Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Bishops representing bishops’ conferences in the US, Canada, and Latin America met to pray and reaffirm their unity.

“Among the issues we have considered are our concern for the poor and vulnerable, the dignity and rights of indigenous peoples, the painful scourge of human trafficking and narco-culture, the growing polarization that wounds public discourse and weakens social cohesion, and, in particular, the extreme vulnerability of migrants who live, travel through, and seek a future in our countries,” the bishops said in a joint statement at the conclusion of their February 15-17 gathering.

“We invite civil authorities to promote policies that safeguard the lives, rights, and dignity of migrants,” the bishops continued. “We recognize the responsibility of States to regulate migration and ensure the common good; however, we reiterate that all legislation must place at its center the inalienable dignity of the human person and the respect that person deserves.”

The Vatican has conducted an investigation into allegations of misconduct against a Chaldean Catholic bishop, and the prelate has submitted his resignation, The Pillar reported.

Born in 1956 and ordained a priest in 1984, Bishop Emmanuel Shaleta was named the Chaldean Catholic bishop of Toronto in 2015 and the bishop of the Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle of San Diego in 2017.

A report for the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy found that “in both the U.S. and the U.K., Gen Z men are now retaining or adopting Christian identity at rates equal to or higher than their female peers.”

Examining data from various surveys, Joel Kotkin and Bheki Mahlobo, the authors of the report, added that “contrary to past assertions, today the faithful are not poor and ignorant but increasingly from the educated upper middle class.”

Five Spanish Franciscan friars who were slain in 1597 in what is now the State of Georgia will be beatified in Savannah in October.

“Conflict arose when an heir to a Guale chiefdom, a young Indigenous man named Juanillo, sought to take a second wife as was the Guale custom,” the National Catholic Register reported. One of the friars “told him that as a baptized Christian, he couldn’t have multiple wives and that he would oppose his succession as chief if he persisted. In response, Juanillo killed the priest with a stone hatchet.”

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference issued a statement today expressing “grave concern over the deepening crisis in Ghana’s cocoa sector and its devastating impact on farmers and rural communities.”

“We therefore call for the immediate payment of all arrears, transparent financial restructuring of the Ghana Cocoa Board, sustained producer prices, intensified investment in productivity, and a depoliticized national dialogue centered on farmers’ welfare,” said the president of the episcopal conference said in its press statement, “An urgent call to rescue Ghana’s cocoa sector.”

The West African nation of 35.3 million (map) is 72% Christian (14% Catholic), 19% Muslim, and 8% ethnic religionist.

Preaching that “God does not need papers,” Cardinal Blase Cupich spoke about immigration in his Ash Wednesday homily.

“You may be undocumented in the eyes of the state, but you were hand-crafted by the Creator of the universe,” Cardinal Cupich said. “Your worth does not come from a visa or a permit; it comes from the breath of God inside you.”

He added:

Today many of you live in fear of being marked and tracked, careful about names, identities, and lists. But today, you step forward freely to receive this mark, the sign of the cross. This mark is more permanent than any government identity or record. It is a seal that says you belong to Jesus Christ.

It is a reminder that you are citizens of a homeland that has no borders. It is a declaration that no matter what laws change, no matter what politicians say, and no matter what uncertainties you face, you are children of God.

Jihadist fighters set fire to seven Nigerian villages on February 18, killing dozens, Agence France-Presse reported.

“The current situation of kidnappings and violence is worsening, and those responsible are acting with impunity due to the government’s slow response,” Bishop Anselm Pendo Lawani of Ilorin said in an interview with Vatican News.

Bishop Lawani said that “there are several militant Islamic extremist groups, such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), which have acquired a significant presence in the predominantly Muslim north of the country.” In central Nigeria, “there are radicalized and armed members of the Fulani ethnic group who are causing chaos.”

In a reflection on Pope Leo XIV’s Lenten message, the lay prefect of the Dicastery for Communication spoke of the need to fast from what he called the “bulimia” of careless and hurtful words.

“We rarely think of fasting as renouncing excessive words, verbal violence, the confusion of speaking without listening,” said Paolo Ruffini. “And the fasting that the Pope asks of us concerns precisely the bulimia of these words spoken without thinking, in a vertigo where speed risks mortally wounding every true relationship, and making all authentic communication impossible.”

In his catechetical homily for the opening of Holy and Great Lent, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople reflected on asceticism.

“Asceticism is not a matter of self-willed choices and subjective particularities, but of submission to the rule and the ‘catholic experience’ of the Church,” said the Ecumenical Patriarch, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches. “Repentance, prayer, humility, forgiveness, fasting, and philanthropic deeds are interconnected and interwoven.”

The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education are among the sponsors of an exhibit in Pordenone, Italy, in honor of the upcoming 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s birth.

The exhibit, “Ricordando Benedetto XVI: Verso il centenario della nascita” (Remembering Benedict XVI: Toward the centenary of his birth), opens tomorrow and will take place at the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art in Pordenone, Italy.

Pope Benedict “was a respected and highly regarded interlocutor, even by all the great figures of secular thought,” said Bruno Kahl, Germany’s ambassador to the Holy See. Benedict XIV, he continued, showed that “discussion guided by reason can lead to good results and even to peace—even in the face of enormous contrasts, of an intellectual nature or in vision of the world. We have much to learn from Pope Benedict.”