Vatican City, Aug 20, 2018 / 05:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis called Monday for every member of the Catholic Church to pray and fast in penance for the evil of clerical sex abuse, and to be involved in needed change within the Church.
“The only way that we have to respond to this evil that has darkened so many lives is to experience it as a task regarding all of us as the People of God,” Francis wrote Aug. 20.
In a letter to the entire Church following widespread revelations of clerical sex abuse in the Church in the United States, the pope invited “the entire holy faithful People of God to a penitential exercise of prayer and fasting, following the Lord’s command.”
“This can awaken our conscience and arouse our solidarity and commitment to a culture of care that says ‘never again’ to every form of abuse,” he said. “Every one of the baptized should feel involved in the ecclesial and social change that we so greatly need.”
In the letter, Francis acknowledged the recent publication of a report detailing abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses, which included more than 300 priests and 1,000 victims, over a period of around 70 years.
Recognizing the deep pain and suffering endured by many minors who have experienced sexual abuse, or the abuse of power or conscience, at the hands of clerics, he said no effort to seek pardon or to repair the harm will ever be enough.
“Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated,” he stated.
He said the words of St. Paul, that “‘If one member suffers, all suffer together with it’… forcefully echo” in his heart.
The pope also emphasized that he thinks a conversion of the Church is “impossible” if it does not include the “active participation” of all the members of the Church, and he criticized the silencing or ignoring of some Catholics through the creation of elitist groups or projects.
In particular, all forms of clericalism should be rejected, he said, because clericalism undervalues baptismal grace and can lead to abuses by Church authority. Clericalism causes “an excision in the ecclesial body that supports and helps to perpetuate many of the evils that we are condemning today.”
Voicing strong support for all the victims of clerical sex abuse and for their families, he said though most of the cases recently come to light, “belong to the past,” as time goes on the pain of the victims has come to be more known.
He said the gravity and extent to which clerical sexual abuse of minors and other abuse has happened takes “coming to grips… in a comprehensive and communal way,” and while conversion requires acknowledgment of the truth, it is “not enough.”
“This change calls for a personal and communal conversion that makes us see things as the Lord does… to be where the Lord wants us to be, to experience a conversion of heart in his presence. To do so, prayer and penance will help,” he stated.
The penitential aspect of fasting will help Catholics to come before the Lord “as sinners imploring forgiveness and the grace of shame and conversion,” so that actions “attuned to the Gospel” can follow, he explained.
He prayed that fasting and prayer will open people’s ears to the pain of children, young people, and the disabled, that it will make Catholics “hunger and thirst for justice,” and impel the Church “to walk in the truth, supporting all the judicial measures that may be necessary.”
“It is essential that we, as a Church, be able to acknowledge and condemn, with sorrow and shame, the atrocities perpetrated by consecrated persons, clerics, and all those entrusted with the mission of watching over and caring for those most vulnerable,” he continued.
“Let us beg forgiveness for our own sins and the sins of others,” he said. “An awareness of sin helps us to acknowledge the errors, the crimes and the wounds caused in the past and allows us, in the present, to be more open and committed along a journey of renewed conversion.”
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Rome, Italy, Jun 13, 2020 / 09:38 am (CNA).- Venerable Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager and computer programmer who died in 2006, will be beatified October 10 in Assisi, Italy.
“The joy we have long awaited finally has a date,” Arch… […]
Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Wednesday, June 25, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Aug 16, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Saturday, Aug. 16, marks Pope Leo XIV’s 100th day as pope. Since his May 8 election as the first pope born and raised in the United States, the 69-year-old Chicago native has already left his mark on a jubilee year filled with papal liturgies and a surge in pilgrim enthusiasm.
Here are some of the highlights of the first 100 days of the new Holy Father:
Papal jubilee: Pope Leo offers 16 public Masses in 14 weeks
Pope Leo XIV began his papacy in the heart of the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, and he made the most of this opportunity to interact with Catholic pilgrims from across the globe by offering many Masses with the public.
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for the Jubilee of Sport on June 15, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Leo XIV offered 16 large public Masses in just 14 weeks — an average of more than one per week — including seven Masses in June alone. The pace marks a significant shift from the final years of Pope Francis’ pontificate when the aging pope was unable to offer Mass himself at the altar. Francis was present at only four Masses with the public in the same time period last year.
The papal Masses have drawn large crowds and significant attention, beginning with his first inaugural Mass, which brought 200 foreign delegations — including heads of state and royalty — to the Vatican. Since then, Leo has celebrated liturgies for the jubilees of Families, Priests, and Youth as well as on major solemnities and feasts including Pentecost, Corpus Christi, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Holy Trinity, Sts. Peter and Paul, and Mary, Mother of the Church.
Leo XIV is the first pope elected during a jubilee year since 1700.
Pope Leo XIV on the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul in Rome, June 29, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
A singing pope
One of Pope Leo’s most unexpected moments came during his first Regina Caeli address, when he stunned a crowd of 200,000 in St. Peter’s Square by singing the Marian hymn rather than reciting it in Latin like his recent predecessors. Since then, he has continued chanting during liturgies and leading crowds in sung versions of the Our Father in Latin.
The move inspired the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music to launch “Let’s Sing with the Pope,” an online series aimed at making Gregorian chant more accessible.
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First American pope on White Sox stadium jumbotron
In June, the first pope born and raised in the United States appeared on the jumbotron at a gathering of American Catholics at Chicago’s Rate Field — home of his beloved White Sox. In a video message delivered entirely in English, Pope Leo urged young people to be “beacons of hope” and invited all to see that “God is reaching out to you, calling you, inviting you to know his son, Jesus Christ.”
It was the pope’s first direct address to his hometown since his election and one of the earliest papal speeches given entirely in English.
Pope Leo XIV addresses Catholic faithful on the scoreboard at Rate Field, home to the Chicago White Sox, during a celebration and Mass to honor his election as pope on June 14, 2025, in Chicago. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
The new pope’s love of sports has led to some memorable moments. He blessed 159 cyclists as they passed through Vatican City in the final leg of the Giro d’Italia.
A self-described “amateur tennis player,” Pope Leo XIV joked with tennis star Jannik Sinner, ranked the world’s No. 1, whether his white cassock would meet Wimbledon’s requirement for all white attire.
Pope Leo XIV meets with Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner on May 14, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
The pope has also been gifted White Sox and Bears jerseys and has signed baseballs for enthusiastic pilgrims.
A voice for peace in Gaza and Ukraine
Pope Leo XIV’s first words were “Peace be with you all,” recalling the first greeting of the risen Christ recorded in Scripture. As wars continued and at times intensified during Pope Leo’s first months, the pope has continued to be a voice for peace.
In June, after U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Pope Leo urged world leaders “to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.” Following an Israeli strike that killed three people at Gaza’s only Catholic church in July, he appealed for “a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and full respect for humanitarian law.”
“Today more than ever, humanity cries out and pleads for peace,” the pope said during an Angelus from the window of the Apostolic Palace.
Leo also met with bishops and pilgrims from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Castel Gandolfo in July, where the two discussed the urgency of “just and lasting paths of peace,” according to the Vatican.
Pope Leo XIV greets Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Castel Gandolfo on July 9, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media
Leo carries the Eucharist through the streets of Rome
Pope Leo personally carried the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Rome during a Corpus Christi procession from the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
“Together, as shepherds and flock, we will feed on the Blessed Sacrament, adore him, and carry him through the streets,” he said. “In doing so, we will present him before the eyes, the consciences, and the hearts of the people.”
More than 20,000 people turned out for Leo XIV’s first Eucharistic procession as pope.
Pope Leo XIV leads a Eucharistic procession in Rome on June 22, 2025, for the feast of Corpus Christi. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN
Return to Castel Gandolfo
Pope Leo revived the papal tradition of spending summer days at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. During his two-week stay in July, he led public Masses in local parishes, greeted pilgrims as he led the Angelus prayer in Liberty Square, and received visiting dignitaries. His stay marks the first papal summer retreat in the lakeside town since the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.
The sun burst through raindrops right as Pope Leo XIV appeared in front of the apostolic palace of Castel Gandolfo to give the Angelus address on July 13, 2025. Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
Pope Leo introduces the world to great quotes by St. Augustine
A member of the Augustinian order, Pope Leo has quoted St. Augustine in nearly every one of his homilies as pope. In his first public words on May 8, he said: “I am an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’”
Addressing 1 million young people at the Jubilee of Youth in August, he quoted Augustine’s “Confessions”: “You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness… I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more.”
Pope Leo XIV greets crowds at the Jubilee of Youth on Aug. 3, 2025, at Tor Vergata in Rome. Credit: Vatican Media
A focus on artificial intelligence
Pope Leo has frequently spoken about artificial intelligence (AI), which is already shaping up to be a topic of interest in his pontificate with many hoping that he will address it in an encyclical.
Early on in his pontificate, Leo drew parallels between his namesake Pope Leo XIII, who responded to the industrial revolution with Rerum Novarum, and today’s digital revolution, explaining that the rise of AI poses “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”
“Humanity is at a crossroads, facing the immense potential generated by the digital revolution driven by artificial intelligence,” he warned in a message to the Geneva-based AI for Good Summit. “The impact of this revolution is far-reaching, transforming areas such as education, work, art, health care, governance, the military, and communication.”
Pope Leo XIV smiles during his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 13, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
The Vatican website received a revamp shortly after Leo’s election, and insiders noted Leo’s relatively tech-savvy background, including a personal Twitter account prior to his papacy.
The pope also expressed concern in a speech to another AI conference about the negative effects that AI can have on the “intellectual and neurological development” of rising generations and the “loss of the sense of the human” that societies are experiencing.
Leo declares a new doctor of the Church
In one of his most significant theological gestures, Pope Leo named St. John Henry Newman, a 19th-century English convert from Anglicanism, a doctor of the Church — a rare title given to just 37 other saints. The title is granted in recognition of an already canonized saint’s significant contribution to advancing the Church’s knowledge of doctrine, theology, or spirituality.
Pope Leo XIV greets hundreds of thousands of youth and pilgrims ahead of a vigil at Tor Vergata, Rome, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. Credit: Mateusz Opila
Leo also approved the upcoming canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati in September as the first saints of his pontificate. He greenlit seven additional causes for canonization, including that of Blessed Bartolo Longo, a former satanist turned founder of the Marian shrine in Pompeii.
Carrying the cross before a million young people at the Jubilee of Youth
Pope Leo addressed the largest crowd of his papacy to date at the Jubilee of Youth, where an estimated 1 million young adults camped out in fields in Tor Vergata, southeast of Rome.
He surprised them by walking through the crowd to the stage, personally carrying the jubilee cross. During the evening vigil, he answered youth questions in English, Italian, and Spanish, offering reflections on loneliness, discernment, and friendship with Christ.
Pope Leo XIV leads young people from around the world in a procession, carrying the Jubilee Year Cross during the Jubilee of Youth this evening in Tor Vergata, on the outskirts of Rome. pic.twitter.com/XPjOnQg9p9
After Eucharistic adoration, chants of “Papa Leone!” echoed long into the night. Leo stayed past 10 p.m. — well beyond the scheduled end.
Earlier in the week, he made a surprise appearance at the opening Mass, joyfully proclaiming in English: “Jesus tells us: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world!” and the crowd erupted in cheers.
I get the feeling he is avoiding his responsibility of cleaning house of gay clergy by making everyone guilty if they don’t pray and fast. His power is “ supreme” and “ immediate” “over all the churches” according to canon law I got that vibe too when he earlier sought decentralization of power down to Bishops away from Rome as in Malta running it’s own take on divorced remarrieds receiving Communion. Nineveh all prayed and fasted because all Ninevites were doing sins. This is different. Do any of us fast and pray for the thugs in our city. No. Spreading guilt to the innocent is the tendency of a man who is not going to clean house. Wait for it…
Pope “Who-Am-I-To-Judge?” Bergoglio can lead the way by acknowledging his disgraceful and scandalous leadership, taking personal responsibility, and resigning.
No. I’m sorry, but this is lame. I didn’t do this. The vast majority of the Church had nothing to do with the crimes perpetrated by some evil priests and bishops and covered by weak, misguided, or evil Bishops and Cardinals. So most of us have nothig to repent. We should pray for the victims and their families, for those who have left the faith in disgust, and for the good priests and bishops who persevere in the faith. We face what can only be described as a demonic homosexual subculture within the priesthood whose evil acts cry out to heaven for vengeance. They have scattered the flock and led many into sin. So we should also pray for God’s justice and that He have mercy on their souls.
With all due respect, His Holiness, Pope Francis should address the Clergy for several reasons:
1. It is the Clergy who are of Holy Orders, a Sacrament of our Lord Jesus
2. It is elements of the Clergy who perpetrated Sacrilege against the Sacrament of Holy Orders and against the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and against each and every victim, Child, Lay, and Cleric, and against Holy Mother Church
3. It is elements of the Episcopacy who perpetrated or aided or abetted the Sacrilege against the Sacrament of Holy Orders and against the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
4. It is elements of the Clergy who have, over decades, greatly succeeded in normalizing the very unholy acceptance of same-sex-attracted into Holy Orders which enabled the abominable infestation of disorder which the Church has taught against being allowed into Holy Orders; it is they, this element of the Clergy who have twisted God’s Word to their and the misled Laity to their destruction.
First the Clergy – they are not the Laity – then the Laity – we are not the Clergy. They lead, we follow.
Just words. Never know who even writes them for sure. Action is needed. Confession of the evil is needed. The Rite of Degradation of some bishops and cardinals is needed. The resignation of the guilty is needed. The resignation of sodomites is needed. It is not just about the altar boys but also the teens, young men, other men, rented men, etc. The heresy is there too. And so are the demons.
Instead of properly addressing the problem at the clergy, the Pope deviously and distractively calls “the entire holy faithful People of God to a penitential exercise of prayer and fasting”. Moreover, does he now suddenly expect us to believe that he really wants these filthy predators and their protectors he normally promotes to high positions to change their hearts and become the kind of decent faithful Catholics he so despises as “Pharisees”, “rigid”, “rule keepers”, &c, &c? Completely incredible.
I get the feeling he is avoiding his responsibility of cleaning house of gay clergy by making everyone guilty if they don’t pray and fast. His power is “ supreme” and “ immediate” “over all the churches” according to canon law I got that vibe too when he earlier sought decentralization of power down to Bishops away from Rome as in Malta running it’s own take on divorced remarrieds receiving Communion. Nineveh all prayed and fasted because all Ninevites were doing sins. This is different. Do any of us fast and pray for the thugs in our city. No. Spreading guilt to the innocent is the tendency of a man who is not going to clean house. Wait for it…
I pray the Holy Father will finally admit there is a homosexual subculture in the clergy of the Church,and root it out.
Pope “Who-Am-I-To-Judge?” Bergoglio can lead the way by acknowledging his disgraceful and scandalous leadership, taking personal responsibility, and resigning.
Cardinal Danneels.
No. I’m sorry, but this is lame. I didn’t do this. The vast majority of the Church had nothing to do with the crimes perpetrated by some evil priests and bishops and covered by weak, misguided, or evil Bishops and Cardinals. So most of us have nothig to repent. We should pray for the victims and their families, for those who have left the faith in disgust, and for the good priests and bishops who persevere in the faith. We face what can only be described as a demonic homosexual subculture within the priesthood whose evil acts cry out to heaven for vengeance. They have scattered the flock and led many into sin. So we should also pray for God’s justice and that He have mercy on their souls.
With all due respect, His Holiness, Pope Francis should address the Clergy for several reasons:
1. It is the Clergy who are of Holy Orders, a Sacrament of our Lord Jesus
2. It is elements of the Clergy who perpetrated Sacrilege against the Sacrament of Holy Orders and against the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and against each and every victim, Child, Lay, and Cleric, and against Holy Mother Church
3. It is elements of the Episcopacy who perpetrated or aided or abetted the Sacrilege against the Sacrament of Holy Orders and against the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
4. It is elements of the Clergy who have, over decades, greatly succeeded in normalizing the very unholy acceptance of same-sex-attracted into Holy Orders which enabled the abominable infestation of disorder which the Church has taught against being allowed into Holy Orders; it is they, this element of the Clergy who have twisted God’s Word to their and the misled Laity to their destruction.
First the Clergy – they are not the Laity – then the Laity – we are not the Clergy. They lead, we follow.
Pax Christi in Regno Christi
Just words. Never know who even writes them for sure. Action is needed. Confession of the evil is needed. The Rite of Degradation of some bishops and cardinals is needed. The resignation of the guilty is needed. The resignation of sodomites is needed. It is not just about the altar boys but also the teens, young men, other men, rented men, etc. The heresy is there too. And so are the demons.
Instead of properly addressing the problem at the clergy, the Pope deviously and distractively calls “the entire holy faithful People of God to a penitential exercise of prayer and fasting”. Moreover, does he now suddenly expect us to believe that he really wants these filthy predators and their protectors he normally promotes to high positions to change their hearts and become the kind of decent faithful Catholics he so despises as “Pharisees”, “rigid”, “rule keepers”, &c, &c? Completely incredible.
What I can see is prayer and fasting in reparation to the Sacred Heart for the acts of horrible blasphemy done against Him.
We need a new pope (preferably an African) to actually clean house and reform the Church.
Do you have any video of that? I’d like to find out more details.