Statue of St. Lucy at the New Chapel of St. Lucy in Pampanga province, Philippines. / Credit: Judgefloro, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Dec 13, 2024 / 15:35 pm (CNA).

On the feast day of St. Lucy, Dec. 13, Pope Francis said that “we need women’s work and their word in a Church that reaches out that it may be leaven and light in the culture and in our lives together.”

The pontiff addressed a message to the Church in Syracuse, Italy, on the occasion of the feast of its patron saint, the Roman martyr who, according to tradition, the Lord allowed to continue seeing despite her eyes being torn out before she was killed out of hatred for the faith during the persecution unleashed by the Emperor Diocletian at the beginning of the fourth century.

As part of the Year of St. Lucy, the city of Syracuse is preparing to receive the remains of this saint, the patron saint of sight, which are currently in Venice. St. Lucy was buried in Syracuse, her hometown. However, her remains were stolen and transferred to Constantinople and, finally, after the sacking of the city in 1204, they were taken to Venice to the Church of Sts. Jeremiah and Lucy.

The relics of the saint can be venerated in Syracuse Dec. 14–26. This is the third time that her remains have been temporarily transferred. The first time was in 2004, on the occasion of the 17th centenary of her martyrdom. The second, in 2014, following an agreement with the Archdiocese of Venice that establishes this exchange every 10 years.

In his message Friday, the Holy Father celebrated this pilgrimage, “from the city that has kept her body for eight centuries to the one where her witness first shone forth, spreading light throughout the world.”

‘We need women’s work and word in the Church’

The Holy Father noted that “Lucy is a woman” and that her holiness shows the Catholic Church “how unique are the ways in which women follow the Lord.”

“From the Gospel accounts, the women disciples of Jesus are witnesses of an understanding and a love without which the message of the Resurrection could not reach us.” For this reason, Pope Francis affirmed that “we need women’s work and word in a Church that reaches out, that it may be leaven and light in the culture and in our lives together,” especially “in the heart of the Mediterranean.”

Being on the side of light exposes us to martyrdom

Pope Francis also highlighted the compassion and tenderness of St. Lucy, “virtues not only Christian but that are also political.” For the pontiff, these virtues “represent the true strength that builds the city. They give us back eyes to see, that vision that insensitivity makes us lose in a dramatic way. And how important it is to pray for our eyes to be healed!” he exclaimed.

Being on the side of light, he added, “also exposes us to martyrdom. Perhaps they will not lay hands on us, but choosing which side to be on will take away some of our tranquility.”

“There are forms of tranquillity, in fact, that resemble the peace of the cemetery. Absent, as if we were already dead; or present, but like tombs: beautiful on the outside, but empty on the inside. Instead, we choose life,” he said.

Pope Francis also explained that “choosing light” means “being clean, transparent, sincere people; communicating with others in an open, clear, respectful way; getting away from the ambiguities of life and from criminal connivances; not being afraid of difficulties.”

“Choosing this is the incandescent core of every vocation, the personal response to the call that the saints represent on our journey,” he said.

Finally, Pope Francis asked the faithful of Syracuse not to forget to “bring spiritually to their feast day “the sisters and brothers who throughout the world suffer from persecution and injustice,” including migrants, refugees, and the poor among them.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Michael P. Warsaw, chairman and CEO of EWTN Global Catholic Network, presents the 2024 Mother Angelica Award to Curtis and Michaelann Martin, co-founders of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, on Dec. 12, 2024. / EWTN

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2024 / 13:50 pm (CNA).

EWTN Global Catholic Network presented the 2024 Mother Angelica Award to Curtis and Michaelann Martin, co-founders of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), an organization recognized as one of the most influential forces for Catholic evangelization in the United States today.

EWTN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Warsaw presented the award to the Martins during a televised ceremony Dec. 12, the 44th anniversary of the founding of the network. (Note: EWTN is CNA’s parent company.)

The Mother Angelica Award honors people who, like the foundress of EWTN, have been witnesses to God’s providence in all they have done in service to the Church and who, by their lives and service, have advanced the cause of the new evangelization.

“Curtis and Michaelann Martin are true witnesses to God’s providence in the way they have faithfully responded to his call,” Warsaw said. “Their passion for the new evangelization, especially in reaching young people on college campuses, is a testament to the enduring power of God’s grace in their lives.” 

“Just as Mother Angelica dedicated her life to bringing souls closer to Christ, the Martins have done the same, and in doing so, they have transformed countless lives.”

Curtis Martin actually announced FOCUS’ founding in 1997 on an episode of “Mother Angelica Live.” Since its founding with just two missionaries at a single campus, FOCUS has since reshaped Catholic campus ministry on more than 200 U.S. and international college campuses.

The apostolate forms and sends young adult missionaries to run campus ministry on college campuses. More than 50,000 FOCUS alumni currently serve in parishes and communities across the world, and more than 1,000 people have entered seminary or religious life after a FOCUS encounter. 

FOCUS also organizes the annual young adult conference “SEEK,” which brought 24,000 attendees to this year’s conference in St. Louis. The next SEEK conferences will take place from Jan. 1–5, 2025, in Salt Lake City and Jan. 2–5, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

Michaelann Martin called the award “a humbling honor for both of us” but noted that “this is not about us.” 

“We are grateful to Mother Angelica for her example of faith and courage, and to EWTN for continuing her work of evangelization,” she said. “But this is not about us. It is about the countless missionaries who have given their lives to this work and the students whose lives are being transformed by the Gospel.”

Previous winners of the Mother Angelica Award include the Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia Charles J. Chaput, OFMCap, and former New Orleans Saints wide receiver and football coach Danny Abramowicz. 

The full award ceremony, including tributes from those whose lives have been touched by the Martins, will re-air Dec. 14 at 3 p.m. ET as well as be available for viewing on demand at www.ondemand.ewtn.com.

Father Augustus Taylor. / Credit: Diocese of Steubenville

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2024 / 13:20 pm (CNA).

Father Gus Taylor, a U.S. priest who was key in several prominent 20th-century Black Catholic initiatives, passed away last month at 85. 

Taylor died in Los Angeles from unspecified causes on Nov. 5, the Black Catholic Messenger reported on Thursday. His funeral was scheduled for Friday afternoon at Holy Name of Jesus Church in Jefferson Park. 

Born in 1940 in Lexington, Kentucky, Taylor attended Catholic schools in Cincinnati, according to a biography at the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus. He graduated from the Athenaeum of Ohio and was ordained in Steubenville, Ohio, on Dec. 10, 1966, becoming the first Black priest ordained for that diocese. 

In 1969 he had a hand in laying the groundwork for the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana, having reportedly sketched out a vision of the program on a paper napkin at a restaurant.

That program allows Black Catholic leaders to “share Black Catholic viewpoints among ourselves and with the hierarchy, pastors, and religious women and men ministering in African American communities.” 

In 1969 Taylor founded “what was reportedly the nation’s first Office of Black Catholic Ministries, in the Diocese of Pittsburgh,” according to the Messenger. That office was also used by nearby dioceses including Steubenville and Wheeling. 

Among the parishes at which he served were St. Brigid-St. Benedict the Moor Church in Pittsburgh and St. Brigid Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. 

In his retirement, he was listed on the leadership council of the Los Angeles-based Empowerment Congress, which seeks to promote “active participation in public life, community service, and the political process to promote social justice locally and globally, while employing empathy, ethics, values, and a sense of social responsibility.”

Taylor was the eldest of seven children, including a surviving brother Father David Taylor, a priest who has served for more than 40 years in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Pope Francis stops for a brief prayer in front of the Bethlehem Nativity in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall during its presentation and a meeting with some of the people involved in its creation on Dec. 7, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 13, 2024 / 12:50 pm (CNA).

A Nativity scene made by artisans from Bethlehem was the source of controversy this week for including a Palestinian keffiyeh with the child Jesus in the manger — but according to the project’s organizer, the headscarf was a last-minute decision meant only to represent Palestinians.

The keffiyeh was visible during the presentation of the Bethlehem Nativity to Pope Francis in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Dec. 7. By Dec. 11, four days later, the headscarf, manger, and Jesus sculpture had been removed from the scene without explanation.

Amid the Israel-Hamas war, the black-and-white checkered keffiyeh has become a symbol for the Palestinian cause. But Johny Andonia, a 39-year-old artist from Bethlehem who led the project, said it is just a symbol to represent or show the “existence” of Palestinians.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, told CNA the Vatican follows the tradition of placing the infant Jesus in the Nativity scene on the night of Christmas Eve. It is typical for the whole scene to be first presented to the pope before the Jesus statue is then removed, leaving behind the empty manger until the official start of Christmas. 

Speaking to CNA by phone from Cyprus, where he has an art residency until May, Andonia said he did not expect the scale of the reaction to the keffiyeh, which he also signed off on, after it was approved by people at the Vatican during the Nativity’s installation on Dec. 5.

“It came about in a spontaneous way, actually, because we learned that the child baby Jesus has to be covered or even absent until the 24th of December, and [the on-the-ground coordinator] suggested to cover it with a keffiyeh,” the artist said on Dec. 13. 

“And they said no, no, not to cover him. And then he asked, can I put it then under [the child Jesus] and the people … in charge at that time accepted laying the keffiyeh under the baby Jesus, and this is how it came about.”

Andonia said he does not agree with commentary from some quarters that the keffiyeh indicates violence or the eradication of others. “It’s only about recognition,” he said. “This keffiyeh represents the people who had presented the Nativity scene.”

He added that he does not think the Vatican will put the keffiyeh back when the manger and child Jesus are returned on Christmas Eve.

The Associated Press reported that the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See had declined to comment on whether it had complained about the keffiyeh or had asked for it to be removed.

Andonia, who is a physical artist and painter, was born in Jerusalem but has lived all his life in Bethlehem. He is a teacher at Dar al-Kalima University College of Art and Culture in Bethlehem.

After being contacted in April 2023 by the Palestinian Embassy to the Holy See in Rome about the idea for a Nativity from Bethlehem to be featured at the Vatican, Andonia said he decided to reach out to local artisans to create the structure from traditional materials, which he said have deep roots in the area, especially olive wood and mother-of-pearl. 

The round, almost 10-foot-high installation, the work of over 30 artisans from Bethlehem, also incorporates stone, ceramics, glass, felt, and fabric.

Some evidence shows that the use of olive wood in Bethlehem dates back to the fourth century during the construction of the Basilica of the Nativity, Adonia said. And Franciscan monks introduced the use of mother-of-pearl in craftmaking to the area in the 17th century.

The Nativity is “a gift from the Bethlehemites,” he said.

Though not a religious person himself, the artist said being the bridge between the Vatican and the Bethlehem artisans has, nonetheless, been deeply meaningful for him. 

“Most of [the people involved] were people of faith, and having their work at the Vatican with the pope, that was something [significant] for them,” he said.

“I’ve lived my life looking at people creating Nativity scenes, and they are proud of it, so it also meant something to me to be a part of it and give that opportunity to the individuals, and to support them even financially. The project was funded by the Palestinian Authorities, so it was also kind of a [financial] help, in this current situation, for them.”

Demonstrators in support of Israel gather to denounce antisemitism and call for the release of Israeli hostages on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14, 2023. / Credit: ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2024 / 12:20 pm (CNA).

Amid rising antisemitism incidents in the United States, the U.S. bishops are collaborating with a Jewish advocacy group to offer Catholics a manual of terms geared to help them recognize anti-Jewish hate. 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) along with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) released on Wednesday “Translate Hate: The Catholic Edition,” a glossary designed to identify antisemitism in order to combat it. 

The glossary is an updated project from the original “Translate Hate,” first released in 2019, featuring additions of Catholic commentary by the USCCB.  

“Sadly, we are currently witnessing a tragic rise in antisemitic incidents both globally and here in the United States, a painful reminder that our work is not done,” Bishop Joseph Bambera of Scranton, Pennsylvania, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said in an announcement this week.

“This project is but one example of the fruits of our collaboration that we hope will have wide-ranging impact as Catholics and Jews continue building bridges and combat antisemitism together,” the bishop said.

Antisemitism is a growing problem in the U.S. and beyond. Incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and assault skyrocketed in 2023 in the U.S., most of them following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in which Hamas murdered more than 1,200 men, women, and children.

The glossary offers examples of various types of antisemitism, ranging from Holocaust denial and distortion to vitriolic anti-Israel hostility. Antisemitism, the guide noted, also includes “medieval blood libel claims” as well as “present-day conspiracy theories about Jewish control of the world economy.”

“In order to combat antisemitism we must first understand it,” the glossary says. “And that means we must define it in all its forms and expressions, in ways both painfully evident and obscure.”

Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC director of interreligious affairs, called the project “groundbreaking” for Catholic-Jewish relations. 

“USCCB’s allyship and leadership in confronting antisemitism as a threat not only to the Jewish people but also to civilized society more broadly is a key part of the national whole-of-society approach we need to combat anti-Jewish hate,” Marans said in a statement.

“As Catholics and Jews, we are jointly motivated to combat antisemitism and all forms of hate by our shared belief in human beings as created ‘b’tzelem Elohim,’ in the image of God (Genesis 1:27),” Marans said. “The persecution of even one of us is the persecution of all of us.” 

The glossary follows the working definition of antisemitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which names it as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” 

“Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for ‘why things go wrong,’” the glossary says. “It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms, and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.”

The guide also points to instances in which the Jewish people have been blamed for various disasters, from the medieval Black Death to 9/11 to COVID-19.

Bambera in announcing the guide denounced the “insidious tradition of anti-Judaism” that predominated in the Christian world before Vatican II.

“Anti-Judaism compares the faith of Israel to other religions as defective, inferior, and/or rejected by God,” the bishop said, noting that Christian anti-Judaism laid the groundwork for the rise of antisemitism.

The glossary also denounces the “deicide” charge against the Jewish people, in which Jews were labeled as “Christ-killers,” an early Christian misreading of the Gospel that blamed all Jews for Jesus’ death. 

“The Catholic Church ever keeps in mind that Jesus, his mother, Mary, and the apostles all were Jewish,” the guide notes. “The Church teaches that the Jewish people remain dear to God, whose gifts and calling are irrevocable.” 

“It is our shared responsibility to continue to combat the scourge that is antisemitism,” Bambera said this week, noting that “the scourge of antisemitism remains a troubling reality that seems to be only growing.” 

“Observing this alarming trend, the bishops of the committee remain committed to standing shoulder to shoulder with our Jewish brothers and sisters to combat this evil,” Bambera continued.

Both Bambera and Marans referenced the historic 1965 Vatican II document Nostra Aetate (“In Our Time”) that condemned antisemitism and defined the Church’s approach to the Jewish people.

“As we prepare to mark the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, it is more important than ever to renew our commitment to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters against all forms of antisemitism,” Bambera said.

Groups of migrants wait outside the Migrant Resource Center to receive food from the San Antonio Catholic Charities on Sept. 19, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas. / Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).

The incoming presidential administration reportedly plans to end a long-standing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy requiring ICE agents to seek their superior’s approval before arresting people at “sensitive locations” such as churches, hospitals, or schools.

A Dec. 11 NBC News story, citing three unnamed sources, reported that President-elect Donald Trump plans to rescind the policy, which has been in place since 2011 and was expanded in late 2021 under the Biden administration, possibly as soon as his first day in office.

Trump has frequently touted a planned program of mass deportations of illegal immigrants, a plan that bishops and other Catholic leaders have criticized as inhumane.

The “sensitive locations” policy began in 2011 with a memo from then-ICE director John Morton, which precludes ICE agents from carrying out immigration enforcement actions in locations like hospitals, places of worship, schools, or during events such as weddings or parades unless there is an urgent need, such as a person who poses an imminent threat, or if the agents have sought higher approval to do so.

The prospective new policy follows a recommendation in the influential document “Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise,” also known as Project 2025, in a section overseen by Ken Cuccinelli, a Catholic and former U.S. Department of Homeland Security official in Trump’s first administration.

The document calls for the elimination of policies that prohibit ICE personnel from operating in “sensitive locations,” arguing instead that the agency should rely on “the good judgment of officers in the field to avoid inappropriate situations.”

Striking a balance

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has spoken frequently to urge the government to reform the immigration system with “fair and humane treatment” of immigrants. 

CNA reached out to the USCCB for comment on the prospective “sensitive location” policy change but did not hear back by publication time. 

The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) a group launched by the U.S. bishops in 1988 to support community-based immigration programs and represent low-income migrants, said it is “deeply concerned about any changes that would undermine the safety and well-being of immigrants and their families.”

“Sensitive locations — such as houses of worship, schools, and hospitals — are sanctuaries where individuals seek solace, education, and critical care without fear of intimidation or detention,” Anna Gallagher, CLINIC’s executive director, said in a statement to CNA.

“This policy has long recognized the importance of these spaces for fostering trust and community stability. Rescinding it would not only disrupt families and communities but could also deter individuals from accessing essential services, such as education and health care, or practicing their faith freely … We call for the preservation of protections at sensitive locations to ensure immigrants and their families can live without fear and fulfill their basic needs, including the practice of religion.”

Several immigration policy experts CNA spoke with were mixed on the idea of ending the “sensitive locations” policy. 

Paul Hunker, a Catholic and immigration attorney who previously served as ICE’s chief counsel in Dallas, described Morton’s original 2011 memo that created the policy as “a very reasonable way to look at things” and “a very fine memo that strikes the right balance.”

He pointed out that even if a person in the country illegally sought to tie ICE’s hands by taking refuge in one of the “sensitive areas” — like a church — the memo still allows ICE to take action if there is a threat to the public or if a superior officer thinks it is appropriate to do so.

According to Hunker, rescinding the policy is likely “a bad idea” because rescinding it is, in his view, a fear-based tactic that could keep undocumented people away from faith-based organizations, like the Catholic Church, that could help them.

“We want people, whether they’re undocumented or not, to go to church, right? And I think this could scare people and deter people from going … I think this is part of the government’s effort to scare people so they’ll leave and self-deport,” he opined to CNA. 

Despite the impending change, Hunker said he thinks it is unlikely that ICE will begin carrying out large-scale arrests at houses of worship. 

“ICE officers are generally reasonable people, so I don’t think you’re going to see [officers] barging into Mass at 9:00,” Hunker said.

But, he added, “I think they’re trying to make people think it could happen; scare them.”

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a D.C.-based group that favors lower immigration numbers, similarly opined that a rescinding of the policy will not necessarily lead to ICE operations at Mass or in schools but would rather remove what she sees as a constriction on ICE caused by an “overly broad” definition of “sensitive area” put forth under President Joe Biden.

The Biden administration’s expanded definition of “sensitive area” added places like playgrounds, homeless shelters, emergency response centers, and domestic violence shelters. 

“[The policy change] is mainly going to remove some of the unreasonable restrictions that the Biden administration put onto ICE and send a message to individuals who want to try to flee from ICE that they have fewer places to hide,” Vaughan told CNA. 

Addressing the idea that the policy change could be intended to cause fear, Vaughan said it is better to “gain voluntary compliance” with immigration law than to punish people for violating it. 

“Ultimately, that is a more humane way to achieve the goal of encouraging legal immigration and discouraging illegal immigration,” she said.

Actress Noa Cohen as the Blessed Virgin Mary in Netflix’s new film “Mary.” / Credit: Netflix

CNA Staff, Dec 13, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A new movie from Netflix about the Blessed Virgin Mary has received mixed reviews, with some Catholics on social media criticizing the film’s depiction of Mary and the kind of relationship she had with Joseph. 

“There’s always going to be criticisms, no matter what kind of movie you make, but if you do it all for the right reasons, which we did, then to me that takes care of itself,” the film’s director, D.J. Caruso, a Catholic, told CNA in an interview. 

According to Caruso, every decision made was done to “make the best possible movie” and “to pay great reverence to this amazing woman and her life.”

Netflix’s “Mary” was released on the digital streaming platform Dec. 6. It is considered a coming-of-age biblical epic and portrays Mary’s experience after her miraculous conception of Jesus and her journey on the run from King Herod.

Remaining true to the Scriptures was at the “foundation” of creating the film, Caruso said. The script went through 74 drafts and received input from Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders, including the late Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell of Los Angeles, who served as Caruso’s spiritual adviser.

One memory the Catholic director holds close to his heart is a conversation he had with O’Connell about the script and the bishop told him: “Please, give Joseph a voice … Joseph was a hero and we never see Joseph as a hero.” 

“So, I promised him that I would make Joseph that,” Caruso shared.

Another aspect Caruso wanted to focus on was the humanity of Mary, which also played a role in inspiring the creation of the film.

“I always felt, particularly by the younger audience or the younger faith-based group, that there’s a great appreciation for the Holy Mother and everything she is — this great, iconic, beautiful woman,” he said. “But what was it like when she was a young woman and this was all happening? To use her as our anchor and to see this all happening through her eyes and the humanity she had … It just to me felt like it was the most compelling way to tell the story.”

As a father to a young daughter, Caruso thought: “Wouldn’t it be great if a 17-year-old saw this movie and went like, ‘Mary is cool. Not only do I love her but she’s so cool.’”

Caruso believes portraying the human side to divine figures as well as holy figures, such as the Blessed Mother, “makes them endearing, it makes them relatable.”

“There’s a great reverence paid to them, but at the same time, in that reverence, you never got to see the struggles or what was it like and in order for me to do this what’s it going to cost? It takes great courage and great sacrifice to do something amazing the way Mary did,” he explained. 

“And what about the human side of her and the decisions she had to make? It really makes a character relatable and it makes you understand their plight more and it brings you closer to them when it’s done well … I wanted to bring out a human element in Mary.” 

Caruso shared that throughout his career his faith has “played a large role because it is who I am, so it’s always going to sort of show up.”

“Even if it’s not necessarily a religious story, I’ve always infused it and sort of celebrated God’s unconditional love,” he said. 

While making this film, Mary’s “fiat” and her acceptance of God’s will impacted Caruso personally. He pointed out the “bizarre disarray” society is currently in and the need for each of us to make the right choices.

“Whether we’re young, older, we have to make choices — is man’s nature going to be driving me and all this kind of stuff or is God’s grace going to be my guidance?” 

Reflecting on Mary’s powerful words, “Let it be done to me according to your word,” Caruso said: “If we can take that into our heart and if that could be the message that’s getting around this Christmas, as Catholics, we have to make that choice to say, ‘I will give it to you and I will surrender, and I’m going to put it in your hands.’ I think that’s a really important message.”

The sun rises over the island of Corsica, France. / Credit: Andrew Mayovskyy/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Dec 13, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

On Dec. 15, Pope Francis will travel to Ajaccio, the capital of the French island of Corsica, for a less than nine-hour visit.

Part of the pope’s itinerary for the short trip is to speak at the closing of a conference on popular piety in the Mediterranean region.

Here are some answers to questions about the pope’s very brief international trip:

Where is Corsica?

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated west of the mainland of Italy and north of the Italian island of Sardinia, the nearest land mass.

The island was annexed by France in 1769, the year after Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was born in the region’s capital city of Ajaccio.

French is the most widely spoken language on the island, together with Corsican. Some areas also speak a regional Italo-Dalmatian language.

Corsica’s population is estimated to be 355,528, according to data from January.

The island region has a strong autonomy movement steeped in national identity and pride, which aims to achieve the further political autonomy of Corsica from France.

What will Pope Francis do there?

Pope Francis’ first appointment in Corsica after landing around 9 a.m. will be at Ajaccio’s conference center, where he will deliver the closing speech following a daylong conference on Dec. 14 about popular piety in the Mediterranean region.

The pope will then address local clergy and religious at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Assumption, where he will also lead the Angelus, a traditional Marian prayer.

After lunch and some time to rest, Francis will preside at Mass with local Catholics at Place d’Austerlitz, a park memorializing the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, before his last stop — a private meeting with France’s President Emmanuel Macron.

Pope Francis is expected to arrive back in Rome around 7 p.m.

“It will be important to hear Pope Francis’ words at the conclusion of the conference [on popular piety in the Mediterranean],” an Italian archbishop who will present a paper at the conference told CNA’s Italian-language news partner, ACI Stampa. “He is very sensitive to the theme of popular piety.”

The pope’s remarks “will be an invitation to all, bishops, priests, and laity, to value this journey of faith, listening carefully when it is lived in communities. It will also be a commitment to further formation and evangelization of those areas that need ... to be purified and clarified,” Archbishop Roberto Carboni of the Italian Dioceses of Oristano and Ales-Terralba said.

What is popular piety?

Also sometimes called “popular religiosity,” acts of popular piety are expressions of the faith apart from the liturgy.

In the “Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines,” published by the then-Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2001, the Vatican described popular piety as “diverse cultic expressions of a private or community nature which, in the context of the Christian faith, are inspired predominantly not by the sacred liturgy but by forms deriving from a particular nation or people or from their culture.”

Some examples of popular piety are the rosary, religious processions for holy days and saints’ days, and Eucharistic processions. 

St. John Paul II, in a 1982 speech to the bishops of France, said popular piety is simply “faith deeply rooted in a particular culture, immersed in the very fiber of hearts and ideas. Above all, it is generally shared by people at large who are then a people of God.”

Pope Benedict XVI, in an address in Aparecida, Brazil, in 2007, called popular piety “a precious treasure of the Catholic Church in Latin America” that “must be protected, promoted, and, when necessary, purified.”

Popular piety in the Mediterranean is often closely linked to Catholic fraternities and confraternities — associations of laypeople dedicated to charitable work and religious devotions.

The island region of Corsica has a strong tradition of confraternities, Father Juan Miguel Ferrer Grenesche, an expert in popular piety, told CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, ACI Prensa. 

The confraternities in Corsica include influences from Italy and the south of France, brought there by “the Dominicans and Franciscans who preached and cared for these areas of the Mediterranean,” the Spanish priest said.

Over the years, “people followed it as something very much their own and very particular, and the singing, which is very important in Corsica, has also been preserved,” Ferrer explained. The Corsican singing is characterized by being “very peculiar, nasal, and attention-grabbing.”

What has Pope Francis said about popular piety?

Pope Francis has spoken often in support of popular piety among religious people — calling it a “jewel” — and the power of pious devotions to evangelize.

In Evangelii Gaudium, Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation, there is a chapter on “the evangelizing power of popular piety” in which the pope said “popular piety enables us to see how the faith, once received, becomes embodied in a culture and is constantly passed on.”

“Expressions of popular piety have much to teach us; for those who are capable of reading them, they are a locus theologicus which demands our attention, especially at a time when we are looking to the new evangelization,” the pope wrote.

In his recent encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Dilexit Nos, Francis asked people to take seriously the “fervent devotion” of those who seek to console Christ through acts of popular piety.

“I also encourage everyone to consider whether there might be greater reasonableness, truth, and wisdom in certain demonstrations of love that seek to console the Lord than in the cold, distant, calculated and nominal acts of love that are at times practiced by those who claim to possess a more reflective, sophisticated, and mature faith,” he added.

Pope Francis has also recently noted how to outsiders, the demonstrations of those who participate in religious processions (one common form of popular piety) may seem “crazy” — “But they are mad with love for God.”

In a message to a conference on religious fraternities and popular piety in Seville, Spain, Dec. 4–8, the pope said: “Above all, it is the beauty of Christ that summons us, calls us to be brothers and sisters, and urges us to take Christ out into the streets, to bring him to the people, so that everyone can contemplate his beauty.”

Popular piety in the Mediterranean today

Two bishops and a priest scheduled to speak at the Dec. 14 conference in Ajaccio explained that popular piety is an important link to transcendence and faith in an increasingly secular Mediterranean region.

Bishop Calogero Peri of Caltagirone, Sicily, told CNA that religious celebrations surrounding Holy Week, Marian feast days such as the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception, and local patronal feast days are still very important in the hearts and lives of many Sicilians.

Of course, he noted, “some people have become more spectators than participants” in the celebrations, which commonly include both penitential and jubilant processions.

Archbishop Carboni of the Italian dioceses of Oristano and Ales-Terralba also affirmed the popularity of religious processions in Italy and told ACI Stampa that popular piety is “a prayer with the heart made action.”

Carboni and Peri both praised the ability of these people’s movements with their sounds, sights, and smells to affect people beyond a rational level, touching their hearts, minds, and souls.

They are a great legacy worth preserving and a “very valid way of [practicing the] faith,” Peri added.

Spanish Father Ferrer said popular piety, for many people, is “the last lifeline to connect with transcendence and to avoid breaking completely with the Christian religious tradition.”

In evangelization, popular piety also makes it possible to reach those who do not know the depth and richness of formal liturgy and, through “a cultural adaptation,” is able to “preserve the link between the thirst for God of the human heart and the sources of revelation: the word of God, the life of Christ, the sacraments, the Church itself,” he said.

“On the contrary,” he added, “where all manifestations of popular religiosity or popular piety have been eliminated, we could say that people’s souls have dried up.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Courageous trust in God, oneself and others is needed to see the good in one's life and to be able to embrace a difficult and imperfect world, said the preacher of the papal household.

It is a matter of "adjusting our heart, happy to believe that reality, just as it is, can always be a place of happiness because it is the place where God chose to be with us forever," Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini told Pope Francis and members of the Roman Curia in his Advent reflection Dec. 13.

Father Pasolini, 53, was named the papal preacher in November, succeeding Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, who, at 90, had served in the role for more four decades.

Father Pasolini began a series of weekly Advent reflections Dec. 6 on biblical prophets "who can point us to the ideal doors (of hope) to walk through for getting ready for Christmas and the upcoming Jubilee, too."

After reflecting on "the door of wonder" last week, the priest focused on "the door of trust" and having confidence or faith in something.

"It is a courageous choice to trust," he said, because "it is not a certainty free of risks" and it is not being naive or gullible.

"The Old Testament prophets teach us that trusting means keeping hope alive even in times of trial and desolation," he said.

God created humanity to be free, and "he respects our freedom," he said. God is "happy when we use it to become like him, and he respects this freedom even when we turn away and close ourselves off in sin and selfishness."

"If we turn away from his gaze, though, God cannot turn his gaze away from us. He continues to trust us because he recognizes us as his children capable of returning to him and thus also to ourselves," Father Pasolini said.

God knows that his trusting gaze is "the thing we need most when we are a little scared, frightened and stuck in life," he said. "Only trust releases our best resources and allows us to start walking again."

And, he said, faith in God and caring for others are not separable. "Our faith in God is authentic to the extent that we believe that trust and kindness are never superfluous in our relationships."

"It is a matter of always finding the time and the way to put ourselves in the other person's shoes," he said.

"I think we also need the ability to have such great faith in everything and everyone to generate a virtuous circle of friendship and solidarity," he said. "This is a very strong reminder for us and our own faith journeys where we often find ourselves to be reserved, distrustful and selfish."

"The door of trust," he said, requires "great responsibility. In order to pass through it, it is not enough to show some optimism or perhaps fake it with a few smiles."

"We need to turn our gaze toward God and open our hearts wide to the action of his Spirit," he said, because "it is his trust in us that reactivates the best resources we are capable of (giving)."

"Therefore, if we can rediscover trust not only in God but also in ourselves and in others," he said, "we will know how to see the good around us and then we will also know how to embrace reality" even when it is "uncomfortable, almost repulsive, by trying not simply to seek justice, but by repairing our heart."

The city of Concord, New Hampshire, which is the state capital, issued a permit for a Satanic display, pictured here before it was reportedly vandalized. / Credit: NH Journal

Boston, Mass., Dec 12, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

A Satanic display erected near a Christmas Nativity scene on city property near the New Hampshire State House has been removed after sustaining damage in multiple attacks. 

It wasn’t clear mid-week whether organizers will erect a similar display again. 

“I think they probably should because I think the vandalism and the hatefulness shouldn’t go without a response. But it’s up to them,” said state Rep. Ellen Read, a Democrat from Newmarket. 

Read told CNA she came up with the idea for the Satanic display at City Plaza so that the yearly Christmas scene put up by a local council of the Knights of Columbus wouldn’t be the only display there this month. She said she contacted the Satanic Temple, an organization headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts, with affiliates in New Hampshire and elsewhere that says on its website it does not “believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural,” to put the idea in motion. 

The display, which centered on a black statue of a pagan god, was initially attacked Saturday night shortly after it was erected while organizers were eating dinner across the street after the ceremony, she said.

Read said she believes it was attacked at least twice after that, leaving the statue in pieces and the marble base cracked. The remnants of the display were removed Tuesday, three days after it went up. 

The city of Concord, which is the state capital, issued a permit for the Satanic display. But the mayor said earlier this week that while he disapproves of vandalism he also wishes city officials hadn’t issued a permit for the display. 

“I opposed the permit because I believe the request was made not in the interest of promoting religious equity but in order to drive an anti-religious political agenda, and because I do not respond well to legal extortion, the threat of litigation,” said Byron Champlin, mayor of Concord, during a city council meeting Monday night. 

“Some on social media have celebrated the Satanic Temple’s display as a victory for religious pluralism and a reflection of our growing diversity as a community. I disagree with this. This is about an out-of-state organization cynically promoting its national agenda at the expense of the Concord community,” said Champlin, a Democrat. 

Black goat head 

On Saturday night people associated with the Satanic Temple unveiled a black goat-headed statue representing the pagan god Baphomet with a blue stole around its shoulders similar to what Catholic priests and clerics in certain other Christian denominations wear. 

In its right hand, as shown in a Facebook video, was the state flower of New Hampshire, lilacs; and its left hand was an apple, which some take to be a reference to the fall of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis. An individual present at the event said the apple “reminds us of our quest for knowledge, defiance in the face of arbitrary authority, and our commitment to self-determination.” 

The base of the statue included what the Satanic Temple calls its seven tenets, which include calls for “compassion,” “empathy,” “reason,” and “freedom” as well as autonomy. 

“One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone,” one of the tenets states. 

Read said the Satanic Temple is a religion and that expressing its belief system is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

“The people who believe in the Satanic Temple deeply believe in these tenets. I think it’s the narrow-mindedness of the mayor, who can’t seem to wrap his head around that this represents a large percentage of the community and its beliefs,” Read told CNA by telephone. 

Asked whether the pagan statue is a parody of Christianity, Read said it isn’t. 

“Most people walking by realize that this is not an attack on Christianity, just as most people walking by the Nativity scene realize it’s not an attack on non-Christians. In both cases, it’s people expressing their beliefs, as is their First Amendment right,” Read said. 

Read told CNA she is a member of the Satanic Temple but not active in it. She said she signed up online some time ago because she was attracted by its tenets but that she has never attended any of the organization’s events. 

She said she was raised as a nondenominational Christian and took steps as an adult to become an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church but that uncharitable behavior by some Christians in her congregation and the wider society led her to leave Christianity about eight years ago. 

Even so, she said, “I still consider myself a practical follower of Christ’s teachings.” 

Read said she does not believe that Satan exists, which aligns with what the Satanic Temple says in published statements — although its ministers on Saturday night ended their remarks by saying “Hail Satan.” 

Christians do believe Satan exists, citing various verses in the Bible, including Zechariah 3:1-4, Matthew 13:36-40, and Ephesians 6:10-12, among others. Jesus identifies Satan as “a liar and the father of lies” in John 8:44, and he says “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” in Luke 10:18. The Book of Revelation says Satan “was thrown down to earth” during a war in heaven between the angels who followed God and the angels who rejected God (Rev 12:7-12). 

Read, explaining what attracts people to Satanism, said people who feel rejected or repelled by Christianity, which they equate with power in American society, like the symbolism of doing the opposite. 

“Some people are so hurt that symbols of the adversary — that’s what Satan means, ‘the adversary’ — speak to them, because symbols of rebellion against that power demonstrate to them that someone has their back,” Read said. 

Grinch? 

Concord is a city of about 45,000 in central New Hampshire. 

Read, one of the state’s 400 state representatives, lives in Newmarket, about 30 miles east by southeast of Concord. The mayor of Concord said he isn’t pleased that someone who doesn’t live in the city helped bring about the display. 

He also suggested that the stated principles of the Satanic Temple mask what the organization is actually about. 

“Its seven tenets, many of them commendable, are really a smoke screen to provide an air of legitimacy for its deliberately provocative and disturbing effigy,” Champlin said. “In fact, considering its impact on Concord’s holiday spirit, I think a more appropriate choice of effigy for the satanic devil would have been the Grinch.” 

The city issued a permit for the Knights of Columbus Nativity scene on Nov. 29. The permit for the Satanic Temple display was issued Dec. 7, according to public documents obtained by CNA. 

Both permits expire Dec. 28.