Category: Diocese of Scranton News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Just as the star over Bethlehem called to and welcomed everyone to encounter the newborn Jesus, God today calls on the faithful to welcome everyone, creating safe, open spaces to find warmth and shelter, Pope Francis said.

The star is in the sky not to remain distant and inaccessible, he said, “but so that its light may be visible to all, that it may reach every home and overcome every barrier, bringing hope to the most remote and forgotten corners of the planet,” he said.

“It is in the sky so that it can tell everyone, by its generous light, that God does not refuse or forget anyone,” the pope said Jan. 6, celebrating Mass on the feast of the Epiphany in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“God does not reveal himself to exclusive groups or to a privileged few, but offers his companionship and guidance to those who seek him with a sincere heart,” he said in his homily. “God seeks everyone, always.”

“We do well to meditate on this today, in a world in which individuals and nations are equipped with ever more powerful means of communication, and yet seem to have become less willing to understand, accept and encounter others in their diversity!” he said.

This is why many Nativity scenes portray the Magi “with the features of all ages and races” to characterize the many different people on earth, Pope Francis said.

“God calls us to reject anything that discriminates, excludes or discards people, and instead to promote, in our communities and neighborhoods, a strong culture of welcome, in which the narrow places of fear and denunciation are replaced by open spaces of encounter, integration and sharing of life; safe spaces where everyone can find warmth and shelter,” he said.

God rejects and forgets no one because “he is a father whose greatest joy is to see his children returning home,” he said, “building bridges, clearing paths, searching for those who are lost and carrying on their shoulders those who struggle to walk so that no one is left behind and all may share in the joy of the father’s house.”

“The star speaks to us of God’s dream that men and women everywhere in all their rich variety will together form one family that can live harmoniously in prosperity and peace,” he said.

The star of Bethlehem is the light of God’s love, he said, and “it is the only light that will make us happy.”

“This light likewise calls us to give ourselves for one another, becoming, with his help, a mutual sign of hope, even in the darkest nights of our lives,” he said.

“Let us ask the Lord that we might be bright lights that can lead one another to an encounter with him,” he said.

Speaking about the current Holy Year and the Jubilee practice of making a pilgrimage, the pope said, “The light of the star invites us to undertake an interior journey that, as St. John Paul II wrote (for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000), frees our hearts from all that is not charity, in order to ‘encounter Christ fully, professing our faith in him and receiving the abundance of his mercy.'”

While Pope Francis and thousands of people were at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, thousands more lined the main boulevard leading to St. Peter’s Square for the traditional, folkloric Epiphany celebration. Marching bands and people in Renaissance costumes paraded up the street behind the Three Kings on horseback.

Before reciting the Angelus at midday in the square, the pope said, “Let us ask the Virgin Mary to help us so that, imitating the shepherds and the Magi, we are able to recognize Jesus close to us, in the Eucharist, in the poor, in the abandoned, in our brothers and sisters,” he said.

ROME (CNS) – During the Holy Year 2025, Catholics are called not only to grow in the virtue of hope, but also to share it with others, said U.S. Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

Pope Francis’ call to the whole church during the Jubilee Year is “both pressing and challenging. It is a call not to be satisfied just with having hope, but to radiate hope, to be sowers of hope,” the cardinal said at Mass Jan. 5 after opening the basilica’s Holy Door.

The golden bronze door, installed for the Holy Year 2000, was the last of the Holy Doors at the papal basilicas of Rome to be opened for pilgrims.

With the theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” Pope Francis inaugurated the Holy Year Dec. 24 by opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, and he opened a Holy Door Dec. 26 at Rome’s Rebibbia prison. The archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran opened the Holy Door there Dec. 29, and the coadjutor archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major opened the Holy Door at the Marian basilica Jan. 1.

In his homily at St. Paul Outside the Walls, Cardinal Harvey said hope “is certainly the most beautiful gift the church can give humanity, especially at this moment in history.”

The opening of the Holy Door, particularly during the Christmas season, he said, “marks the salvific passage opened by Christ with his incarnation, death and resurrection, calling all members of the church to reconcile with God and with their neighbor.”

Cardinal Harvey told the congregation of close to 3,000 people that the words, “Spes Unica,” meaning “our only hope,” are written at the base of the cross on top of the basilica.

During the Jubilee Year, he said, Christians in Rome and around the world are called to hold tight to the cross and set off as pilgrims, journeying together, supporting one another and sharing with all people the hope for eternal salvation accomplished in Christ.

Quoting the Letter to the Romans of the Apostle Paul, whose tomb is under the basilica’s main altar, Cardinal Harvey said his Holy Year prayer is: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

ROME (CNS) – Opening the Holy Door of the oldest Marian shrine in the Western world, Cardinal Rolando Makrickas prayed that the world would entrust itself to Mary, “the door to heaven.”

“Let us offer our prayer to the Father so that, like Mary, we may be pilgrims of hope who bring Christ into the world,” said the cardinal, coadjutor archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, before pushing open its bronze door Jan. 1.

As the bells rang out from the summit of Rome’s Esquiline hill, Cardinal Makrickas became the first pilgrim to cross the door’s threshold during the Holy Year 2025.

Among the pealing bells was one originally placed in the basilica’s bell tower — the highest point in the center of Rome — which was used to announce the Catholic Church’s first Jubilee in 1300 and had been housed in the Vatican Museums since 1884; it was returned to St. Mary Major last year ahead of the Jubilee.

Celebrating Mass on the feast of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, Cardinal Makrickas reflected on the mystery of Jesus’ incarnation in Mary’s womb, calling it the “fullness of time” as it united earthly time with eternity.

Today, the cardinal said, humanity often seeks to “perfect time” by saving or enriching it through technology, but “every effort results in its loss.”

“One cannot, however, ever feel lost, wasted or tired from time spent with God,” he said. “It will not be ideas or technology that give us comfort or hope, but the face of the Mother of God.”

Cardinal Makrickas also spoke about the significance of the relics of Jesus’ crib housed in the basilica, “the first, humble, poor home of Jesus,” from which humanity began to mark time itself.

Each pilgrim entering the basilica during the Jubilee and praying before the icon of the Marian icon “Salus Populi Romani” (“health of the Roman people”) — which Pope Francis visits before and after each of his international trips — and the Holy Crib “will not be able to leave here without a deep and particular feeling, a feeling and certainty that the heavenly Mother is with him,” the cardinal said.

“Each person will go from here with the assurance of being accompanied by the grace, the protection, the care and motherly tenderness of Mary,” he said.

St. Mary Major is especially significant to Pope Francis. He has said that he often visited the basilica when traveling to Rome as a cardinal and, breaking with recent tradition, has said he will be buried there rather than in the Vatican after his death. Six popes are buried in the basilica, and the last pope interred there was Pope Clement IX in 1669.

WILKES-BARRE – The new year brings a new, permanent home for an emergency shelter in the city of Wilkes-Barre.

On Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, city and county leaders participated in a formal dedication and blessing ceremony for the new location of Mother Teresa’s Haven, a shelter for men experiencing homelessness.

For the last several months, construction has been underway to create the new permanent shelter space above Saint Vincent de Paul Kitchen, located at 39 East Jackson Street in Wilkes-Barre.

“We are thrilled to finally have a permanent home after all these years, absolutely thrilled,” Harry Lyons, program director for Mother Teresa’s Haven, said.

Mother Teresa’s Haven first opened in the 1980s, but rotated locations between several area churches.

“This shelter has been in existence for decades but it was nomadic up until about four  years ago and when we think about the clients we serve, there is a certain dignity that they deserve to have,” the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, said at the dedication ceremony.

With the new location finally complete, Mother Teresa’s Haven now has shower and laundry facilities available, will offer beds to men experiencing homelessness instead of cots, and will be housed in the same complex as the Saint Vincent de Paul Kitchen, food pantry, and clothing bank.

Joseph Mahoney, Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Social Services, says that will lead to a better coordination of services.

“We’ve got the kitchen, we’ve got the food pantry, we’ve got a clothing pantry, we’re bringing all these services into one building and trying to make it easier for our clients,” Mahoney explained.

Mother Teresa’s Haven is able to house 20 men each night. It is now open from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.

During the 2024 calendar year, Mother Teresa’s Haven provided more than 4,700 individual nights of emergency shelter to 311 men in the local community.

“Everything is designed in this complex to help the homeless and it is done the right way,” Wilkes-Barre mayor George C. Brown said.

(OSV News) – Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans offered prayers for victims of what he described as a “sign of utter disrespect for human life” perpetrated by a man who drove a Ford pickup truck through crowds celebrating the New Year in New Orleans’ French Quarter around 3:15 a.m. Jan. 1. At least 15 people were reportedly killed, with around 35 others injured.

The driver was killed by police after leaving the vehicle and exchanging gunfire with law enforcement, striking two officers. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.

“Our prayers go out to those killed and injured in this morning’s horrific attack on Bourbon Street,” said Archbishop Aymond, a New Orleans native, in a Jan. 1 statement. “This violent act is a sign of utter disrespect for human life. I join with others in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans in offering prayerful support to the victims’ families. I give thanks for the heroic duty of hundreds of law enforcement and medical personnel in the face of such evil.”

Officials identified the driver as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, and said he likely did not act alone. An ISIS flag was located on the vehicle’s trailer hitch. The FBI found explosive devices in the pickup truck and elsewhere in the French Quarter, including reportedly near the historic Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

In an early afternoon press conference, officials described Jabbar, 42, as “a U.S.-born citizen from Texas” and U.S. Army veteran, and that law enforcement is looking for known associates. Anyone who had interacted with Jabbar within the past 72 hours is asked to contact the FBI at the agency’s tipline, 1-800-CALL-FBI.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick and other city officials confirmed that the attack was deliberate and that they were focused on ensuring the safety of the city’s residents and visitors. Officials did not release information about the identities of the victims known dead. A few hours later, authorities updated the death count from 10 to 15.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said during the press conference that there were “some people who are fighting for their lives right now in the hospital.”

“So I’d ask everyone to pray for them,” she said. “They need our support and they need our prayers.

“This was a heinous act. A heinous, cowardly act,” she added. “And we will find them and we will bring them to justice.”

At the press conference, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced he had issued an amended emergency declaration initially planned for tomorrow so “that we could bring all of our federal, state, and local agencies to bear in preparation for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras.” Because of the attack, Landry said he also ordered “the mobilization of a military police company” in New Orleans.

Also speaking at the press conference, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy said, “I wish I understood better why bad things happen to good people.”

“If I make it to heaven, I’m going to ask,” he said. “For those people who don’t believe in objective evil, all you have to do is look at what happened in our city early this morning. If this doesn’t trigger the gag reflex of every American, every fair-minded American, I’ll be very surprised.”

Kirkpatrick, whose role includes chief of police, called the action “evil” and that “New Orleans Police and all law enforcement is built, we are built, for dealing with evil.”

President Joe Biden said in a statement that he was “grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury.”

“I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind,” he said.

President-elect Donald Trump posted on social media that “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”

The attack came ahead of the Allstate Sugar Bowl, originally scheduled Jan. 1, and the Super Bowl LIX Feb. 9, both to be played in New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome. This year’s Sugar Bowl doubles as a much-anticipated college football playoff game between the University of Notre Dame and the University of Georgia. After first announcing that the game would go on as scheduled, officials later moved the game to Jan. 2 with heightened security.

Notre Dame posted on X that its community was praying “for those injured and lost in this senseless act of violence.”

University president Father Robert Dowd, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, shared a similar message on a website for Notre Dame alumni and friends and on X, where he said the university community extends “our deepest gratitude to the brave first responders who risked their lives to protect others.”

“To be in solidarity with those who suffer is to exemplify the spirit of Notre Dame,” he wrote. “Today, we are in solidarity with all those impacted by this tragedy.”

Saying that it is “always grounded in faith, hope, and love, especially at difficult times,” the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis posted on social media the archdiocese’s “Family Prayer” requesting the intercession of Mary under the title of “Our Lady of Prompt Succor.” It noted that the church “serves the entire Archdiocese and far beyond, but the French Quarter is our home and neighborhood.”

“We stand in solidarity with those who lost loved ones this morning,” it said. “We are grateful for the first responders and other healthcare and law enforcement professionals who put themselves in harm’s way and who care for the injured.”

The attack occurred on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the World Day of Peace.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Marking the feast of Mary, Mother of God, and the start of the new year, Pope Francis renewed his appeal for a “firm commitment” to respect all human life worldwide.

“May we learn to care for every child born of a woman, above all by protecting, like Mary, the precious gift of life: life in the womb, the lives of children, the lives of the suffering, the poor, the elderly, the lonely and the dying,” he said in his homily during Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Jan. 1.

“All of us are invited to take up the summons that flows from the maternal heart of Mary: we are called to cherish life, to care for wounded lives — so many wounded lives, so many — to restore dignity to the lives of everyone” because it is the basis for building a culture of peace, he said, highlighting that the feast also marks the World Day of Peace.

The pope’s message for the World Day of Peace was published in December and is shared with heads of state around the world by Vatican ambassadors. In it, Pope Francis called on all nations to eliminate the death penalty, to divert a fixed percentage of arms spending to a global fund to fight hunger and climate change, to cancel the international debt of developing nations and to respect human life.

After praying the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square following Mass, the pope urged the leaders of countries with Christian roots and traditions “to set a good example by canceling or reducing as much as possible the debts of the poorest countries.” The Jubilee Year focuses on the “remission of debts” and it also “asks us to translate this remission on the social level, so that no person, no family, no people will be crushed by debt.”

He also expressed his “grateful appreciation to all those in many areas of conflict who are working for dialogue and negotiations. We pray that fighting will cease on every front and there will be a decisive aim for peace and reconciliation.”

While Pope Francis presided over the morning liturgy and gave the homily, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, was the main celebrant at the altar. He was joined by Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister.

The pope took a moment before the Mass to pose for a photo with more than a dozen young people dressed as the three kings who visited Jesus. In Germany, Austria and other regions of Europe, children known as “sternsingers,” or star singers, sing carols and raise money for charity between Christmas and Epiphany each year. And, after the Mass, Pope Francis spent nearly 10 minutes greeting children and handing them chocolate Santas as his aide pushed him in his wheelchair down the central aisle of the basilica.

In his homily, the pope reiterated his proposal in his peace day message for “a firm commitment to respect the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that each person can cherish his or her own life and all may look with hope to the future.”

“Let us entrust this new year to Mary, Mother of God. May we learn, like her, to discover God’s greatness in the little things of life,” he said.

God chose to act “through littleness and hiddenness” by coming into the world as a tiny helpless child born of a woman in a manger to be “one of us and, for this, he is able to save us,” the pope said.

“Jesus never yielded to the temptation of performing great signs and imposing himself on others, as the devil had suggested,” he said. Instead, “by the frailty of his humanity and his concern for the weak and vulnerable, Jesus shows us the face of God,” who is always near, compassionate and merciful “to those suffering in body and spirit.”

Mary reminds the faithful “that Jesus came in the flesh, and that we encounter him above all in our daily life, in our own frail humanity and that of all those whom we encounter each day,” the pope said.

“If he, who is the Son of God, became so small as to be held in a mother’s arms, cared for and nursed, this means that today, too, he comes among us in all those who need similar care: in every sister and brother we meet, in everyone who needs our attention and tender care,” he said.

The pope asked the faithful to entrust to Mary “this new Jubilee Year. Let us entrust to her our questions, our worries, our sufferings, our joys and all the concerns that we bear in our hearts” and to “entrust to her the whole world, so that hope may be reborn and peace may finally spring up for all the peoples of the earth.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The United States saw an increase of about 18% in homelessness this year, a new record high, according to a federal report.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released Dec. 27 its 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report: Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates, an annual report of the number of individuals in settings including shelters, temporary housing, and those who are unsheltered. The report found more than 771,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024, marking an 18% increase over the previous year. It is the highest number observed by the annual report since it began in 2007.

The report attributed the rise to a mix of factors including lack of affordable housing, a surge in migration, inflation, stagnant wages, “persisting effects of systemic racism” and natural disasters.

Officials said the report likely does not represent current circumstances, citing changes in some policies and conditions.

“No American should face homelessness, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe, and quality housing they deserve,” HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman said in a statement. Todman said that while the data from January 2024 “no longer reflects the situation we are seeing, it is critical that we focus on evidence-based efforts to prevent and end homelessness.”

Todman pointed to the 55.2% reduction in the number of homeless veterans since 2010 as a sign of success. HUD officials also cited an 8% decrease in the number of veterans experiencing homelessness in 2024 from the previous year.

HUD officials blamed migration for having a “particularly notable impact on family homelessness, which rose 39% from 2023-2024.” However, they argued the data was collected before President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at reducing unauthorized border crossings by asylum-seekers, and that rents have since stabilized.

The report also blamed the expiration of the extended child tax credit — enacted as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic — as also exacerbating the homelessness crisis.

The expanded child tax credit, part of the COVID-19-era 2021 American Rescue Plan, sought to help alleviate parents’ rising consumer costs during the pandemic, granting eligible recipients $3,000 per child between 6 and 17 years old, and $3,600 per child under the age of 6. Reports from the U.S. Census Bureau, academic institutions and other nonprofit research organizations found a significant decrease in child poverty as a result of the policy.

Lawmakers allowed the expanded version of the credit to expire at the end of 2021, despite calls from some Catholic groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. An attempt to reach a bipartisan compromise to renew it fell apart in 2022.

The report also pointed to an increase in temporary homelessness in Hawaii as a result of the Maui wildfire.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the U.S. has a shortage of 7.3 million rental homes that are affordable and available to renters with extremely low incomes, defined as incomes “at or below either the federal poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income, whichever is greater.” The group’s data shows that only 34 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households.

According to Pew Research, 55% of Catholic households make under $50,000, including 36% making under $30,000.

“Increased homelessness is the tragic, yet predictable, consequence of underinvesting in the resources and protections that help people find and maintain safe, affordable housing,” Renee Willis, incoming interim CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said in a Dec. 27 statement about the HUD report. “As advocates, researchers, and people with lived experience have warned, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to increase as more people struggle to afford sky-high housing costs.”

On its website, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops stated the bishops believe “decent, safe, and affordable housing is a human right.”

“Catholic teaching supports the right to private property, but recognizes that communities and the government have an obligation to ensure the housing needs of all are met, especially poor and vulnerable people and their families,” it stated. “In a time of rising homelessness and when many workers’ wages are stagnant and living expenses are rising, it is important to ensure housing security.”