Vatican publishes full papal schedule for Holy Week, Easter

By Justin McLellan
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis’ calendar for Holy Week and Easter is just as full as in previous years despite a mild illness which has caused him to cancel meetings in the days leading up to the release of his liturgical calendar for March.


The pope canceled meetings Feb. 24 and Feb. 26 due to “flu-like symptoms,” the Vatican said. Although he held his general audience Feb. 28, an aide read Pope Francis’ prepared remarks, and the Vatican said he briefly visited a Rome hospital after the audience for medical tests.


The pope is scheduled preside over all the major liturgical celebrations of Holy Week.


As is customary when first publishing the pope’s calendar for Holy Week, the Vatican did not provide the time or place for his celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, March 28.

Pope Francis has made it a tradition to celebrate the Mass and foot-washing ritual at a prison or detention center, refugee center or rehabilitation facility; last year he did so at a prison for minors in Rome.


Here is the schedule of papal liturgical ceremonies and events for March released by the Vatican Feb. 29:

– March 24, Palm Sunday, morning Mass in St. Peter’s Square.

– March 28, Holy Thursday, morning chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

– March 29, Good Friday, afternoon liturgy of the Lord’s passion in St. Peter’s Basilica.

– March 29, Way of the Cross at night at Rome’s Colosseum.

– March 30, Easter vigil Mass in the evening in St. Peter’s Basilica.

– March 31, Easter morning Mass in St. Peter’s Square, followed at noon by the pope’s blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).

National Eucharistic Pilgrimage to include shrines, secular landmarks, diocesan events

By Maria Wiering
(OSV News) – On May 18-19, groups of eight young adults will leave San Francisco; New Haven, Connecticut; San Juan, Texas; and Itasca State Park in Minnesota.

For eight weeks they’ll travel, mostly on foot, along four routes through major U.S. cities, small towns and countryside toward Indianapolis, where they’re expected to arrive July 16, the day before the opening of the National Eucharistic Congress.

Together, they’ll cover more than 6,500 miles over 27 states and 65 dioceses. With them every step of the way will be the Eucharist, held in a specially designed monstrance, or reserved in a support vehicle’s tabernacle.

This is an updated map showing the four routes of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage to the National Eucharistic Congress in 2024. Pilgrims traveling in “Eucharistic caravans” on all four routes will begin their journeys with Pentecost weekend celebrations May 17-18, 2024, leaving May 19. They will all converge on Indianapolis July 16, 2024, the day before the five-day Congress opens. (OSV News illustration/courtesy National Eucharistic Congress)

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is a major prelude to the National Eucharistic Congress, which expects to bring together tens of thousands of Catholics July 17-21 in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium for worship, speakers and Eucharist-centered events. The pilgrimage and the congress are part of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative of the U.S. Catholic bishops that began in 2022 with the aim of deepening Catholics’ love for the Eucharist.

“A cross-country pilgrimage of this scale has never been attempted before,” said Tim Glemkowski, CEO of the Denver-based National Eucharistic Congress, Inc., in a Feb. 22 media release announcing updated routes and related events. “It will be a tremendously powerful action of witness and intercession as it interacts with local parish communities at stops all along the way.”

The pilgrimage’s four groups of Perpetual Pilgrims are young adults ages 19-29 selected in an application process to travel the full length of each route. Their names will be announced March 11.

People who wish to travel as a “day pilgrim” or attend a pilgrimage-related event along the routes may register online at www.eucharisticpilgrimage.org. Day pilgrims must make their own arrangements for meals, transportation and lodging, as needed.

Each route passes religious and secular landmarks, including Folsom State Prison in California, Ellis Island in New York, the campuses of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and Benedictine College in Kansas, and the shrines of Our Lady of Champion in Wisconsin, the Most Blessed Sacrament in Alabama, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Maryland.

Dioceses that the routes cross through have planned special events to welcome the pilgrims. Detailed event information for these events and each of the routes – the St. Junipero Serra Route from the West, St. Juan Diego Route from the South, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route from the East and Marian Route from the North – will be posted at www.eucharisticpilgrimage.org.

Pilgrimage events will include Masses, Eucharistic adoration and prayer, as well as service projects. All public events are free.

Supporting the Perpetual Pilgrims spiritually will be a “rotating cadre” of 30 Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Father Roger Landry of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, plans to accompany the Seton Route pilgrims for the entire route.

“Following Jesus and praying through cities and rural towns is going to be life changing for the church across America,” Glemkowski said. “I personally cannot wait to participate in this pilgrimage!”

(Maria Wiering is senior writer for OSV News.)

NOTES: For details on the Southern route of the Eucharistic Pilgrimage traveling through the Diocese of Biloxi, visit https://biloxidiocese.org/eucharist.

To learn more about the National Eucharistic Revival, Congress and Pilgrimage visit: https://www.eucharisticcongress.org. Scholarships are available to the National Eucharistic Congress, visit https://www.eucharisticcongress.org/solidarity-fund for more information.

Still sick, pope has aide read his audience talk on envy and pride

By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Arriving in a wheelchair instead of walking with his cane, Pope Francis began his weekly general audience by telling visitors and pilgrims, “I’m still a bit sick,” so an aide would read his prepared text.

The pope had canceled his appointments Feb. 24 and Feb. 26 because of what the Vatican press office described as “mild flu-symptoms,” but Pope Francis led the recitation of the Angelus prayer Feb. 25 without obvious difficulty.

At his general audience Feb. 28, his voice was hoarser and softer. Besides briefly telling the crowd he would not be reading his prepared text, he took the microphone only to pray at the beginning and end of the gathering and to read his appeals for peace and for an end to the use of landmines.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that Pope Francis went from the audience to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital for a checkup before returning to the Vatican. In late November when he was suffering similar symptoms, he had gone to that hospital for a CT scan of his lungs.

The Vatican press office later said the pope had gone to the hospital for “diagnostic tests.” It provided no other information.

Pope Francis gathers with a group of religious sisters for a group photo at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican Feb. 28, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope Francis’ main audience talk focused on envy and vainglory, or exaggerated pride, as part of his continuing series of audience talks about vices and virtues.

Envy and vainglory “go hand in hand,” the pope wrote. “Together these two vices are characteristic of a person who aspires to be the center of the world, free to exploit everything and everyone, the object of all praise and love.”

Reading the Book of Genesis, envy appears to be “one of the oldest vices: Cain’s hatred of Abel is unleashed when he realizes that his brother’s sacrifices are pleasing to God,” he wrote.

“The face of the envious man is always sad: he’s always looking down, he seems to be continually investigating the ground; but in reality, he sees nothing, because his mind is wrapped up in thoughts full of wickedness,” he said. “Envy, if unchecked, leads to hatred of the other. Abel would be killed at the hands of Cain, who could not bear his brother’s happiness.”

The root of the vice and sin of envy, he said, “is a false idea of God: we do not accept that God has His own ‘math.’”

As an example, Pope Francis cited the parable from Matthew 20:1-16 about workers hired at different times of the day to work in a vineyard, but the owner pays them all the same.

When those who worked longest protest, the owner says, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”

“We would like to impose our own selfish logic on God; instead, the logic of God is love,” the pope’s text said. “The good things he gives us are meant to be shared. This is why St. Paul exhorts Christians, ‘Love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor’ (Rom. 12:10). Here is the remedy for envy!”

Pope Francis described vainglory as “an inflated and baseless self-esteem,” which leads to having no empathy and to seeing others only as objects to be used.

The vainglorious person “is a perpetual beggar for attention,” the pope wrote, and when recognition is not given, “he becomes fiercely angry.”

Usually, he said, the remedy for such pride comes automatically when people offer criticism rather than praise.

Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

A wise person recognizes, as St. Paul did, that freedom comes from recognizing one’s weaknesses and failures, relying only on God for strength, Pope Francis’ text said.

Bishop Rolando Álvarez released, exiled from Nicaragua after over 500 days of detention

By David Agren
MEXICO CITY (OSV News) – Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa has been released from prison and sent into exile along with 18 imprisoned churchmen as the Nicaraguan government expelled its most prominent critic, whose presence behind bars bore witness to the Sandinista regime descent into totalitarianism, along with its unrelenting persecution of the Catholic Church.

Vatican News confirmed Jan. 14 at 10:41 p.m. Rome time that with the exception of one priest who remained in Venezuela, all released priests, including Bishop Álvarez and Bishop Isidoro Mora of Siuna, have arrived in Rome “in the last few hours” and are “guests of the Holy See.”

Nicaraguan independent media 100% Noticias posted a photograph on X, formerly Twitter, of the two freed bishops concelebrating Mass in Rome.

Independent Nicaraguan media reported Jan. 14 that the churchmen had departed Nicaragua on a flight for Rome after the government reached an agreement with the Vatican for their release and exile. Auxiliary Bishop Silvio José Báez of Managua – who left the country in 2019 – also confirmed the news at his weekly Mass in Miami, and was visibly moved.

“This is the power of the people of God’s prayers,” he said. “The criminal Sandinista dictatorship of (President) Daniel Ortega has not been able to defeat the power of God.”

The Nicaraguan government acknowledged the churchmen’s release in a Jan. 14 statement, which “deeply thanked” Pope Francis and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, “for the very respectful and discreet coordination carried out to make possible the Vatican trip of two bishops, fifteen priests and two seminarians.”

Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa walks outside a Catholic church in Managua May 20, 2022. After more than 500 days’ detention, the Ortega regime released the prelate, who has been the Nicaraguan government’s most prominent critic, from prison Jan. 14, 2023, and sent into exile along with 18 other imprisoned churchmen. Bishop Álvarez safely landed in Rome Jan. 14, the Vatican confirmed. (OSV News photo/Maynor Valenzuela, Reuters)

The statement continued, “They have been received by Vatican authorities, in compliance with agreements of good faith and good will, which seek to promote understanding and improve communication between the Holy See and Nicaragua, for peace and good.”

The statement struck an unusually respectful tone – far from the government’s frequent accusations of terrorism and coup mongering against church leaders, who attempted to unsuccessfully facilitate a national dialogue after mass protests erupted demanding Ortega’s ouster. The Nicaraguan government also severed relations with the Vatican and expelled the nuncio, Archbishop Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, in 2022. The Vatican subsequently closed its embassy in March 2023.

“We recognize the chance for direct, prudent and very serious dialogue, a responsible and careful dialogue,” the government statement said.

The release of 19 churchmen – including Bishop Mora and more than a dozen priests detained during a wave of detentions over the Christmas period – provoked reactions of joy among Nicaraguans in exile, along with statements of defiance.

“With great joy, I thank God that my brother bishops, priests, and seminarians are out of prison. Justice has triumphed. The power of the prayer of God’s people has been displayed,” Bishop Báez said on X, formerly Twitter.

Ambassador Brian A. Nichols, assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the U.S. Department of State, said on X that the regime “expelled 19 unjustly detained Catholic clergy, including Bishop Álvarez.”

“We are reassured to see the release of these religious leaders. All people have the right to worship at home and abroad. We continue to call for the release of all those unjustly detained and the restoration of the fundamental freedoms of the Nicaraguan people,” Nichols emphasized.

Bishop Álvarez has become the face of resistance in Nicaragua, raising his voice against the increasing intolerance of the Sandinista regime – which has subdued the business community, forced the free press out of the country and attempted to control the Catholic Church.

The bishop spent more than 500 days in custody after police arrested him in August 2022 during a pre-dawn raid on his diocesan curia, where he had been holed up protesting the seizure of Catholic media outlets. In February 2023, He was sentenced to 26 years in prison on charges of conspiracy and spreading false information – one day after he refused to leave the country.

Bishop Álvarez refused subsequent attempts at exiling him – as expulsion or refusing priests reentry to the country after traveling abroad became a common tactic.

“The dictatorship feels safer or more comfortable with religious people outside the country than inside the country,” Arturo McFields Yescas, a former Nicaraguan diplomat in exile, told OSV News.

“When they are inside (the country) they consider them a threat, a danger, a counterweight to their official narrative. And when they are outside, (the regime) feels that they no longer have that critical voice, or that voice of truth, which spoke to the people and people listened to,” he said.

(David Agren writes for OSV News from Mexico City.)

Bishop Rolando Álvarez sentenced to 26 years and 4 months in prison by Nicaragua a day after the regime deports 222 political prisoners to U.S.

Teacher, three children from Catholic school hospitalized after Dublin street stabbing

By Michael Kelly

DUBLIN (OSV News) – Dominican friars in Dublin say they are praying for all involved after a stabbing incident at a nearby Catholic school in the bustling city center of Ireland’s capital.

An eyewitness described to state broadcaster RTÉ a scene of terror after three children and their teacher, a woman in her 30s, were stabbed near the school Nov. 23.

The attack occurred shortly after 1 p.m. near Parnell Square, just off the city’s main boulevard O’Connell Street.

The three children, who were lining up in front of their crèche prior to the incident, have been taken to hospital. A 5-year-old girl is in a critical condition at Temple Street Children’s Hospital. Her teacher is also in a serious condition.

A bus burns during a demonstration in Dublin, Nov. 23, 2023, that following a stabbing attack outside a Catholic school that left three children and a teacher injured. The stabbing happened outside an Irish language-speaking school called Cólaiste Mhuire, which means St. Mary’s College. The school falls within the parish boundaries of St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral and Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin expressed shock at the stabbing attack. (OSV News photo/Clodagh Kilcoyne, Reuters)

In total five people have been hospitalized, including a 50-year-old male suspect who has been arrested. Irish media reported the police ruled out a terror motive.

The Catholic school is an Irish language-speaking school called Cólaiste Mhuire, which means St. Mary’s College. It is just 1,300 feet from the nearby Dominican priory of St. Saviour’s.

Dominican Father Conor McDonough, who is based at the priory which serves as the student house of formation for the Irish province of the Order of Preachers, told OSV News of the community’s shock.
“These events took place very near the Dominican church of St. Saviour’s in the north inner city. The whole community here are praying for all involved,” Father McDonough said.

The eyewitness told RTÉ that the kids were out walking: “All of a sudden one of them fell to the ground, then another fell to the ground, then another falls to the ground.”

“Then this guy started running past,” the eyewitness said.

The alleged assailant was armed with a knife and fell to the ground whereupon “a load of people jumped on him,” the eyewitness recalled.

Siobhan Kearney who was on the scene told RTÉ, “People were trying to attack the man. So me and an American lady formed a ring around him saying we’d wait on the Garda,” referring to the national police, An Garda Síochána.

The witness said, “The police were on the scene pretty quickly. An undercover garda came running up and intervened.”

The Irish prime minister, known as the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, issued a statement shortly after the alleged attack.

“We are all shocked by the incident which has taken place in Parnell Square,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“A number of people have been injured, some of them children. Our thoughts and our prayers go out to them and their families,” he said.

According to RTÉ, Ireland’s Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said the attack in Dublin city center is “an attack on innocence itself.”

McEntee said she had spoken to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and the police are not looking for anyone else in relation to the attack.

McEntee said her thoughts are with the “the children, their carer, their families and the wider school community.”

(Michael Kelly writes for OSV News from Dublin.)

Happy Ordination Anniversary

October 13
Father Justin Joseph
St. James Tupelo & St. Christopher Pontotoc

November 10
Deacon Mark White
Deacon Emeritus, Queen of Peace
Olive Branch

November 19
Father Jack Kurps, SCJ
Catholic Parishes of Northwest Mississippi & Sacred Heart Southern Missions

November 27
Father Tim Murphy
St. James Tupelo & St. Christopher Pontotoc

Thank you for answering the call!

Sisters of St. Francis celebrate jubilees

DUBUQUE, Iowa – Sister Nona Meyerhofer, OSF, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, celebrated her

Double Diamond Jubilee (70 years) on Sunday, June 18, at Mount St. Francis Center in Dubuque.

Sister Nona served as a teacher and educator in Iowa and Illinois and served from 1999 – 2009 at Excel, Inc., Morton, Mississippi, as director and teacher. In June of 2009 Sister Nona retired to Mount Saint Francis Center in Dubuque, Iowa.

Sister Rita Goedken, OSF, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, of Dubuque, celebrated her Diamond Jubilee (60 years) on Saturday, June 17, at Mount St. Francis Center in Dubuque.

Sister Rita is the daughter of Alfred and Loretta (Koch) Goedken and is blessed to be one of their 12 children. She attended SS. Peter and Paul School in Petersburg, St. Boniface High School in New Vienna, and Briar Cliff College in Sioux City, Iowa. Later she did graduate work at Central Michigan University and at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York. Over the years, she taught at Aquin Elementary School, Cascade, Iowa; St. Joe, Bode, Iowa; St. Paul School, Eugene, Oregon; and Our Lady Help of Christians School, Saginaw, Michigan. She has served in parish ministry at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in

Chesaning, Michigan, St. Patrick Parish in Palms, Michigan and at St. Victor Parish in Monroe, Wisconsin. After serving on the Sisters of St. Francis’ leadership team, she traveled to Morton, Mississippi, and served as the program coordinator for the Learning Center. Now living at Mount St. Francis Center, Sister Rita continues to be immensely grateful for a life of rich blessings.

“God is good all the time. All the time, God is good!” said Sister Rita on the occasion of her Jubilee.

Cards can be sent to Sister Nona and Sister Rita at 3390 Windsor Ave., Dubuque, IA 52001.

Religiosos Latinoamericanos sobre persecución, abuso y desafíos sinodales

By Rhina Guidos
(OSV News) – Religiosas y religiosos de muchos lados de América Latina y el Caribe se reunieron del 2 al 5 de junio para abordar algunos de los problemas más difíciles que enfrenta la región, a los que la hermana Liliana Franco, presidenta de la Confederación Latinoamericana de Religiosos (CLAR), llamó “la noche”, refiriéndose a las condiciones sociales, eclesiales, y otras que afectan la vida consagrada.
Compartieron los nombres de sus amigos caídos: algunos de ellos eran sus predecesores y otros mártires; algunos habían vivido vidas largas mientras que otros, cortas; pero todas enraizadas en una cercanía radical al Evangelio.

La hermana Isabel Ramírez contempla una cruz durante una reunión de la junta directiva de la Confederación Latinoamericana de Religiosos en Lima, Perú, el 3 de junio. La hermana Ramírez dijo que le preocupan las amenazas hacia religiosos y religiosas y otras personas que protegen el medio ambiente y los pueblos de la Amazonía. (Foto OSV News/Rhina Guidos, GSR)

Aun así, la Misa de clausura de la 48.ª reunión de la junta directiva de la CLAR en Lima, Perú, transcurrió con alegría y tranquilidad. Terminaron tarde el 5 de junio, con banderas de toda América Latina y el Caribe dispuestas sobre un altar, recordando a sus amigos caídos y dando gracias por sus vidas. Los miembros de las CLAR de Nicaragua y Haití no asistieron a la reunión. Los nicaragüenses temían salir del país y luego no poder regresar. Los haitianos están lidiando con una violencia creciente. Aquellos que asistieron desde lugares como Cuba y Venezuela compartieron detalles sobre las condiciones deterioradas en sus países, como la falta de alimentos y medicinas.
Los miembros dijeron que este es un camino cada vez más doloroso, ya que América Latina y el Caribe sufren convulsiones políticas, migración a gran escala, violencia, y persecución – situaciones que han afectado cada vez más a la vida consagrada en la región. En medio de todo esto, ellos también hablaron con gran entusiasmo sobre el sínodo de la sinodalidad – un proceso de tres años de escucha y diálogo al que el Papa Francisco ha convocado a la Iglesia, y que se lleva a cabo desde 2021 hasta 2024 y lo que significa para la vida consagrada.

El Papa Francisco: Nadie puede ser indiferente ante las “masacres silenciosas” de migrantes

Por Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (CNS) — Lamentando las “masacres silenciosas” de personas inocentes que murieron mientras cruzaban el mar Mediterráneo en busca de una vida mejor en otro lugar, el mundo debe cambiar su actitud hacia los migrantes y los necesitados, dijo el Papa Francisco.

“El hermano que llama es digno de amor, de acogida y de toda atención”, dijo el Papa en una carta con motivo del décimo aniversario de su primer viaje apostólico como Papa a la isla italiana de Lampedusa el 8 de julio de 2013. “Es un hermano que, como yo, ha sido puesto en la tierra para gozar de lo que allí existe y compartirlo en comunión”.

Lampedusa, situada entre Sicilia y las naciones norteafricanas de Túnez y Libia, ha sido durante décadas un importante punto de destino para los migrantes de África, Oriente Medio y Asia que buscan una nueva vida en Europa. Sin embargo, muchos migrantes suelen realizar el viaje en embarcaciones poco seguras o sin las provisiones necesarias, como alimentos, agua y flotadores.

El Papa Francisco saluda a inmigrantes en el puerto de Lampedusa, Italia, en esta foto de archivo del 8 de julio de 2013. Durante su visita, el pontífice instó a la gente a no formar parte de la “globalización de la indiferencia” ante la difícil situación de los millones de personas en todo el mundo que son migrantes y refugiados. (Foto CNS/L’Osservatore Romano vía CPP)

Se cree que al menos 2.000 personas perdieron la vida en 2022 y de nuevo en 2021 mientras cruzaban el Mediterráneo. Entre 2014 y 2022 se registraron casi 26.000 muertos y, entre 2014 y 2018, unas 12.000 personas ahogadas nunca fueron encontradas, según Statista. El Papa Francisco lamentó las muertes durante su visita de 2013 con oraciones y arrojando una corona floral a las ondulantes aguas.

En su carta al arzobispo de Agrigento, Sicilia, Alessandro Damiano, el Papa dijo que quería visitar a la gente de Lampedusa “para expresar mi apoyo y cercanía paterna a quienes, tras dolorosas vicisitudes, a merced del mar, desembarcaron en vuestras costas”. El Vaticano publicó la carta el 8 de julio.

“Asistimos a la repetición de graves tragedias en el Mediterráneo. Nos estremecen las masacres silenciosas ante las que aún permanecemos impotentes y atónitos. La muerte de inocentes, principalmente niños, en busca de una existencia más serena, lejos de las guerras y la violencia, es un grito doloroso y ensordecedor que no puede dejarnos indiferentes”, escribió.

“La ocurrencia de desastres tan inhumanos debe sacudir absolutamente las conciencias”, escribió. “Es necesario un cambio de actitud” y “todos estamos llamados a un renovado y profundo sentido de responsabilidad, mostrando solidaridad y compartiendo”.

“Es necesario, por tanto, que la Iglesia, para ser verdaderamente profética, debe trabajar “con solicitud para ponerse en las rutas de los olvidados, saliendo de sí misma, aliviando con el bálsamo de la fraternidad y de la caridad las heridas sangrantes de quienes llevan impresas en sus propios cuerpos las mismas llagas de Cristo”, escribió el Papa.

Instó a los cristianos a “no permanecer prisioneros del miedo y de la lógica partidista, sino a ser cristianos capaces de enriquecer esta isla” con la “riqueza espiritual del Evangelio, para que vuelva a brillar con su belleza original”.

El Papa también celebró el Domingo del Mar el 9 de julio tras rezar el Ángelus con los visitantes en la Plaza de San Pedro. La jornada internacional de oración por la gente de mar y sus familias, los trabajadores de la industria marítima, los capellanes y los voluntarios con el apostolado del mar se estableció oficialmente en 1975 para concienciar sobre la importancia del trabajo que realizan los marinos, que hoy en día son más de un millón de personas.

El Papa Francisco agradeció a todos los marineros que “custodian el mar frente a las diversas formas de contaminación — además de su trabajo — y sacan del mar la suciedad que tiramos, el plástico”.

“Quisiera también recordar con gratitud a cuantos operan con Mediterranea Saving Humans en el salvamento de migrantes en el mar”, dijo.

La ONG reúne a particulares y asociaciones para salvar a migrantes en apuros en el mar con su propio barco civil de rescate. El Papa Francisco ha invitado al “jefe de misión” del grupo, Luca Casarini, a asistir al sínodo sobre la sinodalidad de octubre de 2023 en el Vaticano como uno de los ocho “invitados especiales” sin derecho a voto”.

Pope names 21 cardinals, including U.S.-born Archbishop Prevost

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis named 21 new cardinals, including U.S.-born Archbishop Robert F. Prevost, who took the helm at the Dicastery for Bishops in April, and French Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The pope announced the names after his recitation of the Angelus with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square July 9. He said he would formally install the cardinals during a special consistory at the Vatican Sept. 30.

Cardinal-designate Prevost expressed his surprise and joy upon hearing the announcement, he said in an interview with Vatican News July 10.

“Certainly I felt happy for the recognition of the mission that has been entrusted to me — which is a very beautiful thing — and at the same time I thought with reverence and holy fear: I hope I can respond to what the pope is asking of me. It is an enormous responsibility, like when he called me to Rome as prefect,” he said in Italian.

“I see it as the continuation of a mission that the pope has decided to give me,” he added.

Speaking in English, Cardinal-designate Prevost said it is not a coincidence that Pope Francis scheduled the consistory before the start of the first general assembly of the synod on synodality, saying he is firmly convinced that “all of us are called to walk together.”

The new cardinals represent more than a dozen countries on five continents. Three of the new cardinals are current Vatican officials, three are current or retired apostolic nuncios, 13 are current or retired heads of archdioceses around the world, one is a rector major of the Salesians and one is a 96-year-old confessor in Buenos Aires. Six belong to religious orders; two of them are Jesuits.

Continuing a papal custom, among the new cardinals were three churchmen — two archbishops and a Capuchin Franciscan priest — over the age of 80, whom Pope Francis said he wanted to honor because they were particularly deserving because of “their service to the church.” Being over the age of 80, they are ineligible to vote in a conclave.

After the new cardinals are installed in late September, there will be 137 potential voters and the total membership of the College of Cardinals is expected to be 243.

The nomination of Cardinal-designate Prevost brings to 18 the number of U.S. cardinals; after the consistory, the U.S. contingent will include 11 potential papal electors.

The September ceremony will mark the ninth time Pope Francis has created cardinals since his election to the papacy in March 2013. After the ceremony Sept. 30, he will have created a total of 131 new cardinals in that College of Cardinals, which would make up about 54% of the total college and 72% of potential electors.

With the addition of six new cardinals under the age of 60, the average age of cardinal electors will get one year younger going from today’s average age of 72 years 8 months to 71 years 6 months. Cardinal-designate Alves Aguiar of Lisbon, 49, will be just six months older than the youngest elector, Cardinal Giorgio Marengo of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 49.

Cardinal-designate Prevost, 67, was born in Chicago, and had served as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, for more than eight years before being appointed to lead the Vatican body responsible for recommending to the pope candidates to fill the office of bishop in many of the Latin-rite dioceses of the world. Recommendations made by the dicastery are typically approved by the pope. Archbishop Prevost has been a member of the dicastery since November 2020.

He also oversees the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, established in 1958 by Pope Pius XII to study the church in Latin America, where nearly 40% of the world’s Catholics reside.

The cardinal-designate holds degrees from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. An Augustinian friar, he joined the Augustinian mission in Peru in 1985 and largely worked in the country until in 1999, when he was elected head of the Augustinians’ Chicago-based province. From 2001 to 2013, he served as prior general of the worldwide order.

In 2014, Pope Francis named him bishop of Chiclayo, in northern Peru, and the pope asked him also to be apostolic administrator of Callao, Peru, from April 2020 to May 2021. The pope then appointed him to succeed the retiring Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in early 2023.

Cardinal-designate Pierre, 77, was born in Rennes, France. Ordained to the priesthood in 1970, he served as apostolic nuncio to Haiti, Uganda and Mexico until Pope Francis named him nuncio to the United States in 2016.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops offered his congratulations and prayers to the new cardinals on behalf of the bishops of the United States July 9.

“Please join me in praying for Cardinal-designate Prevost and Cardinal-designate Pierre as they continue their lives of service to the universal church,” Archbishop Broglio said. “For the church in the United States, their ministry has been a true blessing. Our episcopal conference rejoices in this sign of recognition of these distinguished churchmen.”

Before he read the 21 names, Pope Francis told the estimated 15,000 people in St. Peter’s Square that the diversity of the new cardinals “expresses the universality of the church, which continues to proclaim God’s merciful love to all people on Earth.”

The order in which the cardinals are announced determines their seniority in the College of Cardinals, which has little practical effect except in liturgical processions.

Here is the list of the new cardinals:

Pope Francis greets Archbishop Robert F. Prevost, a Chicago native, during a private audience at the Vatican Feb. 12, 2022. The pope will elevate Cardinal-designate Prevost, who is prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, to the College of Cardinals during a special consistory at the Vatican Sept. 30. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

— U.S.-born Archbishop Robert F. Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, 67.

— Italian Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, 67.

— Argentine Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández of La Plata, Argentina, incoming prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. He will turn 61 July 18.

— Swiss Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig, the apostolic nuncio to Argentina, 76.

— French Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, 77.

— Italian Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, 58.

— South African Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, 66.

— Argentine Archbishop Ángel Sixto Rossi of Córdoba, 64. He is a member of the Society of Jesus.

— Colombian Archbishop Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Bogotá, 61.

— Polish Archbishop Grzegorz Rys of Lódz, 59.

— South Sudanese Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba, 59.

— Spanish Archbishop José Cobo Cano of Madrid, 57.

— Tanzanian Archbishop Protase Rugambwa, coadjutor archbishop of Tabora, 63.

— Malaysian Bishop Sebastian Francis of Penang, Malaysia, 71.

— Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan of Hong Kong, 63. Born in Hong Kong, he is a member of the Society of Jesus.

— Bishop François-Xavier Bustillo of Ajaccio in Corsica, France, 54. Born in Spain, he is a member of the Conventual Franciscans.

— Portuguese Auxiliary Bishop Américo Alves Aguiar of Lisbon, 49.

— Spain-born Salesian Father Ángel Fernández Artime, rector major of the Salesians, 62.

Those named cardinal and over the age of 80:

— Italian Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, a retired papal nuncio, a former curial official and a respected historian of the Second Vatican Council, 82.

— Retired Archbishop Diego Rafael Padrón Sánchez of Cumaná, Venezuela, 84.

— Capuchin Father Luis Pascual Dri, confessor at the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompei, Buenos Aires, 96.