Month: March 2024

 

SCRANTON — More than any other day of the liturgical year, the Tuesday of Holy Week spiritually draws the hearts and souls of faithful throughout the Diocese of Scranton to the solemn setting of the Cathedral of Saint Peter in downtown Scranton for the celebration of the Pontifical Mass of the Sacred Chrism.

On Tuesday afternoon, March 26, as principal celebrant and homilist for the venerable gathering, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, once again warmly welcomed to the Mother Church of the Diocese the throng of worshippers of all ages who came from the four corners of the 11-county Scranton See to take part in the annual Eucharistic liturgy, so richly concelebrated by the priests serving the Diocese in northeastern and north central Pennsylvania.

The traditional Holy Week observance and gathering of the priests of the Diocese — customarily the largest of its kind each year — celebrates their clerical brotherhood and shared divine vocation.

During the Mass, priests and deacons, along with lay representatives from Diocesan parishes, acknowledge the Bishop’s role as the unifying symbol for Church governance and pastoral guidance.

All of the priests also recommit themselves to their office by renewing the promises they made on the day of their ordination to the priesthood, including their vow of obedience to the Bishop.

“I love coming to this gathering,” said Father John Chmil, pastor of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Swoyersville. “I especially look forward every year to renewing my priestly vows and promises, and the commitment to serve God’s people.”

Echoing similar sentiments was Father Gus Ricciardi, who serves as pastor of Old Forge’s Prince of Peace Parish.

“This Chrism Mass is a wonderful opportunity for us as fellow priests to get together not only for the camaraderie, but in fraternal community to renew our vows in support of each other and with the support of the Bishop,” Father Ricciardi commented.

Holding to ancient tradition, the Mass of the Sacred Chrism is highlighted by the blessing of the Holy Oils used during the conferral of sacraments throughout the Church year. They include the Oil of the Sick, and the Oil of Catechumens, which are used in the celebration of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, the Anointing of the Sick, and the Rites of the Catechumenate.

Father Bob Simon, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Brodheadsville, described the annual Chrism Mass gathering as a “beautiful time for our priests, deacons, and religious brothers to celebrate our ministry in the company of our Bishop.”

He further expressed, “It is also so special because you reflect and think about all the people who will be anointed during the coming year with the sacred oils that will be blessed here tonight.”

Bishop Bambera began his homily by referring to the day’s Chrism Mass as a sign of the unity of God’s people with their bishop and a time when the Church calls everyone to engage in the journey of the sacramental life it offers to all believers.

“Beginning with our first encounter with the Lord at Baptism and continuing with Confirmation, Holy Orders and the Anointing of the Sick, right up to the moment when we prepare for our final journey to meet the Lord, through the use of sacred oils that we bless this day, God’s merciful love is poured forth into our lives,” Bishop Bambera stated.

Addressing his brother priests directly, the Scranton Bishop offered, “Brothers, I thank you for engaging in the hard work of priestly ministry in these challenging times — times that demand a great deal from each of us as we discern how best to continue to serve our people and parishes.”

“Without a doubt, we are richly blessed with generous seminarians who join us today, as well as the presence of so many international priests who minister among us apart from their families, home dioceses and religious communities,” he added.

In his concluding remarks, Bishop Bambera spoke to the faithful of the Diocese of Scranton by saying, “To all my brothers and sisters who make up this local Church, thank you for living your baptism, for embracing the values of the Gospel and for doing your part in building up God’s Kingdom.”

SCRANTON – Holy Week began in parishes across the Diocese of Scranton on March 24 with Palm Sunday Masses.

At the Cathedral of Saint Peter, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, began the 12:15 p.m. liturgy in the Cathedral Prayer Garden, where he blessed the palms and led the faithful on a procession down Wyoming Avenue.

The Bishop began his homily by noting the tension between the “sense of celebration” as the faithful echo the hosannas shouted by the people of Jerusalem as Jesus enters the city and the account of Jesus’ passion and death in the Gospel.

“This tension that permeates today’s liturgy reflects so much of what we experience in life, doesn’t it? We seek peace and harmony in our lives and in our families. Yet, we so often stoke fires of division and alienation,” Bishop Bambera said. “We struggle to do the good, while yielding to self-consumed needs and desires. Most pointedly on this day, we are reminded by the Word of God that the faith we profess with our lips does not always reflect what we profess by our lives.”

Bishop Bambera stressed that by coming into the world, Jesus gave us a way forward.

“The radical humility that Jesus showed in eschewing self-glorification, assuming the role of a selfless servant and embracing His Father’s will, even to the cross, is what we are called to make as our own,” he said. “It is only through our imitation of Jesus’ pattern of living that we will ever discover the means to face the challenges of life with hope and be given a taste of God’s enduring peace.”

As Holy Week began, the Bishop stressed our faith calls us to affirm that God delivers us from the darkness of sin and the “brokenness of our world.”

“Make no mistake; our experience of this Holy Week will not take away the harsh realities of life that we face each day. But our authentic embrace of the example of Jesus’ life and our willingness to care for the lives that God has given to us – even as we bear the crosses laid upon our shoulders – do have the power to open our lives to the mystery of God’s saving grace.”

Bishop Bambera will celebrate the Paschal Triduum at the Cathedral of Saint Peter at these times:

HOLY THURSDAY, MARCH 28

Holy Thursday marks the day on which Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist and the priestly Order and gave us the commandment concerning fraternal charity.
The Pontifical Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which will include the Rite of the Washing of Feet, will begin at 5:30 p.m., with Bishop Bambera serving as the principal celebrant. Following this Mass there will be the transfer of the Most Blessed Sacrament to the place of repose. Adoration will continue until 9:00 p.m. Night Prayer will be celebrated at 9:00 p.m. and broadcast via livestream.

GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 29

The Commemoration of the Passion and Death of the Lord celebrated by Bishop Bambera will begin at 12:10 p.m. In addition, the Stations of the Cross will be prayed at 5:00 p.m. Good Friday is a day of fast and abstinence.

HOLY SATURDAY, MARCH 30

Bishop Bambera will be the principal celebrant and homilist of the Easter Vigil Mass at the Cathedral beginning at 8:00 p.m.

EASTER SUNDAY, MARCH 31

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord is the most joyous day in the Church year. On Easter Day, Bishop Bambera will celebrate a Pontifical Mass at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral.

Additional Masses at the Cathedral during the day will be at 6:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Only Jesus can deliver humanity from hatred and violence, Pope Francis said on Palm Sunday.

“Jesus entered Jerusalem as a humble and peaceful king,” he said in brief remarks after celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square. He prayed that the faithful would open their hearts to the Lord because he alone “can deliver us from animosity, hatred, violence, because he is mercy and the forgiveness of sins.”

On a sunny and windy day, about 60,000 people attended the Mass March 24, which began with a solemn procession of hundreds of people carrying green palm branches followed by about 60 cardinals and bishops, carrying “palmurelli,” pale green palm branches that were woven and braided.

Dressed in red vestments, the color of the Passion, Pope Francis presided over the Mass, the solemn beginning of Holy Week, but he skipped the homily and did not have an aide read any prepared remarks. Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, was the main celebrant at the altar.

The Vatican offered no explanation about why there was no homily. The pope did read brief remarks after praying the Angelus, greeted the cardinals in attendance from his wheelchair, and he rode in the popemobile for about 15 minutes enthusiastically greeting the faithful, waving, gesturing, offering a thumbs up and occasionally calling out remarks to those he saw.

In his brief remarks, he expressed his sorrow over a deadly attack in Moscow March 22 in which more than 130 people were killed inside a crowded concert venue.

He prayed for the victims of this “cowardly terrorist attack” and called for the conversion of the “hearts of those who plan, organize and carry out these inhumane actions that offend God, who commanded, ‘Thou shalt not kill.'”

The pope extended his prayers to all people who suffer because of war, particularly those in Ukraine, “where so many people find themselves without electricity because of intense attacks against the infrastructure that, in addition to causing death and suffering, carry the risk of an even larger humanitarian catastrophe.”

He also asked people not to forget about the people of Gaza who “are suffering so much” and the many other places experiencing war.

MILFORD – With Holy Week now underway, Stations of the Cross are not only being prayed, but reenacted, around the Diocese of Scranton.

Numerous parishes and Diocesan schools have been holding ‘Living Stations of the Cross’ presentations recently, which are opportunities for students to read and act out the Stations in a prayerful and moving way that often incorporates music.

A moving reenactment of Jesus’ Via Dolorosa, or final journey to Calvary, was presented by faith formation students at Saint Patrick Parish in Milford on Friday, March 22, 2024.

“We practiced for three weeks, for about an hour each time,” eighth grader Patrick Fleming said.

Fleming portrayed Jesus this year and found the experience to be a powerful opportunity to reflect on His journey.

“I really understand it fully now,” he said.

Angelica Barcia served as narrator for the second year in a row.

She appreciates participating in the Living Stations because it gives everyone a full understanding of the many things that Jesus had to endure before His death.

“It’s so important for people to realize that He didn’t just die on the cross for our sins,” Barcia said. “He was human and He had all the mental capacities that we do.”

After participating in the presentation for several years now, Barcia says the Stations of the Cross now hit “closer to home.”

“It’s not just a story,” she said. “This helps me visualize and understand exactly what lengths Jesus went through when He died on the cross for us.”

She is often struck by the reactions from the audience.

“I think people understand it better, and emotionally, they have a deeper connection with it,” Barcia added. “You definitely see it in their facial expressions.”

Connor Giblin, a high school sophomore, participated in the program for the first time this year. The presentation also impacted him.

“Going through it, it really makes me appreciate everything He (Jesus) did for us on a whole new level,” he said.

Giblin will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation at the Easter Vigil Mass this year. Participating in the Living Stations allowed him to reflect on Jesus’ journey in preparation of that special day.

“When I sat down and listened to each Station individually and I realized what He had to go through, it was a shock to my core, it sent a chill down my spine,” he said.

Giblin portrayed a soldier, and while not the biggest part, it was certainly meaningful.

“You feel like you’re in the soldier’s position and you realize what they had to put Jesus through. Morally, it feels wrong to me, being in that position, but that really connects me to the scene even more,” he explained.

Other students participating in the Living Stations included: Kaitlin Murphy as Mary, Cristian Caciralli as Simon, Clare Barcia as Veronica, Slawomir Kratochwill as a soldier, and Emersyn Delrio, Selena Dolan, Angelina Giovane and Adele Kahmar as holy women.

The Living Stations reenactment at Saint Patrick Parish was directed by Laurie Barcia of Milford, featured costumes by Michelle Baron, also of Milford, music by the parish’s music ministry, and professional lighting by Micah Sweeney and Kevin Striker. Special prayers were led by Father Joseph Manarchuck, pastor.

The presentation was followed by a “Glow in the Dark” egg hunt in Saint Patrick’s Hall, with pizza provided by the Knights of Columbus.

EYNON – More than two decades after permanently closing its doors, the former Saint Mary of Vilna Church on Third Street was taken down by demolition crews March 13, 2024.

Workers from Stafursky Paving Company began shortly after 8:00 a.m., and after more than four hours of steady and meticulous work, the building was mostly gone by noon.

“We want to remember the history here, the parishioners who built Saint Mary of Vilna, and the many sacraments celebrated here,” Father Ryan Glenn, Pastor, Christ the King Parish in Archbald, said. “We recognize the church as a living organism and this particular site has been closed for more than 20 years.”

The church permanently closed in spring 2001 due to a mold problem after being plagued by moisture and water drainage issues. After final consultation with parish leaders in 2023, a decision was made to bring down the church building.

“This is really an act of being a good neighbor, making sure this building doesn’t cause any harm,” Father Glenn said as he personally observed the demolition. “It is a sign that we’re continuing to move forward as parishes here in the Mid Valley.

During Lent, we’re reminded that something has to die for something new to be born. That is our faith.”

Christ the King Parish – with its worship sites of Saint Thomas Aquinas Church, Archbald, and Saint Mary of Czestochowa Church, Eynon – recently linked with Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish in Jermyn.

Lovey Wargo has lived across the street from Saint Mary Vilna Church since she was nine years old.

As she watched the crews work, her mind filled with many memories, from the baptisms of her five children to previous pastors who had served there.

“I used to help with the collections and I used to help with the flowers,” Wargo explained. “My sister-in-law also fixed anything. When the Sacred Heart (statue’s) fingers were broken, she fixed all that and we repainted every one of them.”

The church plans to retain the land and plant grass at the site.

“That will provide access to the cemetery and we’re hoping that it actually allows easier access to the cemetery, so people can visit their loved ones without the risks and hazards of having the old church on the grounds,” Father Ryan said.

Before moving forward with demolition, Christ the King Parish hired Alicon Environmental, Inc., to do an asbestos survey of the site. As part of its work, the demolition company consulted with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to ensure the work could be completed safely.

One last remaining artifact from the church was retrieved on the day of demolition – the cornerstone that contained a small metal time capsule from more than a century ago.

“We’re very excited to see what’s inside that time capsule and to share the contents with the parish. It’s that living link with the history of the parish,” Father Ryan added.

The container contained a letter and photo from 1915. The photo is believed to be of the former pastor of the church, and the letter, which is mostly intact, is written in either Lithuanian or Latin. The parish is currently working to translate the contents of the letter and will plan to share it with the community.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Just before some 1,500 priests, bishops and cardinals renewed their priestly promises, Pope Francis asked them to embrace “compunction,” which he said was “an aspect of the spiritual life that has been somewhat neglected yet remains essential.”

Looking at its etymology, he said that “compunction is ‘a piercing of the heart’ that is painful and evokes tears of repentance,” but it also is the only path to spiritual growth and to a merciful ministry to others.

Presiding over the chrism Mass March 28 in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis ended his lengthy homily by thanking the priests present and, by extension, those around the world.

“Thank you, dear priests, for your open and docile hearts. Thank you for all your hard work and your tears. Thank you, because you bring the miracle of God’s mercy to our brothers and sisters in today’s world,” he said. “May the Lord console you, strengthen you and reward you.”

Pope Francis preached for more than 20 minutes without apparent difficulty. While he presided over the chrism Mass, which is named after the olive oil mixed with balsam that is blessed during the liturgy, the principal concelebrant at the altar was Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the pope’s vicar for Rome.

The Holy Week Mass was the first major liturgical celebration in the basilica since the towering baldachin over the main altar was wrapped in scaffolding for a 10-month restoration project funded by the Knights of Columbus.

Some 40 cardinals, 40 bishops and 1,500 priests concelebrated the liturgy.

After the homily, the clergy present renewed the promises made to their bishop at their ordinations and pledged to strive to be more united to Christ, “faithful stewards” of the sacraments and zealous pastors of souls.

Twelve deacons then wheeled large silver urns of oil down the center aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica for the pope’s blessing. The blessed oils will be distributed to Rome parishes and used for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick in the coming year.

In his homily, Pope Francis said that compunction is “not a sense of guilt that makes us discouraged or obsessed with our unworthiness, but a beneficial ‘piercing’ that purifies and heals the heart” and often leads to the gift of tears, which are “the holiest waters after those of baptism.”

Christians who feel compunction, he said, “increasingly feel themselves brothers and sisters to all the sinners of the world, setting aside airs of superiority and harsh judgments” and are “filled with a burning desire to show love and make reparation.”

“Dear brother priests, from us, his shepherds, the Lord desires not harshness but love, and tears for those who have strayed,” the pope said. “How greatly we need to be set free from harshness and recrimination, selfishness and ambition, rigidity and frustration, in order to entrust ourselves completely to God and to find in him the calm that shields us from the storms raging all around us.”

In increasingly secular societies, Pope Francis said, priests and other church workers can be tempted to be “hyperactive” and yet feel completely inadequate.

“When that happens, we can become bitter and prickly,” he said. But “if bitterness and compunction are directed not to the world but to our own hearts, the Lord will not fail to visit us and raise us up.”

Compunction, Pope Francis said, should promote “a spirit of repentance,” but one motivated by love for the Lord and certain of the Lord’s love always.

“Let us rediscover our need to cultivate prayer that is not obligatory and functional, but freely chosen, tranquil and prolonged,” he told the priests. “Let us return to adoration and the prayer of the heart. Let us repeat: Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Let us sense God’s grandeur even as we contemplate our own sinfulness and open our hearts to the healing power of his gaze.”

(OSV News) – The pews may be a bit more crowded at Mass this Easter — but on balance, regular church attendance in the U.S. continues to decline across the board, particularly among Catholics.

Gallup poll results released March 25 show that just three in 10 U.S. adults attend religious services regularly, 21% every week and 9% almost every week.

A reported 11% attend religious services about once a month, while 25% seldom and 31% never attend.

The survey was based on cell and landline telephone interviews from a number of Gallup polls conducted in 2021-2023 among 32,445 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Topping the list of the most observant adherents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church), with two-thirds saying they attend church weekly or almost weekly.

Forty-four percent of Protestant and nondenominational Christians attend services regularly, followed by 38% of Muslims and 33% of Catholics.

Gallup said that “majorities of Jewish, Orthodox, Buddhist and Hindu Americans say they seldom or never attend religious services.”

Twenty years ago, “an average of 42% of U.S. adults attended religious services every week or nearly every week,” said Gallup.

The polling firm also observed that “among religious groups, Catholics show one of the larger drops in attendance (over the past two decades), from 45% to 33%, while there are slightly smaller decreases among Orthodox (9 percentage points) and Hindu followers ( 8 points).”

Gallup said the general decline in religious service attendance among U.S. residents “is largely driven by the increase in the percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation — 9% in 2000-2003 versus 21% in 2021-2023 — almost all of whom do not attend services regularly.”

At the same time, “Muslim and Jewish Americans have shown slight increases in religious service attendance over the past two decades,” said Gallup, with the former rising from 34% to 38% and the latter from 15% to 22%.

Gallup predicts that “church attendance will likely continue to decline in the future, given younger Americans’ weaker attachments to religion.”

Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 35% say they have no religious preference or affiliation, with 32% identifying themselves as Protestant and just 19% as Catholic. Regardless of their affiliation or lack thereof, young adults are “much less likely” as a whole to attend religious services, with 22% — eight points below the national average — doing so.

Gallup said the trends it observed in this poll “are consistent with other Gallup indicators of religious beliefs and practices, including the importance of religion to Americans and formal membership in churches and other houses of worship.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Contemplating Christ’s passion should inspire Christians to be more patient in the face of their own suffering and trials, Pope Francis said.

“There is no better witness to the love of Christ than meeting a patient Christian,” Pope Francis said during his general audience March 27, highlighting the many mothers, fathers, workers, doctors, nurses and sick people who “every day, in hiddenness, adorn the world with holy patience.”

“However, we must be honest: We are often lacking in patience,” he said. “In daily life, we are all impatient.”

Three days after raising concerns about his health when he skipped his homily at Palm Sunday Mass, Pope Francis walked across the stage of the Vatican audience hall using a cane and waving to visitors; he read the entirety of his speech without visible signs of difficulty and added off-the-cuff remarks. The audience was scheduled to take place in St. Peter’s Square but was moved indoors due to inclement weather.

In his catechesis, the pope said that the virtue of patience is an “essential vitamin” needed to combat the human instinct to “become impatient and respond to evil with evil.”

Quoting St. Augustine, Pope Francis said that patience entails “knowing how to endure evils.”

The pope then pointed to two men seated in the front row of the audience hall, one Israeli and one Palestinian, who had both lost daughters in violent conflicts; the pope praised them for choosing friendship instead of focusing on “the enmity of war.”

Patience is more than a value that helps one lead a good life, the pope said; it is a countercultural Christian calling.

“If Christ is patient, Christians are called to be patient,” he said, which requires countering today’s fast-paced culture and a widespread mentality of wanting “everything and now.”

“Let us not forget that haste and impatience are enemies of spiritual life,” Pope Francis said. “God is love, and he who loves does not tire, he is not irritable, he does not give ultimatums; God is patient, God knows how to wait.”

During Holy Week, Pope Francis urged Christians to ask the Holy Spirit for the “meek power of patience” and told them to contemplate Christ on the cross to learn from his patience.

“It is precisely in the Passion that there emerges the patience of Christ, who with gentleness and meekness accepts being arrested, beaten and unjustly condemned,” he said. “This is the patience of Jesus.”

The pope encouraged Christians to pray before the crucified Christ and to ask for the grace to put into practice “an act of mercy as well-known as it is neglected: patiently enduring bothersome people.”

Christians should look at people who may annoy them “with compassion, with God’s gaze, knowing how to distinguish their faces from their mistakes,” he said.

“We have the habit of categorizing people by the mistakes they make,” he said. “No, this is not good. Let us look at people by their faces, by their hearts and not by their mistakes.”

Pope Francis ended his audience by praying for peace in Ukraine, where he noted the intense bombings taking place, as well as in Israel and Palestine.

“That the Lord may give peace to all as a gift of his Easter,” he prayed.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Supreme Court heard oral arguments March 26 in a case concerning mifepristone, a pill commonly used for abortion. It is the first major case involving abortion on its docket since the high court overturned its previous abortion precedent in 2022.

A coalition of pro-life opponents of mifepristone, which is the first of two drugs used in a medication or chemical abortion, filed suit over loosened restrictions on the drug by the Food and Drug Administration, which included making it available by mail, arguing the government violated its own safety standards in doing so.

The FDA has argued the drug poses statistically little risk to the mother in the early weeks of pregnancy. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that more than half of the abortions performed in the U.S. are chemical or medical, rather than surgical.

During oral argument, justices from across the court’s ideological spectrum appeared skeptical that the coalition of pro-life doctors challenging the reduced regulations had legal standing to bring the lawsuit, with the question of standing becoming more of a focus than whether the FDA acted lawfully.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett noted the doctors who submitted declarations in the case — Drs. Christina Francis and Ingrid Skop — appeared neither to have participated in such an abortion nor could they demonstrate injury from the FDA. The doctors instead had argued in filings they could potentially treat a woman facing complications from the drug.

“The fact that she (the doctor) performed a D&C does not necessarily mean that there was a living embryo or fetus, because you can have a D&C after a miscarriage,” Barrett said, referring to a procedure called dilation and curettage, which is sometimes performed as abortion but is also sometimes used to treat a miscarriage.

Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar argued that existing federal conscience protections, allowing medical providers to opt out of providing procedures to which they object, protect the doctors in question.

First approved by the FDA in 2000, mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, which maintains proper conditions in the uterus during pregnancy. The drug is paired with misoprostol (initially created to treat gastric ulcers) as part of a chemical regimen for early abortion.

More recently, the same pill combination also has been prescribed to women who experience early pregnancy miscarriage in order to expel any fetal remains and residual pregnancy tissue from the womb. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its protocols to recommend a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol as more effective than misoprostol alone for early miscarriage care based on research published since 2018.

In June 2022, the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and its related precedents that made abortion access a constitutional right. The Dobbs decision returned the matter of regulating or restricting abortion back to the legislature.

Pro-life critics of mifepristone argued that the FDA acted improperly in loosening the regulations surrounding its access, while supporters of the drug claimed it is safe for women and was being targeted for political purposes. Protesters on both sides of the debate gathered outside the Supreme Court during arguments.

Erin Hawley, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom and vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, who argued on behalf of the pro-life doctors before the court, said in a statement, “We should all agree that women deserve the ongoing, in-person care of a doctor when taking high-risk drugs.”

“But in 2016 and 2021, the FDA recklessly removed nearly every safeguard that it had originally deemed necessary for the use of chemical abortion drugs, including in-person doctor visits to check for ectopic pregnancies, severe bleeding, and life-threatening infections,” said Hawley, who also is the wife of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “Without question, the FDA’s actions have made taking chemical abortion drugs less safe for women. Today, I argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of doctors and medical associations who are witnessing firsthand the harm to women caused by the FDA’s recklessness.”

Jeanne Mancini, president of the national March for Life organization, said in a statement, “The FDA’s removal of nearly all safeguards around the dangerous abortion drug mifepristone has needlessly put women and girls at risk for suffering severe – even life-threatening – complications without the ongoing care of a medical provider.”

“We hope the FDA will be held accountable for failing to meet its own standards when it comes to abortion drugs,” she said. “Such reckless disregard for women’s health and safety is unacceptable from an agency tasked with protecting it.”

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Center for Reproductive Rights wrote, “The FDA’s medical and scientific experts should decide what medications are available, NOT politicians or judges.”

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of both Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, wrote on X, “Today, yet again, SCOTUS will hear a case determining our ability to control our bodies and lives. We know (and the Court knows) that the American people do not want abortion to be banned. It’s about control. It always has been.”

But Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, said in a statement, “Abortion is not health care, and no child should experience such violence.”

Bishop Burbidge, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, added, “With dangerous abortion drugs now making up the majority of abortions and increasing in use, we pray that the Supreme Court will restore the Food and Drug Administration’s safeguards for the health of women and protect more preborn children.”

The bishop also added that “a vulnerable mother who obtains an abortion must not be left alone without medical care afterwards.” He asked Catholics to join in prayer until the court issues its decision and “search for ways in your community to help support mothers in need and make abortion unthinkable.”

The USCCB submitted an amicus brief in the case in February.

A ruling in the case is expected by the end of the court’s term, which typically ends in June and would be in the midst of the 2024 presidential campaign.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – For the first time in his 11-year papacy, Pope Francis has chosen to write his own meditations for the Good Friday Way of the Cross service at Rome’s Colosseum, the head of the Vatican press office said.

For the service March 29, Pope Francis has chosen the theme “In prayer with Jesus on the way of the cross,” Matteo Bruni, the press office director, told reporters March 26.

St. John Paul II began a tradition in 1985 of entrusting the writing of the meditations to cardinals and other church personalities, well-known writers or groups of people, including young people and journalists. However, he wrote the reflections himself for the Colosseum ceremony during the Holy Year 2000.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote the meditations for Good Friday 2005, less than a month before being elected Pope Benedict XVI. Throughout his pontificate, though, he entrusted the drafting to different people each year.

The meditations in 2023 focused on the theme, “Voices of peace in a world at war.” Several dicasteries of the Roman Curia formulated the prayers and meditations drawing from comments made at meetings with Pope Francis by people suffering from a lack of peace.

Pope Francis has asked Catholics to observe 2024 as a year of prayer in preparation for the Holy Year 2025.

The choice of “in prayer with Jesus” as the theme for the Way of the Cross, Bruni told reporters, is an indication that it will be “an act of meditation and spirituality with Jesus at the center.”

Vatican News reported the meditations will have fewer direct references to current events than many previous editions had when migrants and refugees, victims of trafficking or people from countries at war helped write or inspired the reflections.

Bruni also told reporters that as of March 26 Pope Francis was still planning on attending the service. However, the weather and the pope’s health will be the deciding factors. Released from the hospital just five days before Good Friday 2023, Pope Francis did not go to the Colosseum.