Saint Joseph Catholic Church

In 2024, the nuns signed a manifesto denouncing all of the popes since 1958 as heretics. They were subsequently declared excommunicated by the archbishop of Burgos.

Five nuns who did not sign the manifesto were transferred to other monasteries; they were between 86 and 100 years of age. Two of the signatories subsequently left the monastery and were reconciled with the Church.

“Our thoughts are with all the innocent victims,” the religious leaders said in their March 10 statement. “Every human life deserves protection. Every human being deserves peace, no matter where they live in the world. We call on all parties to put an immediate end to the violence and to resolutely commit themselves to dialogue and respect for international law.”

“We refuse to allow this conflict to fracture our society,” they continued. “This war must not be imported into our country. It is up to us to face them up to them and to preserve what makes our country strong: a democratic coexistence based on respect for convictions.”

The leader of “organized secularism” in Belgium joined the religious leaders in their appeal.

The apostolic nuncio to Lebanon joined two other prelates at the funeral Mass of Father Pierre el-Raï.

Bishop Jean-Pierre Delville said that “synagogues, churches, mosques and all spaces of prayer must always remain places of contemplation, peace and security for those who gather there.”

The conflict in the Middle East must “in no way disturb the fraternal relations that exist between citizens of all convictions in our country,” he added. “Jews, Christians and Muslims are heirs to the same spiritual tradition that calls us to peace, respect and love of neighbor.”

“The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference joins Pope Leo XIV and many world leaders in expressing deep alarm at the escalating violence now engulfing the Middle East,” said Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, S.D.B., the conference’s president. “The loss of life and the fear and uncertainty experienced by ordinary people and the destabilization of an already fragile region weigh heavily on our hearts.”

He added:

Above all, we pray for the innocent: for those already killed, for the injured and traumatized, for families separated or displaced and for communities living in fear. We pray too for leaders at every level: that their decisions be grounded in respect for human dignity, the common good and solidarity with the suffering.

We ask all people of faith and goodwill in Australia to join us in praying for peace and the healing of a region that has suffered too much for too long.

Quick action prevented the fires at St. James’ Church in Kilbeggan and St. Michael’s Parish Church in Castletown Geoghegan from spreading throughout the buildings.

“Someone should love them freely” and introduce them to “a God who does not demand perfection, but loves and values us beyond what we achieve,” Cardinal Parolin said at a conference in Sacrofano, Italy, on March 10.

The prelate spoke about young people of the West who are isolated on their phones and fear having children because they view them as a burden; young people of Africa who fall prey to extremists when they lack educational and work opportunities; and young migrants who are not integrated into their new societies.

The Belgian priest was appointed the Latin-rite archbishop of Tehran-Ispahan, Iran, in 2021 and created a cardinal in 2024. He left Iran with Italian embassy staff and arrived in Rome on March 8.

At the conference, co-sponsored by the University of Notre Dame, “we had about 90 representatives from 60 universities around the world, many of them Catholic,” said Cardinal Baggio. Under the alliance, his center will “commit to producing more research and disseminating awareness about the ecological conversion.”

“This enthusiasm, obviously, must now be shaped into clear objectives through group work that will continue after this conference,” he added. “We want to initiate a collaborative process between the various research centers and institutions.”

Laudato Si’ is the name of Pope Francis’s second encyclical, issued in 2015 and devoted to care for our common home.

“At a time when the language of war and the unleashing of violence are taking on a tragic global significance, which also limits scientific research, scientists and academics are called upon to speak out for peace and to commit themselves to finding ways of reconciling and resolving conflicts, starting from the daily practice of their research,” the dicastery stated in its announcement.