Catholic News

• Pope thanks Bishop Varden for retreat, highlights references to Saints Bernard, Newman (CWN)
  At the conclusion of the February 22-27 retreat to the Roman Curia, Pope Leo XIV thanked Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, who preached the retreat conferences.
• Bishop Varden concludes retreat conferences to Pope, Curia with meditation on hope (CWN)
  Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, of Trondheim, Norway, reflected on “On consideration” and “To communicate hope” in today’s final Lenten retreat conferences to the Pope and the Roman Curia.
• Those who attend unapproved traditional Latin Masses are excommunicated, Brazilian archbishop declares (Pillar)
  Archbishop Carlos Alberto Breis Pereira, OFM, of Maceió, Brazil, declared that Catholics who attended unapproved traditional Latin Masses are schismatics who have incurred automatic excommunication. “The archbishop’s decree reminded local Catholics that, if they wish to attend a Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, they may do so at the authorized diocesan location, the Chapel of St. Vincent de Paul in the city of Maceió, where the Mass is celebrated every Sunday,” The Pillar reported.
• USCCB, in Supreme Court briefs, argues against Trump administration on turnback policy, birthright citizenship (CWN)
  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) offered strong criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration policies in a pair of Supreme Court briefs.
• Nigerian bishops condemn nation's 'bad leadership' (CSN Media)
  The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria took stock of the state of Nigeria in a statement at the conclusion of the bishops’ February 19-26 meeting. The bishops discussed “Persistent Insecurity and Loss of Lives,” “Socio-Economic Sabotage to the Common Good,” and “Bad Leadership as a Major Cause of our Afflictions.” “Where politics is erroneously understood only as rigging of elections and stealing of other people’s mandate, leadership is unfortunately taken as the amassing of illicit gains or engaging in other fraudulent activities,” the bishops said. “We note that bad leadership in our nation has caused systemic damage showing up in a worsening economy, widespread and persistent insecurity, and extreme poverty, despite the blessing of rich human and natural resources.”
• Controversial scholar withdraws from Notre Dame post [News Analysis] (CWN)
  A heated controversy at the University of Notre Dame has apparently been resolved, with Susan Ostermann, who had been appointed to head the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, announcing that she would not accept the post.
• Prelates, in Minnesota, decry mass deportations (The Catholic Spirit)
  Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, joined Cardinal Robert McElroy, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, and over two dozen other bishops at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota for conversations about immigration. At a February 27 Votive Mass of Solidarity with Migrants, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis preached: I’ve been angry a lot in these recent weeks. I’ve been angry when our brothers and sisters have been intimidated to the point that they’re afraid to come to Mass, or to go to work, or to the doctor, or to take their children to school. … And I’ve been angry when I’ve felt helpless or unable to find the right words or the way forward to stop the madness unfolding before my eyes. Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington said at a press conference: Catholic teaching supports a nation’s right to control its border, and in these cases, to deport those who have been convicted of serious crimes, especially violent crimes. But to go into the heartland—and literally the heartland of our country—and to begin to deport in a way with almost a siege on the city of Minneapolis, to seek to deport millions of men, women and children, families who have often lived here for decades—many children who know no other country—is contrary to Catholic faith, and more fundamentally contrary to basic human dignity.
• Vatican announces 2026 stamps (CFN.va)
  The Postal and Philatelic Service of the Vatican City State announced its 2026 postage stamps. Among the 19 stamps are stamps commemorating the 8th centenary of the foundation of the Cathedral of Toledo, the 3rd centenary of the canonization of Saint. Aloysius Gonzaga, and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Venerable Pius XII, as well as a stamp portraying the Ukrainian Greek Catholic cathedral in Kyiv.
• Catholic health provider agrees to $42M settlement in class-action retirement lawsuit (EWTN News)
  Providence Health & Services, a Catholic health system based in the State of Washington, settled a class-action retirement lawsuit for $42,725,000. Plaintiffs alleged that Providence mismanaged its retirement plan and violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
• Cincinnati sees highest number of conversions since 2009 (Catholic Telegraph)
  1,096 converts are expected to enter the Church at the Easter Virgil in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the highest number since 2009, when 1,125 entered the Church. “As our Lenten retreat begins along with your final days of preparation, I encourage you to make this a time of true prayer and conversion,” Archbishop Robert Casey said in a letter to catechumens and candidates. “Be evermore open to the Spirit of God working in your life. Strive to radiate the love of Jesus Christ in all that you say and do.”
• Russian Catholic official calls says war with Ukraine 'must end' (Vatican News)
  The vicar general of the Latin-rite Archdiocese of the Mother of God at Moscow called for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine. “I would say that people in Russia, Catholics also, have the same attitude towards the conflict that we have,” Father Kirill Gorbunov said in an interview with Vatican News. “It must end.” “All the countless lives lost during this conflict speak for themselves,” he added. “The violence speaks for itself, and the desire is that it must come to a conclusion. This conclusion must be a just and lasting peace, and this is the hope, the expectation of Russian Catholics.”
• 35% of Catholics in US have a bachelor's degree (Pew Research Center)
  In a nation in which 35% of adults have a bachelor’s degree, the same percentage of Catholics in the United States have a bachelor’s degree, according to the Pew Research Center. 70% of Hindus, 65% of Jews, 44% of Muslims, and 29% of evangelical Protestants have a bachelor’s degree, according to data recently culled from the Pew Research Center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study.
• Mauritania's bishop pleads for missionaries (ACI Africa)
  The bishop of the sole diocese in Mauritania (map) pleaded for missionaries who could minister in the nation on a more permanent basis. “All the priests are foreigners: most are missionaries, and from one day to the next, they could be recalled by their congregation,” said Bishop Victor Ndione of Nouakchott said, “I compare myself to Sisyphus, who constantly begins again heaving the rock up the mountain: training community leaders, Catechists, teachers, and people to work with children, knowing perfectly well that they might not be there in six months.”
• Vatican diplomat calls for respect for rights to life, religious freedom; condemns focus on 'new rights' (Holy See Mission)
  Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on its twentieth anniversary, a Vatican diplomat said that “the human rights project is currently facing a credibility crisis,” in part because of “the ongoing proliferation of so-called ‘new rights.’” “The right to freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, religious freedom and even the right to life are being restricted in the name of other so-called new rights, with the result that the very framework of human rights is losing its vitality and creating space for force and oppression,” Msgr. Daniel Pacho, one of the three undersecretaries of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State, said in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 25. The prelate called for respect for the right to life, “founded upon the defense of the inalienable dignity of every individual, from the moment of conception to natural death”; protection of the institution of the family; and respect for religious freedom. “One of the most prevalent crises in today’s world is the ongoing persecution of Christians, affecting over 380 million believers,” he said.
• Archbishop Gallagher urges Russia, Ukraine to respect international humanitarian law (Vatican News)
  Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, called on belligerents in the Russo-Ukrainian War to respect international humanitarian law. Addressing the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on February 24, Archbishop Gallagher said that international humanitarian law “must always prevail over the ambitions of belligerents, in order to mitigate the devastating effects of war, also with a view to reconstruction.” (In doing so, Archbishop Gallagher quoted Pope Leo’s “state of the world” address.) The prelate also said that the Holy See “stands ready to support any earnest diplomatic initiatives that place the human person and the alleviation of suffering at the heart of their efforts,” and that “those entrusted with the highest public responsibility must prioritize immediate humanitarian pauses alongside sustained diplomatic engagement.”
• Bishop Varden preaches to Pope, Curia on God's angels, 'Bernard the realist' (CWN)
  Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, of Trondheim, Norway, reflected on “God’s angels” and “Bernard the realist”—a reference to St. Bernard of Clairvaux—in his February 26 Lenten retreat conferences to the Pope and the Roman Curia.
• Local bishop 'grateful' as pro-abortion professor declines Notre Dame institute post (OSV News)
  Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, expressed gratitude that Susan Ostermann, a University of Notre Dame professor and abortion advocate, declined to accept the university’s appointment as head of its Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Rhoades were among the bishops who spoke out against the appointment. Bishop Rhoades also led the recitation of the Rosary at the university’s Lourdes grotto on February 24 for the intention of the university’s fidelity to its Catholic identity.
• Christian woman denied burial in Indian village despite high court decision (Catholic Connect)
  A Christian woman was denied burial in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh (map), according to Catholic Connect, a website of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India. The Supreme Court of India recently affirmed that Christians and members of other religious minority groups may be buried in public cemeteries in the Hindu-majority nation. Authorities in Amodi forbade the grieving husband from burying his wife’s body in the public cemetery or on family land, according to the report. Villagers “opposed the burial and demanded ‘Ghar Wapsi’ (reconversion to Hinduism), while issuing threats that reportedly included physical assault, damage to property, and the possibility of exhumation if burial rites were performed,” according to Catholic Connect. “They also claimed Christian burial practices would defile local land and deities.”
• Cardinal Zuppi on Ukraine: Church calls for weapons to fall silent (Vatican News)
  Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, traveled to Rome to preside at the Community of Sant’Egidio’s prayer vigil for peace in Ukraine. During the February 24 prayer vigil, held at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Cardinal Zuppi asked, “How can we pray always without growing weary? ... The Church, as Pope Leo XIV has said, asks only that the weapons fall silent, that a ceasefire be reached, and that a path toward peace be opened.”
• Vatican newspaper recalls migrant boat disaster (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
  The Vatican newspaper devoted the most prominent article in its February 26 edition to the third anniversary of the Calabria migrant boat disaster, in which 94 migrants drowned as they attempted to reach Italy. “I think of the parish priest of Cutro who, in those days, could only go home for a shower, and then return to those beaches to collect bodies,” said Archbishop Alberto Torriani of Crotone-Santa Severina, who lamented “the hatred that increasingly insinuates itself into relationships, between people.” Archbishop Claudio Maniago of Catanzaro-Squillace, vice president of the Calabrian Episcopal Conference, called on the region’s people “not to turn a blind eye”: “as bishops of Calabria, comes the duty to raise a voice in this silence, so that people realize that there are brothers and sisters seeking a dignified life.”
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