St. Mary Church

ACI Prensa Staff, May 7, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis received the Vatican’s Swiss Guard Corps on the occasion of the swearing-in of the new guards on May 6.

After participating in a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, 34 new recruits and their families were received by Pope Francis at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. At 5 p.m. local time, the young men pledged their loyalty and absolute resolve to serve the successor of Peter.

‘Thank you for your generous service’

Addressing the new recruits and their families, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude for their presence and their “daily service, always generous and diligent.”

The pope especially greeted Commander Christoph Graf, as well as the guard chaplain, whom he referred to as “an excellent Benedictine.”

After expressing his gratitude, the pontiff noted that among the guards there is “a positive and respectful atmosphere in the barracks, a courteous behavior with your superiors and guests, despite the sometimes long periods of intense and exhausting service.”

“You demonstrate a high level of motivation and willingness to serve, and also — this pleases me greatly — good relations among yourselves: You go on excursions together, you spend holidays together, you go out together often. And that’s very good,” he remarked.

Pope Francis  pointed out that “relationship is the key experience for us Christians: Jesus revealed and witnessed to us that God is love, he is in himself a relationship, and in this mystery we find the goal and the fullness of our existence.”

‘The great family of the Swiss Guard’

For Pope Francis, “good relationships are the path to our human and Christian growth and maturation.”

He reiterated that much of what characterizes our personality we have learned through relationships with our loved ones and noted that “life in the great family of the Swiss Guard, for at least two years of service, is such an important and formative period.”

The Holy Father assured them that “it is not just a period of work but a time of life and relationship” and highlighted that “this diversity and intensity of community and relationships among you in your daily barracks environment is an essential and qualifying aspect.”

The pope encouraged the new Swiss Guards to “actively cultivate community life.”

He lamented that many young people spend their free time alone with their cellphone or computer and therefore urged them to go “against the flow.”

“It’s better to use your free time for common activities, to get to know Rome, for moments of fraternity in which to relate and share, to play sports... these experiences build your inner self and will accompany you throughout your life,” the Holy Father said. 

Oath of the new Swiss Guards

Following an ancient tradition, on the afternoon of May 6, 34 new recruits of the Swiss Guard took their oath to serve the pope and the Church at the St. Damasus Cloister in the Vatican. 

The ceremony takes place on the day that commemorates the death of 189 Swiss soldiers in defense of Pope Clement VII in 1527 during the Sack of Rome.

Through their oath, the new Swiss Guards expressed their loyalty and absolute resolve to serve Peter’s successor.

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

Rome Newsroom, May 7, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

Garth Brooks may have friends in low places, but this Saturday he will perform at a high-level Vatican event with Nobel Peace Prize winners, business leaders, and professional athletes, including former NFL quarterback Tom Brady.

Brady, Brooks, and other celebrity guests will meet Pope Francis in an audience at the Apostolic Palace on the morning of May 11 as participants in the Vatican’s World Meeting on Human Fraternity.

It will be the second time that the longtime quarterback for the New England Patriots has met a pope. Brady met John Paul II in 2004 after winning the Super Bowl.

Brady will speak at a Vatican roundtable on sports titled “Competing in Mutual Esteem” on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Italian National Olympic Committee’s Hall of Honor. 

It is one of 12 roundtables organized throughout Rome at the second annual World Meeting on Human Fraternity — called #BeHuman — on topics ranging from education to peace-building, with economist Jeffrey Sachs and New York Mayor Eric Adams among its speakers.

On Saturday night, Brooks will sing some of his country hits in St. Peter’s Square starting at 9:30 p.m. as the culminating concert of the two-day human fraternity event organized by the Fratelli Tutti Foundation.

When asked why Brooks was chosen to perform at the Vatican, Father Francesco Occhetta, the secretary general for the Fratelli Tutti Foundation organizing the event, told CNA that the foundation has built relationships in the United States, adding: “We did not have a lot of time to invite more artists.”

Last year, Grammy winner Andrea Bocelli performed at the World Meeting on Human Fraternity during which Pope Francis signed a document drafted by a dozen Nobel Peace Prize winners together with representatives of former Nobel Prize-winning organizations calling for a commitment to human fraternity.

Nobel Prize winners will return to the Vatican this year for a roundtable on peace on Friday, May 10. Cardinal Pietro Parolin will give the opening speech for the roundtable, which will include Russian journalist Dmitrji Muratov, American human rights activist Jody Williams, Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman, Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, Liberian pacifist Leymah Gbowee, Guatemalan activist Rigoberta Menchù Tum, and Bangladeshi economist and banker Muhammad Yunus.

Other participants in the peace roundtable include the former prime minister of Niger, Ibrahim Mayaki, and Graça Machel Mandela, the widow of the late Nelson Mandela.

Rome Newsroom, May 7, 2024 / 09:02 am (CNA).

The Vatican’s doctrine office will publish a new document next week on discerning Marian apparitions and other supernatural events.

The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), will unveil new norms for discernment regarding “apparitions and other supernatural phenomena” on Friday, May 17.

In an interview with the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, last month, Fernandez said that the document will provide “clear guidelines and norms” for discernment.

The new norms will be the first time that the Vatican’s doctrinal office has issued a general document on apparitions in four decades. Pope Paul VI approved norms on “the discernment of presumed apparitions or revelations” in 1978.

Fernandez will speak at a livestreamed Vatican press conference at noon on the day of the document’s publication, along with Monsignor Armando Matteo, the secretary for the DDF’s doctrinal section.

The announcement comes after Fernández and Matteo met privately with Pope Francis on May 4, a meeting in which the pope likely reviewed the forthcoming document.

The Catholic Church calls for “great prudence” in examining the facts related to presumed apparitions of revelations. According to the 1978 norms, it is the Church’s responsibility to first judge the facts before permitting public devotion in the case of an alleged apparition.

Under Pope John Paul II, the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a lengthy document on popular piety in 2001 that reiterated the Church’s teaching that private revelations do not belong to the deposit of faith.

“Throughout the ages, there have been so-called private revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith,” paragraph 67 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states.

“It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Jesus calls believers not only to be servants of his kingdom, as the prophets and Mary were, but also to be his friends, Pope Francis said.

"Friendship is not the fruit of calculation, nor of compulsion, it is born spontaneously when we recognize something of ourselves in the other," he said May 5. "Jesus, in the Bible, tells us that for him we are precisely this: friends, people beloved beyond all merit and expectation, to whom he extends his hand and offers his love, his grace, his word."

Before leading the "Regina Coeli" prayer in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis reflected on the day's Gospel reading from St. John in which Jesus tells the apostles, "I do not call you servants any longer, but friends."

Jesus does not only want to entrust humanity with his mission of salvation, the pope said, "he wants more, something greater that goes beyond goods and plans themselves; it takes friendship."

The pope asked people to think about the beauty of friendship that they experience throughout the course of their lives, from sharing toys as children and confiding secrets to one another as teenagers to exchanging joys and worries as adults and recounting memories together as seniors.

"Let us think a moment of our friends and thank the Lord for them," he said.

In friendship, Jesus "shares what is dearest to him" with humanity, the pope said: "All that he has learned from the Father."

Jesus is invested in his friendship with humanity "even to the point of making himself fragile for us, of placing himself in our hands, without defense or pretense, because he loves us," he said. "The Lord loves us; as a friend he wants our good and he wants us to share in his."

If a friendship is true, it is "so strong that is does not fail even in the face of betrayal," he said, noting that Jesus calls Judas "friend" even after he had been betrayed.

"A true friend does not abandon you, even when you make mistakes: he corrects you, perhaps he reproaches you, but he forgives you and does not abandon you," he said.

After reciting the "Regina Coeli" prayer, the pope asked Christians to pray for Ukraine, Palestine and Israel, "that there may be peace, that dialogue may be strengthened and bear good fruit. No to war, yes to dialogue!"

 

WASHINGTON - Pope Francis has appointed Reverend James Mark Beckman, as Bishop of Knoxville. Bishop-elect Beckman is a priest of the Diocese of Nashville, and currently serves as pastor of Saint Henry parish in Nashville, Tennessee. The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on May 7, 2024, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The following biographical information for Bishop-elect Beckman was drawn from preliminary materials provided to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Father Beckman was born on October 19, 1962, in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. He graduated from Saint Ambrose College Seminary in Davenport, Iowa, with a bachelor’s degree in history (1984). He attended The Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium where he earned a master’s degree in religious studies (1984-1989). He was ordained to the priesthood on July 13, 1990, for the Diocese of Nashville.  

Bishop-elect Beckman’s assignments after ordination include: associate pastor at Holy Rosary parish in Nashville (1990-1991); teacher, (1990-1996), and then associate principal for pastoral affairs at Father Ryan High School in Nashville (1991-1996); pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Springfield (1996-2002); administrator at Saint Michael Mission parish in Cedar Hill (1996-2002); and pastor at Saint Matthew parish in Franklin (2002-2015). Since 2015, Bishop-elect Beckman has served as pastor of Saint Henry parish in Nashville.

Bishop-elect Beckman’s additional service for the Diocese of Nashville has included: member of the presbyteral council (1993-2003; 2008-2013); member of the diocesan clergy personnel board (1995-2000); director of the diocesan youth office (1996-2002); priests’ vocation advisory council (1998-2000); member of the college of consultors (1993-2003, 2008-2013); dean of the northwest deanery (2001-2002) and central deanery (2008-2013); chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, Council #11925 (2003-2011); state chaplain for the Knights of Columbus (2004-2005); chair of the priest personnel board (2018-present).

The Diocese of Knoxville is comprised of 14,242 square miles in the state of Tennessee and has a total population of 2,538,487, of which 71,274 are Catholic.

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ACI Prensa Staff, May 6, 2024 / 14:07 pm (CNA).

A priest armed with several weapons and dressed in a cassock tried to enter St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican to participate in the Regina Caeli prayer with Pope Francis on Sunday, May 5.

According to the Italian news agency ANSA, the priest, who is from the Czech Republic, tried to pass through the metal detector carrying an air pistol, two knives, a cutter, and a screwdriver.

After being arrested, the priest was reported to the authorities for illegal possession of weapons. When questioned, the priest said he carried the weapons for personal defense.

According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the priest is 59-year-old Father Milan Palkovic.

According to Europa Press, the weapons were in a bag that belonged to another man, a 60-year-old Czech who accompanied the priest and who was also detained.

Neither has a criminal record and both came to Rome on a pilgrimage from the Czech Republic.

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

Rome Newsroom, May 6, 2024 / 11:12 am (CNA).

Edith Stein could be declared a doctor of the Church with the title “doctor veritatis,” or “doctor of truth,” following a petition from the Discalced Carmelites.

Pope Francis received an official request from the superior general of the Discalced Carmelites, Father Miguel Márquez Calle, on April 18 in a private audience at the Vatican to recognize the theological legacy of the saint who was martyred in Auschwitz.

If accepted, Stein, also known by her religious name St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, could become the fifth woman to be declared a doctor of the Church, a title that recognizes a substantial contribution to the Church’s theology and moral life.

With the petition, the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints can officially begin the required process to grant Stein the title.

The Carmelites first launched an international commission to gather the necessary documentation required by the Vatican in 2022, a year that marked both the 100th anniversary of Stein’s baptism and the 80th anniversary of her martyrdom.

A title that was proposed for her at the time was “doctor veritatis” because of her relentless intellectual pursuit of truth, which after her conversion she recognized in the person of Jesus Christ.

Stein was born in 1891 into a Jewish family in what is now Wrocław, southwestern Poland. The city was then known as Breslau and located in the German Empire.

After declaring herself to be an atheist at the age of 20, she went on to earn a doctorate in philosophy.

She decided to convert to Catholicism after spending a night reading the autobiography of the 16th-century Carmelite nun St. Teresa of Avila while staying at a friend’s house in 1921.

“When I had finished the book,” she later recalled, “I said to myself: This is the truth.”

Stein was baptized on Jan. 1, 1922, at the age of 30. She took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross when she became a novice Carmelite nun 12 years later.

Ten years after Stein entered the Carmelite convent, she was arrested along with her sister Rosa, who had also become a Catholic, and the members of her religious community.

She had just finished writing a study of St. John of the Cross titled “The Science of the Cross.”

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross died in the Auschwitz concentration camp on Aug. 9, 1942. Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1998 and proclaimed her a co-patroness of Europe the following year.

“God is truth,” Stein wrote after her conversion. “Anyone who seeks truth seeks God, whether or not he is aware of it.”

In each of our lives there are people who have left their imprint on us. It may be something they said or did, the values they gave us, the example they set. They marked our life in ways that continue to influence and guide us whether they live down the street, across the country, or […]

WASHINGTON - Pope Francis has appointed Monsignor John J. McDermott, as Bishop of Burlington. Bishop-elect McDermott is a priest of the Diocese of Burlington, and currently serves as the Diocesan Administrator. The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on May 6, 2024, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The following biographical information for Bishop-elect McDermott was drawn from preliminary materials provided to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Monsignor McDermott was born March 19, 1963, in New Jersey. He attended Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina. Bishop-elect McDermott earned a master’s in divinity and a master’s degree in theology and scripture from Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, as well as a licentiate in canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. (2004). Monsignor McDermott was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Burlington on June 3, 1989.

Bishop-elect McDermott’s assignments after ordination include: parochial vicar at Saint Augustine parish in Montpelier (1989-1992); parochial vicar at Saint Mark parish in Burlington, and chaplain at Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington (1992-1996); pastor at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish, and chaplain at Middlebury College in Middlebury (1996-2001); and the Catholic Center at the University of Vermont-Burlington (2001-2015). Since 2015, Bishop-elect McDermott has served as the administrator of Christ the King-Saint Anthony parish in Burlington.

Bishop-elect McDermott’s priestly ministry has included service on a number of committees and boards, including the diocesan finance council, the diocesan administrative board, and the board of trustees for St. Michael’s College in Colchester. He has also served the Diocese of Burlington as vice chancellor (2004-2005); chancellor (2005-2006); vicar general and moderator of the curia (2006-present); apostolic administrator during sede vacante (2014); and diocesan administrator during sede vacante (2023).

The Diocese of Burlington is comprised of 9,135 square miles in the state of Vermont and has a total population of 645,570 of which 100,000 are Catholic.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The spiritual practice of reparation "may be somewhat forgotten or wrongly judged obsolete" today, but it is essential for the promotion of justice and healing, including on behalf of those who have suffered abuse in the church, Pope Francis said.

With a sincere commitment to reparation, the hope is that even "if the irreparable cannot be completely repaired, love can always be reborn, making the wound bearable," the pope said.

Pope Francis met May 4 with participants in a conference marking the 350th anniversary of the 17th-century apparitions of Jesus to French St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, which included his call to promote devotion to his sacred heart and to make acts of reparation or penance for the times people have not recognized Christ's love.

Reparation is a concept found throughout the Bible, the pope said. "In the Old Testament, it takes on a social dimension of compensation for evil committed," being a matter of justice such as returning something that had been stolen or repairing something that was damaged.

"In the New Testament, however, it takes the form of a spiritual process, within the framework of the redemption brought about by Christ," the pope said. "Reparation is fully manifested in the sacrifice of the cross. The novelty here is that it reveals the Lord's mercy toward the sinner."

"Reparation therefore contributes to people's reconciliation between themselves, but also to reconciliation with God, because the wrong done to our neighbor is also an offense to God," he said.

In the Book of Sirach, the pope said, the author asks, "Do not the tears of the widow fall down the cheeks of God?"

"Dear friends," he said, "how many tears still flow down God's cheeks while our world experiences so much abuse against the dignity of the person, even within the people of God," the church.

The title of the conference in Rome was "Repairing the Irreparable," which Pope Francis said was an invitation "to hope that every wound can be healed, however deep it may be."

"Full reparation at times seems impossible, such as when goods or loved ones are definitively lost, or when certain situations have become irreversible," he said. "But the intention to make amends and to do so in a concrete way is essential for the process of reconciliation and the return to peace in the heart."

Reparation as a spiritual practice, the pope said, must include "recognizing oneself as guilty and asking for forgiveness," because it is from an "honest acknowledgment of the wrong done to one's brother or sister, and from the profound and sincere sentiment that love has been harmed, that the desire to make amends arises."

The explicit request for forgiveness "reopens dialogue and manifests the will to re-establish the bond of fraternal charity," he said. And a commitment to reparation -- "even a beginning of reparation or simply the will to make amends -- guarantees the authenticity of the request for forgiveness, it expresses its depth, its sincerity, it touches the heart of the other, bringing consolation and inspiring the other to accept the request for forgiveness."

Jesus' request to St. Margaret Mary for acts of reparation for the offenses caused by the sins of humanity indicate that "these acts consoled his heart," the pope said. And if they consoled his heart, "this means that reparation can also console the heart of every wounded person."

Pope Francis prayed that the conference would renew and strengthen "the meaning of this beautiful practice of the reparation to the sacred heart of Jesus" and that it would find "its rightful place in the penitential journey of each baptized person in the church."