St. James Roman Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A foundation that promotes devotion to St. Pio of Pietrelcina, more widely known as Padre Pio, is making 10 never-before-seen photographs of the saint available to the devout for free.

The images provide personal insight into the life, attitude and spirituality of 20th-century saint, said the photographer. Some photos show Padre Pio solemnly celebrating Mass while in others he is smiling while surrounded by his confreres.

Elia Stelluto, Padre Pio's personal photographer, stood proudly -- camera in hand -- before posters of the 10 new images for the presentation of the photos in the Vatican movie theater April 29.

"It's enough to look at one image of his face" to understand Padre Pio, he told Catholic News Service. "With that you can understand so much; each photo has its own story, one must at them look one by one and that way you see so much more in his expressions."

Stelluto photographed the saint for decades at the convent where he lived in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.

During the photo presentation, Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, said the new photos highlight Padre Pio's identity as someone who was close to those around him and was filled with joy. He said that although it was not customary to smile in photos at the time, candid photos taken by Stelluto show the saint beaming broadly as he was huddled in a group.

Luciano Lamonarca, founder and CEO of the Saint Pio Foundation which promotes devotion to the Italian saint and organized the publication of the photos, said many people would come to Stelluto requesting his photos for articles and books.

"I never saw any kind of availability for the people" to see the photos directly, he said. That's why he thought, "Padre Pio is the saint of the people, we must do something for the people."

Lamonarca, an Italian who lives in the United States, said since many people with a devotion to Padre Pio are unable to visit the areas where the saint lived and ministered, he asked himself, "how does one bring Padre Pio to them, the true Padre Pio, the most authentic form of Padre Pio?"

That's what spurred him to partner with Stelluto to make the photos available to the public, excluding their use for commercial purposes, by being free to download via the St. Pio Foundation website.

Lamonarca said he hoped that by "looking at the image of a greatly suffering father who could also laugh," people would think to themselves, "if he could laugh, we can laugh too."

Stelluto described the images he had taken of Padre Pio as "mysterious," since they always came out clearly despite dark lighting conditions.

He recalled the challenge of taking photos in a dark convent, coupled with Padre Pio's distaste for the flash of a camera, especially during Mass, and exclusive use of dim candles to light the altar.

"It's not that I was talented in doing this, I still don't understand the thing," Stelluto said during the photo presentation. "The truth is that he was the source of light."

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Access to the photos can be requested by following the link: www.therealsaintpio.org

Palma il Giovane (1550-1628), “Portrait of Pope Pius V.” / Credit: Public Domain

National Catholic Register, Apr 30, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Michele Ghislieri, later St. Pius V, was born in Bosco, northern Italy, in 1504 and ordained a Dominican priest in 1528. Recognizing his holiness and learning, his community elected him prior four times.

During Pius’ lifetime, the Protestant ideas of Luther and Calvin were dissolving Catholic unity throughout Europe. In 1542, Pope Paul IV reorganized the Roman Inquisition to combat them and named Pius an inquisitor. In 1555, the newly elected Pope Pius IV made Pius bishop and later cardinal of Nepi and Sutri, a diocese near Rome, and general inquisitor of all Christendom (with authority over all other inquisitors).

Throughout his life, Pius devoted much time to prayer and practiced severe personal penances. He disliked public life and involvement in the governance of the Church, preferring the peace of the cloister, but relented when he saw that it was God’s will for his life. As a sign of his humility, as a cardinal and pope, Pius continued to wear the simple, white habit of the Dominican order, which began the tradition of popes wearing white. 

He became Pope Pius V in 1566 through the influence of St. Charles Borromeo, cardinal of Milan, whose uncle was Pius IV. As pope, he was stern and rigorous in the enforcement of laws and morality. For the next six years of his pontificate, he undertook dramatic reforms, which remained dominant in the Church through Vatican II.

From the outset, Pius V was determined to rid the Church of the abuses and corruption and implement the decrees of the Council of Trent. He urged his cardinals to shun luxury and ambition and to lead exemplary Christian lives. He ordered bishops living in Rome to return to their dioceses and to fast and pray to end the heresies unleashed by the Protestant revolt.

When Emperor Maximilian joined with some cardinals in asking Pius V to end the requirement of celibacy for priests (the era had its own vocations crisis), he steadfastly refused. He also insisted that clergy wear clerical dress and religious habits as outward signs of their vocation.

During Pius V’s reign, the Catechism of the Council of Trent was completed, a new breviary was published, and sacred music was reformed. (Palestrina became choirmaster of the papal chapel.) Pius declared his fellow Dominican, St. Thomas Aquinas, a doctor of the Church and made St. Thomas’ Summa Theologica mandatory study at seminaries.

Despite frequent shortages in the papal treasury, Pius refused to take financial gifts for special dispensations (which had been commonplace with some predecessors). Once, when a bishop proposed a scheme to improve the Church’s finances, Pius refused, remarking: “Christianity can get along well enough with prayer and exemplary lives, and has no need of treasure.”

As a temporal ruler, Pius battled the crime and loose morals prevalent in Rome. He was often severe, frequently resorting to the use of corporal and capital punishment. For example, when a handful of unruly citizens knocked down a statue of Pope Paul IV (two popes before Pius V), and rolled it into the Tiber River, a horrified Pius ordered their execution.

Pius was greatly aided in renewing the spiritual life of Rome’s citizenry through the work of St. Philip Neri and other holy priests and religious.

While he had critics, Pius had many defenders as well. For example, the Spanish ambassador to Rome declared: “Rarely indeed in a pope has the monarch so given place to the priest. One thing only he has at heart, the salvation of souls. This is what determines his entire policy; on this he bases every service and reckons the value of every institution and act.”

Cardinal John Henry Newman would later write: “I do not deny that St. Pius V was stern and severe, as far as a heart burning and melted with divine love could be so … yet such energy and vigor as his were necessary for the times. He was a soldier of Christ in a time of insurrection and rebellion, when, in a spiritual sense, martial law was proclaimed.”

Pius V’s greatest challenge, however, came at the end of his pontificate. For centuries, Muslim Turks had threatened to conquer Christian Europe. In Pius’ time, the Turkish dominated the Mediterranean, plundering Christian towns and villages and slaughtering their inhabitants. Mahomet II boasted to the world he would soon top St. Peter’s dome with the Crescent Moon and wind the pope’s head in a turban.

Pius persuaded the European powers to lay aside their rivalries and join in a holy alliance against the Turks. As he prayed and fasted, the badly outnumbered Christian forces engaged the Turks at Lepanto. In one of the most remarkable naval victories in world history, the Turks were routed and Christendom saved.

The day of the victory — Oct. 7, 1571 — the pope was meeting in Rome with his advisers when he suddenly stopped, gazed out a window to the East, and wept for joy as he declared: “The Christian fleet is victorious!” Two weeks later, official word came to Rome that Pius was right. Muslim armies would never again threaten Europe.

Pius attributed the victory to the intercession of Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and declared Oct. 7 a feast day in her honor. He died seven months later and was canonized in 1712.

Pius V is remembered in the liturgy on April 30.

This article was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.

Father David Waller will become the first bishop Ordinary of the Ordinariate. / Credit: Courtesy photo / Bishop's Conference of England and Wales

National Catholic Register, Apr 29, 2024 / 18:45 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has announced a new leader of the ordinariate in Great Britain.

Father David Waller, 62, a parish priest and vicar general of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, will replace Monsignor Keith Newton, 72, who is retiring after serving over 13 years as the ordinary of the ecclesiastical structure for former Anglicans.

In a statement, Newton called the Vatican’s April 29 announcement “momentous” given that Waller, who is a celibate, will become the first bishop ordinary of the ordinariate. 

As someone who was already married as an Anglican clergyman before entering the Church through the ordinariate, Newton was not allowed episcopal consecration.

Established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 through his 2009 apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, the ordinariate is an ecclesiastical structure for Anglicans wishing to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining their distinctive Anglican patrimony.  

With today’s announcement, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham becomes the first of three in the world — the others being in the U.S./Canada and Australia — to have had an influence in choosing its leader. 

In keeping with the Anglican emphasis on consultation and in accordance with the Anglicanorum Coetibus, members of the ordinariate’s governing council, made up of ordinariate priests, were able to choose Waller as one of three names they recommended to the Holy See. 

Newton said he believed allowing this faculty, one that is usually left to the apostolic nuncio, “showed the Holy See’s confidence in the ordinariate in the U.K.” 

A former Anglican vicar who served as a pastor, part-time hospital chaplain, and a member of the governing body of the Church of England, Waller was among the first Anglican clergy to be received into the Church following the establishment of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in 2011. 

He was then ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood, has served in two parishes, and was elected chairman of the ordinariate’s governing council. For the past four years he has worked with Newton as vicar general. 

In a statement, Waller said it was “both humbling and a great honor” to have been appointed ordinary. “The past 13 years have been a time of grace and blessing as small and vulnerable communities have grown in confidence, rejoicing to be a full yet distinct part of the Catholic Church,” he added. 

Already well known to members of the ordinariate, he said he was looking forward to serving them in his new role, adding that experience over these past years has taught him “there is nothing to be feared in responding to the Lord and that Jesus does great things with us despite our inadequacies.”

Newton said in a statement that he was “delighted” with Waller’s appointment, adding that he has been “unwaveringly loyal” to the ordinariate and a “great support” to him as vicar general. 

Waller has been “totally been involved in life of the ordinariate and understands it all, and is a good administrator,” Newton told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner. 

No coercion to step down

Newton stressed that he had chosen to retire while he is still active. 

“I’ve not been forced out in any way, and nobody has told me to retire; it’s totally my own decision,” he said. “It’s a time to pass it on to new hands,” he continued, adding that he and his wife, Gill, “want to enjoy a bit of retirement together.” 

Other prominent priests of the ordinariate also welcomed the news of Waller’s appointment. Father Ed Tomlinson, priest in charge of St. Anselm’s Ordinariate Parish Church in Pembury, Tunbridge Wells, told the Register he was “delighted the ordinariate will have a bishop” and that he wished “Father David the best.” 

Father Benedict Kiely, an ordinariate priest of the same parish who also runs the charity Nasarean.org for persecuted Christians, said: “I will always remain grateful to Msgr. Keith for making the defense of persecuted Christians an important part of the ordinariate, and I’m sure Bishop David will continue that support.”

Newton said the date and place of Waller’s episcopal ordination have yet to be confirmed but that he expected it to take place “towards the end of June.” 

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.

French authorities determined that "there does not appear that there is any infraction sufficiently characterized to justify any criminal procedure" against Father Matthieu Raffray. / Credit: Father Matthieu Raffray YouTube Channel / Screenshot

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 29, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

French priest Matthieu Raffray disclosed that the Paris prosecutor’s office has dismissed a case initiated against him for stating that homosexual relations are a sin and for calling homosexuality a “weakness.”

In a legal document addressed to the priest and shared by him April 26, it stated that “on March 19, the interministerial delegation for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-LGBT hatred went to the Paris prosecutor’s office” regarding “two posts made on your X (Twitter) and Instagram accounts” in January and March.

The priest of the Institute of the Good Shepherd — created in 2006 in Rome for “the defense and dissemination of Catholic tradition in all its forms,” according to the website of this society of apostolic life — had posted in late January a comment on X about “conversion therapies.”

“The LGBT Corner” had asked in a Jan. 28 mocking post on X whether “a person can get conversion therapy for 10 euros in France. That’s what Father LeCoq implies whom I contacted to help my son suffering from ‘homophile tendencies.’ He directed me to the retreat ‘Be a Man’ to be held again in Annecy.”

In response Raffray wrote: “Every spiritual retreat is conversion therapy. Since the beginnings of Catholicism, Christians have withdrawn from the world to find themselves before the Lord in order to become better” and criticized the “gross ignorance” and modus operandi of the LGBT lobby.

On March 15, the priest posted a video on Instagram in which he encouraged the faithful to fight against their weaknesses.

In a March Instagram video, Raffray encouraged the faithful to fight against their weaknesses, among others homosexuality, and commented that each person has his or her own weapons with which to fight, but the devil convinces people that the fight “is too hard” and therefore it’s useless to resist.

The legal notice stated that “after a careful examination of the comments” of the priest “it does not appear that there is any infraction sufficiently characterized to justify any criminal procedure against him.”

“Therefore,” the document concluded, “this process is being dismissed.”

Raffray pointed out that “the comments I made do not fall within the scope of the law.”

“I pray for my enemies and I thank everyone who has supported me,” he added.

Who is Father Matthieu Raffray?

Raffray is a well-known French priest who has a growing apostolate on the internet and social media aimed especially at young French-speaking people.

He has more than 60,000 followers on Instagram, more than 22,000 on YouTube, and more than 21,000 on X.

He is a pro-life and pro-family advocate and has published French-language books such as “Myths and Lies of Progressivism” (2020) and more recently “The Greatest of Combats,” with which he seeks to answer the fundamental and existential questions of life.

Raffray, 45, was born in 1979 and is one of nine children. He studied mathematics before being ordained a priest in 2009.

He holds a doctorate in philosophy and teaches at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome.

According to the publication European Conservative, he rose to fame in 2020 after an interview with French YouTuber Baptiste Marchais in which he defended the return to a “virile Catholicism” and patriotic sentiment among the Catholic faithful. 

What does the Catholic Church teach about homosexuality?

Catholic teaching on homosexuality is summarized in Nos. 2357, 2358, and 2359 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Church teaches that men and women with same-sex attraction “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”

The catechism notes that homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered” and constitutes for those who experience it “a trial.”

Based on sacred Scripture, the catechism states that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “they do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity.” Consequently, “under no circumstances can they be approved.”

“Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection,” the catechism explains.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Palestinians carry empty pots during a demonstration held by the displaced Palestinians gathered in a protest carrying empty pots and pans asking for more relief aid and fuel to reach Gaza strip in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on Thursday, April 25, 2024. / Credit: SAEED JARAS/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 17:20 pm (CNA).

World Central Kitchen (WCK) has resumed humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza and is opening a new hub to be named “Damian’s Kitchen,” after Damian Soból, a 35-year-old Catholic aid worker who was recently killed while serving in the war-torn strip. 

While acknowledging the continued dangerous conditions in Gaza, Erin Gore, WCK CEO, said: “We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity, and focus on feeding as many people as possible.” 

WCK’s efforts will be carried out by Palestinian aid workers going forward, according to Gore’s statement, released on April 28. 

“WCK has built a strong team of Palestinians to carry the torch forward,” she said. “Our model has always been to work hand in hand with the community: Puerto Ricans feeding Puerto Ricans; Moroccans feeding Moroccans; Ukrainians feeding Ukrainians; and now, Palestinians feeding Palestinians.” 

This comes four weeks after seven WCK workers, including Soból, were killed by rocket fire while traveling on a Gaza highway at night after making an aid delivery. 

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) admitted responsibility for the strike but said it was a “mistake that followed a misidentification at night during a war in very complex conditions.”

The IDF agreed to allow an independent investigation into the killings and have reportedly changed their operating procedures, and reprimanded and relieved several soldiers of their duties for their involvement. 

This incident led WCK and a few other aid groups to temporarily suspend their efforts for the sake of their workers’ safety. WCK said it distributed over 43 million meals in Gaza before pausing operations in early April, accounting for 62% of all international nongovernmental aid.

Gore said that while still mourning the loss of the seven workers, WCK is aware of the continued need in Gaza and is ready to resume their efforts. WCK aid deliveries resumed on Monday. 

“Ultimately, we decided we must keep feeding, continuing our mission of showing up to provide food to people during the toughest of times,” she said. 

According to a WCK statement sent to CNA, the group has 276 trucks with nearly 8 million meals ready to enter Gaza from the south as well as additional aid trucks in Jordan. The group is also investigating additional delivery routes from the Mediterranean Sea.

Damian’s Kitchen, named after Soból, will be WCK’s third “high production” kitchen in Gaza. It will be in Al Mawasi, a town in southern Gaza close to Rafah. Including the new location, WCK operates 69 community kitchens throughout the strip.

Soból was from Przemyśl, Poland. Before going to Gaza, he helped build kitchens and deliver aid amid catastrophes in Poland, Greece, Turkey, and Morocco. 

According to a tribute to him posted on WCK’s website, Soból was among the first workers helping Ukrainian refugees in the earliest days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

The WCK tribute said that he was “wise beyond his years” and “put everyone at ease with his kindness, patience, and laughter. He was pure joy, with the best smile.” 

In Gaza, the tribute said Soból “worked tirelessly to make the impossible possible through innovation.”

Gore said that in building Damian’s Kitchen WCK workers are remembering his favorite saying: “No problems, only solutions.”

Though only the bones of the future kitchen’s structure have been laid, WCK workers have already erected a large poster with Soból’s image with the words “Damian Kitchen, the hero Damian will remain in our hearts forever.” 

Despite several relief groups halting their efforts, Catholic Relief Services has continued distributing aid throughout April, even increasing its work. 

Jason Knapp, Holy Land representative for the U.S.-based Catholic group, told CNA shortly after the aid workers were killed that CRS had set up warehouses, guesthouses, and offices in Rafah and Deir al Balah and was “in the process of setting up additional distribution points throughout Rafah, Khan Younis, and Middle Area.”

President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Correspondents dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2024. / Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 29, 2024 / 16:52 pm (CNA).

U.S. president Joe Biden has come under fire for making the sign of the cross during a rally criticizing measures that restrict abortion.

Among his critics are José Ignacio Munilla, the bishop of Orihuela-Alicante in Spain, who called Biden’s gesture a “sacrilege.”

Biden went to Tampa, Florida, on April 23 for a campaign stop one week before a law restricting abortion in the state from 15 to six weeks of gestation was due to go into effect.

While a Biden supporter on stage criticized Florida governor and former Republican candidate for president Ron DeSantis for signing the bill, Biden made the sign of the cross.

On his weekday radio program on Radio María España, Munilla said that making the sign of the cross in support of abortion constitutes a “sacrilegious” gesture and “the desecration of the sign of the cross.”

“Invoking Jesus Christ in support of abortion” has drawn strong criticism “in many pro-life and Catholic circles,” the bishop pointed out.

Crossing oneself, Munilla said, is meant to be used as a sign “in which we remember that Jesus gave his life for us, he gave his life for all the innocents, he gave his life to restore innocence and to make us saints.” 

To use the sign of the cross as Biden did, however, is to “invoke the cross in a sacrilegious manner.”

Referring to the incident, the Spanish prelate warned of the risk that a Catholic might publicly show his faith by crossing himself while at the same time twisting its meaning “in a sacrilegious manner.”

Munilla questions moral stature of Biden, Trump

In addition to commenting on the incident, the prelate also offered a critical analysis of the two contenders for president of the United States, Biden and former president Donald Trump.

“In a nation like the United States, shouldn’t there be [candidates] from both the Democratic Party as well as the Republican Party with enough moral stature to properly represent their parties to the electorate?” he asked. In his opinion, both Biden and Trump lack that moral stature.

“Consider what Biden represents with his deteriorating condition, even psychologically, to run for president again with this absolute desecration of his own (purportedly Catholic) values, having made the cause of abortion, the spread of abortion throughout the world, almost his highest value,” Munilla said, commenting on the incumbent president.

Regarding Trump, Munilla noted that “although he has defended the pro-life cause — not totally, but in fact in a forceful way — he is involved in many [court] cases in which his moral stature has undoubtedly been seriously affected.”

Munilla prayed that the Lord “would raise up vocations to public life so that there are truly young people who, with a life of integrity consistent with their values, have as their only watchword, as the only driving force of their entering into political life, the desire to serve the common good.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

null / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

A federal court has ordered the governments of North Carolina and West Virginia to provide coverage for sex-change operations in state health care plans offered to state employees and through Medicaid.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals — which has jurisdiction over North Carolina, West Virginia, South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland — ruled in an 8-6 decision that refusing to provide coverage for transgender operations in state health care plans is discrimination “on the basis of gender identity and sex” in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

The ruling claims policies in both states violate the Constitution and federal law. The North Carolina policy that the court found to be in violation excludes sex-change surgeries in its coverage for state employees. The West Virginia policy found to be in violation excludes sex-change surgeries in its Medicaid coverage.

According to the majority opinion, written by Chief Judge Roger Gregory, the policies in both states are based on “a gender stereotype.” He used mastectomies (operations to remove breasts) as an example, suggesting that the stereotype is “the assumption that people who have been assigned female at birth are supposed to have breasts, and that people assigned male at birth are not.”

“No doubt, the majority of those assigned female at birth have breasts, and the majority of those assigned male at birth do not,” Gregory, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, said in his opinion. “But we cannot mistake what is for what must be.”

Several judges wrote strong dissenting opinions, including Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, who questioned why there is a “rush to constitutionalize” and to create a “right to transgender surgery and treatment” in the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

“The recurrent creation of rights so unmoored from constitutional text or history will deplete the store of public respect on which a branch devoid of sword or purse must ultimately rely,” he said.

The legal battle, however, will not end at the appellate court. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is representing his state’s policies in court, said in a statement that this decision “cannot stand” and that he intends to appeal the ruling to the United States Supreme Court. 

“We are confident in the merits of our case: that this is a flawed decision and states have wide discretion to determine what procedures their programs can cover based on cost and other concerns,” Morrisey said. “Just one single sex-transition surgery can cost tens of thousands of dollars — taxpayers should not be required to pay for these surgeries under Medicaid. Our state should have the ability to determine how to spend our resources to care for the vital medical needs of our citizens.”

Just two weeks ago, the same appellate court handed West Virginia an unfavorable ruling over its law that restricts women’s and girls’ sports to only biological women and girls. Similarly, the court claimed that the law was discriminatory on the basis of gender identity. This ruling is also being appealed to the Supreme Court.

Landscape view of Sacrofano, Italy, north of Rome. / Credit: Dmitry Taranets/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The World Meeting of Parish Priests for the Synod opened on Monday to discuss “how to be a synodal local Church in mission,” allowing priests from around the world to discuss questions raised during the ongoing synod and share their personal pastoral experiences. 

The four-day meeting, which is taking place from April 29 to May 2 at the Fraterna Domus retreat house in Sacrofano, Italy, just north of Rome, is attended by about 300 priests from around the globe and is divided into several sessions, taking cues from different themes and questions raised in the synod’s synthesis report. 

“The parish priest is a man of the people and for the people. Like Jesus, he is open to the crowd, constantly open to the crowd, to help each and every one understand that they are a letter from Christ,” said Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod, in opening the event on Monday morning. 

Monday’s discussion was based on the theme “The Face of the Synodal Church,” while Tuesday’s discussion will focus on “All Disciples, All Missionaries.” On Wednesday participants will come together to study “Teaching Ties, Building Communities.”

In reflecting on the overall scope of the Synod on Synodality, which will reconvene in October for its second and final assembly, Grech told participants on Monday that at the center of this process is an understanding, and sharing, of personal narratives. 

“Our stories are human stories, but human stories in which God, Jesus, is present,” the cardinal remarked. 

“Sometimes we need others to help us see God’s presence in our stories. This is our mission, this is the mission entrusted to us, to you, my dear brothers,” he said. 

Grech told the clergy gathered that “being synodal does not simply mean walking together, but rather walking with God, or better to say, God walking with us.” 

“Synodality is about God, before being about the Church,” he continued.  

The World Meeting of Parish Priests for the Synod was first announced in February and is jointly organized by the Dicastery for the Clergy and by the General Secretariat of the Synod in response to the first synod assembly’s synthesis report, which identified a need to “develop ways for a more active involvement of deacons, priests, and bishops in the synodal process during the coming year.”

“There is no synod without a bishop, but allow me to say today there is no synod without a parish priest,” Grech said to participants on Monday. “That is the reason why we felt the need to make this meeting, and so that we can enrich our preparation in view of the next session for the synod of bishops.”

This week’s meeting will culminate with an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, followed by Mass, celebrated by Grech, in St. Peter’s Basilica. 

According to Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod, another purpose of the meeting is to “provide materials that will be used in the drafting of the Instrumentum Laboris [working document] for the synod’s second session, together with the summaries of the consultation coordinated by the bishops’ conferences and the results of the theological-canonical study carried out by five working groups formed by the General Secretariat of the Synod.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill on April 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said that he would not advocate for a law that would restrict abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy at the federal level, arguing that such a bill is unlikely to receive enough support to pass the Senate. 

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, McConnell noted that federal legislation in “any direction,” whether it be pro-life or pro-abortion, would need support from 60 senators to overcome the filibuster — a threshold that would be difficult for either side to reach.

“I don’t think we’ll get 60 votes in the Senate for any kind of national legislation,” the Senate minority leader said. “I think as a practical matter, it’s going to be sorted out at the state level.”

McConnell did not directly answer a question about whether he would vote for a bill restricting abortion after 15 weeks but said he’s “not advocating for anything at this level.” He said he thinks abortion policy will “be sorted out all across the country and be very different in different states.”

The Republican leader added that individual Republican senators are welcome to differ in how they approach the policy question. 

“Views about this issue at the state level vary depending on where you are, and we got elected by states and my members are smart enough to figure out how they want to deal with this very divisive issue based upon the people who actually send them here,” McConnell said.

Abortion policy has become divisive in the United States — and among Republicans — since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which allowed federal and state legislation restricting abortion. More than 20 states imposed restrictions on abortion after the Supreme Court decision and several other states passed pro-abortion laws.

Although most Republicans espouse pro-life views, electoral struggles and referendum losses have led some Republicans to diverge from traditional pro-life policy goals, such as federal restrictions. Other Republicans have tried to advance pro-life bills through Congress, without any success.

The presumptive Republican nominee to challenge President Joe Biden for the White House in November, former president Donald Trump, announced his proposed abortion policies in early April: a state-by-state approach rather than federal restrictions. 

“Many states will be different,” Trump said. “Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative [policies] than others, and that’s what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.”

Biden and most Democrats have embraced an effort to legalize abortion nationwide, which would overrule pro-life laws in more than 20 states. They have referred to this proposed legislation as a codification of Roe v. Wade’s abortion standards into federal law.

Migrants, mostly Haitians, wait in Mexico City to be sent to different migration centers in Puebla, Hidalgo, and Queretaro to obtain their humanitarian visas, which will allow them to continue their journey to the U.S. border ion March 31, 2023. / Credit: ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami is criticizing President Joe Biden for resuming deportations of Haitian refugees, which he called “unconscionable.” 

After first making his strong statements in an interview with OSV News, the Miami archbishop doubled down on his criticism of Biden while also calling on the U.S. to extend blanket temporary protective status to all Haitian migrants in the U.S.

“What President Biden has done is unconscionable when you think of the fact that he’s deported over 28,000 Haitians back to Haiti in the last three years, at a time when Haiti has been in a political, social, and economic freefall,” the archbishop told CNA. “If a house is on fire, you don’t force people to run back into the burning house.”

He also criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for increasing the presence of state officials in southern Florida to redirect any Haitians arriving by boat back to their home country.

“They are speaking about them as if they were an invasive species, [when] they’re human beings,” Wenski lamented.

What is going on in Haiti?

Haiti is a small Caribbean nation that has been suffering from political instability for the past several years. Currently the country is experiencing widespread crime, violence, and food shortages in the wake of a long-simmering government meltdown.  

Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince has descended into chaos in the last several months. With a widespread lack of food, health care, and drinking water, among other needs, the government has been largely incapable of controlling criminal elements in the capital and throughout the country. 

At a United Nations Security Council briefing, Maria Salvador, head of the U.N. mission to Haiti, testified that “it is impossible to overstate the increase in gang activity across Port-au-Prince and beyond, the deterioration of the human rights situation, and the deepening of the humanitarian crisis.” 

According to an April 22 United Nations report, roughly 2,500 people were killed or injured in Haiti in the first quarter of this year. About half the population — more than 5 million people — are going hungry while hundreds of thousands have been displaced. 

Amid the chaos, there have been lootings of homes and hospitals as well as kidnappings of religious sisters, brothers, priests, and other innocent bystanders. Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of the Catholic Diocese of Anse-à-Veau was injured in an explosion in Port-au-Prince on Feb. 18.

Despite all this, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement resumed deportations of illegal Haitian migrants earlier this month after temporarily pausing removals in recent months. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed with CNA that authorities have thus far repatriated approximately 50 Haitian nationals.

The spokesperson also told CNA that “individuals are removed only if they were found to not have a legal basis to remain in the United States.” 

While noting that DHS is “monitoring the situation in Haiti and coordinating closely with the State Department and international partners,” the spokesperson said that “all irregular migration journeys, especially maritime routes, are extremely dangerous, unforgiving, and often result in loss of life.”

“U.S. policy is to return noncitizens who do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States,” the spokesperson continued. “DHS will continue to enforce U.S. laws and policy throughout the Florida Straits and the Caribbean region, as well as at the southwest border.”

Miami archbishop responds

The Miami area has the largest Haitian population in the country. As a parish priest, Wenski said that he learned to celebrate Mass in Haitian Creole.

According to the archbishop, Haitians make up an essential part of the Church in Miami, with at least 13 Haitian Catholic churches and about a dozen Haitian priests in the archdiocese. He praised Haitians’ devotion to their faith, saying that “there are a lot of vocations,” with Haitian priests serving the Church all across the Eastern seaboard.  

Wenski said “there’s an inconsistency in the application of the laws,” and “sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason behind some of the American actions.”

He claimed that the federal government’s removals violate portions of international law that the U.S. has signed onto, namely the “principle of non-refoulement,” which prohibits the removal of refugees if it presents them with a real danger of irreparable harm, torture, ill treatment, or other serious human rights breaches.

Wenski called on Biden to extend temporary protective status for all Haitian migrants “regardless of how they arrived.” 

“Are you going to now order people back to the countries where they came from? And what happens if the conditions in the countries haven’t changed? Can you really do that?” he asked.

By extending temporary protective status and allowing Haitian migrants to live and work in the U.S. legally, Wenski said that it “not only helps the Haitians, but it also helps everybody else” because “that means they’re contributing their taxes, they’re paying into Social Security, et cetera, et cetera.”

Immigration expert disagrees

Andrew Arthur, a Catholic, former immigration judge, and resident law and policy fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, told CNA that while he understands Wenski’s stance on this issue, he believes the deportations are the ethical thing to do.

Arthur said that he could “dispositively” confirm that all of the Biden administration’s recent deportations of Haitian migrants are in full accordance with U.S. and international law.

According to Arthur, Haitians can still take advantage of several other legal pathways for refuge in the U.S. as well as many other American countries. He said that 168,000 Haitian migrants have legally entered the country since January 2023 through a special humanitarian parole program available for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.

He explained that the only Haitian migrants being deported by the Biden administration are people who have either committed crimes or entered the country illegally. Regarding the non-refoulement principle, Arthur said the Biden administration is only deporting migrants who have been determined to be not at risk of persecution or torture in their home country.  

In Arthur’s opinion, returning illegal Haitian migrants is the moral answer, since he said that not doing so would encourage still larger numbers of people to attempt to cross into the U.S. illegally in a journey that he said results in untold deaths and trauma, especially to migrant children.

“About two-thirds of all of those migrants [coming illegally] are assaulted on their way to the United States,” he said. “It’s an extremely dangerous process, and we want to deter people from undertaking that. That’s the moral side of this. We don’t want them to put themselves in a position of danger.”

Bishops’ conference has yet to weigh in

At the time of publication, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops did not reply to CNA’s request for comment about Wenski’s statements. However, the bishops have previously called for the international community and American Church to stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti.

In a March 15 statement, Bishop Elias Zaidan, head of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon and chairman of the U.S. bishops’ International Justice and Peace Committee, said: “I heartily join our Holy Father Pope Francis in his expression of concern and support for the people of Haiti and who recently invited us to pray for the people of this land through the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, patroness of Haiti that violence cease, and peace and reconciliation in the country be realized with the support of the international community.”