reflections, updates and homilies from Deacon Mike Talbot inspired by the following words from my ordination: Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach...
Pope Leo XIV Accepts Resignation of Bishop James Tamayo of the Diocese of Laredo; Appoints Reverend John Gomez as Successor
Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop James A. Tamayo, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Laredo, and has appointed Reverend John Jairo Gomez, as Bishop-elect of Laredo. Father Gomez is a priest of the Diocese of Tyler and currently serves as the vicar general of the diocese.
WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop James A. Tamayo, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Laredo, and has appointed Reverend John Jairo Gomez, as Bishop-elect of Laredo. Father Gomez is a priest of the Diocese of Tyler and currently serves as the vicar general of the diocese. The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 2026, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
The following biographical information for Bishop-elect Gomez was drawn from preliminary materials provided to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:
Father Gomez was born on December 15, 1975, in Colombia. He received his Master of Divinity from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas (2009), and a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (2012). He was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Tyler on May 23, 2009.
His parish assignments after ordination include pastor at Holy Cross parish in Pittsburgh, Texas (2012-2017); pastor at Christ the King parish in Kilgore (2017-2018); and pastor at St. Charles in Frankston (2018-2020). His assignments for the Diocese of Tyler include: judicial vicar (2014-2015); member of the diocesan presbyteral council (2014 to present);; member of the diocesan college of consultors (2015 to present); member of the board of directors for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Tyler (2015 to present); member of the diocesan review board (2017 to present); member of the East Texas Catholic Foundation Board of Directors (2017 to present); member of the board of directors for the diocesan priest retirement plan (2017-2022); diocesan director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (2017 to present); member if the Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors of Hispanic Ministry (2022 to present); delegate of the apostolic administrator (2023-2025). He served as vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Tyler from 2015 to 2023 and has also been serving in the role again from 2025 to present.
Bishop-elect Gomez is a native speaker of Spanish.
The Diocese of Laredo is comprised of 10,905 square miles in the State of Texas.
Pope Leo XIV Appoints Two New Auxiliary Bishops for the Archdiocese of Washington; Accepts Resignation of Most Reverend Roy Campbell
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Reverend Gary R. Studniewski and Reverend Robert P. Boxie, III, as auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Washington. At the same time, the Holy Father accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend Roy E. Campbell, 78, from the Office of Auxiliary Bishop of Washington.
WASHINGTON - Pope Leo XIV has appointed Reverend Gary R. Studniewski and Reverend Robert P. Boxie, III, as auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Washington. Bishop-elect Studniewski is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington and currently serves as pastor of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Washington, D.C. Bishop-elect Boxie is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington and currently serves as chaplain to Howard University in Washington, D.C.
At the same time, the Holy Father accepted the resignation of the Most Reverend Roy E. Campbell, 78, from the Office of Auxiliary Bishop of Washington. The appointments and resignation were publicized in Washington, D.C. on May 1, 2026, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
The following biographical information for Bishop-elect Studniewski and Bishop-elect Boxie was drawn from preliminary materials provided to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:
Bishop-elect Gary R. Studniewski
Bishop-elect Studniewski is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington and currently serves as pastor of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Washington, D.C. He was born on May 8, 1957, in Toledo, Ohio. He received an Army commission through the ROTC program at the University of Toledo in 1979, completing a Bachelor of Education degree in Biology. He served in various artillery assignments in the 82d Airborne Division Artillery (1980-1981), and then in the 3d Infantry Division Artillery, United States Army Europe (1983-1986), and from 1987 to 1989 he served in the Army’s Personnel Command in Alexandria, Virginia.
In 1989 Father Studniewski left active duty to enter seminary, and studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome (1990-1995), earning both a Bachelor of Sacred Theology and Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington on June 24, 1995.
Bishop-elect Studniewski served as military chaplain from 1995-2014, retiring with the rank of colonel. His pastoral assignments in the Archdiocese of Washington have included: Assumption parish in Washington (2014-2016); St. Francis Xavier parish in Leonardtown, Maryland (2016-2017); St. Peter’s parish in Washington (2017-2022); and the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament (2022 to present).
Bishop-elect Robert P. Boxie, III
Bishop-elect Robert P. Boxie, III is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington and currently serving as chaplain to Howard University in Washington. Father Boxie was born on September 18, 1980, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering from Vanderbilt University (2002), a Juris Doctor from Harvard University (2007), and studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, earning a Bachelor of Sacred Theology (2015) and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (2017) from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 25, 2016.
Father Boxie’s pastoral assignments include parochial vicar at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Derwood, Maryland (2016); and parochial vicar at St. Joseph parish in Largo, Maryland (2017-2020). Since 2020, he has served as chaplain at Howard University in Washington. Bishop-elect Boxie has also served as professor in the Archdiocese of Washington’s permanent diaconate program since 2018 and has been an assistant vocations director for the archdiocese since 2016.
The Archdiocese of Washington is comprised of 2,104 square miles in the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland.
Pope Leo XIV Accepts Resignation of Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston; Appoints Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as Successor
Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Most Reverend Mark E. Brennan, 79, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, and has appointed Most Reverend Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, currently auxiliary bishop of Washington, as his successor.
WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Most Reverend Mark E. Brennan, 79, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, and has appointed Most Reverend Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, currently auxiliary bishop of Washington, as his successor.
The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C. on May 1, 2026, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Bishop Menjivar-Ayala’s biography may be found here.
The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston is comprised of 24,041 square miles in the State of West Virginia.
Moved by pastoral letter against racism, US Bishops journey to Deep South
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, director of a U.S. organization working to end the death penalty, accompanies several Bishops in their exploration of the connections between the legacy of racism in the United States and its impacts on the criminal legal system today.
By Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, Executive Director of Catholic Mobilizing Network*
Eight years ago, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) authored a pastoral letter against racism. Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love explores the questions “what is racism?” and “how do we overcome this evil?”
“Racism,” the bishops write, “is a life issue,” and “a perversion of the Lord’s will for men and women, all of whom were made in God’s image and likeness.” For a society to move on from the “social structures of injustice and violence that make us all accomplices in racism,” the way forward, the bishops said in their letter, must include meaningful, personal encounters:
“To work at ending racism, we need to engage the world and encounter others—to see, maybe for the first time, those who are on the peripheries of our own limited view.” (Open Wide Our Hearts)
Fast forward to just a few weeks ago. In March 2026, I had the privilege of traveling to the Deep South for such an “encounter” with six U.S. bishops, as well as staff and consultors from the USCCB’s Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation. This Lenten Experience in Montgomery and Selma, Alabama was the second collaboration between Catholic Mobilizing Network and the USCCB to bring U.S. bishops to Alabama. In the 19th century, Montgomery was one of the most prominent slave-trading locations in the United States. In the 20th century, it became the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement.
The trip provided an opportunity to explore how the legacy of 400 years of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation continues to shape our justice system, and to engage in the restorative work of truth-telling and reconciliation in the United States.
I felt privileged to walk alongside these episcopal leaders as they lived out what they committed to eight years ago. Our experience in Alabama was a journey of truth-telling and an exploration into what is required of the Church, its leadership, and its faithful in order to be ministers of hope and reconciliation in the face of systemic racism in the United States.
Lenten Journey Reveals the Promise of Easter
It was no coincidence that this trip fell during the season of Lent. Our sojourn would be one of head and heart, of remembrance, repentance, prayer, and preparation for Easter’s renewal.
The first day of our journey included an unforgettable meeting with Bryan Stevenson, founder of Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama whose decades of inspiring work has provided legal representation to people who have been wrongfully convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons. EJI has become a lifeline for marginalized people in Alabama and a trailblazer in its effective legal and narrative change efforts. Through the development of “Legacy Sites” across the city of Montgomery, EJI elevates the connections between mass incarceration and excessive punishment and the entrenched challenges of racial and economic injustice.
As he expanded on issues of racism and injustice embedded within our criminal legal system, Mr. Stevenson explained how one of the most insidious consequences of the “cancer” of racism is the narrative of racial hierarchy and of Black inferiority. More specifically, he stated that the suspicion of dangerousness and guilt assigned to Black and Brown people is what drives over sentencing and overincarceration of people of color to this day. Just as Lent invites us to reflect on Jesus’ temptation by the devil while fasting in the desert, so too did our Lenten encounter with Mr. Stevenson bring to light how we face temptation today of racism’s social sin.
Against this backdrop, he spoke of Church leaders as key “facilitators of transformation” for society, because they know that confessing the truth and repenting from sin are what opens hearts to redemption and reconciliation. As the United States struggles to reckon with the legacy of slavery and the manifestations of racial injustice today, Mr. Stevenson encouraged us to help society to be set free from silence and engage in truth-telling, while always holding on to hope.
Our meeting with Mr. Stevenson was one of a dozen encounters on a 48-hour journey through Montgomery and Selma. We anchored ourselves throughout these encounters by praying the Stations of the Cross as we visited key sites of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s — such as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s parsonage — met with local leaders, and deepened our understanding of the realities of capital punishment today. With our eyes, ears, and our hearts, we contemplated Christ’s journey toward Calvary and reflected on the nearness of our Savior to the suffering we bore witness to.
As Catholics, we understand it is through the witness of the suffering of Christ’s passion that the light of Easter morning comes. The same is true about our Lenten experience in Montgomery and Selma.
Bishop Joseph Kopacz, Bishop of the Diocese of Jackson Mississippi shared, “We have to get to the truth, as Sister Thea Bowman would say, the truth of what the reality was, so that there can be reconciliation.”
In remembering the deep harm and raw pain of racial terror and structural racism, we also heard testimonies of the movement of the Holy Spirit and in the light of faith, resistance, and resilience.
“Despite all the struggles that people have faced in their lives, despite their sufferings and pains of the past,” reflected Bishop Felipe Pulido, Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego, “they still have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and that truly gave them hope and resilience to continue their lives.”
Surely, the Cross reveals the depth of God’s love and the empty tomb offers a sign of God’s saving power. Our faith rests in the assurance that life will always have its victory over death. Indeed, the commitment to make this truth-telling journey marked a profound act of Easter hope.
Bishops on the Lenten experience celebrate Mass with Bishop Steven J. Raica of Birmingham, Alabama and pastor of Resurrection Catholic Parish.
Together we celebrated Mass in Catholic parishes and shared meals with pastors and local leaders — including individuals who have been active in the community since the Civil Rights Movement.
Fr. Manuel Williams, C.R., a Montgomery native and pastor of Resurrection Catholic Missions of the South shared his rich experiences of resilience and hope as a leader of a vibrant Catholic parish engaged in the ministries of education, evangelization, healthcare, social services, and advocacy. Fr. Andrew Jones, pastor of The City of Saint Jude — which was the final stop for the Selma to Montgomery marchers before arriving at the State Capitol on March 24, 1965 — told the history of his parish’s efforts to preserve the Church’s key role in the Civil Rights Movement and shared stories of how the parish expresses its commitment to human rights and social justice today.
These profoundly moving personal encounters were not easy. Bishop William Wack, Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee described it this way:
“Some the things that really affected me were seeing the sculptures and the art and the photographs of the true reality of slavery and racism and how that's led to a continuation through lynching and mass incarceration. Just seeing that and then talking to some people who were part of the Civil Rights Movement, you know, in the 50s and 60s, and hearing their voices, that was really important for me as well.”
What the Lord Requires
On the final morning of our trip, we stood at the base of hundreds of hanging steel columns, at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The columns stand as a visual reminder of the bodies left hanging in the horrific violence of 4,400 documented racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950. Again, we turned to the Passion, concluding with the final Station of the Cross.
We prayed together, recalling the inspiration provided in Open Wide Our Hearts:
“You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
Bishop William A. Wack leads the Stations of the Cross at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of the infamous 1965 “Bloody Sunday,” when voting rights marchers traveling from Selma to Montgomery were attacked by police.
As we work to “do justice,” the pastoral letter reminds us that justice is defined “where we are in right relationship with God, with one another, and with the rest of God’s creation.” Integral to this relational justice commitment is listening to the stories of those who are personally impacted by the sin of racism.
In the effort to “love goodness,” the letter invites us to consider the example of Christ’s suffering on the cross: “It is through his Cross that we learn the greatest lesson about love.” Reflecting on Christ’s own execution at the hands of the state offers an expansive understanding of love that seeks unity and restoration in the face of racial injustice, dehumanization, and division.
And in the effort to “walk humbly with God,” the letter encourages those in positions of Church leadership to “make formal visits to institutions of culture and learning” and to engage in meaningful experiences that deepen understanding of our nation’s complex racial history.
We are an Easter people living in the promise of the Holy Spirit. That is why we accompany one another in Alabama — in a prayerful posture of openness, encounter — and ask for God’s grace to become reconcilers in our wounded world. Our Lenten journey created a profound opportunity to remember our country’s deep wounds of racism. This time together helped us all see more clearly how systemic racism has given way to a pervasive narrative of revenge and retribution that marks our current criminal legal system.
With each Station of the Cross that we prayed throughout our journey, we recited: “Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.” This simple prayer reveals the depth of God’s love and His abundant mercy. And through it, our appreciation for this restorative truth-telling work grew within us.
Gratefully, the light of the Resurrection illuminates our path to understanding the depths of suffering in a new way, so that we can spread the Good News of Easter as facilitators of transformation and of restoration, wherever the ravages of systemic racism persist today.
* Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy is the Executive Director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a national organization in the United States that mobilizes Catholics and people of goodwill to end the death penalty, advance justice solutions in alignment with Catholic values and promote healing through restorative justice approaches and practices. For more information and to join the movement, visit catholicsmobilizing.org.
Vatican Observatory has asteroid named after Pope Leo XIII
The Vatican Observatory announces that four asteroids have been named after important figures in its history, including Pope Leo XIII, who re-founded the institute in 1891 after the loss of the papal territories.
Vatican News
The Vatican Observatory announced that four asteroids have been named after important figures in its history—including Pope Leo XIII, who re-founded the organization in 1891—in a press release published on Wednesday, April 29.
All four asteroids were discovered by Lithuanian astronomer Kazimieras ÄŒernis and Vatican Observatory astronomer Father Richard P. Boyle, using the Observatory’s Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), located on Mount Graham in Arizona, United States.
The asteroids are “(858334) Gioacchinopecci”, “(836955) Lais”, “(836275) Pietromaffi”, and “(688696) Bertiau”, and the names were recently announced in Volume 6, issue 4, of the International Astronomical Union’s WGSBN Bulletin, the statement explains.
Development of the Observatory and Pope Leo XIII
The “(858334) Gioacchinopecci” honors Pope Leo XIII, baptized Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci, who was Pope from 1878 until his death in 1903.
The press release underlines how Pope Leo XIII was instrumental to the development of the Vatican Observatory, as he re-established it following the loss of papal territories and the highly productive astronomical facilities that had been located within them.
This included the observatory of Father Angelo Secchi, which was located atop the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome. Photographs of the Vatican in the early 20th century also show the domes of observatory telescopes atop the walls of the Vatican and the “Tower of the Winds”.
In the 1930s, because of electric lighting brightening the night skies over Rome, the telescopes were moved to the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo, around an hour south of Rome. Their domes are still there, visible for kilometers in all directions.
Further brightening of the Roman skies led to the construction of the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona in the 1990s.
The Observatory’s mission
The statement notes that in his 1891 Motu Proprio “Ut Mysticam” establishing the Vatican Observatory, Pope Leo XIII highlighted how this entity would help to show the world that the Church’s current and historic attitude toward “true and solid science” was to “embrace it, encourage it, and promote it with the fullest possible dedication,” contrary to what detractors had been stating.
He underlined that the Observatory would be “helping to promote a very noble science which, more than any other human discipline, raises the spirit of mortals to the contemplation of heavenly events.”
The press release emphasizes that the Observatory has done just that, as reflected in the visible domes atop the Vatican walls and Castel Gandolfo or the Observatory’s research output that has contributed to helping the scientific community.
Other asteroids named after Popes
This is not the first case of an asteroid being named after a Pope. “(560974) Ugoboncompagni” honors Pope Gregory XIII for his work on reforming the calendar and was also discovered with the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope.
In 2000, German astronomer Lutz Schmadel named “(8661) Ratzinger”, after Pope Benedict XVI, who at the time was a Cardinal and had not yet been elected Pope. It was named after him in honor of his work to open the Vatican archives in 1998, in order to allow researchers to investigate judicial errors against Galileo.
Other asteroids named after important Church figures
The press release also announces that three other asteroids were named after important figures in the history of the Vatican Observatory.
“(836955) Lais” is named after Father Giuseppe Lais (1845–1921), a member of the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri and Italian astronomer who served as Deputy Director of the Observatory for thirty years.
In the early 20th century, he was involved in the international “Carte du Ciel” (“Map of the Heavens”) photographic star atlas project.
“(836275) Pietromaffi” honors Cardinal Pietro Maffi (1858–1931), Archbishop of Pisa, who served as President of the Observatory from 1904 till his death in 1931.
He recommended that the Observatory be entrusted to the Society of Jesus to ensure high research standards, and they still run this entity today.
“(688696) Bertiau” is named after Father Florent Constant Bertiau (1919–1995), a Belgian Jesuit astronomer.
He founded the Observatory’s Computer Center in 1965, pioneered computerized data analysis, and led vital research on the distribution of stars in our Milky Way galaxy and on “light pollution.”
The press release emphasizes that the discovery of these four asteroids and their naming by members of the Vatican Observatory continues Pope Leo XIII’s intention to support science and to show the world and the Church that faith and science go together.
How does an asteroid get named?
The statement also explains that an asteroid gets named. Asteroids are assigned provisional designations at the time of discovery, based on the date of their observation. When an asteroid’s orbit has been determined with sufficient precision and its future trajectory can be reliably predicted, it is assigned a permanent number.
Currently, approximately 850,000 of the roughly 1.3 million known asteroids have received a permanent number.
Only after receiving this number can the discoverers propose a definitive name to replace the provisional designation.
The proposed name is reviewed by the International Astronomical Union’s Working Group for Small Body Nomenclature (WGSBN)—which manages the process—and must comply with specific guidelines.
Once approved, the asteroid is known by its official name, written as “(number) Name”.
