Saint Joseph Catholic Church

The bishops discussed “Persistent Insecurity and Loss of Lives,” “Socio-Economic Sabotage to the Common Good,” and “Bad Leadership as a Major Cause of our Afflictions.”

“Where politics is erroneously understood only as rigging of elections and stealing of other people’s mandate, leadership is unfortunately taken as the amassing of illicit gains or engaging in other fraudulent activities,” the bishops said. “We note that bad leadership in our nation has caused systemic damage showing up in a worsening economy, widespread and persistent insecurity, and extreme poverty, despite the blessing of rich human and natural resources.”

At a February 27 Votive Mass of Solidarity with Migrants, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis preached:

I’ve been angry a lot in these recent weeks. I’ve been angry when our brothers and sisters have been intimidated to the point that they’re afraid to come to Mass, or to go to work, or to the doctor, or to take their children to school. … And I’ve been angry when I’ve felt helpless or unable to find the right words or the way forward to stop the madness unfolding before my eyes.

Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington said at a press conference:

Catholic teaching supports a nation’s right to control its border, and in these cases, to deport those who have been convicted of serious crimes, especially violent crimes.

But to go into the heartland—and literally the heartland of our country—and to begin to deport in a way with almost a siege on the city of Minneapolis, to seek to deport millions of men, women and children, families who have often lived here for decades—many children who know no other country—is contrary to Catholic faith, and more fundamentally contrary to basic human dignity.

“All the priests are foreigners: most are missionaries, and from one day to the next, they could be recalled by their congregation,” said Bishop Victor Ndione of Nouakchott said, “I compare myself to Sisyphus, who constantly begins again heaving the rock up the mountain: training community leaders, Catechists, teachers, and people to work with children, knowing perfectly well that they might not be there in six months.”

At the conclusion of the February 22-27 retreat to the Roman Curia, Pope Leo XIV thanked Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, who preached the retreat conferences.

“The archbishop’s decree reminded local Catholics that, if they wish to attend a Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, they may do so at the authorized diocesan location, the Chapel of St. Vincent de Paul in the city of Maceió, where the Mass is celebrated every Sunday,” The Pillar reported.

Among the 19 stamps are stamps commemorating the 8th centenary of the foundation of the Cathedral of Toledo, the 3rd centenary of the canonization of Saint. Aloysius Gonzaga, and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Venerable Pius XII, as well as a stamp portraying the Ukrainian Greek Catholic cathedral in Kyiv.