Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Vittorio Messori, a journalist whose interview questions led to the publication of The Ratzinger Report (1985) and Pope St. John Paul II’s Crossing the Threshold of Hope (1994), died on April 3 at the age of 84.

“Today’s liturgy reminds us that the Resurrection does not tell us to overlook evil,” Cardinal Pizzaballa preached. “It tells us that reality itself can be transformed by the power of God. He has made a way where there stood a wall. Where there was an immovable stone, now there is a threshold.”

“The Gospel does not ask us to perform extraordinary feats, but to guard life, even in small ways,” he added. “We are called not to deny the cross, but to transfigure it, making it part of the path of salvation that unites us to the life of God.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa celebrated the Mass in Latin, ad orientem, with other Franciscan friars. Wartime restrictions, reminiscent of the COVID lockdowns, prevented the faithful from attending in person.

Of the 21,386 converts, 13,234 are adults, and 8,152 are adolescents. Among the adults, 42% are between the ages of 18 and 25, and 40% are between 26 and 40.

62% of the adult converts are women, and 71% of adult converts live in urban areas.

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson will also speak at the event. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the retired archbishop of New York, will offer a video address.

“The tabernacle had been forced open, consecrated hosts were scattered across the floor, and ciboriums and chalices were taken from the sacristy,” the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe reported. “Similar break-ins occurred in Meroux and Bourguignon, where church doors were forced [open] and liturgical objects stolen.”

“I am concerned that Communion services—often with the distribution of holy Communion—are increasingly replacing the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays,” Cardinal Woelki preached at the archdiocesan Chrism Mass. “That, dear brothers, is no longer Catholic, and I urgently ask you to counteract this from the outset!”

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 XIV presided at the liturgical Celebration of the Passion of the Lord this afternoon in St. Peter’s Basilica before presiding at the Via Crucis at the Colosseum earlier tonight.