Gianna Emanuela Molla joins a private birthday dinner for Cheryl Calire at The St. Joseph Chapel at the Mother Teresa Home. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Cheryl Calire

CNA Staff, Jul 19, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

For the past 15 years, Cheryl Calire, the director of life ministries at the Diocese of Buffalo, has worked to open eight St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Centers. On July 11, when the eighth center was opened in Holley, New York, a very special guest was in attendance: Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of the center’s namesake.

After meeting for the first time in 2011, Calire formed a friendship with Molla and has been trying to have her visit the diocese ever since. Finally, during the same year that Calire will be retiring, she was able to host Molla for a weekend of events honoring Molla’s mother.

“It took many, many years cultivating a friendship and a relationship,” Calire told CNA in an interview. “She knew I was going to be retiring at the end of the year, so it worked out and as she would say, ‘In God’s time.’”

The weekend of events kicked off with a dedication ceremony for the St. Gianna and Pietro Molla Family Garden at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kenmore, New York. The garden serves as a space for reflection and comfort for parents grieving the loss of a child. There is also a place for family members to be buried if, down the road, they decide that they would like to be buried with their children. The Diocese of Buffalo and Buffalo Catholic Cemeteries, which own and operate the cemetery, are also creating a special fund to cover burial costs for parents who have lost children.

From there, Molla was taken to the newest St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Center for a Mass and benediction at the new location. These centers serve families by providing material, emotional, and spiritual support to mothers, fathers, and young families in need during and after pregnancy. 

“The first year, in 2010, we helped 200 families and I thought that was something,” Calire said. “We are on track this year to help over 2,000 families in the western New York area.”

Molla travels around the world not only speaking about her mother but is also working to promote the cause of her father, Pietro.

“She’s kind of made it her life mission to not only spread the word about her mom and her sainthood, but as she said her mom’s already a saint — many people know all about her — she’s trying to increase the awareness about her dad,” Calire explained. “He was a single dad, raised all those kids that were left behind, and she feels in a heroic way about him as well.”

She shared that Molla was thrilled to learn about the diocese’s mobile outreach program geared toward fathers called the Buffalo Peacemakers and Buffalo Fathers Pietro Molla Outreach.

Calire explained that many of their referrals come from local Catholic hospitals, the children’s hospital, family court, and domestic violence center as well as immigrants and refugees who cross the border from Canada.

During her time working with the pregnancy centers, Calire realized there was a need for more resources in order to help mothers in need to choose life. This inspired her and her husband to convert an old rectory into a hospitality home for expectant mothers who don’t have support or don’t have anywhere to live. They provide housing, connect them to resources, help mothers finish their education, and more.

The Mother Teresa Home opened in 2016 and since then has served more than 100 mothers and 104 babies. Calire and her husband live and serve there. 

On Friday, July 12, Molla took part in a day full of activities for the whole family at the Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica, which included a respect life art contest, Mass, card-making for the elderly and infirm, and the president of the Society of St. Gianna Molla, Robert White, brought first-class relics and spoke about the beloved saint.

Finally, on Sunday, July 14, a special Mass was celebrated at the St. Joseph Cathedral in honor of Molla’s visit to the diocese.

When asked what it’s like to be in the presence of a daughter of a saint, Calire said it’s “overwhelming.”

“One of the reasons I wanted to bring her to Buffalo — it’s no secret, there’s a lot of challenges going on right now in our diocese … I’m aware of them, but I try not to focus on them. I try to focus on the ministry and Christ,” she shared. “So with that in mind, I just kept on saying if I can bring her here this could be an opportunity for others to feel the way I did in 2011. When I first met her, it was life-changing for me.”

“When you hear her speak about her parents and refer to them as ‘my mother’ and ‘my father’ when she speaks of them, as you know, the things that her dad shared with her about her mom, it makes it like you’re sitting at somebody’s dining room table and you’re talking about family.” 

One moment that particularly stood out to Calire was at the dedication of the family garden when a Knight of Columbus fainted due to the heat. 

“What does Dr. Gianna Emanuela do? She runs right over, kneels by his side until the paramedics get there in the mud,” she recalled. “Her loving, caring nature and her being a geriatric doctor it just kicked in like, ‘I’m just a regular person in the crowd here who’s a doctor and I’m taking over. Move out of the way until the paramedics get here.’ It was really something to witness that.” 

Calire called Molla’s time in Buffalo “very, very, very moving.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With world peace under serious threat, Pope Francis called on all nations to observe the Olympic truce and cease all conflicts for the traditional period before, during and after the Olympic Games in Paris.

May God help "enlighten the consciences of those in power to the grave responsibilities incumbent upon them, may he grant peacemakers success in their endeavors," the pope said in a written message to Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris.

The Vatican published the letter July 19, seven days before the opening of the Summer Games and the customary start of the observance of the Olympic truce. The archbishop celebrated Mass in Paris at the Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine July 19 to mark the official start of the Olympic truce.

The Olympic truce tradition, originating in Greece in the 8th-century B.C., asked that all wars and conflict be suspended during the games and seven days before and after the games as a way to make sure participants could travel to and from the venue safely. 

The International Olympic Committee revived the tradition in 1992 and it works with the United Nations to pass a symbolic U.N. resolution before each Games inviting U.N. member states to observe a truce to encourage the Olympic spirit of peace.

In his letter, the pope said the Olympic Games can be "an exceptional meeting place between peoples, even the most hostile. The five interlinked rings represent the spirit of fraternity that should characterize the Olympic event and sporting competition in general."

"I therefore hope that the Paris Olympics will be an unmissable opportunity for all those who come from around the world to discover and appreciate each other, to break down prejudices, to foster esteem where there is contempt and mistrust, and friendship where there is hatred. The Olympic Games are, by their very nature, about peace, not war," he wrote.

"It was in this spirit that antiquity wisely instituted a truce during the Games, and that modern times regularly attempt to revive this happy tradition," the pope wrote.

"In these troubled times, when world peace is under serious threat, it is my fervent wish that everyone will take this truce to heart, in the hope of resolving conflicts and restoring harmony," he wrote.

Pope Francis also sent his support and blessings to all athletes, spectators and the people of Paris, including the many Catholics who "are preparing to open wide the doors of their churches, schools and homes." 

"I hope that the organization of these Games will provide the people of France with a wonderful opportunity for fraternal harmony, enabling us to transcend differences and opposition and strengthen the unity of the nation," he wrote.

The Olympic Games begin July 26 and run until Aug. 11, followed by the Paralympic Games, which will take place from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8.

Some 10,500 athletes from around the world are set to compete in the Olympics and as many as 4,400 in the Paralympics. Thirty-seven athletes from 11 countries of origin are expected to represent the Refugee Olympic Team at the Summer Games and eight athletes from six countries will compete in the Refugee Paralympic Team.

The Paris Summer Games will mark the first time there is the same number of women and men competing in events since the modern Summer Olympics began in Athens in 1896 and where all the athletes were men.

Elon Musk attends a session during the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024 on June 19, 2024 in Cannes, France. / Credit: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 18, 2024 / 17:37 pm (CNA).

Elon Musk, the CEO of X and SpaceX and one of the richest men in the world, announced that he will move both multibillion-dollar companies out of California because he opposes a new law that hides information from parents about their child’s gender identity.

The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, prohibits school districts from adopting policies that require parental notification if a child begins to identify as a gender that is different from his or her biological sex. Under this law, schools could not prevent teachers from hiding information about a child’s social gender transition from his or her parents.

Musk, who has a son who identifies as a woman, called the legislation “the final straw” in a post on X Tuesday afternoon. The businesses will move a few states over to Texas. 

“Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas,” Musk said.

Less than 20 minutes later, Musk made another post, which announced that the headquarters of X “will move to Austin.”

Musk already moved the headquarters of Tesla, another company for which he is the CEO, to Texas in 2021.

SpaceX employs about 13,000 people and X employs about 1,000 people — although not all of those employees are based in California.

“I did make it clear to Gov. Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children,” Musk added in a reply to his first post.

According to state-to-state migration numbers, Americans are disproportionately choosing other states over California. 

California has suffered a net interstate migration loss every year for more than two decades, which means that the number of people moving out of California to live in another state is higher than the number of people moving to California from other states.

From 2001 through 2023, California lost more than 3.7 million more people to state-to-state migration than it gained, according to numbers tallied by the Public Policy Institute of California. There was not a single year in that time frame in which California gained more people from interstate migration than it lost. California also suffered a net population decline in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

William Swaim, the president of the conservative California Policy Center, told CNA that it’s “not just big players like Musk” leaving the state but also “entrepreneurs, retirees, and parents of school-age kids.”

“Policies like this one have pushed hundreds of businesses to leave the states for greener — or redder — pastures; places like Texas, Florida, Tennessee, seem to be the big winners,” Swaim said.

According to Swaim, a number of problems contribute to the state’s population decline.

“Under Gavin Newsom, the state has logged a number of firsts and worsts: the nation’s worst unemployment rate, its highest business and marginal-income tax rates, and massive, growing, and fatal government pension liabilities,” he said. “Suffering the nation’s highest poverty and homeless rates, its highest costs of living, housing, electricity, insurance, and gasoline, it’s also reeling from the nation’s worst-ever state budget deficit.”

Democratic lawmakers in California introduced the legislation on transgender policies after the state government feuded with local school boards that instituted parental notification policies for when children identify as transgender or request to be called by pronouns inconsistent with their biological sex. In August of last year, Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Chino Valley Unified School District over its parental notification policy. 

A group of parents have already filed a lawsuit against state government officials to block the state from enforcing its ban on parental notification policies.

Last year, Newsom signed several other bills that faced criticism from parental rights advocates. This includes a law that penalizes schools that refuse to teach LGBT content and another that forces courts to consider “gender affirmation” in child custody decisions.

Big smiles from a group from the Diocese of Sacramento, California, as they wait in the long line to complete their registration for the congress in the Indiana Convention Center on July 15, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno/EWTN

Indianapolis, Ind., Jul 18, 2024 / 16:29 pm (CNA).

Tens of thousands of Catholics from across the U.S. have come together to praise the Lord in Eucharistic adoration this week in an NFL stadium at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who led U.S. bishops’ initiative of Eucharistic Revival, called the congress “a moment of unity” for the Church in the United States.

As the bishop held up the Blessed Sacrament in a massive 4-foot monstrance in center field of Lucas Oil Stadium, the crowd prayed together “Jesus, I trust in you.”

For many, the journey to Indianapolis was a pilgrimage of profound spiritual significance. Parishes, religious orders, families, clergy, and laypeople embarked on their travels by plane, car, and on foot driven by a deep desire to deepen their relationship with the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Diane Hanley drove nearly 600 miles with three other women from Little Rock, Arkansas, for a “girls’ trip” to the July 17–21 congress.

“It was blessed the whole way,” Hanley told CNA.

“We took like three hours to say one rosary in the car because of all the intentions and all the reflections and everything,” she added. “So the journey is part of the joy.”

One hundred fifty people traveled from the Diocese of Sacramento, California — among them Josie, who said that she came to the congress to receive Christ and to be able to better evangelize.

“I am an evangelizer in my community, and I feel like I need more learning experience to be able to better evangelize people because Christ is love and I just love him,” she said.

Newlyweds Dominic and Cassidy Mann, 23 and 21, respectively, from Cleveland are celebrating their first wedding anniversary at the congress. They told CNA that they came to the National Eucharistic Congress seeking to “experience Jesus at a whole other level.”

“Our first time being Eucharistic ministers was our wedding. So to be able to have that and to spend our one-year at the congress is just very beautiful and impactful,” Dominic said.

“The Eucharist has meant a lot in our marriage,” Cassidy added. As young Catholics, growing in faith together throughout dating, engagement, and marriage has been “transformative in our relationship,” she said.

The Manns were not the only couple to mark a relationship milestone at the congress. 

Charlie Chengary, 21, and Katherine Blawas, 22, a young couple from Chicago and Ohio, respectively, got engaged in Indianapolis on the eve of the congress. The two began dating a little over a year ago after meeting on Catholic Match. 

“I have never been in a place with so many Catholics. This is like a little foretaste of heaven,” Blawas said.

Jaella Mac Au, 20, traveled 2,200 miles across 12 states over two months as a pilgrim in one of four Eucharistic pilgrimage groups that traversed the United States to arrive at the congress. 

Her pilgrimage group began its journey by walking over San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in a Eucharistic procession. 

She told CNA that tears came to her eyes when she finally arrived in Indianapolis this week.

“It was wonderful and beautiful,” Mac Au said. “We were the first route to get here … and I was like, ‘I don’t believe we’re actually here.’”

She added that her experience as a pilgrim helped her understand that Jesus “doesn’t just sit in a church” but desires to be brought out into the world for all to see.

“The Lord is present in his body, blood, soul, and divinity,” she said. “He desires to go out and proclaim the good news that he sees us and that he loves us.”

Sister Faustina and Sister Anastasia Marie, Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, came with a delegation of 22 sisters to the congress.

“The Eucharist is the center of our spirituality. All that we do comes from a relationship with our Lord, and we spend much of our day in prayer, and then we go out to serve in the apostolate,” Sister Faustina said. 

“We encounter Our Lord in the Eucharist and also go out to meet him with his people. And all of that comes from encountering him in the Eucharist.”

Sister Anastasia Marie added that she is praying for people to “have a deeper encounter with God’s mercy through the Eucharist” during the congress. 

Large crowds created long lines on the first day of the National Eucharistic Congress. Brian and Angela Barcelos from Raynham, Massachusetts, waited more than 1.5 hours to pick up their name badges for the congress but did not seem too upset about it. “We are here for the Eucharist!” Brian said. 

More than 54,000 people had bought tickets for the congress as of July 17, according to the organizers. 

All 50 states and 17 countries are represented among the congress participants, which include more than 1,000 priests and 200 bishops and cardinals.

“I feel like I’ve already gotten so much out of this already just by being in line,” Blawas said.

Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette, Michigan, was joined by 50 people from his diocese who made the trip from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to the congress.

The bishop hosted a diocesan Eucharistic congress as part of the National Eucharistic Revival leading up to the national congress. He said that he is looking forward to meeting Catholics from across the country over the next five days.

“It’s a privileged opportunity for us to deepen the bonds of our unity of faith in the Lord Jesus and show him our great gratitude for the precious gift he gives to us of himself in the holy Eucharist,” Doerfler said.

The National Association of African Catholics in the United States registered more than 90 people for the congress.

The group performed praise and worship songs from East and West Africa, bringing their cultural heritage from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, and Ivory Coast to the Exhibition Hall stage at the congress.

“Celebrating the Eucharist is at the center of everything we do,” said Sally Stovall, the president of the association. “That’s what the African community is trying to portray in terms of bringing our cultural heritage for everybody to see how we celebrate in our countries.”

Tim Glemkowski, father of four and CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress, told CNA that he hopes each and every attendee at the congress will encounter Jesus personally and be sent on mission to share Christ’s love with the world.

“About two and a half years of planning have gone into this moment, and it’s incredible to see it come to fruition even greater than we expected in so many ways,” Glemkowski said. 

“God is with his Church right now. This all happened — the incredible pilgrimage with 250,000 people joining and 50,000 people here — it is all possible because God is doing something in his Church right now. And so we need to be attentive to that and open to what he’s trying to do today.”

null / Credit: Lost_in_the_Midwest/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 18, 2024 / 15:26 pm (CNA).

The Florida government is warning that a proposed pro-abortion amendment to the state constitution could have a depressive effect on the state’s economy. 

The Florida abortion amendment proposal is titled the “Limiting Government Interference with Abortion Amendment” or simply “Amendment 4.” If passed, it would mandate that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s health care provider.”

This week the state Financial Impact Estimating Conference approved a “financial impact” statement that will be placed on the ballot alongside the abortion amendment. The statement provides an official analysis of the economic impact the amendment would have on Floridians if passed.

The impact statement says that the abortion amendment would “result in significantly more abortions and fewer live births per year in Florida,” something it says “may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time.”

Additionally, the statement posits that there is “uncertainty about whether the amendment will require the state to subsidize abortions with public funds” and that “litigation to resolve those and other uncertainties will result in additional costs to the state government and state courts that will negatively impact the state budget.”

The statement concludes that “because the fiscal impact of increased abortions on state and local revenues and costs cannot be estimated with precision, the total impact of the proposed amendment is indeterminate.”

Jeremy Redfern, a representative for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office, told CNA that the amendment would not just impact unborn humans in Florida but also the state’s budget.

“Voters deserve to know that Amendment 4 will likely lead to additional litigation that could result in, among other costs, taxpayer-funded abortions up until the moment before birth,” he said, adding that the impact statement is “a clear, fiscally sound analysis that will help voters understand the financial impacts of Amendment 4.”

Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the abortion amendment, responded to news of the impact statement with outrage, calling it “deceptive and politically motivated.”

Lauren Brenzel, one of the leaders in the campaign to pass the amendment, said in a statement that the campaign “worked hard to ensure that the language of our initiative met constitutional standards.”

“The standards for the state’s financial analysis are no different — the financial impact statement to accompany Amendment 4 should be lawfully accurate, unambiguous, straightforward, clear, and transparent,” she argued.

Michael New, a political economy professor at The Catholic University of America who was involved with the drafting of the impact statement, pushed back against the abortion group’s claims. He told CNA that Florida is required to provide such an impact statement for all ballot proposals.

“Florida voters should be able to cast an informed ballot and not be blindsided by unexpected taxes, fees, and costs,” New said.

According to New, the governor’s office identified 20 statutes involving abortion that could be challenged in court and cause the state expensive litigation fees, should the amendment pass.

In addition to this, he said that “there is a very good chance this ballot question would require the state Medicaid program to cover abortions,” meaning that state tax dollars would need to be used for abortions.

Though New believes that Florida voters should oppose the amendment because he says it “will endanger preborn children” and “leave thousands of Florida women facing a lifetime of regret,” he said it is also important for voters to be aware of its impacts on the economy.

“The current language [of the impact statement] is not a ‘trick.’ It reflects quality research about the impact of this law,” he said.

“Amendment 4 would have a negative long-term impact on the Florida economy. It would result in fewer children being born and place additional strain on future taxpayers.”

null / Credit: sergign/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 18, 2024 / 14:56 pm (CNA).

The Oklahoma attorney general is ordering a school board to rescind the contract of a budding Catholic charter school following a state Supreme Court ruling against the school last month. 

St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would have been the first religious charter school in the nation, but in late June the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against its establishment and ordered the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to drop the Catholic institution’s contract.

State Attorney General Gentner Drummond had asked the high court to declare the state’s contract with the school unconstitutional on the grounds that it constituted public funding of a religious institution. Charter schools are publicly funded but are allowed to operate with a high degree of autonomy relative to standard public schools. 

St. Isidore’s, managed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, is appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The virtual charter school board, meanwhile — which has since been incorporated into the Statewide Charter School Board — has delayed rescinding the contract pending the outcome of the appeal.

Last week Drummond ordered the statewide charter board to comply with the court’s ruling. 

“You must know and accept that no state agency, board, or commission may willfully ignore an order from Oklahoma’s highest court,” Drummond wrote in a July 11 letter to the board members in which he said that the board had twice failed to rescind the contract. 

“Rather than abiding by the [state] Supreme Court’s order, the board has disregarded its duties by deferring to the [school’s] litigation whims,” he continued. 

Drummond ordered the board to rescind the contract either by calling a special meeting or moving the next scheduled board meeting to “no later than” the last day of July.

In a filing to the Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier this month, meanwhile, Drummond argued that a further stay would “[allow] the [school] to continue to tout its unconstitutional contract to unsuspecting families.”

St. Isidore had argued that the stay was for legal reasons, not to continue operation of the school at the moment.

A stay “would not permit St. Isidore to open to children or allow state charter school funding to go to St. Isidore while review by the U.S. Supreme Court is sought,” St. Isidore’s request read.

“The limited stay would simply preserve the current contract in the event the U.S. Supreme Court reverses [the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision],” the school said.

St. Isidore, a joint project between the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, was set to launch in August as an online, tuition-free, Catholic K–12 charter school based out of Oklahoma City.

The school had 200 students registered to start in the fall but has pushed out its start date due to the ongoing legal issues.

null / Credit: OlegRi/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 18, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

A priest in Ohio has issued an apology to parishioners after a media report revealed that he had destroyed a hard drive reportedly containing inappropriate pictures of children — and potentially child pornography — and then delayed reporting the incident to police. 

In a July 12 letter to parishioners at St. Susanna Catholic Church in Mason, Ohio, Father Barry Stechschulte said he wanted to “address” and “apologize for” his involvement in a controversy surrounding a priest accused of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. 

Local Cincinnati ABC affiliate WCPO reported earlier this month on a yearslong controversy involving a Dayton-area priest, Father Tony Cutcher, who left ministry in 2021 amid a scandal involving “hundreds of text messages he exchanged with a 14-year-old boy.”

Some of the text messages included implied sexual overtones. Cutcher ultimately resigned from active priestly duties after an evaluation recommended a “restriction in ministry” stemming from the incident.

Part of WCPO’s report, meanwhile, focused on an incident in 2012 in which Stechschulte discovered “what looked like child pornography” on a computer at Holy Rosary Church in St. Mary’s, north of Dayton. Cutcher had previously served at that parish. 

The hard drive reportedly contained photos of “preteen” boys in “provocative poses.” The priest later told police that he “could not recall nudity or not, but it could have been.”

A deacon at the parish later said he “took the hard drive out of the computer and destroyed it with a blow torch at the request of Stechschulte,” a later police report said.

The priest did not report the incident to police until 2018. In his letter to parishioners this month, Stechschulte said he was “shocked and filled with disgust at what I saw” and that his “reaction in the moment was to ensure that no one else at the parish be exposed to it.” 

“So I instructed that the hard drive be destroyed. I realize that not reporting it was a terrible mistake, which I regret,” he said. 

“I wish that I could redo my initial decision from 2012,” the pastor added. “I am deeply sorry for the distress this has caused all of you.”

Police ultimately did a forensic analysis on multiple computers from Holy Rosary as well as computers from St. Peter Catholic Church in Huber Heights where Cutcher was serving in 2018. The machines “showed no child pornography or anything of concern.”

In a statement to WCPO, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said it had “reported this case to law enforcement from the very beginning.”

“This has included reports to law enforcement in 2012, 2018, and 2021,” the archdiocese said. “In each instance no criminal charges were filed.”

In his letter, meanwhile, Stechschulte said he was “truly sorry” for his actions in 2012. 

“I love St. Susanna’s and ask you to forgive me and pray for me,” he wrote to parishioners. 

Roman Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paray-le-Monial and cloister. View from the Bourbince River, 2023. / Credit: Sanctuaire du Sacré-Cœur/www.sacrecoeur-paray.org

Paris, France, Jul 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

From now until June 27, 2025, the small town of Paray-le-Monial in France will be celebrating a jubilee for the 350th anniversary of the Sacred Heart.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When Pope Francis was once asked if a girl could ever grow up to become a deacon or join the clergy of the Catholic Church, he responded with a clear "no." 

Nonetheless, conversations about the role of women in the church and their ministerial functions are still being held at the highest levels of the Vatican. 

Months before he rejected the possibility of women deacons during a May interview with "60 Minutes" on CBS, the pope invited a Salesian sister, a consecrated virgin and a woman Anglican bishop into a discussion on women in the church with his Council of Cardinals, commonly known as the C9. 

It was the second meeting of the council, an international group of cardinal advisors to the pope, dedicated to discussing the role of women in the church. The pope and his council have held a total of four meetings with women experts -- in December, February, April and June --  to continue conversations on the role of women in the church. 

While information on the meetings is typically limited to a list of discussed topics distributed by the Vatican, talks from the December council meeting were published February in a book, titled "Smaschilizzare La Chiesa?" ("De-masculinize the Church?), and the speeches of the three women and responses of two cardinals from the February session were published in a book -- "Donne E Ministri Nella Chiesa Sinodale" ("Women and Ministries in the Synodal Church") -- released July 11.

In its foreword, Pope Francis wrote that the participation of the three theologians at the C9 meeting fell in line with the synodal process, which is "a process of discernment (that) starts in reality and experience."

He said that just as the modern age has been marked by a draw toward "clear and refined" ideas, "the Church too has sometimes fallen into the trap of considering loyalty to ideas to be more important than attention to reality," and listening to the joys and suffering of women in the church "is certainly a way to open us up to reality." 

Insisting on the need to speak openly and frankly about the possibility of admitting women to the diaconate, Salesian Sister Linda Pocher, a professor of Christology and Mariology at Rome's Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences "Auxilium," explained in her speech that the justifications for reserving ordained ministry to men "are weak, and it is important to recognize and be aware of it." 

Biblically, she noted that the calling of the 12 apostles cannot be equated with the institution of priestly or episcopal orders as they are understood today. Theological justifications for excluding women from holy orders were founded on the idea that women were incapable of holding positions in the public sphere by their nature -- an idea, she said, that became "unacceptable" after the feminist movements of the 20th century lifted women into previously inaccessible positions. 

Additionally, Sister Pocher said that papal rejections of admitting women to ordained ministry cannot be used as a justification for maintaining the practice since there are numerous historical instances of popes altering positions held by their predecessors.

In his response to the speeches, however, Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley of Boston said that "in the continuous and unchanging tradition of the church, priestly ordination is reserved for men," adding that church leadership should find ways to open more ministries to women since male-only ordained ministry "will not change." 

The cardinal said that the practice of only ordaining men to the priesthood "absolutely does not mean that men are in some way superior to women," and while women must be able to fully contribute to the church "we cannot allow ourselves to make mistakes acting hastily or without a full consideration of the possible consequences of these changes." 

He added that a greater development of the priestly dimension in the life of all baptized people is needed and that women need to occupy more leadership positions in the Vatican, in archdioceses, dioceses and parishes around the world. 

Anglican Bishop Jo Bailey Wells, deputy secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, recounted in her presentation the path toward and following the 1978 Lambeth Conference which gave each Anglican church the authority to decide whether to ordain women. As part of the theological rationale for the decision she cited the idea that God created all of humanity with the capacity to lead and govern whereas women's subordination to men only comes after humanity's fall from God's grace. 

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg responded to the reality of Anglican ordained ministry by saying it is "not entirely adaptable to Catholic ordained ministry."

"In the Catholic Church we have a unity of doctrine and a unity of the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome, which represented the universal Church," he said, noting the division that arises between Anglican parishes that recognize women as ordained ministers and those that do not -- particularly in recognizing the authority of women bishops. 

He also said that ordaining women could hinder the warming relations between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Yet, "Do these doubts mean the ordination of women should be completely excluded?" the cardinal asked. "I am not sure," he said, but added that it seems unlikely the church could answer such a question now or in the near future. 

Cardinal Hollerich, who is also relator general of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, asked whether the synodal path being taken by the church to recognize the baptismal dignity of its members and in which "ordained ministry becomes true service" could already "reduce the frustration of many women."

The synod on synodality, which will hold its second assembly at the Vatican in October, will not address the question of admitting women to diaconal ministry, but the working document for the assembly affirmed that "theological reflection should continue" on the matter and noted that a dedicated body is studying the question. 

Cardinal Mario Grech, who is secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops but not a member of the C9, said at a news conference July 9 that it is "not a contradiction" for the pope to reject the possibility of women deacons while advancing theological study on the issue. 

"According to the information that we have today, it is a 'no'" on expanding the diaconate to women, he said, "but at the same time the Holy Father has said that reflection, deeper theological study, should continue."
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Political discourse in the United States has devolved into people shouting at and not listening to each other, showing a need to promote respectful dialogue despite political differences, said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In an interview with Vatican News, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services said, "One thing that all of us can do is to remember and to promote the dignity of the human person."

"Even if someone disagrees with me, he or she is still created in the image and likeness of God. And therefore, has a dignity that I have to recognize and that I have to respect," he said in the interview posted online July 16.

If people were more aware of their common-held dignity, he said, "then we might be able to discuss as rational human beings, the problems and the disagreements that we have, and perhaps come to some solutions."

"But it's tragic that political discourse in this country has reached a point where people just shout at each other, and there's no space to listen to the other. And I think that's something that Pope Francis has urged us constantly to recognize, this basic human dignity and to respect it in every way that we can," he said.

"This tragic event is really a call to action to all of us to measure our discourse and to move forward in pathways of peace and reconciliation and (for) an honest assessment of whatever political differences there are and however we can work together to find solutions," he said. 

The archbishop was asked to comment on the recent assassination attempt of former U.S. President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13. Gunfire killed one attendee, Corey Comperatore, and injured three others including Trump, whose right ear was grazed by a bullet. The suspected gunman was killed and his possible motives were still under investigation.

In his interview with Vatican News, Archbishop Broglio expressed his sympathy and condolences to the Comperatore family and his "promise of a prayer" for the repose of the deceased man's soul. "And also to those who were wounded, including former President Trump, a message of consolation and the assurance of my prayers, and (I) assure the prayers of all of the faithful of the United States."

He said his initial reaction to the event was "one of horror that violence would take place in what is supposed to be a democratic society, that we're not able to talk to one another." That someone was able to make an attempt on Trump's life, he added, is "certainly very, very tragic."

When asked, as president of the U.S. Bishops' Conference, what bishops could do to foster peaceful dialogue or coexistence, he said, "I think all of us in our dioceses can certainly promote the importance of dialogue, the importance of respect for the other."

The commitment to protect human life, he said, "is based on this notion that the human person is worthy of our respect from the moment of conception until the moment of death. And I think we have to be constant in that."

Archbishop Broglio noted the importance of the National Eucharistic Congress being held July 17-21 in Indianapolis, Indiana, saying, "I think that will be a great opportunity for us to promote dialogue and reconciliation."

"In Jesus Christ, we find our salvation, and we also find a way forward. Obviously in the person of Christ, we find a code of conduct and I think the more we do to promote that, the better off our society will be," he said. "We can't do it all by ourselves, but we can certainly lay a foundation and urge those that we're responsible for to promote this dignity and this dialogue."