St. Maria Goretti Parish

As South Sudan marks the 14th anniversary of its independence, the Bishop of Bentiu calls on the people to live out peace not merely as an abstract idea, but through concrete, everyday actions rooted in Gospel values.

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The mission of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is “to help the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world by promoting and safeguarding the integrity of Catholic teaching on faith and morals” by drawing on the deposit of faith.

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ROME (CNS) -- "We must pray for the conversion of many people, inside and outside of the church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for our common home," Pope Leo XIV said while celebrating a new formulary of the Mass "for the care of creation."

Far from the pounding organ of St. Peter's Basilica or the throngs of faithful sprawled across St. Peter's Square, the pope celebrated Mass July 9 to the accompaniment of chirping birds in the gardens of the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, the traditional summer residence of the popes some 15 miles southeast of Rome.

The Mass was attended by the staff of the Borgo Laudato Si' ecology project -- a space for education and training in integral ecology hosted in the gardens -- as well as Vatican officials and Holy Cross Father Daniel Groody, an expert on migration and associate provost for undergraduate education at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Although Pope Leo was scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later in the day, he was not present at the Mass.

Lamenting the natural disasters around the world that "are in part caused by the excesses of human beings, with their lifestyle," the pope urged the intimate gathering in his homily "to ask ourselves if we ourselves are living this conversion or not: how greatly it is needed!"

The formulary of the Mass "for the care of creation" was added to the Roman Missal -- the liturgical book that contains the texts for celebrating Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church -- by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments June 8.

The formulary, included among 17 other "civil needs" for which a priest can offer Mass, selects prayers and readings for the celebration of Mass that affirm the place of God's creation in worship.

While the pope's Mass was celebrated in Italian, parts of the Mass pertaining to the new formulary were read in Latin.

"In a burning world, be it because of global warming or armed conflicts," people today find themselves filled with fear, just as the disciples were in the face of a storm that was calmed by Christ, Pope Leo said in his homily. But, he added, "there is hope! We have found it in Jesus."

"The mission of safeguarding creation, of bringing peace and reconciliation" is "the mission which the Lord has entrusted to us," Pope Leo said. "We listen to the cry of the earth, we listen to the cry of the poor, because this cry has reached the heart of God. Our indignation is his indignation; our work is his work."

The church, he added, must speak prophetically before the climate crisis "even when it requires the boldness to oppose the destructive power of the 'princes' of this world."

"The indestructible covenant between creator and creatures mobilizes our intellect and efforts, so that evil may be turned to good, injustice to justice, greed to communion."

Quoting at length from Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," Pope Leo recalled the harmony with creation that St. Francis of Assisi achieved in his lifetime to the point of calling created things "brother, sister, mother."

"Just one contemplative gaze can change our relationship with created things and bring us out of the ecological crisis that has, as its cause, the breakdown of relationships with God, neighbor, and the earth because of sin," he said.

Pope Leo was scheduled to spend two weeks in July at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, reviving a custom skirted by Pope Francis. The pope moved there July 6 following his noontime recitation of the Angelus in St. Peter's Square.

In a letter published in Italian magazine Piazza San Pietro, a young mother appeals to the Pope for her children’s future, and Pope Leo replies with a message of hope.

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The three parish priests of the Latin, Greek Orthodox, and Melkite churches denounce repeated violence against Christian residents and their property in the West Bank. The priests call on the international and ecclesial community to send field missions to document the damage and the worsening situation.

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Pope Leo offers encouragement to Latin American catechists gathering in Asuncion, Paraguay, for study days focused on the synodal path.

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Pope Leo XIV and President Volodymyr Zelensky discuss the war in Ukraine, the return of forcibly deported Ukrainian children, and the Holy See’s continued support for dialogue and peace.

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Pope Leo XIV celebrates the first Mass for the Care of Creation at the Laudato Si’ Village in Castel Gandolfo, and urges Christians to embrace our mission to bring peace and reconciliation to our world and all creation.

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The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has sent a letter to the Archbishop of Prešov for Byzantine Rite Catholics, confirming the many spiritual fruits connected to Mount Zvir, in Slovakia, where apparitions of Mary allegedly occurred between 1990 and 1995 near the small village of Litmanová.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Local churches and bishops worldwide will be instrumental in helping implement the proposals and foster the spirit of the 2024 final document of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, the Vatican synod office said.

To more effectively carry out the mission of evangelization, the implementation phase of the synod "aims to examine new practices and structures that will make the life of the church more synodal," the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops said in a new set of guidelines released July 7.

"Concretely, the priority is to offer the people of God new opportunities to walk together and reflect on these experiences in order to reap their fruits for the mission and share them," the text said. 

The 24-page text, titled "Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod," is a guide for bishops and synodal teams, and an invitation to them to share their initiatives as they apply the synod on synodality's final proposals locally. It also seeks to answer some key questions the office received recently. The text was released in multiple languages at synod.va.

Divided into four chapters, the document offers responses to: What is the implementation phase and what are its objectives?; Who will participate in the implementation phase and what are their tasks and responsibilities?; How to engage with the 2024 synod assembly's final document during the implementation phase?; And what method and tools can help shape the implementation phase?

The guidelines underline how the local churches must play an active role in this phase, including by reaching out to diverse communities such as the marginalized, young people and those resistant to the synodal process, because, "in order to truly walk together, we cannot lose the contribution of their point of view."

Engagement should extend beyond the parish to include schools, hospitals, prisons and digital platforms, it said, and relations with religious communities, movements and associations should be strengthened to further exchange the variety of gifts toward mission.

Synodality "cannot be a path limited to a core group of 'supporters,'" it said.

"On the contrary, it is important that this new process contribute concretely 'to expand possibilities for participation and for the exercise of differentiated co-responsibility by all the baptized, men and women' in a spirit of reciprocity," it said. "Moreover, it is crucial that it aims to involve those who have so far remained on the margins of the ecclesial renewal process established by the synod." 

The diocesan or eparchial bishop is the first person responsible for the implementation phase, the guidelines said. "It is his responsibility to initiate it, officially indicate its duration, methods and objectives, accompany its progress and conclude it, validating its results."

This phase "will be an appropriate opportunity to exercise authority in a synodal way," it said, reminding bishops they are not alone and should encourage all members of the church to share the journey together.

Synodal teams and participatory bodies "will be essential in the implementation phase as well," the guidelines said, so "existing teams should be valued and, where necessary, renewed; those that have been suspended should be reactivated and appropriately integrated; and new teams should be formed where they have not been established previously."

Every diocese or eparchy also needs to register its synodal team with the synod office by requesting a link to its database at synodus@synod.va to aid communication and effective coordination, it said.

The implementation phase of the synod was opened by Pope Francis in November 2024 when he called upon local churches, bishops' conferences and others to implement "the authoritative proposals contained in the document through the processes of discernment and decision-making provided for by law and by the document itself," the late pope wrote.

The three-year period of implementation and evaluation on the local, national, regional and international levels will culminate in a "celebration of the ecclesial assembly" in October 2028 at the Vatican "to share the fruits of the implementation phase and to have a kind of evaluation," Xavière Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, said. 

"The best way to start the implementation phase is really to read the final document of the synod. That is the reference for this implementation phase," she said in an interview with Vatican News July 7.

The new guidelines then "are a kind of tool to help to dive into the final document of the synod and to take it up in a discerning way, to see how to implement it at the local level, also with this creativity that is coming from the Holy Spirit, because you can’t have just one way for everybody all over the world," she added.

The synod's final document "is the point of reference for the implementation phase," the guidelines said.

The mission of proclaiming the Kingdom of God "constitutes the backbone" and final goal of the synod's final document, the text said. "Reflections on the tools to be adopted or the reforms to be implemented should always be placed within the perspective of the mission."

The final document "firmly promotes a church that is increasingly courageous in its outreach," it said, and "it embraces the conciliar vision of a church in the world, in dialogue with everyone, with other religious traditions and with the entire community."

"Growing as a synodal church capable of dialogue has a prophetic value that includes a commitment to social justice and integral ecology. These dimensions cannot be neglected in the implementation phase, leading to the creation of opportunities for dialogue based on the concrete needs of the territories and societies in which we live," the text said.

Sister Becquart said the guidelines and the implementation phase are a prime opportunity for the "exchange of gifts" between the local churches, which is "a core notion of the final document, a core notion of a synodal church."

"We all have something to give and something to receive," she said. "This document is also really to highlight that you can't just do your synodal conversion alone, but it's very important to work together as different local churches."