Category: Diocese of Scranton News

(OSV News) – Two U.S. bishops Feb. 3 urged Catholics to be “faithful stewards of memory” and “courageous witnesses to truth” during Black History Month, observed in February.

Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of Austin, Texas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, and Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr. of Washington, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on African American Affairs, issued a joint statement to commemorate the month.

They noted that the 2026 observance marks 100 years of commemorating Black history in the United States. “This milestone is an opportunity for us to prayerfully reflect on the ways history has been preserved, honored, and passed on across generations,” Bishop Garcia and Bishop Campbell said.

In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, an American historian, author and journalist, initiated the first Negro History Week in February of that year. He selected the week that included the birthdays of two key figures in the history of Black Americans: President Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) and abolitionist Frederick Douglass (Feb. 20).

It expanded and became Black History Month, officially recognized by President Gerald R. Ford in February 1976, and later codified by Congress in 1986. The combined efforts marked what the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture called a century of commemorating the history, achievements and contributions of Black Americans.

The bishops pointed to “Open Wide Our Hearts,” the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter against racism, in which they said the bishops “recognized that the lived experience of the vast majority of African Americans bears the marks of our country’s original sin of racism.”

“During this year’s observance of Black History Month, we encourage the faithful to consider the lessons of history, honoring our heroes of the past and learning from the mistakes of the past,” they said.

“Although we may at times encounter people or situations in our country that seek to erase ‘memory’ from our minds and books, it can never be erased from our hearts,” they continued.

“May our reflections strengthen our faith and communities. Let us be faithful stewards of memory. Let us be courageous witnesses to truth. Let us pray and work to honor the inherent dignity of every person and the sacred stories of every people.”

In a joint reflection they issued with the statement, Bishop Garcia and Bishop Campbell emphasized that racism is a sin against human dignity.

“As shepherds of the Church, entrusted with the care of souls and the proclamation of the Gospel, we care deeply for our people, their joys and sorrows, and the stories they carry. This is especially important in our efforts to witness to the dignity of every person, which requires acknowledging the times in our nation’s history when racism has prevented that dignity from being realized,” they said.

“This reflection is about the sacred task of remembering,” they added. “We must recommit ourselves to the sacred task of remembering — especially the stories of those whose voices have long been unheard. Sacred Scripture and Tradition offer a way forward for helping us understand why telling our stories is central to the Gospel mandate.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV has added the feast day of St. John Henry Newman, who is “a radiant light for the Church on pilgrimage through history,” to the General Roman Calendar so that “his Optional Memorial be celebrated by all on 9 October.”

Cardinal Arthur Roche and Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, respectively prefect and secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, announced the pope’s decision in a decree published by the Vatican Feb. 3.

Previously, the feast day of St. Newman was inscribed only in the proper calendar of the Congregation of the Oratory – the religious congregation to which he belonged – and the proper calendar of England and Wales. Now his memorial, celebrated on the date of his conversion to Catholicism in 1845, is included in the calendar of the universal church.

“Throughout his long life, Cardinal Newman was unstinting in this service to which he had been called. The service of intellectual enquiry; the service of preaching and teaching; as well as service to the poor and the least,” said the decree, dated Nov. 9.

“His lively mind has left us enduring monuments of great importance in the fields of theology and ecclesiology, as well as poetic and devotional compositions. His constant search to be led out of shadows and images into the fullness of the truth has become an example for every disciple of the Risen One,” the decree said.

In a separate note, Cardinal Roche said the inclusion of St. Newman in the General Roman Calendar “is intended to present his figure as an outstanding example of the constant search for the truth that enlightens and saves” and to help the faithful contemplate him “as a man led by the ‘kindly light’ of God’s grace to find peace within the Catholic Church.”

Bishops’ conferences around the world will need to translate from Latin the prayers issued by the dicastery for Mass on his feast day as well as those used in the Liturgy of the Hours and in the Roman Martyrology, and have the translations confirmed by the dicastery.

Cardinal Roche said the collect or opening prayer for Mass on his feast day reveals “the very essence of the saint’s spiritual journey,” which can become “for us too a source of inspiration and a reason for humble prayer, we who desire to be led out of shadows and appearances, so as to arrive at the full light of truth.”

The Gospel reading for his feast is from the 13th chapter of St. Matthew, the cardinal said, in which “the Kingdom of God is compared to a net cast into the sea that gathers all kinds of fish. Only one who becomes a disciple can understand the parable of the Kingdom, becoming “like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

The decree came after Pope Leo proclaimed the British saint a doctor of the church Nov. 1, the feast of All Saints.

Celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square the Vatican Nov. 1, Pope Leo concluded the Jubilee of the World of Education and proclaimed St. Newman the 38th doctor of the church, including him among the men and women of the Christian East and West who have made decisive contributions to theology and spirituality.

Earlier that week, Pope Leo had officially recognized St. Newman as co-patron of education along with St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Newman was born in London Feb. 21, 1801, and was ordained an Anglican priest in 1825. He joined the Catholic Church in 1845 and was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome at the church of the Pontifical Urbanian College May 30, 1847. He was made a cardinal in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII and died in 1890.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV praised consecrated men and women for going to the world’s peripheries and refusing to abandon their people, even amid conflict.

“They remain, often stripped of all security, as a living reminder – more eloquent than words – of the inviolable sacredness of life in its most vulnerable conditions,” he said Feb. 2 in his homily for Candlemas – the feast of the Presentation of the Lord – which also marks the Catholic Church’s celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life.

“Even where weapons roar and arrogance, self-interest and violence seem to prevail,” he said, the presence of these consecrated men and women “proclaims the words of Jesus” in his parable of the lost sheep: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for … their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”

The pope’s Mass began with the pope blessing with holy water the candles used for the entrance procession. Dozens of consecrated men and women led the candlelit procession while the lights in St. Peter’s Basilica remained dimmed, and thousands of people who filled the basilica held lit candles as well.

After the darkened basilica was filled with light, Pope Leo, who joined the Order of St. Augustine as a young man and served as a missionary in Peru for decades, reflected on the mission of religious men and women in the Church and in the world.

“Dear brothers and sisters, the Church asks you to be prophets — messengers who announce the presence of the Lord and prepare the way for him,” he said in his homily. “You are called to this mission above all through the sacrificial offering of your lives, rooted in prayer and in a readiness to be consumed by charity,” he said.

Docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, the founders and foundresses of their religious orders and communities offer “wonderful models of how to fulfil this mandate faithfully and effectively,” he said.

“Living in constant tension between earth and heaven, they allowed themselves to be guided with faith and courage,” he said. Some founders “were led to the silence of the cloister, others to the demands of the apostolate,” but all of them returned “humbly and wisely, to the foot of the cross and to the tabernacle, where they offered everything and discovered in God both the source and the goal of all their actions.”

Pope Leo highlighted those founders who “embarked on perilous undertakings.”

“They became a prayerful presence in hostile or indifferent environments; a generous hand and a friendly shoulder amid degradation and abandonment; and witnesses of peace and reconciliation in situations marked by violence and hatred,” he said. “They were ready to bear the consequences of going against the current, becoming, in Christ, a ‘sign of contradiction,’ sometimes even to the point of martyrdom.”

One way to honor these brothers and sisters, he said, is “by carrying forward their legacy.”

“You are called to bear witness to God’s saving presence in history for all peoples, even within a society in which false and reductive understandings of the human person increasingly widen the gap between faith and life,” he said.

“You are called to testify that the young, the elderly, the poor, the sick and the imprisoned hold a sacred place above all else on God’s altar and in his heart,” he said, and to show how each of the least is “an inviolable sanctuary of God’s presence, before whom we must bend our knee, in order to encounter him, adore him and give him glory.”

Many religious communities have established “outposts of the Gospel … in a wide variety of challenging contexts, even in the midst of conflict,” he said. “These communities do not abandon their people, nor do they flee” as they seek to uphold the sacredness of human life in its most vulnerable conditions.

“Consecrated life, in its serene detachment from all that is passing, reveals the inseparable bond between authentic care for earthly realities and a hope filled with love for what is eternal” and gives meaning to everything else, he said.

Through their promise to follow Christ more closely by professing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, consecrated men and women “empty” themselves so that Christ, “the one eternal messenger of the covenant who remains present among humanity today, can melt and purify hearts with his love, grace and mercy,” Pope Leo said.

Through this self-emptying and life in the Spirit, he said, consecrated men and women “can show the world the way to overcome conflict, sowing fraternity through the freedom of those who love and forgive without measure.”

“Dear consecrated men and women, today the Church gives thanks to the Lord and to you for your presence,” he said, encouraging them “to be leaven of peace and signs of hope wherever Providence may lead you.”

(OSV News) – In a message to the Archdiocese of Milan, Pope Leo XIV expressed his hope that the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will be an occasion of solidarity and bridge-building between peoples and cultures.

The papal message was read during a Jan. 29 Mass marking the arrival of the “Cross of Athletes” and the official launch of the archdiocese’s Olympic pastoral initiative, “For Each Other.”

In his message, which was signed on his behalf by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, the pope said he hoped the Olympic Games would bring about “sentiments of friendship and fraternity, strengthening awareness of the value of sport at the service of the integral development of the human person.”

“The Holy Father assures his prayers so that these days of healthy competition may contribute to building bridges between cultures and peoples, promoting hospitality, solidarity, and peace,” the message stated.

The “For Each Other” initiative, which will coincide with the Feb. 6-22 Winter Olympics and the March 6-15 Paralympics, will feature activities, performances and events hosted in parishes across Milan.

At the heart of the activities will be the 11th-century Basilica di San Babila, dedicated to St. Babylas of Antioch, where the opening Mass was celebrated and which will be known as the “Church of Athletes” throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

During the Mass, the “Cross of Athletes” was entrusted to the archdiocese by Athletica Vaticana, the Holy See’s sports association. Blessed by Pope Francis at the 2013 World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, the cross has been placed in chapels in the Olympic host cities of London in 2012 and Paris in 2024.

According to the Archdiocese of Milan, the cross, which will remain at the altar in the Basilica di San Babila until the end of the Paralympics, “symbolizes the close bond between sporting activities and the values of solidarity, inclusion, and personal growth.”

In his homily, Archbishop Mario Delpini of Milan said the Olympic and Paralympic Games could serve as a form of rigorous spiritual education, describing the athletic competitions as “school of asceticism” and a “school of life” where one learns how to handle both victory and defeat.

For Olympians and Paralympians, the games will be a chance to learn “what strength is needed to accept defeat without becoming depressed, to live victory without becoming arrogant, to live through the disordered reactions of others, the unexpected anger, the irritating stubbornness, the paralyzing discouragement.”

Reflecting on the presence of the “Cross of Athletes,” which features a void silhouette of Christ’s crucified body, Archbishop Delpini said the cross offered “more of a glimpse than a figure” of the body of Christ that “encourages our questions, our gaze, and our attention.”

“If you want to know what love is, if you want to know if there is hope,” the archbishop said, “look to Jesus, adore the crucified and risen body, listen to his words and follow him, for he is the way, the truth, and the life.”

(OSV News) – A change is coming in 2026 for the pope’s top man in America. Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, turned 80 Jan. 30, and he is widely expected to have his retirement accepted by Pope Leo XIV in the coming weeks. Nuncio to the U.S. since 2016, Cardinal Pierre’s retirement would draw to a close his nearly five-decade career in service to the Holy See’s diplomatic mission.

The French-born cardinal, whose upbringing was spent in various French-speaking African countries, was ordained a priest in 1970 in his native Archdiocese of Rennes. After completing degrees at the Catholic Institute of Paris, the Pontifical Lateran University and Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the latter two in Rome, Cardinal Pierre entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service in 1977.

The next two decades brought him to postings first in New Zealand, followed by Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Brazil and Switzerland at the European office of the Holy See’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

In 1995, Cardinal Pierre was named apostolic nuncio to Haiti by St. John Paul II and was ordained a titular archbishop the same year. After nearly four years in Haiti, where he facilitated the laicization of the county’s president at the time, former Salesian priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Cardinal Pierre was sent as apostolic nuncio in Uganda in 1999. There he decried the government’s advocacy of condom use as promoting “outright promiscuity,” as over 8% of the Ugandan population was infected with HIV/AIDS at the time.

In 2007, Cardinal Pierre was assigned to Mexico, where he served as apostolic nuncio until Pope Francis appointed him to the U.S. nunciature in Washington in 2016. Pierre followed the now-controversial Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served as apostolic nuncio to the United States from 2011 and, in 2024, was found to be excommunicated after standing trial at the Vatican for schism.

Three years previously, in an interview with Catholic News Service, Cardinal Pierre said Archbishop Vigano’s portrait stayed in the D.C. nunciature despite his inflammatory statements against Pope Francis. “We are not Americans (who) want to take away the statues. We respect history,” Cardinal Pierre had said.

During his tenure as nuncio in the U.S., Cardinal Pierre was without a doubt Pope Francis’ biggest defender in America, and he was named a member of the college of cardinals in 2023. Cardinal Pierre, who had known Pope Francis since Francis had been archbishop of Buenos Aires, observed in the same 2021 CNS interview that Pope Francis was “not a dictator” but was “a mobilizer,” describing his desire “to help the Church be Church here” was his primary motivation.

Cardinal Pierre’s regular addresses to the plenary assemblies of U.S. bishops often centered on application of Pope Francis’ emphases and priorities, particularly synodality — which the nuncio told CNS is emblematic of “the strength of the Church.”

As apostolic nuncio, much of Cardinal Pierre’s time was occupied in overseeing the process of appointing bishops in the United States. He has been widely respected among the bishops for identifying candidates who personified the qualifications Pope Francis wanted to see in bishops, and yet who were, at the same time, also less likely to fan the flames of any polarization or ideologies. Several Church insiders have understood Cardinal Pierre’s role often as a check to Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago, one of two American members of the Dicastery for Bishops, which ultimately presents candidates for the episcopacy to the pope.

In retirement Cardinal Pierre is expected to split his time between his native France and Rome.

It is rumored that Cardinal Pierre’s successor will be in place in Washington by the spring, which will mean his first address to the U.S. bishops could take place at their June plenary in Orlando. Who it will be is anybody’s guess. But certainly Pope Leo, as the first American-born successor of Peter, will take keen interest in the appointment.

Whoever the new apostolic nuncio might be is expected to be fully Pope Leo’s man in the U.S., like Cardinal Pierre was for Pope Francis. He is anticipated to oversee the appointment of archbishops for several major American sees such as Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as replacements for a growing list of baby-boom-age bishops ready for retirement.

The new nuncio will also be Pope Leo’s key liaison with President Donald Trump, particularly as his administration’s immigration policies are increasingly met by resistance by the U.S. bishops and by Rome. And Cardinal Pierre’s successor will also take up the reins of animating unity at a time when some bishops are increasingly comfortable speaking without wide consultation and collegiality — seen most recently when three American cardinals entered the political fray outside of the episcopal conference — risking a further fracturing of the country’s episcopate.

But, ultimately, it would seem from Pope Leo’s leadership style so far, he doesn’t so much need a defender as much as a diplomat to help him bring the Church together.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The increasing number of people who do not see the Gospel as a fundamental resource for their life should inspire – not discourage – Catholics in rediscovering the joy of evangelization, Pope Leo XIV said.

The transmission of the faith is “a topic of great urgency,” the pope said in remarks to members and officials of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and others participating in its plenary session at the Vatican Jan. 27-29.

Meeting with the group at the Vatican Jan. 29, Pope Leo praised the dicastery for its “valuable service” of helping the pope and the world’s bishops proclaim the Gospel by promoting and safeguarding the integrity of Catholic teaching on faith and morals.

“It does this by drawing upon the deposit of faith and seeking an ever deeper understanding of it in the face of new questions,” he said, citing Pope Francis’ apostolic constitution on the reform of the Roman Curia, “Praedicate Evangelium” (“Preach the Gospel”).

Of great importance today, he said, is the “transmission of the faith,” a topic discussed during the dicastery’s plenary.

“We cannot ignore the fact that, in recent decades, there has been a breakdown in the way Catholics pass down the Christian faith” from generation to generation, he said, and that “there is an increasing number of people who no longer perceive the Gospel as a fundamental resource for their life, especially among the younger generations.”

In fact, he added, many young men and women “live without any reference to God and the Church, and while this causes us believers pain, it must also lead us to rediscover the ‘delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing,’ which is at the very heart of the life and mission” of the Catholic Church.

Reiterating his appeal during his extraordinary consistory with the College of Cardinals in early January, Pope Leo said, the Catholic Church wants to be a missionary Church “that looks beyond itself, at others” and that proclaims the Gospel, “above all through the power of attraction,” reminding them that “it is not the Church that attracts, but Christ.”

Pope Leo highlighted the importance of the dicastery’s work, which includes offering clarification on Church doctrine “through pastoral and theological guidance on often very sensitive issues” as well as handling “delicta graviora,” that is, “more grave crimes” against church law, which include the abuse of minors.

He encouraged the dicastery to continue their task of “welcoming and accompanying, with every kindness and judgment, the bishops and superiors general called to deal with cases of crimes reserved to the dicastery.”

“This is a very delicate area of ministry, in which it is essential to ensure that the requirements of justice, truth and charity are always honored and respected,” he said, further encouraging them to continue to contribute to the whole church in a “humble and unobtrusive manner.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV called for an end to all antisemitism, prejudice, oppression and persecution worldwide.

“I renew my appeal to the community of nations always to remain vigilant so that the horror of genocide never again befall any people and that a society based on mutual respect and the common good be built,” he said Jan. 28.

The pope made his remarks during his greeting to Italian-speaking visitors after leading his general audience talk in the Paul VI Audience Hall.

The pope recalled the previous day’s commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is marked Jan. 27 each year, the anniversary of the day in 1945 when Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex. The camp was the largest of the Nazi work and death camps; an estimated 1.1 million of the more than 6 million victims of the Holocaust died there.

“On this annual occasion of painful remembrance, I ask Almighty God for the gift of a world without any more antisemitism, prejudice, oppression or persecution of any human being,” Pope Leo said.

The pope also commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day with a post on X Jan. 27, recalling “that the Church remains faithful to the unwavering position of the Declaration #NostraAetate against every form of antisemitism. The Church rejects any discrimination or harassment based on ethnicity, language, nationality or religion.”

Later the same day, the pope underlined the importance of praying for peace when speaking to reporters as he was leaving the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo outside of Rome.

When asked about the situation in the Middle East, specifically the arrival of the U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is equipped with guided-missile destroyers, Pope Leo said, “I will just say that we must pray very much for peace.”

Though regular, everyday people may seem “small” or insignificant, he said, “we can raise our voices and always seek dialogue rather than violence to resolve problems, especially on this day when we commemorate the Shoah.”

“Let us fight against all forms of antisemitism,” he said.

(OSV News) – More U.S. Catholic bishops are sounding the alarm over an increasingly frayed social order both at home and abroad — while calling for a renewal of heart and a recommitment to Gospel values safeguarding God-given human dignity.

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle are among the latest prelates to weigh in on widespread unrest and division, with Archbishop Etienne issuing a Jan. 26 pastoral letter on “A Well-Ordered Society Rooted in Truth, Justice, and Peace.”

Three key sources – the Second Vatican Council, Catholic social teaching and a Jan. 9 address by Pope Leo XIV to Holy See-accredited diplomats – “illuminate our path with clarity and a renewed urgency,” said Archbishop Etienne in his letter.

The latest statements and reflections – which follow comments already made by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey – came within days of the fatal shooting of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen, by federal agents during a protest amid an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis.

Another U.S. citizen and Minneapolis resident, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was shot to death by a federal agent at a separate immigration-related protest Jan. 7.

Hours after Pretti’s death, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said at a Jan. 24 news conference the nation was at “an inflection point” amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants lacking legal authorization to live and work in the U.S., which has seen Minneapolis and several other cities become flashpoints.

In their respective reflections, the various bishops agreed that current societal tensions have reached an untenable crisis point.

“The country cannot go on like this,” said Archbishop Gomez in a Jan. 27 column published by Angelus, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

“Polarization and partisanship are poisoning the social fabric of our country,” warned Bishop Taylor in a Jan. 24 column published by Arkansas Catholic, his diocese’s news outlet. “We have reason to worry about the direction our society has taken in recent years. And we have reason to work to shore up our democracy before it is too late.”

In his pastoral letter, Archbishop Etienne pointed broadly to “turbulent times” that have been “marked by conflict abroad, fragmentation at home, and profound questions about our shared moral life.”

In an accompanying Jan. 26 blog post, the archbishop said he had been moved to issue the teaching having “read my own mail, seen fissures in the unity of our Church, witnessed the fracturing of our American society and watched in dismay at the escalation of war around the world.”

Bishop Taylor cited his own family’s experience during the Second World War, when his grandfather “lost 20 first cousins in the Holocaust,” also known as the Shoah, the systematic murder of 6 million Jews by Germany’s Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators.

“I want to be clear that the current times are not identical, and Trump is no Hitler,” Bishop Taylor stated. “But the moral decline of our country is real. And we are doomed to repeat failures of the past if we are not willing to remember them and learn from them.”

He noted “many obvious parallels with the 1930s” that “should give us pause” — specifically, German society’s move at the time “away from respect for human dignity, peace and moral restraint.”

“I fear that the same dynamics are now happening in our country with the decline of civil discourse,” said Bishop Taylor.

He noted that Adolf Hitler’s policies as Germany’s leader leveraged post-World War I fears and crises to gain popular support for what ultimately became his “dictatorial powers,” which in turn emboldened him to invade other nations. Refugees fleeing the Nazi regime were often refused entry to other nations, and many – like his own relations – were ultimately slain, he said.

“Obviously, these tragic examples are not what is happening here today. But these are the kinds of atrocities to which the dehumanization of mass, indiscriminate deportation can naturally lead,” said Bishop Taylor, noting “sad chapters in the history of our own country” such as mass deportations of Native Americans and enslaved Africans, as well as the “indiscriminate imprisonment of Japanese-Americans in internment camps” during WWII.

Archbishop Gomez lamented that as the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary this year, “what’s happening now seems to be moving us away from the values of our nation’s founding.”

He stressed that “America was the first nation to be established on the belief that human rights come from God and that the government’s purpose is to protect these rights,” and that “we do not lose our rights based on the color of our skin, or the language we speak, or for not having the proper documents.

“Right now our government seems to be treating undocumented immigrants — men, women, and children — as if they have no rights. That should not be happening,” said Archbishop Gomez.

“This is a pro-life issue,” said Bishop Taylor. “And it will remain a pro-life issue so long as millions of people continue to live lives trapped in desperate circumstances, where countries with means refuse to help.”

Archbishop Gomez named “the root cause of the current crisis” as “the country’s broken immigration system,” and advocated support for the bipartisan Dignity Act.

Despite its “flaws,” said Archbishop Gomez, the legislation would reform visa and asylum processes, enhance border security and provide greater verification for employers while offering “a path to a legal status” for millions of people who have been living and working in the U.S. without authorization.

Archbishop Gomez also said that in the present moment, “the first task is to restore order and peace to our streets, and insist on calm and restraint in our public discourse.”

“There is no question that the federal government has the duty to enforce immigration laws. But there must be a better way than this,” he said.

The archbishop said he hoped “all sides in this conflict — federal authorities, city and state officials, and those protesting the enforcement actions — will take a step back in the interests of the common good.”

The principle of the common good – founded on human dignity, social well-being and a just, peaceful order – was one stressed by Archbishop Etienne in his pastoral letter, which highlighted charity, or love of neighbor, and respect for the rule of law as “two essential pillars of any Christian society.”

“These do not stand apart from the principles of our social teaching, but they flow directly from them,” he explained, adding that “our Catholic Social Teaching makes clear that rights also come with corresponding duties.”

Archbishop Etienne clarified in his blog announcement that in writing the letter, he focused not on “speaking to specific, outrageous behaviors of individuals, nations or leaders,” but “to simply speak to what a well-ordered society looks like.”

In his letter, Archbishop Etienne noted that Pope Leo’s Jan. 9 address — which he said had inspired his pastoral — “framed the challenges of our age through the lens of St. Augustine’s ‘The City of God.'” The treatise, written by the saint in the early fifth century, contrasted the ongoing struggle between good and evil in human history — and the archbishop noted how the pope used it to offer “a deeply Christian vision of peace, justice, and right order.”

“I implore every Catholic to read Pope Leo XIV’s Jan. 9 address,” Bishop Taylor also said, emphasizing that St. Augustine’s “seminal work” offers a roadmap for “a more just and peaceful coexistence among peoples,” while cautioning against “grave dangers to political life arising from false representations of history, excessive nationalism and the distortion of the ideal of the political leader.”

Writing in his pastoral letter, Archbishop Etienne said that “in these turbulent times, the Church once again lifts high the Gospel as the light by which we must walk.”

He explained that “Catholic Social Teaching begins with the unshakeable truth that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God,” and that “this fundamental dignity forms the bedrock of all moral life and a just society.”

“God created us in his image and we need to treat other people like we believe that,” noted Archbishop Gomez.

The rule of law is “a moral achievement” that “embodies the conviction that justice, not force, must govern human relationships,” wrote Archbishop Etienne in his pastoral letter. “Laws grounded in moral truth safeguard the weak, hold the strong accountable, and restrain the impulses of domination that St. Augustine identifies with the ‘city of man.'”

Quoting Pope Leo, the archbishop said that “when nations and leaders abandon dialogue in favor of coercion, they erode ‘the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence.'”

The Catholic principle of solidarity — “the social expression of charity” — extends to “all levels of society,” from the family to the international community, and remains crucial in “a world that has so many levels of interdependence,” said Archbishop Etienne.

Subsidiarity, another core principle of Catholic social teaching, “affirms that decisions should be made at the most local level possible, respecting the integrity of families, parishes, and communities,” Archbishop Etienne said.

“Brothers and sisters, the world around us is undergoing profound change and we are experiencing no small amount of fragmentation, but Christ remains our sure foundation,” wrote Archbishop Etienne. “Pope Leo XIV’s Augustinian vision reminds us that the destiny of society depends on the love that shapes it.”

He added, “May we choose, again and again, the path of truth, justice, charity, and peace.”

ST. PAUL, Minn. – After a second fatal shooting in January involving federal agents in Minneapolis during an increase in federal immigration enforcement, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda presided over an evening Mass for peace Jan. 25 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.

“My brothers and sisters, I suspect that if you’ve been watching the news or listening to the news, you might think that we’re in a period of great darkness,” the archbishop said in his homily. “I feel that. My heart breaks. And yet we know, brothers and sisters, that it’s precisely into that darkness that Jesus comes to bring hope. That’s what brings us here on (this) cold afternoon. It’s because we know that on our own we can’t fix this situation, but that it’s only the light of Christ.”

Archbishop Hebda announced Jan. 25 he would preside over special prayers and the 5 p.m. Mass following the Jan. 24 shooting death of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, of Minneapolis, during an incident with federal agents in south Minneapolis. Pretti was an intensive care nurse who worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Pretti’s death came after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good, also of Minneapolis, during an altercation as she was driving her vehicle.

In his Jan. 25 statement, Archbishop Hebda asked “all people of good will to join me in prayer today for Alex Jeffrey Pretti, for his parents, and for his loved ones.”

In his homily, Archbishop Hebda underscored the need for Christians to make Jesus’ “light shine” in the darkness. He noted that in the Gospel of Matthew read at Mass, Jesus began his public ministry at the precise moment St. John the Baptist was arrested, “in the midst of the darkness.”

“And what, brothers and sisters, is the first thing Jesus says in that whole Gospel of St. Matthew? He says, ‘Repent.’ It’s his first word. Repent. He speaks about our heart, the need for conversion in our heart,” he said.
The special Votive Mass for the Preservation of Peace fell on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, a man who opposed Christ and was present when the Church’s first martyr, St. Stephen, was killed, Archbishop Hebda said.

“That’s how violent that society was. That’s how deep were those divisions,” he said. “That’s what makes Paul’s conversion so significant for us in this day, in 2026, brothers and sisters, in that we have a God for whom nothing is impossible, a God who’s able to change hearts.

“We ask him to change our hearts, first of all,” he continued. “But we have confidence that he’s able to change the hearts of all people, and indeed, that he’s able to bring compromise — not in the truth — but he’s able to bring people together so that they’re able, together, to follow that light that is Jesus.”

During the Mass, Archbishop Hebda also prayed for Pretti and encouraged attendees to help those in the community afraid to leave their homes amid the ongoing federal immigration enforcement operation. He suggested material help, prayer and financial assistance, including via the Minnesota Catholic Relief Fund at the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota.

The 5 p.m. Mass was preceded by an extended period of Eucharistic adoration with a chaplet of Divine Mercy and Benediction.

In announcing the Jan. 25 special intentions at the evening Masses held at the Cathedral and Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, Archbishop Heda said that “the loss of another life amidst the tensions that have gripped Minnesota should prompt all of us to ask what we can do to restore the Lord’s peace.”

“While we rightly thirst for God’s justice and hunger for his peace, this will not be achieved until we are able to rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of God,” he said. “That is as true for our undocumented neighbors as it is for our elected officials and for the men and women who have the unenviable responsibility of enforcing our laws. They all need our humble prayers.”

He added: “Wherever you find yourself this afternoon, I hope you will take a few moments to join us in prayer.”

Anne Bisciglia, 71, of North St. Paul said she arrived at the Cathedral at 2 p.m. to pray for “struggling Minneapolis.”

“The Lord is our only hope for unity and peace,” Bisciglia said. “So, I wanted to come and spend time with him.”

In Minneapolis, the basilica offered its scheduled 5:30 p.m. Mass for Pretti, his family and the Twin Cities community.

“My heart breaks for his family and friends who grieve Alex’s loss and will no doubt experience acute pain as a result of his death,” said Father Daniel Griffith, the basilica’s rector and pastor, in a Jan. 24 statement.

“The Twin Cities community is experiencing indescribable grief and trauma these past many days in the wake of the violent death of Renee Good and the tumult that has followed,” he said. “This continues to be a time of fear and anguish — including for our immigrant brothers and sisters, many of whom remain at home — understandably absent from work, school, and church.

“In the midst of the suffering and dismay, Minnesotans are also coming together to talk, to grieve, and to pray,” he continued. “Please join me in also praying for the safety and wellbeing of all in our Twin Cities community. … May the God of goodness and compassion soon deliver us from this present suffering and may all people of good will unite to stitch together a future of lasting justice and peace.”