Tuesday, March 3, 2026

By way of Green Bay Wisconsin and Our Lady of Champion, Adele Brice may become a canonized Saint

Sainthood cause formally opened for Northwoods catechist of ‘this wild country’

Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wis., signs a decree commencing the cause of beatification and canonization of the Servant of God Adele Brice at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay on Jan. 3, 2026. The Blessed Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to Adele Brice in Champion, Wis., in 1859. Also pictured are Father John Girotti, left, vicar general of the Green Bay Diocese and episcopal delegate for the canonization cause, Tammy Basten, diocesan chancellor, and Father of Mercy Anthony Stephens, rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady Champion. (OSV News photo/Sam Lucero)

GREEN BAY, Wis. (OSV News) — It’s quite a birthday present — especially for someone born 195 years ago.

On Jan. 30, the Diocese of Green Bay opened a cause for the beatification and canonization of Adele Brice, potentially leading to her formal recognition as a saint in the Catholic Church. The visionary and Belgian immigrant reported seeing the Virgin Mary three times in 1859.

Woods of northern Wisconsin

Those apparitions, which took place in the October woods of northern Wisconsin, are now approved as worthy of belief by the Catholic Church, with Mary given the title “Our Lady of Champion,” named for the village of Champion where they occurred.

Bishop David L. Ricken formally declared Brice a “servant of God” at a Jan. 30 vespers liturgy at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay.

“During my 18 years here in the diocese, I have heard countless stories of the life and virtues of Adele,” Bishop Ricken said. “And it is because of this that I was compelled to open the cause for further, deeper study of Adele’s life as a servant of God.”

Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wis., holds a decree commencing the cause of beatification and canonization of the Servant of God Adele Brice at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay on Jan. 3, 2026. The Blessed Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to Adele Brice in Champion, Wis., in 1859. (OSV News photo/Sam Lucero)

‘Servant of God’ title

“Servant of God” is a designation in the Catholic Church that recognizes a deceased person known for holiness whose life is being investigated for potential canonization.

While sometimes called “Sister Adele,” Brice — who was born Jan. 30, 1831, and whose last name is sometimes spelled “Brise” — remained a laywoman all her life, never taking public religious vows. She becomes the first servant of God from the Green Bay Diocese, and she joins a small cadre of servants of God who lived in the United States. The list includes individuals such as Dorothy Day and Nicholas Black Elk.

In early October 1859, 28-year-old Brice was carrying grain to a grist mill for her family, who had arrived from Belgium in 1855. Along the way, she saw a woman dressed in white with a yellow sash, golden wavy hair and stars around her head. The woman, floating a little above the ground, said nothing. Brice fled.

Between a maple and a hemlock tree

The following Sunday, Brice attended Mass with her sister and a friend. On the way, she saw the lady again, between a maple and hemlock tree. No words passed between them. Brice informed her priest of these mysterious encounters, and on his advice, Brice asked the woman who she was when Brice encountered her on her way home.

“I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same,” the woman told Brice.

The woman, now understood to be the Virgin Mary, also told charged Brice to “gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.” Finally, before disappearing for the last time, the woman assured Brice, “Go and fear nothing, I will help you.”

Adele Brice (Brise) is seen in an undated photo wearing a habit as a Third Order Franciscan. The Diocese of Green Bay, Wis., formally opened a sainthood cause for Adele Brice Jan. 30, 2026. (OSV News photo/CNS file photo, courtesy of the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help)

Teaching children the catechism

Brice did so, teaching children their catechism, prayers and preparing them for the sacraments, for the rest of her life. She travelled, sometimes up to 50 miles and often on foot, instructing and asking nothing in return.

“She suffered a lot in carrying out her mission,” said Bishop Ricken. “There were a lot of arduous physical challenges in bringing the Gospel to this ‘wild country out here,’ as they called it in those days, that really manifested a faithfulness to the Lord Jesus.”

Brice was not well educated and suffered from blindness in one eye, caused by a childhood accident with lye. But it did not stop her ministry.

Her father built a small chapel

Eventually, her father, Lambert, built a small chapel on the apparition site and people came to pray. Brice later founded a school, aided by several laywomen. She died on July 5, 1896, and is buried beside the current chapel.

In 2010, Bishop Ricken declared Brice’s visions “worthy of belief.” In 2016, the U.S. bishops made the site a national shrine. Today, Our Lady of Champion is the only Church-approved Marian apparition in the United States. The Fathers of Mercy staff the shrine and visitor center, located about 15 miles northeast of Green Bay.

Father of Mercy Tony Stephens, rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, spoke after vespers Jan. 30. He noted the shrine’s role as official “actor of the cause” in petitioning the diocese to open the cause.

Thousands of the faithful

“My brother priests and I have witnessed firsthand the thousands of faithful who have made pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady,” he said. “And (it) has been incredibly moving to see their devotion to Our Lady and to Adele Brice. … There are many reasons why we felt compelled to petition the diocese to investigate the result of Adele’s life. Included in these, was the belief that Adele was authentically a seer of the Blessed Virgin Mary like St. Juan Diego.”

Although 130 years have passed since her death, Brice’s influence has continued, and many people have asked for her prayers. Others hoped for her canonization.

“This area where we live here in northeastern Wisconsin is the largest Belgian settlement of immigrants to the United States,” said Father John Girotti, the Diocese of Green Bay’s vicar general and episcopal representative for the cause. “These individuals have lived on these family farms for generations and generations and generations. They have stories to share. We want to hear those stories.”

Diocesan phase has three parts

The diocesan phase of the process will now include three parts, Father Girotti explained. The first includes a historical commission of experts who will study documents of Brice’s life and work. The second will involve a theological group who will study the religious aspects of Brice’s life, asking, Father Girotti said, “how she followed the way of the Lord Jesus and lived a life, we believe, of heroic virtue.”

“‘Heroic virtue’ is a radical following of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a person who was in love with God, loves his or her neighbors and follows the way of Jesus,” he explained.

The final part will include a tribunal to interview witnesses who testify about having had personal prayers answered through Brice’s intercession, or whose relatives in history were helped by the servant of God.

Process could take years

Father Girotti said this process could take years. Eventually, and after much discernment, the evidence will be compiled and sent to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican for the next step. That could lead to the Holy See’s recognition of Brice’s heroic virtue and the title of “venerable.”

When asked what recent stories about Brice have stood out for him, Bishop Ricken cited a woman cured of migraines, and “just yesterday,” one of a man cured of cancer.

“The stories that happen — it’s just beautiful,” the bishop said.

Father Stephens has heard similar stories, and he believes Brice is an example for anyone.

We recognize her beauty, her zeal’

“Adele wasn’t attractive by the world standards. She wasn’t intelligent by the world’s standards. But in the eyes of heaven and, we hope, with the eyes of faith, we recognize her beauty, her zeal and her new status as a Servant of God; one who is helping us to reflect the love of Christ, because she was so in love with the Lord,” he said.

“We hope that Adele’s story will continue to inspire the faithful, as it has many who have come to the shrine, to humbly follow God’s will with prompt obedience and simple faithfulness, turning to him amidst adversities,” he added.

Noting that Jan. 30 was Brice’s “195th birthday,” Father Stephens thanked diocesan leaders for the work “to put together this opening of this cause, which is a really special birthday gift for Adele.”

Patricia Kasten writes from Wisconsin.

Two Study Group reports, # 3 and #4, are now Final Reports in the Synod on Synodality

Vatican

Synod Office releases first two Final Reports of the Study Groups

The General Secretariat of the Synod publishes the first two Final Reports of the Study Groups established by Pope Francis following the First Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops: that of Study Group No. 3 on 'The mission in the digital environment' and that of Study Group No. 4 on 'The revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in a missionary synodal perspective.'

By Vatican News

The General Secretariat of the Synod has today released the first two Final Reports of the Study Groups established by Pope Francis following the First Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

The reports published were that of Study Group No. 3 on 'The Mission in the Digital Environment' and Study Group No. 4 on 'The Revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in a Missionary Synodal Perspective.'

Pope Leo XIV has directed the publication of these Final Reports to share with the entire People of God the fruits of the reflection and discernment undertaken during the Synod, in a spirit of transparency and accountability. The Final Reports are published in English and Italian, with an indication of the original language and the working translation.

A summary, available in various languages, accompanies each Report to facilitate access. With the presentation of their Final Reports, Study Groups No. 3 and No. 4 conclude their mandate and are therefore to be considered dissolved.

The General Secretariat will continue to release the Final Reports progressively, with the next publication scheduled for 10 March 2026.

Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, said that the Reports, “beyond the value of their content," "testify to the shared journey undertaken with the Dicastery's.

"It is not the first time that the Dicastery's have collaborated on a common project, but here," he added, "there is something more: an authentic exercise of shared listening, reflection, and discernment. It is synodality put into practice, not merely bureaucratic cooperation.”

The Mission in the Digital Environment

The Report of Study Group No. 3 addresses a central question that emerged during the XVI Assembly, namely, how to live the Church’s mission within a culture increasingly shaped by the digital sphere.

The Group, drawing on a broad consultation involving pastoral workers, experts, and ecclesial realities from all continents, gathered experiences, analyzed challenges, and formulated concrete recommendations.

Key themes include the need to integrate digital mission into the Church’s ordinary structures, an in-depth analysis of territorial jurisdiction in light of online communities, and the formation of pastors and pastoral workers in digital culture.

The Report concludes with a series of operative proposals articulated at three levels: the Holy See, Episcopal Conferences, and dioceses. It also includes an extensive section on the methodology adopted and the entities consulted.

Formation to the Priesthood

Rather than proceeding with a revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis (2016), which is still considered valid in its fundamental principles, Study Group No. 4 opted to elaborate a Proposal for a Guiding Document for its implementation in a missionary synodal key, in line with the Final Document of the XVI Assembly.

The document is structured in two parts. The Preamble offers an ecclesiological-pastoral framework and identifies a series of necessary conversions in priestly formation: relational, missionary, toward communion, toward service, and toward a synodal style. At its heart lies a central insight: the identity of the priest is formed “in and from” the People of God, not in separation from it.

The Guidelines in the second part translate these conversions into concrete operative pathways.

Some of the most significant proposals include alternating residence between the seminary and parish communities or other ecclesial contexts; shared formative experiences and moments with lay faithful, consecrated persons, and ordained ministers, starting from the propaedeutic stage; the inclusion of qualified and competent women as co-responsible at all levels of formation, including within formation teams; and the acquisition of skills for co-responsibility and communal discernment.

The Group also proposed a pathway for the dissemination and implementation of the operative directions offered.

Nature and publication of the Final Reports

Along with the Final Report of Study Group No. 3, the General Secretariat also published a Note outlining the origin and mandate of the Study Groups, the nature of the Reports, and the envisaged operational follow-up.

In the note, it highlights that the Final Reports are the fruit of a structured process: the listening to diverse competencies and professional expertise, the analysis of numerous contributions, academic research, dialogue with various ecclesial bodies, from Episcopal Conferences to Catholic universities, and, above all, discernment and prayer.

They are to be understood as working documents.

Pope Leo XIV has directed that the Final Reports be published progressively, as they are presented to the General Secretariat of the Synod, in a spirit of transparency.

In order that the content that has emerged may be translated into concrete orientations, decisions and processes, the Holy Father has requested the competent Dicastery's and the General Secretariat of the Synod to draw up, on the basis of the Final Reports, operative proposals, also giving an account of the choices made and of any elements not received.

This joint effort, the General Secretariat's note continues, ensures coherence with the synodal dynamism and rootedness in the Church’s missionary perspective.

The operative proposals thus formulated will be submitted to the Holy Father, who will evaluate and may approve them.

With the submission of the Final Report to the General Secretariat of the Synod, the Study Groups that have delivered it conclude the mandate entrusted to them and are therefore to be considered dissolved.

Monday, March 2, 2026

Saint of the Day for Tuesday; founder of Xavier University in New Orleans

St. Katharine Drexel

Feastday: March 3

Patron: of racial justice and philanthropists
Birth: November 26, 1858
Death: March 3, 1955
Beatified: November 20, 1988 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized: October 1, 2000 by Pope John Paul II

St. Katharine Drexel is the second American-born saint to be canonized by the Catholic Church. This amazing woman was an heiress to a large bequest who became a religious sister and a brilliant educator.

Katherine was born in Philadelphia on November 26, 1858, the second child of a prominent and wealthy banker, Francis Anthony Drexel and his wife, Hannah Langstroth. He mother passed away just five weeks after Katharine was born. Her father remarried to Emma Bouvier in 1860 and together they had another daughter in 1863, Louisa Drexel.

The girls received a wonderful education from private tutors and traveled throughout the United States and Europe. The Drexels were financially and spiritually well endowed. They were devout in the practice of their faith, setting an excellent example of true Christian living for their three daughters. They not only prayed but practiced what the Church calls the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

Katharine grew up seeing her father pray for 30 minutes each evening. And every week, her stepmother opened their doors to house and care for the poor. The couple distributed food, clothing and provided rent assistance to those in need. The Drexels would seek out and visit women who were too afraid or too proud to approach the home in order to care for their needs in Christian charity.

Though Katharine made her social debut in 1879, she never let her family's money adversely affect the way she lived her life and faith. She was an example of a Christian with a proper understanding that the goods of this earth are given for the common good.

After watching her stepmother suffer with terminal cancer for three straight years, Katharine also learned that no amount of money could shelter them from pain or suffering. From this moment, Katharine's life took a turn. She became imbued with a passionate love for God and neighbor, and she took an avid interest in the material and spiritual well-being of black and native Americans.

In 1884, while her family was visiting the Western states, Katharine saw first-hand the troubling and poor situation of the Native Americans. She desperately wanted to help them.

Katharine spent much of her time with Father James O' Connor, a Philadelphia priest. He provided her with wonderful spiritual direction.

When her father passed away a year later, he donated part of his $15.5 million estate to a few charities and then left the remainder to be equally split amongst his three daughters.

He set up his will in a way to protect his daughters from men who were only seeking their money. If his daughters should die, the money was then to go on to his would-be grandchildren. If there were no grandchildren, the Drexel estate would be distributed to several different religious orders and charities, including the Society of Jesus, the Religious of the Sacred Heart, a Lutheran hospital and the Christian Brothers.

As one of their first acts following their father's death, Katharine and her sisters contributed money to assist the St. Francis Mission of South Dakota's Rosebud Reservation.

Katherine soon concluded that more was needed to help the Native Americans and the lacking ingredient was people.

In 1887, while touring Europe, the Drexel sisters were given a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. They were seeking missionaries to help with the Indian missions they were financing. The Pope looked to Katharine and suggested she, herself, become a missionary.

After speaking with Father O' Connor, Katharine decided she would give herself and her inheritance to God through service to both Native Americans and African Americans. She wrote, "The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored."

Katharine began her six-month postulancy at the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Pittsburgh in 1889.

On February 12, 1891, Katharine made her first vows as a religious and dedicated herself to working for the American Indians and African Americans in the Western United States.

Taking the name Mother Katharine, she established a religious congregation called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored, whose members would work for the betterment of those they were called to serve.

From the age of 33 until her death in 1955, she dedicated her life and her fortune to this work. In 1894, Mother Katharine took part in opening the first mission boarding school called St. Catherine's Indian School, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Other schools quickly followed - for Native Americans west of the Mississippi River, and for the blacks in the southern part of the United States.

In 1897, Katharine asked the friars of St. John the Baptist Province of the Order of Friars Minor to help staff a mission for the Navajos in Arizona and New Mexico, and she would help finance their work with the Pueblo Native Americans.

In 1910, Katharine also financed the printing of 500 copies of A Navaho English Catechism of Christian Doctrine for the Use of Navaho Children.

In 1915, Katherine founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic University in the United States for African Americans.

By the time of her death, she had more than 500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established 50 missions for Native Americans in 16 different states.

Katharine suffered a heart attack at 77-years-old and was forced to retire. She spent the remainder of her life in quiet and intense prayer. She recorded her prates and aspirations in small notebooks.

Mother Katharine died on March 3, 1955, at the age of 96. She is buried at her order's motherhouse. Neither of Katharine's sisters had any children, so after her death, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament lost the Drexel fortune that supported their ministries. However, the order continues to pursue Katharine's mission with the African Americans and Native Americans in 21 states and in Haiti.

Katharine was remembered for her love of the Eucharist and a desire for unity of all peoples. She was courageous and took the initiative to address social inequality within minorities. She believed all should have access to a quality education and her selfless service, including the donation of her inheritance, helped many reach that goal.

St. Katharine was beatified on November 20, 1988, and canonized on October 1, 2000, by Pope John Paul II.

Relics of St. Katharine can be found at St. Raphael the Archangel Catholic Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, and in the Day Chapel of Saint Katharine Drexel Parish in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

Katharine is the patron saint of racial justice and philanthropists. Her feast day is celebrated on March 3.

The Bishops of the United States, other Catholic agencies to support lawsuit against Trump on birthright citizenship

US bishops among supporters of lawsuit against Trump birthright citizenship executive order

Kate Scanlon

A demonstrator holds a placard during a protest outside the Supreme Court on May 15, 2025, as the justices heard oral arguments in Trump v. CASA related to lower courts placing an injunction on Trump’s executive order of Jan. 20, 2025, to end birthright citizenship. In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court June 27 limited the scope of federal courts to block presidential policies nationwide. On April 1, 2026, the court will hear oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a challenge to the order ending birthright citizenship. (OSV News photo/Leah Millis, Reuters)

The U.S. bishops and a Catholic immigration advocacy group were among those who offered their support to a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship.

Oral argument in the case, Trump v. Barbara, is scheduled for April 1.

Within hours of returning to the Oval Office in January 2025, Trump signed an executive order seeking to change the longstanding legal interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Trump’s order sought to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents without legal status or temporary visa holders. Lawsuits promptly followed.

Previously, the Supreme Court limited the ability of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions against the order while litigation over it proceeds but did not directly address the merits of the order itself.

A series of amicus briefs, sometimes called friend of the court briefs, were filed in either support or opposition to the order. Amicus briefs are filed by groups or individuals who are not a party to the case but have an interest in it, asking the court to consider certain arguments.

One such brief was filed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., also known as CLINIC.

Their brief argued they were “motivated by the teachings of the Catholic
Church,” including “the central belief that every person is imbued with an inviolable dignity, and that all human life, created in the image and likeness of God, is sacred.”

“It is through this lens that the Church stands for ‘treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have,’” the brief argued, citing comments made by Pope Leo XIV at Castel Gandolfo Nov. 18, 2025. “These teachings extend to immigrants in the United States without legal status and their American children who were born in the United States.”

“Not only is the principle of birthright citizenship woven into our Nation’s history and Western tradition, but it is also consistent with Catholic teaching,” the brief continued. “Birthright citizenship aligns with the Church’s teaching that humans were created as social beings and that political authority is morally bound to affirm and protect the inherent dignity of every human person in the community. In turn, birthright citizenship reflects the Catholic principle of subsidiarity by recognizing persons as members of the community from birth, thereby enabling their participation in civic life and ensuring that state power serves the human person as a social being.”

The brief concluded that “ending birthright citizenship lacks historical, legal, and moral support.”

“The principle of citizenship by birth is firmly rooted in Western legal tradition, enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment, and reaffirmed by this Court’s precedent,” it said. “It is equally grounded in Church teachings, which affirms the inherent dignity of every human person, especially the innocent child.”

“As Catholics, our faith compels us to protest laws that deny the dignity of the human person and harm innocent children, particularly when such laws resurrect the very injustices the Fourteenth Amendment was enacted to repudiate,” it added. “At its core, this case is not solely a question about citizenship status or the Fourteenth Amendment. It is a question of whether the law will affirm or deny the equal worth of those born within our common community – whether the law will protect the human dignity of all God’s children.”

A brief in support of the executive order filed by the America First Policy Institute, a think tank that supports Trump-aligned policies, argued, “both the Executive and Legislative branches have broad constitutional authority over matters of immigration and foreign relations and have extensive powers related to national defense and sovereignty.”

“Accordingly, AFPI believes that each branch has the power and the duty to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens, alien tourists, and aliens in the U.S. legally but temporarily,” they argued.

Other amici curiae, or those who filed briefs, included members of Congress, state attorneys general, legal organizations, and immigration policy groups.

Another brief from Evan D. Bernick and Jed H. Shugerman, professors who identified themselves as originalist scholars, argued, “For nearly all of the first 235 years under the Constitution, the citizenship of every child born in the United States to alien parents, with immaterial exceptions, was a given. Then, in 2025, the Trump administration changed course.”

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles – the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

Bishop Aldo Berardi: Northern Arabia Vicar appeals for peace: concerns about violent escalation

Smoke rises from an Iranian strike in Doha, Qatar on March 1, 2026

Church

Bishop Berardi: ‘We must pray not to be swept up in this spiral’

Bishop Aldo Berardi, Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, expresses his gratitude to Pope Leo XIV for his appeal for peace, as churches across the Arabian Peninsula remain closed amid the highly uncertain security situation.

By Olivier Bonnel

Speaking from his vicariate house in Awali, Bahrain, Bishop Aldo Berardi, Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, does not hide his concern, as the war has crossed a new threshold in the region.

Israel and American have carried out bombardments in Iran, and the Islamic Republic has responded, launching missiles at several Gulf countries, where US military bases are also located.

On Saturday, February 28, the first day of the bombings, Bishop Berardi sent a communiqué to all priests and men and women religious of his vicariate, which covers four countries of the Arabian Peninsula—Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar.

He emphasized that this is “a time of uncertainty” and asked everyone to take shelter, remain united in prayer, and follow the security instructions of local authorities.

After Pope Leo XIV launched an appeal for peace at the Angelus prayer on Sunday, Bishop Berardi spoke to Vatican News in the following interview about the situation on the ground.

[Bishop Berardi:] We were, of course, expecting an intervention from the Pope this Sunday, because the situation is truly complicated. The region is already very complex because of geopolitics and its economic implications, and now, with this Israeli-American intervention, it has unleashed—I would not say hell—but something we were not expecting.

On the other hand, we were telling ourselves that Iran might respond in an unrestrained way, since it was struck at the heart of its society; this has unleashed even more hatred and vengeance. We are caught in a logic of “you strike me, I strike you; you attack me, I attack you.”

Q: Many Gulf cities have been hit by missiles in retaliation. What is the current situation where you are in Bahrain, and in the other countries of the region?

Just a little while ago, (around 1:00 p.m. Rome time, ed.), a missile passed over the Bishop’s residence here, and the debris were intercepted by Bahrain; they fell next to the cathedral. We had a fire not far from the building. That has really shaken us, especially since the cathedral is new.

There have been missile launches since yesterday. So, we have closed all the churches to avoid problems. It is not the churches themselves that are directly targeted, but debris and explosions can damage buildings and, above all, injure people. It is continuing: there are regular alarms, and so everyone remains at home. We do not go out for safety reasons. Life has slowed down in a certain way, and our churches are closed.

The priests celebrate Mass together in the evening for peace; this is what I requested in each parish, that all the priests together celebrate Mass for peace. This is being done by video, for Manama and for Kuwait. People asked to be able to participate, but we do not want to take the risk.

In Qatar, for example, the church was closed by the police; the entire religious compound was shut down—no one goes in, no one goes out—and there was also debris not far from the religious buildings. Everyone is praying, and we are waiting for things to calm down.

Q: The Pope spoke of the moral responsibility of leaders to stop the spiral of violence before it becomes “an irreparable abyss.” Is that a danger you feel where you are?

Yes, because, as you know, in this part of the world, grievances are deep-rooted and centuries old. So, when such great violence is accumulated, when the dignity and self-respect of peoples are struck, and when attacks are carried out violently, the response is equally violent.

Of course, we enter into an abyss and a spiral, and we do not know where it may lead us. There is a risk that we will be drawn into a spiral of vengeance and reciprocal violence that can sweep us away.

We must pray that peace may be restored and that we are not swept up in this spiral. If each side enters the battle because it feels attacked, there is a risk that the entire region will explode.

abitadeacon