Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Pope Leo XIV welcomed the revised Charta Oecumenica (Ecumenical Charter), signed on November 5 by the presidents of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC).

Addressing members of a joint committee of the two organizations, as well as other European Christian leaders, Pope Leo said yesterday that “one of the notable achievements of the process of revising the Charta has been the ability to take a shared view on contemporary challenges and draw up priorities for the future of the continent, while maintaining a firm belief in the unending relevance of the Gospel. In some ways, this can be described as a ‘synodal’ effort of walking together.”

The CCEE represents European Catholic bishops’ conferences; the CEC is a fellowship of over 100 Orthodox and Protestant communities. The original Charta Oecumenica was signed in 2001.

The month of November is dedicated to the Souls in Purgatory. We as the living so often soon forget the dead. We forget when we live, we are forgotten when we die. "Lay my body anywhere," pleaded the dying St. Monica with her son, St. Augustine, "only this I beg of you: remember me at the altar of God."

Speaking on November 7 to board members of the RCS Academy, an institution that trains people for careers in the field of communications, Pope Leo XIV said: “The world needs honest and courageous entrepreneurs and communicators, who care for the common good.”

The Pope told the group that work in communications “consists in informing responsibly,” and professionals in that field should be “enabling their recipients to evaluate everything critically, in order to distinguish facts from opinions, true news from false.”

Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that the world is running out of time to address the climate-change crisis, in a November 7 interview with Vatican News.

Speaking from Brazil, where he is participating in the UN’s Climate Summit next week, the Vatican’s Secretary of State cited the words of St. Paul (1 Cor. 7:29) that “time is short.” The cardinal added: “He said it about life, but it applies here too—the sense of urgency must be real.”

Cardinal Parolin made the striking claim that “there are now more displaced persons because of climate change than because of wars.”

In a message to a forum on artificial intelligence (AI) at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Pope Leo XIV called for “research, entrepreneurship, and pastoral vision” in those who use AI to serve the mission of the Church.

AI, the Pope said, “like all human invention, springs from the creative capacity that God has entrusted to us,” and properly used, “can be a form of participation in the divine act of creation.”

The Pontiff encouraged participants in the November 7 conference to use AI technology “at the service of evangelization and the integral development of every person.” He observed:

The question is not merely what AI can do, but who we are becoming through the technologies we build.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Leonard of Limoges (d. 559). He was a hermit-abbot who was a convert of St. Remigius. He was a French courtier offered a bishopric, but became a recluse at Micy, France. He then lived at Limoges, France, and he was given land by the royal court on which he founded Noblac Abbey, later called Saint-Leonard.

"In the communion of saints, 'a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and those who are still pilgrims on earth. between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things.' In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin." (CCC 1475).

The Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo (1538-1584), bishop. Charles was a member of a noble family and a nephew of Pope Pius IV. He was made a Cardinal at the age of 23 and assisted the Pope in administering the affairs of the Holy See and in governing the Church. Soon thereafter he was made Archbishop of Milan. His endeavors on behalf of the 19th Ecumenical Council of Trent (1545-1564) were especially meritorious and fruitful. He helped to direct and guide it and bring it to a successful conclusion. He then proceeded to enforce its decrees in the Archdiocese of Milan and thoroughly reformed Catholic life in his See. During a plague he walked barefooted in the public streets, carrying a cross, with a rope around his neck, offering himself as a victim to God for the transgressions of his people.

Today the Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639), who lived a life of fasting, prayer and penance as a Dominican lay brother. He was born in Peru of a Spanish knight and a Negro woman from Panama. Martin inherited the features and dark complexion of his mother, and for that reason his noble father eventually turned the boy out of his house. After a turn as a surgeon's apprentice, the young man joined the Dominicans as a laybrother and was put in charge of the infirmary of a friary in Lima. Soon he was caring for the sick of the city and the slaves brought to Peru from Africa--not to mention the animals with which he is often pictured. Martin had the gift of miracles; and although he had no formal training, he was often consulted on theological questions by great churchmen of his day. St. Rose of Lima and St. Juan Macias were among his close friends. He is unofficially called the patron of social justice.

Today is the Commemoration of the All the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day). The Church, after celebrating the feast of All Saints, today prays for all who, in the purifying suffering of Purgatory, await the day they will join in heavenly glory. The celebration of the Mass, which re-presents the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, has always been the principal means by which the Church fulfills the great responsibility of charity toward the dead. Death cannot break the bonds of the Body of Christ. --Daily Roman Missal