Catholic News
- Pope issues message for Trump inauguration (Vatican Press Office)
Six hours before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, the Vatican released a papal message for the inauguration. “I offer cordial greetings and the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you wisdom, strength and protection in the exercise of your high duties,” the Pope wrote. “Inspired by your nation’s ideals of being a land of opportunity and welcome for all, it is my hope that under your leadership the American people will prosper and always strive to build a more just society, where there is no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion.” The Pope added: At the same time, as our human family faces numerous challenges, not to mention the scourge of war, I also ask God to guide your efforts in promoting peace and reconciliation among peoples. With these sentiments, I invoke upon you, your family, and the beloved American people an abundance of divine blessings. - Pope: Investing in weapons to kill is madness (Vatican News)
In a brief address to the Catholic Foundation of Verona, Pope Francis said that “money renders the most when it is invested for the benefit of our neighbour. This is important.” “There is a very bad situation now, with investments,” he continued. “In some countries the investments that give the highest returns are weapons factories: investing to kill ... And when one does this, against or apart from the benefit of the people, money ages and burdens the heart, making it hard and deaf to the voice of the poor.” The Catholic Foundation of Verona, to whose leaders the Pope directed his comments, is a division of Generali Italia insurance company, according to Vatican News. The company is one of the world’s largest insurance companies. The Pope touched on other themes in his brief address, including care for our common home and the importance of “doing good always and to everyone.” - Cardinal O'Malley brokered deal for release of Cuban prisoners (New York Times)
Pope Francis entrusted Cardinal Seán O’Malley, the now retired archbishop of Boston, with the task of brokering the deal between the Biden administration and the Cuban Communist regime that led to the release of more than 500 political prisoners. “The negotiations were conducted over the past three years, with at least a dozen meetings in Havana, New York and Washington, and with the cardinal talking to the foreign ministers and presidents of both countries,” The New York Times reported. José Daniel Ferrer, a leading Cuban human rights activist who was released from prison, said that “the Cuban government made a mockery of both Biden and the Vatican, which should be taking a firmer stance against human rights violations,” according to the newspaper’s paraphrase of his remarks. “Does that mean we should have left them [the prisoners] there?” Cardinal O’Malley responded. “I understand Mr. Ferrer has suffered a lot, and is very anxious to see this government fall,” but “making the Cuban people suffer is not the solution.” - Papal gratitude to Pontifical Swiss Guard Foundation (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis expressed gratitude to the benefactors of the Pontifical Swiss Guard Foundation for their financial support of the members of the Swiss Guard and their families. “The cooperation between your Foundation and the Pontifical Swiss Guard is exemplary, because it demonstrates that no reality can proceed alone,” the Pope said during a January 18 audience. “We must all help each other and support each other, and this applies to you, to individual communities, but also to the Church as a whole.” - Cardinal DiNardo retires; successor named (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, 75, as archbishop of Galveston-Houston and has named Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin as his successor. Cardinal DiNardo, ordained a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1977, was named bishop of Sioux City, Iowa, in 1997 and coadjutor archbishop of Galveston-Houston in 2004. He acceded to the see in 2006, and Pope Benedict created him a cardinal in 2007. He was president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2016 to 2019. Bishop Vásquez, 67, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, in 1983. He was named auxiliary bishop of Galveston-Houston in 2001 and bishop of Austin in 2010. - Pope upholds Argentine saint as model for future priests (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis received seminarians from the Argentine Priests’ College in Rome on January 16 and upheld an Argentine saint, St. Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero (1840-1914), as a model for their priesthood. The Pope recalled that it was said of the saint that “Brochero could be none other than a priest.” The Pontiff commented, “We must firmly assume this priestly identity, realize that our vocation is not an addendum, a means to other ends ... Absolutely not. Vocation is God’s plan for our life, what God sees in us.” The Pope also spoke of the saint’s love for the Eucharist and his sense of priestly fraternity. The Pope explained: First of all, with the bishop, of whom he considers himself a simple soldier, in order to emulate the feats of the heroes, fighting alongside him, side by side, to the last cartridge. And with his brother priests, he wants to share everything he has, he invites them to correct him with confidence and he does so for them with frankness, asking them to lead a life of deep piety, with frequent confession. - Jerusalem Patriarch sees ceasefire as necessary first step (Vatican News)
A ceasefire in Gaza is “the necessary turning point,” but lasting peace remains a distant goal, says the Latin Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem. ”This is only the first step,” said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. “Peace will take much longer to achieve because the end of the war is not the end of the conflict.” Nevertheless the cardinal welcomed the ceasefire, noting that it provides an opportunity for delivering much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, where the residents are now completely without resources and rely entirely on relief efforts. Cardinal Pizzaballa also questioned why leaders of the opposing forces had taken so long to agree to a ceasefire, prolonging the fighting with its toll of death and destruction. He observed that “the agreement was more or less the same discussion that was had months ago.” - Retired bishop decries 'vigilante approach' to immigration (Crux)
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has cautioned against what he calls a “vigilante approach” to illegal immigration, denouncing the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations. The retired Bishop of Brooklyn also criticized the Laken Riley Act, which calls for the immediate deportation of illegal immigrants charged with crimes He said the overall Trump plan is “a vigilante approach to a mythical problem that these people are hurting us.” Bishop DiMarzio recalled the crackdown on illegal immigration in the 1970s, saying that it caused massive disruption of the community and unnecessary dangers. The bishop was once the executive director of the US bishops’ office for migration, later chaired the USCCB committee ono migration, and in 2000 was named to the Pontifical Council for Migrants. - Vatican City State puts AI guidelines in place (CNS)
The Vatican City State’s government has released AI guidelines that “highlight the importance of a balanced and mindful approach in regulating artificial intelligence” and that will inform future laws and regulations. “The key principle is that technological innovation cannot and should never overtake or replace human beings,” according to the new guidelines. “The aim is to make artificial intelligence a resource that, if properly regulated, will be able to foster well-being and progress, without compromising ethical and social principles.” Content that has been created with the assistance of AI must “be labeled with the acronym AI,” Catholic News Service reported. Judicial offices may use AI for “organization and simplification,” but never for judicial analysis and interpretation. - Cost of US sex-abuse scandal tops $5 billion (Crux)
The latest study of the clerical sex-abuse crisis in the US has found that American dioceses and religious orders have paid more than $5 billion to resolve abuse cases. The study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), covering abuse charges that have been filed in the past 20 years, puts the overall cost of the scandal a just over $5 billion, including legal fees. The study finds that the number of sex-abuse complaints has dropped, with only 3% of the cases involving incidents that occurred after 2000. More than 90% of the cases covered in the study dated back to before 1989; in many such cases the alleged perpetrator was already deceased. The CARA study confirmed that 80% of the abuse complaints involved male victims, with a vast majority (80%) involving adolescent or teenage boys. - USCCB committee chairman issues statement for Religious Freedom Day (USCCB)
Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, issued a statement for Religious Freedom Day (January 16), which commemorates the anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. “As we look to 2025, we anticipate that long-standing concerns will continue to require our vigilance, while new concerns, and perhaps opportunities, will also present themselves,” Bishop Rhoades wrote. “Political leaders of countries may change, and public policy priorities may shift amidst various contemporary circumstances, but our patient and steadfast commitment to Jesus Christ and the Gospel must not change.” - French basilica vandalized (Rennes Info (French))
A French basilica has been vandalized twice in recent days. The Basilica of Our Lady of Good News, also known by its older name of St. Aubin’s, is located in Rennes, a city of 225,000 in Britanny, in northwestern France. The vandal, or vandals, shattered a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and overturned chairs. Later, a statue of the infant Jesus in an outdoor Nativity scene was beheaded. - Pence, in Hong Kong, asks freedom for Jimmy Lai (Wall Street Journal)
Speaking at a conference of financiers in Hong Kong on January 16, former Vice President Mike Pence issued a strong call for the release of Jimmy Lai, the jailed Catholic human-rights activist. “There is probably no more compelling gesture in the short term to send a message of good will to the people of the United States, or the free world, than if China were to take steps to free Jimmy Lai,” Pence said. He made the remark in the same city where Lai is now facing trial on the latest of several questionable criminal charges. - Pope welcomes Albanian Muslim delegation, praises interreligious dialogue (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis welcomed an Albanian Muslim delegation and praised the relations between the Catholic Church and the Bektashi, a Sufi Islamic community there. “Whenever religious leaders come together in a spirit of mutual esteem and commit themselves to the culture of encounter through dialogue, mutual understanding and cooperation, our hope for a better and more just world is renewed and confirmed,” the Pope said on January 16 to members of the delegation, led by Baba Mondi, the current Bektashi leader. “How much our world needs such hope!” “In these troubled times, all of us are called to reject the logic of violence and discord, in order to embrace the logic of encounter, friendship and collaboration in the pursuit of the common good,” he added. “Indeed, our religious convictions help us to embrace more clearly these fundamental values of our common humanity.” Baba Mondi and the Pope met during the Pontiff’s 2014 apostolic journey to Albania, and later during a 2016 audience at the Vatican. - Pope to Spanish seminarians: recognize signs of hope (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis met on January 17 with seminarians from Cordoba, Spain, and told them: “In the journey of life, we can identify hope as the signs that indicate the way to us.” During the Jubilee Year of Hope, the Pope suggested three such signs: “the direction: toward heaven;” the “dangers on the way;” and “the areas of refreshment” - M23 terrorizing North Kivu, missionary says (Aid to the Church in Need)
Father Marcelo Oliveira, a Portuguese Comboni missionary priest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, reports that the rebels of the March 23 Movement, or M23, are terrorizing North Kivu (map), in the eastern part of the nation. “Many people are fleeing,” the missionary said. “Some of these communities have become ghost-villages, and people cannot get what they need.” M23 rebels, he added, “continue to massacre and torture the people who are going from place to place.” - UN agency leader meets with Pope, praises him for support of people in rural areas (@IFADPresident)
Pope Francis received Alvaro Laro, the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in a January 16 audience. “What an honor to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican today,” the UN agency leader tweeted. “It is particularly special to be meeting His Holiness during the Jubilee 2025. His strong support of the world’s rural people is invaluable to IFAD.” - Background: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2025 (CWN)
The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins on January 18. - Pope's autobiography, Hope, released (CWN)
Hope, an autobiography of Pope Francis, was released on January 14, published simultaneously in over 100 countries. - More...