Saint Joseph Catholic Church

The theme of the conference is “Serving, Accompanying, Guiding: Foundations and Practices of Government in Associations.” The conference includes an address by Pope Leo XIV, remarks by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, and Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“This reorganization restores the HHS Civil Rights Division and the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division and strengthens the Office for Civil Rights’ ability to defend religious liberty, enforce conscience protections, and combat unlawful discrimination,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said on May 18.

“After a brief moment of prayer in the chapel of the facility, the Pope met and greeted the religious, scientific, and lay staff,” Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, reported.

Last June, Pope Leo addressed participants in the Observatory’s Summer School of Astrophysics.

At the conclusion of his May 20 general audience, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to Dominum et Vivificantem (Lord and Giver of Life), Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical letter on the Holy Spirit.

“From the very start of the day, he has his fixed times for prayer, including holy Mass and the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours; we also pray the Rosary,” said Father Edgard Rimaycuna, who described Pope Leo as “a man who seeks to build bridges, seeks dialogue, and always avoids confrontation.”

Throughout the day, the Pontiff “seeks contact with God through silence and through prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel,” the Peruvian priest added.

“Be assured of our spiritual closeness with the bishops and faithful of your country as well as our prayers for the many communities mourning the death of military personnel and civilians, and caring for those wounded by these acts of violence,” Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, the Maronite bishop of Los Angeles, wrote in a May 19 letter to Bishop Hassa Florent Koné of San, the president of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Episcopal Conference of Mali.

The West African nation of 22.6 million (map) is 87.5% Muslim and 3.5% Christian, with 9% adhering to ethnic religions. The Mali War began in 2012; it pits Mali’s government against various Islamist groups.

As part of the implementation phase of the 2021-2024 synod on synodality, there will be diocesan assemblies in the first half of 2027, assemblies of episcopal conferences in the latter half of 2027, continental assemblies in the first four months of 2028, and an ecclesial assembly at the Vatican in October 2028. The respective themes of these four stages are recollecting, interpreting, orienting, and celebrating.

The overarching question throughout the process is “In light of the journey undertaken after the conclusion of the 2021-2024 Synod, and with a view to offering its fruits as a gift to the other Churches and to the Holy Father: what concrete form of a missionary synodal Church and what new paths of synodality are emerging in your community?”

The Italian Episcopal Conference released revised investment guidelines on May 19.

A police detective “stressed that the vandalism did not turn out to be a hate crime, but more of a random act committed by a woman who will now receive mental health services,” Greater Long Island Media Group reported.

The Vatican newspaper lamented what it characterized as the “veil of silence” over Gaza.