Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore hasn’t ruled out the possibility that some Baltimore parishes could close at the end of a new initiative to reimagine Catholic life in the city, but he has committed to a two-year synodal-based listening process before any decisions are made.
Members of the Pan-African Association of Exegetes have urged African governments, peoples, and businesses to take environmental protection as a divine mandate.
The Jesuit review “La Civiltà Cattolica” releases Pope Francis’ conversation with Jesuits in the “Russian Region” while on his Apostolic Journey to Kazakhstan, in which the Pope reflected on the causes of what he calls the third world war.
Italy’s leading Catholic prelate has urged the country’s new leadership, seen as hostile to much of the pope’s social agenda, to stand up for the poor and vulnerable, saying the church itself will continue to advocate for the common good with “severity.”
Cardinal Mario Grech encouraged more than 200 U.S. Catholic leaders to continue the process of listening called for by the Synod on Synodality, even as it moves out of the local phase, and to consider the contributions of all people of goodwill, in a recent presentation.
Throughout the diocesan phase of the Synod on Synodality, U.S. Catholics consistently highlighted several “enduring wounds” that plague the nation’s church, including the still-unfolding effects of the sexual abuse crisis, divisions over the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, and a perceived lack of unity among the nation’s bishops.
On Monday morning Pope Francis met privately in the Apostolic Palace with around 200 newly ordained Bishops over the past year taking part in the second session of a formation course taking place at the Regina Apostolorum Atheneum and organized by the Dicasteries for Bishops and for Eastern Churches.
Pope Francis establishes the Populorum Progressio Fund, and tells members of the former Foundation that the Synodal journey must help the Church become more “Samaritan,” comforting, and engaging in order to “touch the wounds of Christ’s suffering flesh in His people.”