As the number of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border continues to soar, more than a dozen Catholic bishops from both countries issued a reminder April 1 that “there is a shared responsibility of all nations to preserve human life and provide for safe, orderly, and humane immigration, including the right to asylum.”
In a surprise move, Pope Francis on Holy Thursday celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper – one of the most sacred liturgies on the Catholic calendar – at the private apartment of Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who resigned from his post earlier this year at the pope’s direct request.
Pope Francis visited the Vatican’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Good Friday as volunteer doctors, nurses and pharmacists continued vaccinating the poor, homeless and refugees assisted by charities in Rome.
Church leaders in Ireland are calling on the government to take the spiritual needs of the population into consideration, noting the country is the only one in Western Europe to continue to ban public worship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At a time when enjoying choir music in churches is banned almost everywhere in the world due to COVID-19 restrictions, two young German tenors recorded a series of songs inspired by Christ’s passion and his resurrection in an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, with new songs being released every day from Wednesday until Easter Sunday.
Living and preaching the Gospel always involves embracing “the cross,” whether it be in the form of misunderstanding, hostility or outright persecution, Pope Francis told Rome priests gathered for the chrism Mass.
The following is the full text to Pope Francis’ homily at the 2021 Chrism Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.
On March 15, Constanza Alva de Urmeneta got in the car behind the hearse for the funeral procession of her 15-year-old daughter, Pía Urmeneta. Typically somber occasions, it was apparent from the second they drove off the church lot that this was instead a celebration of Pía’s life, just as she had wanted.
In a passage of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Taking this to heart, this year the Vatican has asked children to write the meditations for the Way of the Cross led by Pope Francis on Good Friday, April 2.
When Michael La Civita of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association considers how the agency prioritizes where to send aid, he says the best way to describe it is like a “triage,” given the crises so many countries face.
