Month: July 2024

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Heaven is not a secure vault protected from outsiders but a “hidden treasure” that is reached by cultivating virtues, Pope Francis said.

Before praying the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29, the pope reflected on Jesus giving St. Peter, the first pope, the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

“The mission that Jesus entrusts to Peter is not that of barring the doors to the house, permitting entry only to a few select guests, but of helping everyone to find the way to enter, in faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus,” Pope Francis said after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Heaven, he added, is “for everyone. Everyone, everyone, everyone can enter.”

The pope said that St. Peter “received the keys to the kingdom not because he was perfect, no, he is a sinner, but because he was humble, honest and the Father had given him sincere faith.”

Even after many trials and setbacks, the Apostle Peter was the first to experience for himself “the joy and freedom that come from meeting the Lord,” and the first “to understand that authority is a service in order to open the door to Jesus.”

The following day, Pope Francis again appeared in the window of the Apostolic Palace to keep his usual Sunday appointment of praying the Angelus with the faithful. He focused on the Gospel theme of inclusivity by reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Mark in which a woman is healed after touching Jesus’ cloak and a girl is resurrected after Jesus took her by the hand.

Highlighting the importance of physical contact in both healings, the pope asked, “Why is this physical contact important?”

“It is because these two women are considered impure and cannot, therefore, be physically touched — one because she suffers from bleeding and the other because she is dead,” he said. “Yet, Jesus allows Himself to be touched and is not afraid to touch.”

By carrying out the physical healing, Jesus “challenges the false religious belief that God separates the pure, placing them on one side, from the impure on another,” the pope said. “Instead, God does not make this kind of separation because we are all his children.”

He added that impurity “does not come from food, illness, or even death; impurity comes from an impure heart.”

Pope Francis urged Christians to take to heart the lesson from the day’s Gospel reading, that “in the face of bodily and spiritual sufferings, of the wounds our souls bear, of the situations that crush us, and even in the face of sin, God does not keep us at a distance.”

“God is not ashamed of us; God does not judge us,” he said. “On the contrary, He draws near to let Himself be touched and to touch us, and He always raises us from death.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – While Jesus entrusted St. Peter with the keys to the kingdom more than two millennia ago, and his modern-day successor conferred apostolic authority to newly appointed archbishops June 29, it is ultimately God who holds the power to open the church’s doors and lead the Christian community forward in its mission of evangelization, Pope Francis said.

Reflecting on the Apostle Peter’s liberation from prison after an angel opened his cell, the pope said God “is the one who sets us free and opens the way before us” in his homily during Mass for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29.

He noted that the Christians Peter sought out after his liberation did not believe he was knocking at their door, mistaking him for an angel.

“This point is significant: the doors of the prison were opened by the Lord’s strength, but Peter then found it hard to enter the house of the Christian community,” he said. “How many times have communities not learned this wisdom of the need to open the doors!”

Before 33 newly appointed archbishops gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica to receive their palliums — woolen bands worn by archbishops to symbolize their pastoral authority and unity with the pope — Pope Francis underscored the model of St. Paul as one who “discovers the grace of weakness.”

“When we are weak, he tells us, it is then that we are strong, because we no longer rely on ourselves, but on Christ,” the pope said.

Yet he explained that relying on Christ “does not lead to a consoling, inward-looking religiosity like that found in a few movements in the church today,” noting instead that St. Paul’s encounter with God ignited within him “a burning zeal for evangelization.”

Both Sts. Peter and Paul “witnessed first-hand the work of God, who opened the doors of their interior prisons but also the actual prisons into which they were thrown because of the Gospel,” he said, as well as the “doors of evangelization, so they could have the joy of encountering their brothers and sisters in the fledgling communities and bring the hope of the Gospel to all.”

After the entrance procession, deacons brought out the palliums from the tomb of St. Peter for Pope Francis to bless them. The palliums, made from the wool of lambs blessed by the pope on the feast of St. Agnes — who is often depicted with a lamb to symbolize purity — emphasize the role of the archbishop as a pastor who guides and protects his flock.

Pope Francis remained seated during the Mass — Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, was the main celebrant at the altar — but stood during the sign of peace to greet Orthodox Metropolitan Emmanuel Adamakis of Chalcedon, who attended the Mass as part of a delegation from the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople..

The pope invited the metropolitan to sit next to him when he distributed the palliums to the archbishops, who each shook his hand after greeting the pope.

Among the 33 archbishops were Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut, and Archbishop Thomas R. Zinkula of Dubuque, Iowa. Both U.S. archbishops brought members of their families with them to Rome to witness them receive their palliums from the pope.

After the Mass, Archbishop Zinkula told Catholic News Service that receiving the pallium is a “huge symbol” of the archbishops’ unity with the universal church and the pope, which he said is especially important in light of a growing sense of division in the United States at large and the U.S. church.

A member of the North American synod team, Archbishop Zinkula said that discussions on tensions arose in many synod listening sessions throughout the country, and that the responsibility for overcoming such feelings of division fall to the church’s pastors.

“If we’re going to be effective in evangelizing in our increasingly secular culture, we’ve got to be together as a church, and that bishop is at the heart of that,” he said, stressing the need for people to seek refuge in the sacraments and particularly the Eucharist “to heal us and help us grow in our faith and love.”

The archbishop said the church needs to address its own sense of division, but that it should also play a role in “helping to dissipate that larger tension in society.”

Archbishop Coyne also acknowledged increased societal division which “finds its way into the church,” but said that the chair of St. Peter remains as a “symbol of unity” for Catholics, “irregardless of who sits in it.”

As a result, the church’s pastors are called to be “unifiers,” the archbishop told CNS. “People are feeling isolated, that’s why we want to bring them to communion, people are feeling angry and feel they have meaningless lives, that’s why we want to have them know the full meaning of life, which is in Jesus Christ.”

“Everything we do as Christians, especially as Catholics, should never be anything that leads to division, anger,” but rather action that “brings us together as brothers and sisters,” he said.

(OSV News)- Two disappeared Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests seized by Russian forces from their church in Berdyansk in November 2022 have been released after months of captivity, according to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Redemptorist Fathers Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta, who served at the
Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Berdyansk, were among 10 prisoners who have been returned to Ukrainian authorities.

“Thank you to everyone who did everything possible so that we can breathe our own air. It is hard to believe that I am in my native land,” said Father Levitsky after his release, according to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s website.

Zelenskyy announced the news in Ukrainian June 28 on his Facebook page.

“We have managed to free 10 more of our people from Russian captivity, despite all the difficulties,” wrote Zelenskyy, who recognized “the Holy See’s efforts to bring these people home.”

Moments after Zelenskyy’s announcement, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church posted the news on its website, along with images of the two priests taken during their imprisonment by Russia. Both appeared to have lost significant amounts of weight, particularly Father Geleta, and their heads were shaved. The priests gazed directly at the camera, holding up religious medals in their right hands and raising their left thumbs. Father Geleta smiled.

Speaking from Ukraine to OSV News a few hours after the priests’ release, Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, told OSV News, “We still don’t know what kind of condition (they are in) and what kind of trauma they endured.

“We are glad that they’re safe and we hope they can recover from this ordeal,” he said, describing the priests as “confessors of the faith,” an honorific title historically used to describe Christians who have publicly professed Christ amid persecution.

Also freed along with the two priests were Nariman Dzhelyal, deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, who was captured in Crimea in 2021; civilians Olena Piekh and Valeriy Matiushenko, held captive since 2017-2018; and five civilians captured in Belarus: Mykola Shvets, Natalia Zakharenko, Pavlo Kupriienko, Liudmyla Honcharenko and Kateryna Briukhanova.

“All of them are now free and home in Ukraine,” announced Zelenskyy. “We will definitely free all our people.”

The two priests participated in a scheduled June 29 prayer breakfast hosted by Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, said the return — which saw him among those greeting the priests in Kyiv at 2 a.m. on June 29 — was “a very joyful moment, which encourages all of us to continue to pray for all the prisoners, because their fate is very difficult; some of them have been in captivity for several years.”

The archbishop called for “concrete initiatives” to secure additional exchanges, “because every life is precious for all of us, especially in God’s eyes.

Information regarding the whereabouts of Father Levitsky and Father Geleta has been uncertain since their capture. Most recently, the two were thought to be in detention at Russia’s Kalinin Labor Camp in Horlivka, located in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which is currently under Russian occupation.

Earlier in June, Felix Corley of Forum 18 — a news service that partners with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in defending freedom of religion, thought and conscience — told OSV News that information was “the closest I think we’ve come to actually confirming at least where they are.”

The Donetsk Exarchate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, to which the priests belong, told Forum 18 June 3 that it had received no news of the two priests. Previously, Father Levitsky was thought by Yevhen Zakharov of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group to be held in an investigation prison in Russia’s Rostov region, while Father Geleta was believed to be in custody at a separate investigation prison in Russian-occupied Crimea. Father Geleta is known to suffer from an acute form of diabetes.

Both priests had refused to leave their parishioners following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, which continued attacks launched in 2014 against Ukraine. Shortly after Father Levitsky and Father Geleta were captured, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said he had received “the sad news that our priests are being tortured without mercy.

Corley had reported earlier in June that Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s human rights commissioner, claimed on Telegram May 23 that Russia had proposed exchanging two unnamed Catholic priests for two Orthodox priests.

The 47-year-old Father Levitsky and 59-year-old Father Geleta are the only two Catholic priests known to be in Russian detention, said Corley.

Moskalkova — who has been sanctioned by several nations, including the U.S. — said in her Telegram post that “Ukraine, for absolutely unknown reasons, did not agree to such an exchange.”

Major Archbishop Shevchuk had repeatedly called for the release of the two priests, and has echoed Pope Francis’ pleas for an “all-for-all” prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.

“I recently visited the Catholic priests in their place of detention and made sure that the conditions corresponded to international standards,” Moskalkova claimed, without indicating the date and location of the alleged meeting. “On their part, only one request was made, to see their family and friends as quickly as possible.”

“We had heard rumors before that at least one of them was there in that camp,” Corley told OSV News. “So it does seem to me that that’s the most likely place where they were, at least at the beginning of May, when (Moskalkova) was there.”

He noted that Moskalkova was in occupied Donetsk May 3 and visited Horlivka with the Russian-appointed human rights official for the region, Darya Morozova. Corley’s May 30 written inquiries to the offices of both Moskalkova and Morozova, asking to confirm the location and condition of the two priests, have yet to receive a response.

Father Andriy Buchvak, chancellor of the Donetsk Exarchate, had told Forum 18 his office had no confirmation that Moskalkova had in fact visited the priests, but said that her reference to them was a “good sign” they had remained alive after 18 months in captivity.

Corley also noted on the Forum 18 website that Father Levitsky and Father Geleta had “appear(ed) to be facing criminal trial, under false charges related to weapons, explosives, and allegedly ‘extremist’ texts the Russian occupation forces claim to have found” in their Berdyansk church.

Even the attempt to charge the priests under Russia’s criminal code is a breach of international law, Corley told OSV News.

“The international community recognizes these territories as occupied and you can’t impose new laws on occupied territory. You’re supposed to leave the laws that pre-existed in force,” said Corley, pointing to the Geneva Conventions. “It seems that in the case of two Greek Catholic priests, they’re going to bring them to trial under the Russian criminal code. … (but) if they are to bring them to trial, it should be under the Ukrainian criminal code (for) anything that they’ve done which was against Ukrainian law.”

In addition, said Corley, those who have been “jailed by the Russians in (occupied) Crimea and other places … (are) normally transferred to prisons in Russia to serve their sentences, and again, that would be against the Geneva Conventions.”

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention specifically bans deportations, transfers and evacuations from occupied territory, while Article 76 states that “protected persons accused of offenses shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein.”

Numerous substantiated accounts of torture during Russian detention also violate the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Russia ratified in 1987, and which requires those who engage in torture to be punished, said Corley.

As part of a broader crackdown on a number of religious communities in Ukraine, Russian occupation authorities are also planning to try Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) priest Father Kostiantyn Maksimov on charges of “espionage,” Corley noted. The 41-year-old priest, who was seized by Russian occupation forces in May 2023, faces a prison term of 10 to 12 years if convicted.

Father Stepan Podolchak, a priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, was captured Feb. 13 in Russian-occupied Kherson, taken from his home for while barefoot, with a bag over his head, according to Corley. The priest’s body, bearing bruises and a possible bullet wound to the head, was found on the street of his village, Kalanchak, two days later.

A Protestant woman in her early 50s has been under arrest by Russian forces since early 2024 for remarks “apparently related to Ukraine” during “a meeting at a private house,” said Corley, who noted that the woman — who remains unnamed since “publicity could … make her situation worse” may be facing criminal trial under Russian occupation officials.

Muslim clergy have also been subjected to duress and torture, Corley reported.

In December, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, or UGCC, announced it had obtained a copy of an order signed a year earlier by Yevgeny Balitsky, the Kremlin-installed head of the occupied Zaporizhzhia’s military-civil administration, declaring that the church had been banned and its property was to be transferred to his administration. Also banned by the order were the Knights of Columbus and Caritas, the official humanitarian arm of the worldwide Catholic Church.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis said he truly hopes to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in Turkey in 2025.

“It is my hope that the commemoration of this highly significant event will inspire all believers in Christ the Lord to testify together to their faith and their desire for greater communion,” he told a delegation of Orthodox leaders during a meeting at the Vatican June 28.

The delegation representing the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was in Rome for the June 29 feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The pope thanked the group for Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s invitation to celebrate the anniversary “near the place where the council met. It is a trip that I truly wish to make.”

Pope Francis, likewise, invited the delegation and the faithful they represent to come to Rome for the Holy Year 2025. He asked them to accompany and support “with your prayers this year of grace, so that abundant spiritual fruits may not be lacking. It would also be very nice to have you present.”

“Dialogue between our churches poses no risk to the integrity of the faith; rather, it is a necessity arising from our fidelity to the Lord and leading us to the whole truth through an exchange of gifts and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,” he said.

He encouraged the work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, “which has embarked on the study of delicate historical and theological issues.”

“It is my hope that the pastors and theologians engaged in this process will go beyond purely academic disputes and listen with docility to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the life of the church. And, at the same time, that what has already been studied and agreed upon will find full reception in our communities and places of formation,” he said.

“There will always and everywhere be resistance to this, but we must move forward with courage,” the pope added.

The council, which began meeting in May 325, gave birth to the Nicene Creed, affirmed the full divinity of Christ and set a formula for determining the date of Easter. The city of Nicaea is known today as Iznik.

(OSV News) – With less than a month to go, more than 40,000 Catholics have registered for the National Eucharistic Congress, the pinnacle of the U.S. bishops’ National Eucharistic Revival. Organizers expect the July 17-21 congress, held in Indianapolis, to be a watershed moment, igniting American Catholics’ belief in and devotion to Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist. Here are six things to expect:

1. Lots of people.

As of late June, around 40,000 people had registered for the congress’s five-day pass, with thousands more signed up for single-day passes. That puts the congress’s attendance, especially for its weekend events, close to Lucas Oil Stadium’s 45,000-person capacity for this style of an event, said Tim Glemkowski, CEO of National Eucharistic Congress, Inc.

With this many people in one space — and the congress events spread over the expanse of the stadium and adjacent Indiana Conference Center — Glemkowski suggested attendees not focus on packing their personal schedules, but rather make time for rest and reflection.

“Take care of your human needs, and don’t try to overdo it,” he said. “Let the Lord lead you through an experience of a day instead of trying to maximize and be sort of everywhere.”

2. Mass, Eucharistic adoration and processions.

The Eucharist is the heart of the congress. The congress kicks off Wednesday evening July 17 with a “revival session” — the first of five, daily gatherings in Lucas Oil Stadium focused on Eucharistic adoration and worship.

Wednesday’s revival session opens with a huge Eucharistic procession that connects the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage — the eight-week, four-route pilgrimage with the Eucharist underway that culminates in Indianapolis for the congress — with the National Eucharistic Congress itself. That procession will include Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, board chairman of National Eucharistic Inc., entering the stadium with a huge monstrance.

Another major procession is planned for Saturday afternoon July 20 in downtown Indianapolis, and children who have recently made their first Communion are invited to wear their first Communion attire.

Meanwhile, Mass will be offered morning and afternoon in multiple languages. Local parishes will also host Byzantine Divine Liturgy and also Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal (widely known as the traditional Latin Mass) on Thursday and Friday afternoons.

Throughout the congress, perpetual adoration will be held across the street from the Indiana Convention Center at the historic St. John the Evangelist Church, which Glemkowski described as the congress’s “spiritual hub.” St. John is holding evangelistic, nighttime prayer events following the congress’s revival sessions, as well as offering other forms of hospitality, including coffee and food, throughout the congress.

3. Speakers and musicians.

The congress brings together more than 50 popular Catholic speakers, leaders, media personalities and musicians under one roof for five days. Household names such as Bishop Robert E. Barron, Father Mike Schmitz and Jonathan Roumie are speaking during evening revival sessions, with Grammy-nominated musician Matt Maher leading worship on Saturday night.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday daytime schedules include “impact session” tracks and afternoon breakout sessions featuring other Catholic leaders, speakers and experts.

While many of the speakers are popular in Catholic circles, they were chosen because of their gifts in connecting a personal encounter with Jesus to mission, Glemkowski said.

“We have remarkably well known, impactful people in the church gathering for this moment,” he said. “Everyone is just trying to … lend their gifts and their support to this moment of renewal.”

The Indiana Convention Center will also offer two music stages that will feature groups such as The Hillbilly Thomists, The Vigil Project and Liveloud. A third stage is dedicated to podcasting, with shows including “Godsplaining” and “The Crunch” recording before an audience.

4. The arts and exhibits.

Also at the congress will be several exhibits related to Jesus and the saints, a musical theater performance, and programming for kids and families, as well as a dynamic expo hall.

The National Shroud of Turin Exhibit features a replica of the famous burial shroud believed to have covered Jesus in the tomb and invites viewers through a high-tech experience to consider what it terms the “world’s greatest mystery.” The Eucharistic Miracles Exhibit, originally created by soon-to-be St. Carlo Acutis (a special intercessor for the Eucharistic revival), explores Eucharistic miracles around the world. Meanwhile, a chapel with relics from Blessed Carlo and other saints associated with the revival — such as St. Manuel González García and St. Paschal Baylon — will be open for prayer and veneration.

Several exhibits and performances are geared for families. Afternoon programming includes Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atriums, which offer Montessori-style faith formation for children up to age 12, and the CatholicHOM Immersive Family Experience, which will feature an interactive puppet show.

On Thursday, “Bernadette de Lourdes, the Musical” — a theatrical performance about the Marian visionary of Lourdes, France — will be staged in Lucas Oil Stadium at 6:30 p.m. ahead of the evening’s revival session.

Meanwhile, an expansive expo hall in the convention center will be open each day with booths and displays featuring apostolates, ministries, religious orders, publishers and “makers of all types,” according to organizers.

Glemkowski likened the performances, exhibits and vendors to a town square during a festival, offering a “cultural hub” that fosters a sense of community.

“There’s a more enfleshed and embodied experience of the communion of the church that’s represented in the entire expression of the congress, that’s more than going from talk to talk to talk,” he said.

5. Service.

An encounter with the Eucharist should spur the church to seek out the “least and the lost,” Glemkowski said, which is why several outreach opportunities will be highlighted at the congress. On Thursday and Friday, attendees can pack meals for people who are hungry with the Indianapolis-based Million Meal Movement. The Denver-based Christ in the City will also train small groups of people to encounter men and women who are chronically homeless in Indianapolis.

Meanwhile, the congress includes several evangelization efforts, with evening invitations to passersby to light a candle or join adoration at St. John the Evangelist Church, and Catholics with Michigan-based St. Paul Street Evangelization prepared to share about Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist with onlookers during Saturday’s Eucharistic procession.

Glemkowski noted that Catholic Relief Services’ staple Lenten service effort Project Rice Bowl came out of the 41st International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976.

“This connection between the Eucharistic heart of the church and its Eucharistic mission is very clear in these moments,” he said.

6. Commissioning.

Between a morning revival session and a closing Mass, the final day of the congress includes a “great commissioning,” which organizers compare to “a new Pentecost,” where attendees “will be sent out to joyfully proclaim the Gospel in every corner of our nation.”

That commissioning is not just for congress attendees, but for the wider church, Glemkowski said.

“The people who are gathered there at the congress are gathering on behalf of the entire people of God, the church in the United States,” he said. “The commissioning that happens at the congress is for the whole church in the United States — everybody who tunes in on EWTN or Relevant Radio, who just hears about the congress, all of us. We’re inviting a new Pentecost, to say, ‘Lord, we want to return to you with our whole hearts so that you might make us fruitful in our life as a church.'”

The congress kicks off the National Eucharistic Revival’s third and final year, the Year of Mission, where Catholics are invited to accompany Catholics no longer practicing the faith back to the church, and to grow more deeply in their understanding of what the Eucharist requires of their own lives.

The U.S. bishops’ Walk with One initiative encourages Catholics to recognize “the one person over the next year that you’re uniquely being sent to on mission,” Glemkowski said.

“It’s a small task” for an individual, he said, “but if millions of us — 5 million, 10 million Catholics — do that all together, just go accompany an individual wherever they’re at in their life, in their journey, in their story, that could be a very powerful, concrete thing we do as a church that could really change a lot of lives.”