Lord we pray "Help me to continually increase parish vitality and reflect the presence of Christ in the world."

Browsing News Entries

Browsing News Entries

Sostituto calls for 'healthy decentralization' in the Church (Vatican News (Portuguese))

Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra called for “healthy decentralization” within the Church as he reflected on synodality and subsidiarity in a lecture to canon lawyers in London.

Vatican News reported that Archbishop Peña Parra spoke of a need “to find a balance between two opposing risks: on the one hand, a return to a hierarchical and top-down approach that stifles the role of the faithful; on the other, a chaotic system that threatens the unity and mission of the Church.”

As the Sostituto (officially, the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State), Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra coordinates the internal affairs of the Roman Curia and reports to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State.

God is 'the fullness and meaning of our lives,' Pope preaches at Jubilee of Consecrated Life (Dicastery for Communication)

Pope Leo XIV celebrated a rare Thursday Mass in St. Peter’s Square yesterday for the Jubilee of Consecrated Life (video).

“You have come to entrust your lives to the same mercy to which, through your religious profession, you once committed yourselves to bear witness, because living out your vows means abandoning yourselves like children into the arms of the Father,” Pope Leo preached.

God is “the fullness and meaning of our lives,” the Pope continued. “For you—for us—the Lord is everything ... The Lord, to whom you have given everything, has rewarded you with such beauty and richness, and I would like to urge you to treasure and cultivate what you have received.”

Brief papal letter to bishops accompanies Dilexi Te (Vatican Press Office)

Pope Leo XIV penned a brief handwritten letter in English (image) to the world’s bishops to accompany Dilexi Te, his first apostolic exhortation (CWN analysis).

“It is with great joy that I write to you, following a practice begun by Pope Francis more than ten years ago, associating the entire Episcopal College at important moments of Papal Magisterium,” Pope Leo wrote. “May ‘Dilexi te’ help the Church to serve the poor and help bring the poor to Christ.”

Oct. 10 Friday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time, Weekday

The Roman Martyrology (2004) commemorates St. Daniel Comboni (1831-1881), a missionary in Central Africa who combined the ideal with the practical, drawing inspiration from the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. His missionaries, known as the Comboni Fathers or the Verona Missionaries, have 4,000 members working in countries all over the world.

Pope Leo on poverty: Not just the voice of Pope Francis (News/Analysis) (CWN)

“For us Christians,” the problem of the poor leads to the very heart of our faith,” writes Pope Leo XIV in his apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te, released on October 9. In this, the first major teaching document of his pontificate, Pope Leo insists that care for the poor is an essential and obligatory aspect of the life of faith.

Oct. 8 Wednesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time, Weekday

The commemorations in today's Roman Martyrology include:

Oct. 7 Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, Memorial

The Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary was instituted to honor Mary for the Christian victory over the Turks at Lepanto on October 7, 1571. Pope St. Pius V and all Christians had prayed the Rosary for victory. The Rosary, or the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is one of the best prayers to Mary, the Mother of God.

Oct. 6 Monday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time; Opt Mem of St. Bruno, Priest; Opt Mem of Bl. Marie Rose Durocher, Virgin (USA), Opt. Mem.

Today the Universal Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Bruno (1030-1101), who was born in Cologne, Germany. He became a priest and achieved fame as a professor of theology at Rheims. He decided to leave the world and pursue a life of complete solitude and prayer. He established his hermitage in Chartreuse, near Grenoble, France. Soon he attracted disciples and he established the first monastery of Carthusian monks. Pope Urban II called him to Rome, but later Bruno was able to establish a second monastery in Italy. He died in 1101 at Calabria.

Oct. 5 Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday

Gospel Excerpt, Lk 17:5-10: "If one of you had a servant plowing or herding sheep and he came in from the fields, would you say to him, 'Come and sit down at table'? Would you not rather say, 'Prepare my supper. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink afterward'? Would he be grateful to the servant who was only carrying out his orders? It is quite the same with you who hear me. When you have done all you have been commanded to do, say, 'We are useless servants. We have done no more than our duty (Lk 17:7-10).'"