Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church

Vatican City, May 4, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

On May 7, an expected 133 cardinal electors will enter the Sistine Chapel to elect the new Roman pontiff, the successor to Pope Francis, who shied away from giving red hats to the traditional archdioceses but opted to give the honor to far-flung places, many of which had never had a cardinal before.

Of the 133 cardinals with the right to vote in this conclave, 108 were created by Pope Francis and therefore will be participating in the election of a pontiff for the first time.

Compared with the 2013 conclave that chose Pope Francis, none of the major sees typically headed by a cardinal will be represented this time around, including the archdioceses of Sydney, Vienna, Genoa, Paris, Milan, Palermo, Armagh, and Krakow.

Pope Francis’ choice of cardinals from nontraditional countries and sees has dramatically shifted what used to be large and powerful representations within the college, such as the cardinals from Italy.

Now, only 52 Europeans will enter the Sistine Chapel, less than half of the entire electoral body. Of these 52, just 17 are Italians, including curial cardinals — those who work inside the Vatican — and those who live in Rome. 

The Italian presence is significantly reduced compared with the 2013 conclave, which had 28 cardinals of Italian origin.

By contrast, the continent of Africa has grown by seven cardinal electors since the last conclave for a total of 18 red hats, and Asia’s representation has increased to 20 from 10 in 2013. 

Countries represented by a cardinal elector for the first time include Haiti, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, Tonga, Cape Verde, East Timor, Sweden, Iran, Luxembourg, Singapore, South Sudan, Ghana, Rwanda, El Salvador, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea, and Serbia. 

Another change to the College of Cardinals made by Pope Francis was the decision to surpass the limit of 120 voting cardinals set by Paul VI and confirmed by John Paul II. This limit was exceeded in June 2017, when Francis designated five new cardinals, bringing the total to 121. The total number of cardinal electors currently stands at 135.

In the apostolic constitution governing a “sede vacante,” Universi Dominici Gregis, it says that a cardinal who has been “created and published before the College of Cardinals thereby has the right to elect the pope” if he has not reached the age of 80.

Under Pope Francis, there was also an increase in cardinal electors representing the Eastern Catholic Churches “sui iuris”: Cardinal Mykola Bycok (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church); Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad (Syro-Malabar Church); Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal (Syro-Malankar Church); Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel (Ethiopian Metropolitan Church “sui iuris”); and Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako (Chaldean Church).

Other geographical areas instead have not seen large changes in the number of voting cardinals.

The United States will have 10 voting cardinals (one less than in the 2005 and 2013 conclaves). Canada will have four and Mexico will have two representatives inside the Sistine Chapel.

From Europe, there will be five cardinal electors from France, four from Spain, four from Portugal and Poland, three from Germany and the United Kingdom, two from Switzerland, and one each from Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Holland, Serbia, and Sweden.

Central America will bring to the Sistine Chapel one cardinal each from Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Haiti. South America will see the presence of seven cardinals from Brazil, four from Argentina (there were two in 2013 and one in 2005), and one each from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

The 18 African cardinals include two from the Ivory Coast and one each from Algeria (although Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco is French by birth), Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco (Cardinal Cristóbal Lopez Romero is Spanish by birth), Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, and Tanzania.

There are 20 cardinals who will participate in the conclave from Asia: four from India, three from the Philippines, two from Japan, and one each from China, East Timor, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia (Cardinal Giorgio Marengo is Italian by birth), Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

The Middle East will be represented by three cardinals, one each from the Holy Land (Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa is Italian by birth), Iran (Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu is Belgian by birth), and Iraq.

From Oceania, four cardinals will be eligible to vote: one each from Australia (Bycok is Ukrainian by birth), New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga.

Marco Mancini of ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner, contributed to this report.

Vatican City, May 4, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

On May 7, an expected 133 cardinal electors will enter the Sistine Chapel to elect the new Roman pontiff, the successor to Pope Francis, who shied away from giving red hats to the traditional archdioceses but opted to give the honor to far-flung places, many of which had never had a cardinal before.

Of the 133 cardinals with the right to vote in this conclave, 108 were created by Pope Francis and therefore will be participating in the election of a pontiff for the first time.

Compared with the 2013 conclave that chose Pope Francis, none of the major sees typically headed by a cardinal will be represented this time around, including the archdioceses of Sydney, Vienna, Genoa, Paris, Milan, Palermo, Armagh, and Krakow.

Pope Francis’ choice of cardinals from nontraditional countries and sees has dramatically shifted what used to be large and powerful representations within the college, such as the cardinals from Italy.

Now, only 52 Europeans will enter the Sistine Chapel, less than half of the entire electoral body. Of these 52, just 17 are Italians, including curial cardinals — those who work inside the Vatican — and those who live in Rome. 

The Italian presence is significantly reduced compared with the 2013 conclave, which had 28 cardinals of Italian origin.

By contrast, the continent of Africa has grown by seven cardinal electors since the last conclave for a total of 18 red hats, and Asia’s representation has increased to 20 from 10 in 2013. 

Countries represented by a cardinal elector for the first time include Haiti, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, Tonga, Cape Verde, East Timor, Sweden, Iran, Luxembourg, Singapore, South Sudan, Ghana, Rwanda, El Salvador, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea, and Serbia. 

Another change to the College of Cardinals made by Pope Francis was the decision to surpass the limit of 120 voting cardinals set by Paul VI and confirmed by John Paul II. This limit was exceeded in June 2017, when Francis designated five new cardinals, bringing the total to 121. The total number of cardinal electors currently stands at 135.

In the apostolic constitution governing a “sede vacante,” Universi Dominici Gregis, it says that a cardinal who has been “created and published before the College of Cardinals thereby has the right to elect the pope” if he has not reached the age of 80.

Under Pope Francis, there was also an increase in cardinal electors representing the Eastern Catholic Churches “sui iuris”: Cardinal Mykola Bycok (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church); Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad (Syro-Malabar Church); Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal (Syro-Malankar Church); Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel (Ethiopian Metropolitan Church “sui iuris”); and Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako (Chaldean Church).

Other geographical areas instead have not seen large changes in the number of voting cardinals.

The United States will have 10 voting cardinals (one less than in the 2005 and 2013 conclaves). Canada will have four and Mexico will have two representatives inside the Sistine Chapel.

From Europe, there will be five cardinal electors from France, four from Spain, four from Portugal and Poland, three from Germany and the United Kingdom, two from Switzerland, and one each from Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Holland, Serbia, and Sweden.

Central America will bring to the Sistine Chapel one cardinal each from Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Haiti. South America will see the presence of seven cardinals from Brazil, four from Argentina (there were two in 2013 and one in 2005), and one each from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

The 18 African cardinals include two from the Ivory Coast and one each from Algeria (although Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco is French by birth), Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco (Cardinal Cristóbal Lopez Romero is Spanish by birth), Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, and Tanzania.

There are 20 cardinals who will participate in the conclave from Asia: four from India, three from the Philippines, two from Japan, and one each from China, East Timor, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia (Cardinal Giorgio Marengo is Italian by birth), Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

The Middle East will be represented by three cardinals, one each from the Holy Land (Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa is Italian by birth), Iran (Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu is Belgian by birth), and Iraq.

From Oceania, four cardinals will be eligible to vote: one each from Australia (Bycok is Ukrainian by birth), New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Tonga.

Marco Mancini of ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner, contributed to this report.

CNA Staff, May 4, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Dr. Christopher Stroud was a Catholic OB-GYN who prescribed birth control and gave referrals for in vitro fertilization (IVF) until a priest admonished him in the sacrament of reconciliation. Now Stroud runs a life-affirming fertility clinic that uses Natural Procreative Technology — a treatment model that embraces life-affirming Catholic ethics.

“It changed my life,” Stroud said of the confession. “Probably for all eternity, it changed my life.”

Stroud said he still “get[s] emotional” just talking about the impact of the clinic. Couples send him photos of their babies — it has grown into a wall of photos now.

Since his change of heart in 2012, his practice has “just exploded.” The clinic has grown so popular that there’s a six-month wait period.

“We are blessed with a busy, busy practice,” he told CNA.

While Stroud’s clinic is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he received his training in Nebraska at St. Paul VI Institute — an organization founded in 1985 that trains doctors in “NaProTechnology.”

And the demand for NaProTechnology? It’s “unlimited,” Stroud said.

What makes NaPro different? 

NaProTechnology is “a problem-based approach to fertility challenges,” Stroud explained.

The model is “a recognition, more than anything, that infertility is a symptom — it’s not a diagnosis,” Stroud explained.

Rather than jumping to IVF — which is often expensive, arduous, and carries ethical issues with the creation of unused embryos — NaProTechnology applies basic principals of contemporary medicine to fertility treatment.

“Everywhere else in contemporary medicine, we use symptoms to point to a disease state, and then we treat the disease state; then we ask, did the symptom go away?” Stroud said.

But with the advent of IVF in the late 1970s, doctors were taught to promptly refer clients for IVF, Stroud explained.

NaProTechnology is highly effective, Stroud has found. Fertility specialists can address the underlying health issues preventing conception “more times than not,” he said.

Teresa Hilgers, an OB-GYN at the St. Paul VI Institute, added that NaProTechnology often brings a couple’s fertility “back to life.” She said she has seen “so many” couples who, with the help of NaProTechnology, “no longer need medical support to achieve future pregnancies.”

Talking about IVF 

Stroud emphasized that while IVF is against Church teaching, IVF is a challenging issue to talk about. It’s important to acknowledge that the children created through IVF are created in God’s image, Stroud said.

“Any time we have a chance to say [it], we must say that the children created by IVF are children of God — created in his image and likeness,” Stroud said.

“We’ve got to remember that as Catholics, we’re not condemning, we’re educating,” Stroud continued. “And the people that we’re talking to often are very, very wounded and vulnerable.”

When discussing IVF, Stroud noted that “we’ve got to remember the vulnerable, horrible pain that couples are experiencing.”

“I can’t think of another marital stress that could ever hold a candle to infertility because it forces couples to question what it means to be man and woman, what it means to be married, what it means to be intimate,” Stroud said.

“But children are a gift. They’re not a right,” Stroud said. “If they were a right, they’d be property, which is part of the problem with IVF — they do become property.”

The Catholic perspective

IVF is contrary to the Catholic Church’s teaching. But why?

There are several layers to understanding the Church’s teaching on IVF. Most obviously, there’s the high cost of life in IVF.

“IVF is very destructive,” Hilgers said. “Many babies are lost to create one new life.”

The remaining human embryos conceived via IVF often remain in frozen storage for an indeterminate amount of time — often never to grow up.

“[Couples] may have finished their fertility journey, but they do not know what to do with their remaining frozen embryos,” Hilgers said.

IVF also contradicts the Church’s understanding of the purpose of sexual intercourse within the union of marriage.

“The Church teaches that the act of sexual intercourse has two aspects: procreative and unitive. These are inseparable,” Hilgers said. “IVF separates the procreative and unitive acts of intercourse between a married couple.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 2377) states that IVF is “morally unacceptable” because it separates the marriage act from procreation and establishes “the domination of technology” over human life.

But there’s also a biological and medical argument against IVF, both Hilgers and Stroud noted.

“Many do not realize that IVF is not good medicine,” Hilgers said.

“The success rates are lower than most think,” she said. “A lot of couples go through IVF and fail.”

IVF can bring with it additional risks, including higher complication rates with pregnancy, higher preterm labor, and even higher risk for birth defects, Hilgers added. 

When Stroud meets with patients who are considering IVF, he begins by asking them: “Why?” 

“The thing that I say to the couple is: Wouldn’t you like to know why you’re not getting pregnant — even if it means you’re never going to be pregnant — wouldn’t you like to know?” he said. “I’ve never had a couple say, ‘Actually, no, we don’t care.’” 

For couples with infertility

Both Hilgers and Stroud emphasized that IVF is far from the only option for couples struggling with infertility.

When asked what he would say to couples struggling with infertility, Stroud said: “Don’t settle.” 

“You don’t have to settle as a couple, and you don’t have to choose between the tenets of your faith and your fertility,” Stroud said. “Unexplained infertility is, more times than not, uninvestigated infertility.”

“Many couples who undergo IVF are never given a diagnosis for why they have infertility,” Hilgers added. “They are often told that their infertility is ‘unexplained.’”

But “their infertility is unexplained because a proper evaluation was never done,” Hilgers said.

When asked about the impact of NaProTechnology on families, Hilgers said that by respecting Church teaching on love and life, the human dignity of all involved is also respected.

“When these teachings are respected, then the dignity of everyone involved, the woman, her husband, and children are respected,” she said.

CNA Staff, May 4, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Dr. Christopher Stroud was a Catholic OB-GYN who prescribed birth control and gave referrals for in vitro fertilization (IVF) until a priest admonished him in the sacrament of reconciliation. Now Stroud runs a life-affirming fertility clinic that uses Natural Procreative Technology — a treatment model that embraces life-affirming Catholic ethics.

“It changed my life,” Stroud said of the confession. “Probably for all eternity, it changed my life.”

Stroud said he still “get[s] emotional” just talking about the impact of the clinic. Couples send him photos of their babies — it has grown into a wall of photos now.

Since his change of heart in 2012, his practice has “just exploded.” The clinic has grown so popular that there’s a six-month wait period.

“We are blessed with a busy, busy practice,” he told CNA.

While Stroud’s clinic is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he received his training in Nebraska at St. Paul VI Institute — an organization founded in 1985 that trains doctors in “NaProTechnology.”

And the demand for NaProTechnology? It’s “unlimited,” Stroud said.

What makes NaPro different? 

NaProTechnology is “a problem-based approach to fertility challenges,” Stroud explained.

The model is “a recognition, more than anything, that infertility is a symptom — it’s not a diagnosis,” Stroud explained.

Rather than jumping to IVF — which is often expensive, arduous, and carries ethical issues with the creation of unused embryos — NaProTechnology applies basic principals of contemporary medicine to fertility treatment.

“Everywhere else in contemporary medicine, we use symptoms to point to a disease state, and then we treat the disease state; then we ask, did the symptom go away?” Stroud said.

But with the advent of IVF in the late 1970s, doctors were taught to promptly refer clients for IVF, Stroud explained.

NaProTechnology is highly effective, Stroud has found. Fertility specialists can address the underlying health issues preventing conception “more times than not,” he said.

Teresa Hilgers, an OB-GYN at the St. Paul VI Institute, added that NaProTechnology often brings a couple’s fertility “back to life.” She said she has seen “so many” couples who, with the help of NaProTechnology, “no longer need medical support to achieve future pregnancies.”

Talking about IVF 

Stroud emphasized that while IVF is against Church teaching, IVF is a challenging issue to talk about. It’s important to acknowledge that the children created through IVF are created in God’s image, Stroud said.

“Any time we have a chance to say [it], we must say that the children created by IVF are children of God — created in his image and likeness,” Stroud said.

“We’ve got to remember that as Catholics, we’re not condemning, we’re educating,” Stroud continued. “And the people that we’re talking to often are very, very wounded and vulnerable.”

When discussing IVF, Stroud noted that “we’ve got to remember the vulnerable, horrible pain that couples are experiencing.”

“I can’t think of another marital stress that could ever hold a candle to infertility because it forces couples to question what it means to be man and woman, what it means to be married, what it means to be intimate,” Stroud said.

“But children are a gift. They’re not a right,” Stroud said. “If they were a right, they’d be property, which is part of the problem with IVF — they do become property.”

The Catholic perspective

IVF is contrary to the Catholic Church’s teaching. But why?

There are several layers to understanding the Church’s teaching on IVF. Most obviously, there’s the high cost of life in IVF.

“IVF is very destructive,” Hilgers said. “Many babies are lost to create one new life.”

The remaining human embryos conceived via IVF often remain in frozen storage for an indeterminate amount of time — often never to grow up.

“[Couples] may have finished their fertility journey, but they do not know what to do with their remaining frozen embryos,” Hilgers said.

IVF also contradicts the Church’s understanding of the purpose of sexual intercourse within the union of marriage.

“The Church teaches that the act of sexual intercourse has two aspects: procreative and unitive. These are inseparable,” Hilgers said. “IVF separates the procreative and unitive acts of intercourse between a married couple.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 2377) states that IVF is “morally unacceptable” because it separates the marriage act from procreation and establishes “the domination of technology” over human life.

But there’s also a biological and medical argument against IVF, both Hilgers and Stroud noted.

“Many do not realize that IVF is not good medicine,” Hilgers said.

“The success rates are lower than most think,” she said. “A lot of couples go through IVF and fail.”

IVF can bring with it additional risks, including higher complication rates with pregnancy, higher preterm labor, and even higher risk for birth defects, Hilgers added. 

When Stroud meets with patients who are considering IVF, he begins by asking them: “Why?” 

“The thing that I say to the couple is: Wouldn’t you like to know why you’re not getting pregnant — even if it means you’re never going to be pregnant — wouldn’t you like to know?” he said. “I’ve never had a couple say, ‘Actually, no, we don’t care.’” 

For couples with infertility

Both Hilgers and Stroud emphasized that IVF is far from the only option for couples struggling with infertility.

When asked what he would say to couples struggling with infertility, Stroud said: “Don’t settle.” 

“You don’t have to settle as a couple, and you don’t have to choose between the tenets of your faith and your fertility,” Stroud said. “Unexplained infertility is, more times than not, uninvestigated infertility.”

“Many couples who undergo IVF are never given a diagnosis for why they have infertility,” Hilgers added. “They are often told that their infertility is ‘unexplained.’”

But “their infertility is unexplained because a proper evaluation was never done,” Hilgers said.

When asked about the impact of NaProTechnology on families, Hilgers said that by respecting Church teaching on love and life, the human dignity of all involved is also respected.

“When these teachings are respected, then the dignity of everyone involved, the woman, her husband, and children are respected,” she said.

ROME (CNS) -- An AI-generated image of U.S. President Donald Trump dressed as the pope "was not good," Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York said in Rome.

"I hope he didn't have anything to do with that," he told reporters before he entered Our Lady of Guadalupe Church where he celebrated Mass May 4.

The picture, featuring Trump wearing a white cassock and miter traditionally worn by a pope, was first shared on the president's @realDonaldTrump account on TruthSocial.com and then shared by official White House social media accounts May 3. Trump had also told a reporter April 29, "I'd like to be pope."

Cardinal Dolan was asked if he was offended by the image. "Well, you know, it wasn't good. The Italians say, 'brutta figura,'" he said, meaning, it made a "bad impression."

The cardinal was celebrating Mass at his "titular" parish. When prelates are made cardinals, they are assigned a "titular" church in Rome, which makes them members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome.

The small church in the hilltop district of Monte Mario was full of parishioners, visitors and the press.

Msgr. Gianfranco Mammoli, the parish priest, thanked the cardinal for his visit and noted the importance of the day's Gospel reading (John 21:1-19) as the world's cardinals were gathered in Rome to choose the next pope. 

Jesus did not give Simon Peter clear directions on how to build or lead his church after his death and resurrection, Msgr. Mammoli said in his introductory remarks. All that Jesus said, was "Do you love me?"

In a few days, Cardinal Dolan and others will have the task of choosing the successor of Peter -- the leader of the universal church and the bishop of Rome, the monsignor said.

"Someone will be chosen, not because he is prepared," but because he loves Jesus with all his heart and will answer his call to follow Jesus and feed his sheep, he said.

In his homily, given in Italian, Cardinal Dolan asked everyone to pray for him and all the cardinals as they prepare to begin the conclave May 7 to choose the next pope. "I need the light of the Holy Spirit."

The cardinal focused his homily on the Gospel reading and how Jesus gathers his disciples to share a meal.

Every Sunday Mass is the people of God -- the Lord's disciples -- coming together to share a meal with the Lord, he said. It is a spiritual "meal" shared as a family with the Holy Mother Church.

Remarking that "Pope Francis loved to say and often would say to us priests" to keep homilies short, the cardinal said, "OK, that's it!" keeping his talk to under five minutes.

As the congregation laughed, Cardinal Dolan asked if their priest keeps his homilies brief, to which they said, "Yes!"

The cardinal processed to the back of the church and stood outside the front door so he could greet and chat with all the parishioners as they filed out. He answered questions, reminded people to pray for him, posed for selfies and invited people to come to New York City and visit him at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Meeting again with reporters after the Mass, he emphasized the importance of prayer, saying Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, told the cardinals to "make sure you ask the people to pray for us because we need it very, very much."

He said the cardinals are "still getting to know one another," and it helps that this is his second conclave.

When he participated as a 63-year-old, recently-elevated cardinal in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, he said he was "so nervous" and wasn't sure what to do.

"But now I feel kind of seasoned, a little more relaxed," he said.

"Will there be a Francis II," he was asked. "Let's hope so" because it is needed, he said.

When asked what characteristics he would like to see in the next pope, he said it was important the pope always smile and be simple, humble and good.

It would be nice to blend all the best characteristics of the last three popes, he said, including Pope Benedict XVI's "intense intellect" and St. John Paul II's "courage and his call to follow Jesus."

"I'm praying to St. Anthony" to find the one, he said.

Asked if he had already made a choice, he said he still had to think about it.

"But you only have two more days," a reporter said.

"That will be enough, don't you think?" he replied.
 

ROME (CNS) -- As Catholics in Rome await the election of their new bishop, the pope, some of them celebrated Sunday Mass at their parishes with the cardinals who will enter a conclave May 7.

When prelates are made cardinals, they are assigned a "titular" parish in Rome, which makes them members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome. In the early days of the church, the clergy of the diocese elected the pope.

Several cardinals chose to celebrate Mass at their titular churches May 4, the last Sunday before they enter the Sistine Chapel to begin voting for a new pope.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, was at St. Mary of the Graces Church where it was first Communion Sunday. There were prayers for the late Pope Francis, for Cardinal Tobin and for the new pope, but the focus was solidly on the children. 

The cardinal and his priest secretary arrived at the parish by subway. Wearing a clerical suit with his pectoral cross tucked in his pocket, no one recognized him, he said.

Outside the church, journalists did know who he was and asked him how the pre-conclave meetings were going. "There is a growing consensus about the qualities needed for the next Holy Father, but not names. A lot depends on the Holy Spirit."

Still, he was predicting a fairly short conclave "because the majority of cardinals, including me, are diocesan bishops and we need to get back."

Cardinal Tobin said there is a desire "to have continuity" with the papacy of Pope Francis, but not an "exact" replica. "There is no going back," he added.

Father Antonio Fois, the pastor, welcomed Cardinal Tobin "home" to his Rome parish. "In a few days, you and your brother cardinals will elect the new bishop of Rome. And we pray for you and with you that you will choose a pastor with the heart of Jesus."

In his homily, Cardinal Tobin focused mainly on his "little brothers and sisters" who were about to receive Communion for the first time, and he prayed that their encounter with the risen Lord, who gives himself in the Eucharist, would lead them, like St. Peter in the day's Gospel, to respond, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

Cardinal Tobin told the children that he was the eldest of 13 children and every day after school he and his friends would be playing ball in the street. "At a certain point, mom would come to the door with good news: 'Dinner's ready.'" 

It was good news, he said, "not only because we were hungry," but thinking about it more deeply, it also meant that it was time to gather around the table as a family. "It was a big table with a lot of people around it and a lot of noise, but we were a family."

Jesus gathered his disciples and gathers believers today around a table, the cardinal said, "not only to nourish us but to show us that God wants to be with us, God wants to remain with us, God wants us to leave behind despair and discover the joy of being a family."

In the announcements before Mass ended, Father Fois asked parishioners to join a special recitation of the rosary and Mass at noon May 8, the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii.

During the services the day after the conclave begins, he said, "We will pray in thanksgiving for the new pope or pray that they will give us a good bishop of Rome soon."
 

Jesus invites us to be his disciples. He has called you to follow him. So, what kind of person is a disciple? Who has Jesus called you to be? What are the essential qualities of a disciple that give witness to your love of Jesus? “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved […]

The post What is a disciple? Am I one? appeared first on Integrated Catholic Life™.

St. Florian was born around 250 AD in the Roman province of Noricum, in what is now Austria. Serving as a high-ranking officer in the Roman army, he was responsible not only for military duties but also for organizing firefighting brigades. Known for his courage and sense of justice, Florian secretly converted to Christianity at […]

CNA Newsroom, May 3, 2025 / 18:21 pm (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:

CNA Newsroom, May 3, 2025 / 18:21 pm (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition: