Catholic News

• Pope honors Immaculate Mary, prays with the sick (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV offered homage to the Immaculate Conception at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens on February 11 (video).
• Pope Leo looks ahead to Lent (Dicastery for Communication)
  At the conclusion of his February 11 general audience, Pope Leo XIV spoke with English-speaking pilgrims about Lent. “Next Wednesday, the season of Lent begins,” Pope Leo said. “It is a time for deepening our knowledge and love of the Lord, for examining our hearts and our lives, as well as refocusing our gaze on Jesus and his love for us.” The Pope added, “May these coming days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving be a source of strength as we daily strive to take up our own crosses and follow Christ.”
• Vatican diplomat decries link between financial speculation, food prices (Holy See Mission)
  Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said that “it is concerning that food, a fundamental requirement for human life, has become a financial asset, with investors’ interests taking precedence over farmers’ and consumers’ needs.” “Speculation on food prices is not an abstract market exercise; it is, in reality, a bet on the future of humanity,” the prelate said at a recent meeting of leaders of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). “No economic logic can justify a system in which access to basic necessities is subject to the volatility of financial markets.” Stating that “markets must serve people, not the other way around,” Archbishop Balestrero said that poor nations should gain “fair and affordable access to trade finance” and that “policies and investments must be guided by the principle of subsidiarity, because only through consistent and genuine collaboration a fair and accessible food security system for all can be established.”
• Pope Leo reflects on 'profound and vital link' between God's Word and the Church (CWN)
  Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV reflected today on the “profound and vital link that exists between the Word of God and the Church.”
• Venezuela's bishops call for release of political prisoners, respect for human rights (Conferencia Episcopal Venezolana)
  Venezuela’s bishops released a pastoral exhortation calling for respect for human rights, a respect for popular sovereignty, the release of all political prisoners, and forgiveness rather than violence. The bishops released “Despuntará tu luz como la aurora” (“Your light will break forth like the dawn” (Isaiah 58:8) on February 9, over a month after the United States removed strongman Nicolás Maduro from office. Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s current acting president, was Maduro’s vice president.
• Netherlands sees rise in new adult Catholics; Sunday Mass attendance falls below 3% (Pillar)
  630 adults were received into the Church in the Netherlands in 2024, up from 455 in 2023, according to Radboud University’s Catholic Institute for Ecclesiastical Statistics (KASKI). 6,110 children were baptized in 2024, down 7% from the previous year and down from 42,411 in 2000. Only 2.7% of Catholics attended Sunday Mass weekly in 2024, down from 9.2% in 2000. The Western European nation of 17.8 million (map) is 52% Christian (30% Catholic) and 9% Muslim.
• Vatican: Pope Leo is considering visit to Monaco (Vatican News)
  The Holy See Press Office announced on February 10 that Pope Leo is considering a one-day visit to Monaco at the end of March. During a January 17 audience, Prince Albert II of Monaco invited the Pontiff to visit the nation. “The Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion is the religion of the State,” Monaco’s Constitution states (Article 9), with religious freedom granted to all (Article 23). Located in Western Europe, the principality of 32,000 (map) is 86% Christian (83% Catholic) and 1% Jewish.
• Muslim, Hindu prayers included in prayer vigil for World Day of Prayer against Human Trafficking (CWN)
  A Muslim prayer, a Hindu prayer, and a Buddhist reflection were included in the official prayer vigil guide of the 12th World Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking (background).
• Shroud of Turin: Medieval origin hypothesis challenged on scientific grounds (Vatican News)
  The research journal Archaeometry published a response to a previous article on the Shroud of Turin. In the previous article, Cicero Moraes argued in favor of the Shroud’s “origin as a medieval work of art.” In the response, Tristan Casabianca, Emanuela Marinelli, and Alessandro Piana argued that the earlier article “relies on ambiguous aims, methodological flaws, and fallacious reasoning.”
• Cardinal Cupich calls for White House apology for Truth Social depiction of Obamas (Archdiocese of Chicago)
  Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago called upon the White House to apologize for a video posted on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account portraying former President Barack Obama and his wife as apes. “Portraying human beings as animals—less than human—is not new,” said Cardinal Cupich. “It was a common way in past centuries for politicians and others to demean immigrant groups as each arrived, the Chinese, Irish, Italians, Slavs, Jews, Latinos and so on.” The prelate added: A few days ago, we saw that in the White House such blatant racism is not merely a practice of the past. If the President intentionally approved the message containing viciously racist images, he should admit it. If he did not know of it originally, he should explain why he let his staff describe the public outcry over their transmission as fake outrage. Either way he should apologize. Bishop Daniel Garcia of Austin, the chairman of the US bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, also criticized the video, which President Trump discussed in an exchange with reporters.
• Jimmy Lai, Catholic pro-democracy advocate, sentenced to 20 years in prison (AsiaNews)
  A Hong Kong court sentenced Catholic pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison on charges of violating national security. Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations condemned the decision. Cardinal Joseph Zen, the retired bishop of Hong Kong, joined Lai’s wife at the sentencing, according to AsiaNews, the agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.
• Theme announced for World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly (Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life)
  The Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life announced that Pope Leo XIV has chosen “I will never forget you” (Isaiah 49:15) as the theme for the 6th World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. The day is commemorated on the fourth Sunday of July, near the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and grandparents of Jesus. In the United States, the bishops transferred the day to coincide with National Grandparents Day, the first Sunday after Labor Day.
• Cameroon prelate reflects on solidarity between bishops of US, Africa (USCCB)
  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published a Cameroon bishop’s homily on the solidarity between the bishops of Africa and the United States. Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of Yola preached the homily on February 4 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Bishop Mamza said that “Africa often brings to the Church a faith that is vibrant, communal, and resilient in the face of poverty, conflict, and persecution. The Church in the United States brings gifts of theological scholarship, institutional resources, and long experience engaging pluralistic societies.” Bishop Mamza also thanked the US bishops, the Hungarian government, and the German bishops for their support in rebuilding Catholic institutions destroyed by the jihadist group Boko Haram.
• Vatican Radio announces podcasts on the future of radio (Vatican News)
  Vatican Radio, which is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year, announced that it will commemorate World Radio Day (February 13) by hosting programs on the future of radio. These programs, in seven different languages, will become podcasts.
• Pope Leo issues 'Life in Abundance,' the most extensive papal document on sports (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV has issued “Life in Abundance,” a letter on the value of sport, on the occasion of the 25th Winter Olympic Games and 14th Paralympic Games.
• Pope Leo outlines his vision of the priests that the Church needs today (CWN)
  In a letter to the priests of the Archdiocese of Madrid. Pope Leo XIV outlined his vision of the “type of priests that Madrid—and the entire Church—needs at this time.”
• Pope Leo outlines his vision of Christian formation (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV reflected at length on Christian formation in an address to the plenary assembly of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.
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