Category: Diocese of Scranton News

SCRANTON – The Scranton Catholic Charismatic Conference will be held on July 31 and August 1 & 2, at the University of Scranton.

National and International speakers will be sharing the Word of God.

Contemporary music ministry from Baltimore will be joining us.

Mass is celebrated daily; Adoration and a service of prayer will be held on Saturday night.

More information and full weekend registrations are available at ccrscranton.org and day registrations are available all weekend at the John Long Center on campus.

Meals are also available for purchase on campus.

Bishop Bambera will be celebrating Mass on Sunday at 1:30 pm.

Call the CCR office (570-344-2214) for additional information.

All are welcome!

SCRANTON – Imagine rooms full of people from multiple faiths enjoying respectful dialogue, food and fellowship; gatherings to consider the meaning and blessing of our country’s founding. We can create this together: a once-in-a-generation opportunity for neighbors to meet neighbors, a chance to regain unity through conversation about some of America’s most inspiring words.

What is faith250?

faith250 is a program that invites faith leaders and communities across the country to form clusters of congregations to act as sacred spaces for listening to one another, clarifying our shared civic values, and celebrating our hopes for America.

We can shore up the bonds between citizens because houses of worship are one of the few places where neighbors, friends, citizens, and newcomers can regularly meet face to face; where we study text and seek truth together; and where our varied faith traditions each remind us to see the Divine in every human being.
Our work centers on some of America’s sacred texts — The Declaration of Independence, Emma Lazarus’s The New Colossus, America the Beautiful, and Frederick Douglass’s address, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

What happens at a multifaith gathering?

A typical faith250 multifaith event runs between two to two-and-a-half hours and includes:

• A shared meal or light refreshments — breaking bread together before the formal discussion begins.
• A welcome from clergy that sets the tone: civic, not partisan; spiritual, not sectarian.
• A reading aloud of one of the four American texts.
• Facilitated small-group discussion, typically at tables of six to eight people, using the faith250 multifaith event handout for that text.
• A brief closing — a reflection, a prayer, or a moment of shared commitment.

How can I participate?

The first gathering is July 13, 2026, 7PM at Temple Hesed, 1 Knox Road, Scranton. All are welcome to attend!

Register for the event by clicking here.

To learn more, visit https://faith250.org/what-is-faith250

Participating Congregations & Organizations
• Bahá’ís of Scranton
• Bethel AME Church
• Christians for the Common Good
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-Clarks Summit Stake
• Covenant Presbyterian Church
• Elm Park United Methodist Church
• Islamic Center of Scranton
• Jinyin Temple
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton
• Scranton Area Ministerium
• Sisters of IHM-Scranton
• St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
• St. Mark Episcopal Church
• Temple Hesed
• Temple Israel
• United Baptist Church of Taylor

VATICAN CITY (Vatican News) – An English edition of a book of Pope Benedict XVI’s previously unpublished homilies has been released by the Vatican.

“The Lord Holds Us by the Hand” offers readers a collection of Pope Benedict’s homilies, allowing them to hear once again the voice of Joseph Ratzinger as preacher, theologian and pastor.

The volume, originally published in Italian by the Vatican Publishing House, is titled, “The Lord Holds Us by the Hand.” It is a compilation of homilies delivered between 2005 and 2017 during the liturgical seasons of Advent, Lent and Easter.

The book includes a preface by Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Pope Benedict’s former personal secretary, and an introduction by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, president of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation.

The homilies were delivered during private Masses celebrated by Pope Benedict with the papal household and occasional guests, both while he was pope and later as pope emeritus.

Some were preached in the chapel of the Apostolic Palace, while others were given at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican, where Benedict lived after his resignation.

Although spoken in private settings, the texts open a window onto the depth and simplicity of Pope Benedict’s preaching. They reveal his ability to read sacred Scripture in an ever-new way, drawing from it light for faith, prayer and daily Christian life.

The pages of the book also show how Joseph Ratzinger kept a personal relationship with Christ at the center of his faith.

In the homilies, Pope Benedict returns again and again to the mystery of the Lord who accompanies his people, sustains them and holds them by the hand.

The title itself expresses this central intuition: the Christian life is not a solitary path, but a journey guided by the presence and mercy of God.

The collection also highlights the continuity between Pope Benedict’s theological work and his pastoral ministry. His reflections are marked by the clarity, spiritual depth and Christ-centred focus that characterized his pontificate.

“The Lord Holds Us by the Hand” is the first volume of Pope Benedict’s unpublished homilies. A second volume, dedicated to homilies in Ordinary Time, is expected to follow. The Italian edition of the first volume was presented at the Turin International Book Fair May 17.

With the publication of the English edition, these previously unpublished texts are now available to a wider readership, offering a renewed encounter with Pope Benedict’s preaching and with his lifelong invitation to place Christ at the heart of faith and history.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – On the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference and pro-life leaders pointed to abortion pills as among key challenges for the cause of protecting the right to life of unborn children.

The Supreme Court issued the Dobbs ruling June 24, 2022, in a case involving a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks, where the state directly challenged the high court’s previous abortion-related precedents in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The high court ultimately overturned its own prior rulings, undoing nearly a half-century of its own precedent that held abortion to be a constitutional right.

In the years since that ruling, efforts to restrict or protect access to abortion have stalled in Congress. As a candidate in 2024, President Donald Trump stated his view that abortion should be a matter for the states rather than Congress, and said he would veto abortion restrictions if they reached his desk.

Individual states have moved to either restrict abortion or expand access to it in the wake of the Dobbs ruling. However, multiple reports have found that the rate of abortions in the U.S. has increased since the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe.

According to an estimate from Guttmacher Institute, a research firm for the abortion industry, 1.12 million abortions took place in 2025, marking a 21% increase from 2020, which Guttmacher said marked “the last year of comprehensive national estimates” before Dobbs. Guttmacher found the figures were largely unchanged from 2024. It also noted that the abortion numbers overall may be an undercount due to people acquiring abortion pills in advance or obtaining them by means other than U.S. abortion clinic providers.

In a statement marking the Dobbs anniversary, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said the “victory of the Dobbs decision risks being undone by the massive influx of abortion pills.”

“While the Dobbs decision gave states the freedom to pass pro-life laws and protect preborn children, these laws are now being undermined,” he said. “The Food and Drug Administration, a government agency responsible for protecting public health, has enabled a nationwide mail-order abortion industry by allowing abortion pills to be prescribed in telemed appointments and sold both at neighborhood pharmacies and online, circumventing state laws that protect life in the womb.”

Louisiana has challenged an FDA policy issued by the Biden administration, which permitted mifepristone, a pill commonly used in abortion but also in some miscarriage care protocols, to be distributed by mail. The Trump administration has thus far left that regulation in place, prompting frustration from pro-life groups, and has sought to block state challenges to mifepristone, such as Louisiana’s.

The Supreme Court in May left that policy in place while the litigation proceeds.

Proponents of mifepristone — the first of two drugs used in a chemical or medication-based abortion — or its distribution by mail argue it is statistically safe for a woman to take at the early stages of pregnancy, and that attempts to restrict it are an attempt to ban abortion outright. Opponents of the drug’s use for abortion argue there are significant risks to those who take it, particularly outside of medical settings, in addition to ending the life of an unborn child early in its development.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told reporters on a June 23 press call that there has been “a failure to step up on the federal level and pass protections that are grounded in the 14th Amendment — whatever consensus can bear — grounded in the 14th Amendment.”

Dannenfelser is among the pro-life leaders who have argued that the 14th Amendment, which states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” shall not be denied “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” is grounds for federal abortion restrictions.

Pointing to lawsuits like Louisiana’s, Dannenfelser argued that “the abortion drug has usurped the sovereignty of those states” that have restricted abortion.

“We have insisted that the Justice Department settle with the state of Louisiana, who has sued them for justice, for undermining their state laws, for putting extra burdens of financial and health care for women who are experiencing these horrible moments,” she said.

A letter from more than 80 pro-life groups, including SBA, published June 23 to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “We respectfully urge you to settle Louisiana v. FDA, end DOJ’s defense of the mail-order abortion drug regime.”

In an amicus brief filed by groups including SBA, the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, and the National Catholic Bioethics Center, argued the in-person dispensing requirement should be reimplemented to prevent health risks to the mother and to prevent coercion by partners, abusers, or traffickers.

“Coerced consent is no consent at all, and there is an increased risk of coercion in the context of abortion drugs and procedures if the prescribing physician does not thoroughly screen for abuse or coercion,” the brief stated.

Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of the March for Life, told OSV News the group “joined this amicus brief because women deserve better than being prescribed dangerous abortion-inducing drugs without even a simple consultation with a physician — putting their health and safety at serious risk.”

“The current lack of safeguards also plays right into the hands of abusive men who can pose as women, obtain these drugs via the internet, and then coerce their baby’s mother into taking them or even forcibly drug her in order to evade responsibility for their child,” she said. “There is no semblance of true informed consent in the way abortion drugs are currently distributed. FDA must restore an in-person dispensation requirement.”

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion, which takes the life of the unborn child.

Marie T. Hilliard, senior ethicist for the National Catholic Bioethics Center, as well as a registered nurse with a graduate degree in maternal child health and a canon lawyer, said in written comments to OSV News that NCBC, which opposes all direct abortions, “recognizes the threats not only to the unborn child, but also to women and girls having access to unsafe chemical abortion practices.”

“Women and girls’ very lives are being threatened by the current lack of regulatory requirements, and the lives of these mothers also must be protected, and hopefully the lives of their unborn children when these mothers are provided with all the information they need for true informed consent,” she said.

In his statement, Bishop Thomas concluded, “On this Anniversary of the Dobbs decision, we praise God for the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade, and we beg the intercession of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in building a culture of life.”

(OSV News) – Father James Musgrave III, 39, a Detroit native who is one of more than 400 men ordained to the priesthood in the United States this year, came late not only to his discernment, but also to faith itself.

He grew up as a “none” and was not baptized until he was 25.

That, according to the annual survey of new priests conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, puts him in a tiny group. Overall, 93% of the survey respondents said they had been baptized Catholic as infants.

Although Father Musgrave attended Detroit Catholic Central High School, “I had different priorities at the time,” he told OSV News. “I didn’t take it seriously,” but recalls now that he “always felt most at home in the Catholic Church.”

After graduating from Hillsdale College, where he majored in marketing and management and minored in biology, he attended medical school at East Tennessee State University for more than two years before having what he remembers as “an identity crisis.” That’s when his discernment began in earnest: “Learning how to pray. Following, in love with Jesus.”

He didn’t give up medicine entirely, becoming the director of graduate enrollment management at the University of Michigan Medical School while he became active in Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth, Michigan.

There, he said he learned “what true discipleship means.” With a group of adults helping him, he “learned how to pray. How to put Jesus at the center of myself.”

Eventually, he said, a priest told him “to ask Jesus, ‘What do you want for my life?'”

That sent him to Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit with the assistance of the Labouré Society, which helped cover his student-loan debt. He was one of four ordained at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. He’s now assigned to St. Hugo of the Hills Parish in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Journeys to the priesthood quite often are on meandering paths, as noted by Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis on May 30 at the ordination Mass for six men at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“I found myself marveling that the Lord would have placed a holy desire for priesthood in the hearts of a bridge builder, a college basketball player, an aspiring doctor and a linguist; or that he would have sparked an even deeper love for him as they came to study the ancient church fathers in dusty Latin tomes or gave tours of the holy sites of Rome and Jerusalem,” the archbishop said. “The Holy Spirit blows where he wills, and as Pope Francis often said, we have a God of surprises.”

On May 30 at St. Mark Catholic Church in Huntersville, North Carolina, Bishop Michael T. Martin ordained 10 men to the priesthood — the most ordained at one time in the history of the Diocese of Charlotte.

“You have to love the people of God you’re being sent out to serve,” Bishop Martin said in his homily. “His sheep are every human person on the face of the Earth, every person in whatever school or parish, every community, every hospital or nursing home. Wherever you go, love them all … you cannot wait for them to come to you, you have to go out to them.”

CARA’s ordinand survey reported that 6 in 10 responding ordinands (62%) are Caucasian. One in 6 (17%) is Hispanic/Latino. One in 10 (11%) is Asian/Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian. One in 20 (5%) is African/African American/Black.

The three most common countries of birth among the foreign-born are Vietnam (5% of all responding ordinands), Mexico (3%), and Colombia (2%).

Twenty-six percent of the respondents in the CARA survey were born outside the United States. They represented 35% of ordinands in religious orders and 24% of ordinands to diocesan priesthood.

The current class of ordinands are, on average, 33 years old at ordination with half between 26 and 31 years old, and the other half between 31 and 75 years old.

Falling squarely into those categories is Father Kaique Duarte Santos, 30, ordained June 6 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River, Massachusetts. This summer, Father Santos is assigned to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in North Falmouth, Massachusetts.

Faith was always part of his life before he entered the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in South Orange, New Jersey. He was born in Teófilo Otoni, Brazil, the youngest of three children of Aldair Burmann, a gemstone cutter, and his wife, Marizete, a teacher.

Two family tragedies created what he called “a spiritual questioning” about the meaning of life: His brother Victor was killed in an accident in late 2008, and his father died just two months later.

“God gave me the grace to get through that,” he told OSV News.

Youth retreats in 2010 and 2011 convinced him that the priesthood could be in his future. “That was the first time I saw people praying like they really meant it,” he recalled. “I was used to seeing people go to church because they felt they had to.”

He joined the Brazilian Canção Nova Community, a charismatic community connected to the Salesians, in 2015 and attended a retreat at a Carthusian monastery. Learning that Fall River Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha was born in Brazil clinched his decision about his vocation. Bishop da Cunha was the first Brazilian-born bishop in the U.S., when he was appointed in 2014.

CARA’s ordinand survey reports that about half the respondents said they were between the ages of 3 and 16 when they first considered the priesthood, with another half between 16 and 51, for an average age of 16.

For Father Thiet Van Hoang, 35, that moment came when he was 11 and attended the ordination Mass of his uncle, Father Huong Hoang.

As the fourth of six children in Ha Tinh, Vietnam, he remembers that his family attended liturgy at Ke Dong Parish twice daily, for morning Mass and vespers, the evening prayer of the Church.

But initially, at University of Da Nang, he pursued another career and earned a degree in computer science, becoming a software developer for two years.

However, he told OSV News, he had always sensed his calling. There was no drama and no questioning. He just knew. He arrived in the U.S. in 2018 and enrolled in the University of St. Mary of the Lake, widely known as Mundelein Seminary, in the Chicago suburb of Mundelein.

He was one of four new priests ordained May 23 at the Cathedral of St. Raphael in Dubuque, Iowa, for the Archdiocese of Dubuque. He’s assigned to the Calmar Pastorate in northeast Iowa. “I know that area well enough,” he told OSV News, since he was earlier assigned an internship there.

(OSV News) – The Vatican released the official schedule of the second extraordinary consistory this year, giving a glimpse into some of the topics and major issues that will be discussed by Pope Leo XIV and the College of Cardinals.

The schedule of the June 26-27 consistory, which was published by the Vatican press office June 22, includes discussions centered on the pope’s recent encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.

As the second consistory of the year, the pope is making good on the cardinals’ requests for further collaboration, which the college expressed during the general congregations prior to his election last year.

According to the Code of Canon Law, the College of Cardinals assists the pope “through collegial action in consistories in which they are gathered by order of the Roman Pontiff who presides.”

The code also states that extraordinary consistories are convened “when particular needs of the church or the treatment of more grave affairs suggest it.”

Over the two days, the cardinals will take part in four sessions — two per day — with the first session in the morning June 26 centered on the theme “In what world are we called to proclaim the Gospel?” and featuring a biblical meditation delivered by Cardinal Grzegorz Rys of Krakow.

After a time of personal prayer and reflection, the cardinals, divided into several groups, will discuss their responses to two questions: “What sufferings, tensions, and questions currently affect most deeply the peoples and ecclesial communities entrusted to your care?” and “What signs of hope, of fidelity to the Gospel, and of possible reconciliation is it important to bring to our common listening?”

In the afternoon’s second session, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will introduce the theme “The culture of power and the civilization of love.”

According to the schedule, the theme is based on the fifth chapter of “Magnifica Humanitas.” Among the issues addressed by Pope Leo in that chapter are the risks posed by technology when used irresponsibly, especially in warfare.

“Here the question is not merely the efficiency of new tools, but also the risk that technology, detached from ethics and responsibility, will render decisions about life and death more rapid and impersonal, and will present the use of force as an immediate and viable option,” the pope wrote.

Regarding the civilization of love, Pope Leo cited St. Paul VI, who “envisioned a social order in which justice and charity are intertwined and love becomes the guiding principle of economic, political and cultural life.”

“Today, we must resolutely recover this vision, for the civilization of love is no naïve utopia, but a demanding project, which consists in translating charity into structures of justice, giving institutional form to fraternity and regarding others — whether individuals or peoples — as allies necessary for building the common good,” he wrote.

Pope Leo also warned of a culture of power “in which the availability of resources and the ability to dominate tend to dictate the agenda and criteria for decision-making.” This culture relegates the common good to the background and the concrete tragedy of people at war is reduced to a secondary consideration in relation to strategic interests.”

After Cardinal Fernandez’s introduction, the cardinals will once again divide into groups and respond to two questions: “In what way do the tensions, divisions, and conflicts affecting the world touch the life of our Churches and our peoples today?” and “What languages, attitudes, and practices can help build reconciliation, coexistence, and peace?”

The groups’ responses will be presented in the Synod Hall, followed by open discussions on the theme, and the day will conclude with a closing prayer.

The consistory’s second and final day June 27 will begin with a morning Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica presided by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals.

The third session, which reflects on the theme, “Building in the good: the worksites of our time,” includes an introduction by Cardinal Stephen Brislin of Johannesburg based on the introduction and conclusion of “Magnifica Humanitas.”

Among the notable issues the pope warns of in the encyclical’s introduction is the danger posed by the “Babel syndrome.”

Drawing from the biblical account of the construction of the Tower of Babel, Pope Leo said in the encyclical it was “a project conceived without reference to God, supported by a uniformity that eliminated diversity and that chose homogenization over communion.”

“We must, then, avoid the ‘Babel syndrome,’ namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance,” he wrote.

The pope instead draws from the biblical narrative of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem following the Babylonian exile, in which the people rediscover a common language that is “not one of uniformity, but one of communion.”

“The narrative shows how the city is reborn, not through the initiative of one man, but through the shared responsibility of all: men, women, priests, artisans, heads of households and young people all play a part. It is an undertaking with God at the center, which rebuilds relationships before rebuilding with stones.”

In the encyclical’s conclusion, Pope Leo rejects “the promises of transhumanism,” which often seeks “an enhanced and almost disembodied humanity,” and calls for human dignity to be placed at the forefront in the digital era.

“No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil,” the pope wrote. “Even when machines excel in efficiency, a human face that asks to be gazed upon remains the center of our history.”

After the South African cardinal delivers his address, the groups of cardinals will hold discussions based on the questions that center on the aspects that “make it more difficult to build up the common good” and the expectations of the people “that the Church is called to listen to, and which perhaps we do not listen to enough.”

The consistory’s final session will focus on the three-year implementation process of Synod of Bishops on synodality, which was approved by Pope Francis March 11 2025, a little over a month before his death, and subsequently confirmed by Pope Leo.

The implementation process includes an assessment of progress at diocesan, national and continental levels beginning in 2027, culminating in an assembly set to take place at the Vatican in October 2028.

After a presentation by Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, and a time for cardinals to ask clarifying questions, those present will engage in a free discussion with Pope Leo on the session’s theme.

The session will conclude with an address by Pope Leo that will be broadcast, the Vatican said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Participation in the Eucharist transforms believers into the Body of Christ and offers a remedy to the divisions affecting families and communities, Pope Leo XIV said during his weekly general audience June 24.

In his final general audience until Aug. 5, Pope Leo also encouraged young people to use the downtime of summer vacation to attend Mass, go to confession frequently, reflect on Scripture, go on spiritual retreats and pilgrimages and spend time with loved ones.

“Vacation is a time for rest and to seek signs of God in the beauty of creation,” he said in his remarks to Polish-speaking visitors. He also asked people to pray for students so that they may “choose wisely” the schools and universities they will attend and “discern with prudence their vocation.”

Continuing his series on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, the pope focused on “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, explaining how the Eucharist draws the faithful into deeper communion with God and one another.

Receiving Christ in the Eucharist transforms believers into the Body of Christ, whose head is the risen Lord seated at the right hand of the Father, the pope said.

“Thus, the Eucharist is the sacrament of the Kingdom that is to come,” Pope Leo said.

The Eucharist teaches Catholics to adopt Christ’s way of self-giving love and to be “drawn day by day into ever more perfect union with God and with each other,” he said.

“This gift draws us into the dynamic of unity, offering a powerful antidote to the forces of division that undermine our world, our communities, our families, and our hearts,” he said.

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy teaches that the faithful are called to “offer themselves in union with Jesus Christ” to the Father “through the hands of the priest and together with him,” the pope said. Participation in the Eucharist also means being formed by God’s word and “nourished at the table of the Lord’s body.”

The Eucharist cannot be separated from the Word of God, the pope said, noting that the liturgy and the Eucharist form “one single act of worship.” Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, he said Scripture illuminates and explains the mystery of the Eucharist, while the Eucharist opens believers to a deeper understanding of Scripture.

“This Word nourishes and sustains us together with the Eucharistic bread and leads us from the decay of sin to new life in Christ,” Pope Leo said.

Referring to the Second Vatican Council’s focus on giving Catholics greater access to Scripture, the pope pointed to the Lectionary — the book containing the biblical readings proclaimed at Mass — as a result of the council’s liturgical reform. The expanded collection of readings used in the Church’s liturgies today, he said, reflects the richness of the Church’s living tradition, combining “fidelity to tradition with openness to legitimate progress.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, let us draw with faith from this source of divine life and allow ourselves to be transformed by the mystery we celebrate,” he said.

PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) – As the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary, a number of faith and civic leaders will be on hand as Pope Leo XIV accepts – via livestream from the Vatican – a major honor for his efforts to promote religious liberty, along with freedom of expression and conscience.

The National Constitution Center will bestow its Liberty Medal on Pope Leo July 3 during a public ceremony outside its location at Independence Mall in Philadelphia, part of Independence National Historical Park, home to several sites of historical significance in the nation’s founding.

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,” said the National Constitution Center in a June 22 media advisory listing the event’s key speakers.

The center — a private nonprofit that promotes constitutional education and civic debate — had announced its decision to honor Pope Leo back on March 16, noting at the time that the ceremony will take place amid the Independence Week events set to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Vince Stango, the center’s interim president and CEO, described Pope Leo in that March announcement as a “consistent advocate for religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and human dignity.”

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

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia — the city that was the nation’s capital from 1790 until 1800 — will be among the religious leaders addressing the crowds in person at the event, which will also be livestreamed on the center’s YouTube channel.

On June 11, the archbishop read a message from Pope Leo on religious liberty to attendees of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s 2026 Canterbury Medal Gala, held at the National Constitution Center.

In that message, dated June 4, Pope Leo described religious freedom as “the cornerstone of any just society” and “an integral part of upholding human dignity.”

The first U.S.-born pope noted that efforts to safeguard religious liberty “acquire particular significance as the United States of America prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its foundation.

“Indeed, we can recognize in the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence an expression of the truth regarding the human person,” said Pope Leo in his Becket gala message. “Namely, the innate dignity of every man and woman, created by God in his own image and likeness, and the rights that stem therefrom.”

In March, Archbishop Pérez had described the bestowal of the medal on Pope Leo as “a fitting recognition of the Holy Father’s long dedication and fidelity to advancing liberty for all people throughout the world.

“In many ways, his tireless work as a priest, bishop, cardinal, and now shepherd of the universal Church has focused on lifting up the dignity of all people and building pathways to peace,” said Archbishop Pérez at the time.

Also on hand with the archbishop will be Imam Quaiser D. Abdullah, director of the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Muslim Engagement; Reverend Carolyn C. Cavaness, the first female pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church, founded in 1794; Reverend Luis A. Cortés Jr., founder, president and CEO of the faith-based nonprofit Esperanza, which provides an array of services to Hispanic communities; and Rabbi Jill L. Maderer, senior rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia.

The choirs of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will also perform at the ceremony.

Past recipients of the Liberty Medal include Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Senator John McCain, U.S. Representative John Lewis and human rights advocate Malala Yousafzai.

The Liberty Medal is typically accompanied by a prize sponsored by philanthropists Ira Lubert and Pamela Estadt, with contributions from corporations, foundations, and individuals.

In a March statement to OSV News, the center confirmed that the medal “traditionally includes a $100,000 prize,” adding that “the Holy See has not yet indicated how it may be used.”

“Any decisions regarding the prize will be made by the Vatican, and we will share additional information when it becomes available,” the center told OSV News at the time.

(OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV has a message for American teens gathered this summer at the Steubenville Youth Conferences: True joy is not found “spending hours in front of a screen or endlessly scrolling on social media.”

In a video message released June 20 for the 50th anniversary of the conferences hosted by Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, the pope told young people his message is simple: “Only the love of God can provide us with true and perfect joy.”

“True peace and perfect joy are gifts from God that come when we open ourselves to him and trust in his power to transform us,” he said.

Pope Leo underlined that the hours spent scrolling social media often crowd out time better spent in prayer, building real friendships, being with family, studying or playing sports. He went further, warning that drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, or a fixation on image or appearance are not paths to fulfillment either, adding that even wealth, beauty, fame and health are fleeting.

For the pope, reflecting on the message of St. Francis of Assisi, the answer lies elsewhere entirely. He told the young Catholics that only God’s love can give them genuine and lasting joy, and that trusting in God is what allows people to remain steady even when life gets hard.

“If we have the profound conviction that God cares for us as his beloved children, we will not be flustered or discouraged, even in difficult situations,” he said.

The pope acknowledged that many of the teens have been told their whole lives that God loves them, but he asked them to reflect on whether they actually believe it and live like it.

“Many of you have heard since you were little that God loves you. But do you really believe it? You are precious in God’s eyes! You are unconditionally loved by Him! Are you certain of this?” he said.

Pope Leo added that the “secret to being able to face challenging circumstances with a smile” lies in having a real relationship with God, built through prayer and the sacraments.

“If you cultivate a trusting relationship with him, through regular prayer, through reception of the sacraments, if you abandon yourself into his hands, then anxiety, or sadness, and loneliness will fade away as his grace fills you and as his love inflames your heart,” he said.

Speaking directly to the thousands of American teens who will take part in the Steubenville Youth Conferences this summer, the pope also made a direct appeal for young people to discern and follow courageously the vocation Jesus Christ is calling them to.

“What can we give him in return for such great love, for such generous gifts? Nothing but ourselves!” Pope Leo said. “Today, the Lord needs missionaries to spread the word to those who do not know him, holy men and women to begin loving Catholic families, priests to be spiritual fathers and ministers of the sacraments as well as religious men and women to be witnesses of the true joy of his kingdom.”

“If you have a sense that the Lord may be calling you to one of these vocations, do not close yourself off or turn away in fear, but take a step forward and say to the Lord, ‘Here I am, send me!'” Pope Leo said. “At the same time, do not be afraid to talk to someone about it: a trusted friend, priest or religious sister.”

The people encouraged young participants in the Steubenville Youth Conferences to take advantage of moments of silence during the conference “to discover the peace of Christ that he promised to give to his disciples.”

The pope’s video message marks a milestone year for the Steubenville Youth Conferences, which Franciscan University has run since the 1970s and which have grown into one of the largest Catholic youth evangelization efforts in the country. This summer the university is hosting four sold-out conferences on its Ohio campus, with 15 more conferences taking place across North America, including the program’s first-ever event in Belize, held in March.

Conference locations this year include Georgia, Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Texas, Missouri, Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, California, Louisiana, Arizona and Nova Scotia, Canada. Speakers on this summer’s lineup include Father Mike Schmitz, Chris Stefanick, Father Leo Patalinghug, Paul J. Kim, and Katie Prejean McGrady. Franciscan University also runs summer conferences for adults alongside its youth programming.

According to Brian Kissinger, Franciscan University’s executive director of Conferences, 18% of priests ordained in the U.S. this year attended a Steubenville Conference as a teenager.

“We are humbled and honored by the many ways that God continues to reach thousands of young people each year through our conferences, and the profound impact that these events have on the faith and vocations of young men and women,” Kissinger said.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Juneteenth and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence provided the context for a June 15 online discussion on the importance of acknowledging the nation’s racial history honestly so the work of justice and equality can continue.

“We actually have to have the courage to be truth tellers and to tell the full truth, the full story of who we are as Americans, and not be afraid to do so. … We have to make sure that in the story of America, all those who have contributed to this country are included, because all of it makes up who we are,” said Bishop-designate Robert P. Boxie III, an African American priest who on May 1 was appointed by Pope Leo XIV to become a new auxiliary bishop of Washington.

Bishop-designate Boxie — who will be ordained a bishop July 7 — was among three panelists in a dialogue on “250 Years Towards Racial Justice: Progress, Promise, and Challenges,” sponsored by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.

Presenting the “true truth” about the painful aspects of U.S. history is important, he said, because avoiding those realities “prevents us from healing. It prevents us from appreciating the richness of this country in order to solve the real challenges we face as a nation and a society, so as to realize the promises that were enshrined in these founding documents.”

The bishop-designate has served as chaplain at the Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Student Center at Howard University in Washington.

The other panelists were Melvin Rogers, the Edna and Richard Salomon distinguished professor of political science and associate director of the Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; and Diann Rust-Tierney, an associate professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia’s David A. Clarke School of Law.

Moderator Kimberly Mazyck, associate director for engagement at the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown, provided the context for the conversation, noting the Juneteenth holiday marking the end of slavery in the United States and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4.

“While the Declaration of Independence states, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,’ enslavement did not end in this country until 1865, 89 years after the signing of this founding document,” she said.

Mazyck also pointed out how “it is important for us to acknowledge that Georgetown University exists in part because of the proceeds from an 1838 sale of 272 enslaved women, men and children,” a sale by the Maryland Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, to Louisiana sugar plantation owners that helped sustain the financial survival of Georgetown College, now the university.

The conversation was held four days before Juneteenth, which every year commemorates June 19, in 1865, when, more than two months after the Civil War ended, U.S. Major Gen. Gordon Granger issued an order informing the people of Texas that all enslaved people there were now free.

“To my mind, the 250th anniversary and Juneteenth, these things don’t stand in opposition, they’re not in competition,” said panelist Rogers. “The 250th, it is us acknowledging the ways in which the founders put in circulation these wonderful ideas of liberty, equality and self-government. And Juneteenth, it seems to me, is a reminder that we struggled and in some instances failed to extend those principles to all.”

He added that “these two moments should go together as part of our shared civic inheritance. … It seems to me a healthy, mature democracy should be able to do both of these things simultaneously, both acknowledge its achievements and be very honest about where it has fallen short, so it is clear the work it has to do going forward.”

In her introductory remarks, Mazyck said recent judicial and legislative actions have undermined landmark legislation promoting racial justice like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

She also noted how the Trump administration has taken steps against diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the country and has “taken steps to change the way schools and museums teach the history of racial injustice in this country.”

“Catholic teaching teaches us that racism is a sin, it’s a national moral failure and it’s a fundamental test of our faith,” she said.

The U.S. historical narrative is problematic when the role of African Americans in building the country is not acknowledged, Rust-Tierney said.

She noted how Frederick Douglass – in a famous 1852 speech to the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, New York, titled, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” — said, “The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common.”

Rust-Tierney expressed concern that amendments to the U.S. Constitution offering the promise of a multiracial democracy, including the 15th Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote will not be denied by race, now seem to be “under attack,” with similar historical arguments being made to erode those protections.

Asked about his reaction to the apology for the Church’s involvement in slavery that Pope Leo offered in his recent encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” Bishop-designate Boxie said, “I’m overjoyed, I’m relieved, and honestly, it’s about time. … Really, it’s a watershed moment for the Church, and) the whole world. So many countries benefitted from the transatlantic slave trade.”

Bishop-designate Boxie noted “how symbolic and meaningful that this pope has done this — Pope Leo, who has Black ancestry, who has African blood running in his veins.” The maternal grandparents of the Chicago-born pontiff were listed in census documents as Black or mulatto.

The pope’s apology can also spur “bishops and lay leaders to make similar acknowledgements and efforts toward reconciliation in their dioceses and parishes and their organizations. … The Church can lead in healing,” Bishop-designate Boxie said.

He noted how three of the “Saintly Seven” African American Catholics being considered for sainthood were once enslaved. Venerable Father Augustus Tolton from Chicago, who in 1886 became the first U.S. Catholic priest publicly known to be Black, was born in slavery, as were Venerable Pierre Toussaint from New York City and Servant of God Julia Greeley from Denver, who were known for their works of charity.

“While the Church and her members participated in this great evil of society, it did not deter these heroic and courageous men and women from staying and believing in the Church. And you can’t tell me that that’s not the stuff of holiness or sainthood,” Bishop-designate Boxie said.

The panelists also discussed how African Americans historically worked for racial justice and how that work can continue today.

Rogers — author of “The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy and Freedom in African American Political Thought” — noted that African Americans have relied on “social courage,” understanding that “one is able to bear the burden of injustice in part because you don’t bear it alone, you bear it with those who are standing beside you.”

Diann Rust-Tierney echoed that point, adding that “when you look at the secret sauce, the secret ingredient of our progress, it was the empathy that the broader society developed when they understood or saw what was happening … (it’s) the empathy that we develop that helps push our movements forward.”

Bishop-designate Boxie said, “The Church must and has to be on the side of racial justice and reconciliation in all of its forms. The Church is pro-life, and the USCCB (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) has labeled racism as America’s original sin, and this is the original pro-life issue in the United States.”

He said that advocacy for racial justice “means that the Church must use her prophetic voice, her magisterium, her social teaching, her moral authority, to bear on all of these issues, and use her ministries, her outreach, her teachings in the Church to dismantle these systems that perpetrate inequality inside and outside the Church.”

Confronting racism and working for racial justice, the bishop-designate said, “starts with us, within our own hearts, a personal conversion of heart. We need to pray that we become aware of these issues, that we are sensitive to the demands of justice and the dignity of every human person. That starts with us, in our own hearts.”

Bishop-designate Boxie said people need to educate themselves “on the history, the consequences, the causes, the harms of racism and injustice and not be indifferent or oblivious to them.”