Widows Norma Pérez and Olga Pallares. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News

Vatican City, Sep 17, 2025 / 17:19 pm (CNA).

Norma Pérez, a widow for five years, and Olga Pallares, a widow for two, have experienced the piercing visceral pain of losing a loved one.

Friends for over 30 years, they have managed to cast a light on something as dark as the death of their husbands. “I know he is with God, without suffering, in a joy that is not of this world,” said Pérez, whose grief did not completely break her; on the contrary, she said it strengthened her faith.

‘A part of him has remained with us’

Together, the two friends participated in this week’s Jubilee of Consolation in Rome to bear witness that death does not have the last word. “A part of him has remained with us. We are not completely empty. We widows are filled with the other half of the other person who has passed away,” Pérez told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, just before participating in a vigil with Pope Leo XIV.

Pérez and Pallares met at Maranatha (“the Lord is coming” in Aramaic), a group that accompanies young couples in marriage preparation courses. “We gave retreats to strengthen marriages,” Pérez explained.

Through these activities, they taught others how to live the word of God as a couple, how to pray the rosary, and how to prepare to build a solid marriage based on faith.

But eventually, they became widows. Now, they dedicate themselves to “helping others until God calls me, too,” Pérez said.

These two friends have had very different experiences in their lives of faith, as different as their marriage experiences.

Pallares met her husband as a teenager, but they came from different worlds. “They were well off, I wasn’t,” she recalled. Her husband’s family always looked down on her, she said, but the couple managed to build a strong love despite the difficulties: “We fought every day for our love.”

Rejected by her in-laws 

One of the most painful experiences they experienced was his parents’ rejection of their daughters: “They never loved my daughters and even ended up disinheriting my husband. That was terrible.”

Despite family difficulties, Pallares and her husband shared a journey of faith and service. He even served as an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist at the Avellaneda Cathedral in Argentina: “Rubén taught me that painful experiences are best navigated hand in hand with Jesus.”

In the final years of their marriage, illness entered their lives. Her husband was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which took him in just a few years: “Those were very hard times. I had to do everything: lift him, wash him, insert the IV, remove the IV… But God gave me incredible strength. I managed to lift him as if he weighed little, and he was twice my size.”

Despite the pain, faith sustained them until the end. Pallares recalled how her husband maintained a constant closeness to the Eucharist: “He was in front of Jesus 24/7 praying. He always told me: ‘We are you, Jesus, and me.’”

Pérez, on the other hand, wasn’t baptized when she met Juan. She grew up in a nonbelieving family. In fact, they were first married in a civil ceremony in 1999. But in 2008, everything changed.

Her husband, Juan, was diagnosed with prostate cancer after a biopsy and, fearful of undergoing surgery, opted for alternative and natural treatments.

“We were a couple who had been trying to have children for eight years, and the treatments weren’t successful. Then the disease hit,” she recalled.

Discovering God’s caress

Then, through suffering, she discovered God’s caress. “My faith truly began from zero. It was a total conversion, brought on by my husband’s illness,” she said in a calm voice.

It was then that they both began to draw closer to God and the Catholic community founded by Father Elías Cavero Domínguez in Argentina. “That’s when I began to understand what faith was and I was baptized. Everything changed for us: We were married in the Church in 2010. It was a profound transformation in our lives,” she said.

For the next 10 years, Juan experienced moments of relative stability. However, in 2018, the cancer had spread throughout his body, and the pain became unbearable. Despite this, they experienced what she describes as “a year of grace.”

From mid-2019 to 2020, Juan was pain free and able to spend time peacefully with his wife.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic further complicated the situation. In June 2020, they were both hospitalized, and despite health restrictions, she was able to be with him until the end. Juan passed away on Aug. 22, 2020.

“I went through everything with him and through prayer. I was even able to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet at the exact moment of his departure. It was an immense consolation; I felt the Virgin Mary was coming to get him,” she recounted with emotion.

Their participation in the Jubilee of Consolation was another step in the spiritual healing process for these two Argentinians. In Rome, surrounded by people who had also experienced loss, they were able to experience Christian consolation.

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

Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sept. 17, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Sep 17, 2025 / 10:18 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday condemned the “unacceptable conditions” faced by civilians in Gaza and called for a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and renewed efforts toward a negotiated diplomatic solution.

“I express my profound closeness to the Palestinian people in Gaza, who continue to live in fear and to survive in unacceptable conditions, forcibly displaced — once again — from their own lands,” the pope said at his weekly general audience. “Before God almighty, who commanded ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ and in the sight of all of human history, every person always has an inviolable dignity, to be respected and upheld.”

“I renew my appeal for a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and a negotiated diplomatic solution, fully respecting international humanitarian law. I invite you all to join in my heartfelt prayer that a dawn of peace and justice may soon arise,” he added.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening before returning to the Vatican from the papal villa of Castel Gandolfo, Leo XIV said he had been in contact with Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of Holy Family Parish in Gaza.

“Many have nowhere to go, and that is a great concern,” the pope said. “For now they want to stay, they are still resisting, but a real solution must be found.”

The pope also dismissed claims from Moscow that NATO had begun a war against Russia, noting Poland’s concerns about violations of its airspace. “The concern is great,” he said.

Catechesis about Holy Saturday

In his catechesis at the audience on Wednesday, part of his series on “Jesus Christ our Hope” for the Jubilee 2025, the pope reflected on the mystery of Holy Saturday, when Christ lay in the tomb.

“The Son of God lies in the tomb. But this ‘absence’ of his is not emptiness: It is expectation, a restrained fullness, a promise kept in the dark. It is the day of the great silence, in which the sky seems mute and the earth immobile, but it is precisely there that the deepest mystery of the Christian faith is fulfilled. It is a silence laden with meaning, like the womb of a mother who carries her unborn but already living child,” he said.

Recalling that Jesus was laid in a garden tomb, the pope said the scene recalls the lost Eden and signals a new creation: “That tomb, never used, speaks of something that has still to happen: It is a threshold, not an end.”

He explained that Holy Saturday is also a day of rest: “The Son too, after completing his work of salvation, rests. Not because he is tired, but because he loved up to the very end. There is nothing left to add. This rest is the seal on the completed task; it is the confirmation that what should have been done has truly been accomplished. It is a repose filled with the hidden presence of the Lord.”

The pope contrasted this with the demands of modern life. “We struggle to stop and rest. We live as if life were never enough. We rush to produce, to prove ourselves, to keep up. But the Gospel teaches us that knowing how to stop is an act of trust that we must learn to perform.”

“In the tomb, Jesus, the living Word of the Father, is silent. But it is precisely in that silence that the new life begins to ferment. Like a seed in the ground, like the darkness before dawn. God is not afraid of the passing time, because he is also the God of waiting. Thus, even our ‘useless’ time, that of pauses, emptiness, barren moments, can become the womb of resurrection,” he said.

The pope described Jesus in the tomb as “the meek face of a God who does not occupy all space. He is the God who lets things be done, who waits, who withdraws to leave us freedom. He is the God who trusts, even when everything seems to be over.”

“At times we seek quick answers, immediate solutions. But God works in depth, in the slow time of trust,” he added. “The Sabbath of the burial thus becomes the womb from which the strength of an invincible light, that of Easter, can spring forth.”

“Christian hope is not born in noise but in the silence of an expectation filled with love. It is not the offspring of euphoria but of trustful abandonment. The Virgin Mary teaches us this: She embodies this expectation, this trust, this hope,” he said. “When it seems to us that everything is at a standstill, that life is a blocked road, let us remember Holy Saturday. Even in the tomb, God was preparing the greatest surprise of all.”

The pope concluded that “true joy is born of indwelt expectation, of patient faith, of the hope that what has been lived in love will surely rise to eternal life.”

As is customary, Leo greeted pilgrims from his popemobile in St. Peter’s Square, where many families gathered for his blessing. The day coincided with the feast of St. Robert Bellarmine, patron saint of Leo XIV, which is a holiday in the Vatican.

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

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In an overly frenetic world, the Gospel teaches the importance of stopping, resting and trusting in the Lord, Pope Leo XIV said.

"We rush to produce, to prove ourselves, to keep up," the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square Sept. 17.

"But the Gospel teaches us that knowing how to stop is an act of trust that we must learn to perform," he said, adding that "life does not always depend on what we do, but also on how we know how to take leave of what we have been able to do." 

The day also marked the feast of St. Robert Bellarmine, a 17th-century Jesuit theologian and cardinal, and the name day of Pope Leo, who was born Robert F. Prevost.

"I'd like to thank all of you for expressing your good wishes today on my name day. Thank you so much," he said at the end of the audience.

It was also just a few days after his 70th birthday Sept. 14, and several people in the audience shouted "happy birthday" to the pope when he rode by in the popemobile.

In his main talk, the pope continued his series of reflections on lessons of hope from the Gospel by looking at the mystery of Holy Saturday and Jesus lying buried in the tomb.

For Christians, it is a day of "great silence and joyful expectation," he said, in English. 

"Just as God rested after creating the universe, so did the Son rest after completing the work of redemption, having loved us to the end," he said. "We, too, are invited to find quiet and restful moments amidst the frenzy of our daily activity."

"In the tomb, Jesus, the living word of the Father, is silent," he said in Italian. "But it is precisely in that silence that the new life begins to ferment like a seed in the ground, like the darkness before dawn."

Therefore, the pope said, even when people experience moments that are empty, still, unproductive or "useless," they can turn them into a time of grace and resurrection "if we offer it to God."

"God who lets things be done, who waits, who withdraws to leave us freedom -- he is the God who trusts, even when everything seems to be over," he said.

People should "learn that we do not have to be in a hurry to rise again; first we must stay and welcome the silence, let ourselves be embraced by limitation," he said. 

"At times we seek quick answers, immediate solutions," he said. "But God works in the depths, in the slow time of trust."

"When it seems to us that everything is at a standstill, that life is a blocked road, let us remember Holy Saturday," Pope Leo said. "Even in the tomb, God was preparing the greatest surprise of all."

"If we know how to welcome with gratitude what has been, we will discover that, precisely in smallness and silence, God loves to transfigure reality, making all things new with the fidelity of his love," he said.

Pope Leo: Embrace silence, trust God

A look at Pope Leo's general audience Sept. 17, 2025. (CNS video/Robert Duncan)

St. Hildegard of Bingen. / Credit: Lettera43.it, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Sep 17, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Every gift from the Holy Spirit is meant for the edification of the community of believers, Pope Benedict XVI said in a general audience back in 2010 when he focused his catechesis on the life of St. Hildegard of Bingen, whose feast is celebrated Sept. 17 in the universal Church.

Benedict praised her as a model for modern women religious and noted that she benefited the faithful by her willingness to submit her supernatural visions to the interpretation of the Church.

Referring first to St. John Paul II’s apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem on the role of women in the life of the Church, Benedict XVI noted that the letter “gives thanks for all the manifestations of the feminine ‘genius’ which have appeared in the course of history.” He then highlighted the figure of St. Hildegard of Bingen as one of the saintly women who stood out nearly a millennium ago.

Born into a noble German family in the year 1098, Hildegard began her studies in human and Christian formation at a Benedictine convent in the town of Bingen, took her vows to cloistered life and, 30 years after she began her formation, became a mother superior.

Carrying out this role competently, she was able to found an additional convent nearby where she spent a great part of her life. The way she exercised authority there continues to be an example for religious communities today, Benedict said, explaining that she was able to create an atmosphere of “holy emulation in the practice of the good, so much so that ... the mother and daughters competed in respecting and serving each other.”

Benedict XVI also recalled her mystical visions, which she first shared with people in confidence, including her spiritual director, a fellow sister, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux. “As always happens in the lives of the true mystics,” the pope said, “Hildegard also wished to submit herself to the authority of wise people to discern the origin of her visions.”

St. Bernard, whom Benedict said held “maximum esteem” in the Church at the time, “calmed and encouraged” the sister about the visions, and eventually Pope Eugene III gave her the authorization to write and speak about the visions publicly.

“This,” the former pope taught, “is the seal of an authentic experience of the Holy Spirit, source of every charism: the person (who is the) repository of supernatural gifts never boasts, does not flaunt them and, especially, shows total obedience to the ecclesiastical authorities.”

He added: “Every gift distributed by the Holy Spirit, in fact, is destined for the edification of the Church, and the Church, through its pastors, recognizes their authenticity.”

In 2012, Hildegard was canonized and named a doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI. 

This story was first published on Sept. 1, 2010, and has been updated.

Silvia Toma before participating in the vigil with Pope Leo XIV on Sept. 15, 2025. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News

Vatican City, Sep 16, 2025 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

Silvia Toma has a scar on her soul: Four years ago she buried her 34-year-old only son, who had two little daughters. “It was sudden leukemia. He was admitted on May 25, 2021, and died on June 3,” she said, still choked up by the pain.

At that time, the COVID-19 pandemic regulations allowed no visitors. Safety measures prevented her from caressing his hand in his slow agony.

“They never let us visit him. He was hospitalized in the coronary care unit completely alone,” she recalled. They could only communicate minimally through WhatsApp messages.

Praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at his side

The day before he died, they let her in to see him. “His wife spent 15 minutes with him and I for another 15. I took the opportunity to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet with him.” The doctors then asked them to leave the room and a few hours later asked them to return to the clinic.

“When we arrived, they told us he had suffered three cardiac arrests. He had survived two, and he hadn’t survived the third,” Toma explained, her eyes welling with tears but with a big, maternal smile that communicated she would be all right. 

Holding on to faith is the only thing that kept her going in the most difficult moments. “We are not prepared to lose a son, but I am extremely grateful for the faith,” said Toma, who, the day after her son was hospitalized, knelt before the tabernacle in her parish church, St. John the Baptist, in the Diocese of Avellaneda Lanús, Buenos Aires province.

Once before the Blessed Sacrament, “I told him that he already knew what was in my heart, but that his will be done. And his will was for my son to be with him.”

Toma still doesn’t understand God’s reasons, but she’s not seeking answers either. On Sept. 15, she participated in the Jubilee of Consolation in Rome and testified that death doesn’t have the last word.

“I often break down and cry, but, thank God, never once did I utter a word of reproach. I believe he must know why, and one day I will understand,” she added.

She said that going through this soul-searing pain, for which there isn’t even a word to define it in the dictionary, “has been like sharing a little bit in what the Virgin Mary felt at the foot of the cross.”

“I ask her to always hold him close and kiss him for me,” she said.

Pope Francis prayed for her

Toma is divorced but maintains a good relationship with her ex-husband, who is a Jehovah’s Witness. Her son had received all the sacraments — baptism, Communion, confirmation — but in his adolescence, “he turned to Jehovah’s Witnesses,” she said.

“He even signed the document expressing his refusal to receive a blood transfusion, as required by that religious denomination,” she explained.

In 2019, she was able to share the suffering her son’s actions caused her with Pope Francis, whom she greeted after a general audience. “When he finished listening to me, he told me he would pray for Gabriel’s return to the Catholic Church,” she related.

And little by little, this began to take shape. For Toma, there is no doubt that it was a small gift the Argentine pontiff gave her.

“I believe God worked in him,” she said. “Before he died, he spoke with the priest from our parish, something he hadn’t done in a long time. They texted each other on WhatsApp, they chatted. I believe his heart was opening again,” she added.

The situation became critical when he was admitted. “On the last day, the doctor told us that if they didn’t give him the transfusion, he would die. He was conscious. His wife, a Jehovah’s Witness, said, ‘I can’t sign.’ Then they asked me. I entered the room, looked him in the eyes, and asked him if he really wanted the transfusion, because I couldn’t override his personal decision either. He said yes.”

At that moment, mother and son signed the consent form together: “As I was signing, he touched his head and said to the doctor, ‘The thing is, my mother is a catechist.’”

For this mother, that decision, although it didn’t save her son's life, signified an inner reconciliation. “I believe God gave him the opportunity to return to him at the most important moment,” Toma said. For her, this final gesture was also a true consolation.

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

Pope Leo XIV meets with Catholicos Karekin II, the patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, at Villa Barberini, the papal residence overlooking Lake Albano in Castel Gandolfo, Italy on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Sep 16, 2025 / 13:06 pm (CNA).

The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church during a meeting Tuesday at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo invited Pope Leo XIV to visit Armenia.

Catholicos Karekin II, the patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, met Pope Leo for the first time at Villa Barberini, the papal summer residence overlooking Lake Albano. Leo has recently begun spending Tuesdays, the pope’s traditional day off, in Castel Gandolfo while the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City undergoes renovations.

The two discussed the need for a peace based on justice, according to Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, the Armenian Church’s representative to the Holy See, in comments to the Armenian-language edition of Vatican Media.

The invitation would mark a continuation of ecumenical dialogue and papal outreach to Armenia, the first state to adopt Christianity as its state religion in A.D. 301. Karekin II has previously traveled to the Vatican for meetings with John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis.

John Paul II became the first pope to set foot on Armenian soil in 2001, visiting for celebrations of the 1,700th anniversary of the country’s Christian heritage. Pope Francis followed with a three-day trip to Armenia in 2016.

The Armenian Apostolic Church, sometimes known as the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, is the national church of Armenia and part of the family of Oriental Orthodox Churches.

It is distinct from the much smaller Armenian Catholic Church, which is in full communion with Rome. The Armenian Church formally broke with Rome after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, though relations have deepened in recent decades. In 1996, John Paul II and then-Patriarch Karekin I signed a declaration affirming their shared Christian origins.

In addition to his audience with the pope, Karekin II met in Rome with Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. He also prayed at the Basilica of St. Mary Major before the tomb of Pope Francis and the Marian icon of Salus Populi Romani.

Karekin II’s first visit to Rome dates back to November 2000, when, newly elected, he was received by John Paul II during celebrations for the jubilee of 2000. On that occasion, John Paul presented him with relics of St. Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint credited with converting Armenia’s king to Christianity in the fourth century.

Armenians worldwide maintain strong ties to their church, shaped in part by the 1915 genocide, known in Armenia as the Medz Yeghern (“Great Evil Crime”). Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, according to the Associated Press. Pope Francis in 2015 called it the “first genocide of the 20th century,” drawing a strong protest from Turkey.

The Vatican has yet to announce any international trips for the new pope, although many expect his first journey abroad will be ecumenical in nature, a trip to Turkey to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just a few hours after Israel launched a major new ground offensive in Gaza City, Pope Leo XIV called the pastor of the city's only Latin-rite parish to express his concern, his prayers and his closeness, the Vatican press office said.

Pope Leo, who was spending the day at Castel Gandolfo, spoke Sept. 16 with Argentine Father Gabriel Romanelli, a member of the Institute of the Incarnate Word and pastor of Holy Family Parish in Gaza City.

Father Romanelli told the pope that Israeli troops and tanks had not reached the area where the church compound is located, the press office said. But the sound of artillery fire could be heard from the parish. 

While the Israeli military has been warning civilians to evacuate Gaza City, Father Romanelli told the pope that about 450 people are being sheltered in the parish compound and, and the parish continues to assist them and other people in the neighborhood with food, water and medicine.

The parish oratory continues operating, leading people in prayer and organizing activities for children, the press office said. Special assistance to the sick and elderly also continues. 

Posting on X at 6 a.m. Sept. 16, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote, "Gaza is burning. The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) is striking terrorist infrastructure with an iron fist, and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back -- until the mission is complete."

Father Romanelli posted on X a quote from St. John Bosco: "Trusting in Mary brings unshakable comfort and hope."
 

Pope Leo XIV celebrates the prayer vigil for the Jubilee of Consolation on Sept. 15, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 15, 2025 / 15:06 pm (CNA).

With a call to trust that Jesus is the one who dries the tears of those who suffer, Pope Leo XIV celebrated the prayer vigil for the Jubilee of Consolation in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday, Sept. 15.

“Redemption is mercy and can make our future better, while we still await the Lord’s return. Only he will wipe away every tear and open the book of history, allowing us to read the pages that today we cannot justify or understand,” the Holy Father told the faithful gathered in the Vatican basilica.

The pope delivered his homily after hearing two testimonies: that of Lucia Di Mauro, an Italian woman whose husband was murdered by a group of young men but who, with God’s grace, was able to forgive and help one of them recover; and that of Diane Foley, the mother of journalist James Foley, beheaded by Islamic State terrorists in 2014.

The Holy Father said that both stories convey the certainty that “where pain is deep, even stronger must be the hope born of communion” — a hope that “never disappoints.”

In this sense, he added, “that pain should not generate violence,” because this is not the final word, but rather “it is overcome by the love that knows how to forgive.”

“What greater liberation can we hope to achieve than that which comes from forgiveness, which, through grace, can open the heart despite having suffered all kinds of brutality? The violence suffered cannot be erased, but the forgiveness granted to those who caused it is a foretaste of the kingdom of God on earth; it is the fruit of his action that puts an end to evil and establishes justice,” he affirmed.

In his homily, the pope also invited everyone to “share God’s consolation with so many brothers and sisters who live in situations of weakness, sadness, and pain,” for the Lord does not leave those who suffer alone. “On the contrary, precisely in these circumstances we are called more than ever to hope in the closeness of the Savior who never abandons.”

Leo XIV indicated that it is true that sometimes words “are useless and become almost superfluous” in the ability to console, and “perhaps in such moments only the tears of weeping remain,” for these express the deepest feelings of a wounded heart.

“Tears are a silent cry that implores compassion and consolation. But even before that, they are liberation and purification of the eyes, of feelings, of thoughts. We should not be ashamed of crying; it is a way of expressing our sadness and the need for a new world; it is a language that speaks of our humanity, weak and tested, yet called to joy,” he affirmed.

The pope recalled that, in his “Confessions,” St. Augustine also wondered about the origin of evil and found the answers in Scripture.

“There are questions that draw us back in on ourselves, divide us internally, and separate us from reality. There are thoughts from which nothing can be born. If they isolate us and drive us to despair, they also humiliate our intelligence. It is better, as in the Psalms, for the question to be a protest, a lament, an invocation of that justice and peace that God has promised us.”

He explained that in this way, “we build a bridge to heaven, even when it seems mute. In the Church, we seek the open heaven, which is Jesus, God’s bridge to us. There is a consolation that reaches us when that faith, which seems to us to be “formless and wavering,” like a boat in a storm, “takes root in the heart.”

Before concluding his homily, Pope Leo XIV encouraged people to also seek consolation in the Virgin Mary, who keeps repeating: “I am your mother.” He also recalled that, as St. Paul suggests, “when one receives consolation from God, one is then capable of offering consolation to others.”

“Those we love and who have been taken from us by sister death are not lost nor have they disappeared into nothingness. Their life belongs to the Lord, who, as the good shepherd, embraces them and holds them close to himself and will return them to us one day so that we may enjoy eternal and shared happiness,” he affirmed.

As part of the program, Pope Leo XIV blessed wax medals depicting the paschal lamb, the “agnus Dei,” a symbol “to remember that the mystery of Jesus, of his death and resurrection, is the victory of good over evil.”

“He is the lamb who gives the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who never leaves us, comforts us in need, and strengthens us with his grace,” the pope told them.

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

Pope Leo XIV is pictured here with his Augustinian brothers in Rome on Sept. 15, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Augustinian Foundation Worldwide

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 15, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Monday received the participants of the general chapter of the Order of St. Augustine, with whom he said he felt “at home.” In his address, he reflected in particular on the theme of love, which the order’s founder, St. Augustine, “placed at the center of his spiritual quest.”

At the beginning of his Sept. 15 address, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude to Father Alejandro Moral, OSA, for his years of service and extended a warm welcome to the newly-elected prior general, Father Joseph Farrell, OSA.

Referring to the general chapter as an opportunity to reflect on the gift received, the challenges, and the current situation of the order, he reminded the Augustinians of the importance of “interiority in the journey of faith.”

He emphasized that this interiority is not “an escape from our responsibilities” but rather “a return to ourselves and then emerge with greater motivation and enthusiasm for the mission.”

“Returning to ourselves,” he added, “renews our spiritual and pastoral drive: We return to the source of religious life and consecration so that we may offer light to those the Lord places on our path.”

Vocations and the formation of young people

He then reflected on what he considers “a fundamental theme”: vocations and initial formation. Pope Leo XIV advised “not to fall into the error of imagining religious formation as a set of rules to observe, things to do, or even as a ready-made habit to be worn passively.”

On the contrary, he clarified that love is at the heart of everything and that “the Christian vocation, and in particular the religious vocation, is born only when one perceives the attraction of something great, of a love that can nourish and satisfy the heart.”

Therefore, he reiterated that it is essential to help young people in particular “to glimpse the beauty of the call and to love what, by embracing the vocation, they can become.” He added: “Vocation and formation are not predetermined realities: They are a spiritual adventure that involves a person’s entire history, and it is above all an adventure of love with God.”

Thus, he emphasized that love, which St. Augustine “placed at the center of his spiritual quest,” is also a fundamental criterion for the dimension of theological study and intellectual formation.

“In the knowledge of God, it is never possible to reach him only with our reason or with a set of theoretical information; it is, above all, a matter of allowing ourselves to be surprised by his greatness, of questioning ourselves and the meaning of events to discover in them the traces of the Creator, and above all, of loving him and making him loved,” he noted.

He also exhorted his Augustinian brothers to be generous and humble, two qualities that are born precisely from love, to have as their reference the “ineffable gift of divine charity,” and to be “faithful to evangelical poverty.”

Finally, he asked them not to forget “our missionary vocation,” recalling that since 1533 the Augustinians have proclaimed the Gospel throughout the world.

“This missionary spirit must not be extinguished, because it is sorely needed today as well. I urge you to revive it, remembering that the evangelizing mission demands the witness of humble and simple joy, availability to service, and participation in the life of the people to whom we are sent,” he emphasized.

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

WASHINGTON – World Mental Health Day is observed on October 10, and the Catholic Church marks the Jubilee of Consolation on September 15. In recognition of the continuing mental health crisis, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced a new component within the ongoing National Catholic Mental Health Campaign focused on amplifying local engagement on mental health.

“Healing and Hope” is taken from the National Catholic Mental Health Campaign’s introductory statement authored by Archbishop Borys Gudziak and Bishop Robert Barron, who wrote: “As pastors, we want to emphasize this point to anyone who is suffering from mental illness or facing mental health challenges: nobody and nothing can alter or diminish your God-given dignity. You are a beloved child of God, a God of healing and hope.” 

This aspect of the mental health campaign builds upon the goal of promoting healing and hope for all who struggle with mental illness and is inclusive of the people who accompany them. Three new elements will amplify Catholic engagement on mental health:

• Revitalized digital campaign: Reflections by bishops on the USCCB’s social media platforms will invite all people into deeper conversation on the realities and stigmas of mental health.
• State conferences on mental health: Bishops, clergy, religious, and lay people in dioceses/eparchies and local groups will have an opportunity to gather for dialogue on local mental health realities. The first conference is scheduled for early 2026 in New Jersey.
• Mental Health Sunday: Parishes are encouraged to raise awareness on mental health, specifically by praying for those who struggle with this issue during Masses on the weekend of October 11-12, following World Mental Health Day (October 10). Resources are available for parishes to participate in Mental Health Sunday. 

The faithful are encouraged to pray the Novena for Mental Health in solidarity with Catholics across the United States from Friday, October 10, to Saturday, October 18. For more information on the National Catholic Mental Health Campaign, please visit: https://www.usccb.org/mental-health. 

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