Pope Francis on Nov. 4, 2024, named Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey Grob as archbishop of Milwaukee. / Credit: Archdiocese of Milwaukee
Vatican City, Nov 4, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki and named Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey Grob to be his successor.
With the Nov. 4 appointment, the 63-year-old Grob will be returning to his birth state of Wisconsin. The prelate was born to dairy farmers in the town of Cross Plains in 1961.
Listecki, who has served as Milwaukee’s archbishop since 2010, submitted his resignation to the pope on his 75th birthday, March 12, as required by canon law.
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Milwaukee spans 10 counties in southeastern Wisconsin. The territory has approximately 550,000 Catholics — about 23% of the population — and 184 parishes.
After growing up in rural Wisconsin, Grob was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1992. He also served as a judge in the archdiocesan tribunal after receiving a licentiate — and later a doctorate — in canon law.
He also holds a licentiate in sacred theology and a doctorate in philosophy.
Grob served as judicial vicar for the Chicago Archdiocese for two years before he was named its chancellor in 2017.
Pope Francis appointed Grob an auxiliary bishop of Chicago in September 2020.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Vatican City, Mar 31, 2017 / 09:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Although the Jubilee Year of Mercy has officially ended, Pope Francis today made a surprise “Mercy Friday” visit to a center for the blind and visually impaired in Rome – showing that he doesn’t think works of mercy are just for special occasions – or years.
Continuing his tradition of performing a spiritual or corporal work of mercy on one Friday a month during the Church’s Jubilee of Mercy in 2016, the Pope went in the afternoon of March 31 to the St. Alessio-Margherita di Savoia Regional Center for the blind in Rome.
According to a March 31 communique from the Vatican, the Pope wished to make this visit as a “follow-up” to the private visits of the Jubilee.
This particular act of mercy, the communique stated, was to guests of the center, which organizes activities “aimed at social inclusion of the blind and visually impaired.”
During his visit, the Pope met with the different guests, some of whom have been blind from birth and others who have no vision or impaired vision due to a serious disease. Some of the guests have multiple disabilities.
Among the guests there are around 50 children who attend the center to receive practical training in life skills and in navigating daily activities, as well as 37 elderly people who are permanent residents of the facility.
Francis also greeted the president and director general of the center, the medical staff and volunteers.
Before leaving, he left a gift and signed a parchment for the center’s chapel, in memory of his visit. He returned to the Vatican around 6:00 p.m.
Pope Francis kicked off his monthly works of mercy in January 2016 by visiting a retirement home for the elderly, sick, and those in a vegetative state, and a month later traveled to a center for those recovering from drug addiction in Castel Gandolfo.
Other visits throughout the year included refugees, children, formerly sex-trafficked women, former priests, infants and the terminally ill.
In December 2016, Pope Francis said in an interview with the official website for the Jubilee of Mercy that he would be making “different gestures” of mercy once a month on Fridays during the Holy Year.
Rome, Italy, Feb 16, 2018 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- Yesterday Pope Francis issued a new letter motu proprio entitled Imparare a congedarsi, or “Learning to take your leave.”
Pope Francis made only some minor adjustments to canon law concerni… […]
Pilgrims pass through the holy door at the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls on Jan. 5, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
CNA Newsroom, Feb 13, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).
Since Pope Francis marked the beginning of the 2025 Jubilee year, 1.3 million people have passed through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, according to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect for the New Evangelization section of the Dicastery for Evangelization.
Fisichella made the announcement at a Feb. 7 press conference for the Jubilee of the Armed Forces. The archbishop pointed out, however, that the numbers of pilgrims “are not a criterion of validity for the success of the Jubilee. What counts is what is in the hearts of people.”
Holy doors are usually only designated in the four papal basilicas in Rome — St. Peter’s in the Vatican, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. But this year, Pope Franics also opened another location at Rebibbia prison in Rome.
Besides the Holy Doors, other factors have contributed to the high number of people visiting Rome and other parts of Italy to take part in this year’s celebration.
“The Jubilee is one of the major reasons we’re seeing the increased crowds. But also recent surveys show that Italy in general remains among the most popular travel destinations in the world,” Teresa Tomeo, an Italy travel expert and founder of the website, “T’s Italy, told CNA.
“A survey found that travelers want more than just a Roman or Italian holiday. They’re looking for ‘transformative’ travel,” Tomeo said. “What better place than Italy given all of the incredible and important religious sites, not to mention the natural beauty, for change or transformation to occur?”
Teresa Tomeo is pictured here (at center) during the Oct. 2024 pilgrimage she and her husband, Deacon Dominick Pastore, led to Italy. Credit: Courtesy of T’s Italy
Tomeo, a best-selling author who has led multiple Italian tours and visited the country on more than 60 occasions, said these pilgrimages have the power to strengthen a traveler’s faith.
“On our last pilgrimage in October of 2024, we had three of our pilgrims privately tell us that they were so moved or ‘transformed’ by what they experienced in Italy, that they were coming back into the Church,” she said.
Since the Jubilee has begun with such large crowds, locals and travelers should expect the high volume to continue.
“Easter time and the summer months are always the busiest times of year in Italy and especially Rome,” said Tomeo. “I don’t think it will be any different this year. The canonizations of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati fall within those time periods and those special events are expected to draw even larger crowds.”
Tomeo encourages visitors to fully immerse themselves in their Jubilee travels.
“Turin is where Blessed Frassati is from and is buried and it has so much to offer pilgrims in terms of other saints,” she said. “The church, St. John the Baptist, which houses his tomb, is also home to the chapel of the Shroud of Turin. Although the Shroud is not available for viewing and veneration during the Jubilee year, the church is breathtaking and Turino is home to another popular saint — St. John Bosco.”
“And then of course the medieval and unspoiled town of Assisi and the tomb of Carlo Acutis is a place that deserves more than just a day trip from Rome. Not to mention the surrounding area of Assisi in Umbria and other nearby saints such as St. Rita of Cascia, St. Clare of the Cross in Montefalco, and St. Angela of Foligno,” Tomeo said.
The Jubilee will continue until Jan. 6. 2026 and it is anticipated that more than 30 million pilgrims will make the religious journey to Rome during the holy year.
One more good voice silenced by a Blaise-ING lib… Too bad Milwaukee now has this to contend with…