Cardinal Raymond Burke gives the final blessing during the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage Mass in Rome on Oct. 25, 2014. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jun 16, 2025 / 16:31 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Raymond Burke said he has asked Pope Leo XIV to remove measures restricting the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in dioceses. 

Burke spoke at a London conference organized by The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, telling attendees that he hopes the new pontiff will “put an end to the persecution” of Catholic faithful who want to celebrate Mass using the “more ancient usage” — “usus antiquior”  — of the Roman liturgy. 

The prefect emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura and former patron of the Order of Malta was one of seven guest panelists invited to speak at the faith and culture conference held on June 14. 

Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan, who has written extensively on the Eucharist and Church tradition, also spoke at the weekend conference held to mark the 60th anniversary of the U.K.-based society. 

“I certainly have already had occasion to express that to the Holy Father,” Burke said via video link. “It is my hope that he will, as soon as is reasonably possible, take up the study of this question.”

After the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI promulgated the Novus Ordo Missae in 1969. This liturgy, celebrated in the vernacular, largely replaced the TLM in dioceses worldwide.

During the conference, Burke expressed his desire for Pope Leo to overturn Francis’ 2021 Traditionis Custodes moto proprio and restore Benedict XVI’s 2007 Summorum Pontificum, the Catholic Herald reported.

“It is my hope,” Burke said at the conference, “[Leo will] even continue to develop what Pope Benedict XVI had so wisely and lovingly legislated for the Church.”

Besides criticisms leveled against Traditionis Custodes, the U.S. cardinal has been publicly critical of other initiatives led by Pope Francis.

In 2016, Burke and three other cardinals submitted “dubia” — formal requests for clarification — regarding interpretations of the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

The prelate also criticized the 2019 Synod on the Pan-Amazon Region convened by Pope Francis, saying parts of the agenda appeared “contrary” to Catholic teaching.

null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 16, 2025 / 14:19 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the New York Court of Appeals to revisit Diocese of Albany v. Harris, a case challenging a 2017 New York state mandate requiring employers to cover abortions in health insurance plans.

The order follows the court’s unanimous ruling on June 5 in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, which upheld First Amendment protections for religious organizations.

A coalition of religious groups, including the Dioceses of Albany and Ogdensburg, the Sisterhood of St. Mary (Anglican/Episcopal nuns), First Bible Baptist Church, and Catholic Charities, sued New York state in 2017, arguing the mandate forces them to violate their belief in the sanctity of life by forcing them to fund abortions.

In 2017, the New York State Department of Financial Services mandated that employer health plans cover “medically necessary” abortions. Initially, the state proposed exempting employers with religious objections, but abortion activists pressured the state for a narrower exemption that would apply only to religious groups that primarily teach religion and serve or employ only those of their own faith. 

This excluded many faith-based ministries that serve all people regardless of religious affiliation like the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm who run Teresian Nursing Home for all elderly and dying, and Catholic Charities, which offers adoption and maternity services.

Without relief, the groups face millions in fines or will have to eliminate employee health plans. 

In 2017, represented by religious liberty law group Becket and law firm Jones Day, the coalition challenged New York’s mandate. After state courts upheld it, the Supreme Court in 2021 reversed those rulings, citing Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a Becket victory protecting Catholic foster care agencies.

However, New York’s Court of Appeals reaffirmed the mandate in May 2024, claiming Fulton was inapplicable and ignoring the Supreme Court’s ruling. At the time, Dennis Poust of the New York State Catholic Conference called the mandate “unconstitutional and unjust.” Becket and Jones Day appealed again on Sept. 17, 2024.

In the Catholic Charities ruling in early June, the Supreme Court rejected Wisconsin’s denial of a tax exemption to Catholic Charities for serving all without proselytizing, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor calling it a “textbook” First Amendment violation of the free exercise and establishment clauses, as it favored certain religious practices over others.

“New York wants to browbeat nuns into paying for abortions for serving all in need,” said Eric Baxter, Becket’s vice president. “For the second time in four years, the Supreme Court has made clear that bully tactics like these have no place in our nation or our law. We are confident that these religious groups will finally be able to care for the most vulnerable consistent with their beliefs.”

Noel J. Francisco of Jones Day added: “Religious groups in the Empire State should not be forced to provide insurance coverage that violates their deeply held religious beliefs.”

The case mirrors the Little Sisters of the Poor’s fight against a 2011 federal contraceptive mandate, where the Supreme Court ruled three times that religious groups cannot be forced to facilitate practices against their beliefs.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has defended the mandate as essential for women’s health care, labeling the plaintiffs “extremists.”

null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 16, 2025 / 14:19 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the New York Court of Appeals to revisit Diocese of Albany v. Harris, a case challenging a 2017 New York state mandate requiring employers to cover abortions in health insurance plans.

The order follows the court’s unanimous ruling on June 5 in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, which upheld First Amendment protections for religious organizations.

A coalition of religious groups, including the Dioceses of Albany and Ogdensburg, the Sisterhood of St. Mary (Anglican/Episcopal nuns), First Bible Baptist Church, and Catholic Charities, sued New York state in 2017, arguing the mandate forces them to violate their belief in the sanctity of life by forcing them to fund abortions.

In 2017, the New York State Department of Financial Services mandated that employer health plans cover “medically necessary” abortions. Initially, the state proposed exempting employers with religious objections, but abortion activists pressured the state for a narrower exemption that would apply only to religious groups that primarily teach religion and serve or employ only those of their own faith. 

This excluded many faith-based ministries that serve all people regardless of religious affiliation like the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm who run Teresian Nursing Home for all elderly and dying, and Catholic Charities, which offers adoption and maternity services.

Without relief, the groups face millions in fines or will have to eliminate employee health plans. 

In 2017, represented by religious liberty law group Becket and law firm Jones Day, the coalition challenged New York’s mandate. After state courts upheld it, the Supreme Court in 2021 reversed those rulings, citing Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a Becket victory protecting Catholic foster care agencies.

However, New York’s Court of Appeals reaffirmed the mandate in May 2024, claiming Fulton was inapplicable and ignoring the Supreme Court’s ruling. At the time, Dennis Poust of the New York State Catholic Conference called the mandate “unconstitutional and unjust.” Becket and Jones Day appealed again on Sept. 17, 2024.

In the Catholic Charities ruling in early June, the Supreme Court rejected Wisconsin’s denial of a tax exemption to Catholic Charities for serving all without proselytizing, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor calling it a “textbook” First Amendment violation of the free exercise and establishment clauses, as it favored certain religious practices over others.

“New York wants to browbeat nuns into paying for abortions for serving all in need,” said Eric Baxter, Becket’s vice president. “For the second time in four years, the Supreme Court has made clear that bully tactics like these have no place in our nation or our law. We are confident that these religious groups will finally be able to care for the most vulnerable consistent with their beliefs.”

Noel J. Francisco of Jones Day added: “Religious groups in the Empire State should not be forced to provide insurance coverage that violates their deeply held religious beliefs.”

The case mirrors the Little Sisters of the Poor’s fight against a 2011 federal contraceptive mandate, where the Supreme Court ruled three times that religious groups cannot be forced to facilitate practices against their beliefs.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has defended the mandate as essential for women’s health care, labeling the plaintiffs “extremists.”

null / Credit: angellodeco/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 16, 2025 / 13:49 pm (CNA).

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will close its Center for Transyouth Health and Development and its transgender surgical program in July, citing federal and state-level funding pressures.

The hospital told families in an email that there was “no viable alternative” to closing the clinic, one of the nation’s largest, citing “the increasingly severe impacts of federal administrative actions and proposed policies,” including an executive order issued by President Donald Trump earlier in the year.

The center’s last day of operation will be July 22, according to the email, which was signed by clinic leaders including Paul Viviano and Kelly Johnson.

Earlier this year several hospitals in the United States suspended their child transgender programs after Trump’s order “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which moved to halt the “maiming and sterilizing [of] a growing number of impressionable children” due to transgender ideology.

The executive order directed that medical institutions that receive federal research or education grants must not participate in the “chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

The clinic leaders in their letter this week further cited directives from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and inquiries from federal authorities regarding quality standards at the children’s hospital as well as a May review on medical protocols from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Those factors, along with the FBI’s solicitation of tips to report hospitals performing transgender procedures on children, “strongly signal this administration’s intent to take swift and decisive action, both criminal and civil, against any entity it views as being in violation of the executive order,” the letter states.

The leaders said they would be hosting meetings in the coming days to discuss the looming closure.

According to a CDC study published last year, 3.3% of all U.S. high schoolers “identify as transgender,” with a further 2.2% of high schoolers “questioning” their “gender identity.”

Numerous U.S. states have moved lately to limit transgender procedures for minors, including surgical procedures and chemical prescriptions such as puberty blockers.

Last December the United Kingdom similarly made permanent its ban on children receiving puberty-blocking drugs meant to facilitate “gender transition.”

null / Credit: angellodeco/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 16, 2025 / 13:49 pm (CNA).

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will close its Center for Transyouth Health and Development and its transgender surgical program in July, citing federal and state-level funding pressures.

The hospital told families in an email that there was “no viable alternative” to closing the clinic, one of the nation’s largest, citing “the increasingly severe impacts of federal administrative actions and proposed policies,” including an executive order issued by President Donald Trump earlier in the year.

The center’s last day of operation will be July 22, according to the email, which was signed by clinic leaders including Paul Viviano and Kelly Johnson.

Earlier this year several hospitals in the United States suspended their child transgender programs after Trump’s order “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which moved to halt the “maiming and sterilizing [of] a growing number of impressionable children” due to transgender ideology.

The executive order directed that medical institutions that receive federal research or education grants must not participate in the “chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

The clinic leaders in their letter this week further cited directives from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and inquiries from federal authorities regarding quality standards at the children’s hospital as well as a May review on medical protocols from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Those factors, along with the FBI’s solicitation of tips to report hospitals performing transgender procedures on children, “strongly signal this administration’s intent to take swift and decisive action, both criminal and civil, against any entity it views as being in violation of the executive order,” the letter states.

The leaders said they would be hosting meetings in the coming days to discuss the looming closure.

According to a CDC study published last year, 3.3% of all U.S. high schoolers “identify as transgender,” with a further 2.2% of high schoolers “questioning” their “gender identity.”

Numerous U.S. states have moved lately to limit transgender procedures for minors, including surgical procedures and chemical prescriptions such as puberty blockers.

Last December the United Kingdom similarly made permanent its ban on children receiving puberty-blocking drugs meant to facilitate “gender transition.”

Smoke billows from an explosion in southwest Tehran on June 16, 2025. Iran’s state broadcaster was briefly knocked off the air by an Israeli strike and explosions rang out across Tehran on June 16 after a barrage of Iranian missiles killed 11 people in Israel on the fourth day of an escalating air war. / Credit: ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Vatican City, Jun 16, 2025 / 13:19 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV renewed the Church’s calls for nuclear disarmament and peaceful dialogue one day after Israel launched missile strikes on Iran.

The Holy Father spoke of his growing concerns for the Middle East on Saturday, shortly after delivering a catechesis to pilgrims attending the June 14–15 Jubilee of Sport.

“The situation in Iran and Israel has seriously deteriorated,” the pope told pilgrims inside St. Peter’s Basilica. “At such a delicate moment, I wish to strongly renew an appeal to responsibility and reason.”

“Our commitment to building a safer world free from the nuclear threat must be pursued through respectful encounters and sincere dialogue,” he insisted. 

Leo XIV said it is the “duty of all countries” to initiate “paths of reconciliation” and promote solutions — founded on justice, fraternity, and the common good — to build lasting peace and security in the region.

“No one should ever threaten another’s existence,” he said. 

Open warfare between the two Middle East nations entered its fourth day on Monday after Israel launched the initial deadly attack on June 13, just hours after Iran announced plans to activate its third nuclear facility, the Associated Press reported.

Both religious and political leaders have urged Israel and Iran to end the increasing military violence, impacting thousands of civilians, and enter into dialogue. 

Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, echoed Pope Leo’s calls for peaceful solutions in the region. 

“We urge the United States and the broader international community to exert every effort to renew a multilateral diplomatic engagement for the attainment of a durable peace between Israel and Iran,” Zaidan said on Monday.

“The further proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, as well as this escalation of violence, imperils the fragile stability remaining in the region,” he added.

In May, the U.N. censured Iran for not complying with nonproliferation obligations after the International Atomic Energy Agency warned the nations had increased its nuclear stockpile in its latest report.

António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, said on X on Saturday: “Israeli bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites. Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv. Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail.”

The number of deaths, injuries, and the displaced in Iran and Iraq are expected to rise as both countries continue to launch ongoing missile strikes and retaliatory attacks.

Smoke billows from an explosion in southwest Tehran on June 16, 2025. Iran’s state broadcaster was briefly knocked off the air by an Israeli strike and explosions rang out across Tehran on June 16 after a barrage of Iranian missiles killed 11 people in Israel on the fourth day of an escalating air war. / Credit: ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Vatican City, Jun 16, 2025 / 13:19 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV renewed the Church’s calls for nuclear disarmament and peaceful dialogue one day after Israel launched missile strikes on Iran.

The Holy Father spoke of his growing concerns for the Middle East on Saturday, shortly after delivering a catechesis to pilgrims attending the June 14–15 Jubilee of Sport.

“The situation in Iran and Israel has seriously deteriorated,” the pope told pilgrims inside St. Peter’s Basilica. “At such a delicate moment, I wish to strongly renew an appeal to responsibility and reason.”

“Our commitment to building a safer world free from the nuclear threat must be pursued through respectful encounters and sincere dialogue,” he insisted. 

Leo XIV said it is the “duty of all countries” to initiate “paths of reconciliation” and promote solutions — founded on justice, fraternity, and the common good — to build lasting peace and security in the region.

“No one should ever threaten another’s existence,” he said. 

Open warfare between the two Middle East nations entered its fourth day on Monday after Israel launched the initial deadly attack on June 13, just hours after Iran announced plans to activate its third nuclear facility, the Associated Press reported.

Both religious and political leaders have urged Israel and Iran to end the increasing military violence, impacting thousands of civilians, and enter into dialogue. 

Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, echoed Pope Leo’s calls for peaceful solutions in the region. 

“We urge the United States and the broader international community to exert every effort to renew a multilateral diplomatic engagement for the attainment of a durable peace between Israel and Iran,” Zaidan said on Monday.

“The further proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, as well as this escalation of violence, imperils the fragile stability remaining in the region,” he added.

In May, the U.N. censured Iran for not complying with nonproliferation obligations after the International Atomic Energy Agency warned the nations had increased its nuclear stockpile in its latest report.

António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, said on X on Saturday: “Israeli bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites. Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv. Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail.”

The number of deaths, injuries, and the displaced in Iran and Iraq are expected to rise as both countries continue to launch ongoing missile strikes and retaliatory attacks.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein has been the Vatican’s nuncio to the Baltic states since 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jun 16, 2025 / 12:49 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the Vatican’s nuncio to the Baltic states since 2024, said the region has been disappointed with the current U.S. administration’s approach to the conflict in Ukraine.

Speaking about the Russia-Ukraine war, Pope Benedict XVI’s former secretary said: “The major powers play a major role here, and the Baltic states are somewhat disappointed with the attitude of the current U.S. administration. They expected something different.”

Gänswein spoke about his role as a nuncio and the Holy See’s peace efforts in a June 13 interview with Rudolf Gehrig of EWTN News and CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. The archbishop took up his post in the nunciature in Vilnius, Lithuania, last year after 17 years as the personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI and 11 years as prefect of the Papal Household.

In the interview, he said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is strongly felt in the capital of Lithuania, which is just over 370 miles from Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. He said a nuncio — the pope’s representative to a country — “can’t do anything specifically. … It always goes through the Holy See, rightly so.”

“The Holy See is,” he continued, “a bridge builder — this was one of the new pope’s first words: peace. ‘Peace be with you!’” 

Playing off of Pope Leo XIV’s love of tennis, Gänswein called the pope’s first words after his election “a first serve of his pontificate.”

“A lot is being done,” he noted, but “it’s impossible to say now how successful it is. A constant drip wears away the stone.”

Overall, a “mistrust of the Russians, especially [President Vladimir] Putin,” can be felt among the population, the archbishop said. This goes back to the influence of the communist dictatorship at the time of the Iron Curtain.

“There is an atmospheric presence of war,” said Gänswein, who added: “It is important to see reality, to accept it, but also to take it seriously. We must continue to live life normally. And as Christians, we have the great gift of having clear hope and a clear mission in our faith.”

Ecumenism in times of ‘fratricidal war’

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has also made ecumenism with the Orthodox churches more difficult, Gänswein explained. The Orthodox Church in the Baltic countries, which was initially under the Patriarchate of Moscow, turned away from the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Cyril I, who even tried to legitimize the war in religious terms.

“How can the patriarch support the war — it is actually a fratricidal war, i.e. Orthodox fighting Orthodox; how can he support it,” Gänswein said. “This is a new bone of contention, so it’s important not to cut the strings — these are no longer bridges — but to hold them.”

While Lithuania is 80% Catholic, the balance of power between Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Latvia is almost evenly distributed at 20% each. In Estonia, on the other hand, as much as a fifth of the population is of Russian origin, a noticeable influence, the nuncio said.

Shortly after the start of the Russian invasion, Cyril I and Pope Francis met for a video call on March 16, 2022, at the patriarch’s request. The Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, who was present at the meeting, later reported in an interview with EWTN News that “the pope spoke very clearly when he said to the patriarch: ‘We are not state clerics, we are shepherds of the people. And therefore it must be our task to end this war.’”

Meanwhile, Gänswein emphasized that the Vatican is still needed in its role as mediator. 

Rift with Pope Francis?

In the interview, the archbishop also responded to media claims that there had been a major rift between him and Pope Francis.

“It wasn’t always easy,” he said, but “not everything was as the press reported, that it was a big ‘falling out.’ So that’s not true.”

“There were certain difficulties, certain tensions, but they were resolved in January 2024” when he had an audience with Pope Francis, he explained, calling that the beginning of the easing of tension between them: “The fact that I was subsequently appointed nuncio in the Baltic countries is certainly one of the fruits of this.”

Gänswein was suspended from his post as prefect of the Papal Household at the beginning of 2020. After Pope Benedict XVI’s death on Dec. 31, 2022, Pope Francis sent the archbishop back to his home diocese in Freiburg, Germany. Just under a year later, in June 2024, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic nuncio of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

“It wasn’t the case that we parted on bad terms,” Gänswein affirmed. 

Looking back, he said the meetings with Pope Francis in early January 2024, the appointment as nuncio in June 2024, and another audience as nuncio in November 2024 “gave him inner peace again.”

A recent visit to Francis’ tomb to pray for the deceased pope “completed the reconciliation,” the archbishop said.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein has been the Vatican’s nuncio to the Baltic states since 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jun 16, 2025 / 12:49 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the Vatican’s nuncio to the Baltic states since 2024, said the region has been disappointed with the current U.S. administration’s approach to the conflict in Ukraine.

Speaking about the Russia-Ukraine war, Pope Benedict XVI’s former secretary said: “The major powers play a major role here, and the Baltic states are somewhat disappointed with the attitude of the current U.S. administration. They expected something different.”

Gänswein spoke about his role as a nuncio and the Holy See’s peace efforts in a June 13 interview with Rudolf Gehrig of EWTN News and CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. The archbishop took up his post in the nunciature in Vilnius, Lithuania, last year after 17 years as the personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI and 11 years as prefect of the Papal Household.

In the interview, he said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is strongly felt in the capital of Lithuania, which is just over 370 miles from Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. He said a nuncio — the pope’s representative to a country — “can’t do anything specifically. … It always goes through the Holy See, rightly so.”

“The Holy See is,” he continued, “a bridge builder — this was one of the new pope’s first words: peace. ‘Peace be with you!’” 

Playing off of Pope Leo XIV’s love of tennis, Gänswein called the pope’s first words after his election “a first serve of his pontificate.”

“A lot is being done,” he noted, but “it’s impossible to say now how successful it is. A constant drip wears away the stone.”

Overall, a “mistrust of the Russians, especially [President Vladimir] Putin,” can be felt among the population, the archbishop said. This goes back to the influence of the communist dictatorship at the time of the Iron Curtain.

“There is an atmospheric presence of war,” said Gänswein, who added: “It is important to see reality, to accept it, but also to take it seriously. We must continue to live life normally. And as Christians, we have the great gift of having clear hope and a clear mission in our faith.”

Ecumenism in times of ‘fratricidal war’

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has also made ecumenism with the Orthodox churches more difficult, Gänswein explained. The Orthodox Church in the Baltic countries, which was initially under the Patriarchate of Moscow, turned away from the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Cyril I, who even tried to legitimize the war in religious terms.

“How can the patriarch support the war — it is actually a fratricidal war, i.e. Orthodox fighting Orthodox; how can he support it,” Gänswein said. “This is a new bone of contention, so it’s important not to cut the strings — these are no longer bridges — but to hold them.”

While Lithuania is 80% Catholic, the balance of power between Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Latvia is almost evenly distributed at 20% each. In Estonia, on the other hand, as much as a fifth of the population is of Russian origin, a noticeable influence, the nuncio said.

Shortly after the start of the Russian invasion, Cyril I and Pope Francis met for a video call on March 16, 2022, at the patriarch’s request. The Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, who was present at the meeting, later reported in an interview with EWTN News that “the pope spoke very clearly when he said to the patriarch: ‘We are not state clerics, we are shepherds of the people. And therefore it must be our task to end this war.’”

Meanwhile, Gänswein emphasized that the Vatican is still needed in its role as mediator. 

Rift with Pope Francis?

In the interview, the archbishop also responded to media claims that there had been a major rift between him and Pope Francis.

“It wasn’t always easy,” he said, but “not everything was as the press reported, that it was a big ‘falling out.’ So that’s not true.”

“There were certain difficulties, certain tensions, but they were resolved in January 2024” when he had an audience with Pope Francis, he explained, calling that the beginning of the easing of tension between them: “The fact that I was subsequently appointed nuncio in the Baltic countries is certainly one of the fruits of this.”

Gänswein was suspended from his post as prefect of the Papal Household at the beginning of 2020. After Pope Benedict XVI’s death on Dec. 31, 2022, Pope Francis sent the archbishop back to his home diocese in Freiburg, Germany. Just under a year later, in June 2024, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic nuncio of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

“It wasn’t the case that we parted on bad terms,” Gänswein affirmed. 

Looking back, he said the meetings with Pope Francis in early January 2024, the appointment as nuncio in June 2024, and another audience as nuncio in November 2024 “gave him inner peace again.”

A recent visit to Francis’ tomb to pray for the deceased pope “completed the reconciliation,” the archbishop said.

Seventeen-year-old Courtney Beatty was torn between going to a “No Kings” protest in Chicago or to the hometown celebration for Pope Leo XIV at the White Sox’s Guaranteed Rate Field on Saturday, June 15. In the end, the St. Ignatius College Prep student did both. Beatty and her parents stopped by the downtown protest before […]

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