St. Joseph Church

Stained0glass window of Blessed Carlo Acutis at St. Aldhelm’s in Malmesbury, England. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Thomas Kulandaisamy/Catholic Herald

CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 14:34 pm (CNA).

Blessed Carlo Acutis, the gaming teenager who had a deep love for Christ in the Eucharist, is about to become the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint. Acutis will be canonized during the Church’s Jubilee for Teenagers on April 27 in St. Peter’s Square.

Catholics can participate in the novena to Acutis starting on April 18 and ending on April 27, the date of his canonization. The novena consists of an opening prayer, daily meditations, and the recitation of five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys, and five Glory Bes, which are meant to thank God for the graces bestowed upon Acutis during the 15 years of his earthly life.

The opening prayer is:

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I thank you for all the grace and favors with which you enriched the soul of Blessed Carlo Acutis during his 15 years on Earth. Through the merits of this angel of youth, grant me the grace that I earnestly seek: (ask for the grace that you seek).

Day 1: “Not me but God”

Blessed Carlo Acutis, you who made your life a continual renunciation and setting aside of unimportant things, give me the grace to seek heavenly things and despise that which is transient. Amen.

(Pray five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys, and five Glory Bes.)

Day 2: “Always to be united with Jesus — that is my life’s program.” 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, you who have lived in the heart of Jesus, give me the grace to apply Jesus’ plan of love to everything. Amen.

(Pray five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys, and five Glory Bes.)

Day 3: “Continuously ask your guardian angel for help. Your guardian angel has to become your best friend.” 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, you who saw the company of holy angels while you were already in this world, give me the grace to live righteously, as my guardian angel desires. Amen.

Day 4: “Our soul is like a hot-air balloon... If by chance there is a mortal sin, the soul falls to the ground. Confession is like the fire underneath the balloon enabling the soul to rise again… It is important to go to confession often.” 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, you who have lived this sacrament of reconciliation so well, give me the grace constantly to seek confession and the grace of a deep contrition. Amen.

Day 5: “Sadness is looking at ourselves; happiness is looking toward God.” 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, you who have never looked away from your great love, Jesus, give me the grace also to live with this happiness in this world. Amen.

Day 6: “The only thing we have to ask God for, in prayer, is the desire to be holy.” 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, you who have always asked God for what is essential, give me the grace of a deep desire for heaven. Amen.

Day 7: “The Virgin Mary is the only woman in my life.” 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, you who loved the Virgin Mary above all women, give me the grace to respond to her kind and good love. Amen.

Day 8: “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.” 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, you who have always looked for your hidden Jesus in the tabernacle, give me the grace of a deep fervor for the Eucharist. Amen.

Day 9: “I am happy to die because I have lived my life without wasting a minute on those things that do not please God.” 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, give me that grace of graces — perseverance to the end and a saintly death. Amen. 

End each day with the following prayer:

Almighty God, father of mercy, we thank you for raising Blessed Carlo Acutis to the glory of the altars in the upcoming Jubilee of Teenagers, so that through him you may be even more glorified. He lived your will in all things. Through his merit, give me the grace that I so ardently desire. Amen.

The novena can also be found on EWTN Travel Jubilee app, which can be downloaded for free on the Apple Store and Google Play store.

Priests gather at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. / Credit: Photo by Josh Applegate, in partnership with the National Eucharistic Congress

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 17, 2025 / 14:03 pm (CNA).

More than 400 men will be ordained to the priesthood in the U.S. this year, and on average they began to consider becoming a priest at just 16 years old, according to an annual CARA survey.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) released its 2025 national survey of seminarians who are scheduled for ordination this year. Out of the 405 ordinands asked to respond, 309 participated in the survey from Jan. 10 to March 20.

The report is created in collaboration with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations and CARA to examine information on the men entering the priesthood in the U.S. each year.

The research found more than 80% of respondents are preparing for ordination to a diocese or eparchy, and on average they will be ordained into one they have lived in for 17 years before they entered the seminary. 

On average, ordinands first started to consider becoming a priest at 16 years old, but 35% said they began to think about entering the priesthood in elementary school between the ages of 6 and 13. The survey found the graduating seminarians will be ordained at an average age of 34.

The study showed the ordinands’ families and upbringings played pivotal roles in their paths to the priesthood.

The majority of ordinands reported both of their parents were Catholic when they were children and 95% said they were raised by their biological parents “during the most formative part of their childhood.”

Nine in 10 responding ordinands (92%) were baptized Catholic as infants. Of those who entered the Church later in life, they converted at an average age of 22.

Half of responding ordinands said they participated in a parish youth group before entering the seminary and 35% said they participated in Catholic campus ministry. About 23% said they  participated in Knights of Columbus or Knights of Peter Claver. The study also found that 21% of ordinates were involved in Boy Scouts in their youth.

The majority of the respondents (73%) served as altar servers. About 46% served as lectors, 34% distributed holy Communion as extraordinary ministers, and 32% taught as catechists. 

Many ordinands were inspired to become a priest by someone in their life. Thirty-one percent reported having, or previously having had, a relative who is a priest or religious who encouraged their entrance to the seminary. 

While 89% reported being encouraged to consider the priesthood by someone in their life, 43% said they felt discouraged by one or more persons when deciding to enter the seminary. The report found that most often that person was a friend or family member. 

In accordance with past years, the most popular region in which men chose to study for the priesthood was in the Midwest, with 37% in seminaries there. Out of the other seminarians, 29% chose to attend a seminary in the South, 16% in the Northeast, and 13% in the West. Only 5% chose to study at a seminary abroad. 

In regard to prayer, Eucharistic adoration remained the most popular form of prayer among the seminarians with 78% of respondents reporting they participated in adoration on a regular basis before entering the seminary. The other most common forms of prayer were the rosary, a form of Bible study, and participation in lectio divina. 

Education was also a contributing factor in the respondents’ decision to enter priesthood.

The report stated between 36% and 46% of ordinands attended a Catholic school for grades K-12 and/or at the college level.

The study also found more than 15% were home-schooled at some point in their lives. Out of all ordinates, 58% participated in a religious education program in their parish for an average of six years.

Respondents reported receiving higher education and carrying out full-time work prior to entering the seminary.

More than half (63%) said they completed an undergraduate degree or a graduate degree before becoming a seminarian. The most common fields the men studied were philosophy, engineering, business, science, and math. 

The majority (66%) also reported having some form of full-time work experience prior to entering the seminary, including 6% who served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

About one-quarter of responding ordinands were originally from a foreign country. Out of the 26% born abroad, the majority were originally from Mexico, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The research found that the majority of responding ordinands were white (69%); 12% were Hispanic/Latino; 12% were Asian, Pacific Islander, or Native Hawaiian; and 6% were Black.

The University of Notre Dame. / Credit: Grindstone Media Group/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 13:32 pm (CNA).

A Wednesday report by an education watchdog organization identified 20 Catholic colleges and universities that had “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs. 

Defending Education, a national grassroots group combating “indoctrination in classrooms,” identified more than 350 active DEI offices or programs at nearly 250 higher education institutions. 

The report also identified more than 20 additional colleges that rather than closing the offices simply “rebranded” their DEI offices using phrases such as “belonging” or “inclusive excellence.” 

Of the 20 Catholic universities identified, several were high-profile institutions, including the historic Jesuit Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and University of Notre Dame in Indiana as well as Villanova University in Pennsylvania and Fordham University in New York. 

The list also identified St. Mary’s College in Indiana, a historically all-girls Catholic college that came under fire after the administration said it would accept men who identify as “transgender.” The college reversed the policy shortly after. 

Publicly-funded colleges have come under fire in recent months amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI programs. In his first month in office, President Donald Trump issued executive orders targeting governmental DEI programs as well as “radical indoctrination” in K-12 education. 

At least seven universities now face federal funding cuts from the Trump administration, including Columbia University, Harvard University, and Brown University, all of which had their federal funding paused allegedly due in large part to the administrations’ handling of rising antisemitism on college campuses. 

In an April 11 letter to Harvard, top federal officials urged the university to implement various reforms in order to maintain its taxpayer funding. These reforms include ending DEI programs, reinstituting merit-based hiring and admissions, including viewpoint diversity in hirings, and taking steps to prevent antisemitism. 

Paul Runko, director of strategic initiatives for Defending Education, urged Catholic institutions with DEI programs to “reexamine these programs and take the lead in ending race discrimination once and for all.” 

“Catholics deserve to know whether the colleges they support and entrust with their children’s formation are upholding authentic Catholic values — or embracing divisive DEI initiatives that may violate federal civil rights laws,” Runko told CNA.  

The report identified Catholic colleges and universities across the U.S. for having institution-wide DEI offices or programs.

On the East Coast, universities identified by the report included College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, Loyola University Maryland, Misericordia University in Pennsylvania, Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, St. Peter’s University in New Jersey, St. Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania, and St. John’s University in New York. 

Several Catholic universities located in the midwest were also identified, including DePaul University in Chicago, Dominican University in Illinois, Loyola University Chicago, St. Catherine University in Minnesota, and University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

On the West Coast, Gonzaga University in Washington state, Loyola Marymount University in California, and St. Mary’s College of California appeared in the report.

Runko, himself a Catholic, maintained that DEI goes against the Catholic faith.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion puts discriminatory race ideology over individual dignity, which runs contrary to both the Catholic faith and the law,” Runko said.

One opponent of DEI in education, Christopher Rufo — senior fellow and director of the initiative on critical race theory at the Manhattan Institute — said in a post on X on Tuesday that “DEI is a violation of the Civil Rights Act.”

“Any publicly funded institution that continues to practice DEI should face a federal investigation, consent decree, termination of funds, and loss of nonprofit status,” Rufo said.

The Mystery of the Brotherhood of San Benito processes through the surroundings of the cathedral of Seville on Holy Tuesday, April 15, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Joaquín Carmona

Seville, Spain, Apr 17, 2025 / 13:01 pm (CNA).

The Holy Week processions in the Andalusian capital are one of Spain’s most iconic traditions. Every year, members of the confraternities or brotherhoods prepare fervently to be part of this eagerly awaited event, a genuine manifestation of popular piety.

Confraternities and brotherhoods are religious associations that organize the processions and carry the floats on their shoulders.

Renowned worldwide, their images file through the city during Holy Week to the accompaniment of “saetas” (devotional songs) and marching bands. And it only takes a second, that fleeting instant when the gaze of the Virgin or the crucified Christ meets yours, to understand the mystery of our faith.

Following the Holy Week processions in Seville is no easy task. Each step, with their route to the imposing cathedral, turns the map of the city’s historic center into a sort of timed puzzle.

The faithful and tourists navigate the labyrinthine, decorated streets to experience firsthand the spectacle where art and the purest popular devotion converge. As José María Pemán, a native of Cádiz, aptly wrote, during Holy Week, Seville “prays with art.”

Turning to the sound of drums or the canopy, enveloped in incense, swaying to the rhythm of the bell ringers are like small flashes of light that illuminate the soul and invite, in a special way, to reflect on the sacrifice the Son of God made to redeem us.

The crowd raises its gaze as it throngs with heavy hearts and silent tears to the procession, with great respect for the Nazarenes (penitents) who, with their candles, precede the float borne up by a team of men.

The little ones look for their parents among the penitents carrying the cross, while they listen in the distance to the float foreman’s instructions, capturing in their minds the first memories of the best of inheritances.

Every gesture, every float, every instruction is carefully planned, with an almost artisanal precision, just as the golden threads are intertwined in the Virgin’s cloak.

It is a precision that is only threatened by the rain, the only impediment the floats encounter on their route.

The pageantry unfolds with the saeta (devotional song) dedicated to the Virgin of Peace as her image passes through Plaza de España (Spain Square) on Palm Sunday, the swaying of the San Gonzalo confraternity’s float in the Triana neighborhood, the mystery portrayed by the Confraternity of Bitterness in front of the convent of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the solemnity of Jesus of the Passion on Holy Thursday, and the gestures of reverence toward the Virgin of Hope of Macarena during the “Madrugá” (the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday).

Each image has its own story and evokes in those fortunate enough to witness it the vivid memory of the passion of Christ, who no longer walks alone.

The wonder is shared and is felt by both the members of the brotherhoods who have grown up under the protection of these images and the tourists who stumble upon them by chance.

Seville, with its brotherhoods, Nazarenes, and saetas, makes the drama of Calvary come alive every Holy Week, as if each procession shouted to the world that Christ is not alone — and neither is his mother.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Francis meets with inmates in a surprise visit to the Regina Coeli Prison on Holy Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Rome. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Apr 17, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis, still recovering after his recent hospitalization for double pneumonia, made a surprise visit to Rome’s Regina Coeli prison on Holy Thursday, continuing his long-standing tradition of beginning the paschal Triduum with prisoners despite his ongoing health concerns.

The unannounced visit took place shortly before 3 p.m. local time. According to the Vatican, the pope met with approximately 70 inmates who regularly participate in activities and catechesis organized by the prison’s chaplaincy.

Though he was unable to perform the traditional foot-washing, the 88-year-old pope told the prisoners he still wanted to be close to them. 

“I like to do every year what Jesus did on Holy Thursday, the washing of the feet, in prison. This year I cannot do it, but I can, and I want to, be close to you. I pray for you and for your families,” Pope Francis said.

The pope spoke briefly, prayed with the inmates, and individually greeted each person present. The visit concluded with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and a papal blessing. The entire encounter lasted about 30 minutes.

During the visit, the pope was seen breathing on his own without the aid of oxygen tubes, a positive sign as he continues to recuperate from a serious case of double pneumonia that led to his five-week hospitalization. His doctors recommended two months of rest following his March 23 discharge, cautioning that his body still requires time to recover.

Since returning to the Vatican, Francis had largely remained out of the public eye but has made a handful of brief, unscheduled appearances in the past two weeks. He has delegated cardinals to preside over all of the Holy Week liturgies at the Vatican.

The visit to Regina Coeli — a prison just a short drive from St. Peter’s Basilica — underscores the pope’s determination to be close to the people during Holy Week, even amid frail health.

During his pontificate, Pope Francis has made it a regular tradition to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass with the imprisoned. In 2013, just 15 days after his election as pope, Francis chose the Casal del Marmo youth detention center as the location of his first Holy Thursday Mass, where he washed the feet of juvenile detainees. 

Last year, the pope celebrated the official Holy Thursday liturgy at Rome’s Rebibbia women’s prison, where he washed the feet of 12 female inmates.  

Pope Francis previously visited the Regina Coeli prison on Holy Thursday in 2018.

null / Credit: Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 11:59 am (CNA).

A U.S. district judge this week permanently blocked the federal government from requiring some Catholic employers to accommodate abortions and in vitro fertilization (IVF) for their employees. 

North Dakota District Judge Daniel Traynor said in the Tuesday order that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) would be “permanently enjoined” from forcing the Catholic Benefits Association and the Diocese of Bismarck to abide by the Biden-era federal rule. 

The EEOC had originally announced the revision to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in April 2024. The rule change expanded the scope of accommodations that employers must make for “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” to also include workers’ decisions about “having or choosing not to have an abortion” as well as treatments like IVF, both of which the Catholic Church forbids. 

The Catholic benefits group and the Bismarck Diocese had filed suit against the directive last June. Traynor had issued a preliminary injunction against the rule in September.

In his ruling this week Traynor made the block permanent. The EEOC rule, he said, “violates [the] sincerely held religious beliefs” of the Catholic plaintiffs and runs afoul of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 

Dave Uebbing, a spokesman for the Catholic Benefits Association, told CNA on Thursday that the ruling applies to all of the 91 dioceses with which the group does business. The benefits group offers human resources support and guidance for Catholic employers.

Uebbing noted that the order further covers “not only our members but also our future members. If people join in the future, it will cover them.”

The order was further “unprecedented,” Uebbing noted, because it also applies to “people who do business with our members.”

“In particular, that comes into play when dealing with health plans,” he said. “Let’s say you have your health plan, but you have a third-party administrator that runs it — under the ruling, they’re not obliged to follow these federal laws and regulations that are discriminatory toward Catholics.”

The decision comes as a similar lawsuit brought by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) plays out in federal court. 

The USCCB filed the lawsuit last May alongside the Catholic University of America (CUA) and several dioceses. The plaintiffs in that suit are represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. In June 2024 a district court blocked the government from enforcing the rule against the USCCB while the lawsuit continues.

Ryan Colby, a spokesman for Becket, told CNA on Thursday that the bishops’ lawsuit is “still ongoing and we’re awaiting a final judgment from the court that would provide permanent protection to USCCB, CUA, and the dioceses.”

This week’s court order “is a promising step forward, but more protection is necessary,” he said.

The U.S. bishops said last year that the EEOC rule was “indefensible.” 

Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, Bishop Kevin Rhoades said at the time that though the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) was “a pro-life law that protects the security and physical health of pregnant mothers and their preborn children,” the EEOC directive “twist[ed] the law in a way that violates the consciences of pro-life employers by making them facilitate abortions.”

In comments opposing the rule before it was finalized, the bishops argued that abortion “is neither pregnancy nor childbirth.”

“And it is not ‘related’ to pregnancy or childbirth as those terms are used in the PWFA because it intentionally ends pregnancy and prevents childbirth,” they said.

Marchers hold pro-life signs at the Missouri March for Life in St. Louis on Saturday, April 12, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Coalition Life

CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 11:28 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:

Hundreds join St. Louis March for Life

On Saturday an estimated 700 pro-lifers marched on the Gateway Arch for the eighth annual St. Louis March for Life run by Coalition Life. 

Before marching through the streets of downtown St. Louis to the 630-foot-tall stainless steel monument, various pro-life leaders and politicians gave speeches encouraging Missourians to fight for life. 

Heavy on the minds of speakers was last November’s vote to enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution, an amendment that led to the reversal of many of the state’s pro-life laws.  

Reagan Barklage, the national field director of Students for Life, encouraged people to carry on “after suffering such a big blow” last November.

“Let this be the motivation to undo what has tragically happened,” Barklage said.

Speakers also included Lt. Gov. Dave Wasinger; Rev. Andy Becker, manager of family ministry for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; Mary Varni, the director of the Respect Life Apostolate of the Archdiocese of St. Louis; and Tim Jones, the former speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives.

“Together, we proclaimed the importance of defending the sanctity of life and standing for justice in our society, remembering that every person is made in the image of God, our creator,” Coalition Life said in a statement.

Nebraska lawmakers debate over respectful treatment of aborted human remains

Nebraska lawmakers spent more than three hours on Monday debating whether the remains of aborted babies should be treated with dignity.

The debate took place over a bill that would require clinics to bury or cremate the remains of aborted children. That measure is currently under consideration in the Legislature. 

Proposed by state Sen. Ben Hansen, the bill would require health care facilities “to respect the dignity of aborted unborn children and dispose of their remains.” The bill wouldn’t require clinics to give notice to mothers about the method of disposition. It would not cover human remains from chemical abortions.

At least 15 other states have similar laws protecting the remains of unborn children who die by abortion.

Hansen this week argued that aborted human remains “are human bodies, and as such, they deserve to be treated with human respect,” according to local media.

Hansen noted that in cases of miscarriages, the remains are “treated humanely and securely for public health reasons,” but for abortions, “our current statute makes an exception.”

An opponent of the bill, state Sen. Ashlei Spivey, maintained that the measure was “about shaming and stigmatizing care” and “removing patients’ control.”

“No matter what you personally believe about abortion, proposing this type of requirement without the patient having a say is wrong and insulting,” Spivey claimed. 

Spivey previously filed a motion to postpone the bill indefinitely, but it failed.

Texas House approves additional $70 million to support life-affirming pregnancy centers 

The Texas Legislature is considering increasing the state fund supporting life-affirming crisis pregnancy centers by $70 million over the next two years. 

The Republican-led state House voted last week to set aside $210 million to a state fund known as the Thriving Families program to promote childbirth and fund pregnancy centers. 

If agreed upon by the state Senate and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, the spending plan would entail a $70 million increase for life-affirming pregnancy support over the next two years coming from the state’s Medicaid budget.

Proponents such as state Rep. Tom Oliverson maintain that the program helps provide much-needed support for pregnant women and their children, while opponents like state Rep. Donna Howard argue that the funds should be spent on direct health care or to address maternal mortality. 

Texas state law protects the lives of all unborn children from abortion except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk.

Many “Hebrew Catholics” continue to practice aspects of their Judaism; they continue to eat the Passover Seder (pictured here) with their families and friends. / Credit: RadRafe~commonswiki, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

St. Louis, Mo., Apr 17, 2025 / 10:54 am (CNA).

Raised in a conservative Jewish household in New York, David Moss had his bar mitzvah at age 13. In his heart, though, he had lost his faith in Judaism.

What followed was a 23-year period of searching for religious truth and life’s meaning, culminating in a dramatic mystical conversion experience that led Moss to embrace the Catholic faith in 1979.

Despite being a happy and committed Catholic today, Moss, 83, has not left his Jewish identity and heritage behind. He is the longtime president of the Association of Hebrew Catholics (AHC), a St. Louis-based group that seeks to provide a welcoming place for Jewish converts to Catholicism and encourage them to preserve their Jewish identity.

When he entered the Church in the 1970s, “I still had a ton to learn. I knew very little … especially how [Catholicism] connected to my Jewish origins. The going narrative was that my Judaism was finished, over,” Moss told CNA.

Amid his own reading and research, Moss encountered Father Elias Friedman, a Carmelite friar and founder of the AHC, who he says helped him to understand that rather than obliterating his Jewish identity, “Catholicism is Judaism in its developed, fulfilled form.”

“It’s like a child that becomes an adult. The adult doesn’t replace the child. The adult and the child are one reality. They’re just the different phases of their existence,” Moss said of his understanding of the relationship between Catholicism and Judaism.

The AHC isn’t an official organ of the Church, but its ministry mirrors that of the St. James Vicariate, an association for Hebrew Catholics in the Holy Land that was founded in 1955 and is within the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, serving about a thousand Catholic faithful living in Israel who are immersed in a Hebrew cultural and linguistic environment.

After Moss took over as president of the AHC in 1993, he would often invite his Catholic friends to celebrate the Passover Seder with him and his family in his home, even once hosting Cardinal Raymond Burke, then the archbishop of St. Louis.

Moss said many “Hebrew Catholics” continue to practice aspects of their Judaism; they continue to eat the Passover Seder with their families and friends, observe Shabbat (the Sabbath), and some even continue to visit the synagogue, the place of Jewish communal prayer and learning. 

“There’s nothing that we do that’s in violation of anything Catholic,” he stressed. “To me, [continuing to observe the traditions of Judaism] just makes Catholicism even greater, because it’s all part of God’s plan.”

“None of the documents talk about what Jews can or can’t do as Catholics,” he continued. 

“So, while we’re waiting for the theologians to work all that out, we’re working it out on the ground, and we try to make sure that anything we do doesn’t go against any established Catholic doctrine or discipline,” he explained.

The Church and Judaism

The Catholic Church has, especially since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, taught the importance of the common spiritual heritage of Jews and Christians, and condemned any attempt to implicate the entire Jewish people in the death of Jesus. 

Moreover, the Church has reaffirmed that despite Christ’s New Covenant being the fulfillment of the Jewish Old Covenant, the Old Covenant has never been revoked (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 121) and the Jews remain God’s chosen people.

Chief among the Church’s teachings regarding Judaism is Nostra Aetate, written by St. Paul VI in 1965, which addressed the Church’s stance toward all non-Christian religions. In paragraph 4, the document acknowledges the “great … spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews,” recommending a stance of “mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as well as of fraternal dialogues.”

Nostra Aetate also strongly articulates the Church’s condemnation of hatred and violence against Jews and Judaism, noting that the Jewish people as a whole are not to be held responsible for Christ’s death and decrying all “hatred, persecutions, displays of antisemitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”

Later on, in 1985, the Congregation (now Dicastery) for Promoting Christian Unity released a document that spoke of a “permanent reality of the Jewish people.” 

Drawing extensively from a 1982 speech by St. John Paul II, the document notes that Jews and Christians are “linked together at the very level of their identity”; the document said that an “awareness of the faith and religious life of the Jewish people as they are professed and practiced still today can greatly help us to understand better certain aspects of the life of the Church.”

And in a 1988 document, the U.S. bishops went a step further by explicitly encouraging Catholics to reverently take part in Holocaust (Shoah) memorials and even in Passover Seders, citing the “educational and spiritual value” of doing so. 

The bishops warned, however, against attempting to “baptize” the Seder by ending it with New Testament readings about the Last Supper “or, worse, turn it into a prologue to the Eucharist.”

“Such mergings distort both traditions,” the bishops wrote, saying that any attempt by Christians to participate in Passover celebrations should be done to “acknowledge common roots in the history of salvation.” The tradition of the Seder “truly belongs” to the Jews, however, whereas the Christian celebration of the Triduum is the appropriate “annual memorial of the events of Jesus’ dying and rising.”

Popular works published in recent years such as Brant Pitre’s “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist” and Scott Hahn’s “The Fourth Cup” have contributed to many Catholics’ understanding of the Jewish roots of the Catholic faith and the Eucharist in particular.

Lawrence Feingold, a former agnostic who converted to Catholicism in 1989 and today serves as director of theology for the AHC, told EWTN’s “The Journey Home” in 2019 that he was estranged from his Jewish upbringing for many years; only after he became Catholic did he begin to connect back to his Jewish faith and become interested in preserving and practicing it.

“It’s so tragic that it’s so often understood as an either/or,” Feingold said, referring to the way many people view Jewish and Catholic identity.

“Whereas for us [Feingold and his wife, Marsha], becoming Catholic opened up the way to the Old Testament,” he continued, saying that after he and Marsha became Catholic, they lived for a time in Jerusalem to learn Hebrew, with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher — the traditional site of Jesus’ resurrection — as their “home parish.” Feingold said he views God’s calling and preparation of the Jewish people the work of “the ultimate artist.”

“You can’t do the perfect thing without perfectly preparing. And the perfect thing is that God became man … and he’s got to prepare for it. And he prepares it in a properly human way by calling a people in which he’s going to become man, and forming that people with all of their particularity … so that he can become man in them.”

Facing antisemitism

Jewish organizations have sounded the alarm in recent years over an apparent rise in antisemitic incidents and attitudes, especially since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. The American Jewish Committee, in a February report examining all of 2024, reported that 77% of American Jews say they feel less safe as a Jewish person in the U.S. following Hamas’ attacks and their aftermath. 

The Catholic bishops of the United States, as a body, have condemned in recent years what they call a “reemergence of antisemitism in new forms.” In a statement released before the start of the current Israel-Hamas conflict, the bishops called on Christians to join them in opposing acts of antisemitism and reminding the faithful of Christianity’s shared heritage with Judaism. Individual bishops have also spoken out.

Moss commented that he has encountered antisemitic attitudes among fellow Catholics over the years, particularly from those who criticized his stance that one can be a fully observant Catholic while still practicing Jewish traditions — though rarely could any of those Catholic critics provide any official Church teaching to support their claims, Moss said.

He emphasized the need for Catholics to study the Old Testament to fully understand God’s plan of salvation and address misconceptions about Jewish-Catholic identity.

“One of the things that all Catholics should do is read the Old Testament as well as the New, and get commentaries that treat the Old Testament seriously with lessons for us today, with lessons that Christ himself built on to preach his message,” Moss said. 

For example, “Jesus didn’t come up with a new set of Ten Commandments. They were already in existence. He didn’t come up with the notions of mercy and love. They were already there in the Old Testament.”

Moss, now in his mid-80s, said he is on the search for his successor to lead the AHC. Meanwhile, the organization continues to grow slowly, working within the Church’s framework while advocating for the recognition and integration of Jewish traditions in Catholic practice — above all, encouraging Jews who become Catholics not to lose their identity. 

After all, Moss concluded, the New Covenant is the means of salvation, but the Old Covenant has never passed away.

“[Jewish converts] can do everything a Catholic does, but they have their own traditions as well, and they shouldn’t have to give them up,” he said.

A view of the edicule and the oculus of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. March 30, 2024. / Credit: Marinella Bandini

CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

While Easter dates usually differ between Eastern and Western Christians, this year both Easter celebrations land on the same day — a coincidence that could be an opportunity for progress in ecumenical dialogue.

This year’s Easter falls in the 1,700th anniversary year of the Council of Nicaea — the first ecumenical council that was held in the fourth century. Most known for defending the divinity of Christ against the heresy of Arianism, the council also established a universal formula for calculating the date of Easter. 

Nicaea decreed that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. The Julian calendar, which was the standard at the time, had a fixed date for the spring equinox. The fixed Easter date, based on the Julian calendar, was gradually implemented.

Centuries after the council, Western churches switched to the Gregorian calendar due to inaccuracies in the Julian calendar, while the Eastern Church has continued to use the Julian calendar for religious feast days. Both East and West follow the council, but they have different starting points and therefore different Easter dates.  

Why has the Easter date been different? 

In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar. While similar to the now-standard Gregorian calendar, the Julian calendar had its flaws. 

Minute inaccuracies in the Julian calendar caused worlds of confusion centuries afterward, affecting agriculture and planting, shipping navigation, and even the celebration of holy days.  

While a year is colloquially known to be 365 days, it takes the earth precisely 365.24219 days to travel around the sun. The Julian calendar intended to account for that extra bit of time by establishing a leap year every four years. But that meant that the Julian calendar had 365.25 days — just beyond of the precise revolution of the earth around the sun.

Because the Julian calendar had 365 and quarter, the calendar was 11 minutes and 14 seconds off every year. More than a millennium later, those superfluous minutes had added up to 10 extra days.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decided to address the season offset by removing an occasional leap year in the future and cutting the 10 extra days from the calendar. People went to bed on Oct. 4 and woke up on Oct. 15. Bad luck for early October birthdays that year. 

At the time, this put a 10-day gap between the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar. Now, in 2025, the Julian calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar and by 2100, it will be 14 days behind. 

For religious feast days like Easter, both East and West follow the universal formula established by Nicaea — but the Eastern churches base their holiday calculations off of the Julian calendar, while Western churches use the Gregorian calendar. 

One Easter again? 

On April 20, 2025, Easter will land on the same day for both the East and the West. 

In light of this and the Nicaea anniversary, both Pope Francis and the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople have expressed hopes that the shared date of Easter this year could be the beginning of something more. 

Last April, the Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, Patriarch Bartholomew, expressed a desire that Christians in the East and West celebrate Easter on a “unified date.” 

Bartholomew hoped that the shared date would “not merely be a fortuitous occurrence but rather the beginning of a unified date for its observance by both Eastern and Western Christianity.”

At the beginning of 2025 during an ecumenical event, Pope Francis renewed his appeal that Christians might take “a decisive step forward toward unity around a common date for Easter.”

It’s an opportunity to, in the Holy Father’s words, “live the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea as a call to persevere on the path toward unity.” 

But April 20, 2025, isn’t the only opportunity for a shared Easter date. In just a few years, Easter will fall on April 16, 2028, for both the East and the West, and again on April 13, 2031, and April 9, 2034. 

Thousands of volunteers in colorful safety vests fill St. Peter’s Square during the Jubilee of Volunteers at the Vatican on March 9, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

With the aim of improving the experience of pilgrims traveling to Rome to participate in the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, the Fabric of St. Peter has led various restoration and innovation projects.

The Fabric of St. Peter is the office that oversees the conservation and maintenance of St. Peter’s Basilica and the surrounding area. 

A press conference was held to present the restoration work as well as the technological and security implementation — which includes a new evacuation plan for St. Peter’s Basilica.

Specifically, conservation work has been done on the monuments that house the tombs of popes Paul III and Urban VIII. Rehabilitation work has also been carried out to illuminate the necropolis as well as the archaeological rooms and the Vatican grottoes.

A new evacuation plan has also been established, created thanks to the synergy between the Italian Fire Department and that of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of the papal basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, explained at the briefing that the work seeks to “respect the faith” of the pilgrims and visitors who pass through the doors of the basilica.

St. Peter’s receives 12 million visitors each year. Therefore, according to Gambetti, it needs to “guarantee safety and make everyone feel protected.”

Thus, the new evacuation plan for the church “is a concrete expression of that pastoral concern that cares for the well-being of every member of the faithful and visitor.”

In this context, he specified that “better management and streamlining of the exit flows will guarantee greater convenience and safety.”

“We want to give back what has been given to us and what this place of the Spirit has bequeathed to us over the centuries, especially in this jubilee year,” he emphasized.

The restoration and conservation work, according to the cardinal, “reveals itself as gestures of light and memory that accompany the pilgrim in an experience of contemplation, faith, and beauty.”

To also offer an “immersion in history and a profound experience of the sacred,” renovations have been carried out at the archaeological sites, just as they were seen by the early Christians and the popes of past centuries, “in a splendor of ‘chiaroscuro’ [contrasting light and shadow] evoking the light of the torches that illuminated the birth of the Church and our own journey,” he explained.

The cardinal also expressed his gratitude for the collaboration of the benefactors: the Knights of Columbus, who participated in the restoration of the necropolis, and the Safavi Philanthropic Institute, which contributed to the enhancement of the Vatican grottoes.

Reducing risks in critical situations

Stefano Marsella, central director of Technological Innovation and Logistics Resources for the Italian Fire Department, also participated in the press conference.

Marsella emphasized that this new emergency plan is designed to “reduce risks in critical situations, both during the jubilee religious events and on days of high and constant flow of pilgrims and tourists.”

He also specified that training activities will be carried out thanks to an “exhaustive study of the evacuation routes within the basilica.”

The work began with the use of high-precision laser scanner systems by National Fire Department personnel to create a three-dimensional design with millimeter accuracy of almost the entire basilica.

This allowed them to accurately reproduce the site and verify some key details for the simulation without the need for constant on-site inspections.

Specialized software was then used to simulate in detail the behavior of people and the characteristics of the environment, “which made it possible to analyze the fluidity of movement toward the exits and identify critical points that could slow down evacuation in the event of an emergency,” as well as identify areas where dangerous bottlenecks occur, he explained.

Transforming a historic space into a safer place

Among the key aspects that emerged from the study, “the elimination of physical and other barriers stands out, which led to the replacement of steep steps with ramps, in order to reduce risks and make the basilica more accessible to all, including people with disabilities or reduced mobility,” the central director added. 

The proposed modifications also significantly reduce the time required to evacuate the basilica, significantly improving previous procedures.

“The goal has been to transform a historic, yet complex, space into an even safer place for the millions of faithful and visitors each year, using innovative technology and meticulously designed plans,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.