St. Maria Goretti Parish

Vatican News takes an inside look at 'Casa Santa Maria' of the Pontifical North American College, the home away from home for American priests to live and pray together during their studies in Rome, that leaves them 'tremendously enriched' and ready for their mission back home, and contributes to their always falling more in love with the faith and the Lord.

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Heeding Pope Francis’ call to go to the peripheries, the Holy Family Mission in Papua New Guinea has revived the missionary charism of the Congregation of Holy Cross to cross borders in hope.

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The Director of the Holy See Press Office presents Pope Leo’s upcoming Apostolic Journey to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea: an itinerary marked by the richness and diversity of histories, cultures and traditions.

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WASHINGTON – The Catholic faithful who give to the annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal are imitating Jesus, who “spent little time in cities but built his ministry in fishing villages and rural areas,” said Bishop Chad W. Zielinski, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions.

The appeal supports nearly 75 Latin Rite dioceses and Eastern Catholic eparchies in the United States and its current and former territories that cannot sustain ministry without outside help due to limited financial resources, small or widely dispersed Catholic populations, or both. They are typically in rural regions or small cities with seasonal employment.

Many dioceses will take the collection in their parishes on April 25-26, though some dioceses choose a different date. Those who wish to support the appeal with an online gift can donate at www.igivecatholic.org/story/USCCB-CHM.

“The work of the Catholic Home Missions Appeal reflects Jesus’s encounter with the ‘woman at the well,’ whom Eastern Christians call St. Photina,” said Bishop Zielinski, referencing the Samaritan woman at the well. “She was an outcast in a community that was considered heretical and that many of Jesus’ followers avoided. After talking with him, Photina evangelized her neighbors (John 4).”

“Most of our mission dioceses are in remote, rural areas, or communities with economic and social challenges. Yet they are filled with people like St. Photina, who thirst for the Gospel and are eager to spread its life-changing message,” Bishop Zielinski said.

Recently, the Catholic Home Missions Appeal provided more than $8.1 million in assistance to mission dioceses. The array of needs the grants addressed ranged from fuel for the seaplanes that priests fly to island villages in Alaska to developing Spanish-language ministries in dioceses with growing Latino immigrant populations. Among the grant recipients:

• The Diocese of Steubenville strengthened its ministries to vulnerable expectant mothers by engaging its parishes in the USCCB’s “Walking with Moms in Need” initiative. 
• The Diocese of Dodge City expanded its Spanish-language ministry by increasing the availability Spanish-language print resources, diocesan marriage retreats, and bilingual diocesan personnel.  
• The Diocese of Belleville supported a full-time college minister who is forming students to be church leaders and has inspired new vocations to the priesthood.
• The Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago serves the people of American Samoa’s seven islands through its five Catholic schools that provide educational opportunities in a territory where unemployment rates and living costs are high.

“Your generosity shows Catholics in remote areas that the Church stands with them, and that Jesus is calling them to embrace his mercy and share his message as St. Photina did,” Bishop Zielinski said.

Information about the Catholic Home Missions Appeal may be found at: www.usccb.org/committees/catholic-home-missions.

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WASHINGTON - “As the United States seeks a negotiated end to the war in Iran, I call on President Trump and the international community to ensure that the people of Lebanon receive greater access to humanitarian assistance, including food and medical supplies, especially in the south,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.  

Bishop Zaidan continued:

“I am grateful for the ceasefire between the United States, Israel, and Iran, and pray for all sides to engage in effective dialogue to end this devastating war. I am disappointed, however, to learn that the agreement does not cover Lebanon, and thus falls short of encompassing the entire region where the conflict has been raging. I acknowledge that the people of Israel have the right to live in peace, as well as the innocent Lebanese civilians who are currently suffering from lack of food, medical supplies, and from paralyzing fear. Distressingly, over one million people, including 370,000 children, have been displaced by the fighting, in what is becoming one of Lebanon’s most acute internal displacement crises in recent history.  

“As the United States seeks a negotiated end to the war in Iran, I call on President Trump and the international community to ensure that the people of Lebanon receive greater access to humanitarian assistance, including food and medical supplies, especially in the south. Furthermore, as I previously stated, for peace in Lebanon to take root, it is imperative that all parties work toward the full and immediate disarming of Hezbollah, as well as the implementation of the UN resolutions concerning Lebanon. Hopefully, after that, the governments of Israel and Lebanon can sign an agreement for lasting peace.  

“I join our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV’s Easter message of consolation and strength to the people of Lebanon, as they endure this ongoing tragedy: ‘May you, in the midst of feelings of pain, anxiety, and mourning, come to know in your hearts a deeper joy: Jesus has gloriously triumphed over death. It is a joy that comes from heaven and that nothing can take away.’ May Our Lady of Lebanon, Queen of Peace, pray for her children in Lebanon and for the peace of the entire world.”

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As the U.S.-Israeli ceasefire appears to hold in Iran, UNICEF outlines the ongoing danger and impact this war has and will continue to have on children as they “bear the brunt of the conflict.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV welcomed the newly announced ceasefire in the Middle East as “a sign of genuine hope” after what he described as “hours of extreme tension,” while urging a return to negotiations and calling the faithful to prayer.

“Only by returning to negotiations can the war be brought to an end,” he said in remarks in Italian following his April 8 general audience in St. Peter's Square.

His comments came just hours after a two-week ceasefire was reached between Iran and the United States, narrowly averting further escalation. The agreement followed a stark warning from U.S. President Donald Trump late April 7, when he threatened to destroy Iran’s critical infrastructure, saying “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil and gas tankers. The ceasefire was announced roughly two hours before the White House's deadline.

The pope’s appeal for dialogue echoed remarks he made the previous evening at Castel Gandolfo, where he urged leaders to return to the negotiating table even before the ceasefire was announced.

“Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable,” he told journalists April 7. “There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole.”

Expanding on the broader implications of the conflict, he warned of a global economic crisis marked by “great instability,” which he said risks fueling further hatred, and he called on ordinary citizens to contact their political leaders to advocate for peace.

The pope also invited the faithful to join him in a prayer vigil for peace on April 11 in his general audience address. As flowers lined the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Easter season, he used his main talk to reflect on holiness, emphasizing that it is a calling shared by all believers.

"Every baptized person is called to be holy; to live in God's grace, to practice virtue and to become like Christ," he said in his address to English speakers.

Continuing his series on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, he described charity as the foundation of holiness, "the fullness of love towards God and towards one’s neighbor," and said its highest expression is martyrdom, calling it the "supreme witness of faith and charity." He added that the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, sustain believers in this call.

He continued his analysis of the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium," specifically, the important role of consecrated life. "Indeed, signs of the Kingdom of God, already present in the mystery of the Church, are those evangelical counsels that shape every experience of consecrated life: poverty, chastity and obedience.

Poverty demonstrates "complete trust" in God -- free of self-interest, obedience follows Christ's "self-giving" offered to God, and chastity is the "gift of a heart that is whole and pure in love, at the service of God and Church." The pope called these virtues a form of "radical discipleship."

"These three virtues are not rules that shackle freedom, but liberating gifts of the Holy Spirit, through which some of the faithful are wholly consecrated to God," he said.

Closing his main address, the pope said that Christ’s sacrifice makes holiness possible even in suffering.

"By contemplating this event, we know that there is no human experience that God does not redeem," he said. "Even suffering, lived in union with the passion of the Lord, becomes a path of holiness."

WASHINGTON - “I call on President Trump to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. With the threat of increased military action, including the targeting of civilian infrastructure in Iran, Archbishop Coakley underscored Pope Leo XIV’s appeals during Holy Week and Easter for peace. 

Archbishop Coakley’s full statement follows:

“The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified. There are other ways to resolve conflict between peoples. I call on President Trump to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost.   

“After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem, and his first words were ‘Peace be with you.’ As the Holy Father, in his Urbi et Orbi message on Easter reflected, the peace that ‘Jesus gives us is not a peace that merely silences the weapons, but one that touches and transforms the heart of each of us! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts!’ 

“Pope Leo has invited everyone to join him in a prayer vigil for peace on Saturday, April 11. I make a special plea to my brother bishops, the priests, the laity, and all people yearning for true peace to join the Holy Father’s Vigil for Peace, whether virtually, or in parishes, chapels, or before the Lord present in the quiet of their hearts to join with our Holy Father as we pray for peace in our world.

“Let us entrust to the Lord ‘all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give. Let us entrust ourselves to him and open our hearts to him! He is the only one who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5).’”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Appealing to those in power to end all conflicts through dialogue and not domination, Pope Leo XIV urged humanity to stop growing accustomed to wars and violence and announced a prayer vigil for peace April 11.

"We cannot continue to be indifferent! And we cannot resign ourselves to evil!" he said April 5 before giving his Easter blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world). 

"In the light of Easter, let us allow ourselves to be amazed by Christ! Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us!" he said. 

"Let those who have weapons lay them down!" he said. "Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!"

Before delivering his blessing from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Leo said, "The peace that Jesus gives us is not merely the silence of weapons, but the peace that touches and transforms the heart of each one of us!"

"Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by the peace of Christ! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts!" he said. "For this reason, I invite everyone to join me in a prayer vigil for peace that we will celebrate here in St. Peter’s Basilica next Saturday, April 11."

Christ's power is nonviolent, Pope Leo said. "Christ, our 'victorious King,' fought and won his battle through trusting abandonment to the Father’s will, to his plan of salvation." 

Jesus walked the path of dialogue, "not in words but in deeds: to find us who were lost, he became flesh; to free us who were slaves, he became a slave; to give life to us mortals, he allowed himself to be killed on the cross," he said in his message. 

This strength and power, he said, is the God of love who creates and generates, who is faithful to the end, and who forgives and redeems. 

According to the Vatican, more than 50,000 people attended the Easter morning Mass in St. Peter's Square, where colorful floral arrangements adorned the steps leading to the basilica, highlighting the joyful celebration of Christ's resurrection.

In his homily, he said, "death is always lurking. We see it present in injustices, in partisan selfishness, in the oppression of the poor, in the lack of attention given to the most vulnerable. "

"We see it in violence, in the wounds of the world, in the cry of pain that rises from every corner because of the abuses that crush the weakest among us, because of the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth’s resources, because of the violence of war that kills and destroys," he said.

And yet, because of the Lord's resurrection, Christ invites the faithful to "lift our gaze and open our hearts," recognizing that "the Lord is alive and remains with us," the pope said.

"In every death we experience, there is also room for new life to arise," he said. Easter gives the hope "that in the risen Christ, a new creation is possible every day" and that "a new life, stronger than death, is now dawning for humanity."

This is the "song" of hope and joy that today's Christians must proclaim on "the streets of the world," and live out in their daily lives, he said in his homily, "so that wherever the specter of death still lingers, the light of life may shine."

After the Mass, he greeted those gathered in the square and surrounding streets from the central loggia, saying in Italian to great applause, "Brothers and sisters, Christ is risen! Happy Easter!"

He also gave Easter greetings in 10 different languages, including Chinese, Arabic and Latin, though the crowds cheered loudest when he spoke in Spanish and his native English. The crowds enthusiastically waved flags and handed him babies as he was driven around the square in the popemobile after the ceremony.

Before reciting the noonday "Regina Caeli," and giving his blessing, the pope delivered the traditional Easter message from the loggia, where almost a year ago, Pope Francis gave his final words before his death on Easter Monday, April 21. 

Pope Leo repeated his predecessor's words that day, and his warning against the increasing "globalization of indifference" to the "great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of the world!"

Instead of making a series of appeals for peace regarding specific areas of conflict, as has been the norm, Pope Leo invited everyone to join him in a prayer vigil for peace at the Vatican, a few days before he leaves for a four-country journey to Africa.

"On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil," he said.

"To the Lord we entrust all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give," he prayed. "Let us entrust ourselves to him and open our hearts to him! He is the only one who makes all things new."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God's love is stronger than any evil, capable of "driving out hatred" and "bringing down the mighty," Pope Leo XIV said.

"Man can kill the body, but the life of the God of love is eternal life, which transcends death and which no tomb can imprison," the pope said in his homily during the Easter Vigil April 4 in St. Peter's Basilica.

"This, my dear friends, is also our message to the world today," to be shared "through the words of faith and the works of charity," he said.

Just as Mary Magdalene and the other women rushed to tell the disciples that Jesus is risen, "we too should desire to set out tonight from this basilica to bring to all the good news," the pope said. "Having risen with him, through his power, we too can give life to a new world of peace and unity."

The Mass began in the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica with the blessing of the fire and of the Easter candle. With most of the lights in the basilica turned off, Pope Leo and the concelebrating cardinals, bishops and priests processed in darkness toward the altar, stopping first to light the pope's candle and then those of the concelebrants and faithful. 

During the liturgy, Pope Leo baptized 10 adults. Five were from the Diocese of Rome, two from Great Britain, two from Portugal and one catechumen was from South Korea, according to ANSA, the Italian news agency.

The pope also confirmed the 10 and gave them their first Communion during the Mass.

During the Liturgy of the Word and the readings detailing moments in the history of salvation, Pope Leo said in his homily, "We have seen how God responds to the hardness of sin -- which divides and kills -- with the power of love, which unites and restores life."

The Gospel reading described how the women who had witnessed Jesus' death and burial overcame their grief and fear, and went to his tomb, expecting to find it sealed with a large stone and soldiers standing guard, he said.

"This is what sin is: a heavy barrier that closes us off and separates us from God, seeking to kill his words of hope within us," he said.

However, because of the women's "faith and love," he said, they became the first witnesses of the resurrection and "they saw the power of God’s love, stronger than any force of evil, capable of 'driving out hatred' and 'bringing down the mighty.'"

Throughout history, even when humanity failed to live according to God's plan, he said, "the Lord did not abandon us, but revealed his merciful face to us in an even more surprising way -- through forgiveness." 

"Sisters and brothers, even today, there are tombs to be opened, and often the stones sealing them are so heavy and so closely guarded that they seem to be immovable," Pope Leo said.

Some "stones" weigh heavily on the human heart, he said, "such as mistrust, fear, selfishness and resentment; others, stemming from these inner struggles, sever the bonds between us through war, injustice and the isolation of peoples and nations."

"Let us not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by them!" he said. With God's help, many men and women have rolled away those "stones," sometimes at the cost of their lives, "but with good fruits that we still benefit from today."

"They are not unattainable figures, but people like us who, strengthened by the grace of the Risen One, in charity and truth, had the courage to speak" the words of God and to act "with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified," he said.

"Let us be inspired by their example," the pope said, "and on this holy night let us make their commitment our own, so that the Easter gifts of harmony and peace may grow and flourish everywhere and always throughout the world."