Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church

Cardinal Pietro Parolin celebrates the Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2025 — the second day of mourning for the late Pope Francis. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 27, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Editor's Note: On April 27, 2025, Cardinal Pietro Parolin served as principal celebrant for the second Novendiales Mass following Pope Francis' funeral. The following homily was delivered on Divine Mercy Sunday in St. Peter's Square during the Jubilee of Teenagers, as published by the Holy See Press Office.

Dear brothers and sisters,

The risen Jesus appears to his disciples while they are in the upper room where they have fearfully shut themselves in, with the doors locked (Jn 20:19). Their state of mind is disturbed and their hearts are full of sadness, because the master and shepherd they had followed, leaving everything behind, has been nailed to the cross. They experienced terrible things and feel orphaned, alone, lost, threatened, and helpless.

The opening image that the Gospel offers us on this Sunday can also well represent the state of mind of all of us, of the Church, and of the entire world. The shepherd whom the Lord gave to his people, Pope Francis, has ended his earthly life and has left us. The grief at his departure, the sense of sadness that assails us, the turmoil we feel in our hearts, the sense of bewilderment: We are experiencing all of this, like the apostles grieving over the death of Jesus.

Yet, the Gospel tells us that it is precisely in these moments of darkness that the Lord comes to us with the light of the Resurrection to illuminate our hearts. Pope Francis reminded us of this since his election and often repeated it to us, placing at the center of his pontificate that joy of the Gospel which, as he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium, “fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew” (EG, 1).

The joy of Easter, which sustains us in this time of trial and sadness, is something that can almost be touched in this square today; you can see it etched above all in your faces, dear children and young people who have come from all over the world to celebrate the jubilee. You come from so many places: from all of the dioceses of Italy, from Europe, from the United States to Latin America, from Africa to Asia, from the United Arab Emirates… with you here, the whole world is truly present!

I address a special greeting to you, with the desire to make you feel the embrace of the Church and the affection of Pope Francis, who would have liked to meet you, to look into your eyes, and to pass among you to greet you.

In light of the many challenges you are called to confront — I think, for example, of the technology and artificial intelligence that characterize our age in a particular way — never forget to nourish your lives with the true hope that has the face of Jesus Christ. Nothing will be too great or too challenging with him! With him you will never be alone or abandoned, not even in the worst of times! He comes to meet you where you are, to give you the courage to live, to share your experiences, your thoughts, your gifts, and your dreams. He comes to you in the face of those near or far, a brother and sister to love, to whom you have so much to give and from whom so much to receive, to help you to be generous, faithful, and responsible as you move forward in life. He wants to help you to understand what is most valuable in life: the love that encompasses all things and hopes all things (cf. 1 Cor 13:7).

Today, on the second Sunday of Easter, Dominica in Albis, we celebrate the feast of Divine Mercy. 

It is precisely the Father’s mercy, which is greater than our limitations and calculations, that characterized the magisterium of Pope Francis and his intense apostolic activity. Likewise the eagerness to proclaim and share God’s mercy with all — the proclamation of the good news, evangelization — was the principal theme of his pontificate. He reminded us that “mercy” is the very name of God, and, therefore, no one can put a limit on his merciful love with which he wants to raise us up and make us new people.

It is important to welcome as a precious treasure this principle on which Pope Francis insisted so much. And — allow me to say — our affection for him, which is being manifested in this time, must not remain a mere emotion of the moment; we must welcome his legacy and make it part of our lives, opening ourselves to God’s mercy and also being merciful to one another.

Mercy takes us back to the heart of faith. It reminds us that we do not have to interpret our relationship with God and our being Church according to human or worldly categories. The good news of the Gospel is first and foremost the discovery of being loved by a God who has compassionate and tender feelings for each one of us, regardless of our merits. It also reminds us that our life is woven with mercy: We can only get back up after our falls and look to the future if we have someone who loves us without limits and forgives us. Therefore, we are called to the commitment of living our relationships no longer according to the criteria of calculation or blinded by selfishness but by opening ourselves to dialogue with others, welcoming those we meet along the way and forgiving their weaknesses and mistakes. Only mercy heals and creates a new world, putting out the fires of distrust, hatred, and violence: This is the great teaching of Pope Francis.

Jesus shows us this merciful face of God in his preaching and in the deeds he performs. Furthermore, as we have heard, when he presents himself in the upper room after the Resurrection, he offers the gift of peace and says: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn 20:23). Thus, the risen Lord directs his disciples, his Church, to be instruments of mercy for humanity for those willing to accept God’s love and forgiveness. Pope Francis was a shining witness of a Church that bends down with tenderness toward those who are wounded and heals with the balm of mercy. He reminded us that there can be no peace without the recognition of the other, without attention to those who are weaker and, above all, there can never be peace if we do not learn to forgive one another, showing each another the same mercy that God shows us.

Brothers and sisters, precisely on Divine Mercy Sunday we remember our beloved Pope Francis with affection. Indeed, such memories are particularly vivid among the employees and faithful of Vatican City, many of whom are present here, and whom I would like to thank for the service they perform every day. To you, to all of us, to the whole world, Pope Francis extends his embrace from heaven.

We entrust ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom he was so devoted that he chose to be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. May she protect us, intercede for us, watch over the Church, and support the journey of humanity in peace and fraternity. Amen.

Original painting of the Divine Mercy by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski in 1934; Pope John Paul II in 1996. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons 4.0; Vatican Media

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 27, 2025 / 05:00 am (CNA).

On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Maria Faustina Kowalska and declared the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. This year, we celebrate the feast on April 27.

In his devotion, Pope John Paul II entrusted the world to divine mercy two years later, when he consecrated the International Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, Poland.

Standing before the image of divine mercy, the pope said: “I wish solemnly to entrust the world to divine mercy. I do so with the burning desire that the message of God’s merciful love, proclaimed here through St. Faustina, may be made known to all the peoples of the earth and fill their hearts with hope.”

He finished his homily with this prayer:

God, merciful Father,

in your Son, Jesus Christ, you have revealed your love

and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,

We entrust to you today the destiny of the world and of every man and woman.

Bend down to us sinners,

heal our weakness,

conquer all evil,

and grant that all the peoples of the earth

may experience your mercy.

In you, the Triune God,

may they ever find the source of hope.

Eternal Father,

by the passion and resurrection of your Son,

have mercy on us and upon the whole world!

The consecration and entrustment of the world to Divine Mercy represented the fulfillment of a mission for Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938). Faustina, a poor, young Polish nun, experienced visions of Jesus in which he asked her to make his message of infinite love and mercy known to the world. At the request of her spiritual director, she made a record of the visions in her diary.

In his visitations, Jesus asked her to have a painting made portraying him as he appeared to her. In her diary she recorded the vision:

“Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: ‘Jesus, I trust in you.’ I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.”

In another visitation, he asked the nun that she help establish Divine Mercy Sunday on the first Sunday after Easter to offer the world salvation.

Faustina recorded Jesus’ words: “This feast emerged from the very depths of my mercy, and it is confirmed in the vast depths of my tender mercies. Every soul believing and trusting in my mercy will obtain it.”

It was the mission that Pope John Paul II also felt called to help complete.

If St. Faustina was the initial receptacle for the message of divine mercy, her Polish compatriot saw to it that the requests Jesus made of the nun were fulfilled, and the devotion spread throughout the world.

As a young seminarian in Krakow in 1940, Karol Wojtyla first learned of St. Faustina’s revelations and the message of divine mercy. Later as a priest, he was a frequent visitor to the convent where Faustina lived, stopping by to pray and hold retreats. When he became archbishop of Krakow, he led the effort to put Faustina’s name before the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and defended her when the validity of her claims was questioned in Rome. 

As pope, he published his second encyclical, Dives in Misericordia (Rich in Mercy), on Nov. 30, 1980. 

The following year, while recovering from an assassination attempt, Pope John Paul II traveled to the Shrine of Merciful Love in Collevalenza, Italy, where he revealed that he felt spreading the message of divine mercy to be his greatest calling.

”Right from the beginning of my ministry in St. Peter’s See in Rome, I considered this message my special task. Providence has assigned it to me in the present situation of man, the Church, and the world. It could be said that precisely this situation assigned that message to me as my task before God,” he said.

At the beatification of St. Faustina on April 18, 1993, the pope spoke of his delight at witnessing the popularity of the devotion to divine mercy.

“Her mission continues and is yielding astonishing fruit. It is truly marvelous how her devotion to the merciful Jesus is spreading in our contemporary world and gaining so many human hearts!” the pope said.

Yet there was more to be done. On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized St. Faustina Kowalska and declared the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday.

When Pope John Paul II entrusted the world to divine mercy, he shared his hope that the world would hear the message that God is merciful. Quoting from Faustina’s diary, he said:

“May this message radiate from this place to our beloved homeland and throughout the world. May the binding promise of the Lord Jesus be fulfilled: from here there must go forth ‘the spark which will prepare the world for his final coming’” (cf. Diary, 1732).

“This spark needs to be lighted by the grace of God. This fire of mercy needs to be passed on to the world. In the mercy of God the world will find peace and mankind will find happiness! I entrust this task to you, dear brothers and sisters, to the Church in Kraków and Poland, and to all the votaries of divine mercy who will come here from Poland and from throughout the world. May you be witnesses to mercy!” he said.

Today, devotion to divine mercy is popular among Catholics around the world. Churches and shrines and religious orders have dedicated themselves to sharing the message received by St. Faustina and which St. John Paul II considered his “task before God.”

To learn more about the divine mercy devotion, visit the website for the divine mercy shrine in Poland or the National Divine Mercy Shrine in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

This story was first published on Aug. 17, 2022, and has been updated.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- For thousands of young teens who traveled to Rome for the Jubilee of Teenagers, the announcement of Pope Francis' death came as a shock.

For many, the joy of commemorating the Jubilee Year dedicated to hope was suddenly mingled with grief at the loss of the pontiff, who passed away April 21, and uncertainty about how it would affect their pilgrimage to Rome.

"We have been preparing for the Jubilee since January," 22-year-old Vincenzo Pirico, who was accompanying a group of teens from the central Italian city of Pisa, told Catholic News Service April 27. "When we received the announcement of the Holy Father's death, the spirit with which we participated (these days) truly changed." 

Gustavo Molina, a young man from Quito, Ecuador, said the news of the pope's passing felt "like a cold shower."

However, for him and the group of teens he accompanied, grief over the pope's passing turned to gratefulness for the opportunity to be in Rome to pay their respects and say goodbye to the first Latin American pope.

"We were lucky to be here," Molina told CNS. "Everyone was still active, laughing, trying to stay as united as possible in this moment of mourning for the pope."

"The important thing is that we are all together to give one last honor to our dear pope because he was very much loved, especially in the Hispanic community."

Not long after the pope's death was announced, the Vatican said the closing Mass of the Jubilee of Teenagers would not include the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the first millennial to become a saint, but it would be a memorial Mass instead.

Pope Francis had approved the decree for the canonization of Blessed Acutis May 23, 2024, and announced the date for his canonization at the end of November.

The late pontiff's April 26 funeral marked the beginning of the "novendiali," a nine-day period of mourning in which memorial Masses are celebrated each day at St. Peter's Basilica.

Nevertheless, despite that period of mourning, tens of thousands filled the main road -- Via della Conciliazione -- that led to a jam-packed St. Peter's Square. Many waving flags, singing and applauding.

According to the Vatican press office, an estimated 200,000 people were present for the memorial Mass.

"I'm sure Pope Francis is looking down on this day, and his heart is filled with joy because he calls us to a Jubilee of hope. And this certainly is a Jubilee of hope, isn't it?" Archbishop Nelson J. Perez of Philadelphia told CNS. 

Like many who had come to Rome, Archbishop Nelson had come for Blessed Acutis' canonization. But for him, the change to a memorial Mass for Pope Francis was a fitting tribute to a pope who loved, and was loved by, young people.

"Pope Francis said that these young people are not the hope of the future; he actually said they are the now of God. And they're certainly giving witness to that here today," the archbishop said. "It's a great blessing."

When asked about his thoughts on the church's future in the coming days before the conclave, Archbishop Nelson told CNS that it was an "exciting time for the church" and is confident that, like Pope Francis, the next pontiff will be exactly what the world needs.

"I was asked not too long ago, 'Are you worried about who the next pope is going to be?' And I said, 'No, absolutely not,'" the archbishop said. "The Spirit of God has always given us the pope that we needed at the time we needed. We needed our pope. And so I know the Spirit will guide that process and the church will receive him with great joy and great love, as we always do."

The pope's death not only came as a shock to those attending the April 27 Mass, but for pilgrims who had come to pass through the Holy Door during the Jubilee year.

Father Andrea Filippucci, a priest of the Diocese of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, led a group of nearly 100 pilgrims from across three of the islands to Rome to participate in the Jubilee.

Like so many around the world, Father Filippucci -- who hails from Rome -- told CNS in a telephone interview April 26 that he and his group were in disbelief after the pope's death was announced.

"We just saw the pope giving a blessing for the "Urbi et Orbi," he said, referring to the pope's Easter Sunday blessing "to the city and to the world."

"He looked tired, but I think nobody could have expected that he would have passed so quickly. So, obviously, the first reaction was a bit of shock. Is it fake news? How is it possible?"

"I will confess, with Pope Francis' death, it was a moment where I was kind of confused; in the sense that I wasn't expecting it. And it honestly felt a little bit too coincidental at first," said 19-year-old Fayshia Donelly, one of the U.S. Virgin Island pilgrims. 

Another member of the group, Briah Ryan told CNS that despite the sadness of the pope's death, she was grateful for the chance to be "a part of this historic time" and that the pilgrimage has been a time to learn about the process of choosing a new pope which "is all very new to me."

"I find it to be an incredible experience and it's going to be something I'm going to remember the rest of my life," she said.

Father Filippucci told CNS the pilgrimage was a "time of prayer" for Pope Francis and "for the Holy Spirit to call the right man to lead the church during this time."

"Our pilgrimage was first based on hope, on passing through the Holy Doors, on getting an indulgence, and that was kind of the theme," the Italian priest said, adding that upon the pope's death, the theme switched to reflect on St. Peter and "the beautiful history God does" with him.

Peter was "not a superhero, but he's somebody who many times doubts and makes a mess, and yet God loves him. So, that's a great hope for us," Father Filippucci said.

"It gave us the opportunity to speak about St. Peter (not only) as the first bishop of the church, but also as an image for us Christians on this journey that God doesn't ask us to be perfect, but he asks us to lean on him and to trust in him," he said.

---

Contributing to this story was Justin McLellan at the Vatican.
 

null / Credit: ArtOlympic/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 26, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Federal agents arrested a Wisconsin judge and former Catholic Charities director this week over allegations that she sheltered an illegal immigrant from being arrested by law enforcement earlier this month.

A criminal complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, alleges that Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan helped hide Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who was present illegally in the United states and who had been charged in Milwaukee with domestic battery.

Police showed up at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18 planning to arrest Flores-Ruiz after a hearing in his criminal case. The hearing was scheduled to take place in Dugan’s courtroom, according to the complaint.

Upon learning of the looming arrest, Dugan reportedly became “visibly angry” and subsequently confronted the federal agents over their plans. Afterward, according to the complaint, she “escorted Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out of the courtroom” through a “jury door” and to a “nonpublic area of the courthouse.” Flores-Ruiz’s case was reportedly adjourned shortly thereafter.

Agents ultimately arrested the suspect outside of the courthouse after he allegedly attempted to flee on foot.

The complaint charges Dugan with “obstructing or impeding a proceeding” of a U.S. agency as well as “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.”

Prior to becoming a judge, Dugan had served for nearly three years as executive director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, resigning in 2009, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The judge’s LinkedIn profile lists her as having led the Catholic charity “through board restructuring and services reorganization.”

Prior to her election to the Milwaukee circuit court, Dugan served as a civil law attorney in Milwaukee.

Dugan’s lawyer this week said during a hearing in federal court that the judge “wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest.”

“It was not made in the interest of public safety,” he argued.

Pallbearers process with the coffin of Pope Francis during his funeral at St. Peter’s Square, Saturday, April 26, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Apr 26, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

The wooden coffin of Pope Francis arrived at the Basilica of St. Mary Major just after 1 p.m. local time in Rome on Saturday, completing the solemn procession from St. Peter’s Square through the streets of Rome and bringing an end to the funeral of the late pontiff.

Nearly half a million mourners gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday morning, while crowds of faithful lined the route to St. Mary Major as the late pontiff made his final journey to the basilica he visited more than 100 times during his papacy.

Providence Bishop-elect Bruce Lewandowski. / Credit: The Diocese of Providence

CNA Staff, Apr 26, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

The Vatican on April 8 announced that Pope Francis had appointed Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski as the new head of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island.

Less than two weeks later, Pope Francis passed away, leaving behind what Lewandowski — one of the last bishops in the world appointed by the late pontiff — said is a legacy of “closeness” and missionary evangelization. 

Lewandowski told CNA he was “saddened by the pope’s death” and “caught by surprise” when he woke up on April 21 and learned of the Holy Father’s passing. 

“On Easter Sunday we could tell he wasn’t feeling well, but it looked like he was rebounding, to be able to go around in the popemobile,” the bishop said. “It was a surprise to wake up to that news on Monday morning.”

The bishop, who will be installed in Providence on May 20, said he felt a particular closeness to Francis, having met him twice, once during the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in 2015 and once when training to be a bishop in Rome. 

An auxiliary bishop of Baltimore since 2020, Lewandowski said it was “really a surprise” to be appointed to the Rhode Island Diocese. 

“I had just finished a Mass at a scouting camp, out in what I call ‘the wilds’ of Maryland,” the prelate recalled with a laugh. “I didn’t really have good cellphone reception. The phone rang, and I saw it was [Papal Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre], and I pulled over and answered the phone.”

Lewandowski said he has been “very invested” in Baltimore, having served in various ministries there for a decade. 

“But I’m a missionary and Redemptorist,” he said. “And that’s part of our lives, we move from one place to another. When the call came, I said I was willing and ready to do my best for the people of Providence. I’m looking forward to serving them.”

Asked for his thoughts on Francis’ legacy, the bishop said the pope taught the Church how to do missionary work for the world. He said that Francis continued the work done by his two predecessors.

“Pope John Paul II highlighted the missionary charism of the Church by his many travels,” Lewandowski said. “He highlighted evangelization and mission by his many travels.” Pope Benedict XVI, meanwhile, “taught what it meant to be a missionary disciple.” 

But Pope Francis “showed us how,” he said. 

“The word I’ve used over and over again to describe Francis is closeness,” he said. “He called us again and again to get close to each other, to have listening hearts, to listen to each other, and to listen to the Holy Spirit.” 

“He taught us how to evangelize. It’s through relationships. Through coming to know Jesus in a deep and meaningful way.” 

The bishop pointed out that the poor and homeless of Rome have taken part in mourning and remembrance of the late pontiff. 

“That’s telling,” he said. “He had close friends among the poor. I use the term ‘Gospel friendship’ for that. Human friendship is great, but this is an elevated type of friendship that leads us to a greater relationship with Christ and the Church.”

The Holy Father lived out the Gospel, Lewandowski said, “by being close to the poor, close to people who feel far from other people, far from the Church, and far from Jesus. He showed they could experience the closeness of the Lord through him.”

“We’ve talked a lot about evangelization and new evangelization for decades,” the bishop said. “He showed us how to do it.”

The statue of Our Lady, Queen of Peace in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA

CNA Staff, Apr 26, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis will be buried today at Santa Maria Maggiore — who are the other popes buried there?

Cardinal Christophe Pierre speaks to EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado in Rome on Friday, April 25, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 19:36 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis asked us “to be a Church which announces the good news of Christ,” Cardinal Christophe Pierre said on Friday, one of the many fruits of the Holy Spirit’s having selected the late Argentine prelate to be the supreme pontiff.

Pierre, who has served as apostolic nuncio in various countries over several decades and who has served as nuncio to the United States under Francis, told EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado that as he sees it, Francis’ election in 2013 was the fruit of a process that arose out of the 2007 Aparecida conference of Latin American and Caribbean bishops in Brazil. 

Then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio headed up the committee that produced the conference’s final document. The bishops at that conference were “inspired [and] helped” by the future pope, Pierre said. 

“Then, six years later, Pope Francis was elected pope,” Pierre said, describing the selection as providential. “The Holy Spirit chose him so that he could be an instrument of Christ in today’s world,” the cardinal said. 

He further pointed to Francis’ regular contention — articulated first in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium — that “realities are more important than ideas.”

“Today in the world, we are all tempted to transform reality into ideas,” Pierre told Alvarado. “And when you transform reality, it’s in abstractions. And ideas become ideology, and they become instruments of power, of war, of dispute between ourselves. And it is impossible to achieve peace as Christ asks us to do.”

“Even in the Church, at times we are tempted to defend our ideas,” the cardinal said. “But what Christ wants us to be is simply like him, and like Pope Francis has been.”

Asked about what the Catholic Church needs in the wake of Francis’ death, Pierre said it “needs first and foremost to be close to the people, to be attentive to the real needs of the people, especially the poor.”

He further urged Catholics to “remember that Jesus met you and changed your life.” He encouraged the faithful to “be a witness of Jesus for the world today.”

“I met Jesus, and this has transformed my life,” the prelate said. “And because Jesus transformed my life, I cannot do anything else but to announce his presence through my witness of life, but also through the way I live [and the way] I see the world.”

The archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, speaks to EWTN News on Friday, April 25, 2025, in Rome. / Crdit: EWTN News/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 19:16 pm (CNA).

The late Pope Francis was “a man of the heart” who preached tenderness and mercy to the global Church, New York archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan said on Friday. 

Dolan spoke to EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado at the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on Friday. The cardinal is one of 10 from the United States who will vote in the upcoming conclave to elect the next pope. 

Reflecting on the three most recent popes — St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis — the cardinal archbishop said John Paul II “reinvigorated the soul of the world” that was weary from “lies” and “atrocities.” Benedict XVI, meanwhile, was known for uniting “the mind, faith, and reason.”

“And Pope Francis, I thought, spoke very much about the heart,” Dolan said. 

“I remember his first time at the window after his election, I guess we were all thinking there would be some theologically erudite talk,” Dolan said. “And [instead] he spoke about tenderness, tenderness.” 

“We have a God who’s tender with us, and we have a God who wants us to be tender with one another,” Dolan continued.

The prelate said it was “magnificent” that Francis’ final encyclical, Dilexit Nos, was a call for Catholics worldwide to rediscover the love and compassion found in the heart of Jesus Christ. 

“Remember when he was in the hospital for so long,” Dolan said of Francis’ hospitalization earlier this year prior to his death. “When we got the medical bulletins [the] doctors would say, ‘Ah, but his heart is strong.’ And I said, ‘You bet it is.’ He was a man of the heart.”

null / Credit: sergign/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 25, 2025 / 18:16 pm (CNA).

A Maryland district court judge this week ordered Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to pay a former employee $60,000 for its refusal to provide spousal health care benefits to the man’s civilly married “husband.”

The union is recognized under Maryland state law and federal law but is not recognized by the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman and does not recognize homosexual civil “marriages” between two men or between two women.

In an April 21 ruling, U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ruled that CRS violated state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on a person’s sex and his or her sexual orientation. The judge rejected CRS’ argument that the organization was covered under state and federal religious exemptions to the discrimination laws.

Rubin also rejected CRS’ argument that enforcing the antidiscrimination laws against the religious charity in this instance would violate the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion.

The dispute came down to the court’s interpretation of the “ministerial exception,” which is a legal doctrine in the United States that exempts religious entities from some antidiscrimination laws. 

It allows exemptions when an employee works in a position that furthers the religious mission of the entity in cases when the antidiscrimination provision would hamper its religious mission.

According to the ruling, the former employee, who is named “John Doe” in the lawsuit, worked as a program data adviser; a data quality and analytics adviser; a global monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning adviser; a program manager; and a gateway manager.

The judge ruled that these positions were not integral to advancing the religious mission of CRS and therefore did not qualify for a religious exemption under federal law or the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act.

“Doe did not directly further a CRS core mission in any of his five positions held during his employment by CRS,” the ruling states.

“Because the court concludes that none of Doe’s five full-time positions with CRS directly furthered a CRS mission and that each of his positions was one or more steps removed from taking the actions that affect CRS goals, the court … concludes that CRS has not met its burden to show that [the state’s] religious entity exemption applies here,” the ruling adds. 

A spokesperson for CRS told CNA on Friday that the organization did not have a comment at the time and is currently “reviewing the judge’s ruling.”

The former employee issued a statement through his lawyers at Gilbert Employment Law in which he said he was “very happy with Judge Rubin’s ruling.” 

“[I] am honored to be part of such a precedent-setting case that has helped clarify, for employers and employees alike, the legal protections Maryland law provides, especially for LGBTQ+ workers,” the plaintiff said.

Ryan Tucker, who serves as senior counsel at the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, expressed concern about the judge’s ruling in a statement to CNA. 

“Now and always, every religious organization has the right to hire people who share its faith,” he said. “The government should never penalize a religious nonprofit just because it’s religious. This ruling, however, is deeply concerning due to the implications it may have for the First Amendment rights of religious organizations and employers.”

CRS primarily provides humanitarian aid around the world. According to its mission statement, the organization is “motivated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to cherish, preserve, and uphold the sacredness and dignity of all human life, foster charity and justice, and embody Catholic social and moral teaching.”