By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – While giving money to charity is a good thing, God expects Christians to do more by giving of themselves to help others, Pope Leo XIV said.
“It is not simply a matter of sharing the material goods we have, but putting our skills, time, love, presence and compassion at the service of others,” the pope told thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square Aug. 10 for the recitation of the Angelus prayer.
Commenting on the day’s Gospel reading, Luke 12:32-48, the pope focused on how Jesus invites his followers to “invest” the treasure that is their lives.
Pope Leo XIV greets people gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the recitation of the Angelus prayer Aug. 10, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
“Everything in God’s plan that makes each of us a priceless and unrepeatable good, a living and breathing asset, must be cultivated and invested in order to grow,” he said.
“Otherwise, these gifts dry up and diminish in value, or they end up being taken away by those who, like thieves, snatch them up as something simply to be consumed.”
“The works of mercy are the most secure and profitable bank” for investing those treasures and talents, the pope said, “because there, as the Gospel teaches us, with ‘two small copper coins’ even the poor widow becomes the richest person in the world.”
Pope Leo urged people to be attentive so that no matter whether they are at home or work or in their parish they do not “miss any opportunity to act with love.”
“This is the type of vigilance that Jesus asks of us: to grow in the habit of being attentive, ready and sensitive to one another, just as he is with us in every moment,” the pope said.
IN EXILE By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI God’s presence inside us and in our world is rarely dramatic, overwhelming, sensational, impossible to ignore. God doesn’t work like that. Rather God’s presence is something that lies quiet and seemingly helpless inside us. It rarely makes a huge splash.
We should know that from the very way God was born into our world. Jesus, as we know, was born into our world with no fanfare and no power, a baby lying helpless in the straw, another child among millions. Nothing spectacular to human eyes surrounded his birth. Then, during his ministry, he never performed miracles to prove his divinity, but only as acts of compassion or to reveal something about God. His ministry, like his birth, wasn’t an attempt to prove his divinity or prove God’s existence. It was intended rather to teach us what God is like and how God loves us unconditionally.
Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
In essence, Jesus’ teaching about God’s presence in our lives makes clear that this presence is mostly quiet and under the surface, a plant growing silently as we sleep, yeast leavening dough in a manner hidden from our eyes, spring slowly turning a barren tree green, an insignificant mustard plant eventually surprising us with its growth, a man or woman forgiving an enemy. God works in ways that are seemingly hidden and can be ignored by our eyes. The God that Jesus incarnates is neither dramatic nor flashy.
And there’s an important lesson in this. Simply put, God lies inside us, deep inside, but in a way that is almost unfelt, often unnoticed, and can easily be ignored. However, while that presence is never overpowering, it has inside of it a gentle, unremitting imperative, a compulsion, which invites us to draw upon it. And if we do, it gushes up in us as an infinite stream that instructs, nurtures, and fills us with life and energy.
This is important for understanding how God is present inside us. God lies inside us as an invitation that always respects our freedom and never overpowers us, but also never goes away. It lies there precisely like a baby lying helpless in the straw, gently beckoning us, but helpless in itself to make us pick it up.
For example, C.S. Lewis shares this in explaining why, despite a strong affective and intellectual reluctance, he eventually became a Christian (“the most reluctant convert in the history of Christendom”). He became a believer, he says, because he was unable to ultimately ignore a quiet but persistent voice inside him which, because it was gentle and respectful of his freedom, he could ignore for a long time. But it never went away.
In retrospect, he realized it had always been there as an incessant nudge, beckoning him to draw from it, a gentle unyielding imperative, a “compulsion” which, if obeyed, leads to liberation.
Ruth Burrows, the British Carmelite and mystic, describes a similar experience. In her autobiography Before the Living God, she tells the story of her late adolescent years and how at that time in her life she thought little about religion and faith. Yet she eventually ends up not only being serious about religion but becoming a Carmelite nun and a gifted spiritual writer. What happened?
Triggered by a series of accidental circumstances, one day she found herself in a chapel where, almost against her conscious will, she left herself open to a voice inside her which she had until then mainly ignored, precisely because it had never forced itself upon her freedom. But once touched, it gushed up as the deepest and most real thing inside her and set the direction of her life forever.
Like C.S. Lewis, she too, once she had opened herself to it, felt that voice as an unyielding moral compulsion opening her to ultimate liberation.
This is true too for me. When I was seventeen years old and graduating from high school, I had no natural desire whatsoever to become a Roman Catholic priest. But, despite a strong affective resistance, I felt a call to enter a religious order and become a Catholic priest. Despite that strong resistance inside me, I obeyed that call, that compulsion. Now, sixty years later, I look back on that decision as the clearest, most unselfish, faith-based, and life-giving decision I have ever made. I could have ignored that beckoning. I’m forever grateful I didn’t.
Fredrick Buechner suggests that God is present inside us as a subterranean presence of grace. The grace of God is “beneath the surface; it’s not right there like the brass band announcing itself, but it comes and it touches and it strikes in ways that leave us free to either not even notice it or to draw back from it.”
God never tries to overwhelm us. More than anyone else, God respects our freedom. God lies everywhere, inside us and around us, almost unfelt, largely unnoticed, and easily ignored, a quiet, gentle nudge; but, if drawn upon, the ultimate stream of love and life.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher and award-winning author. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.)
FROM THE HERMITAGE By sister alies therese As in a responsorial psalm, repeat after me: God is in the obstacle.
Or so they thought. Or so they said. However, for some, in that desert, after a little while, when the buzz quiets, something else takes over – a kind of resistance, acedia. It is not just monks and nuns who suffer this; married people, singles, anyone can fall prey.
Kathleen Norris, in her exceptional book “Acedia & Me,” tells how the word itself has gone through a myriad of definitions since the earliest writings in “The Praktikos” of Evagrius Ponticus (345–399). Some are: “Acedia: the deadly sin of sloth; or spiritual torpor and apathy,” according to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “accidie” as heedlessness, torpor … a non-caring state. The Online Medical Dictionary describes “acedia” as a mental syndrome whose chief features are listlessness, carelessness, apathy and melancholia.
Repeat: God is in the obstacle.
When the seeker would ask about this struggle, Abba Poemen would advise: “Watchfulness, self-knowledge, and discernment. These are the guides of the soul,” according to “Desert Fathers and Mothers” by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. Isadore of Pelusia offered this: “Many desire virtue, but fear to go forward on the way that leads to it, while others consider that virtue does not even exist. So, it is necessary to persuade the former to give up their habitual idleness, and to teach the others what virtue really is.”
Amma Syncletica said there is an asceticism determined by the enemy and practiced by his disciples. She asked, “How are we to distinguish between the divine and demonic tyranny?” Her answer was: “We must arm ourselves in every way against the demons. For they attack us from outside, and they also stir us up from within; and the soul is like a ship when great waves break over it, and it sinks because the hold is too full,” as recorded in “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers” by Benedicta Ward. And you ask, how is God in the obstacle?
Amma Theodora, renowned for her wisdom, tells us it is good to live in peace, practicing perpetual prayer. “However,” she says, “you should realize that as soon as you intend to live in peace, at once evil comes and weighs down your soul through accidie, faintheartedness and evil thoughts. It also attacks your body through sickness, debility, weakening of the knees and all the members. It dissipates the strength of the soul and body, so that one believes one is ill and no longer able to pray,” also from “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers.”
Yes, you’ve had this experience. You sit down to pray, feeling quite good, knowing you will talk with God … when you remember your shopping list, calling your mother or watering the plants. It will only take a minute, so you do that thing. Then the phone rings, the TV goes off, the kids pack in from school … and it keeps happening. Those little demons of distress wiggle into your soul, and it seems there’s not much you can do about the indifference, weariness, lax intentions or dryness that grows.
Cassian wrote that “if we are overcome by sloth or carelessness and spend our time in idle gossip, or are entangled in the cares of this world and unnecessary anxieties, the result will be that a sort of species of tares will spring up and occupy our hearts, and as our Lord and Savior says, wherever the treasure of our works or purpose may be, there also our heart is sure to continue.”
Sloth is a culpable lack of physical or spiritual effort; acedia or laziness. One of the capital sins, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sins are called “capital” because “they engender other sins or vices.” (1866) This spiritual effort manifests itself mainly during prayer and in the life of one given to God; this is a disaster. “Someone said to Antony, ‘Pray for me.’ The old man said to him, ‘I will have no mercy upon you, nor will God have any, if you yourself do not make an effort,’” writes Benedicta Ward from Carrigan’s “The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.”
Acedia in full bloom looks like frustration or weariness, experienced as sadness – “sadness in relation to a spiritual good … a retreat from the divine good itself,” as St. Thomas Aquinas says in “Summa Theologica.” I just don’t care. I can’t be bothered.
Kenneth Russell, in his article in “Review for Religious,” writes that “acedia is a gray morning’s inclination not to intensify the original yes to God, community or spouse … choose to swim no further. … What they really opt for is some means of control over their own comfort. … The victims of acedia tread water and console their anxieties with sleep or attempt to dissipate them in one distraction after another.”
David of Augsburg (d. 1272) described “accidie” in three kinds: the first is bitterness of mind that cannot be pleased by anything cheerful or wholesome; the second, a kind of indolent torpor loving sleep and comfort; and the third, “a weariness in such things as belong to God, praying without devotion, rushing through, thinking of other things as not to be bored.” Chaucer’s “Parson’s Tale” notes that “envy and anger cause bitterness, which is the mother of acedia, and takes from a man the love of all goodness. Then is acedia the anguish of the troubled heart; as St. Augustine says, ‘It is the sadness of goodness and the joy of evil.’”
How can God be here?
It has been a very hot summer; maybe your prayer is distressed? Think of the Noonday Devil, as acedia is often called – for at the height of noon the sun beats down, the pray-er is hungry, nothing is going right, and one could not be convinced God is in these obstacles. Give up. But I was meant for this – this community, this vocation, this spouse. Or was I? The demon of doubt squeaks in. This is where my talent lies – the very one given to me by God, you try to think. Mark Cuban, the entrepreneur, quipped: “Talent without effort is wasted talent. And while effort is the one thing we can control, applying that effort intelligently is next on the list.”
Finally, Abbot Jean-Charles Nault, OSB, sums it up when he writes that “acedia is the enemy of spiritual joy … a profound withdrawal into self to save one’s freedom at any price … no longer any room for an abandonment to the other or for the joy of gift. What remains is sadness or bitterness … distancing oneself, separated from others and likewise separated from God,” as he wrote in “Enemy of Spiritual Joy” in Communio journal.
What to do: Intensify your prayer. Don’t look for distractions. Be vigilant. Don’t settle for being less than you can. Don’t refuse responsibility. Do for others. Search for God in the obstacles. Life in God is not a spectator sport.
“And should our branches be broken off by negligence, carelessness, disdain or ruin, may these reckless prunings carry even more significance as symbols of peace in a broken world,” wrote Sister M. Guider, OSF.
God is in the obstacles.
God has found you.
Blessings.
(sister alies therese is a canonical hermit who prays and writes.)
From the Archives By Mary Woodward Recently, I assisted in setting up for the Bishop’s Ball, Catholic Charities’ annual fundraiser. This year the event was held at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson, a wonderful complex featuring the state’s history from prehistoric times to the present, and a whole building devoted to the civil rights movement. During a break from setting up, I went upstairs to view a special exhibit on Hurricane Katrina. Aug. 28 marks the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic storm that claimed more than 1,800 lives and caused more than $125 billion in property damage. The exhibit was a collection of photographer Melody Golding’s work enlarged for the space and various items salvaged from the storm that are part of the Mississippi Archives and History Collection.
BILOXI – In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bishop William Houck, then president of Catholic Extension, presents a check to Archbishop Thomas Rodi of Mobile (bishop of Biloxi at the time) to support recovery efforts amid the widespread devastation along the Gulf Coast. (Photo from archives)
Also included were displays of facts and figures and one interesting list of “Things We Learned.” On this list were simple realizations such as: “We can all ride in one car”; “A bag of ice is better than a sack of gold”; “Any brand of coffee will do”; and “Your neighbor is part of the family.” Thinking back to 20 years ago as we approach the anniversary, I remember all the moving parts the diocese and Catholic Charities coordinated in the aftermath of that devastating storm. I remember all the hotels and shelters in Jackson being filled with Gulf Coast refugees fleeing the path. I remember taking blankets, pillows and Bibles to the Coliseum in downtown Jackson, which was serving as a shelter and was unprepared for the number of people who arrived.
I remember watching the helicopter flyover of the Coast on my battery-operated mini TV the morning after the storm and thinking, this is not real. I remember dragging a 10-foot turret from the cathedral’s steeple into the bishops’ burial ground to keep it safe from copper thieves.
I remember making a trip down to the Coast a few months after the storm with Bishop William Houck, who was then serving as president of Catholic Extension in Chicago. He was bringing prayers, greetings and a check to the Diocese of Biloxi, which suffered immense damage from the tidal surge, flooding and winds of Katrina.
There are so many memories that the entire World Wide Web could not hold them. As I was preparing for this column, I went through some of the old press releases we had done as part of the ongoing disaster recovery plan – one that came together on the fly because no one ever expected something such as Katrina.
Here is one of those releases that shows the many moving parts mentioned above:
Catholic Diocese of Jackson/Catholic Charities Jackson September 2005
Schools:
The diocesan Catholic school system has taken in 585 displaced students.
Parents have not been charged enrollment fees or tuition.
Schools, through community outreach, are providing uniforms, school supplies and backpacks free of charge.
We have established a Diocesan Katrina Relief Education Fund to assist schools incurring additional expenses to serve displaced students.
Rural areas:
Catholic Charities and the Diocese of Jackson have “adopted” the rural areas around Hattiesburg in the Diocese of Biloxi.
Facilitated with St. Thomas Catholic Church in Hattiesburg for the church to become a FEMA distribution site.
Diverted many trucks with emergency supplies to this site for distribution.
Provided a mobile truck to deliver supplies to rural communities.
Helped Purvis set up a FEMA site.
Currently serving hard-hit small communities including Foxworth, Columbia, Bassfield, Sumrall, Seminary, Mize, Moselle, Eastabuchie, Richton and Laurel.
Jackson distribution warehouses:
40 Boling Street: The state of Mississippi under Gov. Haley Barbour has taken control of this site, which was previously coordinated by the Seventh-day Adventists and Catholic Charities. Ships sorted bulk, palletized items only.
1425 Ridgeway Street: The state has asked Catholic Charities to coordinate this second warehouse to take unsorted goods, sort and palletize them, and ship them to Boling Street for distribution to needy areas.
Ellis Avenue: We have our own warehouse with funds donated by the Knights of Malta to store items such as school supplies temporarily so they may be sent to our newly bulging schools.
Parish efforts:
Shelters for evacuees as well as power company workers.
Pastoral visits to shelters.
Provided laundry service to shelters.
Mass was offered at the Coliseum shelter for Catholics staying there.
Parish dinners and breakfasts have been taken to shelters, and people in shelters have been brought to the churches for Mass and hospitality.
Surveying temporary housing options.
Emergency food pantries set up.
Helping individuals and families set up homes with supplies.
Assisting evacuees still in hotels with food and rent assistance.
Hosting relief volunteers in private homes of parishioners.
As I read through this list, I remember how well everyone worked together under incredibly difficult circumstances. Tempers did flare at times because it was very hot and there was no power for weeks, even as far north as Jackson, but those flare-ups were met with understanding and forgiveness.
Collectively, we remembered that “we can all ride in one car.”
(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)
Rev. Marvin Gyasie, SVD, appointed pastor of St. Mary Parish in Vicksburg and Administrator of St. Joseph Parish in Port Gibson, effective July 1.Deacon Anthony Schmidt appointed to serve in diaconal ministry at St. Joseph Parish in Gluckstadt, effective August 1.
For more than two decades, Michelle Harkins has been a steady and faithful presence at St. James Parish in Tupelo, Mississippi. From full-time volunteer to trusted parish leader, her ministry has touched the lives of countless families – and it all began with a mother’s simple “yes.”
Her ministry started with a desire to support her children’s faith journey.
“I felt it was crucial, as a parent, to be involved and active,” she said.
That involvement soon grew into teaching CCD classes, working with the Catholic Youth Program and eventually leading the parish’s Protection of Children ministry. Over the years, Harkins’ own faith has deepened.
“Working with the youth helps me learn more so I can give a simple answer to what they may find a difficult question,” she said.
She speaks with great pride about the bonds that are built through ministry – connections that last well beyond confirmation or graduation.
“The moments I treasure most are when I’m told, ‘Thank you for being there with me through it all. Thank you for your time and understanding,’” Harkins said.
Perhaps the most rewarding part of her ministry has been seeing the full circle of faith lived out in the lives of the young people she once taught.
“There are so many stories,” she said. “But the ones that stand out are those I walked with through faith formation and now they walk with me as adult teachers and chaperones. Lauren Pound, Patrick Dye, Denise Burnley … they were ‘my kids’ and today they are young adults who are constant and present for the youth in our parish. It’s amazing and beautiful to see the full circle come to completion with the Catholic faith as their strong foundation.”
Harkins’ ministry is one of many supported by the Catholic Service Appeal (CSA), which funds programs and services throughout the Diocese of Jackson. She believes in it wholeheartedly and encourages others to give.
“The CSA provides so much more than people realize,” she said. “Please give and take the time to find out all the various and beautiful opportunities it supports across the diocese. It continues to provide for our retired priests like Father Henry Shelton – who is retired, yet still faithfully serves St. James.”
“To those who give to CSA and those considering a gift,” she added, “know in your heart that you are serving others in our diocese in so many ways. If you want to understand all that the CSA does, take the time to do your research. Contact the diocese. Ask questions. You’ll find that you are giving to a truly great cause.”
As Harkins continues her ministry, her story stands as a testament to the lasting impact one person can have on a faith community – and the ripple effect of generosity shared through initiatives like the Catholic Service Appeal.
The annual Catholic Service Appeal unites Catholics across the Diocese of Jackson to support 14 vital ministries that serve local communities. From faith formation and youth ministry to seminarian education and clergy healthcare, these initiatives help carry the Gospel’s message to those in need throughout the diocese. Give today to help these ministries thrive.
By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Stories about “the first 100 days” are standard fare at the beginning of a U.S. president’s four-year term; the articles usually focus on how much the new president was able to accomplish and how quickly.
But a pope is elected for life and without having promised voters anything or having presented a platform.
Pope Leo XIV was elected May 8, making Aug. 16 the 100th day since he stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as pope. He will celebrate his 70th birthday Sept. 14.
While the first 100 days of a pontificate may hint at what is to come, the initial period of Pope Leo’s ministry as the successor of Peter and bishop of Rome seemed mostly about him getting used to the role, the crowds and the protocol.
According to canon law, the pope “possesses supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power in the church, which he is always able to exercise freely.”
Pope Leo XIV greets people as he rides in the popemobile in St. Peter’s Square after celebrating Mass for the conclusion of the Jubilee of Sport in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 15, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
In other words, he could have issued a slew of the canonical equivalent of executive orders in his first days in office. Instead, he lived up to his reputation as a person who listens before deciding – holding a meeting with the College of Cardinals and individual meetings with the heads of Vatican offices.
Like his predecessors, Pope Leo confirmed the heads of Curia offices on a temporary basis a few days after his election. Some major nominations are expected in September or early October, starting with his own replacement as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
His choices for members of his team, and whether he decides to have an international Council of Cardinals to advise him will send signals not only about what he wants to do but also how he wants to do it. (Pope Francis set up the Council of Cardinals early in his pontificate to help him with the reform of the Roman Curia and to advise him on other matters, but he did not make the council a formal body.)
September also should bring an announcement about where Pope Leo will live. Several cardinals have said that in the days before the conclave they encouraged the future pope – whoever he would be – to move back into the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace.
In his first public address, moments after his election, the new pope said: “We want to be a synodal church, a church that moves forward, a church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close above all to those who are suffering.”
Pope Leo went deeper when he spoke about the key objectives of his ministry – in a pontificate that easily could last 20 years – during a meeting with the College of Cardinals two days after his election.
He asked the cardinals to join him in renewing a “complete commitment to the path that the universal church has now followed for decades in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.”
That path had six fundamental points that, Pope Leo said, “Pope Francis masterfully and concretely set it forth” in his exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel.”
The six points highlighted by Pope Leo were: “the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation; the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community; growth in collegiality and synodality; attention to the ‘sensus fidei’ (the people of God’s sense of the faith), especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety; loving care for the least and the rejected; (and) courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities.”
Those realities include the widespread media attention focused on the election of the first U.S.-born pope as well as the fact that people feel free to use social media to proclaim what Pope Leo “should” do, “must” or “must not” do.
According to a Gallup Poll published Aug. 5, Pope Leo was the most favorably viewed of 14 world leaders and newsmakers; 57% of Americans said they had a “favorable opinion” of him and 11% said they had an “unfavorable” opinion.
“These figures closely match Pope Francis’ ratings when he assumed the role in 2013, then viewed favorably by 58% and unfavorably by 10%, as well as Pope Benedict in 2005 – 55% favorable, 12% unfavorable,” Gallup said.
As the weeks passed after his election, Pope Leo seemed to grow more comfortable with a crowd, spending more time blessing babies and enjoying his interactions with the thousands of people who came to St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audiences.
At his general audience Aug. 6 – held outside on a very warm summer day – the pope finished his formal program in less than an hour, then spent another two and a half hours shaking hands, posing for photos with pilgrim groups and having unusually long conversations with dozens of newlywed couples before offering them his blessing.
As a Curia official, the future pope had a reputation of being reserved, but Pope Leo has shown he has a special tool for connecting with a crowd: speaking English and Spanish as well as Italian, the Vatican’s official working language.
MERIDIAN – Meridian High School valedictorian Dane Hill was awarded the first Father Cosgrove Scholarship by St. Joseph Catholic Church. Pictured, from left, Father Augustine Palimattam, Dane Hill, Kim Hill and Demetrius Hill. (Photo courtesy of parish)
By Staff Reports MERIDIAN – St. Joseph Catholic Church has awarded the first Father Cosgrove Scholarship to Dane Hill, valedictorian of Meridian High School’s Class of 2025.
The scholarship honors Father Frank Cosgrove, former pastor of St. Joseph and St. Patrick Catholic churches and St. Patrick School in Meridian. Now retired at St. Catherine’s Village in Madison, Cosgrove is remembered for his wisdom, humor and deep pastoral care.
Thanks to an anonymous donor, the parish established a $10,000 scholarship fund to be awarded annually to the school’s valedictorian for as long as funds are available.
“Father Cosgrove has had a profound and lasting impact on our community,” said Father Augustine Palimattam, current pastor of the Catholic Community. “This scholarship honors his legacy by encouraging and supporting the academic and moral excellence he always championed.”
Hill, the first recipient, will attend Clark Atlanta University this fall.
By Carol Glatz ROME (CNS) – The fullness of life depends on how much one joyfully welcomes and shares in life while also living with a constant yearning for those things that only come from God, Pope Leo XIV told young people.
“Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less. You will then see the light of the Gospel growing every day, in you and around you,” he said in his homily during Mass concluding the Jubilee of Youth Aug. 3.
The outdoor Mass, held in Rome’s Tor Vergata neighborhood, marked the culmination of a week-long series of events for the Jubilee of Youth.
More than 1 million people were estimated to be gathered across the 130 acres that had been prepared for the morning Mass, the prayer vigil the evening before, and for the hundreds of thousands of people sleeping overnight.
A priest distributes Communion to a young woman during a Mass closing the Jubilee of Youth in Rome’s Tor Vergata neighborhood Aug. 3, 2025. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)
After touching down by helicopter less than 12 hours after leaving the evening vigil, the pope rode in the popemobile throughout the open areas – dotted with tents and tarps, and filled with young people, cheering, waving their nation’s flag, and sometimes launching at him shirts and gifts.
“Good morning!” he said in six languages from the stage set up for the Mass.
“I hope you all rested a little bit,” he said in English. “We will shortly begin the greatest celebration that Christ left us: his very presence in the Eucharist.”
He said he hoped the concluding Mass would be “a truly memorable occasion for each and every one of us” because “when together, as Christ’s church, we follow, we walk together, we live with Jesus Christ.”
In his homily during the Mass, the pope again highlighted the importance of the Eucharist, as “the sacrament of the Lord’s total gift of himself to us.”
It is Christ, the Risen One, he said, “who transforms our lives and enlightens our affections, desires and thoughts.”
“We are not made for a life where everything is taken for granted and static, but for an existence that is constantly renewed through the gift of self in love,” he said.
Much like a field of flowers, where each small, delicate stem may dry out, become bent and crushed, he said, each flower is “immediately replaced by others that sprout up after them, generously nourished and fertilized by the first ones as they decay on the ground. This is how the field survives: through constant regeneration.”
“This is why we continually aspire to something ‘more’ that no created reality can give us; we feel a deep and burning thirst that no drink in this world can satisfy,” he said. “Knowing this, let us not deceive our hearts by trying to satisfy them with cheap imitations!”
Pope Leo urged the young people to listen to that yearning and “turn this thirst into a step stool, like children who stand on tiptoe, in order to peer through the window of encounter with God,” who has been “waiting for us, knocking gently on the window of our soul.”
“It is truly beautiful, especially at a young age, to open wide your hearts, to allow him to enter, and to set out on this adventure with him towards eternity,” he said.
Speaking briefly in English, the pope said, “There is a burning question in our hearts, a need for truth that we cannot ignore, which leads us to ask ourselves: what is true happiness? What is the true meaning of life? What can free us from being trapped in meaninglessness, boredom and mediocrity?”
“Buying, hoarding and consuming are not enough,” he said. The fullness of existence “has to do with what we joyfully welcome and share.”
“We need to lift our eyes, to look upwards, to the ‘things that are above,’ to realize that everything in the world has meaning only insofar as it serves to unite us to God and to our brothers and sisters in charity, helping us to grow in ‘compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience,’ forgiveness and peace, all in imitation of Christ,” he said.
Evoking St. John Paul II’s words during the XV World Youth Day prayer vigil held in the same spot 25 years ago, Pope Leo reminded the young people that “Jesus is our hope.”
“Let us remain united to him, let us remain in his friendship, always, cultivating it through prayer, adoration, Eucharistic communion, frequent confession, and generous charity, following the examples of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and Blessed Carlo Acutis, who will soon be declared saints,” he said.
Wishing everyone “a good trip home,” he encouraged the young people to “continue to walk joyfully in the footsteps of the Savior, and spread your enthusiasm and the witness of your faith to everyone you meet!”
By Kate Scanlon WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Some immigrant religious workers are facing legal limbo, and Catholic advocates are pushing the Trump administration to address the backlog in their visa category.
Many immigrant religious workers, such as Catholic priests and nuns, legally enter the country on R-1 non-immigrant religious worker visas. These are initially granted for a 30-month period, with one possible renewal allowing for a total of five years. During that window, they can apply for employment-based EB-4 status to remain in the U.S. without interruption.
“One of the challenges is that because the number of green cards that are issued every year is not representative of the number of people that are eligible,” said Erin Corcoran, associate teaching professor and executive director of the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
That backlog could have a grave impact on the church in the U.S. The National Study of Catholic Priests, released in 2022 by The Catholic University of America’s Catholic Project, indicated 24% of priests serving in the U.S. are foreign-born.
In April, bipartisan legislation, the Religious Workforce Protection Act, was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and in the House by Reps. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, and Richard Neal, D-Mass. All five are Catholic.
If signed into law, the bill would permit religious workers already in the U.S. on temporary R-1 status with pending EB-4 applications to stay in the U.S. while waiting for permanent residency, Collins’ office said. Catholic organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Jesuit Refugee Service/USA and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), have backed the legislation.
A USCCB spokesperson told OSV News on Aug. 6, “We’re continuing our education efforts about the pressing need for the RWPA.”
“We remain hopeful that Congress will have an opportunity to move the bill forward before the end of the year,” the spokesperson said.
Corcoran said the legislation would allow, for example, a Catholic priest with temporary R-1 status to move from one parish to another in accordance with diocesan needs.
The bill would not increase the limit on how many visas are granted.
“It’s a very modest fix,” she said.
Despite bipartisan support, it was not immediately clear what the prospects might be for the bill once lawmakers return from their August recess, or whether President Donald Trump would sign it.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from OSV News by publication time on whether the Trump administration would support the bill.
Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute, told OSV News, “Congress and the Trump administration have a good opportunity to make an urgent targeted fix to ensure clergy and religious from abroad serving our communities throughout the country don’t become casualties of an increasingly broken immigration system.”
Corcoran said, “We’ve seen so little bipartisan solutions to problems, and we all benefit from these people being in our parishes.”
Advocacy for the bill comes as the Trump administration seeks to implement hardline immigration policies, including its pursuit of what it has called “the largest deportation in U.S. history.”
However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an Aug. 7 interview with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN’s The World Over that the administration is trying to “create its own standalone process” for religious workers, instead of having them conflated with other immigration categories.
“And I’ve been in touch, for example, with a number of our cardinals here in the United States and bishops about that as well,” Rubio said. “We don’t want to read headlines that some Catholic Church had to close because it couldn’t get their priests here … some order closed because some nun couldn’t get here.”
Congress is scheduled to return from its August recess in early September.
