broader European and global context,” the bishop said. 

The prelate will also “be fondly remembered within the Diocese of Down and Connor,” McGuckian said. 

“He opened his heart to the people of this diocese and they warmly welcomed him in return,” he said.

The bishop leaves behind a brother and sister as well as other family members. 

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin (left) and Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian. / Credit: Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Getty Images; Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Aug 12, 2024 / 10:25 am (CNA).

The Vatican has urged Iran to avoid escalating “in any way” the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, spoke on the phone on Monday morning with Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in a conversation that underlined the need for dialogue, negotiation, and peace. 

According to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, the cardinal “expressed the Holy See’s serious concern about what is happening in the Middle East, reiterating the need to avoid in any way the widening of the very serious ongoing conflict and preferring instead dialogue, negotiation, and peace.”

The Aug. 12 phone call by the Vatican secretary of state to congratulate the Iranian president on beginning his term in office occurred as the threat of a retaliatory attack by Iran looms.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East amid reports that Iran may attack within days, The Guardian reported Monday.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said in a statement on his official website that revenge is “our duty” following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday that it is on high alert for potential retaliation from Iran and its proxies.

The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been working to broker an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Pezeshkian assumed office in Tehran at the end of July after winning Iran’s runoff presidential election as a reformist candidate promising to reach out to the West. As president, Pezeshkian is the top elected official and second in rank to Iran’s supreme leader, who wields power as commander-in-chief and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran is one of the least Catholic countries in the world. Conversion from Islam to Christianity can be a crime meriting a sentence of more than 10 years of imprisonment. 

The Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Tehran-Isfahan has six parishes and approximately 2,000 Catholics. Archbishop Dominique Mathieu serves as the current archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan.

At Pope Francis’ most recent general audience, the Holy Father said he was following the situation in the Middle East with great concern.

“I reiterate my appeal to all the parties involved that the conflict does not spread and that there may be an immediate cease-fire on all fronts, starting with Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is very serious and unsustainable,” Pope Francis said Aug. 7.

“I pray that the sincere search for peace will extinguish strife, love will overcome hatred, and vengeance will be disarmed by forgiveness.”

Chinese pilgrims attend the general audience in St. Peter's Square, Oct. 12, 2016. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 9, 2024 / 15:07 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis conveyed a “message of hope” to Chinese Catholics and expressed his desire to one day visit the Basilica of Holy Mary, the Help of Christians, in Shanghai, China, during an interview released on Friday.

In an interview at the Vatican with Father Pedro Chia, the director of the press office of the Chinese Province of the Society of Jesus, the pontiff said he would “really want to” conduct an apostolic visit to China to visit the shrine and meet with bishops and Catholics in the country. 

“[The Chinese people] are indeed a faithful people who have gone through so much and remained faithful,” Francis said.

The pope added that the Chinese people are descendants of a “great people” and encouraged them not to “waste this heritage” but instead “pass it on with patience.” He further expressed a “message of hope” to the faithful in China.

“It seems tautological to send a message of hope to people who are masters of waiting,” Francis said. “The Chinese are masters of patience, masters of waiting. … It’s a very beautiful thing.”

The pope, who is a Jesuit, also provided advice to Jesuit clergy in China. 

“Show the way to God through the spiritual exercises and discernment,” Francis said in his message to Chinese Jesuits. “... Walk with the poor [and with] those whose dignity has been violated in a mission of reconciliation and justice and … accompany young people in the creation of a hope-filled future and … take care of our common home.”

At the end of the interview, Francis bestowed a blessing on the Chinese people and prayed for the intercession of Our Lady of Sheshan. 

The interview was conducted on May 24, the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, but not released until Aug. 9. 

No pope has ever visited China, but Francis was the first pope to visit Mongolia, which borders China, in September 2023. 

In 2018, the Vatican signed a confidential agreement with the CCP that would require the regime to consult with the Holy See about the appointment of bishops. That deal was renewed in 2020 and again in 2022.

According to a recent Pew study, the number of Christians in China has leveled after increasing in the 1980s and 1990s, which some observers attribute to a “crackdown” by the communist regime.

Nina Shea, senior fellow and director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, told CNA that the declining numbers of China’s Christians are “no surprise.”

“They correlate with Xi’s [Jiping’s] crackdown on Christianity, his so-called ‘Sinicization’ campaign,” she said. For the past five years, “the state has strictly banned all children from any exposure to religion, churches have been blanketed with facial-recognition surveillance and linked to social credit scores.”

During that time, Bibles have been restricted and censored, Beijing has detained Christian bishops and pastors, and their sermons have been censored to “be on Xi’s ‘thought,’” Shea said.

On critics and the future of the Church

During the interview with Chia, Francis also commented on criticism he has faced during his papacy.

“Critics are always helpful,” the pope said. “Even if they are not constructive, they are always helpful because they make one reflect on one’s actions.”

“Well, many times you know that you have to wait, to endure and often correct oneself because behind some resistances there can be good criticism,” Francis continued. “And sometimes also with pain, because the resistances, as they happen at these moments, are not only against me personally, they are against the Church.”

The pontiff also referenced difficulties faced by St. Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the Jesuits. 

“The difficulties and resistances that St. Ignatius faced at the beginning were conflicts with people who looked inward and lost their missionary spirit,” he said.

The pope also urged Catholics to avoid worldliness and clericalism when reflecting on the future of the Church. He noted that 20th-century Jesuit theologian Father Henri de Lubac warned that worldliness was “the worst evil that can befall the Church” and “even worse than the time of the concubinary popes.”

“Some say it will be a smaller, more reduced Church,” the pontiff said. “I think the Church must be careful not to fall into the plague of clericalism and the plague of spiritual worldliness.”

When asked whether he had any words of advice for the person who succeeds him as pope, Francis gave a simple response: “Pray … because the Lord speaks in the prayer.”

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 7, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 8, 2024 / 15:46 pm (CNA).

The Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has announced the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the 58th World Day of Peace 2025, which will be celebrated on Jan. 1: “Forgive Us Our Trespasses, Grant Us Your Peace.”

The theme, the dicastery explained, “manifests a natural consonance with the biblical and ecclesial meaning of the jubilee year and is inspired in particular by the encyclical letters Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, especially around the concepts of hope and forgiveness, the heart of the jubilee” called by Pope Francis for the year 2025.

According to the Vatican office, the theme represents “a call to conversion, not oriented toward condemnation but toward reconciling and being reconciled.”

The dicastery noted that by “considering the reality of conflicts and social sins afflicting humanity today in light of the hope inherent in the jubilee tradition of the forgiveness of sins ... concrete principles emerge that can lead to a much-needed spiritual, social, economic, ecological, and cultural change.”

“Only through a true conversion, personal, communal, and international, can true peace flourish, which is not manifested only in the end of conflicts but in a new reality in which wounds are healed and the dignity of each person is recognized,” the dicastery stated.

In previous years, the themes proposed by Pope Francis for this day have focused on artificial intelligence, dialogue between generations, the culture of care, or good politics.

An initiative of St. Paul VI

The call to observe this day was first made by St. Paul VI, who established that on Jan. 1, 1968, the Day of Peace, now the World Day of Peace, would be held.

In his first message, the pontiff expressed his belief that “this proposal interprets the aspirations of peoples, of their governments, of international organisms which strive to preserve peace in the world, of those religious institutions so interested in the promotion of peace, of cultural, political, and social movements which make peace their ideal; of youth, whose perspicacity regarding the new paths of civilization, dutifully oriented toward its peaceful developments is more lively; of wise men who see how much, today, peace is both necessary and threatened.”

The pope’s initiative preceded that of the United Nations, which in 1981 designated Sept. 21 as the International Day of Peace. In 2001, the General Assembly voted unanimously to designate the day as a period of nonviolence and cease-fire.

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

The Vatican has approved devotion at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Health in Vailankanni, India, the site of reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the 16th century.   / Credit: Sajanj/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

Vatican City, Aug 8, 2024 / 11:34 am (CNA).

The Vatican has approved devotion at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Health in Vailankanni, India, the site of reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the 16th century.  

One month before the Sept. 8 feast day of Our Lady of Good Health in India, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) confirmed in a letter to Bishop Sagayaraj Thamburaj of Thanjavur that the action of God is present at the shrine.

“Through the centuries, Mary has continued to act in this place,” DDF prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández wrote. “The millions of pilgrims who travel here out of faith, and the many spiritual fruits that are produced at this shrine, make us recognize the constant action of the Holy Spirit in this place.

According to a Thanjavur tourism website, approximately 20 million pilgrims from India and abroad visit the shrine each year, 3 million of whom visit during the 11-day festival held Aug. 29 to Sept. 8 in honor of Our Lady of Good Health. 

Devotion to Our Lady of Good Health began in the late 16th century following three different oral accounts of the apparition of the Virgin Mary in Vailankanni, a town in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. 

The first apparition account of the Virgin Mary acknowledged by the DDF is that of a local shepherd boy who, upon seeing the beautiful woman, offered the milk he was carrying with him for the child in her arms.

“This was an expression of the generosity of those who are willing to give something to others, in their own poverty. You do not need to have much in order to be generous. May this call to share, to assist, to be close to those who need us always resonate in this place,” the Aug. 1 letter reads. 

The DDF also specifically recognized the account of Portuguese merchant sailors who landed safely in Vailankanni after a violent storm at sea on Sept. 8, 1650. That day, which was also the feast of the Nativity of Mary, the sailors vowed to build a church in thanksgiving to Our Lady of Good Health.

More than 300 years after the construction of the original church, St. John XXIII raised the Marian shrine to the status of basilica on Nov. 3, 1962.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II celebrated the annual World Day of the Sick at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Health.

In the letter to the bishop of Thanjavur, Fernández said Pope Francis “extends his paternal blessings to all pilgrims” ahead of the shrine’s Sept. 8 feast day. 

“The Holy Father cares a lot about the popular piety of the faithful pilgrims, because they reflect the beauty of the Church on the move, which seeks Jesus in the arms of Mary and entrusts its pain and hope to the heart of his mother,” Fernández wrote.

Together with the Sunday Angelus and the principal celebrations of the liturgical year, the pope’s general audiences constitute the spiritual heart of his regular Petrine teaching office. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 8, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

On Aug. 7, Pope Francis resumed general audiences at the Vatican after a brief and normal pause during the month of July. The following is an explanation of the nature and purpose of these encounters with the Holy Father.

An important weekly event, the general audience takes place every Wednesday. Together with the Sunday Angelus and the principal celebrations of the liturgical year, they represent the spiritual heart of Pope Francis’ Petrine teaching.

The audiences draw people from all over the world, including non-Catholics, and give the pope the opportunity to share an often simple but profound catechesis on the Christian faith. They typically take place in St. Peter’s Square or in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.

Since 2013, the first year of his pontificate, Pope Francis has given more than 300 of these short catechetical talks in which he proposes in a simple way the fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church.

The themes of the catechesis have included the sacraments, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Church, the family, mercy, Christian hope, Mass, baptism, confirmation, the commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Acts of the Apostles, the Beatitudes, and prayer, among others.

At the end of the catechesis, the pope usually dedicates a few minutes to making appeals to humanity. In these appeals, he often calls for peace in places ravaged by war; asks for prayers for Christians in the world, in particular for those suffering persecution; and for peoples struck by natural disasters, epidemics, or incidents as well as for migrants.

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

An activist from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) holds a sign that reads “la corrida e peccato” (“bullfighting is a sin”), temporarily interrupted Pope Francis’ catechesis during his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 7, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Aug 7, 2024 / 14:38 pm (CNA).

Two animal rights activists connected to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) temporarily interrupted Pope Francis’ Wednesday audience in Vatican City, calling on the 87-year-old pontiff to take action against bullfighting.

The female activists, wearing white shirts with the slogan “Stop blessing corridas,” jumped over a barrier that separated a seating area from the central walkway within the Paul VI Hall and waved banners that read “la corrida e peccato” (“bullfighting is a sin”) before the pope and approximately 6,000 pilgrims.

PETA claims that tens of thousands of bulls are killed each year in a sport it describes as a “bloodbath” that celebrates animal cruelty.

A news article on the PETA website reported the two women, who belong to the U.K. branch of the organization, were arrested and later released by Vatican authorities. The article said the organization hopes the women’s “powerful message” will spur the Holy Father to join its cause and condemn bullfighting.

“PETA is putting our faith in Pope Francis to condemn the despicable practice and cut the Catholic Church’s shameful ties with the bullfighting industry,” the article says.

“His Holiness Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical Laudato Si’ that ‘every act of cruelty toward any creature is “contrary to human dignity.”’”

The international animal rights group believes bullfighting is “a stark contrast to Christ’s teaching on compassion and mercy” and condemns the connection of the sport to celebrations held in honor of Catholic saints.

The organization also mentions in its article published Wednesday that St. Pius V had condemned bullfights and those who participated in the sport because of its cruel nature, as he considered it to be contrary to “Christian piety and charity.” 

Before Easter celebrations took place in Rome this year, PETA plastered an image of Jesus between a bull and a matador with the message “Bullfighting is a sin. Ask your priest to condemn it” on buses and 100 billboards around the city to promote its worldwide campaign to end the sport.

The elaborate advertising campaign was launched in Rome and near Vatican City ahead of the First Meeting of Bullfighting Chaplains and Priests held in early April in Spain. 

On Jan. 25, two other PETA U.K. activists protested their cause to end bullfighting before Pope Francis while he was attending vespers for the solemnity of the Conversion of St. Paul at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

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

Vatican City, Aug 7, 2024 / 11:51 am (CNA).

Pope Francis held his first general audience after a monthlong summer break Wednesday, reminding pilgrims gathered in Paul VI Hall that, as the Gospel of Luke emphasizes, “with God all things are possible” when we invite Jesus into our lives as the Virgin Mary did.

The Holy Father’s reflections marked his fifth catechesis on the theme “The Spirit and the Bride: The Holy Spirit Guides the People of God toward Jesus Our Hope.”

The Holy Father encouraged his listeners to imitate the faith of Mary, who listened to God and invited the Holy Spirit into her life.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 7, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

“How is it possible to proclaim Jesus Christ and his salvation to a world that seems to only seek well-being in this world?” the Holy Father asked.

“‘With God nothing will be impossible,’” he repeated. “If we believe this, we will perform miracles. With God nothing will be impossible.”

At one point, activists from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), donned in shirts and waving banners that read “stop blessing corridas” and “la corrida e peccato” (“bullfighting is a sin”), temporarily interrupted the catechesis.

An activist from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) holds a sign that reads “la corrida e peccato” (“bullfighting is a sin”), temporarily interrupted Pope Francis’ catechesis during his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 7, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

During his address, the Holy Father said the incarnation of Jesus Christ is a historical fact central to the Catholic faith.

“The Church took up this revealed fact and very soon positioned it at the heart of her symbol of faith,” the pope said.

Pope Francis added that the Nicene Creed, which is recited during Mass, is also an “ecumenical fact of faith” as all Christians share the same belief on the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ.

“In the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, in 381 — which defined the divinity of the Holy Spirit — this article enters into the formula of the creed, which is indeed referred to as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. It affirms that the Son of God was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man,” the pope explained.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 7, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Throughout the meeting, several pilgrims waved country flags as well as fans as they tried to keep cool during the hourlong midsummer indoor papal audience.

After his catechesis on the incarnation of Jesus the Holy Father urged those present to meditate upon the Gospel accounts of the feast days of the Transfiguration (Aug. 6) and the Assumption (Aug. 15).

The pope also asked for prayers for peace on behalf of those suffering conflict and violence in the Middle East, Ukraine, Myanmar, and Pakistan.

At the General Audience, Pope Francis advised us to remember, in difficult times, the words of the angel to the Virgin: "With God, nothing will be impossible" (Lk 1:37). Let us resume our journey with this certainty: "We will perform miracles. With God, nothing will be… pic.twitter.com/2MYpd4dJnd

— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) August 7, 2024

Giuseppe Pignatone. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 6, 2024 / 17:35 pm (CNA).

The president of the Vatican Court, Giuseppe Pignatone, is under investigation by the Italian judiciary for allegedly collaborating with the Mafia in the early 1990s.

Pignatone, 75, is known for his extensive career in the justice system. He was also deputy prosecutor for Palermo (Sicily) and Rome’s prosecutor. Since October 2019 he has been president of the Vatican Court.

On July 31, Pignatone was summoned to testify in court in Caltanissetta, Sicily, for alleged complicity and cover-up of the Italian Mafia organization La Cosa Nostra (“Our Thing”).

The events date back to 1992, when the Sicilian Mafia killed judges Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone.

On May 23 of that year, both anti-Mafia judges, along with their wives and several members of their escort, were killed when a bomb placed in their cars by the criminal organization’s hitmen exploded.

These judges were leading the fight against La Cosa Nostra, responsible for attacks, extortion, drug trafficking, and money laundering during the 1990s in Italy.

At the time, Pignatone was deputy prosecutor in Palermo and allegedly intervened to force the end of an investigation against the organization.

According to the Italian press, in his July 31 statement he claimed to be innocent of all charges and promised to cooperate with the justice system.

Blessed Giuseppe ‘Don Pino’ Puglisi

On Sept. 15, 1993, the Sicilian mob also took the life of Blessed Giuseppe “Don Pino” Puglisi, a Sicilian priest who, despite threats, had carried out a quiet fight against organized crime by educating young people in the impoverished area of ​​Palermo, where he carried out his pastoral work.

Puglisi also preached against the Mafia, prohibited them from leading religious processions, and even gave hidden clues to the authorities about their latest activities in his homilies. After his death it was revealed that his life had been threatened on numerous occasions.

On Sept. 15, 1993, he was stopped on the street and shot in the neck at point-blank range by hitmen sent by local Mafia bosses Filippo and Giuseppe Graviano. He died from his wounds. Puglisi was declared a martyr by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 and beatified in 2013.

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

Pope Francis celebrates second vespers on the feast of Our Lady of the Snows at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on Aug. 5, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Aug 6, 2024 / 11:18 am (CNA).

In his homily during second vespers on the solemnity of Our Lady of the Snows at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on Monday evening, Pope Francis meditated upon the significance of grace in the life of the Mother of God and in the life of every Catholic.

“I suggest, then, that we allow ourselves to be guided by a verse from the book of Sirach, which says the following about the snow that God causes to fall from the sky: ‘The eye marvels at the beauty of its whiteness, and the mind is amazed at its falling’ (Sir 43:18),” the Holy Father said in his vespers homily for the solemnity.

“Just like a midsummer snowfall in Rome. Indeed, grace arouses marvel and amazement. Let us not forget these two words. We cannot lose the ability to marvel and the ability to be amazed, as they are part of our experience of faith,” he added.

Pope Francis celebrates second vespers on the feast of Our Lady of the Snows at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on Aug. 5, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Every year, Romans celebrate the solemnity dedicated to the Virgin Mary with a shower of white rose petals that fall from the ceiling of the Basilica of St. Mary Major to represent the miraculous midsummer snowfall that occurred almost 1,700 years ago. 

In his contemplation of the gem of the basilica — the ancient icon of Salus Populi Romani (Our Lady Savior of the People) — the pope said the miracle of the snow is symbolic of Mary, who is the only woman created who is full of grace, conceived without original sin, and immaculate.    

“Here, grace fully acquires its Christian form in the image of the Virgin Mother with Child, the holy Mother of God. Grace appears in its concreteness, stripped of every mythological, magical, and spiritualistic vesture always lurking in religion,” he said at vespers. 

The pope said grace is essential in the faith journey of every believer and a gift that cannot be bought but only received, and conveyed his hope that Christians not lose a sense of wonder to the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

“Indeed, grace arouses marvel and amazement. Let us not forget these two words. We cannot lose the ability to marvel and the ability to be amazed, as they are part of our experience of faith,” the Holy Father reflected.

Pope Francis celebrates second vespers on the feast of Our Lady of the Snows at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on Aug. 5, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Before concluding his homily with praises and prayers of invocation to the Mother of God, Pope Francis asked the Catholic faithful — especially those planning to visit St. Mary Major in the 2025 Jubilee Year — to ask for blessings, forgiveness, and the peace of Jesus Christ for the whole world.   

“That peace which is true and lasting only when it flows from repentant and forgiven hearts,” he said. “Forgiveness brings about peace because to forgive is the noble approach of the Lord; that peace which comes from the cross of Christ, and from his blood that he took from Mary and shed for the remission of sins.”

Holy Mountain Shrine in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. / Credit: Myriampr, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 5, 2024 / 16:13 pm (CNA).

Based on the new norms for studying alleged apparitions in the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has denied the supernatural nature of the events related to Elenita de Jesus and Holy Mountain Shrine in Puerto Rico.

In an Aug. 1 letter addressed to the bishop of Caguas, Puerto Rico, the prefect of the dicastery, Cardinal Víctor Fernández, confirmed that Elenita de Jesus “is not the Virgin Mary.”

In his letter, the cardinal said that Elenita de Jesús, a missionary catechist of the 19th century, “lived under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, in charity and in the proclamation of the Gospel, inspired by a profound love for our mother in heaven, the Virgin Mary.”

He also noted that she served the Catholic Church at a decisive moment in history, when faith was seriously threatened, and that people called her “mother” for the “beautiful attitudes they saw in her.”

“It is true that in her life we ​​find signs of her great union with the suffering Jesus Christ, and that in many of her gestures she extended the affection of Mary, the mother of heaven. Various testimonies say that she resembled the Virgin and some, in an excess of admiration, made the mistake of affirming that she was the Virgin,” Fernández said.

The cardinal therefore declared that “identifying Elenita de Jesús with Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only redeemer, or with the Virgin Mary, the first cooperator in the work of her Son, must be completely avoided.”

“In the face of any attempt to attribute to Elenita de Jesús the identity of the Lord, or of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the judgment cannot be other than ‘constat de non supernaturalitate’ (clearly not supernatural). Elenita de Jesús is not the Virgin Mary,” the prelate confirmed.

However, he pointed out that “it cannot be denied that the figure of Elenita de Jesús has great value for the Church in Puerto Rico and must be considered to foster total dedication to the kingdom of God.”

“It would be a joy for her if those who love her would use the figure of her person as a motivation to dedicate themselves solely to God and avoid directing toward her the gestures of veneration that belong to the mother of Jesus Christ. It is better not to damage this treasure by distorting its original meaning,” Fernández continued.

Fernández expressed his hope that the Holy Mountain Shrine “will always be a place where Jesus Christ, the only Lord and Redeemer, is adored, as Elenita de Jesús, humble and poor among the poor, would surely have wished.”

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

null / Credit: TippaPatt/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Aug 4, 2024 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

In a new letter released Sunday, Pope Francis touts the benefits of reading literature for priests and all those seeking to enrich their lives as Christian believers.

Though he said his letter was originally intended for men receiving priestly formation, he said all Christians — not just those involved in ministry — would benefit from incorporating poetry and literature into their personal times of study or leisure.

“Time spent reading may well open up new interior spaces that help us to avoid becoming trapped by a few obsessive thoughts that can stand in the way of our personal growth,” he writes in his letter, which is dated July 17 and comes at the height of the summer when many people are taking time off to rest and recreate.

The 87-year-old pontiff believes reading literature enables individual people to learn the art of reflective personal discernment, empathy with others, as well as entering a dialogue with the culture of our times, in a more profound way than modern audiovisual media.

“We are enriched by what we receive from the author and this allows us in turn to grow inwardly, so that each new work we read will renew and expand our worldview,” he writes.

In his letter, the Holy Father praises seminaries that incorporated times dedicated to the reading of literature and poetry, countering the current “obsession with ‘screens’ and with toxic, superficial, and violent fake news.”  

Reading, the pope insists, should not be approached with an arduous or rigid “sense of duty” but rather with a flexibility, openness, and “readiness to learn.”

“Everyone will find books that speak to their own lives and become authentic companions for their journey. There is nothing more counterproductive than reading something out of a sense of duty, making considerable effort simply because others have said it is essential,” he shares.     

Drawing upon the example of St. Paul, who “gathered the seeds of pagan poetry,” the pope said Christians who are knowledgeable of the literary works of their times can bring others closer to God through the person of Jesus Christ. 

“We must always take care never to lose sight of the ‘flesh’ of Jesus Christ: that flesh made of passions, emotions, and feelings, words that challenge and console, hands that touch and heal, looks that liberate and encourage, flesh made of hospitality, forgiveness, indignation, courage, fearlessness; in a word, love,” Pope Francis writes.

Through “listening to the voice of others” and “seeing through the eyes of others,” Pope Francis believes there is a kind of wisdom and richness instilled in readers of the literary word that seeks truth, broadens perspectives, and enhances critical and cognitive thinking.

“It opens our human words to welcome the Word that is already present in human speech, not when it sees itself as knowledge that is already full, definitive and complete,” he observes, “but when it becomes a listening and expectation of the One who comes to make all things new (cf. Rv 21:5).”

Pope Francis prays during his general audience on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 3, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

“What would happen if we prayed more and complained less?” Pope Francis asked Aug. 2 on his official profile on X.

He then invited the faithful to ask the Lord for “the grace to know how to pray for one another.”

The Holy Father posted this message as part of the Year of Prayer 2024, which he proposed as a preparation for the upcoming Jubilee of Hope 2025.

The pope inaugurated the current Year of Prayer on Jan. 21, and since then he has invited the faithful to place themselves before the presence of the Lord on numerous occasions, especially through the hashtag #YearofPrayer.

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has often reiterated the importance of avoiding complaining about others and “gossip,” which he has referred to as “a plague on people’s lives.”

On the occasion of an Angelus prayer last September, he lamented that “the first thing that is usually created around those who make mistakes is gossip, in which everyone finds out about the mistake, with all the details, except the person affected. This is not right and does not please God,” he affirmed.

“I never tire of repeating that gossip is a plague in the lives of people and communities, because it brings division, suffering, and scandal, and never helps [people] to improve and grow,” the Holy Father reiterated.

On another occasion, he warned that gossip is a “deadly poison” and something “very bad” that destroys “human communion.” 

“Never speak ill of one another. If you have a problem with a sister or brother, go and tell them face to face. And if you can’t do it, swallow it, but don’t go around spreading unrest that does harm and destroys,” the Holy Father advised.

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

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, at a penance service in St. Peter's Basilica on March 29, 2019. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Aug 2, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller has vigorously refuted claims of financial impropriety during his tenure as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, dismissing the allegations as “cheap tabloid literature.”

The former prefect, who served from 2012 to 2017, insists that “not a single cent” was mishandled under his leadership, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

In an interview with the German Catholic weekly Die Tagespost, Müller addressed a recent report suggesting his term was not renewed due to financial mismanagement.

Citing several anonymous sources at the Vatican, the Pillar reported that allegedly large sums of cash were found in the dicastery offices and that over 200,000 euros intended for the dicastery’s bank account were deposited into Müller’s personal account. 

The report also claimed these discoveries were made during an investigation led by the late Cardinal George Pell’s economic secretariat.

In response to these allegations, Müller said: “If people had realized, as Cardinal Pell did, that the dicastery did not lose a single cent in the end, they could have spared themselves the rehashing of a long-settled matter.”

According to CNA Deutsch, the cardinal acknowledged that a staff member had “booked money back and forth between the individual accounts of the dicastery and, although not illegally, kept unusually large amounts of cash.” 

However, Müller emphatically stated that this employee had not misappropriated “the slightest bit” of the dicastery’s property.

The former prefect also addressed questions about replacing an antique conference table in the dicastery’s offices. Müller explained that he had procured valuable new furniture for the dicastery through fundraising efforts during his tenure. As part of this process, he said, the old conference table was properly disposed of with the approval of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA).

“As prefect, I was able to acquire valuable new furniture for the dicastery through fundraising,” Müller stated, emphasizing that all actions were taken with proper oversight and approval.

Speculations and successors

The allegations suddenly surfacing this week are not the first time Müller’s departure has made headlines that the cardinal subsequently dismissed.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed the German prelate to lead the Church’s highest doctrinal department in 2012. His five-year term ended without renewal in 2017 under Pope Francis.

At the time, media reports alleged the pope had asked the cardinal “five pointed questions” in a personal conversation — a claim Müller categorically dismissed.

Nonetheless, his departure from office was widely interpreted as a desire for new leadership in the Vatican’s doctrinal office. 

Müller’s successor, Jesuit Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, was succeeded in 2023 by the personal theologian and ghostwriter to Pope Francis, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández. 

Pope Francis opens the Holy Door in L'Aquila, Italy, on Aug. 28, 2022. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Aug 2, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Dicastery for Evangelization issued a note on Thursday reaffirming that the Holy Doors of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope in Rome will be located at the four papal basilicas as well as at a prison. 

The Jubilee of Hope will take place from Dec. 24, 2024 — Christmas Eve — to Jan. 6, 2026, the feast of the Epiphany.

The Holy Doors will be located at the Basilica of St. Peter, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the Basilica of St. Mary Major, and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. A fifth door will also be located at a prison, the name of which has not yet been announced. 

The five Holy Doors were specified by Pope Francis when he officially proclaimed the 2025 Ordinary Jubilee through his bull of indiction, Spes Non Confundit (“Hope Does Not Disappoint”) on the feast of the Ascension on May 9. 

The first Holy Door will be opened by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve this year to usher in the beginning of the Jubilee Year worldwide. This door will be the last one to be closed on the feast of the Epiphany in 2026, marking the end of the holy year. 

The Archbasilica of St. John Lateran will be the second door opened by Pope Francis — on Dec. 29, the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The Holy Father will then open the Holy Door at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, on Jan. 1, and then on Jan. 5 he will open the Holy Door at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. These three papal basilicas will all be closed on Dec. 28, 2025.

The Dicastery for Evangelization has not yet specified the location or dates for the opening or closing of the Holy Door at a Rome prison. 

In his papal bull, the Holy Father expressed his wish that prisoners “look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence” during the Jubilee Year.

The note released by the dicastery’s Section for Fundamental Questions regarding Evangelization in the World did not mention the opening of any other Holy Doors within Italy or abroad but issued further guidelines for the granting and use of the Jubilee 2025 indulgence when visiting cathedrals, international and national shrines, and other significant places of worship outside of Rome. 

The Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary released on May 13, mentioned in the Aug. 1 note, states that the Catholic faithful who wish to live “this moment of grace in its fullness” can obtain the 2025 Jubilee indulgence in three main ways: pilgrimages, pious visits to sacred places, and works of mercy and penance.

The upcoming holy year will be the 28th jubilee celebrated in the Catholic Church and comes 10 years after Pope Francis opened the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in 2015. That year, Holy Doors had been erected in basilicas and sacred sites in 40 different countries.

Pope Francis prays during his general audience on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Aug 1, 2024 / 09:21 am (CNA).

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of August is for political leaders. 

“Today, politics doesn’t have a very good reputation: corruption, scandals, and distance from people’s day-to-day lives,” Pope Francis said in a video released July 30. 

“But can we move ahead toward universal fraternity without good politics? No,” he continued. “As Paul VI said, politics is one of the highest forms of charity because it seeks the common good.”

“I’m talking about POLITICS with all capital letters, not politicking. I’m talking about politics that listens to what is really going on, that’s at the service of the poor, not the kind that’s holed up in huge buildings with large hallways.”

The Holy Father explained that he’s speaking about the politics “that’s concerned about the unemployed and knows full well how sad a Sunday can be when Monday is just one more day not being able to work. If we look at it this way, politics is much more noble than it appears.”

Pope Francis encouraged the faithful to “be grateful for the many politicians who carry out their duties with a will to serve, not of power, who put all their efforts toward the common good.”

He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray that political leaders be at the service of their own people, working for integral human development and the common good, taking care of those who have lost their jobs and giving priority to the poorest.”

Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.