Catholic News

• Pope Francis: Easter Vigil Mass homily (full text) (Vatican News)
  “The women bring spices to the tomb, but they fear that their journey is in vain, since a large stone bars the entrance to the sepulcher,” Pope Francis preached at the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica (video, booklet). “The journey of those women is also our own journey; it resembles the journey of salvation that we have made this evening...”
• Good Friday at St. Peter's Basilica: 'He was despised and rejected by men' (Cantalamessa.org)
  Pope Francis presided at the Good Friday liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica (video, booklet). Capuchin Franciscan Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the papal household since 1980, preached the homily.
• Pope Emeritus Benedict, Chief Rabbi of Vienna discuss Judaism and Christianity in new book (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian edition))
  The book, Ebrei e cristiani [Jews and Christians], includes correspondence between the Pope Emeritus and Rabbi Arie Folger that followed the publication of an article by the Pope Emeritus, “Grace and Vocation without Remorse: Comments on the Treatise De Iudaeis.”
• Pope washes inmates' feet at Holy Thursday Evening Mass (Vatican News)
  Pope Francis celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper (video) at the prison in Velletri, a town on the outskirts of Rome. “This is Jesus’ rule and the rule of the Gospel: the rule of service, not of dominating, of harming, of humiliating others,” the Pope preached in his extemporaneous homily. “Service!”
• Pope Francis's Via Crucis at the Colosseum: full text of meditations (Vatican Press Office)
  On Good Friday evening, Pope Francis presided at the Via Crucis at the Colosseum (video, Italian and Latin booklet). The meditations were written by Sister Eugenia Bonetti, a Consolata missionary sister who is president of the Slaves No More association.
• Notre-Dame fire: Temporary wooden cathedral proposed (BBC)
  “We mustn’t say the cathedral is closed for five years, and that’s it,” said Msgr. Patrick Chauvet, the cathedral’s rector, who proposed that a “beautiful, symbolic and attractive” temporary cathedral be built in the cathedral square.
• At Chrism Mass, Pope warns priests against clericalism (Vatican News)
  In his homily at the Chrism Mass, which he celebrated in St. Peter’s basilica (video, booklet), Pope Francis encouraged priests to serve their people, saying that “we must not forget that our evangelical models are those people, the ‘crowd’ with its real faces.” He reminded the priests of Rome that the apostles had often sought to keep “the crowds” away from Jesus, and remarked: “Here, I believe, was the beginning of clericalism.”
• Faithful gather at the site of Calvary to relive the Passion (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
  “To live this Friday, the faithful of all nationalities are pressed into the Upper Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Calvary, to relive the Passion,” the report begins. “The Gospel according to St. John, chanted in Latin, rang solemnly in the small chapel. A particularly moving ceremony here in Jerusalem, where the world was saved.”
• Police official: Short-circuit likely caused Notre-Dame fire (AP)
  “We’ve seen before our eyes the right things perfectly organized in a few moments, with responsibility, courage, solidarity and a meticulous organization,” President Emmanuel Macron said at an April 18 ceremony honoring firefighters. “The worst has been avoided.”
• 'We must be converted to the thinking of Christ,' prelate preaches on Holy Thursday in Jerusalem (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
  Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem since 2016, celebrated the Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The patriarchate posted photographs of the Mass, and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land published an additional report.
• Make sacrifices for peace, South Sudan's Christian leaders plead in Easter message (Juba Monitor)
  Vatican News offered additional coverage of the Easter message. The South Sudanese Civil War began in 2013, and South Sudan’s government and a leading rebel group signed a peace agreement in 2018. Earlier this month, Pope Francis kissed the feet of the nation’s leaders as he appealed for peace in the strife-torn nation.
• Officials race to strengthen damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral (Wall Street Journal)
  “Workers overnight shored up the apex of the north-facing facade, which sits above one of the cathedral’s famed rose windows,” the Journal reported. “Workers also were building a scaffolding to reach a statue of an angel mounted on the apex between Notre-Dame’s two towers. The fire damaged the stone of the angel, which has been threatening to bring down the apex.”
• Tanzanian cardinal exhorts priests not to obtain holy oils from Protestant communities (Vatican News)
  The East African nation of 55 million (map) is 61% Christian and 35% Muslim.
• Australian bishops issue election statement (Australian Catholic Bishops Conference)
  The Australian federal election takes place on May 18. “No political party fully aligns with Catholic teaching,” the bishops said in their statement, entitled “Politics in Service of Peace,” “but we can point to clear and enduring principles which can help us make the kind of responsible judgements that allow us to be both faithfully Catholic and authentically Australian.”
• Pope thanks Notre-Dame cathedral rescuers, speaks with French President Macron (Vatican News)
  “May the Virgin Mary bless them and support the reconstruction work: may it be a choral work, to the praise and glory of God,” Pope Francis prayed at his April 17 general audience (video), as he expressed the “gratitude of the whole Church” to “those who worked hard, even risking themselves, to save the cathedral.”
• Leading Vatican diplomat discusses Pope Francis and the UN on the environment (Holy See Mission)
  Archbishop Bernardito Auza, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, recently delivered this lecture at Fordham University.
• Sole Catholic church on Lesbos becomes haven for migrants (InfoMigrants)
  Pope Francis visited the Greek island of Lesbos (Lesvos), which is located close to the Turkish mainland (map), in 2016.
• President Trump calls Pope Francis (@realDonaldTrump)
  President Trump tweeted, “Just had a wonderful conversation with @Pontifex Francis offering condolences from the People of the United States for the horrible and destructive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. I offered the help of our great experts on renovation and construction as I did.” The Holy See Press Office’s interim director also tweeted, “The Holy Father received a telephone call this afternoon from the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who, regarding the devastation of Notre-Dame Cathedral, expressed to the Pope his closeness, in the name of the American people.”
• Catholic Church in US will welcome thousands of new Catholics at Easter Vigil Masses (USCCB)
  Four dioceses will welcome over 2,000 new Catholics, whether unbaptized catechumens or previously baptized candidates: Dallas (1,196 catechumens, 1,399 candidates), Los Angeles (1,560 catechumens, 913 candidates), Galveston-Houston (1,512 catechumens, 631 candidates), and Charlotte (724 catechumens, 1,284 candidates).
• Colorado's bishops remember Columbine on 20th anniversary (Archdiocese of Denver)
  Thirteen innocent people were killed, and 24 injured, in the Columbine High School massacre.
• More...