Category: Diocese of Scranton News

                                                                     July 9, 2026

It is with great sadness that I join the universal Church in acknowledging the painful division that has resulted from the Society of Saint Pius X’s (SSPX) decision to proceed with the unauthorized ordination of four bishops on July 1, 2026, without the proper pontifical mandate and against the will of the Holy Father.

Throughout the years, several popes have worked to restore full communion with the SSPX which is why these recent events have been so painful. Please join me in praying that these efforts may one day bear fruit and that the unity for which Christ prayed will be restored.

While the Society of Saint Pius X maintains a presence within the geographic boundaries of the 11 counties of the Diocese of Scranton, it is important for me to note that no parish, chapel, school, or ministry of the Diocese is currently administered by the Society or its clergy.

For any individual who has worshipped with the Society of Saint Pius X, or who may have questions about these recent developments, I want to assure you of my prayers and pastoral concern. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued guidance for both clergy and lay faithful who wish to remain in full communion with the Catholic Church.

Most importantly, in light of the formal schism of the SSPX, Roman Catholics who desire to remain in good standing with the Church should not participate in liturgies celebrated by bishops or priests of the Society of Saint Pius X or receive the sacraments from them, including Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Marriage, and Holy Orders. Canon law provides an exception only in the case of immediate danger of death.

I recognize that many Catholics who have attended the Society’s chapels have done so because of their deep love for the Church’s liturgical tradition, especially the celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal. That desire for the traditional Latin Mass can be fully lived within the communion of the Catholic Church.

Here in the Diocese of Scranton, the traditional Latin Mass is celebrated regularly at Saint Michael Parish in Scranton by priests of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), a priestly fraternity that is in full communion with the Holy Father and the Catholic Church.

At this challenging time, I ask all faithful to pray for healing, reconciliation, and unity within the Church, that we remain steadfast in our fidelity to the Successor of Saint Peter.

Faithfully yours in Christ,
†Joseph C. Bambera
Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, D.D, J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton

SCRANTON – Father Richard Burke, C.P., Rector of Saint Ann’s Monastery has announced the dates for the 2026 Solemn Novena to Saint Ann.

The Novena will take place from Friday, July 17, through Sunday, July 26, the Feast Day of Saint Ann.

The Passionist preachers for the 2026 Novena will be Father Rick Frechette, C.P., and Father Jack Conley, C.P.

Father Rick is a member of Saint Paul of the Cross Passionist Province.

He is a Passionist priest and a medical doctor currently continuing his ministry in the violence-torn country of Haiti. His love and care for the people of Haiti extends back for more than thirty years.

Father Jack is a member of Holy Cross Passionist Province who currently serves as superior of Saint Vincent Strambi Retreat in Chicago. This is home to all of the Passionist young men preparing for Perpetual Profession of Passionist vows and ordination to the priesthood.

Father Jack has spent most of his Passionist years as a preacher of God’s Word. He preaches parish missions, clergy and religious retreats and novenas throughout the United States.

The theme chosen by this year’s Novena preachers is “Reading the Signs of the Times.”

They will be reflecting on such topics as “the Art of Living,” combating meaninglessness; “Today’s Mission of a Believer,” dealing with a polarized world; “the Art of Dying,” combating fear and denial of death; “A Believer’s Fidelity,” discovering the faith we pass onto the next generation; “the Art of War,” combating polarization and radicalization around conflict; “the Real Presence of Jesus,” its necessary importance in our world; “the Art of Loving,” combating the increasing inability of people to relate to one another; and “Christian Integrity,” an essential virtue for our times.

All are invited and welcome to join this year’s Passionist preachers at Saint Ann’s Monastery and Basilica, 1239 Saint Ann Street, Scranton, Pa, beginning July 17.

Evening Schedule Change

This year, there will be a change in evening services. The former 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Masses are now being combined into a 6:30 p.m. Mass and Novena service. All of these services will be in English.

Novena services each day will include:
• 7:00 a.m. Mass with Novena prayers only
• 8:00 a.m. Mass followed by Novena services with talk, Novena prayers and blessing with the relic of Saint Ann
• 11:45 a.m. Mass followed by Novena service with talk, Novena prayers and blessing
• 3:30 p.m. Novena service only with talk, prayers and blessings
• 6:30 p.m. Mass followed by Novena service with talk, Novena prayers and blessing.

Weather permitting, the 8:00 a.m., 11:45 a.m., and 6:30 p.m. Masses and Novena services are held in the outdoor sanctuary.

(OSV News) – Catholic leaders and organizations in the U.S. continue to aid Venezuela as that nation recovers from two deadly earthquakes that struck seconds apart June 24.

Brittany Wichtendahl, a spokesperson for Catholic Relief Services — the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ official overseas humanitarian and development agency — told OSV News July 8 her agency is “working extremely closely” with its in-country partner Caritas Venezuela.

Both organizations are part of Caritas Internationalis, the universal Catholic Church’s global humanitarian network.

Wichtendahl confirmed that a CRS “earthquake response support team is now fully deployed” in Venezuela. “CRS-supported distributions began last week and so far, we’ve handed out more than 1,800 emergency food kits, 850 family hygiene kits and 400 baby hygiene kits,” she said.

In a June 25 statement, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the USCCB’s. Committee on International Justice and Peace, pointed to the “significant loss of life and severe destruction” resulting from the disaster.

At least 3,500 were killed during the 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, which took place just 39 seconds apart.

“As rescue efforts are underway, I urge the international community to mobilize in support of the Venezuelan people, and to send the necessary humanitarian assistance to alleviate their suffering,” said Bishop Zaidan, shepherd of the St. Louis-based Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles.

Rescue and recovery efforts have been hampered by existing long-running crises in Venezuela. Home to the world’s largest oil deposits, the Latin American nation has been plagued for years by authoritarianism, human rights abuses, endemic corruption and economic collapse.

In a situation update posted to its website, CRS noted that prior to the two earthquakes, “an estimated 7.9 million people were already in need of assistance due to years of economic crisis, food insecurity and weakened public services.”

In her remarks to OSV July 8, Wichtendahl said CRS has to date sent more than 1,600 tarpaulins for shelter support, while already developing “plans for long-term recovery.”

So far, “Caritas Venezuela has handed out 5,000 emergency food kits, 3,000 hygiene kits, more than 120,000 liters of safe water and more than 73,000 medical supplies and medicine,” she said.

Caritas Venezuela has supplied “more than 870 tools” for search and rescue teams, she added.

As they dig through the rubble, often with bare hands, many Venezuelans are now expressing anger at Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez. The former vice president ascended to power following the U.S.’s January capture of then-leader President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, now in New York facing trial for narcoterrorism and other federal charges.

In his message, Bishop Zaidan thanked the U.S. government for its “partnership in responding to this natural disaster.”

On June 29, the State Department announced an increase in its funding for post-quake humanitarian needs, bringing the total to “more than $300 million,” according to an official statement.

Total funding for State Department partner organizations responding to the disaster — including CRS and other faith-based groups — is now at $200 million, said the statement.

CRS has also organized a donation effort through its website, with contributions accepted by phone, mail and multiple online payment platforms, among them Venmo.

Bishop Zaidan called upon the faithful to pray for divine assistance in helping Venezuelans.

“Let us all join in prayer that Our Lady of Coromoto, patroness of Venezuela, will comfort and protect her children and that compassionate international assistance will arrive swiftly,” he said.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – A provision of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that stopped Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid payments for a year expired July 4, allowing the nation’s largest abortion provider to regain access to hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025, enacted key items from his legislative agenda on issues including taxes and immigration. It also included a provision eliminating Medicaid funds to health providers who also perform abortions, but only for one year.

Although it was not named in the provision, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, sued in response, arguing the parameters for ending these funds effectively singled it out. However, courts eventually allowed the provision to go into effect.

Pro-life groups including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America have pushed lawmakers to include a similar provision in an upcoming reconciliation bill.

“We are urging the House and the Senate to pass a reconciliation bill that keeps our Medicaid dollars out of the hands of big abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood,” Kelsey Pritchard, SBA’s communications director, told OSV News in a July 6 interview.

Pritchard said SBA has called on lawmakers to include a similar provision in a third reconciliation bill Republicans are seeking to pass before the midterm elections. However, the prospects for that package are unclear, amid disagreements within the party, who hold slim majorities in Congress, about what should be included among several other issues.

“This is really now the default expectation from the pro-life movement that they do this again,” she said.

In a July 1 statement regarding the expired provision, Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said, “By deliberately targeting Planned Parenthood, President Trump and his allies in Congress worsened a public health crisis, making it harder for people to get the essential and lifesaving care they needed at their trusted provider.”

The organization’s latest annual report, which reflected its fiscal year as of June 30, 2025, just days before the defunding provision went into effect, showed it performed 434,450 abortions, an increase of over 32,200, or 8%, from the previous year’s report. Meanwhile, the same report showed 389,449 total cancer screening and prevention services — such as pap tests and HPV vaccinations — a decrease from 426,268 the previous year.

In a July 4 statement, Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, struck a more critical tone toward Congress, calling the decision to let the defunding provision lapse a “moral failure.”

“On America’s 250th birthday, Congress had the chance to honor the founding promise that every human being has a God-given right to life. Instead, by failing to extend the defunding of Planned Parenthood, lawmakers have allowed taxpayer dollars to flow back to the largest abortion chain in the nation,” she said. “This is a moral failure and an urgent betrayal of preborn children, women, and American taxpayers.”

Rose said Planned Parenthood “is not a neutral health care organization” and “this failure must be corrected immediately.”

“President Trump and Congress must act as fast as possible to restore and extend the defunding of Planned Parenthood and every organization that commits abortion,” Rose said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities touted the defunding provision as one of “several pro-life victories” in its 2026 message on the 53rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide as a constitutional right that was overturned in 2022 with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion. After Dobbs, Church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the Church’s concern for both mother and child, and called for strengthening support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.

PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) — As the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage concluded amid the U.S.’s 250th anniversary, “the journey continues,” said Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia.

And, he added, “we’re all walking to one place,” with the path leading to the “powerful, transformative and lifegiving” love of God.

The archbishop was the principal celebrant and homilist at the final liturgy for the pilgrimage, which took place July 5 at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, the second to last stop on the pilgrimage route.

At the start of the Mass, Pope Leo XIV – the first U.S.-born pope – addressed the faithful in a pre-recorded video message, saying that the “strong, though largely unknown, Eucharistic heritage” of the nation “must continue to serve as source of both renewal and unity.”

The pilgrimage arrived in Philadelphia July 2, having traveled through most of the nation’s original 13 colonies – spanning 18 dioceses and archdioceses, as well as two Eastern Catholic eparchies – since its May 24 launch.

With a theme of “One Nation Under God,” the pilgrimage had been placed under the patronage of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the woman religious and Italian immigrant who became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized after a lifetime of work ministering to immigrants. Stops along the Cabrini Route highlighted sites significant to Catholicism’s contributions to U.S. history.

Despite an ongoing heatwave, hundreds filled the cathedral’s pews for the July 5 liturgy, overflowing into aisles and side chapels and joining in the hymns led by multiple multicultural choirs.

Following the Mass, attendees braved temperatures above 90 degrees and high levels of humidity for a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Philadelphia to the National Shrine of St. John Neumann, located at St. Peter the Apostle Church some two miles away.

Archbishop Pérez held the monstrance as he processed under a canopy held aloft by attendants, with the Knights of Columbus forming an honor guard and choir members, in full choral robes, leading pilgrims in multiple hymns.

Walking along the route, Kevin DePaulo and Helen Chalhoub — young adult Catholics from the Philadelphia suburbs — told OSV News that participating in the Philadelphia stop of the pilgrimage was a source of joy.

DePaulo described the Eucharistic procession as “a meaningful opportunity to really do something that shows our faith outside of just going to church on Sunday. It’s a public witness.”

Chalhoub, who carried a banner with the image of the Divine Mercy and the text of the Hail Mary, said that she looked forward to continuing “to lean on the Lord through everyday life, through challenges, and even when things are going well. Just to always lean on the Lord and be with him.”

Patrick McNabb, a Philadelphia-area native now living in Rhode Island, brought his young children Grace and Brendan to the Mass and procession, having already attended earlier pilgrimage events in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

As a father, said McNabb, he hoped his kids would “grow closer to God” as a result of their participation.

Joshua Brooks, currently in his fourth college year at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Ambler, Pennsylvania, said the day’s Mass and procession “really shows how the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic faith.”

As he prepared to help carry the main banner at the front of the procession, Brooks said, “We’re going to bring Christ into the streets of Philadelphia, to give witness to people that Jesus is here with us on earth in the Blessed Sacrament.”

Brooks, who converted to Catholicism in high school after being raised Baptist, added, “The Eucharist really means everything. And when we go out together as a Catholic family, we show that the Eucharist is for all of us.”Several members of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters of Wichita, Kansas, told OSV News after the procession that the liturgy and the journey to the St. John Neumann Shrine — at which Benediction took place — were an experience of oneness among Catholics.

“We certainly saw the universal Church in our procession today,” said Sister Mary Monica. “It was beautiful coming together, because Christ is unity, and so our nation needs to come together. And it’s only through Christ that will happen.”

Bishop Erik T. Pohlmeier of St. Augustine, Florida — whose diocese hosted the start of the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage — said that “what binds us all together is the Eucharist.

“Our greater identity is unity with each other, (more) than anything else,” he told OSV News.

Bishop Pohlmeier said the nine young adults who accompanied the Blessed Sacrament throughout the 2026 pilgrimage — known as “perpetual pilgrims” — had gotten “a glimpse into the bigger reality of the Church” as a result of their journey.

Several pilgrims affirmed the bishop’s insight during a post-procession press conference.

“I think it’s so beautiful going through so many different parts of the country, so many different dioceses,” said Cheyenne Johnson, who had also been a 2025 perpetual pilgrim.

Johnson said she and her fellow pilgrims had experienced “so many different cultures in different places,” adding, “And I think that’s a beautiful thing.”

Yet at the heart of such diversity remains a divine unity, said Archbishop Pérez.

The “enduring presence” of Christ’s “body, blood, soul and divinity” in the sacrament of the altar was given as a “gift” that gathers the faithful, he said during his homily at the cathedral.

“It transforms us,” said Archbishop Pérez. “It conquers us.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Independence Day is a reminder that Americans’ “inalienable rights” mentioned in the Declaration of Independence — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — are gifts from God, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl said July 4 in the nation’s capital.

Cardinal Wuerl, the retired archbishop of Washington, delivered the homily at a Mass of Thanksgiving for America’s 250th anniversary held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. The quietly dignified service was a cool reprise from the 100-degree heat and high humidity outside.

“We can claim to be free because we have been created free and equal by God,” Cardinal Wuerl said.

And that, he said, can be traced, in American history, all the way back to the Mayflower Compact in New England in 1620. The compact, he reminded the congregation, only had two elements: “The law of God and the need of the common good.”

In addition, American identity “doesn’t rest on blood ties, ethnic origin or national heritage.”

“Our beginnings as a nation celebrate our freedom,” the cardinal observed, calling on the congregation to “do our part now to honor that promise for everyone.”

In 1776, “We as a people collectively started down the pathway that eventually resulted in our national independence. We claimed our freedom as a nation and our civil liberties as a people,” he said.

This event, he added, “calls for our reflection, our celebration and our prayers of thanksgiving as we renew today our appreciation of our historic heritage and focus on the present effort today to live up to all those ideals that have so identified us as a nation and as a people.”

Thomas Jefferson, when he authored the declaration, told others that it did not contain ideas original to himself, but rather expressed “the common beliefs of people of his day,” Cardinal Wuerl said.

Jefferson would call the Declaration “an expression of the American mind and spirit, deeply rooted in the thoughts and faith of the American people,” he said.

As a result, the cardinal added, the many references of “our faith in God” should not come as a surprise to anyone.

“Even in this quintessentially civil declaration, we should not be surprised to find so many references to our faith in God,” he said.

So on the Fourth of July, “We renew our identity as a people who claim a God-given right: To life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our beginnings as a nation have religious roots, deep in the convictions of the people in those original 13 states and those who we refer to as our founders,” he said.

Cardinal Wuerl, a native of Pittsburgh, was archbishop of Washington from 2006 to 2018.

One of the principal concelebrants was Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the new Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.

Delivering a message from Pope Leo IV, Archbishop Caccia said July 4, 1776, was “the defining moment in the history of the United States of America, and giving voice to the ideas of liberty, equality, pursuit of happiness, justice, and democratic types of government.”

Religious freedom, and the ability to practice one’s faith openly without fear, has long been central to the American promise, Archbishop Caccia said.

LAMPEDUSA, Italy (CNS) – For more than 30 years, Dr. Pietro Bartolo said he has examined more than 350,000 people and performed postmortem examinations on those who died making the crossing to Lampedusa, where migrants rescued from the Mediterranean first arrived.

One story, he said, has stayed with him.

After a shipwreck near Malta, a father told Bartolo how he had tried to keep his family alive in the water. He held his youngest child against his chest, his wife with one hand and his 3-year-old son with the other as he swam. When he realized he no longer had the strength to save everyone, he let go of his older son.

“‘If I had held on for one more minute, my son would still be here,'” Bartolo recalled the father telling him. Rescue crews arrived moments later.

“Understand,” Bartolo said in an interview with Catholic News Service June 3, “how terrible it is that a father has to choose which child to let go.”

Stories like this, he said, explain why Pope Leo XIV came to Lampedusa.

For Bartolo, who spent decades as Lampedusa’s physician and former member of the European Parliament, these human tragedies explain why Pope Leo chose this tiny Mediterranean island for one of the defining visits of his pontificate.

“People ask why the pope comes to Lampedusa,” Bartolo told CNS. “Because this is the icon of solidarity.”

As the first American pope marked the 250th anniversary of the United States’ Declaration of Independence July 4, he did so not in celebration of his homeland, but on a European migrant entrypoint, praying for migrants buried in the island’s cemetery, meeting survivors and celebrating Mass where tens of thousands of people flee war, persecution and poverty.

Before delivering a single public address, Pope Leo laid flowers at the graves of migrants who died trying to cross the Mediterranean. He met a migrant family at the “Door of Europe” monument, blessed a plaque naming Favaloro Pier after Pope Francis, and later celebrated Mass beneath an image of Our Lady of Safe Harbor.

The visit deliberately echoed Pope Francis’ first journey outside Rome in 2013, when Pope Francis came to Lampedusa to denounce what he called the “globalization of indifference.”

“I am grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to visit you, following in the footsteps of Pope Francis,” Pope Leo said in his homily at the Arena sports field in the Salina district of Lampedusa.

But while repeating his predecessors’ focus on migrants, Pope Leo gave the message his own theological emphasis.

Reflecting on the parable of the Good Samaritan, he said Lampedusa today lies “along a path as dangerous as the one that led down from Jerusalem to Jericho.”

“Those who have lost their lives in this sea are victims both of decisions that were made and of decisions that were not made,” he said.

The pope praised the fishermen, volunteers, rescue workers, civil authorities and ordinary island residents who have welcomed migrants for years, thanking them for demonstrating “the miracle of compassion.”

“There is no love of God without love of neighbor,” he said, “and there is no neighbor if I do not draw near.”

“Indifference to the common good and corruption in their countries” generates poverty and exclusion, Pope Leo said. Yet quoting his first encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas,” he said, “no one is without responsibility.”

Pope Leo also urged Europe to move beyond emergency responses, calling for long-term policies capable of “receiving, protecting, supporting and integrating migrants,” while helping developing countries so that “no one is forced to emigrate.”

His message extended beyond Europe.

In addition to his July 4 homily, Pope Leo released a message marking the United States’ 250th birthday, praising the nation’s founding ideals of liberty and religious freedom while reminding Americans that immigrants “have formed part of the history of this country from its very beginning.”

“Defending human life also includes welcoming, protecting and assisting immigrants,” he wrote, calling such welcome “not only an act of charity, but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person.”

For the first U.S. pope, migration has been a priority as a matter of human dignity. Pope Leo tied in his trip to the migrant entrypoint on the U.S. holiday, saying immigrants “have formed part of the history of this country from its very beginning.”

“To receive them with compassion and generosity is not only an act of charity, but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person.”

Pope Leo said the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is not only an invitation to celebrate, “but also to reflect upon the responsibilities that the sons and daughters of this country bear to one another.”

That message resonates deeply on Lampedusa.

According to Mediterranean Hope’s annual report on the Migration Observatory of Lampedusa, nearly 40,000 migrants arrived on the island in 2025, with more than 80% departing from Libya. The observatory documented at least 1,314 deaths along the central Mediterranean route during the year, while noting that the actual number is likely higher because many shipwrecks go unrecorded.

For Bartolo, however, statistics tell only part of the story. The retired physician said conducting postmortem examinations on drowned children and families “turned my life upside down.” The doctor now spends his time traveling across Europe speaking in schools and universities about what he witnessed during his years at the migrant entrypoint.

Remembering the dead has also become the life’s work of Tareke Brhane, an Eritrean refugee who crossed the Mediterranean himself before reaching Italy in 2006.

After surviving the journey, Brhane founded the Committee of Oct. 3 following the 2013 shipwreck off Lampedusa that claimed more than 360 lives. The organization works to identify those who die at sea and return names to victims buried as unknown migrants.

“The majority have only numbers,” Brhane said.

His committee has helped identify roughly 100 bodies and successfully campaigned for Italy to establish Oct. 3 as a national day of remembrance for migrants who died trying to reach Europe, he told CNS.

For Brhane, Pope Leo’s decision to begin his visit in the cemetery was the day’s most powerful gesture. Brhane has made it one of his life’s missions to identify migrants buried without names.

Many bodies recovered from the Mediterranean have historically been buried with only a case number because authorities could not establish their identities. The Committee of Oct. 3 has worked with forensic experts, Italian authorities and victims’ families to change that. He told CNS that there is a huge difference in the graves of residents and the unmarked graves of migrants.

“People will talk about the port,” he said. “But the real message was that he went first to the cemetery to pray for those who died.”

He called Lampedusa “a place of suffering and a place of hope.”

Many migrants who later become citizens of Britain, Sweden or the Netherlands return simply to stand once more on the island where they first arrived alive, he said.

“They say this is where we were born again,” Brhane told CNS.

With a similar message, Mayor Filippo Mannino told the pope during his visit that the island is as a beacon that “does not judge” and “does not choose whom to illuminate,” but remains lit through the night for anyone searching for shore.

“No one is too small to point the way,” he said.

The visit echoed the pope’s June apostolic journey to Spain, when he devoted some of his strongest remarks on migration to the Canary Islands, another major gateway for migrants seeking to reach Europe. Speaking there, he urged Europeans not to allow tourism to obscure the human suffering unfolding along migration routes and challenged visitors to “have the courage to think differently,” saying authentic rest should lead people to rediscover the meaning of life and solidarity with others.

Pope Leo repeated that theme in Lampedusa, again using the image of the Good Samaritan to argue that Christian discipleship requires drawing near to those in need rather than “passing by.”

“Have the courage to think differently,” the pope urged those who vacation on the island, encouraging them not to ignore the suffering unfolding in the surrounding sea.

From this “far-flung corner of Europe,” he said, the challenge facing both Europe and the wider world can be seen with unusual clarity.

“All of this must be done with vigilance, ensuring respect for the dignity of every person,” the pope said July 4. “This is a task not only for public institutions but also for civil society as a whole and for the Church.”

PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) – Religious liberty “holds sacred the inner sphere of the person where convictions are formed and where conscience can guide the decisions made in the intimacy of the human heart,” said Pope Leo XIV, as he accepted a major civic award for upholding freedom of belief on the eve of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The first U.S.-born pope shared his thoughts — which centered religious liberty within a vision of God-given human dignity, and which called the nation back to shared founding ideals — during a July 3 acceptance address for the Liberty Medal, bestowed by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Established in 1988 to mark the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, and hosted by the center since 2006, the Liberty Medal honors both individuals and organizations “who strive to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the globe.”

The July 3 ceremony took place at the center, a private nonprofit that promotes constitutional education and civic debate, with Pope Leo speaking via livestream from the Vatican. He received a standing ovation from attendees, among them numerous faith and civic leaders.

The medal itself had been presented to the pope in person at the Vatican on April 30 by Vince Stango, the center’s interim president and CEO, center officials and Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia, who spoke at the Philadelphia event. Video of the April presentation aired at the July 3 ceremony immediately ahead of the pope’s live remarks.

Pope Leo is only the second religious leader to receive the Liberty Medal, preceded by 2015 recipient the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.

“This honor is a fitting recognition of the Holy Father’s long-standing dedication to advancing liberty for all people throughout the world, particularly the gift of religious freedom,” said Archbishop Pérez during the event at the center.

Speaking to those at the ceremony, Pope Leo wore both the medal and his pectoral cross, with an exhibit version of the medal, blessed by the pope in April during the in-person presentation, displayed on the stage ahead of its installation in one of the center’s galleries.

Describing himself as “a son of this great country,” Pope Leo asked in his July 3 address that he joined them in asking “God’s blessings upon America’s future, that the lofty ideals enshrined at the beginning of the Declaration of Independence may continue to guide the flourishing of the nation in unity, justice and peace.

“From our youth, most of us have admired the eloquence of those words, their resounding appeal to the law of nature and to nature’s God as the basis of their assertion that all men and women are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the pope said.

Noting that while that phrasing was “couched in the language of the Enlightenment,” the claim “is ultimately grounded in an understanding of the human person inspired by the great biblical vision of man and woman being created in the divine image,” said Pope Leo.

Such God-given human dignity, he said, “precedes the establishment of any state, and whose custody constitutes its very purpose.”

“As every American knows, however, the path to building a society that would embody those high ideals of liberty and justice for all was not always easy and, in many respects, is still a work in progress,” he said. “Indeed, the effort to realize this vision is one that must be taken up anew in each generation and in the face of ever new challenges.”

The nation’s 250th anniversary, he continued, offers “the opportunity to reflect once again on the nation’s founding principles in the hope that America will remain ever true to the dream that has earned it the title of ‘land of the free and home of the brave.'”

The pope enumerated the rights “enshrined by the nation’s founders,” noting that the first was “the right to life” itself.

“A country’s vitality is deeply tied to the value it affords to human life in every form and condition, acknowledging the dignity endowed upon every human person by virtue of their very existence,” he said.

He stressed that “we must continue to cultivate” such “reverence” for life “from the moment of conception to natural death.”

Pope Leo noted that “the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to support, protect and cherish the lives of all, especially the most vulnerable and those whose worth is questioned.”

Along with the right to life, said the pope, “liberty was and is preeminent among the principles revered by the men and women who have sought within this nation’s borders a new beginning, often equating it with previously undreamed-of hope.”

He clarified that “authentic freedom runs much deeper” than “the ability to act as one would like.”

Rather, said Pope Leo, true liberty “is founded upon the human person’s capacity to know the truth and adhere to what is good, even at great cost — a sacrifice well known to many who have labored to shape this country.”

He observed that “America has long championed the religious freedom necessary to follow responsibly the dictates of conscience … free from fear and coercion.”

That freedom “holds sacred the inner sphere of the person where convictions are formed and where conscience can guide the decisions made in the intimacy of the human heart,” he said.

In addition, Pope Leo said, “this same freedom also ensures the right of every person to worship according to one’s own belief, and of individuals, communities and associations to give public expression to their faith.”

Religious freedom allows for “interfaith dialogue and interreligious cooperation” toward the “public good” while “enriching the debates on the great moral and ethical issues that have faced the nation and shaped the course of its history” — all part of “the American tradition,” Pope Leo said.

He added, “It is my hope that this tradition will continue to bear fruit in a public discourse marked by moderation, respect for the views of others, and an ongoing effort to find common ground in promoting the cause of peace and reconciliation, at home and abroad.”

America’s founders, “men and women of diverse backgrounds, religions and languages, were able to find that common ground and the strength necessary to pursue a better future,” said the pope. He said such principles, “rooted” in “the truth of the human person,” united the nation’s forebears “in a single cause, a common dream.”

“Unity lent strength to that dream, giving rise, under God, to the United States of America,” said Pope Leo.

He quoted the nation’s motto, “E pluribus unum,” Latin for “Out of many, one.”

The pope highlighted that a nation “must be truly united” in order to flourish — and that such unity cannot be found in “goals bound to momentary endeavors,” but instead “ideals that do not fade with the passing of time.”

“May the principles we have reflected upon today — a shared human dignity, equality and the rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence — ever be a source of such unity and a guiding light for the present moment and for the years to come,” Pope Leo said.

He prayed that the nation’s 250th anniversary would be “the occasion of a solemn recommitment to these ideals that have made America a country that values peace and prosperity, a country characterized by generosity and nobility of heart.”

Concluding his address, Pope Leo said, “I commend all of you, as well as the future of the nation, to the One who is himself the source of true freedom and lasting peace, the One whose very name is Peace. May God bless America!”

(OSV News) – Several U.S. bishops have issued statements expressing sorrow, warning the faithful and urging prayers for unity following the Vatican’s July 2 excommunication of adherents of the now-schismatic Society of St. Pius X.

The Switzerland-based SSPX — which has for decades wrangled with the Vatican in rejecting the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, incurring both previous excommunications and protracted reconciliation efforts by the Holy See — defied papal orders and entered into formal schism by ordaining four new bishops without authorization at a July 1 liturgy in Switzerland.

In its July 2 excommunication decree, the Vatican also explicitly stated that attempts to confer the sacraments of penance and matrimony involving the society’s clergy are invalid. The same day, the Vatican also outlined steps for SSPX members to be reconciled with the Catholic Church.

Among the U.S. bishops weighing in after the announcement were Archbishop Shawn McKnight of Kansas City, Kansas; Bishop Terry R. LaValley of Ogdensburg, New York; and Bishop Douglas J. Lucia of Syracuse, New York. Each of their dioceses has SSPX communities within their territorial boundaries.

The three prelates’ respective messages balanced canonical precision, pastoral concern and a prayerful lament for the healing of division within the Church.

Archbishop McKnight said in a July 2 statement that the excommunications “are not intended as expressions of hostility or rejection, but as medicinal measures that reflect the seriousness of the offense and are ordered toward repentance, healing, and the eventual restoration of communion.”

Addressing “those members of the faithful who have attended missions or apostolates associated with” the SSPX, he said, “They should know that they are loved by the Church and remain the object of our prayers for unity.”

Archbishop McKnight noted that “many have been Catholics who sincerely desire to worship God, love the Church, and remain faithful to the Catholic tradition as they understood it.”

Bishop Lucia — whose Syracuse Diocese is home to two SSPX parishes, as well as a priory and a school — said his July 2 message informing the faithful of the excommunications was delivered “with much sadness.”

In his July 1 message, Bishop LaValley likewise expressed his “great sadness” over the situation.

He also said it was “of great importance to realize that the division” between the SSPX and the Roman Catholic Church “is not simply about” the celebration of Mass and the sacraments.

Rather, said Bishop LaValley, the SSPX “repudiates and denounces the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, in particular, ecumenism, religious liberty, collegiality of the bishops with the pope, and the Church’s understanding of, and relationship with Judaism.”

Archbishop McKnight stressed that “the faithful should be aware that, as the Holy See has explained, the ministry exercised by the Society is not legitimate in the life of the Church: the sacraments celebrated by its ministers are illicit, and the sacraments of Penance and Matrimony administered by them are now invalid.”

“Participation in the worship and apostolic life of a schismatic community” such as SSPX “objectively expresses and fosters separation from the Church’s communion,” he warned.

As a result, said Archbishop McKnight, “Catholics may not knowingly take part in the Society’s liturgical celebrations, apostolates, or other activities.

“Such participation is not merely discouraged but is gravely contrary to the unity of the Church and, when undertaken with full knowledge and deliberate consent, is sinful,” he said.

Bishop Lucia echoed that warning, saying, “I must make it very clear that today’s announcement without a doubt forbids Roman Catholics of good standing to participate in and to receive the Sacraments from bishops and priests associated” with the SSPX, “including Baptism, Confirmation, the Holy Eucharist, Penance, Marriage, and Holy Orders.”

Bishop Lucia also forbade the faithful “to associate oneself with SSPX churches, chapels, and schools.”

He said “the only exception provided for” in canon law — the Church’s main administrative code — “is danger of death,” citing canons 976 and 1752.

Continued participation in SSPX pastoral activities following the Vatican’s announcement would constitute “formal adherence” to the society and its schismatic state, he said.

Bishop Lucia also immediately rescinded permission for the SSPX to use diocesan and parish property for its activities.

He named several approved locations in the Diocese of Syracuse for the celebration of Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal (sometimes called the “traditional Latin Mass”) and sacraments using the preconciliar Roman Ritual.

Archbishop McKnight said that “clergy and laity alike are further admonished not to adhere to the Society’s schism, lest they incur the penalty of excommunication ‘latae sententiae,'” referencing the automatic excommunication that occurs upon the commission of grave sins.

The archbishop encouraged “all who have participated in the Society’s apostolates to remain united to the Holy Father and to seek the guidance of our priests regarding any questions that may arise from this unfortunate situation, especially if they have concerns about the validity of sacraments they may have received.”

Addressing “our brother priests” in the SSPX “who may not wish to be part of this break” with the Vatican, Bishop LaValley said, “I am always open to receiving you, and assisting you in remaining within the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”

All three bishops affirmed the need to pray for the healing of the division caused by the SSPX’s schismatic break with the communion of the Catholic Church.

“We continue to pray that those who have taken this step may one day be restored to full communion,” said Archbishop McKnight. “The Church’s doors remain open, and our hope remains that the unity for which Christ prayed may one day be fully realized. At this sorrowful moment, let us pray that the seamless garment of Christ, wounded by division, may once again be visibly restored.”

(Vatican News) – Pope Leo XIV has urged Catholics across the globe to join him this July in praying for respect for human life.

In his prayer intention for the month of July, the Pope is praying “for the respect and protection of human life in all its stages, recognizing it as a gift from God.”

A video of the pope praying for respect for human life was released by the Vatican July 2. The monthly “Pray with the Pope” video is prepared by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

Recognizing that the Lord has created each person in love and calls everyone to live in fullness, the pope said in the video: “Each person is a sacred gift that reflects your face from the first instant of existence to the final breath of their journey on earth.”

“Today,” he continued, “we ask for the grace to recognize and protect the unique and unrepeatable value of every human being.”

Pope Leo expressed his wish for everyone to learn to “welcome life unconditionally,” to “tenderly care for fragility,” to “accompany each stage with respect,” and “to bravely defend those who have no voice.”

The pope also asked the Lord to forgive “when we fall into indifference or the culture of discard, when we fail to see in others a being worthy of love.”

“Give us a new heart, always ready to choose life,” he prayed, “and generous hands that protect it through concrete actions.”

The Pope prayed that the Lord help his Church become a living witness of the Gospel of life, “an open home where every life is celebrated, where no one feels unwanted, and where dignity is always honored and protected.”

Finally, Pope Leo concluded by imploring the Lord Jesus to help us love life as he does, “with tenderness, fidelity, and self-giving.”

“May we proclaim, in words and actions,” he said, “that every human life is worth the total gift of ourselves.”

The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which was founded in 1844 as the Apostleship of Prayer, is a Pontifical Work entrusted to the Society of Jesus that was established as a Vatican Foundation by Pope Francis. It releases a prayer intention from the pope each month as part of its mission to unite Catholics in prayer for the Church’s global concerns.