#PopeFrancis today says he is following with prayer, worry, suffering and pain the situation in #Israel following Iran’s attack.

“May every effort be made to stop this spiral of violence…No one should threaten the existence of others…may a two state solution be possible.”

Pope Francis' representative to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, warned against 'a polarized mentality' at the upcoming eucharistic revival, during a speech at Loyola University April 11. The Hank Center
ncronline.org/node/269116 via NCR

NEW: Three-quarters of U.S. Catholics view Pope Francis favorably, but that figure is down 8 percentage points from 2021 and reflects growing polarization between Republicans and Democrats, a new Pew Research survey finds.

Brian Fraga 🇺🇸 🇵🇹 🇻🇦 reports. bit.ly/4aVGpJn

2. Four months after supporting blessings for same-sex couples, the Vatican this week declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as violations of human dignity.

See coverage by Clemente Lisi, Nicole Winfield, Christopher Lamb, Christopher White and Mark A. Kellner. religionunplugged.com/news/2024/04/1…

Pope Francis will embark on an ambitious 12-day trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore in September.

It will mark the longest trip abroad during Francis' 11-year papacy.

⁦Christopher White⁩ reports: ncronline.org/vatican/vatica…

The bishops have urged more support for mothers and families, even as Ascension, one of the largest Catholic health care providers in the U.S., has been closing labor and delivery units at its hospitals. bit.ly/3VNCzxv

It is not only in #Germany that new forms of cooperation between lay people and bishops are to be trialled: #Synodality is also to be strengthened in #Switzerland . To this end, the dioceses and regional churches have now agreed on a new body. #church

english.katholisch.de/artikel/52564-…

#PopeFrancis by Pablo Esparza

“the most far-reaching reconfiguration of the Irish church since the 12th century” thetablet.co.uk/news/18572/pop…

Prior to his death, #PopeFrancis wrote to Bishop Tom Gumbleton and thanked him for his 'testimony as a pastor, a good shepherd.'

Quite the shift for someone whose political activism & church reform advocacy once halted his career.

My NCR report: ncronline.org/vatican/vatica…

Vescovi da Jakarta, 'papa Francesco in Indonesia dal 3 al 6 settembre' tracieloeterra.blog/asia-e-oceania…

Bahrain has unconditionally released more than 1,500 prisoners, including political detainees, in the biggest royal pardon since the 2011 Arab spring uprising.
theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Cardinal Müller will be among the speakers at the National Conservatism conference in Brussels next week.

Che fatica governare Roma. I malumori del Papa che ha rimosso il suo vicario repubblica.it/cronaca/2024/0…

Like other LGBT Catholics, I read the Vatican document about human dignity and felt whiplash, asking how to square the pope’s merciful gestures with a statement that seems not to have listened to lived experiences. My latest at Outreach: outreach.faith/2024/04/vatica…