Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“Under the new system, victims will be able to file their cases before a new agency created by the justice ministry, which will then take them before the ombusdman’s office, which will draw up a reparation proposal,” the BBC reported. “The Church must then agree to the proposed compensation—if not, the case will be referred back to the ombudsman.”

A Greek Orthodox newspaper published in Australia reported that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew defended his decision seven years earlier to grant canonical recognition to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The decision provoked the ire of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Noted for his advocacy for religious liberty and other human rights, Cardinal Zen, now 93, was convicted in 2022 (and fined $500) for failing to register a charity. He is appealing the conviction, and a verdict is expected this year.

As is customary, the Vatican did not release a statement on what was discussed during the audience.

Pope Leo XIV has named Auxiliary Bishop John Bonnici, who serves in the Archdiocese of New York, as the new bishop of Rochester, located in the same state.

Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Aparecido Donizeti de Souza of Cascavel, Brazil.

The “35-year-old Spaniard told Leo XIV about his pilgrimage on foot from Palermo, carrying with him a seedling of an evergreen cypress tree, the same species used to make the cross of Christ,” according to the report.

“I told Leo XIV about what I’ve been experiencing since last April, when I began a pilgrimage with a medieval flavor,” the influencer said. ”I live day by day, trusting in the altruism of the people I meet, from whom I have never asked for money, but only water, food and hospitality.”

The influencer asked the Pope to bless the seedling, which he will eventually take to a Spanish monastery. Blessed by the Pope, he is now going to Assisi, “fasting until I reach the tomb of St. Francis.”

The director of the Holy See Press Office announced at a press briefing last evening (video) that Pope Leo XIV will convoke another two-day consistory of the College of Cardinals in June.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the beginning of the second and final day of the extraordinary consistory of cardinals (booklet, video).

“Fear is not overcome with words; it is overcome with witness,” Father Francesco Ielpo, OFM, said on January 7. “Seeing Christians from all over the world come to the Holy Land to visit the holy places generates hope and strengthens the reason for coming here—not to see a museum, but to encounter a living Church.”

In the 14th century, the Holy See entrusted the care of the holy sites in the Holy Land to the care of the Franciscan order.