Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“I was appalled because we love this image,” said one parishioner. “I think the Lord gave us peace to just continue to do what we started out to do, which was pray the Rosary.”

“We get screamed at, we had rocks thrown at us one time, and we have had the finger many times,” she added. “I just want them to know that they have a mother that loves them.”

Archbishop Broglio replied:

It’s—it’s a little bit problematic in the sense that the Lord Jesus certainly brought a message of—a message of peace and—and also, I think war is always a last resort. Now, you know, they may have information that led them to think that that was the only choice they had. I’m not making a judgment about that because I really don’t know, but I do think that it’s hard to—to cast this war, you know, as—as—as something that would be sponsored by—by the Lord.

Archbishop Broglio was also asked, “And so if you’re hearing from a service member who says, if your teachings, if your guidance is this is not justified, what am I to do as a Catholic who’s in the service?” He replied:

Obviously, you know, the Marine who’s given an order, he’s not in a position really, to resist that order. I mean, he has to obey unless it’s, it’s—unless it’s clearly immoral. And then he would probably have to speak to his, you know, to his chaplain, to his chain of command.

The question might be, would, you know would—would—would generals or admirals have space to perhaps say, can we look at this a different way? But having spoken to some of them too, they’re—they’re also in the same—in the same dilemma.

So I guess my counsel would be to do as little harm as you—as you can, and to try and preserve innocent lives.

The directive comes amid Iranian strikes on the United Arab Emirates. Hindu and Sikh houses of worship have also been closed.

Islam is the official religion of the Middle Eastern nation of 10.1 million (map); 75% of its residents are Muslim, 13% are Christian (12% Catholic), 6% are Hindu, and 3% are Buddhist.

Stating that “mission is not a heroic adventure reserved for a few, but the living witness of a Body with many members,” Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica this morning (booklet, video) and reflected on the “mission to which God calls us as his people,” in a time the Pope described as “this dark hour of history.”

The suspect “poured a drink into the baptismal font, removed an undisclosed amount of money from a donation box, and took a cloth from the altar” on March 28, according to a local media report.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has documented over 400 acts of vandalism, arson, and other destruction at parishes and other Catholic sites in the United States since 2020. A tracker at CatholicVote.org lists additional attacks.

In Gaza, “two million people are still suffering: the issue is unresolved,” he told Vatican News. “80% of the infrastructure is still destroyed.”

Referring to the Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank, Bishop Shomali said that Israeli settlers “enter whenever they want, set fire to vehicles, and prevent farmers from working their fields.”

A “new settlement will now be built near Bethlehem, in Beit Sahour, in an area called Osh Ghrab, on land that belongs to Christian families,” he added. “They cannot even approach it.”