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...
Feastday: May 25 Patron: of English writers and historians; Jarrow Birth: 673 Death: 735
Bede was born near St. Peter and St. Paul monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow, England. He was sent there when he was three and educated by Abbots Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrid. He became a monk at the monastery, was ordained when thirty, and except for a few brief visits elsewhere, spent all of his life in the monastery, devoting himself to the study of Scripture and to teaching and writing. He is considered one of the most learned men of his time and a major influence on English literature. His writings are a veritable summary of the learning of his time and include commentaries on the Pentateuch and various other books of the Bible, theological and scientific treatises, historical works, and biographies. His best-known work is HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA, a history of the English Church and people, which he completed in 731. It is an account of Christianity in England up to 729 and is a primary source of early English history. Called "the Venerable" to acknowledge his wisdom and learning, the title was formalized at the Council of Aachen in 853. He was a careful scholar and distinguished stylist, the "father" of English history, the first to date events anno domini (A.D.), and in 1899, was declared the only English doctor of the Church. He died in Wearmouth-Jarrow on May 25. His feast day is May 25th.
Pope Leo prays the Spirit may help build a fraternal world where peace reigns
At the Regina Caeli, the Pope urged everyone to invoke the Holy Spirit, who opens the doors to faith and encourages the Church to be “welcoming and hospitable to all.” And may the Holy Spirit help us overcome “resistance, selfishness, mistrust, and prejudice,” allowing fraternity to flourish.
By Benedetta Capelli
“What doors does the Spirit open?” is the question posed by Pope Leo XIV in today’s catechesis for the Regina Caeli on May 24, in his final Regina Caeli of 2026. In a warm and bright Saint Peter's Square, the Pope invited the faithful to contemplate “the gift of the Holy Spirit, which was poured out in abundance upon the early Church and is bestowed anew upon its members today, granting us light and strength throughout our everyday circumstances.” He urged everyone to invoke the Holy Spirit and “ask him to open all the doors that are still closed.”
“We need to rediscover God as the Father who loves us, so that we can form a Church where everyone feels at home, and build a fraternal world where peace reigns among all peoples.”
Encounter with true faith
The Pope pointed to three “doors” that must be opened, recalling the account in the Acts of the Apostles that describes the Spirit as a “mighty wind” that opened every door and impelled “the disciples to go out and proclaim the Good News of the risen Christ.” The first door to be opened, Pope Leo XIV said, is that of God Himself, who grants “true faith, helps us understand the meaning of Scripture, reveals himself as our neighbor and allows us to share in his very life.”
“The Holy Spirit helps us to have a personal experience of God, to encounter him in Jesus and not merely in the observance of a law, to recognize him within us, and to discover the signs of his presence in daily life.”
A Church that welcomes
“The second door,” the Pope emphasized, “is that of the Upper Room, that is, of the Church.” The wind of the Spirit sweeps away fears and anxieties “in the face of the world’s challenges,” as well as the inability to engage “with changing times,” so that the Church may become, as Pope Francis often said, a Church with open doors.
“The Spirit opens the doors of the Church so that it can be welcoming and hospitable to all, even to those who have closed their doors on God and neighbour, on hope and the joy of living.”
The language of love
The final door indicated by the Pope is that of the human heart, which must be opened in order for fraternity among peoples to be born.
“The Holy Spirit opens the door of our heart, helping us to overcome resistance, selfishness, mistrust and prejudice, while enabling us to live as children of God and brothers and sisters to one another. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, fraternity is born among individuals, groups and peoples of the Earth, and all speak the same language of love, which unites and brings harmony despite our differences.”
Pope on Pentecost: The Paraclete enlightens minds and protects us
During his Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost, Pope Leo XIV reflected on how the Holy Spirit continues to work wonders in our lives, saying that by enlightening minds and instilling new vitality in our hearts, the Paraclete “transfigures history, opening it to salvation, which is the gift that the Lord offers to everyone.”
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“Through the power of the Spirit, our proclamation is filled with joy and hope, for we — yes, we ourselves — are the newness of the world, the light and the salt of the earth...”
Pope Leo XIV offered this comforting reminder during his Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost on Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica, noting that the Easter Season reaches its fulfillment in this solemnity.
The Pope recalled the day’s Gospel passage in which the Apostles had shut themselves in the Upper Room, overcome by fear. Yet Jesus came and stood among them despite the closed doors, filling them with joy. Christ, he stressed, accompanied His actions with the words, “Peace be with you,” and immediately afterward breathed the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.
The Holy Father underscored how the Holy Spirit accomplished something extraordinary in the lives of the Apostles and noted that the Spirit continues to work today.
He stressed that Pentecost “is a Paschal feast” and “a feast of the Body of Christ, which by grace is all of us.”
In celebrating this mystery, the Pope focused on three aspects of the Spirit: first as the “Spirit of peace,” second as the “Spirit of mission,” and third as the “Spirit of truth.”
Pouring peace into our hearts
Focusing first on the Spirit of peace, Pope Leo noted that it was the Holy Spirit, through Christ’s Paschal Mystery, who restored peace between God and humanity, pouring this peace into our hearts and spreading it throughout the world.
The Holy Father stressed that this peace stems from forgiveness and leads us to forgiveness. He highlighted that the Lord “pours out His Spirit of peace from one end of history to the other, for he who has redeemed everyone from death excludes no one.”
Pope Leo presides over Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost (AFP or licensors)
We are all invited to bear witness
Turning to the Spirit’s missionary aspect, the Pope recalled that the Holy Spirit is “the living charity of Christ that fills us, spurs us on and sustains us in our mission.”
Recalling that on the very day of Pentecost the Apostles began proclaiming Jesus through the power of the Spirit, the Pope said the Spirit’s first work in us is granting us the faith to proclaim that Jesus is Lord.
Marveling that this faith lives and is expressed in every good deed, every act of mercy, and every virtue, Pope Leo said that “the work of God, therefore, is each one of us," who are "invited to the Lord’s table, gathered to listen to His Word and called to bear witness to it everywhere.”
Co-workers of the Gospel
The Pope stressed that all the faithful are truly “co-workers of the Gospel,” adding that “the whole Church is its protagonist, not merely its guardian.”
Through the power of the Spirit, he noted, our proclamation is filled with joy and hope.
He stressed that we ourselves “are the newness of the world” and “the light and the salt of the earth,” not because of our own merit or privilege, but because of the word of the Lord, “who sanctifies the sinner, heals the leper and transforms the one who denied Him into an Apostle.”
The Pope acknowledged that “there are changes that do not bring new life to the world, but make it grow old through error and violence.” Nevertheless, he said, “the Holy Spirit enlightens minds and instills new vitality in our hearts.”
Promoting unity in truth
In this way, he said, the Spirit “transfigures history, opening it to salvation, which is the gift that the Lord offers to everyone.” The Church’s mission, he added, bears witness to this offer, thereby transforming the world’s confusion into communion with God and among ourselves.
He reminded the faithful that the Spirit, who has spoken through the prophets, always promotes unity in truth by imbuing us with understanding, harmony, and coherence of life.
Pentecost Mass in the Vatican (@Vatican Media)
The Paraclete protects us and is source of holiness
Finally, Pope Leo said the Paraclete protects us from everything that hinders this understanding, including partisanship, hypocrisy, and fads that obscure the light of the Gospel.
Thus, he said, “the truth that God gives us stands as a liberating word for all peoples, a message that transforms every culture from within.”
The Holy Spirit, Pope Leo emphasized, is not poured out once and for all, but constantly.
“Just as the Eucharist is the living presence of Christ, who nourishes us unceasingly, so too,” he said, “does the Holy Spirit imprint his character upon us in Baptism, which makes us Christians.”
Similarly, he said, the Holy Spirit acts in Confirmation, establishing us as witnesses, and in Holy Orders, constituting ministers and shepherds for God’s people.
“In every sacrament,” Pope Leo said, “he is the dator munerum, the source of holiness who multiplies gifts and charisms through prayer, works of mercy and the study of the Word of God.”
Recalling St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians, that “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good,” Pope Leo said that it is precisely for this reason that we are the Church, the one Body that lives in God and serves the world.
“Thanks to the Spirit," the Pope invited, "we can bring true peace to all, the Truth that saves — the same Christ our Lord.”
Save us from the evil of war
The Holy Father drew his homily to a close by inviting all the faithful to join him in praying that the Holy Spirit “may save us from the evil of war, which is overcome not by a superpower, but by the omnipotence of love,” “free humanity from misery,” and “heal us from the scourge of sin through the salvation proclaimed to all peoples in the name of Jesus.”
Pope Leo XIV concluded by praying that the Holy Spirit instill in us the grace that gave courage to the Apostles, today and always, through the Blessed Mother’s intercession.
Knights of Columbus Affirms ‘Solidarity’ With Pope Leo XIV as Trump Escalates Criticism
Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly is asking Catholics to pray for the Pope and the president, as President Trump again criticized Leo’s comments about the Iran war.
Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly (right) speaks at the Symposium on Young American Men, a national conversation on restoring purpose, flourishing, and belonging, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3, 2025. Looking on is Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma. (photo: Matthew H. Barrick)
Statement From Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly:
In recent days, many Catholics and other people of goodwill have been deeply disappointed by the disparaging comments directed at Pope Leo XIV by the President of the United States. The Successor of Saint Peter is not a politician — he is the Vicar of Christ, entrusted with proclaiming the Gospel and shepherding souls.
The Knights of Columbus has always stood in solidarity with the Holy Father, recognizing in him a spiritual father who calls the world not to division, but to unity, not to conflict, but to peace. In this moment, we reaffirm that commitment with clarity and conviction.
At the same time, we recognize that faithful Catholics can and do engage vigorously in the public square, and that nations have a right and duty to safeguard the security of their own people — always in accordance with the demands of justice and the pursuit of peace. The Church does not ask Catholics to withdraw from civic life, but to engage with and elevate it — bringing to our civic dialogue the light of truth, respect for the dignity of every human person, and a steadfast concern for the common good.
Pope Leo XIV has consistently called for peace, dialogue, and restraint in a world marked by war and suffering. The Holy Father’s words are not political talking points — they are reflections of the Gospel itself. Whether one agrees or disagrees with particular policy judgments, the Holy Father’s prophetic voice deserves to be heard with respect and engaged seriously.
As Knights, we are called to be men of unity, as followers of Christ and patriotic citizens. I encourage all Knights of Columbus to pray for the Holy Father, to pray for civic leaders, and to pray for peace and those working to achieve it. And let us recommit ourselves to charity in our public discourse. May we be known not for echoing the divisions of our time, but for healing them. In a moment of tension, the path forward is not louder conflict, but deeper fidelity — to truth, to charity, and to the Gospel.
Pope in Acerra: A pastoral embrace for a wounded land seeking renewal
Pope Leo XIV, in the southern Italian town of Acerra, encourages the faithful to make room for a prayer that becomes service and for a faith that dares to touch the wounds of society.
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Leo XIV travelled to Acerra on Saturday, bringing closeness and a message of moral clarity, as well as practical encouragement to a community that has long suffered from environmental degradation and organized criminality.
Acerra, in the southern Italian Campania region, is part of a deeply scarred territory, devastated by environmental degradation due to illegal rubbish dumping and the unchecked burning of toxic waste.
The town of 65,000 residents is at the heart of the so-called “Terra dei Fuochi”. or 'Land of Fires', a territory also known as "The Triangle of Death", which for the past 20 years has been suffocated by toxic fires burning the contaminated land. This has given rise to a health crisis in which hundreds of people, including many children, have developed rare forms of cancer, without help from the institutions, which have been accused of incompetence and corruption.
Pope Leo XIV in Acerra (@Vatican Media)
In Pope Leo’s discourse to the clergy and the faithful gathered in the city’s Cathedral, he invited families, workers, young people, and civic leaders to “walk together,” placing human dignity at the center of every choice while resisting resignation in the face of entrenched injustices.
He urged the faithful to make room for prayer that becomes service and for a faith courageous enough to touch the wounds of society.
The image of the Church as a field hospital
Pope Leo returned to the image of the Church that Pope Francis, who had desired to undertake this visit, described as a “field hospital,” called to bind wounds with patience and to persevere in the small, daily gestures that restore trust: honest work, clean governance, and a culture that protects life from its beginning to its natural end.
He praised the quiet heroism of parents and grandparents who keep families together amid economic strain, and he asked young people not to abandon their homeland to despair but to become artisans of the common good.
Call for the conversion of the heart
The people of Acerra, and across the Campania region, contend with unemployment, a persistent informal economy, and outward migration that drains towns of their youngest and most enterprising citizens. Many families live on precarious contracts and seasonal wages; small businesses are squeezed by rising costs and uneven investment; and civil society often must step in where services are thin.
In this context, the Pope appealed for administrative and political conversion of the heart, calling on citizens to confront corruption, to steward public resources responsibly, and to protect the weakest, especially children and the elderly.
Heeding the cry of the earth and of the poor
Recalling the late Pope Francis' landmark encyclical Laudato sì, Pope Leo did not shy away from addressing the environmental emergency in the area and insisted on the need for a shared moral responsibility: breaking the cycle of silence, strengthening lawful enterprise, and ensuring that clean-up efforts are thorough, transparent, and scientifically credible.
He reiterated that creation is a gift entrusted to our care, and urged collaboration between Church communities, public institutions, universities, and honest businesses to monitor, remediate, and rebuild, so that the land may again breathe and families may remain rooted in dignity.
A path of conversion and civic friendship
Drawing from today's reading by Ezekiel, the Pope proposed a path that joins interior conversion with civic friendship in which the poor are placed at the center and parish and diocesan resources are directed toward families in difficulty, the unemployed, and those living with illness.
He mentioned the need to foster a lawful culture of work, while education and memory, he said, are crucial, as he invited the faith to pray so that fatigue does not harden into bitterness but is renewed as patient love.
He thanked priests, religious, and lay volunteers who remain close to people in their struggles, and he encouraged public officials who serve without serving themselves.
Do not let anyone steal your tomorrow, the Pope urged the young people of the area, inviting them to rediscover the beauty of their land - its families, faith, and culture - and to become protagonists of a new chapter in its future.
Pope Leo in Acerra: 'Let us take responsiblity and serve life'
During his pastoral visit to Acerra, Italy, Pope Leo XIV addressed mayors and local residents of the town in the 'Land of Fires,' urging everyone to join together to correct course, and saying the principal meaning of his presence there was 'to confirm and encourage that stirring of dignity and responsibility that every honest heart feels when life springs forth and is immediately threatened by death.'
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“This, dear friends, is the principal meaning of my presence in Acerra today: to confirm and encourage that stirring of dignity and responsibility that every honest heart feels when life springs forth and is immediately threatened by death.”
Pope Leo XIV expressed this when addressing mayors and local residents of Acerra during his pastoral visit on Saturday to the southern Italian town in the “Land of Fires.”
He said he was pleased to spend this Saturday morning among them, and "to visit once again a region whose beauty no injustice can erase."
"In life we come to understand," he highlighted, "that the more fragile a beauty is, the more it calls for care and responsibility.”
The Holy Father said the principal meaning of the pastoral visit was "to confirm and encourage that stirring of dignity and responsibility that every honest heart feels when life springs forth and is immediately threatened by death,” a stirring that he said comes from God the Creator.
‘The Land of Fires’
The Pope recalled that, a short while earlier in the Cathedral, he had met with some family members of the victims of the pollution that, over recent decades, has caused the area to become sadly known as the “Land of Fires.”
He said that expression "does not do justice to the good that exists and endures,” but “has certainly helped bring about a widespread awareness of the gravity of criminal wrongdoing and of the indifference that has left room for crime.”
Warning against desertification of consciences
Pope Leo thanked the Bishops, priests, deacons, religious sisters, religious brothers, and laypeople who promptly embraced the message of the Encyclical Laudato si’ and Pope Francis’ constant invitation to be an outward-looking, missionary, synodal Church.
“Walking together, overcoming self-referentiality, daring prophecy despite resistance and threats,” Pope Leo said, “is what the Lord asks of us and what His Spirit inspires.”
The Pope insisted that, in this territory, “life exists and opposes death; justice exists and will prevail.”
Yet, he said, “one must choose life," warning against the temptation to accept resignation, compromise, or postponing necessary and courageous decisions.
“Fatalism, complaining, and shifting blame onto others,” Pope Leo warned, “are the breeding ground of illegality and the beginning of the desertification of consciences.
Pope Leo XIV makes pastoral visit to Acerra (@Vatican Media)
Suffering of innocents and children
"For this reason I would like to say to all of you," he appealed, "let each of us take responsibility, let us choose justice, let us serve life! The common good comes before the business interests of a few, before sectional interests, whether small or great.”
Pope Leo recognized that this land “has paid a high price, has buried many of its children, has witnessed the suffering of children and innocents.”
Pope Leo in Acerra (@Vatican Media)
“The value and weight of that suffering,” he continued, “compel us to try together to become witnesses to a new covenant. You are journeying toward a time of rebirth, which is not a time of removal or denial, but of ethical action and active remembrance.”
The Pope stated that “it is the moment for a contemplative gaze,” the one to which the Encyclical Laudato si’ called all human beings, each beginning from his or her own responsibilities.
Pope Leo recalled that Pope Francis stressed in his encyclical on the environment, Laudato si’, that “‘ecological culture’ cannot be reduced to a series of urgent and partial responses to the problems appearing around environmental degradation, the depletion of natural reserves and pollution. It should be a different way of looking at things.”
Need for education
Pope Leo observed that, according to some, leaving a better world to our children “has become too lofty an ambition.” Yet, he stressed, “the mission of leaving the world better sons and daughters must not become so. Educational commitment is within our reach and it is a priority.”
The Pope called for the education “of the young, certainly, but also of adults; of children, but also of the elderly; of citizens and their leaders; of workers and employers; of the faithful and of pastors: we all still have something to learn.”
“Everyone has something to give,” the Holy Father said, “but first one must learn how to receive. It is not easy to admit this; nevertheless, this is the beginning of the future: it is like a door opening onto what until now we have neither thought, nor believed, nor loved enough. To keep learning: this is what makes us a community.”
True change and healing
“For Christians,” Pope Leo said, “it is to ‘walk the road’ with Jesus: to become, at every age, more and more fully His disciples.”
The Pope stressed that what “will build the good capable of healing their land and the entire planet” will be “a true change in economic, civic, and even religious mentality.”
Pope Leo called on people, institutions, and public and private organizations to strengthen and broaden the covenant that is already bearing its first fruits on the educational and social level.
“It will not only oppose and dismantle criminal alliances,” he said, “but positively connect and multiply the best forces and the great ideas already present in your hearts.”
The Pope thanked those “pioneers” who, through their courageous commitment, were the first to denounce the evils of this land."
He called on everyone "to watch over the health of creation as one watches over the door of one’s own home, rejecting temptations of power and enrichment linked to practices that pollute the earth, the water, the air, and human coexistence."
Pope Leo decried “how much waste, squandering, and poison have come from a model of growth that has almost bewitched us, leaving us sicker and poorer.”
Building good community practices
“Let us therefore,” the Holy Father said, “learn to be rich in a different way: more attentive to relationships, more committed to valuing the common good, more attached to the land, more grateful in welcoming and integrating those who come to live among us.”
Pope Leo said the path to be traveled “is narrow, because it begins with us, from where we are.”
“The problems of this home are our problems; its beauty is our beauty,” the Pope continued, adding, “We have the task of keeping watch like sentinels in the night. We can be among those who will behold the new dawn.”
