Month: April 2025

(OSV News) – In a world economy rocked by the whiplash of American trade tariffs that has spared few countries, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Jubilee USA Network, an interfaith development group, have a proposition for President Donald J. Trump: Forgive some debts.

In a joint letter dated April 8, the two organizations wrote Trump, encouraging him to build on global debt relief efforts from his first term.

According to the United Nations, the external debt – money owed to foreign creditors – of developing countries has quadrupled in two decades to a record $11.4 trillion in 2023, equivalent to 99% of their export earnings.

“Debt relief and restructuring make effective economic and security policy, strengthening our country’s global leadership,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA Network’s executive director, in the joint letter.

“These policies, which cost us little, contribute significantly to the stability of our trading partners, reduce food and fuel prices here at home, and support American jobs and exports,” they said.

The timing of the joint letter is not coincidental: The erasure of debt is an ancient social justice principle still encouraged during the current Jubilee Year, and Pope Francis has addressed the issue on numerous occasions in anticipation of it.

Last December – prior to the Christmas Eve inauguration of the 2025 Jubilee Year – Pope Francis urged wealthy nations and institutions to reduce or outright cancel the debt of the world’s poorest countries, declaring that many “are in no condition to repay the amount they owe.”

In addition, the pope called for new financial structures, “lest this prove merely an isolated act of charity that simply reboots the vicious cycle of financing and indebtedness.”

Less than two weeks later, the Vatican – partnering with interreligious and development groups – launched debt relief campaigns in 160 countries.

Pope Francis’ message and actions echoed those of St. John Paul II at the start of the last Jubilee Year in 2000, when the beloved Polish pontiff warned that debt “threatens the future of many nations.”

In that Jubilee era, faith groups formed a collective campaign that achieved $130 billion in debt relief for developing countries, supporting education, health care and social services.

“On average, strategically important developing nations currently spend more than 40% of their revenue on debt payments. Nearly 800 million people worldwide face hunger and almost 700 million live in extreme poverty,” the letter to Trump stated. “The reduction of foreign assistance from developed to developing countries over the past six years underscores the urgency of our country’s efforts to implement meaningful debt relief policies.”

In January, Trump ordered a near-total freeze on all U.S. foreign aid. In March – after a review of U.S. Agency for International Development operations – it was announced 83% of USAID programs would be cancelled.

The letter further highlighted Pope Francis’ proposal for a kind of global bankruptcy process to ensure stability and equity, while suggesting a significant increase in lending volume by multilateral development banks.

Appealing to policy as well as charity, the letter repeatedly underscored the strategic importance of debt reduction and the role of the U.S.

“Simply stated,” Bishop Zaidan and LeCompte’s letter concluded, “the world needs strong American leadership on debt relief and financial architecture reform.”

Several major financial gatherings – the International Monetary Fund, the G20 in South Africa, and G7 in Canada – are upcoming, with the U.S. hosting the G20 in 2026.

Other Catholic organizations concerned with debt reacted to the USCCB and Jubilee USA Network missive.

“Nations burdened by oppressive debt cannot invest in education, healthcare, agriculture, and a future for their youth. Many developing countries are already in crisis because of massive debt burdens,” Gina Castillo, senior research and policy advisor at Catholic Relief Services, the overseas humanitarian relief agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S., told OSV News.

“Debt relief and addressing why countries get into debt restores hope and opens doors to opportunity,” Castillo said.

Susan Gunn, director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, agreed.

“As the U.S. bishops said in their letter to the president, the United States has the opportunity to make real change that would make the world a better place not only for people on the other side of the world but right here at home,” Gunn told OSV News. “We are all connected and we all would benefit from a healthier, more life-giving global economy.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Although they postponed their official state visit to the Vatican because of Pope Francis’ health, Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla met privately with the pope April 9, the Vatican press office said.

The pope congratulated the royal couple on the 20th anniversary of their wedding and “reciprocated His Majesty’s wishes for a speedy recovery of his health,” the press office said.

King Charles was hospitalized briefly March 27 for what was described as “temporary side effects” from his cancer treatment. Pope Francis has been convalescing at the Vatican since being released from the hospital March 23 after more than five weeks of inpatient treatment for breathing difficulties, double pneumonia and a polymicrobial infection in his airways.

“Their Majesties were delighted the Pope was well enough to host them,” said a statement from Buckingham Palace, and they were pleased “to have had the opportunity to share their best wishes in person.”

The private meeting lasted about 20 minutes and included an exchange of gifts, a source said.

The Vatican press office had said April 8 that the pope was just beginning to receive a few visitors rather than spending his days only with his personal secretaries and the medical personnel caring for him.

The king and queen’s brief meeting with the pope April 9 was very different from the full schedule that had been planned for their state visit.

In addition to an audience with the pope, they would have attended “a service in the Sistine Chapel, focused on the theme of ‘care for creation,’ reflecting Pope Francis’ and his majesty’s long-standing commitment to nature,” according to the itinerary originally released by Buckingham Palace.

Members of the choir of the king’s Chapel Royal and the choir of St. George’s Chapel from Windsor were to sing at the service with the Sistine Chapel Choir.

While he was still the prince of Wales, the king last met Pope Francis in 2019 when he came to the Vatican for the canonization of St. John Henry Newman. His last private audience with Pope Francis was in 2017.

The state visit of the king and queen had been planned to coincide with the Holy Year 2025, “a year of reconciliation, prayer and walking together as ‘Pilgrims of Hope,’ which is the Jubilee’s theme,” Buckingham Palace said.

ASSISI, Italy (CNS) – For centuries, pilgrims came to Assisi to walk in the footsteps of a saint who preached to birds, embraced poverty and wandered the hills barefoot.

But today, many arrive in search of a different model of holiness: that of a teenager in Nike sneakers who built websites and coded for Christ.

“I came to Assisi for Carlo,” said Anne-Sophie, a mother of three from France, speaking outside the Church of St. Mary Major in Assisi, where the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis draws a steady stream of visitors. “Not only Carlo, but St. Francis, of course,” she added April 1, mentioning the town’s patron saint almost as an afterthought.

Individual devotees, pilgrim groups and students on school field trips visited Blessed Carlo’s tomb in the church, which stands next to the site where St. Francis famously stripped off his fine clothing to embrace a life poverty.

In the cobbled streets leading to the shrine, souvenir shops that once featured only tau crosses and rustic Franciscan statues now prominently display Carlo’s face on refrigerator magnets and figurines — often in his signature red polo shirt. Listings on AirBnB even advertise their proximity to his tomb, signaling just how quickly Carlo’s presence has become part of the fabric of Assisi.

For Anne-Sophie, Carlo’s rise in popularity among Catholics feels providential. “In the 20th century, we had Saint Thérèse of Lisieux,” she told Catholic News Service, referring to the French mystic who Pope Francis is known to be fond of. “Now, I really believe Carlo will be the saint for the 21st century. He is a big, big chance for us — don’t miss it.”

Carlo, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15, was beatified in 2020 and is set to be canonized April 27 during the Jubilee of Teenagers at the Vatican, becoming the Catholic Church’s first “millennial” saint.

In life, he was known for his cheerfulness, his Eucharistic devotion and his talent with computers — traits that have turned him into a spiritual icon for young Catholics and families looking for a saint who seems to belong to their world.

Pope Francis has long held up Carlo as a model for the digital generation. In his 2019 exhortation “Christus Vivit,” published after the Synod of Bishops on young people, the pope wrote that Carlo “knew how to use the new communications technology to transmit the Gospel, to communicate values and beauty,” even while resisting the “consumerism and distraction” that often dominate online life.

Much of Blessed Carlo’s rise is attributed to his appeal to young Catholics, who see in him a figure who not only looks like them but lives like them, too.

Antonella Sacchi, who was accompanying a group of Italian high school students to his tomb, told CNS that her students were struck not only by Carlo’s age but by “his normal life, his way of living the Gospel in everyday life.”

“They were fascinated” standing before Blessed Carlo’s tomb, she said, “For them, he doesn’t feel far away.”

The pilgrims April 1 included whole families as well as teachers and catechists hoping to introduce young people to the saint.

For some, Blessed Carlo is an intercessor, not just a model.

Paola Ventre, visiting the tomb with her husband Massimo and son Michele, said she had prayed to Carlo for the grace of becoming a mother. “We had many difficulties,” she said, holding her son in her arms. “But I prayed with insistence, and I believe that thanks to his intercession our son was given to us with great love.”

For many, Carlo’s appeal lies in the way he lived his holiness: not by founding a religious order or performing public miracles, but by showing extraordinary faith in the midst of an ordinary teenage life. He channeled his interest in coding to create a website cataloging Eucharistic miracles around the world, hoping to share his love for the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist with others.

“He used social media well,” said Silvia Rodarte, a Mexican mother of four visiting Assisi with her husband, Ramón Torres, for their 25th wedding anniversary. “The internet is great, but if it’s misused it’s terrible, and Carlo used it in a wonderful way. In fact, we know about Carlo Acutis due to social media.” The couple learned about Carlo through their daughter, who had seen a video about him online.

Torres said Carlo reminded him of his own son, who is now about the age Carlo was when he died.

The image of a young saint can make young people “feel represented in the values of the Catholic Church,” Torres said. “I feel that he will be an important bridge between the youth, the new generations and the church.”

The same internet that Carlo once used to bring others closer to God is now leading people to him.

For Kenny Chan from Sydney, discovering Blessed Carlo online was the beginning of a spiritual friendship that eventually brought him and his fiancé all the way to Assisi.

“We watch him every day on YouTube,” he said, referring to the 24-hour livestream of Carlo’s tomb available online. “Spiritually, if I’m feeling low, I’m having a bad day, I put on YouTube and just talk to him. You can always put a message or a prayer in the chat.”

Carlo’s story may have spread across the globe through screens, but for many pilgrims, it is the encounter with his physical presence — his body, his tomb, the hilltop town where it is located — that makes his spirituality feel tangible and close.

Seeing the tomb in person, Chan said, “is much better.”

“I was here, I could see him in person, so it’s worth it.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As Pope Francis continues his recovery at the Vatican, he is very slowly beginning to get back to his old routine of meeting with top Vatican officials, the Vatican press office said.

In addition to working with his secretaries, he met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, April 7, the press office said in a briefing with reporters April 8.

The pope is also in contact with other dicasteries by phone and goes over the texts and documents he receives from them, it added. His regular phone calls to Holy Family parish in Gaza, which were sporadic during his hospitalization, continue.

Pope Francis was released from Rome’s Gemelli hospital March 23 after more than five weeks of treatment for breathing difficulties, double pneumonia and a polymicrobial infection in his airways.

His doctors had said he would need two months to convalesce following his release, which included staying home, avoiding visitors and keeping up with pharmacological, respiratory and physical therapy.

However, the pope surprised the faithful when he appeared in St. Peter’s Square April 6 at the end of the closing Mass of the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers. It was the first time Pope Francis had been seen in public since he was discharged from the hospital.

Seated in a wheelchair and wearing a nasal cannula, the pope greeted the crowd with a strained voice, wishing them “A happy Sunday to you all, many thanks!” Before appearing in the square, he also went to confession in St. Peter’s Basilica and passed through the Holy Door, the Vatican press office had said.

A Vatican source said the pope’s appearance Sunday still fit within his doctors’ recommendations, as the moment was very brief, it was outdoors and he greeted just a few people. A period of convalescence means being more careful about certain things and that was being respected, the source said.

The apparent difficulty the pope has in raising his arms, such as when he blessed or greeted the crowds in his last two public appearances, is connected with his long hospitalization and subsequent reduced mobility, the source added. The pope is following physical therapy that is meant to increase and improve all aspects of his mobility.

After concelebrating Mass with his secretaries each day, the pope spends “a good part” of his morning doing his physical therapy and respiratory therapy, which have led to some improvements as his condition and tests remain stable, the press office said. The rest of the day is dedicated to prayer and working.

Pope Francis still has a lingering lung infection, which doctors had said would take time to clear up. He continues to use high-flow oxygen at night only when needed, the press office said.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said it would not renew its cooperative agreements with the federal government related to children’s services and refugee support after its longstanding partnerships with the federal government in those areas became “untenable.”

Earlier this year, the Trump administration suspended a federal refugee resettlement program as part of its broader effort to enforce its hardline immigration policies. The ensuing halt in federal funding for the USCCB’s refugee resettlement services is the subject of ongoing litigation, and it prompted the conference to lay off about a third of the staff in its Migration and Refugee Services Office in February.

A spokesperson for the USCCB told OSV News the bishops were seeking reimbursement of $24,336,858.26 for resettlement services (PRM and ORR programs) that was still pending payment as of April 7.

“This situation has been brought to us by the decisions of the government,” Anthony Granado, associate general secretary for policy and advocacy for the USCCB, told OSV News.

Despite decades of partnership with the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services, across administrations of both parties, including the first Trump administration, Granado said, “we’ve been placed in an untenable position now.”

“It is clear that the government has decided that it wishes to go about doing this in a different way that doesn’t include us, and so we were kind of forced into this position,” Granado said.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the USCCB and head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said in an April 7 statement it was “heartbreaking” to announce the bishops’ conference would not renew its “existing cooperative agreements with the federal government related to children’s services and refugee support.”

“This difficult decision follows the suspension by the government of our cooperative agreements to resettle refugees,” he said. “The decision to reduce these programs drastically forces us to reconsider the best way to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters seeking safe harbor from violence and persecution. As a national effort, we simply cannot sustain the work on our own at current levels or in current form.”

Citing the government’s suspension of the cooperative agreements to resettle refugees, Archbishop Broglio said that the conference has “been concerned with helping families who are fleeing war, violence, and oppression find safe and secure homes.”

“Over the years, partnerships with the federal government helped expand lifesaving programs, benefiting our sisters and brothers from many parts of the world,” Archbishop Broglio said. “All participants in these programs were welcomed by the U.S. government to come to the United States and underwent rigorous screening before their arrival. These are displaced souls who see in America a place of dreams and hope. Some assisted American efforts abroad at their own risk and more seek a place to worship and pray safely as they know God calls them.”

He said, “Our efforts were acts of pastoral care and charity, generously supported by the people of God when funds received from the government did not cover the full cost.”

Federal law requires that unaccompanied refugee minors be cared for, and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement historically has turned to faith-based organizations, including the USCCB, to carry out this work.

A spokesperson for HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from OSV News about its cooperative agreement with the USCCB.

Granado said the conference’s cooperative agreements with the federal government were “really about people.”

“From the church’s perspective, this is about responding to the Gospel command — Jesus says in the Gospel, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me,'” he said, referencing Jesus Christ’s words in Matthew 25:35-40 regarding his final judgement. “This has been a blessing and a beautiful part of the USCCB and the Catholic Church in the United States.”

The children and refugees impacted “are real people, real families” as well as “the staff whose work will be impacted,” Granado said.

As the agreements end, Archbishop Broglio added, “we will work to identify alternative means of support for the people the federal government has already admitted to these programs. We ask your prayers for the many staff and refugees impacted.”

The USCCB, Archbishop Broglio said, “will continue advocating for policy reforms that provide orderly, secure immigration processes, ensuring the safety of everyone in our communities.”

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to advocating on behalf of men, women, and children suffering the scourge of human trafficking,” he said. “For half a century, we have been willing partners in implementing the government’s refugee resettlement program. The Gospel’s call to do what we can for the least among us remains our guide. We ask you to join us in praying for God’s grace in finding new ways to bring hope where it is most needed.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, was driving one of four ambulances donated to Ukraine with the help of U.S. Catholics.

With Easter approaching, Pope Francis wanted to make a concrete gesture to show his closeness to “tormented Ukraine,” the dicastery said in a press release April 7.

The pope wanted to send his papal almoner to Ukraine to deliver four ambulances that are fully equipped with medical instruments needed to save lives, it said. The ambulances, which bear the coat of arms of Vatican City State, “will be destined for war zones.”

The cardinal was assisted by three other drivers who came from Ukraine, the press release said. It will be the Polish cardinal’s 10th mission to the war-torn nation as a special envoy sent by Pope Francis, and he was to remain in Ukraine for a few days “to be with the people so tried by the conflict, to pray with them and to be an expression of the pope’s closeness.”

When the pope formally proclaimed the Holy Year dedicated to hope, he had said that “the need for peace challenges us all, and demands that concrete steps be taken.”

One concrete step is the gift of the four ambulances, the dicastery said, becoming “a sign of Jubilee hope anchored in Christ.”

The ambulances were purchased with donations provided by U.S. Catholics through Cross Catholic Outreach, Father Eloy Rojas, a missionary of mercy and hospital chaplain in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, told Catholic News Service March 28.

Father Rojas was part of a small team of U.S. priests who partner with the U.S.-based Catholic relief and development organization and who met with Cardinal Krajewski in Rome in late March.

The priests were delivering the latest batch of funding from Cross Catholic Outreach and seeing what U.S. donations have been able to provide.

Father Rojas said the cardinal was excited to show the group that with the donations they had raised in dioceses all over the United States, he was able to buy “not one, but four ambulances to support people in Ukraine.”

The cardinal then invited Father Rojas and the others to “have a ride in the ambulance with the cardinal as the driver,” the priest said. The cardinal took them around Vatican City and even outside the walls to Rome.

Being driven around with the cardinal as their driver, he said, was an inspiration, showing him “how to be a better priest, how to be a priest with humility” and to serve the poor.