CNA Newsroom, Jul 16, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, former personal secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, has spoken about his new appointment as apostolic nuncio to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, describing it as “a new possibility” to carry out his apostolate “in a completely different area.”

In an interview with EWTN News on the sidelines of the “Benedict XVI Forum” in Altötting, Bavaria, the prelate said he was approaching the role “with confidence, with trust in God, but also with great joy.”

“I see the appointment as a new opportunity,” Gänswein, who will turn 68 on July 30, told EWTN. “I gladly accept it, even if the dear God now wants me to be there, which I hadn’t thought of at all.”

The archbishop acknowledged that he had never worked in a nunciature before and did not come from the so-called “diplomatic career” track. However, he noted that in his roles as private secretary and prefect of the Papal Household, he had “a lot of contact with the diplomatic world.”

Regarding potential challenges in his new post, Gänswein said: “The Baltic countries are of course very important geopolitically, also for Europe. I don’t have any concrete ideas yet where my priorities will be. That will emerge, and I’m looking forward to it.”

The Baltic states have a rich Catholic history, with Lithuania particularly notable for its strong Catholic identity. However, the region faces significant geopolitical challenges, especially in light of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

‘If it’s the front, it’s the front’

Speaking to EWTN, Gänswein emphasized a spiritual approach when asked how he was preparing for the assignment: “I take it all into prayer and I’m already trying to read a little about the countries, to inquire. Everything else, I think, will become apparent.”

The archbishop acknowledged the geopolitical situation in the region, particularly its proximity to the ongoing war in Ukraine. NATO has significantly increased its presence, sending thousands of soldiers from Germany and other nations in response to Russia’s heightened threat — despite divergent views on European defense.

While admitting he had no personal experience of the situation, the German prelate said: “If you say that’s where the front is, and our loving God wants me there, then I’ll gladly go there. If it’s the front, it’s the front. In any case, it’s a place where Our Lord will also be active.”

Reflecting on Benedict’s legacy

The interview took place at the first-ever “Benedict XVI Forum” in Altötting, the famous Marian pilgrimage site in Bavaria. The event, which took place from July 10–15 and was visited by Cardinal Kurt Koch and several experts, explored the Apostles’ Creed using Joseph Ratzinger’s 1968 bestseller “Introduction to Christianity,” reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

Gänswein spoke to EWTN of his deep connection to the place, recalling Benedict XVI’s visit there as pope in 2006.

“When I arrived here yesterday, I had the impression it was only the day before yesterday,” he said. “It was also beautiful weather, but it was so full of emotions, so full of the spirit that is palpable here, the spirit of the Mother of God. It’s like flipping a switch.”

The diplomatic posting marks a new chapter for Gänswein, following a period of uncertainty after Benedict XVI’s death. In June 2023, he was ordered to leave the Vatican without a new assignment, which sparked much speculation about his future role in the Church. 

Reflecting on his years of service to Benedict XVI on the weekend, Gänswein described it as “a matter of conscience” to pass on the late pope’s legacy. 

“Because that is a great gift for Catholics, the Church, and people,” he said. “And to cultivate this gift is one of my great inner tasks, which I am happy to continue to do — and I hope — for a long time to come.”

ROME (CNS) -- The Catholic News Service team in Rome won 12 awards from the Catholic Media Association, which were announced during the 2024 Catholic Media Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Incorporated in 1911, the Catholic Media Association is an organization of publishers and media professionals for a total of about 355 member organizations, which include 890 media professionals.

Catholic News Service has been providing complete, in-depth coverage of the popes and the Vatican for more than 70 years. Its six-person team is made up of three full-time reporters, one photographer, one multimedia journalist and one administrative assistant.

CNS took home four first-place awards with the following comments from the judges:

-- Cindy Wooden, Carol Glatz, Robert Duncan, Paul Haring and Justin McLellan: Best In-Depth News/Special Reporting by a National Newspaper or Wire Service for "Pope Francis' 10th anniversary."  

"This extraordinary team effort exploring various aspects of Pope Francis’ 10th  anniversary combines thought-provoking interviews, memorable writing and significant context to provide a comprehensive picture of what the pope has accomplished and what lies ahead."

Click through to see the stories and photos in this winning series:

10 years as pope: Pushing the church to bring the Gospel to the world

Pope from 'ends of the earth' brings new style to Rome

Pope brings Latin American Catholic experience to the universal church

Pastoral and practical: Francis seeks healing, hardline against abuse

Pope's anniversary sees Curia reform complete, financial reform ongoing

Around the world in 10 years: Pope's 40 trips reflect his priorities

-- Carol Glatz: First place for Best Coverage, Ecumenical and Interfaith Issues for the following series of stories on the Vatican archives and Catholic-Jewish relations.

"Excellent analysis and writing about an important issue."

Click through to see the stories and photos in this series:

Silent no more: Vatican archives give voice to wartime tragedy

Despite prejudices, many Catholics helped rescue Jews in Nazi-occupied Italy

Study, not blame or shame, needed with pope's wartime record, scholar says

-- Lola Gomez: First place for Best Photograph, Immigration/Migration for "Pope Francis prays at migrants monument." 

"A stunning image of contrasts. The Pope and his light-colored vestments stand out against the dark statue. Seemingly deep in prayer, the image captures the Pope with a look of concern among the sullen faces of those that make up the statue."

 

-- Lola Gomez: First place for Best Photograph, Scenic, Still-life or Weather Photo for "Sunrise at Fatima, Portugal."

"Astonishing image with the shrine perfectly framed by the columns and using the colorful sky as the contrasting backdrop. Top-notch photo."
 

* * * *

CNS took home a second-place award with the following comment from the judges:

-- Lola Gomez, Justin McLellan and Robert Duncan: Best Multimedia Package for Seasonal for "Pope celebrates feast of the Immaculate Conception."

"Nice work taking audience to a place they may not be able to travel."

* * * *

CNS took home two third-place awards:

-- Robert Duncan: Best Video, Catechesis for "WYD pilgrims experience God’s mercy."

-- Cindy Wooden, Lola Gomez and Robert Duncan: Third place for Best Coverage, Papal Trips for "Pope Francis visits Mongolia." With the following comment from the judges:

"This is a great set of articles that allows the reader to experience the full papal visit, day to day. The detail in the stories helps to give the reader a feel for the impact of the papal visit and the hope for the future for a still-nascent mission in an exotic part of the world with diverse and numerous religious challenges. These articles help the reader to understand the importance of ecumenicism."

Click through to see the stories and more photos in this winning series on Mongolia:

Message from 'heart of Asia': Pope's words go beyond Mongolian borders

Pope, Mongolian religious leaders vow to promote harmony, shun violence

Pope encourages little Mongolian flock in faith, unity, witness

* * * *

CNS also won five honorable mention awards:

-- Lola Gomez: Best Photograph, Holy Days/Liturgical Seasons for "Children bring flowers to baby Jesus at papal Mass."

 

-- Carol Glatz, Lola Gomez and Robert Duncan: Honorable mention for Best Coverage, Papal Trips for "Pope Francis' trip to Marseille."

Click through to see the stories and more photos in this series on Marseille and migration:

Message in Marseille: Welcoming the 'stranger' is a global mandate

People have a duty to save migrants in danger of drowning, pope says

Pope laments closing ports to migrants, fueling fears with false alarm

-- Justin McLellan, Lola Gomez and Robert Duncan: Honorable mention for Best Coverage, Papal Trips for "Papal trip to World Youth Day in Lisbon."

Click through to see the stories, videos and more photos in this series on World Youth Day in Lisbon:

Pope to young people at WYD: God calls your authentic, not virtual, self

Awaken the 'weary' church by becoming 'restless,' pope says in Portugal

Don't be afraid to change the world, pope tells youths at WYD closing Mass

 

-- Robert Duncan: Honorable mention for Best Video, Feature for "Vatican Nativity scene highlights St. Francis, Holy Land."

-- Carol Glatz, Lola Gomez and Robert Duncan: Honorable mention for Best Multimedia Packages, News for "Pope encourages children to work for peace."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Political discourse in the United States has devolved into people shouting at and not listening to each other, showing a need to promote respectful dialogue despite political differences, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In an interview with Vatican News, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services said, "One thing that all of us can do is to remember and to promote the dignity of the human person."

"Even if someone disagrees with me, he or she is still created in the image and likeness of God. And therefore, has a dignity that I have to recognize and that I have to respect," he said in the interview posted online July 16.

If people were more aware of their common-held dignity, he said, "then we might be able to discuss as rational human beings, the problems and the disagreements that we have, and perhaps come to some solutions."

"But it's tragic that political discourse in this country has reached a point where people just shout at each other, and there's no space to listen to the other. And I think that's something that Pope Francis has urged us constantly to recognize, this basic human dignity and to respect it in every way that we can," he said.

"This tragic event is really a call to action to all of us to measure our discourse and to move forward in pathways of peace and reconciliation and (for) an honest assessment of whatever political differences there are and however we can work together to find solutions," he said. 

The archbishop was asked to comment on the recent assassination attempt of former U.S. President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13. Gunfire killed one attendee, Corey Comperatore, and injured three others including Trump, whose right ear was grazed by a bullet. The suspected gunman was killed and his possible motives were still under investigation.

In his interview with Vatican News, Archbishop Broglio expressed his sympathy and condolences to the Comperatore family and his "promise of a prayer" for the repose of the deceased man's soul. "And also to those who were wounded, including former President Trump, a message of consolation and the assurance of my prayers, and (I) assure the prayers of all of the faithful of the United States."

He said his initial reaction to the event was "one of horror that violence would take place in what is supposed to be a democratic society, that we're not able to talk to one another." That someone was able to make an attempt on Trump's life, he added, is "certainly very, very tragic."

When asked, as president of the U.S. Bishops' Conference, what bishops could do to foster peaceful dialogue or coexistence, he said, "I think all of us in our dioceses can certainly promote the importance of dialogue, the importance of respect for the other."

The commitment to protect human life, he said, "is based on this notion that the human person is worthy of our respect from the moment of conception until the moment of death. And I think we have to be constant in that."

Archbishop Broglio noted the importance of the National Eucharistic Congress being held July 17-21 in Indianapolis, Indiana, saying, "I think that will be a great opportunity for us to promote dialogue and reconciliation."

"In Jesus Christ, we find our salvation, and we also find a way forward. Obviously in the person of Christ, we find a code of conduct and I think the more we do to promote that, the better off our society will be," he said. "We can't do it all by ourselves, but we can certainly lay a foundation and urge those that we're responsible for to promote this dignity and this dialogue."

WASHINGTON - In June, the bishops on the subcommittees that oversee the various national collections met to review and award grants that support pastoral care, evangelization, and social ministry. The bishops awarded 453 grants totaling over $10.5 million that will be put to use here in the United States and in three global regions, all made possible through the generosity of U.S. Catholics.

The grants are supported through the following collections:

• The Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe
• The Collection for the Church in Latin America
• The Bishops’ Emergency Disaster Fund
• The Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa
• The Catholic Home Missions Appeal

“These collections are a powerful way of following Jesus’ commands to seek the lost sheep and to care for ‘the least of these,’” said Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on National Collections. “They are one way in which Catholics in dioceses across the United States can show solidarity and act together to provide tangible love and assistance to our neighbors in need, in this nation and around the world.”

Participating dioceses take these collections on designated dates, and #iGiveCatholicTogether also accepts funds for the individual programs. Three of the collections mentioned underwrite international ministry, while the other two have both domestic and international reach. The Catholic Home Missions Appeal assists dioceses and eparchies of the United States and its territories that are too poor or too small to provide ministry without outside help. The Bishops’ Emergency Disaster Fund allows dioceses to take special collections after major crises such as hurricanes and tornadoes and directs those gifts to the designated responses of Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, and to repair and rebuild Church properties in dioceses struck by disasters.

The national collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe helps to rebuild the Church and restore the faith in this region after decades under communist rule. Grants from the collection will assist children and teens impacted by war in Ukraine through a day camp and a weeklong summer camp in the Diocese of Lutsk. Open to youths of all faiths, the camps are a ministry of St. John Paul II Parish in Rivne. With the support of a $15,000 grant from the Church in Central and Eastern Europe, these camps help young people build spiritual and emotional resilience through prayer, worship, sports, music, art and cultural activities. At camp they can relax for a time and experience joy, freed from the immediate threat of bombs. This program is just one of 241 grants totaling more than $5.8 million approved by the subcommittee for ministries in over 25 countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

The national collection for the Church in Latin America awarded 163 grants totaling more than $3.2 million, which includes assistance to two dioceses with long term recovery from disasters. One of the dioceses has also received assistance through the Bishops Emergency Disaster Fund, which provided nearly $233,000 to complete the reconstruction of two churches in Havana, Cuba, that were heavily damaged by a devastating tornado in 2019. More than $28,000 was provided to finish rebuilding a Catholic radio station and related buildings of the Dominican Priests and Brothers in the Dominican Republic that were destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017. The bulk of the grants for the Church in Latin America, more than $2.9 million, financed pastoral projects, such as training leaders for culturally sensitive evangelization of the Indigenous Garifuna people of Honduras. This outreach focuses on communicating the Gospel within the Garifuna worldview, connecting with their ancestral values and emphasizing dialogue, listening, environmental stewardship and conflict resolution.

The national collection for the Church in Africa awarded 48 grants from the Solidarity Fund for the Church in Africa totaling $1,399,100 to bishops’ conferences in Africa to support pastoral activities of the conferences, member dioceses, and religious communities across the continent. With a grant of $21,100, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, an order of women religious, will be able to launch a far-reaching re-evangelization campaign among 12,500 Christian families and their children in the Archdiocese of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. The sisters are training 20 lay evangelists, equipping them with bicycles to reach beyond their immediate communities, and preparing them to teach others to also become evangelists. Their campaign includes many creative kinds of outreach, including a Christian band and street theater.

Through a special grant of $146,000, the Catholic Home Missions Appeal is enabling 19 home mission dioceses and Eastern Catholic eparchies to host the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage as it traverses four paths across the nation on its way to Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congress. To accommodate the pilgrims, many parishes are hosting picnics and fiestas for hundreds of people, as well as feeding and housing the perpetual pilgrims who are making the journey to Indianapolis. These perpetual pilgrims are a small group of young adults who are traveling one of the four routes in its entirety, from May through July through countless communities across the nation. This grant helps ease the financial burden on mission dioceses and eparchies, and their parishes, so they can provide hospitality, as well as extra security, rental equipment, gasoline for diocesan vehicles, insurance riders, and other pilgrimage-related expenses.

“The value of all of these grants is far more than financial,” Bishop Wall said. “Each of them represents the love that followers of Jesus have for one another – especially those who are poor or marginalized. Lives and hearts are transformed forever as the Holy Spirit works through the ministry that these grants provide.”

For more information on the work of USCCB National Collections, please visit: https://www.usccb.org/committees/national-collections.

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Vatican City, Jul 15, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has said that two women have been hired for the specialized maintenance crew of St. Peter’s Basilica for the first time in its 500-year history.

While women have worked for the Fabbrica di San Pietro — the department that oversees maintenance, restoration, and repairs of the Vatican’s papal basilica — before, it is the first time women are officially part of the “Sanpietrini” maintenance staff, according to Vatican News.

Two teams of Sanpietrini “work simultaneously on a daily basis to fulfill their principal tasks of reception, stewardship, cleaning, and maintenance of the Vatican basilica and its facilities respectively,” the basilica’s website says.

The two Italian women, 21 and 26 years of age, studied masonry and decorative and ornamental plastering at the basilica’s newly relaunched School of Fine Arts and Traditional Trades.

The Vatican basilica’s art and trades school started in 2022 to train up new laborers in artisanal artistic skills. The courses and room and board are offered to students without cost.

Father Enzo Fortunato, communications director for St. Peter’s Basilica, said the presence of women in the Fabbrica is not entirely new — there were women mosaic artists who worked in the Vatican’s mosaic studio for many years — but their entrance in the Sanpietrini corps is a novelty.

According to Vatican News, in the 1500s, some women and orphans who inherited family businesses from their deceased husbands or fathers were also employed by the Fabbrica under the same conditions as the deceased, male breadwinner.

In the past 500 years, other women in the artistic trades were also hired by the Fabbrica, which was founded with the laying of the foundation stone of St. Peter’s Basilica on April 18, 1506. 

The maintenance crew takes its name from “sanpietrini,” also spelled “sampietrini,” the Italian name for the small, square stones that pave St. Peter’s Square and other historic streets in the center of Rome. 

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 15, 2024 / 11:49 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has written the preface to the book “Women and Ministries in the Synodal Church,” authored by three theologians and two cardinals who participated in the meeting of the Council of Cardinals, C9, this past February at the Vatican.

The theologians, noted Vatican News, are Salesian Sister Linda Pocher, professor of Christology and Mariology at the Auxilium in Rome, who also wrote the book’s introduction; Jo Bailey Wells, a female Anglican bishop and undersecretary-general of the Anglican Communion; and Giuliva Di Berardino, consecrated woman of the Ordo Virginum of the Diocese of Verona in Italy, liturgist, teacher, and organizer of spirituality courses and spiritual exercises.

The cardinals are Jean-Claude Hollerich, archbishop of Luxembourg and relator general of the Synod on Synodality, who in 2023 stated that “over time” the pope could allow the ordination of women; and Seán Patrick O’Malley, archbishop of Boston and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Pope Francis’ preface

The preface was published in its entirety in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

In the text, the Holy Father laments that “the drama of abuse has forced us to open our eyes to the plague of clericalism, which does not only concern ordained ministers but also a distorted way of exercising power within the Church into which everyone can fall: even laypeople, even women.”

The pontiff notes that “a certain suffering of ecclesial communities regarding the way in which the ministry is understood and lived is not a new reality.”

Pope Francis then states: “Listening to them without judgment and without prejudice, we realize that in many places and in many situations they suffer precisely because of the lack of recognition of what they are and what they do and also of what they could do and be if only they had the space and the opportunity.”

“The women who suffer the most are often the closest, the most available, prepared and ready to serve God and his kingdom,” he noted.

“Reality, however, is always greater than the idea,” the pope states, “and when our theology falls into the trap of clear and distinct ideas it inevitably transforms into a procrustean bed (arbitrary standard), which sacrifices reality, or part of it, on the altar of the idea.”

Women in the Church and the female diaconate

The issue of women in the Church appears in the Instrumentum Laboris (working document) for the second phase of the Synod on Synodality, which will take place in October at the Vatican.

The text highlights “the need to give fuller recognition” to the charisms and vocations of women who “by virtue of baptism are in a condition of full equality, receive the same outpouring of gifts of the Spirit and are called to the service of the mission of Christ.”

In an interview with EWTN News, Salesian Sister Laura Pocher pointed out that “at this moment the debate on this issue [the female diaconate] is very hot and various scientific publications are appearing from the theological point of view that address this topic and the positions are very diverse.”

“There are many positions on this and the pope has also expressed himself in an interview saying that he does not plan to ordain women,” she added.

In May, the Holy Father gave an interview to CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell, who asked him if a Catholic girl could ever become a deacon and member of the clergy. “No,” was Pope Francis’ firm response.

‘Three possibilities’ for women in the Catholic Church

“However, the possibilities are fundamentally three,” Pocher said. “The first is to do nothing and continue as we are. Some believe that this is the best option, because they know that in the first centuries there were women deacons, but with the sources we have it is not possible to reconstruct exactly what this diaconate consisted of.”

The second possibility mentioned by the Salesian theologian is “a form of diaconate without ordination, because it is important from an institutional point of view to recognize the service of women in the Church and thus give a form of ministries at the established age [for ordination].” 

“The third possibility, the most radical, is to also give women the possibility of being ordained deacons. Just as we have deacons, married men who are not priests,” she said.

Then, she continued, “an ordained diaconate which should not because of this be a first step toward priestly ordination, but which would allow for a recognized service within the Church, for example in the guidance of communities.”

When asked if the issue was discussed at C9 in February, Pocher said yes, although “it is not a possibility on the synod agenda and the pope is not very favorable, because this issue of the ordination of women is a bit like the elephant in the room.”

In the theologian’s opinion, “not everyone thinks about it but often there is no courage to speak because it is a very conflictive issue and it seemed to us that in the spirit with which the pope guides these meetings of the council [C9] it was important to put the difficult things on the table.”

Pope Francis and deaconesses in the Church

Although the topic of the female diaconate does not appear in Instrumentum Laboris 2, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod on Synodality, said in a July 9 press conference that Pope Francis has asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) to study women’s participation and leadership in the Catholic Church, including the possibility of women deacons, to publish a document on the subject.

Prior to this assignment for the DDF, Pope Francis had created two commissions to study deaconesses in the Catholic Church: one in 2016 that was closed without reaching a consensus, and the second in 2020 after the majority of participants in the Amazon Synod expressed themselves in favor of the issue.

In Querida Amazonia, Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation following the 2019 synod, the pope encouraged women to participate in the Church but not in the ordained ministries of the diaconate or priesthood.

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

Vatican City, Jul 14, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Sunday urged Christians to be an example to others of how to live a sober, nonmaterialistic lifestyle in peace with one’s community.

“It is important to know how to guard sobriety, to know how to be sober in the use of things — sharing resources, skills, and gifts, and doing without excess. Why? To be free: Excess enslaves you,” the pope said in his Angelus address on July 14.

The pope addressed the problems of materialism in his comments before praying the Angelus, a Marian prayer he leads every week on Sundays.

Speaking from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, he reflected on the Sunday Gospel, from Mark 6, focusing on Jesus’ instructions to his apostles to “take nothing for the journey” as he sent them forth to preach.

“Let’s pause for a moment on this image,” he said. “The disciples are sent together, and they are to take only what is necessary with them.”

A large crowd attended the Angelus despite the powerful noon sun raising temperatures in the stone-paved square well into the 90s Fahrenheit.

Many people wore hats or held umbrellas to shade themselves from the rays, and despite the heat, still gave an enthusiastic welcome to the pope when he appeared at the window of the Apostolic Palace.

Pope Francis invited those present to reflect on “what happens in our families or communities when we make do with what is necessary, even with little...”

“Indeed, a family or a community that lives in this way creates around it an environment rich in love, in which it is easier to open oneself to faith and the newness of the Gospel, and from which one leaves better, one leaves more serene,” he said.

“If, on the other hand,” he pointed out, “everyone goes his or her own way, if what counts are only things — which are never enough — if we do not listen to each other, if individualism and envy prevail ... the air becomes heavy, life difficult, and encounters become more an occasion of restlessness, sadness, and discouragement, than an occasion for joy.”

“Envy is a deadly thing, a poison,” the pope added, while noting that “communion, harmony among us, and sobriety are important values, indispensable values, for a Church to be missionary at all levels.”

After praying the Angelus in Latin, Pope Francis spoke about Sea Sunday, which the Church is commemorating July 14.

Sea Sunday is the day the Church remembers and prays for all those who work at sea, often in dangerous and lonely conditions.

“On Sea Sunday, let us pray for those who work in the maritime sector and for those who take care of them,” Francis urged.

He also asked Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose feast day is July 16, to “comfort and obtain peace for all populations who are oppressed by the horror of war.”

“Please, let us not forget tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, and Myanmar,” the pontiff said.

Rome Newsroom, Jul 14, 2024 / 08:49 am (CNA).

The Holy See has condemned acts of violence in the wake of the shooting that injured former U.S. president Donald Trump and others and left one dead at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.

A brief statement provided to CNA by Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni on July 14 said the Holy See expressed “concern about last night’s episode of violence, which wounds people and democracy, causing suffering and death.”

The comment also said the Holy See “is united to the prayer of the U.S. bishops for America, for the victims, and for peace in the country, that the motives of the violent may never prevail.”

Pope Francis did not comment on the incident during his weekly public appearance for the Angelus at noon on Sunday.

Political leaders from around the globe have spoken out against political violence and in support of democracy after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday evening. 

In a statement posted to Truth Social July 13, Trump said a bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear. After receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, the former president flew to New Jersey under Secret Service protection late Saturday night.

The FBI has identified the Trump rally shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Crooks, who carried no ID and was identified with DNA analysis, was killed by a Secret Service sniper at the rally, according to officials.

Vatican City, Jul 12, 2024 / 11:25 am (CNA).

Pope Francis will join Rome’s celebrations this year of the fourth-century Marian miracle that inspired the construction of St. Mary Major Basilica.

Each year white rose petals fall from the ceiling of the papal Marian basilica in commemoration of a miraculous snowfall in Rome on Aug. 5 in the year 358 A.D.

The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will witness this unique Roman tradition marking the anniversary of the “Miracle of the Snow” during vespers at St. Mary Major Basilica on the evening of Aug. 5.

According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to both a nobleman named John and to Pope Liberius (352–366) in a dream foretelling the August snow and asking for a church to be built in her honor on the site of the snowfall. The church was rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III (432–440), after the Council of Ephesus in 431 declared Mary to be the mother of God.

The Basilica of St. Mary Major has a special significance for Pope Francis, who recently revealed that he wishes to be buried in this basilica and that a “place is already prepared.”

Pope Francis visited the Marian basilica on the first day of his pontificate to entrust his ministry to the Mother of God before the icon of Mary known as the “Salus Populi Romani,” or “Mary, Protector of the Roman People.”

The pope has returned to pray before the Marian icon each time he has departed for an international trip.

Among the four major papal basilicas in Rome, St. Mary Major is the only one that has maintained its original structure. Mosaics dating back to the fifth century can be seen in the central nave of the basilica, which also houses the relic of the holy crib from the birth of Christ.

Rome will prepare for the anniversary of its papal Marian basilica with a triduum of prayer Aug. 2–4.

Celebrations on Aug. 5 will begin with a Mass at 10 a.m. presided over by Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, the archpriest of the St. Mary Major. Monsignor Emilio Nappa, the president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, will close the festivities with another Mass at 7 p.m. 

To attend the vespers with Pope Francis at the basilica at 5:30 p.m., free tickets from the Vatican will need to be reserved in advance.

Vatican City, Jul 12, 2024 / 09:18 am (CNA).

Pope Francis received a top-ranking member of the Russian Orthodox Church for private discussions at the Vatican this week.

The Holy See Press Office confirmed on July 12 that the pope received Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, on Thursday afternoon.

Metropolitan Anthony is essentially the “foreign minister” of the Moscow Patriarchate and considered to be second only to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

The Vatican has yet to release any photos or details regarding the discussions between the pope and Russian metropolitan. 

The meeting took place two days after Pope Francis expressed his “great sorrow” over Russia’s attacks on two hospitals in Kiev, including Ukraine’s largest children’s medical center.

As the Russian Orthodox Church’s chief ecumenical officer, Anthony has met Pope Francis twice since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The pope kissed the Orthodox metropolitan’s pectoral cross during a brief encounter after a Wednesday general audience in May 2023 and had a “lengthy conversation” with Anthony shortly after he was appointed in 2022.

Pope Francis has wanted to meet with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

The two have not met since their historic first meeting in the Havana airport in February 2016 — the first meeting between a pope and a patriarch of Moscow.

A planned second meeting between the two leaders in Jerusalem in June 2022 was canceled following a video call between the pope and the Russian patriarch in March of that year.

The Russian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with an estimated 150 million members, accounting for more than half of the world’s Orthodox Christians.