Saint Joseph Catholic Church

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Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant leaders in the United Arab Emirates gathered at a Catholic church in Dubai to pray for peace, over two months after the beginning of the Iran war.

We thank our civil authorities who have protected us during these months; we continue to pray for them,” said Bishop Paolo Martinelli, vicar apostolic of Southern Arabia. “May the Lord hear our common prayer; may he grant us peace and reconciliation, harmony and prosperity.”

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has released a 2024 letter stating that “Blessings for couples who love one another,” a document then under consideration by the German bishops, violates Fiducia Supplicans, the dicastery’s declaration on the pastoral meaning of blessings.

The release of the 2024 letter (translation), written by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández to a German bishop, follows a defense of the German blessing guidelines by Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, the former chairman of the German bishops’ conference, as well as Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s instruction to priests to facilitate blessings of same-sex couples.

Fiducia Supplicans states:

Within the horizon outlined here appears the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex, the form of which should not be fixed ritually by ecclesial authorities to avoid producing confusion with the blessing proper to the Sacrament of Marriage ...

One should neither provide for nor promote a ritual for the blessings of couples in an irregular situation. At the same time, one should not prevent or prohibit the Church’s closeness to people in every situation in which they might seek God’s help through a simple blessing.

The Transalpine Redemptorists, a traditionalist community that reconciled with the Holy See in 2008, published a document on May 2 denouncing “post-Vatican II claimants to the papacy” as “manifest heretics.”

Adopting a sedevacantist position, the institute listed Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and Leo XIV as “papal pretenders.”

In 2024, the institute was expelled from a New Zealand diocese following a Vatican investigation.

The bishops of the Melkite Catholic Church (CNEWA profile), an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, denounced the Israeli destruction of civilian buildings in southern Lebanon.

The bishops described the destruction of civilian buildings in the abandoned village of Yaroun as a “deep wound in the national and human conscience.”

Three days after a federal appeals court temporarily halted the delivery by mail of the abortion pill mifepristone, the Supreme Court granted a stay on the decision for one week.

The stay, granted by Justice Samuel Alito, allows mail delivery of mifepristone to resume while attorneys for pharmaceutical companies prepare to request a longer stay on the appellate court decision.

Continuing a trend of recent years, the government of Belarus denied permission to three Polish priests to remain in ministry in the nation.

One of the priests has ministered in Belarus since 1990.

The Eastern European nation of 9.5 million (map) is 82% Christian (63% Orthodox, 17% Catholic). An autocratic president, Alexander Lukashenko, has led the nation since 1994.

A mob of Hindu activists disrupted a Mass in Kalinjara, India, on May 1. Police arrested four Catholics who confronted them.

“They entered the substation during Communion and started filming it on their mobiles, and then began alleging religious conversion activity,” said Father Arvind Amliyar. “They also alleged that a cow had been killed for the community feast.”

“One of them even tried to threaten our men with a knife, but he was overpowered, and the knife was snatched from him,” Father Amliyar added.

Bishop René Gracida, ordained to the priesthood in 1959 and to the episcopate in 1975, died on May 1 at the age of 102.

Before his 1997 retirement from the office of bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas, Bishop Gracida imposed an interdict on a pro-abortion politician. Outspoken in his retirement, he denounced voting for pro-abortion candidates and signed a filial correction directed to Pope Francis.

A 79-year-old Canadian priest was twice offered the option of medical aid in dying (MAID) while he was recovering from a hip fracture in a Vancouver hospital.

“I think I was very shocked,” said Father Larry Holland, who told a doctor he was opposed to euthanasia. A hospital spokesman said that “staff may consider bringing up MAID based on their clinical judgment, provided they possess the necessary knowledge and skills to do so.”