World

DIED IN THE NAME OF FAITH – Centenary of the Beatification of Korean Martyrs

July 5, 2025July 5, 2025 adminAll Categories, World

On Saturday July 5 marks the centenary of the Eucharistic liturgy celebrated on July 5, 1925, in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, during which the first Korean martyrs were proclaimed blessed. We are talking about 79 Catholics who suffered martyrdom, ‘in odium fidei’, in the name of their faith during the infamous persecutions of Gihae (1839) and Byeong-o (1846). Among them was the first Korean Catholic priest, Andrew Kim Taegon, who completed his academic training in Macau and later managed to enter Korea as a missionary. However, thirteen months after his ordination, he was put to the sword in 1846, at the age of 26. He is now recognized as the patron saint of the Korean clergy.

PEACE FOR A BELOVED COUNTRY – Between War and Natural Disasters

June 25, 2025June 25, 2025 adminAll Categories, World

Since the beginning of the civil war in Myanmar in 2021, there have been an increasing number of areas where fighting has taken place, where civilians have been living for too long as displaced people, facing continuous and increasing difficulties whenever they flee from areas of intense conflict. As far as the Catholic community is concerned, the Sagaing region is undoubtedly the most affected, with frequent bombings and “widespread suffering among the civilian population,” as recalled by Peter Sein Hlaing Oo, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Mandalay, in the north-central part of the former Burma. For this reason, this local prelate, like other members of the local Church, view with optimism the words of Pope Leo XIV, who, during the Sunday Angelus prayer on June 15, recalled the ongoing fighting in Myanmar.

A SAINT THE CHURCH NEEDS TODAY – Peter To Rot, the first Saint of Papua New Guinea

June 18, 2025June 18, 2025 adminAll Categories, World

By decision decreed by Pope Leo XIV during the celebration of his first Ordinary Public Consistory, the martyr Peter To Rot, a native of Papua New Guinea, will be canonized on October 19 of this year, precisely on the Sunday on which the 99th World Mission Day is celebrated. On that same morning, the Blesseds Ignatius Choukrallah Maloyan, Vincenza Maria Poloni, María del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez, Maria Troncatti, José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros and Bartolo Longo will be inscribed in the Book of Saints. A month and a half earlier, on September 7, the Italian Blesseds Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis were also canonized.

INDO-PAKISTANI CONFLICT OVER KASHMIR – The Vatican Inspires Peace

June 11, 2025 adminAll Categories, World

In the wake of the recent military crisis between Pakistan and India – which has once again rekindled the threat of a nuclear apocalypse – Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, a Sikh MP, has urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work with international organizations to begin a process of “adequate recognition” to find a city that can be presented as “a symbolic place of peace for humanity”. Amritsar, the holy city of Sikhism, near the border between India and Pakistan and home to the famous Golden Temple, is an ideal candidate for this purpose and should therefore be declared a “war-free zone” and receive international protection, as is the case with the Vatican.

VOICE FOR THE POOR, FIERCE ADVOCATE FOR JUSTICE – Macau Mourns the Death of Father Domingos Soares

June 4, 2025 adminAll Categories, Local, World

A Requiem Mass in memory of Father Domingos Soares was held on Thursday, May 22nd at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady. The well-beloved Timorese priest, who ministered in Macau for almost a decade, passed away on May, 16th, at the Guido Valadares National Hospital, in Díli, following a long-term illness.

ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES – The Apostolic Foundations of Missionary Cooperation

June 4, 2025June 4, 2025 adminAll Categories, World

Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle reminded the National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS), gathered in Rome for their annual General Assembly, that the experience witnessed by the first disciples of Jesus during the early Church continues to be the point of reference for all authentic missionary work and initiative.

FATHER NAZARENO LANCIOTTI – Martyr in the Name of Faith and Christian Principles

May 27, 2025May 27, 2025 adminAll Categories, World

Nazareno Lanciotti, an Italian Transalpine missionary who for three decades dedicated himself to proclaiming the Gospel in the forests and poorest regions of Brazil, and especially to protecting young people from the most diverse forms of slavery imposed on them by prostitution traffickers and other human traffickers, will be proclaimed blessed.

Habemus Papam! – Bishop’s Message

May 9, 2025May 9, 2025 adminAll Categories, Local, World

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 Christ’s vicar on earth—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

May 8, 2025 adminAll Categories, World

One year after the installation of the Presidential Transitional Council (CTP), Father Marc-Henry Siméon, spokesperson for the Haitian Episcopal Conference, makes a rather somber assessment of the ‘achievements’ 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. “The state is progressively collapsing, leaving the door open to armed gangs that are expanding their area of control, especially in the capital,” he says.

𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡’𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭o 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 – 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞?

May 8, 2025May 8, 2025 adminAll Categories, World

𝐀 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡, 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝟏.𝟒 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 “𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞” 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐡𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞 “𝐜𝐮𝐦 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞,” 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 “𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐤𝐞𝐲,” 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝.