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CNA Newsroom, May 3, 2025 / 18:21 pm (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:

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CNA Newsroom, May 3, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis desired that consecrated Catholic men and women possess "a heart and a spirit pure and free enough" to love and serve the least among us, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime said at the eighth Novendiales Mass on Saturday.

The prelate, the former prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, celebrated, and delivered the homily at, the second-to-last Mass held in mourning for the Holy Father, who passed away on April 21.

Praying for the dead, the cardinal said during the homily at St. Peter's Basilica, is "the greatest work of charity."

"When we help our neighbors materially, we share ephemeral goods, but when we pray for them we do so with eternal goods," Artime said.

"To pray for the dead means, therefore, to love those who have died," he continued, "and that is what we are doing now for Pope Francis, gathered as the People of God, together with the pastors and especially this evening with a very significant presence of consecrated men and women."

Francis "felt very well liked by the People of God," Artime said, "and [he] knew that those belonging to the different expressions of consecrated life also loved him; they prayed for his ministry, for the person of the Pope, for the Church, for the world."

The whole Church, he said, is "called to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus, who died and rose again." But consecrated men and women are signaled out for particular service, he said.

"[We] have received this vocation, this call to discipleship that asks us to witness to the primacy of God with our whole lives," he said. "This mission is especially important when - as in many parts of the world today - we experience God's absence or forget his centrality too easily."

The presence of the Risen Christ, the cardinal said, "transforms everything."

"Darkness is overcome by light; useless work becomes fruitful and promising again; the sense of weariness and abandonment gives way to a new momentum and the certainty that He is with us," he said.

Artime recalled the words of Pope Francis during the Year of Consecrated Life, when the Holy Father said he expected consecrated Catholics "to wake up the world, because the note that characterizes consecrated life is prophecy." Francis at the time asked for the consecrated "to be witnesses of the Lord like Peter and the Apostles," Artime said.

"He was asking us to have a heart and a spirit pure and free enough to recognize the women and men of today, our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest, the last, the discarded," the cardinal said.

"Because in them is the Lord, and so that with our passion for God, for the Kingdom and for humanity, we will be able, like Peter, to respond to the Lord, 'Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you.'"

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Vatican City, May 3, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Editor's Note: On May 3, 2025, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, the former prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, delivered the following homily during the 8th day of Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis. The text below is a CNA working translation of the Italian original published by the Vatican.

Dearest Sisters and Brothers,

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori teaches that praying for the dead is the greatest work of charity. When we help our neighbors materially, we share ephemeral goods, but when we pray for them we do so with eternal goods. In a similar way lived the Holy Curé of Ars, universal patron of priests.

To pray for the dead means, therefore, to love those who have died, and that is what we are doing now for Pope Francis, gathered as the People of God, together with the pastors and especially this evening with a very significant presence of consecrated men and women.

The Holy Father Francis felt very well liked by the People of God and knew that those belonging to the different expressions of consecrated life also loved him; they prayed for his ministry, for the person of the Pope, for the Church, for the world.

On this third Sunday of Easter everything invites rejoicing, exultation. The reason is given by the Risen Lord and the presence of the Holy Spirit. St. Athanasius affirms that the risen Jesus Christ makes man's life a continuous feast. And that is why the Apostles - and Peter first among them - are not afraid of imprisonment, nor of threats, nor of being persecuted again. And in fact they boldly and frankly declare, "Of these things we are witnesses as also is the Holy Spirit whom God has sent to those who obey him."

"I wonder," said Pope Francis, in one of his catecheses on this same passage, "where the first disciples find the strength for this witness of theirs. Not only that, but from where did the joy and courage of proclamation come to them in spite of obstacles and violence?"

It is clear that only the presence, with them, of the Risen Lord and the action of the Holy Spirit can explain this fact. Their faith was based on such a strong and personal experience of Christ, dead and risen, that they were not afraid of anything or anyone. "Today, as yesterday, the men and women of the present generation are in great need of encountering the Lord and his liberating message of salvation," said St. John Paul II, on the occasion of the Jubilee of Consecrated Life on Feb. 2, 2000, addressing religious men and women around the world, adding: "I have been able to realize the value of your prophetic presence for the entire Christian people, and I gladly acknowledge, even on this occasion, the example of generous evangelical dedication offered by countless of your brothers and sisters who often work in uncomfortable situations. They unreservedly expend themselves in the name of Christ in the service of the poor, the marginalized and the least."

Brothers and sisters, it is true that all of us, this whole assembly as baptized, are called to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus, who died and rose again. But it is equally true that we, consecrated men and women, have received this vocation, this call to discipleship that asks us to witness to the primacy of God with our whole lives. This mission is especially important when - as in many parts of the world today - we experience God's absence or forget his centrality too easily. Then we can assume and make our own the program of St. Benedict Abbot, summarized in the maxim: "Put nothing before the love of Christ."

It was the Holy Father Benedict XVI who challenged us in this way: within the People of God, consecrated persons are like sentinels who discern and announce the new life already present in our history.

We are called, by reason of our baptism and by religious profession, to witness that only God gives fullness to human existence and that, consequently, our lives must be an eloquent sign of the presence of the Kingdom of God for the world today.

We are, therefore, called to be in the world a credible and luminous sign of the Gospel and its paradoxes. Without conforming to the mentality of this century, but transforming ourselves and continuously renewing our commitment.

In the Gospel we heard that the Risen Lord was waiting for his disciples at the seashore. The account says that when everything seemed finished, failed, the Lord made himself present, went to meet his own, who—filled with joy—were able to exclaim through the mouth of the disciple whom Jesus loved, "It is the Lord." 

In this expression we grasp the enthusiasm of Easter faith, full of joy and amazement, which contrasts sharply with the bewilderment, discouragement, and sense of helplessness hitherto present in the disciples' souls.

It is only the presence of the Risen Jesus that transforms everything: darkness is overcome by light; useless work becomes fruitful and promising again; the sense of weariness and abandonment gives way to a new momentum and the certainty that He is with us.

What happened for the Lord's first and privileged witnesses can and must become a program of life for all of us.

Pope Francis said in the Year of Consecrated Life: "I expect you to wake up the world, because the note that characterizes consecrated life is prophecy." And he asked us to be witnesses of the Lord like Peter and the Apostles, even in the face of the misunderstanding of the Sanhedrin of yesteryear or the godless areopagos of today. He asked us to be like the watchman who keeps watch during the night and knows when the dawn comes. 

He was asking us to have a heart and a spirit pure and free enough to recognize the women and men of today, our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest, the last, the discarded, because in them is the Lord and so that with our passion for God, for the Kingdom and for humanity, we will be able like Peter, to respond to the Lord, "Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you."

Mary, Mother of the Church, grant us all the grace to be missionary disciples today, witnesses of Her Son in this Church of His that—under the guidance of the Holy Spirit—lives in hope, because the Risen Lord is with us until the end of time. Amen.

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CNA Newsroom, May 3, 2025 / 10:09 am (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:

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Vatican City, May 3, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Francis Arinze has said that the Church needs "a pope who is full of fire for the kingdom of Christ." 

In an interview with EWTN earlier this year, the 92-year-old cardinal reflected on the qualities needed in the next pope, offered wisdom to younger cardinals who will enter their first conclave, and spoke of the challenges facing the Church today. 

"We want a pope who is full of fire for the kingdom of Christ," the Nigerian cardinal said. "A pope who is there spreading the Gospel. … A pope through whom people will believe." 

For Arinze, who has served as a bishop for 60 years and a cardinal for 40, the next successor of St. Peter must above all be a witness to Christ, a pope whose "life is powerful." 

"The biggest challenge for the Church is to convince people to accept Christ and live according to his teaching and example," he said. "Easy to say, difficult to do. But that is what the Church is for. The Church is to evangelize." 

Arinze attended the final session of the Second Vatican Council as the youngest bishop in the world at the time and later served more than two decades in the Roman Curia. He took part in the conclave that elected Benedict XVI in 2005.  

"The Church is founded by Christ for the salvation of humanity," he said. "The Church's work is to share the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ so that people may know Jesus Christ as their Savior … and live according to that way which he showed us, which is the Gospel." 

Advice for cardinals in the conclave 

As cardinals from around the world gather in Rome, many for their first conclave, Arinze offered them words of guidance. 

"Realize that we are in God's hands," he said. "And that the Church is not made by me or by the pope but by Christ. If the Church had not been founded by Christ, it would have fallen to pieces long ago. But because Christ founded the Church, it will stand." 

The cardinal reflected on Jesus' words "I will be with you always until the end of time," adding: "Even Judas Iscariot could not pull down the Church." 

"Even if you get a pope who is not a good pope, or a bishop who is not a good bishop, or a priest who is not a good priest, they cannot pull down the Church," he said. "But they can do damage. They can hurt. They can injure. So every one of us has to, in fear and trembling, ask himself: 'What is God calling me to do in the Church, for the Church, and with the Church?'" 

At 92, Arinze will not be inside the Sistine Chapel when the conclave begins, but he along with other cardinals over the age of 80 are taking part in the general congregation discussions about the Church and the world ahead of the conclave. 

"No pope is a photocopy of another pope," Arinze said. "Pope John Paul II is not the same as Pope Benedict. Pope Benedict is not the same as Pope Francis. But each of them is a pope, just as St. Peter was not the same as St. Paul, and they were not the same as John in the Gospel; they were all different, but all apostles of Christ." 

"Pope Francis — people will appreciate his love for the poor, for the forgotten, for the migrant, for those far away, those at the peripheries, whether they are geographical peripheries, far away, or they are society's peripheries," he said. "You notice that Holy Father Pope Francis privileges the weak, not so much the strong or the powerful. Every pope has his style." 

Wisdom from 92 years 

When asked to share some wisdom with younger Catholics from his 92 years of life, the cardinal emphasized the importance of God's providence for each one of us. 

"God is the director general of history," he said. "He is also the providence for each individual … God knows best. We think that we are directing everything, but God is there, who looks into the details." 

He quoted the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta: "May God help us not to spoil his work." 

"If we would be faithful to God … God will do great things for us," he said. "He did for the Blessed Virgin Mary, who confessed: 'The Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.' With many things God does, we think we are the clever ones who did them. We just beg God that we do that little part which he expects of us, so that his work will succeed."  

"If every one of us will remain open to God's action and know that God takes the initiative, his grace leads us to start, to continue, and to bring to a happy finish the action in his kingdom." 

A clip of CNA's interview with Arinze can be viewed below.

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CNA Newsroom, May 3, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA).

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on Friday signed a controversial state law that requires priests to report child abuse to authorities even if they learn of it during the sacrament of confession.

The measure, introduced in the state legislature earlier this year, adds clergy to the list of mandatory abuse reporters in the state, but doesn't include an exemption for information learned in the confessional.

A 2023 version of the proposal had offered an exemption for abuse allegations learned "solely as a result of a confession." The latest bill does not contain such a carve-out, and in fact explicitly notes that clergy do not qualify for a "privileged communication" exemption.

Ferguson told reporters that as a Catholic he was "very familiar" with the sacrament of confession. "[I] felt this was important legislation," he said on Friday.

Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly, meanwhile, said in a Friday statement that clergy there would not break the seal of confession even if required to by law.

"[S]hepherds, bishop and priests" are "committed to keeping the seal of confession – even to the point of going to jail," the bishop said.

"The Sacrament of Penance is sacred and will remain that way in the Diocese of Spokane," he added.

The bishop noted that the Spokane diocese maintains "an entire department at the Chancery" dedicated to protecting children, and that it employs a zero-tolerance policy regarding child sexual abuse.

"As this matter continues to unfold, I intend on keeping you informed and updated," the bishop wrote. "An important element to the greatness of America is our Constitutional commitment to religious freedom."

A bill proposed in Montana earlier this year similarly proposed to "eliminate clergy exemption in mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect." 

Clergy "may not refuse to make a report as required ... on the grounds of a physician-patient or similar privilege," the Montana bill said. That measure stalled at committee in January. 

In May 2023 Delaware legislators proposed a bill requiring priests to break the seal of confession in cases of reporting sexual abuse. A similar law was proposed in Vermont around the same time. Both bills failed to advance in their respective legislatures.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 3, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

In 1975, Cardinal John O'Connor, the late former archbishop of New York, visited the Dachau concentration camp. His life-changing experience there eventually led him to found the Sisters of Life, a community of women dedicated to living out his mission: protecting and enhancing human life.

Today, 25 years after his death, more than a 100 of those sisters will gather with O'Connor's relatives, friends, and those who have benefited from his ministry to celebrate his legacy.

Sister Maris Stella, vicar general of the Sisters of Life, reflected on that legacy and told CNA that throughout his life O'Connor "had great respect for the dignity of the human person" and always had the dream to work with people in need, specifically children with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.

Finding a 'spiritual response' to a 'culture of death'

O'Connor entered the priesthood when he was 25 years old in his home state of Pennsylvania. He began teaching high school students while continuing his own education receiving degrees in ethics and psychology and later a doctorate in political science.

In his early 30s, O'Connor joined the United States Navy as a chaplain and wrote curriculum and leadership formation programs for Navy personnel, forming them in virtue and teaching them to have respect for the human person. His 27 years in the Navy greatly shifted his path. 

In the mid-1970s, he made a visit to Dachau in Germany, where thousands were killed during World War II. Sister Maris Stella told CNA that while he was there, he had a profound experience that changed his life.

"He went to the crematorium and placed his hands in the oven … and was pierced to the heart and cried out: 'My God, how could human beings do this to other human beings?'"

"You could say that in placing his hand in the oven, he kind of placed his hand on the deepest wound in our culture, which he saw was this contempt for human life, this disregard for the dignity of the human person," Sister Maris Stella said.

In that moment, O'Connor vowed to do everything in his power to protect human life.

In 1984 he was appointed the archbishop of New York, and just a year later he was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II. O'Connor became very active in the pro-life movement by preaching and advocating alongside other leaders. 

But despite his work, Sister Maris Stella said, "he wondered why there wasn't greater progress being made on behalf of human life." He began to pray and reflect on the Scriptures and the Gospel of Mark.

"There's a story where Jesus sends out the apostles and they can do all these things in his name. But," Sister Maris Stella said, "there was one demon they couldn't cast out, and Our Lord says to them, 'Some demons are only cast out by prayer and fasting.'"

"When Cardinal read that, those words … jumped off the page to him, and he understood that this contempt for human life was a demon in our culture."

"It was a spiritual reality that demanded a spiritual response," Sister Maris Stella said. It inspired  O'Connor to found the Sisters of Life to be the "response to the culture of death [and] to pray and fast on behalf of human life."

In order to find women to join, O'Connor wrote an article for his weekly column in the Catholic New York newspaper highlighting his vision with the headline: "Help Wanted: Sisters of Life."

Soon after, eight women reached out to be a part of it.

The Sisters of Life

Today, three decades since the Sisters of Life began in New York, there are almost 140 women in the community serving across the globe. 

The sisters "believe that every person is sacred, unique, and unrepeatable, and infinitely loved by God. Not for anything they can do, produce, or achieve, but simply because they exist and are created in God's image," Sister Maris Stella said.

The sisters work to ensure human dignity is protected and enhanced by serving pregnant women in crisis, hosting retreats, and spreading the message of the dignity of life.

At one of their seven convents in the New York area, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Convent in Midtown Manhattan, the sisters also run the Holy Respite, inviting pregnant women to live with them throughout their pregnancies. It has been open for nearly 27 years and hundreds of women and children have stayed there as their guests. 

The sisters also hold their Entering Canaan retreats to serve women who are suffering after the experience of abortion so the women "can receive God's healing and mercy and come back to the life of the Church."

Each year, the sisters host a number of weekendlong women's retreats and a men's retreat to take time for silent prayer, Eucharistic adoration, Mass, confession, and hearing conferences by the sisters. Occasionally, they will hold similar retreats for people with disabilities, continuing O'Connor's love for and outreach to them.

Sister Maris Stella told CNA that for O'Connor, "the vulnerability of people with disabilities and the vulnerability of the unborn, to him, showed more than anyone the sacredness of human life."

"The unborn and those who are weak and suffering in a way carry within them the glory of God in a more magnificent way, because their dignity doesn't arise from what they can do, because in many cases their capacities are limited, but their dignity arises from the fact that they are held into existence by God's love."

Celebrating 'a legacy of life and love'

In celebration of O'Connor's legacy 25 years after his death, on May 3 the Sisters of Life is hosting a block party on John Cardinal O'Connor Way, a street in New York named after the pro-life champion. O'Connor's family members, families the sisters have helped over the years, and supporters of the organization will gather with the sisters for food, music, and games.

Following the festivities, the attendees will go to St. Patrick's Cathedral for a vigil memorial Mass to honor O'Connor and his "legacy of love and life" and his "entrance into eternal life."

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Vatican City, May 2, 2025 / 17:14 pm (CNA).

On the seventh day of the Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis, Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti recalled the extreme sacrifice Catholics from the Eastern Catholic Churches have made to remain faithful to the successor of St. Peter, the pope.

"In the past, Eastern Catholics have agreed to adhere to full communion with the successor of the Apostle Peter, whose body rests in this basilica. And it was in the name of this union that they bore witness, often in blood or persecution, to their faith," Gugerotti said at a Mass on May 2 in St. Peter's Basilica.

Eastern Catholics, "in part now reduced, in numbers and in strength but not in faith, from wars and intolerance," he continued, "remain firmly clinging to a sense of catholicity that does not exclude but rather implies the recognition of their specificity."

The 69-year-old Italian cardinal was head of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches since 2022 and had extensive experience serving as an apostolic nuncio to countries with many Eastern Catholics and Orthodox, including Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

In his homily at the Mass for Pope Francis' repose, part of the Church's nine days of mourning, Gugerotti pointed out how Eastern Catholics have "enriched the treasury of Christian theology with a contribution as original as it is, to a large extent, unknown by us Westerners."

He noted that some members and leaders of the Eastern Catholic Churches were present at the Mass and thanked them for "agreeing to enrich the catholicity of the Church with the variety of their experiences, their cultures, but above all their very rich spirituality."

"Children of the beginnings of Christianity, they have carried in their hearts, together with their Orthodox brothers and sisters, the flavor of the Lord's land, and some even continue to speak the language that Jesus Christ spoke," he said.

Gugerotti said he believes Pope Francis, "who taught us to love the diversity and richness of expression of all that is human," is rejoicing to see Catholics of different rites joining together in prayer.

The cardinal also called on Catholics everywhere to recommit themselves to helping Christians forced to leave their ancient homelands, such as those in the Holy Land. 

We should "sensitize ourselves, as our pope had wished, to welcome them and help them in our lands to preserve the specificity of their Christian contribution, which is an integral part of our being the Catholic Church," he underlined.

Gugerotti invited those present at Mass to unite themselves to the Eucharist, "even in our aridities, distractions, continuous loss of focus on the only thing necessary."

He ended his homily with a prayer to the Holy Spirit, written by St. Simeon the New Theologian, an Eastern Father of the Church, and addressing his brother cardinals said: "As the days become ever closer when we will be called upon to choose the new pope, let us place on our lips the invocation of the Holy Spirit."

"Come, true light; come, eternal life; come, hidden mystery; come, nameless treasure; come, ineffable reality; come, inconceivable person; come, happiness without end; come, light without sunset; come, infallible expectation of all who are to be saved. Come, you who has longed and longs for my miserable soul. Come, thou, the one, to me, alone, for thou seest that I am alone; that seeing thee in eternity I, dead, may live; possessing thee, I, poor, may ever be rich and richer than kings; I, who eating and drinking of thee, and clothing myself at all times with thee, pass from delight to delight to inexpressible goods, for thou art all good and all glory and all delight, and it is to thee that glory belongs, O holy, consubstantial, and life-giving Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen."

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CNA Newsroom, May 2, 2025 / 17:32 pm (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:

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CNA Staff, May 2, 2025 / 17:44 pm (CNA).

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting (NCCS) announced today a new memorandum of understanding with Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, which the organizations say solidifies their "long-standing commitment to the holistic development and spiritual growth of young people."

"This agreement reaffirms [our] shared values and outlines collaborative efforts to provide enriching and character-building opportunities for Catholic youth through Scouting," the organizations said in a May 1 joint announcement. The text of the memorandum was not immediately made available. 

The NCCS, founded in the early 20th century, is an advisory committee that utilizes all the programs and activities of the Boy Scouts of America but works with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to ensure alignment of Catholic Scouting programs with Catholic teaching, the organization says. The organization serves some 98,000 Catholic Scouts, according to its website.

Catholic organizations were early supporters of the Boy Scouts after its founding in 1910, with the earliest known Catholic-chartered troops established in St. Paul, Minnesota, that year. Today there are more than 3,270 Catholic-sponsored Scouting units across the nation, the groups say. 

The two organizations' renewed partnership signifies "a continued dedication to working together to empower young people with strong moral compasses, leadership skills, and a commitment to service," the announcement continues. 

"Today's signing of the [memorandum] between Scouting America and the National Catholic Committee on Scouting reaffirms a long-standing partnership built on shared values of faith, service, and leadership," said Bill Guglielmi, chair-elect of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting. 

"Together, we celebrate over 100 years of collaboration in shaping young people of character guided by the values of the Scout Oath and Law, especially the principles of duty to God and reverence. Our actions today reaffirm our mutual commitment to continuing this important mission for generations to come."

The May 1 announcement comes after a turbulent dozen or so years for the Boy Scouts, which rely heavily on religious organizations to run their local troops. 

The organization lifted a ban on members who identify as gay in 2013 and faced major backlash in 2015 over its decision to allow openly gay men to serve as troop leaders. The organization later opened its ranks to girls as well as to biological girls who identify as boys. 

After seeing its membership plummet due to the pandemic, the Boy Scouts declared bankruptcy in 2020 amid a flood of some 82,000 sexual abuse claims, later agreeing to a $2.4 billion settlement plan for victims in 2024.

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