Bridgeport, Conn., Jan 2, 2021 / 04:35 pm (CNA).- The Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport has announced that Bishop Frank Caggiano is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 last Wednesday.
Bishop Caggiano has been systematically testing for COVID every Monday. On Wednesday, December 30th, the lab returned a positive diagnosis.
Diocese officials say Caggiano is not suffering any symptoms but has suspended public appearances for 10 days in accordance with CDC guidelines. This Saturday, January 2nd, the Bishop had to skip the awaited ordination of Deacon Brendan Blawie, a native of Newtown who graduated from Marine Officer’s Candidate School in Quantico, VA in the summer of 2012, and was ordained as a transitional deacon on June 20, 2020 by Caggiano.
Bishop James Massa, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn and rector of St. Joseph Seminary in Dunwoodie ordained Deacon Brendan to the priesthood at 11 am (local time) at St. Augustine’s Cathedral in Bridgeport.
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Pope Leo XIV gives the first general audience of 2026 in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Jan. 7, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
Jan 7, 2026 / 09:37 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV began a series of reflections on the Second Vatican Council at his first general audience of 2026 on Wednesday.
The public audience, held indoors in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall due to low temperatures, took place shortly before the start of Leo’s first consultation with cardinals, called a consistory, convened for Jan. 7–8.
The pope noted that though the Second Vatican Council took place just over 60 years ago, its generation of bishops, theologians, and lay Catholics is no longer alive — necessitating a renewed study of its teachings.
“While we hear the call not to let [the council’s] prophecy fade, and to continue to seek ways and means to implement its insights, it will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through ‘hearsay’ or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content,” the pope said on the morning of Jan. 7.
He affirmed that the magisterium of Vatican II “still constitutes the guiding star of the Church’s journey today.”
“As the years have passed, the conciliar documents have lost none of their timeliness; indeed, their teachings are proving particularly relevant to the new situation of the Church and the current globalized society,” he said, quoting Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Leo XIV gives the first general audience of 2026 in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Jan. 7, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
The Holy Father also recalled the original impulse of this great ecclesial event, convened by St. John XXIII, which paved “the way for a new ecclesial season” following a “rich biblical, theological, and liturgical reflection spanning the 20th century.”
Leo reviewed some of the council’s principal fruits, including that it “rediscovered the face of God as the Father who, in Christ, calls us to be his children.”
It also led, he said, to a renewed understanding of the Church “as a mystery of communion and sacrament of unity between God and his people,” and it initiated an important “liturgical reform” by placing the mystery of salvation and the active and conscious participation of the entire people of God at its center.
“It helped us to open up to the world and to embrace the changes and challenges of the modern age in dialogue and co-responsibility, as a Church that wishes to open her arms to humanity,” he explained.
Quoting St. Paul VI, he stated that the Church embarked on a new path in order “to seek the truth by way of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and dialogue with people of goodwill.”
That same spirit, he added, “must characterize our spiritual life and the pastoral action of the Church, because we have yet to achieve ecclesial reform more fully in a ministerial sense and, in the face of today’s challenges, we are called to continue to be vigilant interpreters of the signs of the times, joyful proclaimers of the Gospel, courageous witnesses of justice and peace.”
“As we approach the documents of Vatican Council II and rediscover their prophetic and contemporary relevance, we welcome the rich tradition of the life of the Church and, at the same time, we question ourselves about the present and renew our joy in running towards the world to bring it the Gospel of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of love, justice, and peace,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for Korean Catholics before the statue of St. Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn was blessed by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s B… […]
Vatican City, Oct 2, 2019 / 12:43 pm (CNA).- An Italian news magazine has reported that five Vatican employees have been suspended following an Oct. 1 raid of offices within the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.
I ask God’s blessings on Bishop Caggiano
Symptomless “cases” is an oxymoron, and is a form of FRAUD.