WASHINGTON - In light of several recent immigration enforcement encounters resulting in the loss of life, Bishop Daniel E. Garcia, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, and Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chairman of the Committee on Migration, issued the following pastoral reflection:  

“As Catholics, we believe that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God and, therefore, grieve all situations where human life is brought to an unnatural end. This is a core teaching of our faith and one we can never grow weary of proclaiming as disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

“As the bishops of the United States affirmed last November, ‘We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement.’ Racial profiling in particular not only violates God-given dignity* but also inflicts profound harm on individuals, families, and communities by fostering fear, eroding trust, and increasing the risk of unjust and even tragic outcomes. Our pastoral concerns are distinct from what the civil law itself may permit. 

“Acts that diminish or disregard the dignity of any person or group of people should never be normalized in our society. The dehumanization of immigrants, regardless of their legal status, is one such example of this; the vilification of law enforcement officers is yet another.

“We continue to affirm the legitimate role of civil authorities to implement the law in a humane manner and with respect for fundamental human rights, including the rights to life and due process. The power of the state must always be exercised within the limits of the moral law. To that end, we call for accountability, transparency, and justice, which require that meaningful reforms be made to our immigration system. 

“We join in praying for the souls of those killed and for their families, for our nation, and for all those entrusted with the duties of public service. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric, racial prejudice, and violence and for a renewed commitment to recognizing the inherent dignity of every person as a child of God. We plead for the intercession of Mary, Our Mother, who is the model of perfect faith in times of grief, hardship, and uncertainty.”

*Open Wide Our Hearts, p. 4

###

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Today's lush and immaculately manicured Vatican Gardens were once just a sprawl of mosquito-infested swamps, clay hillsides and hardy grape vines.

The wild, unpopulated landscape on the fringes of early Rome slowly shifted as it changed to accommodate historical events over the course of 2,000 years: the martyrdom and burial of St. Peter; the blossoming of Christianity; the growth of papal power; and the eventual establishment of the world's smallest sovereign nation.

The gardens make up almost half of Vatican City State's 109 acres and their colorful evolution is documented in a volume updated in 2016: "A Guide to the Vatican Gardens: History, Art, Nature," curated by historians and experts from the Vatican Library and Vatican Museums. Illustrated with full-color photographs and historic black and white engravings, the book is available in English.

In the first century AD, the Roman Emperor Caligula set up a circus for chariot racing near a villa his mother, Agrippina, had built in the area, which was still far on the outskirts of ancient Rome. Shipping over a red granite obelisk from Egypt, he decorated the circus with the monument, which now stands in the center of St. Peter's Square.

Emperor Nero expanded the circus, using it to showcase his cruelty against Christians like burning them alive to light his evening parties on the hill's gardens and crucifying others, like St. Peter, who was then buried in a roadside cemetery nearby. 

As the apostle's tomb became a place of worship, the "circus fell into disrepair, Agrippina's villa decayed and the uninhabited hill returned to wild scrub," wrote  Ambrogio Piazzoni, a former vice prefect of the Vatican Library and book's co-author.

After Emperor Constantine converted and granted Christians the freedom to practice their faith, he ordered the construction of the first basilica dedicated to St. Peter, which meant razing part of the hill and covering over part of the cemetery.

A few small buildings were constructed nearby over the next four centuries including a monastery, but the popes -- the successors of Peter -- didn't start living in this "rustic and unprotected location" by the basilica until the fifth century, Piazzoni wrote.

With the Saracen Raid in 846, Pope Leo IV constructed a fortressed wall to defend the Vatican area from marauders. Inside the walls, there were meadows, vegetable gardens, orchards and vineyards while outside -- which is part of today's gardens -- were more pastures and woods.

Once popes started residing permanently at the Vatican, they added their own personal touches to the vast expanse of greenery surrounding them. 

Pope Nicholas IV had his doctor, Simon of Genoa, cultivate medicinal plants and aromatic herbs in the tradition of the Benedictine monks, who were known for creating treatments for illnesses and distilled liqueurs and tinctures. 

This 13th-century papal initiative was to become the oldest botanical garden in Italy and marked the beginning of the formal scientific study of botany as a branch of medicine, "predating by centuries the teaching of botany" in academies and universities, Piazzoni wrote in the 2016 book. 

Pope Pius V made sure the medicinal plant studies continued in the 16th-century by hiring a Tuscan botanist and geologist to take care of the gardens. The pope gave him the title of "medicinal plant expert of Our Lord" and furnished him with a "safe conduct pass" allowing him to travel anywhere in search of rare plants.

The Vatican medicinal garden gradually lost importance -- becoming a humble lawn -- after Pope Alexander VII built a newer and larger botanical garden, which is still one of the largest in Italy, along the Janiculum hill in 1660. The Vatican lost that and many other properties after the loss of the Papal States in 1870.

Given the variety of habitat and papal proclivities at the time, the Vatican Gardens were also home to a menagerie of wild animals including the brief upkeep of a leopard during the pontificate of Boniface VIII in the 13th century and Hanno, the elephant, which was a gift to Pope Leo X from Portugal's king in 1514. 

Pope Pius XII found an injured finch in the Vatican Gardens and nursed her back to health. "Gretchen," the finch, would keep the pope company and sit on his shoulder at mealtime while hopping down to peck at crumbs.

Today, green parrots nesting in palm trees and a small sampling of cats are the only free-range fauna easily sighted in the Vatican Gardens. 

The gardens went largely unchanged from its Renaissance heyday at the end of the 1500s to the end of the 1900s, primarily, Piazzoni wrote, because the popes had moved their main residence to the Quirinale Palace -- judging it to be "more comfortable, functional and situated in a sunny and healthy place." 

Despite the disuse, the gardens were still cared for and embellished with additional fountains, shrines, statues and exotic or rare plant life.

With the end of the Papal States, the pope moved back to the papal residence at the Vatican. 

Being largely confined to the small property, Pope Leo XIII spent a lot of time caring for the gardens and pursuing his love for hunting and viniculture. He reportedly tended his small vineyard himself, hoeing out the weeds, and visiting often for moments of prayer and writing poetry. He had a papal guard on duty with orders to shoot to scare off birds threatening his grape harvest.

Modern-day popes still use the gardens for exercise, restful relaxation and meditation. Retired Pope Benedict XVI took his daily walk there, praying the rosary along the wooded paths. 

Not just for popes anymore, the gardens were opened to the public several years ago as part of an organized tour either on foot or on an environmentally friendly open bus.

The tours highlight the gardens' blend of art, nature and faith, but also help visitors sense what the book describes as the harmonious co-existence of so many species of flora and fauna, which "reinforce the ideals that constitute the universal mission of this extraordinary place" -- the love and care for God's creation.

A version of this story was originally published in 2016.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Confronting a rebel archbishop's accusations and acts of defiance was the heaviest cross St. Paul VI had to bear in his pontificate, said a 2018 book based on never-before published notes and documents.

After years of correspondence and efforts at convincing Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, to accept the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the authority of the pope, St. Paul lost his patience at times in a private meeting with the suspended cleric at the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, Sept. 11, 1976.

"You said it and wrote it. (That) I would be a modernist pope. By applying an ecumenical council, I would betray the church. Do you understand that if this were so, I would have to resign and invite you to take my place and lead the church?" Pope Paul said, according to a top Vatican official's report of the proceedings.

The typed report and handwritten notes and letters of St. Paul are part of an Italian book published in 2018 titled, "The Barque of Paul," by Msgr. Leonardo Sapienza, regent of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household. 

The book makes public more than two dozen handwritten or typed notes and letters by the pope, including a letter long-rumored to exist instructing the dean of the College of Cardinals to accept his resignation in case of infirmity.

But the most "dramatic are the documents on the matter of Lefebvre," said an article published May 2018 in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

The book focused on the pope's comments and reactions in 1976-77 when the situation with Archbishop Lefebvre had reached a breaking point. 

At length, the pope condemned the false and "inconsistent" doctrine, and the grave and divisive actions of the archbishop during a secret consistory with cardinals May 24, 1976, the book said. The times, the pope told the cardinals, called not for concessions, but vigilance against all dangerous and incorrect interpretations of the Second Vatican Council.

Just a few months later, in July 1976, Archbishop Lefebvre was suspended from his priestly functions after he illegally ordained 13 priests at his seminary in Ecône, Switzerland. In an open violation of his suspension, he led a Mass at a sports arena in Lille, France, a month later before thousands of faithful and hundreds of journalists, who reported or broadcast his lengthy homily in which he defended the "traditional" faith and lambasted the "conciliar" church.

In the end, after direct correspondence, intermediaries and a number of public statements seemed to have failed to sway the archbishop, the pope met face-to-face with him Sept. 11 of that year. The pope's personal secretary also attended along with the assistant secretary of state, whom the pope charged with taking notes on the entire proceedings.

Written like a transcript, the report said Pope Paul began the conversation saying, "I hope to have before me a brother, a son, a friend. Unfortunately, the position you have taken is that of an antipope. What can I say? You have not allowed for any measure in your words, your actions, your behavior."

According to the 2018 book, St. Paul said the question at stake was not obedience to him as a person, but obedience to the office of pope.

"You judged the pope as disloyal to the faith of which he is the supreme guarantor. Perhaps this is the first time in history that this has happened. You told the whole world that the pope lacks the faith, does not believe, that he is a modernist and so on," St. Paul said, underlining the "extreme gravity" of such accusations, and the need to "reflect" and accept the "just consequences."

Archbishop Lefebvre insisted it was never his intention to attack the pope, and he admitted "perhaps there was something inappropriate in my words, my writings." His true intention, he said, was to follow his conscience and respond to the concerns of numerous others who were worried that the recent changes in the church forced them to either "risk losing the faith" or "give the impression of disobedience."

Referring to the archbishop's criticisms of secularization creeping into religious life and of laxity in the liturgy, the pope said the Vatican was working just as hard and insistently "at eliminating certain abuses that don't conform to the law of the church in force, which is (the law) of the council and of tradition."

What bothered the pope, he said, wasn't the archbishop's "perplexity" with what the council taught, but his attitude or approach to the council, which he had also taken part in.

"I am not against the council, but against some of its acts," Archbishop Lefebvre said.

"If you are not against the council, you must adhere to it, to all of its documents," the pope replied, remarking later that the archbishop had signed many of the council's acts. 

Archbishop Lefebvre proposed requiring bishops to make available in churches a chapel where people could "pray like before the council."

"We are a community. We cannot permit autonomy in behavior in different places," the pope said, but the archbishop continued to make the case that the council accepts "pluralism" and "we ask that that principle be applied to us, too." 

Archbishop Lefebvre added that he would let the Vatican oversee the Ecône seminary to ensure it was forming candidates in "true piety," and he said he would be ready to not speak at any more conferences, staying put in the seminary -- "I promise I won't come out anymore."

St. Paul questioned how this would be in communion with the church "when you take positions against us, before the world, to accuse us of infidelity, of wanting to destroy the church?"

"I had no intention...," Archbishop Lefebvre said. However, the pope added, that was what the archbishop had said and written and if he were such a modernist pope betraying the church, "I would have to resign and invite you to take my place and lead the church."

When the archbishop explained the church was in crisis, Pope Paul said, "We are suffering deeply. You contributed to making it worse with your solemn disobedience, with your open challenge against the pope."

"I am not being judged as I should," Archbishop Lefebvre replied. 

"Canon law judges you," the pope said, urging him to make an examination of conscience of the situation and ask God what to do.

St. Paul said he would reflect as well and pray, reiterating he had much esteem for the archbishop, knew of his merits and had common ground in recognizing there were "many problems" to deal with. 

He asked Archbishop Lefebvre to sign a public declaration, retracting his recent remarks and actions which "everyone took notice of as actions not to build the church but to divide it and bring it harm." 

"We have to find union in prayer and reflection," he said, ending the 30-minute meeting with prayers.

A version of this story was originally published in 2018.

ROME (CNS) -- Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington said his decision to remove a high-profile priest as an archdiocesan exorcist was driven by the public way he exercised his ministry, not by his specific beliefs about UFOs.

Following comments on social media linking UFOs to demonic activity, Msgr. Stephen Rossetti was removed in early June as an exorcist for the Archdiocese of Washington. 

In one of his first interviews since the decision, Cardinal McElroy told Catholic News Service it should not be interpreted as a judgment on unidentified flying objects or extraterrestrial life, but in what he sees as the proper role of an exorcist within the Catholic Church.

"It wasn't touching on the question of UFOs," the cardinal said in an interview June 29 at the Pontifical North American College. "My major objection is that I think the traditional role of an exorcist is a very private one. It's a sacred one."

Msgr. Rossetti has built one of the largest online followings among Catholic exorcists through the St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, with more than 146,000 followers on YouTube, as well as tens of thousands more on his personal Instagram, where he regularly discusses exorcism, spiritual warfare and demonic activity.

In May, Msgr. Rossetti posted online that "probably many, if not most, UFO sightings are in fact demons," drawing widespread attention as public interest in unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP -- the government's official term for what are commonly called UFOs -- has increased in recent years. 

On June 3, Cardinal McElroy said in a press release that "statements made by Msgr. Rossetti linking UFOs to demonic presence and the Center's recent use of social media gravely undermine the Church's very precise teaching on the devil, demons and exorcism."

The removal has since prompted widespread debate among Catholics over whether the action reflected the archdiocese's position on extraterrestrial life or on Msgr. Rossetti's assertion that many UFO sightings are demonic.

Some Catholics agree with Msgr. Rossetti's views. U.S. Vice President JD Vance has previously said, "I don't think they're aliens. I think they're demons anyway."

Others have argued on social media and in the press that the issue was more about presenting personal speculation as Church teaching. In an interview with The New York Times after Msgr. Rossetti's removal, Christopher Baglow, director of the Science and Religion Initiative at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, said Msgr. Rossetti may have overstepped by "putting forward his own doctrine as something Catholics should accept."

Cardinal McElroy told CNS that exorcists perform a ministry entrusted to them by their bishop in particularly "serious cases" and that the office should remain focused on that pastoral mission.

"I think the more traditional approach of an exorcist is a private, within-the-life-of-the-Church ministry to help individuals who are in crisis and seem to be demonically possessed," he said in the interview. "It shouldn't go beyond that for people who are doing exorcism."

The cardinal added that he believes exorcists should remain "more faithful to the traditional role the Church has had for exorcists." The webpage on exorcisms on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops site says "the preservation of confidentiality is important."

Following his removal, Msgr. Rossetti issued a statement expressing sadness over the decision and asking forgiveness "for any ways in which I have failed to remain fully obedient to the Magisterium of the Church." He said the St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal would continue its ministry independently.

Debates about UFOs and whether they are tied to demons are not new to Catholics. Priests and theologians have argued for decades that the Church has no official teaching on extraterrestrial life. Some Catholic theologians have said the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is not incompatible with the faith. 

But a fresh wave of public interest in UFOs has continued to grow inside Catholic circles, driven by U.S. government disclosures on the subject and a string of recent films.

On July 7, filmmakers released the trailer for "Not of This World: Catholic Faith in the Age of Disclosure," a documentary series examining how Catholics are responding to UFO questions.

Produced by Catholic filmmaker Sam Sorich, the project features interviews with theologians, UFO researchers, national security officials, clergy and exorcists, prompted in part by claims from a former CIA official that the Vatican possesses evidence of nonhuman intelligence.

The documentary follows Catholic discussions of the issue, including a June private screening at Rome's Cinema Barberini of Steven Spielberg's film "Disclosure Day," organized by Sorich. Attendees included clergy, journalists and students from pontifical universities.

Among those attending was Michael Severance of the Acton Institute, who said the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life would not necessarily conflict with Catholic belief.

"I don't doubt that if there are intelligent or human-like forms in the universe that they also couldn't be made perfect or they couldn't fall or have the same destiny of salvation that we do," he said June 3.

Veteran Vatican journalist Delia Gallagher said the issue is likely to become increasingly important for Catholics.

"This is a topic that is destined to become more important," she said. "The Vatican will eventually -- it could be years -- have something more concrete to say about it."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Hesitation and resistance to the Church's synodal journey can be addressed with clearer explanations, better training and more hands-on experience of what synodality is, bishops representing North America said.

"A very clear takeaway is the need for more formation in synodality, including its meaning, its methods and its spirituality," Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said.

"Synodality is often presented and perceived by many as a cumbersome and complicated process with language and terminology that is unfamiliar to most Catholics. Unless we can simplify how synodality is presented, it risks becoming the exclusive domain of specialists or 'the initiated' rather than a way of simply living our faith together," he told Catholic News Service. 

Archbishop Coakley was one of a number of leaders of the so-called "continental bodies" who met at the Vatican in late June as part of their work during the continental stage of the global Synod on Synodality, which was launched by local churches in 2021.

Representatives from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and North America, together with the coordinators of the continental synodal teams, met privately with Pope Leo XIV and members of the General Secretariat of the Synod June 23-25 at the Vatican. Part of the meeting involved reporting on major developments in implementing, across the different continents, the final document that was released in October 2024.

The team representing North America included: Archbishop Coakley; Auxiliary Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt of Hartford, Connecticut, who is the USCCB's bishop liaison for the synod; Bishop Pierre Goudreault of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière in Québec, Canada, who is president of Canada's Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Julia McStravog, senior advisor to the U.S. synod leaders' team and coordinator of the diocesan synod teams.

Responding to questions from CNS after their meeting, the three bishops shared the progress they have seen and the challenges that remain in implementing the Synod on Synodality's final document in North America.

U.S. synod leaders meet monthly and share what they learn with all leaders and teams across the country, Bishop Betancourt wrote. These virtual gatherings "have strengthened relationships among the dioceses in the United States" and provided important "consultation, feedback, synthesis and the setting of priorities."

Many places in the United States have successfully implemented synodality "in a more intentional way, using the method of conversations in the spirit" and promoting the participation of the laity, religious and clergy "to discern the good and the challenges occurring in the particular dioceses of their provinces," he added. 

"This process has been helpful in guiding pastoral planning, discernment in parish consolidation, assessment of Mass times and the priest's workload, and more effective resource allocation," the bishop told CNS.

Archbishop Coakley said the Church in the U.S. is "very accustomed to welcoming and fostering lay involvement, from both men and women, at every level of church life. We have well-established consultative bodies, such as parish and diocesan pastoral councils, presbyteral councils, finance councils, school advisory councils and so forth."

"It seems to me that we need to continue to deepen our practice of discernment within those bodies and to develop and deepen an appropriate spirituality based on discernment and rooted in prayer," the archbishop wrote.

The Church in the U.S. is also "blessed with remarkable cultural diversity," Bishop Betancourt added. 

Having "brothers and sisters from countless nations offers an opportunity to continue engaging in multicultural dialogue, broaden participation, practice co-responsibility, and, above all, strengthen missionary outreach," he wrote.

However, Bishop Betancourt wrote, they have faced two big challenges: "the language around synodality, including the term itself, and second, resistance to participating in the process."

"Increasing participation by the lay faithful across the global Church, especially among the marginalized or distant, is essential to making the Church’s work more synodal, because all baptized persons share co-responsibility for the Church’s mission, which is rooted in their common dignity," he wrote. "This approach helps overcome clericalism, dismantle self-referential structures and ensure that the Church’s discernment reflects the diverse spiritual gifts of the entire People of God."

"Synodality is not parting from Catholic tradition but a deeper return to it," Bishop Betancourt wrote. "It’s about discerning God’s will, not about personal preferences or agendas, and that the ultimate goal of synodality is stronger evangelization, finding more effective ways to bring Jesus to the modern world and to bring distant or hurting souls back to his Sacred Heart."

Bishop Goudreault told CNS the Church in Canada also finds it "difficult to engage those who are more hesitant to join the process."

They are developing an online resource for Catholics, and they launched a network this spring to facilitate "learning, reception and conversion to synodality. This will take time and patience," he wrote.

"The concrete 'entry points' presented on page 20 of the 'Pathways' document have been very helpful to us, as some communities still did not know where to begin," he wrote. "We learn synodality by living it rather than by talking about it."

In his own diocese, Bishop Goudreault set up a synodal team led by a woman and a priest as "a sign in favor of synodal leadership," and they organized diocesan synodal assemblies to help him, "as bishop, to clarify pastoral guidelines on a specific issue." 

"Another initiative regarding the appointment of priests to parishes," he wrote, was inviting priests to engage in communal discernment guided by conversation in the Holy Spirit.

"The first meeting focused on the needs of the diocese, the second on the charisms of the priests, and the third on identifying which priests would be best suited to serve in those communities," he wrote. "At the end, the priests were open to receiving their appointments because they had taken part in a synodal process."

Also, "after eight years of service as a bishop, I asked the diocesan team to evaluate me," the Canadian bishop told CNS, because "synodality calls for accountability."

"This evaluation process was a genuine opportunity for growth for me, allowing me to celebrate what is going well and to become aware of areas for improvement," he added.

Archbishop Coakley said Pope Leo "clearly wants to build on the synodal vision outlined and presented by Pope Francis" in his own unique way.

Bishop Betancourt said, "I believe Pope Leo's focus on synodality is about communion: that all members of the Church feel united with one another as God's family."

"In acknowledging and appreciating each one’s responsibility, according to their specific vocation, to build the Church in a missionary way, Pope Leo believes that formation at all levels is essential to address fears and resistance to synodality," he added.

The pope has "repeatedly made clear that synodality is not about changing doctrine or undermining the hierarchical communion of the Church," the bishop wrote. Rather, it "serves as a foundation for evangelization, a shared process of listening, discerning, and building relationships, making the Church in the modern world attractive as the beacon of truth and salvation in Christ."

"It is up to the baptized and their pastor in each local church to be creative and take bold steps to put synodality into practice," Bishop Goudreault wrote.

"It is a call to discern paths for mission today," he wrote, inviting those who are hesitant "to trust and listen to the Holy Spirit so that, together with others, we may discern what He is calling us to do in proclaiming the Gospel in today’s world."

The leaders of the continental bodies will continue to accompany the synodal process back home during this implementation phase in light of the publication of "Towards the Assemblies 2027-2028: Stages, Criteria and Tools for Preparation."

That text outlines the next four stages: diocesan and eparchial evaluation assemblies will review the implementation of the final document in the first half of 2027; national and regional assemblies of the bishops' conferences will interpret those evaluations during the second half of 2027; continental assemblies will produce "forward-looking" reports and guidance in the early part of 2028; and an ecclesial assembly of the whole Church will gather with the pope at the Vatican in October 2028.

LAMPEDUSA, Italy (CNS) -- For more than 30 years, Dr. Pietro Bartolo said he has examined more than 350,000 people and performed postmortem examinations on those who died making the crossing to Lampedusa, where migrants rescued from the Mediterranean first arrived.

One story, he said, has stayed with him.

After a shipwreck near Malta, a father told Bartolo how he had tried to keep his family alive in the water. He held his youngest child against his chest, his wife with one hand and his 3-year-old son with the other as he swam. When he realized he no longer had the strength to save everyone, he let go of his older son.

"'If I had held on for one more minute, my son would still be here,'" Bartolo recalled the father telling him. Rescue crews arrived moments later.

"Understand," Bartolo said in an interview with Catholic News Service June 3, "how terrible it is that a father has to choose which child to let go."

Stories like this, he said, explain why Pope Leo XIV came to Lampedusa.

For Bartolo, who spent decades as Lampedusa's physician and former member of the European Parliament, these human tragedies explain why Pope Leo chose this tiny Mediterranean island for one of the defining visits of his pontificate.

"People ask why the pope comes to Lampedusa," Bartolo told CNS. "Because this is the icon of solidarity."

As the first American pope marked the 250th anniversary of the United States' Declaration of Independence July 4, he did so not in celebration of his homeland, but on a European migrant entrypoint, praying for migrants buried in the island's cemetery, meeting survivors and celebrating Mass where tens of thousands of people flee war, persecution and poverty.

Before delivering a single public address, Pope Leo laid flowers at the graves of migrants who died trying to cross the Mediterranean. He met a migrant family at the "Door of Europe" monument, blessed a plaque naming Favaloro Pier after Pope Francis, and later celebrated Mass beneath an image of Our Lady of Safe Harbor.

The visit deliberately echoed Pope Francis' first journey outside Rome in 2013, when Pope Francis came to Lampedusa to denounce what he called the "globalization of indifference."

"I am grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to visit you, following in the footsteps of Pope Francis," Pope Leo said in his homily at the Arena sports field in the Salina district of Lampedusa.

But while repeating his predecessors' focus on migrants, Pope Leo gave the message his own theological emphasis.

Reflecting on the parable of the Good Samaritan, he said Lampedusa today lies "along a path as dangerous as the one that led down from Jerusalem to Jericho."

"Those who have lost their lives in this sea are victims both of decisions that were made and of decisions that were not made," he said.

The pope praised the fishermen, volunteers, rescue workers, civil authorities and ordinary island residents who have welcomed migrants for years, thanking them for demonstrating "the miracle of compassion."

"There is no love of God without love of neighbor," he said, "and there is no neighbor if I do not draw near."

"Indifference to the common good and corruption in their countries" generates poverty and exclusion, Pope Leo said. Yet quoting his first encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas," he said, "no one is without responsibility."

Pope Leo also urged Europe to move beyond emergency responses, calling for long-term policies capable of "receiving, protecting, supporting and integrating migrants," while helping developing countries so that "no one is forced to emigrate."

His message extended beyond Europe.

In addition to his July 4 homily, Pope Leo released a message marking the United States' 250th birthday, praising the nation's founding ideals of liberty and religious freedom while reminding Americans that immigrants "have formed part of the history of this country from its very beginning."

"Defending human life also includes welcoming, protecting and assisting immigrants," he wrote, calling such welcome "not only an act of charity, but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person."

For the first U.S. pope, migration has been a priority as a matter of human dignity. Pope Leo tied in his trip to the migrant entrypoint on the U.S. holiday, saying immigrants "have formed part of the history of this country from its very beginning."

"To receive them with compassion and generosity is not only an act of charity, but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person."

Pope Leo said the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is not only an invitation to celebrate, "but also to reflect upon the responsibilities that the sons and daughters of this country bear to one another."

That message resonates deeply on Lampedusa.

According to Mediterranean Hope's annual report on the Migration Observatory of Lampedusa, nearly 40,000 migrants arrived on the island in 2025, with more than 80% departing from Libya. The observatory documented at least 1,314 deaths along the central Mediterranean route during the year, while noting that the actual number is likely higher because many shipwrecks go unrecorded. 

For Bartolo, however, statistics tell only part of the story. The retired physician said conducting postmortem examinations on drowned children and families "turned my life upside down." The doctor now spends his time traveling across Europe speaking in schools and universities about what he witnessed during his years at the migrant entrypoint.

Remembering the dead has also become the life's work of Tareke Brhane, an Eritrean refugee who crossed the Mediterranean himself before reaching Italy in 2006.

After surviving the journey, Brhane founded the Committee of Oct. 3 following the 2013 shipwreck off Lampedusa that claimed more than 360 lives. The organization works to identify those who die at sea and return names to victims buried as unknown migrants.

"The majority have only numbers," Brhane said.

His committee has helped identify roughly 100 bodies and successfully campaigned for Italy to establish Oct. 3 as a national day of remembrance for migrants who died trying to reach Europe, he told CNS. 

For Brhane, Pope Leo's decision to begin his visit in the cemetery was the day's most powerful gesture. Brhane has made it one of his life's missions to identify migrants buried without names. 

Many bodies recovered from the Mediterranean have historically been buried with only a case number because authorities could not establish their identities. The Committee of Oct. 3 has worked with forensic experts, Italian authorities and victims' families to change that. He told CNS that there is a huge difference in the graves of residents and the unmarked graves of migrants. 

"People will talk about the port," he said. "But the real message was that he went first to the cemetery to pray for those who died."

He called Lampedusa "a place of suffering and a place of hope."

Many migrants who later become citizens of Britain, Sweden or the Netherlands return simply to stand once more on the island where they first arrived alive, he said.

"They say this is where we were born again," Brhane told CNS. 

With a similar message, Mayor Filippo Mannino told the pope during his visit that the island is as a beacon that "does not judge" and "does not choose whom to illuminate," but remains lit through the night for anyone searching for shore.

"No one is too small to point the way," he said.

The visit echoed the pope's June apostolic journey to Spain, when he devoted some of his strongest remarks on migration to the Canary Islands, another major gateway for migrants seeking to reach Europe. Speaking there, he urged Europeans not to allow tourism to obscure the human suffering unfolding along migration routes and challenged visitors to "have the courage to think differently," saying authentic rest should lead people to rediscover the meaning of life and solidarity with others.

Pope Leo repeated that theme in Lampedusa, again using the image of the Good Samaritan to argue that Christian discipleship requires drawing near to those in need rather than "passing by."

"Have the courage to think differently," the pope urged those who vacation on the island, encouraging them not to ignore the suffering unfolding in the surrounding sea.

From this "far-flung corner of Europe," he said, the challenge facing both Europe and the wider world can be seen with unusual clarity.

"All of this must be done with vigilance, ensuring respect for the dignity of every person," the pope said July 4. "This is a task not only for public institutions but also for civil society as a whole and for the Church."

WASHINGTON – Marking the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, Pope Leo XIV has addressed a letter to the American people. The U.S. bishops are grateful to the Holy Father for his inspiring message, and for his prayers as we commemorate this milestone anniversary of our nation. 

All are invited to read Pope Leo XIV’s message which may be found here.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican declared July 2 that the six bishops involved in the Society of St. Pius X's unauthorized episcopal consecrations had incurred automatic excommunication and said its clergy "are in schism and therefore must be considered schismatics."

The decree from Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, marks the strongest Vatican action against the traditionalist society since its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, consecrated four bishops without papal approval in 1988, leading to similar Vatican censure.

While the society claims it was compelled to ordain new bishops July 1 in Ecône, Switzerland in order to guarantee to celebrate what they consider the true Mass, Vatican officials and scholars say the dispute that culminated in the excommunications has never primarily been about the traditional Latin Mass.

Founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to reforms following the Second Vatican Council, the Society of St. Pius X grew into an international traditionalist movement with hundreds of priests, seminarians and schools around the world. 

While best known for celebrating the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, the society's disagreements with Rome extend far beyond liturgy and center on its rejection of key teachings of Vatican II, objecting to its declaration on religious liberty.

Speaking to reporters after the consecrations, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said the Vatican's concern extended far beyond the unauthorized ordinations themselves.

"The fundamental issue, however, is the council – that is, whether or not the Second Vatican Council is accepted," he said. "The history of the Church continues and, as I said before, the Second Vatican Council is a milestone in the Church's history. It must be accepted and implemented in the proper way."

For decades, public discussion surrounding the Society of St. Pius X has focused on its attachment to the pre-Vatican II liturgy. But Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist of religion who has studied the movement for decades and interviewed Archbishop Lefebvre personally, said that narrative misses the central issue.

"I keep reading in the media that the problem is the Latin Mass," he told Catholic News Service July 2. "Liturgy is an important point, but it's not the key point."

The dispute is not that the SSPX prefers the traditional Latin Mass, because many other groups in full communion with Rome celebrate it as well, Introvigne said, but that the fraternity rejects the post-conciliar liturgical reform in ways the Vatican says call into question its acceptance of the Church's authority.

Introvigne recalled the late archbishop telling him that even if the pope restored the pre-conciliar liturgy overnight, his principal objections would remain because his real concerns centered on Vatican II's teaching on religious liberty and the Church's relationship with other religions. 

Those concerns remain at the center of the society's position today.

"I believe a key point here is they want the pope to agree with them that the other religions are 'the work of the devil,'" Introvigne said, and that the public activity of non-Catholic believers "should be prohibited by the state."

There are two notable texts from Vatican II that focus on religious liberty, "Dignitatis Humanae," which recognizes a civil right to religious freedom, and "Nostra Aetate," which encourages dialogue with non-Christian religions while recognizing elements of truth and holiness within them. 

The council's declaration on religious freedom, "Dignitatis humanae," is not about denying the truth of Jesus and the faith, Introvigne said, but is about the importance of every human's freedom to arrive at the truth without state interference or coercion.

The SSPX argues that because the council described its work as "pastoral" and issued no new dogmatic definitions, Catholics are not required to accept every conciliar teaching, particularly where the fraternity believes the council departed from previous doctrine. 

The SSPX argues some teachings are difficult to reconcile with earlier magisterial statements.

The Vatican has consistently rejected that interpretation, saying the Church can evolve in its understanding of the truth and, therefore, its teachings, and the Vatican II texts belong to the Church's authentic and authoritative magisterium.

Although the July 2 decree represents the strongest Vatican action against the fraternity in decades, it also follows a familiar pattern. After Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal approval in 1988, St. John Paul II declared the act schismatic but simultaneously established a commission to facilitate reconciliation with traditionalist Catholics. Pope Benedict XVI later lifted the bishops' excommunications to reopen dialogue, and Pope Francis granted SSPX priests faculties to validly hear confessions and provided for the recognition of marriages.

Vatican officials have repeatedly coupled canonical sanctions with invitations to return to full communion, a pattern that many observers expect will continue under Pope Leo XIV despite the recent rupture.

Cardinal Fernández had proposed dialogue earlier this year focused on Vatican II and the minimum requirements for full communion, according to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Vatican conditioned those talks on the fraternity abandoning plans to consecrate new bishops.

Instead, the society proceeded.

Thousands gathered July 1 at the society's seminary in Ecône as Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta consecrated four new bishops despite repeated Vatican warnings that doing so would constitute a schismatic act.

A day earlier, Pope Leo made an extraordinary personal appeal.

"Please turn back!" he wrote in a brief message. He warned that proceeding would "tear the seamless garment of Christ" and described the planned consecrations as "a sin of extreme gravity."

The society nevertheless insists it has no intention of leaving the Catholic Church.

During the consecration Mass, Father Davide Pagliarani, superior general of the SSPX, rejected accusations that the fraternity was separating itself from Rome.

"We cannot choose between the faith and the Church," he said. "We belong to the Church because we have the same faith."

He argued that the fraternity was acting not against the Church but for her good, insisting that its bishops were preserving Catholic tradition during what the society calls an unprecedented crisis in the Church.

For Introvigne, however, the dispute ultimately concerns authority more than liturgy.

"Some of the questions the society asked were valid questions," he said. "The problem is when the society started not only asking questions, but substituting itself for the pope and also giving the answers." 

That, he said, is where theological disagreement became schism.

"The pope has tried everything possible to reconcile them," Introvigne said. "But everything possible is not equal to everything." 

The Church can continue dialogue, he said, "but it cannot allow people to replace the authority of the pope with their own." 

The Vatican's July 2 decree declared that the six bishops had been automatically excommunicated upon the act of consecration without papal authority. It also stated that clergy belonging to the SSPX "are in schism and therefore must be considered schismatics." 

Introvigne said that this level of excommunication was what he expected because "it's clear that generosity and kindness didn't work out," referring to the previously lifted excommunications by Pope Benedict XVI and restoration of some priestly faculties by Pope Francis.

Lay faithful who "formally adhere" to the fraternity likewise incur excommunication, although canonists say the decree leaves open questions about what constitutes formal adherence. Seeing as SSPX sees itself as a part of the Catholic Church, they do not retain membership data, Introvigne said. The society's website claims to have 600,000 members, but the theologian estimates the true number of lay people who attend Mass with the society regularly to be between 30,000 and 40,000. 

Introvigne also believes the movement has already reached its high-water mark.

"Another personal opinion, which I'm sure the society would dispute, is that this movement is past its prime and this schismatic attitude is not a sign of strength but it's a sign of weakness," he said.

He argued that the fraternity was most successful when it could portray itself as defending traditional Catholics from Pope Francis' restrictions on the celebration of the Latin Mass. With Pope Leo widely viewed as a unifying figure, Introvigne said, much of that momentum has faded.

"In other words, many Catholics will gladly embrace a conservative position, but not a fundamentalist position," he said. 

In the months leading up to the consecrations, Pope Leo devoted a series of Wednesday general audience talks to explaining the principal documents of Vatican II, signalling the same fidelity as his predecessors demonstrated to the council's teachings. 

Introvigne believes the latest rupture represents less a new beginning than a return to a familiar place.

"It puts the clock back to 1988," he said, adding that, despite the excommunications, he expects dialogue to continue eventually. 

Cardinal Parolin told journalists July 1 that he hopes "dialogue can resume and that we may truly find a solution here as well." Introvigne also said the cycle is unlikely to end with the latest excommunications. 

"The dialogue, at least under the table, will continue," he said. "But to have a meaningful dialogue, some things should change," including, he suggested, changes in the fraternity's leadership.

Despite the Vatican's sweeping action against the SSPX, Introvigne does not believe the fraternity represents the greatest challenge facing Pope Leo's pontificate.

Instead, he pointed to ongoing tensions in Germany, where bishops and lay organizations continue to advocate for women's ordination and sacramental recognition of same-sex unions.

"I believe the challenge is on the other side," he said. "I believe Pope Leo is more concerned with the movements in the German church than with the Lefebvrists."

Those demands, he said, are also ones "Pope Leo cannot accept," raising the possibility of another rupture within the Church -- this time from the opposite end of the theological spectrum.

"It will not be enormous," he said. "But it will be as significant as schism, and perhaps more significant than this one on the right." 

How Pope Leo Changed the Future of the SSPX

Massimo Introvigne is an Italian sociologist of religion and one of the world's leading scholars of new religious movements. He has written extensively on Catholic traditionalism, religious liberty, and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), and has spent...

ROME (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV's call for unity in diversity extends beyond greater communion within the Catholic Church and includes one's wider community, some newly appointed U.S. archbishops said.

Pope Leo has been a role model in a world marked by division, "to remind us we're all brothers and sisters and see one another as human beings," Archbishop Mark S. Rivituso of Mobile, Ala., told Catholic News Service in Rome June 29. 

"We're all part of one family," which inspires Catholics to see how they can help break down barriers, care for each other and foster unity through greater respect, compassion and kindness, he said after receiving the pallium -- a woolen band worn around the shoulders over Mass vestments.

Pope Leo gave newly appointed metropolitan archbishops their pallium in St. Peter's Basilica on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul; the pallium symbolizes each archbishop's bond with the pope and their responsibility to care for their people and to promote unity.

Four of the 35 archbishops receiving the pallium June 29 were from the United States, and they reflected on what they are being called to do as "shepherds." 

Speaking to The Good Newsroom June 29, Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks of New York said, "As I've received the pallium, I hope that my heart is united to the pope's heart and that together we can really be disciples of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and continue to go out and make disciples."

Speaking with CNS, Archbishop Rivituso said, the pallium "reminds us to be good shepherds for those that we are so blessed and honored to serve, to serve our flock."

However, his archdiocese spans "the whole lower half of Alabama," he said, so "I not only have Catholics, but all those in that lower half that I'm called to show the pastoral care of Jesus to."

There are people in his region facing "tremendous poverty," homelessness, mental illness, domestic violence and human trafficking, he said; "So many who are out there who feel forsaken and forgotten."

"There are so many that we have to bring the care of Jesus to. And I really believe by working together, reaching out, developing relationships, fostering partnerships, we're fostering communion," the archbishop said.

Archbishop James F. Checchio of New Orleans told CNS June 29 he feels called to help people strengthen in-person, fruitful "relations and communion," given how many people are "really super involved with their phones and with their internet and kind of living this parallel life in a way." 

His archdiocese is using social media for evangelization with a new "Office for Evangelization and Communications" because so many people are online, he said. At the same time, they are gearing efforts to bring people back into an in-person community, too.

Their current nine-week program on pastoral outreach and evangelization on the Sacred Heart will culminate in a "Welcome Home Sunday" Aug. 14th, he said, "where we'll ask everybody to invite one person to come to church with them who doesn't usually come with them. Whether it's inviting someone back who's fallen away or drifted away or someone that's been hurt or someone that's searching, whatever, but to invite one person."

Archbishop James R. Golka of Denver told CNS June 28 the pallium "represents Jesus the Good Shepherd, and a bishop is called to participate in his shepherding of his flock, which is to look out for the lost and the least and to help bring them back."

He said he feels called "to be close to our Lord and to be fascinated by Jesus and want to talk about him to everybody." 

If people allow themselves to "be fascinated with Christ, you're going to fall in love with him. You're going to want to spend your life for him, and it's really fun to spend your life for the Lord,” he said. “So it sounds simple, but if we're not doing that basic thing, we're going to be lost.”

What U.S. Archbishops Said After Receiving the Pallium From Pope Leo

On the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Leo XIV June 29, 2026, Pope Leo gave 35 newly appointed archbishops the pallium, the woolen band adorned with crosses that the heads of archdioceses wear around their shoulders over their Mass vestments that...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV's second consistory gave cardinals from around the world an opportunity to candidly discuss issues ranging from synodality and artificial intelligence to the future of Catholic teaching on war, some participants told Catholic News Service.

The June 26-27 meeting brought together 178 cardinals to discuss Pope Leo's first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas", implementation of the final document on synodality and the Church's response to modern challenges. Interviews afterward suggested the College of Cardinals had substantive discussions on war, and the pope's repeated calls for honest dialogue within the Church. 

One of the most closely watched topics was Pope Leo's declaration in "Magnifica Humanitas" that the traditional "just war" theory is "now outdated."

"It was meant to be a constraint on war, not an endorsement of going to war," Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington told CNS in an interview in Rome June 29.

Opening the first day of the consistory, Pope Leo condemned war as "never blessed by God."

"Therefore, war is never worthy of humanity, and it is never blessed by God, because, even if we are equipped with high-tech weapons, the Creator has endowed us with intelligence and free will to resolve conflicts as human beings and not as beasts," he said in his June 26 homily to the cardinals. 

Developed through the writings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, just-war theory has long held that military force can be morally justified only under strict conditions, including self-defense, legitimate authority, proportionality and the exhaustion of peaceful alternatives. The teaching has resurfaced in recent debates surrounding conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Cardinal McElroy said Pope Leo's reflection builds on decades of development in Catholic teaching, with previous popes having narrowed the circumstances under which war could be considered morally legitimate because of the destructive power of modern weapons and the immense human cost of armed conflict.

"So I think Pope Leo is bringing to bear that question now, with all this trajectory of trying to narrow the criteria for going to war," he said.

The cardinal said he believed there was broad agreement among participants that the traditional just-war framework no longer serves a productive role, while acknowledging the Church still must articulate clearly when the use of military force can be morally legitimate.

"Because I think one of the big problems is the Church has come to the recognition that basically no war is just, and it's a wrong use of terms," he said. "But there are times when military force is morally legitimate."

He said governments have increasingly treated just-war theory as a flexible political justification rather than the Church's intended "strict set of moral conditions."

Rather than revisiting the topic at future consistories, Cardinal McElroy said he expects further theological study to help refine the Church's teaching since it has become clear just-war theory has often become "a very elastic set of criteria that can easily be manipulated by governments."

Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo told CNS June 29 that several participants even proposed issuing a collective statement supporting Pope Leo's position on war. Because not all cardinals were present, however, the idea was set aside, and bishops' conferences were encouraged instead to express support in their own countries.

Another major focus of the discussions was implementing synodality throughout the Church.

Cardinal McElroy said the discussions centered not on adding another program to parish life but on allowing "the principles and the culture of synodality" to permeate every level of the Church, particularly decision-making.

He said implementation has progressed unevenly around the world, in part because synodality became associated with several controversial issues debated during the Synod on Synodality.

"A number of people who didn't like the movement that was going on in those particular issues became resistant to the wider movement," he said.

This consistory, he said, instead focused on bringing synodality "into the heart of the life of the Church" at the universal, diocesan and parish levels.

Cardinal Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda, agreed that the discussions reflected different perspectives. Asked whether there was disagreement over the meaning of synodality, he replied: "Yes, but that is part of synodality, to march through together."

Artificial intelligence also featured prominently in the discussions surrounding "Magnifica Humanitas.' Cardinal McElroy said the cardinals devoted significant attention to the encyclical and the challenges AI presents for the Church, while Vatican summaries of the working sessions showed participants framing the issue primarily through the lens of human dignity, the common good and Catholic social teaching.

Overall, the U.S. cardinal said the consistories give cardinals an opportunity to help the pope discern "where the call of the Church is, and the Spirit is leading us" on issues facing the universal Church.