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Pope calls for prayer following Israeli attack in Qatar (CNS)
Editor's Note: Following an Israeli airstrike on Hamas political leaders in Qatar (map), Pope Leo XIV called for prayer for peace.
“In these moments, there is very serious news of an Israeli attack against some Hamas leaders, but in Qatar,” the Pope told reporters on September 9. “The whole situation is very serious ... We need to pray a lot.”
Heed Christ’s last cry from the Cross, Pope tells audience (Vatican Press Office)
Editor's Note: “On the cross, Jesus does not die in silence,” Pope Leo XIV reminded those in attendance at this regular weekly public audience. He cited the Gospel of St. Mark (15:37): “Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.”
That cry, the Pope said, expressed “everything: pain, abandonment, faith, offering.” To cry, he said, is not a sign of weakness but “a profound act of humanity.”
The Pontiff went on to say:
To cry out therefore becomes a spiritual gesture. It is not only the first act of our birth, when we come into the world crying: it is also a way of staying alive. One cries when one suffers, but also when one loves, one calls, one invokes. To cry out is saying who we are, that we do not want to fade away in silence, that we still have something to offer.
Israeli military orders all Gaza City residents to evacuate; Pope contacts parish (BBC)
Editor's Note: The Israeli military has ordered all residents of Gaza City to evacuate.
The city is home to a Catholic church (Holy Family) and an Orthodox church (St. Porphyrius), and it is unclear how the priests will respond. Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Holy Family Parish, tweeted, “Today the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has been able to communicate with us. He asked how we were and how the situation was. Sending us his Blessing and praying for us and for Peace.”
Pope creates new Chinese diocese, (CNA)
Editor's Note: Pope XIV has created a new diocese in China, the Diocese of Zhangjiakou, to be led by Bishop Joseph Wang Zhengui, who was consecrated on September 10.
The new diocese covers the territory of the city of Zhangjiakou. But its creation—which involved the suppression of two smaller dioceses near Beijing—demonstrates the complexity of relations between the Vatican and China under the secret pact governing the appointment of bishops.
The Chinese Patriotic Association had created a “Diocese of Zhangjiakou” in 1980, without the approval of the Holy See. And in formally creating the new jurisdiction, the Pope suppressed two dioceses: Xuanhua and Xiwanzi. The head of the Xuanhua diocese, Bishop Augustine Cui Tai, had been affiliated with the “underground” Church and repeatedly detained by Chinese government officials. At the age of 75, he is now presumably retired—although the Vatican announcement did not mention his status. (The Xiwanzi see was without a bishop at the time of its suppression.)
The Vatican’s September 10 announcement of the new diocese and its bishop explains that this is “the completion of a process of ecclesiastical territorial modification initiated two months ago by Pope Leo XIV.” It does not address the question of whether Chinese officials were involved in that process.
Pope renews prayers for peace (Vatican News)
Editor's Note: At his weekly public audience on September 10, Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to pray for “the children of Ukraine, Gaza, and other regions of the world afflicted by war.”
Later in the day the Pontiff would issue a more urgent plea for peace, having heard of an Israeli air strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar (see separate CWN headline story).
Noting that the date was the National Day of Polish Victims of War, the Pope acknowledged Polish pilgrims in the audience. He also included a special word to Arabic pilgrims, in light of the continuing bloodshed in the Middle East: “I I invite you to transform your cry in moments of trial and tribulation into a trusting prayer, because God always listens to his children and responds at the moment he deems best for us.”
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‘There can be no true peace without climate justice,’ Catholic organizations emphasize (CIDSE)
Editor's Note: Caritas Internationalis (the Church’s federation of relief and development agencies), CIDSE (Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité) and Pax Christi International issued a joint statement, “Pilgrims of Hope for a Just and Peaceful World,” ahead of COP 30, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference.
“We unite our voices,” the organizations said, “to affirm a simple yet urgent truth: there can be no true peace without climate justice, and no climate justice without peace. The interwoven crises of ecological collapse, a fragmenting global order and unrelenting extreme poverty are not parallel problems—they are entangled threads of a shared global threat.”
Vatican cardinal tells Bangladesh to uphold rule of law, equality (UCANews)
Editor's Note: Cardinal George Koovakad, the prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, called for respect for the rule of law and equal treatment for all citizens during a visit to Bangladesh, which experienced the July Revolution last year.
The South Asian nation of 170 million (map)--the world’s 8th most populous—is 89% Muslim and 9% Hindu. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in 2017.
USCCB, CRS publish Catholic vision for humanitarian, development assistance (USCCB)
Editor's Note: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace and Catholic Relief Services have published a two-page document, “Catholic Vision for U.S. Humanitarian and Development Assistance.”
“The Church’s social teaching rests on the threefold cornerstone of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity,” the document states. The USCCB and CRS offered three recommendations for putting the principles into practice: “promote human dignity with a holistic approach to aid, development, and peace,” “center solidarity by rooting US assistance in authentic partnerships,” and “advance subsidiarity by empowering local leaders for sustainable change.”
Vatican newspaper laments monsoons, climate change in Pakistan (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Editor's Note: With the headline “Pakistan sommerso: Monsoni e cambiamento climatico” [Pakistan submerged: Monsoons and climate change], L’Osservatore Romano devoted the most prominent article in its September 9 edition to devastating flooding in Pakistan.
“Heavy rains and unprecedented downpours, exacerbated by the effects of climate change, began in late June, affecting the entire Asian nation,” wrote Giada Aquilino. The newspaper reported that “the country continues to face one of the worst monsoon seasons in decades. The official toll stands at nearly a thousand deaths, with 4.2 million people affected, including over 2 million displaced.”
American priest named worldwide Augustinian leader (Augustinian Order)
Editor's Note: Father Joseph Farrell, OSA, a native of Pennsylvania, has been chosen as the 98th prior general of the Augustinian order.
Father Farrell, who was serving as vicar general of order, succeeds Father Alejandro Moral Anton. Pope Leo XIV had served two terms as prior general, from 2001 to 2013.
School’s transgender bathroom policy did not violate religious-freedom rights, federal court rules (Religion Clause)
Editor's Note: The US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an Ohio school district’s former bathroom policy for transgender students did not violate the religious-freedom rights of Christian and Muslim students.
Heeding guidance from the Biden administration, the Bethel Local School District in 2022 issued a policy permitting students to use the bathrooms of the opposite biological sex. “Following the adoption of this policy, some students,” including Muslim and Christian students, “felt uncomfortable using the communal restrooms,” Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr., a Clinton appointee, noted in his decision (p. 2).
Nonetheless, the judge ruled that the policy did not violate the constitutional rights of the students who were made uncomfortable by the presence of members of the opposite sex in their bathrooms. The school’s policy is no longer in effect, as the State of Ohio subsequently enacted legislation barring such policies.
Care for creation, bishop urges following landslide in Sudan (Fides)
Editor's Note: After a landslide destroyed the village of Tarasin, Sudan, a bishop in neighboring South Sudan called for the care of creation.
“The landslide was not simply a natural disaster,” said Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio; rather, its causes are found in “environmental destruction, the chaos of war, and the world’s indifference to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.”
“Now, more than ever, we must encourage all people of faith to unite across religious and regional boundaries to respond to climate-related disasters, promote peace, and care for creation as custodians of God’s earth,” the prelate said.
A September 2 papal telegram expressed the Pontiff’s prayers and condolences.
In Myanmar, ‘no place is safe,’ nun says (Vatican News (Italian))
Editor's Note: Sister Naw Elsi, a Missionary Sister of the Blessed Sacrament who recently returned to her native Myanmar, spoke with Vatican media about the conditions she saw there, including the destruction of her family home.
“Now in my country, no place is safe,” she said. “In the refugee camps, everything is lacking, from water to medical care.”
“Bishops, priests, and faithful have been forced to abandon their cathedral, their pastoral center, their homes,” she continued. “And now they live as displaced persons. Many priests and lay people have even been attacked and killed while participating in the Eucharistic celebration.”
Conflict escalated in the Southeast Asian nation following a 2021 coup d’état.
Image of Our Lady of Luján blessed in Vatican Gardens (Zenit)
Editor's Note: An image of Our Lady of Luján, patroness of Argentina, was unveiled and blessed in the Vatican Gardens on September 9.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, was the most prominent Vatican official at the ceremony; Pope Leo was at Castel Gandolfo for much of the day.
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