Catholic News

• Pope Francis issues message for Trump inauguration (Vatican Press Office)
  Six hours before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, the Vatican released a papal message for the inauguration. “I offer cordial greetings and the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you wisdom, strength and protection in the exercise of your high duties,” the Pope wrote. “Inspired by your nation’s ideals of being a land of opportunity and welcome for all, it is my hope that under your leadership the American people will prosper and always strive to build a more just society, where there is no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion.” The Pope added: At the same time, as our human family faces numerous challenges, not to mention the scourge of war, I also ask God to guide your efforts in promoting peace and reconciliation among peoples. With these sentiments, I invoke upon you, your family, and the beloved American people an abundance of divine blessings.
• Woman religious tapped to head Vatican City governorate (Vatican News)
  During an Italian television interview on January 19, Pope Francis disclosed that he has chosen Sister Raffaella Petrini to be the president of the Vatican City governorate. Sister Petrini, who is currently secretary-general of the governorate, will take the top spot when Cardinal Fernando Vergez Algaza retires when he reaches his 80th birthday on March 1.
• God responds to our 'lack' with superabundance: papal Angelus address (Vatican Press Office)
  Reflecting on John 2:1-11, the Gospel reading of the day, Pope Francis said that “in this Gospel we can find two things: lack and superabundance.” “In the banquet of our life—we might say—at times we realize that the wine is missing: that we lack the strength and many things,” the Pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his January 19 Angelus address. “It happens when the worries that plague us, the fears that assail us or the overwhelming forces of evil rob us of the taste for life, the exhilaration of joy and the flavor of hope.” He continued: Take note: in the face of this lack, when the Lord gives, He gives in superabundance. It seems to be a contradiction: the more that is lacking in us, the greater the Lord’s superabundance. Because the Lord wants to celebrate with us, in a feast without end. Let us pray, then, to the Virgin Mary. May she, who is the “woman of the new wine,” intercede for us and, in this Jubilee year, help us to rediscover the joy of the encounter with Jesus.
• Pope sees Trump deportation plan as 'disgrace' (Vatican News)
  In his latest interview, with Italian television personality Fabio Fazio, Pope Francis said that President Donald Trump’s plan to deport illegal immigrants is “a disgrace.” The Pope said that he was uncertain about the accuracy of reports that the Trump administration would undertake mass deportations. But he said: “If true, this will be a disgrace, because it makes the poor people who have nothing pay the bill.” Speaking more generally about immigration in Europe, the Pope connected the influx of migrants to the low birth rate. “If you don’t have children, you have to let migrants in,” he said. In the same interview the Pope said that he welcomed the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and continued to hope that the troubles in the Holy Land might be resolved by a two-state solution. The Pope also used the television interview to promote his autobiography, Hope.
• Pope welcomes Gaza ceasefire, prays for dialogue and reconciliation (CNA)
  At the conclusion of his January 19 Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis thanked the mediators of the Gaza ceasefire deal. “In recent days, it was announced that the ceasefire in Gaza will come into effect today,” he said. “I express my gratitude to all the mediators. It is a good job, to mediate so that peace is made. Thank you to the mediators!” “And I also thank all the parties involved in this important result,” he continued. “I hope that what has been agreed will be respected immediately by the parties, and that all the hostages may finally return home and embrace their loved ones. I pray a lot for them and for their families. I also hope that humanitarian aid will reach the people of Gaza, who so urgently need it, even faster and in large quantities.” The Pope added: Both the Israelis and the Palestinians need clear signs of hope: I trust that the political authorities of both of them, with the help of the international community, may reach the right solution for the two States. May everyone be able to say: yes to dialogue, yes to reconciliation, yes to peace. And let us pray for this: for dialogue, reconciliation and peace.
• USCCB issues report on religious liberty, sees 5 areas of 'critical concern' (USCCB)
  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty has released its annual report on the state of religious liberty in the United States. The 84-page report surveyed 2024 developments related to religious liberty in Congress, the executive branch, the courts, and elsewhere. The report also identified five “areas of critical concern—threats and opportunities—for religious liberty”: “the targeting of faith-based immigration services” “the persistence of elevated levels of antisemitic incidents” “IVF mandates, which represent a significant threat to religious freedom, while the national discussion of IVF represents an opportunity for Catholics to share Church teaching and advocate for human dignity” “the scaling back of gender ideology in law” “parental choice in education, one of the longest-running areas of concern for American Catholics”
• Cardinal O'Malley brokered deal for release of Cuban prisoners (New York Times)
  Pope Francis entrusted Cardinal Seán O’Malley, the now retired archbishop of Boston, with the task of brokering the deal between the Biden administration and the Cuban Communist regime that led to the release of more than 500 political prisoners. “The negotiations were conducted over the past three years, with at least a dozen meetings in Havana, New York and Washington, and with the cardinal talking to the foreign ministers and presidents of both countries,” The New York Times reported. José Daniel Ferrer, a leading Cuban human rights activist who was released from prison, said that “the Cuban government made a mockery of both Biden and the Vatican, which should be taking a firmer stance against human rights violations,” according to the newspaper’s paraphrase of his remarks. “Does that mean we should have left them [the prisoners] there?” Cardinal O’Malley responded. “I understand Mr. Ferrer has suffered a lot, and is very anxious to see this government fall,” but “making the Cuban people suffer is not the solution.”
• Investing in weapons to kill is madness, Pope says (Vatican News)
  In a brief address to the Catholic Foundation of Verona, Pope Francis said that “money renders the most when it is invested for the benefit of our neighbour. This is important.” “There is a very bad situation now, with investments,” he continued. “In some countries the investments that give the highest returns are weapons factories: investing to kill ... And when one does this, against or apart from the benefit of the people, money ages and burdens the heart, making it hard and deaf to the voice of the poor.” The Catholic Foundation of Verona, to whose leaders the Pope directed his comments, is a division of Generali Italia insurance company, according to Vatican News. The company is one of the world’s largest insurance companies. The Pope touched on other themes in his brief address, including care for our common home and the importance of “doing good always and to everyone.”
• Peru-based movement suppressed? (Crux)
  The Vatican has suppressed the Sodality of Christian Life (SCV), according to a report in Crux. No formal announcement of the move has been issued. The SCV, founded in 1971 by the Peruvian Luis Figari, has been troubled in recent years by charges of abusive leadership and financial corruption. The group’s leaders have been meeting in a general assembly in Brazil, at which Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda— who was appointed by Pope Francis to lead a reform of the movement— reportedly read a decree dissolving the association. The suppression of a lay movement is a rare move, and the reported reason for the Vatican decision— the charges of corruption against the group’s founder— raises questions about why the Vatican chose to suppress the SCV while allowing the continued existence of the Legionaries of Christ despite the more flagrant misbehavior of that group’s founder.
• Papal gratitude to Pontifical Swiss Guard Foundation (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis expressed gratitude to the benefactors of the Pontifical Swiss Guard Foundation for their financial support of the members of the Swiss Guard and their families. “The cooperation between your Foundation and the Pontifical Swiss Guard is exemplary, because it demonstrates that no reality can proceed alone,” the Pope said during a January 18 audience. “We must all help each other and support each other, and this applies to you, to individual communities, but also to the Church as a whole.”
• Chinese bishop ordained to new diocese (Fides)
  Bishop Anthony Ji Weizhong has been ordained as bishop of the newly created Diocese of Luliang, in northern China. Bishop Weizhong is the 11th bishop to be ordained in China in the six years since the Vatican reached a secret agreement with Beijing on the appointment of new bishops. Seventy Chinese dioceses still have no bishop.
• Cardinal DiNardo retires; successor named (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, 75, as archbishop of Galveston-Houston and has named Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin as his successor. Cardinal DiNardo, ordained a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1977, was named bishop of Sioux City, Iowa, in 1997 and coadjutor archbishop of Galveston-Houston in 2004. He acceded to the see in 2006, and Pope Benedict created him a cardinal in 2007. He was president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2016 to 2019. Bishop Vásquez, 67, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, in 1983. He was named auxiliary bishop of Galveston-Houston in 2001 and bishop of Austin in 2010.
• Mexican cardinal acknowledges drug-cartel power (CNA)
  Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi has acknowledged that drug cartels wield power over much of Mexico. Responding to a claim that President Donald Trump had made—and repeated in his Inauguration address—the retired Archbishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas said: It’s disturbing that a foreigner claims that organized crime rules our country. Even though our authorities maintain the opposite, there are facts that confirm that this is what is happening in some places and sectors.
• Papal welcome for Finnish ecumenical delegation (Vatican Press Office)
  On January 20, Pope Francis welcomed an ecumenical delegation from Finland that was in Rome for the feast of St. Henrik. The Pope observed that “we are journeying together as ‘pilgrims of hope’ during the Jubilee Year. He said: “St. Henrik is, so to speak, an enduring icon of this hope, which has its sure and enduring foundation in God.”
• Pope upholds Argentine saint as model for future priests (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis received seminarians from the Argentine Priests’ College in Rome on January 16 and upheld an Argentine saint, St. Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero (1840-1914), as a model for their priesthood. The Pope recalled that it was said of the saint that “Brochero could be none other than a priest.” The Pontiff commented, “We must firmly assume this priestly identity, realize that our vocation is not an addendum, a means to other ends ... Absolutely not. Vocation is God’s plan for our life, what God sees in us.” The Pope also spoke of the saint’s love for the Eucharist and his sense of priestly fraternity. The Pope explained: First of all, with the bishop, of whom he considers himself a simple soldier, in order to emulate the feats of the heroes, fighting alongside him, side by side, to the last cartridge. And with his brother priests, he wants to share everything he has, he invites them to correct him with confidence and he does so for them with frankness, asking them to lead a life of deep piety, with frequent confession.
• Jerusalem Patriarch sees ceasefire as necessary first step (Vatican News)
  A ceasefire in Gaza is “the necessary turning point,” but lasting peace remains a distant goal, says the Latin Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem. ”This is only the first step,” said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. “Peace will take much longer to achieve because the end of the war is not the end of the conflict.” Nevertheless the cardinal welcomed the ceasefire, noting that it provides an opportunity for delivering much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, where the residents are now completely without resources and rely entirely on relief efforts. Cardinal Pizzaballa also questioned why leaders of the opposing forces had taken so long to agree to a ceasefire, prolonging the fighting with its toll of death and destruction. He observed that “the agreement was more or less the same discussion that was had months ago.”
• Cost of US sex-abuse scandal tops $5 billion (Crux)
  The latest study of the clerical sex-abuse crisis in the US has found that American dioceses and religious orders have paid more than $5 billion to resolve abuse cases. The study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), covering abuse charges that have been filed in the past 20 years, puts the overall cost of the scandal a just over $5 billion, including legal fees. The study finds that the number of sex-abuse complaints has dropped, with only 3% of the cases involving incidents that occurred after 2000. More than 90% of the cases covered in the study dated back to before 1989; in many such cases the alleged perpetrator was already deceased. The CARA study confirmed that 80% of the abuse complaints involved male victims, with a vast majority (80%) involving adolescent or teenage boys.
• Vatican City State puts AI guidelines in place (CNS)
  The Vatican City State’s government has released AI guidelines that “highlight the importance of a balanced and mindful approach in regulating artificial intelligence” and that will inform future laws and regulations. “The key principle is that technological innovation cannot and should never overtake or replace human beings,” according to the new guidelines. “The aim is to make artificial intelligence a resource that, if properly regulated, will be able to foster well-being and progress, without compromising ethical and social principles.” Content that has been created with the assistance of AI must “be labeled with the acronym AI,” Catholic News Service reported. Judicial offices may use AI for “organization and simplification,” but never for judicial analysis and interpretation.
• Pence, in Hong Kong, asks freedom for Jimmy Lai (Wall Street Journal)
  Speaking at a conference of financiers in Hong Kong on January 16, former Vice President Mike Pence issued a strong call for the release of Jimmy Lai, the jailed Catholic human-rights activist. “There is probably no more compelling gesture in the short term to send a message of good will to the people of the United States, or the free world, than if China were to take steps to free Jimmy Lai,” Pence said. He made the remark in the same city where Lai is now facing trial on the latest of several questionable criminal charges.
• Retired bishop decries 'vigilante approach' to immigration (Crux)
  Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has cautioned against what he calls a “vigilante approach” to illegal immigration, denouncing the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations. The retired Bishop of Brooklyn also criticized the Laken Riley Act, which calls for the immediate deportation of illegal immigrants charged with crimes He said the overall Trump plan is “a vigilante approach to a mythical problem that these people are hurting us.” Bishop DiMarzio recalled the crackdown on illegal immigration in the 1970s, saying that it caused massive disruption of the community and unnecessary dangers. The bishop was once the executive director of the US bishops’ office for migration, later chaired the USCCB committee ono migration, and in 2000 was named to the Pontifical Council for Migrants.
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