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CNA Staff, Sep 24, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Before leaving on a pilgrimage to Poland earlier this month, Father Michael Niemczak wanted to solicit prayer intentions to bring with him. The U.S. priest with Polish roots was heading overseas to attend the Sept. 10 beatification of the Ulma family, the first time an entire family has been advanced toward sainthood together. 

So Niemczak created a simple Google form where anyone, anywhere, could submit a prayer intention to bring with him to Poland. He ended up getting more than he bargained for. 

Thanks in part to the publicity provided by a CNA story about Niemczak ahead of his trip, the priest found himself with 1,137 intentions to pray, sent in by Catholics from around the world. 

Niemczak, a priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and coordinator of propaedeutic formation at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, is a relative of the Ulma family; his great-grandfather, Jan Niemczak, was a cousin to Wiktoria Ulma, the matriarch.

The Nazis brutally executed the devoutly Catholic family of Wiktoria; her husband, Józef; and their seven children in 1944 for hiding eight Jews in their home outside the village of Markowa in southeast Poland. The family's beatification Mass was attended by some 30,000 people in the family's village of Markowa in southeastern Poland. Beatification in the Catholic Church is one step before canonization, when a person recognized for special holiness is officially declared to be a saint. 

The priest said it was clear to see that all of Poland was excited. Even before he arrived in Markowa, Niemczak saw large signs advertising the beatification in big cities like Krakow. 

An entire country seemed to be celebrating, he said, "all because one family chose to live out their Christian life, in what I'm sure for them felt like an ordinary way."

Niemczak said he was worried that he wouldn't have time to pray each intention he received individually. But God provided a solution. 

Early on the morning of the beatification Mass — about 5 a.m. — Niemczak took a bus ride with fellow pilgrims to the Mass site. His choice to take the early bus resulted in the priest gaining several hours to himself to "offer up every single intention before the altar." 

Many of the prayer intentions, he said, pertained to Catholics asking that loved ones return to a practice of the faith. Niemczak said he also prayed fervently for the seminarians he teaches back home. 

Among the nine Ulma family members killed was Józef and Wiktoria's seventh child, who was not given a name before the Nazi killings. The Vatican has confirmed that Wiktoria went into premature labor when she was killed and the baby was born at the time of her death. The Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints clarified Sept. 5 that the child was a newborn, adding that it received a "baptism of blood" and was therefore included among the martyrs.

Niemczak said it was moving to him that the feast day chosen for the family, July 7, is the day of Józef and Wiktoria's wedding anniversary, the "birthday of the family." The Ulmas' beatification is a "great witness to the unity of a family … that a family is greater than the sum of its parts."

Niemczak previously told CNA that while discerning the priesthood as a young man, the stories he heard about the Ulmas "set the tone" for the kind of faith he wanted to live, and he found himself desiring to live out his priestly vocation "as heroically as they lived out" their vocation as parents.

"It's easy to read these stories and think of the figures in them as very distant in time and space … To think, oh man, they must have been like some superhuman people. I couldn't possibly do that. But then when you hear that it's your family members, there's something striking in that," Niemczak said.

"To realize every family has saints in it, every family has sinners in it, every heart is capable of great holiness and great wickedness. And so it just was a very arresting thought to think, oh wow, within just a couple of generations, there were these saintly figures so close to my family tree."

Niemczak's trip included stops at holy sites in Krakow, Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine, the Divine Mercy Shrine, and several days spent staying with family in addition to the beatification Mass. He also visited the grave of Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish priest martyred by communists in 1984. He said it was powerful for him to celebrate these figures — Popieluszko and the Ulmas — who "stood up to oppressive regimes, strengthened by the Catholic faith and their love for others."

"Greater inspiration to live out my vocation," he said.

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Aboard the papal plane, Sep 23, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis condemned euthanasia and abortion as actions that "play with life" and said there is such a thing as "bad compassion" during a press conference aboard the papal plane from Marseille to Rome on Saturday.

"You don't play with life, neither at the beginning nor at the end. It is not played with!" he told journalists Sept. 23, as he returned from a two-day trip to Marseille, in southern France, to speak at a meeting of young people and bishops called Mediterranean Encounter.

"Whether it is the law not to let the child grow in the mother's womb or the law of euthanasia in disease and old age," he said, "I am not saying it is a faith thing, but it is a human thing: There is bad compassion."

Aboard the plane, Pope Francis was asked by a French journalist whether he had spoken about euthanasia in his private conversation with France's President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the day.

The French government is currently preparing to pass a controversial bill on end-of-life issues that could legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in the country. The vote, which was postponed because of the pope's visit, will be held Sept. 26–28.

Francis said he did not address the topic of euthanasia with Macron on Saturday but that he had expressed himself "clearly" on the issue when the French president visited him at the Vatican last year.

Macron, who made changing the end-of-life framework one of his campaign promises, declared his "penchant" for the Belgian model in April 2022.

Pope Francis said it is not just an opinion that life should be safeguarded and warned that it is easy to fall into an idea that pain should always be prevented, even through what some might consider a "humanistic euthanasia."

Instead, science has made great strides in helping people to control pain with medication, he noted, repeating that "you don't play with life."

In his comments, Francis also recommended, as he has on other occasions, that people read the 1907 dystopian science fiction novel "Lord of the World" by Robert Hugh Benson.

The author, he said, "shows how things are going to be in the end, [when] you take away all the differences, and also you take away all the pain, and euthanasia is one of these things... gentle death, selection before birth…"

Pope Francis has condemned euthanasia throughout his papacy, including referring to it as "a sin against God."

On the feast of our Lady of Fátima on May 13, the pope expressed his sorrow over the legalization of euthanasia in Portugal, which he called "a law to kill."

He has also been firm about the need to provide the very ill and dying with palliative care, which seeks to improve the quality of life of people suffering from severe illnesses.

"We must accompany people towards death but not provoke death or facilitate assisted suicide," he said in 2022.

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CNA Newsroom, Sep 23, 2023 / 08:41 am (CNA).

The deepening migrant crisis unfolding in the Mediterranean is "a reality of our times" that calls for wisdom and a collaborative response from European nations, not "alarmist propaganda," Pope Francis said Saturday at an interreligious youth conference in Marseille, France.

Speaking at an event called the Mediterranean Encounter, the pope said the "stifled cry of migrant brothers and sisters" is turning the Mediterranean Sea from "the cradle of civilization" to the "graveyard of dignity." More than 20,000 people have died on Central Mediterranean migration routes since 2014. At least 441 perished in the first three months of this year, the worst quarterly spike since 2017.

The large port of Marseille can't be closed, the pope said, but other ports have closed to migrants. "And," he lamented, "there were two words that resounded, fueling people's fears: 'invasion' and 'emergency.'"

"Yet those who risk their lives at sea do not invade, they look for welcome," the Holy Father insisted.

"As for the emergency, the phenomenon of migration is not so much a short-term urgency, always good for fueling alarmist propaganda, but a reality of our times, a process that involves three continents around the Mediterranean and that must be governed with wise foresight, including a European response capable of coping with the objective difficulties."

The need for a pan-European response has been one of the pope's most repeated pleas. People can't be left in what he calls the concentration camps of Libya nor allowed to drown in the Mediterranean; but certain countries, particularly Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and Spain, cannot alone bear the brunt of the burden. He suggested that perhaps a Mediterranean bishops' conference should be established to facilitate ongoing regional dialogue.

"The 'mare nostrum' [our sea] cries out for justice, with its shores that, on the one hand, exude affluence, consumerism, and waste, while on the other there is poverty and instability," Pope Francis said. "Here also the Mediterranean mirrors the world, with the South turning to the North, with many developing countries, plagued by instability, regimes, wars, and desertification, looking to those that are well-off, in a globalized world in which we are all connected, but one in which the disparities have never been so wide."

Pope Francis arrived Friday in Marseille, a coastal city in the Provence region of southern France. The main purpose of his visit was to attend the Mediterranean Encounter, a gathering of young people of various creeds with bishops from 30 countries focused on migration issues. The event concludes on Sunday, which is the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

Earlier on Saturday, the pope attended a private meeting with people experiencing economic hardship at a Missionaries of Charity convent in the city. After his address at the youth conference, he met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palais du Pharo, a palace in Marseille built in 1858 by Emperor Napoleon III for Empress Eugénie.

You can watch highlights of the pope's first day in Marseille in the EWTN video below.

'Our sea' is a 'place of encounter'

In his conference speech, Pope Francis referred to a legendary love story from the beginnings of the city of Marseille to insist that coexistence between peoples, even if it's difficult, is above all a source of joy.

"Founded by Greek sailors who came from Asia Minor, legend traces it back to a love story between an emigrant sailor and a native princess," the pope said, noting that from its very beginnings, Marseille has been a city that "gives a homeland to those who no longer have one."

There is a long history of conflicts in the Mediterranean as well, the pope acknowledged.

"Let us not ignore the problems," he said, "yet let us not be misled: The exchanges that have taken place between peoples have made the Mediterranean the cradle of civilization, a sea overflowing with treasures … Our sea — mare nostrum — is a place of encounter: among the Abrahamic religions; among Greek, Latin, and Arabic thought; among science, philosophy, and law; and among many other realities. It has conveyed to the world the lofty value of the human being, endowed with freedom, open to the truth and in need of salvation, who sees the world as a wonder to be discovered and as a garden to be inhabited, under the imprint of a God who makes covenants with men and women."

The pope reflected that if one looks at the map, his host city "almost seems to draw a smile between Nice and Montpellier. I like to think of it that way, as 'the smile of the Mediterranean,'" he said, which brought warm applause from his hosts.

Francis compared the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee, which at the time of Christ also had "a concentration of various populations, beliefs, and traditions." It was in that "multifaceted and in many ways unstable context" that Jesus proclaimed the Beatitudes and taught that God is the Father of all.

"Here then is the answer that comes from the Mediterranean: This perennial Sea of Galilee urges us to oppose the divisiveness of conflicts with the 'coexistence of differences,'" he said.

This sea has a vocation to be a "laboratory of peace." And this is a vocation sorely needed as "antiquated and belligerent nationalisms want to make the dream of the community of nations fade! Yet — let us remember this — with weapons we make war, not peace, and with greed for power we return to the past rather than building the future."

For peace to take root, the pope said, we have to begin by listening to the poor, as Jesus did on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. "We need to start again from there, from the often silent cry of the least among us, not from the more fortunate ones who have no need of help yet still raise their voices."

Flanked by bishops and other Christian leaders, the Holy Father centered his address on human dignity beyond the issue of migration, as he also took the occasion to condemn euthanasia and abortion. France is in the process of considering assisted suicide. Leaving his text, the pope lamented how babies are "confused with puppies" and recounted how a secretary told him about seeing a woman pushing a baby carriage, only to discover that it was a pet inside, not a child.

The poor must be "embraced, not counted," Pope Francis said, "for they are faces, not numbers."

"Indeed, the real social evil is not so much the increase of problems but the decrease of care," the pope said.

"Who nowadays becomes a neighbor to the young people left to themselves, who are easy prey for crime and prostitution? Who is close to people enslaved by work that should make them freer? Who cares for the frightened families, afraid of the future and of bringing children into the world? Who listens to the groaning of our isolated elderly brothers and sisters, who, instead of being appreciated, are pushed aside, under the false pretenses of a supposedly dignified and 'sweet' death that is more 'salty' than the waters of the sea?

"Who thinks of the unborn children, rejected in the name of a false right to progress, which is instead a retreat into the selfish needs of the individual? Who looks with compassion beyond their own shores to hear the cry of pain rising from North Africa and the Middle East? How many people live immersed in violence and endure situations of injustice and persecution!"

He said this last situation describes the many Christians who are forced to leave their homelands or live without recognition of their rights.

Referring to himself, however, Pope Francis insisted that "this pope who came from the other side of the world is not the first to warn of it with urgency and concern."

Instead, the Church has made this appeal for 50 years. He cited Pope Paul VI, who said: "The hungry nations of the world cry out to the peoples blessed with abundance. And the Church, cut to the quick by this cry, asks each and every man to hear his brother's plea and answer it lovingly." And Pope Pius XII, who said: "the Holy Family in exile, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph emigrating to Egypt … is the model, example and support for all emigrants and pilgrims of every time and country, and of all refugees of whatever condition who, whether compelled by persecution or by want, are forced to leave their native land and beloved parents … and to seek a foreign soil."

Human dignity must be paramount

Francis cited the "three duties" of the more developed nations listed by Paul VI: "mutual solidarity — the aid that the richer nations must give to developing nations; social justice — the rectification of trade relations between strong and weak nations; universal charity — the effort to build a more human world community, where all can give and receive, and where the progress of some is not bought at the expense of others."

The Argentinian pope admitted that "welcoming, protecting, promoting, and integrating unexpected persons" is not easy, but he insisted that "safeguarding human dignity" must be the principal criterion, not "the preservation of one's own well-being."

"Those who take refuge in our midst should not be viewed as a heavy burden to be borne," he said. "If we consider them instead as brothers and sisters, they will appear to us above all as gifts."

Before his audience, he recognized that "history is challenging us to make a leap of conscience in order to prevent a shipwreck of civilization," adding that the solution is "not to reject but to ensure, according to the possibilities of each, an ample number of legal and regular entrances."

"We need fraternity as much as we need bread," the pope insisted. "The very word 'brother' in its Indo-European etymology derives from a root associated with nutrition and sustenance. We will support ourselves only by nourishing with hope the most vulnerable, accepting them as brothers and sisters."

Here, the pope referred to another tradition associated with Marseille: that it was evangelized by Jesus' friends of Bethany, the siblings Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.

"As Christians, who believe in God made man, in the one inimitable Man who on the shores of the Mediterranean called himself the way, the truth, and the life, we cannot accept that the paths of encounter should be closed, that the truth of Mammon should prevail over human dignity, that life should turn into death," he said.

"Worship God and serve the most vulnerable, who are his treasures. Adore God and serve your neighbor, that is what counts: not social importance or vast numbers, but fidelity to the Lord and to humanity!"

Before he departs for Rome on Saturday evening the pope will offer Mass at the Vélodrome Stadium.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 22, 2023 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

Catholic bishops in Canada will gather next week, the final week of September, to discuss a series of issues including the growth of euthanasia, the Church's work in overseas development, and the protection of minors.

The 2023 Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), which is held annually, will begin on Monday, Sept. 25, and conclude on Thursday, Sept. 28. The meeting will take place in King City, Ontario, just outside of Toronto, and 79 Latin and Eastern-rite bishops are expected to participate.

One of the main topics to be discussed is the growth of euthanasia throughout Canada, which is known legally as Medical Assistance in Dying, or MAiD. Although voluntary euthanasia has been legal in Canada since 2016, a revision of that law going into effect in March 2024 will vastly expand eligibility.

More than 30,000 Canadians died from euthanasia between 2016 and 2021, and it has seen a growth in use annually. The revision, which will go into effect in less than six months, will make mental illness an eligible condition to receive approval for MAiD, opening the procedure up to significantly more people.

The Standing Committee for Family and Life, chaired by Archbishop Christian Lépine, will hold a panel discussion on this topic, which is meant to help the Church "engage with the urgency of promoting palliative care" rather than euthanasia.

Another aspect of the meeting will focus on Development and Peace — Caritas Canada, known as DPCC. This project encompasses charity and development work overseas. Clergy on the DPCC National Council will update the bishops on the activities since last year and will be joined by DPCC President Brenda Arakaza and Executive Director Carl Hétu.

The bishops will also discuss "safeguarding persons in vulnerable situations," which includes minors. The Standing Committee for Responsible Ministry has been studying this issue over the past year and intends to discuss how to define vulnerability, how to reduce risks, and what behaviors to encourage on the part of the ministry.

Part of the meeting will also focus on the upcoming Synod on Synodality. According to the CCCB, there will be four Canadian bishops taking part in the synod and four non-bishop Catholics chosen by the Vatican. 

"In order to help prepare the episcopal delegates, bishops present at the Plenary Assembly meeting will reflect on one of the three dimensions of synodality (communion, participation, and mission), guided by the questions in the Instrumentum Laboris and the results of the 'national' and 'continental' stages of the synod process," a statement from the CCCB read.

The bishops will also review various reports from subcommittees, which will include topics such as liturgy, catechesis, and evangelization. Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle from the Philippines will address the bishops virtually and the apostolic nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, will also give an address.

"A meeting of the Plenary Assembly is a solemn and momentous event in the life of the Church in Canada because it gathers together all the members of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), who total 79 bishops of the Latin and Eastern Churches across Canada," a statement from the CCCB read. "Decisions taken by the Plenary Assembly are the highest instance of authority within the CCCB and represent the unity of action of all the bishops on a national level."

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ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 22, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

Dominican Sister Lucía Caram, who lives in Spain but is Argentinian, said during a recent television program that she is in favor of homosexual couples being able to "marry in the Church."

In the show called "Cuentos Chinos" ("Tall Tales"), host Jorge Javier Vázquez, who is openly homosexual, asked the religious: "Would you be in favor of gays getting married in the Church?" to which the nun responded: "I would be in favor of gays getting married in the Church because God always blesses love."

In a previous comment, Caram also noted: "My best friend is gay. He's Juan Carlos Cruz, who is a global LGTBI leader." 

Cruz is a Chilean activist and a victim of sexual abuse by the late Fernando Karadima, a priest who was dismissed from the clerical state.

In March 2021, Cruz was appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors chaired by the archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O'Malley.

When asked if two men who have sexual relations would be committing sin, Caram said: "I am not anyone to say that someone commits sin in anything. I think each person knows. To commit a sin… It is very complicated to want to do wrong. I am nobody to condemn anyone. And Jesus says we should not condemn anyone. So I would not condemn or say 'this is a sin or this is not a sin.' Not about anyone."

The television host then asked if the nun would recommend two homosexual people to have sexual relations. "If they love each other… What do you want me to tell you! They do not have the vow of chastity that I have," she responded.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church dedicates paragraphs 2357-2359 to chastity and homosexuality. The Church teaches that homosexual acts "are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved."

The Catechism also states that homosexual inclination constitutes for most people "a trial" and therefore "they must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity," avoiding "all signs of unjust discrimination." These people are called "if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition."

Finally, the compendium of the Church's faith states that "homosexual people are called to chastity" and are encouraged to "by the virtues of self-mastery" with the support of disinterested friendship, prayer, and sacramental grace "to gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection."

After the nun's response, the host of the program stated that Caram ought to be pope, to which she replied: "No. With Francisco we are very well. We have the best pope in history."

When asked by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, sources at the Order of Preachers in Spain explained that "the friars of Spain do not have any type of legal or canonical authority over the sisters" and that they understand that "Sister Lucía's opinions or her statements are not in the name of the order; they are personal."

In 2017, Caram sparked another controversy on a television program by questioning a principal dogma about Mary, the Mother of God. The sister said she understands that it is "very difficult to believe, to adhere to the issue of Mary's virginity."

Furthermore, the Dominican stated on that occasion that the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph had the relationship of a "normal couple," which involved "having sex and having the normal relationship of a couple."

On that occasion, the federation of Dominican nuns of the Immaculate Conception, which encampasses monasteries from Spain, Argentina, and Chile, said in a statement that "her status as a contemplative Dominican is not compatible with her activity in the communications media especially in those where the most sacred truths of our Catholic faith are denied and ridiculed."

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 22, 2023 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

Two civil society organizations have launched a mobile unit traveling the main streets of Mexico City with the message "Classrooms are for learning, not for indoctrination!" in order to make known "society's complaint due to the illegal indoctrination promoted by the federal government."

The campaign, led by the National Union of Parents (UNPF) and the CitizenGO platform, demands that educational institutions stop using the controversial school textbooks developed for the 2023-2024 school year by the Mexican government under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The organizations maintain that distributing the textbooks was illegal because they were changed without either the parents or the educational community having been consulted about the content as stipulated by Article 48 of the General Law on Education.

The online petition calls out López Obrador for ordering the distribution of the textbooks throughout the country in violation of a judicial order to halt printing the books until the consultation could take place in accordance with the law.

The petition calls the distribution of the textbooks "arbitrary, illegal, and authoritarian."

Furthermore, the UNPF and CitizenGo make the accusation that the educational material has the objective of "forming party members for the [president's] political cause. They don't want to form Mexicans with values or competitive abilities to move Mexico forward," the petition states.

At the kickoff event for the truck, Karla García Escudero, a representative of the National Union of Parents, and Edith Juárez from the Citizen Initiative platform said the truck will travel the streets carrying a message to "demand that our children be the center of scientific education and not a pretext for political, much less ideological, issues."

They also announced that through the CitizenGO platform they are collecting signatures from all those who want to join this cause. "To date, there are more than 118,000 of us compatriots who have freely given our support" through various means.

They stressed that "as long as the federal government and state governments continue to act illegally," parents and citizen organizations will continue "acting together through public complaints, through legal means, and with signature collection campaigns."

"Children are the future of our country and they need to be educated on a scientific basis and not with ideological ideas. That's why we are and will continue to fight together, parents and citizens," the organizers said at a press conference.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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CNA Staff, Sep 22, 2023 / 12:25 pm (CNA).

Following a report that Pope Francis and Vatican officials held a meeting earlier this month to discuss requesting the resignation of Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland, the prelate said on Wednesday he has not been contacted by the Vatican about such matters.

In addition, Strickland said if Pope Francis were to remove him from office he would respect the Holy Father's authority but would not resign if asked. 

"Last week an article was published on a website called 'The Pillar,' and the article alleged that a meeting was held with Pope Francis where some of the members of the Congregation for Bishops recommended that I be encouraged to resign as bishop of Tyler," Strickland said in a Sept. 20 letter to his diocese.

"Let me be clear that I have received no communication from Rome regarding this. At this point it is simply an article discussing supposed leaked information from the Vatican," he added.

"I have said publicly that I cannot resign as bishop of Tyler because that would be me abandoning the flock that I was given charge of by Pope Benedict XVI," he said. 

"I have also said that I will respect the authority of Pope Francis if he removes me from office as bishop of Tyler," he added.

The reported meeting follows a Vatican-directed investigation into Strickland in June called an apostolic visitation, which, according to a source, addressed the firebrand bishop's social media use but also questions related to diocesan management.

Strickland, 64, who has served as bishop of the Diocese of Tyler since 2012, has been outspoken on certain Catholic social issues such as abortion and gender ideology. 

He has also been critical of Pope Francis, saying in a May Tweet that he rejects "his program of undermining the Deposit of Faith."

Strickland's statement on Wednesday marks his first public response following a Sept. 11 article by The Pillar, which, citing anonymous sources, reported that Pope Francis was to be presented with the findings of the apostolic visitation and would be encouraged to request the Tyler bishop's resignation.

Strickland said he has not been contacted by any Church official since the apostolic visitation. He added that he wasn't given a reason for why the visitation occurred and hasn't received a report from the investigation. 

Strickland said he is grateful for the support and prayers that many have expressed.

"I continue to love serving as your shepherd and thankfully during all of this I have been able to visit many of your parishes and celebrate our Catholic faith with you," he said. 

Strickland said he is "blessed" in his prayer life and feels "very close" to Christ, and supported by the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints.

"I am at peace with whatever the Lord's call for me is; let us continue to pray for Pope Francis, the Church, and the Diocese of Tyler that we call home," he said. 

In a July podcast, Strickland said that the apostolic visitation was "not fun" and added that the Vatican's delegates were "looking at everything."

The bishop compared it to "being called to the principal's office."

"It's not something that I would volunteer for, to go through an apostolic visitation," he said. "It kind of puts a shadow over the diocese."

"There have been some administrative issues, and I'm sure people are concerned," he said. "I'm sure there are people saying that there must be something really bad, and something's really gone wrong for this apostolic visitation [to happen]."

"I've got nothing to hide," he said in an excerpt of the podcast posted to YouTube.

Crediting God and the Catholic faithful, Strickland said the diocese is in good financial condition.

He said he thinks he was subject to the visitation "because I've been bold enough and loved the Lord enough and his Church, simply preaching the truth."

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ACI Africa, Sep 22, 2023 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

Father Paul Sanogo and seminarian Melchior Maharini, who were kidnapped from their Missionaries of Africa community in Nigeria's Catholic Diocese of Minna, came back to the community on Aug. 23 weary, traumatized, and sick.

The two had spent three weeks in captivity, where they were flogged almost daily, made to sleep on rocks out in the open, and forced to walk for miles barefoot as their kidnappers moved from spot to spot in the forest they were taken to following their Aug. 3 abduction.

When they spoke to ACI Africa on Sept. 1, about a week after their release, the two said the trauma they experienced during their captivity was a blessing, as it had strengthened their faith.

"When the men took us, I had so much fear in my heart, thinking of the worst that could happen to us. I couldn't stop praying. And as time went by, I felt my faith grow stronger. I accepted my situation and surrendered everything to God," Maharini, a native of Tanzania, said.

He added: "I thought about the suffering that our fathers, the early Missionaries of Africa, endured at the start of our congregation in Africa. Many died, but those who survived didn't give up on the mission. While I was taken captive, I made a firm decision never to give up on my mission. For me, it is forward ever, backward never!"

Sanogo, a native of Mali, reiterated Maharini's sentiments, adding: "What we have is faith built on persecution. Everything I experienced while in captivity is what priesthood entails. Jesus himself tells us that he is sending us out like sheep among wolves. We leave our homes not knowing what will happen to our lives."

"What we went through is nothing compared to the passion of Jesus. I found great joy uniting my pain with the passion of Jesus," the priest said.

Sanogo and Maharini remember being taken away at about 11 p.m. on the day of captivity by a gang of 12 men who broke into their community in Gyadna village in Nigeria's Niger State.

"There were five of us in the house and we were just going to bed. The incident happened very fast. First, we heard gunshots and in a matter of minutes, the men had already broken into the house. Three of our brothers managed to escape and the two of us were taken," Maharini recalled. "We were taken away barefoot and in our sleepwear. We didn't have any other clothes for the whole time we stayed in captivity."

The two remember walking for more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) and finding themselves in the middle of a thick forest the following day at 6 a.m.

In the forest were seven other people who had been taken captive, Sanogo said. "We never interacted with the other captives as they were released much sooner."

"The men wanted money from us. We kept saying that we didn't have any money. That infuriated them and they constantly beat us. We were in a very big forest and there were no villages nearby. They would give us something to eat and we slept on rocks and on the grass in the open," said Sanogo, who has been in Nigeria for only a year and a half.

"We were their slaves," Maharini added, "and having no freedom, not having the slightest idea of what they would do to us was troubling at first. We were very happy when one day they told us, 'You are free. You may go back home.'"

Back at the community, the two found a festive mood. News had been spread across the congregation and to their families that their sons were alive and had regained freedom.

When Sanogo and Maharini spoke to ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, on Sept. 1, they were preparing to travel to their respective countries to spend some days with their families.

The two expressed gratitude to their congregation for working tirelessly to secure their release and the people of God who prayed for them while in captivity.

They said that they had forgiven their abductors and were praying for their conversion.

"I started praying for the men who abducted us on the day they took us. I kept praying for their conversion so that they may one day realize that what they are doing is not right. I also forgave them a long time ago," Maharini said.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=270855&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

CNA Newsroom, Sep 22, 2023 / 13:42 pm (CNA).

The Vatican on Sept. 21 released the final list of names of those participating in the upcoming Synod on Synodality assembly in October, including laypeople who will be full voting delegates at a Catholic Church synod for the first time.

The delegates are made up of representatives selected by bishops' conferences and Eastern Catholic Churches, leaders in the Roman Curia, and 120 delegates personally selected by Pope Francis.

In total, 363 people will be able to vote in the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, according to statistics released by the Holy See Press Office on July 7. Among them, 54 of the voting delegates are women.

In addition to the voting members, 75 other participants have been invited to the synod assembly to act as facilitators, experts, or spiritual assistants.

Here is full list of participants:

President 

Pope Francis 

General Secretary 

Cardinal Mario Grech of Malta

President's Delegates

His Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, Patriarch of Alexandria, head of the Synod of The Coptic Catholic Church, Egypt

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, archbishop of Mexico City, Mexico 

Archbishop Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, OFM, of Guayaquil, Ecuador

Archbishop Timothy John Costelloe, SDB, of Perth, Australia

Bishop Daniel Ernest Flores of Brownsville, Texas, USA 

Bishop Lúcio Andrice Muandula of Xai-Xai, Mozambique

Father Giuseppe Bonfrate, Italy

Sister Maria De Los Dolores Palencia, CSJ, Mexico

Momoko Nishimura, SEMD, Japan

General Relator

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, archbishop of Luxembourg

Special Secretaries

Father Giacomo Costa, SJ, Italy, president of Fondazione Culturale San Fedele of Milan, national spiritual companion of the Italian Christian Workers Associations 

Father Riccardo Battocchio, Italy, rector of the Almo Collegio Capranica, president of the Italian Theological Association

Commission for Information 

President: Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Vatican City 

Secretary: Sheila Leocádia Pires, communications officer, Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC), Mozambique

From the Eastern Catholic Churches

His Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, Coptic Church Patriarch of Alexandria, head of the Synod of the Coptic Catholic Church

His Beatitude Youssef Absi, patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites, head of the Synod of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church

His Beatitude Ignace Youssef Iii Younan, patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians, head of the Synod of the Syrian Catholic Church

Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, OMM, patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, head of the Synod of the Maronite Church

Bishop Mounir Khairallah of Batrun of the Maronites

Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, head of the Synod of the Chaldean Church

His Beatitude Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, ICPB, patriarch of Cilicia of Armenians, head of the Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church

His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, Kyiv, head of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Bishop Teodor Martynyuk, MSU, Titular Bishop of Mopta, auxiliary bishop of Ternopil-Zboriv

Monsignor Bohdan Dzyurakh, CSSR, Apostolic Exarch of Germany and Scandinavia, titular bishop of Vagada

Cardinal George Alencherry, major archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, head of the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church

Metropolitan Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, president of the Catholic bishops' conference of India

Archbishop Joseph Pamplany of Tellicherry, India

His Beatitude Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, head of the Synod of the Syro-Malankara Church

Bishop Cristian Dumitru Crisan, titular bishop of Abula, auxiliary bishop of Fagaras Si Alba Iulia Dei Romanians

Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, metropolitan archbishop of Addis Abeba, president of the Ethiopian and Eritrean bishops' conference, president of the Council of the Ethiopian Church

Metropolitan Archbishop William Charles Skurla of the Byzantine Archeparchy of Pittsburgh, president of the Council of the Ruthenian Church  

Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, auxiliary bishop of Bratislava, Slovakia

Metropolitan Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam of Asmara, president of the Council of the Eritrean Church 

Metropolitan Archbishop Fülöp Kocsis of Hajdúdorog for the Byzantine Catholics, president of the Council of the Hungarian Church 

Episcopal Conferences 

Africa

Northern Africa (CERNA)

Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, SDB, archbishop of Rabat, Morocco

Angola and Sao Tome

Bishop Joaquim Nhanganga Tyombe of of Uíje, Angola

Benin

Archbishop Coffi Roger Anoumou, bishop of Lokossa

Botswana, South Africa, and Eswatini

Archbishop Anton Dabula Mpako, archbishop of Pretoria, military ordinary of South Africa

Burkina Faso and Niger

Archbishop Gabriel Sayaogo of Koupéla, Burkina Faso

Burundi

Archbishop Georges Bizimana, bishop of Ngozi

Cameroon

Archbishop Emmanuel Dassi Youfang of Bafia

Bishop Philippe Alain Mbarga of Ebolowa

Chad

Bishop Nicolas Nadji Bab of Laï

Republic of Congo

Bishop Ildevert Mathurin Mouanga of Kinkala

Democratic Republic of Congo

Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani

Bishop Pierre-Célestin Tshitoko Mamba of Luebo

Côte D'ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Archbishop Marcellin Kouadio Yao of Daloa

Ethiopia

Archbishop Markos Ghebremedhin, CM, apostolic vicar of Jimma-Bonga, titular bishop of Gummi of Proconsulari

Gabon

Archbishop Jean-Patrick Iba-Ba of Libreville

Gambia and Sierra Leone

Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown, Sierra Leone

Ghana

Bishop Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD, of Ho

Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle of Cape Coast

Guinea

Archbishop Vincent Coulibaly of Conarkry

Equatorial Guinea

Bishop Juan Domingo-Beka Esono Ayang, CMF, of Mongomo, president of the Episcopal Conference

Kenya

Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde of Mombasa, president of the Episcopal Conference

Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Nyeri

Lesotho

Bishop John Joale Tlhomola, SCP, of Mohale's Hoek

Liberia

Bishop Anthony Fallah Borwah of Gbarnga

Madagascar

Auxiliary Bishop Jean Pascal Andriantsoavina of Antananavarivo, titular bishop of Zallata

Malawi

Archbishop George Desmond Tambala, OCD, of Lilongwe, apostolic administrator of Zomba

Mali

Bishop Hassa Florent Koné of San

Mozambique

Archbishop Inácio Saure, IMC, of Nampula

Namibia

Archbishop Liborius Ndumbukuti Nashenda, OMI, of Windhoek

Nigeria

Bishop Donatus Aihmiosion Ogun, OSA, of Uromi

Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Abuja

Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri

Indian Ocean (CEDOI)

Bishop Alain Harel of Port Victoria

Central African Republic

Bishop Nestor-Désiré Nongo-Aziagbia, SMA, of Bossangoa

Rwanda

Bishop Edouard Sinayobye of Cyangugu

Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau

Bishop Ildo Augusto Dos Santos Lopes Fortes of Mindelo, Cape Verde

Sudan

Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba, South Sudan

Tanzania

Archbishop Jude Thaddaeus Ruwa'ichi, OFM Cap, of Dar-Es-Salaam

Bishop Flavian Kassala of Geita

Togo

Bishop Dominique Banlène Guigbile of Dapaong

Uganda

Bishop Sanctus Lino Wanok of Lira

Zambia

Archbishop Ignatius Chama of Kasama

Zimbabwe

Bishop Raphael Macebo Mabuza Ncube of Hwange

Americas

Antilles

Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon of Porto of Spain

Argentina

Bishop Óscar Vicente Ojea of San Isidro

Archbishop Marcelo Daniel Colombo of Mendoza

Archbishop Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa, OP, of Bahía Blanca

Bolivia

Bishop Pedro Luis Fuentes Valencia, CP, of La Paz, Titular Bishop of Temuniana

Brazil

Bishop Joel Portella Amado of São Sebastião do Rio De Janeiro, titular bishop of Carmeiano

Bishop Pedro Carlos Cipollini of Santo André

Cardinal Paulo Cezar Costa of Brasília

Archbishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, OFM, of Manaus

Bishop Dirceu De Oliveira Medeiros of Camaçari

Canada

Bishop Marc Pelchat of Québec, titular bishop of Lambesi

Bishop Raymond Poisson of Saint-Jérôme-Mont-Laurier

Archbishop John Michael Miller, CSB, of Vancouver

Bishop William Terrence Mcgrattan of Calgary

Chile

Archbishop Luis Fernando Ramos Pérez of Puerto Montt

Bishop Carlos Alberto Godoy Labraña of Santiago de Chile, titular bishop of Pudenziana

Colombia

Archbishop Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Bogotá

Archbishop Ricardo Antonio Tobón Restrepo of Medellín

Archbishop José Miguel Gómez Rodríguez of Manizales

Costa Rica

Bishop Javier Gerardo Román Arias of Limón

Cuba

Bishop Marcos Pirán of Holguín, titular bishop of Boseta

Ecuador

Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, OFM, of Guayaquil

Bishop David Israel De La Torre Altamirano, SsCc, of Quito, titular bishop of Bagai

El Salvador

Bishop William Ernesto Iraheta Rivera of Santiago De María

Guatemala

Bishop Juan Manuel Cuá Ajacúm of Los Altos, titular bishop of Rosella

Haiti

Archbishop Launay Saturné of Cap-Haïtie, president of the episcopal conference

Honduras

Archbishop José Vicente Nácher Tatay, CM, of Tegucigalpa

Mexico

Bishop Gerardo Díaz Vázquez of Tacámbaro

Bishop Oscar Efraín Tamez Villarreal of Ciudad Victoria

Archbishop Faustino Armendáriz Jiménez of Durango

Bishop Adolfo Miguel Castaño Fonseca of Azcapotzalco

Nicaragua

Bishop Sócrates René Sándigo Jirón of León 

Panama

Bishop Edgardo Cedeño Muñoz, SVD, of Penonomé

Paraguay

Bishop Miguel Ángel Cabello Almada of Concepción En Paraguay

Peru

Archbishop Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, OFM, of Trujillo

Bishop Edinson Edgardo Farfán Córdova, OSA, Bishop Prelate of Chuquibambilla

Cardinal Archbishop Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, SJ, of Huancayo

Puerto Rico

Bishop Rubén Antonio González Medina, CMF, of Ponce

Dominican Republic

Bishop Ramón Alfredo De La Cruz Baldera of San Francisco De Macorís

United States of America

Bishop Timothy Broglio, military ordinary of the United States of America

Bishop Daniel Ernest Flores of Brownsville, Texas

Bishop Robert Emmet Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota

Bishop Kevin Carl Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana

Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, archbishop of New York

Uruguay

Bishop Milton Luis Tróccoli Cebedio of Maldonado-Punta Del Este-Minas

Venezuela

Bishop Juan Carlos Bravo Salazar of Petare

Archbishop José Luis Azuaje Ayala of Maracaibo

Asia

Central Asia 

Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, IMC, Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Bangladesh

Archbishop Bejoy Nicephorus D'cruze, OMI, of Dhaka

China (Chinese Regional Bishops' Conference)

Bishop Norbert Pu of Kiayi, Taiwan

Korea

Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-Taick, OCD, of Seoul

Philippines

Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David of Kalookan

Cardinal Archbishop Jose F. Advincula of Manila

Bishop Mylo Hubert C. Vergara of Pasig

Japan 

Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD, of Tokyo

India (CCBI)

Cardinal Filipe Neri António Sebastião Do Rosário Ferrão, archbishop of Goa and Damão

Archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras and Mylapore

Bishop Alex Joseph Vadakumthala of Kannur

Cardinal Anthony Poola, Archbishop of Hyderabad

Indonesia

Bishop Antonius Subianto Bunjamin, OSC, of Bandung

Bishop Adrianus Sunarko, OFM, of Pangkalpinang

Iran

Archbishop Dominique Mathieu, OFM Conv, of Tehran-Ispahan of the Latins

Laos and Cambodia

Father Enrique Figaredo Alvargonzalez, SJ, Apostolic Prefect of Battambang, Cambodia 

Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei

Cardinal William Seng Chye Goh, archbishop of Singapore

Myanmar

Bishop John Saw Yaw Han of Kengtung

Arab countries

Monsignor Paolo Martinelli, OFM Cap, apostolic vicar of South Arabia

Pakistan

Monsignor Khalid Rehmat, OFM Cap, apostolic vicar of Quetta

Sri Lanka

Bishop Raymond Kingsley Wickramasinghe of Galle

Thailand

Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, archbishop of Bangkok

East Timor

Cardinal Virgilio Do Carmo Da Silva, SDB, archbishop of Díli

Vietnam

Bishop Joseph Ðo Manh Hùng of Phan Thiêt

Bishop Louis Nguyên Anh Tuán of Hà Tinh

Europe 

Albania

Archbishop Arjan Dodaj, FDC, of Tiranë-Durrës

Austria

Archbishop Franz Lackner, OFM, of Salzburg

Belgium

Bishop Koenraad Vanhoutte of Mechelen-Brussels, titular bishop of Tagora

Belarus

Bishop Aliaksandr Yasheuski, SDB, of Minsk-Mohilev, titular bishop of Fornos Major

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bishop Marko Semren, OFM, of Banja Luka, titular bishop of Abaradira

Bulgaria

Bishop Strahil Veselinov Kavalenov of Nicopolis

The Czech Republic 

Bishop Zdenek Wasserbauer of Praha, titular bishop of Butrint

International Episcopal Conference of Sts. Cyril and Methodius

Archbishop Ladislav Nemet, SVD, of Beograd, Serbia, president of the episcopal conference

Croatia

Bishop Ivan Curic, Auxiliary of Ðakovo-Osijek, titular bishop of Tela

Russian Federation

Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, FSCB, of Mother of God in Moscow

France

Bishop Alexandre Joly of Troyes

Bishop Jean-Marc Eychenne of Grenoble-Vienne

Bishop Matthieu Rougé of Nanterre

Bishop Benoît Bertrand of Mende

Germany

Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg

Bishop Bertram Johannes Meier of Augsburg

Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen, military ordinary for the Federal Republic of Germany

Great Britain (England and Wales)

Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark

Bishop Marcus Stock of Leeds

Great Britain (Scotland)

Bishop Brian Mcgee of Argyll and the Isles

Greece

Archbishop Georgios Altouvas of Corfu, Zakynthos, and Kefalonia

Ireland

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick

Bishop Alexander Aloysius McGuckian, SJ, of Raphoe

Italy

Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin, bishop of Susa

Bishop Franco Giulio Brambilla of Novara

Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto

Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples

Archbishop Mario Enrico Delpini of Milan

Latvia

Archbishop Zbignev Stankevics of Riga

Lithuania

Bishop Algirdas Jurevicius of Telšiai

Malta

Archbishop Charles Jude Scicluna of Malta

Netherlands

Bishop Theodorus Cornelis Maria Hoogenboom of Utrecht, titular bishop of Bistue

Poland

Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan

Archbishop Adrian Józef Galbas, SAC, coadjutor archbishop of Katowice

Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski of Kraków

Portugal

Bishop Virgílio do Nascimento Antunes of Coimbra

Bishop José Ornelas Carvalho, SCI, of Leiria-Fátima

Romania

Archbishop Gergely Kovács of Alba Iulia, apostolic administrator, Ad Nutum Sanctæ Sedis of the Ordinariate for Catholics of the Armenian Rite residing in Romania

Scandinavia

Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of København, Denmark

Slovakia

Bishop Marek Forgác of Košice, Titular Bishop of Seleuciana

Slovenia

Bishop Maksimilijan Matjaž of Celje

Spain

Archbishop Vicente Jiménez Zamora, archbishop emeritus of Zaragoza 

Archbishop Luis Javier Argüello García of Valladolid

Bishop Francisco Simón Conesa Ferrer of Solsona

Switzerland 

Bishop Felix Gmür of Basel

Turkey

Bishop Massimiliano Palinuro, apostolic vicar of Istanbul, apostolic administrator Vacant See of the Apostolic Exarchate of Istanbul 

Ukraine

Bishop Oleksandr Yazlovetskiy of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, titular bishop of Tulana

Hungary

Bishop Gábor Mohos Mohos of Esztergom-Budapest, titular bishop of Iliturgi

Oceania

Australia

Archbishop Patrick Michael O'Regan of Adelaide

Bishop Shane Anthony Mackinlay of Sandhurst

New Zealand

Archbishop Paul Gerard Martin, SM, coadjutor of Wellington

Pacific

Bishop Paul Patrick Donoghue, SM, of Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands

Bishop Dariusz Piotr Kaluza, MSF, of Bougainville

Bishops Without an Episcopal Conference

Europe

Archbishop Selim Jean Sfeir of Cyprus of the Maronites

Presidents of International Meetings of Episcopal Conferences

Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa And Madagascar (SECAM)

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, OFM Cap

Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC)

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, SDB

Federation of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO)

Bishop Antony Randazzo

Council of Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE)

Bishop Gintaras Grušas

Latin American Bishops' Council (CELAM)

Bishop Jaime Spengler, OFM

The Union of Superiors General and the International Union of Superiors General

Sister Mary Theresa Barron, OLA, president of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG)

Sister Elizabeth Mary Davis, RSM

Brother Mark Hilton, SC, superior general of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart

Sister Elysée Izerimana, Op SDN, general councilor of the Working Sisters of the Holy House of Nazareth

Abbot Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, O Cist, abbot general of the Cistercian Order

Sister Patricia Murray, IBVM, executive secretary of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG)

Sister Nirmala Alex Maria Nazareth, AC, superior general of the Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel

Brother Ernesto Sánchez, FMS, superior general of the Marist Brothers 

Father Arturo Sosa, SI, superior general of the Society of Jesus

Father Gebresilasie Tadesse Tesfaye, MCCJ, superior general of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus

Heads of Dicasteries of the Roman Curia

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state

Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, sostituto for the Secretariat of State

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for the Relations with States

Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization 

Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization 

Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, future prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity

Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches

Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect for the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, MCCJ, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue

Archbishop Robert Francis Prevost, OSA, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops

Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-Sik, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy

Cardinal João Braz De Aviz, prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life

Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints

Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity

Cardinal José Tolentino De Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture And Education

Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development

Archbishop Filippo Iannone, O Carm, prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts

Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication

Members nominated by Pope Francis 

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, archbishop of Mexico City, Mexico

Enrique Alarcón García, president of the Christian Fraternity of People with Disabilities of Spain, Spagna

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa De Chinchetru, secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, Vatican City

Cardinal Jeans-Marc Aveline, archbishop of Marseille, France

Father Riccardo Battocchio, rector of the Almo Collegio Capranica in Rome, president of the Italian Theological Association, Italy

Father Giuseppe Bonfrate, Italy

Bishop Dante Gustavo Braida, bishop of La Rioja, Argentina

Sister Simona Brambilla, superior general of the Consolata Missionaries, Italy

Archbishop Erio Castellucci, archbishop of Modena-Nantola-Carpi, Italy

Father Luis Miguel Castillo Gualda, rector of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Valencia, Spain

Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-Yan of Hong Kong, China

Father Giacomo Costa, SJ, president of the San Fedele Cultural Foundation of Milan; national spiritual companion of the Italian Christian Workers' Associations, A.C.L.I., Italy

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, SDB, archbishop of Perth, Australia

Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, USA

Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium

Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo, archbishop of Korhogo, Ivory Coast

Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, OSA, auxiliary bishop of Cuzco, Peru, titular bishop of Ausuccura, secretary general of the Latin American bishops' conference (CELAM)

Archbishop Paul Dennis Etienne, archbishop of Seattle, USA

Cardinal Juan De La Caridad García Rodríguez, archbishop of San Cristóbal de La Habana, Cuba

Bishop Felix Genn, bishop of Münster, Germany

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, D.C., USA

Cardinal Jeans-Claude Hollerich, SI, relator general of the Synod on Synodality, archbishop of Luxembourg

Bishop Nicholas Gilbert Hudson, auxiliary bishop of Westminster, Great Britain

Archbishop Dražen Kutleša, archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia

Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, SJ, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican City

Father James Martin, SJ, USA

Cardinal Robert Walter McElroy, bishop of San Diego, USA

Bishop Marco Mellino, secretary of the Council of Cardinals, Vatican City

Bishop Gjergj Meta, bishop of Rrëshen, Albania

Bishop Lucius Andrew Muandula, bishop of Xai-Xai, Mozambique

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican City

Bishop Antonello Mura, bishop of Nuoro, Italy

Archbishop Robert Christopher Ndlovu, archbishop of Harare, apostolic administrator of Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Bishop Manuel Nin, OSB, apostolic exarch for Byzantine Rite Catholics in Greece, titular bishop of Carcabia, Greece

Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, OFM Cap, archbishop of Boston, USA

Bishop Stefan Oster, SDB, bishop of Passau, Germany

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Bishops, Vatican City

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Vatican City

Bishop Joseph-Csaba Pál, bishop of Timisoara, Romania

Sister Maria De Los Dolores Palencia, CSJ

Sister Samuela Maria Rigon, SSM, superior general of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, Italy

Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, SDB, archivist emeritus of Tegucicalpa, Honduras

Archbishop Angel S. Rossi, SJ, archbishop of Córdoba, Argentina

Father Elias Royón, vicar for consecrated life of the Archdiocese of Madrid, Spain

Archbishop Grzegorz Rys, archbishop of Lodz, Polonia

Cristina Inogés Sanz, theologian, Spain

Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ, director of La Civiltà Cattolica, Italy

Archbishop Joseph Spiteri, apostolic nuncio to Mexico, Mexico

Sister Xiskya Lucia Valladares, Nicaragua, co-founder of Imisión, director of the communication department of the Centro De Enseñanza Superior Alberta Giménez (CESAG), Comillas Pontifical University

Sister María De Fátima Vieira Diniz, SSmoS, superior general of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, Venezuela

Bishop Giuseppe Yang Yongqiang of Zhoucun in the Shandong Province of China

Bishop Giuseppe Yang Yongqiang of Zhoucun in the Shandon Province of China

Bishop Radoslaw Zmitrowicz, OMI, auxiliary bishop of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, Ukraine

From the Continental Assemblies (also selected by Pope Francis)

Africa

Father Vitalis Chinedu Anaehobi

Father Michel Jean-Paul Guillaud

Sister Ester Maria Lucas, FC

Sister Josée Ngalula, RSA

Norha Kofognotera Nonterah

Father Agbonkhianmeghe Emmanuel Orobator, SI

Sheila Leocádia Pires

Sister Marie Solange Randrianirin, FSP

Sister Solange Sahon Sia, NDC

Father Rafael Simbine Junior

North America

Sami Aoun

Cynthia Bailey Manns

Catherine Clifford

Richard Coll

Chantal Desmarais

Father Ivan Montelongo

Wyatt Olivas

Julia Oseka

Sister Leticia Salazar

Linda Staudt

Latin America

Erika Sally Aldunate Loza

Jesus Alberto Briceño Cherubini

Sister Rosmery Castañeda Montoya

José Manuel De Urquidi Gonzalez

María Cristina Dos Anjos Da Conceição

Sister Gloria Liliana Franco Echeverri, ODN

Sônia Gomes De Oliveira

Father Francisco Gerardo Hernández Rojas

Valeria Karina López

Néstor Esaú Velásquez Téllez

Asia

Vanessa Cheng Siu Wai

Rosalia Minus Cho Cho Tin

Father Joel Casimiro Da Costa Pinto, OFM

Father Clarence Devadass

Father William La Rousse, MM

Father Momoko Nishimura, SEMD

Estela Padilla

Anna Teresa Peter Amandus

Sister Lalitha Thomas, SJT

Father Vimal Tirimanna

Eastern Churches and the Middle East

Adel Abolouh

Father Khalil Alwan, ML

Saad Antti

Sister Houda Fadoul

Sister Caroline Jarjis

Rita Kouroumilian

Caroline Rafaat Awd Narouz

Claire Said

Lina Taschmann

Matthew Thomas

Europe

Aleksander Banka

Geert De Cubber

Giuseppina De Simone

Sister Anne Ferrand

Helena Jeppesen-Spuhler

Sister Anna Mirijam Kaschner, CPS

Father Jan Nowotnik

Oksana Pimenova

Father Luis Manuel Romero Sanchez

Maria Sabov

Oceania

Manuel Beazley

Trudy Dantis

Renée Köhler-Ryan

John Lochowiak

Father Denis Nacorda

Kelly Paget

Sister Mary Angela Perez, RSM

Father Sijeesh Pullenkunnel

Susan Sela

Grace Wrackia

Under-Secretaries of the General Secretariat of the Synod

Bishop Luis Marín De San Martín, OSA, Titular Bishop of Suliana

Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ

Members of the Ordinary Council

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, SDB, archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar

Bishop Jaime Calderón Calderón of Tapachula, Mexico

Cardinal Joseph Coutts, archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan

Archbishop Anthony Colin Fisher, OP, of Sydney, Australia

Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, Cameroon

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India

Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, ISPX, archbishop of Québec, Canada

Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi, CSSp, of Lubango, Angola

Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, CSSp, archbishop of Bangui, Central African Republic

Cardinal Juan José Omella Omella, archbishop of Barcelona, Spain

Cardinal Sérgio Da Rocha, metropolitan archbishop of São Salvador Da Bahia, Brazil

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, OP, archbishop of Wien, Austria, president of the Episcopal Conference of Austria

Cardinal Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, SDB, Archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay

Cardinal Joseph William Tobin, CSsR, archbishop of Newark, USA

His Beatitude Ignace Youssef Iii Younan, Syrian Patriarch of Antioch, head of the Synod of the Syrian Catholic Church, Lebanon

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna, Italy

Special Guests

Father Alois, prior of the Taizé Community, France

Luca Casarini, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Italy

Sister Nadia Coppa, ASC, former president of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG)

Monsignor Severino Dianich, theologian, Italy

Eva Fernández Mateo, Catholic Action

Margaret Karram, Work of Mary-Focolare Movement

Father Hervé Legrand, OP, theologian, France

Monsignor Armando Matteo, secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican City

Father Thomas Schwartz, Germany

Other Participants

Spiritual Assistants

Father Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, OP, Oxford Monastery, Great Britain

Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini, OSB, Monastery of Viboldone, Italy

Referent for the Liturgy

Father Matteo Ferrari, OSB Cam, Della Comunità Di Camaldoli

Experts and Facilitators

Father Dario Vitali, Italy, coordinator of theological experts

Wissam Abdo, Lebanon

Father Adelson Araújo Dos Santos, SI, Brazil

Father Mario Antonelli from Italy

Father Paul Béré, SJ, Burkina Faso

Sister María Luisa Berzosa González, FI, Spain

Monsignor Philippe Bordeyne, France

Monsignor Alphonse Borras, Belgium

Father Andrea Bozzolo, SDB, Italy

Father Pedro Manuel Brassesco, Argentina

Father Agenor Brighenti, Brazil

loy Bueno De La Fuente, Spain

Monsignor Valentino Bulgarelli, Italy

Father Juan Jorge Bytton Arellano, SJ, Peru

Sister Daniela Adriana Cannavina, CMR, Colombia

Sister María Suyapa Cacho Álvarez, Honduras

Father Carlo Casalone, SJ, Italy

Sandra Chaoul, Lebanon

Sister Maria Cimperman, RSCJ, USA

Monsignor Piero Coda, Italy

Professor Eamon Conway, Ireland

Sandie Cornish, Australia

Father Ian Cribb, SJ, Australia

Professor Klára Antonia Csiszár, Romania

Sister Christina Danel, superior general of the Congregation of Xavières, from France

Father Hyacinthe Destivelle, OP, France

Sister Anne Béatrice Faye, CIC, Ivory Coast

Paolo Foglizzo, Italy

Father Carlos Maria Galli, Argentina

Iris Gonzales, Dominican Republic

Eva Gullo from Italy

Father Gaby Alfred Hachem, Lebanon

Sister Philomena Shizue Hirota, MMB, Japan

Austen Ivereigh, Great Britain

Claire Jonard, Belgium

Sister Jolanta Maria Kafka, RMI, Poland

Christina Kheng, Singapore

Leonardo Lima Gorosito, Uruguay

Mauricio Lopez Oropeza, Ecuador

Sister Laurence Loubières, XMCJ, Canada

Professor Rafael Luciani, Venezuela

Father Anthony Makunde, Tanzania

Father Miguel Martin, SJ, Brazil

Father David Mc Callum, SJ, USA

Father Vito Mignozzi, Italy

Sister Paola Nelemta Ngarndiguimal, SPC, Chad

Susan Pascoe, Australia

Father Asaeli Raass, SVD, Fiji Islands

Sister Yvonne Reungoat, FMA, France

Father Gilles Routhier, Canada

Anna Rowlands, Great Britain

Father Ormond Rush, Australia

Father José San Jose Prisco, Spain

Monsignor Pierangelo Sequeri, Italy

Thomas Söding, Germany

Andrew Spiteri from Australia

Sister Nicoletta Vittoria Spezzati, ASC, Italy

Péter Szabó from Hungary

Father Christoph Theobald, SI, France

Erica Tossani, Italy

Monsignor Juan Fernando Usma Gómez, Colombia

Myriam Wijlens, Holland

General Secretariat of the Synod

Father Justo Ariel Beramendi Orellana

Thierry Bonaventura, Communication Manager

Father Pasquale Bua

Pietro Camilli

Alfonso Salvatore Cauteruccio

Andrea Cimino

Karina Fujisawa Simonetti

Tanyja George, MId

Father Ambrogio Ivan Samus

Noemi Sanches

Monsignor Tomasz Trafny

Federica Vivian

Paola Volterra Toppano

Pedro Paulo Oliveira Weizenmann

Sister Marie-Kolbe Zamora, OSF

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=270854&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

CNA Staff, Sep 22, 2023 / 14:33 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Friday entrusted a meeting of Mediterranean bishops and youth to the Virgin Mary during the first appointment of a two-day trip to Marseille, France.

After landing in the historic port city Sept. 22, the pope made his way to the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde, or the Basilica of Our Lady of the Guard, to ask for the intercession of Mary together with local priests, deacons, and religious.

The 19th-century basilica sits on the foundations of an ancient fort on a 489-foot limestone outcropping, the highest point of the city in southern France. Before the basilica, there was a medieval chapel on the same site.

Pope Francis is in Marseille to participate in the Mediterranean Encounter, the "Rencontres Méditerranéennes" — a gathering of some 120 young people of various creeds with bishops from 30 countries. The encounter is a "cultural festival" drawing together associations and groups committed to dialogue and ecological issues. 

"We place under [Mary's] mantle the fruit of the Rencontres Méditerranéennes, together with the expectations and hopes of your hearts," the pope told clergy at the basilica Sept. 22.

The pope will join in the Mediterranean Encounter on the morning of Sept. 23.

Francis' 27-hour trip will include an address to religious leaders, a private encounter with the poor, and the celebration of Mass. He will also meet with France's President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.

The last pope to visit Marseille was Clement VII in 1533. 

Father Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, also visited the city and the Basilica of Notre Dame de La Garde when he was a young priest studying in Rome.

Pope Francis said he is "in the company of great pilgrims" who have visited the basilica, such as Pope John Paul II, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, and St. Charles de Foucauld. 

"In the biblical reading, the prophet Zephaniah exhorted us to joy and confidence, reminding us that the Lord our God is not far away, he is here, near to us, in order to save us," the pope said.

"In a way, this message reminds us of the history of this basilica and what it represents," he continued. "In fact, it was not founded in memory of a miracle or a particular apparition, but simply because, since the 13th century, the holy people of God have sought and found here, on the hill of La Garde, the presence of the Lord through the eyes of his holy Mother."

"That is why, for centuries, the people of Marseille — especially those who navigate the waves of the Mediterranean — have been coming up here to pray," he said.

Francis encouraged the 119 priests of the Archdiocese of Marseille, which serves approximately 742,000 Catholics, to take Mary and her gaze as an example for their priesthood.

"Even with all the many daily concerns, I beg you, do not detract from the warmth of God's paternal and maternal gaze," he said. "It is marvelous to generously dispense his forgiveness, that is, to always, always, loosen the chains of sin through grace and free people from those obstacles, regrets, grudges, and fears against which they cannot prevail alone."

He reminded the priests of the beauty and joy of making the sacraments available to people in both happy and sad moments, "and of transmitting, in the name of God, unexpected hopes for his consoling presence, healing compassion, and moving tenderness."

"Be close to all, especially the frail and less fortunate, and never let those who suffer lack your attentive and discreet closeness," he said. "In this way, there will grow in them and also in you the faith that animates the present, the hope that opens to the future, and the charity that lasts forever."

"Like Mary, let us bring the blessing and peace of Jesus everywhere, in every family and heart," Pope Francis said.

Full Article