Athletes pray before a match organized by the Caritas Cup in Rome, Saturday, June 14, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 10:36 am (CNA).

Among the many events held across Rome to celebrate the Jubilee of Sport was a June 14 game organized by the Caritas Cup, a tournament founded five years ago by four Scottish high school students to help young Catholics grow in faith through sport.

The goal is not just to score in football, or soccer as it is commonly called in the U.S.

“It’s to bring young people back to the Church and give them an avenue to stay in the Church,” Adam Costello, co-founder of the Caritas Cup, told CNA. “As soon as we finish secondary school in Scotland, people kind of leave. It’s the last sort of chance they’ve got to stay, and I think the Caritas Cup is an avenue for that.”

The Caritas Cup was founded by four young men — Costello, Bailey Gallagher, Daniel Timoney, and Aiden Paterson — who wanted to inspire their peers through faith and sport.

In dioceses and schools across Scotland, the cup organizes local tournaments that bring together young people from Catholic schools and parishes.

Timoney emphasized their grassroots approach: “We are trying to get young people involved in the Church, and especially in Scotland, in the community. Football and sports — especially football and netball — is sort of the way to do that.”

From local fields to global impact

Inspired by the values and mission of Caritas — the Catholic Church’s global charity network — the Caritas Cup was founded to put faith into action through sport and service.

Since the beginning, the team has been working closely with the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) to help support different projects on the local and international level.

“SCIAF is ever-present in the schools in Scotland,” Timoney said. “It’s just such a big household name for Catholics across Scotland. So, we got in touch with them, and [we were able to support] a lot of their projects.”

Beyond bringing together young Catholics to play soccer and netball tournaments in their diocese, the Caritas Cup also raises funds for projects around the world.

“Every year we pick a central fund for a Caritas project,” Costello said. “Previously it’s been to provide water to provide food sanitation to multiple different countries. And this year it’s for the Holy Land appeal and to provide emergency aid to the relief there.”

The name “Caritas Cup” was intentionally chosen to reflect the mission of Caritas Internationalis, and the tournament itself is shaped by that same spirit of faith expressed through concrete acts of charity and community.

“The way that they describe it is very beautiful,” said Rebecca Rathbone, officer for promoting youth leadership at Caritas Internationalis.

The organizers are “putting their faith into action and using something that is fun as a way to raise awareness about the important work that SCIAF does,” she said. 

Rathborne emphasized that she believes it is “another real plus of including young people.”

“The work that Caritas does is serious,” Rathbone said, “... but it doesn’t mean that we can’t approach it with a joyful spirit.”

“The challenges that the world is facing change every day and change quickly,” she said, “and something that young people are particularly good at is thinking creatively and being energetic and being hopeful and reminding us that we can work in new ways to address the challenges of today and meet people’s needs today.”

Growing in human and Christian virtues

Before the June 14 match in Rome, the players gathered to pray at the Pontifical Scots College.

The event highlighted how sport teaches important Christian values like teamwork, discipline, respect, and perseverance — and how it offers a way to grow together, in both friendship and faith. 

In his homily for the jubilee’s closing Mass on the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on June 15, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that sport can “help us encounter the Triune God, because it challenges us to relate to others and with others,” both outwardly and inwardly.

“Sport, especially team sports, teaches the value of cooperating, working together, and sharing,” Pope Leo said. “These, as we said, are at the very heart of God’s own life. Sport can thus become an important means of reconciliation and encounter.”

Pope Leo stressed that sport “also teaches us how to lose” and so opens our hearts to hope.

The pontiff recalled the “straightforward and luminous life” of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who taught us that “just as no one is born a champion, no one is born a saint” and that “it is daily training in love that brings us closer to final victory.”

Costello emphasized that soccer is a perfect metaphor for the spiritual life in that regard: “We have failures in sport but also failures in faith [and at] times we need to get back up again.”

Building a supportive community

“There are people here that, myself included, had fallen away from the Church,” Timoney said at the recent match in Rome.

“But this has brought us back into it,” he said. “We’ll go to Mass and it’s just fantastic doing it together.”

Costello also noted what he believes is “the beauty” of the Caritas Cup: “You’re not on your own. And it’s the same for faith. There are always people there. And we want to be those people, for anyone to come to.”

From the way the event of the day unfolds — with prayer, teamwork, and a shared spirit of joy — it’s clear that the goal is not merely to play.

“I think what’s important for us is that we’re not trying to make faith cool,” Costello said. “We just want to show people that it’s not something to be embarrassed about.”

“So, this is a way for young men and young women to show their faith,” he said. “Playing football, playing netball is not ‘what we want.’ All we want is people actively involved in the Church, actively involved in Caritas. In the end it’s much bigger than just the game of football.”

St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Brisbane, Australia. / Credit: TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 10:06 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has named Bishop Shane Mackinlay — an influential voice in the Synod on Synodality — as the next archbishop of Brisbane, Australia.

The 60-year-old prelate succeeds Archbishop Mark Coleridge, who is retiring after 13 years of episcopal leadership.

Mackinlay will be installed at St. Stephen’s Cathedral on Sept. 11, taking pastoral responsibility for Australia’s second-largest diocese, which includes over 684,000 Catholics across 94 parishes in southeastern Queensland.

During his first visit to Brisbane following the announcement, Mackinlay emphasized the importance of missionary clarity in a society increasingly indifferent to religious belief.

“We need to be clear and unembarrassed about our faith — and about why it matters to us,” he told the Catholic Leader.

Quoting Christ’s invitation to the first disciples, he added: “I don’t think we should be telling people what to do. We should be inviting people to come and see, and offering a witness that is attractive and compelling.”

A synodal voice in the global Church 

Born in Melbourne in 1965, Mackinlay studied physics at Monash University. He later pursued doctoral studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, where he completed his dissertation on hermeneutics.

Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ballarat in 1991, Mackinlay served in parish ministry before being appointed master of Catholic Theological College in Melbourne, a role he held from 2011 to 2019. That year, Pope Francis named him bishop of Sandhurst, based in Bendigo.

Mackinlay has played an increasingly visible role in synodal processes. As a prominent member of Australia’s Fifth Plenary Council and a delegate to the Synod on Synodality in Rome, he was elected by his fellow bishops to the Commission for the Synthesis Report — the body tasked with drafting the final synod document.

Mackinlay has expressed willingness to engage with questions under discernment, including the possibility of admitting women to the diaconate. He told the National Catholic Reporter in 2023 that he would “welcome” such a development if it were eventually approved by competent ecclesial authority.

On questions related to pastoral outreach, Mackinlay emphasized fidelity to the Church’s doctrine alongside authentic personal accompaniment. Reflecting on discussions concerning Catholics who identify as LGBT, he stated that there was a “very clear reaffirmation of the Church’s doctrine and teachings” at the synod, while also recognizing the need for pastoral care that respects individual dignity and encourages conversion in light of Christ’s truth.

In 2023, Mackinlay participated as an official observer of the German Synodal Way.

In an interview with German Catholic media outlet Domradio in April of this year, he expressed “great respect” for the approach of the controversial German process and praised the Synodal Way’s “findings and documents” as “a very enriching source for the theology of the coming years and decades.”

Firepower and competence 

Brisbane’s retiring archbishop welcomed the appointment of his successor, describing Mackinlay as “an unusually gifted man” whose strengths lie in both intellectual clarity and administrative competence.

“He has a fine mind and will bring intellectual firepower to his ministry,” Coleridge said. “He will be able to dialogue intelligently with a culture that, at many points, is distant from Christian understandings.”

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, also welcomed the appointment, noting Mackinlay’s theological background, experience in seminary formation, and his leadership in Sandhurst.

Demand among Catholic families in northern Virginia has spurred the leadership of the St. Jerome Institute, a classical liberal arts high school in Washington, D.C., to announce plans to open a second campus in the Diocese of Arlington. / Credit: St. Jerome Institute

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 09:36 am (CNA).

Demand among Catholic families in northern Virginia has spurred the leadership of the St. Jerome Institute, a classical liberal arts high school in Washington, D.C., to announce plans to open a second campus in the Diocese of Arlington.

The proposed opening of the new school comes six years after the institute first launched in the nation’s capital, where enrollment has grown from three to 65 students. Pending final approval from the Diocese of Arlington, the school will operate independently with an education plan developed by its own curriculum board. 

“The school has been and remains in communication with St. Philip’s pastor and the diocese about the possibility of St. Philip being the location for SJI NOVA and both sides continue to work through the details of the potential arrangement,” Mary Shaffrey, a spokeswoman for the Arlington Diocese, told the Washington Times.

“We see that one of the great problems in American culture is the fragmentation between faith and reason,” Andrew Shivone, president of the St. Jerome Institute (SJI), told CNA regarding the school’s mission. “What we want to do is structure our curriculum, structure our culture, structure even the common life that we live together in the truth of Christ and have that truth ordering everything else that we do at the school.” 

Students at St. Jerome’s participate in small seminar-style classes, engaging with the school’s unique liberal arts curriculum.

“From the epic tales of Odysseus and Beowulf to the quiet heroism of Walter Ciszek in Soviet Russia, from the deceptive simplicity of counting to the surprising complexity of the natural logarithm, SJI presents the inspiring beauty of our world in ways that lead students to deeper understanding and lifelong mastery,” the school’s website states.

Students at the St. Jerome Institute experience a tight-knit and active community, whether it be through their seminar discussions, communal morning prayer, extracurricular activities, or rigorous observance of feast days on the liturgical calendar.

“There are a lot of really good Catholic schools in the Arlington Diocese,” Shivone emphasized. “But for those families who are particularly interested in a Catholic liberal arts education, we fit that niche.”

Much like the founding of the original school, the St. Jerome Institute’s decision to launch plans for its second location in northern Virginia comes at the request of local Catholic parents. 

“The northern Virginia Catholic community already possesses a beautiful parish life and really beautiful, authentic Catholic communities of parents, priests, and … kids,” Shivone said. “This seems to be a perfect addition to a community that already exists.”

A curriculum modeled after classical ‘innovation’

Faculty at the St. Jerome Institute will meet this week for their annual summer curriculum symposium, Shivone told CNA. There, teachers will work with the school’s curriculum board to review what works “and seek even deeper integration, philosophically and theologically, with all of the subjects.”

Integration, Shivone noted, is key to the school’s curriculum model.

“We aspire to cultivate and develop what is most human in our students precisely by incorporating them into the rich tradition of Catholic humanism,” the institute’s education plan states.

It continues: “This is their birthright as Catholics and children of the West. Included in this twofold integration are those aptitudes and attitudes belonging to a well-educated person, fully alive: the capacity for wonder, and the ability to read well, write well, speak well, and think well.”

Ultimately, the structure of the curriculum is modeled according to several themes, Shivone explained: God in nature, God in the person, and God in the community. Students end on a “major in-depth study of the Trinity.”

“It’s not simply that they’re able to translate Cicero or something like that, which is a good thing,” Shivone reflected. He said the institute typically interviews its students a few months after graduation, and what they most often report having retained from their experience is “the habit of wonder.”

Vision for the new school

The new school’s curriculum would contain many of the same “essential” elements as the existing school, according to Shivone.

However, he said, “we want the new school to receive what we are, and then from that, develop it in freedom,” since the aim of the school is to pursue an “education in freedom.”

Its class sizes will be similar to the D.C. school, with 16 to 18 students in a section and two sections per class.

Shivone said he expects the new school to enroll “anywhere between 30 and 60 [ninth- and 10th-grade] students” in the fall of 2026.

Ultimately, St. Jerome will cap its overall student population at 120 to 140 students in order to maintain the ideal class size for its seminar-style courses. If the demand for enrollment goes beyond that number, Shivone said the institute would consider the possibility of opening another school to accommodate.

“For us, a school is a community of people learning together,” he said. “And there is, just by necessity, a certain size to that. Once it gets larger, it ceases to be a community.”

This story was updated on June 19, 2025, at 3:02 p.m. ET with updated information and to note that the plan is still pending approval from the Arlington Diocese.

Galaxy M74. / Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV encouraged young astronomy students at the Vatican this week to “be generous in sharing what you learn and what you experience, as best you can and however you can.”

“Surely, this must be an exciting time to be an astronomer,” Pope Leo said to scholars at the Vatican on June 16. The students gathered as part of a monthlong astronomy and astrophysics summer school program hosted by the Vatican Observatory.

The biannual summer program is taking place at the observatory’s headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, where students come from across the globe to participate. The Vatican Observatory only accepts a small group of students in their final year of undergraduate studies or first year of graduate school.

Each summer the program has a different theme and area of study. The 2025 group is exploring the universe with data from the James Webb Space Telescope, which is currently the largest telescope in space. Pope Leo called it a “truly remarkable instrument,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“Do not the James Webb images also fill us with wonder, and indeed a mysterious joy, as we contemplate their sublime beauty?” the pope asked. 

Students will focus on the telescope’s contributions over the last three years to the evolution of galaxies, birth of stars, and planetary systems and the origin of life.

“For the first time, we are able to peer deeply into the atmosphere of exoplanets where life may be developing and study the nebulae where planetary systems themselves are forming,” Pope Leo said.

“The authors of sacred Scripture, writing so many centuries ago, did not have the benefit of this privilege, yet their poetic and religious imagination pondered what the moment of creation must have been like.”

Pope Leo discussed scientists’ ability to trace “the ancient light of distant galaxies,” which he said “speaks of the very beginning of our universe.”

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, president of the Vatican Observatory, told CNA that they “were thrilled that Pope Leo was able to meet with the students and faculty of our summer school.” He said “the students have told me how much they enjoyed, and felt honored by, the chance they each had to speak briefly with him.”

“From his remarks, it’s clear that he embraces our mission to find joy in the study of God’s creation,” Consolmagno said.

He also shared that he “was especially touched” by Pope Leo’s “reference to St. Augustine’s description of the ‘seeds’ God has sown in the harmony of the universe.”

“Each of you is part of a much greater community,” Leo told the young scientists. 

“Along with the contribution of your fellow scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, it was also with the support of your families and so many of your friends that you have been able to appreciate and take part in this wonderful enterprise, which has enabled us to see the world around us in a new way.” 

“Never forget, then, that what you are doing is meant to benefit all of us,” the pope added.

“The more joy you share, the more joy you create, and in this way, through your pursuit of knowledge, each of you can contribute to building a more peaceful and just world,” he said. 

Jesus and the disciples during Season 4 of “The Chosen.” / Credit: The Chosen/Mike Kubeisy

Vatican City, Jun 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

On June 23, there will be an exclusive presentation at the Vatican of the fourth episode of the fifth season of “The Chosen,” the successful series based on the life of Jesus Christ and the apostles.

According to the Holy See Press Office, next Monday at 11:30 a.m. local time in Sala San Pio X in the Holy See Press Office, the cast and producers of “The Chosen” will hold a press conference to discuss the innovative and impactful series.

Jonathan Roumie, the actor who plays Jesus, will be in attendance for the presentation of the fifth season, titled “The Last Supper.” Also present will be Dallas Jenkins, creator and director of the series; Elizabeth Tabish, who portrays Mary Magdalene in the series; George Xanthis, who plays St. John; and Vanessa Benavente, who plays the Virgin Mary.

They will also discuss the release of two feature films by “The Chosen” about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The crucifixion episode is currently being filmed in Matera, Italy.

At the press conference, details will be shared about the production and the reasons why the series has achieved international popularity on five continents, even being watched by more than 30% of nonbelievers worldwide.

That same day, at 5 p.m. local time, the Vatican premiere of the fourth episode of the fifth season will take place at the historic Vatican Film Library.

The episode is titled “The Same Coin” and features one of the most powerful scenes in the series’ history: The women’s last supper with the “dayenu,” a beloved song sung during the Jewish holiday of Passover. 

Additionally, the Vatican announced that Roumie will present a gift from “The Chosen” to Pope Leo XIV during the June 25 general audience. Roumie met with Pope Francis twice during his pontificate.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Mosaics by alleged abuser Father Marko Rupnik are displayed throughout the shrine in Lourdes, France. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Advocates for sexual abuse victims say that religious art by the accused abuser Father Marko Rupnik should be taken down or covered up to spare victims further suffering. But Church authorities in charge of the works, which decorate prominent Catholic churches around the world, have responded to those calls in different ways. 

Rupnik has been accused of the sexual and psychological abuse of dozens of women under his spiritual care in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was briefly excommunicated by the Catholic Church in 2020 and expelled from the Jesuit order in 2023, but he remains a priest. The Vatican is still in the process of making a final judgment in his case.

Responding to calls that Rupnik’s works be covered or destroyed and for reproductions to be removed from websites and publications, shrines in Europe and the U.S. have covered up their now controversial mosaics. But other institutions have taken a more tolerant approach. Some authorities, including the Diocese of Rome, are waiting to see what the Vatican does before they decide what to do with his art.

Earlier this month, the official Vatican News outlet removed images of the priest’s distinctive works, inspired by artistic traditions from Eastern Christianity, from its website, after years of criticism for its use of them to illustrate pages dedicated to saints and feast days.

The Vatican’s communications dicastery did not respond to a request for comment on the recent change and whether it reflected a new policy under Pope Leo XIV. Last year, the department’s top official, Paolo Ruffini, defended leaving the images online, saying that to remove them would not be “the Christian response” and that he didn’t want to “throw stones” at the disgraced artist.

According to the Rome-based Centro Aletti, the art and theology school founded in 1993 and previously directed by Rupnik, the workshop has 232 completed mosaic and other art projects around the world — with the vast majority concentrated in Europe, especially Italy, where there are approximately 115 installations across the country.

Centro Aletti last year called the pressure to remove works of art by the studio part of “cancel culture” and the “criminalization of art.” Neither Rupnik nor the workshop responded to requests for comment for this article. 

Some calling for the art’s removal or concealment say that seeing the works in places of worship can have a traumatic effect on abuse victims, particularly since Rupnik’s accusers say he sexually abused them as they assisted him in the process of making his art.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors sent a letter to top Vatican officials last year urging them not to display artwork, like Rupnik’s, “that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defense” of those accused of abuse. 

The secretary of the commission, Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, told EWTN News in April in response to a question about the Rupnik case that “art can be a powerful tool for healing, but the content of an artwork — and especially the identity of its creator — can be re-traumatizing for someone who has experienced these horrific crimes [of abuse].”

Francesco Zanardi, an Italian abuse survivor and founder of Rete L’Abuso, told CNA that “in this case, [Rupnik’s work] is not art, it is a symbol,” which “creates problems for the victim, above all because it maintains a link between the Church and Rupnik … an inappropriate link.”

“That it should be removed seems obvious to me,” Zanardi added. He called it “almost offensive” how much attention is on Rupnik’s artwork instead of on the harm done to the priest’s alleged victims.

Others, instead, believe that Rupnik’s art should be understood as separate from the man and his alleged crimes. Father Dino Battison, chaplain of the Shrine of Our Lady of Health of the Sick in the northern Italian region of Veneto, told CNA that the shrine will be leaving its Rupnik mosaics in place and visible.

“Beauty and the message are one thing… Mercy is another thing not to be forgotten,” he said. “How many artists have behaved badly from a moral point of view... and how many works of art should we remove or destroy.”

Rome waits on Vatican

In Rome, Rupnik’s mosaics can be found in nearly four dozen locations, including a large number of parish churches as well as hospital chapels and the chapels of religious congregations and international seminaries.

The Diocese of Rome has Rupnik art in its major seminary and at the headquarters of the diocesan branch of the international charity Caritas. A diocesan spokesperson told CNA that any decision by the diocese will need to be made in conjunction with the Holy See.

The Vatican has at least three original mosaics by the artist, including in the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, in the chapel of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and in the San Calisto Building in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood.

Pope Francis also had at least one image by Rupnik hanging in his apartment at the Vatican guesthouse.

CNA received no response from the Vatican Press Office or the Dicastery for Communication about what the Holy See or the pope will do about the works of art.

The Jesuit order has works by its former member in five locations in Rome: in two chapels at its general curia, in the chapel of the international seminary, and in the chapels of two residences.

Rupnik’s former superior, Father Johan Verschueren, told CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, ACI Prensa, that the order is not planning to remove Rupnik mosaics from Jesuit communities for the time being, treating it as an “internal problem” because they are in private chapels closed to the public.

Verschueren said opinions about the art differ by generation, and “so far, only some younger Jesuits in formation are not happy with these mosaics. For trained Jesuits it is different.”

For some Jesuit priests, Verscheuren said, the mosaics “now function more as a mirror of our fallen human reality: We are all capable of great and terrible things at the same time. It humbles us and helps us realize that we are all sinners in need of salvation and mercy.”

International shrines act — or don’t

Rupnik’s art can be found in some of the most prominent Catholic shrines around the world, including the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The second-largest cathedral in the world, the Aparecida shrine is decorated with more than 65,600 square feet of Rupnik mosaics on its exterior depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

ACI Prensa received no response from the shrine to an inquiry about the fate of the Rupnik mosaics.

At the end of March, the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, one of the most popular shrines in the world, announced it would cover mosaics by Rupnik on the entrances to the shrine’s main church between late March and early June. 

“A new symbolic step had to be taken to make the entrance to the basilica easier for all those who today cannot cross the threshold,” Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas said at the time.

Eight months prior, the Knights of Columbus covered the priest’s mosaics in the two chapels of the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., and in the chapel at the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut, a dramatic move that represented at the time the strongest public stand by a major Catholic organization regarding the former Jesuit’s art.

“The No. 1 factor [in the decision] was compassion for victims,” Patrick Kelly, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, told EWTN News in 2024. “We needed to prioritize victims over anything, any material thing.”

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal, which receives over 6 million visitors a year, said earlier this year it is taking a mixed approach: It has stopped using images of Rupnik’s art in any online or published materials, but it will not take down the mosaics that cover the entire back wall of the shrine’s largest and most modern worship space, the Basilica of the Holy Trinity.

In the southern Mediterranean island country of Malta, the Diocese of Gozo has said it is sticking to its decision not to remove a series of Rupnik mosaics from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta’ Pinu, including one above the main door. 

Other prominent sites of Rupnik art

One of the most popular shrines in Italy, the shrine of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, also features floor-to-ceiling Rupnik mosaics in its lower church, where Catholics pray at the tomb of the Capuchin saint commonly known as Padre Pio. The mosaics along the access ramp and in the crypt were completed between 2009 and 2013.

The Capuchin Franciscan friars who run the shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo did not respond to CNA’s question about whether they would do anything about the mosaics.

An aide to the bishop of Caltagirone in Sicily, whose cathedral church features Rupnik mosaic installations from 2015 on the back wall of the sanctuary and on the front of the altar, and whose seminary chapel features a Rupnik workshop painting dating to 2023, said there was no assessment in progress about their possible removal.

After Italy, Spain is the European country with the highest concentration of works by the priest, with at least 12 separate sites featuring his art. Among them, highlights include the Madrid Cathedral (with mosaics in the sacristy, chapter house, and chapel of the Blessed Sacrament) and the Cave Sanctuary of St. Ignatius in Manresa.

The Loyola Center in Bilbao, a religious center associated with the Society of Jesus, has several mosaics designed by Rupnik as well as a Jesuit church in Seville.

In statements to ACI Prensa, José Luis García Íñiguez, coordinator of the communications office of the Jesuits in Spain, said the order’s headquarters in Rome has offered to initiate a process of reparation in an unspecified form to 20 of Rupnik’s victims, but “for now, there is no firm decision on what to do and how to do it with the mosaics.”

Montse Alvarado and Paola Arriaza contributed to this report.

ROME (CNS) -- Almost a year after Pope Francis set up a commission to develop a large solar-panel array on Vatican property outside of Rome, Pope Leo XIV visited the site and the Vatican Radio employees working there.

The 1,060-acre site about 11 miles northwest of Rome is home to Vatican Radio's shortwave transmitters and transmission center.

The Vatican press office said the pope visited the property at Santa Maria di Galeria June 19 along with officials from the Dicastery for Communication and the Vatican City State governor's office. 

Meeting the center's staff, Pope Leo asked about "the operation of the antennas, transmissions and the digital disaster recovery system," the statement said.

The day was the 43rd anniversary of his priestly ordination, which he and the staff celebrated "with light refreshments," the press office added.

"Pope Leo emphasized how during his missionary work in Latin America and Africa, it was valuable to be able to receive Vatican Radio's shortwave transmissions, which reach places where few broadcasters can reach, and he reaffirmed the missionary value of communication," it said.

"In blessing all those present, he thanked them for the work they carry out with fidelity and continuity, even on a feast day like today," which in the Vatican is the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. However, in Italy the feast is transferred to June 22, the day Pope Leo will celebrate Mass at Rome's Basilica of St. John Lateran and lead the Corpus Christi procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major. 

After meeting with the staff, the press office said, the pope also toured the property where "a project for an agrivoltaic plant is being studied to ensure not only the power supply of the radio station but also the complete energy sustenance of Vatican City State."

In a letter titled "Brother Sun" and dated June 21, 2024, Pope Francis wrote, "There is a need to make a transition to a model of sustainable development that reduces greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, establishing the goal of climate neutrality."

"Humanity has the technological means needed to tackle this environmental transformation and its pernicious ethical, social, economic and political consequences, and among these, solar energy plays a key role," he wrote.

Pope Francis appointed two special commissioners to prepare the agrivoltaic system, which is a composed of a series of solar panels that coexist with crops, livestock or both.
 

Venerable Augustus Tolton. / Credit: Public domain

CNA Staff, Jun 19, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On June 19, the United States commemorates the anniversary of the 1865 order that gave freedom to enslaved African Americans in Texas, issued two months after the Civil War ended. More commonly known as “Juneteenth,” it became a federal holiday in 2021 and serves as a fitting day to remember the first Black Catholic priest in the U.S. whose cause has been opened for canonization — Venerable Augustus Tolton.

Tolton was born into slavery in Brush Creek, Ralls County, Missouri, on April 1, 1854, to Catholic parents Peter Paul Tolton and Martha Jane Chisley.

Peter Paul escaped shortly after the beginning of the Civil War and joined the Union Army, dying shortly thereafter. In 1862, Augustus Tolton, along with his mother and two siblings, escaped by crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois. 

“John, boy, you’re free. Never forget the goodness of the Lord,” Tolton’s mother reportedly told him after the crossing.

Tolton began to attend St. Peter’s Catholic School, an all-white parish school in Quincy, Illinois, thanks to the help of Father Peter McGirr. The priest went on to baptize Tolton, instruct him for his first holy Communion, and encouraged his vocation to the priesthood.

No American seminary would accept Tolton because of his race, so he studied for the priesthood in Rome and was ordained in 1886 at the age of 31, becoming the first African American ordained as a priest.

Tolton returned to the U.S. where he served for three years at a parish in Quincy. From there he went to Chicago and started a parish for Black Catholics — St. Monica Parish. He remained there until he died unexpectedly while on a retreat in 1897. He was just 43 years old. 

During his short but impactful life, Tolton learned to speak fluent English, German, Italian, Latin, Greek, and African dialects. He was also a talented musician with a beautiful voice. He helped the poor and sick, fed the hungry, and helped many discover the faith. He was lovingly known as “Good Father Gus.”

Tolton’s cause was opened by the Archdiocese of Chicago on Feb. 24, 2011, making him a servant of God, and then on June 12, 2019, Pope Francis declared him venerable, which is the second step toward canonization.

Addressing the committee who was to decide where Tolton would be sent after his ordination in 1886 and who overruled the previous decision to send him to Africa, Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni reportedly said the following: “America has been called the most enlightened nation in the world. We shall see whether it deserves that honor. If the United States has never before seen a Black priest, it must see one now.”

Despite President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation going into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, it could not be implemented in states still under Confederate control, and enforcement of the proclamation relied upon the advance of Union troops. It wasn’t until Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that more than 250,000 enslaved African Americans were freed by executive decree.

This story was first published on June 19, 2024, and has been updated.

“Witnesses to Hope” is the theme for the 2025 Religious Freedom Week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced June 18, 2025. / Credit: Freedom Studio/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 18, 2025 / 18:43 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is commemorating 2025 Religious Freedom Week with the theme “Witnesses to Hope,” according to a June 18 announcement.

Religious Freedom Week, which the USCCB first launched in 2018, begins on Sunday, June 22 — the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher — and runs through Sunday, June 29 — the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The USCCB is urging Catholics to “pray, reflect, and act to promote religious freedom” during the week. The conference is also asking the faithful to contact their senators in support of school choice in the Senate budget reconciliation bill, which could benefit Catholic schools.

In its announcement, the USCCB stated that the theme “builds on the annual [religious freedom] report released earlier this year by the conference’s Committee for Religious Liberty that highlights the impact of political polarization on religious freedom.”

The USCCB’s Jan. 16 annual report on the state of religious liberty expressed concerns about policies on immigration, gender ideology, abortion, and in vitro fertilization (IVF).

In the January report, the bishops wrote that Catholic nongovernmental organizations are being “singled out for special hostility” and referenced the El Paso-based Annunciation House, which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking to shut down. After the report was issued, President Donald Trump’s administration stripped some federal funds from Catholic organizations that provide foreign aid and domestic services for migrants.

The report also criticized proposed rules that push gender ideology onto schools and hospitals, which Trump has reversed. The bishops also expressed concerns about potential bills to impose abortion, contraception, or IVF coverage mandates for health insurance policies.

In its June 18 news release, the USCCB also announced a religious liberty essay contest the bishops organized with the Secretariat of Catholic Education and Our Sunday Visitor Institute. According to the bishops, the top essays from the competition will be published during Religious Freedom Week.

The Blessed Sacrament is seen through the window of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage van moments before departure from St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on May 18, 2025. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

CNA Staff, Jun 18, 2025 / 18:23 pm (CNA).

The National Eucharistic Congress has changed the route and agenda for the conclusion of the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in Los Angeles this Sunday, citing safety concerns. 

The culmination of the St. Katherine Drexel pilgrimage route will no longer include a Eucharistic procession through downtown Los Angeles but will instead remain on the grounds of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and the festival that was to follow the procession has been canceled entirely. 

The route adjustment and festival cancellation follows recent riots in Los Angeles over deportations of unauthorized immigrants. The unrest began in early June. More than 350 people have been arrested since, and the Los Angeles mayor only recently lifted a curfew.

The change of plans is designed to ensure the safety of participants while still “providing an opportunity for the people of God to come together in prayer and community,” according to National Eucharistic Congress President Jason Shanks.

“Based upon our conversations with LAPD this week, we feel confident that this new plan ensures the safety of all involved while still bringing the Eucharistic presence of Our Lord to downtown L.A. in this intentional way,” Shanks said in a June 18 statement. 

Organizers noted that “the center of the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is not an event but a Person.”

More than 3,000 people from around the U.S. are registered to attend the pilgrimage’s culminating June 22 Corpus Christi Mass and procession, according to organizers. The Mass will still take place at the downtown cathedral on Sunday afternoon along with the scaled-down procession.

The pilgrimage, named for St. Katharine Drexel, which follows the unprecedented four national pilgrimages that took place during the summer of 2024, is organized to bear witness to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. 

The 3,300-mile, 10-state trek began in mid-May in Indianapolis and included a group of eight young Catholic “Perpetual Pilgrims.”

The perpetual pilgrims have endured a lot already, encountering anti-Catholic protestors along the route. Nevertheless, the pilgrims endeavored to preserve a spirit of quiet prayer amid the rowdy protests.

According to the updated schedule released by the National Eucharistic Congress, on the final day of the St. Katharine Drexel pilgrimage route Catholics will gather for Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 3 p.m., as originally planned. The apostolic nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, will celebrate, while Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles will preach the homily. Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, and all the Los Angeles bishops will concelebrate along with them.

The Eucharistic procession is scheduled to begin after Mass, at approximately 4:30 p.m. Rather than going through the public streets of downtown, the procession will proceed through the cathedral plaza with several stops along the way. 

The bishops will then take the Eucharistic Lord onto Temple Street — a main street in front of the cathedral, which will be closed to traffic — to bless the city. The prayerful event will conclude with a final Benediction inside the cathedral. 

Amid the changes, Shanks said “revival can’t be stopped by circumstance.”

“The flames of Eucharistic faith continue to spread nationwide,” he continued. “Now more than ever, we are calling Catholics across the country to become Eucharistic missionaries: to carry the fire of revival into your homes, your parishes, and your communities.”