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Stories for week of March 16, 2025

Ordered from most to least recent.

Released Saturday, Mar. 22

 Pope to leave hospital Sunday

Released Friday, Mar. 21

 Papal health update, March 21
 After IVF nightmares, patients have few protections
 Vatican ‘foreign minister’ decries ‘culture of death’
 Armed bandits terrorize missionary residence in DRC
 Orthodox Jewish univeristy, in policy change, allows LGBTQ student group
 Recalling Dr. Jerome Lejeune, advocate for Down Syndrome children
 Online giving cited for growth in church donations
 Synod official outlines vision for 3-year synodality implementation phase
 Italian president pays tribute to Pontiff
 At Mass for anniversary of Pope’s election, Ecumenical Patriarch renews call for common Easter date
 Archbishop encourages Christians to remain in Syria
 Influential Polish prelate retires
 Diplomat recalls 75th anniversary of Vatican-Indonesia relations
 12-year decline in worldwide priestly vocations accelerates
 Pontifical academy hosts conference on AI and children
 USCCB reacts to President Trump’s executive order closing Department of Education

Released Thursday, Mar. 20

 Vatican rediscovers lost painting by Renaissance master Mantegna
 Former Vatican auditor vows to press case for justice
 Catholic college invites Mary McAleese as commencement speaker
 Worldwide Catholic population up slightly to 1.4 billion
 Cameroon: archbishop urges talks with separatists
 Canadian bishops denounce potential loss of tax-exempt status for Catholic organizations
 Irish bishop warns against SSPX Resistance
 Nigerian film censors, bishops’ conference announce partnership
 Don’t accept donations from those who seek publicity, leading Kenyan prelate advises
 USCCB publishes guidebook for youth, young adult ministry
 Judge who invoked Jesus in questioning halts implementation of transgender military executive order
 Palermo parish vandalized and desecrated
 Devotion to Akash Bashir, Pakistan’s Servant of God, grows internationally
 30 bishops, 5 cardinals gather at Fordham to discuss ‘politics of communion and compassion’

Released Wednesday, Mar. 19

 Haitian archbishop begs for help as government loses control
 Papal message released for Day of Prayer for Vocations
 Kansas archdiocese sues to stop Black Mass
 Many dioceses in Western world report surge of adult converts
 India’s bishops plot Synodal Path through 2033
 Pope begins new series of Wednesday catechetical talks
 Vatican tribunal: ousted auditor cannot introduce evidence of corruption
 Pope off ventilator
 Churches cry foul as ‘tax war’ flares up again in Israel
 USCCB pro-life chairman recalls 5th anniversary of Walking with Moms in Need
 St. Peter’s Basilica becomes a ‘fixable,’ explorable Minecraft world
 Gaza priest reports Israeli bombing near parish
 Vatican spokesman: As Europe, world race toward World War III, Pope pleads for diplomacy
 Cardinal Parolin: Holy See displeased by European rearmament plan, backs Russia-Ukraine talks
 Amid anguish and poverty under M23 rule, Goma bishop sees renewed Christian life
 Peruvian prelate calls for stronger families to counter rise in murders

Released Tuesday, Mar. 18

 Papal health update: ‘slight improvements’
 Toronto will not fly Vatican flag on John Paul II Day
 Pope has no plan to resign: Cardinal Parolin
 Shanghai: bishop under tight government restrictions since 2013
 North Dakota bishop says Trump immigration policy may be necessary
 Pope says illness highlights the absurdity of war
 King Charles confirmed to meet with Pope on April 8
 Be pilgrims of hope, Irish primate says in St. Patrick’s Day message
 Albanian Orthodox Church elects new primate
 Be ‘persuasive apostles’ of Holy Land collection, Vatican dicastery urges world’s bishops
 Serbian cardinal backs student protestors
 Vatican calls for ‘sincere dialogue, free from any preconditions’ after conversation between Cardinal Parolin, Zelensky
 Malawi bishops, in election statement, rue corruption, handouts, dependence on foreign aid
 Myanmar soldiers set fire to cathedral
 USCCB, in action alert, urges faithful to advocate for ‘Dreamers,’ mixed-immigration status families
 In rare move, Pope permits New Jersey bishop to govern diocese until 80th birthday

Released Monday, Mar. 17

 Police arrest suspect in vandalism of Kansas church
 Papal condolences after deadly nightclub fire in Macedonia
 Lenten Sermons opened to the public
 Ukrainian Orthodox primate denounces Russian invasion
 Pope’s condition stable, still ‘complex’
 Vatican announces 3-year implementation phase of Synod on Synodality
 Vatican newspaper criticizes Trump administration’s USAID cuts
 Since papal hospitalization, Vatican has received up to 330 pounds of extra mail per day
 Amid renewed violence in Manipur, archdiocese builds homes for the displaced
 Lenten retreat for Roman Curia concludes with meditations on eternal rest, transformation
 Renewed papal appeal for prayer for peace
 Pope, in Angelus address, reflects on Christ’s Transfiguration and sickness
 3 women who allege abuse by Father Rupnik recount stories in new book
 Father Maciel’s former secretary arrested for abusing 5 girls
 At UN meeting on women, Vatican official calls for protection of unborn, ‘cultural shift’ on motherhood
 Syria adopts interim constitution that protects freedom of belief
 USCCB asks faithful to urge Congress to resume foreign aid

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Fri9 May
Easter

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

Image for Friday of the Third Week of Easter

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Pachomius of Tabenna (290-346), founder of the cenobitical life, born near Esneh, Egypt; died at Phebôou around the year 346. After spending some time with the hermit Palemon, he withdrew to Tabennisi where he introduced community life among the hermits who…

Learn more about this day.

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