Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Those who contribute between €250000 ($288,600) and €500,000 have the same benefits, “except the meeting with the Pope won’t be private,” according to the report.

“Requesting support, in this case, is our way of covering the material costs of a trip of this magnitude without these falling on taxpayers,” a spokesman for the episcopal conference said.

The bishop of El-Obeid, Sudan, said that Christians there are experiencing a “real passion” amid the Sudanese civil war.

The Easter Vigil was celebrated in the cathedral in Loikaw, Myanmar, for the first time in three years.

In separate statements, the Nigerian army and the Diocese of Sokoto denied a social media report that the cathedral and bishop’s residence there were attacked.

Pope Leo XIV today contrasted the reactions of the guards at Christ’s tomb, who spread the “fake news” that Christ’s body had been stolen, with the reaction of the women at the tomb, who spread the Good News of the Resurrection. This Good News, the Pope said, needs to “reach, above all, those oppressed by the evil that corrupts history and confuses consciences.”

Amid attacks from Iran and rising Shiite Islamic fundamentalism within Iraq, churches in northern Iraq, from Mosul to Erbil, cancelled outdoor processions during Holy Week, the Vatican newspaper reported.