Meet the pilgrims from the Jubilee of People with Disabilities

Pilgrims visit Rome for the Jubilee of People with Disabilities on Monday, April 28, 2025. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNAVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 16:49 pm (CNA).Thousands of people from more than 90 countries gathered in Rome this week to celebrate the Catholic Church's Jubilee of People with Disabilities. Wheelchairs rolled across cobblestones and walking aids clicked on the marble floors of St. Peter's Basilica as people with disabilities passed through the Holy Door for the Jubilee of Hope, entrusting their prayers to the Lord. "I pray for a better world, I pray for a world where inclusion becomes a normality," 18-year-old Anna Maria Gargiulo from Perugia, Italy, told CNA. "I am blind from birth, but for me this is not a problem," she added. "I experience it rather as a possibility, because I look at the world with different eyes." Perugia, Italy, resident Anna Maria Gargiulo attends the celebration of the Jubilee of People with Disabilities in Rome on ...

Evangelization needs 'unreserved openness' to others, cardinal says at Novendiales Mass 

Cardinals participate in Day 4 of the Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis on April 29, 2025, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 18:06 pm (CNA).The way to evangelization is "unreserved openness" to others, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv, said on the fourth day of the Novendiales, the Church's nine days of mourning for Pope Francis.Gambetti, who is archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, celebrated the Mass for the repose of Pope Francis' soul in the presence of the cardinals and the chapters of the four papal basilicas, which are groups of clergy entrusted with ensuring the liturgical and sacramental care of the basilicas.The first reading at the Mass, held in St. Peter's Basilica, was from the Acts of the Apostles and quotes Peter, who says: "In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him."In a globalized, secular age that is thirsty for t...

LIVE UPDATES: Cardinals celebrate fourth Novendiales Mass, hold sixth general congregation

Cardinals participate in Day 4 of the Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis on April 29, 2025, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 18:14 pm (CNA).The College of Cardinals announced Monday, April 28, that 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:

Full text: Homily of Cardinal Gambetti on fourth day of Novendiales

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv, archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, delivers the homily during the fourth day of Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis on April 29, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNAVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 18:36 pm (CNA).Editor's Note: On April 29, 2025, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv, archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, delivered the following homily during the fourth day of Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis. The text below is a CNA working translation of the Italian original published by the Vatican.The Gospel passage is well known. A grand scene with a universalistic character: All peoples, living together in the one field that is the world, are gathered before the Son of Man, seated on the throne of his glory to judge.The message is clear: In the lives of all, believers and nonbelievers alike, there is a moment of discrimination; at a certain point some begin to share in the same joy of God, others begin to suffer the tremendous suffering of true l...

Pope Francis to young people: Prepare yourselves for marriage, don't get divorced

Pope Francis blesses a newly married couple during his general audience on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaCNA Staff, Apr 29, 2025 / 15:19 pm (CNA).In an exhortation to young people published after his death, Pope Francis urged couples to prepare properly for marriage and commit themselves to "love that lasts a lifetime." The missive, a foreword to the book "Love Forever" by the YOUCAT Foundation, urges young people considering marriage to "believe in love, believe in God, and believe that you are capable of taking on the adventure" of lifelong matrimony. The Holy Father in the text described the traditional wedding vows of "until death do us part" as "an extraordinary promise." "Of course, I am not blind, and neither are you. How many marriages today fail after three, five, seven years?" the pope wrote in the foreword, published by the New York Times on Monday.Asking rhetorically if it would be better...

Catholic group in Utah raises $1.5 million for refugee program after government cuts

Refugees from Mexico. / Credit: David Peinado Romero/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2025 / 15:49 pm (CNA).Utah's Catholic Community Services will continue to operate its refugee support programs despite federal funding cuts after receiving well over $1 million in donations.In early April, the group, which is based in Salt Lake City, announced that its refugee resettlement program was "winding down" and would eventually close amid major federal funding cuts. The program normally provides "hundreds of refugees the assistance they need to recover from lives dismantled by persecution, war, or violence."The organization reported that it lost more than $2.5 million of annual aid and "could not sustain the program" without it.In a statement on Monday, however, the group said that, following the announcement, "something remarkable happened. Our community rallied."The organization said it will no longer be forced to close the refugee program or end its support for Utah-b...

Trump approval rating still high among Christians, poll finds 

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he hosts the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Apr 29, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).U.S. President Donald Trump's approval ratings are significantly higher among Christians than among the religiously unaffiliated, according to a poll by Pew Research released to coincide with Trump's first 100 days in office. Trump's approval rating continues to be highest among white evangelical Protestants, while Catholics are almost split at 42%, according to the poll.Across the board, Christians gave Trump a higher approval rating than nonaffiliated Americans by more than 20 percentage points (48% versus 26%, respectively). The approval rating for President Donald Trump among Christians is also 8 points higher than among U.S. adults overall.Among Christians, white evangelical Protestants had the highest approval rating of Trump...

Haiti's first and only cardinal set to vote in upcoming conclave to elect new pope

Haitian Cardinal Chibly Langlois (left) and Spanish Cardinal Sebastian Aguilar arrive at the Synod Hall for the third day of the synod on the themes of family on Oct. 8, 2014, in Vatican City. / Credit: Franco Origlia/Getty ImagesVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 09:41 am (CNA).Cardinal Chibly Langlois, bishop of Les Cayes, will be the first Haitian prelate in the Church's history to participate and vote in a papal conclave.Following the death of Pope Francis, Langlois released a statement honoring the life and ministry of the Argentine pontiff who "showed special attention to Haiti" through his words and actions."Throughout his pontificate, he embodied a concrete spirituality founded on mercy, listening, and solidarity," the cardinal wrote on April 22. "He made the Gospel a living invitation to console hearts and inspire actions in favor of the most vulnerable.""In a world plagued by injustice and suffering, he put faith at the service of everyday life, reminding everyone that the ...

Cardinals hold sixth general congregation, confirm 2 electors will not be at conclave

Cardinal Pietro Parolin (left) and other cardinals celebrate Mass on Day 3 of the Novendiales Masses for Pope Francis on April 28, 2025, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 11:08 am (CNA).The College of Cardinals held their sixth general congregation on Tuesday morning, confirming two cardinal electors will not participate in the upcoming May 7 conclave due to health reasons. The general congregation opened with prayer at 9 a.m. followed by a meditation given by Abbot Donato Ogliari, OSB. One hundred eighty-three cardinals, including more than 120 cardinal electors, were present at the more than three-hour meeting held in the Vatican's Synod Hall. A total of 20 speeches were given. Following the April 29 meeting, Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, said during an afternoon press briefing that the names of the two cardinals would not be revealed, adding that the number of cardinal electors...

Pope Francis' praise for St. Catherine of Siena

Detail from St. Catherine of Siena from the circle of Baldassare Francheschini (17th century). / Credit: Baldassare Franceschini, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsVatican City, Apr 29, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).On the feast of St. Catherine of Siena in 2021, Pope Francis expressed his hope that the "great female figure of faith" would continue to inspire a more joyful and fervent witness."The Holy Father hopes that, especially in the context of the 560th anniversary of the canonization of the Sienese saint, the example of such a generous disciple of Christ will foster in all an ever more joyful and fervent witness to faith and charity to promote the civilization of love," Cardinal Pietro Parolin wrote in a telegram on behalf of the pope, published April 29, 2021.The Vatican secretary of state sent the telegram to Cardinal Augusto Paolo Lojudice, the archbishop of Siena-Colle di Val d'Elsa-Montalcino, expressing the pope's good wishes to Catholics in the archdiocese during their ...