By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In a sign affirming that Pope Francis has been able to conduct work while in the hospital, the Vatican said the pope had met with the top officials of the Vatican Secretariat of State and had signed several decrees in sainthood causes.
The Vatican press office said Feb. 25 that the pope had signed the decrees the previous day during a meeting at Rome’s Gemelli hospital with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and with Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute secretary of state.
The announcement followed a typically brief morning update on the health of the 88-year-old pope, which said, “The pope rested well, all night.”
Pope Francis, diagnosed with double pneumonia, has been in the hospital since Feb. 14.
A medical bulletin published by the Vatican late Feb. 24, said Pope Francis’ condition had shown a slight improvement during the day, but his condition remained critical. He had not had another “asthmatic respiratory crisis,” so doctors were able to reduce the oxygen he is receiving by nasal cannula.
Hours after visiting Pope Francis in the hospital, Cardinal Parolin led the recitation of the rosary in St. Peter’s Square, praying for the pope and his health. Some two dozen cardinals joined the nighttime prayer, along with officials of the Roman Curia and hundreds of Catholics from Rome and around the world.
The 9 p.m. rosary will be a fixed appointment, the Vatican said. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, was scheduled to lead the prayer Feb. 25.
Updates
‘Meeking’ my horse
From the Hermitage
By sister alies therese
Not long until we purple-up and turn our attention more intentionally to the Passion of Jesus. In our tradition, we fast, pray, and give alms and are convinced that we shall make progress, and our improvement will bring holiness. Really? An earlier tradition taught this:
Baal Shem Tov (Poland, d. 1760) (a Hasid or ‘pious one’) taught, “A person of piety complained to the Master, saying, ‘I have labored hard and long in the service of the Lord, and yet I have received no improvement. I am still an ordinary and ignorant person.’ And the Master answered, ‘Ah, yes, but you have gained the realization that you are ordinary and ignorant and that in itself is a worthy accomplishment, is it not?’”
Will I ever be ‘meeked?’ A horse is not meeked to take away its power … no, it is to harness it, moving the animal’s heart from independence to loyalty. In 2019 Maleah (internet) wrote, “Meekness is a superpower developing a focused deliberate center.” This center is our place of prayer and an attitude of meekness reminds us of who our center is.
“To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself. Whenever one so concentrates attention … and completely forgets the ego, they are praying.” (W.H. Auden, Prayer the Nature of, A Certain World, 1970)
‘Meeking a horse’ comes from Old English and Old Norse. Injukr means gentle … and way back to the Greek praus meaning strength under control. Focused and deliberate. Strong under control.
Behavioral aspects give us a few clues as to how we are doing and though we may remain ignorant and ordinary we can check our tempers, hold back a bad word, or show an engaging smile rather than a wrinkly frown. Aristotle remarked a “praus person has the virtue of the mean between two extremes. The person submits or constrains power for greater effect on self and others.”
Prayer is essential, for to lower oneself before the magnificence of God is to allow ourselves to be meeked into wholesome submission, being transformed moment by moment into the gentleness of God. Another way we express this deliberate and controlled behavior is to let others speak … you listen, and as Carnegie remarked, “do what’s needed.” Sometimes we do not pay attention to what is needed, thinking we can be holy our way. A Sufi story teaches, “There are those in winter who, calling themselves religious say, ‘I shall not wear warm clothes. I shall trust in God’s kindness to protect me from the cold.’ But these people do not realize that the God who created cold has also given human beings the means to protect themselves from it.’”
What do the Scriptures say about being ‘meek?’ Consider both Psalm 37 and Matthew 5:5ff. In Psalm 37 we understand that the meek are the anawim, those overwhelmed by want thus their complete dependence upon God. “Quiet down before God and be prayerful before Him. Don’t bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top. Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes — it only makes things worse.” (Peterson, Psalm 37, The Message)
When Matthew picks these notions up and includes them in the beatitudes, we hear the call of ‘slow to anger,’ ‘gentle with others’ and not striving but accepting. “You are blessed when you are content with just who you are – no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.” (Peterson, MT 5:5, The Message). We are patiently learning to trust and to build up nourishing connections. As with that horse, we develop a partnership.
“Pray simply. Do not expect to find in your heart any remarkable gift of prayer. Consider yourself unworthy of it. Then you will find peace. Use the empty, dry coldness of your prayer as food for your humility.” (St. Makari of Optino) We have the opportunity each day to grow in meekness as we deepen, pray and do what is needed. That is our journey, and we need to make good friends with our horses.
“Grow up gentle and good and never learn bad ways; do your work with goodwill, lift your feet up when you trot, and never bite or kick even in play.” (Anna Sewell, Black Beauty).
BLESSINGS.
(Sister alies therese is a canonically vowed hermit with days formed around prayer and writing.)
You have my permission to cry and shout
It IS GOOD
By Elizabeth Scalia
Early on, my friend Ruby absorbed the message that a “strong, independent” woman never seeks out help; she does everything all by herself, for herself.
Thus, Ruby is fast to offer help to anyone else who might need it – she’ll watch the kids and the dog; she’ll drive you to the emergency room and hold your hand while you wait; she’ll take some of the work off your desk if you’re having a bad week and complete it for you. But she’ll never ask anyone to do the same for her.
As a single mother Ruby did it all, saw to it all and carried it all on her own wee shoulders, raising a sweet-natured boy into manhood in the process. Her buzzwords were “strength” and “self-sufficiency,” even when it meant wearing shoes long in need of replacement. Challenges were risen to; personal needs brushed aside. She could look back on each day knowing she’d done her best by her world, and that any debts she’d incurred – those financial, social or personal obligations that can make a resolutely self-contained sort feel uncomfortably vulnerable – had been kept to a minimum.
And that all worked for her. Until suddenly, it didn’t.
As for so many of us, a cancer diagnosis proved to be the line – the one obstacle her strong will could not bend, nor her stiff spine break through.
Ruby put a good face on things through biopsies and MRI’s, and as cancer in one breast became cancer in both and discussions of surgical options and treatments took her diabetes into consideration. She presented a strong face to her family – the determined, extreme calm at the crux of her own private maelstrom. Then a pre-surgical stress test flagged a new concern: “It might be broken-heart syndrome,” the cardiologist mused.
And that was when she cracked.
My friend has faced the challenges of aging with grace and humor, but the whole “cancer-diabetes-wait-my-heart-is-broken-now?” trifecta did her in. For the first time since childhood, Ruby felt utterly unmoored from her own strengths.
“You need to let yourself lean on your family and friends, a little,” I advised her. “It’s okay to say, ‘I need a hug, I need someone to fuss on me a little bit.’ Let people help!”
Uncomfortable with need and dubious about the whole endeavor, Ruby eventually hinted to her family that she was scared. “So much for your good advice,” she reported back, fuming. “They just said stuff like, ‘you have to take it a day at a time!’ I’m over here, terrified, and they’re no help at all!”
Sadly, people mostly don’t know what to say in such circumstances, particularly if they’ve never been asked for support. Ruby’s sudden need for the intimacy of consolation threw them off, a bit. Unsure about saying, “We’re scared too,” they fell back on “one day at a time,” which my friend – once she’d calmed down – recognized was sound advice. Cancer is scary. Sometimes you can only deal with it an hour (or even five minutes) at a time.
“You should forgive them for having no idea how to comfort you,” I told her, “because you’ve never needed them to before. This is new territory for everyone. Even if they’re not getting the words right, believe that they want the best for you and are praying for you.”
“And I hate myself for crying uncontrollably,” she wailed. “I really do.”
How often have we heard “strong” women say this – as if tears were a detestable fault or a sin against the perceived self? How many of us are walking around with broken hearts because we won’t permit ourselves the medicine of weeping and fully feeling the things we’ve determinedly repressed because we want that illusion of strength?
“That’s stupid,” I said, “You wouldn’t hate me, or one of your siblings, for crying; why should you hate yourself? Just stop that and let yourself feel all the things you have a right to feel. You’re allowed. I give you permission!”
At the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, we read, “But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire … He will sit refining and purifying silver…” (Mal 3:2-3).
Set before all of us are weird, muddy amalgams of blessing and anxious terrors. God lives with us in the refining fires of our challenges, tempering and purifying us for something yet greater than all we know.
It is good to let ourselves acknowledge the fires, the better to endure them in trust until we are free.
(Elizabeth Scalia is editor at large for OSV. Follow her on X @theanchoress.)
Next National Eucharistic Congress to be held in 2029, will ‘build on grace’ of Indianapolis
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The 11th National Eucharistic Congress will be held in 2029, building “on the grace” received in Indianapolis at the 10th congress, said Jason Shanks, CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc.
The 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis July 17-21 drew more than 60,000 attendees and included a Eucharistic procession of tens of thousands of Catholics through the city’s downtown streets. The congress was a high point of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative by the U.S. Catholic bishops.
“The National Eucharistic Congress Inc. is thrilled to share that we have begun the initial steps in preparing” for a 2029 congress, Shanks told OSV News in an email late Feb. 7.
“We look forward to reuniting as an American church to celebrate our shared Eucharistic faith,” he said. “We are eager to build on the grace we received during our gathering in Indianapolis this past summer.”
“We recognize that the success of the previous congress can be attributed to the countless individuals who prayed and interceded for the event,” Shanks continued. “So, we invite the church to join us in praying not only for the planning of this future Congress, but that we might continue to Walk with One through this year of missionary sending. We will provide more details about the 11th National Eucharistic Congress in the future.”
Shanks told The Pillar Feb. 7 that a decision to hold the next national gathering in 2029 was made “in consultation with the bishops” and that a formal presentation on plans for the congress will be presented to the body of the bishops during their fall plenary assembly in November.
The revival is now focusing on its Year of Mission, in which Catholics are encouraged to become “Eucharistic missionaries” who share the reality and impact of Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist with others. This is especially realized through the revival’s “Walk with One” campaign, which asks Catholics to identify one person whom they can accompany on their faith journey and deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ.
The National Eucharistic Congress Inc. nonprofit was formed in 2022 to support the bishops’ vision for the revival. It oversaw not only the congress but also the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, two major components of the National Eucharistic Revival.
The pilgrimage involved 30 young adult “perpetual pilgrims” crossing the country over eight weeks with the Eucharist via four routes, which ended in Indianapolis ahead of the congress.
Pilgrimage-related events, such as Mass, Eucharistic adoration and public processions, drew in some cases thousands of people, with the largest perhaps being the 5-mile procession in St. Paul, Minnesota, with crowd estimates exceeding 7,000 adorers.
At the conclusion of the congress, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., announced there would be another National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in 2025 from Indianapolis to Los Angeles and possibly an earlier National Eucharistic Congress than 2033.
2033 is when the church will mark the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, which Pope Francis called “another fundamental celebration for all Christians.”
While the bishops’ initiative is slated to end with the feast of Corpus Christi, which is June 19, the organization expects to build on the revival’s momentum beyond 2025 and continue to support Eucharist-centered efforts, including future national Eucharistic pilgrimages and congresses.
10-state National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in 2025 to go right through Iowa’s ‘Field of Dreams’
By Maria Wiering
(OSV News) – The 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will begin in Indianapolis May 18 and travel through 10 states before reaching Los Angeles June 22.
The 3,300-mile St. Katharine Drexel Route has stops planned in 20 dioceses and four Eastern Catholic eparchies across Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Eight “perpetual pilgrims” and several chaplains have been selected to travel with the Eucharist throughout the 36-day route, which begins on Pentecost and ends on the feast of Corpus Christi.
“We are thrilled to be gearing up for the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. We trust that God has profound blessings and graces in store for us as we journey with Jesus through cities and towns nationwide again this summer,” said Jason Shanks, president of the Denver-based National Eucharistic Congress Inc., in a Feb. 18 media release announcing details of the route.
The pilgrimage builds on the success of the first National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which took place in 2024 ahead of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis July 17-21. The 2024 pilgrimage launched from four points near four U.S. borders May 18-19 with a combined 30 perpetual pilgrims, all in their 20s. Over two months, they traveled, often on foot, toward Indianapolis with the Eucharist. Their route included simple and solemn Eucharistic processions, and stops for Mass, Eucharistic adoration, prayer, charitable service and social events along the way, often in local parishes.
The 2024 procession drew more than 250,000 participants, according to organizers – with an estimated 7,000 people joining a single 5-mile Eucharistic procession in St. Paul, Minnesota, likely the effort’s largest crowd before arriving in Indianapolis. Across the U.S., people offered their homes and other accommodations for the pilgrims to stay.
On the final day of the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress, Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, board chairman of National Eucharistic Congress Inc., announced that another national Eucharistic pilgrimage was planned for 2025, culminating in a closing Mass with Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles.
The 2025 route will include the tomb of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in Peoria, Illinois; the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City; and missions in Southern California. In Iowa, a Eucharistic procession will begin at the baseball field featured in the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.”
“This year’s pilgrimage will again focus on Eucharistic encounters with marginalized communities, bringing the Blessed Sacrament to assisted living facilities, food banks, a juvenile detention center, a hospital, and a federal prison along the route,” the Feb. 18 media release stated.
Pilgrimage stops will also celebrate the 2025 Jubilee Year and mark recent U.S. tragedies, including the Jan. 29 Washington crash of American Airlines Flight 5342, which originated in Wichita, Kansas, and the January wildfires that ravaged parts of Los Angeles, killing at least 29 people.
“In honor of the Jubilee Year of Hope, there will be an additional focus on Eucharistic healing. Events are planned in Wichita to honor the victims of the plane crash and their families, at the border of Mexico with a special Benediction and prayers for all migrants and refugees, and in Los Angeles, where organizers hope to bring our Eucharistic Lord to the communities impacted by the wildfires,” the media release stated.
A full event listing and registration to participate will be posted later this spring, organizers said.
(Maria Wiering is senior writer for OSV News.)
(For more information on the Drexel Route visit: https://www.eucharisticpilgrimage.org/)
He’s made history as first African American to be cardinal, archbishop of Washington
By Mark Zimmermann
WASHINGTON (OSV News) — When Washington Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory became the first African American cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church Nov. 28, 2020, some of his thoughts were far from Rome while he received his red hat during the consistory at St. Peter’s Basilica.
He reflected on that moment In a recent interview with the Catholic Standard and Spanish-language El Pregonero archdiocesan newspapers.
“When the Holy Father placed the cardinal’s biretta on my head, the thoughts that filled my heart were thoughts of my own family, my mom and dad struggling to provide a good education for me and my two sisters,” he said Jan. 15. “My wonderful grandmother, Etta Mae Duncan, who was so pivotal in my upbringing. I’ve said this before, she was a domestic. She worked as a housekeeper to provide the opportunity for her grandchildren to get a good education.
“I thought about the sacrifices that people have made in my own life,” he continued, “but also the sacrifices that African American Catholics, Catholics of color, have offered in their fidelity to our church, their love for our church, their faithfulness to the Catholic community that they love and have loved all of their lives.”
He also thought about history. “How did I get here? How did this moment happen to me?”
And he thought about “how grateful I am to have reaped the harvest of faith that was made possible by people in my own life, but (also by) people that I have never known, but were faithful Catholics who have fallen in love with the Catholic Church and that I just so happened to be the one to reap the benefit of their love and their devotion.”
On Oct. 25, 2020, the morning that Pope Francis named then-Archbishop Gregory as one of 13 new cardinals to be elevated at that Nov. 28 consistory, he said in a statement, “With a very grateful and humble heart, I thank Pope Francis for this appointment which will allow me to work more closely with him in caring for Christ’s Church.”
That morning, Cardinal-designate Gregory celebrated a 250th anniversary Mass for Holy Angels Parish in Avenue, which is located near St. Clement’s Island in Southern Maryland, where the first Catholic Mass in the English-speaking colonies was celebrated in 1634.
After that Mass, he was asked what his elevation to the College of Cardinals meant to him personally, to be the first African American cardinal in the United States, and what that would mean to the nation’s Black Catholics.
Cardinal-designate Gregory’s voice broke slightly as he said, “I’m deeply humbled. I know that I am reaping a harvest that millions of African American Catholics and people of color have planted. I am deeply grateful for the faith that they have lived so generously, so zealously and with such great devotion.”
He said he saw his appointment as “another opportunity to serve and to care for the church and to have the church (of Washington) in closer union with Pope Francis.”
He added, “I hope it is a sign of the continued investment of the church in the work of justice, peace and harmony among people.”
Cardinal Gregory was installed as Washington’s archbishop in May 2019. On Jan. 6, 2025, Pope Francis accepted his resignation; at 77 he is two years past the age at which canon law requires bishops to submit their resignation to the pope. Pope Francis named Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego as his successor. He will be installed March 11.
Cardinal Gregory became Catholic and was inspired to become a priest after being enrolled in St. Carthage School in his native Chicago in 1958. Young Wilton was baptized and received his first Communion in 1959 and was confirmed later that year.
After graduating from St. Carthage in 1961, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1973. He earned a doctorate in sacred liturgy from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome in 1980.Three years later he was ordained an auxiliary bishop of Chicago; at age 34, he became the youngest U.S. Catholic bishop.
From 1994-2005, Bishop Gregory headed the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois. In 2001, he was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops after three years as vice president. In 2002, during his term, revelations of clergy sexual abuse and its cover-up erupted, affecting the whole U.S. church. Under his leadership, the bishops implemented the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”
St. John Paul II appointed Bishop Gregory as archbishop of Atlanta, where he was installed in 2005, and Pope Francis named him as the seventh archbishop of Washington in 2019. Then-Archbishop Gregory became the first African American archbishop of Washington.
In one of his first parish visits as Washington’s new archbishop, he celebrated a Mass at St. Augustine Church, founded in 1858 by free men and women of color, including some who were emancipated from slavery. It is known as the mother church for African American Catholics in the nation’s capital.
When then-Archbishop Gregory appeared in the doorway of St. Augustine Church that morning for the Mass, people there shouted for joy and gave him a spontaneous standing ovation.
In his homily that day, then-Archbishop Gregory acknowledged St. Augustine’s history and “how it is identified with the sacred heritage of African American Catholics.”
“I stand on holy ground, as do all of you when you gather each Sunday for the Eucharist,” he said, adding, “Today a son of the African diaspora stands in your midst as the shepherd of the entire family of faith that is the Archdiocese of Washington.”
After Cardinal Gregory’s elevation to the College of Cardinals was announced in 2020, local Catholics interviewed for a “Black Catholics Voices” multimedia series for the Catholic Standard reacted with joy to his appointment as the first African American cardinal.
Father Robert Boxie III, the Catholic chaplain at Howard University in Washington, said the appointment was a recognition of Cardinal Gregory’s pastoral leadership and contributions to the church in the United States.
It was also a recognition that “the faith, the contributions, the witness, the experience of Black Catholics truly do matter, and that’s an important voice and an important gift to the church universal,” the priest said. “The voice of Black Catholics will be now that much closer to the Holy Father. It will now be in the heart of the Church in Rome, in the Vatican.”
Sister Patricia Chappell, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur and the former president of the National Black Sisters’ Conference, called Cardinal Gregory’s elevation “a very historic moment,” and praised the new cardinal as “a man who really listens to the people, a man who is steeped in his faith, and a man who will journey with the people.”
As the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Gregory worked to be a pastor to all the people of the archdiocese, centering his ministry on celebrating Masses at parishes and Catholic schools.
He worked to bring healing in the wake of the clergy abuse crisis and led the archdiocese through the COVID-19 pandemic. Demonstrating Catholic teaching for the dignity of human life in all its stages, Cardinal Gregory celebrated a Youth Mass for Life before the annual March for Life, and he also spoke out against the death penalty.
The cardinal also celebrated an annual Mass honoring the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and under his leadership, the archdiocese launched a 2020 pastoral initiative, “Made in God’s Image: Pray and Work to End this Sin of Racism,” and a 2021 action plan based on Pope Francis’ “Laudato Si'” environmental encyclical.
“He demonstrated to the church in the United States that Black Catholics have a lot to offer to the church from the gifts God has given us, and he’s an excellent example of that,” said Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr. who also serves as the president of the National Black Catholic Congress.
In a 2021 interview one year after he was elevated to the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Gregory was asked if being the first African American cardinal posed any challenges.
“I always feel that if I stay close to the Lord in my prayer life, at least (staying) on the right path … being the first is an opportunity to draw the church closer together across cultures and races,” he said.
In his recent interview with the Catholic Standard and El Pregonero, he reflected on the number of opportunities he has had “to be the first,” saying he wants “to make sure that I realize that whatever legacy I leave will be available for the second, for the third, for the fifth, who will, in God’s own time and with God’s own grace, will inherit the responsibilities that I’ve been fortunate enough to have.”
“I hope that my presence in the Archdiocese of Washington, as I was present in Atlanta and in Belleville and in Chicago, I hope that I provided an opportunity for people not just in a sense of pride, but in a sense of opportunity, that the young people can see a world that they can fill with their own dreams and with their own possibilities,” he said.
“I hope that my ministry has lifted the horizons for a lot of our young people, to see as possibilities that generations of young people in the past never even envisioned.”
(Mark Zimmermann is editor of the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington.)
Church expresses solidarity with victims’ families, demands answers after Guatemala bus crash
By Eduardo Campos Lima
(OSV News) – A week after a horrendous bus crash killed at least 54 in Guatemala City Feb. 10, including children, a shocked nation and the church are demanding answers from the government on regulating the treacherous bus travel business in the country.
Pope Francis consoled the families of victims in a Feb. 14 telegram, sent the day he entered Rome’s Gemelli hospital for tests and bronchitis recovery.
Francis imparted a “heartfelt apostolic blessing” to the families mourning their loved ones and those awaiting news of those severely wounded and in the hospital.
A telegram sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican’s secretary of state, to Archbishop Gonzalo de Villa Vásquez of Santiago de Guatemala, said that the Holy Father was “deeply saddened” by the “painful news” and prayed for those lost in the accident.
Catholics have been providing spiritual support to the families of the victims on several levels, with Guatemalan bishops participating in memorial Masses of those lost in the bus accident.
The bus picked up at least 70 passengers in Santo Domingo Los Ocotes, a town in El Progreso department, and was taking them to the capital, a route that shouldn’t take much more than one hour. The vehicle carried men, women and children. Some passengers worked in Guatemala City; others would frequently visit it to buy products to sell in their village.
“Those intercity buses are very common. They have spaces where people can put the merchandise they buy in the capital,” Father Rigoberto Pérez, a vicar in Guatemala City and a longtime communications officer in the Guatemalan church, told OSV News.
As the bus was arriving in the northern part of the capital, it crashed into other cars, broke through a guardrail and fell from a 115-feet-high bridge into a polluted stream.
“Most of them died instantly. Others were taken to the hospital, but died before getting there,” said Father Pérez, currently the communications head of the bishops’ conference of Latin America, known for its Spanish CELAM acronym. According to Guatemalan newspaper La Hora, two passengers remain at UCI beds.
The tragedy revealed the risks and disorganization that many Guatemalan workers face everyday, said Father Pérez. Ongoing investigations have already shown that the bus driver didn’t have a professional license and the vehicle was operating out of its authorized route.
“In many cases, bus owners fail to apply the necessary security measures. At the same time, there’s a lack of supervision on the authorities’ side,” Father Pérez argued.
The church immediately reacted to the news of the accident. Bishop José Benedicto Moscoso Miranda of Jalapa, which encompasses El Progreso, released a Feb. 10 letter of condolences to the families of the victims.
“I’m praying so God gives you comfort and I beg the whole Christian Catholic community to pray and express its solidarity,” Bishop Moscoso’s message read, followed by a message from the bishops Feb. 11.
According to Bishop Rodolfo Valenzuela Núñez of Verapaz, who is the president of the Guatemalan bishops’ conference, “the church, institutionally, helps those who suffer by adding to the voices of solidarity.”
It “has been offering prayers for the fatal victims and the families who are suffering such losses,” he told OSV News.
On the “grassroots level, the church formed by communities and neighbors of the victims’ families has been showing its proximity and help,” Bishop Valenzuela added.
Father Pérez said that several celebrations and prayer services were carried out in different dioceses and parishes in honor of the victims. At the Feb. 13 Mass at the Cathedral of Guatemala City, with President Bernardo Arévalo de Leon among the attendants, Pope Francis’ telegram sent Feb. 12 to the apostolic nuncio in the country was read.
The church has been demanding from the authorities that the public transportation system take adequate safety measures, Bishop Valenzuela told OSV News.
According to Father Pérez, the deeply rooted corruption in the Guatemalan state is the most basic reason for the lack of infrastructure and traffic safety — and many Catholics have been denouncing it.
“A real mob steals part of the national budget. That’s the problem,” he concluded.
(Eduardo Campos Lima writes for OSV News from São Paulo.)
Briefs
NATION
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, used the U.S. bishops’ 2025 Lenten message to reach out to those affected by abortion. In his Feb. 19 message, Bishop Thomas assured individuals carrying the sadness and guilt of abortion that Jesus’ love is unconditional. He highlighted the meaning of Ash Wednesday, noting that the ashes remind people of their need for repentance and God’s love. Ash Wednesday this year is March 5 and marks the start of Lent in the Latin Church, the largest church in the global Catholic Church. Bishop Thomas invited those suffering from abortion to return to Jesus and the church, emphasizing the healing available through the sacrament of reconciliation. He also referenced Pope Francis’ message of hope and the importance of nonjudgmental support for those grieving. Bishop Thomas pointed to the church’s Project Rachel Ministry, offering compassionate help and resources in English and Spanish for healing. “This Lent, the Lord’s mercy awaits you,” he said. “Allow Him to heal you and lift your sadness into joy.”
WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Feb. 19 it has started to send out guidance on “clear sex-based definitions” to government agencies, organizations and the public. The department said it is now implementing recent Trump administration executive orders on sex and gender. HHS stated in its announcement that its new guidance “recognizes there are only two sexes: male and female.” It also said the department would use these guiding definitions to “promote policies acknowledging that women are biologically female and men are biologically male.” HHS also stated it was taking steps to implement policies aimed at protecting minors from undergoing certain transgender medical and surgical interventions. Additionally it stated it would implement Trump’s executive order effectively barring biological males who identify as transgender from taking part in women’s and girl’s sports. Trump’s executive orders on sex and gender have been praised in statements issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for “recognizing the truth about each human person as male or female.”
PENSACOLA, Fla. (OSV News) – The work of Catholic prison ministry has been mostly carried out quietly and long thought of as something only priests and religious do. This has meant that lay involvement “is almost nonexistent,” according to Karen Clifton, executive coordinator of the online-based Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition, or CMPC. A recent survey revealed many dioceses have prison ministries, but few know who’s involved. The survey came after Pope Francis asked his U.S. nuncio about the state of prison ministry in this country – following the pontiff’s 2015 visit to a Philadelphia-based correctional center. Clifton said the pope’s inquiry came as several Catholic prison ministry and advocacy groups banded together in search of national guidance, prompting the creation of CMPC in 2018, now made up of more than three dozen ministries across the country. The idea, said Clifton, is to have an active prison ministry in every diocese. Bishop William A. Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee, CMPC’s episcopal adviser, emphasized the coalition’s role in providing training, support and advocacy for prison ministers, who often work in isolation.
VATICAN
ROME (CNS) – In 2021, a new species of screech owl was discovered deep in the Amazon rainforest, named “Megascops stangiae” in honor of Sister Dorothy Stang, a U.S.-born Catholic nun who was killed in 2005 for her work protecting the Amazon and its people. Sister Dorothy, known as a “Martyr of the Amazon,” advocated for peasant farmers and Indigenous people against illegal ranchers and loggers. On the 20th anniversary of the death of the 73-year-old nun, a relic containing blood-soaked soil from the site of her murder was enshrined at the Basilica of St. Bartholomew in Rome, marking her as the first American woman honored among the modern martyrs. Despite her death, Sister Dorothy’s legacy lives on, with her work inspiring continued resistance to land theft in the region. Sister Judith Clemens, a close friend and fellow Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, said Sister Dorothy’s faith and dedication to justice continue to inspire the fight for environmental and social justice.
WORLD
PYIN OO LWIN, Myanmar (OSV News) – Thousands gathered in Myanmar’s Pyin Oo Lwin to mourn Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win, a priest found stabbed to death in what is believed to be a targeted attack. The funeral, presided over by Archbishop Marco Tin Win of Mandalay, called for an end to the ongoing civil war, urging all parties to seek peace and reconciliation. Myanmar has been embroiled in conflict since a 2021 military coup, with ongoing violence between the military junta and rebel groups. Father Win’s brutal murder occurred on Feb. 14 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Kan Gyi Taw. Rebel group People’s Defense Force is investigating the killing. Burmese Cardinal Charles Maung Bo expressed sorrow, urging justice and an end to the violence. Aid to the Church in Need’s Regina Lynch highlighted the immense risks faced by priests like Father Win, who continue to serve communities despite the dangers of the ongoing conflict. Burmese Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, president of the bishops’ conference of Myanmar, also lamented Father Win’s death and prayed that through learning from the heartbreaking experiences the fraternal spirit be awakened. He lamented “the blood and sacrifices of countless innocent people,” – a heavy toll he hopes will serve as an offering to ending the violence tormenting Myanmar.
GUATEMALA CITY (OSV News) – A devastating bus crash in Guatemala City Feb. 10 claimed at least 54 lives, including children, sparking nationwide outrage and calls for reform in the country’s poorly regulated bus system. The bus, carrying around 70 passengers, crashed through a guardrail and plunged off a bridge, falling 115 feet into a stream below and killing most passengers. Investigations revealed the driver lacked a professional license, and the bus was operating off its authorized route. Pope Francis sent a message of condolence, offering prayers and an apostolic blessing to the victims’ families in a Feb. 14 telegram, sent the day he entered Rome’s Gemelli hospital for tests and bronchitis recovery. A telegram sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican’s secretary of state to Archbishop Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez of Santiago de Guatemala, said that the Holy Father was “deeply saddened” by the “painful news” and prayed for those lost in the accident. Local bishops have been actively supporting the grieving families, celebrating memorial Masses and prayer services. The church is demanding stronger safety measures and accountability from the government, with some blaming systemic corruption for the lack of proper infrastructure and regulation. See full story here.
St. John Paul II National Shrine presents exhibit: “Lord, you could not love me more! St. John Paul II and the Shroud of Turin” during Lent
By Grattan Brown
WASHINGTON – The “Lord you could not love me more!’ St. John Paul II and the Shroud of Turin” exhibit responds to the call of St. John Paul II, given during his visit to the Shroud in 1998, for greater understanding of and devotion to the Shroud of Turin:
“The Shroud does not hold people’s hearts to itself, but turns them to him, at whose service the Father’s loving providence has put it. Therefore, it is right to foster an awareness of the precious value of this image, which everyone sees and no one at present can explain. For every thoughtful person it is a reason for deep reflection, which can even involve one’s life. The Shroud is thus a truly unique sign that points to Jesus, the true Word of the Father, and invites us to pattern our lives on the life of the One who gave himself for us.”
The exhibit helps pilgrims encounter the mystery of the Shroud of Turin – the likely burial cloth of Jesus referred to in Sacred Scripture – of its movement in history, of scientific research on the Shroud to determine its authenticity, and of faithful devotion to all that the Shroud reveals about salvation. The exhibit includes a replica of the Shroud of Turin on loan from the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit; a sculpture entitled The Sign, which renders a life-size, three-dimensional image of the Man of the Shroud; over 30 gallery panels containing images and text; and prayer resources. The exhibit opens on Ash Wednesday, March 5, and runs through Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025.
St. John Paul II’s teaching about the Shroud of Turin illustrates his confident approach to ancient mysteries in the light of both faith and reason. During his 1998 visit, he said,
“The church entrusts to scientists the task of continuing to investigate, so that satisfactory answers may be found to the questions connected with this Sheet, which, according to tradition, wrapped the body of our Redeemer after he had been taken down from the cross. The church urges that the Shroud be studied without pre-established positions that take for granted results that are not such; she invites them to act with interior freedom and attentive respect for both scientific methodology and the sensibilities of believers.”
As one example of St. John Paul II’s call for research on the Shroud, the exhibit profiles the current research of Gilbert Lavoie, MD, a medical expert on the study of the Shroud and author of The Shroud of Jesus: And the Sign John Ingeniously Concealed. Dr. Lavoie explains, “The raised, lifted Jesus, the result of a visual medical forensic journey of discovery, unlocks the mystery of the burial cloth left to us by God. When the lifted man of the Shroud is related to the Gospel of John, many new insights are revealed. This is John’s astonishing story about how God is visually communicating to humanity through his Son’s Shroud, telling us how real he is and how much he loves us.” Dr. Lavoie collaborated with internationally recognized sculptor Pablo Eduardo to create a sculpture, The Sign, based on Dr. Lavoie’s observations of the Shroud image and included in the Shrine’s exhibit.
The Shrine’s Director of Mission and Ministry, Dr. Grattan Brown, said, “In his pilgrimages to shrines around the world, St. John Paul II often observed that shrines are places where people can step away from their busy lives to deepen their spiritual connection to God. The Shroud of Turin, which may be the burial cloth of Jesus, connects us with Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, God’s most loving gift for humanity. It is a joy for the St. John Paul II National Shrine to offer this exhibit so that our pilgrims may experience God’s mercy during Lent.”
This exhibit is designed to help pilgrims more fully participate in the repentance and conversion of the Lenten season. As St. John Paul II observed during his 1998 visit:
“Contemplation of that tortured Body helps contemporary man to free himself from the superficiality of the selfishness with which he frequently treats love and sin. Echoing the word of God and centuries of Christian consciousness, the Shroud whispers: believe in God’s love, the greatest treasure given to humanity, and flee from sin, the greatest misfortune in history.”
“The Shrine is proud to offer this exhibit about the Shroud of Turin and St. John Paul II,” said Anthony Picarello, executive director of the Shrine, “because it resonates so deeply with his legacy. It illustrates how human beings can approach the deepest mysteries fruitfully with faith and reason together; how the human body can express the most radical love; and – especially during Lent – the power of redemptive suffering.”
The Shrine’s Director of Intercultural Ministry, Dr. Sofia Maurette, said “The exhibit features panels in English and Spanish, in line with our initiative since 2023 to translate all new installations at the Shrine into multiple languages. We hope that it will be a blessing for our diverse Catholic community in the DC area and in our nation.”
About the St. John Paul II National Shrine: The Saint John Paul II National Shrine has been designated as a Jubilee 2025 pilgrimage site. It is a place of worship, religious formation, and cultural renewal to feed the minds and souls of its visitors. It is a place of pilgrimage with a first-class relic of St. John Paul II’s blood available for veneration. The St. John Paul II National Shrine is a major pastoral initiative of the Knights of Columbus, a lay Catholic fraternal organization, and it is the Knights’ hope that this initiative will serve the life of the church in the Americas and will thus bear abundant fruit for the universal church and for the world.
About the Knights of Columbus: In 1882, Blessed Michael McGivney, a young parish priest in New Haven, Connecticut, founded the Knights of Columbus to serve the needs of a largely immigrant Catholic community. What began as a small fraternal benefit society has since grown into the world’s premier lay Catholic men’s organization, with more than 2.1 million members in over 16,800 local councils. As members of one of the world’s leading international charitable organizations, Knights around the world donated more than 47 million service hours and over $190 million for worthy causes in their communities in 2023. Based on the founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity, the Knights of Columbus is committed to strengthening Catholic families and parishes, and to practicing faith in action through service to all in need. To learn more or to join the Knights of Columbus, please visit kofc.org/join.
For more information on the St. John Paul II National Shrine and exhibits, visit https://www.jp2shrine.org.
FEATURE PHOTO: … Going once, going twice …
