St. Joseph Church

Jubilee of Hope pilgrims outside St. Peter’s Basilica, the final destination of their St. Philip Neri’s Seven Churches Pilgrimage, Monday, April 14, 2025. / Credit: Jacob Derry

Vatican City, Apr 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Jubilee of Hope pilgrims are undertaking two ancient church pilgrimages this week to prayerfully prepare for Easter: St. Philip Neri’s Seven Churches Pilgrimage and the Holy Thursday Seven Churches walk.   

As one of the oldest Roman traditions for Catholics, the 15.5-mile St. Philip Neri pilgrimage was popularized by the saint himself in the 16th century with the purpose of bringing people — together as a community — closer to God.

The seven Roman churches in the pilgrimage include the four papal basilicas: St. Peter’s Basilica, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Basilica of St. Mary Major, and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

Also on the route are the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, the Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls, and the Basilica of St. Sebastian Outside the Walls.

Jacob Derry, a Pontifical North American College student and seminarian for the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, helped organize the almost 10-hour-long pilgrimage for more than 40 people on Monday.

Derry noted that the walk takes pilgrims to the four major papal basilicas, during which they will enter “through the jubilee year Holy Doors.” 

“This is special because it says that I belong in the capital ‘C’ Church,” he said. 

“Millions of pilgrims over centuries of the Church’s history have passed through these doors,” he continued. “Walking through the Holy Doors is not only participating in this history, but it is a reminder that I belong to a pilgrim people; I belong to God’s giant awesome family.” 

Sharing advice on how to make the most of the Jubilee of Hope pilgrimage, Derry said pilgrimages “are best done together.”

He suggested inviting friends or colleagues to do the famous St. Philip Neri walk. 

“Having someone else there with you will help in those moments on the pilgrimage when you feel discouraged or tired,” he said. “You can pray together and lift up one another.”

With prayer “at the heart of pilgrimage,” Derry added that the sacrament of confession is a significant spiritual aid along the journey.

“Receiving the grace and mercy of this sacrament has allowed me to enjoy and live the Resurrection of Easter more fully in past years, so I recommend it for others,” he shared. 

Priests are available in the four papal basilicas to hear confessions in various languages throughout the day

Holy Thursday Seven Churches Pilgrimage

After the Holy Thursday evening Mass, which commemorates the institution of the sacraments of the Eucharist and holy orders, “altars of repose” are erected in hundreds of churches throughout the Eternal City so the Catholic faithful can remain and “keep watch” (Mt 26:36-44) with Jesus present in the Eucharist.

Ashley and John Noronha, founders of the Truth and Beauty Project, organize a Holy Thursday church walk in Rome each year for groups of friends of all ages who converge in Rome from all over the world.

“We too partake of the new Passover and walk from church to church in Rome praying before the altars of repose in solidarity with Christ and building up and strengthening each other,” Ashley told CNA.

“Just like the early Christians, on Holy Thursday we walk church to church following the ancient tradition to visit at least seven churches and adore Christ, reposed on a side altar,” she said.

According to John, the early Christian communities in Jerusalem and Rome began this practice as a way of bolstering fortitude and faith in times of great persecutions.

“It is really special to participate in this ancient Christian tradition, knowing that as we walk together from one historic church to another, we are privileged to walk the same streets as many of the great saints like Peter, Paul, Jerome, Gregory the Great, Philip Neri, the English martyrs, Charles Borromeo, and so many more,” he said.

Now in its fifth season, Part 1 of “The Chosen: Last Supper” — the first two episodes — has become the highest-grossing installment of the series, raking in a little over $19 million.  / Credit: 5&2 Studios

CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The popular Christian series “The Chosen” continues to do well at the box office, holding its own against recent Hollywood blockbusters such as “Snow White” and “A Minecraft Movie.”

Now in its fifth season, Part 1 of “The Chosen: Last Supper” — the first two episodes — has become the highest-grossing installment of the series, raking in a little over $19 million in theaters at the time of publishing. 

Part 2 — episodes 3 through 5 — of the fifth season recently hit the $10 million mark, and Part 3, which is episodes 6 through 8, was released April 11 and grossed $5.8 million during its opening weekend.

In an interview with CNA, Dallas Jenkins — creator, writer and director of “The Chosen” — shared what inspired his vision of the Last Supper depicted in Season 5, given many different presentations of this historic event.

“We do it ‘The Chosen’ way, which is we take stories that are famous… maybe they have been portrayed in stained-glass windows or as paintings in the case of the Last Supper, one of the most famous paintings of all time … and we’re going to reveal the humanity of it,” he told CNA during a press junket in Dallas on March 19.

“At the beginning of the Last Supper, it was 13 brothers who were very, very close to each other and who loved each other deeply being told by one of them ‘I’m not going to be with you much longer’ and saying some extraordinarily important things that they don’t quite understand and so they’re trying to make sense of it,” Jenkins said. 

“So the humanization of a story that actually was human but that we don’t often look at it that way is an important part of how we portrayed it and one that, almost because of the fame of this part of the story, the fame of the Last Supper, it’s easy to distance yourself from it emotionally. And so, I think we’re trying to bring you back into what it would’ve been like to be in that room.”

One of the disciples who begins to understand what Jesus is telling them in Season 5 is John. Actor George Xanthis, who portrays John the Apostle, told CNA how he has seen his character go from “thunder to love”  and how viewers are “following him on this journey” from “Son of Thunder,” as Jesus jokingly calls John and his brother James, to becoming “the beloved disciple.” 

Xanthis shared that at the beginning of Season 5, John is “ready to listen” but “he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to be listening for.”

He added that while Mary Magaldene catches the “bug” of understanding what Jesus is telling them in Season 4, “what Season 5 shows is John catches that bug and he catches it off Mary, which is a lovely moment because it’s a foreshadowing of where they’re both going to end up. So, this is kind of John beginning to have that insider’s ear.”

“I would say that he’s starting to pay attention and he’s sticking very, very close to Jesus as he does,” he said. 

The actor pointed out how Jenkins frequently reminded the cast that while they may personally know what happens in the end, at the time, the disciples didn’t know how things were going to end. 

Raised in a Greek Orthodox family knowing the Gospels, Xanthis said he had to “wrestle with that — because I knew what was happening, [so] I’m like, ‘How could the disciples not see this?’”

“So, even as John is beginning to catch on to it, it’s also that he doesn’t believe that it’s going to happen at the end of the week,” he added.

In terms of what he hopes viewers will take away from this season as they themselves are experiencing Holy Week, Jenkins said: “I’m hoping viewers watch this going, ‘When I don’t understand something or someone, can I still trust and follow? Can I still have faith?’” 

“Judas didn’t understand and rejected,” Xanthis explained. “The religious leaders didn’t understand and rejected. We have a tendency to still do that today — things I don’t understand, people I don’t understand, I’m going to reject and I’m going to be secure in my own rightness because confusion is not something I can handle. And I think we see in Season 5, more than ever, what it’s like to follow and trust even when you don’t fully understand.”

Actor Paras Patel, who portrays Matthew, also shared his hopes for viewers this season. 

“A recurring theme with the show is that there is light after darkness and so we are heading into the darkness but know that there is light coming after,” Patel shared. 

“This is going to be a hard season to watch just because we know what’s to come and what’s happening, but I think at the end of the day I just feel like people leave feeling a little bit of hope…you’ll feel a lot, but also just feel rejuvenated and have some strength and hope.”

“The Chosen” is one of several faith-based productions performing well in theaters and on streaming platforms currently. Angel Studios’ “King of Kings” recently set a new record for a biblical animated film with a projected $19 million domestic debut over its opening weekend. The new series “House of David” earned the No. 1 spot on Prime Video’s Top 10 Shows List after its season finale aired on April 3 and drew 22 million viewers in its first 17 days on the streaming platform.

More than 1,800 priests gathered with cardinals and bishops at St. Peter’s Basilica for the Holy Thursday chrism Mass, April 17, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 17, 2025 / 05:35 am (CNA).

On Holy Thursday, more than 1,880 priests, bishops, and cardinals renewed the promises made at their ordinations during the chrism Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Francis delegated Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, a retired Vatican official who oversaw the Holy See’s management of real estate and investments until 2018, to preside over the Mass on April 17.

Calcagno read a homily written by Pope Francis, who did not attend the Mass due to his ongoing convalescence following a prior hospitalization for double pneumonia.

“On Holy Thursday, when we renew the promises made at our ordination, we confess that we can read that history only in the light of Jesus of Nazareth,” Pope Francis wrote in the homily.

“Jesus, ‘who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood’ (Rev 1:5) opens the scroll of our own lives and teaches us to find the passages that reveal its meaning and mission. If only we let him teach us, our ministry becomes one of hope, because in each of our stories God opens a jubilee: a time and an oasis of grace.”

Forty-two cardinals, 42 bishops, and 1,800 priests living in Rome concelebrated the Mass. Holy Thursday marks the institution of the Eucharist and the sacrament of the priesthood at the Last Supper.

During the Vatican’s chrism Mass, Calcagno blessed the oil of the sick, the oil of catechumens, and the chrism oil, which will be used in the diocese throughout the coming year.

The oils were processed up the main altar of St. Peter’s in large silver urns as hymns from the Sistine Chapel Choir filled the basilica.

The cardinal prayed over the oil for the sick: “O God, Father of all consolation, who through your Son have willed to heal the infirmities of the sick, listen favorably to this prayer of faith: Send down from heaven, we pray, your Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, upon the rich substance of this oil, which you were pleased to bring forth from vigorous green trees to restore our bodies, so that by your holy blessing this oil may be for anyone who is anointed with it a safeguard for body, mind, and spirit, to take away every pain, every infirmity, and every sickness.”

The blessed oil will be used for the anointing of the sick in Rome throughout the year.

Chrism oil is used in the sacraments of confirmation, baptism, and holy orders as well as in the consecration of churches. Anointing with chrism signifies the full diffusion of grace.

“The sacred chrism that we consecrate today seals this mystery of transformation at work in the different stages of Christian life. Take care, then, never to grow discouraged, for it is all God’s work. So believe,” Pope Francis wrote.

“It is God’s work, not ours: to bring good news to the poor, freedom to prisoners, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. If Jesus once found this passage in the scroll, today he continues to read it in the life story of each one of us,” he added.

In his homily, Pope Francis also encouraged Catholics to pray especially for priests on Holy Thursday.

“Dear members of the faithful, people of hope, pray today for the joy of priests. May all of you experience the liberation promised by the Scriptures and nourished by the sacraments.

“Many fears can dwell within us and terrible injustices surround us, but a new world has already been born. God so loved the world that he gave us his Son, Jesus. He pours balm upon our wounds and wipes away our tears. ‘Look! He is coming with the clouds’ (Rev 1:7). His is the kingdom and the glory forever and ever.”

The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis has personally delegated cardinals to preside over all of the Holy Week events.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Easter morning Mass in St. Peter’s Square will be presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, vicar general emeritus of Vatican City.

On Good Friday, the celebration of the Passion will be led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, and the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum will be led by Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome.

The texts for the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday were prepared personally by Pope Francis.

“The passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, which we are about to relive, are the soil that solidly sustains the Church and, within her, our priestly ministry,” Pope Francis wrote in his Holy Thursday homily.

Palestinians stand on the rubble and debris of the Latin Patriarchate Holy Family School after it was hit during Israeli military bombardment in Gaza City on July 7, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. / Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 18:36 pm (CNA).

An ecumenical Palestinian Christian organization doubled down on criticism of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) this week, accusing the body of dismissing concerns of Palestinian Christians and portraying opposition to the Israeli government as antisemitic.

The organization, Kairos Palestine, is led by Catholic Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah and is composed of Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christian Palestinians. The group supports “nonviolent resistance” to Israeli policies in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which includes boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel.

“As Palestinian Christians living through one of the darkest periods in our history, we are compelled to speak the truth,” Kairos Palestine’s leaders wrote in an April 14 letter to the USCCB.

The dispute between the two groups is rooted in the USCCB’s partnership with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) to create a Catholic edition of AJC’s “Translate Hate” document, which is meant to condemn antisemitism and educate Catholics on antisemitic phrases and beliefs.

Defining antisemitism

Kairos Palestine affirmed in a March 25 letter to the American bishops that “our criticisms of Israel’s policies and the actions of its leaders are not directed at Jewish communities or Judaism itself,” but it expressed disapproval of a few elements of the “Translate Hate” document related to Zionism and the State of Israel.

The document adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which states that manifestations of antisemitism “might include the targeting of the state of Israel” and lists as examples any claim that “the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor” and the application of “double standards” against Israel. It notes that not all criticism of Israel, however, is antisemitic.

According to the “Translate Hate” document, the IHRA definition was used because alternative definitions defend “anti-Israel and anti-Zionist expressions” as not being forms of antisemitism.

Zionism refers to the political movement founded in 1897 aimed at creating a Jewish national homeland and a Jewish state in the Holy Land; international recognition was achieved in 1917 with the Balfour Declaration, followed by the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

The “Translate Hate” document refers to anti-Zionism as “the belief that the Jewish people do not have the right to a national home in their ancestral homeland” and states that it is widely believed to be “a form of antisemitism.”

Additionally, the document states that calling Zionism inherently racist is antisemitic and alleging that Zionism is a form of “settler colonialism” with the mission of “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinian people is antisemitic and “categorically false.” It states that Jews are “native and indigenous to the land” and that Zionists “never had the goal of eliminating the Arab population living in the region.”

In its March 25 letter to the USCCB, Kairos Palestine referenced these aspects of the “Translate Hate” document as the reasons for their objections, asserting it “dangerously equates Zionism with Judaism” and ignores “overwhelming evidence” of an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

“It equates Palestinian resistance with antisemitism, a dangerous conflation that distorts reality and undermines legitimate criticism of Israeli racist laws and policies,” the Palestinian Christian group argued. “We categorically reject all forms of antisemitism, just as we reject any attempt to use this charge to justify oppression and to criminalize our legitimate struggle for our basic rights and our right for self-determination.”

Kairos Palestine’s letter says the USCCB “has alienated the indigenous Christians of the Holy Land, causing deep pain to a community struggling for survival” by signing onto this document and is “ignoring their unalienable rights to live in their ancestral homeland and offering the State of Israel a justification for their forced displacement.”

USCCB’s answer and Kairos Palestine’s response

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the USCCB, provided a response less than one week later on March 31, telling Kairos Palestine in a letter that the USCCB “partnered with the Jewish community … to develop a Catholic commentary on the Translate Hate educational resource authored by [AJC]” in response to rising antisemitism, the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza.

“Here in our country, there are some who stand with Jewish Israelis and others who stand with Palestinians,” he continued. “Too often, people of a side or camp do not want to hear that our hearts are broken for all the lives that have been lost, all the worlds that have been destroyed. Empathy has thus become a further casualty of this war.”

Broglio wrote that the USCCB is also working on a document to combat Islamophobia with Muslim partners. He added that the USCCB does not try “to speak on behalf of Palestinian Christians” but rather speaks “to and on behalf of the Catholic community in the United States.”

“I know that, as Christians who have experienced great suffering yourselves, you understand the imperative to stand with all who suffer and to combat hatred wherever it is expressed,” he wrote.

The letter did not directly respond to the specific objections about the definition of antisemitism or the examples that Kairos Palestine criticized.

Kairos Palestine followed up with the USCCB this week, sending another letter calling Broglio’s response “unacceptable,” stating that “nowhere in the bishop’s letter is there any indication that the USCCB intends to ‘stand with’ their Palestinian siblings to prepare a document describing the extent of the suffering we are experiencing.”

“We are grieved and disheartened by the complete erasure of the Palestinian Christian voice in their response,” the Kairos Palestine leaders wrote.

“The Palestinian people in Gaza and in the West Bank are enduring what can only be described as a war of extermination, a genocide and ethnic cleansing,” they continued. “Entire families have been annihilated. Homes, churches, and hospitals have been destroyed. Over 50,000 people, the majority of whom are women and children, have been killed. This is not a conflict between equals. It is a campaign of destruction carried out by a powerful apartheid state, supported militarily and financially by the United States and a number of European countries.”

The follow-up letter accuses the Catholic Church in the United States of being “silent about this devastation” and asserts “it shares in the responsibility for our suffering.” It adds: “It is not enough to condemn hate. You must also condemn the systems and powers that perpetuate injustice.”

“We categorically reject the conflation of our legitimate struggle for freedom, dignity, and human rights with antisemitism,” they added. “We are not anti-Jewish, anti-Judaism, or anti-Semitic. We are a people resisting occupation, apartheid, and dispossession. Equating this with hatred is both theologically and morally wrong.”

CNA reached out to the USCCB for comment on Kairos Palestine’s April 14 response but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Simone Rizkallah, the director of Philos Catholic at The Philos Project, told CNA the “Translate Hate” Catholic edition “is pastoral in nature and shows that the bishops are not tone deaf to the sufferings of our fathers in faith.” The Philos Project is a pro-Israel nonprofit that also works to support persecuted Christians in the Middle East and “a revival of Western values rooted in the Hebraic origins of our faith.”

“Antisemitism was on the rise before the war, and certainly now after the war,” Rizkallah said. “In no way is protecting American Jews dismissing the right of Palestinians to live in safety and security. We are praying for our brothers and sisters in Palestine, we are praying for the release of the 59 remaining hostages and their families who recently visited the United States, the release of which would end the war immediately but which the Hamas terrorists refuse to do.”

Rizkallah said the document does not dismiss “the suffering of our Palestinian brothers and sisters” and that the intended audience is “American Catholics who are picking up a dangerous anti-Jewish and antisemitic spirit.”

“The aggressors in this conflict hate not only Jews and Israel, but Christians and Americans and the West,” she added. “We categorically reject the conflation of fighting an American pastoral issue with the war in Israel and Gaza.”

Kairos Palestine’s ‘open call’ to the USCCB

In the April 14 letter, Kairos Palestine issued an “open call” to American bishops to “see and stand with us,” adding that “we demand to be seen” and “we demand to be heard.”

Kairos Palestine asked the USCCB to “recognize the suffering of Palestinian people including Palestinian Christians and publicly denounce the illegal Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide against our people.” They also asked the bishops to urge the United States government to halt military funding for Israel “until it complies with international laws.”

The Palestinian Christian organization urged the USCCB to engage with them to create a resource that “reflects the experience of Palestinian Christians under the Israeli occupation and apartheid.” They also requested that the USCCB revisit Kairos Palestine’s foundational document and “respond theologically and practically to our messages and calls.”

Additionally, Kairos Palestine requested that the bishops meet with Palestinian Christians in Gaza or the West Bank, adding “we will be happy to be your host.”

“While we are approaching Easter, we continue to hold firm to our faith and to the hope of resurrection,” they added. “We call on our brothers and sisters in Christ to act now, not only in prayer, but in prophetic witness.”

The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

CNA Staff, Apr 16, 2025 / 17:19 pm (CNA).

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France on Wednesday announced the recognition of the 72nd miracle at the Catholic pilgrimage site, one involving an Italian woman who was cured of a rare neuromuscular condition more than 15 years ago.

Father Michel Daubanes, the rector of the sanctuary, made the announcement on Wednesday following the completion of a rosary at the French shrine, according to a tweet issued by the directors of the holy site.

The pilgrim who received the miracle was identified as Italian woman Antonietta Raco, who “suffered from primary lateral sclerosis” and who was “cured in 2009 during her pilgrimage to Lourdes,” the tweet said.

Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino of Tursi-Lagonegro in Italy, where Raco lives, likewise announced the recognition of the miracle on Wednesday.

After bathing in the waters at Lourdes in 2009, Raco “began to move independently” after which “the effects of the infamous illness immediately and definitively disappeared,” the Italian diocese said on Wednesday. 

“After a long period of accurate investigations, the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, in turn, declared the medically unexplained character of the scientific knowledge of the lady’s recovery,” the diocese said. 

The bishop subsequently “provided for the establishment of a medical-theological commission and the appointment of an episcopal delegate in order to make the necessary ecclesial discernment about the alleged miraculous healing.”

“Thank God, who with this divine sign has once again manifested his presence among his people,” the diocese said. 

The Italian newspaper La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno reported on Wednesday that Raco’s doctor described the healing as “a scientifically inexplicable phenomenon.”

Raco herself reportedly described experiencing “an unusual feeling of well-being" after bathing in the Lourdes spring in 2009.

Pope Francis on Feb. 11, 2025, named Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona, as the new archbishop of Detroit. / Credit: Archdiocese of Detroit

CNA Staff, Apr 16, 2025 / 16:48 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit announced Wednesday that parish churches in the archdiocese that offer the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will be unable to do so after July 1, citing the Vatican’s 2023 clarification that diocesan bishops do not possess the authority to allow the TLM to be celebrated in an existing parish church.

A prominent Detroit shrine will still be able to offer the TLM, however, and Weisenburger said he intends to identify at least four non-parish locations in the archdiocese where the TLM can be celebrated.

In an April 16 announcement, the archdiocese said Weisenburger, who was appointed in February and newly installed as archbishop last month, recently told his priests that he is unable to renew the prior permissions given to parish churches to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass, and thus those permissions will expire on July 1.

At issue is Pope Francis’ consequential apostolic letter Traditionis Custodes, issued in July 2021. Among other provisions, the letter directed bishops to designate one or more locations in which priests can celebrate the TLM but specified that those locations could not be within an existing parish church.

Following Traditionis Custodes, bishops in some dioceses that already had thriving Latin Mass communities within parish churches — in places like Denver; Lake Charles, Louisiana; and Springfield, Illinois — granted broad dispensations that allowed parishes to continue offering the Latin Mass as before.

In February 2023, however, the Vatican issued a clarification to Traditionis Custodes to halt this approach, stating that bishops alone cannot dispense these parishes and that such an action is reserved “to the Apostolic See.” Bishops in other dioceses who received Vatican approval to dispense certain parishes from Traditionis Custodes were only granted that permission for a temporary period. 

“The Holy See has reserved for itself the ability to allow the Traditional Latin Mass to be celebrated in parish churches. Local bishops no longer possess the ability to permit this particular liturgy in a parish church,” the announcement from the Detroit Archdiocese reads. 

“With this in mind, the prior permissions to celebrate this liturgy in archdiocesan parish churches — which expire on July 1, 2025 — cannot be renewed.” 

The ministry of St. Joseph Shrine in Detroit, which offers daily Traditional Latin Masses under the care of the canons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP), will continue, Weisenburger said. ICKSP, an institute whose priests celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass and live according to the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, has been offering the TLM at the St. Joseph Shrine since 2016. 

“In addition to the exception referenced above, the Traditional Latin Mass may be permitted by the local bishop to be celebrated in non-parish settings (typically chapels, shrines, etc.),” the archdiocesan announcement continues. 

“It is the archbishop’s intention to identify a non-parish setting where the Traditional Latin Mass may be celebrated in each of the archdiocese’s four regions. As noted above, and in accordance with recent decisions by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, these locations will not be parish churches. Once these locations are determined, they will be shared with the faithful.”

Former Detroit archbishop Allen Vigneron, who led the archdiocese from 2009 until his resignation at the customary age of 75 in February, issued guidelines following Traditionis Custodes allowing parishes to request permission to continue to offer the TLM within certain limits. Those guidelines came into force on July 1, 2022. 

Detroit is not the first diocese to have announced an end to the TLM in parish churches as a result of the Vatican’s clarification. In 2022, Bishop Stephen Parkes of Savannah, Georgia, announced his diocese’s cessation of Traditional Latin Masses by May 2023, saying the permission he had sought and received from the Vatican to allow two parish churches to continue offering the TLM had expired.  

Other dioceses, such as Albany, New York, in 2023, revoked the permission it had previously given for two parishes to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass in order to comply with the Vatican’s February 2023 clarification.

Susan Smith (left) and Marion Calder, co-directors of For Women Scotland, with campaigners celebrate outside the U.K. Supreme Court in London on Wednesday April 16, 2025, after the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act were ruled to refer to a biological woman and biological sex. / Credit: Press Association via AP Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled on Wednesday that only biological women are protected under Britain’s Equality Act, contradicting prior statutory guidance by the Scottish government. 

Britain’s highest court found in the landmark decision that individuals who have obtained a gender recognition certificate (GRC) of legal transition from male to female are not considered women under the 2010 Equality Act. 

“The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” said Patrick Stewart Hodge, deputy president of the Supreme Court of the U.K., reading the decision.

“But we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another,” he added. 

The U.K. court ultimately ruled that “the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man,” and that it would be “incoherent and impracticable” to allow persons with a GRC to be categorized as women under the Equality Act.

However, it also specifies that this does not mean persons who identify as transgender are stripped of legal protections as a protected class. Rather, it specifies that the “protected characteristic” of persons who identify as transgender is “gender reassignment” rather than “sex.” 

“It is not the role of the court to adjudicate on the arguments in the public domain on the meaning of gender or sex, nor is it to define the meaning of the word “woman” other than when it is used in the provisions of the [Equality Act] 2010,” the ruling notes. 

The decision follows a long drawn-out legal case between the Scottish government and For Women Scotland, a women’s rights organization dedicated to improving protections for women and children. 

The dispute began in 2018 after the passage of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018, which sought to counter gender imbalance on public sector boards and included transgender-identifying persons with GRC certificates in the quotas as women. 

For Women Scotland challenged the act in 2022, leading to a drawn-out battle in which the group filed two appeals that were both dismissed before the case ended up in front of the U.K. Supreme Court three years later.

“Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case: that women are protected by their biological sex, that sex is real and that women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women,” For Women Scotland co-founder Susan Smith told those gathered outside the courthouse, according to Reuters.

Author J.K. Rowling, who has been outspoken on the transgender issue, reacted to the ruling on social media: “It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the U.K.”

Father Frans Bouwen, a missionary with the African Missionary Society, has been in Jerusalem for over 50 years. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Bouwen

Vatican City, Apr 16, 2025 / 15:27 pm (CNA).

Father Frans Bouwen, a missionary with the African Missionary Society — better known as the White Fathers for the color of their habit — and one of the most renowned Catholic voices in ecumenical dialogue, holds that “there are no real theological reasons” to justify Christians celebrating Easter on different dates.

Catholics and Protestants commemorate the resurrection of Jesus following the Gregorian calendar, while the Orthodox follow the Julian calendar. However, this year will be different. Thanks to the two calendars coinciding, all Christians will celebrate Easter together on Sunday, April 20.

“There are no real theological reasons for celebrating Easter on different dates, but sometimes the calendar seems to have become sacred,” the priest told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, noting that the desire to share the Easter holiday is especially felt in areas where Catholic and Orthodox communities coexist.

In Jerusalem, a holy city for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, there are currently some 591,000 Jews and barely 13,000 Christians. However, the small Christian community is made up of different churches: Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Armenian, and Protestant.

In this sense, in the Holy Land, “almost all Christian families are made up of Catholic and Orthodox faithful who wish to celebrate together and form a community united in witness, most often remaining small numerical minorities amid a majority of believers of other religions, Muslims, or Jews,” explained Bouwen, who was a consultant to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

In fact, nowhere else in the world do Eastern and Western Christian traditions coexist as closely as in the small space that delimits the Old City of Jerusalem, the place where Christ died.

The Belgian priest, who has lived in Jerusalem since 1969, emphasized that ecumenism “already exists as a primarily local reality,“ alluding to the “sensus fidei,“ that spontaneous instinct of the faithful that drives communities to seek unity naturally, without theological diatribes.

“Thanks to recent advances in ecumenical relations, the diversity of liturgical traditions is no longer seen as a scandal but as a living testimony that the Gospel has been able to reach many different languages ​​and cultures, which have been able to perceive, express, and celebrate the Christian faith and life according to their own innate genius,” he explained.

“The fact that they all gather around Calvary and the tomb of Christ manifests their common roots and fundamental belonging,” added the priest, who has served on international commissions for theological dialogue with Orthodox churches.

The Gregorian and Julian calendars coincide periodically. Thus, the Status Quo, the unwritten law governing holy sites shared by two or more Christian communities, also determines the scheduling of celebrations for Easter at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher.

“It rigorously stipulates how liturgical celebrations should be carried out by the various churches, fully respecting the rights of each. The fraternal spirit that currently marks these celebrations shows that, also around the holy sites, there has been notable ecumenical progress in recent years,” he noted.

Attempts at a common celebration

In fact, both in Jerusalem and in other areas of the Holy Land, “there have been several attempts to achieve a common celebration of Easter at the local level,” due primarily to the influence of their neighbors.

“For several decades, in Egypt, Jordan, and Cyprus, Catholics have celebrated Easter with the Orthodox of these countries — that is, according to the Julian calendar,” he explained.

After noting the positive results of the common celebration of Easter, “many faithful and pastors in the Holy Land began to promote the desire to do the same in the Holy Land,” Bouwen added.

Specifically, there were two attempts in 1995 and 2016, thanks to a joint initiative of the Catholic bishops and the Anglican and Lutheran churches. However, the results were not as hoped for.

“Many international Catholic religious congregations preferred to continue celebrating Easter together with their brothers in Western countries. The Maronite community also did not join this initiative,” Bouwen explained.

These past attempts did not include a joint celebration at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher because there was no time to address the complexities imposed by the Status Quo.

In fact, as new divisions arose within the Catholic Churches, the idea of ​​celebrating Easter in the Holy Land together with other Christian churches “has been abandoned for the time being,” Bouwen said.

The holy places pose an obstacle

The presence of the holy places poses an additional obstacle. “Following the Julian calendar at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in years when the dates do not coincide with the Gregorian calendar would mean that Holy Week pilgrims from Western countries would not find any Holy Week celebrations in Jerusalem,” the Belgian missionary pointed out.

Thus a common celebration of Easter would impose “certain time and freedom of movement limitations on the celebrations of the different churches within the Holy Sepulcher.”

“Extending this arrangement to all years would require careful negotiations, as it would imply a change in the Status Quo. Therefore, a worldwide agreement would undoubtedly help enormously,” Bouwen commented.

Similarly, if the holy places were excluded, Catholics in the Holy Land would end up celebrating Holy Week on different dates at the Holy Sepulcher and in the rest of the parishes.

In any case, at this time, there are some parishes north of Jerusalem where Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans continue to celebrate Easter with the Orthodox, that is, according to the Julian calendar.

Possible joint celebrations for Pentecost

Furthermore, due to the difficult situation in the Holy Land, with the war between Hamas and the Israeli army, “it has not been possible this year to plan joint celebrations to rejoice together with the calendars coinciding.”

“Some plans had been considered, but the situation remains too volatile to organize extraordinary events beyond the traditional celebrations, which already require great efforts on the part of the churches. Joint celebrations, however, are being planned for the time of Pentecost,” Bouwen explained.

Nonetheless, Bouwen assured that local Christians are “happy and eager to show their joy at the opportunity to bear witness to their faith together and celebrate Holy Week and Easter together in their mixed faith families.”

The Council of Nicaea, held in 325, attempted to unify the calculation of the date of Easter with a single criterion, and in fact Easter was celebrated jointly for 1,300 years.

However, in the 16th century, the calendar reform introduced by Pope Gregory XIII marked a new division among the Christian churches.

Oriental Orthodox view changing the date of Easter as a ‘threat’

In Oriental Orthodox Christianity, particularly in the Middle East, due to historical and political circumstances, “the different churches have often lived isolated from one another due to communication difficulties,” Bouwen explained.

Furthermore, he noted that “living as minorities and facing oppression or even persecution in certain periods, the churches were able to preserve their identity and faith thanks to their fidelity to traditions.”

For this reason, liturgical and popular traditions “have become markers of identity that kept the community united in a hostile environment.”

Both the date and the ways of celebrating Easter are an integral part of these traditions, which is why the Oriental Orthodox Churches have historically felt “that they must hold fast to them in order to remain faithful, as individuals and as communities.”

“Changing customs and dates has historically been perceived as a threat,” Bouwen pointed out.

According to the priest, the opportunity to celebrate Easter simultaneously, thanks to the Gregorian and Julian calendars coinciding, serves to strengthen the hope and commitment “for a growing communion in faith and life.”

He pointed out that the commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea constitutes “a symbolic and practical opportunity for rapprochement among the Christian churches,” recalling the foundations of the Christian faith.

Bouwen concluded that despite “many advances in ecumenical dialogues, most of the fruits of these dialogues still await effective acceptance by the churches.”

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

U.S. Vice President JD Vance at the 2025 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. / Credit: EWTN News/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 14:31 pm (CNA).

Vice President JD Vance and his family will travel to Italy at the end of Holy Week and through Easter, where they will meet with a top Vatican official, according to a news release from the White House.

Vance, who is a convert to Catholicism, will meet with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during his time in Rome, according to the release. 

It’s unknown whether Vance will meet with Pope Francis, who is still recovering from an illness that recently required him to stay in the hospital for more than a month.

According to the news release, Vance will also visit India on the trip. In India, the vice president will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will visit New Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra and participate in unspecified “engagements” at cultural sites.

During both stops, Vance intends to discuss shared economic and geopolitical priorities with the leaders of both governments. The full trip is scheduled from April 18 through April 24.

Vance last traveled to Europe in mid-February to address the Munich Security Conference in Germany, where he criticized several European governments over a lack of free speech and religious freedom.

After President Donald Trump was reelected in November, Parolin wished him “great wisdom because this is the main virtue of rulers according to the Bible.”

“I believe that, above all, he has to work to be the president of the whole country and so overcome the polarization that has occurred, which can be very, very clearly felt at the moment,” Parolin said last November.

Parolin also expressed hope that Trump could be a force for peace in the world: “To end wars, a lot of humility is needed, a lot of willingness is needed. It really is necessary to seek the general interests of humanity rather than concentrate on particular interests.”

The Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have both criticized the Trump administration for its plans of mass deportations for immigrants who are in the country illegally as well as for funding cuts to nongovernmental organizations that provide services to migrants in the United States and organizations that provide humanitarian services abroad. Numerous Catholic organizations lost funding due to the administration’s orders.

Vance has defended the administration’s immigration policies by invoking the Christian concept of “ordo amoris,” which means “rightly ordered love.” He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that one’s “compassion” belongs “first to your fellow citizens.”

“There’s this old-school — and I think a very Christian — concept … that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” the vice president said.

Pope Francis subsequently wrote a letter to the U.S. bishops, saying that “the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution, or serious deterioration of the environment damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

“The true ‘ordo amoris’ that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘good Samaritan’ (cf. Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception,” the pontiff wrote.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops headquarters in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0> via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 13:59 pm (CNA).

As work on budget reconciliation proceeds in Congress, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging lawmakers to protect programs that serve those most in need.

“The Church’s closeness to the poor informs our advocacy. We know firsthand that families are struggling,” the bishops said in an April 15 statement. “We implore [Congress] to protect programs such as Medicaid and SNAP and to expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to the most vulnerable children.”

“This Lent,” the bishops continued, “we read the call to turn back to the Lord from the Prophet Isaiah: ‘Make justice your aim.’ (Is 1:17). It is for the sake of justice that the Catholic Church is committed to providing comfort, hope, and relief to those who are poor and suffering.”

The nation’s bishops call for the funding of Catholic Charities agencies, Catholic hospitals, and long-term care facilities and clinics so they can continue to help “our most vulnerable neighbors.”

The bishops said these programs and organizations are necessary to “provide food, shelter, counseling, health care, education, training, and other services.”

The country’s bishops specifically advocate for Medicaid, SNAP and the Child Tax Credit, saying these programs “are essential to helping many families meet basic human needs.”

Tax cut considerations

“Tax cuts that largely favor wealthier persons should not be made possible through cuts to health care and food for families struggling to make ends meet,” the bishops said.

The bishops’ latest statement follows a February letter sent to the congressional leadership focused on support for Medicaid. In that letter, the USCCB, Catholic Charities USA, and the Catholic Health Association asked lawmakers to “prioritize those most in need and working families and protect the Medicaid program.”

The organizations further specified that they support “prohibitions on federal funding of abortions” while maintaining support for aid programs that help “human flourishing.”

“The final budget reconciliation package should provide relief to low-income families and should not place additional burdens on those who are struggling. In responding to Isaiah’s call for justice, action is urgently needed: ‘Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord’ (Is 1:18),” the bishops concluded.