Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“The longer the conflict with Iran continues, including the risk of deploying ground troops to the region, the greater the risk of a dramatic escalation risking an ever-greater regional conflict,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City said on April 1, as he joined “our Holy Father’s urgent calls for the Administration and all parties involved to take decisive action toward an immediate ceasefire, and for effective dialogue to resolve this dangerous impasse.”

“The judgment of the world sees in the cross a defeat, a loss, a humiliation, a folly; the judgment of God, with the resurrection, proclaims that precisely there true wisdom manifests itself, there true victory manifests itself: the victory of the love that gives itself without reserve,” said Father Francesco Ielpo, O.F.M.

Father Ielpo added:

In this land, where even today we experience the weight of war, of violence, of fear, and of uncertainty, the resurrection of Christ is not a distant word, but a concrete fact that asks us to change our gaze: not to let ourselves be determined by the judgment of the world, but to learn to read history with the eyes of God. Easter invites us to believe that renouncing violence is not weakness, that forgiving is not a defeat, that death is not the end.

In the 14th century, the Holy See entrusted the care of the holy sites in the Holy Land to the Franciscan order. Father Ielpo became custos in 2025.

“Catholic teaching holds that all human life is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death and that both the life of the mother and the preborn child possess equal, inherent dignity,” Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, wrote in an April 1 letter. “The U.S. bishops have frequently stressed how the abortion pill represents an isolating and harmful response to women in need, who deserve better in the form of compassionate accompaniment and meaningful support to help them welcome their child.”

“Chemical abortions now account for almost two-thirds of all abortions in the United States, resulting in hundreds of thousands of preborn children lost each year,” Bishop Thomas added. “Since mifepristone was first approved over twenty-five years ago, a growing body of evidence has emerged suggesting that the use of this drug, as part of the two-drug regimen for chemical abortion, not only ends the lives of preborn children but also poses significant dangers to mothers.”

President Macron met six times with Pope Francis: three times at the Vatican, and three times in other locations. The April 10 meeting will be his first with Pope Leo, as then-Prime Minister François Bayrou represented France at the Pope’s inaugural Mass.

Bishop Jude Arogundade of Ondo, for example, directed that all Easter Vigil Masses in his diocese begin at 5:00 PM on Holy Saturday.

“For the third consecutive year, Daniel Ortega’s government has banned Holy Week processions in the streets of Nicaragua, imposing severe restrictions on religious celebrations,” according to L’Osservatore Romano. “This measure affects traditional rites—such as the Via Crucis—confining them to the interior spaces of churches. The few activities that are permitted take place under strict police supervision, with officers stationed at places of worship.”

Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik and Archbishop Carlo Redaelli began by thanking priests:

First of all, we wish to say to you: thank you! Thank you for your daily fidelity, often silent and hidden. Thank you for your “yes,” renewed each day, even amid hardships, loneliness and misunderstandings. Thank you because, through your ministry, Christ continues to draw near to His people, to heal, to forgive and to nourish them.

The prelates then reflected on sacrifice and service.

“Sacrifice, in its deepest truth, is not first of all renunciation, but gift: it is offering one’s life so that it may be wholly oriented to the love of God and of our brothers and sisters,” they wrote. “We are called to live as men given over, consecrated, who find in the Eucharist the source and summit of our existence. It is at the altar that we allow ourselves to be conformed to Christ, receiving the strength to accompany, to forgive and to console.”

Cardinal Parolin, who is also president of the Pontifical Commission for the Activities of Public Juridical Persons of the Church in the Healthcare Sector, said that the “grave conditions of difficulty” in Italian Catholic healthcare institutions were “plainly visible” a decade ago, when the commission was formed.

The formation of Sette Pani encountered “resistance, obstacles, and opposition both within and outside the Church,” Cardinal Parolin said in his message for the March 30 signing ceremony establishing the consortium.

In Italy, “the Catholic healthcare sector comprises nearly 300 facilities, employs over 50,000 staff members, and offers 11,669 accredited beds—accounting for 5.3% of the national total,” according to Vatican News.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem celebrated the Holy Thursday evening Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (video), four days after Israeli police denied him access to the church on Palm Sunday.

Pope Leo began, “Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd and companion on the journey, today we place in your hands all priests, especially those going through moments of crisis, when loneliness weighs heavily, when doubt clouds their hearts, and when exhaustion seems stronger than hope.”