St. Joseph Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Migrants and refugees often are "privileged witnesses of hope through their resilience and trust in God," Pope Leo XIV said.

"Often they maintain their strength while seeking a better future, in spite of the obstacles that they encounter," he said Oct. 2 during a meeting with participants in the conference "Refugees and Migrants in Our Common Home," organized by the Augustinian-run Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia.

The Vatican dicasteries for Promoting Integral Human Development and for Culture and Education and the U.S. bishops' Migration and Refugee Services were among the co-sponsors of the conference, held in Rome Oct. 1-3 just before the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of Missions Oct. 4-5.

Pope Leo encouraged participants to share migrants' and refugees' stories of steadfast faith and hope so that they could be "an inspiration for others and assist in developing ways to address the challenges that they have faced in their own lives."

The pope also returned to a theme he had mentioned in September when discussing migration -- the "globalization of powerlessness." 

Overcoming the widespread sense that no one can make a difference "requires patience, a willingness to listen, the ability to identify with the pain of others and the recognition that we have the same dreams and the same hopes," Pope Leo XIV told the group.

Faced with a growing sense of being unable to change or improve the situation, he said, "we risk becoming immobile, silent and sad, thinking that nothing can be done when we are faced with innocent suffering."

Before the conference, Villanova held the official launch of its Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration, which promotes programs of scholarship, advocacy and service to migrants at the university and with the local community.

Pope Leo praised the project's goal of bringing together "leading voices throughout a variety of disciplines in order to respond to the current urgent challenges brought by the increasing number of people, now estimated to be over 100 million, who are affected by migration and displacement."

Michele R. Pistone, founder and faculty director of the institute, told conference participants that she was inspired by Pope Francis, who called on universities to do more teaching, research and social promotion with migrants and refugees.

"Now, Pope Leo XIV is again asking us to become missionary disciples working to reconcile a wounded world," Pistone said.

"In order for us to understand the other, we need to meet them and encounter them and have dialogues with them," she told Catholic News Service Oct. 2. "That's what Pope Francis called us to do, and now Pope Leo is calling us to do."

"To see the human face in every immigrant, in every person, is just so important and so central to our Gospel," Pistone said.

Sister Norma Pimentel, a Missionary of Jesus and executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville, Texas, said, migrants "are missionaries of hope to us, because their presence with us honestly sanctifies who and where we are."

People who fear migrants and refugees or are convinced they are migrating just to take jobs from citizens need to take the time to actually meet a newcomer, Sister Pimentel said. Then, "they will stop seeing them as somebody that is invading my space, but rather as somebody who I have the opportunity to be able to show the presence of God." 

She has the same message for U.S. President Donald Trump or any political leader, she said: "Please come and see them. Please see their faces. Please see these families that are directly affected by your decisions and your laws and how you feel you must proceed to be as president."

The 2024 U.S. presidential election campaign succeeded in sending the erroneous message that migrants are "invaders that come and take over our land and destroy our America and take our jobs," she said.

"They're not here to destroy or to hurt anybody, but rather to be part of a community that will embrace them, as Pope Francis would say, would integrate them into the community and would protect them so that they can be a good part of who we are in America," she told CNS.

Addressing the conference Oct. 1, she said that "in a world marked by fear, division and uncertainty, we are invited to be people of hope, pilgrims of hope, of that hope which comes from our trust in the Lord. It is a living force, one that shapes how we see others, how we act and how we respond."

"In this Jubilee Year of Hope, we are called to find within ourselves kindness and compassion and courage, especially courage," Sister Pimentel said.

"Today, unfortunately, we are witnessing an unprecedented assault on humanity worldwide," she said, but as her bishop, Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, has said, "We may not have the power to stop the injustices that are destroying our communities. But we do have the power to love. We can be neighbors to those living in fear and who are afraid to go to work or even to go to the supermarket."

"No government can stop us from living out our faith and caring for our refugee brothers and sisters," she said.
 

Pope Leo: Migrants are "missionaries of hope"

Pope Leo meets participants in a conference on migrants and refugees sponsored by Villanova University and several Vatican dicasteries.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- People of faith cannot love God while despising his creatures, and people cannot call themselves Christians without caring for everything fragile and wounded, including the earth, Pope Leo XIV told climate activists and political and religious leaders.

"There is no room for indifference or resignation," he said, inaugurating an international conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."

Seated behind a slowly melting chunk of ice from a glacier in Greenland, the pope said, "God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created, for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters." 

"What will be our answer?" he asked.

Pope Leo spoke Oct. 1 during the opening session of a three-day conference titled, "Raising Hope for Climate Justice." Organized by the Laudato Si' Movement and with the support of the Vatican dicasteries for Promoting Integral Human Development and Communication, the event was held at the Focolare Movement's Mariapoli Center near the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo.

The conference brought together some 500 delegates representing global leaders, faith-based organizations, governments and NGOs active in climate justice in order to celebrate what has been achieved since Pope Francis' landmark encyclical was published in 2015 and to hammer out new strategies for expanded partnerships and concrete action.

"We are one family, with one Father," Pope Leo said, and "we inhabit the same planet and must care for it together."

"I, therefore, renew my strong appeal for unity around integral ecology and for peace!" he said.

Pope Leo noted, as Pope Francis did in his follow-up exhortation "Laudate Deum," that "some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change, to ridicule those who speak of global warming and even to blame the poor for the very thing that affects them the most." 

"What must be done now to ensure that caring for our common home and listening to the cry of the earth and the poor do not appear as mere passing trends or, worse still, are seen and felt as divisive issues?" he asked.

"Everyone in society, through nongovernmental organizations and advocacy groups, must put pressure on governments to develop and implement more rigorous regulations, procedures and controls," the pope said.

"Citizens need to take an active role in political decision-making at national, regional and local levels," he said. "Only then will it be possible to mitigate the damage done to the environment."

Pope Leo asked the audience to "give thanks to our Father in heaven for this gift we have inherited from Pope Francis!" which was followed by enthusiastic applause.

"The challenges identified in Laudato Si' are in fact even more relevant today than they were 10 years ago," he said, and these challenges, which are social, political and spiritual, "call for conversion."

"It is only by returning to the heart that a true ecological conversion can take place," Pope Leo said, saying, "We must shift from collecting data to caring; and from environmental discourse to an ecological conversion that transforms both personal and communal lifestyles."

For believers, he said, "we cannot love God, whom we cannot see, while despising his creatures. Nor can we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ without participating in his outlook on creation and his care for all that is fragile and wounded."

Integral ecology thrives on four relationships: with God, with others, with nature and with ourselves, he said. "Through our commitment to them, we can grow in hope by living out the interdisciplinary approach of Laudato Si' and the call to unity and collaboration that flows from it."

Pope Leo also expressed his hope that a number of upcoming U.N. summits, including the 2025 Climate Change Conference being held in Brazil in November, "will listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, families, Indigenous peoples, involuntary migrants and believers throughout the world."

"I encourage everyone, especially young people, parents and those who work in local and national administrations and institutions, to play their part in finding solutions for today's cultural, spiritual and educational challenges, always striving tenaciously for the common good," he added.

Among the participants who spoke during the opening session in the presence of the pope was Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, and the former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has long been involved in initiatives for the protection of creation. 

Indicating Pope Leo, Schwarzenegger said he was in the presence of a true "action hero" because of his election as pope and leader of a city-state whose goal is to become the first carbon-neutral state in the world.

Pope Leo later quipped in his opening remarks that "if there is indeed an action hero with us this afternoon, it is all of you who are working together to make a difference."

Schwarzenegger outlined how he continued to help take aggressive action on fighting climate change while he was governor of the state of California from 2003 to 2011, reducing greenhouse gases by 25% and promoting other green initiatives.

Warnings that environmental legislation would ruin the state's economy were "a bunch of nonsense," he said. "Today, California has the strictest environmental laws in the United States, and we are number one economically" in the U.S. and "the fourth largest economy in the world" with a $4 trillion GDP.

Instead of people "whining" and wondering what to do, he said, everyone should "get to work" because "everyone has the power" to do something, he said.

Pope & Schwarzenegger team up for climate care

Pope Leo XIV spoke at a conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si', Pope Francis' encyclical on caring for creation. (CNS video/Robert Duncan) 

WASHINGTON - “As an international community and people of faith who deeply care for all our brothers and sisters who live in the land of Christ’s life, death, and glorious resurrection, we cannot lose this opportunity for peace,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.  

Bishop Zaidan’s statement follows: 

“As details emerge of a new, 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza—which includes provisions for the freeing of hostages, amnesty for those willing to accept peace, the ability for Gazans to remain on their land, and robust humanitarian and development assistance in the Strip—I call on Catholics and all men and women of good will to, once again, pray ardently for an end to this devastating war. 

“Crucially, this plan incorporates Israel’s and Palestine’s neighbors, including Jordan and Egypt, in a multilateral coordination for the plan’s implementation that recognizes the reality of the region’s interconnectedness. I am especially hopeful of the plan’s ‘interfaith dialogue process,’ which is intended to create a greater sense of community between Israelis and Palestinians ‘based on the values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence.’ As Pope Leo XIV recently reminded us, the ‘deepest purpose of the Church’s social doctrine’ is a ‘contribution to peace and dialogue in the service of building bridges of universal fraternity.’ 

“Cautiously calling the peace plan a realistic proposal, Pope Leo XIV expressed hope that Hamas would accept the plan within the established time frame. In this difficult context, any peace plan will involve challenges that will require the utmost effort and cooperation from all sides. However, as an international community and people of faith who deeply care for all our brothers and sisters who live in the land of Christ’s life, death, and glorious resurrection, we cannot lose this opportunity for peace. May Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, instill on all sides a sincere willingness to attain peace.”   

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WASHINGTON – On the fifth anniversary of Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis’ encyclical letter on fraternity and social friendship, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released an invitation for reflection.

Encouraging every American to reflect on the value of every human life and to see Christ in every person, including in those who hold differing thoughts, he challenged: “Each of us should examine our hearts, our thoughts, and our actions and ask ourselves how we contribute to the polarization and animosity plaguing our nation. We should also put into practice those behaviors that can help us begin to heal the rifts between us.”

Read Archbishop Broglio’s reflection:

“Come, Holy Spirit, show us your beauty, reflected in all the peoples of the earth.”

As shepherd to our nation’s uniformed service members and their families, I have known the pain that the violence of war inflicts on men and women and those closest to them. Trained military chaplains work tirelessly to help servicemembers and families heal from the wounds of war. This ministry has changed my life forever. Today, grievous acts of violence have intruded into the daily lives of too many Americans—an experience that, tragically, many civilians around the world have long endured. Places once regarded as safe harbors to grow and learn—our schools, universities, and churches—have become sites of heartbreaking tragedy and bloodshed. 

Five years ago, in his encyclical Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis outlined steps our world must take to rebuild a sense of communion in the wake of what he described as “shattered dreams.” As the encyclical prophetically points out, people are being manipulated “to serve as tools for domination, as meaningless tags that can be used to justify any action.” We have seen the manifestation of this notion in the perverse idea that one can serve the common good by becoming an instrument of violence. This happens when we refuse to see the face of Christ in the other person and only see an enemy that must be dominated or destroyed. Tragically, decent people of every political persuasion continue to fall victim to this deadly trend. Too much of everyday life is strained by hostility and division, which has resulted in shocking acts of political violence. 

The wisdom Pope Francis offers reminds us that “authentic reconciliation does not flee from conflict, but is achieved in conflict, resolving it through dialogue and open, honest and patient negotiation.” “The path to social unity,” he stresses, “always entails acknowledging the possibility that others have, at least in part, a legitimate point of view, something worthwhile to contribute, even if they were in error or acted badly.” Building peace in our nation “requires us to place at the center of all political, social, and economic activity the human person from conception to natural death, who enjoys the highest dignity, and respect for the common good.”

I ask every American to reflect on the value of every human life. I beg you to see Christ in every person, even those whose politics you oppose. Each of us should examine our hearts, our thoughts, and our actions and ask ourselves how we contribute to the polarization and animosity plaguing our nation. We should also put into practice those behaviors that can help us begin to heal the rifts between us. Consider performing a corporal work of mercy—feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Consider fasting from social media for one day a week or in the evening. Pray for your enemies. Listen and talk with those you with whom you disagree—especially within your own family. Disagree, debate civilly, stand for your rights, but always remember in your heart that we are all children of God and deserve dignity and life. 

On this fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Fratelli tutti, let us pray “so that we may discover anew that all are important and all are necessary, different faces of the one humanity that God so loves. Amen.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Sharing the joy of being loved by God despite one's human flaws is the mission of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV said.

"This is the heart of the mission of the church: not to administer power over others, but to communicate the joy of those who are loved precisely when they did not deserve it," the pope said Oct. 1 during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

"It is the strength that gave rise to the Christian communities and made them grow: men and women who discovered the beauty of returning to life to be able to give it to others," he said.

And as the month of October is dedicated to the holy rosary, Pope Leo invited the faithful "to pray it daily for peace in our world." 

In his ongoing series of audience talks on the Jubilee theme, "Jesus Christ our Hope," Pope Leo reflected on Christ's resurrection as the source of Christian faith and hope.

Not only did the Son of God rise from the dead after his passion and violent death, he said, but he did so in a humble and loving way.

"Indeed, Jesus' resurrection is not a bombastic triumph, nor is it revenge or retaliation against his enemies," he said. "It is a wonderful testimony to how love is capable of rising again after a great defeat in order to continue its unstoppable journey."

"When we get up again after a trauma caused by others, often the first reaction is anger, the desire to make someone pay for what we have suffered," Pope Leo said.

Instead, Jesus "does not take revenge. He does not return with gestures of power, but rather with meekness; he manifests the joy of a love greater than any wound and stronger than any betrayal," he said. 

The Risen Christ appears to his disciples, who had "denied and abandoned him" and are gathered in fear in the upper room, the pope said. He greets them with a simple, "Peace be with you!"

Then Jesus shows his disciples the wounds of his passion, Pope Leo said, but he does so not to shame or embarrass them, but to demonstrate how he is "fully reconciled with everything he has suffered."

"There is not a shadow of resentment. The wounds serve not to reproach, but to confirm a love stronger than any infidelity. They are the proof that, even in the moment of our failure, God did not retreat. He did not give up on us," he said.

"The Lord shows himself to be naked and defenseless," he said. "His is a love that does not humiliate; it is the peace of one who has suffered for love and can now finally affirm that it was worthwhile."

Often, people mask their wounds "out of pride or for fear of appearing weak," he said. And they may say "It doesn't matter" or "It is all in the past," even though "we are not truly at peace with the betrayals that have wounded us."

Jesus, however, "offers his wounds as a guarantee of forgiveness. And he shows that the resurrection is not the erasure of the past, but its transfiguration into a hope of mercy," he said. 

Jesus then entrusts the apostles "with a task that is not so much a power as a responsibility: to be instruments of reconciliation in the world," he said. It is "as if he said: 'Who will be able to proclaim the merciful face of the Father, if not you, who have experienced failure and forgiveness?'"

Jesus gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit, which "sustained him in obedience to the Father and in love even to the cross," the pope said. "From that moment, the apostles will no longer be able to remain silent about what they have seen and heard: that God forgives, lifts up and restores trust."

"Dear brothers and sisters, we too are sent," he said. "Do not be afraid to show your wounds healed by mercy. Do not be afraid to draw close to those who are trapped in fear or guilt."

"May the breath of the Spirit make us, too, witnesses of this peace and this love that is stronger than any defeat," he said.

When greeting Arab-speaking pilgrims, especially those from Lebanon and the Holy Land, Pope Leo said every Christian "is called to be a witness of love and forgiveness being greater than every wound and stronger than every injustice."
 

Pope Leo: Bring Christ's love to a broken world

A look at Pope Leo's general audience Oct. 1.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Arnold Schwarzenegger told reporters he knows that people get "pumped up" spiritually at Mass, but he wishes he could go to Mass at least once and hear a homily on what Catholics can and should do to reduce pollution.

The Catholic actor, former California governor and former body builder who inspired the Saturday Night Live tagline, "We just want to pump you up!" spoke at the Vatican Sept. 30 during a news conference to present "Raising Hope for Climate Justice," a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."

As founder of the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, which promotes actions individuals can take to fight pollution and climate change, he was invited to the Raising Hope meeting, which Pope Leo was scheduled to open Oct. 1 in Castel Gandolfo. 

Brazilian Cardinal Jaime Spengler of Porto Alegre, president of the Brazilian bishops' conference, prefaced his remarks at the news conference by saying that "Arnold is an idol of my youth" from his films, but "I thought he'd be taller."

Turning to climate change and the 30th U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP30, which Brazil will host in November, Cardinal Spengler said, "We cannot escape or ignore the challenges that our mistreated planet is placing before us. The signs are undeniable! We are living in times marked by danger -- the danger of reaching a point of no return, a breaking point."

Too many people think that "reality, goodness and truth" can spontaneously emerge from technology and the economy, he said. "This model tends to place the human being in the place of God, making man the greatest danger to himself."

"The Earth, with all that it contains, is a living being," he said. "And like every living being, it is fragile!"

But human beings can change, the cardinal said, and the Spirit of God can renew the face of the earth if people are willing to cooperate. 

Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli told reporters it was providential to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si' during the Jubilee of Hope because "it is not just a magisterial document but a navigation guide," and one that hundreds of dioceses, thousands of parishes and universities and millions of people already are acting on.

Several of the questions at the news conference were about hopes for global progress in addressing climate change given that President Donald Trump told the United Nations Sept. 23 that climate change is "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world."

Schwarzenegger said he believed God inspired him to enact tough environmental protection rules as governor of California from 2003 to 2011, and when President George W. Bush's administration tried to stop him, "we took them to court" and won.

"We said, 'Hasta la vista, baby,'" he said, repeating his most famous line from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

No one "is able to terminate all the pollution" alone, he said, which is why people must work together, especially on a local level.

He also called the Vatican a "true action hero" for installing solar panels on the Paul VI Audience Hall and working on building an agrivoltaic system on a Vatican property outside of Rome that could supply the rest of Vatican City's energy needs.
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Among the estimated 20,000 pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee of Catechists, a group of three dozen from the United States had their own private audience with Pope Leo XIV.

The pilgrims -- an archbishop, volunteer parish catechists, diocesan employees, religious sisters and two staff members from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops -- met with the pope Sept. 27 before his Jubilee audience.

The pope told them that all Catholics, by virtue of their baptism, are called to be teachers of the faith, said Marilyn Santos, associate director of the USCCB Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis.

The next morning, during Pope Leo's Jubilee Mass, he formally installed in the ministry of catechist Santos and David Spesia, executive director of the secretariat. The first reading at the Mass was proclaimed by another member of the pilgrimage: Robert Gallagher, a volunteer catechist at the Basilica of St. Edward in Palm Beach, Florida. 

Archbishop Charles C. Thompson of Indianapolis, chair of the bishops' Committee for Evangelization and Catechesis, led the pilgrimage.

"We are just being pilgrims of hope," the archbishop told Catholic News Service. The pilgrimage was an opportunity to "deepen our own our faith, our own sense of God's grace and presence in our lives and our own calling -- rooted in all of our baptisms, whether bishop or religious, consecrated, single, married, what have you -- to live out our call to holiness and mission and be witnesses of the faith."

The formal institution of some people in the ministry of catechist, a possibility opened by Pope Francis in 2021, shows "how important, how essential catechists are to the church," the archbishop said. "And I think it coincides beautifully with the synodality focus on co-responsibility, that we are all co-responsible for passing on the faith."

The U.S. bishops are working on a national directory on the three instituted ministries Pope Francis formalized: catechist, lector and acolyte. The directory aims provide a theological understanding of the ministries, the formation needed, age requirements, the duration of the ministry and their role in a parish and diocese. 

Spesia said that in the United States parish catechists are "the 'little engine that could' that drives the church and hands on the faith," and recognizing that with a special Jubilee celebration "is just a beautiful thing."

Asked about being chosen to be instituted a catechist by Pope Leo, Santos said, "I'm thrilled. I'm a little shocked. I'm honored."

Parish catechists "are priceless because they are the boots on the ground, so to speak," she said. Those instituted in the ministry of catechist answer to their diocesan bishop and are called to be an example and resource for others. 

Patrick Donovan, director of the Institute for Catholic Formation in the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, also was part of the pilgrimage.

He told CNS he hoped no one would see the formal institution of catechists as somehow saying that only some Catholics are called to share and teach others the faith.

"I think oftentimes we mistakenly talk about catechesis as a chore, catechesis as a project, as a program. It begins and it ends," he said. But it is an ongoing process of growing in the faith and in one's ability to share it with others.

"For me, the perspective is all about what we can do to help mom and dad be the best witnesses of the faith," Donovan said, giving parents "the language to articulate the faith" and share it with their children each day.

"We have to do less of the hostage situation with young people" forced to attend religious education classes, he said, "and more of giving the language to articulate the faith to mom and dad and grandparents."
 

Pope Leo XIV to new catechists: Share the Gospel with zeal!

Pope Leo XIV installed 39 new catechists from around the world and urged them to share the Gospel with zeal.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When catechists teach, their aim is not simply to pass on information about the faith but to "place the word of life in hearts, so that it may bear the fruits of a good life," Pope Leo XIV said.

"The Gospel announces to us that everyone's life can change because Christ rose from the dead. This event is the truth that saves us; therefore, it must be known and proclaimed," the pope told some 20,000 catechists from more than 115 countries attending the Jubilee for Catechists.

But just proclaiming the Good News is not enough, the pope said in his homily at Mass Sept. 28 in St. Peter's Square. "It must be loved. It is love that leads us to understand the Gospel." 

During the liturgy, Pope Leo formally installed in the ministry of catechist 39 women and men from 16 countries, including David Spesia, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis, and Marilyn Santos, associate director of the secretariat.

Before the pope gave his homily, a deacon called the names of each of the 39, who answered in Italian, "Eccomi," or "present." After the homily, Pope Leo presented each of them with a crucifix.

"Let your ministry ever be grounded in a deep life of prayer, let it be built up in sound doctrine and animated by genuine apostolic zeal," the pope told them. "As stewards of the mission entrusted to the church by Christ, you must always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you."

The Gospel reading at the Mass was the parable of the rich man and Lazarus from Luke 16:19-31.

In the parable, the pope said, Lazarus is ignored by the rich man "and yet God is close to him and remembers his name."

But the rich man has no name in the parable, "because he has lost himself by forgetting his neighbor," the pope said. "He is lost in the thoughts of his heart: full of things and empty of love. His possessions do not make him a good person."

"The story that Christ tells us is, unfortunately, very relevant today," Pope Leo said. "At the doorstep of today's opulence stands the misery of entire peoples, ravaged by war and exploitation." 

"Through the centuries, nothing seems to have changed: how many Lazaruses die before the greed that forgets justice, before profits that trample on charity, and before riches that are blind to the pain of the poor," he said.

In the parable, the rich man dies and is cast into the netherworld. He asks Abraham to send a messenger to his brothers to warn them and call them to repent.

The Gospel story and the words of Scripture that catechists are called to share are not meant to "disappoint or discourage" people, but to awaken their consciences, the pope said. 

Echoing the words of Pope Francis, Pope Leo said the heart of catechesis is the proclamation that "the Lord Jesus is risen, the Lord Jesus loves you, and he has given his life for you; risen and alive, he is close to you and waits for you every day."

That truth, he said, should prompt people to love God and to love others in return.

God's love, he said, "transforms us by opening our hearts to the word of God and to the face of our neighbor."

Pope Leo reminded parents that they are the first to teach their children about God, his promises and commandments.

And he thanked everyone who has been a witness to others of faith, hope and charity, cooperating in the church's "pastoral work by listening to questions, sharing in struggles and serving the desire for justice and truth that dwells in the human conscience."

Teaching the faith is a community effort, he said, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church "is the 'travel guidebook' that protects us from individualism and discord, because it attests to the faith of the entire Catholic Church."
 

Pope Leo XIV to new catechists: Share the Gospel with zeal!

Pope Leo XIV installed 39 new catechists from around the world and urged them to share the Gospel with zeal.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In the first major appointment of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV chose an Italian expert in canon law to succeed him as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Archbishop Filippo Iannone, 67, has led the Dicastery for Legislative Texts since 2018 and will begin his new role Oct. 15, the Vatican press office announced Sept. 26.

Pope Leo, as Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, led the Dicastery for Bishops and the pontifical commission from early 2023 until his election as pope in May.

The dicastery coordinates the search for candidates to fill the office of bishop in most of the Latin-rite dioceses around the world and makes recommendations about their appointments to the pope. It also deals with setting up, uniting, suppressing dioceses, changing diocesan boundaries, setting up military ordinariates and ordinariates for Catholics who have come from the Anglican Communion. 

The dicastery "cooperates with the bishops in all matters concerning the correct and fruitful exercise of the pastoral office entrusted to them," according to the constitution, "Praedicate Evangelium."

The prefect of the dicastery can organize an apostolic visitation of a diocese where a bishop appears to be struggling, and it is involved in the process of investigating bishops suspected of mishandling or covering up cases of sexual abuse.

As head of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, Archbishop Iannone was deeply involved with the revision of the Code of Canon Law's "Book VI: Penal Sanctions in the Church," one of seven books that make up the code for the Latin rite of the Catholic Church; with updated descriptions of the crimes of sexual abuse, including child pornography, and the required actions of a bishop or superior of a religious order in handling allegations, it was promulgated by Pope Francis in 2021.

And, following up on that, the archbishop led the preparation of the 2023 update of "Vos Estis Lux Mundi" ("You are the light of the world"), which set out the procedures for bishops, religious superiors and the heads of international Catholic movements to investigate allegations of sexual abuse or the cover up of abuse. 

In February, the Dicastery for Legislative Texts -- defending the right to self-defense and to a presumption of innocence -- published on its website a letter by the archbishop and the dicastery's secretary strongly cautioning dioceses and religious orders against publishing the names of church personnel who have been accused of abuse but have not been found guilty in civil or canonical procedures.

The new prefect was born in Naples Dec. 13, 1957, and entered the Carmelites in 1976 after finishing high school. He completed his bachelor's in theology at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy and then earned a doctorate in both civil and canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

He made his first solemn profession as a Carmelite in 1980 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1982.

Within the Carmelite order, he served as treasurer and as counselor. From 1989 to 1995, he was president of the order's commission for the revision of its constitutions. He also held positions in the Archdiocese of Naples, including on the tribunal and as a regional episcopal vicar.

St. John Paul II named him an auxiliary bishop of Naples in 2001, and Pope Benedict XIV named him bishop of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo in 2009. Three years later, Pope Benedict named him an archbishop and vice regent of the Diocese of Rome.

Pope Francis named him adjunct secretary of the office for legislative texts in 2017 and president a year later.

He currently serves as a member of the appeals board for abuse cases at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, a member of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and as a member of the Apostolic Signatura, the Holy See's highest court.

While naming Archbishop Iannone head of the dicastery, Pope Leo also reappointed for five-year terms Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari as dicastery secretary and Msgr. Ivan Kovac as undersecretary of the dicastery.
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV asked Catholics to pray the rosary each day in October for peace.

The pope made his request at the end of his weekly general audience Sept. 24 and the day after he said he had spoken again with the pastor of Holy Family Church in Gaza City, the only Latin-rite Catholic parish in Gaza.

"Thanks be to God everyone in the parish is fine," but the Israeli strikes "are a little closer," the pope told reporters in Castel Gandolfo Sept. 23 before heading back to the Vatican after a day's rest. The parish is offering refuge and assistance to hundreds of Gaza residents.

Britain, Canada and Australia formally recognized Palestinian statehood Sept. 21, joining the Holy See and more than 150 countries that already had done so. Asked if that could help the situation, Pope Leo told reporters it "could help, but at this moment there really is no willingness to listen on the other side, so dialogue is currently broken."

Regarding Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine, Pope Leo said that "someone is seeking an escalation, and it is continually becoming more dangerous."

What is needed, he said, is to "halt military advances" and come to the negotiating table. 

At the end of his audience Sept. 24, Pope Leo noted that October was approaching and that with the Oct. 7 feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Catholic Church traditionally dedicates the whole month to praying the rosary.

"I invite everyone to pray the rosary every day during the coming month -- for peace -- personally, with your families and in your communities," he said.

The pope also invited Vatican officials and employees to pray the rosary together every October evening at 7 p.m. in St. Peter's Basilica.

And he invited everyone to St. Peter's Square Oct. 11 to pray the rosary together "during the vigil of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, also remembering the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council," which began Oct. 11, 1962.
 

Pope: Pray the rosary for peace each day

Pope Leo XIV asked Catholics to pray the rosary for peace each day in October.