Category: 2025 News

EXETER – More than 30 young adults from across the Diocese of Scranton gathered Thursday evening, Nov. 13, at Sabatini’s Bottle shop for the latest Theology on Tap session. Theology on Tap is a monthly series designed to offer young adults a place for faith, conversation, and community.

This month’s gathering took on special significance as it featured the Diocese’s two newly ordained priests, Father Thomas Dzwonczyk, and Father Andrew McCarroll.

Instead of offering traditional witness talks, the priests took part in an open question-and-answer session, inviting attendees to ask anything about their discernment, seminary formation, and life in ministry.

Bridget Guarnieri, who helps coordinate the Theology on Tap series, said the change in format was intended to spark more engagement.

“It gave us a chance to get to know them better and gave them a chance to tell their story,” she said.

The approach worked. A wide variety of questions were asked and the candid responses surprised those in attendance.

“Hearing the challenges that they have to go through, like they said, their job is not just Sunday. It is every day. It’s midnight hours. I think tonight really opened up everybody’s eyes to what it is like to be a priest, and I think we gained a deeper respect for their vocation.”

The Theology on Tap sessions provide a chance for young adults to have drinks, eat pizza, and create a shared sense of community.

“I think community as Catholics is truly important,” Joseph Merolla, a parishioner of the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton, said. “Social media claims to bring people together digitally, but in reality, I think it leads to isolation, so having events like this really give Catholics a chance to connect with one another.”

Gina Morgese, a parishioner of Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in Carbondale, agreed.

“It is great to be around the energy of the young church and just be reminded that we are not alone,” she said. “I get to connect with people my age who are passionate about our Lord.”

For first-time attendee Lucas Popielski, a parishioner of Saint Gregory Parish in Clarks Green, the night offered him a new perspective of the newly ordained priest he sees at his parish each week.

“It was nice to see the priest outside of the church, doing something a little different than what I’m used to seeing him do,” Popielski explained.

Theology on Tap sessions follow a college semester schedule, so there will be one more event this year.

The final session of 2025 will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11, and will feature Rob Williams, Executive Director of Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen in Scranton. Williams will speak on the theme, “Christ no longer has a body but yours,” focusing on service and involvement in local ministries.

Attendees are invited to bring donations such as food items, gloves, and socks to support individuals in need during the winter months.

SCRANTON – With prayers of thanksgiving and deep gratitude, the Diocese of Scranton celebrated its annual Jubilee Mass for Women and Men Religious on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter.

The Mass honored 23 religious sisters and brothers who are marking milestone anniversaries in consecrated life this year – accounting for a combined 1,415 years of faithful service to God and the Church.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, served as principal celebrant and homilist for the Jubilee Mass. The Bishop expressed heartfelt appreciation to the jubilarians for their lifelong witness of discipleship and prayer – which has spanned 25, 50, 60, 70 and even 75 years in some cases.

“What a blessing we’ve been given in all of you,” Bishop Bambera said. “More than you realize or appreciate, you continually challenge us to trust in the mercy, love and forgiveness of God – something that many of us in the Church forget, all too often.”

In his homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Bishop reflected on the Gospel call to authentic discipleship, reminding those gathered that faith must always be lived with integrity and compassion.

“There is a very simple message that I hope we will all take from today’s Gospel,” the Bishop said. “Jesus calls us to live our lives with integrity. He calls us to give the beliefs that we profess a life.”

Drawing upon a personal story from his visit to Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, a former slave fortress, Bishop Bambera spoke of the “disconnect” that can sometimes exist between what we profess as Christians and how we live our lives.

As he looked at the jubilarians seated in front of him, the Bishop thanked them for boldly proclaiming the Gospel message in a world that far too often fails to embrace it.

“Your commitment to work for justice for the marginalized – immigrants, the poor, those held captive today by greed and sexual exploitation, and all those oppressed by far too many who deem themselves righteous – provides us with a unique and powerful witness to the presence of God at work in our world today in 2025,” Bishop Bambera added.

Among those celebrating jubilees this year is Sister Mary Theresa Wojcicki, a Sister of Christian Charity, who is marking 50 years of religious life. Originally from Great Meadows, N.J., Sister Mary Theresa now ministers at Saint Jude School in Mountain Top.

“The greatest joy that I have had was to be able to work with children and bring them to Jesus,” she said.

Reflecting on her vocation, Sister Mary Theresa shared, “I was impressed with the Sisters of Christian Charity in grade school. I saw that they were cheerful, always happy, and ready to serve – and I wanted to follow that charism.”

Sister Elizabeth (Betty) Bullen, a Sister, Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is celebrating 60 years of religious life this year.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Sister Betty spent much of her ministry in North Carolina before returning to live in Scranton. She describes her ministry as a lifelong adventure in faith and friendship.

“My greatest joy has been getting to meet amazing people who are different than I was and being able to expand my understanding of cultures and faiths,” she said.
Sister Mary Eleanor Thornton, a Sister of Mercy, who is celebrating 70 years of religious life, said her greatest joy has been spending decades ministering to the poor through social service centers, food programs, and parish outreach.

“It was such a joy and an honor (to serve the poor). God used me to collect food, furniture, and clothing that the poor would need,” she said. “I loved gathering volunteers who would help me.”

Looking back on seven decades of service, Sister Mary Eleanor found special meaning in Bishop Bambera’s homily and his reminder that we can’t just call ourselves Christians; we really must live what Jesus Christ wanted us to do.

“It is all God doing it in us. God gives us the gifts,” she explained. “I’m just grateful to the Sisters of Mercy that they have a fourth vow – to serve the poor, the sick and the uneducated – and that they were willing to let me do the things I could do for the poor.”

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton has welcomed three new Echo Apprentices as part of its ongoing collaboration with the University of Notre Dame.

Now entering its third cohort in the Diocese, this unique two-year program allows the graduate-level students to combine academic studies with actual parish-based ministry, helping to prepare the young adult Catholics for leadership roles in the church.

In August, Veronica Hill, Kim Berning, and Katie James all arrived in northeastern Pennsylvania from various parts of the country, bringing their faith and enthusiasm.

Each of the new Echo Apprentices will be working in a parish or ministry setting and will be mentored by local clergy.

VERONICA HILL

Placement: Saint John the Evangelist Parish, Pittston
Hometown: Glendale, AZ
Home Diocese: Tucson

With a background in biology and biochemistry, Veronica Hill brings a scientific mind and a missionary heart to her ministry.

A graduate of the University of Arizona, Veronica has experience leading weekly Bible study programs and even spent last summer as a summer missionary in Philadelphia where she cultivated relationships with the homeless.

She was drawn to the Echo Program for its unique combination of theology coursework and hands-on parish experience.

“It is meaningful to listen and learn in the classroom,” she shared, “but to have the opportunity to teach in schools and work in parishes as part of our formation takes this degree to the next level.”

At Saint John the Evangelist Parish, Veronica is eager to explore many facets of ministry – from senior outreach and religious education to social justice projects.

“The parish community has already made me feel so welcome and I cannot wait to see what the Lord has prepared for these next two years,” she added.

KIM BERNING

Placement: King’s College Campus Ministry, Wilkes-Barre
Hometown: Lenexa, KS
Home Diocese: Kansas City

Kim Berning arrives in the Diocese of Scranton with a robust background in ministry, accounting, and leadership.

A graduate of Creighton University with degrees in accounting and management and a theology minor, Kim spent time with the Apostles of the Interior Life in Texas and Italy and has worked extensively with youth and family RCIA.

“I chose the Echo Program because it offers an opportunity for in-depth study and challenge, enabling Echo students to actively share what they learn,” she said. “I believe this program prepares students for a career in ministry, but more importantly it prepares students to embrace the vocation of ministry.”

At King’s College, Kim is diving into a vibrant community of students and will be involved in guiding OCIA, leading retreats, assisting with liturgies, and mentoring through faith-sharing groups like Sisters in Faith.

“Working with college students is a unique experience that I’m enjoying,” she said. “The King’s community has been incredibly welcoming and it’s exciting to join the campus ministry team as they move into a new space.”

Though she’s new to Pennsylvania, Kim is already making the most of it.

“I’ve loved exploring the culture, even taking a coal mining tour and discovering the area through hikes,” she explained.

KATIE JAMES

Placement: Christ the King Parish, Archbald
Hometown: Webster, MA
Home Diocese: Worcester

With a degree in computer science and a minor in mathematics from Champlain College in Vermont, Katie James is no stranger to logic and systems. But it is her heart for ministry and formation that led her to say “yes” to being an ECHO Apprentice.

“After serving as a Totus Tuus missionary – a Catholic summer catechetical youth program – I discovered a deep desire to grow in my knowledge of God through the study of theology,” Katie explained. “Echo stood out to me because it combines rigorous theological study with hands-on ministry experience.”

At Christ the King Parish in Archbald, Katie will be focused on catechesis, youth ministry, and family faith formation. She is particularly passionate about meeting people where they are and helping them to encounter Christ in daily life.

“I am incredibly excited to be serving at Christ the King Parish,” Katie explained. “As an early admit to the Echo Program, I spent over a year waiting to receive my diocesan and parish placement. During that time, I prayed intentionally each day for my future community members, mentor, and parish … I’ve already seen so many of those prayers beautifully answered.”

Having driven past Scranton countless times on family road trips, Katie now finds herself happily settled in the very place she once simply passed by.

“It’s a bit surreal,” she joked. “I had no idea I’d one day get to call this place home!”

MOUNTAIN TOP – Parishioners filled Saint Jude Church for three nights in late October as the Mountain Top community celebrated its annual parish mission in honor of its patron, Saint Jude, the patron saint of hope and impossible causes.

The three-night mission, held Oct. 26-28, centered on the theme “Hope in the Body of Christ” – echoing both the Church’s ongoing Jubilee Year of Hope and the recent National Eucharistic Revival. Each evening focused on a unique aspect of that theme: “It is the Body of Christ,” “You are the Body of Christ,” and “We are the Body of Christ.”

The opening Mass was celebrated by Father Tom Dzwonczyk, a newly ordained priest for the Diocese of Scranton who once served Saint Jude Parish as a seminarian and deacon. The second evening featured a Holy Hour with Adoration, music, confessions, and a talk by Father Stephen Robbins, Associate Vocation Director for the Diocese of Camden, N.J. The mission concluded on the Feast of Saint Jude, with Mass celebrated by Father Joe Evanko, pastor, followed by a parish potluck dinner.

“The mission continues the spirit of the Eucharistic Revival and reminds us that not only do we get to receive the Body of Christ – but we too get to participate in the Body of Christ as a community,” Sean Savage, Director of Faith Formation, said. “Particularly coming out of COVID, we’ve noticed that people come to Mass, but we lost that communal element of being together.”

Attendees said the mission offered the opportunity for both spiritual renewal and community fellowship.

Mary Ann Wallace, a new parishioner of Saint Jude Parish, found the Monday night Adoration to be very moving with its music.

“It’s just wonderful to see everybody turn out,” Wallace stated. “We have three Masses at this church. We know everybody that goes to the 4 p.m. Mass on Saturday, but we don’t know the people that come on Sunday, so it was a nice opportunity to meet other people.”

Thomas Lavan, a parishioner of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish (Saint Mary’s), agreed.

“I think it is a good way to get people together and that is what church is all about, community,” Lavan said.

As Saint Jude Parish prepares for Advent, they are hoping that parishioners remain engaged.

“We want people to not just run out of church. We want them to be able to stay in our beautiful narthex, to be able to gather and commune together,” Savage said. “That is the aim of this (mission), to remind people of ‘who’ they are receiving, ‘who’ they are becoming, and how ‘we’ should interact together as the Body of Christ.”

CONYNGHAM – The Knights of Columbus, Our Lady of Fatima Council 8613, of Saint John Bosco Church in Conyngham, and Good Shepherd Church in Drums, recently held a Coats for Kids Drive for the needy of the greater Hazleton area.

More than 80 new coats were donated by the Council.

Council members are currently collecting items for this year’s Cross Catholic Outreach ‘Box of Joy’ program. This marks the sixth year that the Council has joined with Cross Catholic Outreach to bring smiles and hope to children who might otherwise go without a Christmas gift.

The Knights will also sponsor a holiday blood drive on Thursday, Dec. 11 in the Saint John Bosco gym. All are invited to make an appointment.

The Conyngham Council has been named a Star Council for the third year in a row.

Men from the greater Hazleton area are welcome to become members. The Council meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. in Saint John Bosco Hall.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Insisting that the dignity of all people, including immigrants, must be respected, Pope Leo XIV asked U.S. Catholics and “people of goodwill” to read and listen to the U.S. bishops’ recent pastoral message on the topic.

“When people are living good lives — and many of them (in the United States) for 10, 15, 20 years — to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least,” is not acceptable, the pope said Nov. 18.

Meeting reporters outside his villa in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo was asked what he thought of the “special pastoral message on immigration” approved overwhelmingly by members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 12.

“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the bishops said. “We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status.”

The bishops also said, “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” and they prayed “for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement.”

Pope Leo told reporters in Castel Gandolfo that the pastoral message is “a very important statement. I would invite especially all Catholics, but people of goodwill, to listen carefully to what they said.”

“No one has said that the United States should have open borders,” the pope said. “I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.”

However, he said, in enforcing immigration policy “we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have.”

“If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that,” he said. “There are courts. There’s a system of justice,” but the system has “a lot of problems” that should be addressed.

Pope Leo also was asked about what he does in Castel Gandolfo.

Tuesdays traditionally are the one day a week when popes have no official audiences or public events. When his schedule permits, Pope Leo goes to Castel Gandolfo late Monday afternoon and returns to the Vatican Tuesday night.

Pope Leo said he uses the day for “a bit of sport, a bit of reading, a bit of work,” specifying that at Castel Gandolfo he plays tennis and swims in the pool.

Having a break during the week “helps a lot,” the pope said. And it is important to take care of the body as well as the soul.

As he prepares for his first trip outside Italy as pope — a visit to Turkey and Lebanon Nov. 27-Dec. 2 — he also was asked when he thought he would get back to Peru where he served as a missionary and as a bishop.

Pope Leo said he likes to travel, but the events of the Jubilee year kept his 2025 calendar full. The challenge for 2026 will be finding a way to schedule the trips he would like to make, including to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and then a trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, “of course.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – While “creation is crying out” and millions of people suffer the effects of climate change and pollution, politicians are failing to act, Pope Leo XIV said.

As the U.N. Climate Conference, COP30, began its final week of meetings Nov. 17, the pope sent a video message to Christian representatives and activists from the global south who were holding a side event to the conference in Belem, Brazil.

The Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 at COP21 “has driven real progress and remains our strongest tool for protecting people and the planet,” Pope Leo said in the video.

“But we must be honest: it is not the agreement that is failing, we are failing in our response,” he said. “What is failing is the political will of some.”

While Pope Leo did not specify which nations were at fault, the U.S. government was not represented at COP30 because U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Paris Agreement.

“True leadership means service, and support at a scale that will truly make a difference,” the pope said. “Stronger climate actions will create stronger and fairer economic systems. Strong climate actions and policies — both are an investment in a more just and stable world.”

“Creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat,” Pope Leo said.

“One in three people live in great vulnerability because of these climate changes,” he added. “To them, climate change is not a distant threat, and to ignore these people is to deny our shared humanity.”

As government representatives from most of the world’s countries — more than 190 nations registered delegations — struggled to finalize agreements on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing reliance on fossil fuels, Pope Leo told the Christian activists he believed “there is still time to keep the rise in global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius, but the window is closing.”

“As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to act swiftly, with faith and prophecy, to protect the gift he entrusted to us,” the pope said.

In safeguarding creation as a gift of God, he said, “we walk alongside scientists, leaders and pastors of every nation and creed.”

“We are guardians of creation, not rivals for its spoils,” the pope said. “Let us send a clear global signal together: nations standing in unwavering solidarity behind the Paris Agreement and behind climate cooperation.”

Despite the challenges, Pope Leo told the activists, “you chose hope and action over despair, building a global community that works together.”

The efforts have made a difference, he said, “but not enough. Hope and determination must be renewed, not only in words and aspirations, but also in concrete actions.”

(OSV News) – More than a quarter of the global population still lacks access to seven basic needs identified as fundamental by the late Pope Francis – with close to 60% living in nations with severe restrictions on religious freedom, and more than half of the world’s women living in countries with severe sex-based discrimination, according to a new report from Fordham University.

In addition, a majority of those represented by the statistics live on the African continent, as well as in some Asian nations.

The data was made public in the university’s “Pope Francis Global Poverty Report,” released Nov. 14 ahead of World Day of the Poor, observed Nov. 16.

The annual observance, instituted in 2016 by Pope Francis in his apostolic letter “Misericordia et Misera,” takes place on the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, which in 2025 fell on Nov. 16.

The Fordham report, prepared by that school’s Graduate Program in International Political Economy and Development, or IPED, assesses the Global Poverty Gap, defined as the world average of the relevant population without adequate water, food, housing, employment, education, gender equality and religious freedom.

Those seven basic human needs were highlighted by Pope Francis in his 2015 address to the United Nations General Assembly.

The Fordham Francis Index — which first combines data from those seven indicators into a Material Welfare Index and a Spiritual Freedom Index — “is a more pro-poor index,” wrote Fordham’s IPED director, economics professor Henry Schwalbenberg, in the report’s foreword.

Schwalbenberg explained the index emphasizes the “basic material human needs of the most marginalized,” while also featuring “a more pro-freedom index with its incorporation of civil liberties into its measure of spiritual freedom.”

In addition, the index is “a more robust measure of integral human development,” he wrote.

The report — which drew on data from organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank — found that “based on the most recently available data for the year 2025, the Global Poverty Gap is 25.5%.”

That number is “unchanged from the previous year,” the report said, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic had worsened the figure until 2022, with “the beginning of a recovery” indicated in 2023.

“However, this recovery has stalled since 2024,” said the report.

The most recently available data shows that 8.8% of the world’s population, or some 707 million people, lack “an improved drinking water source,” one that provides clean, readily accessible water “with collection time not exceeding 30 minutes for a round-trip, including queuing,” said the report.

Topping the list of the 10 most deprived nations for such water access is Congo, followed by Central African Republic, South Sudan, Niger and Burkina Faso.

As of 2022, approximately 9.1% of the global population, or 730 million, were undernourished, said the report, citing data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

More than half of the populations of Somalia (51.3%) and Haiti (50.4%) were undernourished, with just under 40% of the populations of Madagascar (39.7%), Yemen (39.5%), Liberia (38.4%) and Zimbabwe (38.1%) suffering from lack of nourishment. Congo (37%), Uganda (36.9%), Zambia (35.4%) and Chad (35.1%) rounded out the top 10 list.

About 1.3 billion people, or 16.4% of the global population, live in “sub-standard housing,” defined in the report as structures with floor, walls or roofs made of “natural materials” such as earth, mud or dung — or lacking a roof or walls altogether.

An overwhelming majority of the population of Chad (80.4%, or 15.5 million) reside in such inadequate structures, said the report. Central African Republic (75.5%), Burundi (70.6%), Mauritania (69.5%) and Ethiopia (67.5%) were also listed in the top five nations for substandard housing, with Afghanistan (61.6%) ranking seventh.

The report found that 21.4% of the world’s labor force, some 810 million adults, “lack paid employment above subsistence-level wages,” a calculation that used the International Labor Organization’s figure of $3.65 per day as the minimum needed to be sustained without assistance. The metric accounts for differences and prices among countries, the report noted.

Madagascar (89%), Congo (87.2%) and Malawi (86%) accounted for the highest population percentages in this category.

The Fordham researchers estimated that 767 million adults, or about 12.6% of the global adult population, were illiterate in 2023, based on the Adult Illiteracy Rate, a figure representing those age 15 and older who “who cannot read, write, and comprehend a simple statement about their everyday life.” Chad (72.7%), Mali (69%), Burkina Faso (65.5%), South Sudan (65.5%) and Afghanistan (63%) were the leading nations in this category — although the report noted that “both the illiteracy rate and the total number of illiterate adults have continued to decline since 2019.”

More than half (51.3%) of the world’s women — 2 billion — “live in countries with severe discrimination against women,” said the report, with “a significant rise in global gender discrimination against women since 2014.”

The report authors used the Health and Survival Index, which combines both sex ratio at birth and healthy life expectancy. Azerbaijan, China, Vietnam, Qatar, India and Afghanistan ranked as the most deprived nations for women, scoring between just 0.93 to 095 on the World Economic Forum’s health and survival index.

Fordham also estimated that in 2022, “more than 4.7 billion people” — roughly 59% of the global population — were living in countries where religious freedom was severely restricted. The report used Pew Research Center’s Government Restrictions Index as a metric, saying “it also accounts for the role of government institutions in promoting or deterring religious freedom.”

Topping Fordham’s list of the most restrictive nations for religion was China, followed by Egypt, Afghanistan and Iran.

Indonesia, Syria and Russia ranked fifth, sixth and seventh, with Algeria and Azerbaijan ranking eighth and ninth. Malaysia and Uzbekistan tied for 10th on the list.

Not included was North Korea, which has been named by a number of religious persecution watchdog organizations, such as Open Doors International, as one of the top nations for religious repression.

In an email to OSV News, Schwalbenberg confirmed that North Korea — a highly restrictive nation, named by the U.S. State Department as “one of the worst religious freedom violators in the world in 2024” — had been “omitted because of the lack of data.”

Schwalbenberg added, “This omission would imply that we are underestimating restrictions on religious freedom. In any case we are still estimating the majority of the world’s population to be living in countries with severe restrictions on religious freedoms.”

In his message for the 2025 World Day of the Poor, Pope Leo XIV said, “The poor are not a distraction for the Church, but our beloved brothers and sisters, for by their lives, their words and their wisdom, they put us in contact with the truth of the Gospel.”

“God took on their poverty in order to enrich us through their voices, their stories and their faces,” he said. “Every form of poverty, without exception, calls us to experience the Gospel concretely and to offer effective signs of hope.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The study groups Pope Francis had established to provide an in-depth reflection on controversial, complex or “emerging” questions raised during the Synod of Bishops on synodality have published interim reports.

The groups were asked to look at questions including the formation of priests, the selection of bishops, women’s leadership in the church and ministry to LGBTQ Catholics.

The late pope had asked the groups to complete their work by June 2025, but Pope Leo XIV extended the deadlines to the end of the year.

However, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, said Nov. 17 that the work of some groups – “given the richness and complexity of most of the topics entrusted to them – has required more time than originally anticipated.”

“Some groups are now nearing completion of their work, while others will continue in the months ahead,” he said.

The reports, the cardinal said, also include the initial work of a study group on “the liturgy in a synodal perspective,” which began working in late July.

The interim reports published Nov. 17 vary in their depth and detail, with some groups listing their members and providing concrete proposals and with others giving only a vague description of the methodology they were using.

The study group on priestly formation, which was focused ways to ensure future priests are educated in synodality — listening, discernment and shared responsibility with laypeople — said its members concluded that “a complete overhaul” of the Vatican and national guidelines for priestly formation “does not currently seem appropriate” because the guidelines are so recent.

But the group identified “a series of needs,” which it said “cannot be ignored.” These included: “the need to deepen the identity of ordained ministry in relational terms”; “joint formation moments involving laypeople, consecrated persons, ordained ministers and seminarians”; greater participation of women and families in formation; and a focus on missionary outreach.

One of the shortest reports was from the group convened by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to look at “the participation of women in the life and leadership of the church.”

The group’s final report, it said, would include: “Significant female figures in the history of the church; personal accounts from women currently engaged in church leadership; personal accounts from women serving within the Roman Curia”; the nature and exercise of authority in the church; “critical tensions regarding clericalism and male chauvinism”; and “the contribution of Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV concerning the role of women in the church.”

On the question of the possible ordination of women to the diaconate, the report said that materials from the synod and contributions received more recently have been forwarded to the commission Pope Francis had set up in 2020 to continue studying the issue and which he “revived” during the Synod of Bishops on Synodality.

The study groups on the ministry of the bishop and on the role of nuncios and other papal representatives had a joint meeting to discuss a topic they both were looking at: the choice of bishops, the report said.

The group looking at bishops said its first focus was “the selection of candidates to the episcopacy in the perspective of a synodal and missionary church, highlighting the participation of the bishops of the territory and of the entire people of God in the process coordinated by the apostolic nunciature.”

The work was aided by the fact that Pope Francis gave then-Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, “the faculty to examine the confidential Instructions sent to Pontifical Representatives concerning the procedure for episcopal appointments.” The report gave no further details, however.

The group said its conclusions would include “the need to promote an understanding of the process of selecting candidates to the episcopacy as a spiritual journey, characterized at every stage by the search for the will of God for his church.”

Members of the group, it said, are not hoping just to get more people involved in the process of identifying potential bishops, “which could unduly slow down episcopal appointments, but rather to pursue qualitative improvement, for instance by ensuring balanced participation of clergy and laity, of men and women, and by valuing the role of participatory bodies within the local church.”

Commonly referred to as “Study Group Nine,” another group was focused on “Theological criteria and synodal methodologies for shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral and ethical issues,” including ministry to LGBTQ Catholics.

The final report of the synod in October 2024 had called for reflection on “the relationship between love and truth and the repercussions that it has on many controversial issues.”

The study group’s mandate also included a note from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” that “not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium. Unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching or drawing certain consequences from it.”

The two quotations, the report said, risk suggesting that love and truth as well as moral teaching and pastoral practice are separate issues but in the church’s view they always intersect.

The final report, it said, would deal with three main topics: “homosexuality; conflicts and the nonviolent practice of the Gospel; and violence against women in situations of armed conflict.”

“For these cases, a concise presentation will be offered of the positions upheld by tradition and the magisterium, the new questions that have recently emerged, concluding with some questions to be addressed in the discernment process, mentioning the principal references drawn from Scripture and anthropology, including contributions from the scientific disciplines,” it said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Before joining hundreds of people for lunch, Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for the Jubilee of the Poor and prayed that all Christians would share “the love of God, which welcomes, binds up wounds, forgives, consoles and heals.”

With thousands of migrants, refugees, unhoused people, the unemployed and members of the trans community present in St. Peter’s Basilica or watching from St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo assured them, “In the midst of persecution, suffering, struggles and oppression in our personal lives and in society, God does not abandon us.”

Rather, “he reveals himself as the one who takes our side,” the pope said in his homily Nov. 16, the church’s celebration of the World Day of the Poor.

Volunteers with Vatican, diocesan and Rome-based Catholic charities joined the people they assist for the Mass. The French charity Fratello organized an international pilgrimage, bringing hundreds of people to Rome for the Mass, visits to the major basilicas of Rome and prayer services.

The Vatican said 6,000 people were at Mass in the basilica and another 20,000 people watched on screens from St. Peter’s Square. By the time Pope Leo led the recitation of the Angelus prayer, some 40,000 people were in the square.

After the Angelus, as part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of their foundation, the Vincentian Fathers sponsored and served lunch for the pope and his guests. Members of the Daughters of Charity and volunteers from Vincentian organizations helped serve the meal and handed out 1,500 backpacks filled with food and hygiene products.

The luncheon featured a first course of vegetable lasagna, followed by chicken cutlets and vegetables and ending with baba, a small Neapolitan cake soaked in syrup. Rolls, fruit, water and soft drinks also were on offer.

Before the Mass, Father Tomaž Mavric, superior general of the Vincentians, symbolically gave Pope Leo house keys from the Vincentians’ “13 Houses Campaign.” The name of the project, which has constructed homes for the poor around the world, is an homage to St. Vincent de Paul and his decision in 1643 to use an endowment from French King Louis XIII to build 13 small houses near the Vincentian headquarters in Paris to care for abandoned children.

In his homily at the Mass, Pope Leo noted how the Bible is “woven with this golden thread that recounts the story of God, who is always on the side of the little ones, orphans, strangers and widows.”

In Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, “God’s closeness reaches the summit of love,” he said. “For this reason, the presence and word of Christ become gladness and jubilee for the poorest, since he came to proclaim the good news to the poor and to preach the year of the Lord’s favor.”

While the pope thanked Catholics who assist the poor, he said he wanted the poor themselves to hear “the irrevocable words of the Lord Jesus himself: ‘Dilexi te,’ I have loved you.”

“Yes, before our smallness and poverty, God looks at us like no one else and loves us with eternal love,” the pope said, “And his church, even today, perhaps especially in our time, still wounded by old and new forms of poverty, hopes to be ‘mother of the poor, a place of welcome and justice,'” he said, quoting his exhortation on love for the poor.

While there are many forms of poverty — material, moral and spiritual — the thing that cuts across all of them and particularly impacts young people is loneliness, he said.

“It challenges us to look at poverty in an integral way, because while it is certainly necessary at times to respond to urgent needs, we also must develop a culture of attention, precisely in order to break down the walls of loneliness,” the pope said. “Let us, then, be attentive to others, to each person, wherever we are, wherever we live.”

Poverty is a challenge not only for those who believe in God, he said, calling on “heads of state and the leaders of nations to listen to the cry of the poorest.”

“There can be no peace without justice,” Pope Leo said, “and the poor remind us of this in many ways: through migration as well as through their cries, which are often stifled by the myth of well-being and progress that does not take everyone into account, and indeed forgets many individuals, leaving them to their fate.”