St. Patrick Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis called on the faithful to yearn to serve, not thirst for power, as he proclaimed 14 new saints, including Canada-born St. Marie-Léonie Paradis, founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family, and 11 martyrs.

"Those who dominate do not win, only those who serve out of love," he said Oct. 20.

"When we learn to serve, our every gesture of attention and care, every expression of tenderness, every work of mercy becomes a reflection of God's love," he said. "And so, we continue Jesus' work in the world."  

The pope said the new saints lived Jesus' way of service. "The faith and the apostolate they carried out did not feed their worldly desires and hunger for power but, on the contrary, they made themselves servants of their brothers and sisters, creative in doing the good, steadfast in difficulties and generous to the end." 

On World Mission Sunday in St. Peter's Square, during the synod on synodality, the pope created the following new saints:

-- Italian missionary Giuseppe Allamano (1851-1926) founder of the Consolata Missionaries.

-- Eight Franciscan friars, including Manuel Ruiz López, and three Maronite laymen who were martyred in Syria in 1860. Seven of the Franciscans were from Spain and one was from Austria while the Maronite laymen were blood brothers. They were murdered in St. Paul's Church and convent in Damascus the night between July 9 and 10, 1860, by Druze militants.

-- Canada-born Mother Marie-Léonie Paradis, founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family. Born in L'Acadie, Quebec, in 1840, she had various teaching assignments in Canada before being sent to teach at St. Vincent's orphanage in New York. She died in 1912 in Sherbrooke, Canada. 

-- Sister Elena Guerra (1835-1914), an Italian nun who founded the Oblates of the Holy Spirit.

Tens of thousands of people attended the Mass, including the more than 300 cardinals, bishops and others taking part in the Oct. 2-257 synod on synodality. Dignitaries from Canada, Spain and Italy, including Italian President Sergio Mattarella, were present for the canonization and Mass.

In his homily, the pope pointed to the new saints as inspiring examples of "men and women who served in martyrdom and in joy" and who remained faithful servants "throughout the troubled history of humanity."

"This is what we should yearn for: not power, but service. Service is the Christian way of life," he said.

Jesus listened to his disciples and asked them questions that revealed what was truly in their hearts, the "hidden expectations and dreams of glory" they secretly cultivated, the pope said. "Many times in the church, these thoughts (desiring) honor, power emerge." 

But Jesus helps change their perspective by revealing he was not the Messiah of worldly power and victory, the pope said. "He is the God of love, who stoops down to reach the one who has sunk low, who makes himself weak to raise up the weak, who works for peace and not for war, who has come to serve and not to be served."

Jesus' teachings about service, Pope Francis said, "are often incomprehensible to us as they were to the disciples, yet by following him, by walking in his footsteps and welcoming the gift of his love that transforms our way of thinking, we too can learn God’s way of service."

Serving others is "not about a list of things to do" that can be checked off and completed so that person can say he or she did his or her part, he said.  

Service isn't a job, it does not "just do things to bring about results, it is not occasional," he said. It is "born from love, and love knows no bounds, it makes no calculations, it spends, and it gives."

Before leading the recitation of the Angelus after Mass, the pope urged Catholics to support the world's missionaries with their prayers and concrete assistance. These men and women bring the Gospel message "often with great sacrifice."

And, he said, every Christian is called to take part in this mission by being courageous and joyful witnesses to the Gospel in every aspect of their life.

"We continue to pray for people who suffer because of war," he said, such as "martyred Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, martyred Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and all the others."

The pope also appealed to political and civil authorities in the Amazon region to guarantee the protection of the Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, including their fundamental rights, "against every kind of exploitation of their dignity and their territories."

The pope highlighted the presence at the Mass of representatives of the Yanomami people, an Indigenous ethnic group living in the forest between Brazil and Venezuela. The second miracle needed for the canonization of St. Allamano involved a member of the community, Sorino Yanomami, who had been seriously wounded in the head by a jaguar and survived. 
 

Pope canonizes new saints during synod

On World Mission Sunday, during the synod on synodality, the pope created 14 new saints, including the Canada-born founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family and 11 men martyred in Syria.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The celebration of World Mission Sunday is a popular day for a pope to canonize new saints -- not only those who ministered or gave up their lives in lands traditionally known as mission territories, but women and men from every walk of life and from around the world.

The 2024 celebration of World Mission Sunday Oct. 20 will be no different. Pope Francis is scheduled to declare saints: Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, founder of the Consolata Missionaries; eight Franciscan friars and three Maronite laymen who were martyred in Syria in 1860; Canada-born Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis, founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family; and Blessed Elena Guerra, an Italian nun who founded the Oblates of the Holy Spirit.

Here are short biographies of the new saints: 

-- Blessed Allamano, an Italian who lived from 1851 to 1926, was the nephew of St. Giuseppe Cafasso and had as his spiritual director for four years St. John Bosco, founder of the Salesians. He founded the men's Institute of Consolata Missionaries in 1901 and the women's branch of the order in 1910.

Ordained to the priesthood in 1873 for the Archdiocese of Turin, he worked in a parish for a few months before being called to join the staff of the diocesan seminary. At the age of only 25, he was named spiritual director of the seminarians. Later, as rector of Turin's Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, he gathered Turin priests willing to be missionaries, forming an institute named after the shrine. The first group of priests set off for Kenya in 1902. 

-- Blessed Manuel Ruiz López, six other Franciscans from Spain and one from Austria as well as three Maronite laymen, blood brothers -- Abdel Moati, Francis and Raphael Massabki -- were murdered in St. Paul's Church and convent in Damascus, Syria, the night between July 9 and 10, 1860, by Druze militants.

Father Ruiz was superior of the convent and, according to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, after the militants broke in, "his first thought was to go to the church and consume the Eucharistic hosts to prevent them from being profaned. He was put to death at the foot of the altar."

The other Franciscan friars being canonized are: Carmelo Bolta Bañuls, Engelbert Kolland, Nicanor Ascanio Soria, Nicolás María Alberca Torres, Pedro Nolasco Soler Méndez, Francisco Pinazo Peñalver and Juan Jacob Fernández.

The Massabki brothers lived in Damascus and frequently assisted the Franciscan friars. Abdel Moati was married with five children and helped out at the friars' school. Francis was a silk merchant who also was married and was the father of eight children. Raphael was single and was known to spend long hours praying in the church. 

-- Blessed Marie-Léonie Paradis was born Virginie-Alodie Paradis in L'Acadie, Quebec, in 1840. The future saint entered the convent of the Marianites of Holy Cross, a congregation of women dedicated to assisting priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross both through teaching and by cooking and cleaning for the priests. Given the religious name Marie de Sainte-Léonie, she had various teaching assignments in Canada before being sent to teach at St. Vincent's orphanage in New York.

In 1880 in Memramcook, New Brunswick, she founded a new community, the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family, to support the ministry of priests. With 91 sisters, the community was approved in 1896 in Sherbrooke, Québec. The sisters' website describes their mission as "the spiritual and material support of the ministry of priests." Mother Marie-Léonie died in 1912 in Sherbrooke at the age of 72. 

-- Blessed Elena Guerra was born in Lucca, Italy, in 1835 and was drawn to Christian service, initially founding a school for poor girls in her hometown. But, according to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, she had had "a very special devotion to the Holy Spirit" since receiving the sacrament of confirmation at the age of 8. Eventually, in 1882, she founded the community that would become the Oblates of the Holy Spirit.

Later, "saddened to find that most Christians neglected devotion to the Paraclete," the website said, she wrote a pamphlet called "Pious Union of Prayers to the Holy Spirit" to spread devotion to the Spirit, especially in the days leading up to Pentecost.

She died in 1914 and was beatified in 1959 by St. John XXIII.
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The decentralization of certain aspects of the Catholic Church's governance, as proposed in the Synod of Bishops on synodality, should not lead to a decentralization of doctrine, said the former chair of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine.

Allowing different bishops' conferences to teach varying doctrines "would be disastrous," said Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, a synod member and member of the U.S. bishops' doctrine committee. 

Speaking with Catholic News Service Oct. 16 during ongoing synod discussions on the church's mission and its dynamic relationship with local cultures beyond hierarchical models, Bishop Rhoades said he does not expect any changes in the doctrinal authority of a bishop or bishops' conference emerging from the synod.

"Fragmentation in matters of faith and morals would be really against the will of our Lord and really hurt our mission, especially our mission of evangelization in a divided world," he told CNS. "We should be a sign of unity in a divided world."

The working document for synod said that one of the proposals that has emerged calls for the "recognition of Episcopal Conferences as ecclesial subjects endowed with doctrinal authority, assuming socio-cultural diversity within the framework of a multifaceted Church."

The idea was already present in Pope Francis' 2015 post-synodal apostolic exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium" ("Joy of the Gospel"), seen as a roadmap for his pontificate, in which he wrote that the contribution of bishops' conferences to the universal church as envisioned in the Second Vatican Council "has not been fully realized, since a juridical status of episcopal conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal authority, have not yet been sufficiently elaborated."

Bishop Rhoades said that developments in the role of bishops' conferences must adhere to the "sound decentralization" outlined in the synod's working document. Quoting the pope's 2022 apostolic constitution "Praedicate Evangelium" ("Preach the Gospel"), the document stated that such decentralization means leaving "to the competence of Bishops the authority to resolve, in the exercise of their proper task as teachers and pastors, those issues with which they are familiar and that do not affect the Church's unity of doctrine, discipline and communion."

Sound decentralization, Bishop Rhoades said, would not involve changing doctrine as a bishops' conference, but asking how to apply principles of doctrine to a specific culture, especially in a pastoral context, "because we are all living in different cultures, so there needs to be some decentralization."

Such decentralization can be promoted through existing synodal structures outlined in canon law, he said, such as parish pastoral councils, which "should be mandated." Other structures like diocesan synods, he added, are underutilized in U.S. dioceses.

"They are not new structures, and those that we do have we can use better," he said. "One of my hopes is that we will use these bodies, these synodal councils, more effectively, more deeply and not just (in) some kind of 'pro forma' (way) but to really be an impetus for mission."

Speaking of the context in the United States, he said that the communion between the U.S. bishops and Pope Francis "on the protection of human life and dignity is very strong."

At their 2023 fall general assembly, U.S. bishops were asked if topics such as addressing climate change and supporting immigration, major concerns for the pope, were downplayed in their document "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," which stated that the threat of abortion remains the U.S. bishops' "preeminent priority" in guiding Catholic voters.

Yet Bishop Rhoades said, "I don't really see a divergence" between the priorities of the U.S. bishops and the pope. "I think though that there are different cultural contexts, and the pope is the pope of the universal church."

Abortion, the bishop said, "has been a very preeminent issue for us as an episcopal conference in the United States" due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

"I think the pope is looking at the whole, and he speaks on behalf of the unborn very strongly but also on behalf of migrants," he said. "I honestly think we are on the same page."
 

U.S. bishop warns against doctrinal fragmentation

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend talks about the Synod of Bishops on synodality and the danger of doctrinal fragmentation.

WASHINGTON - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will gather for the 2024 Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, November 11-14. Throughout the meeting, the bishops will have opportunities for prayer and fraternal dialogue with one another. Public sessions of the assembly on November 12 and 13 will be livestreamed. 

The plenary will begin with an address by the Papal Nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre. The bishops will hear from Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, president of the USCCB. 

The agenda for the plenary is not final, and therefore subject to change, but the bishops are anticipating a full schedule that includes: an update on the resources being developed in a collaborative effort among several USCCB committees for Dignitas Infinita; an update on the interim implementation of Antiquum Ministerium (on the ministry of the catechist); a discussion on the pastoral implementation of integral ecology and Laudato si’; the drafting of a document guiding lay ecclesial ministry as a follow-up to the bishops’ 2005 document; the USCCB’s 2025-2028 Mission Directive; the USCCB’s 2025 budget; and three action items pertaining to liturgical texts from the divine worship committee.

Also expected at the meeting: an update on migration; a report on the 2021-2024 Synod of Bishops; a report on the U.S. bishops’ Eucharistic revival initiative and National Eucharistic Congress; a consultation of the bishops on causes of beatification and canonization forSister Annella Zervas, a professed religious of the Order of Saint Benedict, and of the Servant of God Gertrude Agnes Barber, a lay woman. 

During the assembly, the bishops will vote for the new Conference treasurer, as well as chairmen-elect of five Conference committees. The terms for the bishops elected as chairmen will serve for one year as chairman-elect before beginning a three-year term at the conclusion of the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly.

Public sessions of the assembly on November 12 and 13 will be livestreamed at: www.usccb.org/meetings -- news updates, vote totals, texts of addresses and presentations, and other materials will be posted to this page. Those wishing to follow the meeting on social media may use the hashtag #USCCB24 follow on Facebook (www.facebook.com/usccb), as well as Instagram (https://instagram.com/usccb), Threads (www.threads.net/@usccb), and X, formerly known as Twitter (@USCCB).

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis called on divided Christians to overcome their doctrinal differences and walk together in love, expressing hope especially for greater unity between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

Speaking during his general audience in St. Peter's Square Oct. 16, the pope acknowledged historical differences among Christian communities, but he stressed that the path forward lies in reconciliation.

“Among Christians, there are so many differences," he said, "but the important thing is that these differences are reconciled in the love of walking together.”

As part of his ongoing catechesis on the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis spoke about the historic split between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, known as the Great Schism of 1054

.

One issue that led to the division was the Catholic Church's addition of the Latin term "filioque" -- meaning "and from the Son" -- to the Nicene Creed, which signaled that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. This theological disagreement, along with other cultural and political factors, contributed to the long-standing rift between the two branches of Christianity.

Yet Pope Francis expressed hope that the issue would become "one of the main reconciled differences" between the churches since the dialogue between them has meant their disagreement "has lost the harshness of the past and today allows hope for full mutual acceptance."

Even while differences remain, he said, "we can value the most important prerogative for us that is proclaimed in the article of the creed, namely that the Holy Spirit is the 'giver of life,' that is, life-giving."

At the moment of humanity's creation, he said, God breathed life into Adam, and "now, in the new creation, the Holy Spirit is the one who gives believers new life, the life of Christ, supernatural life, as children of God."

"Where, in all of this, is the great and consoling news for us?" he asked. "It is that the life given to us by the Holy Spirit is eternal life."

"Faith frees us from the horror of having to admit that everything ends here, that there is no redemption for the suffering and injustice that reign supreme on earth," the pope said. "The Spirit lives in us, it is in us."

After his main speech, Pope Francis asked visitors in the square not to forget countries experiencing war: Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and Myanmar.

"Brothers and sisters, let us not forget that war always, always, is a defeat," he said. "Let us not forget this and pray for peace and fight for peace."

Pope Francis on the "filioque"

Pope Francis spoke about the procession of the Holy Spirit at his general audience Oct. 16.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington said he hopes U.S. voters who are as concerned as he is about the "anger and vitriol" of the current election cycle will take time away from the media to think and pray about the values important to them as Catholics.

"Pray. Reflect. Decide." Those are the steps Pope Francis once recommended to voters in Argentina, and Cardinal Gregory said they are the best approach.

"Those who are running for public office probably will not satisfy each and every issue that lies before you," so Catholics must decide which issues are most important to them and then "rank them, learn about them, pray about them, make a conscientious decision," the cardinal said.

Cardinal Gregory spoke to Catholic News Service Oct. 15 while at the Vatican for the meeting of the Synod of Bishops. 

Other members of the synod from around the globe have mentioned the election to him, he said. "They know that I'm the archbishop of our nation's capital. They suspect that some of these issues that are on the national horizon are things that have touched my own life and my own ministry. But you know they, too, are somewhat perplexed by the anger, the vitriol, the rhetoric."

Some of them are annoyed by what they see on the news and on social media, others are confused and still others are frightened, he said, because of the role the United States plays in the international community.

In the Oct. 3 issue of the Catholic Standard, his archdiocesan newspaper, Cardinal Gregory wrote a column on "Approaching Election Day as citizens and people of faith," pointing to the U.S. bishops' document, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," and to the statement he and the other bishops of Maryland wrote urging voters to reject Question 1, which if passed would declare "reproductive freedom," including abortion, a fundamental right.

Abortion is a "fundamental" issue, but not the only one, he told CNS.

Abortion falls under the "umbrella" of "the reverence and the respect that is due human life," the cardinal said. "And that umbrella is wide enough to also include the dignity of people who are seeking entry into our country as immigrants," the use of capital punishment and the need for jobs that pay enough so that people can support their families.

As for the synod, Cardinal Gregory said what he has benefited from most is the opportunity to listen to bishops, priests, religious and laypeople from around the world describe their realities, obstacles and dreams for the church.

While it is true that most U.S. dioceses and parishes have had pastoral councils for years, the listening sessions held on a local, diocesan and continental level showed many Catholics felt no one had listened to them previously.

"One of the things I hope that this whole synodal process has accomplished is that it has upped the communications," the cardinal said. "Yes, most dioceses do have pastoral councils, but an awful lot of people don't know when the pastoral council meets. They don't know how the agenda is set. They don't know how delegates are chosen."

The listening sessions around the world raised questions including about the possibility of greater ministerial and decision-making roles for women, greater inclusion of people who identify as LGBTQ, the need for improved seminary training so priests learn to listen and other issues that Pope Francis assigned to study groups and not the synod itself.

Many synod members insisted there be time to discuss the issues, bring their concerns to the study groups and expand the groups' participants, especially the group on women and ministry.

Cardinal Gregory said that in setting up the study groups, "I suspect he (the pope) was hoping to avoid the quagmire that happens when you have issues of that significance and that complexity and try to articulate it in group speech. I think he wanted to make sure that those issues got proper attention and that people who were informed and people who had experience and people who had interests could do a synopsis of those matters."

Asked about the objections some synod members raised to the issues being assigned to study groups, the cardinal said, "Isn't that a grace of the synod that all of a sudden the people who are participants in the synod had a chance to voice their questions, their opinions, their disagreements?"

"The one thing that I think is critically important in the ministry of Pope Francis is that he is not afraid to hear criticism," the cardinal said, "and he hears a lot of it."
 

D.C. cardinal condemns election rhetoric, urges Christian values

Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington talks about the upcoming U.S. election.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be voting for the conference’s treasurer-elect as well as chairmen-elect for five standing committees during the 2024 Plenary Assembly taking place November 11-14 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Each bishop elected will serve for one year as the treasurer-elect, or as chairman-elect of the respective committee before beginning a three-year term at the conclusion of the bishops’ 2025 Plenary Assembly. 

The following bishops were nominated (listed under committee in alphabetical order):

USCCB TREASURER-ELECT; CHAIRMAN-ELECT, COMMITTEE ON BUDGET AND FINANCE

• Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda, Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
• Bishop David J. Malloy, Diocese of Rockford

CHAIRMAN-ELECT, COMMITTEE ON CLERGY, CONSECRATED LIFE, AND VOCATIONS

• Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt, SEMV, auxiliary bishop, Archdiocese of Hartford
• Bishop Ronald A. Hicks, Diocese of Joliet

CHAIRMAN-ELECT, COMMITTEE ON DIVINE WORSHIP

• Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
• Bishop Michael G. Woost, Diocese of Cleveland

CHAIRMAN-ELECT, COMMITTEE ON DOMESTIC JUSTICE AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

• Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre, Archdiocese of Louisville
• Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, Diocese of Paterson

CHAIRMAN-ELECT, COMMITTEE ON LAITY, MARRIAGE, FAMILY LIFE AND YOUTH

• Bishop Edward J. Burns, Diocese of Dallas
• Bishop James D. Conley, Diocese of Lincoln

CHAIRMAN-ELECT, COMMITTEE ON MIGRATION

• Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, Diocese of Victoria
• Bishop Joseph J. Tyson, Diocese of Yakima

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis called again for "an immediate cease-fire on all fronts" in the Middle East, urging leaders to "pursue the paths of diplomacy and dialogue to achieve peace."

The pope made the appeal Oct. 13 after leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter's Square.

A year after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing and taking hundreds of hostages, Israel's retaliation and attack on Gaza continues. Fighting has expanded to the Israeli-Lebanese border, with Hezbollah militants firing on northern Israel and Israel invading southern Lebanon and bombing Hezbollah positions in Beirut. Iran, which supports Hezbollah, fired ballistic missiles at Israel Oct. 1 and Israel was expected to retaliate.

All forces involved have inflicted death and hardship on civilians. 

After reciting the Angelus, Pope Francis told the crowd, "I am close to all the populations involved, in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon, where I ask the United Nations peacekeeping forces to be respected."

Several U.N. peacekeepers were wounded in Lebanon in the days before Pope Francis spoke; it was not clear who was responsible, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the United Nations Oct. 13 to move the peacekeepers from the border area, claiming Hezbollah was using the peacekeepers and their bases as shields.

While Pope Francis prayed for "all the victims (and) for the displaced" throughout the region, he also repeated his call for Hamas to release the hostages they took a year ago.

"I hope that this great pointless suffering, engendered by hatred and revenge, will end soon," the pope said.

"Brothers and sisters, war is an illusion, it is a defeat: it will never lead to peace, it will never lead to security, it is a defeat for all, especially for those who believe they are invincible," he said. "Stop, please!"

Two days after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Pope Francis also appealed for peace and humanitarian assistance for the victims of Russia's war on Ukraine. 

"I appeal for the Ukrainians not to be left to freeze to death," he said, referring to the approach of winter and Russia's destruction of power plants and gas supply lines. "Stop the airstrikes against the civilian population, which is always the most affected. Stop the killing of innocent people!"

Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, the pope's envoy for peace in Ukraine, arrived in Moscow Oct. 14 to speak with government officials "to facilitate the family reunification of Ukrainian children" forcibly taken to Russia and about "the exchange of prisoners, with a view to achieving the much hoped-for peace," said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.

Pope Francis also told the crowd that he is following the "dramatic situation in Haiti" where extreme gang violence "continues against the population, forced to flee from their own homes in search of safety elsewhere, inside and outside the country."

Since 2020 Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, has been the scene of ferocious gang battles, and since February most of the capital has been in the control of gang members. But the violence is spreading. In the town of Pont-Sondé Oct. 3 gang members killed at least 115 people and caused more than more than 6,000 people to flee their homes.

"I ask everyone to pray for an end to all forms of violence" in Haiti, Pope Francis said, and he encouraged the international community "to continue working to build peace and reconciliation in the country, always defending the dignity and rights of all."

Pope urges cease-fire in Mideast war: "Stop, Please!"

A look at Pope Francis' Angelus address Oct. 13.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Halfway through the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis and synod participants prayed that God would "remove the divisions between Christians" so that they could proclaim the Gospel together.

The pope presided over a candlelight vigil Oct. 11, the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962, and texts from council documents introduced the prayers of praise and the prayers of petition.

The synod participants at the prayer service included the 16 "fraternal delegates" representing Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches, as well as the Rome-based representatives of the Anglican, Methodist and Reformed churches to the Holy See and other Christian ministers and faithful in the city.

Pope Francis did not read the meditation he prepared for the service, although it was distributed and published on the Vatican website. 

Halfway through the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis wrote, participants wanted to "express our shame at the scandal of division among Christians, the scandal of our failure to bear common witness to the Lord Jesus."

"This synod is an opportunity to do better, to overcome the walls that still exist between us," the pope wrote.

The vigil took place in the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs, just south of St. Peter's Basilica, which is the site where St. Peter and other Christians were martyred in the first century under the Emperor Nero.

The setting, the pope wrote, should "remind us that today, too, in many parts of the world, Christians of different traditions are laying down their lives together for their faith in Jesus Christ, embodying an ecumenism of blood."

"Their witness speaks more powerfully than any words, because unity is born of the cross of the Lord," Pope Francis said.

Noting the anniversary of Vatican II, he said the council "marked the official entry of the Catholic Church into the ecumenical movement," which was begun by mainline Protestant churches out of a conviction that the lack of unity among Christians was harming their ability to preach the Gospel.

The goal of the work for Christian unity is the same as the goal for the synod on synodality, Pope Francis wrote. Both are focused on the mission Jesus gave to all his disciples to share the good news of salvation with everyone. 

And, he said, in both ecumenical dialogue and the synodal process, "it is not so much a matter of creating something as it is of welcoming and making fruitful the gift we have already received" and sharing God-given gifts with each other for the benefit of all.

"Just as we do not know beforehand what the outcome of the synod will be, neither do we know exactly what the unity to which we are called will be like," he said. However, Christians know that unity will be a gift of the Holy Spirit, and it will not destroy all differences between them, but allow diversity to enrich everyone.

Like the effort to make the Catholic Church more synodal -- marked by respectful listening to the Spirit and each other and by a shared commitment to mission -- the search for Christian unity, the pope said, "is a journey: it grows gradually as it progresses. It grows through mutual service, through the dialogue of life, through the cooperation of all Christians that 'sets in clearer relief the features of Christ the Servant.'"

"We need to pursue the path of unity by virtue of our love for Christ and for all the people we are called to serve," Pope Francis wrote. "As we travel along this path, let us never allow difficulties to stop us! Let us trust the Holy Spirit, who draws us to unity in the harmony of a multifaceted diversity."
 

Pope Francis and participants in the Synod of Bishops on synodality held an ecumenical prayer vigil at the Vatican Oct. 11.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A bishop who runs his diocese like a "monarch" is not only not acting synodally, but he probably is lonely and stressed, said theologians advising the Synod of Bishops.

"The bishop is not the lord of the church, but the servant of the Lord, at the service of his community," Father Carlos María Galli, a professor at the Catholic University of Argentina, told synod participants and members of the public at a forum Oct. 9.

The forum on "The Role and Authority of the Bishop in a Synodal Church" was one of four presentations the Synod of Bishops scheduled in October to give synod participants and members of the public a chance to explore the theological and pastoral foundations of some synod topics.

More than 200 people, including dozens of cardinals and bishops, attended the forum on the ministry of bishops, and many of them had questions for the five theologians making presentations there. 

The theologians and members of the audience recognized how many responsibilities -- both pastoral and administrative -- a diocesan bishop has and how that can lead to overwork and stress.

The working document for the 2024 assembly of the synod said, "The bishop has the task of presiding over a Church, being a visible principle of unity within it and a bond of communion with all the Churches."

His having ultimate responsibility, it said, "does not imply his separation from the portion of the People of God entrusted to him, and which he is called to serve in the name of Christ the Good Shepherd. The fact that 'the fullness of the sacrament of order is conferred by episcopal consecration' is not the justification for an episcopal ministry that is 'monarchical,' conceived as an accumulation of prerogatives from which every other charism and ministry derives."

"Instead, it affirms the capacity and duty to gather and compose in unity every gift that the Spirit pours out on baptized men and women and on the various communities," the working document said.

One bishop from Africa asked which responsibilities a bishop should delegate and which he needed to do himself.

Father Matteo Visioli, a professor of canon law at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, replied that discerning "what is essential and what is superfluous" or what can be delegated "is the question of every bishop, priest, pastor, parent and student."

"A bishop can and must allow the baptized to participate in the governance of the diocese not by delegation but by (virtue of) their baptism," Father Visioli said. One of the main points of synodality is that all the baptized are called to share in the mission of the church.

Requests by Catholics for accountability from their bishops, he said, are not about controlling the bishop, but helping him.

"When I read the word 'monarchical' in the working document, I did not think about his power, but his loneliness," the canonist said. 

Sister Liliana Franco Echeverri, a member of the Company of Mary and president of the Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean Religious, told the bishops, "We do not want your administrative tasks to take away from your most authentic vocation: to be a pastor, a caretaker who makes decisions with love."

"You, too, are disciples," she told them. "Your first mission is to be a witness of the Gospel."

Cardinal-designate Roberto Repole of Turin, a longtime professor of systematic theology, told the audience that 60 years after the Second Vatican Council, there still are varying interpretations of what it means for a bishop to be a successor of the Apostles, called to preside over a local church and having the "fullness of the sacrament of holy orders."

To many, he said, it implies that "from the bishop everything flows."

"This leads to a ministry which tends to be solitary, individual, and which cascades down to produce an equally solitary and individual way of living priestly ministry," he said.