Hoefling

The changes were formally adopted at the finance council’s April 22 meeting.

The updated bylaws establish a more layered governance approach that includes eight standing subcommittees to support the Finance Council – aligning the diocese with governance models already in use at many of the nation’s large dioceses, notes Matthew Ferrante, the diocese’s chief financial officer.

Among the changes, eight standing subcommittees were created: Audit; Financial Planning and Analysis/Benefits and Insurance; IT Systems and Data Management; Real Estate and Facilities; Membership and Governance; Development; Legal; and Investment.

Under Church law, every diocese must have a finance council made up of members of the Christian faithful who are experienced in financial matters. The finance council’s significant expansion builds on its strong foundation by bringing in additional expertise, Ferrante said.

“This new structure allows for much greater engagement in our processes with industry leaders who are among the lay faithful and who serve on our committees,” he said.

Ferrante“By creating these specialized subcommittees, we are able to bring in professionals with deep expertise in areas like real estate, investments, legal affairs and technology – people who are committed to the mission of the Church and who want to contribute their talents to its stewardship,” Ferrante said.

Each committee will be led by a finance council member and may include additional clergy and lay experts. The committees will be introduced in phases over the next year, with all expected to be in place by the end of 2027.

Hoefling is chief financial officer of Charlotte-based global investment firm Barings. He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial sector and holds a B.S. in Accountancy from Villanova University and a Master of Accountancy from North Carolina State University. He is a member of St. Gabriel Parish in Charlotte.

— Catholic News Herald

Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte sponsors food pantries across the diocese (top) and events such as the Spring Fling senior festival run by its Elder Ministry. (Troy C. Hull | Catholic News Herald)CHARLOTTE — Five days in May provide the chance to highlight the work of an agency staffed by people who serve as the hands and feet of Christ across Western North Carolina.

May 4-8 is Catholic Charities Week, and it focuses on the ways the workers and volunteers of Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte help people in need while serving as a beacon of God’s love in difficult times.

For more than 75 years, the agency has been helping thousands of people across western North Carolina deal with life’s struggles and build better futures. In 2025, Catholic Charities served 25,032 people across the 46 counties that make up the Diocese of Charlotte.

This year, rising costs of food, rent and gasoline have forced people who were already struggling to seek aid from the agency’s food pantries in Asheville, Charlotte and Winston-Salem. In 2025, the pantries distributed 413,666 pounds of food to 14,729 people in need, according to its annual report.

BROAD IMPACTS

The agency’s work has reached people of all ages facing a wide variety of challenges. About 1,000 older adults benefited from services provided by its Elder Ministry, 650 refugees continue to be supported, 139 veterans in need secured stable housing, 184 people received assistance for dignified burials, and 224 people received more than 2,400 hours of mental health counseling, the agency reported.

Catholic Charities has helped people recover from natural and spiritual storms.

Since October 2024, the agency has been a major force in the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene. Disaster relief case workers in the Asheville region have helped clients with everything from housing assistance, food and basic supplies to mental health care. The agency is collaborating with long-term recovery groups in some of the hardest hit – and most difficult to access – areas.

Since 2025, the agency repaired, rebuilt or replaced 170 homes destroyed by Helene. This past winter, the agency helped more than 250 families still living in campers to insulate them for colder weather and supplied 619 households in seven mountain counties with propane for heating.

In March, the agency gave 50 Asheville artists $5,000 grants in an ongoing effort to revitalize the River Arts District, a key piece of the city’s economic and cultural life.

“The funds were for whatever the person needed to get back to where they can create their art,” said program coordinator Grace Kunik. “Some people are using the funds for studio rent, others for supplies or to pay their mortgage so they can get back into a safe space to live and produce their work.”

HELP FOR MANY NEEDS

Catholic Charities offers help at all stages of life. Its Charlotte-based pregnancy support office helps moms and dads deal with the challenges of parenthood.

“We want to see the families be whole and we want to see healthy babies be delivered,” said Sharon W. Davis, the agency’s director of pregnancy support and adoption services. “We also continue the journey once the child has been born – the work does not end at the birth of the baby. We’re there to accompany them as long as they need our respectful and compassionate support.”

The agency’s Burial Services program, offered across the diocese, helps families who have lost a loved one. Catholic Charities partners with a network of local funeral homes to provide burial or cremation at reduced costs and offers financial assistance to families who cannot afford the full expense.

“Funeral costs keep going up, and many families come to us because they don’t have life insurance or are living paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford the costs,” said Annia Colas, who works with the program in Winston-Salem. “It’s a gratifying thing to be able to help them get services.”

Colas talked about a woman who needed help to lay her sister to rest with dignity.

For years, she cared for her sister full-time as she battled a brain tumor – putting her own life on hold to be by her side. When her sister passed away, Carolina realized she would not be able to afford even a simple funeral.

“The life insurance wasn’t enough to cover the costs,” Colas shared. “We were able to help her make payments for a cremation and a service.” Now, after years of caregiving, Carolina is back at work – entering a new chapter of her life.

NEW OFFICE

Recognizing the need to meet the demands of a growing population, a new office in Salisbury is slated to open in June. Deacon Jeff Font, the agency’s new regional director of external engagement, is connecting with parishes and community organizations to learn about local needs, which stretches from Boone and Jefferson to Albemarle.

Even before the office has opened, clients have already been served. A mother of four who was facing eviction was able to obtain rent support and has done financial planning and budgeting work with a case worker.

“We’re trying to build relationships,” Deacon Font said. “Every day I am getting the word out to our local parishes about the programs and services we offer to those in need. I am also connecting with other local and regional organizations to ensure that if someone needs a service that is outside of our scope, we can direct them to another organization that can help them directly. And I want other organizations to be able to do the same thing with us. We all offer unique programs so that as a community we can collectively address the needs of those less fortunate. More information about the new Salisbury office will be available in the coming weeks.”

— Christina Lee Knauss

How you can help

Your donations enable Catholic Charities to serve people in need across the diocese. Donations can be made online at www.ccdoc.org or by mail to Catholic Charities, 1123 South Church St., Charlotte, NC 28203-4003.

Need assistance?

Catholic Charities offers services to people across western North Carolina. Email info@ccdoc.org or reach out to your local Catholic Charities office:
Asheville: 828-255-0146
Charlotte: 704-370-3262
Greensboro: 336-288-1984
Lenoir: 828-434-5710
Murphy: 828-835-3535
North Wilkesboro: 828-434-5710
Winston-Salem: 336-727-0705

People who need assistance can also call 2-1-1 to find up-to-date information on community services that may be available. 2-1-1 helps connect people to information about food pantries, medical resources and possible changes to government benefits.

Endowments benefit Catholic Charities and its vital work throughout the Diocese of Charlotte

The diocese has 25 endowments in the Foundation of the Diocese of Charlotte that people can support to benefit Catholic Charities. They have a market value of more than $7.8 million.

• Catholic Charities Endowment Fund: provides for the general needs of this diocesan ministry across the western half of North Carolina
• Catholic Charities Asheville Endowment Fund: provides for the general needs of the ministry in Asheville
• Catholic Charities Burial Assistance Endowment Fund: provides for the burial assistance program in Mecklenburg County
• Catholic Charities Charlotte Endowment Fund: provides for the general needs of the ministry in Charlotte
• Catholic Charities Refugee Endowment Fund: provides for the general needs of this ministry across the western half of North Carolina
• Catholic Charities Winston-Salem Endowment Fund: provides for the general needs of this ministry in Winston-Salem
• Bishop William G. Curlin Endowment Fund for the Poor: benefits the poor in the Diocese of Charlotte
• Marion Michael and Mary Ann DeMelfy Endowment Fund: provides support for the elderly in parishes in Hickory and those west of Hickory through Catholic Charities
• FFHL Catholic Charities Diocese of Charlotte Endowment Fund: provides financial support for Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Charlotte
• Maureen Reinehr Gigler Endowment Fund: provides for diocesan multicultural ministry needs in the western half of North Carolina
• Elizabeth Grace Endowment Fund: provides for the programmatic needs of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Charlotte
• Granzow Family Endowment Fund: provides for Catholic Charities to serve the poor
• Aurelia I. Guffey Catholic Charities Endowment Fund: provides for the programmatic needs of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Charlotte
• Peter J. and Catherine P. Hickey Endowment Fund: provides for the adoption programs of Catholic Charities
• Lawrence and Patricia Hollett Family Endowment Fund: provides for the general needs of Catholic Charities in Winston-Salem
• Marcaccio Family St. Anthony Bread Endowment Fund: provides for St. Pius X Catholic Church and Catholic Charities Piedmont and Asheville Offices
• Robert H. Moeller Memorial Endowment Fund: provides housing- related financial assistance for the elderly across the western half of North Carolina
• John S. Monahan Endowment Fund: provides for the general needs of Catholic Charities in Charlotte
• John and Marlene Olenick Endowment Fund: provides for the pregnancy support services of Catholic Charities Piedmont/Triad
• George and Jane Pfaff Endowment Fund: provides for program needs of Catholic Charities within the Diocese of Charlotte
• San Lorenzo Ruiz Philippine Heritage Endowment Fund: provides for the unrestricted general needs and for the refugee/immigrant assistance of Catholic Charities in Charlotte
• Sarmiento-Lang Family Endowment Fund: benefits Catholic Charities pregnancy support services
• Lee and Allan Thurbee Memorial Endowment Fund: provides financial support for Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Charlotte
• Kathleen A. Troy Memorial Endowment Fund: provides for burial assistance and general needs of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Charlotte
• Mary Jane Winfrey Catholic Charities Endowment Fund: provides for the general needs of Catholic Charities

For information on establishing or contributing to an endowment, contact Gina Rhodes at 704-370-3364 or gmrhodes@rcdoc.

Ministries serving Catholics in their 20s and 30s, such as the annual Vigilant Retreat are thriving.

Once considered a difficult group to engage – those in their 20s and 30s navigating careers, relationships and identity – young adults are rapidly becoming one of the most active and vibrant sectors of diocesan and parish life.

For some, an upbringing in the Catholic faith catches fire in college, where demand for Campus Ministry is growing. More than 800 college students are regularly attending Mass through campus ministries across the diocese – double the attendance of a decade ago. And hundreds more young people attend diocesan fellowship activities and retreats, not to mention many more participating in parish-based young adult ministries.

The growing interest reflects a surge in adults of all ages joining the Church locally and nationally. In the Charlotte diocese, the number of adults entering the Church jumped 43% for two straight years and this Easter season is expected to meet or surpass last year’s 1,743 new members, the highest in at least a decade.

Nationally, the Catholic prayer app Hallow reported a 38% average annual increase in adults entering the Church this year. Although ages aren’t tracked, dioceses across the country are anecdotally reporting a noticeable increase in young adults.

“In the last two years, a switch was flipped,” Arizona State University’s Father Bill Clements told Catholic News Agency. The college received more than 100 students, a record, into the faith this year. “I think people are tired of crazy. They’re hungry for some direction, truth, goodness and beauty.”

Organizations are increasing efforts to reach young adults, especially those who have grown up in the Church and may be drifting.

Among them is Young Catholic Professionals, a national nonprofit founded in 2010 that connects young adults through networking events, mentorship and faith formation. The group started its

Charlotte chapter in October 2023 and has seen solid growth since.
“Catholic Sports,” a new sports league catering to young people, launched in January and has hosted more than 80 players in their first, six-week session of beach volleyball.

And “SEARCH,” an evangelization ministry of Franciscan friars in Charlotte, hosts “Friar Fridays” and “Brews and Good News” events at bars and other out-and-about locations, offering fellowship and information about the Catholic faith in casual social settings. The three friars behind the ministry identified Charlotte as the best place to start their unconventional ministry partly because of the large number of young adults living in – and moving to – the city. The median age of those living in Charlotte’s South End and Uptown is 29 to 32.

With more than 30 years of working with young people in Catholic education, Bishop Michael Martin is beefing up support for Youth Ministry and Campus Ministry, and has called on parishes across the diocese to focus more attention on reaching young adults. He spent more than three decades in high schools and colleges, including time as director of the Duke (University) Catholic Center in Durham.

From the day he was announced as Bishop of Charlotte, Bishop Martin has emphasized the impact young people can and should have on the local Church. He has noted that when you bring their energy and enthusiasm together with the Good News of the Gospel, wonderful things happen in the Church.

At the parish level, more young adult groups have steadily emerged over the past decade – adding to longtime mainstay ministries at St. Gabriel, St. Matthew and other parishes. The groups are appealing because they offer opportunities for fellowship, faith formation and service. Among newer groups are “CASA” at St. Ann and “Aquinas’ Finest” at St. Thomas Aquinas in Charlote, as well as ministries at churches from Hendersonville to the Triad.

These initiatives, often spearheaded by lay leaders, have expanded beyond Bible studies to include retreats and outreach initiatives that meet young adults where they are and invite them into deeper participation in the life of the Church.

VIGILANT RETREAT UNITES YOUNG ADULTS

At St. Ann Parish in Charlotte, one annual event is indicative of this growth.

Five years ago, parishioner Katie Cosby recognized an unmet need for deeper connection in the young adult community.

“I was seeing people live both in the world and then in the faith,” Cosby said. “I just really wanted to bring those together and inspire people to become the great saints that they’re meant to be.”

That motivated her to create the Vigilant Retreat. Founded in 2022 with 90 attendees, the weekend retreat has nearly doubled in size – to 150 this April – and has had a waiting list for the past two years.

Speakers typically include a mix of young adults, clergy and religious. This year Catholic influencer Ana Munley spoke at the retreat.

“Every year, I am amazed by how much of an impact it has on the individuals who attend,” said Katie Sholtis, who has attended every retreat since the beginning. “I’ve seen the fruits of this retreat extend past the weekend and can’t wait to see its continued impact on the Charlotte community and beyond.”

St. John Neumann Parish in Charlotte recently launched Nueva Alianza, a Hispanic young adult group.

YOUNG HISPANIC ADULTS CONNECT

The Hispanic community is also seeing strong growth in young adult engagement. Since the pandemic, a cluster of parishes launched dedicated young adult ministries for their Spanish-speaking populations.

At St. John Neumann Parish, “Nueva Alianza” (“New Covenant”) formed in January. It is led by parishioners Juan Sánchez and Martin Rubi Leodegario, who were already involved in the parish’s other young adult ministry, but started Nueva Alianza to serve those whose primary language is Spanish.

“Last year when I became a parishioner, I joined the (English-speaking) group but having such a large number of native Spanish speakers, we decided it was best to create our own group,” Sánchez said. “We also wanted a way so that we could be meet more often, and like that, the group was born.”

The ministry has grown from four to 20 members in a matter of months. Nueva Alianza, which meets every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. focuses on prayer, reading scripture and talking about the faith.

“This has helped me discover more about the Church,” said Yeimy Sánchez, 25, who grew up a Jehovah’s Witness but converted to Catholicism four years ago. “In this group we support one another in our faith journey.”

In Greensboro, St. Mary’s Parish established its first young adult group in 2022 and today has about 25 members. As their reach in the community has grown, neighboring parishes have been inspired to form their own young adult ministries.

“I have seen how this group has allowed each person to express with confidence their faith,” said St. Mary’s group founder, Honorio Valle-Carvajal. “This attracts them because it feels like a family.”

Slaterk Pérez, 26, who returned to his Catholic faith recently after distancing himself from the Church, believes social media has fueled curiosity about the faith among young adults, many of whom are searching for something.

“We now have easy access to so much information about the faith, I believe that it is pushing Gen Z to give this a try,” Pérez said. “Being here, you become prouder of being Catholic.”

— Brian Segovia and Amelia Kudela

Seminarian Patrick Martin, shown here at the Bishop’s Youth Pilgrimage, enjoys teaching young people about the faith because it increases his own understanding.

Martin has recently been teaching Catholic teens at a Cincinnati parish about “The Screwtape Letters,” a Christian apologetic novel by legendary author C.S. Lewis, best known for his “Chronicles of Narnia” series.

In the novel, written as a series of letters, a senior demon named Screwtape teaches a junior “tempter” about ways to undermine humanity’s faith, illustrating the many ways that a lack of faith can harm a person’s relationship with God.

The class not only helps Martin, whose home parish is St. Mark in Huntersville, develop his skills in teaching the faith to others, but it also helps him tie together and apply things he has learned during his years in the seminary.

“It’s a different style of book than they’re used to studying, and it honestly wasn’t a book I had been meaning to read,” Martin said. “I’d read other things by Lewis and had attempted to read this book years ago but got too busy, so I’m learning the book at the same time I’m teaching it. It’s an exciting way of applying both my philosophy and theology studies in seminary to the material, helping to explain it and break it down.”

It’s the second class for young people that Martin has taught at the Ohio parish, close to where he is studying theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Cincinnati. He previously taught a course on Theology of the Body.

He completed philosophy studies at St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly before studying in Ohio, and will be ordained as a transitional deacon – a step on the journey to becoming a priest – on May 23.

In an interview with the Catholic News Herald, Martin shares more about his life:

CNH: What was your journey to discernment like?

Martin: It started when I was young – I was blessed to be home-schooled, and my mother made the effort to bring me to daily Mass along with my siblings. That daily experience really helped me to build a relationship with the Mass and also to see how the priests approached the sacrifice of the Mass as well as their approach and interaction with people.

I felt a call to the priesthood but then during middle school stepped away from discerning priesthood and thought God was calling me to be a married man. I thought about getting a business degree and working to provide for a family. …

Then during high school I felt like I needed to reassess and re-approach discernment, and Father John Putnam at St. Mark invited me to be the sacristan there. As sacristan, I really experienced the brotherhood of the priests and their love for the Lord and for people. I thought about it and discerned strongly and, through the advice of the priests I knew, I entered seminary after high school.

CNH: What are your hobbies?

Martin: I’m really big into athletics. I grew up playing soccer and swimming and still like to play soccer in seminary – I spend time playing with my brother seminarians, and we have a makeshift team. I’ve also gotten into weight lifting and in recent years got into marathon running – I started that my first year here in Ohio. I train with fellow seminarian Connor White, who is an avid runner. The training is a great way to let our brains reset. It helps me to regulate and re-engage. Every spring I’ve been running a marathon called the Flying Pig here in Cincinnati, which takes its name from the city’s history as a leader in the pork industry.

CNH: Who is your favorite saint?
Martin: The saint I hold most dear is St. John the Evangelist – I have a statue on my desk of him looking at me right now. I chose him as my confirmation saint, and he’s been my go-to saint on multiple levels since then. I’m the middle child of my family and the youngest boy, and seeing John the Evangelist, John the Beloved, as the youngest of the apostles was impactful to me, because as the youngest boy I felt some competition growing up. I saw that John was the youngest but was also impactful. He has a special relationship with Christ, a closeness to our Lord, and was particularly there with Him during the Passion. He was the one who helped Our Lady through the Passion.

— Christina Lee Knauss

The House of Mercy’s annual Walk for AIDS raises funds to help program recipients live with HIV/AIDS and works to combat the stigma still associated with the disease.

Founded by the sisters in 1991, the House of Mercy responded to the AIDS crisis when many were stigmatized and abandoned – providing housing, respite and dignified care without judgment.

The six-room home still delivers wrap-around services for residents and others living with HIV/AIDS, but thanks to medical advances, staff and volunteers are now focused on teaching clients to lead relatively normal lives.

“This walk is about how we get to be individuals that lift the community up and fight against discrimination,” President Latoya Gardner said. “We carry the names of those we lost in our hearts. We carry the hope of those still fighting. Let’s walk together for a future where everyone living with HIV has a place to call home and a community that loves them.”

Oratorian Father Charles Tupta, pastor of All Saints Church in Lake Wylie, South Carolina, started the walk with a prayer and shared his experience as a chaplain at Rush Presbyterian Medical Center in Chicago when the AIDS epidemic emerged.

“Their families would disown them,” Father Tupta recalled. “A lot of times when they passed, no one came to claim the body, and there was really nothing medically that could be done at the time.”

Father Tupta walks for former patients like Joel, whose last breaths were made trying to reconcile with his estranged father, who in return told Joel that God did not love him.

That day still brings tears to Father Tupta’s eyes. “He said to me, ‘I will never stop loving my father. I had trouble figuring all this out, so how could I expect him to? … I know that God loves me because God does not make junk.’”

Other participants shed tears looking back at a history that didn’t treat their loved ones with the respect they deserved.

Gardner got involved after the death of her brother, who died from AIDS but mentally declined long before that.

“Technically he passed from an AIDS-related illness, but it was the stigma and discrimination that killed him before anything else,” Gardner said. “My brother was 21 when he passed away because he could not foresee living a life where people knew about his illness and treated him differently.”

Though dying from AIDS is less common now due to pharmaceuticals that suppress the virus to the point that it is undetectable, the stigma lingers.

This was the case for Mercy resident Kurt (last name withheld for privacy), who found out he had full-blown AIDS after a doctor’s visit for a small rash last August. The diagnosis sent him spiraling into depression, leaving him homeless, hopeless and lonely with nowhere to go. He didn’t want to tell his family about his condition, so he suffered quietly with his secret.

“This place means a lot because I was not in a good spot,” Kurt said. “They were here to help me, and they actually cared.”

Through it all he still rests in his faith, he said. “I grew up in the Church, and I know He wouldn’t put on me more than I can handle. I pray all the time.”

Former resident Robert (last name withheld for privacy) still volunteers and attends every fundraiser. He recalls how his year’s stay at the House of Mercy rescued him from both sickness and homelessness.

“When you have HIV, you get so consumed with medication and taking care of yourself that sometimes you forget to take care of yourself financially,” Robert said. “When I got here, I learned how to live with the virus, not just medication-wise, but day-to-day. If it wasn’t for the House of Mercy, I don’t know where I’d be today.”

Such progress is possible due to staff such as Kimberly Hunter, a parishioner of St. James the Greater in Concord whose nephew died from anxiety the disease caused.

“If Jason would have had a House of Mercy, everything would have been so different. He wouldn’t have been depressed, hungry and living on the streets. This is something I never want to happen to anyone else,” Hunter said. “I feel like I was led here. I love what we do. We can’t save everyone, but we can help people get better, get them undetectable and help them see the future, which is what Jason didn’t see.”

For staff, volunteers, participants and residents, a future without AIDS may soon be possible, but for now, they will continue walking toward a stigma-free community.

“We aren’t just providing housing,” Gardner said. “We are providing a sanctuary and a community where our residents are seen as people, not just a diagnosis.”

— Lisa M. Geraci 

More online

At www.thehouseofmercy.org: Get help or support the House of Mercy in its mission

Ahead of May, which is foster care awareness month, the Circle of St. Joseph, a new ministry focused on helping foster parents, holds a respite night to give parents a few hours to themselves. Volunteers from multiple church groups came together to host the children — playing games, assembling crafts, providing pizza and keeping them entertained.

About a dozen foster parents dropped their children off at the church for a night of fun, pizza and a movie while they enjoyed a few free hours for date night, alone time or a chance to catch up with friends. Youth volunteers from American Heritage Girls, Holy Family faith formation members and Bishop McGuinness High School students babysat, hosted the games and helped assemble crafts with the children.

According to Circle of St. Joseph founder Greta Argenta, these little windows of freedom are a great way to give back to the foster community.

“The parents and children loved it and were asking when we can do it again,” Argenta said. “I hope to start doing these nights on a regular basis, now that we know what to expect.”

The need is great. Forsyth County has more than 270 children in foster care, yet there are only 14 licensed foster parents. Those who are not placed with area families are placed with foster parents in surrounding counties or remain in N.C. Department of Social Services care in group homes.

“It is a huge crisis, and the advocacy and awareness are starting right now, but I don’t think the awareness has been a part of this for a long time,” Argenta said.

For Argenta, it’s not just a governmental crisis but also a Catholic one.

“We can’t rely on the government to take care of children. That is the Church’s job – that is our job.

That is what we do,” she said, citing the example of Church-run orphanages from decades ago. “Once they stopped doing that, I feel like we forgot the importance of taking care of the orphans and the children left behind.”

The Circle of St. Joseph ministry, named after Jesus’ foster father Joseph, steps in to provide prayer, donations and serve as a Catholic connection to Argenta’s larger non-profit, Fostering Families Resource Center. That organization assists foster parents in Winston-Salem with basic needs and meals and hosts events to support families and social service workers.

Argenta, a mother of five – three biological and two adopted foster children – has been involved with the foster care network for the past 20 years.

“I feel like God gave that to me. The foster community has always been on my heart,” she said. “Even when I was a kid, I used to play Annie and pretended I had my own orphanage. It is a calling I always had.”

—  Lisa Geraci
More online

At www.ffrcnc.org: Learn more about the Fostering Families Resource Center

MARS HILL — Blue skies and the green of spring spreading across the Blue Ridge Mountains made April 19 a beautiful day for a wedding in Mars Hill. For five happy couples gathered at St. Andrew the Apostle Church, it was a chance to bring their existing marriages into full recognition in the Catholic Church.

The parish hosted a special Mass that included convalidations of marriage for five couples celebrated by their pastor, Father Anthony Mbanefo of the Missionary Society of St. Paul.

Convalidation is the process by which a couple who has been married civilly brings their marriage into the Church, validating it according to Church law and making it a sacramental union.

After the Easter Vigil, when one or both members of a couple have received the sacrament of initiation, churches often celebrate ceremonies for multiple couples.

What was unusual was the number at this small parish. Four of the couples attend St. Andrew and one attends Sacred Heart, its mission in Burnsville.

Father Mbanefo recognized the impending need and planning for the convalidation began, said Mercy Sister Peggy Verstege, who has served at St. Andrew for more than 40 years and was instrumental in organizing the ceremony.

“Really the journey toward this day started last year when we began OCIA classes for those who came into the Church this year,” Sister Peggy said. “We talked about convalidation and decided to do a group ceremony, so we got all the paperwork done, agreed on the readings. This is such an important day because it’s a celebration of marriage and life, and also hopefully offers an important witness for others to follow.”

The five couples whose marriages were convalidated are Mitch and Jamie Cline, Stephen and Kelly Hansen, Kathryn and Matthew Papay, Michael and Cressida Shelton, and Zachariah and Kelsey Symons.

During the ceremony, the couples renewed their wedding vows and exchanged rings.

Father Mbanefo offered a moving homily about the importance of Catholic marriage and its many benefits, including the focus on bearing and raising children and the chance for couples to grow closer to each other and to Jesus through their marriage.

He reminded the congregation that Jesus started His public ministry at a wedding feast at Cana in Galilee, as described in the Gospel of John. There, at the bidding of the Blessed Mother, He changed ordinary water into wine. Zachariah and Kelsey Symons exchange rings during their wedding ceremony April 19 at St. Andrew Church.

“This was the first miracle of Jesus Christ where He shared with us that He is truly from God,” Father Mbanefo said. “The full presence of God was at the feast of a wedding. That was not accidental … the marriage covenant had been messed up by sin, and God sent His Son into the world to restore things to their proper order. The union of a man and a woman is something that God created. Marriage is a divine institution. … It came from God and it is God who blesses it.”

After Mass, a reception featured a luncheon at which the couples gathered around a large cake and took turns cutting it.

The Clines have been married for 17 years, and both came into full communion with the Church at the Easter Vigil.

“We finally get a chance to get it right at this beautiful ceremony,” Jamie Cline said. “It’s such a beautiful blessing to be able to do this.”

The ceremony was a special experience for parish secretary Kelly Hansen, whose husband Stephen Hansen came into the Church at the Easter Vigil after more than a decade of inquiry and study, she said.

“We had no witnesses or friends at our civil wedding 30 years ago, so it was a special blessing to share this celebration with friends who feel like family,” she said.

The celebratory mood of the day carried out into the parking lot, where a message scrawled on the back window of one of the couple’s vehicles conveyed the true message of the day: “Just Married!”

— Christina Lee Knauss

After Dr. Joseph De Pietro passed in 2016, his wife, Anita Joan Di Pietro honored his memory with an endowment that benefits seminarians.

After Joseph passed away on Feb. 14, 2016, Anita chose to honor him in a way that she knew would speak to his heart. She established the Di Pietro Family Foundation, from which she established an endowment in the diocesan foundation to support St. Joseph College Seminary in Mount Holly. That substantial gift has helped fund seminarian formation, sacred music and liturgy, art and architecture, cultural events and other similar programs at the seminary.

The couple came to Charlotte after traveling the world. Joseph Di Pietro was born in Messina, Italy, and came to the United States with his parents when he was 16. Anita Di Pietro was born in Baltimore and attended Catholic school from elementary grades through college. After they were married, Joseph’s career as a chemist kept them on the move, including an eight-year stint in Italy.

After his retirement, the couple was looking for a strong Catholic community. They were drawn to St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Charlotte and became vibrant members of the congregation.

“Joseph loved to cook for our priests, and we frequently entertained them at our house,” Anita Di Pietro recalled.

“I became interested in the seminary after joining the Charlotte Catholic Women’s Group,” she said. “The group supported seminarians with prayers and gift cards for Christmas and Easter.

Our new priests were asked to introduce themselves at our monthly meetings.”

That experience sparked a connection to the seminary and seminarians that she wanted to nurture.

“Mrs. Di Pietro has long been a friend and supporter of the seminary,” said Father Matthew Kauth, rector of the seminary. “Anita doesn’t just donate money, she comes to the seminary frequently bringing gifts and a hearty laugh. We are blessed to have her as a member of our seminary community.”

“She has contributed to the buildings necessary for formation but now has also, in honor of her husband Joseph, given us an endowment for the purposes of cultural and artistic enrichment of the seminary and the seminarians themselves,” Father Kauth said.

“An endowment fund is the gift that keeps giving,” Anita Di Pietro said. “I would encourage anyone who is able to establish an endowment fund.”

An endowment is a permanent fund, the principal of which is invested – not spent – that generates income to help pay for projects and programs specified by the donor. Endowments are tax deductible and help sustain the strength and viability of the diocese and its entities, paying for capital improvements, charitable outreach, education and parish operations.

“I find this a good way to donate,” she explained, noting that donors can designate where funds will go and what areas they can be used for, They have the security of knowing that funds are invested by the diocesan financial team and donors receive ongoing information about the fund’s performance from the development team.

“While we have many parishioners who are establishing endowments in their estate plans, more individuals like Anita are deciding to establish the endowment during life and then add to that endowment in their estate plan,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan development director. “The advantage of this is that people can see good things happening with the distributions from their endowment now and by doing that, they are encouraging more people to follow their example. We are grateful for Anita and all those who are establishing or adding to endowments in our foundation.”

As Anita Di Pietro explained, “We do have a responsibility to do what we can. We can’t just go to Sunday Mass and say, ‘Well, that’s it.’”

— Courtney McLaughlin

Fund an endowment

Interested in setting up – or adding to – an endowment to benefit your parish or Catholic school? You can establish an endowment in the Diocese of Charlotte Foundation by leaving a bequest in a will, a beneficiary designation from a retirement plan, a trust or annuity, or a gift of real estate, life insurance, cash or securities.

For details, contact Gina Rhodes at 704-370-3364 or gmrhodes@rcdoc.

For the past 11 years, three Charlotte parishes – St. Matthew, St. Peter and St. Vincent de Paul – have collaborated to furnish one family’s dream at a time.

Furniture and housewares are primarily donated by parishioners or sometimes retailers like Costco and, when needed, purchased by the parishes. The ministry of more than 90 volunteers is committed to doing whatever it takes for their clients.

“I do this because they need it. We’ve got this crisis in this country as far as homelessness. This happened to them, as it could have happened to me,” St. Vincent de Paul parishioner and long-standing volunteer Nancy Kopfle said, as she plugged in a new coffee maker and showed off plastic children’s plates in a freshly stocked cabinet.

“This gives them dignity because now they will have their own belongings,” Kopfle said. “The point of all this is for them to have the tools to pick themselves back up. This makes their new place into a home. It is very moving.”

On move-in day, an HRM team typically meets early at St. Matthew’s warehouse in Wesley Chapel to load their moving truck with furniture and beds that match the client’s needs, while other members of the team load their cars with housewares and bedding that is stored in large closets at St. Vincent de Paul Church. The teams roll out and converge on their destination. There, they spend several hours moving in and arranging furniture, assembling beds and cribs, hanging pictures and shower curtains, plugging in lamps, and providing all the little details that create a cozy living environment.

Client Denise, whose last name is withheld to preserve her privacy, was introduced to the Homeless Relief Ministry by The Relatives, a local nonprofit that is one of many partner organizations that provide wrap-around services for clients.

For about seven months, Denise and her children were living in an unstable environment, moving from place to place, spending nights with relatives or at hotels.

She moved here from Georgia to get her life together, but the neighborhood she was barely able to afford was riddled with violence to the point where she fled in fear for her children’s safety.

“There were shootings and loud noises; people were outside all night,” she said. “It was just a bad situation.”

Her caseworker, Shanetta Black from The Relatives, works with 17 clients, helping to remove barriers so clients become financially stable enough to pay their rent and other bills. Yet, she notes this is not a homelessness problem but a housing problem.

“You have people who work two to three jobs but still stay outside because they don’t make three times their rent monthly (a common lease requirement), so they can’t afford to live,” she said.

With the average monthly rent in Charlotte at $1,600 or more, according to RentCafe.com, the scenario is not uncommon, so Homeless Relief Ministry works to ensure that once those in need find a safe place to live, they can move into a comfortable, fully furnished home.

“I like going to ground zero and helping from there,” said volunteer and St. Matthew parishioner Bill LeMay. He lives by Mother Teresa’s philosophy by finding his own Calcutta – a place where people need help – right in Mecklenburg County.

“Like Sister Teresa said, the people that need help are here, so that is where I love and help them.”
— Lisa M. Geraci 

During a field trip to Washington, D.C., students from Our Lady of the Assumption School had the privilege of placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider in Arlington National Cemetery. CHARLOTTE — A class trip turned into an emotional and personal encounter with history for eighth-grade students and a teacher from Our Lady of the Assumption School in Charlotte as they got to do something normally done by presidents and dignitaries: placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Twenty-seven students along with staff and faculty members visited Washington, D.C., on a whirlwind three-day tour beginning March 30 that took them to several museums, nine monuments,

the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and Arlington National Cemetery.

At Arlington, several students were able to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, described by many as the most hallowed grave on U.S. soil. It is the burial site of unidentified service members who died in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, seven days a week by soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, also known as “The Old Guard.”

Individuals, veteran’s organizations, school groups and others can apply to lay wreaths at the tomb. It involves a moving ceremony that includes guidance from a Tomb Guard and the playing of taps. By laying a wreath, the eighth-graders followed in the footsteps of U.S. presidents and other high-profile dignitaries who have also placed wreaths there.

Auggie Kojis, 13, was one of the students who placed the wreath.

While at Arlington, second-grade teacher James Moore visited the grave of his grandfather, Michael Ramon Silva, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

“Just to be at Arlington and see all of these graves that represented all these lives that have defended our country made me really emotional,” Kojis said.

While visiting Arlington, second-grade teacher James Moore took time to pause and reflect at the grave of his grandfather, Michael Ramon Silva, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

Moore said he knew his grandfather while growing up in California and made the trip to Arlington when Silva was buried there in 2020. However, he had not seen the headstone with his grandfather’s information on it until this trip.

The inscription on the headstone includes “2 Timothy 4:7,” a Bible verse written by St. Paul when he was imprisoned that reads, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

“It was really nice to be able to see the headstone for the first time,” he said. “It was also great to have that moment to share with the students. This was a good way for them to make the connection with history, to realize that these were real people with real families, and that their service for our country impacted other people. This headstone was connected with me, someone they actually know.”

Lindsay Palma-Salmeron, 14, who placed the wreath with Kojis, was moved by the chance to see Silva’s grave.

“We’re all like a big family at this school, so seeing him visit his grandfather and getting to learn about him was very special,” she said.

Students were also awestruck by the visit to the basilica, where they attended Mass and visited its many chapels. They also saw chairs used by former popes when they visited, as well as the 1963 papal coronation tiara of Pope Paul VI, which was gifted to the United States in 1968 and is the only papal tiara on permanent display outside the Vatican.

— Christina Lee Knauss. Photos provided

The graduates are (from left): William Aiden Bolstad of Fiat Academy, Hannah Rose Laskowski of Divine Mercy Academy, Maria Isabela Tapia of School of the Holy Family, Sarah Cecilia Martin of Saint Patrick’s Academy, Diamondra Ramarijaona of Holy Family Catholic School, Mary Elizabeth Pressley of Holy Spirit Homeschool, Lillian Mary Mancusi of Saint Joseph Homeschool, Justin Ellis King of St. Anne’s Academy and Jose Nicholas Felten of Notre Dame Catholic Homeschool (not pictured).

— St. Mark Parish’s Homeschool Ministr, Olivia Grace Photography 

It took two years for Amy Nguyen, her parents and her 10 siblings to escape Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975. (Photos provided)CHARLOTTE — As the 50th anniversary year of the Fall of Saigon draws to a close this April 30, a couple, Amy and Long Nguyen from Our Lady of Assumption Church, recalled their harrowing escape from the Communist regime in North Vietnam. 

The couple met at Our Lady of Assumption Church in Charlotte in the 90s. Coincidentally, they both worked as mechanical engineers at IBM and both fled Saigon.

“Every time we have Black April, I thank God to be able to live freely in America,” said Amy Nguyen. “It is a day to remember and a day to thank God for saving us. We lost our country, but we didn’t lose our faith. It was a miracle. Now, I know even in our darkest journey God is always with us.”

The couple separately witnessed the terror of war but now carries a lighter load through their shared faith.

They tell their stories, representing the estimated 8,000 registered Vietnamese parishioners sprinkled across the diocese’s 93 parishes, but primarily centered at two Vietnamese churches, St. Joseph in Charlotte and Holy Family Mission in Greensboro. Many of these parishioners, now over the age of 50, arrived in the United States with their own tales from Saigon. 

The couple continues to tell their stories for the next generation – their three children – and for the victims who perished, unable to tell theirs.

“During that time, we only depended on God. We were just like the Israelites exiled from Egypt, just like the Holy Family,” Amy Nguyen said. “The whole journey, I had God with me, and no doubt with His help, Mary, and all the angels and saints, we are here today in this freedom country.” 

Long Nguyen

Long Nguyen turned 23 the week of the Fall of Saigon in 1975, a week that would forever change the trajectory of his life. 

He was in seminary, preparing to make his vows, but as tensions increased, his religious order instead started plotting an evacuation.

The order secretly purchased a boat, bought a plane and hired a pilot, and secured a vehicle to get them there. 

Long didn’t know what was happening but obeyed his superior when he was instructed to drive designated religious from Saigon to port Vũng Tàu a few days before Saigon fell.

“I went back and forth. They told me what to do, and I just followed,” Long said. “We were told to pack light. I thought we were coming back. But we left forever that day.”

The plan was to escape by plane, but the pilot took off with the plane and the money without them. With the North Vietnamese forces closing in, Long was left with a small boat he didn’t know how to drive. 

On April 30, when the radio signal from President Dương Văn Minh commanded South Vietnam to drop all weapons and surrender to the North, he knew it was go-time. 

“If we were to stay there, we would be arrested. They would hunt everyone, especially the religious education teachers, and take them to reeducation camps to die,” he said. 

“Everything was just like a movie. While we sailed from the shore… there were shots above our heads. And a mortar fell right on the area we were in. It was unreal.” 

With no experience, Long and his fellow brothers tried to navigate the boat packed with 52 nuns and priests. 

“The boat was small. We just had enough space for us to sit. But there were no seats or chairs, so we sat on the floor,” Long said.

The engine was leaking, and there was no drinking water. 

“There was rain, and people used their ponchos to gather water,” he said. “Nobody could eat anything because of the waves. People, even myself, got seasick.”

By noon, they all agreed to head east. They didn’t have a map but had a small compass and knew the Philippines were to the east—about 800 miles away. 

“It was so scary. Imagine if the engine died. There would be no one out there to help. It is just the open sea. But we just prayed and hoped we would land somewhere,” Long said. 

The first night they sailed until exhaustion hit and then anchored the boat until morning. 

The next day they saw helicopters and followed them. 

On day three, they saw a barge that could hold about 2,000 people. 

“At that point we knew we would be saved,” Long said. “We were so fortunate.” 

They rode alongside the larger vessel as they were pulled onto it, one at a time by a rope. 

“On the boat, since so many priests were available, they said a Mass of Thanksgiving, which was unbelievable and joyful,” Long recalled. 

They met a missionary from another order on the boat.

“He gave each of us $5. This was the first time we ever got to touch the green dollar,” he said. “We were almost the last group on the boat but the first to be cleared in the Philippines to board a plane to the U.S.”

From there, they boarded a C-141 U.S. Air Force cargo plane. By this point the only belongings Long had were the T-shirt and shorts he was wearing. His shoes were forever lost at sea. 

Amy Nguyen

Amy was a teenager during the Fall of Saigon. Her father was a businessman, and though they were not Catholic, she and her 10 siblings attended Catholic school.

She remembers April 29, 1975, the day the nuns contacted parents to get their children out of the school. A chauffeur picked them up as her parents worked fast to arrange for the family to leave by boat. But, on April 30, their escape failed. 

“Thank God we were not arrested. We left at 3:00 in the morning to get the boat. We were on the sea for one day and saw no one – nothing, just us,” she said. “There was no food and no drink, so the captain took us back to port, and we snuck home.” 

In a desperate act of survival, her parents obtained fake documentation saying they each had a spouse who resided in France. This “False Marriage” ploy was a common but dangerous way to obtain exit visas.

It took two years for their paperwork to get approved, and the time in between was marked by fear and anxiety.

“Those two years were very scary because the surrounding Communists were all watching us,” she said.

Once approved, her father took four children and her mother seven, as they separately made their way to their French “spouses.”

The day of their escape, her communist neighbor followed them onboard the plane. 

“When I saw him, my heart dropped to the floor. I thought, ‘We are going to die today.’ He said, ‘I know who you are and where you are going. If you have any money, you need to give it to me,’” she recalled. “We gave him all the money we had and safely landed in Thailand. That is the day my parents vowed that if we were able to escape the Communist regime, the whole family would convert to Catholicism." 

They arrived in France in 1977, and the entire 13-member family reunited and converted to Catholicism. 

“I believe that God saved us, and the only thing that I was able to bring with me from home was the prayers and faith that helped us through the hard times,” she said. “We believe the faith kept us alive, and God carried us the whole time.”

From 1975 to 1995 various sources say as many as three million people fled Vietnam and neighboring Laos and Cambodia, by land, air and predominantly sea, earning them the nickname “boat people.” More than 2.5 million were resettled around the world, with about 800,000 ending up in the United States, according to the American Immigration Council. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that between 200,000 and 250,000 boat people died at sea.

—      Lisa M Geraci. Photos provided

The shifts are due to religious switching, or leaving one's childhood religious identity for another in adulthood.

Pew published its findings April 23, based on data from its surveys of 24 countries spanning Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.

The center's 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study provided the data for the U.S., while international data was drawn from surveys conducted during the spring of 2024.

Pew noted the latter data included additional countries not referenced in the April 23 analysis, since the overall percentages of Christians in those nations was too small (1% or less) to statistically differentiate between Protestants and Catholics.

Those who leave Catholicism "tend to join Protestantism or disaffiliate from religion altogether," said Pew, noting that "disaffiliation is especially common in parts of Europe and Latin America."

In contrast, those who leave Protestantism "tend to become religiously unaffiliated," said Pew, which defines "religious nones" as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular."

Even with the losses sustained, Catholicism remains the majority religion in eight of the 24 nations studied, with Poland, the Philippines and Italy topping the list.

Pew noted that 96% of the Polish population was raised Catholic, with 92% still identifying as such in adulthood. The Philippines, where 88% are raised Catholic, has also seen a high adult retention rate, with 78% of that nation's adults still regarding themselves as Catholic. In Hungary, 57% of adults identify as Catholic, with 59% of the population having been raised Catholic.

Italy has experienced higher losses, with 89% of the nation's adults raised Catholic, and 67% of them identifying as such.

In Mexico, 66% of adults regard themselves as Catholic, although 87% of the nation's population is raised in the faith. In Peru, where 81% are raised Catholic, 63% of adults still identify with the faith.

Spain sees 80% of its population raised Catholic, but just 45% identify as such in adulthood, while in France, with 60% raised Catholic, only 34% of adults describe themselves as such.

In the U.S., less than one third (30%) are raised Catholic, and only 17% of adults describe themselves as Catholic. Those figures are slightly higher in Canada, where 39% are raised Catholic and 20% of adults identify as such.

Pew found that in Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria and the Philippines, "former Catholics are more likely to have joined Protestantism than to have become religious 'nones.'"

Former Catholics comprise "10% or more of the total population in 15 countries" surveyed, said Pew.

Moreover, "relatively few adults in the countries analyzed enter the church after being raised in another religion or with no religion," Pew said.

The center cited Italy, where 22% are former Catholics, but just 1% who were not raised Catholic became so -- "a net loss of 21 percentage points," said Pew.

"Overall, more people left Catholicism than joined it in 21 of the 24 countries we analyzed," Pew said.

Hungary ranked as "the only country surveyed where more people joined (5%) than left the church (2%)," added Pew.

In contrast with Catholicism, said Pew, "Protestantism has seen a net gain from switching in nearly as many places as it has seen a net loss."

Sweden, the UK and Germany "are among the countries with the largest net losses," said Pew.

In the U.S., 14% of those saying they were raised Protestant left the faith, with 8% who had not been raised as such joining.

In 16 of the 24 countries it surveyed, Pew found that "Protestants account for no more than about a quarter of the total population," although Ghana (62%) and Kenya (55%) have majority Protestant populations.

— Gina Christian, OSV News

The vocation to priestly ministry is a call to reflect Christ's "patience and tenderness" and "to keep the threshold open and direct others to it, without using too many words, the pope said April 26 during his homily at the ordination Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

"Today more than ever, especially when statistics seem to indicate a divide between people and the Church, keep the door open! Let people in, and be prepared to go out. This is another secret for your life: You are a channel, not a filter," he said.

Of the 10 priests ordained by Pope Leo, eight were ordained for the Diocese of Rome, including six Italians, a Cameroonian and a Colombian. Four studied at Rome's major seminary and four were prepared for the priesthood at the Neocatechumenal Way's Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Rome.

Two priests were ordained for other dioceses or congregations. Mexican Father Armando Roa Nuñez was ordained for the Diocese of Miao, India, while Father Selwyn Pinto Loyce was ordained as a member of the Idente Missionaries.

According to Vatican News, an estimated 5,000 people, comprised of family and friends of the ordinands, were present at the ordination Mass which coincided with the celebration of the World Day of Vocations.

After greeting those present at the Mass, Pope Leo began his homily by exclaiming, "This Sunday is full of life." He said that "although death surrounds us," Jesus' promise in the Gospel reading -- that he came "so that they might have life and have it more abundantly" -- was fulfilled.

"We see great generosity and enthusiasm in the willingness of these young men whom the Church calls today to be ordained as priests," the pope said. "As a numerous and diverse community gathered around the one Master, we feel a presence that renews us. It is the Holy Spirit who unites people and vocations in freedom, so that no one lives for themselves any longer."

Reflecting on the priestly vocation, the pope reminded the candidates that the deeper their bond with Christ, "the more radical your belonging to all of humanity," thus binding their hearts to "an indissoluble love."

Like the love of spouses, he explains, "the love that inspires celibacy for the Kingdom of God must also be guarded and constantly renewed, for every true affection matures and becomes fruitful over time."

"You are called to a specific, delicate and difficult way of loving and, even more so, of allowing yourselves to be loved in freedom," the pope said. "This will make you not only good priests, but also honest, helpful citizens, builders of peace and social friendship."

Recalling the Gospel reading, the pope noted that Jesus' reference to "aggressive figures and actions," such as thieves, robbers and strangers who "disregard boundaries," shows that Christ knows "the cruelty of the world, where he walks with us."

This, however, does not "deter him from giving up his life," the pope said.

"Denunciation does not become renunciation; danger does not lead to flight. This is another secret for the life of the priest: We must not be frightened by reality. It is the Lord of life who calls us. May the ministry entrusted to you, dear brothers, convey the peace of those who know that they are safe, even amid dangers," he said.

Pope Leo noted that the need for security in today's world "makes people aggressive, causes communities to close in on themselves and leads people to seek out enemies and scapegoats."

Nevertheless, despite the presence of fear, the pope encouraged the new priests to find their security not in "the role you hold but in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as well as in your participation, along with your people, in the story of salvation."

"This salvation is already at work in the many good deeds that are quietly carried out by people of goodwill in the parishes and settings where you will join them as fellow travelers. What you proclaim and celebrate will protect you, even in difficult times," he said.

Pope Leo said that Jesus' reminder that he is the gate means that "he does not stifle our freedom," while noting the existence of "communities that suffocate; some groups are easy to enter but are impossible to leave."

"This is not the case of the Lord's Church, nor of the community of his disciples," he said.

"We all seek shelter, rest and care," the pope explained. "The Church's doors are open, but not to cut us off from life: life does not end in a parish, in an association, in a movement, in a group. Whoever is saved can 'go out and find pasture,'" he said.

The pope invited the new priests to "go out and discover culture, people and life" and to marvel "at the things that God makes grow without our having sown them."

"The people you will serve as priests -- lay faithful and families, young and old, children and the sick -- inhabit pastures that you must come to know," he said. "At times it will seem to you that you lack the necessary maps. But the Good Shepherd has them; listen to his very familiar voice."

— Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News

"We are grateful the lives of the President, those who protect him, and everyone in attendance last night were spared from serious harm," Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement April 26.

"Let us all pray for our elected leaders and public officials that they may receive God's blessings," he said. "Because human life is a precious gift, there is no room for violence of any kind in our society."

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several Cabinet members were whisked out of the annual dinner with the White House press corps April 25, after a man rushed toward the main ballroom where the event was held and briefly exchanged gunfire with law enforcement.

According to The Associated Press, witnesses at the Washington Hilton heard about five to eight gunshots. Law enforcement told AP the suspect opened fire before Secret Service agents subdued him. One Secret Service officer was hospitalized after the alleged gunman shot at his bullet-proof vest but was released the next morning, according to the agency.

Attendees -- largely hundreds of journalists who cover the White House -- took shelter under tables, with some providing moment-by-moment updates to their various outlets amid the confusion.

More details emerged in two evening press briefings held shortly after the ballroom had been cleared, with Trump speaking to reporters at the White House, flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and FBI Director Kash Patel.

During the briefing, Trump said the Secret Service officer injured in the attack had been shot from a very close distance.

A separate briefing was subsequently held at the hotel, where Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, Jeffrey Carroll, interim police chief of the city's Metropolitan Police Department, and federal law enforcement updated the media.

Bowser and Carroll said the suspect appeared to be a lone actor, with Carroll noting the individual had charged a Secret Service checkpoint outside the ballroom, "armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives," before being "intercepted" by Secret Service agents.

Carroll also confirmed that "law enforcement exchanged gunfire with the individual," although the suspect "was not struck."

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, who was in attendance at the dinner, told media during the briefing that the suspect had so far been charged with two counts -- using a firearm during a crime of violence, and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.

The suspect was scheduled to be arraigned in federal District Court on April 27, and Pirro said there will be "many more charges based upon the information that we are learning in this very fluid situation."

Media reports have identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, a video game developer and teacher from the Los Angeles suburb of Torrence, California, who recently won a "teacher of the month" award.

After being evacuated, Trump posted on his platform Truth Social that "the shooter has been apprehended," and that he had "recommended that we 'LET THE SHOW GO ON.'"

He commended the Secret Service and law enforcement for acting "quickly and bravely."

Trump and the White House Correspondents' Association had initially wanted to continue with the program, but deferred to law enforcement's judgement to cancel the event and evacuate. The event is expected to be rescheduled within 30 days.

Tom Bateman, a State Department correspondent for BBC News, reported that one Secret Service agent described the ballroom as a "crime scene" while ordering attendees to vacate it.

The White House Correspondents' Association was founded in 1914, with its first dinner hosted in 1921. The association, which counts close to 900 members from almost 300 outlets, works to ensure robust journalistic coverage of the White House

Shortly after the incident, Bishop David J. Bonnar of Youngstown, Ohio, released a statement deploring the attack and calling for prayer.

"The United States is built on freedom and respect for all. There is no room for violence that
endangers the life of any human being," said Bishop Bonnar.

"Moreover," he said, "the issue of gun violence must be addressed. Violence is never the answer."

Bishop Bonnar added, "We all must look deeper into the human heart to build each other up rather than tear each other down. We pray for peace in moments of disagreement and discord."

"As we celebrate our 250th birthday may we live as a nation under God with liberty and justice for all," said Bishop Bonnar, who concluded with a prayer of petition: "For the healing of divisions in our country, that we might always strive to be one nation, under God, and that hatred and violence will be cast out from every heart in our land and throughout the world, let us pray to the Lord."

Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, a member of the Trump administration's Religious Liberty Commission, posted a message on the X social media platform April 26, expressing his gratitude that the president and his entourage were unhurt.

"May I raise my voice against the viciousness and tribalism that are so prevalent on the internet and that contribute mightily to the violence we see in our political culture," he said. "Can we please remember that it is possible to disagree with a politician's ideas without demonizing and de-humanizing him? Jesus commended us to love our enemies, and that includes our ideological opponents."

Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia told OSV News, "It is deeply disturbing that the culture and expression of violence continues to spread in our culture, country, and globally."

He said the attack "only contributes to an anxiety that is ascendant" in the nation.

"We Eastern Catholics -- who endure in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in India and elsewhere political violence -- strongly condemn what happened in Washington," and "call all people to a personal and communal stance of peace," said the archbishop.

"Pope Leo, by his personal example of serenity and moral clarity, and by his prophetic words, has given us a contemporary encouragement to live the life of Jesus," he said, adding, "Let us say again and again, peace be with you."

Rob DeFrancesco, executive director of the Catholic Media Association, told OSV News the organization was "deeply unsettled by the attack."

"We are grateful to the brave men and women who stopped the assailant. We are also mindful that journalists today, including our own members, often work in environments where their profession puts them in danger," he said.

"Our mission is to share the truth in love," said DeFrancesco. "That mission requires a society where reporters can seek the truth without the threat of violence."

— Gina Christian, OSV News

Leah Margaret Stewart, 46, of Charlotte was arrested April 26 and charged with felony embezzlement and money laundering. She was released the next day on a $25,000 bond.

Stewart was hired in December 2024 as a disaster case management supervisor in Catholic Charities’ Charlotte office.

In June, the diocese said, an audit found that a credit card issued to Stewart was used to pay for $13,001.65 in unauthorized personal expenses between March and May. Stewart was terminated July 1, 2025. The diocese reported the matter to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and is seeking restitution.

— Catholic News Herald

Pope Francis appears on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to deliver his Easter blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) at the Vatican April 20, 2025. Pope Francis, formerly Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, died April 21 at age 88. (Vatican Media |CNS photo)

On the papal flight from Luanda, Angola, to Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Pope Leo XIV spoke to journalists traveling with him, reflecting on the legacy of Pope Francis, who died April 21, 2025.

"I would like to remember, on this first anniversary of his death, Pope Francis, who gave so much to the church with his life, his testimony, his words, and his gestures," Pope Leo told reporters, speaking in Italian.

He recalled how Pope Francis truly lived with "closeness to the poorest, the little ones, the sick, the children, the elderly."

"We can also remember his message of mercy," Pope Leo said, remembering in particular how his predecessor invited the entire Church to join in the "beautiful celebration of an extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy."

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, led the Catholic Church from March 13, 2013, until his death on Easter Monday 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope and the first pope from Latin America.

The late pope's final public appearance was on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, when he unexpectedly came out on the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, raising his hands to wave to thousands of faithful gathered below in the square.

"Happy Easter," he told the crowd, before delivering what would be his last Easter blessing, "urbi et orbi," to the city and the world. The visibly frail pope then boarded his popemobile for a final pass through the square to greet the faithful.

"We pray that he is already enjoying the mercy of the Lord and we thank the Lord for the great gift of Francis' life to the whole Church and to the whole world," Pope Leo said on the flight.

In Rome, the anniversary of Pope Francis' death will be marked with a Mass held in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the final resting place of the late pope.

Pope Leo reflected on this predecessor's legacy on the papal flight to Equatorial Guinea, the last African country on the pope's 11-day apostolic journey to the continent.

After his tribute, the pope responded to three questions from Angolan journalists about his experience in their country.

Pope Leo said that it was "a joy to see the places in the world where the Church is growing," noting that is not the case in other parts of the world, underlining that this is "a call to evangelization, to continue to announce the Gospel and to try to invite others, not with proselytism as Pope Francis said so many times, but with the beauty, the attraction of faith."

"The joy of believers is one of the best announcements of faith, of the Gospel," he added.

Asked about the possibility of new African cardinal appointments, Pope Leo said that "this is a question that many want to ask," noting that it's "still not decided yet when new cardinals will be created."

"We must look at the question at the global level," he said. "We hope that for Africa, and also for Angola, in the future – I’m not saying the next one, a bit further on – but we can consider the creation of new cardinals also for Angola."

Speaking at roughly 30,000 feet, the pope also wished happy birthday to two journalists on the plane who are traveling as part of the Vatican press corps.

During the papal trip to four countries in Africa, Pope Leo has been flexing his language skills, preaching Masses and giving speeches in French, English and Portuguese. On each flight to a new country, Pope Leo has spoken to journalists aboard the papal plane in either English or Italian.

In his final destination, the pope will add another language to that list, as Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa.

Pope Leo's April 21–23 visit to Equatorial Guinea will be the second papal visit to the country; the first was by St. John Paul II in 1982.

The papal visit coincides with the 170th anniversary of evangelization in the country, where roughly 75% of the 1.67 million population is Catholic.

In Equatorial Guinea, Pope Leo will stop at a psychiatric hospital in the capital Malabo, visit a prison in Bata, and pray at a memorial to victims of a 2021 military base explosion that killed more than 100 people. A papal Mass in Mongomo at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is expected to draw 100,000 Catholics.

Sister Francine Hien of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate told OSV News the Christian-majority country was awaiting the pope's arrival with "enthusiasm, expectations, zeal and joy."

—  OSV News

NEBO — Catholic Scouts across the Diocese of Charlotte celebrated faith, fun and the historic election of Pope Leo XIV at the 2026 Catholic Camporee April 17-19.

Organized every spring by the Charlotte Diocese Catholic Committee on Scouting, the weekend of fellowship and adventure brought together more than 300 Scouts, parents and leaders. Highlights included popular scouting activities such as fishing, climbing, kite-flying and slingshots, Catholic-themed faith activities about the new American pope, and an evening program with skits and songs.

David Dorsch, troop committee chair at St. Patrick Cathedral’s Troop 9, served as Camporee scoutmaster. Camporee cubmaster was David Coe from St. Matthew Parish’s Pack 8 in Charlotte.

This year’s Camporee was the final one for Deacon Martin Ricart III, who is retiring as spiritual advisor to the diocese’s Catholic scouting program after serving 12 years. During the weekend, he passed the baton to Deacon Charles “Chuck” Hindbaugh, who was recently appointed by Bishop Michael Martin. Ordained in 2021, Deacon Hindbaugh serves at Our Lady of the Americas Parish in Biscoe.

The Camporee concluded with Mass Sunday morning in the Camp Grimes dining hall, offered by retired Father Dennis Kuhn.

During his homily, Father Kuhn enlisted the help of some of the youngest Scouts to illustrate the day’s Gospel reading about the two disciples meeting the risen Lord on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).

“The story of the road to Emmaus is absolutely beautiful,” Father Kuhn said.

As he retold the Gospel story, Father Kuhn handed the kids various poster signs he’d made: “Jesus,” “Traveler 1” and “Traveler 2,” “Emmaus – 7 miles,” and more. Then he held up a hotdog bun, delighting the kids.

“When the bread was broken, all of a sudden, what happened? Their eyes were opened,” he said, holding up a poster with a giant eye drawn on it.

“What are we going to do in a few moments over here, when we have the bread and the wine coming up? What happens to that bread – who does it become?” he asked. “Jesus!” the kids cheered.

“Yes, we find Jesus in the breaking of the bread,” he explained. Jesus is also found in our families and among the sick, the forgotten and the needy among us, he said.

“Remember this story,” he told them. “Believe and trust in Jesus Christ. That’s what it’s about.”

He encouraged the kids to pray like the disciples on the road to Emmaus did when they asked Jesus: “Stay with us.”

“Stay with me, be present to me, be present to my family,” he told the kids to pray. “Be present to those who are sick and suffering, be present to those I’ve lost in life.”

After the Mass, Scouts in attendance at the Camporee who had earned their Catholic religious emblems over the past year were recognized. Among them were:

• American Heritage Girls Troop NC 0146 (St. John Neumann Parish, Charlotte): Lucy Wood, “Deus et Familia Mea” (“God and My Family”)
• Cub Scout Pack 8 (St. Matthew Parish, Charlotte): Xavier Ahn, Light of Christ
• Cub Scout Pack 97 (St. Mark Parish, Huntersville): Tahina Ramarijaona, Light of Christ; Aaron Suhocki, Light of Christ; Jesse Suhocki, Light of Christ
• Cub Scout Pack 174 (St. Gabriel Parish, Charlotte): Sydney Michalek, Parvuli Dei
• Cub Scout Pack 324 (Sacred Heart Parish, Salisbury): Juliana Becker, Light of Christ
• Cub Scout Pack 721 (Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, High Point): Julieta Pietrangelo, Light of Christ; Felix Pietrangelo, Parvuli Dei; Owen Jenkins, Parvuli Dei; Finley Jarvis, Parvuli Dei

Six adult Scouting leaders were also recognized for their exceptional efforts in Scouting, with either the Bronze Pelican or St. George emblem.

The Bronze Pelican is a diocesan-level Catholic Scouting award honoring significant contributions to the spiritual development of Catholic youth. Recipients were:

• Debbie Johnson: St. Patrick Cub Scout Pack 9
• David Dorsch: St. Patrick Scout Troop 9
• Russ Anderson: St. Gabriel Scout Troop 174
• James Bolling, Edan Idzerda and Basil Lyberg: St. Matthew Scout Troop 8

The St. George emblem is awarded by the National Catholic Committee on Scouting on the recommendation of the diocesan scouting committee, to people who have made exemplary contributions to Catholic scouting within their units. Recipients were:

• Frank Schofield, St. Matthew Scout Troop 8
• Leslie Tesch, St. Gabriel Scout Troop 1174

“With Scouting, parents, parishes and dioceses have another avenue through which Catholic principles of ethics and morals can be shared and reinforced with youth,” said Mike Nielsen, chairman of the Charlotte Diocese Catholic Committee on Scouting. “The Catholic Camporee is a great opportunity to bring together youth and adults for Scouting activities, fun and fellowship.

An event like this isn’t possible without the involvement of many committed volunteers,” he said. “We are blessed to have so many people actively engaged in planning and presenting the Camporee. We are grateful to each and every one of them.”

— Patricia L. Guilfoyle. Photos by Brandon Whelan and Patricia Guilfoyle.

“It’s going to be a long day,” admits Father Harrison, who is planning on pushing himself non-stop for 10 to 14 hours.  

The “IRON priests” have been training since January for their first-ever competition. They arrived earlier this week to scope out the course.

It’s technically a triathlon, but for the priests it’s more like a pilgrimage that also inspires their flock. Along with their running shoes and bikes, they packed athletic outfits with Roman collars.

As Father Harrison, the campus minister for High Point University, said, “It is my hope when the students see their spiritual father pushing himself that it will inspire them with their own studies and journeys. To push through hard things, both spiritually and physically, and to seek God through it and learn how to love the Cross.” 

Saturday will start early at 6:20 am with a 2.4-mile morning swim with 3,100 competitors through the murky waters and tight space of The Woodlands Waterway Canal. From there the priests will bike a swift 112-mile, two-loop stretch of flat terrain of the Hardy Toll Road, notorious for its tough wind and treeless unshaded areas. To finish, they will run 26.2 miles through the heart of The Woodlands in a three-loop course, while they are cheered on by thousands of fans.

Traditionally, when runners reach the finish line, everyone yells, “You are an IRONMAN.” Fathers Harrison and Martinez may instead hear, “You are an IRON PRIEST.”  

—  Lisa M. Geraci

 Watch Father Harrison and Father Martinez live: 

"For me," said Armando Lovera, a Peruvian writer who lived with then-Father Robert Prevost for years in an Augustinian seminary, "there was even a sense of loss. I lost a friend -- in the sense that you can no longer just call him, drop by, speak without protocol."

And yet, as the first anniversary of his election approaches, Lovera and others who knew the pope in Peru insist that, beneath the weight of the office, the man himself has not changed.

"He is still Roberto," Lovera said. "The same friend, the same person -- only now with a much bigger mission."

That conviction is echoed across Chiclayo, the northern Peruvian diocese where the future pope served as bishop from 2015 until 2023, when he was called to Rome to lead the Vatican office responsible for appointing bishops.

In Chiclayo, among priests, lay leaders and friends, a consistent portrait emerges: a pastor marked by closeness, a missionary instinct and a quiet but steady leadership -- traits now visible on the global stage.

The same traits are recognized by his Augustinian brothers.

"When he came out on the balcony, he said, 'I am a son of Augustine, an Augustinian,'" recalled Father Robert Hagan, prior provincial of the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova. "We know what that means: to love God and love our neighbor. That's what he does."

If listening defined his leadership style, presence gave it flesh -- and nowhere was that clearer than in Chiclayo's far-flung parishes.

Father Edwin Santa Cruz, a diocesan priest who worked closely with then-Bishop Prevost, remembers their first meeting lasting more than 40 minutes -- not because the bishop spoke at length, but because he listened.

"He taught me to listen and to wait," said Father Santa Cruz, who has lived with paraplegia for more than two decades.

Their paths crossed almost daily in Chiclayo's cathedral, where both celebrated Mass within an hour of each other. The bishop, he said, was always available.

"I always felt his closeness," Father Santa Cruz said. "Whenever I needed to see him, he was ready to receive me."

That attentiveness extended beyond clergy. Whether in parish meetings or pastoral visits, those who worked with him recall a man who resisted haste, preferring to hear people out before making decisions.

Others have described him similarly. Chilean Cardinal Fernando Chomali, speaking shortly after the election, said the new pope embodies a simple principle: "God gave us two eyes, two ears, one mouth."

"He has a great capacity to listen," Father Santa Cruz said. "I never saw him desperate. He makes decisions from objectivity and from a love of truth."

Showing up was only the beginning; in moments of crisis, he turned presence into action.

Chiclayo is a diocese of nearly 50 parishes spread across urban centers and remote rural areas. Father Santa Cruz recalls how the bishop made a point of visiting them all -- sometimes driving himself for hours, other times traveling on horseback to reach isolated communities.

"He would put on boots and go where help was needed," he said.

One moment in particular remains vivid. After torrential rains flooded the diocesan seminary during an El Niño weather event, Father Santa Cruz encountered the bishop at the entrance.

"He arrived in sneakers," the priest recalled. "I told him, 'Monsignor, everything is flooded.' He said, 'What do we do?' I said, 'I'll bring you boots.' He said, 'No -- let's go see.' And we went in."

The boots came later. The decision to enter could not wait. For Father Santa Cruz, the instinct to step into the flood captured something essential: "To feel our bishop so close, so willing -- that marked us deeply."

For Janina Sesa, who led Caritas in Chiclayo, that closeness took on life-or-death urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"He offered spiritual support -- and more," she said.

Bishop Prevost rallied business leaders, civil authorities and ordinary citizens to fund the purchase of oxygen plants. The goal seemed daunting.

"I remember when he told me, 'Janina, we're going to buy an oxygen plant,'" she said. "I thought, 'How are we going to do that?'"

"He would say, 'Trust in providence,'" she recalled.

In the end, the campaign resulted in two oxygen plants providing free care to those most in need.

"When the plant arrived, people cried," Sesa said. "It gave us hope."

For those who knew him, the episode remains emblematic of a broader pattern: a leader grounded in faith who responds concretely to human need.

Long before he became bishop, and decades before his election to the papacy, Father Prevost had already lived a life shaped by mission. As an Augustinian priest and later superior general of the order, he traveled extensively across Africa, Asia and Latin America, visiting communities and strengthening missionary efforts.

"He has seen the Church in many realities," Lovera said. "He knows the peripheries."

That missionary instinct was not abstract. In Peru, it meant navigating difficult mountain roads to reach Quechua-speaking communities -- and even enrolling quietly in a language course to better communicate with them.

"I thought he had signed up just to greet us," Sesa said. "But no -- he was there as a student."

The gesture reflected a broader pattern: a willingness to meet people where they are.

"He would stop to bless children, to greet people, to touch hands," she said. "Just like he does today."

For those who knew him best, the transition from bishop to pope represents not a rupture but an expansion.

"What has changed?" Father Santa Cruz reflected. "Now he is no longer the bishop of a diocese, but the shepherd of the universal Church."

Father Jorge Millán Cotrina, rector of Chiclayo's cathedral, sees that continuity now expressed in the pope's universal mission.

"The pope is Peter among us," he said. "He is there to strengthen us in faith and fill us with hope."

While some observers expect rapid change, Father Millán cautioned against applying a culture of immediacy to the Church.

"We are not algorithms," he said. "People need time -- to listen, to correct, to grow."

He also recalled how then-Bishop Prevost responded to criticism. When a priest publicly spoke against him, the future pope used a customary monetary gift he had received after celebrating confirmations to buy new tires for the priest's car.

"He knows how to transform something negative into something good," Father Millán said.

For Lovera, one small story captures the essence of the man now known as pope.

In the 1990s, a homeless man would come regularly to the Augustinian house where they lived in Peru. The community fed him daily for years, but over time, no one remembered his name.

Lovera eventually reached out to his old friend. "Do you remember what he was called?" he asked.

At first, the pope could not recall. Hours later, a text message arrived: "Félix."

Decades had passed. The memory had not.

"He remembers people," Lovera said. "That's who he is."

Back in Chiclayo, that memory lives not only in anecdotes but in expectation. Catholics continue to follow his pontificate closely and hope one day to welcome him back. Peruvian church leaders have publicly expressed that hope, and though everyone pretends not to, because the Vatican has not confirmed any visit, the diocese he once led is preparing to welcome him in November.

In the meantime, the bond endures -- in prayer, in memory, and in a quiet sense of pride.

"We say it with joy," Father Millán said. "Peter was our bishop."

— Ines San Martin, OSV News

The day recognizes Our Lord’s private revelations to Polish nun St. Faustina Kowalska that promised forgiveness and grace.

On May 5, 2000, five days after the canonization of St. Faustina, the Vatican decreed that the Second Sunday of Easter would henceforth be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

— Paul Doize

HUNTERSVILLE — At the Hour of Divine Mercy at St. Mark Church, Father Christopher Angermeyer reflected on the connection between the crucifixion and the Church’s celebration of Divine Mercy.

“Nine days ago, we were here in this church remembering the crucifixion of our Lord,” he said. “That same day marked the beginning of the Divine Mercy novena. That is not a coincidence. To truly understand our Lord’s mercy, we have to begin with the cross.”

He explained that the mercy of Christ is revealed most fully in His sacrifice. “The crucifixion shows the mercy He had for us, to die on the cross,” Father Angermeyer said. “And that same mercy is being poured out even now, as we return at the hour He died to ask for it.”

Reflecting on the image of Divine Mercy, he pointed to the two rays flowing from Christ’s heart. “What I love most about the image is the two colors,” he said. “The blue represents the water, and the red represents the blood that flowed when Christ was pierced.”

He explained that these carry a deeper meaning. “The water represents Baptism, the cleansing of our souls, the forgiveness of sins,” he said. “There can be no mercy without forgiveness. That is the first step.”

— Amy Burger

Events included a concert, a vocal performances of Easter Lessons and Carols in the chapel, a Holy Rosary by the Grotto and a play featuring seminarians depicting the events on the Road to Emmaus, when Jesus appeared to two apostles after His resurrection.

— Photos provided by Fredrik Akerblom and Amy Burger.

"Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life," he said during a special evening prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica April 11.

"Those who pray are aware of their own limitations; they do not kill or threaten with death," he said. "Instead, death enslaves those who have turned their backs on the living God, turning themselves and their own power into a mute, blind and deaf idol, to which they sacrifice every value, demanding that the whole world bend its knee."

"Let us listen to the voices of children," who write to him all the time, recounting "all the horror and inhumanity of actions that some adults boast of with pride," he said.

The vigil, which drew thousands of people inside and outside the basilica, featured the recitation of the glorious mysteries of the rosary. Before each mystery was recited, women wearing traditional dress from countries representing the different continents of the world lit small lamps from a flame from the Lamp of Peace from Assisi that was placed below a statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace.

Prayer can move mountains, he said in his remarks in Italian. "War divides; hope unites. Arrogance tramples upon others; love lifts up. Idolatry blinds us; the living God enlightens."

It just takes a tiny bit of faith "to face this dramatic hour in history together," he said.

For a people of faith in the risen Lord who conquered death with love, he said, "nothing can confine us to a predetermined fate, not even in this world where there never seem to be enough graves, for people continue to crucify one another and eliminate life, with no regard to justice and mercy."

While the pope did not mention any one current conflict in his remarks, he did recall St. John Paul II's fervent efforts and calls for peace during the 2003 invasion of Iraq conducted by the U.S. with the assistance of a multi-national coalition.

"I make his appeal my own this evening, relevant as it is today," Pope Leo said, referring to his predecessors' calls for "No more war."

"The Church is a great people at the service of reconciliation and peace," he said. "She advances without hesitation, even when rejecting the logic of war may lead to misunderstanding and scorn."

The Church "proclaims the Gospel of peace and instills obedience to God rather than any human authority, especially when the inherent dignity of other human beings is threatened by continuous violations of international law," Pope Leo said.

With the help of prayer and God, people can help "break the demonic cycle of evil" and be at the service of the Kingdom of God, where there is "no sword, no drone, no vengeance, no trivialization of evil, no unjust profit, but only dignity, understanding and forgiveness," Pope Leo said.

"It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive," he added.

He criticized the use of God's name in justifying violence, saying "even the holy name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death."

Those invoking God's name in such a way erase a world made up of brothers and sisters with one heavenly Father and instead create a "nightmare" where the world is made up of enemies and threats, rather than calls to listen and to come together.

Speaking to the world's leaders, the pope said, "Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned, and deadly actions are decided!"

However, all the world's people also have a duty to reject the violence in their own hearts and minds, and help build a kingdom of peace each and every day in one's own home, school and community, he said.

"Let us believe once again in love, moderation and good politics," he said, urging people to learn more and "get personally involved" in being part of "the mosaic of peace!"

"Dear brothers and sisters, let us return home having made a commitment to pray without ceasing and without growing weary, a commitment to a profound conversion of heart," the pope said.

Before entering the basilica, Pope Leo greeted the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, thanking them for their presence. He explained his reason for calling for the prayer vigil, which was also being joined by countless others around the world, either online or in their own parishes.

By praying the rosary together, he said, "we want to tell the whole world that it is possible to build peace, a new peace, that it is possible for all people, of all religions, of all ethnicities, to live together, and that we want to be disciples of Jesus Christ, united as brothers and sisters, all united in a world of peace."

— Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

SAURIMO, Angola — Pope Leo XIV traveled to the heart of Angola's diamond country April 20, urging the tens of thousands gathered at the papal Mass in the country's northeast to trust that "Christ hears the cry of the people" in the face of evil.

— Courtney Mares, OSV News

'The heart of the Church' is 'alive and beating': Pope Leo XIV leads rosary at beloved Muxima Marian shrine in Angola

MUXIMA, Angola — Pope Leo XIV led tens of thousands of Angolan Catholics in praying the rosary April 19 at southern Africa's most visited Catholic shrine, calling the pilgrimage site a place where "the heart of the Church" is "alive and beating."

The pope traveled by helicopter from Angola's capital, Luanda, to the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, which means "Mother of the Heart" in the local Kimbundu language. Pope Leo made the pilgrimage to the beloved Marian shrine situated on the banks of the Kwanza River after celebrating morning Mass for roughly 100,000 faithful in Kilamba, a district near the Angolan capital city of Luanda.

Local authorities estimated approximately 30,000 pilgrims gathered on the Muxima shrine's esplanade for the recitation of the rosary, with even more gathered in surrounding areas. Many had camped at the site for two or three days in anticipation of the papal visit, enduring 90-degree heat in the hours before his arrival. The crowd greeted the pope with singing and dancing as he moved through the grounds in a golf cart.

Upon arrival, Pope Leo entered the historic church for a moment of private prayer, which was broadcast on large screens for the crowd, who cheered loudly when they saw Pope Leo kneel before Our Lady, before presiding over the recitation of the glorious mysteries of the rosary and the Litany of Loreto.

As the sun set, casting orange light across the sky, the crowd joined the pope in singing the Salve Regina.

"We are in a sanctuary where, for centuries, many men and women have prayed in times of joy and also in moments of sorrow and great suffering in the history of this country," the pope said, speaking in Portuguese. "For a long time now, Mama Muxima has quietly worked to keep the heart of the Church alive and beating."

The church, formally dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, was first established in 1599 during the era of Portuguese colonial Angola. More than 1 million pilgrims visit the shrine during its largest pilgrimage alone, which occurs each year between Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

Pope Leo reflected on how the faithful had over the centuries spontaneously renamed the shrine "Mama Muxima," calling it "a beautiful title, which makes us reflect on the heart of Mary: a pure and wise heart, capable of treasuring and pondering the extraordinary events in the life of the Son of God."

The pope also spoke one line in the local Kimbundu language, quoting a hymn the crowd had sung, "Mama Muxima, tueza kokué, Mama Muxima, tutambululé," meaning "Mother of the Heart, we come to you to offer you everything."

Pope Leo underlined that praying the rosary commits us to loving every person with a mother's heart and to "dedicating ourselves to the good of one another, especially the poorest."

"We strive without measure so that no one may lack love ... that the hungry may have enough to eat, that the sick may receive the necessary care, that children may be guaranteed a proper education, and that the elderly may live their later years in peace," he said.

Mirian Dos Santos, 25, of Luanda, said she had kept an all-night vigil at the shrine the evening before the pope's arrival.

"We are very happy to receive our dear pope here," she told OSV News. "Mama Muxima is our heart. Mama Muxima is the first Lady that we go to, we call her, we ask for her intercession."

Dinis Mayomona, a seminarian who attended the pope's Mass in Kilamba earlier in the day, described the shrine as a place of total surrender.

"We surrender all our suffering, all our dreams ... because we have got many problems here," he said, "and once we surrender our suffering in the hands of Mama Muxima, we know perfectly that she will solve our problems because she is beside her Son."

The shrine carries a complex and painful history. For nearly 300 years, the site along the Kwanza River served as a waypoint for enslaved Africans being marched to the Atlantic Coast for transport to the Americas. It is also intertwined with the legacy of Queen Nzinga (1582–1663), ruler of the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba in present-day Angola. Nzinga waged a 30-year war against Portuguese colonial forces, significantly disrupting the transatlantic slave trade, and eventually returned to the Catholic faith, signing a peace treaty with Portugal in 1656.

Angolan Catholic radio journalist Cornelio Bento, traveling with the Vatican press corps, told OSV News the shrine holds a special place in Angolan Catholic life, particularly for women hoping to conceive.

"If you go to Muxima Shrine, you will listen to a lot of history of miracles," he said.

Pope Leo also commended a construction project currently underway to build a new, larger shrine at the site -- a project that has been years in the making.

Following the rosary vigil, the pope returned by helicopter to Luanda, where he was to spend the night before flying Monday to Saurimo, in Angola's eastern Lunda Sul province.

— Courtney Mares, OSV News

Pope Leo arrives in Angola, calls for fostering 'just model of coexistence'

LUANDA, Angola — Pope Leo XIV touched down in the Angolan capital of Luanda on Saturday, April 18, beginning a three-day visit to the southern African country that is home to 20 million Catholics.

The pope's visit comes as Angola continues to grapple with deep social challenges. Despite robust economic growth fueled by oil and diamond revenues, the country ranks among the world's lowest in life expectancy and among the highest in infant mortality. Inequality and corruption remain persistent concerns in the country still healing from a decades-long civil war.

"Dear friends, I have mentioned the material riches upon which powerful interests lay their claim, even within your own country. How much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental disasters are brought about by this logic of extractivism," the pope said in his first speech to Angola's government authorities. 

Pope Leo urged Angola's wealthy political leaders to "place the common good before every particular interest, never confusing your own part with the whole."

"The Catholic Church, whose service to the country I know you greatly esteem, desires to be leaven in the dough and to foster the growth of a just model of coexistence, free from the various forms of slavery imposed by the elite who are laden with much wealth but false joys," he said.

The scars of Angola's brutal civil war, which killed between 500,000 and 800,000 people between 1975 and 2002, have not fully healed. Land mines still litter the countryside, and Bishop Vicente Sanombo of the Diocese of Kuito-Bié said he hopes the papal visit will serve as a catalyst for continued national healing, an aspiration expressed in the motto for the papal visit, "Pope Leo XIV, pilgrim of hope, reconciliation, and peace, blesses Angola."

"Your people have suffered time and again when this harmony was violated by the arrogance of a few. They bear the scars not only of material exploitation, but also of the presumption of imposing an idea upon others," Pope Leo said. "Africa urgently needs to overcome situations and dynamics of conflict and enmity that tear apart the social and political fabric of many countries, fostering poverty and exclusion."

Angola's Catholic roots run deep. Catholicism arrived with Portuguese missionaries in 1491, and the country remained under Portuguese colonial rule until 1975. According to the latest Vatican statistics, nearly 58% of the population identifies as Catholic, with 1,511 priests serving more than 20 million faithful, a ratio of more than 13,000 Catholics per priest.

"True joy frees us from such alienation -- joy which faith rightly recognizes as a gift of the Holy Spirit," the pope said. "Let us therefore examine our own hearts, dear friends, because without joy there is no renewal; without interiority there is no liberation; without encounter there is no politics; without the other there is no justice."

The papal plane, a chartered ITA Airways jet, landed just before 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon after a two-hour flight from Yaoundé, Cameroon. At the airport, the pope was welcomed by Angola's President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço. 

Aboard the papal plane, Pope Leo spoke to journalists, pushing back against the media "narrative" that has pitted him against President Donald Trump since the start of his 11-day apostolic journey to Africa. 

"I primarily come to Africa as a pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church to be with and to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany, all of the Catholics throughout Africa," he told the press corps.

Pope Leo traveled from the airport to the presidential palace in an open air popemobile, greeting crowds who lined the streets. He then met privately with President Lourenço, who is currently serving his second term as president since 2017.

The papal visit to Angola, scheduled to run through April 21, will take Pope Leo beyond the capital city. He is set to travel to the pilgrimage site of Our Lady of Muxima Shrine, one of the country's most revered Catholic sites, where he will lead a public rosary with pilgrims. He will also visit the northeastern city of Saurimo to celebrate an outdoor Mass and visit a nursing home, where many refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo are expected to attend, before meeting members of the local Catholic community at Luanda's Parish of Our Lady of Fatima.

Cornelio Bento, an Angolan Catholic radio journalist traveling in the Vatican press corps for the trip with Pope Leo, told OSV News that Muxima is a place where many people go on pilgrimage every day, bringing their worries and their hopes to the heart of Our Lady. He added that it is a place of particular pilgrimage for women who are seeking to have a child. 

"If you go to Muxima Shrine, you will listen to a lot of history of miracles," Bento said.

"The information I got from my colleagues in the country is that Muxima is full. It's full and the people continue coming," he added, noting that a large crowd has already gathered on the day before the pope is scheduled to visit the Marian shrine. 

Bento works for the Catholic news outlet Radio Ecclesia, which was shut down along with other Catholic institutions by Angola's Communist government shortly after the country declared independence in 1975 and did not reopen until the late 1990s. 

In Pope Leo's speech in the country, he assured Angolans that he is praying for the victims of the heavy rains and floods in the central city of Benguela, Angola, expressing his closeness to the families who have lost their homes. The pope's speech concluded his public schedule for the day and was followed by a private dinner with the Catholic bishops of Angola.

— Courtney Mares, OSV News

Pope Leo XIV rejects media 'narrative' his Africa remarks targeted Trump

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE —  Pope Leo XIV pushed back against the media narrative that has pitted him against President Donald Trump since the start of his 11-day apostolic journey to Africa, telling journalists aboard the papal flight to Angola April 18 that "there has been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all its aspects."

"Because of the political situation created when on the first day of the trip, the President of the United States made some comments about myself, much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary trying to interpret what has been said," Pope Leo said aboard the papal flight from Yaoundé, Cameroon, to Luanda, Angola.

"Just one little example: The talk that I gave at the prayer meeting for peace a couple of days ago was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting. And yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate, again, the president, which is not in my interest at all," he said.

The pope underlined to the roughly 65 journalists aboard the papal plane, including major TV networks and newspapers from around the world, "I primarily come to Africa as a pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church to be with and to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany, all of the Catholics throughout Africa."

Pope Leo was speaking in response to the media storm in the United States with a narrative of "Trump versus Leo" ever since the U.S. president lashed out at the pope on social media and in verbal remarks over the pontiff's opposition to the Iran war over the course of several days starting April 12.

As the pope visited both Algeria and Cameroon over the past six days, the story continued to evolve as Vice President JD Vance spoke at an April 14 Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, during which he invoked "the more than 1,000-year tradition of Just War theory" in justifying his opposition to the pope's comments objecting to the Iran war.

As Pope Leo presided over a peace meeting in Bamenda, Cameroon, which has been afflicted by violence in a conflict between separatists and government forces since 2017, some media outlets ran headlines that made it appear as if Pope Leo's comments to the suffering Cameroonian community were directed at Trump.

Reuters reported on the pope's peace event, "Pope Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was 'being ravaged by a handful of tyrants', in unusually forceful remarks in ‌Cameroon on Thursday days after U.S. President Donald Trump attacked him on social media."

The New York Times ran the headline about the same peace meeting on April 16, "'Woe to Those Who Manipulate Religion,' Pope Says Amid Standoff With Trump.'"

The article stated, "Amid a growing dispute with the Trump administration over the legitimacy of American attacks in Iran, Leo used a speech on Thursday in Cameroon to express 'woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.'"

Pope Leo clarified to journalists aboard the papal plane that his speeches were written two weeks ago, long before Trump's comments.

The pope made these strong comments about tyrants and manipulating religion in a speech in the heart of a conflict zone in Bamenda, Cameroon, where the pope sought to bring the world's attention to the Anglophone crisis, which was described by one of the local participants in the peace meeting as "one of the forgotten crises on the planet earth."

In Pope Leo's remarks aboard the plane, he tried to put the focus back on the Cameroonian people.

"The visit in Cameroon was very significant because in many ways it represents the heart of Africa in many different ways," he said. "They are English-speaking and French-speaking, around 250 local languages and (ethnicities). At the same time it has great wealth and great opportunity, but also the difficulty that we find throughout Africa of many times an unequal distribution of wealth."

"We go on the journey, we continue proclaiming the Gospel message. The texts of the Gospels that we have been using for the liturgies give a number of different fantastic, beautiful aspects of what it's about to be Christian, of what it's about to follow Christ, of what it's about to promote fraternity and brotherhood, trusting in the Lord, but also looking for ways to promote justice in our world, to promote peace in our world," the pope added.

Before taking off for Angola, Pope Leo offered Mass in Cameroon's capital with an estimated 200,000 people at Yaoundé air base, according to local authorities.

"Jesus is with us always, stronger than any power of evil," the pope told a joyful crowd of Cameroonian Catholics.

In his homily, Pope Leo reflected on the Gospel account of Jesus walking on water, saying, "In every storm, (Jesus) comes to us and repeats: 'I am here with you: Do not be afraid.'"

"Jesus draws near to us. He does not immediately calm the storm, but comes to us in the midst of the danger, and invites us, in our joys and sorrows, to remain together with him, like the disciples, in the same boat. He invites us not to distance ourselves from those who suffer, but to draw near to them, to embrace them," the pope said in French.

The lively Mass concluded the pope's April 15-18 trip to Cameroon, where he visited three cities: Yaoundé, Bamenda and Douala. Pope Leo's second half of his 11-day Africa tour will bring him to Angola and Equatorial Guinea before returning to the Vatican April 23.

"Let us keep the memory of the beautiful moments that we have experienced together alive in our hearts," Pope Leo said at the end of his homily. "Even in the midst of difficulties, let us continue to make space for Jesus, allowing him to enlighten and renew us every day by his presence. The Church in Cameroon is alive, young, blessed with gifts and enthusiasm, energetic in its variety and magnificent in its harmony. With the help of the Virgin Mary, our Mother, may your joyful presence continue to blossom."

 — Courtney Mares, OSV News

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass with 120,000 people in Cameroon: 'Bring the bread of life to your neighbors'

DOUALA, Cameroon — Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for more than 120,000 people in Cameroon's largest city on April 17, urging "beloved children of the African continent" to share God's love by feeding the hungry and offering the spiritual nourishment of "the bread of life."

Because of the large turnout, the Mass was held in a parking area next to Douala's Japoma Stadium under 90-degree heat. Catholics in the crowd told OSV News that they had spent the night outside to claim their spots for the Mass.

Remerit Ngwe, 28, waited 16 hours outside overnight for the papal Mass. "Since yesterday 7 p.m. we slept here on the stone waiting for the pope," she told OSV News. "We are so happy we finally saw the pope, Pope Leo, a once in a lifetime experience. Long live the pope!"

Speaking in both French and English during his homily, Pope Leo opened with a striking question to the Cameroonian congregation, "where is God in the face of people's hunger?"

He turned to the Gospel of John and its account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes to respond.

"A serious problem was solved by blessing the little food that was present and sharing it with all who were hungry," Pope Leo said in French.

"There is bread for everyone if it is given to everyone. There is bread for everyone if it is taken, not with a hand that snatches away, but with a hand that gives," he underlined.

According to the World Food Programme, 2.9 million people in Cameroon face food insecurity and need humanitarian assistance, with about 23% of the population living below the poverty line.

The pope said the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes reveals a God who comes "to serve with love, not to dominate."

"It shows us not only how God provides humanity with the bread of life, but how we can share this sustenance with all men and women who, like ourselves, hunger for peace, freedom and justice. Each act of solidarity and forgiveness, every good effort, becomes a morsel of bread for humanity in need of care," he said.

"Yet this alone is not enough: the food that sustains the body must be accompanied, with equal charity, by nourishment for the soul -- a nourishment that sustains our conscience and steadies us in dark hours of fear and amid the shadows of suffering," he emphasized.

Pope Leo said that this spiritual nourishment is "Christ himself, who always gives his Church abundant sustenance and strengthens us on our journey by giving us his Eucharistic Body."

"Sisters and brothers, the Eucharist that we are celebrating is the source of renewed faith, because Jesus becomes present among us."

"This very altar, around which we gather for the Eucharist, becomes a proclamation of hope amid the trials of history and the injustices we see around us," he added.

The pope's message resonated with Cameroonians in the crowd. Ngwe said, "Being a Catholic Christian allows you to partake in the Eucharist, which is the highest celebration."

She said she loves the "oneness" of the Catholic Church, "When I see Cameroon, when I see Rome, when I see USA, we practice the same … Christianity. That is the pride of being a Catholic Christian."

Cameroon is home to more than 8 million Catholics, nearly 30% of the population, and the Church often serves as a bridge across linguistic and political divides.

In an interview with OSV News, Father Gabriel Abega Owona of the Diocese of Sangmélima described the Church's mission in the country.

As a priest, he said, "our daily challenge is to nurture faith within a context of material poverty, yet of immense spiritual richness."

"Being a priest here means being a father, a social worker, and a mediator. My experience is defined by faces: young people seeking work and dignity, families praying for peace, and the explosive joy of the Sunday liturgy -- which lasts for hours and serves as a true foretaste of paradise."

"In Cameroon, the Church is not an institution standing 'alongside' society, but rather its beating heart -- particularly in those areas where the State struggles to reach. The Church manages nearly 1,000 primary schools and hundreds of health care facilities. Indeed, in many villages, the only doctor or teacher available is one provided by the Catholic mission," Abega Owona explained.

He added that the Catholic Church in Cameroon "serves as a bridge between the Francophone and Anglophone cultures" and strives "to translate the Gospel into concrete actions for human development."

Switching to English for part of his homily, the pope urged Cameroon's Catholics to "be the first faces and hands that bring the bread of life to your neighbors, providing them with the food of wisdom and deliverance from all that does not nourish them, but rather obscures good desires and robs them of their dignity."

The pope flew 160 miles from Yaoundé to Douala on Friday morning for the Mass, at which he greeted the enthusiastic crowd from the popemobile.

After the Mass, Pope Leo will make a private visit to the Catholic Hospital of St. Paul in Douala before returning by plane to Cameroon's capital in the afternoon, where he will meet with university students and professors at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé.

— Courtney Mares, OSV News

'We can always begin anew'

Pope Leo leads peace meeting in heart of Cameroon's conflict zone

BAMENDA, Cameroon — A religious sister in Cameroon who was kidnapped just a few months ago by separatists and held hostage for three days in the bush was among those who shared her testimony with Pope Leo XIV April 16 in an emotional peace meeting in Cameroon's northwest city of Bamenda, a region marred by years of separatist violence.

"We were held hostage for three days and three nights. During those days and nights, we neither slept nor ate," Sister Carine Tangiri Mangu told the pope.

"What kept our hope alive was the rosary which we prayed continuously for those days," she added.

"Most Holy Father, this is the situation under which many consecrated women do their work and live their lives within this war zone. Some have undergone more dramatic and more traumatizing experiences, but we continue to rely on the help of God and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary," she said.

Pope Leo led a historic peace meeting on April 16 in Cameroon's northwest city of Bamenda, a region marred by years of separatist violence.

The long-running separatist conflict in its English-speaking regions has killed thousands since 2017. The violence pits Anglophone separatists against the Francophone-dominated government, leaving entire communities displaced and children out of school in what humanitarian groups describe as one of the world's most neglected conflicts.

In his speech in St. Joseph's Cathedral, Pope Leo loudly and passionately said, "I am here to proclaim peace," to an enthusiastic reaction in the crowd.

The pope also had strong words of denunciation for those who perpetuate war. "The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild," the pope said. "They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found."

Pope Leo strongly denounced those who "rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilization and death."

"The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters," he underlined.

During the peace meeting, the pope heard testimonies from local traditional and religious leaders and a family displaced by the violence.

A local chief imam told the pope about how in November armed men invaded a mosque in Sabga, near Bamenda, during the time of prayer and killed three people, injuring nine others.

Mohammed Abubakar of the Buea Central Mosque continued that on Jan. 14, 2025, "Armed men targeted cattle rearers from the Mbororo ethnic community and killed at least 15 people, including 8 children." The chief imam added that "The Islamic community has suffered in many English speaking towns and villages, and there were Muslim victims in what has come to be known as the Ngabur Massacre, in which 23 civilians were killed in 2020.

"Holy Father, welcome, and please help us to have peace again," the imam added.

Denis Salo met the pope, along with his wife and three children, telling Pope Leo how "five of my neighbors were killed and one of my close friends was also killed. While we were being targeted by the separatist fighters, government soldiers were also burning down houses."

"In 2017, I escaped with my family out of Mbiame, abandoning all that I ever owned, including house, farms, and animals, and arrived in Bamenda. My kids had to abandon school. After seeing no better in Bamenda, I proceeded to Douala to look for livelihood and not finding anything better, I returned to Bamenda," he said. "I now live in a little rented house with my entire family, and working as a gateman in the hospital of Maria Soledad, and at the same time working as gardener in the Parish of the Immaculate Conception, Ngomgham," Salo said.

The pope affirmed to the afflicted community that "God has never abandoned us! In him, in his peace, we can always begin anew!"

In an emotional address welcoming the Holy Father in the cathedral, Archbishop Andrew Nkea of Bamenda told the pope: "Today your feet are standing on the soil of Bamenda that has drunk the blood of many of our children.”

"The archbishop mentioned the prophecy that exclaims: 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace!' (Is 52:7). He welcomed me with these words, and now I would like to respond: how beautiful are your feet as well, dusty from this bloodstained yet fertile land that has been mistreated, yet is rich in vegetation and fruit," the pope said.

The Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba, moderator emeritus of the Presbyterian Church
in Cameroon, described to the pope how religious leaders of different denominations have "bonded together and founded a Peace Movement through which we have tried to broker peace and dialogue with the government of Cameroon and the Separatist Fighters."

He said that under the leadership of Archbishop Nkea, they "have visited and spoken with many of the leaders of the separatist movements at home and abroad, and we have tried to engage the local separatist fighters on the ground in dialogue, convincing them that peace is better than war, and that war can never really solve any conflict," he said.

"Practically all of us gathered here are traumatized and need both psychological and spiritual healing," the reverend said.

"This Anglophone crisis is one of the forgotten crises on the planet earth, but it was brought to the notice of the Vatican, and the Vatican was even willing to facilitate dialogue between the warring factions," Rev. Forba said.

Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi of Buea told OSV News that the Anglophone crisis made it impossible for people to live normally in the conflicted region.

On top of loss of life and education opportunities for children, he said people "experienced abject poverty" as farmers were unable to sell products due to violence.

"There are people whose houses have been destroyed and they have been rendered homeless," instantly becoming internally displaced, the bishop listed.

Even though pastoral work has been challenging, the bishop said, "we continue to hope in God, as we continue to pray and the situation will be better."

Pope Leo expressed support for how "religious leaders have come together to establish a Movement for Peace, through which they seek to mediate between the opposing sides."

He had however a strong condemnation for those who wage war in the name of God.

"But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth," Pope Leo said.

"Yes, dear brothers and sisters, you who hunger and thirst for justice, who are poor, merciful, meek, and pure of heart, who have wept -- you are the light of the world! (cf. Mt 5:3-14)," he said.

After the ceremony, Pope Leo XIV released doves outside of the cathedral, symbolizing peace. A crowd gathered outside of the cathedral, people sang and cheered enthusiastically.

"Our hearts are full of joy and it sounds unbelievable that the successor of St. Peter is among us in this remote part of Africa," Archbishop Andrew Nkea of Bamenda told the pope.

 — Courtney Mares, OSV News

At Cameroonian orphanage, Pope Leo tells children they can always find a friend in Jesus

YAOUNDE, Cameroon — Pope Leo XIV brought joy to 64 orphaned and abandoned children on the evening of April 15 when he visited the Ngul Zamba orphanage in Cameroon, blessing the children and assuring them that despite their suffering, Jesus "cares especially for children like you."

The orphanage, whose name means "the power of God" in the Ewondo language, is run by the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary and currently houses children ranging in age from 3 to 20 years old.

"Dear children, I know that many of you have endured difficult trials," the pope told the children, speaking in French. "Some of you have known the pain of loss through the death of parents or loved ones. Others have experienced fear, rejection, abandonment, deprivation and uncertainty. Yet, you are called to a future that is greater than your wounds."

The pope drew on the Gospel to remind the children of Christ's particular love for the young, noting that Jesus "would often place them at the center of a gathering" and looks upon each child "with that same affection" today.

Among those meeting the pope was Florence, who was celebrating her 11th birthday on the day of the papal visit. She told OSV News she was "very happy."

The visit became a spontaneous moment of celebration when the children sang for the pope -- and he joined in. Afterward, children and religious sisters alike, including some elderly sisters in wheelchairs, danced and sang in praise, offering a hymn drawing from the Blessed Virgin Mary's Magnificat.

Pope Leo closed his remarks to the children by offering them an apostolic blessing and entrusting them to the care of Our Lady.

"As I impart my heartfelt blessing, I entrust each of you to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother," he said. "May she always watch over you, console you in moments of sadness and help you to grow as true friends of her son, Jesus."

The superior general of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary informed the pope that the congregation is marking its 100th anniversary of being founded in Cameroon this year. She noted that for more than 40 years, the congregation has welcomed abandoned children "to offer them a real family life," in keeping with their charism, "In the footsteps of Christ, at the service of the poor and the small."

The pope thanked the sisters, staff, volunteers and teachers who care for the children, urging them to persevere in their mission.

"Your faithful dedication is a beautiful testimony of love," he said. "By caring for these children, you are getting a foretaste of the joy that the Lord has promised to those who serve the little ones. Your patience reflects the face of divine mercy."

He added, "Through you, God's tenderness is made manifest."

The visit to the orphanage took place on Pope Leo's first day in Cameroon, and the third day of an 11-day apsotolic visit to four African countries.

  — Courtney Mares, OSV News

'Son of Augustine': Pope Leo XIV retraces St. Augustine's steps in Algeria

ANNABA, Algeria — Pope Leo XIV offered Mass April 14 at the basilica built near the site where St. Augustine died nearly 1,600 years ago, making a deeply personal pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Augustine in Algeria.

ANNABA, ALGERIA — In a country marred by hardship, deep faith and hard-won independence, Pope Leo XIV pointed to Algeria as a living witness to what he called the Church's "guiding principle above all," a charity that transcends power, binds community and makes peace. 

Throughout the first leg of his 11-day trip across Africa, the pope returned again and again to one idea: peace comes not through power or dominance, but through a sacrificial love, exemplified in Christ. 

In the Basilica of St. Augustine, his spiritual father, Pope Leo presented the Christians of Algeria as an example of this aspect of the Church’s mission, asking that they remain a humble and faithful sign of Christ's love.

"Your presence in this country is like incense: a glowing grain that spreads fragrance because it gives glory to the Lord and joy and comfort to so many brothers and sisters," he said during his final Mass in the country April 14. 

 In his homily, he described a Church of charity, "where there is despair, she kindles hope, where there is misery, she brings dignity, and where there is conflict, she brings reconciliation."

"Therefore, in the face of poverty and oppression, the guiding principle above all for Christians is charity: let us do to those around us, as we would have them do to us," the pope said. "On the contrary, faith in the one God, Lord of heaven and earth, unites people according to perfect justice, which calls everyone to charity -- that is, to love every creature with the love that God gives us in Christ.

In his April 13 address to  Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and the diplomatic corps, he pointed out that Algerians practice "sadaka" (meaning almsgiving and justice) "even for those of limited means," and how their "spirit of solidarity, hospitality and community is woven into the daily lives of millions of humble and upright people."

After being a French colony for more than 130 years, Algeria sought independence in 1954, sparking a war that left an estimated 1.5 million people dead.

The pope highlighted Algeria's solidarity despite its years of hardship and conflict. He positioned Algeria as a teacher to economically wealthier countries, reframing what development means.

"Indeed, a religion without mercy and a society without solidarity are a scandal in God’s eyes," Pope Leo said. "Yet many societies that consider themselves advanced are plunging ever deeper into inequality and exclusion. Africa knows all too well that people and organizations that dominate others destroy the world, which the Most High has created in order that we might all live together."

During his address April 13 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa, he spoke again on selfless love, saying the Church's work with disabled children shows how charity transcends "material help" and creates "an authentic community, where many people share moments of joy and sorrow, united by bonds of trust, friendship and fellowship." 

He furthered this message when speaking at a nursing home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, mirroring his repeated message that this sentiment is what builds the kingdom of God.

"Our Father's heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant or the proud," the pope said April 14. "God's heart is with the little ones and the humble, and with them he builds up his kingdom of love and peace, day by day, just as you are striving to do here in your daily service, friendship and life together."

It is precisely through charity that the pope said one performs acts of martyrdom, regardless of one's religion.

"After all, it is precisely love for their brothers and sisters that inspired the witness of the martyrs we have commemorated," he said in the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa. "In the face of hatred and violence, they remained faithful to charity even to the point of sacrificing themselves alongside many other men and women, Christians and Muslims."

Throughout his two-day sojourn in Algeria, he spotlighted the selflessness of martyrs. Pope Leo’s first stop April 13 was the Maqam Echahid Martyrs' Monument, which commemorates those who died during the Algerian War. 

"Our presence here at this monument pays tribute to this history of Algeria and to the very spirit of a people who fought for the independence, dignity and sovereignty of this nation," he said.

In the beginning of his speech to the diplomatic corps, he recalled the 19 religious men and women who were martyred during the Algerian War. 

By expressing this charitable love, the faithful find the ability to forgive and reconcile, ultimately leading to peace – Pope Leo’s biggest priority at the moment. 

For months, Pope Leo has been relentlessly consistent on his call for peace, particularly following the conflict in the Middle East. Pope Leo presented peace not as a vague ideal, but as a moral calling, rooted in human fraternity, justice and humility. 

To a country overwhelmingly Muslim -- an estimated 99% identify as Sunni Islam -- he emphasized that Algerians and Christians alike are brothers and sisters because they share “the same Father in heaven.”

"In a world full of conflicts and misunderstandings, let us meet and strive for mutual understanding, recognizing that we are all one family!" he said to the diplomatic corps April 13. "Today, the simplicity of this awareness is the key to opening many doors that are closed.

From the start of his visit, he framed himself as “a pilgrim of peace." The pope said the world cannot continue to "add resentment upon resentment, generation after generation."

"In this place, let us remember that God desires peace for every nation: a peace that is not merely an absence of conflict, but one that is an expression of justice and dignity," he said at the monument. "This peace, which allows us to face the future with a reconciled spirit, is possible only through forgiveness."

 — Josephine Peterson, Catholic News Service

Pope Leo arrives in Algeria on first-ever papal visit to the country

ALGIERS — Pope Leo XIV arrived in Algeria on the morning of April 13, becoming the first pope to make an apostolic journey to the North Africa nation, the first stop of the pope’s 11-day, four-country tour of Africa.

Speaking to journalists on the flight to Algiers, Pope Leo revealed that his trip to Africa was "meant to be the first trip of the pontificate."

"Already last year, in May, I said, 'On my first trip, I would like to travel to Africa,'" Pope Leo said on the papal plane, a chartered ITA Airways flight.

"I am very happy to visit the land of St. Augustine again," he added, saying that Augustine "offers a very important bridge in interreligious dialogue" and "is much loved in his homeland, as we will see."

The pope emphasized, "We must always seek bridges to build peace and reconciliation. And so, this trip truly represents a precious opportunity to continue with the same voice, with the same message."

Calling the trip "very special for several reasons," the pope said it is "a blessing for me personally," expressing hope that the visit will also be a blessing "for the Church and the world."

During the flight, Pope Leo also responded to a personal attack made by President Donald Trump on social media the night before, telling journalists, "I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do."

The papal plane touched down at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers shortly before 10 a.m. local time following a two-hour flight from Rome. Since heavy rain was in the forecast, the welcoming ceremony in Algeria’s capital city was moved indoors.

The pope was greeted by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune as an honor guard stood at attention and a young girl presented the pope with flowers.

The pope’s visit to Algeria marks a historic milestone in a country that is 99% Sunni Muslim and home to fewer than 9,000 Catholics among a population of more than 45 million people. Algerian bishops said the pope comes "as an apostle of peace," seeking to strengthen a Church whose mission is one of "fraternal presence" in a predominantly Muslim society.

From April 13 to 23, the 70-year-old pope is scheduled to travel a total of 11,000 miles on 18 flights, visiting 11 cities across Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. The American pope is expected to deliver addresses in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. In Algeria he will speak primarily in English.

Algeria, the largest country in Africa, is dominated by the vast Sahara Desert, yet the pope’s itinerary here is centered on the country’s northern Mediterranean coast, with stops in Algiers and Annaba.

-- The ‘Son of Augustine’ returns --

The visit carries particular significance for Pope Leo, who described himself as a "son of Augustine" on the day of his election on May 8, 2025. St. Augustine, served as bishop of Hippo Regius, near the present-day Algerian city of Annaba, and died there in A.D. 430. The pope first visited Algeria in 2003 when he was serving as prior general of the Augustinian order and returned again in 2014.

"The Holy Father has already visited Algeria twice," Bishop Michel Guillaud of Constantine-Hippone told OSV News.

Pope Leo’s apostolic visit to Algeria, he added, is primarily "to meet the Algerian people and to support his Church, drawing on the strong bond between them through the figure of Augustine."

-- Remembering Algeria’s Catholic martyrs --

In addition to St. Augustine and St. Monica, Algeria is also known as the site of more modern witnesses to the faith. In 2018, the Church beatified 19 martyrs killed during the Algerian Civil War, including Trappist monks whose story was depicted in the film Of Gods and Men.

On his first day in Algeria, Pope Leo will make a private visit to the Augustinian Missionary Sisters of Bab El Oued, honoring the memory of two of their members, Sister Esther Paniagua Alonso and Sister Caridad Álvarez Martín, who were killed in 1994 while on their way to Mass. The two sisters were among the 19 martyrs beatified in 2018. Today the Augustinian sisters continue to serve the local population through education and outreach programs for children, youth and women.

Another beloved Catholic figure linked to Algeria is St. Charles de Foucauld, the French hermit and missionary who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara and was canonized in 2022 by Pope Francis.

-- Interfaith dialogue in a majority-Muslim nation --

After the airport welcome, the pope’s first public engagement is at the Maqam Echahid Memorial, honoring those who died in the country’s struggle for independence from France.

On his first day in Algiers, Pope Leo is also scheduled to meet civil authorities and visit the Great Mosque of Algiers, one of the largest mosques in the world, in a gesture aimed at reinforcing Christian-Muslim dialogue.

In the evening, the pope is expected to meet with local Christians at the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa, perched above the Mediterranean Sea.

Algeria’s history stretches from its role as a breadbasket of the Roman Empire to centuries under Arab-Amazigh dynasties and Ottoman rule, followed by French colonization beginning in 1830, which ended after a brutal war of independence from 1954 to 1962.

Bishop Guillaud said the visit sends a clear message that Christianity "is an asset and not a danger" to Algerian society. "Algerians know that popes are not only concerned with their flock, but also with peace, justice and reconciliation for all," he said.

On April 14, the pope is scheduled to fly to the northeastern port city of Annaba, near the ruins of ancient Hippo Regius, to pray at the site where St. Augustine spent the final years of his life.

 — Courtney Mares, OSV News

Pope Leo has been a staunch critic of combat operations generally, including those initiated by the U.S. and Israel against Iran on Feb. 28. He also condemned Trump's threat to wipe out Iran's "whole civilization," which the president later backed down from, citing negotiations with Pakistani mediators.

The pontiff held a special evening prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica April 11.

"I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon," Trump said in a post on his social media website, Truth Social, Sunday night. "I don't want a Pope who thinks it's terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don't want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I'm doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History."

Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, has called for the rejection of nuclear weapons, and there is no evidence he supports Iran having such weapons. 

Trump claimed Pope Leo was elected as pope because the Church thought an American pontiff would be "the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump." 

"If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican," he wrote.

Elsewhere in the post, the president also alleged the Catholic Church demonstrated "fear" during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA," Trump said. "He gets it, and Leo doesn't!"

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a brief statement late April 12 that he was "disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father." 

"Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician," Archbishop Coakley said. "He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls."

The post from Trump came shortly after Vice President JD Vance failed to secure the key concessions the U.S. sought from Iran in a marathon 21 hours of negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan. It also came the same day Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a Trump ally, lost an election in that country, despite support from Trump and Vance. 

Trump made similar comments about Pope Leo to reporters on April 12, telling them, "I don't think he's doing a very good job."

"I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo," Trump said. "He's a very liberal person."

Trump's post also came shortly after a report by The Free Press -- which was disputed by both the Pentagon and the Vatican -- which claimed the Vatican's top diplomat in the U.S. was brought to the Pentagon in January for a "bitter lecture" about comments from Pope Leo after Trump's Venezuela operation that some senior U.S. defense officials perceived as criticism of the Trump administration.

"Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician," Trump continued in his post. "It's hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic Church!"

In remarks after praying the Regina Caeli April 12, Pope Leo expressed solidarity with those suffering from conflict, also notably in Sudan and Lebanon, saying, "I appeal to the parties in conflict to cease fire and urgently seek a peaceful solution."

A recent NBC News Survey found that Pope Leo has the highest net favorability rating among more than a dozen key public figures and organizations in the U.S. at +34%. The same survey found Trump trailing him at a -12% rating. 

 — Kate Scanlon, OSV News

Trump draws backlash over Pope Leo rant, 'deeply offensive' image of him looking like Christ

PHILADELPHIA — Catholic bishops and lay leaders across the political spectrum are expressing their shock and disapproval following President Donald Trump's online screed against Pope Leo XIV.

Others have also voiced concern over an image which Trump posted within an hour of attacking the vicar of Christ that appeared to depict Trump as Jesus Christ himself.

Trump deleted the post of him looking like Christ the following day, after an uproar from Christians denouncing the depiction as blasphemous, but he refused to apologize to Pope Leo.

"Pope Leo said things that are wrong," Trump said, doubling down on a 330-word condemnation of the pope April 12 as "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," and taking credit for the U.S.-born pope's election.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement that evening, saying he was "disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father."

Archbishop Coakley said that the pope is not Trump's "rival," and "nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls."

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, who was part of an interview on Pope Leo with CBS' "60 Minutes" program that aired April 12, told OSV News in an April 13 statement that Trump's "recent statements and actions ... convey a grave misunderstanding of the Holy Father's ministry and a troubling lack of respect for the faith of millions."

"Pope Leo serves a higher authority and desires to proclaim the Gospel faithfully and advance the Church's peaceful mission in a world deeply in need of healing," he said.

"He will continue to speak clearly against war and other offenses against human dignity and to call for authentic dialogue, because the Church's witness is grounded in the peace of Christ, not in partisan interests," Cardinal Tobin said.

Other fellow prelates rallied around the pope in the wake of Trump's broadside.

Shortly after Trump's post attacking Pope Leo, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of Philadelphia issued a statement posted to his Facebook page, saying he was "most grateful" to the pope for his "personal integrity, spiritual serenity, ethical clarity and courageous and prophetic preaching of the Gospel and of the truth of God's love at this time of great moral confusion.

"The world should listen carefully," he said.

Archbishop Mark S. Rivituso of Mobile, Alabama, backed Archbishop Coakley's statement, adding in an April 13 message that he affirmed "the Holy Father's role as a spiritual leader who speaks from the Gospel and for the care of souls." He encouraged "all the faithful to be one with the Holy Father in praying for and witnessing to the Gospel of Christ's peace and care for all peoples."

In an April 13 post on X, Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, called Trump's statements about the pope "entirely inappropriate and disrespectful."

"It is the Pope's prerogative to articulate Catholic doctrine and the principles that govern the moral life," he said. "In regard to the concrete application of those principles, people of good will can and do disagree."

Bishop Barron praised the Trump administration's engagement with Catholics, noting his membership on the president's Religious Liberty Commission, and encouraged "serious Catholics within the Trump administration" to meet with Vatican officials "so that a real dialogue can take place."

"No President in my lifetime has shown a greater dedication to defending our first liberty," said Bishop Barron, adding, "All that said, I think the President owes the Pope an apology."

But when reporters at the White House asked about Bishop Barron's statement April 13, Trump said he had "nothing to apologize for."

"Pope Leo said things that are wrong, he was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran, and you could not have a nuclear Iran, Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result," Trump said.

Speaking to Fox News April 13, Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, addressed Trump's social media post, saying, "We can respect the pope, we certainly have a good relationship with the Vatican, but we're also going to disagree on substantive questions from time to time. I think it's a totally reasonable thing and isn't particularly newsworthy."

Regarding the AI-generated image of Trump looking like Christ, Vance said he believed it was "a joke" and that the president took it down after recognizing "a lot of people weren't understanding his humor."

"I think the president likes to mix it up over social media, and that's one of the good things about this president," Vance said.

Archbishop George Leo Thomas of Las Vegas said in an April 12 statement that he was "grateful to God for sending us Pope Leo XIV, who is willing to speak truth to power just when we need him the most."

"Pope Leo is calling for dialogue over diatribe, prayer over politics, and diplomacy above destruction," said Archbishop Thomas. "We know that he will be unfazed by the President's ad hominem attacks and sophomoric rhetoric."

The archbishop said the pope is "doing what every spiritual leader is called to do -- to pray for peace, to call for the protection of helpless civilians, and to plead for world leaders to end mass destruction and armed conflict in every part of the world.

"God bless you, Pope Leo," he said. "We stand with you in prayer and offer you our loving support."

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia said in an April 13 statement that the pope and his message "deserve respect and admiration."

"His continued calls for peace, hope, diplomacy, and the conversion of hearts should be heeded by all," said Archbishop Pérez, pointing out how Pope Leo "has consistently spoken with clarity and compassion" to promote "peaceful resolutions to complex challenges" that uphold human dignity.

Joining the bishops in protesting Trump's post was Ashley McGuire, senior fellow at The Catholic Association, an organization dedicated to defending religious liberty and the Church in the public square.

In an April 13 statement to OSV News, McGuire said the association "laments President Trump's disparaging and disrespectful remarks about Pope Leo."

"The Catholic Church does not in any way fit into American political boxes. It will always prioritize the protection of innocent life in all its stages as well as the cause of the poor and marginalized," said McGuire. "Insulting the Pope, and all Catholics by extension, with the hope of making the Church bend to American political agendas, is discouraging and counterproductive."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations also offered an April 13 message of support, saying, "We stand in solidarity with the Catholic community in the wake of President Trump's attack on Pope Leo."

CAIR referenced an earlier post Trump made, in which he threatened to annihilate Iran while "sarcastically praising Allah," and said that "the president's mockery of religion is both deranged and insulting."

Kelsey Reinhardt, CEO of the political lobbying organization Catholic Vote, said in a lengthy post on X April 13 that Trump's post "insulting Pope Leo" had "crossed, again, a line of decorum" and that "calls for an apology are well founded."

However, Reinhardt said that "the Pope also needs to understand that many Americans view his interventions as overtly political and aligned with one side of the political spectrum."

Reinhardt, whose organization is publicly aligned with Trump's agenda, particularly on immigration policy, and is not formally authorized by any Catholic bishop to use Catholic in its name, blamed "parts of the media" and "identifiable bad actors" for manufacturing "a large-scale confrontation between the Vatican and the United States, between Pope Leo and President Trump, or between fidelity to the Holy Father and love of country."

Trump's social media tirade against Pope Leo was also compounded by a Truth Social post -- delivered 46 minutes later -- showing a Christ-like rendering of Trump in white and red robes, laying one glowing hand on a man on a sickbed looking up at him, with Trump's other hand holding an orb of light.

Surrounding the bed were at least four figures appearing to venerate Trump, who was framed by images of the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, the U.S. flag, warplanes, bald eagles, and five heavenly figures in military gear.

"The graphic exploitation of sacred imagery is deeply offensive and undermines the reverence owed to what believers hold most dear," Cardinal Tobin told OSV News.

McGuire said Trump's "use of imagery that mocks Jesus Christ is beyond the pale and is not just insulting to Catholics, but to all Christians."

A number of prominent evangelical leaders and influencers -- including Doug Wilson, pastor of U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and podcast host Riley Gaines -- also deplored the image as blasphemous.

Rev. Jim Wallis, founding director of Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice, told OSV News the image is "the epitome of Christian nationalism," as well as "stark heresy and a pure blasphemy."

"Donald Trump has a dangerous messianic complex," Rev. Wallis said.

Matthew D. Taylor, visiting scholar at the Georgetown center and an expert on Christian nationalist ideology, agreed, adding that the image is "typical of the quasi-messianic status he has recently started to claim for himself."

"I don't see how that could possibly end well," he said.

Amid the outrage, the AI-generated image was removed from Trump's Truth Social feed on April 13. The president told reporters the same day that he thought the depiction had been of him "as a doctor making people better and I do make people better. I make people a lot better."

"I did post it," he said, "and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with the Red Cross."

— Gina Christian, OSV News

Pope Leo responds to Trump: 'Blessed are the peacemakers'

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO ALGIERS — Pope Leo XIV said April 13 he has "no fear" of President Donald Trump's administration and responded to Trump's criticism by telling journalists that his message to the U.S. president is "the message of the Gospel: Blessed are the peacemakers."

Speaking aboard the papal plane, a chartered ITA Airways flight, en route from Rome to Algiers, the pope said that he had seen Trump's recent social media post lashing out at him the night before the papal trip.

"I have no fear neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do," the pope said during the flight in a video recorded by OSV News.

The pope spoke in response to Trump's comments April 12 calling the pope "weak on crime" and "terrible for foreign policy," as tensions escalate in the Middle East.

"We are not politicians," Pope Leo said. "We are not looking to make foreign policy … with the same perspective that he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel: 'Blessed are the peacemakers' is the message that the world needs to hear today.”

Pope Leo added that he did not intend to engage in a political dispute.

"I do not look at my role as being political, a politician," the pope said. " I don't want to get into debate with him. I don't think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing."

"The message of the Church, my message, the message of the Gospel: Blessed are the peacemakers," he underlined.

In a statement to the press, Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin said, “I am grateful for Pope Leo XIV’s ongoing proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which consistently calls down ‘Peace’ upon all of us, especially in this Easter season. The Holy Father knows that when God is our central focus, all things are possible, even between national leaders who are in conflict.”

Pope Leo has been a staunch critic of combat operations generally, including those initiated by the U.S. and Israel against Iran on Feb. 28. He also condemned Trump's threat to wipe out Iran's "whole civilization," which the president later backed down from, citing negotiations with Pakistani mediators.

The pontiff held a special evening prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica April 11.

"I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the States to look for just solutions to problems," Pope Leo said on the way to Algiers.

"Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there's a better way," he added.

Trump, writing on Truth Social platform late April 12 said he did not want "a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon."

"I don't want a Pope who thinks it's terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don't want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I'm doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History," the president wrote on Truth Social.

Pope Leo commented, "It’s ironic -- the name of the site itself. Say no more."

Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, has called for the rejection of nuclear weapons, and there is no evidence he supports Iran having such weapons.

Trump claimed Pope Leo was elected as pope because the Church thought an American pontiff would be "the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump."

"If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican," he wrote.

Several journalists aboard the plane asked Pope Leo about Trump's comments to which the pope explained, "To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is, and I am sorry to hear that but I will continue on with what I believe is the mission of the Church in the world today."

Pope Leo spoke to journalists on the first flight of the pope's 11-day, four-country tour of Africa in which he will visit Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.

In a separate statement late April 12, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was "disheartened" by Trump's remarks.

"Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician," Archbishop Coakley said. "He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls."

— Courtney Mares, OSV News

The pope had announced the initiative April 5 during an Angelus address given moments after celebrating Easter Mass.

In that address, Pope Leo used the word "peace" 13 times, stressing the peace offered by the risen Christ "is not merely the silence of weapons, but the peace that touches and transforms the heart of each one of us."

The plea came as the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, launched Feb. 28, has spiraled into a regional conflict with thousands of casualties and extensive repercussions for global relations and markets.

Trump's April 7 threat to Iran that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" was suspended at the last minute, with a fragile two-week ceasefire agreement, although conflicting reports over the terms have emerged.

Israel's attacks on Lebanon, where the militant group Hezbollah is based, have continued, resulting in more than 300 dead and over 1,000 wounded on April 8 alone. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later ordered his Cabinet to begin negotiations with Lebanon.

In the U.S., Catholic bishops have urged the faithful to join their prayers with those of Pope Leo for an end to the conflict.

"I make a special plea to my brother bishops, the priests, the laity, and all people yearning for true peace to join the Holy Father’s Vigil for Peace, whether virtually, or in parishes, chapels, or before the Lord present in the quiet of their hearts to join with our Holy Father as we pray for peace in our world," said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an April 7 statement.

Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore announced that same day he would celebrate an April 11 vigil at that city's Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. He also asked archdiocesan parishes to host holy hours or other vigils for peace during the April 11-12 weekend.

"In the face of fear, division and violence, we must become witnesses to a different way -- the way of prayer, solidarity and sacrificial love," Archbishop Lori said in his statement, as reported by the Catholic Review, the archdiocese's official news outlet. "Let our churches become places of light in a darkened world -- where the cry for peace rises to heaven, where hearts are softened and where hope is rekindled."

Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington will celebrate a Mass for Peace April 11 at that city's Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, inviting diocesan pastors to do the same in their parishes that day, according to Washington's archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Standard.

Bishop Larry J. Kulick of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, will hold a vigil at that diocese's Blessed Sacrament Cathedral as Pope Leo leads prayer in St. Peter's Basilica. Eucharistic adoration and benediction, along with regularly scheduled opportunities for the sacrament of reconciliation, will also take place.

The Catholic Accent, the diocese's newspaper, said that "those unable to attend in person are encouraged to pray at their local parish, participate virtually in the Vatican vigil, or set aside personal time for prayer or fasting."

"As one Body in Christ, let us entrust our world to the Prince of Peace, confident that the Lord hears the cry of His people and desires to heal every wound and restore unity among His children," said Bishop Kulick, according to the newspaper.

Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, urged "fellow Catholics -- and all people of goodwill -- to embrace our Holy Father’s call for a prayer vigil for peace this Saturday, on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday," or the second Sunday of Easter.

"During this Eastertide, let us turn ever more earnestly to our Resurrected Lord, the Prince of Peace, in pursuit of a just settlement to all global conflicts," said Bishop Boyea in an April 7 statement.

In an April 9 message to the faithful, Bishop Oscar A. Solis of Salt Lake City encouraged "the People of God in Utah" to unite themselves with Pope Leo in his prayer "for the end of war," and "to include a special intention for migrants and refugees."

Noting the pope is "deeply aware of the suffering caused by the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine," Bishop Solis noted "these conflicts continue to inflict unbearable suffering on families, children, and entire communities. 

"As disciples of the Risen Lord, we cannot remain indifferent," said Bishop Solis in his message. "Let our prayer rise for all who long for justice, peace, and the restoration of human dignity amid violence and displacement."

The St. Sharbel Spiritual Life Center in Pittsburgh announced it will include in its April 11 event programming a 1 p.m. EDT livestream recitation of the joyful mysteries of the rosary in support of Pope Leo's prayer vigil.

"We offer up our prayers for those affected by war, violence, hatred and indifference," said the center in an email.

In an April 8 Facebook post, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Hanford, California, highlighted Pope Leo's call to join the initiative.

"The purpose of the vigil is simple: to pray for peace in a world facing conflict, division, and tension among nations and communities," said the parish in its post. "The Church reminds us that true peace does not begin only through political solutions but within the human heart."

"Jesus teaches us to forgive, to love, and to turn away from sin. Without this interior change, lasting peace cannot be achieved," said the parish in its post. "That is why the Church always turns first to prayer."

Such prayer enables God "to transform our hearts," said the parish, adding, "Joining the vigil does not require anything complicated. It can be as simple as pausing for a few moments to pray -- even one Hail Mary -- with sincere faith."

The post concluded with a question: "Do you think the world relies too much on politics and not enough on prayer?"

— Gina Christian, OSV News

“Only by returning to negotiations can the war be brought to an end,” he said in remarks in Italian following his April 8 general audience in St. Peter's Square.

His comments came just hours after a two-week ceasefire was reached between Iran and the United States, narrowly averting further escalation. The agreement followed a stark warning from U.S. President Donald Trump late April 7, when he threatened to destroy Iran’s critical infrastructure, saying “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil and gas tankers. The ceasefire was announced roughly two hours before the White House's deadline.

The pope’s appeal for dialogue echoed remarks he made the previous evening at Castel Gandolfo, where he urged leaders to return to the negotiating table even before the ceasefire was announced.

“Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable,” he told journalists April 7. “There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole.”

Expanding on the broader implications of the conflict, he warned of a global economic crisis marked by “great instability,” which he said risks fueling further hatred, and he called on ordinary citizens to contact their political leaders to advocate for peace.

The pope also invited the faithful to join him in a prayer vigil for peace on April 11 in his general audience address. As flowers lined the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Easter season, he used his main talk to reflect on holiness, emphasizing that it is a calling shared by all believers.

"Every baptized person is called to be holy; to live in God's grace, to practice virtue and to become like Christ," he said in his address to English speakers.

Continuing his series on the documents of the Second Vatican Council, he described charity as the foundation of holiness, "the fullness of love towards God and towards one’s neighbor," and said its highest expression is martyrdom, calling it the "supreme witness of faith and charity." He added that the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, sustain believers in this call.

He continued his analysis of the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium," specifically, the important role of consecrated life. "Indeed, signs of the Kingdom of God, already present in the mystery of the Church, are those evangelical counsels that shape every experience of consecrated life: poverty, chastity and obedience.

Poverty demonstrates "complete trust" in God -- free of self-interest, obedience follows Christ's "self-giving" offered to God, and chastity is the "gift of a heart that is whole and pure in love, at the service of God and Church." The pope called these virtues a form of "radical discipleship."

"These three virtues are not rules that shackle freedom, but liberating gifts of the Holy Spirit, through which some of the faithful are wholly consecrated to God," he said.

Closing his main address, the pope said that Christ’s sacrifice makes holiness possible even in suffering.

"By contemplating this event, we know that there is no human experience that God does not redeem," he said. "Even suffering, lived in union with the passion of the Lord, becomes a path of holiness."

 — Josephine Peterson, Catholic News Service

 VATICAN CITY — Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica on Easter, Pope Leo XIV delivered a passionate appeal for peace, declaring that the power of the risen Christ is "entirely nonviolent" and calling on world leaders to lay down their weapons and choose dialogue over domination.

The address came moments after the pope offered Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square with more than 50,000 people present and preceded his solemn blessing, "urbi et orbi," meaning "to the city and to the world," in which the pope offers an indulgence to Catholics around the world who receive the blessing with the proper dispositions.

"In the light of Easter, let us allow ourselves to be amazed by Christ! Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!" Pope Leo said on April 5.

The pope repeated the word peace 13 times in his address, underlining that the peace the risen Christ offers "is not merely the silence of weapons, but the peace that touches and transforms the heart of each one of us."

"Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by the peace of Christ! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts!"

In a surprise announcement, Pope Leo revealed he will host a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday, April 11.

At the heart of his message was a meditation on the nature of Christ’s power in the resurrection, which he contrasted with the violence that marks the modern world. 
"The power with which Christ rose is entirely nonviolent," Pope Leo said.

That strength, the pope added, "is God himself, for he is Love who creates and generates, Love who is faithful to the end and Love who forgives and redeems."

"On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil. To the Lord we entrust all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give," he said.

The pope warned against the "globalization of indifference," a phrase he credited to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who gave his final "urbi et orbi" blessing from the same loggia on Easter Sunday one year ago the day before he died. Pope Leo invoked the words from Pope Francis' Easter blessing last year, in which the late pope lamented "what a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of the world."

"We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent," Pope Leo said. "Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people. Indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow."

"We cannot continue to be indifferent! And we cannot resign ourselves to evil!" he added.

Quoting a sermon by St. Augustine, Pope Leo said, "If you fear death, love the resurrection!"

Easter, the pope said, "is the victory of life over death, of light over darkness, of love over hatred."

"It is a victory that came at a very high price," he added. "Christ, the Son of the living God (cf. Mt 16:16), had to die – and die on a cross – after suffering an unjust condemnation, being mocked and tortured, and shedding all his blood. As the true immolated Lamb, he took upon himself the sin of the world (cf. Jn 1:29; 1 Pet 1:18–19) and thus freed us all – and with us, all creation – from the dominion of evil."

"Evil is not the last word, because it has been defeated by the Risen One," he said.

After giving the "urbi et orbi" blessing in Latin, Pope Leo offered Easter greetings in 10 different languages, including Chinese and Arabic, with loud cheers as he spoke in English and Spanish.

"May you bring the joy of Jesus, who is risen and present in our midst, to all you meet," he said in English. The pope then joined the joyful crowd in St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile.

 At Easter Mass, Pope Leo proclaims Resurrection conquers 'the power of death'

CHARLOTTE — Easter confronts everyone with one single, unavoidable choice: Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? Choosing “yes” demands an all-in commitment to transform one’s life by the choices we make every day to be His disciples.

That was the challenge Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv., presented to congregants at the Easter Vigil April 4 at St. Patrick Cathedral, the first of three Easter Masses he celebrated. The other two were offered Sunday morning at St. Matthew Parish’s south campus in Waxhaw and a Spanish Mass on Sunday afternoon at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Charlotte.

The Easter Vigil liturgy began with the blessing of the Paschal fire and lighting of the Paschal candle at the Marian grotto outside the historic cathedral. A sudden rainstorm canceled the traditional candlelight procession into the church, but it did not dampen the spirits of the approximately 300 people who filled the cathedral to hear the ancient words of the Exultet (Easter Proclamation) announcing Christ’s victory over darkness and sin, chanted by the parish’s Deacon Brian McNulty.

During the Mass, the bishop also welcomed seven people into the Church. Although numbers from all the churches were not yet reported, Diocese of Charlotte leaders anticipated that the number would be close to or surpass the 1,743 who joined the Church in 2025. 

In his homily, Bishop Martin said Jesus’s resurrection challenges us with choices.

“Do we believe that Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to be the Son of God and was brutally beaten and crucified … did He rise from the dead?” he asked.

There are “no halfway responses to this question,” he said. “You need to be all in or all out. There is no other choice.”

“For many of us here tonight, we think we’ve made the choice already. After all, we’re here in church celebrating the Resurrection,” he continued. “But the person who has answered this question honestly about the Resurrection of Jesus finds themselves with more questions and more choices that seem to get harder and harder.

“Jesus’ resurrection seems to continue to knock on the doors of deeper and deeper areas of our lives where we have failed to allow our initial decision to believe in the resurrection of Jesus to take control, to have a real effect.”

He challenged the congregation: “What area of your life remains a tomb waiting for resurrection? What aspect of your life, what relationship have you chosen not to allow the resurrection of Jesus to transform? Where are you still trying to do it on your own and believing that your choices are better?”

People who choose Jesus must also choose not only to believe in Him, but to follow Him – making the choice every day to be His disciples, the bishop said.

Referring to the pastoral vision he presented to the people of the diocese in January, Bishop Martin said, “Easter forces us to make a decision … we can no longer live the rest of our lives as fans who only cheer from the pews, offer prayers for our team and sing songs on Sundays. Rather, Jesus invites us to be players who make the choice daily to carry the cross with Him in every area of our life.” 

“Make that choice tonight, over and over again,” he encouraged the congregation. “Make that choice tomorrow, over and over again. And the next day, and the day after that.

“Those are the only choices that will ever satisfy our deepest longings. Happy Easter.”

— Patricia L. Guilfoyle. Photos by Troy Hull and Liz Chandler.

The Easter Vigil at St. Patrick Cathedral

Scenes from the Easter across the diocese 

From Easter basket blessings under sunny skies to the lighting of the Paschal fire in the evening, churches across the diocese celebrated the joy of Christ's Resurrection:

— Lisa M. Geraci, MaryAnne Luedtke, Toni Rohrbach, Sergio Lopez and provided

Easter Morning at St. Matthew Church's Waxhaw campus

WAXHAW — At 9:30 a.m. Bishop Michael Martin celebrated Easter Mass for a packed congregation at St. Matthew’s Waxhaw campus. People braved cloudy skies and rain to pack into the church for the liturgy, which featured beautiful hymns and instrumental music from the church choir. 

It was Bishop Martin’s first visit to the Waxhaw campus, an occasion he acknowledged in his greeting and that was marked by a parish family presenting him with a bouquet of flowers. 

Bishop Martin’s homily echoed his message from the Easter Vigil the night before, telling congregants that Easter morning presented them with one crucial thing: a choice. 

A choice, he said, which is just one of countless ones facing people in today’s world. 

“If there’s one thing that has changed dramatically over the years, it would have to be the number of choices that we have,” he said. “If you don’t think that’s true, 50 years ago the average supermarket was 10,000 square feet. Today the average supermarket is 40,000 square feet … how many different kinds of ranch dressing do we need?” 

Easter morning offers Catholics the most important choice of all, he said: “Either you choose to believe that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead or you choose to believe that he didn’t – Jesus requires a decision.” 

Making the choice to believe, he said, offers the faithful a further choice. 

He used a sports metaphor: whether to act as a “player” or a “fan” when it comes to faith. Do you act as a “fan” – showing up on Sunday to worship and displaying the appropriate memorabilia at home – or do you go into the fray as a “player” willing to share the evidence of Christ’s resurrection and the fullness of the faith to all you meet? 

“Let His resurrected power get into the cracks and crevices of your life,” Bishop Martin said. 

His words inspired the youngest in the congregation.

At one point in the homily, Bishop Martin asked the crowd “Who here is a fan of Jesus?”

From the first few rows came a small boy’s voice: “YES!” 

The bishop smiled and responded “Way to go! That’s it … homily over.” 

After the Mass, people filed out to greet the bishop and were met by youth from the parish and someone in a bright Easter Bunny outfit, offering a welcome splash of spring color against the cloudy skies and drizzle. The youth held buckets of elastic bracelets bearing the message of the morning: “He is not here; He is risen! (Luke 24:6)

Chris Day of Waxhaw hurried to help his wife Jenn and five children into the family minivan but stopped to reflect on the Mass.

“I thought it was beautiful,” he said. “I liked the fact of the bishop emphasizing the importance of choosing to believe in Christ’s resurrection and message. It’s important to remember that.” 

--Christina Lee Knauss

"Man can kill the body, but the life of the God of love is eternal life, which transcends death and which no tomb can imprison," the pope said in his homily during the Easter Vigil April 4 in St. Peter's Basilica.

"This, my dear friends, is also our message to the world today," to be shared "through the words of faith and the works of charity," he said.

Just as Mary Magdalene and the other women rushed to tell the disciples that Jesus is risen, "we too should desire to set out tonight from this basilica to bring to all the good news," the pope said. "Having risen with him, through his power, we too can give life to a new world of peace and unity."

The Mass began in the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica with the blessing of the fire and of the Easter candle. With most of the lights in the basilica turned off, Pope Leo and the concelebrating cardinals, bishops and priests processed in darkness toward the altar, stopping first to light the pope's candle and then those of the concelebrants and faithful.

During the liturgy, Pope Leo baptized 10 adults. Five were from the Diocese of Rome, two from Great Britain, two from Portugal and one catechumen was from South Korea, according to ANSA, the Italian news agency.

The pope also confirmed the 10 and gave them their first Communion during the Mass.

During the Liturgy of the Word and the readings detailing moments in the history of salvation, Pope Leo said in his homily, "We have seen how God responds to the hardness of sin -- which divides and kills -- with the power of love, which unites and restores life."

The Gospel reading described how the women who had witnessed Jesus' death and burial overcame their grief and fear, and went to his tomb, expecting to find it sealed with a large stone and soldiers standing guard, he said.

"This is what sin is: a heavy barrier that closes us off and separates us from God, seeking to kill his words of hope within us," he said.

However, because of the women's "faith and love," he said, they became the first witnesses of the resurrection and "they saw the power of God’s love, stronger than any force of evil, capable of 'driving out hatred' and 'bringing down the mighty.'"

Throughout history, even when humanity failed to live according to God's plan, he said, "the Lord did not abandon us, but revealed his merciful face to us in an even more surprising way -- through forgiveness."

"Sisters and brothers, even today, there are tombs to be opened, and often the stones sealing them are so heavy and so closely guarded that they seem to be immovable," Pope Leo said.

Some "stones" weigh heavily on the human heart, he said, "such as mistrust, fear, selfishness and resentment; others, stemming from these inner struggles, sever the bonds between us through war, injustice and the isolation of peoples and nations."

"Let us not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by them!" he said. With God's help, many men and women have rolled away those "stones," sometimes at the cost of their lives, "but with good fruits that we still benefit from today."

"They are not unattainable figures, but people like us who, strengthened by the grace of the Risen One, in charity and truth, had the courage to speak" the words of God and to act "with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified," he said.

"Let us be inspired by their example," the pope said, "and on this holy night let us make their commitment our own, so that the Easter gifts of harmony and peace may grow and flourish everywhere and always throughout the world."

 — Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service