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PHOTOS: Foundation releases never-before-seen images of Padre Pio

April 10, 2024 Catholic News Agency 1
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images include scenes of the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto’s studio. / Credit: Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

CNA Staff, Apr 10, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto's studio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation.
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto’s studio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation.

The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer but also in lighter moments of laughter, rarely captured of the friar. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto’s studio.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer, but also in lighter moments of laughter. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer, but also in lighter moments of laughter. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

EWTN News Vatican correspondent Colm Flynn sat down with Lamonarca in a recent interview for “EWTN News Nightly” to discuss the images. One of the most surprising photos was of Padre Pio smiling. 

“One is nice because [it shows everybody] hey, Padre Pio is smiling. Yes, he was smiling because he was a man. So we always think that Padre Pio was a serious man. We know that faith is also about laughing … sometimes,” Lamonarca said.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer but also in lighter moments of laughter, rarely captured of the friar. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer but also in lighter moments of laughter, rarely captured of the friar. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

The professional opera singer grew up in Italy aware of the giant figure that Padre Pio was in the Catholic Church but didn’t have a particular devotion to the saint until he and his wife faced the great suffering of having a stillborn baby and receiving the news that they would probably not be able to have more children. 

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. This one took place during a liturgy. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. This one took place during a liturgy. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

It was then that the couple turned to Padre Pio’s intercession and, in the process, began to learn more about his life. 

Lamonarca said he learned about Padre Pio’s “simplicity and humility.” 

“He was the grandfather I never had,” he told Flynn.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

Lamonarca said he felt such a connection to the saintly friar that he wanted to help bring his story and message to as many people as possible — especially in the United States — so he founded the St. Pio Foundation.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto's studio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
To mark its 10th anniversary, the St. Pio Foundation in the United States has released 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto’s studio. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

Today Lamonarca and his wife live in the United States with their son, Sebastian, who was born the year after Lamonarca founded the foundation. As an Italian living in the U.S., he is passionate about strengthening the ties between the two countries in the name of St. Pio.

In addition to the release of the photos to celebrate its 10th anniversary, the foundation has also produced a documentary drama about Padre Pio, which will air on EWTN later this year.

A flyer advertising the upcoming docudrama "Saint Pio of Pietrelcina" about the life of Padre Pio, which will be released in September 2024 by the St. Pio Foundation. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation
A flyer advertising the upcoming docudrama “Saint Pio of Pietrelcina” about the life of Padre Pio, which will be released in September 2024 by the St. Pio Foundation. Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

The full interview with Lamonarca on “EWTN News Nightly” can be viewed below.

[…]

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College sports association bans biological men from women’s sports

April 9, 2024 Catholic News Agency 1
Penn University transgender swimmer Lia Thomas celebrates taking first place in the 500-yard freestyle race with a time of 4.37.32 during the championship final race in heat three during the Women’s Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championships at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Feb. 17, 2022. / Credit: JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) approved a policy on Monday that stated that biological men cannot compete in women’s sports in NAIA-sponsored college sports. 

The NAIA includes 249 schools across the U.S. and Canada, most of which are small, private colleges. 

Catholic colleges such as Benedictine College in Kansas, Ave Maria University in Florida, Loyola University in New Orleans, and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana are members of the league. Texas A&M University in San Antonio is also a member. 

The decision, in a 20-0 vote, followed a December survey that found widespread support for the proposed rule among the association’s members. Of the 68 schools that responded to the survey, 58 were in favor of the policy change, according to a CBS report.

“We believed our first responsibility was to create fairness and competition in the NAIA,” NAIA president Jim Carr told CBS Sports. “We also think it aligns with the reasons Title IX was created.” 

The new policy requires that students who participate in NAIA-sponsored women’s sports must be biologically female and not under the influence of any masculinizing hormone therapy. 

Female athletes who take masculinizing hormones cannot compete in NAIA-sponsored women’s sports but may participate in internal activities such as workouts, practices, and teams, according to the individual college’s discretion, the policy stated.

The NAIA’s policy does not specify sex for NAIA-sponsored male sports, meaning that women taking masculinizing hormones may participate in male sports if they wish.

The policy will go into effect Aug. 1.

The decision follows recent controversy over University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male, winning an NCAA Division I Championship. 

Riley Gaines, who competed against Thomas, has been outspoken about her opposition to allowing male athletes to compete in women’s sports. 

Gaines and more than a dozen other female athletes filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) in March. The suit alleged that allowing men to compete in women’s competitions denies women protections promised under Title IX and that the decision “subject[ed] women to a loss of their constitutional right to bodily privacy.”

“Title IX was enacted by Congress to increase women’s opportunities; therefore, no policy which authorizes males to take the place of women on women’s college sports teams or in women’s college sports locker rooms is permissible under Title IX,” the complaint read.

Gaines applauded the NAIA’s move in a post on X, noting that the NAIA “becomes the first national college governing body to mandate athletes compete with their sex.”

A recent Vatican document released Monday affirmed the Catholic Church’s teaching on human dignity and addressed a variety of modern issues including transgenderism.

The Vatican declaration noted that “all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected” while also condemning any violence or aggression toward individuals based on sexual orientation.

[…]

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Seton Hall University names priest president following resignation of previous president

April 9, 2024 Catholic News Agency 0
President’s Hall, Seton Hall University. / Credit: Wikimedia/cc by sa 3.0

CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

A Catholic university in New Jersey returned to its historic tradition of naming a “priest-president” following the previous president’s abrupt resignation and lawsuit against the school. 

Seton Hall University, one of the oldest diocesan-run universities in the nation, on April 2 announced Monsignor Joseph Reilly as the 22nd president of the university. Reilly is an alumnus of the university and the current vice provost of academics and Catholic identity.

The 168-year-old university had a “priest-president” for 146 years of its history, and Reilly’s appointment marks a “return” to the tradition, the university press release noted.

Reilly will take over from interim president Katia Passerini, who took up the role after former Seton Hall president Joseph Nyre’s resignation in July 2023.

Nyre and his wife, Kelli, filed a lawsuit alleging that the former chairman of the university’s board of regents, Kevin Marino, had intimidated Nyre and sexually harassed his wife by kissing and touching her.

The suit alleged that the university violated New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act. Nyre also alleged that Seton Hall engaged in discrimination and retaliation, and breach of the separation and general release agreement.

Laurie Pine, a spokeswoman for the school, said the allegations were “completely without merit” in a February statement.

An independent financial review uncovered a series of embezzlement schemes by a “small number of trusted, longtime employees of Seton Hall Law,” Marino and Nyre announced in a joint email to the university in December 2022.

The university, which is home to Immaculate Conception Seminary and St. Andrew’s Hall seminary, also suffered under the leadership of the disgraced former cardinal and former archbishop of Newark Theodore McCarrick.

McCarrick “used his position of power as then-archbishop of Newark to sexually harass seminarians,” according to a university statement in 2019. 

Seton Hall has about 10,000 students, including 6,000 undergraduates. Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark and chair of the board of trustees, and president of the board of regents, said in an April 2 statement that he is “confident” that Reilly will be “an outstanding president.”

“In my service with Monsignor Reilly on the board of trustees, he impressed me with his abiding faith, keen intellect, and genuine care for the entire university,” he said.  

The current chair of the board of regents and the presidential search committee, Hank D’Alessandro, said that Reilly “was the ideal choice.”

“He possesses a deep faith in God and a demonstrable commitment to nurturing our students to greatness as we advance among the nation’s foremost Catholic universities,” D’Alessandro said in the statement. 

“There is no one better suited to leading the university at this moment — a time when Seton Hall stands at the cusp of extraordinary progress,” he said. 

Reilly attended Seton Hall Prep and graduated from Seton Hall University in 1987. After he was ordained a priest in 1991, he returned as rector of the college seminary in 2002. 

Reilly served as dean of the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology from 2012 to 2022 and most recently served as vice provost of academics and Catholic identity. 

Reilly said he is both “profoundly grateful” and “exceedingly energized” to take on the role.

“Seton Hall is the place where I have come to know the truth about God, about who I am before God, and about what contribution to society that God is inviting me to make,” he said. 

In 2005, St. John Paul II named Reilly as a chaplain to his holiness, and in 2015 Pope Francis appointed him as a missionary of mercy. 

Reilly has a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, a licentiate in sacred theology from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum in Rome, and a doctorate in educational administration from Fordham University.   

Reilly also served on the Faithful Citizenship Strategy Committee and the Catholic Social Teaching Task Force for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

“I cannot wait to engage our community as together we strive to bring new life to the timeless Catholic mission that makes Seton Hall unique among American universities,” Reilly said. 

[…]