Catholic News

• German bishops issue guide for same-sex blessings (CNA)
  The Catholic bishops of Germany have issued guidelines for pastors giving blessings to couples living in irregular situations, including same-sex couples. “Non-church married couples, divorced and remarried couples, and couples in all the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities are of course part of our society,” the bishops say, adding that any request for a priest’s blessing should be recognized as “an an expression of gratitude for their love and an expression of the desire to shape this love from faith.” The blessing, the bishops’ guidelines state, is given “at the service of the divine-human encounter,” and in “the hope of a relationship with God that can sustain human life.” While not specifying the form that the church blessing should take, the bishops say that it would “express the appreciation of the people who have asked for the blessing, their togetherness and their faith.” The guidelines are a response to the 2023 Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans, which opened the way for church blessings of same-sex couples.
• Cardinals set plans for conclave meditations (Vatican News)
  Meeting on Wednesday morning, April 24, in a general congregation, 113 cardinals began preparations for the papal conclave, and chose the two preachers who will deliver meditations before the voting begins. Father Donato Ogliari, the Benedictine abbot of the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, will deliver the first meditation. He will be followed by Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, the former preacher of the pontifical household. The date for the opening of the conclave—probably May 5 or 6—has not yet been settled. As cardinals arrive in Rome, they are joining in the general congregations, which will continue each day until the opening of the conclave. All the cardinals are taking the oath prescribed by the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, for prelates preparing for the conclave.
• Vatican announces schedule for Masses for Pope Francis (Vatican News)
  The Vatican has announced the schedule of principal celebrants for the Novemdiales: the nine days of Masses said for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis. The Novemdiales begin with the funeral Mass, on Saturday, April 26, at 10 AM Rome time, with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, as principal celebrant. There will follow (all times are local Rome times): Sunday, April 27, at 10:30 am, in St. Peter’s Square, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State and Dean of the College of Cardinals, presiding; Monday, April 28, at 5:00 PM in St. Peter’s basilica, with Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of Rome, presiding; Tuesday, April 29, at 5:00 PM in St. Peter’s basilica, with Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of the basilica, presiding; Wednesday, April 30, at 5:00 PM in St. Peter’s bBasilica, with Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals, presiding; Thursday, May 1, at 5:00 PM in St. Peter’s basilica, with Cardinal Victor Fernandez, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, presiding; Friday, May 2, at 5:00 PM in St. Peter’s basilica, with Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, presiding; Saturday, May 3, at 5:00 PM in St. Peter’s basilica, with Father Ángel Fernández Artime, pro-prefect of the Emeritus of the Dicastery for Religious, presideing; and Sunday, May 4, at 5:00 PM in St. Peter’s basilica, with Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Protodeacon of the College of Cardinals, presiding. (In this listing, the titles of officials of the Roman Curia are given for purposes of identification. Officially, the mandate of prefects of the Vatican dicasteries ceases with the death of the Pontiff.)
• Prelates announced for late Pontiff's coffin closing, burial rites (CWN)
  Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, has published the lists of prelates who will take part in the rite of the closing of the late Pope’s coffin at 8:00 PM on April 25 and in the internment rite in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, following the funeral Mass the following day.
• Senior Ukrainian prelates recall late Pope's efforts on nation's behalf (CWN)
  In their statements following Pope Francis’s death, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk and Cardinal Mykola Bychok, CSsR, recalled the late Pontiff’s efforts on behalf of Ukraine.
• Requiem Mass for Pontiff's soul celebrated at Basilica of Holy Sepulchre (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
  Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided at a requiem Mass for Pope Francis’s soul on April 23 in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, built on the site of Christ’s death and resurrection. Father Francesco Patton, OFM, the Custos (Franciscan provincial) of the Holy Land, preached the homily. Following the Mass, as Cardinal Pizzaballa departed for Rome, he said: It is a moment during which we need to be united in prayer, first for me, because this is a time in which I carry a great and important responsibility. And we must all pray for the Church, for we are a part of a big body which is universal Church—the Catholic Church. I am sure that your prayers, all together, will bring the right choices for the good of the universal Church.
• Cardinals Re, Parolin pay tribute to Pope Francis (CWN)
  Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, led the recitation of the Rosary in St. Peter’s Square on the evening of April 22 for the repose of Pope Francis’s soul (video). Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, reported that hundreds of the faithful were in attendance.
• Israel's president hails Pope as man of 'deep faith and boundless compassion' (Vatican News)
  “I send my deepest condolences to the Christian world and especially the Christian communities in Israel—the Holy Land—on the loss of their great spiritual father, His Holiness Pope Francis,” President Isaac Herzog of Israel said following the Pontiff’s death. “A man of deep faith and boundless compassion, he dedicated his life to uplifting the poor and calling for peace in a troubled world.” President Herzog continued: He rightly saw great importance in fostering strong ties with the Jewish world and in advancing interfaith dialogue as a path toward greater understanding and mutual respect. I truly hope that his prayers for peace in the Middle East and for the safe return of the hostages will soon be answered. May his memory continue to inspire acts of kindness, unity, and hope. Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, the apostolic nuncio to Israel, said that “even more than the official message, I was especially touched by a personal phone call of condolence that President Herzog made to me on behalf of the country he represents, just a few minutes after the announcement of the death.”
• Cardinal Zen allowed to leave Hong Kong for papal funeral (AP)
  Cardinal Joseph Zen has been given permission by Chinese authorities to leave Hong Kong and travel to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis. Cardinal Zen, who has been an outspoken critic of the Beijing government, is not eligible to take part in the papal conclave, having past his 80th birthday. (He is 93.)
• Pope Francis 'tried to overcome' clerical, 'male chauvinist' Church, Vatican official says (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
  In an interview with the Vatican newspaper, Msgr. Piero Coda, the secretary general of the International Theological Commission, assessed Pope Francis’s theological legacy. Pope Francis’s pontificate, said Msgr. Coda, represented a new stage of the implementation of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65): Francis was the first Pope who did not participate in the Council’s work and therefore left behind all the questions related to its interpretation and assumed its essence in the most profound way, understanding that it was necessary to walk in the way indicated in it by the Holy Spirit. In expanding the Synod of Bishops into a Synod that included laity and other non-bishops, the Pope “carries forward this reform by calling all of God’s people to gather, thus trying to overcome a figure of a clerical, unilaterally hierarchical, and male-chauvinist Church.” The International Theological Commission, of which Msgr. Coda is secretary general, is an advisory body under the auspices of the Dicastery of the Doctrine for the Faith. Proposed at the 1967 Synod of Bishops, the commission was instituted by Pope St. Paul VI; its members are appointed by the Pontiff.
• Cardinal Müller: next Pope must heal divisions (Catholic Herald)
  Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has said that the coming papal conclave must select a Pontiff who will be able “to unify the Church in the revealed truth.” The German cardinal emphasized the danger of doctrinal divisions within the Church, and the need to restore clarity. He said: “I am praying that the Holy Spirit will illuminate the cardinals, because a heretic pope who changes every day depending on what the mass media is saying would be catastrophic.”
• Syro-Malabar Church unrepresented in papal conclave? (Hindu.com)
  Reporters in India have observed with concern that the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church—among the largest of the Eastern churches in communion with Rome, with over 4.5 million faithful—will not have a representative among the cardinal-electors at the papal conclave. Cardinal George Alencherry, the retired Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, celebrated his 80th birthday on April 19, thus becoming ineligible to vote in a conclave. His successor, Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, is not a cardinal. However, Cardinal George Koovakkad, who has been serving as prefect of the Dicastery for Inter-Religious Dialogue, is a Syro-Malabar. The Ukrainian Catholic Church, claiming 5 million faithful, is probably still the largest of the Eastern Catholic churches. But the Syro-Malabar Church, based in India’s Kerela state, has been growing rapidly, challenging for that distinction.
• Argentine religious figures, Nobel laureate pay tribute to Francis (CWN)
  Argentine Jewish and Protestant leaders, joined by a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, paid tribute to Pope Francis in the April 23 edition of the Vatican newspaper.
• Buffalo diocese reaches $150-million settlement with abuse victims (CNA)
  The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, has reached a tentative settlement with abuse victims, agreeing to a $150 million payment that could allow the diocese to emerge from bankruptcy. The settlement has been approved by victims’ representatives, the diocese said. It must still be approved by a vote of victims and by the bankruptcy court.
• Ukraine restricts rights of conscientious objectors (Forum 18)
  Although Ukraine’s constitution provides for the right of conscientious objectors to decline military service, the government has cancelled provisions for alternative service during the war with Russia. Applications to be recognized as conscientious objectors on religious ground are allowed only for members of ten religious communities formally recognized by the government. While the government has allowed some clerics to perform alternative service, that policy appears to violate standards under the European Convention on Human Rights, which require allowing alternative service for all conscientious objectors.
• World leaders pay tribute to Pope Francis (CWN)
  Following the death of Pope Francis, leaders from around the world paid tribute to the late Pontiff, who governed the Church from 2013 to 2025. The heads of nine of the ten most populous nations offered statements in praise of Pope Francis in the hours following his death; only President Xi Jinping of China was silent.
• Pope's remains moved to St. Peter's basilica for veneration (Vatican News)
  The body of Pope Francis was moved from the chapel of the St. Martha residence to St. Peter’s basilica on Wednesday, April 23, with Cardinal Kevin Farrell presiding at the liturgical ceremony and an estimated 20,000 people participating (photographs, video). Cardinal Farrell, the camerlengo, opened the ceremony with a prayer: “As we now leave this home, let us thank the Lord for the countless gifts He bestowed on the Christian people through His servant, Pope Francis.” The papal coffin was then carried in a procession into St. Peter’s Square—where thousands of mourners were waiting—and from there into the basilica. The Pope’s coffin will remain in the Vatican basilica until his funeral on Saturday, allowing the faithful an opportunity to pay their respects.
• Vatican publishes Pope's testament (Vatican Press Office)
  The Vatican has published Pope Francis’s testament, written on June 29, 2022, “as I sense that the twilight of my earthly life is approaching, and with firm hope in Eternal Life.” The Pontiff willed that he be buried in a certain niche of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, adding: I wish that my final earthly journey conclude precisely in this ancient Marian shrine, where I go to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey to faithfully entrust my intentions to the Immaculate Mother and to give thanks for her gentle and maternal care. “May the Lord grant the deserved reward to those who have wished me well and will continue to pray for me,” he concluded. “The suffering that marked the final part of my life, I offer to the Lord, for peace in the world and brotherhood among peoples.”
• The Diocese of Rome weeps as Mary Magdalene did, Cardinal Reina preaches (Vatican News)
  Cardinal Baldassare Reina, archpriest of the Lateran Basilica, celebrated a Mass for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis on the evening of April 21. The 54-year-old prelate, who was appointed cardinal vicar of the Diocese of Rome last October, preached that “our diocese this evening sheds the tears of Mary Magdalene.” “We weep for our bishop, the witness of the Gospel, the apostle of mercy, the prophet of peace, the friend of the poor,” he continued. “We feel suspended, like sheep without a shepherd.”
• Cardinal Becciu, convicted in Vatican trial, claims right to enter conclave (Pillar)
  Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was stripped of his privileges as a cardinal in September 2020, after being implicated in the financial misconduct, has claimed the right to participate in the coming papal conclave. Although he remains a member of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Becciu is listed by the Vatican as a “non-elector.” In discussions with reporters on April 22, Cardinal Becciu notes that the list has no official standing. Cardinal Becciu was the sostituto—in effect, the papal chief of staff—when he was involved in the disastrous London real-estate deal that prompted the Vatican’s “trial of the century.” He is currently appealing his conviction in that trial.
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