Youth adore Christ in the Eucharist at the "Journey: Why did they come?" youth rally on St. Clements Island, Maryland, Sept. 30, 2023. The altar used during the rally was specially made by local craftsmen to be used for Masses on the i… […]
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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 4, 2023 / 11:55 am (CNA).
The state of Florida executed a convicted murderer on Tuesday evening after pleas from Catholic bishops and other anti-death-penalty advocates fell on … […]
Antonia Salzano, Blessed Carlo Acutis’ mother, after installing the relic of her son in the new shrine dedicated to his life on Oct. 1, 2023. Her hands were the first to hold him, and the last to touch his earthly relic. / Credit: Thomas P. Costello II
Trenton, N.J., Oct 4, 2023 / 11:25 am (CNA).
The faith community of St. Dominic Parish in Brick, New Jersey, celebrated the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis on Oct. 1 with a very special guest among them — Acutis’ mother, Antonia Salzano. After the jubilant Mass concluded, Salzano took the relic of her son from the hands of Bishop David O’Connell of the Diocese of Trenton, and together they processed to the narthex, where a new shrine to Acutis was blessed.
In her remarks to the faithful gathered for the celebration, Salzano declared: “Sainthood is for everyone. Carlo became a saint by practicing the seven theological and cardinal virtues.” She emphasized: “This is what makes us all saints.”
“Carlo prayed the rosary and read sacred Scripture every day,” Salzano shared. “He went to confession each week. Since his holy Communion at 7 years old, he never missed daily Mass. Before Mass or after, he would also spend time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Carlo believed the Eucharist was his ‘highway to heaven.’”
Carlo Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London, England, and then moved with his family to Milan, Italy. There, he grew up to be a “normal” teenager — a gamer, a brilliant computer programmer, and a website developer. He liked to travel, enjoyed his PlayStation, and took great care of his pets. He loved St. Francis of Assisi and the poor. He was also deeply in love with this Catholic faith and practiced it with all his heart.
At just 14 years old, Acutis turned his devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament into a website. He cataloged more than 100 Eucharistic miracles around the world that have been approved by the Catholic Church. The website inspired the Eucharistic Miracle Exhibit, which has been viewed more than 10,000 times across the globe and counting.
On Oct. 4, 2006, after just a few days of illness, Acutis was diagnosed with promyelocytic leukemia. He offered his sufferings for the conversion of sinners. His mother offered her suffering as well. She prayed there would be greater love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and for those who did not yet know Christ. After slipping into a coma, Carlo Acutis’ heart stopped beating on Oct. 12, 2006.
Because of his love for the poor and his desire to emulate St. Francis of Assisi, Acutis requested to be buried in Assisi, Italy. The cause for his canonization opened officially in 2013. Pope Francis declared him Venerable in 2019 and Blessed in 2020. He is one step away from being canonized a saint.
“Carlo was a regular teenager like me,” said Anthony Ricardo, a 15-year-old sophomore at Morris Hills High School in Rockaway, New Jersey, who came to the event. “I really wanted to see Carlo’s mom, and I wanted to see his relics. Carlo was totally devoted to the Eucharist, which I think is the most important part of our faith.”
Traveling from Allentown, New Jersey, the Schuster family brought six of their eight children to see the dedication of the new shrine. Eight-year-old Brian Schuster said: “I came to see Carlo’s relics. He reminds me to be holy.”
Brian’s 10-year-old brother, Paul, added: “I wanted to meet Carlo’s mom. Carlo is a role model for all kids. He teaches us how to get closer to Jesus by going to Mass as often as we can and by praying the rosary every day.”
Blessed Carlo’s journey to the Diocese of Trenton began several years ago when Father Marian Kokorzycki, parochial vicar of St. Dominic Parish, brought a relic of Blessed Carlo back from a pilgrimage to Assisi for the diocese. Bishop O’Connell supported the idea of a shrine at the parish devoted to the new Blessed.
“I love his story,” O’Connell told CNA. “I’ve read everything I could get my hands on about Blessed Carlo Acutis. He was a normal boy, but his devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist and love for his Catholic faith created a collective orientation toward God in all that he did.”
Sometime later, at the annual Catholic school Mass for the diocese, a video was shown to the students before Mass about Blessed Carlo Acutis. “I watched the young people in the church,” O’Connell recalled. “They were riveted. You could hear a pin drop. That’s when the idea came to me.”
In April 2022, O’Connell declared Blessed Carlo Acutis the patron of students in his diocese. “Since then, I’ve noticed Blessed Carlo Acutis’ picture is in all of our schools,” O’Connell said. “There is an awareness of him. Young people talk about him. He was a computer geek. He went to school. He even defended kids from bullies — all the things the young people of our diocese do. Carlo is one of their own. I’m counting on him to help me evangelize the young people of the Diocese of Trenton.”
During the ceremony, the reliquary containing Blessed Carlo’s relic stood prominently before his portrait in the shrine. Salzano looked on as O’Connell blessed the shrine in honor of her son. The room was packed to capacity. Many held their phones over their heads to capture the historic moment. Even though it was a Sunday, the students of St. Dominic Catholic School proudly wore their school uniforms.
Then it was time for Salzano to leave Carlo with his new parish family. “As a mother,” she said, “it was a pleasure for me to do this for Carlo. This is a higher project. Through Carlo, God will help many people. It makes me very happy to see so many young people here today.”
“Through Carlo, Jesus is doing a lot of miracles, healings, and conversions. This is a time when we need saints because the darkness is all around us, and young people have so many dangers. Pornography, drugs, gaming addictions, alcohol, brainwashing from the media and its anti-Gospel — the danger is strong. Carlo is a sign of hope. He passed over all these things, too. He was not polluted by it. This is possible for everybody. Our children can still be holy.”
Senator-Delegate Laphonza Butler meets with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in his office on Capitol Hill on Oct. 3, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Butler was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to the vacant Senate seat of California following the p… […]
Cardinal Joseph Zen preaches a sermon during a Mass at the Holy Cross Church on May 24, 2022, in Hong Kong, China. / Anthony Kwan/Getty Images
CNA Staff, Oct 4, 2023 / 08:50 am (CNA).
Just days before the Synod on Synodality kicks off its first… […]
Pope Francis smiles during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 27, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
CNA Staff, Oct 4, 2023 / 06:03 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Wednesday released a new document on the environment that he has described as the “second part” of his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, and which warns of “grave consequences” if humanity continues to ignore the threat of climate change.
The apostolic exhortation, titled Laudate Deum (“Praise God”), is meant to address what Francis in the document calls the “global social issue” of climate change. The pope said that in the eight years since Laudato Si’ was published, “our responses have not been adequate” to address ongoing ecological concerns.
“Climate change is one of the principal challenges facing society and the global community,” the pope wrote in the document, arguing that its effects are borne by the world’s “most vulnerable people” and that the climate issue is “no longer a secondary or ideological question.”
Francis wrote that the effects of climate change “are here and increasingly evident,” and warned of increasing heat waves and the possible melting of the polar ice caps, which he said would lead to “immensely grave consequences for everyone.”
“No one can ignore the fact that in recent years we have witnessed extreme weather phenomena, frequent periods of unusual heat, drought, and other cries of protest on the part of the earth that are only a few palpable expressions of a silent disease that affects everyone,” the pope said.
Environmentalism has long been a favorite topic of Francis. Laudato Si’ was heralded at the time of its publication as a revolutionary papal document for its emphasis on Catholic ecological responsibility.
Then-U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops President Bishop Joseph Kurtz called the encyclical “our marching orders for advocacy.” The document launched the Laudato Si’ Movement, which bills itself as a “broad range of Catholic organizations and grassroots members from all over the world” walking “on a journey of ecological conversion.”
In the earlier document Francis conceded that the Church “does not presume to settle scientific questions or to replace politics,” but in the exhortation this week the Holy Father took a more forceful line, criticizing those who “have chosen to deride [the] facts” about climate science and stating bluntly that it is “no longer possible to doubt the human — ‘anthropic’ — origin of climate change.”
“It is not possible to conceal the correlation of these global climate phenomena and the accelerated increase in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly since the mid-20th century,” Francis wrote. “The overwhelming majority of scientists specializing in the climate support this correlation, and only a very small percentage of them seek to deny the evidence.”
Francis said in the document that what he described as a “technocratic paradigm” has “destroyed” the mutually beneficial relationship with the environment that humans have at times enjoyed. Humanity’s “power and the progress we are producing are turning against us,” the pope argued.
Francis noted that climate mitigation efforts over the years have been met with both “progress and failures,” though the pope expressed hope that next month’s 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference could “allow for a decisive acceleration of energy transition, with effective commitments subject to ongoing monitoring.”
He argued, however, that longtime global diplomatic arrangements have failed to meet the challenges of the climate emergency.
“It continues to be regrettable that global crises are being squandered when they could be the occasions to bring about beneficial changes,” he wrote. The world, he argued, should look toward “the development of a new procedure for decision-making” to solve global problems.
The pope pointed to what he described as the “spiritual motivations” of climate action, noting that the Book of Genesis records that, upon his creation of the universe, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”
“‘Praise God’ is the title of this letter,” Francis wrote at the encyclical’s conclusion. “For when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies.”
Francis since 2015 has been active in warning about the potential devastation posed by climate change. In 2021, he launched the Catholic Church’s seven-year “Laudato Si’ action plan,” which he described as the Church’s part in “a new ecological approach that can transform our way of dwelling in the world.”
The pope later that year joined religious leaders in calling upon the global community to “achieve net zero carbon emissions as soon as possible” to head off potentially devastating temperature rises.
Laudate Deum’s publication date — Oct. 4 — is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, from whom Francis drew his pontifical name at the start of his papacy in 2013. It is also the start date of the first monthlong assembly in Rome of the ongoing Synod on Synodality.
The opening Mass of the Synod on Synodality in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 4, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Oct 4, 2023 / 04:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis opened the Synod on Synodality’s three-week assembly on Wednesday with a call to remember that the Church exists to bring Jesus to the world and should face today’s challenges with a gaze fixed on God rather than “political calculations or ideological battles.”
Speaking in St. Peter’s Square for the synod’s opening Mass on Oct. 4, Pope Francis underlined that “the primary task of the synod” is to “refocus our gaze on God, to be a Church that looks mercifully at humanity.”
“We do not want to make ourselves attractive in the eyes of the world, but to reach out to it with the consolation of the Gospel, to bear witness to God’s infinite love in a better way and to everyone,” he said.
The pope presided over Mass on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, concelebrated by nearly 500 priests, bishops, and cardinals, including 20 of the Catholic Church’s newest cardinals.
Recalling the Lord’s words to St. Francis, “Go, rebuild my Church,” Pope Francis said that the synod serves as a reminder that “our Mother the Church is always in need of purification, of being ‘repaired,’ for we are a people made up of forgiven sinners … always in need of returning to the source that is Jesus and putting ourselves back on the paths of the Spirit to reach everyone with his Gospel.”
Pope Francis highlighted a question raised by Benedict XVI at the 2012 Synod of Bishops as the “fundamental question” facing the synod: “‘The question for us is this: God has spoken, he has truly broken the great silence, he has shown himself, but how can we communicate this reality to the people of today, so that it becomes salvation?’”
Francis repeated that the synod is not “a political gathering” or a “polarized parliament,” but “a place of grace and communion.”
“Dear brother cardinals, brother bishops, sisters and brothers, we are at the opening of the General Assembly of the Synod. Here we do not need a purely natural vision, made up of human strategies, political calculations, or ideological battles. We are not here to carry out a parliamentary meeting or a plan of reformation. No. We are here to walk together with the gaze of Jesus, who blesses the Father and welcomes those who are weary and oppressed,” he said.
The 9 a.m. Mass began under bright sunshine and a soft breeze with a procession through St. Peter’s Square of the delegates in the XVI Ordinary Synod of Bishops, which for the first time includes laymen and women as full voting members.
The synod delegates will meet in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall Oct. 4-29 to advise the pope on the theme: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission.” The three-week assembly is the first of the two-part Synod on Synodality that will conclude in 2024.
The Vatican choir led the crowd in the solemn “Laudes Regiæ” hymn, singing “Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands” in Latin with the “Litany of the Saints.”
At the opening Mass for the Synod of Synodality, lay delegates and bishops process in to the solemn hymn, “Laudes Regiae,” singing “Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands.” pic.twitter.com/bnhwAMqRQ8
— Courtney Mares (@catholicourtney) October 4, 2023
The Prayer of the Faithful included a prayer that the Lord will “grant those participating in the work of the synod hearts open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a readiness to listen to their brothers and sisters, and concern for the needs of the Church in today’s world.”
In his homily, Pope Francis outlined his vision for a synodal Church, saying Jesus wants “a Church that is united and fraternal … that listens and dialogues … that blesses and encourages, that helps those who seek the Lord, that lovingly stirs up the indifferent, that opens paths in order to draw people into the beauty of faith … that has God at its center and, therefore, is not divided internally and is never harsh externally.”
He urged people to imitate St. Francis, who lived at a time of “great struggles and divisions … between the institutional Church and heretical currents,” but did not criticize or “lash out” at anyone, choosing instead to take up “only the weapons of the Gospel, which are humility and unity, prayer and charity.”
The pope warned of three dangerous temptations facing the Church today: “of being a rigid Church … which arms itself against the world and looks backwards, of being a lukewarm Church, which surrenders to the fashions of the world, and of being a tired Church, turned in on itself.”
“Jesus’ blessing gaze invites us to be a Church that does not face today’s challenges and problems with a divisive and contentious spirit but, on the contrary, turns its eyes to God who is communion and, with awe and humility, blesses and adores him, recognizing him as its only Lord. We belong to him and – let us remember – we exist only to bring Him to the world,” Pope Francis said.
Following the Mass, the synod delegates will take part in the First General Congregation of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, where Pope Francis, Cardinal Mario Grech, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich will give opening speeches.
A young alpha male wolf (Canis lupus), looks for food in the Finnish taiga in Hukkajarvi area, Eastern Finland near Russian border, on July 5, 2023. / Credit: OLIVIER MORIN/AFP via Getty Images
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