Category: 2025 News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – After experiencing progressive improvement the past few days, Pope Francis experienced “an isolated crisis of bronchospasm” which led to coughing and “vomiting with inhalation,” which worsened his respiratory condition, the Vatican said.

The pope had spent the morning “alternating respiratory physiotherapy with prayer in the chapel” in his suite of rooms on the 10th floor of Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, according to the Vatican bulletin Feb. 28. He had also received the Eucharist.

However, around 2 p.m. local time, the pope experienced “an isolated crisis of bronchospasm” followed by “an episode of vomiting,” according to the Vatican’s evening medical bulletin.

Medical staff promptly aspirated the pope’s airways to remove any obstruction “and began noninvasive mechanical ventilation, with a good response on gas exchange,” that is, with his blood’s oxygen levels returning to the levels he had before the crisis.

The Vatican said, “The Holy Father remained alert and oriented at all times, cooperating with the therapeutic procedures.”

His prognosis remains guarded, which means, a Vatican source said, that the pope is still not out of danger.

The source said the mechanical ventilation entails pumping a greater amount of oxygen mixed with air delivered through a mask covering the pope’s nose and mouth. It offers a greater flow of oxygen than the “ventimask” that he had been using since Feb. 27 and the nasal cannula, which he had been using previously when he needed it.

Doctors will need another 24 to 48 hours to see if his condition worsens from having inhaled vomit, the source said. Usually, people who experience this have “worse consequences,” but the pope overcame the crisis.

The source said the pope is in good spirits, vigilant and reacts normally to his surroundings. The source added the pope has received “an incredible amount” of cards, letters, drawings and flowers from children and well-wishers.

The pope had experienced an asthmatic breathing crisis Feb. 22, in which the pope could not breathe, the source said. The crisis Feb. 28 was a coughing fit, which led to vomiting. Inhaling vomit can lead to irritation, infection or inflammation of lung tissue.

While Pope Francis’ condition had continued to improve, the Vatican announced Feb. 28 that he would not lead his traditional Ash Wednesday services in Rome March 5.

Instead, the Vatican said, the Ash Wednesday procession from the Rome Church of St. Anselm to the Basilica of Santa Sabina for Mass will be celebrated by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the major penitentiary or head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a church court dealing with matters of conscience.

The Vatican announcement Feb. 28 came after a brief morning bulletin that said the pope had had a peaceful night and was resting.

A source later said the pope got out of bed, had breakfast, was reading newspapers and was continuing to receive his treatment and doing his respiratory physiotherapy. Pope Francis, 88, has been undergoing treatment for double pneumonia in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14.

As of Feb. 26, the evening bulletins had no longer been describing the pope’s condition as “critical” as they had each day since Feb. 22 when he had the “asthmatic respiratory crisis.” He began receiving high-flow oxygen through a nasal cannula after that incident and, as of Feb. 27, after the pope’s breathing had improved enough, he was alternating between using the high-flow oxygen and using a “ventimask,” which offers a steady and controlled lower-flow of oxygen.

The Vatican also announced that Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and an Argentine like the pope, would lead the rosary in St. Peter’s Square Feb. 28. Cardinals have been leading a nightly rosary to pray for the pope since Feb. 24.

As of Feb. 28, the Vatican had not said what would happen with the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer March 2.

The previous two Sundays the Vatican released the text the pope had prepared for the Angelus, but the pope was not able to not send an audio message or go to the window of his hospital room to greet people gathered in the hospital courtyard to pray for him.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis’ clinical condition continued to improve Feb. 27, the Vatican said, and he had respiratory physiotherapy in the morning and the afternoon.

For the second day in a row, the 88-year-old pope’s doctors at Rome’s Gemelli hospital did not use the word “critical” when describing the pope’s condition in the medical bulletin they drafted for the Vatican press office to distribute.

Still, the bulletin said, “more days of clinical stability are needed” before the doctors will lift their “guarded” prognosis of the pope’s condition.

The medical bulletin also specified that the pope’s breathing had improved enough for him to alternate receiving high-flow oxygen through a nasal cannula and using a “ventimask” with a mix of room air.

Pope Francis has been hospitalized since Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with double pneumonia and a “polymicrobial” infection; he experienced an “asthmatic respiratory crisis” Feb. 22.

“The Holy Father devoted the morning to respiratory physiotherapy alternating with rest, while in the afternoon after an additional session of physiotherapy he spent time in prayer in the chapel” of the private suite of rooms reserved for the popes on the 10th floor of the hospital, the bulletin said.

He received the Eucharist, it said, “then he devoted himself to work.”

Earlier in the day, the Vatican announced the cancellation of the special Jubilee general audience Pope Francis was scheduled to hold March 1 for Holy Year pilgrims. But as of Feb. 27, the Vatican had not said what would happen with the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer March 2.

The previous two Sundays the Vatican released the text the pope had prepared for the Angelus, but the pope was not able to not send an audio message or go to the window of his hospital room to greet people gathered in the hospital courtyard to pray for him.

The Vatican’s customarily brief morning statement said that Pope Francis had slept well and was resting.

A few hours later, a Vatican source said the pope was out of bed and had eaten breakfast but was still using supplemental oxygen.

In the St. John Paul II Chapel of the Gemelli hospital, people gather every day at noon for an hour of Eucharistic adoration to pray for Pope Francis. At 1 p.m. each day Mass in the chapel also is offered for him.

Father Nunzio Currao, the hospital chaplain, presided over the Mass Feb. 27 and told the staff that while they were supposed to be at the now-canceled Jubilee audience March 1 during their own Holy Year pilgrimage, “we have him here, so let’s be satisfied with that.”

 

At night, in St. Peter’s Square, cardinals, Roman Curia officials and the faithful gather at 9 p.m. to pray the rosary for the pope. Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the papal vicar for Rome, was scheduled to lead the prayer Feb. 27.

SCRANTON – On Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will be principal celebrant and homilist for the 12:10 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, a 40-day season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving that ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It is a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter.

During Lent, fasting and abstinence regulations are observed. Fasting and abstinence are church-imposed penitential practices that deny us food and drink during certain seasons and on certain days. These acts of self-denial dispose us to free ourselves from worldly distractions, to express our longing for Jesus, to somehow imitate His suffering.

Abstinence and fasting are required on both Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. On those days, one full meal is allowed along with two other smaller meals. Catholics bound by the law of abstinence include everyone age 14 and over; the law of fasting includes individuals age 18 through the beginning of their 60th year.

In addition to the 12:10 p.m. Mass with Bishop Bambera, ashes will also be distributed at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton during Masses held at 6:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Mass with the distribution of ashes will also take place at Immaculate Conception Parish, which is linked with the Cathedral, at 8:00 a.m. and a Liturgy of the Word Service with the distribution of ashes will be held at 4:30 p.m.

A full listing of Ash Wednesday Masses for all 106 parishes in the Diocese of Scranton is available on the Diocese of Scranton website at dioceseofscranton.org.

Throughout the Season of Lent, Bishop Bambera will also visit every geographic area of the Diocese of Scranton holding a Lenten Holy Hour. A Holy Hour is a period of time spent in prayer before the Lord, present to all sacramentally in the Eucharist.

A Holy Hour involves personal prayer, meditation readings from Scripture, hymns and more.

The dates and locations for Bishop Bambera’s Lenten Holy Hours during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope across the Diocese of Scranton are listed below.

(OSV News) – The start of Lent is now less than one week away. Are you ready?

Lent gets its name from a word meaning “springtime,” the time of year when the hours of daylight are lengthening and the sun is bringing back its warmth and light.

The Lenten season, indeed all of springtime, is a time of hope: We deepen our relationship with Christ through our Lenten disciplines and look to his crucifixion, death and resurrection to overcome the darkness that can cause us to struggle and despair.

Some days we may not feel the love of God that is always present, but we can rely on hope to move us forward in faith, especially in the 2025 Jubilee Year, which Pope Francis gave the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” Exercise hope this Lent and find renewal for the coming Easter season, where we celebrate Christ’s joyful resurrection.

Hope is a theological virtue, a gift from God that helps us act as his children.

Received at baptism, hope gives us confidence and inspiration as we look forward to heaven and salvation. Hope allows us to move forward in faith even in the most doubtful or difficult times. Hope can help us feel secure even in the midst of our own failings or the injustices we see in the world around us.

St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Hope denotes a movement or a stretching forth of the appetite toward an arduous good.”

In other words, we are reaching for the goodness of God when we exercise hope – even when it isn’t easy.

Hope is also a form of trust in, and surrendering to, our loving God. We have faith in his goodness, and we trust his guidance for our lives and future. And, while hope is a gift, it is also an active choice we make to stretch toward God’s goodness.

This stretching exercise can take many forms as we live the days of Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

• Pray with hope. The season of Lent calls us to deepen our prayer lives.
  St. Padre Pio’s famous phrase, “Pray, hope and don’t worry,” is a reminder that prayer can give us comfort when we place our hope in God.
  Prayer shows our reliance on God as well as our confidence in God. Along with praying traditional Catholic prayers, it is helpful to pray with God’s word. This Lent, renew your prayer life by reflecting on these hope-filled Scripture passages:

“Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer” (Rom 12:12).

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13).

“Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy” (Heb 10:23).

Another way to deepen our faith this Lent is to learn and recite the Act of Hope.
Consider God’s mercy as you reflect on Christ’s death and resurrection and find hope in the promise of salvation:

“O my God, relying on your infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.”

• Fast with hope. During Lent, Catholics are called to days of fasting from food and abstinence from meat as we refocus our discipleship.

The goal of fasting is to improve our relationship with Christ as we experience sacrifice in honor of his sacrifice for us. Fasting can help us feel connected with Christ and solidarity with the poor. Many Catholics also traditionally “give up” something for Lent.

Here are some ideas to make your Lenten sacrifice a hope-building exercise.

Refrain from negative or hopeless comments; try saying things only in positive ways. Avoid watching television or movies with negative messages or dialogue. Give away items that are burdening you with clutter; find new homes for them with a charity donation. Trade the time you usually spend on screens or sports viewing to take walks with family or friends. Skip buying desserts or treats and use the money you save to purchase flowers for someone who needs a day-brightener.

As you fast, consider Pope Francis’ April 2017 TED Talk in which he addressed misconceptions around hope.

“Feeling hopeful does not mean to be optimistically naive and ignore the tragedy humanity is facing,” he said. “Hope is the virtue of a heart that doesn’t lock itself into darkness, that doesn’t dwell on the past, (that) does not simply get by in the present, but is able to see a tomorrow. … And it can do so much, because a tiny flicker of light that feeds on hope is enough to shatter the shield of darkness.”

• Give alms with hope. “It is in giving that we receive,” according to the Prayer of St. Francis. Almsgiving can seem the easiest of Lenten disciplines.

Most parishes have opportunities to donate funds to missions or the poor, and these are important works of charity.

Giving funds to help support others has been a part of Lent since the earliest days of Christianity and brings hope to others. However, as St. Teresa of Kolkata said, “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into the giving” that’s important. Exercising hope means we are relying on God’s love for us, which calls us to truly love others. This might mean that we exercise our hope this Lent by giving our love in time as well as in treasure.

This Lent, consider volunteering time at your parish during one of their Lenten activities, or help clean or decorate the church in preparation for Holy Week. Write cards to family and friends expressing ways they help you feel more hopeful and thanking them for their support.

This Lent, let us work to become more understanding, compassionate and faithful through developing a habit of hope!

An annual Lenten collection taken up by Catholics across the U.S. continues to provide life-changing hope to others.

This year, the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Rice Bowl program is celebrating its 50th year of funding hunger and poverty alleviation efforts around the world.

The program, which is supported by more than 12,000 Catholic parishes and schools across the United States, has raised more than $350 million since its inception.

“For half a century, CRS Rice Bowl has been a pillar of our work,” said Sean Callahan, CRS president and CEO. “It has given hope to millions of our sisters and brothers experiencing hunger. We are humbled by the generous support that Catholics across the United States have shown for CRS Rice Bowl and for their global family.”

In 1975, CRS Rice Bowl began in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as a response to the devastating drought and famine affecting families in the Sahel region of Africa.

“Operation Rice Bowl,” as it was known then, was adopted in 1976 under the guidance of CRS in preparation for 41st International Eucharistic Congress. The bishops in the United States voted for it to be the official program of CRS in 1977.

Sadly, the issue of hunger is just as relevant now as it was in 1975. Since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, hunger levels have remained high. In some parts of the world, the levels are increasing. Despite efforts to combat this rise, the world is still far off track to achieve the United Nations’ Zero Hunger goal.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 580 million people could be chronically undernourished in 2030 – just five years away – if the trajectory is left unchecked.

Direct donations to CRS are accepted online at crsricebowl.org/give; by phone at (877) 435-7277 between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m.; or mail. Please write “CRS Rice Bowl” on the memo line of a check and mail it to: Catholic Relief Services, Attn: Rice Bowl, PO Box 5200, Harlan, IA 51593-0700.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis’ condition showed “further slight improvement” in the previous 24 hours, the Vatican said in its evening medical bulletin Feb. 26.

The “mild renal insufficiency” previously noted in the pope’s condition “has receded,” the bulletin said, and the results of a CT scan performed Feb. 25 showed a “normal evolution” of his pulmonary inflammation.

The results come from the third CT scan the pope has received during his hospitalization; he was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs after the second scan, which was performed Feb. 18.

The 88-year-old pope, who has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14, “continues high-flow oxygen therapy” and did not have another “asthmatic respiratory crisis” like the one he experienced Feb. 22, the Vatican said. The pope began receiving oxygen through a nasal cannula after that incident and “continues respiratory physiotherapy.”

Notably, the evening bulletin did not describe the pope’s condition as “critical,” as it had each day since Feb. 22, but said his “prognosis remains guarded.”

The pope was previously given blood transfusions after tests showed signs of anemia – when blood is unable to carry healthy amounts of oxygen.

Blood tests assessing hematochemical parameters, indicators of overall blood composition, and hematocrit levels, which measure the proportion of red blood cells in the blood, “confirmed yesterday’s improvement,” the bulletin said.

“During the morning, the Holy Father received the Eucharist,” it added. “The afternoon was devoted to work activities.”

A Vatican source said the pope had not had any visitors during the day.

The Vatican had said the pope met Feb. 24 in the hospital with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute secretary of state, and signed a series of decrees related to sainthood causes which were released the following day.

In its scant morning bulletin Feb. 26, the Vatican said the pope “had a peaceful night and is resting.”

At 1 p.m. local time, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar for the Diocese of Rome, celebrated Mass in the hospital’s St. John Paul II Chapel with the special intention of praying for Pope Francis.

The 9 p.m. recitation of the rosary in St. Peter’s Square to pray for the pope’s health, which the Vatican said has become a fixed appointment, was scheduled to be led Feb. 26 by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.

(OSV News) – A multiyear decline in Christianity in the U.S. may have leveled off, according to a new survey by Pew Research Center. However, the Catholic Church, the survey found, is seeing the greatest net losses of believers compared to other religions in the U.S.

The data indicates that for every one person received into the Catholic Church, another 8.4 individuals have left the faith, either altogether or for another worship tradition. This increases the trend Pew found in 2014, when 6.5 Catholics left the faith for every person who entered.

Pew’s new survey also shows just 29% of the nation’s Catholics attend religious services weekly or more often. Altogether four in 10 Catholics attend religious services monthly or more.

In addition, support among U.S. Catholics for legalized abortion, homosexuality and other stances at odds with church teaching has increased over the past decade and a half.

On Feb. 26, Pew Research released the results of its 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study. The RLS polled 36,908 U.S. adults on a range of topics regarding religious belief and practice, as well as issues such as abortion, homosexuality, immigration and the role of government.

The survey was conducted in English and Spanish from July 2023 to March 2024, with participants sharing their thoughts online, via mail or phone.

Researchers noted that a multiyear decline in the number of U.S. adults identifying as Christian — noted in Pew’s 2007 and 2014 RLS reports — has appeared to stabilize “at least temporarily” since 2019.

The rise in those who are religiously unaffiliated, or “nones,” has also leveled off for now, after “rising rapidly for decades,” Pew noted.

However, the new survey “cannot answer definitively” whether that short-term stability will be “permanent,” cautioned Gregory A. Smith, senior associate director of research at Pew.

While he and his team “cannot predict the future,” Smith told OSV News the data “very clearly” shows that “the underlying forces that drove the long-term declines are still very much in evidence.”

“The youngest adults in the population are still far, far less religious than the oldest adults,” Smith said. “We know, furthermore, that the oldest cohort of Americans … will decline as a share of the population as the people in that cohort pass away.”

For the stability Pew has observed to prove permanent, “something would have to change,” Smith explained. “Either today’s young adults would have to become a lot more religious as they get older, or new generations are going to have to come along in the future that are far more religious than today’s young adults.”

The report found that 62% of U.S. adults currently describe themselves as Christian, with the majority (40%) Protestant, 19% Catholic and 3% as Christians from other denominations.

The total number of self-identified U.S. Christians is down from 78% in 2007 and 71% in 2014.

In 2007, 24% of the nation identified as Catholic, which dropped to 21% in 2021.

Over one quarter (29%) of the U.S. population identifies as religiously unaffiliated, with most (19%) describing themselves as religiously “nothing in particular,” 5% as atheist and 6% as agnostic. Another 7% of the U.S. population belongs to religions other than Christianity, with 2% being Jewish, and Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus counting as approximately 1% each.

Yet overall, most Americans (86%) believe people have a soul or spirit, and 83% say they believe in God or a universal spirit. A majority (79%) also hold there is a spiritual reality beyond the natural one, and 70% believe in heaven, hell or both.

Still, less than half (44%) say they pray at least once a day, a figure that has held steady since 2021, and 33% report attending religious services at least once a month.

Pew researchers speculated that “in future years we may see further declines in the religiousness of the American public.” It pointed out that “young adults are far less religious than older adults” and “no recent birth cohort has become more religious as it has aged.”

The “stickiness,” or persistence, of a religious upbringing appears to have declined, while that of a nonreligious upbringing “seems to be rising,” said Pew researchers.

Generally, “younger Americans remain far less religious than older adults,” said Pew, noting that 46% of the survey’s youngest respondents (ages 18-24) identified as Christian, with 27% praying daily and 25% attending religious services at least monthly. In comparison, the survey’s oldest respondents (ages 74 and older) saw 80% identify as Christian, 58% pray daily, and 49% attend religious services at least monthly.

Catholics polled by Pew have also shown an increased acceptance of abortion and homosexuality since 2007.

Among Catholic survey respondents, 59% said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, compared to 48% in both Pew’s 2007 and 2014 surveys. The Catholic Church holds that human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception, and since the first century has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.

A majority (59%) of religiously affiliated persons in the U.S. say homosexuality should be accepted by society, with 74% of Catholic respondents endorsing that view. The Catholic Church, which teaches that sexual activity can only morally take place in marriage between a man and a woman, also teaches that persons with homosexual inclinations “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.”

Catholics have also “experienced the greatest net losses” due to what Pew researchers called “religious switching,” with 43% of the people raised Catholic no longer identifying as such, “meaning that 12.8% of all U.S. adults are former Catholics,” said the report.

However, Smith said, “It is also important to point out that 1.5% of U.S. adults are converts to Catholicism.”

“That’s millions of people,” he said.

“That means there are more converts to Catholicism in the United States than there are Episcopalians, for example. There are more converts to Catholicism than there are members of congregational churches, and so on,” he added.

“There are lots of people who are joining the Catholic Church,” Smith said. “It’s just that they are far outnumbered by those who say they’ve left the Catholic Church.”

Smith also said that “it’s not necessarily that there’s lots and lots of people switching their religion at any one moment in time.

“These are gradual processes,” he explained. “It takes time to observe them.”

(OSV News) – A “silent genocide” – mimicking the Rwandan one of 1994 – is occurring eastern Congo, said some Catholic Church sources, as shock greeted the killing of 70 people in a Protestant church in the North Kivu Province.

The victims were found beheaded with machetes Feb. 15 near the Maiba village in Lubero, a district close to the border between Rwanda and Uganda, according to Fides, a news agency of the Dicastery of Evangelization. Many of those who died in the massacre were women, children and the elderly and had their hands tied behind their back.

The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee, an Orthodox agency that champions for Christian communities facing persecution, said the victims were taken from their homes days earlier.

“This heinous act, perpetrated within a sacred place of worship, is an egregious violation of human rights and a direct assault on religious freedom,” said the organization in a statement on Feb. 23.

Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist group originally from Uganda and aligned to the Islamic State group is believed to have carried out the killings.

According to the Orthodox committee, actions by the Islamist group have instilled fear and chaos in the region, forcing countless Christians to flee their homes.

“The local community is devastated, with churches, schools, and health centers shutting down due to the deteriorating security situation,” the statement said.

More than 100 rebel groups operate in the mineral-rich eastern Congo, with the ADF and the Rwanda-backed M23, or Movement 23, being some of the most deadly. The ADF is known for attacking churches, beheading Christians and kidnapping people for use as slaves or fighters.

But as the condemnation of the killings continued, Catholic Church sources said the latest massacre further underlined a genocide that has unfolded in the country for years.

“It is silent genocide that has not been told. It reminds of what happened in Rwanda in 1994,” a Catholic priest who requested anonymity for security reasons told OSV News. “It has been occurring for the last 30 years, but the international community has been silent.”

Since 1996, the conflict in eastern Congo has killed an estimated 6 million people.

In the first Congo war, Rwanda invaded Zaire (now Congo) in pursuit of Hutu ethnic extremists who had fled there after they committed a genocide in neighbouring Rwanda. The 1994 Rwanda genocide left nearly one million members of Tutsi and moderate Hutu people dead. In the second Congo war, two years later, Rwandan and Ugandan armies fought deadly battles in Bunia and Kisangani regions, resulting in heavy civilian casualties.

Father Dennis Dashong Pam, a Missionary of Africa priest who served in eastern Congo for more than 10 years said although the killings in Congo did not fit in the actual definition, the huge number of the deaths was equivalent to a genocide.

“Villages of the Congolese have systematically been wiped out. Yes! We can say a genocide is occurring,” said Father Dashong Pam. The cleric feared a repeat of the violence in the mid-1990s, when national armies fought in the region, leading to the fall of the then-dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko’s government.

“The people of Congo would not want to see a repeat of that. Too many people died,” the priest said.

According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, called the Genocide Convention, genocide means acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, by killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to its members, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The M23 rebels have recently surged in eastern Congo, seizing more territory and towns and leaving behind a trail of death, pain and destruction. On Jan. 27, the rebels captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu. At least 3,000 people died in the battle for the city, the humanitarian capital of the region.

The rebels captured Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, on Feb. 16. Unlike Goma, the movement met little resistance from the government forces.

Father Dashong Pam said all the fighting and violence is fueled by competition for mineral resources including tin, gold, coltan and cobalt. The last two are minerals which find wide use in electronics. Cobalt is used to make the batteries used in mobile phones and cars, and coltan is refined into tantalum, also used in the production of electronic components.

“It is all about the minerals. This story has to be told. It is a weapon: You terrorize the people and they run away from an area with plenty of minerals. When they are gone, you start exploiting the minerals,” said the priest.

During his visit to Congo and in South Sudan Jan. 31-Feb. 5, 2023, Pope Francis referred to the Congo violence as an overlooked genocide perpetrated by generations of exploiters, plunderers and power-hungry groups.

“Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa,” Pope Francis insisted Jan. 31, 2023, remarks met with applause and the stomping of feet. “Stop choking Africa: It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered.”

The people of Congo are more precious than any of the gems or minerals found in the earth beneath their feet, yet they have been slaughtered by warmongers and exploited by prospectors, Pope Francis said.

“This country, so immense and full of life, this diaphragm of Africa, struck by violence like a blow to the stomach, has seemed for some time to be gasping for breath,” the pope said at a meeting with Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, other government and political leaders, diplomats and representatives of civil society.