Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Pope Leo XIV concluded the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with the celebration of Vespers this evening in the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (video).

Jesus Christ offers his followers an example of proclaiming the Gospel in seemingly inopportune times and places, Pope Leo XIV said today.

At the conclusion of his Angelus address today, Pope Leo XIV appealed for peace in Ukraine.

In his message for World Mission Sunday, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the faithful to be united with Christ and one another for the sake of the mission of proclaiming God’s love.

The new law, approved by the Knesset (parliament), “prevents graduates of universities that follow the curriculum of the State of Palestine from teaching in schools in Israel, unless they also possess a specific accreditation from the Israeli authorities,” the Vatican newspaper reported.

Father Ibrahim Faltas, OFM, of the Custody of the Holy Land, said that “all Palestinians from the West Bank who studied at Palestinian universities, such as the one in Bethlehem, which is Christian, or Hebron, will no longer be able to teach in schools in Israel: this is truly very serious.”

The 15 Christian schools in Jerusalem, with 12,000 students, “are the ones that will primarily bear the consequences of this decision,” Father Faltas added. “There are many teachers who come from the West Bank and especially from the Bethlehem area: as many as 235. It would mean closing all these schools because there are no teachers in Jerusalem, they cannot be found.”

“Only by being united can we overcome the evil that has come upon our land today,” said Archbishop Agapit of Vyshgorod. “I want to wish that the Lord, through our prayers and seeing our intentions, will help us Ukrainians to unite first and foremost—to unite around Christ, around God.”

The prelate made his remarks at a January 22 service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The service, led by the apostolic nuncio, took place in a Latin-rite church whose stained-glass windows were shattered in a recent Russian attack.

“They will be real pastoral visits,” said Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome. “Pope Leo XIV will meet with participatory bodies, pastoral animators and some youth organizations. The culmination of the visit will be the Eucharistic celebration with the entire parish community.”

Auxiliary Bishop Tomás González made his remarks in an interview with Vatican News following the January 23 audience.

Bishop González also said that synodal meetings in Puerto Rico’s dioceses have “blessed us enormously as we live this process as children of God, all the baptized, faithful and pastors together.”