Each year, the Holy Father asks for our prayers for a specific intention each month. You are invited to answer the Holy Father's request and to join with many people worldwide in praying for this intention each month.
For the use of the new technologies
Let us pray that the use of the new technologies will not replace human relationships, will respect the dignity of the person, and will help us face the crises of our times.
Benedictine bishop of Grenoble, France, patron of St. Bruno. He was born in the Dauphine region and became a canon of the cathedral in Valence. In 1080, while attending a synod in Avignon, Hugh was named bishop of Grenoble. He attempted a massive reform of the diocese, but, discouraged, retired to Chaise Dieu Abbey, and became a Benedictine. Pope St. Gregoiy VII ordered him back to Grenoble. Hugh gave St. Bruno the land on which the Grande Chartreuse was founded, thus starting the Carthusians. Hugh died on April 1 and was canonized by Pope Innocent II.
By Tiziana Campisi & Devin Watkins
The Church will soon have three new saints and a new blessed, as well as a new venerable, after Pope Francis authorized the publication of decrees related to several causes of canonization on Monday.
The Pope cleared the path to canonization for Blessed Peter To Rot, a layman martyred for the faith in present-day Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Born on March 5, 1912, Blessed Peter was educated in the Christian faith and became a catechist, and his life was characterized by charity, humility, and dedication to the poor and orphans.
During the Japanese occupation of PNG during the Second World War, Blessed Peter continued to prepare couples for marriage as missionaries were imprisoned. When his pastoral activity was forbidden, he carried out his apostolate in secret, fully aware that he was risking his life.
He staunchly defended the sanctity of marriage and opposed the practice of polygamy, confronting even his older brother, who had taken a second wife. Blessed Peter’s brother reported him to the police, and he was sentenced to two months in prison, where he died of poisoning in July 1945.
Pope St. John Paul II beatified Blessed Peter To Rot on January 17, 1995, in Port Moresby.
The Pope also cleared the way for the canonization of Blessed Ignatius Choukrallah Maloyan, who was born in 1869 in Mardin, in present-day Türkiye.
Ordained a priest in 1883 in Lebanon, he took the Christian name Ignatius and became known as an excellent preacher in both Arabic and Turkish, devoting himself to parish ministry and the study of sacred texts in Alexandria, Egypt.
In 1911, Pope Pius X appointed him Archbishop of Mardin during the Synod of Armenian Bishops in Rome, which examined the situation in Turkey after the rise of the Young Turks movement.
After Turkish forces entered the First World War, Archbishop Maloyan was arrested along with 13 priests and 600 other Christians in the tumult that included forced enlistments and harassment against Christians, particularly Armenian Christians.
Archbishop Maloyan and his companions were executed on June 3, 1915, when they refused to renounce the faith. He was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II on October 7, 2001.
Venezuela will also have its first native-born saint, as the Pope recognized a miracle attributed to Blessed Maria del Monte Carmelo, born Carmen Elena Rendíles Martínez in Caracas on August 11, 1903.
She joined the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus of the Blessed Sacrament in 1927 and then left with several other Latin American sisters to found the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus in 1946.
She spent the final years of her life in a wheelchair following a car accident in 1974 and died on May 9, 1977.
The miracle attributed to her intercession involved the 2015 healing of a young woman in Caracas with a heart condition.
Pope Francis also recognized a miracle attributed to Fr. Carmelo De Palma, an Italian priest from Bari, who was born on January 27, 1876.
Inspired by the Benedictine charism, Venerable De Palma dedicated himself to offering spiritual direction for priests, nuns, and seminarians, becoming known as a “hero of the confessional.”
The miracle involved the healing of a Benedictine nun in 2013 afflicted by a debilitating degenerative illness.
On Monday, the Pope also recognized the heroic virtues of Servant of God José Antônio de Maria Ibiapina, a 19th-century Brazilian politician-turned-priest.
St. Benjamin, Martyr (Feast Day - March 31) The Christians in Persia had enjoyed twelve years of peace during the reign of Isdegerd, son of Sapor III, when in 420 it was disturbed by the indiscreet zeal of Abdas, a Christian Bishop who burned the Temple of Fire, the great sanctuary of the Persians. King Isdegerd threatened to destroy all the churches of the Christians unless the Bishop would rebuild it.
As Abdas refused to comply, the threat was executed; the churches were demolished, Abdas himself was put to death, and a general persecution began which lasted forty years. Isdegerd died in 421, but his son and successor, Varanes, carried on the persecution with great fury. The Christians were submitted to the most cruel tortures.
Among those who suffered was St. Benjamin, a Deacon, who had been imprisoned a year for his Faith. At the end of this period, an ambassador of the Emperor of Constantinople obtained his release on condition that he would never speak to any of the courtiers about religion.
St. Benjamin, however, declared it was his duty to preach Christ and that he could not be silent. Although he had been liberated on the agreement made with the ambassador and the Persian authorities, he would not acquiesce in it, and neglected no opportunity of preaching. He was again apprehended and brought before the king. The tyrant ordered that reeds should be thrust in between his nails and his flesh and into all the tenderest parts of his body and then withdrawn. After this torture had been repeated several times, a knotted stake was inserted into his bowels to rend and tear him. The martyr expired in the most terrible agony about the year 424.
POPE FRANCIS
ANGELUS
4th Sunday of Lent, 30 March 2025
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Text prepared by the Holy Father
Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Sunday!
In today's Gospel (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32) Jesus notices that the Pharisees are scandalised and murmur behind His back, instead of being happy because sinners come to Him. So Jesus tells them about a father who has two sons: one leaves home, but then, having been reduced to poverty, he returns and is welcomed with joy. The other, the ‘obedient’ son, is indignant at his father and does not want to enter the feast. This is how Jesus reveals the heart of God: He is always merciful towards all; he heals our wounds so that we can love each other as brothers.
Dearest friends, let us live this Lent as a time of healing, all the more as it is the Jubilee. I too am experiencing it this way, in my soul and in my body. That is why I give heartfelt thanks to all those who, in the image of the Saviour, are instruments of healing for their neighbour with their word and their knowledge, with kindness and with prayer. Frailty and illness are experiences we all have in common; all the more, however, we are brothers in the salvation Christ has given us.
Trusting in the mercy of God the Father, we continue to pray for peace: in martyred Ukraine, in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar, which is also suffering so much because of the earthquake.
I am following the situation in South Sudan with concern. I renew my heartfelt appeal to all leaders to do their utmost to lower the tension in the country. We must put aside our differences and, with courage and responsibility, sit around a table and engage in constructive dialogue. Only in this way will it be possible to alleviate the suffering of the beloved South Sudanese people and to build a future of peace and stability.
And in Sudan, the war continues to claim innocent victims.
I urge the parties concerned in the conflict to put the safeguarding of the lives of their civilian brothers and sisters first; and I hope that new negotiations will begin as soon as possible, capable of securing a lasting solution to the crisis. May the international community increase its efforts to address the appalling humanitarian catastrophe.
Thanks be to God, there are also positive events: for example, the ratification of the Agreement on the demarcation of the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which is an excellent diplomatic achievement.
I encourage both countries to continue on this path.
May Mary, Mother of Mercy, help the human family to be reconciled in peace.
By Alessandro Di Bussolo
The Parable of the Prodigal Son who returns home "was revealed by Jesus to allow each of us to discover how immense the love of God is." Moreover, that love is so different from ours, and "we need to welcome it within us, to enter into the depth of His mystery when He intends to offer the grace of reconciliation."
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, highlighted these points in his homily at the Mass for the Jubilee of the Missionaries of Mercy, celebrated this morning, 30 March, the fourth Sunday of Lent, at the Basilica of Sant'Andrea della Valle in central Rome.
In the parable narrated in St. Luke's Gospel, Archbishop Fisichella explained to the Missionaries and the faithful gathered for the celebration that "Jesus could not speak of God in more human terms and with more meaningful traits," in order to give voice "to the love and mercy of the Father."
He encouraged finding common traits between ourselves and both sons. Like the first son, "sooner or later, we all ask for our inheritance," we want "to be free, autonomous, to take control of our own existence," with the consequence of failing.
Because "far from God and His house, the Church," he suggested, we end up following "a path that leads us to do useless things, to have futile thoughts, and to suffer the distance from the source of love."
The sin of the brother close to God
The second son, "very similar to all of us," Archbishop Fisichella pointed out, reacts "with anger and resentment" to the return of his brother.
Like him, for our years of faithful service, the Italian Archbishop observed, we risk confusing the gratuitousness of service and turning it into a weapon of rebellion against God.
From the Father's response, 'Son, you are always with me, and everything that is mine is yours,' the Archbishop observed, emerges our sin. "We do not understand 'the value of closeness to God.'"
Addressing the priests, Archbishop Fisichella emphasized that "when we become accustomed to our ministry, everything becomes obvious, repetitive," and we fail to savor "the sense of communion with Him."
He added that if we were "aware of the grace that is given to us to be with Him every day," priestly existence would be a transparent expression of the Father’s love.
Therefore, he said, "we are called to persevere with God to share everything with Him."
The Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization called on everyone to "embrace the paternal feelings" of the Father in the parable and "to be able to look far beyond to quickly notice the presence of those who are far away and drawing near."
He explained that we must "immediately leave the shortsightedness" of thoughts and behaviors "to open our hearts and minds, going deeper to welcome those who approach us."
And just as the Father "runs to meet the son," he added, the priest should not be sitting in the confessional, "but should know how to go to meet the son when he is still far because he has recognized his returning home."
In the embrace of the son who has sinned, he suggested, one understands "how love forgets sin, and forgiveness forces us to look directly to the future" to live it worthily.
Archbishop Fisichella recalled that the Father then expresses His patience for the second son, not reprimanding him, but asking him for something much more demanding: "to recognize that love changes lives; that forgiveness restores a new life; that sharing is the fruit of the generosity that has been given to us."
Finally, Archbishop Fisichella concluded, "the two sons must recognize that they are brothers" and re-enter the Father's house together, because only together "can we bring out the greatness of the Father’s love." No one can remain "outside the house of the Father," as this would lead to the "meaninglessness of life." Through full and total reconciliation, each brother can rediscover his identity as a son.
Calling the Missionaries of Mercy "special instruments of reconciliation," he reminded them of their task of reminding everyone, as Jesus does with this parable, "how immense God’s love is" and how different it is from ours.
Moreover, he said, they are to remind that the Eucharist "is the source and wellspring of forgiveness," the festive banquet requested by the Father, in which true and full reconciliation is achieved because here the sacrifice of Christ has its highest expression.
In this context, the ministry of reconciliation, the Archbishop emphasized, "requires being Eucharistic to fully express the mystery of our faith."
On Sunday afternoon, for the Missionaries and anyone who wishes to attend, the fifth of the Jubilee Year Concerts, will take place as part of the series of 'The Jubilee Is Culture' events.
The free symphonic concert of the "Missa Papae Francisci" in memory of Italian composer Ennio Morricone, will be performed by the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra, along with the Nuovo Coro Lirico Sinfonico Romano and the "Claudio Casini" Choir of the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
The performance, conducted by Maestro Gabriele Bonolis, will take place at 4:00 PM at the Church of Saints Ambrogio and Carlo al Corso on Via del Corso in the center of Rome.
‘Rejoice with Jerusalem; be glad for her, all you that love this city! Rejoice with her now, all you that have mourned for her! You will enjoy her prosperity, like a child at its mother’s breast.’ (Isaiah 66:10-11)
Laetare Jerusalem et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam; gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis, ut exsultetis et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae. Psalm: Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi: in domum Domini ibimus.
Most Catholics knows about the Third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday — the day in which our excitement for the coming of the Lord is heightened because the Church assures us that it will soon be upon us.
Less known is Laetare Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
Both days refer to happiness. In fact, the word laetare means “rejoice” in Latin. Gaudete means “joyful.” The connection is obvious as they are both days of joyous anticipation in the midst of what might seem like darkness. In fact, Easter is exactly 21 days from Laetare Sunday.
I’ve given up meat this Lent. A few years ago, I gave up chocolate. My family still refers to that as my annus horribilis (Latin: “the miserable year”) due to the untold, galactic-scale human suffering I unintentionally afflicted upon them due to the absence of chocolate in my life — ora pro nobis. The upside to my self-imposed suffering is that I’m pretty sure I’ve shaved off about 50 years of Purgatory due my sacrifice.
Fortunately or unfortunately, my family was able to take away about 1,000 years — give or take a decade — off any future stint in Purgatory for putting up with me and my chocolate-free misery.
And, you’re welcome.
The Church is so committed to both Advent’s Gaudete Sunday and to Lent’s Laetare Sunday, and seeks to impress and inspire joyful hope in the faithful during both fasting, vigilant periods, that she direct our priests to wear rose-colored vestments and festoon our churches accordingly.
It’s not easy to do, but only a real man can pull off pink.
Again, you’re welcome.
In both Lent and Advent, the color is a glimpse of the joy that awaits us at Christ’s coming — both in his birth and in his re-birth (i.e., Resurrection). Laetare Sunday signifies a temporary abeyance to our self-imposed penitential observations. There was a time when marriages during Lent could only be celebrated on this one day.
Laetare Sunday is meant as a joyous day despite the darkness of Lent. In fact, the French Canadian tradition known as Mi-Carême(i.e., Mid-Lent,) was a day Catholics would dress up in costumes and go from house-to-house singing and dancing for treats like a cross between Halloween and Christmas.
Traditionally, Catholics celebrated Laetare Sunday by visiting the church in which they were baptized, from which sprang the alternative moniker, “Mothering Sunday.” The day was also called “Five Loaves Sunday,” referring to the multiplication of the fish and loaves, because the Gospel reading had been reserved for this date prior to the use of contemporary lectionaries. Interestingly, Notre Dame University announces the recipient of its Laetare Medal on this day. Hopefully, I won’t be passed over yet again this year.
Historically, the Church had celebrated this day by handing out blessed golden roses to Catholic monarchs around the world, hence the name, Dominica de Rosa. Not coincidently, the word rosa means “pink” in Italian. Liturgically, rose describes a lighter shade of the color violet, thus signifying a relaxation of the Lenten rules.
The entrance antiphon this Sunday is a reference to Isaiah 66:10-11:
Rejoice with Jerusalem; be glad for her, all you [who] love this city! Rejoice with her now, all you [who] have mourned for her! You will enjoy her prosperity, like a child at its mother’s breast.
The word laetare is taken from the incipit for the Gregorian chant introit for the Latin Mass used on this day.
Laetare Sunday is meant to direct Catholics to “keep your eyes on the prize” in anticipation of Easter. We don’t suffer the deprivations of not eating chocolate just for some masochistic reason. Instead, our suffering unites us with Christ and, as Paul points out:
And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ’s sufferings on behalf of his body, the church. And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message, which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to his people. (Colossians 1:24-26)
Once Easter arrives after an arduous Passion Week, we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection for 50 days. We fast and then we feast. If not, we lose the meaning of both. As Scriptures teach us, I wait eagerly for the Lord’s help, and in his word I trust (Psalm 130:5).
Celebrate Laetare Sunday keeping in mind Christ’s Resurrection, which the Jewish Patriarchs anticipated and hoped for. For us, it is at last in sight, for we are an Easter people!
St. John Climacus
Abbot of Sinai, so called “Climacus” from the title of his famous book, The Climax, or The Ladder of Perfection; also known as John Scholasticus. He was a Syrian or a Palestinian who started his eremitical life at sixteen, living for many years as a hermit on Sinai. He then went to Thale. Revered also as a scriptural scholar, he authored The Ladder of Perfection to provide a comprehensive treatise on the ideal of Christian perfection and the virtues and vices of the monastic life. Composed in thirty chapters, it was intended to correspond to the age of Christ at the time of his baptism by John the Baptist. John was elected abbot of the monks of Mt. Sinai at the age of seventy He died there on March 30.
By Devin Watkins
The Holy See sent a delegation to the enthronement of His Beatitude Joan as Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania, which took place in Tirana on Saturday.
Archbishop Flavio Pace, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity led the delegation, accompanied by Msgr. Andrea Palmieri, Undersecretary of the same Dicastery, and Msgr. Ionuţ Paul Strejac, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Apostolic Nunciature in Tirana.
Pope Francis sent a letter to Archbishop Joan to extend his “fraternal greetings in the love of Christ.”
“In expressing my spiritual closeness,” wrote the Pope, “I assure you of my prayers that God the Father, source of all good, will grant you the abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit as you guide the flock entrusted to your care.”
He recalled Archbishop Joan’s predecessor, His Beatitude Anastas, whose apostolic zeal “left a deep and lasting legacy on Albania.”
“Anastas distinguished himself by his commitment to the peaceful coexistence of men and women belonging to different Churches and religious traditions,” said the Pope, “and he contributed significantly to the improvement of relations between our Churches.”
Pope Francis went on to invite Archbishop Joan to continue to foster dialogue as a way to overcome divisions and seek full communion among Christians.
“In these difficult times marked by war and violence,” he said, “it is ever more urgent that Christians bear credible witness to unity, so that the world may fully embrace the Gospel message of fraternal solidarity and peace.”
The Pope noted that Christians bear responsibility for showing the world the “real communion, if alas not yet complete, that already unites us.”
“It is my heartfelt hope,” wrote Pope Francis, “that under your paternal guidance, relations between the Church of Albania and the Catholic Church will develop further, seeking new forms of fruitful cooperation in proclaiming the Gospel, serving those most in need and renewing our commitment to resolving the issues that still separate us through the dialogue of charity and truth.”
In conclusion, the Pope assured Archbishop Joan of his prayers for his ministry and extended to him “a fraternal embrace in Christ our Lord.”
By Devin Watkins
As Missionaries of Mercy hold their 2025 Jubilee in Rome, Pope Francis has reaffirmed his prayerful support for their mission to bring God’s forgiveness to our broken world.
In a message released on Saturday, the Pope expressed his “gratitude and encouragement” for their work as confessors.
During the 2016 Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis commissioned priests from dioceses around the globe to hear confessions and grant absolution for several sins which are normally reserved to the Holy See.
As they return to Rome, the Holy Father said Missionaries of Mercy offer people enduring the weight of sin the gift of God’s forgiveness, calling it a source of hope.
“Through your service,” he said, “you bear witness to the paternal face of God, infinitely great in love, who calls everyone to conversion and constantly renews us with His forgiveness.”
Pope Francis said Jesus opens the path in every sinner’s heart to walk with the Church toward reconciliation.
“Conversion and forgiveness are the two caresses with which the Lord wipes every tear from our eyes,” he said. “They are the hands with which the Church embraces us sinners; they are the feet on which we walk in our earthly pilgrimage.”
The Pope encouraged Missionaries of Mercy to be “attentive in listening, ready in welcoming, and steadfast in accompanying those who desire to renew their lives and return to the Lord.”
God’s mercy, he added, changes our hearts and can reach us in every situation, since we can always trust in God.
“I wholeheartedly bless your apostolate, asking Mary Immaculate to watch over you as Mother of Mercy,” he concluded. “Please, do not forget to pray for me.”
Ludolf was a Norbertine priest (a canon regular of the Premonstratensian Order). In 1236 he was chosen to become bishop of the German see of Ratzeburg. While fulfilling his episcopal duties, he continued the practices of his Norbertine religious life. For his courageous defense of the Church, he was imprisoned and harshly treated by Duke Albrecht of Saxony-Lauenburg. Subsequently he fell ill and died from what he had suffered. A soldier tormented by excruciating pains in his head resulting from an arrowhead that had become embedded in his flesh during battle invoked the intercession of Saint Ludolf. Soon afterward, he found that the arrowhead had shifted to the surface of his head wound, so that he was able to extricate it with his hand. In thanksgiving to God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Saint Ludolf, the soldier donated to the Church a lavishly decorated missal and several beautifully adorned liturgical vestments.
