Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras, 81, issued his call five weeks after the United States removed strongman Nicolás Maduro from office. The nation’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, was Maduro’s vice president.

The incident took place in Kaduna State. In neighboring Niger State, gunmen attacked a convent, a Catholic hospital, and two Protestant churches on February 1.

Archbishop Ronald Hicks was installed as archbishop of New York on February 6, at a Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral (video).

Father Salvador Valera Parra (1816-1889), a Spanish parish priest, was beatified in his hometown of Huércal-Overa on February 7.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, said that “peace and reconciliation are beautiful concepts, but they risk remaining mere slogans if they are not accompanied today by concrete actions, gestures, and testimonies that physically demonstrate the possibility of rebuilding trust.”

“We need political leadership, but also religious leadership, on both sides, that has some vision and does not base its authority solely on anger and the thirst for revenge,” he added.

Auxiliary Bishop Jan Sobilo of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia said that Russian forces “are bombing our city, the energy system, everything that gives us light and heat. As a result, life is very hard for people and for the soldiers.”

“Helping our soldiers is extremely important,” he added. “If they do not defend us, then any other aid will no longer matter. The occupiers would come and take everything.”

In a Latin-language letter to his special envoy to the principal celebration of the World Day of the Sick, Pope Leo XIV spoke about his devotion to Our Lady.