Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“The question is no longer whether the Church can ordain married men as priests, but when it will do so, and who will do it,” Bishop Johan Bonny wrote on March 20. “It is an illusion to think that a serious synodal-missionary process in the West still has a chance without also ordaining married men as priests.”

“There is a historical shortage of local priests in many dioceses,” he added. “The number of unmarried men who want to become priests has fallen to just above zero.”

The bishops of the four affected dioceses—Jinotega, Siuna, Matagalpa, and Estelí—are all in exile.

Msgr. Jakob Rolland said on a radio program that “some individuals with same-sex attraction seek spiritual guidance within the Church, including those who wish to change aspects of their lives,” ZENIT News reported. “He emphasized that the Church does not engage in what are commonly termed ‘conversion therapies,’ but offers pastoral accompaniment through prayer, sacramental life, and personal dialogue.”

Police are investigating whether Msgr. Rolland’s remarks violate a 2023 law that criminalizes attempts to alter sexual orientation. Violators face up to three years in prison.

Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry, France, spoke of the “need for attentive listening” to abuse survivors, as well as “humility and shared responsibility” in assisting dioceses around the world.

“The forced removal of children from their tribal lands and communities as part of federal boarding school policies was a moral failure that disregarded the unique culture and dignity of Indigenous peoples,” the bishops wrote. “Accounts from this era illustrate lasting trauma among those who were involuntarily brought to these schools.”

“As we continue to encourage greater access to and understanding of this painful history, the Catholic Church in the United States remains committed to transparency, to listening, and to humility,” the bishops added. “We remain dedicated to working with Native communities, government actors, and other religious traditions in efforts to bring about authentic healing and reconciliation.”

“Your discipline in fasting, prayer, and almsgiving stands as a compelling witness to faith, self-restraint, and devotion to God, offering a timely and much-needed example in a world often marked by excess, distraction, and division,” Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso of Kaduna wrote in his March 20 message.

Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said that “persons with Down syndrome are more than a diagnosis, more than a condition, and certainly more than the limits others may imagine.”

“All of them, like all of us, possess the same inherent dignity and sacred value, intentionally and lovingly imprinted by the Creator from the very first moment of conception,” he added. “Consequently, like everyone else, they hold the same fundamental rights.”

“In many regions of the world, the expansion of the mining industry has generated profound social tensions and severe environmental impacts,” Cardinal Fabio Baggio, C.S., said at a press conference on March 20.

“We know that minerals are essential for numerous aspects of contemporary life,” he added. “However, we also know that, all too often, their extraction has been carried out without listening to local communities, without respecting the rights of indigenous peoples, and without regard for the limits of the ecosystems that sustain life.”

Cardinal Steiner vowed “to give continuity to that dream of Pope Francis to go to the Churches of the Amazonia and to be an ecclesial Church. We want to carry forward that dream of Pope Francis, implementing especially the four dreams he addressed to us in Querida Amazonia,” the 2020 apostolic exhortation on the Amazon.

CEAMA is an ecclesial conference (rather than an episcopal conference), and non-bishops hold significant leadership roles. Accordingly, one of CEAMA’s four new vice presidents is a priest from Peru; one is an indigenous layman from Bolivia; one is a laywoman from Guyana; and one is a religious sister from Cardinal Steiner’s archdiocese.

Father Roberto Pasolini, the Preacher of the Papal Household, devoted his third weekly Lenten sermon to “The Mission: Proclaiming the Gospel to Every Creature” (full text, video).