INTERVIEW WITH PETER C. PHAN – โ€œPope Francis’s Most Enduring Legacy is his Transformation of the Churchโ€

Brought to the Vatican in 2023 by Pope Francis as head of the office that vets bishop nominations, Robert Prevost was entrusted with the chair of Saint Peter. The first American pope succeeds Francis, preaching peace while confronting political and social divides and urgent global crises. Seen as a firm supporter of his predecessorโ€™s papacy – especially of the late pontiffโ€™s commitment to social justice issues – Pope Leo XIV is likely to carry forward the legacy of Pope Francis, while forging his own path. The Argentinian pontiff, Peter C. Phan claims, leaves behind a transformative inheritance of compassion, reform and inclusivity. Born in Vietnam, Phan has lived in the United States since 1975, when his family arrived in Texas as refugees from the Vietnam War. A professor at Georgetown University and former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America,ย the theologian recalls, in an exclusive interview with โ€œO Clarimโ€, some of the most defining aspects of Pope Francisโ€™s papacy and how they can shape Pope Leo XIVโ€™s pontificate.

MASS PRO ELIGENDO ROMANO PONTIFICE – Macau Prayed for the Election of the New Pope

Local Catholics gathered at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady on Tuesday evening for a Mass with the special intention to pray for the conclave. Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang emphasized the importance of asking God to enlighten the minds of the Cardinal electors and help them agree on a Pope that may answer the needs of our time. In His Divine Providence, God has bestowed on us Pope Leo XIV as the new shepherd of His Church.

GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY – Honoring our Priests and Religious Missionaries in the Diocese

On the fourth Sunday of Easter, this year falling on May 11, the Church celebrates Good Shepherd Sunday and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. In many dioceses, Good Shepherd Sunday is an opportunity to pray for vocations, to encourage those who might be considering ordained or religious life, for each of us to ask ourselves whether the Lord might be calling us to do some definite service for him, but above all to thank those who have been faithful shepherds of the church. Thus, the Catholic Diocese of Macau celebrated this meaningful day with heartfelt day of gratitude for priests and religious who have reached milestones of their life of service and ministry in the church.

BELOVED PRIESTโ€™S FINAL JOURNEY – Late Rev. Fr. Jose Fu Chun of the Diocese of Macau Laid to Rest on May10

The final journey of Rev. Fr. Jose Fu Chun , whose death, left the Catholic Diocese of Macau in deep sorrow, was a moment of prayer and gratitude for a life dedicated to faith and service. He is remembered as one with many gifts for ministry, and a beloved priest known for his deep faith and intense desire to bring people to Christ. The beloved priest was to rest on Saturday, at St. Michaelโ€™sย  Cemetery, following a funeral Mass at the St. Church of Sรฃo Lazaro , presided by Bishop Stephen Lee.

4th SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR C โ€“ The Good Shepherd Model for All Vocations – Five Essential Conditions

The Gospel of this 4th Sunday of Easter presents to us the Good Shepherd. Some people might think that this Gospel message is addressed only to priests. It would be like saying that they are shepherds and the people are their sheep. While this is true, we are all called to become pastors and shepherds. The ideal of life is not to remain like “sheep”, but to become good shepherds, according to the Heart of Jesus. Regardless of our vocation, God gives us responsibilities, and we will all have our own flock to take care of, whether in the family, at work or in society. If we reflect on chapter 10 of the Gospel of St. John, we can see that for someone to be a good shepherd, or true leader according to the evangelical model, five conditions are evident in the example of Jesus:

Habemus Papam! – Bishop’s Message

Habemus Papam! We have a new Pope! What great news! This past week, we mourned as God called Pope Francis back to heaven, but now God has sent us another new Pope! He is the first Pope from the United States and the first Augustinian Pope. This joy is not merely of the heart or of having a new Pope within the structure of the Church; rather, it is a spiritual, even theological, joy. Every Pope is Christโ€™s vicar on earthโ€”the Father of the Catholic Church, the Father of fathers, and the Servant of all servants.

A STATE IN COLLAPSE – Missionaries Alleviate Haiti’s Difficulties

One year after the installation of the Presidential Transitional Council (CTP), Father Marc-Henry Simรฉon, spokesperson for the Haitian Episcopal Conference, makes a rather somber assessment of the โ€˜achievementsโ€™ of this body, which was supposed to free the country from the insecurity caused by the criminal gangs that have plagued the country for decades. โ€œThe state is progressively collapsing, leaving the door open to armed gangs that are expanding their area of โ€‹โ€‹control, especially in the capital,โ€ he says.

๐‚๐š๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐œ ๐‚๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ก’๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ญo ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ – ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ฏ๐ž?

๐€ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‚๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‚๐š๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฉ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‘๐จ๐ฆ๐ž, ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐š๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž. ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐จ๐ฆ๐š๐ง ๐‚๐š๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐œ ๐‚๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ก, ๐š๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ.๐Ÿ’ ๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐‚๐š๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐œ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐๐ž. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ “๐œ๐จ๐ง๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ฏ๐ž” ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง ๐ฉ๐ก๐ซ๐š๐ฌ๐ž “๐œ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ฏ๐ž,” ๐ฆ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  “๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐š ๐ค๐ž๐ฒ,” ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฅ๐จ๐œ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ ๐š ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐.

MEMORIAL MASS FOR THE LATE PONTIFF – Macau bids farewell to Pope Francis

In a sober but joyful ceremony, hundreds of faithful gathered at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady early Tuesday evening for a Mass in memory of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday at the age of 88. The liturgy, celebrated by Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang in three languages – Cantonese, Portuguese and English – attracted a large number of faithful from different backgrounds, who prayed for the Argentine pontiff’s soul and asked God to welcome him into the immensity of his love.