Category: 2024 News

(OSV News) – The number of permanent deacons in America is holding relatively steady, but more than a third of them are also at or approaching the required retirement age for many dioceses. According to experts, the situation may suggest a need for local churches to revisit the Second Vatican Council’s vision for the permanent diaconate and rethink how to invite men to discern the vocation.

On June 17, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations released its annual survey, “A Portrait of the Permanent Diaconate in 2023: A Study for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.”

Since 2005, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate — a national, nonprofit research center at Georgetown University that conducts social scientific studies for and about the Catholic Church — has released the survey, which provides both statistics and forecasts trends for the permanent diaconate in the U.S. Catholic Church.

The estimated number of permanent deacons in active ministry was 13,718 in 2023, roughly 69% of all permanent deacons in the Latin Church.

There were 587 men ordained to the permanent diaconate in 2023, and since 2014, the estimated number of ordinations averaged 613.

However, most active deacons are between 60-69 years old (42%), followed by deacons 70 and older (36%).

“There’s no big change or shift,” said Jesuit Father Tom Gaunt, executive director of CARA. “I think what we see is that we have an increasing number of retired deacons — they’re well into their late 70s, 80s.”

While those deacons often still serve, “we have a few more who are dying each year than are being ordained,” Father Gaunt observed. “The total number of active deacons has gone down just a little bit; very small. Whereas the total number of retired deacons has increased.”

As Catholic News Service reported in 2021, “retirement age differs from diocese to diocese. Forty-two percent of dioceses have no retirement age for deacons. Of the others, no diocese requires deacons to retire until they reach at least age 70, while 88% require retirement at ages 75-79, and 10% mandate retirement at ages 70-74. One percent does not require retirement until at least age 80.”

The CARA survey — which utilized contact information from the National Association of Diaconate Directors, or NADD — was sent to the Office of the Permanent Diaconate in Latin and Eastern (arch)dioceses and eparchies. CARA received responses from 128 of the 185 (arch)dioceses/eparchies whose bishops are members of the USCCB — and have an active Office of Deacons — for a 69% total response rate.

The Archdiocese of Chicago had the most permanent deacons (827), followed by the Archdiocese of New York (357), Archdiocese of San Antonio (346), Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (308), and Diocese of Joliet in Illinois (307).

“Essentially, it seems about the same as the previous one,” said Deacon Bill Ditewig, former executive director of the USCCB’s Secretariat for the Diaconate. “But there’s still some areas of concern — the major one, in my opinion, being the age situation.”

“One of the things that I think people forget — when you just look at the naked statistics — is that Vatican II’s vision was of a younger diaconate,” noted Deacon Ditewig, who has held multiple academic and diocesan posts.

“In fact, some of the original proposals were that married guys could be ordained deacons at the age of 40 — and then during the debates during the (Second Vatican) Council, that was determined to be too old, and they lowered it to 35,” he said. “Now when you do that — and then look at the statistics — less than 1% of deacons are under the age of 40. You kind of have to say, ‘Has the vision met the reality here?'”

If the diaconate becomes a retired, “second career” vocation, Deacon Ditewig emphasized, “it’s not what the original vision was supposed to be” — which included bringing a diaconal witness to the secular workplace.

Deacon Ditewig also noted the American diaconate’s ethnic makeup.

Most permanent deacons are Caucasian/white (73%); followed by Hispanic/Latino (20%); Asian/Pacific Islander (3%); African American/Black (3%); and Native American/other (1%).

“That’s been a concern of the bishops since 1971,” shared Deacon Ditewig, “because again, a key part of the diaconate was to be with people where they are, where they live and where they work.”

Deacon Ditewig said some dioceses discourage younger vocations to the diaconate, reasoning, “You’re at the beginning of your career; your career is about to go on a different path; you’ve still got young children at home — why don’t you wait awhile.”

Deacon Ditewig, 74, was ordained at 40, with four children at home.

“The fact is, it worked out to be the perfect time for our family. And so what we have found over the years, sometimes, is that dioceses will set standards that if you still have minor age children at home, then don’t apply. It’s almost building in an age situation,” said Deacon Ditewig, who added that some men discerning a diaconal vocation — seeing so many older deacons serving — assume that candidates have to be retired.

“The attitude that many of us have is, let discernment do its thing — if this is the right time for this family, it will be demonstrated,” he stressed. “If it’s the wrong time for this family, that will come up, too. But the bottom line of all this is, that we’re talking about a vocation from God.”

Deacon Dominic Cerrato, director of the Office of the Diaconate for the Diocese of Joliet, and editor of OSV’s The Deacon magazine, agreed. (OSV is the parent company of OSV News.)

“The unfortunate thing is that many priests and many deacons — and I don’t want to be sweeping here, but I think it’s true — discourage young men from becoming deacons,” said Deacon Cerrato, who was ordained a deacon at 35, the youngest canonical age allowed. “We had five children at the time; we eventually had seven children. It is possible — and I think that those years served me and the church well. But many, many were discouraged from coming, and told ‘raise your family.'”

That mindset, Deacon Cerrato said, can largely be traced to a faulty understanding of the nature of vocation that proposes “God calls you in one ear for marriage, and then calls you in the other ear for the diaconate — and you’re split,” he explained. “No — because God doesn’t speak out of both sides of his mouth. It’s one single call — of which the two are integrated in.”

Still, given the persistence of that outlook, “It’s very possible that there are many more people who are younger,” observed Deacon Cerrato. “We just haven’t called them.”

That is not, however, the case in the Diocese of Joliet, where there are 307 permanent deacons, and many younger candidates are being called. “We’re seeing a rise in our numbers,” Deacon Cerrato reported.

“The single most vital development regarding the state of the diaconate in the U.S.,” said Deacon James Keating, a professor of spiritual theology at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis and a member of the Academy of Catholic Theology, “will be if diocesan seminaries begin to form seminarians in a mature theology of their own impending diaconate, and that this formation extends to a thorough appreciation for the vocation of the permanent diaconate.”

“Further,” Deacon Keating continued, “priest-deacon fraternity will only reach a place of abiding respect if the quality of diaconal formation in dioceses deepens in the areas of scriptural knowledge, liturgical competency, homiletical giftedness, ministerial wisdom to and for married couples, prudent leadership in the works of charity, and the unleashing of desire for contemplative prayer.”

The divergence between a secular and spiritual outlook also must be addressed, said Deacon Keating.

“Deacon formation programs should be encouraged to instill within the deacon an ecclesial imagination to replace a very stubborn cultural one,” he suggested. “Possessing an ecclesial imagination will go a long way in securing a true brotherhood of clerics within the ranks of priests and deacons.”

Reflecting on the survey results, Deacon Cerrato offered both an inquiry and a suggestion.

“There’s a larger question here. Why is God calling men to the diaconate? Why is it arguably the largest growing segment in the church today, certainly in the West? What is God saying?” he asked. “And I suspect he’s saying that the reason for this is that Christ the Servant needs to be made present in a world that is so turned in on itself that it fails to see that service is the way you discover yourself.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – There is a prayer for every state of mind and spiritual need in the Book of Psalms, Pope Francis said.

“There are many psalms that help us forge ahead. Get into the habit of praying the psalms. I assure you that you will be happy in the end,” the pope said during his June 19 general audience.

The pope also reminded people that June 20 marks World Refugee Day, established by the United Nations to focus on solidarity with refugees. “We are all called to welcome, promote, accompany and integrate those who knock on our doors,” he said.

“I pray that nations will work to ensure humane conditions for refugees and facilitate processes for integration,” he said.

During his main catechesis, the pope continued his series on the Holy Spirit and highlighted the importance of prayer, especially in preparation for Holy Year 2025.

All the books of the Bible are inspired by the Holy Spirit, he said, “but the Book of Psalms is also so in the sense that it is full of poetic inspiration.”

The psalms were the prayer of Jesus, Mary, the Apostles and all previous Christian generations, he said. Jesus enters into the world with a verse from a psalm in his heart, “I delight to do your will, my God (Ps 40:9), and he leaves the world with another verse, “Into your hands I commend my spirit” (Ps 31:6).

“Do you pray with the psalms sometimes?” the pope asked, reminding people that there are special editions that contain the New Testament and the psalms together.

“I have on my desk a Ukrainian edition” of the New Testament and the psalms that belonged to a soldier who died in the war, he said. “He used to pray at the front with this book,” referring to the 23-year-old soldier named Oleksandr.

“If there are psalms, or just verses, that speak to our heart, it is good to repeat them and pray them during the day. The psalms are prayers ‘for all seasons’: There is no state of mind or need that does not find in them the best words to be transformed into prayer,” the pope said.

The psalms also allow the faithful to expand on the nature of their prayers, he said, so prayers are not just a series of requests and a continuous “give me, give us.”

“The psalms help us to open ourselves to a prayer that is less focused on ourselves: a prayer of praise, of blessing, of thanksgiving; and they also help us give voice to all creation, involving it in our praise,” he said.

At the end of his main talk, the pope greeted an Italian association supporting the late Cardinal Celso Costantini, a former apostolic delegate in China who led the Council of the Chinese Catholic Church 100 years ago with the aim of revitalizing the mission of the church in China.

The pope greeted “the dear Chinese people” and asked Catholics to always pray “for this noble people, so brave, who have such a beautiful culture.”

In greeting Polish-speaking visitors, the pope gave God thanks for a new blessed: Father Michal Rapacz, a martyr of communism, who was beatified in Kraków June 15.

Blessed Rapacz was an early victim of Poland’s communist regime as he refused to abandon his parishioners and his pastoral work. The pope prayed “his example (may) teach us to be faithful to God, to respond to evil with good, to contribute in the building of a fraternal and peaceful world.”

“We pray that his witness may become a sign of consolation from God in these times marked by wars,” he said, praying that the new blessed “intercede for Poland and to obtain peace in the world!”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals continued their discussions about the role of women in the church, listening to women experts and discussing the possibilities according to canon law.

This is the fourth time the pope and his nine-member Council of Cardinals have invited women to make presentations at their meetings. Women experts, including an Anglican bishop, attended the December, February and April meetings.

The council met June 17-18 in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the pope’s residence, the Vatican press office said.

Salesian Sister Linda Pocher, a professor of Christology and Mariology at Rome’s Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences “Auxilium,” introduced the speakers on the first day, which was dedicated to the women’s talks and the group’s reflections.

Valentina Rotondi, a professor and researcher specializing in social sciences, spoke about seeing “the economy as care and good management in the context of a profound intergenerational relationship,” the press office said.

Donata Horak, a professor of canon law in Italy, reflected on canon law by making several contrasts, “such as justice and mercy, consultative power and deliberative power, hierarchical principle and ecclesiology of communion, democratization and the monarchical model,” the press office said.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India, a member of the council, told Vatican News June 18, that he agreed with the importance of increasing the role of women in the church.

“I come from India and in some areas women have little importance, they are ‘second class,’ and for this reason the church is working” to give them “the right position in the family, in society, in politics,” he said.

In the church’s Code of Canon Law, “there are many possibilities” for women’s leadership in the church, he said. Experience has shown him “many times” that women were able to address issues with “a point of view that men had not considered. And I have great hope that this will be developed.”

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa, Congo, told Vatican News that, “here in the churches, more than half of the people who participate in the celebrations are women,” but when we see the responsibilities they hold, “they are few.”

The cardinal said it has become clear that these responsibilities have to grow, but not in a “militant” sense. The reason their responsibilities should increase, he said, is, like the pope says, because “the church is a woman” and there is a “motherhood” that must be valued in the Catholic community.

The Vatican press office said the second day of the meeting began with a report about safeguarding and the work of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors by Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston, who is the commission’s president and a council member. Cardinal Gracias then focused on the work of the bishops’ conferences.

The meeting concluded with discussions about the situation in each cardinal’s home region with special attention to current conflicts, the press office said.

The council will meet again in December 2024.

The members of the council are: Cardinals Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state; Seán P. O’Malley of Boston; Sérgio da Rocha of São Salvador da Bahia, Brazil; Gracias; Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the commission governing Vatican City State; Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg; Gérald C. Lacroix of Québec; Juan José Omella Omella of Barcelona; and Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa, Congo. Bishop Marco Mellino serves as the council’s secretary.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (OSV News) – Just days after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met June 12-14 for their Spring Plenary Assembly in Louisville, the bishops finally achieved the threshold needed to pass their national pastoral framework to guide ministries with youth and young adults.

Despite overwhelming support, the pastoral framework had originally failed by two votes to cross the two-thirds majority threshold needed to pass at the bishops’ meeting June 14 after too many individual bishops had already left for their home dioceses by the time the vote was taken that morning.

After canvassing the bishops eligible to vote, 10 more votes in favor had been secured by late June 17, allowing “Listen, Teach, Send: A National Pastoral Framework for Ministries with Youth and Young Adults” to finally pass, according to a June 18 USCCB news release.

As of the close of June 17, the vote on “Listen, Teach, Send” was 188 in favor, four against and four abstentions.

Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, chair of the bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, presented the pastoral framework that will aid pastors, ministry leaders and families. During his June 13 presentation, the bishop said his committee had engaged in “concerted listening” with youth and young adults, pastoral ministers, families and bishops.

“What we heard was a strong desire to develop a framework that was streamlined and straightforward — one that could be used not just by pastors and pastoral ministers, but also by families and by young people themselves who can evangelize and guide their peers to Christ,” said Bishop Barron. “We heard a desire to name and address issues including sexuality, mental health, disaffiliation, racial justice, polarization and the desire of so many young people to transform our society.”

Bishop Barron went on to share with the bishops, “Most importantly, we heard that we cannot be silent or inactive when it comes to the engagement and accompaniment of youth and young adults.”

He said the committee’s hope is that the framework — modeled on the story of the disciples’ encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus found in Luke’s Gospel — will offer “new life” to youth ministers.

Bishop Barron said to the bishops that the 1993 World Youth Day gathering in Denver and the release of two national frameworks on youth and young adults around 30 years ago constituted the “last major moment for our church’s work with these age groups. Since then, frankly, enthusiasm has waned while disaffiliation has risen.”

The committee hopes that “Listen, Teach, Send” together with Pope Francis’ encouragement in the 2018 Synod on Young People and his 2019 post-synodal apostolic exhortation “Christus Vivit” can produce “another watershed moment,” Bishop Barron said. The framework also includes a letter to young people from the bishops imitating Pope Francis’ letter in “Christus Vivit” with a summons to “missionary discipleship and Christ-like leadership.”

Bishop Barron described the new framework as “a summons to the church to renew her engagement with youth and young adults” imitating Jesus on the journey to Emmaus.

Like Jesus in the Gospel story, “We are called deeply to listen to the realities facing young people … to teach in a new way … and finally, to send youth and young adults forth,” as they follow God’s call in their mission to transform the world, he said.

Michal Horace, who leads the Archdiocese of Louisville’s Office of Youth and Young Adults, told The Record, the archdiocesan newspaper, that his office is “excited” about this new framework.

“It’ll invigorate the field and remind folks that everyone is a youth minister,” he said in an interview prior to the framework’s passage. “The best thing is it takes what we learned — from the synod on youth, the fruit of ‘Christus Vivit,’ V Encuentro — and brings it all together.”

Horace said the story of the road to Emmaus has long been his model for doing youth ministry. He was pleased to see that the national framework is modeled on the Gospel story as well, he said.

“Jesus was such a great model. He listened first to figure out their situation and what they needed,” he said. “It’s a great model for all of us.”

According to the USCCB, the promulgation of “Listen, Teach, Send” comes on the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ message to young people in “Christus Vivit.”

In a June 18 statement, Bishop Barron said the Emmaus story provided the inspiration and guide to the development of the pastoral framework and was a story Pope Francis also frequently emphasized as a model for ministry.

“Jesus gave us a wonderful example of how to accompany youth and young adults on their paths of life through the experience of the disciples on the road to Emmaus,” Bishop Barron said.

“Like the Lord on the road to Emmaus, we first listen to the stories, joys, and concerns of those we encounter along the way. We respond with dynamic, kerygmatic (effectively sharing the core message of Jesus Christ), and heartfelt teaching that shares the light of Christ and seeks to bring about a conversion of heart,” he said. “And finally, we set the conditions in our ministries and families to send the young forth to follow God’s call for their lives, so that they might transform the world with love.”

Prior to “Listen, Teach, Send,” the U.S. bishops pastorally addressed youth, young adult, and college young adult ministries in “A Vision for Youth Ministry” (1976); “Empowered by the Spirit” (1985); “Sons and Daughters of the Light” (1996); and “Renewing the Vision” (1997).

The bishops’ 2023 national plan for Hispanic/Latino ministry “Missionary Disciples Going Forth with Joy” also addressed Hispanic/Latino youth and young adult ministries.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (OSV News) – Gathered in Louisville for their spring plenary assembly, the U.S. bishops’ June 12-14 meeting saw a mix of important matters discussed — with some unexpected twists and moments of robust discussion — starting with how the bishops would continue to address the scourge of poverty in the U.S. and ending with a view to the future for the National Eucharistic Revival.

The first day of the bishops’ public session June 13 was split between the morning executive session and an afternoon public session. Behind closed doors, the bishops discussed the future of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, their domestic anti-poverty initiative, which has suffered in recent years from declining donations and questions about grant-making decisions that had depleted its funding reserves.

In a June 13 press conference, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for Military Services USA, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told reporters that no decisions had been made yet. But he emphasized the bishops remain committed “to the vital work of fighting poverty in this country” and that the subcommittee responsible for overseeing CCHD would review the bishops’ input and act on that advice.

In a shift from previous assemblies, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal ambassador to the U.S., did not focus his address to the bishops on the process of becoming a synodal church — the topic of the global Synod on Synodality in Rome — but instead focused on the National Eucharistic Revival, affirming the central importance of the bishops’ endeavor. He urged them to experience this revival as bishops, and emphasized Pope Francis’ insight that Eucharistic devotion is connected with the church’s mission of “washing the feet of wounded humanity.”

The U.S. bishops voted to send a message to Pope Francis, joining him in praying for peace in the world, calling for diplomatic solutions that affirm human fraternity, and thanking him for sending Cardinal Luis A. Tagle as his delegate to the National Eucharistic Congress in July.

Archbishop Broglio gave a presidential address that began with a reflection upon the American sacrifices to liberate Europe from Nazi domination that were made 80 years ago at D-Day on the blood-soaked beaches of Normandy, France, and affirmed many of the points in the bishops’ message. In particular, he focused on how various Catholic agencies and individuals were bringing the church’s witness to peace amid ongoing conflicts — many of which the rest of the world has otherwise forgotten, such as Syria and Haiti.

Over the course of both days, the bishops also heard about the ongoing progress of the Synod on Synodality, and that its second session this October will zero in on what a synodal church should look like. The bishops heard that becoming a synodal church was about creating a place of encounter in the church, where tensions could be fruitfully transformed for the sake of the church’s health and holiness.

Bishop Daniel E. Flores, who served last year as a president delegate of the synod assembly and a member of the synod’s preparatory commission, emphasized it would help bishops “to think together with our people about how to be about what we should be about, which is the concerns of Christ the Lord.”

The bishops of the Latin Church also voted to approve all their agenda items related to English translation texts for the Liturgy of the Hours and the Roman Missal — a process which the bishops’ chair of the Committee on Divine Worship, Bishop Steven J. Lopes of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, said finally completed the work on the new English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours that the bishops began in 2012.

The U.S. bishops overwhelmingly voted June 14 to approve a pastoral framework for Indigenous Catholic ministry, which also included an apology for the church’s failures over the course of its history in North America “to nurture, strengthen, honor, recognize and appreciate those entrusted to our pastoral care.”

However, the bishops’ pastoral framework for youth and young adult ministry hit a snag that stunned the bishops and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota — chair of the bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth — who had presented on it just the day before as a “watershed moment” in forming youth and young adults for “missionary discipleship” and “Christlike leadership in society.”

Despite overwhelming support from the bishops present, too many individual bishops had already left for their home dioceses by the June 14 morning vote, and the framework failed to meet the two-thirds threshold for passage by two votes.

It was an unexpected hiccup, as ultimately the youth and young adult framework was expected to pass once the absent bishops were polled.

The aspect of the bishops’ meeting that most resembled a real debate was a vigorous discussion June 14 over creating a national directory of instituted ministries. The bishops had a lively exchange regarding lay ministries and whether they should together consider the ministries of acolyte, lector and catechist — the former two which Pope Francis expanded to include women and the latter which he formally instituted — or start work on guidelines for the catechist, an ancient office in the church and now an instituted lay ministry. They also expressed concern about proper formation, but also about a kind of “professionalization” that would exclude faithful people from living this ministry — particularly those who had valuable experience from Latin American contexts.

Bishop Lopes suggested the bishops should continue by considering all three together, and work on clarifying their complementary roles in carrying out the local church’s mission, saying Pope Francis seemed to be inviting them to understand these ministries as not simply serving a liturgical function but encompassing a “larger reality” of lived discipleship.

Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes, archbishop emeritus of New Orleans, however, advocated an amendment to start some preliminary work on the ministry of catechist — making adjustments at a later date with respect to the ministry of acolyte and lector — that the bishops could examine at their meeting in November.

Speaking on behalf of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, he cited the urgency of catechesis given the high rates of Catholic adults disaffiliating from the church. The committee’s amendment ultimately carried the day, and the bishops approved the national directory proposal.

The bishops had another robust discussion the day before, June 13, following the update on their mental health campaign, which included presentations on how Catholic Charities can help the bishops form a “trauma-aware church,” and the vital importance of parish engagement and accompaniment in this effort to save lives.

The bishops’ exchange affirmed their view that ending the stigma surrounding mental health was not only good for the faithful, but also for clergy, allowing them to open up about their own mental health needs.

Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix applauded these efforts, saying they were “bringing people back into the framework of church through accompaniment.”

The bishops also voiced their unanimous approval for the plans of Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, to open a cause for the canonization of Adele Brise, a Belgian-born immigrant from the 19th-century, whose visions of the Virgin Mary Bishop Ricken had declared worthy of belief in 2010. The bishop suggested Brise provided a model for their evangelization and catechesis efforts.

Although the bishops’ public sessions had opened with matters that seemed routine, the June 14 session included presentations inviting the bishops to authorize groundbreaking efforts on combatting abuse and an urgent call to engage with lawmakers on immigration policy affecting religious workers from foreign countries.

Suzanne Healy, chair of the bishops’ National Review Board, introduced proposals toward combating sexual abuse, including the issuance of guidelines that would address the sexual or spiritual abuse of adults, a new John Jay College to study abuse allegations since 2011, and a 2027 national day of prayer as an act of restorative justice.

“You again have the opportunity to break ground and establish the foundation for the next evolution of safeguarding,” she said.

Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chair of the bishops’ Committee on Migration, reported to the bishops that a foreign-born priest who applies for a green card has a 15-year wait — and current rules on the federal Temporary Religious Worker Visa Immigration program mean that priest would have to go back to another country every five years.

Bishops on the floor likewise expressed their concern about how confusing the rules were for religious workers to navigate. Bishop Seitz said a “partial fix” from the federal administration might shorten that time, but without Congress intervening, the situation is ultimately “simply not sustainable for our ministries.”

The bishops’ final agenda item June 14 was the matter of the National Eucharistic Congress. Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, board chair of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., told the bishops that they expect a sold-out stadium of 50,000 people for the weekend of July 17-21 at the National Eucharistic Congress. He noted the strong participation of at least 50,000 people with the four National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes that were halfway toward their destination of Indianapolis.

But he emphasized that their eye was already toward the future, from initiatives to invite Catholics to “consider walking one person back to the faith,” along with forming “Eucharistic missionaries,” and planning future national Eucharistic congresses, similar to what takes place in other countries.

“The hope is this will not be a one and done,” he said. With no questions from the body of bishops, he said, “See you all in Indianapolis!”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis met individually with several world leaders during the Group of Seven summit in southern Italy, including with U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It was the first time a pope attended the annual summit, which brings the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations together to discuss some of the most urgent current issues.

Among the many topics the June 13-15 summit focused on were migration, climate change and development in Africa, artificial intelligence and the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine.

A White House press statement said Biden and the pope talked about “the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and a hostage deal to get the hostages home and address the critical humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” during their closed-door talks June 14.

“President Biden thanked Pope Francis for the Vatican’s work to address the humanitarian impacts of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, including his efforts to help return kidnapped Ukrainian children to their families,” the statement said.

The U.S. president also expressed “his deep appreciation for the Pope’s tireless advocacy for the poor and those suffering from persecution, the effects of climate change, and conflict around the world,” according to the White House.

The Vatican press office confirmed that the scheduled bilateral meetings took place June 14 and that each one lasted 10-15 minutes. However, it did not comment on Pope Francis’ encounters with the leaders.

A short video clip released to the press showed the U.S. president greeting the pope at the start of their private meeting and remarking immediately about what an impression the pope’s words made on his family when his son, Beau, died of cancer in 2015. The pope met with the Biden family just months after Beau’s death while finishing his visit to the United States.

Biden presented the pope with a large square ceramic dish with a reproduction of the fresco visible through the oculus of the dome of the U.S. Capitol’s rotunda depicting George Washington exalted in heaven. “It’s not the Vatican, but…,” Biden said as the interpreters laughed.

In a clip showing the end of the meeting, the pope said, “Pray for me. I pray for you.” The president replied, “I promise I do.”

In addition to the G7 members — the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain — the host nation, Italy, also invited a number of other heads of state, including the pope and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina, India and Brazil. Russia had been a member of the group, but it was excluded in 2014 after it invaded eastern Ukraine and seized Crimea.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni greeted the pope who arrived by helicopter June 14. The pope then held a series of private bilateral meetings for about one and a half hours on the sidelines of the summit before he delivered a speech on the benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence, and called on political leaders to help make sure AI technologies would always be at the service of humanity.

In a long written communique summing up the G7 nations’ shared views and promises, the leaders said, “We are grateful for the presence of His Holiness Pope Francis and for his contribution.”

Pope Francis met first with Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; French President Emmanuel Macron; and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Zelenskyy told the pope, “Thank you so much, thank you for your prayers for Ukraine, for Ukrainians, for peace in Ukraine, for Ukrainian children,” in a brief video clip sent to reporters before the start of their private meeting.

Later, on a post on X, formerly Twitter, Ukraine’s president said he also thanked the pope for “his spiritual closeness to our people, and humanitarian aid for Ukrainians.”

“I informed the Pope about the consequences of Russian aggression, its air terror, and the difficult energy situation. We discussed the Peace Formula, the Holy See’s role in establishing a just and lasting peace, and expectations for the Global Peace Summit,” the post said.

“I thanked the Holy See for its participation in the Summit and highlighted its efforts aimed at bringing peace closer, particularly returning Ukrainian children abducted by Russia,” the president’s post said.

Also posting on X June 14, Canada’s prime minister said, “I thanked His Holiness for taking up the work of Reconciliation, and I advocated for the next step — returning cultural belongings from the Vatican to Indigenous Peoples in Canada.”

Macron said on X that in his meeting with the pope, he reaffirmed France’s “shared commitment to have a world of greater solidarity and justice for people and the planet. Let us all work together to create the conditions for lasting peace.”

Georgieva expressed her gratitude for being invited to meet with the pope, posting on X: “It is so uplifting to experience @Pontifex’s kindness and listen to his message of peace, cooperation, and care for people in need.”

After delivering his speech and listening to the talks of other invited heads of state, the pope held a final series of bilateral talks with: Kenyan President William Ruto; Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Biden; Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Modi said on X that he invited the pope to visit India. “I admire his commitment to serve people and make our planet better.”

Lula said on X that “We talked about peace, the fight against hunger” and reducing inequalities in the world. In a brief video clip of their encounter, also posted on X, the president of Brazil said he wanted to see if “we can campaign to make the world more humane,” to which the pope replied, “and you can do it, you can do it.”

Ruto said on X that “Kenya joins Pope Francis in calling for (an) urgent end to violence in all parts of the world including Sudan and DRC. We are encouraged that the Tumaini Initiative that is co-sponsored by the Sant’ Egidio Catholic Community in Rome, Italy, and the government of Kenya is yielding fruits in bringing lasting peace in South Sudan.

“We are confident that the warring groups will agree to stop the fighting and give peace a chance,” the Kenyan president posted.

The pope departed after 8:30 p.m. local time to return to the Vatican.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As they waited for Pope Francis to arrive at the Clementine Hall in the Vatican Apostolic Palace for an early morning audience, late night comedy stars looked at each other and thought, “something’s wrong.”

“We’re in this beautiful, beautiful space in the Vatican and for some reason they’ve let comedians in, which is always a mistake,” comedian Conan O’Brien told reporters after meeting the pope June 14.

He was just one of 105 comedians from around the world who traveled to the Vatican for a papal audience and to “establish a link between the Catholic Church and comic artists,” according to the Dicastery for Culture and Education, which organized the meeting.

Comedians from the United States included Stephen Colbert, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Gaffigan and Mike Birbiglia among others.

Before Pope Francis entered the room, Fallon stood in front of the pope’s chair and was cracking jokes to the entertainment of his peers. But once Pope Francis entered, they all took to their feet to applaud. Several stars, accustomed to being in front of the cameras, held out their phones to record the pope walking steadily to his seat.

And immediately Pope Francis cracked a joke, saying that since smiling is good for one’s health, it would be better for him to just make a funny face for the crowd rather than to read his lengthy speech.

Yet he told the comedians that “in the midst of so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles.”

“You are among the few who have the ability to speak to all types of people, from different generations and cultural backgrounds,” he said.

The pope highlighted the unique role of laughter in bringing people together in the face of conflict, stressing that humor “is never against anyone, but is always inclusive, purposeful, eliciting openness, sympathy, empathy.”

He also encouraged them to remember a prayer often attributed to St. Thomas More, which he said he prays every day: “Grant me, O Lord, a good sense of humor.”

Louis-Dreyfus, the star of hit shows “Seinfeld” and “Veep,” said after the meeting that Pope Francis’ words were “gorgeous,” and praised the pope’s message for highlighting that comedy “has a sacredness to it.”

Each comedian was able to greet the pope individually at the end of the audience.

Colbert, a Catholic, said he told the pope in Italian that he gave his voice to produce the audiobook version of the pope’s recently published autobiography. He later told reporters that after reading the book, he thought he would love to interview the pope on his late-night TV program, “but I really want to do a cooking segment with him, because he talked a lot about cooking: evidently he makes a great ‘tortellini in brodo.'”

Jim Gaffigan, another Catholic comedian who speaks often about his faith life, brought his family with him to the Vatican to meet the pope. His son Michael got rosary beads blessed by the pope that he proudly touted around the Vatican hallway leading out of the meeting.

Gaffigan told reporters after the meeting that being Catholic and a comedian is “the most punk rock thing you can do,” since believing in God in the comedy business is just “asking for trouble.”

Although the group of comedians who came to the Vatican and met the pope was not composed solely of Catholics, the experience “was universal,” Gaffigan said. “There is this warmth, this openness, even with the exceeding amounts of problems that have existed and will exist.”

The pope typically sits in front of the groups he meets with for a group photo before leaving his audiences, and participants often sit politely and clap as he walks away.

This time, Chris Rock, seated near the front row, jumped up behind Pope Francis to put his face right by the pope’s for the photo. Other comedians couldn’t resist following suit and soon enough a group swarmed around the pope for the picture.

Pope Francis encouraged the fun, chuckled and gave a wave as he walked out.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The Supreme Court June 13 unanimously dismissed a challenge to mifepristone, a pill commonly used for abortion, finding that the challengers lacked standing to bring the case.

In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court found in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that the “plaintiffs lack Article III standing to challenge FDA’s actions regarding the regulation of mifepristone.”

“Plaintiffs are pro-life, oppose elective abortion, and have sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to mifepristone being prescribed and used by others,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Because plaintiffs do not prescribe or use mifepristone, plaintiffs are unregulated parties who seek to challenge FDA’s regulation of others.”

“Plaintiffs advance several complicated causation theories to connect FDA’s actions to the plaintiffs’ alleged injuries in fact. None of these theories suffices to establish Article III standing,” he added.

The ruling was not unexpected, as during March oral arguments in the case, 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.

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 argued the drug poses statistically little risk to the mother in the early weeks of pregnancy.

“Today’s Court ruling on procedural grounds will continue to put the health of women and girls at risk,” Chieko Noguchi, spokesperson for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement, adding that as the USCCB’s pro-life chair, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, has stated, “Abortion is not health care.” “The Church will continue to advocate for women’s health and safety, and to lovingly serve mothers in need,” she added.

Bishop Burbidge told OSV News in an interview June 13 that the ruling was “procedural” and “really didn’t rule on the merit of the case or the substance.”

Still, “it’s disappointing because, again, what it does is it makes this abortion pill even more accessible and available,” he told OSV News. “And we know the horrific damage it does to life itself and even to women.”

Bishop Burbidge, who along with USCCB’s president, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, led a nationwide novena for life in March in anticipation of the case’s oral arguments, said the church will continue to pray for life and will continue to “educate the communities about the dangers of this pill and its devastating effects.”

President Joe Biden said in a statement, “Today’s decision does not change the fact that the fight for reproductive freedom continues. It does not change the fact that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, and women lost a fundamental freedom. It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states.”

“It does mean that mifepristone, or medication abortion, remains available and approved. Women can continue to access this medication — approved by the FDA as safe and effective more than 20 years ago,” he said.

Erin Hawley, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom and vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, who had argued on behalf of the pro-life organizations before the court, told reporters on a press call June 13 that the ruling was a “based on a legal technicality,” and “ADF and our clients will continue to advocate for women’s health and seek to restore common sense safeguards for abortion drugs.”

Hawley indicated that other challenges to the FDA’s approval of the drug will continue, in cases from Idaho, Kansas and Missouri.

“The court did find that our clients don’t have standing, but we are very hopeful,” added Hawley, who also is the wife of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “The Supreme Court again did not address the merits. And we are very hopeful that the federal courts will have the chance to hold the FDA accountable for its unlawful actions in removing these long-standing safeguards for women.”

Dr. Ingrid Skop, a board-certified OB-GYN who has practiced in Texas and is a senior fellow and director of medical affairs at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, said in a statement, “It is deeply disappointing that the FDA was not held accountable today for its reckless decisions.”

“As a practicing OB-GYN with over 30 years’ experience, I have seen firsthand that mail-order abortion drugs harm my patients, both mothers and their unborn children,” she said. “Abortion advocates and corporate media ignore their stories as they shamelessly promote mail-order distribution of dangerous drugs without a single in-person doctor visit. As a tragic result, I expect to see more women need blood transfusions, emergency surgery and other drastic measures and our emergency medical systems overwhelmed. This is not health care, it’s abandonment and the pro-life community will never stop advocating for patients.”

Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of Women’s March, said in a statement, “We are deeply relieved that the Supreme Court recognized the unfounded legal challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s power to authorize mifepristone, and preserved access to the safe and effective abortion medication nationwide.”

Katie Daniel, state policy director for SBA Pro-Life America, called it “a sad day for all who value women’s health and unborn children’s lives, but the fight to stop dangerous mail-order abortion drugs is not over. Abortion drugs send approximately one in 25 women to the ER according to the FDA’s own label, yet the abortion lobby gaslights women about the risks and seeks to block states from even collecting safety data.”

She added, “Planned Parenthood boasts about dispensing these high-risk drugs by app, ‘completely free of face-to-face interaction with a clinician,’ to anyone with a mailing address. … The old talking point that abortion is a ‘choice between a woman and her doctor’ has been exposed as a lie.”

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. Regulations on the drug were eased in 2016 and 2021, allowing it to be administered a few weeks later in pregnancy and for its distribution by mail.

The same pill combination also is sometimes 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.

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. The ruling maintains the current availability of the drug.

The case was the first major case involving abortion on its docket since the high court overturned its previous abortion precedent in 2022.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis said he hopes the spirit of openness and dialogue embodied in synodality remain the norm for the Catholic Church after the current Synod of Bishops comes to a close.

The pope told the moderators of church movements June 13 that his hope is that “synodality remain as the permanent way of acting in the church at all levels, entering in the hearts of all pastors and faithful until it becomes a shared ecclesial style.”

The “most important thing from this synod on synodality is not so much dealing with this or that issue,” the pope said. “The most important thing is the parish, diocesan and universal journey in synodality.”

In March, Pope Francis decided that the most controversial issues raised at the first assembly of the Synod of Bishops, including the role of women in the church and guidelines for training priests, will be examined by 10 study groups and sidelined from main conversations at the next synod assembly. The groups are scheduled to present a preliminary report to the synod’s second assembly in October and to give the pope a final report on their work by June 2025.

Some 200 participants in a conference of moderators of associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new movements met with Pope Francis as part of a yearly meeting at the Vatican organized by the Dicsatery for Laity, the Family and Life; the theme this year was “The Challenge of Synodality for Mission.”

The meeting “aims to highlight some examples of synodal structures and practices already implemented in associations and movements that can be an example and stimulus for the whole Church,” a statement by the dicastery said, such as ” sharing experiences of faith within small groups or small communities, community discernment, co-responsibility of lay and ordained ministers in assuming roles of governance, involvement of married couples and young people in evangelization (and) charitable and social action.”

Pope Francis said that humility and an openness to other people and ideas are “synodal virtues,” and he told participants that ecclesial movements are meant to be at the service of the church and not seen as “a superior thing” within the church.

“Closed movements should be canceled,” he said; “they are not ecclesial.”

The pope said it is a temptation for members of the church to remain in a “closed circle,” to be “convinced that what we do is good for everyone, to defend, perhaps without realizing it, ‘group’ positions, prerogatives or prestige.”

Yet synodality asks Christians to see God’s presence at work “even in people we do not know, in new pastoral ways,” he said, as well as to “let ourselves be struck, even wounded, by the voice, experience and suffering of others: of brothers and sisters in the faith and of all the people close to us.”

Pope Francis asked the leaders of movements to remember that synodality involves thinking about what God wants from individuals and the church, so an absolute requirement is to not “take for granted that we are attuned to God” but rather “convert ourselves to think according to God and not according to men.”

“Let us remember that the protagonist of the synodal journey is the Holy Spirit, not us,” the pope said. “He alone teaches us to listen to God’s voice, individually and as the church.”