St. Lawrence Parish

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Anyone interested in Catholic Church can now see a detailed, interactive breakdown of the body that will elect the next pope.

The Vatican launched a "dashboard" for the College of Cardinals Dec. 5, allowing users of the web page to see a comprehensive list of the church's cardinals and sort them by age, rank, country of origin, electoral status and religious order. Initially it was available only in Italian.

The dashboard, created with Microsoft Power BI -- an AI tool designed to visually organize data -- was published on the Vatican press office's public website just two days before Pope Francis was scheduled to create 21 new cardinals Dec. 7.

The page -- https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/documentation/cardinali---statistiche/dashboard-collegio-cardinalizio.html -- allows users to see a map of where current cardinals are from, as well as the percentage of cardinals from each region who are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in conclave. As of Dec. 5, for example, 47.8% of cardinals from Europe are eligible to vote in a conclave while 100% of cardinals from Oceania are eligible electors.

Cardinals lose their right to vote in a conclave on their 80th birthday or when they lose the rights and privileges of a cardinal, as was the case with Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, who was convicted by a Vatican court for financial malfeasance related to when he was substitute for the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Beyond age, rank and geographical distribution, users can also sort cardinals by precedence, which is based on the timing of their appointment as cardinals and their seniority within their rank and dictates matters such as seating arrangements and the order of liturgical processions. The College of Cardinals is divided into three ranks -- cardinal bishops, priests and deacons -- which reflect a cardinal's responsibilities or seniority within the church's hierarchy.

Previously, the Vatican website only offered separate lists of cardinals, organized alphabetically by name, by country, by age or grouped according to the pope who appointed them.

According to the Vatican statistics, which include the 21 soon-to-be cardinals, there are 253 members of the College of Cardinals, 140 of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave.

WASHINGTON – Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Ukraine’s voluntary relinquishing of its nuclear arsenal, highlighting the country’s courage in envisioning a world free of nuclear weapons. 

“Thirty years ago today, on December 5, 1994, in a truly prophetic gesture in favor of global peace, Ukraine voluntarily relinquished its nuclear arsenal, the third largest in the world at that time. The Russian Federation, the United States, and the United Kingdom pledged to respect the ‘independence, sovereignty, and the existing borders of Ukraine.’ France and China variously echoed these promises. Unfortunately, this pledge was broken by the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion in 2022. As the bitter conflict rages, with mounting civilian deaths and widespread displacement, we commemorate the time when the Ukrainian people opted for life, liberty, and peace, courageously envisioning a world free of nuclear weapons.  

“Recently, as Ukraine marked 1,000 days since the invasion began, Pope Francis wrote to the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, to express his solidarity with the suffering people of Ukraine. We join our Holy Father in reaffirming his call for peace when he said, ‘It is this word – peace – unfortunately forgotten by the world today, that we would like to hear resound in the families, homes, and squares of dear Ukraine.’” 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The celebration of a Holy Year every 25 years is an acknowledgment that "the Christian life is a journey calling for moments of greater intensity to encourage and sustain hope as the constant companion that guides our steps toward the goal of our encounter with the Lord Jesus," Pope Francis wrote.

Opening the Holy Door to St. Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve, the pope will formally inaugurate the Jubilee Year 2025 with its individual, parish and diocesan pilgrimages and with special celebrations focused on specific groups from migrants to marching bands, catechists to communicators and priests to prisoners.

Inside the Vatican basilica, the door had been bricked up since Nov. 20, 2016, when Pope Francis closed the extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy. 

Dismantling the brick wall began Dec. 2 with a ritual of prayer and the removal of a box containing the key to the door and Vatican medals. The Holy Doors at the basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls were to be freed of their brickwork in the week that followed.

In January 2021, as the world struggled to return to some kind of normalcy after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis announced that he had chosen "Pilgrims of Hope" as the theme for the Holy Year.

"We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and farsighted vision," the pope wrote in a letter entrusting the organization of the Jubilee to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the then-Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.

The pope prayed that the Holy Year would be marked by "deep faith, lively hope and active charity."

A holy year or jubilee is a time of pilgrimage, prayer, repentance and acts of mercy, based on the Old Testament tradition of a jubilee year of rest, forgiveness and renewal. Holy years also are a time when Catholics make pilgrimages to designated churches and shrines, recite special prayers, go to confession and receive Communion to receive a plenary indulgence, which is a remission of the temporal punishment due for one's sins. 

Crossing the threshold of the Holy Door does not give a person automatic access to the indulgence or to grace, as St. John Paul II said in his document proclaiming the Holy Year 2000. But walking through the doorway is a sign of the passage from sin to grace which every Christian is called to accomplish.

"To pass through that door means to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; it is to strengthen faith in him in order to live the new life which he has given us. It is a decision which presumes freedom to choose and also the courage to leave something behind, in the knowledge that what is gained is divine life," St. John Paul wrote.

Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the first Holy Year in 1300 and decreed that jubilees would be celebrated every 100 years. But just 50 years later, a more biblical cadence, Pope Clement VI proclaimed another holy year.

Pope Paul II decided in 1470 that holy years should be held every 25 years, which has been the practice ever since -- but with the addition of special jubilees, like the Holy Year of Mercy in 2015-16, marking special occasions or needs.

The Jubilee of Mercy had a special focus on encouraging Catholics to return to confession, but the sacrament is a key part of every Holy Year.

Pope Francis, in his bull of indiction for the 2025 Holy Year, said churches are places "where we can drink from the wellsprings of hope, above all by approaching the sacrament of reconciliation, the essential starting point of any true journey of conversion."

The pope also asked Catholics to use the Jubilee Year to nourish or exercise their hope by actively looking for signs of God's grace and goodness around them.

"We need to recognize the immense goodness present in our world, lest we be tempted to think ourselves overwhelmed by evil and violence," he wrote. "The signs of the times, which include the yearning of human hearts in need of God's saving presence, ought to become signs of hope."

Even in a troubled world, one can notice how many people are praying for and demonstrating their desire for peace, for safeguarding creation and for defending human life at every stage, he said. Those are signs of hope that cannot be discounted. 

As part of the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis has announced the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis April 27 during the special Jubilee for Adolescents and the proclamation of the sainthood of Blessed Pier Giorgi Frassati Aug. 3 during the Jubilee for Young Adults.

The lives of the two men, active Catholics who died young, are emblematic of Pope Francis' conviction that hope, "founded on faith and nurtured by charity," is what enables people "to press forward in life" despite setbacks and trials.

Both young Italians knew that the hope they drew from faith had to be shared with others through their words, their way of acting and their charity.

Pope Francis, in the bull of indiction, told Catholics that "during the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind."

In addition to individual acts of charity, love and kindness like feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger or visiting the sick and the imprisoned, Pope Francis has continued his predecessors' practice of observing the jubilee by calling on governments to reduce the foreign debt of the poorest countries, grant amnesty to certain prisoners and strengthen programs to help migrants and refugees settle in their new homes. 

Italy and the city of Rome are keeping one of the messier and tension-producing traditions of a Holy Year: Roadworks and the restoration or cleaning of monuments, fountains and important buildings. With the opening of the Holy Door just three weeks away, none of the major projects had been completed, but Mayor Roberto Gualtieri promised in late November that most of the roads would open and most of the scaffolding would come down by Jan. 1.

Archbishop Fisichella, the chief Vatican organizer of the Jubilee Year, said in late November that the Vatican had commissioned a university to forecast the Holy Year pilgrim and tourist influx. They came up with a prediction of 32 million visitors to Rome.

The multilingual jubilee website -- www.iubilaeum2025.va -- has been up and running for months and includes the possibility of reserving a time to pass through the Holy Door at St. Peter's and the other major basilicas of Rome.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also has a special section on its website -- www.usccb.org/committees/jubilee-2025 -- with information about traveling to Rome for the Holy Year and for celebrating the special jubilees in one's own diocese or parish.
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Homilies must be prepared with the help of the Holy Spirit, be shorter than 10 minutes and put the spotlight on the Lord, not oneself, Pope Francis said.

Those who preach must convey "one idea, one sentiment and an invitation to action," he said.

Preaching loses its power and starts to ramble after eight minutes, he said to the applause of visitors gathered for his general audience in St. Peter's Square Dec. 4.

The pope continued his series of audience talks on the Holy Spirit, focusing on its role in evangelization and preaching in the church.

It was also the first general audience to include a greeting and a summary of the pope's catechesis in Mandarin Chinese. The pope gives his catechesis in Italian, and aides read summaries in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Polish, Arabic and, from Dec. 4, standard Chinese. 

In his main audience talk, the pope said, "The church must do precisely what Jesus says at the beginning of his public ministry," which, according to St. Luke's Gospel, is to accept the anointing of the Holy Spirit "to bring glad tidings to the poor."

"Preaching with the anointing of the Holy Spirit means transmitting, together with the ideas and the doctrine, the life and profound conviction of our faith. It means doing so 'not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power,'" he said, citing the First Letter to the Corinthians.

The Holy Spirit comes to those who pray, which is the first thing a preacher must do, he said.

"Woe to those who preach without praying," he said, because they become, as St. Paul described, "a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal." 

"The second thing is not wanting to preach ourselves, but to preach Jesus, the Lord," Pope Francis said.

Often homilies are so long, 20 or 30 minutes, that people will go outside to smoke a cigarette and come back, he said.

"Please," he said, "do not go longer than 10 minutes, ever! This is very important."

"Not wanting to preach oneself also implies not always giving priority to pastoral initiatives promoted by us and linked to our own name, but willingly collaborating, if requested, in community initiatives or (those) entrusted to us by obedience," he said.

The pope asked that the Holy Spirit, "help us, accompany us and teach us" how to preach the Gospel to men and women today.

Pope to preachers: Keep it brief!

During his general audience Dec. 4, Pope Francis told preachers to keep homilies short.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Hours after the last visitors and pilgrims left St. Peter's Basilica for the day, a chisel clanged and dust flew as a group of prelates chanted their prayers before a simple wall marked with a cross.

In preparation for the opening on Christmas Eve of the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of the basilica, led the brief prayer service and ritual late Dec. 2. 

As the cardinal and other priests prayed, workers broke into the wall that has sealed the Holy Door shut since the Jubilee of Mercy ended in late 2016.

The workers removed a metal box, tied with a ribbon and sealed with wax, that contains the handles and the key to the Holy Door as well as Vatican medals, documents about the last Holy Year and four gold-covered bricks. 

As the clergy sang the litany of saints, Cardinal Gambetti led them in procession to the altar over the tomb of St. Peter and paused for a moment of prayer.

In a formal meeting room, the metal box was set on a table in front of Cardinal Gambetti, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, and Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of papal liturgical ceremonies.

The workers pried open the box and unnailed another inside it, revealing its contents.

After Cardinal Gambetti signed a document attesting to what he found, Archbishop Ravelli took custody of the box to deliver it to the pope, the Vatican press office said.

Similar ceremonies were planned to prepare the Holy Doors of the Basilica of St. John Lateran Dec. 3, St. Paul Outside the Walls Dec. 5 and St. Mary Major Dec. 6.

Revealing keys to the Holy Door

In preparation for the opening on Christmas Eve of the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica, a brief ritual and prayer service were held late Dec. 2.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite the problems and worries in the world, Jesus invites Christians to look toward heaven, trust in his saving love and make room for him in order to find hope again, Pope Francis said.

"Sadness is awful," he told visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square for the Angelus Dec. 1, the first Sunday of Advent.

"Indeed, it can happen that the anxiety, fears and worries about our personal lives or about what is happening in the world today weigh down on us like boulders and throw us into discouragement … and induce us to close in on ourselves," he said.

"Jesus' invitation is this: raise your head high and keep your hearts light and awake," he said, reflecting on the day's Gospel reading from St. Luke, which speaks about "cosmic upheavals and anxiety and fear in humanity." 

"In this context, Jesus addresses a word of hope to his disciples," he said, by encouraging them to not let their hearts "become drowsy" and to await the coming of the Son of Man with vigilance.

The disciples' hearts were "weighed down with fear," the pope said. "Jesus, however, wants to free them from present anxieties and false convictions, showing them how to stay awake in their hearts, how to read events from the plan of God, who works salvation even within the most dramatic events of history."

Jesus' invitation is important for the faithful today, he said. "Let's ask ourselves: what can I do to have a light heart, a wakeful heart, a free heart? A heart that does not let itself be crushed by sadness?"

Jesus, he said, "invites us to lift up our heads, to trust in his love that wants to save us and that draws close to us in every situation of our existence; he asks us to make room for him in order to find hope again."

"May this Advent season be a precious opportunity to lift our gaze to him, who lightens our hearts and sustains us on our way," Pope Francis said.

WASHINGTON – News of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was received with “profound hope” by Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.

“It is in a spirit of profound hope that I welcome news that, after more than a year of fighting and thousands of deaths, a ceasefire has been agreed upon by Israel and Hezbollah, beginning today, Wednesday, November 27. I am grateful for the crucial, peacebuilding role that the United States has played in this development in Lebanon and Israel. As we rejoice in this opportunity for peace to take root, I urge all parties, as well as the broader international community, to remain vigilant and to continue working toward the consolidation of peace in the region through the disarmament of Hezbollah and the full implementation of the UN resolutions concerning Lebanon; this will lead to Lebanon regaining its full sovereignty and independence.

“I pray that this ceasefire proves to be a beacon of real hope, and that it inspires greater ambitions for a lasting peace in the Middle East on all fronts, especially in the dire situation in Gaza. I join in solidarity with Pope Francis, who, in October, called for a ceasefire, saying: ‘Let us pursue the paths of diplomacy and dialogue to achieve peace.’”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Not every Christian is called to be an apostle, prophet or evangelist, Pope Francis said, but all Christians can cultivate the fruits of the Holy Spirit by becoming "charitable, patient, humble, peacemakers."

Continuing his series of audience talks on the Holy Spirit, the pope explained that the fruits of the Spirit are different from charisms, which are given spontaneously by the Spirit for the good of the church. Instead, the fruits of the Spirit represent a "collaboration between grace and freedom," he said.

"These fruits always express the creativity of the person, in whom faith works through charity, sometimes in surprising and joyful ways," he told visitors gathered for his general audience Nov. 27 in St. Peter's Square.

Before the audience, Pope Francis met privately with U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who was in Italy for a meeting of G7 foreign ministers. While at the Vatican, Blinken also met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister.

After riding around St. Peter's Square in the popemobile, Pope Francis was accompanied to his seat by a group of children, who then sat on the steps of the stage throughout the audience.

In his main talk on the fruits of the Spirit, the pope singled out joy as central to the Christian life.

Spiritual joy, like other forms of joy, includes "a certain feeling of fullness and fulfillment, which makes one wish it would last forever," he said.

"We know from experience, however, that this does happen, because everything down here passes quickly: youth, health, strength, wealth, friendship, loves," Pope Francis said, and "even if these things did not pass, soon, after a while they are no longer enough or even become boring" since the heart can only find fulfillment in God.

The joy of the Gospel, on the other hand, "can be renewed each day and become contagious," he said. Quoting his 2013 exhortation, "Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the Gospel"), the pope said that it is an encounter with God that saves people from isolation and which is the "source of evangelizing action."

"This is the twofold characteristic of the joy that is the fruit of the Spirit: not only does it not go subject to the inevitable wear and tear of time, but it is multiplied by sharing it with others," he said.

As an example of living the joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis highlighted the life of St. Philip Neri, the 16th-century founder of the Oratorian order, who the pope said, "had such a love for God that at times it seemed as if his heart would burst in his chest." The Italian saint is known for his work with poor children and marginalized communities as well as initiating a walking pilgrimage to seven of Rome's most significant basilicas.

Recalling that the Gospel means "good news" in Greek, the pope said that its contents cannot be communicated "with long and dark faces, but only with the joy of one who has found a hidden treasure and a precious pearl."

Pope Francis announced at the audience that beginning the following week, summaries of his audience talk will be translated into Chinese. Currently, the pope gives his catechesis in Italian, and aides read summaries in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Polish and Arabic. 

Pope: Christian joy never ends

During his general audience Nov. 27, Pope Francis said Christian joy never ends.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To help people who cannot travel to Rome but want to pray at the tomb of St. Peter and cross the threshold of the Holy Door, St. Peter's Basilica is installing new webcams.

Franciscan Father Enzo Fortunato, communications director for the basilica, told reporters Nov. 25 that Pope Francis will inaugurate the new webcams at the tomb of St. Peter and on the Holy Door Dec. 2.

Some 30 million pilgrims and visitors are expected to pass through the Holy Door during the Jubilee Year that opens on Christmas Eve and closes Jan. 6, 2026, Father Fortunato said.

The pilgrimage, he said, will be an experience "that billions of people will be able to share remotely through a webcam positioned at the tomb of St. Peter to approach the mystery of the fisherman who had himself crucified upside down to be able to stand with his head held high before his Lord, giving rise to a pilgrimage that has continued uninterrupted for two millennia." 

Vatican Media operates a webcam on the top of the colonnade surrounding St. Peter's Square. The governing office of Vatican City state also had webcams on the top of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica and one focused on the tomb of St. John Paul II, but they no longer function. 

Meeting reporters Nov. 25, Father Fortunato also presented the first edition of Piazza San Pietro, a new magazine he is directing on behalf of the basilica. It is named after St. Peter's Square, he said, because the magazine hopes to be a place of welcome and encounter like the square is.

A unique feature of the magazine, which will be available in Italian, Spanish and English, is that Pope Francis will respond to a letter from a reader each month, Father Fortunato said.

Letters can be sent to lettere@piazzasanpietro.va for consideration, he said.

In the December issue, Pope Francis responds to Olivia, a grandmother in Bergamo, Italy, who wonders what she should do about her 5-year-old granddaughter who has not been baptized. 

"Baptism is a great gift that we can give little ones because it is the first of the sacraments; it is the door that allows Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to live, to make a dwelling place in us," the pope responded. "But baptism cannot be imposed on parents who do not want it for their children."

Pope Francis recommended that Olivia and her husband, "with hope, meekness and charity," talk to their daughter and her husband, but not push the idea of having their daughter baptized.

"Gratuitous love is more persuasive than many words," the pope responded. "Love for God plants seeds for the future, for friendship, for searching for him, and it is not for us to know the timing."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Doubling down on the centrality of synodality in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said that it is now up to local churches to accept and implement proposals from the final document approved the Synod of Bishops on synodality.

Approved by the pope, the synod's final document "participates in the ordinary magisterium of the successor of Peter, and as such, I ask that it be accepted," the pope wrote in a note published by the Vatican Nov. 25.

"Local churches and groupings of churches are now called upon to implement, in different contexts, the authoritative indications contained in the document, through the processes of discernment and decision-making provided by law and by the document itself," he wrote nearly a month after the synod's close.

The final document outlined key priorities for the church, including increased participation of laity through new ministries and adjusted governing structures, greater transparency and accountability among church leadership and creating space for previously marginalized groups.

After synod members voted to approve the final document, Pope Francis announced that he would not write the customary apostolic exhortation after the synod but would instead offer the document to the entire church for implementation.

With the exceptions of the first synods convoked by St. Paul VI in 1967 and 1971, all ordinary assemblies of the Synod of Bishops have been followed by an exhortation on the synod's themes and discussions by the pope.

In his note, Pope Francis clarified that while the document is "not strictly normative" and must be adapted to contexts where it is applied, it still obligates "local churches to make choices consistent with what was indicated" in the document.

He also underscored the need for time to address broader churchwide issues, such as those assigned to the 10 study groups he set up in the spring to explore issues raised during the synod, including women's ministry, seminary education, relationships between bishops and religious communities, and the role of nuncios. More groups may be created, the pope said.

The conclusion of the general assembly of the Synod of Bishops "does not end the synodal process," he wrote.

Quoting his 2016 exhortation, "Amoris Laetitia" on marriage and family life, the pope wrote that "not all doctrinal, moral or pastoral discussions must be resolved by interventions of the magisterium," rather the bishops of each country or region can seek "more encultured solutions" to issues involving local traditions and challenges.

He added that the final synod document contains recommendations which "can already now be implemented in the local churches and groupings of churches, taking into account different contexts, what has already been done and what remains to be done in order to learn and develop ever better the style proper to the missionary synodal church."

"In many cases it is a matter of effectively implementing what is already provided for in existing law, Latin and Eastern," while in other contexts local churches can proceed with the creation of "new forms of ministry and missionary action" through a process of synodal discernment and experimentation.

Pope Francis also specified that during bishops' "ad limina" visits to Rome, each bishop will be asked to discuss what choices have been made in his local church regarding what has been indicated in the final synod document, reflecting on the challenges and the fruits.

Meanwhile, he said, the General Secretariat of the Synod and the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia will be tasked with overseeing the synodal journey's "implementation phase."