Inside the Vatican magazine January-February 2026

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PHOTO - GRZEGORZ GALAZKA

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

ARCHBISHOP JACQUES MOURAD

BRIAN BURCH

SONIA MCGARRITY

CARD. LUCIAN MUREŠAN

JIMMY LAI

ASHLEY NORONHA

ARCHBISHOP MICHAEL DIDDI ADGUM MANGORIA

A new year with the new Pope and with

FR. GIOIELE SCHIAVELLA

TOP TEN PEOPLE 2025 FRANCESCO SFORZA

JAN ESPERJESI

C OMPELLiNG S TORiES OF C OMPELLiNG S TORiESLOF COURAGEOUS CATHOLiC EADERS COURAGEOUS CATHOLiC LEADERS

◆ FATHER JOSEPH FESSIO, S.J. ◆ GEORGE CARDINAL PELL ◆ FATHER JOSEPH FESSIO, S.J. ◆ GEORGE CARDINAL PELL California Blackrobe Pax Invictus California Blackrobe Pax his in-depth, page-turning biography of the founder of his Invictus definitive biography of the great Australian Cardinal

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his in-depth, biography of the founder of Ignatius Press is page-turning written by one of Fessio’s earliest Jesuit Ignatius Press is written by one of Fessio’s earliest Jesuit mentors, historian Fr. Cornelius Buckley, S.J. mentors, historian Fr. Cornelius Buckley, S.J. Raised in the Bay Area after World War II, the bold Joe Fessio Raised in the Bay Area after World War II, the bold Joe Fessio entered the Society of Jesus at age twenty and, by divine provientered the Society of Jesus at age twenty and, by divine providence, studied for for six six years under three dence, studied years under threeofofthe thegreatest greatest theologtheological minds of the 20th century—Henri de Lubac, von ical minds of the 20th century—Henri de Lubac,Hans Hans Urs Urs von Balthasar, and Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI).

He reBalthasar, and Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI). He returned from Europe and started the St. Ignatius Institute at USF, turned from Europe and started the St. Ignatius Institute USF, and Ignatius Press.

Over decades,hehehas hasbecome become one one of and Ignatius Press.

Over thethe decades, of the the powerful forces in the AmericanCatholic CatholicChurch, Church, designdesignmostmost powerful forces in the American ingCatholic the Catholic Great Books programatatUSF USFand andfounding founding one ing the Great Books program one the largest Catholic publishing housesininthe theworld. world. of theoflargest Catholic publishing houses is robust yet unsentimental studyofofFessio’s Fessio’sunique unique life, life, cut This Th robust yet unsentimental study cut with Buckley’s trademark wit, shows what effective Christian with Buckley’s trademark wit, shows what effective Christian missionary work can look like in the age of media. missionary work can look like in the age of media.

Includes 32 pages of photos. FRFH . . . Sewn Hardcover, $27.95 Includes 32 pages of photos. FRFH . . . Sewn Hardcover, $27.95 “No one has impacted the Catholic Church in America and beyond

“No one impacted the Catholic Church inisAmerica and” beyond like has Father Fessio. Th is delightful biography a must-read. like Father This Conley, delightful biography is NE a must-read.”

—MostFessio.

Rev. James Bishop, Lincoln —Most Rev. James Conley, Bishop, Lincoln NE “Essential reading to appreciate Fr. Fessio’s undaunted character, sense of mission, the impact his workundaunted on the globalcharacter, Catholic “Essential reading toand appreciate Fr.of Fessio’s scene. ” — Scott Hahn, Author, Rome Sweet Home sense of mission, and the impact of his work on the global Catholic scene.” — Scott Hahn, Author, Rome Sweet Home

“As the light of Christian faith flickers across the West, one American priest leads on with inimitable brilliance, Joseph Fessio, S.J.” “As the light of Christian faith flickers across the West, one American —Mary Eberstadt, Author, Adam and Eve after the Pill

priest leads on with inimitable brilliance, Joseph Fessio, S.J.” —Mary Eberstadt, Author, Adam and Eve after the Pill

P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, CO 80522

P.O. Box 1339, Ft. Collins, CO 80522

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his nitive journalist biography Tess of theLivingstone great Australian Cardinal bydefi veteran traces his life from by veteran journalist Tess Livingstone traces his life from childhood in Australia to his role as the Vatican treasurer; childhood in Australia to his role as the Vatican treasurer; through his trials, unjust imprisonment, and exoneration, to his through his trials, unjust imprisonment, and exoneration, to his untimely passing away in January 2023. untimely passing away in January 2023.

Hishuge hugelegacy legacy includes rebuilding Church precincts in His includes rebuilding Church precincts in Melbourneand andSydney, Sydney, revitalizing seminary formation, Melbourne revitalizing seminary formation, founding Catholic Catholicuniversities, universities, leading Australia’s founding leading Australia’s Catholicforeign foreign agency, heading World Catholic aidaid agency, andand heading World YouthYouth Day Day 2008. a weekly column in Australia’s largest Sunday news- news2008.From From a weekly column in Australia’s largest Sunday paper books andand scholarly lectures, he hasheleft a left a papertotobestselling bestselling books scholarly lectures, has trove ThTh is book includes snippets of some of the of best troveofofwritings. writings. is book includes snippets of some the best ofofthem captures his his ideas, wit, wit, and and personality. themand and captures ideas, personality.

InInhis Vatican treasurer, his eff the the hisrole roleas as Vatican treasurer, hisorts effto ortsreform to reform Church’s finances met with resistance from an entrenched “old Church’s finances met with resistance from an entrenched “old guard’’. Through it all, he retained his dignity and integrity as a guard’’. Through it all, he retained his dignity and integrity as a faithful successor to the apostles. GCPBH . . Sewn Hardcover, $29.95

faithful successor to the apostles.

GCPBH . . Sewn Hardcover, $29.95

“George Pell, was a giant — on the football field, as a bishop leading “George was a as giant — on the football eld, a bishop the flock inPell, Australia, a brilliant intellect, andfiin hisas love of Jesusleading the flock in Australia, as every a brilliant and in his whom he served with vigor day ofintellect, his extraordinary life.love ” of Jesus —whom Cardinal Timothy Dolan, York he served with vigorArchbishop every day of of New his extraordinary life.”

— Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

“Cardinal Pell was extraordinary in every sense: a man of sacrificial intelligence, and tremendous “Cardinalfaith, Pellsuperior was extraordinary in every sense:evana man of gelical energy.

Livingstone has captured all these qualities, in evansacrificial faith, superior intelligence, and tremendous this marvelous biography.” gelical energy. Livingstone has captured all these qualities, in —Francis X. Maier, Author, True Confessions: Voices of Faith from this marvelous biography.” a Life in the Church

—Francis X. Maier, Author, True Confessions: Voices of Faith from a Life in the Church

www.ignatius.com

www.ignatius.com (800) 651-1531 (800) 651-1531

EDITORIAL by Robert Moynihan

Leo on Practicing the Presence of God At the end of his trip to Turkey and Lebanon, in early December, Pope Leo, during a press conference on the papal plane with 80 journalists, said his spirituality was “the practice of the presence of God”...

Monday, December 22, 2025 — On December 2, during Pope Leo’s flight back to Rome from his trip Turkey and Lebanon (see pages 10-21), a German journalist asked the Pope about his personal spirituality — specifically, what writing, besides the writing of St. Augustine, was central to understand “who Prevost is.” [The Pope’s name before he became Pope was Robert Prevost.]

“A book called, The Practice of the Presence of God,” Leo replied. “It’s a very simple book, by someone who doesn’t even give his last name, Brother Lawrence, written many years ago.

“If you want to know something about me, that’s been my spirituality for many years… a type of prayer and spirituality where one simply gives his life to the Lord and allows the Lord to lead. In midst of great challenges — living in Peru, during years of terrorism, being called to service in places where I never thought I would be called to serve — I trust in God, and that message is something that I share with all people.” As for the papal conclave in May, Leo said: “I resigned myself to the fact, when I saw how things were going, [that] this could be a reality. I took a deep breath. I said, ‘Here we go. Lord, you’re in charge, and You lead the way.’”

In the three weeks since news spread around the world about Leo’s favorite book being this one by Brother Lawrence, three different editions of the work have become bestsellers in Amazon’s “Mysticism” section. Other Church leaders have also learned from the book. “Brother Lawrence teaches us to return from our own estrangement, to seek communion with God, to learn to be reverently alert to him who is in us and about us,” said Bishop Erik Varden, 51, bishop of Trondheim in Norway. Varden added, “It is heartening to have a Pope who puts the search for God first, and exhorts us to do the same.”

Who was Brother Lawrence?

The Practice of the Presence of God is a collection of Brother Lawrence’s teachings — about 30 pages of letters and records of his conversations. Though Brother Lawrence was virtually unknown in life, his friend Father Joseph de Beaufort compiled his wisdom into a pamphlet published soon after his death in 1691.

Before he became Brother Lawrence, he was a soldier during the Thirty Years’ War. Because of a wartime injury, his leg impaired his movement and caused him constant pain for life. But as a young adult, he had a vision of Christ that would inspire him for the rest of his life; or, as his friend Father de Beaufort recalled: “which has never since been effaced from his soul.” He joined the Discalced Carmelite Priory in Paris, doing humble work as a cook, and eventually working in the sandal repair shop as well. He believed that little things could please God just as much as great things.

“We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work but the love with which it is performed,” he taught. Amid the busy environment of a kitchen serving about 100 people, he still connected with God. In one recorded conversation, Father de Beaufort recalled Brother Lawrence saying: “The time of business… does not with me differ from the time of prayer... And in the noise and clutter of

my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess GOD in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.”

A few minutes ago, Anna Artymiak, Inside the Vatican’s chief Vatican correspondent, wrote to me, “At 10 this morning, Pope Leo XIV met members of the Roman Curia for the annual exchange of Christmas greetings. What was interesting is that Leo used Pius XII’s chair and there was a new beige podium. The Pope presented himself only in a white cassock and with black shoes, a similar style as Pope Francis. An interesting combination. Next to him there was a new vice-regent Fr. Edward Daniang Daleng, O.S.A., who is more and more often present during the audiences. Leo stepped down to salute the dean, Cardinal Re, after his speech, which was very short. He then stood while greeting all present, frst cardinals and archbishops, then monsignors and all others. There were also Vatican workers in simple clothes. The meeting lasted 50 minutes with 30 minutes of baciamano (kissing the Pope’s hand). Every single person received a copy of a book by Brother Lawrence The Practice of the Presence of God in Italian published recently by the Vatican Publishing House.”

So, the teaching of Brother Lawrence, the teaching of the practice of the presence of God, is becoming the teaching of Pope Leo. Brother Lawrence — and now also Pope Leo — teach that we must set our minds on God in all circumstances. The central point: that the time for work and the time for prayer are the same.

This may be seen in the release, also this morning, of an Apostolic Letter signed by Pope Leo on the 60th anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council, December 8, 1965, entitled A faith that generates the future. Here, Leo writes: “5. Every vocation in the Church arises from a personal encounter with Christ, which ‘gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.’ Before any commitment, personal aspiration or service, there is the voice of the Master calling: ‘Follow me’ (Mk 1:17)...This is not just an inner voice, but a spiritual impetus that often comes to us through the example of other disciples of the Lord and takes shape in a courageous choice of life. Fidelity to our vocation, especially in times of trial and temptation, is strengthened when we do not forget that voice... Throughout time, the echo of the Lord’s word is the principle of interior unity with Christ, which is fundamental and necessary in the apostolic life. 6. The call to ordained ministry is a free and gratuitous gift from God. Indeed, a vocation is not imposed by the Lord but is instead a loving proposal to follow a plan of salvation and freedom for our lives, which we receive when we accept, with God’s grace, the Lord Jesus as the center of our lives.”

And he adds: “10. In recent decades, the crisis of trust in the Church caused by abuses committed by members of the clergy has filled us with shame and called us to humility. It has made us even more aware of the urgent need for a comprehensive formation that ensures the personal growth and maturity of candidates for the priesthood, together with a rich and solid spiritual life.”

Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year to all.m JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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CONTENTS JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

Year 34, #1

LEAD STORY: POPE LEO’S FIRST TRIP ABROAD The Holy Father visits Turkey 1700 years after Nicaea, and Lebanon, where St. Charbel rests

by Robert Moynihan and Anna Artymiak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 INTERVIEW/Archbishop Miroslaw Wachowski, the first bishop consecrated by Pope Leo

by Anna Artymiak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 NEWS/Jerusalem Patriarch Cardinal Pizzaballa: Gaza residents’ situation remains dire

by Andrea Tornielli and Francesco Sabatinelli (Vatican News) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 Year 34, #1

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Robert Moynihan ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Christina Deardurff ASSOCIATE EDITOR: George “Pat” Morse (+ 2013) ASSISTANT EDITOR: Christopher Hart-Moynihan CULTURE EDITOR: Lucy Gordan CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: William D. Doino, Jr. CHIEF VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Anna Artymiak WRITERS: Giuseppe Rusconi, Andrew Rabel, Vladimiro Redzioch, Serena Sartini ESSAYISTS: Peter Anderson, Anthony Esolen, Aurelio Porfiri, Matthew Trojacek, Robert Wiesner, Marcellus Roberts PHOTOS: Grzegorz Galazka LAYOUT: Giuseppe Sabatelli ILLUSTRATIONS: Stefano Navarrini CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Deborah B. Tomlinson ADVERTISING: Katie Carr Tel. +1.202.864.4263 kcarr@insidethevatican.com

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EDITORIAL OFFICES FOR MAIL: US: 14 West Main St. Front Royal, VA 22630, USA Tel +1.202.536.4555 Rome: Inside the Vatican via delle Mura Aurelie 7c, Rome 00165, Italy Tel: +39.06.3938.7471 Fax: +39.06.638.1316 POSTMASTER: send address changes to Inside the Vatican PO Box 1320 Front Royal, VA 22630, USA Tel: +1.800.789.9494 Fax: +1.202.536.5409

NEWS/Pope Leo proclaims Cardinal Newman Doctor of the Church, Co-patron of Education

by Alessandro di Bussolo (Vatican News) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 NEWS/Vatican nixes “Co-redemptrix, “Mediatrix” as titles for Mary

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA)/ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 SPECIAL SECTION: THE TOP TEN PEOPLE OF 2025, “Disciples of the Beatitudes” From an embattled bishop in a Muslim country to a suburban mother with adoptive special-needs children, our Top Ten Catholics from around the world are “Disciples of the Beatitudes”

by ITV staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 NEWS/Vatican says “No” to women deacons...for now

by Vatican News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 CULTURE SCRIPTURE/The One Commandment

by Anthony Esolen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 URBI ET ORBI: CATHOLICISM AND ORTHODOXY Icon/St. Anthony of the Desert

by Robert Wiesner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 East-West Watch/No “Pentarchy” at Íznik

by Peter Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 News from the East/Alexandria patriarch: “Stop casting words like bombs”; Pope prays with Orthodox at Nicaea; No prayer at Blue Mosque; Original Greek text of Creed in new Apostolic Letter

by Matthew Trojacek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 FEATURES

Subscriptions (USA): Inside the Vatican PO Box 1320 Front Royal, VA 22630, USA www.insidethevatican.com Tel. +1.800.789.9494

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INSIDE THE VATICAN (ISSN 1068-8579, 1 yr subscription: $49.95; 2 yrs, $94.95; 3 yrs, $129.95), provides a comprehensive, independent report on Vatican affairs published bimonthly (6 times per year) with occasional special supplements.

Inside the Vatican is published by Urbi et Orbi Communications, PO Box 1320, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA, pursuant to a License Agreement with Robert Moynihan, the owner of the Copyright. Inside the Vatican, Inc., maintains editorial offices in Rome, Italy.

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4 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

SPIRITUALITY BEHIND BARS/Profiling the Good Thief: A Bulb of Soft Clay

by Marcellus Allen Roberts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Art/Palazzo Colonna: A Little-known Roman Gem

by Lucy Gordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Lord of the World/ “This new decision will be unlike any preceding it”

by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Vatican Watch/A Day-by-day Chronicle of Vatican Events: October, November and December 2025

by Matthew Trojacek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 People/King Charles receives “Royal Confrater” title; controversial document from Italian bishops; new statue of Pope Leo unveiled; Church demands “climate justice”; Leo gifted “Da Pope” beer

by Matthew Trojacek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Food for Thought/Two “Musts” for the Italophile’s Bookshelf

by Lucy Gordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

PROFOUND & PROVOCATIVE CONVERSION STORIES ◆ INTO THE DEEP Abigail Favale

◆ THE TWO

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Matthew Wiseman

his book traces one woman’s spiritual odyssey from birthright evangelicalism through postmodern feminism and, ultimately, into the Roman Catholic Church. As a college student, she experienced a feminist awakening that reshaped her life and faith. A decade later, on the verge of atheism, she found herself entering the oldest male-helmed institution on the planet—the last place she expected to be.

With humor and insight, Favale describes her gradual exodus from evangelicalism and surprising swerve into Catholicism. She writes candidly about grappling with wounds from her past, Catholic sexual morality, the male priesthood, and an interfaith marriage. A thoroughly 21st century conversion and compelling account of recovering an ancient faith after a decade of doubt.

IDP. . .Sewn Softcover, $18.95

“There are events in life that leave you changed forever, right down to the very roots and heart of your being, because they go ‘into the deep’. Like this book. The theology is profoundly Christ-centered, the psychology trustworthily honest, and the style winsomely alive.”

—Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., Best-selling Author and Philosophy Professor “A beautifully written story of conversion. In this raw and compelling narrative, Favale reminds us that, in the most mysterious of ways, God’s grace can reach all of us.”

— Carrie Gress, Author, The Anti-Mary Exposed ALSO BY ABiGAiL FAVALE

◆ THE GENESIS OF GENDER

Weaving personal experience with expert knowledge, Favale provides an in-depth yet accessible account of the gender paradigm: a framework for understanding reality and identity that has recently risen to prominence. She traces the genealogy of gender to its origins in feminism and postmodern thought.

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JERUSALEMS

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he moving story of a young man’s amazing journey to discover the roots of the Christian faith in the Ancient Near East, which led him from Protestantism through the Messianic movement and into the Catholic Church. This journey took him to the rainforest of Papua New Guinea, the Nożyk Synagogue in Warsaw, and the Judean Desert and into the heart of ancient Jewish tradition: the Hebrew Bible.

Through it all, Wiseman’s relentless desire for truth and consistency kept him searching until he discovered the “beauty ever ancient, ever new”. His powerful stor y is like a course in fundamental theology, in compelling narrative form.

T J P . . . Sewn Softcover, $18.95 “A groundbreaking book that could change the lives of traditional Jews, Messianic Jews, Protestant Christians, and wavering Catholics. Highly recommended!” Ronda Chervin, Ph.D., Philosophy Professor and Hebrew Catholic “Wiseman’s journey is worthy of the Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem. An absorbing, challenging, and ultimately inspiring read.” —Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Author, There and Back Again

Also available ◆ SALVATION IS FROM THE JEWS Roy Schoeman Traces the role of Judaism and the Jewish people in God's plan for the salvation of mankind, from Abraham through the Second Coming, as revealed by the Catholic faith and by a thoughtful examination of history.

SFJP . . . Sewn Softcover, $19.95

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Italy: Easter in Italy March 30 – April 9, 2026 Join us as we begin our pilgrimage in the Umbrian hills near the very center of Italy. Assisi is one of the loveliest, most peaceful cities in the world. The very light and air of the city seem filled with the presence of the spirits of St. Francis and St. Clare. We will spend three nights in this special city, preparing for Easter — studying the readings of the Easter Vigil Mass. Visit us online to learn more!

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Join us on a pilgrimage during 2026 Experience a journey of faith, hope, and renewal!

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Queen of Peace to the See of Peter: May 2026

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and Modern Saints: September 18 - 26, 2026

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There is now a lawless libertine spirit and practice which is being proclaimed and endorsed by many in hierarchy, and most who are not openly doing so are remaining silent.

The Pope comes across as very placid in all this. Let us pray he takes the dynamic actions which will correct those in error and public scandal soon. The Church will be diminished even more in years to come if action is not taken soon on this very, very great problem.

If you ask the average Catholic if the Church’s implacable enemy is communism, they, at this time, will look at you with a blank stare of incomprehension. Our bishops no longer seem to believe what venerable archbishop Fulton J. Sheen believed and warned against. This is a massive crisis which is threatening the faith of millions.

John A. Best john.ab13mary@yahoo.com

LETTER On MARRIAGE I have just printed out the new apostolic letter on marriage (“One Flesh: In Praise of Monogamy,” released on November 25, 2025). It is long and involved. I can tell you I am not a fan of the author, Victor Cardinal Fernandez. He gives me the creeps! He was a ghostwriter for Pope Francis, and sometimes I find his writing very Hollywood-ish and trying to please everyone without saying anything of meaning.

However, I will read this long apostolic letter on marriage and see. But I am a realist and a skeptic.

The most disgraceful public persons who do the most harm to marriage according to our Catholic Faith are Fr. James Martin and Sr. Jeannine Gramick. The socalled “ministry” to homosexuals, transsexuals, etc., of these two, who claim to be Catholic and follow the teachings of the Church, is actually a product of their own ideological gnostic-style affirmation of some sort of “inclusion” which contradicts everything they claim to profess.

INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

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The scandal is that he is a priest and she a nun!!! The last 60 years have been in turmoil because of the many priests and nuns in the Church who decided that the “spirit” of Vatican II is the New-Wave Church, without the need for the guidance of the doctrines and the teachings of the Catholic Church which Vatican II never repudiated!

After Vatican II, it seemed to me the hippy-yippy, “throw off the veil and the vestments” attitude became a kind of sensationalism — and then it was, everything goes and nothing matters but “love, love, love.”

But the real question would be “What is love?” rrcatherine3@gmail.com

TITLES OF OUR LADY Just a grandmother who is saddened by all the appointments in the Vatican, including women being in charge! Actually, I would much prefer the whole truth from the Vatican on the matter of marriage; we should not be happy with crumbs of the truth given to us.

But it seems we will have to wait till we are blessed with an Angelic Pope to get the full truth. Although we can still find the truth of our faith in good catechisms.

At present, I have no faith in what occurs there. I am so saddened by the Vatican trying to downplay Our Lady as Co-redemptrix and Mediatrix.

How much she went through for us!

Those titles of hers appear in the Vatican II documents, as well as that of Advocate.

But they don’t care, and now I hear the USCCB is giving us a new Bible that has scrubbed a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance!

Should we be happy, just because some truths will still remain in that new Bible? I think not!

And we still have Pope Francis’ document that has not been disavowed, Amoris Laetitia, to allow those Catholics divorced and remarried outside of the Church to receive Holy Communion!

C. Bingham cbingham03@gmail.com

DROPPING THE FILIOQUE Did I miss where the Orthodox Church was thinking of adding the “filioque” to the Creed as a gesture of outreach to the Latins?

Fr. Anthony Brankin frbrankin@gmail.com I have never known anyone who actually cared at all about ecumenism, at least in its “modern” understanding. Prevost, just like Bergoglio, will do anything to compromise the Church and her teachings and betray Our Lord.

Since the Catholic Church possesses all Truth and everything needed for salvation, it should give up nothing.

True ecumenism means converting all others to the Truth. All they have to do is accept the true Church and join us. They have nothing to offer and everything to gain.

Until that happens — and we continue to preach the Truth and explain Christ’s teachings — we give up nothing and hold true to Christ.

Bill Schuetter Sarasota, Florida, USA About the eventual reunion of Catholics and Orthodox, I say, “Amen!”

My mother is Greek-Orthodox, I am Catholic — this would be a great day!

PS: We exchanged a few emails about Viganò a few years back; let’s say that now that I see a bit more clearly that you were more right than me. God Bless! oerdim@gmail.com Hmmmm? If “proceeds from the Father and the Son” is changed to “proceeds from the Father,” aren’t we back to Arianism? — i.e., the Son is below the Father.

Or are we only saying that each figure of the Godhead has specific roles to fulfill?

For example, Jesus tells the Apostles that only the Father knows when the Son will return.

Charles Parlato parlato_charles@yahoo.com It’s obviously not going to make a difference if the “Orthodox” refuse to accept the dogma that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son. To be united in faith, the “Orthodox” must accept the Filioque regardless how the Creed is said. The whole problem with the Vatican II religion

is the heretical teaching that heresy doesn’t separate one from the Church.

Vatican II is a perfect example of modernism.

Until “Pope” Leo becomes Catholic himself, none of this matters.

Steven Speray catholicwarrior@juno.com

Distributism is Neo-medieval in the best possible way, maintaining the moral insights of the Scholastics but applying them to the modern economy and producing modern solutions in the process.

Brett Fawcett papistwitness@gmail.com

AMERICANISM No — it should be changed to “Per Filium Solum” [the Holy Spirit proceeds “through” or “by means of” “the Son alone”] which is more accurate, and for a short period was agreed upon by both the Eastern and Western Churches, but by which time, it was too late. Contact me for more details!

Franz von Habsburg vonhabsburg@me.com Changing the Creed needs to be done ecumenically with the patriarchs — acting unilaterally was the major problem in the first place, from Toledo onward. The West just did its own thing Problem is Bartholomew does not speak for all Orthodox as he thinks he does; he would have to get all of them on board first.

It needs to be replaced with what reflects John:15, where Jesus said the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father but is sent by the Son. It is not enough just to delete “filioque,” — it should be “proceeds from Father but sent by the Son, who with the Father and the Son is…”

Alberto Ferreiro beto@spu.edu

USURY The fundamental insight of Douglas Social Credit (which I prefer to call Credit Distributism) is the same observation the Scholastics made in their critique of usury.

It is a sin to charge someone for the same thing twice.

This occurs in usury, but it also occurs in a financial system in which the price I pay to buy a chair goes to cover the price of the wood that went into fashioning it, which in turn goes into covering the cost of the equipment which chopped down the trees which produced that wood, which in turn pays off capital loans and investors— in other words, it pays for a cost that has already been paid off, possibly years or decades before this consumer good came across my radar. In this sense, Credit

The article, title “Americanism, A Problem Both Old And New” has a very important message about the responsibility that must come with individual freedom.

As Catholics, longstanding Church teachings should provide our barometer.

Unfortunately, the article’s title and statement of “enormous contradictions evident in the America of Donald J. Trump,” show its politically biased purpose.

This bias destroys the importance of the message. Individual freedom is not in balance against Catholic social responsibility.

Freedom is paramount, absolutely necessary for love to exist.

Love is the freely giving of oneself without expecting anything in return. It is who God is. I do not defend all the policies of the current US President, but the opposing political party has abandoned genuine love by ignoring all responsibility for their support of objective evil.

Abortion is objective evil. Freedom to actively pursue homosexuality leads to LGBTQ+, that ultimately leads to transgenderism, all objectively evil under Church teachings.

Supporting families’ freedom to come to America does not justify unfettered, uncontrolled entry of tens of millions of people, including criminals, exponential drug trafficking and human trafficking.

Ultimately, individual freedom or a false sense of dictated social justice should never oppose natural law.

The political left openly opposes natural law. ITV is no place for political bias. This article makes an important point about being socially responsible with our freedom. In the past, when politically biased articles were allowed in ITV, opposing views were also presented. If this happens again, I will cancel my 25-yearlong subscription to my once-favorite Catholic magazine.

Bill Berlinger, Peoria, Illinois,USA

INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

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LEAD STORY

PoPe Leo’s First triP AbroAd The holy FaTher visiTed ChrisTian-minoriTy Turkey, siTe oF The CounCil oF niCaea 1700 years ago, and lebanon, where he beCame The FirsT PoPe To Pray aT The Tomb oF sT. Charbel n BY ROBERT MOYnIHAn AnD AnnA ARTYMIAK

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27: DAY #1

L

eo XIV started his first Apostolic Journey in the early morning of Thursday, November 27, arriving at Terminal 5 of Rome’s Fiumicino Airport at 7:25 am. He was leaving Italy to visit Turkey and Lebanon, marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. As the Vatican Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin told journalists, the Pope was traveling as a “messenger of harmony, dialogue, peace.”

It is significant that Leo XIV, who has often said that he seeks unity within the Church and between all Christians, was making his first Apostolic Journey as an ecumenical one.

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So the visit was seen as a test of several decades of modern ecumenical dialogue.

“It’s so important today that the message be transmitted in a way that really reveals the truth and the harmony that the world needs,” Leo said to the journalists present on board the plane at the beginning of the trip.

“In a special way, this particular trip to Turkey and Lebanon has, first of all, the very meaning of unity, celebrating 1700 years from the Council of Nicaea.” —RM POPE LEO LEAVES ROME It was a beautiful, colorful morning as the sunlight in the winter months is the most spectacular of the whole year in Rome.

Here, Pope Leo XIV at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport during his first apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon.

November 27, 2025 (Photo — Grzegorz Galazka) In the large photo, Iznik, Turkey, November 28, 2025, Ecumenical Prayer Meeting near the archaeological excavations of the ancient Basilica of Saint Neophytos, where the Council of Nicaea was held in 325 A.D. (Vatican Media/Agenzia Romano Siciliani)

More than 80 journalists were traveling with Leo on a so-called “papal flight.”

Among them: representatives of Turkish and Lebanese media, and many American media.

As he left Italy, the Holy Father was greeted by more than the usual group of people.

At the stairs were two carabinieri in full dress uniform, paying honor to the departing pontiff.

Also, for the first time, to salute the Holy Father in the name of the Vatican was new vice-regent of the Papal Household, the Nigerian priest Fr. Edward Daniang Daleng, OSA, appointed

by Pope Leo on November 10. It is a tradition that a representative of the Prefecture of the Papal Household goes to salute the Pope before the trip and welcomes him back on his return.

Traditionally, the Pope travels to the destination country on board the Italian national airline, formerly Alitalia, now ITA Airways.

The blue “Shepherd One” was decorated with Leo’s coat-of-arms painted on the jet next to the main entrance door to the plane (see photo).

There were also little flags of the Vatican and Italy hung in the windows of the plane.

On this day, in the United States, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated, and the Pope, himself an American, wished “Happy Thanksgiving!” to the American journalists present.

Two American colleagues, Cindy Wooden and Elise Allen, made a traditional dessert for the Pope for Thanksgiving Day: pumpkin pie.

The Pope also received white socks, white slippers, a NY Knicks cap, and a baseball bat that used to belong to the legendary 1950 White Sox second baser Nellie Fox. The Pope asked, with a smile, if the bat had passed the pre-flight security control.

His remarks on the plane included: “Buongiorno a tutti! [“Good day to all!”]

“To the Americans here: Happy Thanksgiving!

“It’s a wonderful day to celebrate. And I want to begin by saying thank you to each and every one of you for the service that you offer to the Vatican, to the Holy See, to my person, but to the whole world.

“It’s so important today that the message be transmitted in a way that really reveals the truth and the harmony that the world needs, and in a special way, this particular trip to Turkey and to Lebanon has, as you know, first of all, the very meaning of unity, celebrating 1700 years from the Council of Nicaea.

“And I very much have been looking forward to this trip because of what it means for all Christians.

“But it’s also a great message to the whole world and in a special way, with the presence of myself, of the Church, of believers in both Turkey and in Lebanon, we hope to also announce, transmit and proclaim how important peace is throughout the world.”

Since Paul VI (1963-1978), who was the first to start the tradition of international papal trips, every Pope has visited Turkey, and Pope Leo wished to continue that tradition. And it is significant that the trip always occurs at the beginning of a pontificate.

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PoPe Leo's aPostoLIC journey to turkey and Lebanon

Present-day Turkey is called “the Holy Land of New Testament” as so many early Christian Church communities were in Asia Minor. As the Holy Father said at the start of his first speech to the authorities and the diplomatic corps after he landed in Ankara, Turkey is a land which “is inextricably linked to the origins of Christianity.”

Upon landing in Turkey, Pope Leo began his meetings with Turkish dignitaries by praising the beauty of Turkey, and spoke of a new bridge, opened in March 2022 over the Dardanelles Strait (and chosen for the trip’s logo), terming Turkey “the bridge between East and West.” (The bridge, the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, is the world’s longest suspension bridge, joining the European and Asian sides of Turkey.)

In this context, the Pope assured that “Christians desire to contribute positively to the unity of your country,” recalling the figure of Pope John XXIII (1958-1963), who, though Italian, is remembered in Turkey as the “Turkish Pope” because he was the Vatican’s Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece in the years 1935-1945.

Speaking about the authentic criteria of development which are “compassion and solidarity,” Pope Leo emphasized that “it is essential to honor the dignity and freedom of all God’s children, both men and women, fellow nationals and foreigners, poor and rich. We are all children of God, and this has personal, social and political implications.”

And he again mentioned artificial intelligence. It is a “great challenge” for Turkey’s leaders to “reshape local policies and international relations, especially in the face of technological developments that could otherwise exacerbate injustice instead of helping to overcome it,” he said. “Even artificial intelligence simply reproduces our own preferences and accelerates processes that, on closer inspection, are not the work of machines, but of humanity itself.”

The Holy Father spoke also about another bridge “between our common destiny and the experiences of each individual” remembering the great importance of the family in Turkish culture.

— Anna Artymiak

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28: DAY #2

PoPe: nICaea InVItes ChrIstIans to unIty In faCe of VIoLenCe, ConfLICt PoPe Leo XIV Prayed wIth Leaders of VarIous ChrIstIan ChurChes In nICaea, modern-day IznIk, turkey, and InVIted aLL ChrIstIans to foLLow the Paths of fraternaL enCounter, dIaLogue, and CooPeratIon n BY DEVIn WATKInS (VATICAn nEWS)

Friday, November 28: Pope Leo XIV and Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with other Christian Church leaders, walk to a platform overlooking the site of the Council of Nicaea (Vatican Media)

A

t the site of ancient Nicaea, Pope Leo XIV joined around 27 other leaders of Christian Churches to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in the Church’s history.

The ecumenical prayer service took place on the second day of the Pope’s Apostolic Journey to Turkey.

In his address, the Pope thanked Patriarch Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, for his “great wisdom and foresight” in calling for Church leaders to celebrate this important anniver-

sary together. He also expressed appreciation to the Heads of Churches and Representatives of Christian World Communions for attending the event.

Pope Leo recalled that the Council of Nicaea was held in 325, saying it invites all Christians, even today, to ask ourselves who is Jesus Christ for us personally.

“This question is especially important for Christians,” he said, “who risk reducing Jesus Christ to a kind of charismatic leader or superman, a misrepresentation that ultimately leads to sadness and confusion.”

THE ADDITION, AND OMISSION, OF THE “FILIOQUE” The Latin word “filioque,” meaning “and from the Son” (in reference to the sending of the Holy Spirit) was added to the Creed in the West, first in Spain (in the late 500s) and later throughout the West (in the early 1000s) to emphasize the divinity of Christ against the Arians, who argued that Jesus was not fully divine.

Professing that the Holy Spirit proceeded “from the Father and from the Son” emphasized the unity of the Son with the Father. The word was never added to the Creed in the eastern Roman Empire; so the use of the word by Catholics, now for more than 1,000 years, and the non-use of the word by the Orthodox, has become one barrier to the eventual reunion of the two great branches of Christianity, which ought to recite a common Creed if they profess a common faith.

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“IF GOD DID NOT BECOME MAN, HOW CAN WE PARTICIPATE IN HIS IMMORTAL LIFE?” POPE LEO ON THE 1700TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA Pope Leo’s November 28 address near the archaeological excavations of the Ancient Basilica of St. Neophytos, Iznik (Nicaea), Turkey, on Day #2 of his trip

In this way, we are all invited to overcome the scandal of the divisions that unfortunately still exist and to nurture the desire for unity for which the Lord Jesus prayed and gave his life.

Dear brothers and sisters, The more we are reconciled, the more we Christians At a period of history marked by many tragic signs, in can bear credible witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which people are subjected to countless threats to their which is a proclamation of hope for all. very dignity, the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Moreover, it is a message of peace and universal fraNicaea is a precious opportunity to ask ourselves who ternity that transcends the boundaries of our communities Jesus Christ is in the lives of men and women today, and and nations (cf. Francis, Address to participants in the who he is for each one of us personally.

Plenary Session of the Pontifical Council for Promoting This question is especially important for Christians, Christian Unity, 6 May 2022). who risk reducing Jesus Christ to a kind of charismatic Today, the whole of humanity afflicted by violence and leader or superman, a misrepreconflict is crying out for reconcilisentation that ultimately leads to ation. sadness and confusion (cf. Leo The desire for full communion XIV, Homily, Holy Mass Pro Ecamong all believers in Jesus clesia, May 9, 2025).

Christ is always accompanied by By denying the divinity of the search for fraternity among Christ, Arius reduced Him to a all human beings. In the Nicene mere intermediary between God Creed, we profess our faith “in and humanity, ignoring the reality one God, the Father.” of the Incarnation such that the Yet, it would not be possible to divine and the human remained invoke God as Father if we reirremediably separated. fused to recognize as brothers But if God did not become and sisters all other men and man, how can mortal creatures women, who are created in the participate in his immortal life? image of God (cf. Second Vatican What was at stake at Nicaea, Ecumenical Council, Declaration and is at stake today, is our faith Nostra Aetate, 5). in the God who, in Jesus Christ, There is a universal fraternity became like us to make us “parof men and women regardless of takers of the divine nature” (2 ethnicity, nationality, religion or Pet 1:4; cf. Saint Irenaeus, Adpersonal perspectives. versus Haereses, 3, 19; Saint Religions, by their very naAthanasius, De Incarnatione, ture, are repositories of this truth 54, 3). and should encourage individuThis Christological confession als, groups and peoples to recogof faith is of fundamental impornize this and put it into practice tance in the journey that Chris(cf. Leo XIV, Address at the contians are making towards full clusion of the Meeting for Prayer communion. For it is shared by for Peace, 28 October 2025). all Christian Churches and ComFurthermore, we must strongA depiction of the bishops who were summoned by the munities throughout the world, Roman Emperor Constantine I (272-337 A.D.) to come to ly reject the use of religion for including those which, for varijustifying war, violence, or any Nicaea in 325 A.D. The Nicene Council's most important ous reasons, do not use the form of fundamentalism or fanatiachievement was the formulation of the Nicene Creed, Nicene-Constantinopolitan cism. Instead, the paths to follow which emphasized the full divinity of Jesus Christ Creed in their liturgies. are those of fraternal encounter, Indeed, faith “in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotdialogue and cooperation. ten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages... conI am deeply grateful to His All Holiness Bartholomew, substantial with the Father” (Nicene Creed) is a profound for it was with great wisdom and foresight that he decided bond already uniting all Christians. to commemorate together the 1700th anniversary of the In this sense, to quote Saint Augustine, in the ecuCouncil of Nicaea in the very place where it was held. menical context we can also say that, “although we ChrisI likewise warmly thank the Heads of Churches and tians are many, in the one Christ we are one” (Exposition Representatives of Christian World Communions who on Psalm 127). Consequently, with an awareness that we have accepted the invitation to participate in this event. are already linked by such a profound bond, we can conMay God the Father, almighty and merciful, hear the tinue our journey of ever deeper adherence to the Word of fervent prayers we offer him today, and grant that this imGod revealed in Jesus Christ, under the guidance of the portant anniversary may bear the abundant fruits of reconHoly Spirit, in mutual love and dialogue. ciliation, unity and peace. —Pope Leo XIV n

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PoPe leo's aPosTolic Journey To Turkey and leBanon

The Council was held to respond to the Alexandrian priest Arius’ claim that Jesus was only an intermediary between God and humanity, saying He was not fully divine and ignoring the reality of the Incarnation.

“But if God did not become man, how can mortal creatures participate in His immortal life?” asked Pope Leo. “What was at stake at Nicaea, and is at stake today, is our faith in the God who, in Jesus Christ, became like us to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature.’”

The Council of Nicaea, he said, agreed upon the Christological confession we now call the Nicene Creed, which is professed by all Christian Churches and Communities.

The Symbol of Faith, as it is known, was of “fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making towards full communion.”

“Faith ‘in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages... consubstantial with the Father’ (Nicene Creed),” he said, “is a profound bond already uniting all Christians.”

The Pope invited Christians to embrace that existing bond of unity and journey ever deeper in “adherence to the Word of God revealed in Jesus Christ, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in mutual love and dialogue.”

By overcoming divisions and reconciling with one another, Christians can bear more credible witness to Jesus Christ and His proclamation of hope for all, he said.

He upheld the role of religions in serving truth and encouraging individuals to seek dialogue and respect.

“We must strongly reject the use of religion for justifying war, violence, or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism,” the Pope said.

“Instead, the paths to follow are those of fraternal encounter, dialogue and cooperation.”

Finally, Pope Leo prayed that God the Father may help the commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea bear “the abundant fruits of reconciliation, unity and peace.”

As the prayer service concluded, the leaders of Christian Churches and Communions prayed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed together, omitting the “Filioque,” which has been a main source of contention between the Eastern and Western Churches for centuries. m

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29: DAY #3

The Blue Mosque... and a JoinT declaraTion of faiTh

On Saturday, November 29, Pope Leo, on the 3rd day of his trip to Turkey and Lebanon, visited the “Blue Mosque,” but did not pause to pray in the mosque

P

ope Leo today spent his third day in Turkey, after visiting yesterday the site of the Council of Nicaea, held 1,700 years ago in 325 A.D., in Istanbul, the ancient Constantinople, the capital city of the Eastern Roman Empire, founded by Constantine and dedicated in 330 A.D. On the Pope’s itinerary — as it was when both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis made their visits to Turkey — was a visit to the city’s famous “Blue Mosque.”

The visit to the mosque prompted a certain interest because Leo did not stop his tour of the mosque for a moment of prayer, as had been expected On the morning of the 3rd day of his visit to Turkey, Pope Leo XIV — like his two predecessors, Benedict XVI and Francis — made a visit to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, known the “Blue Mosque” for its strikingly blue ceramic tiles.

A silent prayer had been scheduled during the visit, as had been a welcome address by the President of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs, Safi Arpagus.

But neither took place.

The Pope was accompanied by President of the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs, Safi Arpagus, and he

14 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

was guided by the Muezzin, Asign Musa Tunca.

The Vatican confirmed in its second bulletin today that there was no moment of silent prayer during the visit to the Mosque.

The Holy Father, in a sign of respect, removed his shoes at the entrance, walking in white socks, but did not pray.

Asign Musa Tunca, who, as the Muezzin, calls the faithful to prayer, told the journalists present outside the Blue Mosque after the visit that he asked the Pope if he would like to pray, but that Leo had replied that he preferred to just visit the mosque instead.

The atmosphere of the 20-minute visit was very good and relaxed.

The Pope listened attentively to the Muezzin’s explanations and the two exchanged friendly words.

So what really happened?

Here is how American Vaticanist Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press explained what happened: “Even the Vatican seemed caught off guard by his (Pope Leo’s) decision not to pray. The Holy See had to correct the official record of the visit after it originally kept the planned reference to him pausing for a moment of prayer.

Speaking to reporters after the visit, the

imam Tunca said he had told the Pope: ‘It’s not my house, not your house, (it’s the) house of Allah. If you want, you can worship here.’

Tunca, Winfield reported, continued: “But he (the Pope) said, ‘That’s OK.’ “‘He wanted to see the mosque, wanted to feel (the) atmosphere of the mosque, I think. And (he) was very pleased.’”

From this, it seems that Leo may indeed have intended to take a moment of silence or prayer — as the Vatican originally said was scheduled — but had heard “It’s not my house, not your house, (it’s the) house of Allah.”

That is when Pope Leo said,

“That’s OK,” and gave his host to understand that he wished to simply tour the mosque, not stop to pray in it.

The second significant moment of the day was the private meeting with the leaders of the local Churches and Christian communities at the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephem.

The Holy Father was welcomed by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch and the Metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch for the dioceses of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, Metropolitan Mor Philoxenus Yusuf Cetin, and received a bouquet of white flowers.

At the end of the visit, Pope Leo wrote in the church guest book: “On the historic occasion in which we celebrate 1700 years since the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, we gather to renew our faith in Jesus Christ, true God and true man, celebrating the faith we share together.

“I wish many blessings on all who have gathered here and on all the communities they represent.”

Leo XIV two predecessors, Benedict XVI and Francis, made a visit to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, known the “Blue Mosque”

“WE REJECT ANY USE OF RELIGION TO JUSTIFY VIOLENCE” COMMON DECLARATION

BY POPE LEO AND PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW “O GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD, FOR HE IS GOOD, FOR HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOR EVER” —PSALM 106 (105):1

O

n the eve of the feast of Saint Andrew the First-called Apostle, brother of the Apostle Peter and patron of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, we, Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, give heartfelt thanks to God, our merciful Father, for the gift of this fraternal meeting. Following the example of our venerable predecessors, and heeding the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, we continue to walk with firm determination on the path of dialogue, in love and truth (cf. Eph 4:15), towards the hoped-for restoration of full communion between our sister Churches. Aware that Christian unity is not merely the result of human efforts, but a gift that comes from on high, we invite all the members of our Churches – clergy, monastics, consecrated persons, and the lay faithful – earnestly to seek the fulfilment of the prayer that Jesus Christ addressed to the Father: “that they may all be one,

even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you... so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21).

The commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical

Council of Nicaea, celebrated on the eve of our meeting, was an extraordinary moment of grace. The Council of Nicaea held in 325 AD was a providential event of unity.

The purpose for commemorating this event, however, is not simply to call to mind the historical importance of the Council, but to spur us on to be

continuously open to the same Holy Spirit who spoke through Nicaea, as we wrestle with the many challenges of our time.

We are deeply grateful to all the leaders and delegates of other Churches and ecclesial communities who were willing to participate in this event. In addition to acknowledging the obstacles that prevent the restoration of full communion among all Christians – obstacles which we seek to address through the path of theological dialogue – we must also recognize that what binds us together is the faith expressed in the creed of Nicaea.

This is the saving faith in the person of the Son of God, true God from true God, homoousios with the Father, who for us and our salvation was incarnate and dwelt among us, was crucified, died and was buried, arose on the third day, ascended into heaven, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

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PoPe Leo's aPostoLic journey to turKey and Lebanon

Through the coming of the Son of tion of Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical gions of our world, conflict and vioGod, we are initiated into the mystery Patriarch Athenagoras, 7 December lence continue to destroy the lives of of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and 1965). so many.

Holy Spirit – and are invited to beAt the same time, we exhort those We appeal to those who have civil come, in and through the person of who are still hesitant to any form of di- and political responsibilities to do Christ, children of the Father and co- alogue, to listen to what the Spirit says everything possible to ensure that the heirs with Christ by the grace of the to the Churches (cf. Rev 2:29), who in tragedy of war ceases immediately, Holy Spirit. the current circumstances of history and we ask all people of good will to Endowed with this common confes- urges us to present to the world a re- support our entreaty. sion, we can face our shared chal- newed witness of peace, reconciliation In particular, we reject any use of lenges in bearing witness to the faith and unity. religion and the name of God to justify expressed at Nicaea with mutual reConvinced of the importance of di- violence. spect, and work together towards con- alogue, we express our continued We believe that authentic interrelicrete solutions with genuine hope. support for the work of the Joint Inter- gious dialogue, far from being a cause We are convinced that the com- national Commission for the Theologi- of syncretism and confusion, is essenmemoration of this significant anniver- cal Dialogue between the Roman tial for the coexistence of peoples of sary can inspire new and different traditions and culcourageous steps on the path tures. towards unity.

Mindful of the 60th anniverAmong its decisions, the sary of the declaration Nostra First Council of Nicaea also Aetate, we exhort all men and provided the criteria for deterwomen of good will to work tomining the date of Easter, gether to build a more just and common for all Christians. supportive world, and to care We are grateful to divine for creation, which is entrustprovidence that this year the ed to us by God. whole Christian world celeOnly in this way can the brated Easter on the same human family overcome indifday. ference, desire for dominaIt is our shared desire to tion, greed for profit and xenocontinue the process of exphobia. ploring a possible solution for While we are deeply This year also commemorates the 60th year since the historic Declaration celebrating together the alarmed by the current interof Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of 1964 Feast of Feasts every year. national situation, we do not We hope and pray that all Chris- Catholic Church and the Orthodox lose hope. God will not abandon hutians will, “in all wisdom and spiritual Church, which in its current phase is manity. understanding” (Col 1:9), commit examining issues that have historically The Father sent his Only-Begotten themselves to the process of arriving been considered divisive.

Son to save us, and the Son of God, at a common celebration of the gloriTogether with the irreplaceable role our Lord Jesus Christ, bestowed upon ous resurrection of our Lord Jesus that theological dialogue plays in the us the Holy Spirit, to make us sharers Christ. process of rapprochement between in his divine life, preserving and proThis year we also commemorate our Churches, we also commend the tecting the sacredness of the human the 60th anniversary of the historic other necessary elements of this person.

Joint Declaration of our venerable pre- process, including fraternal contacts, By the Holy Spirit we know and exdecessors, Pope Paul VI and Ecu- prayer, and joint work in all those perience that God is with us. menical Patriarch Athenagoras, areas where cooperation is already For this reason, in our prayer we which extinguished the exchange of possible. entrust to God every human being, esexcommunications of 1054.

We strongly urge all the faithful of pecially those in need, those who exWe give thanks to God that this our Churches, and especially the cler- perience hunger, loneliness or illness. prophetic gesture prompted our gy and theologians, to embrace joyWe invoke upon each member of Churches to pursue “in a spirit of trust, ously the fruits that have been the human family every grace and esteem and mutual charity the dia- achieved thus far, and to labor for their blessing so that “their hearts may be logue which, with God’s help, will lead continued increase. encouraged, as they are knit together to living together again, for the greater The goal of Christian unity includes in love, to have all the riches of asgood of souls and the coming of the the objective of contributing in a funda- sured understanding and the knowlkingdom of God, in that full commu- mental and life-giving manner to edge of God’s mystery,” who is our nion of faith, fraternal accord and peace among all peoples.

Lord Jesus Christ (Col 2:2) sacramental life which existed among Together we fervently raise our them during the first thousand years of voices in invoking God’s gift of peace —From the Phanar, 29 Novemthe life of the Church” (Joint Declara- upon our world. Tragically, in many re- ber 2025 16 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30: DAY #4

feast of st. andreW, brother of st. Peter “We must draW from thIs shared aPostoLIC faIth”

D

ay #4 of Pope Leo’s first foreign trip as Pope was marked by mention of support for a Palestinian state during the papal flight press conference.

Pope Leo said today that the only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state, reaffirming the Vatican’s long-held position.

“We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” Leo, the first American Pope, told journalists on a flight from Turkey to Lebanon, as he held his first in-flight press conference as Pope.

Leo quickly added: “We are also friends of Israel, and we try with the two

sides to be a mediating voice that can help draw closer to a solution with justice for all.”

And Leo also emphasized something that he first mentioned yesterday: that he hopes to visit Jerusalem in the Holy Land, along with other Christian leaders, on the 2,000th anniversary of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ in 2033 A.D. Most political figures in Israel — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are vehemently opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Leo’s eight-minute press conference was brief and focused primarily on his visit to Turkey.

Still, the press conference did touch on the difficult situation in Lebanon, where the papal plane was about to land, and in neighboring Israel, where a bloody war between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, and to a lesser degree in the West Bank, has been fought since October 7, 2023, more than two years ago, leaving tens of thousands dead.

And so, the most important “takeaway” from the press conference was what Leo said about Palestine: that the Vatican has supported, and still does support, the idea of a separate state for the Palestinian people as “the only solution” viable to bring peace to the region.

—RM

Pope Leo XIV made a historic visit to Annaya, Lebanon, on December 1, 2025, on the second day of his Apostolic. becoming the first Pope to pray at the tomb of St. Charbel Makhlouf at the Monastery of St. Maroun. It was a deeply symbolic moment honoring the Lebanese saint who is also a symbol of ChristianMuslim coexistence in Lebanon.

Both Christians and Muslims revere him. Pope Leo prayed silently at the tomb, emphasizing divine hope beyond political struggles.

The focus in this photograph is on the image of the saint (@Vatican Media)

from IstanbuL to beIrut PoPe Leo Leaves IstanbuL and traveLs to Lebanon, Country of st. CharbeL...

T

he 4th and last day of Leo’s Apostolic trip to Turkey started with the visit to the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral for a prayer meeting. Before it, His Beatitude Sahak II Mashalian, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, welcomed him with a gift of bread.

Sahak II Mashalian gave his address in English. He said that the First Council of Nicaea “was a spiritual turning point in Christian history, reminding us that unity is essential, that

truth must be spoken with courage, and that our shared faith in Christ transcends nation, ethnicity and time.”

Speaking of the commemoration of 1700th anniversary of Nicaea, Leo spoke about unity and restoring full communion.

“We must draw from this shared apostolic faith in order to recover the unity that existed in the early centuries between the Church of Rome and the ancient Oriental Churches,” Leo said.

“We must also take inspiration from the experience of the early Church in order to restore full communion, a communion which does not imply absorption or domination, but rather an exchange of the gifts received by our Churches from the Holy Spirit for the glory of God the Father and the edification of the body of Christ (cf. Eph 4:12).”

Leo XIV expressed his hope that “the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 17

LEAD STORY

PoPe Leo's aPostoLic journey to turkey and Lebanon

Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches will be able to resume promptly its fruitful work, seeking a model of full communion ‘together, of course,’ as Pope John Paul II wished in his 1995 Encyclical Ut unum sint (no. 95).”

The Holy Father at the end of the meeting received from the Patriarch a chalice and gave him his own gift, a mosaic picture of the Greek Cross created by the Vatican Mosaic Studio.

The Divine Liturgy For the fourth time in history, the Ecumenical Patriarchate hosted the Holy Father for the celebration of the liturgical solemnity of St. Andrew’s feast day.

Leo XIV arrived at the Patriarchal Church of Saint George amid Orthodox chants. He lit a candle and entered the Patriarchal Church to participate in the Divine Liturgy. He was wearing a richly calligraphed and gemmed stole adorned with 11 crosses, which he received the day before from the Ecumenical Patriarch as a gift.

Leo recalled that ancient tradition tell us St. Andrew brought the Gospel to Istanbul. “His faith is the same as our faith, namely that which was defined by the Ecumenical Councils and is professed by the Church today.”

In his speech, given in English, the Holy Father spoke about the dialogue of reconciliation between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches and the need of them to be peacemakers in today’s world.

“In the past, there have been many misunderstandings and even conflicts between Christians of different Churches, and there are still obstacles preventing us from achieving full communion,” Pope Leo said.

“Nevertheless, we must not relent in striving towards unity,” he continued. “We must continue to consider

each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and to love one another accordingly.”

The Holy Father stressed, then, two other further challenges of our times: “the threatening ecological crisis” and “the use of new technologies, especially in the filed of communications.” He called Catholics and Orthodox to “cooperate in promoting their responsible use.”

At the end of the solemn two-hour Divine Liturgy, both Leo XIV and Bartholomew I imparted together a traditional joint ecumenical blessing from the balcony of the Patriarchate, as did his predecessors. The gesture was received with applause by those gathered in front of the Patriarchate.

Arriving in Lebanon In the afternoon, Leo boarded Shepherd One and flew to Beirut for a three-day visit to Lebanon, biblical Land of Cedars.

Leo XIV is the fourth Pope to visit the country since Paul VI, who had only a short layover in 1964.

John Paul II visited in 1997 and Benedict XVI in 2012, making his last Apostolic Journey before his resignation in February 2013.

Pope Francis also wished to visit this country but was never able to do it.

At Beirut International Airport the pontiff was welcomed by the President of the Republic of Lebanon,

18 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

Joseph Aoun. A couple of children welcomed the Pope with flowers, and again with bread and salt. (Leo XIV had a bite.)

The Pope was warmly welcomed by large crowds of people who gathered along the streets, shouting “Viva il Papa!” and dancing and making music with joy, despite a heavy rain.

Ships exhibited a water salvo of honor and 21-gun salute.

The last part of the route in Beirut Leo XVI made in his popemobile.

Meeting with Civil Authorities As his last meeting of a long Sunday, Leo XIV had a meeting with the Lebanese Authorities, Civil Society and the Diplomatic Corps.

In his speech, given in English, Leo XIV called Lebanon a “land where ‘peace’ is much more than just a word,” but “is a desire and a vocation,” and “a gift and a work in progress.”

The Pope praised the beauty of nature in Lebanon, and expressed his appreciation of the rich culture of the Lebanese nation.

“You are a people,” he said, “who do not give up, but in the face of trials, always know how to rise again with courage. Your resilience is an essential characteristic of authentic peacemakers, for the work of peace is indeed a continuous starting anew.

“Moreover, the commitment and love for peace know no fear in the face of apparent defeat, are not daunted by disappointment, but look ahead, welcoming and embracing all situations with hope.

“It takes tenacity to build peace; it takes perseverance to protect and nurture life.”

The Holy Father gave his hosts a cast of a commemorative medal. In the center were depicted the Maronite Saint, Charbel Makhlouf, and Saint Andrew the Apostle.

— Anna Artymiak

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1: DAY #5

sT. charbel and our lady of lebanon “o sainT charbel, absorbed in God, inTercede for Me”

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ope Leo today prayed at the tomb of St. Charbel.

We know what he prayed for — the unity of the Church and peace in the world, among other things, as Leo made clear later.

The Pope also asked for the grace of conversion, saying: “There is no peace without conversion of hearts.”

We know that many who have turned in prayer to St. Charbel (18281898) for his intercession have testified that they received miracles of healing and consolation. A record of these miracles is kept in a little room in the

monastery where he once lived, and they now number more than 29,700.

“And I too have received a miracle through the intercession of St. Charbel,” the keeper of the records told me when I visited the monastery in 2023.

Father Louis Matar told me that he had had a heart attack and collapsed while celebrating Mass some years ago.

His heart stopped beating. The doctor called in to attend to him pronounced him dead.

Then his brothers pleaded to be able to pray one last time for the interces-

sion of St. Charbel for his life, and they were permitted to do so. Then... Father Louis awoke, and, after a few moments, was strong enough to get out of bed and walk.

This is a prayer to St. Charbel: “O Saint Charbel, absorbed in God, intercede for me. O Jesus, the most peaceful, you who have raised your beloved Charbel to biblical perfection, I solemnly ask you to grant me the grace to spend the rest of my life according to your demand. I love you, O God, my savior. Amen.”

—RM

The MonasTery of sT. Maroun “There is no peace wiThouT conversion of hearTs”

P

ope Leo started the secHe said that he was entrustond day of his trip to ing to St. Charbel’s intercesLebanon with a visit to the sion “the needs of the Church, tomb of St. Charbel at the Lebanon and the world” — Monastery of St. Maroun situnity for the Church, and peace uated on a picturesque hill in for Lebanon and the world.

Annaya.

The Pope also asked for the As Leo himself said, he grace of conversion, saying: came “as a pilgrim to the “There is no peace without tomb of St. Charbel.” conversion of hearts.”

Thousands gathered along As a gift for the monastery, the route of the popemobile. the Pope brought a lamp.

Enthusiasm was huge although the weather was Shrine of Our Lady of harsh. But even a heavy rain Lebanon could not deter the Lebanese The second event of the Pope Leo XIV prays before the tomb of St. Charbel in Lebanon on December 1, 2025 from coming see the Pope. morning was a meeting with Reaching the hill, the bishops, priests, consecrated Holy Father changed his car for the pope- country’s different ethnic and religious persons and pastoral workers at the Shrine mobile to allow more chances for the pil- groups, the president of the country must of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, which always be a Maronite Christian. grims to see and greet him. is visited also by Muslims.

After his silent prayer, the Holy FaWhen the Holy Father reached the Thus, the figure of Our Lady is uniting monastery, he went first to the tomb of St. ther, in a short reflection, pronounced in Christians and Muslims in the country.

Charbel, kneeling in front of the cedar impressively fluent French, presented a The Holy Father answered the long coffin of the saint for about five minutes summary of St. Charbel’s spiritual legacy. ovation greeting him with a warm and St. Charbel’s “counter-cultural” wit- surprising “thank you” in Arabic, the in a dark chapel.

Then Leo, the first Pope to visit this ness and immense prayerfulness “could common language of Lebanon. teach those who live without God how to shrine, lit a candle.

The Holy Father was welcomed by There was present also the President of pray, those who live immersed in noise Raphaël Bedros XXI, Catholicos-Patrithe country, Joseph Aoun, with his wife. how to be silent, those who live ostenta- arch of Cilicia for the Catholic ArmeniAccording to the Lebanese Constitution, tiously how to be modest, and those who ans, who called the Shrine a place where which protects power-sharing among the seek riches how to be poor.” “the peoples are united and the religions JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 19

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PoPe Leo's aPostoLic journey to turKey and Lebanon

VISIT AND PRAYER AT THE TOMB OF SAINT CHARBEL MAKLŪF GREETING OF THE HOLY FATHER MONASTERY OF SAINT MAROUN (ANNAYA) - MONDAY, 1ST DECEMBER 2025 Dear brothers and sisters!

I would like to thank the Superior General for his kind words and for welcoming us to this beautiful monastery in Annaya. The natural enviroment around this house of prayer also draws us in with its austere beauty.

I give thanks to God for allowing me to come as a pilgrim to the tomb of Saint Charbel. I think that my predecessors – especially Saint Paul VI, who beatified and canonized him – would have greatly desired to do the same.

Dear friends, what does Saint Charbel teach us today? What is the legacy of this man who wrote nothing, who lived a hidden and silent life, yet whose fame spread throughout the world?

I would like to offer the following summary of his legacy. The Holy Spirit formed him so that he could teach those who live without God how to pray, those who live immersed in noise how to be silent, those who live ostentatiously how to be modest, and those who seek riches how to be poor. All of

these behaviors are counter-cultural, yet, that is precisely why they attract us, just like fresh, pure water draws those walking in the desert.

In particular, Saint Charbel reminds us, bishops and ordained ministers, of the evangelical demands of our vocation. At the same time, his steadfastness, as radical as it was humble, is a message for all Christians.

There is another crucial aspect of his legacy. Saint Charbel has never ceased to intercede for us before our Heavenly Father, the source of every good and grace. Even during his earthly life, many went to him to receive comfort, forgiveness and advice from the Lord. After Saint Charbel’s death, his work multiplied and became like a river of mercy. For this reason, on the twenty-second of every month, thousands of pilgrims from different countries come here to spend a day in prayer and to renew their souls and bodies.

Sisters and brothers, today we entrust to Saint Charbel’s intercession the

needs of the Church, Lebanon and the world. For the Church, we ask for communion and unity, beginning with families who are small domestic churches, then parish and diocesan communities, and finally for the universal Church.

Communion and unity. For the world, we ask for peace. We especially implore it for Lebanon and for the entire Levant. But we know well – and the saints remind us – that there is no peace without conversion of hearts.

May Saint Charbel, therefore, help us to turn to God and ask for the gift of conversion for all of us.

Dear friends, as a symbol of the light that God has enkindled here through Saint Charbel, I have brought a lamp as a gift. In offering this lamp, I entrust Lebanon and its people to the protection of Saint Charbel, so that they may always walk in the light of Christ.

We give thanks to God for the gift of Saint Charbel! I also thank all of you for preserving his memory. Keep walking in the light of the Lord! n

meet and reconcile.” The Pope quoted words of St. John Paul II who, in his Message to the Citizens of Lebanon in 1984, called the Lebanese “the ones responsible for hope.”

Leo XIV said that the Shrine of Harissa is “a symbol of unity for the entire Lebanese people” where prayer “gives us the strength to continue to hope and work, even when surrounded by the sound of weapons and when the very necessities of daily life become a challenge.”

Speaking about building peace, he said that “we must anchor ourselves to heaven” and asked to “love without being afraid of losing those things which pass away and let us give without measure.”

These roots are strong like those of cedars, which are a symbol of Lebanon, present on its flag.

He recalled the words of Pope Benedict XVI, who spoke about “the unifying power of love even in the moments of trial.”

After his speech, the Pope offered a golden rose at a smaller, wooden statue of Our Lady, and prayed for a few moments.

Then, the faithful sang the Magnificat in Arabic and the Our Father in French.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon was built in 1904, for the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX. It was inaugurated on the first Sunday of May, 1908, which became the annual feast day of Our Lady of Lebanon. The white bronze statue, cast in Lyon, France, is 8.50 meters high and weighs about 15 tons.

Lebanon, a land “where minarets and church bell towers stand side by side, yet both reach skyward, [testifying] to the enduring faith of this Land and the steadfast devotion of its people to the one God.” “Here, the land itself becomes more than a mere site of encounter between Jesus and a pleading mother; it becomes a place where humility, trust, and perseverance overcome all barriers and meet God’s boundless love that embraces every human heart,” said the Pope recalling that Jesus, in the region of the Decapolis, encountered the Syro-Phoenician woman.

At the end of his address, Leo XIV also spoke about the timeless symbolism of olive trees as trees of reconciliation and peace.

“From this tree flows oil that heals — a balm for physical and spiritual wounds — manifesting the boundless compassion of God for all who suffer,” he said.

“Its oil also provides light, serving as a reminder of the call to illuminate our hearts through faith, charity and humility.”

At the very end, Leo XIV entrusted the whole country to Our Lady of Lebanon, who is venerated on March 25, a day which is a holiday in the country.m

Beirut Ecumenical and Interreligious Meeting In the afternoon, the Holy Father, back in Beirut, held an interreligious meeting in Martyrs’ Square, then met with young people in the Square of the Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch in Bkerké, outside of Beirut.

The sky in the afternoon cleared, and sunset bathed the city in gold.

The Martyrs’ Square is near the port where the tragic explosion took place in 2020, aggravating an already difficult situation in Beirut caused by the 1975-1990 civil war. Pope Francis wanted to visit Lebanon for that reason, and today Leo XIV realized that dream.

In his address, given in English, Leo XIV underlined the uniqueness of

20 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2: DAY #6

leo’s fInal day In lebanon “I pray that thIs land of the levant may always be IllumInated by faIth In Jesus ChrIst”

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ope Leo XIV concluded his Pope encouraged the people to “find first international journey on the small shining lights in the heart Tuesday, December 2, spending of the night,” opening themselves to the final day of his visit to gratitude as a way of renewing comLebanon under clear, sunny skies. mitment to one another and to the For three days, Lebanon country. seemed able to set aside its sufferBut gratitude alone is not ing and recover a sense of hope. enough, he warned. “It must lead to Leo’s words throughout the a transformation of the heart, a contrip were marked by the tenderversion of life,” he said, calling all ness that has become a hallmark to “live in the light of faith” and not of his pontificate. be discouraged by financial hardThe Holy Father left the aposship, violence, the idolatry of montolic nunciature in Beirut at 8 a.m. ey or the spread of evil. by white Toyota to Jal el Dib, At the end of the Mass, the Pope about 5.6 miles north of the capigifted a chalice and then delivered a Pope Leo addresses journalists traveling with him tal, for a visit to the staff and pasurprise appeal in English — a meson his airplane, “Shepherd One,” at the end of the first Apostolic Journey of his pontificate tients of the “De la Croix” (“Of sage directed to the entire Middle the Cross”) Psychiatric HospiEast. ones killed on that terrible day. More tal.

“I wanted to come as a pilgrim of than 200 people died, 7,000 were inThere he met with the Franciscan jured, and an estimated 300,000 lost hope to the Middle East, imploring God Sisters of the Holy Cross and the peo- their homes. Families of the victims con- for peace for this beloved land, marked ple they serve — an encounter that tinue to await answers from authorities. by instability, wars and suffering,” he proved to be the most moving moment “Lebanon, stand up! Be a home of said, urging people to reject despair and of his 1st apostolic journey. justice and fraternity! Be a prophetic to commit themselves to coexistence and At the hospital, the joy seemed end- sign of peace for the whole of the Lev- fraternity. “Be artisans of peace, heralds less. The mother superior, speaking in ant!” Pope Leo XIV used these words of peace, witnesses of peace!”

Arabic, was visibly moved and struggled during his homily at a Mass celebrated The last day of Leo XIV’s visit closed to deliver her prepared remarks. this morning at the Beirut Waterfront, a trip marked by joy, gratitude and clariShe emphasized that the hospital is “a the final major event of his visit. ty from the Holy See. For many around place that does not choose its patients, With the Catholic Church having the world, the visit offered a glimpse of but lovingly embraces those no one else begun the Advent season, the liturgical Lebanon’s cultural and spiritual richness has chosen.” She asked Pope Leo to con- vestments were violet.

— a side often overshadowed by crisis. sider the canonization of the hospital’s In his homily, Leo XIV spoke with The Pope’s presence reshaped global founder, Blessed Father Jacques, beat- compassion about the heavy burdens headlines, placing Lebanon back in the ified in 2008 by Benedict XVI. carried by the Lebanese people. Yet the news for hopeful reasons.

“I wanted to come because Jesus During the farewell ceremony, Presidwells in this place: in you who are ill, dent Joseph Aoun thanked the pontiff PILGRIMAGE TO LEBANON and in you who care for the ailing — the for his message. “In your words and enIf you would like to travel on a Sisters, the doctors, all the healthcare counters with the sons and daughters of pilgrimage with Inside the Vatican workers and staff,” Leo XIV said, assurthis country, we felt your love for Pilgrimages to Lebanon, to the ing them of his daily prayers.

Lebanon,” he said. “While arriving in tomb of St. Charbel, we will be your country meant gently entering into making a pilgrimage to the tomb in Silent Prayer at Explosion Site your culture, leaving this land means September of 2026.

After meeting the patients and staff, carrying you in my heart,” he said.

Leo XIV traveled to the site of the AuAs he approached Shepherd One — Please consider joining us! gust 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion for an ITA Airways A32neo — people waitInsideTheVaticanPilgrimages.com, another deeply emotional moment. ed on the tarmac under a bright Lebor call 202-536-4555, He prayed silently at the monument anese sun. As Leo boarded, they called or email us at to the victims, laid red roses and met out in English, “We love you, Pope!” pilgrimages@insidethevatican.com families who held photographs of loved —Anna Artymiak JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 21

INTERVIEW

“seek that the GLory of God may shIne forth In peace amonG men” IntervIew wIth the fIrst bIshop to be consecrated by pope Leo, poLIsh archbIshop MIRoslaW WachoWskI, new papaL nuncIo to Iraq. he was consecrated on october 26 In rome n BY AnnA ARTYMIAK

On October 26, Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Basilica carried out the episcopal consecration of Miroslaw Stanisław Wachowski, whom Leo had appointed in September as his papal nuncio to Iraq (Photos - Grzegorz Galazka)

On September 18, Pope Leo chose a Polish priest and Vatican diplomat, Father Miroslaw Stanisław Wachowski, 55, to be his new Apostolic Nuncio to Iraq.

Five weeks later, on October 26, 2025, Leo consecrated Wachowski as an archbishop: the 1st bishop Leo has consecrated. Wachowski had served in the important position of Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Relations with States since 2019. Archbishop Wachowski’s episcopal motto is “Gloria Deo Pax Hominibus” (“Glory to God, Peace to Men”), a phrase described by Pope Leo XIV in his homily at Wachowski’s episcopal consecration as a “program for life,” seeking so that God’s glory may always shine more brightly by bringing men to live together in peace.

“This is the profound meaning of every Christian vocation, and in a particular way of the episcopal vocation: to make visible, through one’s own life, the praise of God and His desire to reconcile the world to Himself,” Pope Leo said.

Inside the Vatican’s Anna Artymiak, interviewed the new archbishop in Rome.—The Editor 22

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ll of Pope Leo’s “first” decisions and actions are being viewed with special attention, as the figure of Robert Prevost still remains little known.

On the last Sunday of October, October 26, the Holy Father, for the first time in his life, ordained a bishop: Msgr. Mirosław Stanisław Wachowski, appointed Apostolic nuncio to Iraq on September 18 after 6 years in the Vatican Secretariat of State as Undersecretary for Relations with States, where he was right hand collaborator to Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States. (In Peru, Bishop Prevost did not have occasion to ordain a bishop personally, he was only a co-consecrator.)

For this reason, Wachowski’s ordination was in the media spotlight, with more than the usual number of photographers accredited for the event. Also, the new nuncio to Iraq is highly respected by the Ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, who appreciate him as “a great diplomat.”

Leo XIV, personally ordaining Wachowski, gave a signal of respect for him and his new mission. The new nuncio sees in it “a signal about how important the Church in Iraq is to the Pope, the Church in the Middle East, where Chris-

tians do not always live in easy circumstances.” Leo XIV pronounced a very personal, poetic and yet, at the same time, focused homily, on the role of the bishop — so this homily, behind the Vatican scenes, is now being regarded as the second in importance, after Leo’s inaugural Mass homily on May 18, in order to understand Leo’s vision.Archbishop Wachowski, before starting his first diplomatic mission as Apostolic nuncio on November 27 — the same day Leo XIV began his first Apostolic Journey — went to Poland to celebrate his first Mass as a bishop at the Cathedral of Ełk, his native diocese, and in Pisz, at his home town parish. There is another close connection between Pope Leo and Archbishop Wachowski — his 55th birthday was on May 8 — the day of Leo’s election.

decided to attend the diocesan seminary, they tried to dissuade me, saying, “What, you’re going to the diocesan seminary? No, no, it’s not worth it, it’s not worth it.” But interestingly, these were friends with whom we used to meet, who were not even Verbists yet. The Divine Word Missionaries themselves always treated me with great respect, saying, “It’s great that you’ve decided to go to seminary.” However, God works in mysterious ways, because I did not become a missionary. But later, in the priesthood, He called me to work in Vatican diplomacy, which means working all over the world. I do not work in my homeland, but I serve God in the universal Church, wherever He wants to send me.

And so it happened that the first place I served was Senegal, a country where missionaries also work. My first expeAnna Artymiak: Let’s rience with diplomacy was an begin with your vocation... internship in Guinea — in ARCHBISHOP MIROSŁAV Conakry, the capital. Guinea is WACHOWSKI: When it comes also very much a mission to vocation, it’s interesting country. that I didn’t have a vocation As for the decision to that arose in my early youth. become a priest, I didn’t have When I was in high school, I some spectacular calling “THE NUNCIO IS A SIGN OF THE HOLY where I suddenly heard a voice didn’t think about it at all at first. I became an altar boy FATHER’S PRESENCE IN THAT COUNTRY, saying, “Go.” I simply had thanks to my friend, who got doubts about what to do in life, A SIGN OF HIS CONCERN FOR me involved in Oasis, and at whether to continue what I the altar when I was in the fifth was doing. I studied at a techTHE LOCAL CHURCH” level of technical school. nical school specializing in That’s how he attracted me. forestry, so the natural path was to go to college and study And it was so surprising that God chose me, someone the same subject. I was even preparing for college entrance who was not involved in Church activities, and only at the exams. But a doubt about this path was somewhere inside last moment. My friend, who later became a father and did me. And a certainty arose in my heart — of course no one not go to seminary, and I, decided to go on a vocational can be 100% sure — but it was after the night vigil before retreat to the seminary organized by the Hosianum, by the Easter Sunday, when I was in fourth level. After the Holy Seminary of the Archdiocese of Warmia. It was organized Saturday liturgy, there was an exposition of the Blessed in Dobre Miasto. But in those days, there weren’t many cell Sacrament, and I spent the whole night in the church keepphones. It was the 1990s. We arrived in Dobre Miasto in ing vigil. I left with the conviction that yes, I had to at least the evening, knocked on the door of the seminary, and the try pursuing a vocation, and we would see if the Lord spiritual father opened it and said, “But I told everyone that would confirm it. we canceled the vocation retreat.” It’s quite a distance from How did your family react? Was it the first vocation Pisz to Dobre Miasto. So what now? in the family?

The spiritual father thought for a moment and said, Yes. I had two sisters; I am the only man in the family.

“Listen, there are Verbists nearby, and I know they are havSo when I told my family that I was going to seminary, my ing a retreat at the same time, so go to the Verbists.” So we mother burst into tears. My father, on the other hand, took went to the Verbists [Divine Word Missionaries]. I became me aside and said, “Come on, let’s go to the forest. I have friends with the Verbists. Indeed, the atmosphere at this a tree to cut down or something,” and he asked me, “Have retreat was very good. you thought this through? You’re my only son. The family Later, I went to their prayer meetings once or twice. A name will die out.” That’s how my father explained it to group of young people formed, who were preparing for me. And I said, “Dad, I’m going to seminary anyway, their high school exams, and some of them decided to join despite that.” And so I saw that he couldn’t quite come to the Verbists’ seminary. When I later told them that I had terms with this idea, until I came home after the rite of JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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INTERVIEW ARchbIshop MIRoslAW WAchoWskI investiture (in Poland, on the third level of 6-year formation). When :I came home and he saw me in my cassock, he said: “Now you mustn’t think about leaving.” So you can see that he had thought it all through somehow. My dad died a month after my ordination. He was at my ordination, on June 15, 1996, and he was at my first Mass, and a month later he had an accident and sadly passed away.

As for my mother, when she accompanied me to the train station, she naturally burst into tears when she said goodbye to me. But then I came home for All Saints’ Day, and she herself — at least that’s what she told me — said (to herself): “You’re stupid! Look, he’s smiling, he’s happy, you can see that he likes it, you can see that he’s enjoying it, so why are you crying?” And from then on, she really didn’t have a problem with it. My mother was like that: she really wanted what was best for her children. If we were happy, she was happy too.

Pope Leo noted you grew up in a country family...

My parents had a farm, a small one, about 10 hectares, but we had all the animals, we cultivated the land, so I really grew up in the country. My dad worked as a laborer in Pisz. We ran the farm almost until I became a priest.

And what the Holy Father said in his homily really struck a chord with me. Sometimes I had to get up early because there was work to be done.

And, of course, the faithfulness that the Holy Father spoke about is something natural, because when you have a farm, you have to make sure that the animals are fed and watered on time. And this is a natural rhythm, in which there are no days off, because it has to be done every day.

That’s why I think it has definitely stayed with me after all these years. The farm was located outside the village, and the Piska Forest begins literally at the edge of the farm. We went to church every Sunday, on foot, of course. One of the memories I remember most is always walking to the midnight Mass.

It was often in winter, when there was still snow. It was an amazing feeling to see people and families coming out of individual houses scattered somewhere in the fields and coming together to go to church for Mass. It is a childhood memory that is deeply ingrained in me and which, unfortunately, I now miss a little.

How do you remember the election of John Paul II? I was a young boy at the time, born in 1970, so I remember the news reports that broke the story. What struck me was how dry the news was: “Today, a new Pope has been elected, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła from Krakow” — full stop, and that was pretty much all there was to it.

However, it was an incredible experience for all of us at home, a surprise: what would happen now that a Polish Pope had been elected? Of course, there was also great joy at Mass, and the priests commented on it.

As I said, I was born in 1970, so I entered adult life with John Paul II, and my priestly life was with John Paul II. When I was in the seminary, John Paul II also came to Ełk, so we had a meeting with him. My priesthood was always lived with him.

I would also like to share a personal reflection. It is cus24

INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

tomary for those who graduate from the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy to meet with the Holy Father before leaving for their first post. I entered the diplomatic service in 2004, and we were the last class to be sent to the diplomatic service by Saint John Paul II. This is something that is very close to my heart. I feel that he sent me to work in diplomacy. My mother always tells me that she asks Saint John Paul II to intercede for me, “because I know how close you were to him.” Now Pope Leo is sending me to Iraq as a nuncio, so this is another mission.

Was your appointment as nuncio to Iraq a surprise?

I have always believed that the most beautiful gift God gave me was calling me to be a priest, and that is how I felt.

I believed that there was nothing more beautiful than being able to celebrate Holy Mass.

And when I celebrate Holy Mass for the community of Mother Teresa's sisters, who are here in the Vatican, there is always an inscription in the sacristy: “Priest, priest of God, celebrate this Holy Mass as if it were your first Holy Mass, your last Holy Mass, your only Holy Mass.” And I think that this is something that speaks to me very strongly, and I feel that this is something that is closest to my heart, something that I have always cared about most.

I have always said that I was always surprised by the tasks that God set before me through the Church, because I did not consider myself the most suitable person for them.

But for some reason, God chooses me for them. Here, I always thought to myself when I said, “Lord God, you see that I don’t have any special talents, why are you calling me to this?” And God always answered me with the words of St. Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you. Power is made perfect in weakness.”

Can you explain your bishop’s motto?

It refers to Christmas: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will.” That is the whole text. However, I only took these elements: glory to God, peace to people. Why? Because it refers to my name when it comes to the element of peace. That is, peace, which is inscribed in my name. And I feel it as part of my proclamation of peace. As for glory to God, it is because God is first in all of this. Without God, nothing can exist, and besides, I would like God to be the first in my life. Everything flows from Him, including my being a priest, my service in Vatican diplomacy, and also this proclamation of peace. For it is the peace of Christ that I convey, because it is not just peace that I want to proclaim and promote, because it is not peace brought about by human power or by my own merits, but what God gives.

In his homily, the Holy Father pointed out beautiful qualities of Your character. Many appreciate Your great culture and human warmth, Your kindness toward all, even the simplest people. Also the fact that You concelebrate Thursday Mass often at the tomb of St. John Paul II. How can one keep one’s humanity in today’s world and in such an important position?

For Polish priests it is obvious that you say the Mass daily. I think that what the Holy Father also mentioned in his homily was that someone who grows up on a farm gets

up early in the morning. I also get up early in the morning Your grandfather chose the name? and always start my day with prayer and Holy Mass, Yes, my grandfather. My parents wanted to name me because all our work, our efforts, our actions, if they are not Marek, but my grandfather said no, it had to be Mirosław, based on God, if we do not draw strength from Him, will so that it would be a Polish name. My grandfather wanted really bring little result. However, if we truly draw this it to be typically Polish, and since I was born on my grandstrength from God, it is He who works through us, we father’s name day, grandfather Stanisław, my parents had become instruments in His hands, and then we can really to give in. My grandfather considered my birth on his birthdo something good, because it is not us who do it, but He day to be a gift to him. who does it with our hands.

How do you remember the election of Leo XIV? That is why I attended Mass at the tomb of John Paul II. At work. I was in the office. I prayed, of course, as we I celebrate Mass every day, preferably in the morning, all prayed for the election of the Holy Father, that God unless my pastoral duties require would give us a shepherd after His me to serve at other times. Howown heart and one that the Church ever, I always try to start the day needs in our times. However, I with prayer and Mass. It gives me added my own private prayer that strength for the rest of the day. the election of the Pope would As for the comment about my take place on my birthday, May 8, interactions with people, Jesus and so it happened. Although was like that. Jesus always some people emphasized that I reached out to everyone, never meant I could have a day off from seeking time for Himself, but work (on my birthday). And now always devoted to those who I can answer that I will not benefit needed Him. And we are supfrom this, because there is no day posed to follow His example. We off on the day of the election in the are His disciples; we are to follow nunciatures. Usually, in nunciain His footsteps. I don’t know if I tures, days off are according to the am succeeding, but at least I am country’s calendar. I will celetrying. brate my birthday while celebratIn 2023, the 45th anniversary ing the anniversary of the Pope’s of Karol Wojtyła’s election in election for as many years as God 1978, I asked Cardinal Pietro grants me or the Pope.

Parolin for a comment. He told is the specific nature of “AND GOD ALWAYS ANSWERED ME theWhat me we do not realize how much nuncio’s work? We often John Paul II helped the cause WITH THE WORDS OF ST. PAUL: ‘MY look at it from a rather secular of peace... perspective. But a nuncio’s GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU’” I will mention one detail, bework is not politics. cause it is well known. John Paul II was already ill at that As far as the nuncio’s mission is concerned, he is always time. Journalists were speculating about whether the Holy sent both to the local Church and to the country in question.

Father would resign, or whether he should be asked to This means that he has a relationship with the local Church, resign. Then the situation in Iraq became tense, everyone which is about maintaining communion between Rome started talking about war, and the Holy Father came out for and the Church around the world. And the nuncio is a sign the Angelus and said some profound words about belongof the Holy Father’s presence in that country, a sign of his ing to a generation that had survived war and saying: concern for the local Church. Hence, this ecclesiastical “Never again war!” mission is very important, not only the diplomatic one. On And suddenly everyone starts coming to Rome, to see the other hand, there is the second aspect: that the nuncio this ailing pope, and then suddenly representatives of the is accredited to the government of a given country, and United States and the great European countries and Iraq therefore also fulfills his mission as a diplomat there. itself arrive. Suddenly it turns out that the voice of the It is difficult to say what percentage of our mission is a pope, even this ailing pope, is so important, has such a great mission to the Church and what percentage is a mission to impact on the world. the state, but it is often the case that it is more of a Church Your Excellency will now continue this mission... mission than a diplomatic one.

This is also part of my name, as I am Mirosław, after all: After being named nuncio to Iraq, you were then one who praises, proclaims, and spreads peace. This is also made an archbishop. Why? part of who I am. [Editor’s note: “Miroslav” is a Slavic I can tell you what Catholics often expect from the Holy male name combining the elements mir (peace, world) and Father’s representative: that he also preside over liturgies. slava (glory, fame), common in Slavic countries like And if he is to preside over liturgies, he should be a bishop.

Poland, Czechia, and Croatia. It means “Peaceful glory” or That is why, I think, the choice is always made to have bish“Glorious peace,” or “Famous for peace.”] ops as nuncios.m MARCH-APRIL 2025 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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NEWS

Gaza Residents’ situation Remains diRe as WinteR BRinGs HaRsH Conditions “tHe Blanket BomBinG Has stopped,” says latin patRiaRCH of JeRusalem CaRdinal pieRBattista pizzaBalla, But “oRdinaRy life Has CHanGed veRy little” n BY ANDREA TORNIELLI AND FRANCESCA SABATINELLI (VATICAN NEWS)

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aza remained under Israeli bombardment as of late November — despite the fact that the implementation of the peace plan orchestrated by the US officially “took effect” October 10. Now winter is upon the region.

After the Security Council’s adoption of the peace plan resolution November 17, the United Nations has committed itself to pressing forward and “translating diplomatic momentum into concrete and urgent measures on the ground.”

These concrete actions must become a turning point for Palestinians exhausted by war and devastation.

Speaking to Vatican News November 19, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 60, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, urged the international community to take the necessary steps to implement solutions that might bring relief to a people who are reeling from two years of bombings and now suffering the harsh winter conditions.

Your Eminence, the UN Security Council — Russia and China abstaining — has voted in favor of the Gaza peace plan proposed by U.S. President Trump. The State of Palestine approves the plan, while Hamas says it will not disarm under those conditions. How do you see the current situation?

The UN’s decision does not change anything on the ground, but it is nonetheless a recognition by the international community. Like all plans, it can never be perfect, but it is what we have. It is the only plan

that has so far halted the expansion of the war and can offer at least a glimmer of hope for the Palestinian population—and not just for them.

So, we might say the UN vote is a sort of general endorsement by the international community that, while it changes nothing materially, is still important from an ideal and political standpoint. As for daily life in the region and the plan’s concrete implementation, from the outset we knew that the various points of the Trump plan would be — and will remain — very difficult to carry out.

We know Hamas has no intention of handing over its weapons. I think Israel also has little desire to withdraw entirely from the Strip. Both parties were required to accept this plan, but they face very real obstacles. Persistence is needed. The United States, together with Arab countries and Turkey, are the only ones capable of driving progress, because goodwill alone is not enough

26 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

at this moment. Political courage is also needed to create solutions that can gradually lead to clearer prospects.

Recently, Gaza has fallen out of the media spotlight.

Yet alarming reports continue to arrive from the Strip about the people’s suffering, worsened by bad weather, rain, and mud…What is the situation?

Ordinary life has changed very little. The only difference — thanks be to God and to those who secured it — is the end of the blanket bombing.

Aid is entering more regularly than before, and more reliably, but still far from sufficient given the needs for medicine, hospitals, tents, blankets — especially with winter arriving. Water is needed — of course — but in Gaza “water” often means mud in an already dire situation.

There are no schools; hospitals are only partially operational; everything needs to be rebuilt. We are still in phase one: clearing rubble, uncovering and burying the dead still beneath it, and preparing even a minimal reconstruction plan—which also requires a governance that does not yet exist and whose form is unknown.

Alarming news also continues to come from the West Bank, especially with ongoing settler violence against Palestinian families. What can you tell us about the situation there? What should — or could — the international community do?

The situation in the Territories is worsening every day. I have photos

POPE, PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT ABBAS MEET AT VATICAN

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n November 6, Pope Leo met “I came to see Pope Francis because with Mahmoud Abbas, President I cannot forget what he did for Palesof the State of Palestine, at the Vatitine and for the Palestinian people, can, and discussed the “urgent need and I cannot forget that he recogto provide assistance to the civilian nized Palestine without anyone havpopulation in Gaza” as well as ending ing to ask him to do so.” the conflict “by pursuing a two-state President Abbas’ visit to the Vatisolution.” can also marked the 10th anniversary It was the first time the Pope and of the signing of the “Comprehensive Abbas had met in person, though Agreement between the Holy See Pope Leo and President Abbas exchange they had spoken by phone previousand the State of Palestine.” gifts at the Vatican (photo: Vatican Media) ly.

The text, signed on June 26, The day before his meeting with Pope Leo, Presi2015, expresses both parties’ commitment to Palestindent Abbas had visited the Basilica of St Mary Major to ian self-determination and the two-state solution. pay his respects at Pope Francis’ tomb. Speaking to journalists on the church steps, President Abbas said: — Joseph Tulloch (Vatican News)

from yet another attack on our speak of a political process while universal Church has been very Christian village of Taybeh: homes these aggressions and hardships con- close to us these years through and cars vandalized, windows tinue. prayer and concrete solidarity. smashed, tires slashed. What hapYour Eminence, you recently But now a new phase is needed: pened last night in Taybeh — serious appealed for the resumption of pil- concrete help shown also through as it is — happens daily in many grimages to the Holy Land, which physical presence. This does not Palestinian villages. A few days ago, remain suspended—with serious bring only spiritual benefit to the pilI received a request for help grim. It also brings smiles to the from the village of Aboud — many families who need not only quite isolated — not only from financial help, but to see their the parish but from the entire Christian brothers and sisters precommunity, including the maysent in the Holy Land. or, because they simply do not We still have before our eyes know whom to turn to. the terrible images of Hamas’ This sense of helplessness inhostages in the tunnels. Yet we tensifies the weight of the situaalso hear new reports — withtion: it seems there is no one to out images — telling us that appeal to, no one to ask for jussince 7 October, 98 Palestinian Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pizzaballa urges tice. True, there have recently the international community to take the necessary steps detainees have died in Israeli been some clashes between set- to implement solutions that might bring relief to a people prisons. How do you respond who are reeling from two years of bombings. tlers and the army trying to reto these figures? store order, but these are rare consequences for the Palestinian They are alarming. Several newsepisodes. Most of the time, one wit- economy, especially for Chris- papers, including in Israel and the nesses a total lack of respect for the tians. Can you speak on this?

Holy Land, have reported on this— law — any law — and for human Absolutely! We speak of Gaza though few, to be honest. rights. Our fear is that the situation and the West Bank, but those areas In general, a climate of violence will continue and worsen. are generally not part of pilgrims’ or- pervades everything, including how What can the international com- dinary itineraries. The Bethlehem people think. munity do? It must speak out! Gaza area — which is so important for pilI have often said that we have was rightly discussed at length, grims — needs their presence, and been invaded by hatred, which is not though sadly now less so; but the sit- pilgrimages are safe now. With the only a sentiment but turns into acuation in the Territories requires at- ceasefire, not only have the bomb- tion and becomes a way of relating tention as well. Many countries have ings in Gaza stopped, but also mis- to others. recently recognized Palestine as a sile attacks from Yemen. There are I do not have precise documentastate — symbolically, since it does no more alarms. It is safe to make a tion; I rely on what has been reportnot yet exist. But now they must go pilgrimage now. ed. But yes, many have died in further and outline the conditions The few who have come have prison — and we know these are not and steps required. One cannot seen this for themselves. I repeat: the Swedish prisons.m JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 27

NEWS

PoPe Leo XIV: NewmaN, Doctor of the church, a LIght for New geNeratIoNs DurINg the mass oN the soLemNIty of aLL saINts oN NoVember 1, aLso the cuLmINatIoN of the JubILee of the worLD of eDucatIoN, PoPe Leo XIV ProcLaImeD st. JohN heNry NewmaN a “Doctor of the church” aND a co-PatroN, wIth st. thomas aquINas, of eDucatIoN n BY ALESSANDRO DI BUSSOLO (VATICAN NEWS)

The ceremony naming Cardinal Newman as a Doctor of the

Church in St. Peter’s Square (Photos: Grzegorz Galazka)

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ddressing thousands — especially students and educators — gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Feast of All Saints on November 1, Pope Leo XIV presented St. John Henry Newman as a master of “theory and practice of education,” who invites us to offer the “Kindly Light” of faith in Providence — as in his famous hymn — to “disarm the false reasons for resignation and powerlessness” and to transmit “light and guidance” in this present time, “darkened by so much injustice and uncertainty.” Pope Leo invited all present “to ensure that schools, universities and every educational context, even those that are informal or street-based, are always gateways to a civilization of dialogue and peace.”

AT THE CENTER OF EDUCATION, REAL PEOPLE In a square warmed by gentle sunlight, and in the presence of the official delegation of the Church of England led

by Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, the Pope recalled in his homily that the new Doctor of the Church — the 38th — has left us, especially in his Meditations and Devotions, splendid reflections on the “mystery of the dignity of every human person, and also the variety of gifts distrib28 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

uted by God.” Life, the Pope said, becomes luminous when one discovers, as Cardinal Newman did, that one has a vocation — a mission — and that “our lives serve something greater than ourselves.”

The contribution each one has to offer, he added, “is uniquely valuable, and the task of educational communities is to encourage and cherish that contribution.” v“Let us not forget that at the heart of the educational journey we do not find abstract individuals but real people, especially those who seem to be underperforming according to the parameters of economies that exclude or even kill them.

We are called to form people, so that they may shine like stars in their full dignity.”

NEWMAN INSPIRES NEW GENERATIONS At the beginning of the homily, Leo XIV also announced that Saint John Henry Newman has been named coPatron of the Church’s educational mission alongside Saint Thomas Aquinas. Cardinal Newman’s impressive spiritual and cultural stature, the Pope continued, “will surely serve as an inspiration to new generations whose hearts thirst for the infinite, and who, through research and knowledge, are willing to undertake that jour-

The delegation from the Church of England present for the November 1 celebration in St. Peter’s Square (Photo: Grzegorz Galazka)

ney which, as the ancients said, takes us per aspera ad astra, through difficulties to the stars.”

EDUCATIOn AS A SEARCH FOR TRUTH AnD FOR SHARInG IT Reflecting on Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians and the apostolic mandate to “shine like stars in the world,” the Pope repeated to educators the words of his Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te. v “‘Shine today like stars in the world’ through your authentic commitment to the collective search for truth and to sharing it with generosity and integrity. Indeed, you do so through your service to young people, especially the poor, and your daily witness to the fact that ‘Christian love is prophetic: it works miracles’” Pope Leo reaffirmed that, within the Jubilee understood as a pilgrimage of hope, education represents “an indispensable seed” of hope. v“When I reflect on schools and universities, I think of them as laboratories of prophecy, where hope is lived, and constantly discussed and encouraged.”

SCHOOLS AS PLACES OF LISTEnInG AnD LIVInG THE GOSPEL Commenting on the Beatitudes just proclaimed from the Gospel of Matthew, the Pope described them as “the path and message of Jesus the Teacher,” who — contrary to the world’s logic — declares blessed the poor, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the persecuted and the peacemakers. These, he said, are the signs of the Kingdom of God, which the saints make present among us. v “We are his disciples and are in his ‘school.’ We learn how to discover in his life, namely in the path he has travelled, a horizon of meaning capable of shining a light on all forms of knowledge. May our schools and universities always be places of listening to the Gospel and putting it into practice!”

FREEInG HUMAnITY FROM THE DARKnESS OF nIHILISM Leo XIV acknowledged that such challenges might seem beyond our strength, but, quoting Pope Francis from a year earlier, he urged perseverance. v“We must work together to set humanity free from the encircling gloom of nihilism, which is perhaps the most dangerous malady of contemporary culture, since it threatens to ‘cancel’ hope.”

The Pope concluded his homily by stressing that “from a Christian perspective education helps everyone to become saints. Nothing less will do.” He recalled Pope Benedict XVI’s words to young people during Newman’s beatification in Great Britain in 2010: “What God wants most of all for each one of you is that you should become holy. He loves you much more than you could ever begin to imagine.” This, Leo XIV affirmed, is the universal call to holi-

This darkness, the Pope said, recalls Cardinal Newman’s hymn “Lead, Kindly Light,” composed when he was still an Anglican pastor and sung during the Offertory. It is a light that guides us when we realize our feet are unsteady, unable to discern the horizon. Education’s task, the Pope explained, is precisely to offer this Kindly Light to those imprisoned by “the shadows of pessimism and fear.” v“In that beautiful prayer, we come to realize that we are far from home, our feet are unsteady, we cannot interpret clearly the way ahead.

Yet none of this impedes us, since we have found our Guide: ‘Lead, Kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on; Lead, Kindly Light, The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on.’ ”

ness — the essential message of the Second Vatican Council — “a personal and communal journey marked out by the Beatitudes.” v“I pray that Catholic education will help each person to discover their own call to holiness. Saint Augustine, whom Saint John Henry Newman greatly admired, once said that we are fellow students who have one Teacher, whose school is on earth and whose chair is in heaven.”

In his Apostolic Letter of October 28, 2025, “Drawing New Maps of Hope,” published to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Vatican Council II’s Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis, Pope Leo quoted the words of St. John Henry Newman: “Religious truth is not only a part but a condition of general knowledge.”m

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 29

NEWS

Vatican Rejects “co-RedemptRix,” “mediatRix” titles foR maRy theiR inteRpRetation can be confusing, says the ddf, and detRimental to ecumenism n BY HAnnAH BROCKHAUS (CnA/ITV STAFF)

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he Vatican’s doctrinal office said Tuesday the titles of “Co-Redemptrix” and “Mediatrix” are not appropriate ways to describe Mary’s participation in salvation.

In Mater Populi Fidelis (“The Mother of the Faithful People of God”), the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) said when an expression requires frequent explanation to maintain the correct meaning, it becomes unhelpful.

“In this case, the expression ‘Co-Redemptrix’ does not help

Pope Leo celebrates Mass November 3 with an image of Mary in the background. (photo: Grzegorz Galazka)

extol Mary as the first and foremost collaborator in the work of Redemption and grace, for it carries the risk of eclipsing the exclusive role of Jesus Christ,” according to the doctrinal note, released November 4.

Pope John Paul II publicly called Mary “Co-Redemptrix” several times, but after he stopped using the term publicly in the mid-1990s, his successors, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, expressed skepticism about it, fearing it

BISHOP SCHNEIDER’S RESPONSE: THE ORDINARY MAGISTERIUM OF CENTURIES COULD NOT HAVE “LED THE FAITHFUL ASTRAY”

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he bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, Bishop Athanasius ward Christ and His Mother.”

Schneider, came out November 10 with a public reGoing back to the early Church, Bishop Schneider sponse to the Vatican’s “doctrinal note” on certain titles cited St. Irenaeus who, he noted, “laid the essential of Mary. The essay, published on the Subgroundwork for the Marian doctrines of Costack blog of Vatican journalist Diane Monredemption and Mediation.” He quoted Iretagna, was critical of the Vatican docunaeus’ tract Against Heresies that “Mary, ment. by yielding obedience, became the cause Basing his defense of the titles of popuof salvation, both to herself and the whole lar piety called “inappropriate” in the docuhuman race.” ment, particularly “Mediatrix of All Graces” He then went on to single out Pope Leo and “Co-Redemptrix,” Bishop Schneider XIII, among many Popes who spoke on the appealed to both the Ordinary Magisterium subject, saying “the encyclical Adjutricem as expressed over several centuries by Populi of Pope Leo XIII, in which he refers Popes, saints and Doctors of the Church, to Our Lady as a cooperator in the work of Athanasius Schneider, as well as the sensus fidei — the sense of redemption and as the dispenser of the bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan faith of the faithful. His conclusion: “...it grace that flows from it. He writes: ‘She cannot be maintained that the Ordinary Magisterium, who was so intimately associated with the mystery of along with Saints and Doctors of the Church over so human salvation is just as closely associated with the many centuries, could have led the faithful astray distribution of the graces which for all time will flow from through a consistently inappropriate use of these Marian the Redemption.’” Another Pope cited by Bishop Schneititles.” der is Pope Pius X, of whom he says, “Pope St. Pius X “Therefore,” he went on to say, “by adhering to the offered a succinct theological exposition of Co-redemptraditional teaching of the Ordinary Magisterium regardtion in his encyclical Ad Diem Illum, teaching that by reaing Co-redemption and Mediation, and by recognizing son of her divine motherhood, Mary merits in charity the legitimacy of the titles ‘Co-Redemptrix’ and ‘Mediawhat Christ alone, as God, merits for us in strict justice— trix of All Graces,’ the faithful do not depart from the right namely, our redemption—and that she is the dispenser path of faith nor from a sound and well-informed piety toof all graces.”

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

could create confusion about Christ’s sole redemptive role.

Pope Leo XIV approved the document — signed by DDF prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández — on October 7.

Mary’s contribution to human salvation, specifically the title of “CoRedemptrix” (“Co-Redeemer”) has been a point of theological debate for decades — with proponents calling for Mary’s role in redemption to be declared a dogma but critics saying it exaggerates her importance and could damage efforts for unity with other Christian denominations.

In a preface to the note, Cardinal Fernández wrote that the document responds to questions the dicastery received in recent decades about Marian devotion and certain Marian titles, and clarifies which are acceptable.

“This text also aims to deepen the proper foundations of Marian devotion by specifying Mary’s place in her relationship with believers in

light of the Mystery of Christ as the sole Mediator and Redeemer. This entails a profound fidelity to Catholic identity while also requiring a particular ecumenical effort,” Cardinal Fernández wrote.

In addition to “Co-Redemptrix,” the document also addressed at length the Marian title “Mediatrix” or “Mediatrix of All Graces,” analyzing related Church teaching on Mary’s role as intercessor.

The DDF concluded that, “some titles, such as ‘Mediatrix of All Graces,’ have limits that do not favor a correct understanding of Mary’s unique place.”

The dicastery encouraged the use of other expressions for Mary, specifically titles referring to her motherhood, including “Mother of God” and

“Mother of the Faithful People of God.” “She is the Mother who gave the world the Author of Redemption and of Grace, who stood firm at the foot of the cross (cf. John 19:25), suffering alongside her Son and offering the pain of her maternal heart pierced by the sword (cf. Luke 2:35),” the document said. “From the Incarnation to the cross and the Resurrection, she was united to Christ in a way that is unique and that far surpasses any other believer.”

Emphasizing that Mary was saved by her Son, Jesus Christ, “in a particular and anticipatory way,” the document explained that “Mary’s incomparable greatness lies in what she has received and in her trusting readiness to allow herself to be overtaken by the Spirit.”

It warned that, “when we strive to attribute active roles to her that are parallel to those of Christ, we move away from the incomparable beauty that is uniquely hers.”m

Pope Benedict XV expressed a simuniversality of Mary’s role as disilar conclusion, said Bishop Schneider, penser of grace, saying: ‘She gives when he taught that “By uniting herself us her Son and with Him all the help to the Passion and death of her Son, we need, for God “wished us to have she suffered as if to death … to apeverything through Mary” (Saint pease the divine justice, as far as it Bernard).’” was in her power, she sacrificed her Among the more modern Popes, Son — so that it may rightly be said Bishop Schneider affirmed, St. that she, together with Christ, reJohn Paul II repeatedly used deemed the human race.” the titles “Co-Redemptrix” “This,” said Bishop Schneider, “is and “Mediatrix of All Gracthe equivalent of the title of ‘Co-Rees,” and Pope Benedict demptrix.’”

XVI stated, “There is no Continuing down the list of Popes fruit of grace in the history who expounded on the subject of of salvation that does not Mary’s role in the economy of salvahave as its necessary instrution, Pope Pius XI, said the bishop, ment the mediation of Our Lady.” discussed the title “Co-Redemptrix” Detail from the Crucifixion triptych by Rogier He concludes, “The term Co-Reexplicitly in these terms: “By necessity, demptrix, which by itself denotes a van der Weyden, in the Kunsthistorisches the Redeemer could not but associate simple cooperation in the RedempMuseum, Vienna, Austria.

In 1921, Pope Benedict XV (small photo), his Mother in his work. For this reason, tion of Jesus Christ, has, for several responding to petitions from the bishops of we invoke her under the title of Co-Recenturies, in theological language demptrix. She gave us the Savior, she Belgium, established the May 21 feast day of and in the teaching of the Ordinary accompanied him in the work of Re- “Mary Mediatrix of All Graces” for that country. Magisterium, carried the specific The feast was eliminated in 1961 demption as far as the Cross itself, meaning of a secondary and depensharing with him the sorrows of the agony and of the dent cooperation. Consequently, its use poses no serideath in which Jesus consummated the Redemption of ous difficulty, provided it is accompanied by clarifying exmankind.” pressions that emphasize Mary’s role as secondary and Likewise, emphasized Bishop Schneider, “In his endependent in this cooperation.” cyclical Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII emphasizes the —ITV staff JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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DISCIPLES OF THE BEATITUDES T

he year 2025 has been a harrowing one for many around the world. Violence on a grand scale has plagued many nations, and on a smaller scale, many communities, even schools and churches.

Yet, we have just celebrated — and continue to celebrate — the nearly unimaginable humbling of the Creator of the universe. He embraced the human condition

so totally that there is no tragedy or sorrow that He is not acquainted with.

More than that, He lives among us now, touching us every day with the balm of His love. And He often does it through the hands of His disciples — those who follow His counsel to be merciful, to be peacemakers, to suffer for righteousness’ sake…

They are the Disciples of the Beatitudes.

TOP TEN PEOPLE 2025 The Sermon on the Mount

by Carl Bloch, 1890 32 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

Catholic Archbishop Jacques Mourad Homs, Hama, and al-Nabek, Syria

SyriAN ArCHbiSHop rAiSeS HiS VoiCe for CouNtry ANd CHriStiANity

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the country, has said he has rejected his former jihadist yria contains among the oldest Christian communities on earth, dating back to the first century, and affiliations and has tried to reassure religious minorities rooted in the traditions of St. Peter and St. Paul. in the country. But the transition has been marked by But the Syrian Church is “dying,” warns Syrian Cathviolence. olic Archbishop Jacques Mourad.

“The Syrian people continue to suffer violence, And the end of Christianity in Syria would be a great reprisals, and tragic and regrettable events that underloss, says the archbishop, because “the Church stands as mine all the international claims and popular demands a reminder to every one of the ethics of justice and to put an end to this bloodbath,” Archbishop Mourad human dignity as a supreme value.” said at the conference.

Archbishop Jacques Mourad of Homs, Hama, and alThe bishop issued an “appeal to all people of good Nabek said the Church in Syria faces an unbearable and will… to take the necessary measures to put an end to unsustainable political and legal situation, with Christhe violence and find ways to end the past and present tians leaving the country in search of better living coninjustices,” explaining that “the lack of justice is a conditions. sequence of the past 60 years, which carved out a great Archbishop Mourad, 57, is a division between the state and member of a monastic commuthe people.” nity committed to promoting fraHe added, “The people don’t ternity between Christians and trust the local government or the Muslims, in a country where the international community. We former makes up 2.3% of the only trust in God.” population and the latter 95%.

Archbishop Mourad also He was in Rome in October expressed concern over a possi2025, taking part in the presentable peace treaty with Israel that tion of the Religious Freedom would cede the disputed Golan in the World Report 2025, orHeights, which he thinks would ganized by the pontifical foun“deprive the inhabitants of Damdation Aid to the Church in Need ascus of water sources and (ACN). enslave them. … Where are the Archbishop Mourad, who Around 2.1 million Christians lived in Syria in 2011, human rights values that should according to ACN estimates, whereas in 2024, was abducted by the Islamic help ensure that decisions are the number was much lower, close to 540,000 State group in 2015, avoided fair for both parties?” speaking about the trials he endured at the hands of the He proposed that “the international community adopt jihadists, preferring to mention the Muslims who helped a clear position regarding what is happening in Syria,” him escape captivity. In a soft voice, but with clear and that “all local and international institutions and words, he expressed his hope that “raising our voices at organizations that operate in Syria cooperate with culthis moment may be beneficial to our country.” tural bodies, schools, universities, and institutes to overAround 2.1 million Christians lived in Syria in 2011, come the fear that has taken hold in society, and orgaaccording to ACN estimates, whereas in 2024, the numnize training courses on the role of legislation in the ber was closer to 540,000. establishment of justice and the independence of the “None of the efforts by the Universal Church or the state’s judiciary.” local Church managed to stem the tide of the exodus, Locally, the Church in Aleppo is organizing “forums because the causes are not related to the Church, but to train people to carry out a political role, when the rather to the country’s disastrous political and economic opportunity presents itself, and therefore to contribute situation,” the archbishop said. “You can’t stop a wave to and ensure a transition from an authoritarian and of migration without first establishing a well-defined unipolar regime to a democracy,” he explained. The political government model in Syria and a solid security archbishop stressed that the Church reserves the right to system.” do so “in a country so rich in history, civilization, and In late 2024, Syria’s long-time Assad regime was human values,” but recognized that Catholics currently overthrown by a band of rebels led by former jihadist “feel like foreigners in our own country, which is intolAhmed al-Sharaa. Al-Sharaa, now interim president of erable.” —Xavier Bourgos, ACN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 33

Sonia mcgarrity, mother denver, Colorado, USA

Among Her 8 CHildren Are 3 Adoptive CHildren witH down Syndrome

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onia McGarrity was three months pregnant with her third child when she lost that child to a miscarriage on the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux.

“In the midst of that sadness,” she says, “I had a conversation with my sister and I told her that if I could not have any more children, I would love to adopt a child who had Down Syndrome.”

Though Sonia did not know anyone with that particular diagnosis, she did have a relative with a disabled child, and “after spending time with their family, I saw the charity and patience that her son’s siblings displayed, and I knew I wanted that for my own children.”

Sonia became pregnant again, with her third son, Jeffery — who turned out to have Trisomy 21, the name of the medical diagnosis commonly known as Down Syndrome.

Despite several ultrasounds, the diagnosis came as a surprise to Sonia.

“I remember my dad saying, ‘I am so sorry,’ but I think that my husband Jeff and I had already projected acceptance and peace with his diagnosis,” she says.

Sonia immediately began gathering information on raising children with Trisomy 21 and started therapies for her Jeffrey.

Within months, the family decided to move from Maryland to Denver, and after a few years, Sonia, a homeschooling mom, suffered another miscarriage. Sonia says it was then that an article on Denmark’s high rate of abortion of babies with prenatal diagnoses “inspired us to open our hearts and our home to any child whose parents were interested” in agreeing to release such a child for adoption.

The McGarritys contacted the National Down Syndrome Adoption Network and completed a home study with a local adoption agency, but more surprises were in store for them.

Sonia was pregnant again when she and her husband were finally contacted by a couple in Colorado Springs whose unborn daughter had a prenatal diagnosis of Trisomy 21. “We began with phone conversations with Emily, our daughter Cecilia’s birth mom, in 2010. We were encouraging her to parent,” says Sonia.

34 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

During this time, Sonia suffered her third miscarriage; shortly after, Cecilia’s birth mom called the McGarritys to meet their adoptive daughter, one hour after she was born in December of 2010.

Four months later, Sonia discovered that she was pregnant yet again, and four days after Cecilia’s first birthday, their fifth son, Augustine, was born in December of 2011.

With a homeschooling and family management routine in place, the McGarritys remained open to helping the Down Syndrome Adoption Network encourage birth moms to parent after a surprising diagnosis of Trisomy 21.

Then, one mom asked Sonia and her husband to parent her daughter Rosie, born in 2015 — and the McGarritys welcomed Rosie into their family.

Three years later, they welcomed Charlotte, who did not have a prenatal diagnosis but was born in 2018 with Trisomy 21 and a very complicated heart defect.

“Charlotte is our youngest child, and has had two open heart surgeries. She brings delight and joy to our family,” says Sonia.

The journey that began with the birth of Jeffrey 18 years ago has borne fruit not only for the four non-neurotypical children the McGarritys have welcomed into their hearts, but for their natural sons too.

“Our family is steeped in pro-life activities and as they have grown up in our Catholic, pro-life home, we feel that they have learned more patience and other-centeredness than most children,” says Sonia. “They have become strong men of good character.”

Sonia’s experience has reinforced for her the insight of faith: that it’s love — “not a nicer house or a better body” — that makes a happy life.

“Raising a child with a developmental disability is also hard, but the rewards are so much more significant than anything we can want in life … the rewards are love … loving touches, loving glances, loving trust, loving confidence … So much love.”

Sonia’s special children “don’t worry about social cues, what they look like, or judging others based upon appearance — they love everyone unconditionally… That is what we were created to do.”

—Mary Cooney, Mercatornet/ITV staff

Cardinal Lucian Murešan Archbishop of Alba iulia and Fagaras, romania

“M y F ight i s O ver ! y Ours C Ontinues !”

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as an unskilled worker at a stone quarry. Murešan continued ardinal Lucian Murešan, Major Archbishop of the his theological studies and took his exams in secret with proRomanian Greek Catholic Church and Metropolitan fessors from the former abolished theological academies of the Archdiocese of Alba Iulia and Făgăraş, passed who were still at large. He took his bachelor’s exam in secret, away on September 25, 2025, at the age of 94. after which he continued to work as a clerk, awaiting ordinaPresident Nicuşor Dan of Romania stated that his memotion. ry remains “closely linked to the tumultuous history of the This moment came on December 19, 1964, after the Church that he pastored for many years, with wisdom, balrelease from prison of the surviving Greek Catholic bishops. ance and a generous openness to dialogue between confesThus, the auxiliary bishop Ioan Dragomir of Maramureş, sions and religions, between the Church and society.” released from prison that year, ordained him a priest in the “His courage in times of persecution,” he continued, “and basement of a building in Cluj. his involvement in the institutional and spiritual reconstrucWhile remaining employed in road construction, after his tion of the Church, made him an emblematic figure for the ordination he began his clandestine pastoral ministry, focusrebirth of the Greek Catholic Church in Romania.” ing on youth and especially on His Beatitude Lucian Mureşan, those who wanted to become named cardinal by Pope Benedict priests. After the death of Bishop XVI in 2012, was the only living Dragomir, in August 1986, Father Romanian cardinal at his death Lucian Murešan was consecrated and lived in seclusion in the Metas Ordinary of the Diocese of ropolitan Palace of Blaj.

Maramureş.

The Greek Catholic prelate was After the Revolution and the reborn on May 23, 1931, in the comlegalization of the United Romune of Firiza as the tenth of 12 manian Church, on March 3, 1990, children of the family of Petru and Pope John Paul II appointed him Maria Mureşan. Young Lucian Bishop of Maramureş. He was congraduated from a vocational On February 18, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI elevated him to the dignity of cardinal secrated, together with Vasile school for woodworking, completHossu of Oradea, in an open-air liturgy in Baia Mare (the ing his high school studies part-time.

Greek Catholic Cathedral of Baia Mare was occupied at the In 1948 the Romanian United Church was outlawed, and time by an Orthodox parish).

Lucian had to wait for an opportunity to study theology to In 1994, Bishop Murešan was appointed as metropolitan somehow arise. Between 1951 and 1954 he fulfilled his comarchbishop of Făgăraş and Alba Iulia. pulsory military service, graduating from aviation officer On December 16, 2005, the United Romanian Church school. When the communist army leaders learned that was elevated by Pope Benedict XVI to the rank of major Lucian was Romanian Catholic, they labeled him undesirarchiepiscopal church, with autonomy and rights similar to able and moved him from aviation to a construction battalion those of the Eastern Catholic patriarchates. Archbishop at Bicaz Hydropower Plant in 1954.

Murešan was one of the four major archbishops of the Finally, in 1955, immediately after his return from detenCatholic Church. tion, Roman Catholic Bishop Áron Márton received five After presiding over the rebirth of the Catholic Church in young Greek Catholics (one for each Romanian diocese) into one of the most severely persecuted nations in the commuthe Roman Catholic Theological Institute of Alba Iulia. In nist bloc, on February 18, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI elevated the 1958-1959 academic year (their fourth year of college), him to the dignity of cardinal. the Department of Cults learned of their existence and interIn the message sent to Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican Comvened with the Diocese to have them expelled. Bishop Mármemoration of Blessed Iuliu Hossu, on June 2, 2025, His ton refused, but the five students left the Theological InstiBeatitude Lucian recalled the words of Cardinal Hossu spotute under pressure from the communist authorities. ken at his last moments, urging future generations to preFor Lucian Murešan, this act began his persecution by the serve and defend the treasure of faith: “My fight is over!

Securitate. For a year, he was refused employment, even in Yours continues.”m the mines as a wagon driver. Only after a year he was hired JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 35

Jimmy Lai, Businessman Hong Kong, china

Sacrificing HiS freedom, and PerHaPS...

HiS Life, for TruTH

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the National Security Law on Hong Kong in 2020, the nternational Catholic pro-life activist Reggie Littlegovernment went after pro-democracy forces, of which john calls him a man of “heroic virtue.” Jimmy Lai, Apple Daily was the most influential. He was arrested 78, has been languishing in a Hong Kong prison for and his newspaper was shut down. During Lai’s trial, five years — virtually all of it in solitary confinement — prosecutors accused him of conspiring with senior execfor publishing criticism of the repressive communist utives of Apple Daily and others to request foreign forces regime of China. And on Monday, December 15, Lai was to impose sanctions or blockades and engage in other found guilty. The decision that could keep him to prison hostile activities against Hong Kong or for the rest of his life.

China. Lai was found guilty.

A man of great faith, Mr. Lai draws Lai’s international legal team in Lonstrength from God, say those who know don had filed an appeal with the U.N. him. According to Mark Simon, longSpecial Rapporteur on Torture and Other time friend and managing director of the Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment Lai Trust, a holding company, Mr. Lai or Punishment over the treatment of believes that as long as he is standing for Andy Li, among a group of 12 Hong truth, God will give him the strength to Kong protesters captured by China’s endure.

Coast Guard as they tried to flee to demo“He could have left Hong Kong,” said cratic Taiwan by speedboat.

Reggie Littlejohn. “He is a British citi“Credible evidence is emerging that zen. He is a wealthy man. He could have Andy Li was tortured when in prison in led a wonderful, peaceful, comfortable China before confessing to allegedly life elsewhere. But he would not leave.” conspiring with Jimmy Lai to collude Why wouldn’t he leave? Mark Simon with foreign entities to endanger national says it’s because “the logic of our faith as security,” Lai’s lawyers said in a stateCatholics is that we must oppose these ment on January 4, 2025. evils; some of us pray about it; others, Cardinal Zen has visited Jimmy Lai in like Lai and Cardinal Zen, are willing to Drawing The Crucifixion by Jimmy Lai, prison when allowed. “Cardinal Zen says sacrifice all to oppose repression.” done in prison Jimmy is so advanced in his religious Mr. Lai is a close friend of Hong studies that he, Cardinal Zen, must read up to answer Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen, 93, who served as Bishop Jimmy’s questions,” Lai’s friend Mark Simon said. “His of Hong Kong from 2002 to 2009. Zen will turn 94 on religious drawings from jail are simply incredible, when January 13, 2026. you consider they give him lined paper and cheap pencils Cardinal Zen, a longtime, outspoken defender of to work with. They were good enough for the Hong Kong human rights and religious liberty, was himself arrested Police to ban them from being sent out.” in May, 2022 in Hong Kong on charges related to the 612 There is now an international campaign to free Jimmy Humanitarian Relief Fund, which provided support to Lai, headed by Caoilfhionn Gallagher. She travels the pro-democracy protesters. The cardinal was eventually world addressing foreign governments, businessmen, convicted, and fined. even the UN — anyone who can potentially put pressure Jimmy Lai comes from an originally wealthy Chinese on the Beijing government to release him family in Canton. Lai was born in 1947, just before the Lai’s son, Sebastien, says Lai has no access to natural communists came to power. Under communism, his light, no heating or air conditioning, no access to became impoverished. Lai escaped to Hong Kong at age Catholic Mass, and has heart problems, diabetes, and 12, and immediately started working in a garment factory hypertension, none of which are being properly treated in as a child laborer for the equivalent of $8 per month. prison. Jimmy Lai may never receive justice. Yet, his son A gifted entrepreneur, he went on to found his own Sebastien said a statement his father made is what gives clothing brands and other businesses, then branched out him hope: Lai said: “The truth will come out in the kinginto publishing, eventually founding the pro-democracy dom of God, and that is good enough for me.”m newspaper Apple Daily. When mainland China imposed 36 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

Francesco sforza, Photographer rome, Vatican

“Semper Fi” (“AlwAys FAithFul”): PAPAl PhotogrAPher “rAn AheAd”

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ountless photographs of the Popes and live broadmainly writings. From our own era, for the last few casting of papal events — all these we owe to the decades, they also find and will find sounds and images. silent and difficult daily work of many lay media They will be able to relive these pontificates more closely. people. We pay tribute to Francesco Sforza, the distinFrancesco has contributed to “creating” documents of guished papal photographer who, after 48 years of faithdecades of history that will remain. ful and discreet service to six Popes, retired November 1.

Finally, Francesco has a beloved wife (my highly At Sforza’s retirement, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, foresteemed colleague, who has also served the Holy See for mer Director of the Holy See Press Office, and Alberto decades) and a beautiful family that fully supports his Gasbarri, a legendary planner and coordinator of papal service to the Pope. Francesco has not only done his flight shared his reflection on Francesco Sforza: “professional” job very well, but has also made a valuFr. Lombardi: The Pope's photographer does not walk able contribution so that “working in the Vatican” (even normally or rest quietly. More often than not, he runs or to the limit of one's strength, as he has done) can be expewalks very quickly, constantly turning his head towards rienced together as a beautiful service, in communion of the Pope. He must always be ideals, in sincere, frank, and ready, almost always prelasting friendship. sent, arriving early to capGasbarri: “At the end of ture the arrival, running to the long pontificate of St. catch up when something John Paul II, Arturo Mari's unexpected happens. He alsuccession did not appear to ways carries heavy equipbe an easy one. A great phoment with him. On the Pope's tographer and a great pertravels, he is part of the sonality in the Vatican world. entourage on a minibus that But Francesco Sforza, stays quite far behind in the with his careful and meticupapal procession. At each lous preparation and after stop, he has to jump out and many years of working alongrun as fast as he can to Vatican photographer Francesco Sforza holds his camera as he rushes ahead side Arturo, developed an of Pope Leo’s popemobile (photo: Vatican Facebook page) where the Pope is, and then excellent level of professionbe picked up on the fly when the procession starts again. alism not only from a technical and aesthetic point of Then, during stops or in the evening, he must immediateview but also in his ability to grasp, interpret, and comly select with a quick and sure eye, archiving hundreds or municate the spirituality and intense emotion that charthousands of shots, and send them to Rome. This means acterized the pontificates of Pope Benedict XVI, Pope many more hours of work while others eat, rest, chat, or Francis, and the Jubilee Year with the advent of Pope sleep... How did Francesco manage to work so hard? I Leo XIV. didn't understand it; I admired it.

But in addition to his professional skills and kindness, He is always kind and smiling, always attentive to he possesses a quality that is increasingly rare in today's everyone, spontaneously and without even a hint of selfworld, namely total identification with the institution to promotion. His gaze and heart must be in tune with those which he has dedicated his working life. Indeed, in a of the Pope in order to interpret and capture his gestures world dominated by economic goals and senseless and attitudes, and thus bring joy to the many for whom rhythms, it is increasingly difficult to find room for ethithe encounter with the Pope will remain an indelible cal values in the workplace. memory and comfort throughout their lives. It’s a valuFrancesco Sforza was therefore part of that rare able service that prolongs and gives durability to that of “human capital” belonging to the Holy See that still the Pope. exists today but whose survival does not seem to be It’s a service for history too. Those who seek to underfueled either by the algorithms of human resources agenstand the past in order to understand the present go to the cies or by the product of artificial intelligence.

Vatican archives. From previous centuries, they find — Anna Artymiak JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 37

Brian Burch, american ambassador to the holy See, rome

“We Will Not StaNd By aNd Watch the Slaughter of chriStiaNS”

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globe, religious persecution, the exploitation of the poor ike Pope Leo himself, the new US Ambassador to and vulnerable, the scourge of human trafficking, and the the Holy See, Brian Burch, is a Chicago-area defense and promotion of human dignity and prosperity.” native. Burch is also a graduate of the Catholic An example of Burch’s commitment to advance the University of Dallas (where he met his wife, Sarah), a shared struggle against human rights violations is his husband and a father of nine.

November 3 meeting with Sebastien Lai, son of imprisBrian Burch came to the wider attention of President oned Catholic Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai, and the Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2024 election moment of prayer they shared at San Bartolomeo Church cycle, when he was the president and CEO of the nonin Rome. The basilica profit CatholicVote.org. The houses the Icon of New nonprofit was widely creditMartyrs and Witnesses of ed with being partly responthe Faith of the 20th Censible for the whopping 15% tury, a tribute to those who margin of Catholic voters have died for their faith. who favored Trump over They prayed for mercy Kamala Harris, who, Burch for Jimmy Lai, whose failsaid, “snubbed us, and she ing health is of great conrepeatedly affirmed our cern to many around the deepest fears about her aniworld, including President mus and bigotry towards Donald J. Trump, who has Catholics.” called for his release.

Burch, a lifelong and Also in early Novemorthodox Catholic, began ber, Burch told journalist CatholicVote.org 17 years Martha MacCallum that ago, along with co-founder Joshua Mercer, to mobilize Ambassador Brian Burch and his wife, Sara, flanking Pope Leo, brought their nine the Nigerian government Catholic voters to make a children, a daughter-in-law, and their granddaughter to meet Pope Leo XIV at the “has a responsibility to Vatican in September 2025 when Burch presented his credentials protect its citizens” and pro-faith, pro-family, prothat the U.S. “will not stand by and watch the slaughter life difference in the American political process. of thousands of Christians.”

Some of the issues CatholicVote.org has tackled with “This is exactly why this designation is so important,” YouTube videos, television ads, media interviews and Burch said, referring to Trump’s October 31 decision to grassroots organization are same-sex marriage, abortion, redesignate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern cultural and government anti-Catholic bias; and they (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act. even worked to promote the printing of “Mother Teresa” “This is not an effort to try to isolate or threaten the postage stamp by the U.S. Postal Service.

Nigerian regime,” Burch told MacCallum. “This is an Now, as the American Ambassador to the Holy See, effort to call them to their responsibility that they have to Burch is using his position to deepen the cooperation their citizens, to protect people of faith, to protect relibetween the U.S. and the world’s most influential “soft gious minorities. This includes Muslims. By the way, power” institution, the Vatican. there are peaceful Muslims in this country as well, but “It transcends traditional diplomacy, rooted instead in these Islamic extremists are weaponizing religion to jusour shared commitments to religious freedom, human tify terror, and it needs to stop right now.” dignity, global peace, and justice,” he said at the time.

“The Vatican has sought to kind of reduce tensions “The Holy See, as the governing body of the Catholic here, to try to turn down the temperature,” he said. “They Church, plays a critical and influential role in internationhave pointed out that this has multiple causes. There’s al affairs. We can and we must continue our strong parteconomic, there’s fights over land, there’s corruption, but nership, while advancing our mutual interests in addressthere is no mistaking that Christians are being targeted ing an array of global challenges, including working to because of their beliefs.”m resolve war and conflict in multiple regions around the 38 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

ashley noronha, Professor Co-founder of the Truth and beauty Project, rome

“Lives Transformed by beauTy Can Transform The WorLd”

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It is a reflection of the famous precept, first conceived shley Noronha comes from the world of corpoby the ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle, that rate lifestyle marketing for companies like the True, the Good and the Beautiful are actually one – Kraft Foods, JC Penney and Universal Picall facets of the same reality. It was later refined by the tures. But today she is a Catholic media personality, medieval philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas (called by theologian, pontifical university professor and cothe Church “the Angelic Doctor”), who named these founder of the non-profit Truth and Beauty Project. three attributes “the Transcendentals.”

As a young professional woman in 2008, she and Ashley’s particular calling, she believes, is to break her new engineer husband, John Noronha, both comopen the beautiful works of sacred art and architecture mitted Catholics, moved to Rome to pursue graduate which overflow the Eternal City, to reveal the truths of studies in the Eternal City. our faith, and the presence of God, in new and enlightAshley had, for several years prior, been captivated ening ways. by the art and architecture – “In 2017, we had a vision to and the faith that it expresses use Rome — the amazing, liv— of her new home. After ing classroom of Rome — as a moving to Rome, she became place to give strong formation more involved in evangelizain the faith. It was evident that tion, and in 2012 she began all this art and architecture inviting listeners to “visit” came out of their deep formaRome as the Rome correspontion... the gifts, the legacy they dent for the Relevant Radio left for us come out of their Network. deep faith, out of theology and “It’s a joy, “ says Ashley, Scripture. We wanted to help “to share this amazing city, people have that same formaand the heart of the Church, tion today,” Ashley says. with listeners all over the Ashley Noronha meeting late Pope Francis in the Vatican But it’s more than just forworld.” mation: it is to help people to live their faith with intenAshley has also worked as a Vatican Official at the tion, and to share that faith, leading others to Christ. To Pontifical Council for Social Communications in the that end, the Truth and Beauty Project blends art, Holy See and worked under Pope Benedict XVI and Scripture, liturgy, philosophy, and human formation to then Pope Francis — calling them “my two most interhelp people fall in love with their faith. esting bosses.”

And it is the youth that Ashley believes can benefit In 2010, she created a course called “Media Trainfrom immersion in beauty, first and foremost. ing for Priests” and since then have been teaching it at Every young adult who joins the week-long prothe Pontifical North American College, to priests on gram is asked to write a “FIAT” — a two-pronged sabbatical at the Institute of Continuing Theological action plan to outline how the participant will allow Education, and to other priests and seminarians all themselves to be changed, and how they will help to over the world. transform the culture once they return home. The Truth But it is clear that one of the endeavors that is closand Beauty Project even offers scholarships to young est to her heart is the Truth and Beauty Project — people who need financial help to attend. something for which she and husband John were hon“Our vision is to empower every participant to ored with the Springtime Award for Outstanding Sermake their life a masterpiece — and to offer that masvice in the New Evangelization. terpiece in joyful service to others,” say Ashley and The Truth and Project was conceived and begun by John.

Ashley and husband John in 2017. Its mission is actu“We believe that lives transformed by beauty can ally simple: to lead others to Truth — and the ultimate transform the world.” m Good, God Himself — through the medium of Beauty.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 39

Archbishop Michael Diddi Adgum Mangoria Bishop of Khartoum, Sudan

EMBAttlED ShEphErD Will Not lEAvE hiS tiNy FlocK

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being any real conversion. Many people also misunderhe country of Sudan, the third largest in Africa, is stand the meaning of baptism. They bring their children now being tortured by its third civil war. The first for baptism because they are sick, and they think that war, which lasted from 1955 to 1972, was fought baptism will heal them... And so the Faith is not really between the Islamist north (which had been favored by deeply rooted, but above all it is not fully understood. its colonial British rulers up to that time) and the West“What is more,” he continued, “our local traditions are ernized, partially Christianized south. Six years after the still very strong. Take the question of polygamy. The peofirst war ended, South Sudan became an independent ple want to have offspring and heirs at any cost. And so country. they often have several wives.

However, the festering injustices, both from decades “This is a catechetical challenge of the first order, of exploitative colonial rule and continuing Islamic domwhich I intend to tackle with my priests. We also need to ination, never healed, and a second civil war occurred form our catechists better. But above all it is down to us from 1983 to 2005. This war was also fueled (and bishops and priests to proclaim and bear witness to the financed) by Western interests in the region — Sudan is Faith. But as I have said, we cannot play down the proboil-rich. This third civil war, begun in 2023, is being lems, above all in conveying the fought between warring generteaching of the Church on marals — the president and viceriage.” president of the country — Asked about the positive again, largely over financial signs in his archdiocese, the control of the country’s assets. archbishop answered, “I take joy Sudan and South Sudan are in the fact that the people are battlegrounds that have seen happy and proud to be Chrissome of the most vicious and tians…And moreover the people horrific violence in the world, are strongly involved in the life much of it against defenseless of the Church. As I said, what is women and children. It was lacking is the depth. But the peohome to the drug-fueled, massple are of good will and have an scale atrocities perpetrated by open heart for Christianity.” abused and brainwashed “child A scene of the life of the Church in South Sudan That was in 2017. Khartoum soldiers” in the previous war. is in the Muslim north; only 5% Today there are some eight milof the population was Christian as of 2023, and rapidly lion civilians displaced by the violence. shrinking. Most of the clergy and religious have left, and This is the backdrop against which a courageous and the seminary has closed; armed combatants are attacking faithful bishop struggles to lead his small and dwindling the remaining clergy and Church property. In a city of flock. millions, only three priests remained with Archbishop Archbishop Michael Diddi Adgum Mangoria has been Diddi as of earlier this year. the bishop of Khartoum, Sudan, since 2015. In the first In July of this year, Archbishop Diddi, who had for a years of his episcopate, the country was relatively at time been forced by the violence to relocate to Port peace (though still dealing with the results of war — Sudan on the Red Sea coast, reported that soldiers had massive numbers of orphaned children; displaced famibroken into parishes, a Catholic bookshop, and even his lies; and people from the south who lost their Sudanese own residence and looted them. All the money in the poscitizenship after the split into two countries). session of the archdiocese was stolen.

At that time, Archbishop Diddi spoke about the chalThe deteriorating security situation, he said, has made lenges of evangelization in a culture still somewhat it nearly impossible for priests to move freely, disrupting attached to tribalism and polygamy. regular church services and community outreach. “The “Until now,” he told Australia’s Catholic Weekly in situation is difficult, but we remain steadfast in our mis2017, “we have tended to look above all at the numsion to proclaim the Gospel,” said the archbishop. m bers…But we baptized so many heathens without there 40 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

fr. Gioele schiavella Retired Pastor of vatican City’s (only) Parish, Rome

At 103, RetiRed PAstoR of st. Anne’s, Continues A Lifetime of Quiet seRviCe

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he comparison was once made between priests and planes: there are so many planes heading to so many destinations of which we are not aware, but when one crashes, it is in all the news. It is the same with the priests who labor, unnoticed and uncelebrated, dedicating their whole lives to serving people: when one fails, the attention is all on him.

Among the many priests who has quietly and devotedly sacrificed himself for Christ and His people is 103-year-old Fr. Gioele Schiavella, an Augustinian Father who in 2025 celebrated 80 years of priesthood.

The year 2025 also marked 35 years since he was appointed in 1990 by Pope St. John Paul II to be the pastor of the Vatican’s Santa Anna parish church (photo) — the only parish church in the Vatican City State. “Fr. Gioele,” as he is known, worked at St. Anne’s for 15 years and remained there after his retirement on March 19, 2006. Before retiring as the pastor, he welcomed to St. Anne’s the newly-elected Pope Benedict XVI. Fr. Gioele also warmly welcomed Pope Leo XIV when he came to celebrate Holy Mass there.

As a pastor, Fr. Gioele was famous for his homilies, which were even collected by some people. And, like St. John Maria Vianney, Fr. Gioiele was also a famous confessor, known for attracting souls thanks to his kindness and serenity.

His name, Gioele, derives from the Italian word gioia, which in English means “joy” and expresses perfectly the serene joy of his character, with a quiet discretion that is characteristic of the Augustinians.

Gioele Schiavella was born on September 9, 1922 in Genazzano, a little town near Rome famous for the Augustinian Shrine of Our Lady of Good Council — a shrine to which our current Holy Father Leo is devoted.

Gioele’s upbringing near this shrine marked his whole life. At the Shrine in Genazzano he completed his novitiate year in 1937/38 and there he took his simple vows on October 24, 1938.

In 1940, he was sent to College of St. Monica in Rome for a course in theology, and was ordained a priest in Rome

on July 15, 1945. After the World War II he taught Latin to students in Carpineto Romano, the city where Pope Leo XIII was born in 1810.

Fr. Schiavella was elected Provincial Secretary of the Roman Province of the Augustinian Order during the 1948 Chapter and he was transferred to St. Maria del Popolo in Rome, with the duties of sacristan, ministry to young people, and provincial bursar.

He attended the Gregorian University and in April 1952 he graduated in Theology with a thesis on “The Morally Good Act in Gregory of Rimini.”

The same year he became Master of the Professed at St. Monica in Rome. At the end of October 1955, he was assigned to the convent of Viterbo, the seat of philosophical studies for the professed of the Italian Provinces, with the office of Prior. There he taught philosophy and Latin.

In January 1960, Father General Luciano Rubio called him back to St. Monica, to the office of Vice Rector. He was appointed head of the Third Order of St. Augustine (TOA) of St. Monica.

He was also entrusted with teaching moral theology at the Augustinianum and Marianum for about 10 years. His students found him a clear and helpful professor — he even gave his own notes to the students to help them pass their exams.

On August 31, 1965, he was appointed secretary of the Order, and in 1971, Vicar of the Father General. Six years later, the titles of Assistant General for Italy and Malta and Legal Representative of the Augustinian General Curia were added.

In 1983, he ended his service at the General Curia and returned to the Province of St. Maria del Popolo, where he was elected Provincial in 1985, and in 1989 he was appointed parish priest of St. Maria del Popolo — the home that he has never left since.

Fr. Gioele has a special devotion to Blessed Stefano Bellesini, whose body rests in the church of the Shrine in Genazzano. The canonization of Blessed Bellesini is another one of the causes that the centenarian priest continues to hold dear to his heart.m JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 41

TOP TEN PEOPLE 2025

Jan eperjesi, doctor, oB-gyn paso robles, California, uSa

Slovakian immigrant BuildS a Chapel to glorify god

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“In July 2014, I moved to Paso Robles, California young obstetrician, living on a ranch near the from Durham, North Carolina with my wife, Patricia, central California town of Paso Robles, is bringand two young children,” explains Dr. Eperjesi. “I had ing to life a sanctuary of faith for American just graduated from Duke University and was about to Catholics of the 21st century. start my first job as a newly minted OB-GYN physician.

Dr. Jan Eperjesi, a Slovak-American and husband and But I was grieving deeply. Just one month before my father of three, was inspired to build a stone chapel, dedgraduation, my beloved father, Stefan, died in remote icated to St. Stefan and the Holy Family, while returning Lhasa, Tibet, in his sleep — part of a tour group with from a trip to Italy with his wife. other Slovak-Canadian emigré friends.

The Italian countryside, filled with many small stone “I prayed earnestly for my father’s soul at the Adorachapels built out of simple faith, he mused, was not tion chapel. I also sat wordless, thoughtless, motionless unlike the terrain of his California ranch. Perhaps, he in the Rays of the Sacrament, still. I prayed for so many thought, we could build such a simple, rustic stone other things too — desiring to be chapel on our property. penetrated by His Light, permeat“I always felt drawn to raise my ed and enveloped by His Love.” soul to God at roadside shrines and His prayer led to more than chapels,” says Dr. Eperjesi. “They simply a spiritual awakening, reflect the faith of our forefathers albeit one he calls a “transformawith whom we share in spiritual tion.” It eventually led to a desire, communion. Remote chapels give shared by his wife, “to purchase a glory to the God of Creation and rural ranch property to foster a bear witness that God is present sacred and protected space ‘away everywhere, even at the farthest from the world’ for my family. I reaches of the universe.” am convinced that through the But the chapel was not enviworkings of the Holy Spirit, she sioned as a lone project unto itself; Dr. Jan Eperjesi with his wife, Patricia, his three children, and I found such a place. From the it was part of a larger vision, and his mother-in-law. He is building a chapel moment we first visited the property in April 2016, our inspired by Dr. Eperjesi’s acquaintance not only with souls were lifted to God, literally awestruck by its sheer great spiritual writers like de Montfort and von natural beauty.”

Balthasar, but also contemporary writer Rod Dreher, There were twists and turns on the road to finally author of The Benedict Option. acquiring the property, but Dr. Eperjesi could not help He explains: “It was this book that made me want to but see God’s hand in all of it. “Thus, on August 19, go to the Benedictine Monastery in Norcia as a tangible 2016, my deceased father’s birthday, we became the gesture of aligning myself with a spirituality and holiofficial new owners of our beloved ranch, nicknamed by ness that seemed to be at the heart of Dreher’s call for the previous owners “Rancho de los Vientos” (Ranch of families to purposefully adopt a Benedict Option domesthe Winds). Hats off to the Holy Spirit (and my dad)!” tic charism…It seemed to be an urgent bid for an intenToday, a simple but beautiful wooden ranch sign tional approach to faith and spirituality, within the famhangs which memorializes the Eperjesis’ sentiments: ily and amongst families, in solidarity, and in communiRancho Eperjesi-Martinez, Sláva Bohu na výsostiach ty with each other, over a declared desire to live out the (Eperjesi-Martinez Ranch — Glory to God in the Highfaith in a post-secular world.” est!). “We used the Slovak cross (a.k.a., Cross of LorDr. Eperjesi’s journey from being an physician and raine) as our emblem, a deeply meaningful symbol of family man to being the visionary behind building an our salvation in God and alignment with the ancestry, entirely new Catholic community came, he says, faith and agrarian culture of our fathers and forefathers,” through the mediation of his father, a Slovak emigré livEperjesi said.m ing in Canada.

42 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

NEWS

Commission says no to Female DeaCons …though “it Cannot be ConsiDereD the voiCe oF the synoD, muCh less oF the PeoPle oF goD as a whole” n BY VATICAn nEWS

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he status quaestionis of historical research and theological investigation, as well as their mutual implications, rules out the possibility of moving in the direction of admitting women to the diaconate understood as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders. In light of Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and the Church’s Magisterium, this assessment is strongly maintained, although it does not at present allow for a definitive judgment to be formulated, as is the case with priestly ordination.”

The above is the conclusion reached by the second commission (in July 2022) chaired by Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, Archbishop emeritus of L’Aquila, Italy, which — at the request of Pope Francis — had examined the possibility of proceeding with the ordination of women as deacons and concluded its work in February 2025.

This is explained in the seven-page report the Cardinal sent to Pope Leo XIV on September 18 and was made public December 4 at the Pope’s request.

During its first working session (2021), the Commission unanimously concluded that “a systematic study of the diaconate, within the framework of the theology of the sacrament of Holy Orders, raises questions about the compatibility of the diaconal ordination of women with Catholic doctrine on ordained ministry.”

The Commission also unanimously expressed support for the establishment of new ministries that “could contribute to synergy between men and women.”

In the second working session (July 2022), the Commission approved (seven votes to one) the statement quot-

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Pope Francis spotlighted the role of women in the Church during the Synod on Synodality.

Left, Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, Archbishop emeritus of L’Aquila

ed in full at the beginning of this article, which rules out the possibility of admission of women to the diaconate as a degree of Holy Orders, but without issuing “a definitive judgment” at this time.

At the last working session (February 2025), after the Synod had allowed anyone who wished to submit contributions, the Commission examined all the material received. “Although many interventions were submitted, the persons or groups who sent their writings numbered only twenty-two and represented few countries. Consequently, although the material is abundant and in some cases skillfully argued, it cannot be considered the voice of the Synod, much less of the People of God as a whole.”

The report summarizes arguments for and against. Supporters argue that the Catholic and Orthodox tradition of reserving diaconal ordination (as well as priestly and episcopal ordination) to men alone seems to contradict “the equal condition of male and female as the image of God,” “the equal dignity of both genders, based on this biblical reference”; the profession of faith that

“there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for you are all ‘one’ in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28); and social developments “which promote equal access for both genders to all institutional and operative functions.”

On the opposing side, the following thesis was advanced: “The masculinity of Christ, and therefore the masculinity of those who receive Holy Orders, is not accidental but is an integral part of sacramental identity, preserving the divine order of salvation in Christ. To alter this reality would not be a simple adjustment of ministry but a rupture of the nuptial meaning of salvation.”

This paragraph was put to a vote and received five votes in favor of confirming it, while five members voted to remove it.

The Commission expressed the hope that “women’s access to ministries instituted for the service of the community might be expanded (…) thus ensuring adequate ecclesial recognition of the diakonia of the baptized, particularly of women.”

In his conclusion, Cardinal Petrocchi highlights the existence of “an intense dialectic” between two theological orientations.

The first maintains that the ordination of a deacon is for ministry and not for priesthood: “this factor would open the way toward the ordination of women deacons.”

The second, by contrast, insists “on the unity of the sacrament of Holy Orders, together with the nuptial meaning of the three degrees that constitute it, and rejects the hypothesis of a female diaconate; it also notes that if the admission of women to the first degree of Holy Orders were approved, exclusion from the others would become inexplicable.”m

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 43

SCRIPTURE

the one commandment Jesus brings the two great commandments together n BY AnTHOnY ESOLEn *

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hich commandment is Semitic fashion, Moses allowed a the first of all?” asks man to put away his woman, since one of the scribes, in Hebrew, as in German and in pleased with how Jesus answers many other languages, the words his enemies (Mk. 12:28). We know for man and woman double as how Jesus replies. But first let us words for husband and wife, since set the broader context. that, in their creation, is what man The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and woman are for – one another. and the Herodian hangers-on have “For this reason,” says Jesus, citing been after Jesus, trying to trip him Scripture, “a man shall leave his up, to induce him to say something father and mother and be joined to the authorities would condemn or his wife,” that is, to his woman, the common people reject. Note “and the two shall become one” that the only thing that unites them (Mt. 19:5; Gen. 2:24). here is their fear and hatred of That word, one, is crucial in the Jesus. The Herodians have made Old Testament. We find it first at the peace with Rome, to their own creation of light, sprung as it were profit. The Pharisees and Sadfrom the very being of God, who ducees are wary of danger from says, “Yehi, ’or,” that is, “Be light,” the Romans, whom they dislike, and “yehi ’or,” “there was light” perhaps not so much as they dis(Gen. 1:3). The verb echoes the like each other, divided as they are “HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD unutterable name of God, YHWH, over one central question, for the built from the Hebrew verb to be. It IS ONE; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR Sadducees “say that there is no is the only time in the Genesis GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR account that the name of what is resurrection.”

So they try to entangle Jesus in made is repeated immediately after SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL a pointless question over seven the command. And it is the only YOUR STRENGTH” (MK. 12:29-30; CF. DT. 6:4). brothers who, one after another, time when we are given, to name shared the same woman as their wife. “In the resurrection whose the day, a cardinal number, not just an ordinal like “second” or wife will she be?” they ask, not actually caring to learn the “third” but yom ’echad, “one day,” with the emphasis on that clianswer (Mk. 12:18-23). mactic and final word, ’echad, one (1:5).

Jesus, we remember, has raised the dignity of marriage as Thus, when Eve the woman is taken from the flesh of Adam high as heaven. For “the kingdom of heaven may be compared the man, it is a division to be consummated in a more complex to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son” (Mt. 22:2); Jesus union. Adam has named the beasts, but when he sees Eve we wrought his first miracle at Cana to keep the wedding feast hear his words for the first time: “This at last is bone of my bone merry (Jn. 2:1-11); and he will reveal to the beloved disciple, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she John, the final all-encompassing wedding feast of the Lamb, was taken out of man” (Gen. 2:23). And that is why “a man which is the life of heaven itself, for “blessed are those who are leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, and they invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9). become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24), bashar ’echad, flesh that is one.

He has also swept aside that sin-born compromise whereby Adam’s feelings are ordinate to the physical reality, created by Moses permitted divorce. “For the hardness of your heart Moses God. Feelings express the union or they accompany it, but it is allowed you to divorce your wives,” he says, “but from the the reality that brings on the love. Only then does the author beginning it was not so” (Mt. 19:8). To phrase it in a more mention that the man and woman are naked, and not ashamed.

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

Nor should they be ashamed. They are to increase and multiply.

This is why the second commandment is, as Jesus says, like The Sadducees, then, are playing games with words, or they the first (Mt. 22:39). Our English word second comes ultimately feebly imagine the resurrection as a continuation of life on from Latin secundus, suggesting what is in sequence, what folearth, caught up in time and change. Whether they do so inadlows. The Hebrew sheni, by contrast, can suggest what repeats vertently, or to ridicule their opponents, is not clear. Nor is it perwhat has come before, what is done again. Then we may say tinent. Jesus rebukes them: “Is not this why you are wrong, that that the command, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when (Mk. 12:31; cf. Lev. 19:18), is the earthly and human likeness they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marof the first. We may infer that if you do not love your neighbor riage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mk. 12:24-25). as yourself, your love for God is not entire.

That is, there is no reason for the man But such love of neighbor comes from or the woman to marry, because there they the love of God. We have no more warrant enjoy eternal life, as the angels do, tranto rely on human affections to bind brothscending the world of time and change ers in one, than on the same to keep marand the need to beget children. Like the riage whole and indivisible. Of course, we angels, those messengers that may speak are meant to be one in brotherhood; the in persona Dei, as did the three who visflesh of man and woman is, by nature, ited Abraham (Gen. 18:1-15), they are made whole in indivisible marriage; but now one with God. the fall of man, amply recorded in Genesis, Fractious the Pharisees, Sadducees, sets brother against brother, wife against and Herodians may be, but they cannot concubine, father against son, son against deny the justice of Jesus’ reply to the father, and so forth. The love of God – love scribe, that the first commandment is, from God to us, and our responsive love “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the for God – is the binding remedy.

Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord Finally, it behooves us to look at that your God with all your heart, and with all Hebrew word for “neighbor,” re‘a. It sugyour soul, and with all your mind, and gests friendship, companionship, belongwith all your strength” (Mk. 12:29-30; cf. ing to the same people. “Who is my neighDt. 6:4). This is the first commandment: bor?” asks the scribe in Luke’s account of Hebrew reshith. It names the first, not in the scene, whereupon Jesus tells the story time, but in greatness, and not comparaof the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:29-37). tively, but absolutely. “In the beginning Who is my friend, my companion, my God made the heavens and the earth,” countryman? Jesus surprises the scribe by says the sacred author (Gen. 1:1), casting the Samaritan, from a peoand that first word in scripture is ple the Jews despised, as the man THEN WE MAY SAY THAT THE COMMAND, b’reshith, at the head of things. who was the neighbor, that is, the “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF” countryman, to the man who had The reason why we must love (MK. 12:31; CF. LEV. 19:18), IS THE EARTHLY the Lord with all our heart and fallen among thieves. soul and mind and strength is that, He does not say that it is good to AND HUMAN LIKENESS OF THE FIRST. in fact, he is ’echad, one. He is not be a Samaritan. “You worship what like Rama or Vishnu or Siva, whom a Hindu worshiper might you do not know,” he says to the Samaritan woman at the well, worship as his favorite, while making sure to give due honor to but the time draws near when “the true worshipers will worship the others. He is not to be shared with some love of Mammon the Father in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4:22-23). That does not imply (Mt. 6:24), and, in fact, that cannot be done. We must choose, diversity of worship, but unity. We are to love God with all our “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (6:21). hearts, and if we do, we will wish to draw all men into the true What is one in essence cannot be divided. God is one, and it and only brotherhood, going forth to all nations, not to dissolve is not just that he is the only deity. All things come from him and them into one ghastly parody of union, but “baptizing them in are upheld by him in their existence and attain their fulfillment the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” in him and through him. For this reason alone can the first com(Mt. 28:19). mandment be the consummate commandment. It is why the Thus do the two great commandments come together in the word all (Hebrew kol) is repeated several times in the comcommission God has laid upon our heart and soul and mind and mandment, for emphasis. God is the source and the unifistrength. m cation of all love. For the commandment is also a deeply personal appeal: “Hear, O Israel,” cries Moses. The sole * Dr. Anthony Esolen, faculty member at Thales College power that can make “brothers dwell in unity” (Ps. 133:1) in North Carolina, has been a professor of literature and is himself one. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the humanities for 35 years, and is a poet and author or transHerodians are disunited not, in the first instance, because lator of more than 30 books. He publishes a web magazine they do not love one another, but because they are not whole and dedicated to language, music, poetry and classic films called entire in their love for God. Word and Song with his wife, Debra.

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C AT H O L I C I S M A n D O R T H O D O X Y E D I T E D B Y: C H R I S T I N A D E A R D U R F F

The Message of the Icon

BY ROBERT WIESnER

SAINT ANTHONY OF THE DESERT

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ven though at least two ascetics preceded him into the desert wilds of North Africa (Paul of Thebes and Mark of Athens), Anthony is yet widely considered the Father of Monasticism. Neither Mark nor Paul had monks in obedience following them. Anthony, on the other hand, became the abbot of a large number of followers; thus, he is rightly considered the founder of the amazing monastic flowering in the Egyptian desert.

Others preceded him in the ascetic life, such as Saint Thecla and the Therapeuti of coastal Egypt, but these earlier figures remained fairly close to population centers. Anthony determined to leave human company behind altogether and retire to as remote an area he could find.

Anthony was born into a well-to-do family. When he was about twenty years old, his parents died, leaving him their estate and the care of a younger sister. He was struck by the Gospel exhortation to “sell all you have and give to the poor” and he proceeded to follow this message. After disposing of his property and leaving his sister in the care of a group of Christian virgins (an early convent!), he embarked upon his ascetic career.

For about fifteen years he remained in the area of his hometown with another ascetic, working as a swineherd. He then determined to live in strict solitude and moved far into the desert, taking a long-abandoned Roman fort for his dwelling.

Gradually a group of like-minded men established themselves around him. They begged him to leave his fort and guide them in the spiritual life, a notion he resisted for roughly twenty years, but eventually he yielded to their pleas and emerged to become Abbot (Abba, or Father) to these early monks. Thus was established the tradition of the Egyptian Desert Fathers.

After five years of instructing his followers, Anthony again withdrew from society, but not in so strict a fashpage 46

ion as before; he freely saw any who came to visit him and even traveled to Alexandria during the Diocletian persecution to comfort those imprisoned by Roman authorities. He became acquainted with Athanasius, who was to write Anthony’s Life — which became the first bestseller in Christian history, even into the Middle Ages. During the Arian controversy, Anthony became a staunch supporter of Athanasius throughout the latter’s exiles and trials. When Anthony’s death drew near, he instructed his followers to give a sheepskin cloak to Athanasius.

Another cloak he bequeathed to Serapion of Thmuis, a disciple who was instrumental in developing Egyptian monasticism to a high degree.

While there are many stories about Anthony and many entries in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, probably the incidents of his many trials of temptation capture the imagination most often. He was frequently tormented by demons, sometime with vivid and powerful temptations, but also, and not infrequently, by violent physical attacks, some of them vicious enough to leave him in a state his followers interpreted as death.

Anthony would revive from his wounds, however, and immediately return to the fight.

He would eventually overcome the demons by prayer and fasting, thereby developing a spiritual blueprint for generations of monks to come. The temptations of Saint Anthony have very often been depicted in art, from Renaissance artists all the way through the moderns, represented most famously by Salvador Dali. In prose, Gustave Flaubert retold these tales in his The Temptation of Saint Anthony.

Anthony once asked the Lord how one can escape the snares of the devil; the answer was simply: “Humility!”

A number of miraculous healings have been attributed to Saint Anthony, who is often invoked for skin diseases. m

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East-West Watch

BY PETER ANDERSON

NO “PENTARCHY” AT İZNIK

O

n October 22, 2025, Ecuarchs. At no time has a Pope ever menical Patriarch Bartholrecognized the concept of the omew presided at Vespers at the Pentarchy, because the concept Church of St. George in Neochori assumes the equality of the five (Yeniköy), near Istanbul. St. patriarchs and does not recognize George is the Jerusalem Patriarthat the primacy of Rome chate’s embassy church (or involves more than honor. “metochion”) to the Ecumenical Now, many centuries later, Patriarchate, and Archbishop Ecumenical Patriarch Nektarios, the representative of Bartholomew has been attemptthe Jerusalem Patriarchate to the ing to revive a new concept of Ecumenical Patriarchate, was Pentarchy. Thus, on September 1, present. Bartholomew, in his 2011, Bartholomew convened a address at the Vespers service, special meeting of the Patriarchs revealed that he had invited not Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew gifts a cross to Pope Leo during his of Constantinople, Alexandria, November 30-December 2 trip to Constantinople and Lebanon. only Pope Leo XIV to celebrate Antioch, and Jerusalem. For a (photo:Vatican Media) with him at Nicaea (İznik) on Below, Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus (left), Patriarch John of fifth member, in the place of November 28, 2025, the 1700th Antioch (center-left), Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria (center-right), Rome, Bartholomew invited the Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem (right). Photo: anniversary of the first EcumeniArchbishop of the Church of antiochpatriarchate.org cal Council, but had also invited Cyprus to join the meeting. These Patriarch Theodoros of Alexanfour patriarchates and the one dria, Patriarch John of Antioch, church had been recognized as and Patriarch Theophilos of independent churches before the Jerusalem. year 500. At the 2011 meeting, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholthe heads of these “ancient omew expressed regret that Patrichurches” issued a joint statearch Theophilos had not yet ment calling for peaceful exisresponded to the invitation. The tence between religions in the Ecumenical Patriarch stated: Middle East.

“This historic event, a tangible The celebration at İznik of the manifestation of the unity of East1700th anniversary of the Counern and Western Christianity — of the four Patriarchs of the cil of Nicaea provided another opportunity for Ecumenical East and the Patriarch of the West, the Pentarchy of the PatriPatriarch Bartholomew to use the concept of Pentarchy. archates — cannot be imagined without the presence of However, this latest attempt was unsuccessful. Not only did [Patriarch Theophilos,] the successor of St. James, the the Patriarch of Jerusalem fail to accept Bartholomew’s inviBrother of the Lord.” tation, but so did the Patriarch of Antioch. They only sent What is the “Pentarchy”? The Pentarchy is not a concept representatives. The Patriarch of Alexandria did personally developed by churches but rather by Byzantine Emperor Jusattend. tinian (482-565). The concept was recognized in his law, the The failure of the two patriarchs to attend is another sign Sixth Novella, adopted in 535. The concept was that one of the divisions within Orthodoxy today. There is a fear that emperor and five patriarchs (Rome, Constantinople, Alexanthe Ecumenical Patriarch is using the concept of Pentarchy dria, Antioch and Jerusalem) would rule over one society of to give greater importance to the “ancient Orthodox churchChristians. Among the five patriarchs, Justinian’s Pentarchy es.” Not being ancient, the Moscow Patriarchate is strongly recognized that the Patriarch of Rome was first in honor, but opposed to such an attempt. Because of the influence of Ruswithout authority over the other four patriarchs. sia in the Middle East, the Patriarchs of Antioch and The Pentarchy was also recognized in 692 by the QuiniJerusalem probably declined Bartholomew’s invitation to sext Council (or Council of Trullo). However, the validity of avoid irritating Moscow. this council was never recognized by the Pope of Rome. The Based on the İznik experience, it is very likely that split between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in 1054 Pentarchy will remain an historic concept without current made impossible a single body consisting of all five patriapplicability. m InsideTheVatican.com t UrbietOrbiCommunications.com t +1-202-536-4555

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C AT H O L I C I S M A n D O R T H O D O X Y E D I T E D B Y: M AT T H E W T R O J A C E K

NEWS from the EAST UKRAInIAn ORTHODOX PRIEST AnD FATHER OF FIVE TAKEn BY MILITARY RECRUITERS Another priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was detained by military recruitment officials on November 18.

Father Konstantin Volovy, a clergyman of the Cherkasy Diocese, was taken to the Smila territorial recruitment center despite having grounds for deferment from military service.

Family members of the priest brought the necessary documents to the recruitment center, but officials refused to accept the papers or meet with his relatives. The priest was being held inside the recruitment center as of the time of the report, with his family present at the location awaiting police. (OrthoChristian) PATRIARCH OF ALEXAnDRIA: PEACEFUL COEXISTEnCE IS OUR OnLY CHOICE On November 27, Pope Leo XIV and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa departed for Constantinople at the invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. He was invited to take part in the celebrations marking the 1700th anniversary of the convening of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea.

Before traveling to Nicaea, the Patriarch participated in a major peace assembly organized by the Sant’Egidio peacebuilding community in Rome. The closing ceremony took place at the Colosseum, where thousands of Christians were martyred. As the keynote speaker, the Patriarch spoke about the importance of peace in the world, urging that “all together, as one family, we must protect life and stop casting out words like bombs that have the power to destroy centuries of coexistence and mutual understanding.” He also emphasized the necessity of peaceful coexis-

tence among Christians and the importance of seeking new paths of dialogue with trust in God. During his visit to Rome, the Patriarch held a private meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. The two primates discussed various issues concerning their historic churches and the upcoming assembly in Nicaea. They emphasized the importance of their presence and the significant message they must deliver to a world longing for joy, peace, hope, love, effort, faith, mutual understanding, and respect. (OrthodoxTimes) POPE LEO XIV CELEBRATES THE SHARED CHRISTIAn FAITH TOGETHER WITH THE ORTHODOX On November 28, Pope Leo XIV was greeted with hymns and applause by the small Catholic community of Constantinople at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. He then participated in a joint prayer with Orthodox Christians to mark 1,700 years since the Council of Nicaea.

“This visit is a blessing for us,” said 35-year-old Ali Günür, a member of the Christian community that comprises 0.1% of Turkey’s population.

“People need peace. We have serious problems, especially in our region and country, with foreigners and refugees. I believe the Pope will be able to help and will do everything possible. This is my greatest hope.”

Visibly moved by the reception, the Pope encouraged priests, monks, and the faithful, assuring them that “the logic of humility is the true strength of the Church” in a country where Christians continue to struggle against feelings of exclusion. (OrthodoxTimes)

POPE USES ORIGInAL GREEK TEXT OF CREED In nEW APOSTOLIC LETTER

BY PETER AnDERSOn

I

n anticipation of his pilgrimage to Nicaea (İznik) with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Pope Leo issued an Apostolic Letter on November 23, entitled In Unitate Fidei, on the 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

In terms of Catholic—Orthodox relations, the most interesting aspect of the Letter for me was its treatment of the Filioque. In this regard, the Letter states as follows: “Saint Athanasius became the firm foundation of the Nicene Creed through his unyielding and steadfast faith.

Although he was deposed and expelled from the Episcopal See of Alexandria five times, he returned each time as bishop. Even while in exile, he continued to guide the People of God through his writings and letters. Like Moses, Athanasius was unable to enter the promised land of ecclesial peace. This grace was reserved for a new generation, known in some places as the ‘Nicene youth.’ In the East, this generation included the three Cappadocian Fathers: Saint Basil of Caesarea (c. 330-379), who was given the

page 48

title ‘the Great;’ his brother Saint Gregory of Nyssa (335394); and Basil’s greatest friend, Saint Gregory Nazianzen (329/30-390). In the West, significant figures include Saint Hilary of Poitiers (c. 315-367), his student Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316-397) and, above all, Saint Ambrose of Milan (333-397) and Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430).”

“The particular merit of the three Cappadocians was bringing to completion the formulation of the Nicene Creed by showing that, in God, Unity and Trinity are in no way contradictory. This development led to the formulation of the article of faith concerning the Holy Spirit at the First Council of Constantinople in 381. Consequently, the Creed took the name ‘Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed,’ and now states: ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.’”

“At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Council of Con-

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POPE AT MASS: BRING HOPE IN WORLD WHERE RELIGION IS USED TO JUSTIFY WAR On November 30, Pope Leo XIV presided at Holy Mass in Istanbul with hundreds of people “on the eve of the day on which the Church commemorates Saint Andrew, Apostle and Patron of this land.”

In his homily the Pope recalled that Sunday marks the first Sunday of Advent—a time dedicated to preparing for the birth of Christ, who was “begotten, not made, consubstantial with the

Father.”

This declaration was solemnly made at the Council of Nicaea 1,700 years ago—an anniversary central to this Apostolic Journey.

Turning to the first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah, the Pope reflected on the invitation to all people to “ascend the mountain of the Lord,” and he emphasized the importance of the images in the passage—Isaiah 2:1-5.

The first image is that of the mountain “established as the highest of the mountains,” which is meant to remind us that the fruits of God’s action in our lives are meant to be shared with everyone.

The city of Zion in the Old Testament is set atop a mountain and is placed as a beacon of light for all people from all corners of the earth. This, the Pope stressed, “serves as a reminder that the joy of goodness is contagious.”

Looking at the words of Saint John Chrysostom, the Holy Father highlighted how “the allure of holiness” is “a sign more eloquent than any miracles.”

Therefore, the Pope explained, if we truly want to help others, we must “keep watch over ourselves, as the Gospel recommends, by cultivating our faith with prayer and the sacraments.”

But, he warned, we must follow Saint Paul’s advice to take on the armor of light rather than the “works of darkness.”

The second image from the Old Testament text is a world in which peace reigns. The prophet Isaiah describes it as a time when swords will become plowshares, spears used as pruning hooks, and no one shall take up swords against one another.

“How urgent this call is for us today,” Pope Leo noted, inviting everyone to ask themselves how they can contribute to achieving peace, unity, and reconciliation in the world.

Closing, Pope Leo XIV challenged everyone to use the Advent season to “make these values our resolutions,” remembering that we are on a journey to Heaven. (VaticanNews) m

stantinople was recognized as ecumenical, and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was declared to be universally binding. [11] “It therefore constituted a bond of unity between the East and the West. In the 16th century, it was also upheld by the ecclesial communities that arose from the Reformation.

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is thus the common profession of all Christian traditions.”

The Pope’s wording of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed follows the original Greek-language text of the Creed. By using the phrase “now states:,” the Pope clearly indicates that the original Greek language is still the proper language for the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed today.

This language does not include the Filioque. The Filioque is relegated in the Letter to footnote 10 which reads as follows: “First Council of Constantinople, Expositio fidei: CC, Conc. Oec. Gen. Decr. 1, 57 20-24. The statement “and proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque)” is not found in the text of Constantinople; it was inserted into the Latin Creed by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014 and is a subject of Orthodox-Catholic dialogue.” The footnote contains

absolutely no defense for adding the Filioque in 1014. The reference to the Orthodox – Catholic dialogue implies that the Catholic position on the Filioque is open for discussion.

Interestingly, Pope Leo, an Augustinian, does not mention in the footnote Saint Augustine, his spiritual father, who is often cited by supporters of the Filioque.

After adopting the definition of the “Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed” which does not include the Filioque, Pope Leo states that this Creed “was declared to be universally binding,” and that this Creed “constituted a bond of unity between the East and the West.” He also states: “The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is thus the common profession of all Christian traditions.”

However, the language of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed used in the Catholic liturgy added the Filioque and does not track the language of the original Greek which Pope Leo finds still applicable today. Through these statements, I believe that Pope Leo may be signaling that he is open to using translations of the historic Greek language of the Creed without the Filioque in the Catholic liturgy in the future. n

POPE REMOVED SHOES BUT DID NOT PRAY DURING VISIT TO THE BLUE MOSQUE Pope Leo visited Constantinople’s Blue Mosque on November 29, removing his shoes in a gesture of respect but refraining from prayer during what was his first visit, as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, to a Muslim place of worship during his fourday stay in Turkey.

The Pope bowed slightly before entering the mosque and was welcomed by both the imam and the mufti of Constantinople, who guided him through the vast complex of the historic landmark, capable of accommodating up to 10,000 worshippers.

Walking in white socks, Leo smiled throughout the 20-minute tour and exchanged a lighthearted remark with one of his guides, Askin Musa Tunca, the mosque’s chief muezzin—the cleric who calls the faithful to prayer.

In a statement, the Vatican said that Leo visited the mosque “in a spirit of recollection and attentive listening, with deep respect for the place and for the faith of those who gather there in prayer.”

The Blue Mosque, officially known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Sultanahmet Mosque, was commissioned by Sultan Ahmed I, who ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1603 to 1617 and oversaw its construction. Its thousands of blue ceramic tiles give the monument the name by which it is widely known today.

(OrthodoxTimes)

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SPIRITUALITY BEHIND BARS

a BulB of soft Clay Part one of the “Profiling the good thief” series n BY MARCELLUS ALLEn ROBERTS *

A

n angry stampede of sandaled focating fever of his mental illness, or “BY GOD’S GRACE, THE THIEF ON feet are kicking up dust at the CHRIST’S RIGHT OFFERS THE LAST OF welcoming, with the open arms of Place of the Skull — Golgounderstanding, the fractured shards of tha. Three men hang from nails, HIS WRETCHED LIFE IN EXCHANGE FOR his emotional state? You might come A PASSPORT TO PARADISE AND JESUS pinned to crucifixes in a backwater to admire his instinct for survival, at division of ancient Palestine. The the cost of grieving the way his unreACCEPTS THE OFFER. TODAY, HE IS mixed multitude attending the spectastrained impulses shred without anesVENERATED IN THE CHURCH AS ST. cle perform the roles assigned to them thetic. You may notice that his sharp DISMAS, OR BY THE PARADOXICAL by the content of their character: some wit lacks the aesthetic of stained glass.

NAME OF ‘THE GOOD THIEF’” spit, others weep; soldiers sweat Search his memories. Going back while executing their gruesome duties. The condemned only a few hours, the thief is undergoing a scourging. His bleed. A stillness holds the wind under arrest and the desert body is present for the beating, but his mind disassociates soil opens its maw to encapsulate the descending moistures, itself from the moment. He drifts back to his last robbery on leaving behind tiny bulbs of soft clay. This hallowed ground the road to Jericho. His victim’s robe, ring and sandals fit the is fertile. But for what? thief as if they had been made for him. He remembers the “Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one at unfortunate pilgrim’s eyes, swollen almost shut, eyes full of your right hand and one at your left, in your kingfear and... pity. dom.”(Matthew 20:21) Another lashing welts the thief’s body, freezing a scream As St. John the Beloved recalls his mother’s request, his behind the constricted vocal folds of his windpipe and involgaze pans to the right of our Lord. Then it pans to the left. untarily arcing his back, fingers and toes in a transitory pose These two men beside the Messiah are known thieves, robof grotesqueness. For a moment, he is a living, breathing garbers capable of subtle deceptions and sudden violence, men goyle. deserving of this humiliating treatment, justly proscribed by As the plume of pain feathers its way throughout his nerRoman law. Yet, it is the Father’s will that his innocent Son vous system, the thief drifts back to his youth… His adolesdie, flanked by flagrant felons, in this, His final hour. St. cent frame is too weak to inflict real damage, but he swings John’s eyes open wide. wildly and lands a punch before being completely overPut yourself in the sandals of the thief on Christ’s right (our whelmed by the blows of older, much stronger men. Thankleft). What would it be like, honestly, attempting to shoulder fully, he doesn’t have to win, he only has to endure without the weight of his spiritual oppression, or entertaining the sufsurrendering.

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INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

Drunken members of this band of thieves cheer, jeer and sions of the doubts he holds in his heart concerning the goodjoin in. Their greatest weapon is neither their fists nor their ness of God and His willingness to pardon sinners. swords; they wield adult male charisma to exploit women,

By God’s grace, the thief on Christ’s right (our left) offers children and one another. the last of his wretched life in exchange for a passport to ParWith an embrace, they pour cheap wine into the wounds adise and Jesus accepts the offer. Today, he is venerated in the they have inflicted on the young thief; they coax stolen wine Church as St. Dismas, or by the paradoxical name of “The down his throat; they stroke his ego and give him a new name.

Good Thief.”

They utilize the branding effects of trauma to “The conversion of Dismas was a great knit a new web of synapses in the young man’s and astounding miracle. Miracles are by no brain. Then, they label it love. These are his means common; they are rare and exceptionbrother, his sister, his mother. His eyes are al.” (Life of the Good Thief, Msgr. Guame, swollen shut, eyes full of fear — and pride.

Loreto Publications) Another lashing shrieks in the air and splits U.S. prisons have struggled to lower the his tender flesh. The thief barks curses — a number of people being repeatedly sentenced barrage of irreverent metaphors let loose from to time behind bars. This is due to the fact that the abundance of his licentious heart. He is a a majority of people released from prison brute beast, yes? Fit only to be destroyed, yes? have traditionally been worse off post-release Now, consider the thief to the left of our than they were pre-conviction. Miraculously Lord (our right). converted inmates defy the statistics. They Both men suffer from a fallen nature and an are the only ones who can initiate a true immoral nurture. Their backstories, up to this reform. point, are identical.

It may be hard to believe, but even the But one of them, before Jesus State of Texas is calling on the draws his last breath, will be translat“THE THIEF TO THE LEFT TAKES THE inmates themselves to create voluned from his life of present darkness, OPPORTUNITY AND LORDS IT OVER OUR teer-supported programming and into the kingdom of God’s beloved LORD. HIS BLASPHEMIES ARE VERBAL empowering a select few prisoners to Son. facilitate and administer these proThe image of the three crosses per- EXPRESSIONS OF THE DOUBTS HE HOLDS grams peer-to-peer. By and large, the IN HIS HEART CONCERNING THE fectly symbolizes the spiritual combat inmates willing, disciplined, and that an inmate must engage in and respected enough to be nominated for GOODNESS OF GOD AND HIS overcome. these newly created positions are WILLINGNESS TO PARDON SINNERS” The criminal has to decide what he Christians: paradoxical “Good sees when he comes face to face with Crucifixion by Gaudenzio Ferrari, Church of Santa Maria Thieves.” delle Grazie, Varallo, Italy.

Jesus. He has to decide whether Jesus These men and women are charged The facing page shows a detail of this fresco is an unlucky con man, a religious with the heavy lifting of prison with Christ between the two thieves charlatan who went all in and let it reform, and over the course of this ride instead of folding his hand and charging his losses to the year, you will be introduced to a few of them in this series game. The alternative is that the thief goes all in himself, and entitled, “Profiling the Good Thief.” These converted souls trusts that the mangled man in his midst is the blameless King will share stories about the darkness from which they were of the heavenly realms, a king willing to die in order to popdelivered, the depth of grace into which they have been ulate His dominion with the living souls who seek redemption plunged, the responsibilities with which they have been in His name. entrusted, and the way in which they bring the love of Jesus It takes courage to come to God. Belief in Christ is not Christ to the most hellish holes of America’s prisons. palatable to the cowardly. The threat of rejection keeps many Golgotha is hallowed ground, fertile ground. It is the perfainthearted souls from approaching the gates of the kingdom fect place for the rebirth of a man born blind. Jesus used his and begging for a share in Christ’s victory. They’ve squanspittle once to make a healing balm. dered the benefits of their earthly citizenship and can’t fathom At the death of Lazarus, His tears mingled with the sands a God who could create a holy nation from failed individuals. of Bethany, setting the stage for resurrection.

They can’t abide the word “no,” so they ask nothing of God In the garden, the pit-pat of his dropping sweat summoned and receive nothing in return. angels to strengthen him for his trial.

How is it that so many cannot see God’s mercy, His loving On Calvary, the spilling of his blood brought salvation to kindness, in the humility of his Son? Both thieves are eyewitthe nations of man. Man, who is merely a breath, formed from nesses to Jesus being made like them in every way except sin. a bulb of soft clay.

In fact, never had they seen a man brought so low.

The thief to Christ’s left (our right) takes the opportunity *Marcellus Roberts is a Catholic Texas prison inmate and and lords it over our Lord. His blasphemies are verbal expresPrison Oblate of St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, Kansas, JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN

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Of Books, Art and People

Palazzo Colonna: a little-known Roman Gem n By Lucy Gordan

I

in Rome for ’vemorelived than 50 years and

Photos all courtesy of Palazzo Colonna

Pope not to intervene in Florentine politics. The had never heard of, poet Petrarch, a family much less visited, Palazzo friend, stayed here in April Colonna, until last Novem1341, when he came to ber when the Culture Group Rome to be crowned poet of the Foreign Press Associlaureate on the nearby ation was invited on a tour Capitoline Hill. there.

Other contemporary The entrance to Palazzo documents note that OddColonna is located near one Colonna, who ascendRome’s most central square, ed to the papacy as Pope Piazza Venezia, at Piazza Martin V on November 11, Santi Apostoli 66, between 1417, was born here in Rome’s insignificant Wax 1369. (By the way, his Museum and the Roman The Palazzo Colonna with its impressive entrance courtyard election at the Council of and (below) magnificent gardens at its back. headquarters of Touring Constance effectively endClub Italiana. Farther along on the same side of the piaz- ed the Western Schism, which had begun in 1378. He was za is the 6th-century church of the same name, adminis- also the last Pope to take the pontifical name “Martin.”) tered since the Middle Ages by the Franciscans.

Pope Martin V returned to Rome in 1420, appointed the The Palazzo’s short, beautifully-illustrated guide (15 Palazzo as the Pontifical Seat and lived here again until euros), with editions in many different languages, re- his death in 1431. counts: “The Colonnas are a Roman family whose history According to the Palazzo’s website: “In those ten began 900 years ago. The first documented member of years, within the still austere fortress-like rooms of the the family was Pietro, who lived between 1078 and 1108 Palazzo, Pope Martin V designed and implemented a in the countryside south of Rome, close to the town of great plan for a cultural and urban rebirth of the city of Colonna, from which the House derived its name.

Rome, which lay in devastating conditions…during the “Up to the present day there have been no less than 32 Western Schism.” generations of the Colonna family, the main branch of “A century later, during the Sack of Rome in 1527, which established itself from the beginning of the 1200s Palazzo Colonna was one of the few buildings that was here on the slopes of the Quirinal Hill.” not destroyed, due to the good relations Over the centuries, one family member the Colonna family had with Emperor was elected Pope and some 30 members Charles V. Instead, it offered a safe haven became cardinals, not to omit numerous, for more than 3,000 Roman citizens,” less important prelates. even if they were soon arrested and had to Today the Palazzo, with its impressive pay a ransom to re-obtain their freedom. entrance courtyard and magnificent garThe highpoint of the Palazzo’s exisdens at its back, is one of the oldest and tence was the 1600s, when, thanks to three largest (3 acres) still-private dwellings in generations of the family headed by Prince Rome. Built in part over the ruins of an Philip I (1578-1639), Cardinal Girolamo I ancient Roman Serapeum, it took five (1604-66) and Prince Lorenzo Onofrio centuries to complete.

(1637-1685), it was transformed by the Tradition holds that the Colonnas best available architects and artists, Bernihosted Dante here during his visit to ni and Carlo Fontana among them, from a Rome in October, 1301 as part of a diplofortress into the magnificent Baroque matic mission to Boniface VIII to ask this palace it still is today, although there were 00 52 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

Left, the jaw-dropping Great Hall, a vast, glittering 76-meter-long gallery decorated with mirrors, paintings, frescoes and priceless objects.

Right, the room frescoed with Gaspard Dughet’s tromphe-l’oeil frescoes.

Below, the Steinhart brothers’ ebony and ivory cabinet.

also later embellishments. short flight of stairs leading to the The Palazzo’s undisputed architecPalazzo’s magnificent multi-level gartural highlight, completed in 1703, is dens decorated with statues and a wathe jaw-dropping Great Hall, a vast, terfall. During the short-lived, antiglittering 76-meter-long gallery decoclerical Roman Republic, which lasted rated with mirrors, paintings, frescoes from February to July 1849, the and priceless objects that is three meFrench army, under the command of ters longer than the Hall of Mirrors at General Oudinot, had fired upon the Versailles. It was commissioned in the Palazzo from the Janiculum Hill in 1660s by Prince Lorenzo Onofrio as a June. Oudinot had entered Rome with showcase for the family’s growing art some 9,000 troops from the nearby collection, as well as a celebration of Porta San Pancrazio to suppress the the achievements of his illustrious aninsurgent Republicans, to restore the cestor, Marcantonio II (1535-84).

Holy See’s temporal power, and to This heroic naval commander, in guarantee the return to Rome of Pope charge of the papal fleet, was responsiPius IX (r.1846-1870), who’d fled to ble for leading a vast alliance into batsafety in Gaeta. tle against the advancing Turkish forces at Lepanto in the Ironically, two of these insurgents, Mazzini and Gulf of Patras in 1571. Colonna’s victory was considered Garibaldi, went into exile, but twenty years later, together one of the most important events in early-modern history with Cavour, were the protagonists of the Risorgimento, and made an instant hero of Marcantonio. or Unification of Italy.

In fact, the Great Hall’s enormously high ceilings are Although fictional, a century later, the final scene — covered with ornate frescoes portraying several scenes of the press conference — of the 1953 classic film Roman the battle and its hero. They culminate with a fresco of Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, the victorious Marcantonio being presented to the Virgin was shot in the Great Hall.

Mary.

In addition to the Great Left, Pulzone’s Portrait of Marcantonio II Colonna.

Right, Pisanello’s copy of a Portrait of Martin V The Great Hall is a crysHall, the ceilings and talline statement of the Cowalls of most of the lonna family’s elevated staPalazzo’s rooms — the tus in Roman society, now Hall of the Battle Colon a par with the other newumn, the Hall of the ly powerful Roman famiLandscapes, the Room of lies, the Barberini and the the Apotheosis of Martin Borghese, who were also V and the Room of the busily gilding their own Chapel, to name a few — reputations by building are decorated with fressprawling new palaces in coes, tapestries and paintRome and creating impresings, notified and bound sive art collections. by the fidecommesso of Another important his1800, a document stating torical event is commemothat these treasures must rated in the Great Hall. A remain the property of the cannon ball landed on the Colonna family and be 00 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 53

Of Books, Art and People l’oeil landscapes, many handed down from generaworks by Guercino, Pietro tion to generation.

Da Cortona’s The ResurTheir masterpieces are rection of Christ and of too many to list here. SufSome Members of the fice it to say that the highColonna Family at the End lights of the some 300 of Time, Scipione Pulzone’s paintings are several by Portrait of Marcantonio II Francesco Albani, Andrea Colonna, Guido Reni’s St. del Sarto’s Madonna View of Naples from the sea with Castel dell'Ovo by Vanvitelli.

Francis of Assisi and Two Crowned by Angels with Angels, Perugino’s Penitent St. the Christ Child and Young St. INFORMATION SHEET Jerome in the Desert, Rubens’ John the Baptist, Pompeo BaPalazzo Colonna is open to visitors every Reconciliation of Esau and Jatoni’s Portrait of Isabella Coloncob, several paintings by Tinna Salviati, Jan Frans van Bloe- Friday and Saturday (holidays included) from 9:15 am to 2:00 pm (last admission is 1:15 toretto and landscapes of Italy men (called L’Orizzonte)’s many pm). Guided tours in English start at 9:30 and

by Vanvitelli. landscapes, Brueghel the Elder’s 10:00 am. For information about the Palazzo, Also of note is the large nine fantastic miniature land- click on www.galleriacolonna.it. To book reserebony and ivory cabinet made scapes painted on copper, vations, telephone 011-39-06-6784350 or eby the German Steinhart brothBronzino’s Virgin with Sleeping mail: info@galleriacolonna.it or book online via ers, the sandalwood cabinet decChrist Child, St. Anne and Young TICKETONE. Exclusive private guided tours can be arranged every day and start at 3:00 orated with precious stones and St. John, Carracci’s The Bean- pm. Entrance fees: Guided tours cost 35 euros miniatures of a Roman villa, the eater and Cranach the Elder’s per person and last two hours. The unguided many French tapestries, several Madonna and Child with Angels tour of the entire Palazzo costs 21 euros per person; for only the Great Hall, 15 euros; for mind-boggling frescoed ceilings and Strawberries. and elaborate Murano glass You can also see there Gas- visitors between 13 and 18 years old, 10 euros; chandeliers.m pard Dughet’s many trompe- and younger children enter free.

00 54 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

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THE END EXCERPTS fRom LoRD of THE WoRLD

“THiS NEW DECiSioN iS UNLikE ANy oTHER” MORE THAN A CENTURY AGO, MONSIGNOR ROBERT HUGH BEnSOn FORESAW THE RISE OF SECULAR HUMANISM, THE CONTRACTION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, AND THE COMING OF THE ANTICHRIST n BY ITV STAFF Editor’s Note: The passage below is from the novel Lord of the World, written by the English Catholic convert Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson (the son of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury) in 1907. He attempts a vision of the world more than a century in the future — in the early 21st century… our own time… predict-

LORD OF THE WORLD

BY ROBERT HUGH BENSON (1907) BOOK III, THE VICTORY, CHAPTER II, SECTIOn II (After Rome falls, Fr. Percy Franklin, secretly elected Pope, lives in exile in Nazareth with a faithful Syrian priest. As word is clandestinely communicated to the leading Catholic prelates around the world, the new Pope Sylvester prepares to make a decision that will affect the entire worldwide Church...)

“Make sure it is the Cardinal,” he said abruptly.

The priest tapped off an enquiry, and, with moving lips, read off the printed message, as like magic it precipitated itself on to the tall white sheet of paper that faced him.

“It is his Eminence, Holiness,” he said softly. “He is alone at the instrument.”

“Very well. Now then; begin.”

“We have received your Eminence’s letter, and have noted the news…. It should have been forwarded by telegraphy—why was that not done?”

The voice paused, and the priest who had snapped off the message, more quickly than a man could write it, read aloud the answer. “‘I did not understand that it was urgent. I thought it was but one more assault. I had intended to communicate more so soon as I heard more.’”

“Of course it was urgent,” came the voice again in the deliberate intonation that was used between these two in the case of messages for transmission. “Remember that all news of this kind is always urgent.” “‘I will remember,’” read the priest. “‘I regret my mistake.’”

“You tell us,” went on the Pope, His eyes still downcast on the paper, “that this measure is decided upon; you name only three authorities. Give me, now, all the authorities you have, if you have more.”

There was a moment’s pause. Then the priest began to read off the names.

56 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

ing the rise of Communism, the fall of faith in many places, the advance of technology (he foresees helicopters) and so forth up until... the Second Coming of the Lord, with which his vision ends. For this reason, and also because Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have repeatedly cited the book, saying its clarification of the danger of a type of humanitarianism without God is a true danger that we do face, we print a selection from it in ITV, now and in the months ahead.

“‘Besides the three Cardinals whose names I sent, the Archbishops of Thibet, Cairo, Calcutta and Sydney have all asked if the news was true, and for directions if it is true; besides others whose names I can communicate if I may leave the table for a moment.’”

“Do so,” said the Pope.

Again there was a pause. Then once more the names began. “‘The Bishops of Bukarest, the Marquesas Islands and Newfoundland. The Franciscans in Japan, the Crutched Friars in Morocco, the Archbishops of Manitoba and Portland, and the Cardinal-Archbisbop of Pekin. I have despatched two members of Christ Crucified to England.’”

“Tell us when the news first arrived, and how.” “‘I was called up to the instrument yesterday evening at about twenty o’clock. The Archbishop of Sydney was asking, through our station at Bombay, whether the news was true. I replied I had heard nothing of it. Within ten minutes four more inquiries had come to the same effect; and three minutes later Cardinal Ruspoli sent the positive news from Turin. This was accompanied by a similar message from Father Petrovski in Moscow. Then—-’” “Stop. Why did not Cardinal Dolgorovski communicate it?” “‘He did communicate it three hours later.’”

“Why not at once?” “‘His Eminence had not heard it.’”

“Find out at what hour the news reached Moscow—not now, but within the day.” “‘I will.’”

“Go on, then.” “‘Cardinal Malpas communicated it within five minutes of Cardinal Ruspoli, and the rest of the inquiries arrived before midnight. China reported it at twenty-three.’”

“Then when do you suppose the news was made public?” “‘It was decided first at the secret London conference, yesterday, at about sixteen o’clock by our time. The Plenipotentiaries appear to have signed it at that hour. After that it was communicated to the world. It was published here half an hour

God as depicted by British poet William Blake as the “architect of creation,” now in the British Museum, London

past midnight.’”

“Then Felsenburgh was in London?” “‘I am not yet sure. Cardinal Malpas tells me that Felsenburgh gave his provisional consent on the previous day.’”

“Very good. That is all you know, then?” “’I was called up an hour ago by Cardinal Ruspoli again. He tells me that he fears a riot in Florence; it will be the first of many revolutions, he says.’”

“Does he ask for anything?” “‘Only for directions.’”

“Tell him that we send him the Apostolic Benediction, and will forward directions within the course of two hours. Select twelve members of the Order for immediate service.” “‘I will.’”

“Communicate that message also, as soon as we have finished, to all the Sacred College, and bid them communicate it with all discretion to all metropolitans and bishops, that priests and people may know that We bear them in our heart.” “‘I will, Holiness.’”

“Tell them, finally, that We had foreseen this long ago; that We commend them to the Eternal Father without Whose Providence no sparrow falls to the ground. Bid them be quiet and confident; to do nothing, save confess their faith when they are questioned. All other directions shall be issued to their pastors immediately!” “‘I will, Holiness.’” ***** There was again a pause.

The Pope had been speaking with the utmost tranquillity as one in a dream. His eyes were downcast upon the paper, His whole body as motionless as an image. Yet to the priest who listened, despatching the Latin messages, and reading aloud the replies, it seemed, although so little intelligible news had reached him, as if something very strange and great was impending. There was the sense of a peculiar strain in the air, and although he drew no deductions from the fact that apparently the whole Catholic world was in frantic communication with Damascus, yet he remembered his meditations of the evening before as he had waited for the messenger. It seemed as if the powers of this world were contemplating one more step—with its nature he was not greatly concerned.

The Pope spoke again in His natural voice.

“Father,” he said, “what I am about to say now is as if I told it in confession. You understand?—Very well. Now begin.”

Then again the intonation began.

“Eminence. We shall say mass of the Holy Ghost in one hour from now. At the end of that time, you will cause that all the Sacred College shall be in touch with yourself, and waiting for our commands. This new decision is unlike any that have preceded it. Surely you understand that now. Two or three plans are in our mind, yet We are not sure yet which it is that our Lord intends.

After mass We shall communicate to you that which He shall show Us to be according to His Will. We beg of you to say mass also, immediately, for Our intention. Whatever must be done must be done quickly. The matter of Cardinal Dolgorovski you may leave until later. But we wish to hear the result of your in-

quiries, especially in London, before mid-day. Benedicat te Omnipotens Deus, Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus.” “‘Amen!’” murmured the priest, reading it from the sheet.

III The little chapel in the house below was scarcely more dignified than the other rooms. Of ornaments, except those absolutely essential to liturgy and devotion, there were none. In the plaster of the walls were indented in slight relief the fourteen stations of the Cross; a small stone image of the Mother of God stood in a corner, with an iron-work candlestick before it, and on the solid uncarved stone altar, raised on a stone step, stood six more iron candlesticks and an iron crucifix. A tabernacle, also of iron, shrouded by linen curtains, stood beneath the cross; a small stone slab projecting from the wall served as a credence. There was but one window, and this looked into the court, so that the eyes of strangers might not penetrate.

It seemed to the Syrian priest as he went about his business—laying out the vestments in the little sacristy that opened out at one side of the altar, preparing the cruets and stripping the covering from the altar-cloth—that even that slight work was wearying. There seemed a certain oppression in the air. As to how far that was the result of his broken rest he did not know, but he feared that it was one more of those scirocco days that threatened. That yellowish tinge of dawn had not passed with the sunrising; even now, as he went noiselessly on his bare feet between the predella and the prie-dieu where the silent white figure was still motionless, he caught now and again, above the roof across the tiny court, a glimpse of that faint sand-tinged sky that was the promise of beat and heaviness.

He finished at last, lighted the candles, genuflected, and stood with bowed head waiting for the Holy Father to rise from His knees. A servant’s footstep sounded in the court, coming across to hear mass, and simultaneously the Pope rose and went towards the sacristy, where the red vestments of God who came by fire were laid ready for the Sacrifice. ***** Silvester’s bearing at mass was singularly unostentatious. He moved as swiftly as any young priest, His voice was quite even and quite low, and his pace neither rapid nor pompous. According to tradition, He occupied half-an-hour ab amictu ad amictum; and even in the tiny empty chapel He observed to keep His eyes always downcast.

And yet this Syrian never served His mass without a thrill of something resembling fear; it was not only his knowledge of the awful dignity of this simple celebrant; but, although he could not have expressed it so, there was an aroma of an emotion about the vestmented figure that affected him almost physically—an entire absence of self-consciousness, and in its place the consciousness of some other Presence, a perfection of manner even in the smallest details that could only arise from absolute recollection. Even in Rome in the old days it had been one of the sights of Rome to see Father Franklin say mass; seminary students on the eve of ordination were sent to that sight to learn the perfect manner and method. (to be continued)m JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 57

VATICAN WATCH

By Matthew Trojacek with CNA Reports - Grzegorz Galazka and CNA photos

OCTOBER

Publishing House announced on October 15. The announcement was made at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

“This text will allow readers to discover the writings from the period when the Pope was an Augustinian religious and the superior of his Order,” said Lorenzo Fazzini, editorial director of the Vatican Publishing House. “It is a volume eagerly awaited by readers across the world.”

The book, titled Free under Grace: Writings and Meditations 2001-2013, is a collection of Pope Leo XIV’s writings during those years. In 2001, Pope Leo XIV — then known as Father Robert Prevost, O.S.A. — was elected to the first of his two consecutive six-year terms leading the Order of Saint Augustine. (Aleteia)

FRIDAY 3 CARDINAL KOCH CONGRATULATES ARCHBISHOP-DESIGNATE OF CANTERBURY SARAH MULLALLY On October 3, King Charles III approved the nomination of Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury. She will be the first woman to hold the office, with her installation scheduled for March 2026 at Canterbury Cathedral.

In a letter addressed to Bishop Mullally, Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, offered his congratulations and expressed the Catholic Church’s support for her new ministry. He wrote: “Having learned of your nomination… I write to congratulate you on your appointment and to express the good wishes of the Catholic Church to you as you prepare to undertake this important service in your Church. I pray that the Lord will bless you with the gifts you need for the very demanding ministry to which you have now been called, equipping you to be an instrument of commu- King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United nion and unity for the faithful among Kingdom arrived at the San Damaso courtyard for the private audience with Pope Leo XIV in Vatican whom you will serve.” (VaticanNews)

FRIDAY 17 DIGITAL RERUM NOVARUM: AI AT THE SERVICE OF JUSTICE AND PEACE Under the theme “Digital Rerum Novarum: Artificial Intelligence for Peace, Social Justice, and Integral Human Development,” the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences gathered 50 global experts from diverse disciplines at the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican on October 16–17. The goal was to foster dialogue and share experiences that could help promote a responsible, ethical, and human-centered use of artificial intelliCity, October 23, 2025. (Photo - Grzegorz Galazka) gence — one of the most transformative MONDAY 13 technologies of our era.

FIVE JUDGES APPOINTED TO DDF TRIBUNAL Participants highlighted the need to align the various AI FOR RUPNIK CASE regulation initiatives under a shared global framework — The Vatican has announced the appointment of five one that is binding, includes mechanisms for enforcement, judges to oversee the canonical trial of former Jesuit priest and is supported by institutions suited to the digital age. (Vatand renowned artist, Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, who has icanNews) been accused by several adult consecrated women of psychological and sexual abuse.

THURSDAY 23 In a statement released on October 13, the Dicastery for KING’S VISIT “CONFIRMS CLOSENESS the Doctrine of the Faith said the judges were appointed on BETWEEN CATHOLIC AND ANGLICAN October 9. The tribunal will be responsible for examining the CHURCHES” serious allegations against Rupnik, who was dismissed from On October 23, Pope Leo XIV participated in various the Society of Jesus in June 2023 following multiple accusaevents with King Charles III and Queen Camilla, including tions. an ecumenical prayer in the Sistine Chapel, marking a hisAccording to the statement, the judicial panel is made up toric moment in Anglican-Catholic relations. of women and clerics who are not members of the Dicastery The day included a private meeting between the two leadfor the Doctrine of the Faith, nor do they hold any office ers in the Apostolic Palace and an ecumenical service in the within the Roman Curia. (VaticanNews) Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, where King Charles was conferred with the title of Royal Confrater of Saint Paul.

WEDNESDAY 15 “One of the most significant things is that an English King POPE LEO’S PRE-PAPACY WRITINGS TO BE has not prayed in the same place as a Pope since before the PUBLISHED IN A NEW BOOK Reformation, since long before the separation of the Church A book containing the writings of Pope Leo XIV’s time as of England from the Church of Rome,” said Father Martin the prior general of the Augustinian Order will be published Browne, an Irish Benedictine monk and official of the Dicasin spring 2026, the Order of Saint Augustine and the Vatican tery for Promoting Christian Unity. (VaticanNews) 58 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

Below, Canadian singer Michael Buble performs during the 6th Concert with the Poor for Christmas in Paul VI Hall in the presence of Pope Leo XI, at Vatican City on December 5, 2025. (Photos - Grzegorz Galazka)

NOVEMBER SATURDAY 15 POPE LEO XIV DONATES 62 OBJECTS FROM THE VATICAN MUSEUMS TO CANADA On the morning of November 15, Pope Leo XIV received Monsignor Pierre Goudreault, Bishop of Sainte-Anne-de-laPocatière and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, in audience at the Apostolic Palace. He was accompanied by Bishop Richard Smith, Archbishop of Vancouver, and Father Jean Vézina, Secretary General of the same Conference. During the audience, the Pope donated sixty-two objects from the ethnological collections of the Vatican Museums to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The sixty-two artefacts, coming from different communities, are part of the patrimony received on the occasion of the Vatican Missionary Exhibition of 1925, encouraged by Pope Pius XI during the Holy Year, to bear witness to the faith and cultural richness of peoples.

Sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries between 1923 and 1925, these artifacts were subsequently combined with those of the Lateran Ethnologic Missionary Museum, which then became the “Anima Mundi” Ethnological Museum of the Vatican Museums.

(Zenit) FRIDAY 21 POPE TO YOUTH ON VIDEO CALL: “DON’T LET AI DO YOUR HOMEWORK!” Pope Leo XIV warned against over-reliance on artificial intelligence apps and programs in an hour-long “digital visit” with the attendees at the National Catholic Youth Conference on November 21.

The Pope addressed the crowd of about 16,000 young people by video conference from the Vatican. Five young people from across the United States were selected to ask Pope Leo questions in a conversation that was moderated by Catholic speaker and author Katie Prejean McGrady.

Archbishop Nelson Perez said at the end that he hoped the Holy Father would visit the USA in person. Leo responded with a smile. (Aleteia) TUESDAY 25 DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH: MONOGAMY IS NOT A LIMITATION BUT A PROMISE OF THE INFINITE Marriage is defined as “an indissoluble unity” by the doctrinal Note of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), calling it an “exclusive union and mutual belong-

ing.” The document — approved by Pope Leo XIV on November 21, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and presented to the press November 25 — bears the title Una caro (one flesh), In Praise of Monogamy.

It explains that only two people can give themselves fully and completely to one another; otherwise, the gift becomes partial and fails to respect the other’s dignity.

The text is driven by three main concerns. First, the current “global context of expanding technological power, leading human beings to see themselves as “creatures without limits” and thus distant from the value of exclusive love.

Another is polygamy, noting that “in-depth studies of African cultures” contradict the common assumption that monogamous marriage is exceptional there. Finally, it notes the rise in the West of “polyamory” — public forms of nonmonogamous unions.

The DDF seeks to emphasize the beauty of conjugal unity which, “with the help of grace,” mirrors “the union between Christ and his beloved bride, the Church.” (VaticanNews)

WEDNESDAY 26 HOLY SEE CLOSES 2024 WITH A SURPLUS OF 1.6 MILLION EURO The Secretariat for the Economy has published the Holy See’s 2024 Consolidated Financial Statements, which show a surplus of 1.6 million euro.

The result represents a significant recovery compared to the deficit of 51.2 million euro recorded the previous year.

The report, published on November 26, highlights a clear improvement and, while prudently aware that full financial sustainability is a long-term goal, a clearly positive direction can be observed. (VaticanNews)

DECEMBER FRIDAY 5 POPE ASKS ARTISTS TO SEE JESUS IN CONCERT ATTENDEES Pope Leo XIV asked Canadian singer Michael Bublé and other artists to do their very best when performing a Christmas concert for the poor.

The annual concert at the Vatican “is not merely a performance by talented artists or simply a musical event, beautiful as it may be, nor even a moment of solidarity to ease our conscience in the face of society’s injustices,” the Pope told Bublé and the other artists December 5.

Asked about his faith later, Bublé, a Catholic, told reporters, “I have a wonderful personal relationship with God. And it doesn’t just affect my music. It affects everything, everything I do, every decision I make.”(USCCB) n JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN

59

PEOPLE B M Y

ATTHEW TROJACEK with Grzegorz Galazka photos

CARDINAL TAGLE VISITS CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN AZERBAIJAN On October 18, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, ProPrefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization, visited Azerbaijan at the invitation of Bishop Vladimir Fekete and stopped at the construction site of the Saint John Paul II Church in Baku.

The plot of land for what will become Baku’s second Catholic church was granted by a special decree from Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev.

While in Baku, Cardinal Tagle also met with Ramin Mammadov, Chairman of the State Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Work with Religious Associations.

He expressed appreciation for the country’s climate of interreligious relations and thanked the government and public for the conditions that enable the Catholic community to carry out its mission. (VaticanNews) KING CHARLES RECEIVES ROYAL CONFRATER TITLE AS SIGN OF HOPE WITH ANGLICAN COMMUNION Ut unum sint—“That they may be one.” A horizon of hope for the future characterized the atmosphere in the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls during the ceremony conferring the title of Royal Confrater on King Charles III of England on October 23. The ecumenical celebration was presided over by Abbot Donato Ogliari, in the presence of Cardinal Archpriest of the Papal Basilica James Michael Harvey; the Archbishop of York and Primate of England, Stephen Cottrell; and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Rosie Frew.

After the introductory rites, Cardinal Harvey took the floor, recalling the strong historical ties that unite the Papal Basilica with the kingdom of England. This dialogue reached a decisive stage in the 1966 meeting between Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey, which led to official dialogue between the two communions “for the first time since the Reformation.” On that occasion, the Pontiff memorably placed his episcopal ring on the archbishop’s finger.

The honorary title of Royal Confrater of the basilica and abbey—offered with the approval of Pope Leo XIV—is therefore a sign of “hope”, explained the cardinal, and a gesture of welcome not only to a sovereign but to a “brother.” (VaticanNews) WHAT TO MAKE OF THE ITALIAN BISHOPS DOCUMENT ON HOMOSEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER LIFESTYLES Continuing months of controversy, the Italian bishops have overwhelmingly approved a document that many argue expresses official support for homosexuality and transgender lifestyles.

Much like the Synod on Synodality, the Italian Bishops’ Conference’s multi-year synodal assembly has been marked by controversy over LGBT-related issues.

The four-year synodal process convened by the bishops’ conference (known in Italian as the CEI) culminated in a late October vote to overwhelmingly approve the final document. The CEI is led

by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi.

That vote, originally scheduled for the spring, was delayed until 25 October due to dissatisfaction among the bishops over passages concerning women, LGBT issues, and the handling of abuse. Some bishops argued the draft was not permissive 60 INSIDE THE VATICAN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026

197-INCH SCULPTURE DEDICATED TO POPE LEO XIV IN HIS FORMER DIOCESE The city of Chiclayo readies itself for an event unlike any other in its recent history: the November unveiling of a monumental five-meter statue honoring Pope Leo XIV, the first large-scale sculpture dedicated to the pontiff whose pastoral journey once intertwined deeply with this very land.

The statue, towering and radiant under the Lambayeque sun, captures the Pope in a gesture of blessing—right hand extended, a serene smile illuminating his face. For many in Chiclayo, this image transcends artistry. It is a gesture of gratitude. “This monument expresses the love and appreciation of the people of Lambayeque for a pastor who walked among them long before he became the Bishop of Rome,” said Félix Mío Sánchez, regional head of Tourism and Foreign Trade. “With his open smile, Pope Leo XIV will welcome travelers who come to discover our culture, our cuisine, and the spirit of our people.”

Its creator, Juan Carlos Ñañake, a respected local sculptor known for his ability to blend religious symbolism with contemporary aesthetics, led a team of six artists through months of design and construction. “It has been one of the greatest challenges of my career,” Ñañake said. As Ñañake’s sculpture nears its unveiling, local families gather to watch workers polish the statue’s final details, its tranquil face beginning to gleam in the afternoon light. (Zenit) enough on these points.

The text has now been approved by the majority of the episcopate, both as a whole and on each individual paragraph, as is customary. Among these, paragraph 30, sections C and D, have drawn particular attention for their apparent promotion of homosexuality: “C: That local Churches, overcoming the discriminatory attitude sometimes prevalent in ecclesial circles and in society, commit themselves to promoting the recognition and accompaniment of homoaffective and transgender persons, as well as their parents, who already belong to the Christian community.

D: That the CEI support with prayer and reflection the ‘days’ promoted by civil society to combat all forms of violence and show closeness to those who are hurt and discriminated against (days against gender violence and discrimination, paedophilia, bullying, femicide, homophobia, and transphobia, etc.).”

The controversy is clear: section 30C of the CEI’s newly approved text appears to lend official support to both homosexual and transgender lifestyles. Section 30D, meanwhile, seems to endorse secular events such as Pride celebrations.

In contrast, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law.”

Similarly, regarding transgender ideology and lifestyles, the Church draws directly from Scripture: “God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). (CatholicHerald)

APPOINTMENT OF VICE BIBLE DESCRIBED AS THE “MONA LISA OF ILLUMINATED REGENT OF THE PREFECTURE MANUSCRIPTS” GOES ON DISPLAY IN ROME OF THE PAPAL HOUSEHOLD A 15th-century Bible which is considered one of On November 10, The the most spectacular examples of Renaissance illuHoly Father appointed minated manuscripts went on display in Rome on Father Edward DaniNovember 13 as part of the Vatican’s Holy Year celang Daleng, O.S.A., ebrations. former general counThe two-volume Borso D’Este Bible, which is sellor and procurator known for its opulent miniature paintings in gold general of the Order of Saint and Afghan lapis lazuli, was unveiled in the Italian Senate, where it will remain on display until Augustine, as Vice-Regent of the PreJanuary. fecture of the Papal Household.

The Bible is usually kept in a safe at a library in Modena and is rarely seen in public. It was Father Edward Daniang Daleng transported to Rome under heavy security and its arrival in the Senate was televised, as workers was born on 4 April 1977 in Yitla’ar, hauled two big red crates from an unmarked van and then extracted the volumes, which were Kwalla, Plateau State, Nigeria. He covered in bubble wrap. gave his first vows in the Order of The Bible, commissioned by Duke Borso D’Este, was created between 1455 and 1461 by Saint Augustine on 9 November 2001 calligrapher Pietro Paolo Marone and illustrators Taddeo Crivelli and Franco dei Russi. The and his solemn vows on 13 November Italian Culture Ministry considers it one of the highest expressions of miniature art “that unites 2004. He was ordained a priest on 10 sacred value, historic relevance, precious materials and refined aesthetics.” (NCReporter) September 2005. He was awarded a doctorate in moral theology at the Alphonsian Academy in 2012. He has served as general counsellor heads CELAM, the forum of bishops’ conferences from Latin and procurator general of the Order of Saint Augustine.

America and the Caribbean, led the sessions. (UCANews) (Vatican.va) ASIA’S GLOBAL CATHOLIC ASSEMBLY BEGINS WITH CHURCH STEPS FORWARD AT COP30 TO DEMAND ENTHUSIASM, FRATERNITY CLIMATE JUSTICE One of Asia’s largest international Catholic gatherings in nearFor the first time in the history of United Nations Climate Conly two decades opened in Malaysia’s Penang state on November ferences, the Catholic Church took a leadership role at COP30, as 27, drawing about 800 delegates from 32 countries for four days cardinals and bishops from Africa, Asia, and Latin America united of prayer, discussion and cultural celebration. to demand urgent and just climate action.

The event began with a lively opening procession led by the The November 17 session, hosted by the Catholic Church, with Saint Xavier Institution School band, which escorted dignitaries support from the Claretian Missionaries and other faith networks, and participants to the hotel’s Grand Ballroom amid loud apgathered leaders and representatives of regional bishops’ conferplause. ence federations from Asia, Africa, and Latin America in one of Cardinal Sebastian Francis of Penang, whose diocese is the first such meetings. hosting the meeting, welcomed participants and invited them to The bishops issued a joint message titled: “A Call for Climate experience Malaysia’s “rich culture and hospitality.”

Justice and the Common Home: Ecological Conversion, Transfor“The Catholic Church of Asia is a church on pilgrimage… We mation, and Resistance to False Solutions,” urging governments to are here not as strangers, but humble pilgrims, always endeavoring take action on the moral obligation of climate justice. to be instruments of hope in Asia,” he said, calling the gathering a Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, chair of the Federation of Asian historic moment for the Malaysian Church. (UCANews) Bishops’ Conferences; Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, president of SECAM, or the forum of bishops’ conferences in POPE LEO RECEIVES CANS OF “DA POPE” BEER Africa and Madagascar; and Cardinal Jaime Spengler, who BREWED IN HIS HONOR Chicago-based brewery Burning Bush debuted a beer named “Da Pope” a few weeks after Pope Leo MAN WHO SHOT POPE JOHN PAUL XIV was elected. The name is a reference to a 1991 II REMOVED FROM TURKISH TOWN ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch.

AHEAD OF LEO’S VISIT Illinois Governor Jay Pritzker made a very speA man who attacked Pope John Paul II cial delivery to the Vatican on November 19: He in 1981 was escorted from the Turkish town gave cans of “Da Pope” beer to Pope Leo XIV. of Iznik on November 27 ahead of Pope Leo “We bring good tidings from ChicaXIV’s visit there, Turkish media reported. go,” said Pritzker during the meeting.

In May 1981, Turkish national Mehmet In addition to the cans of Da Pope Ali Agca fired several shots at Pope John beer, Pritzker invited Pope Leo to Paul in the Vatican’s Saint Peter’s Square, severely injuring the pontiff. visit Chicago, noting that it has Turkish media quoted him as saying he hoped to meet Leo “for two or been “in a positive way, mayhem” three minutes.” since the Pope’s election.

Following his attack on John Paul, Agca was handed a life sentence in Pritzker joked Leo could either “enjoy or at least Italy, which he ended up serving in Turkey’s capital Ankara. He was released display” the four-pack of Da Pope beer, and Pope in January 2010 after 29 years in jail.

Leo replied that “we’ll put these in the fridge.”

John Paul visited him in prison in December 1983, where he repented for (Aleteia) the crime but did not specify his motives. (UCANews) JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 INSIDE THE VATICAN 61

Food FoR THoUGHT n BY MOTHER MARTHA Talismano della Felicità, the first on’t start the new year of Ada’s several books: La cuciwith a resolution to diet. wo usTs for na romana, 1929; La cucina di Instead, head to your nearThe TalophIle s ookshelf ogni mese: cinquecento nuove est bookstore or click on the inricette, 1945; Prime esperienze ternet to purchase the two redi una piccola cuoca, 1949; La cucicently-published must-haves for every Italophiles’ library na rapida per la donna d’oggi, 1968; and kitchen shelf. and La cucina regionale italiana, On October 28, Il Talismano della Felicità by Ada published posthumously in 1975.

Boni, the most iconic and beloved Italian cookbook ever However, we cannot overlook the published, was translated and published by Litmover-and-shaker of this ambitious tle, Brown and Company in English for the translation project/culinary feat, Mifirst time. It was first published in 1929, two chael Szczerban, since last year the years before The Joy of Cooking, its Ameripublisher of the Voracious and Sparks can counterpart. imprints at Little, Brown and CompaAt first a treasury of 882 regional dishes ny. He first heard of Il Talismano when with additions at every new edition, Il Talismano della Felicità quickly became a quintes- Ada Boni and the cover of the new American he was an editor at Simon & Schuster translation of Il Talismano della Felicità. sential wedding gift: a talisman for newly- Below, Michael Szczerban, the publisher who and had acquired the rights of Salt, Fat, brought this work to English Acid, Heat, the mega-best-seller cookweds — particularly the bride, of course — book by Samin Nosrat, who first mentioned Il Talisbeginning a new life. For as Boni wrote: “There can mano to him. For the next 13 years, he became obbe no true happiness if such an essential part of our sessed with finding the publishing rights for this daily lives as eating is neglected. Cooking is the translation. Finally, he found Ada Boni’s greatgayest of arts and the most pleasant of sciences.” nephew and only descendant, Stefano Tambone, Not surprisingly, in a recent documentary about now aged 83. He lives outside Rome, owns one of the life of Marcella Hazan, whose several books inthe first editions of Il Talismano, inherited Boni’s cooktroduced authentic Italian cuisine to Americans, her book collection and some of the worn copper pots she husband Victor recounted that, when she immigrated to used, and is delighted his great-aunt’s book has finally the USA in 1955 as his young bride, she brought with her been translated into English. a copy of this “Bible of Italian Cuisine” to teach This new English-language edition, The Talherself how to cook. I, too, received a copy as a isman of Happiness, will feature nearly 1,700 wedding present; now, after 54 years, it’s stained recipes and include American measurements, with olive oil and tomato sauce and dog-eared. delightful illustrations (not in any of the Italian The oldest of four children, Ada Giaquinto editions) and forewords by another world-fawas born in Rome on October 11, 1881, to a mous chef, Lidia Bastianich, and by prolific well-to-do family; she lived a carefree childhood cookbook author, travel writer/broadcaster/TV on Via di Ripetta near Piazza del Popolo. By age host and culinary tour guide, Katie Parla.

10, she’d developed a passion for cooking, probSpeaking of Parla, she’s a Yale-educated art ably thanks to her father’s brother Adolfo, a historian born and bred in New Jersey, and a well-known chef, sought-after for the private The cover of Katie Parla’s new book about the cuisine long-term resident of Rome and collector of kitchens of Rome’s noble families. He founded of Rome Boni’s Preziosa. Her latest book, Rome: A Culthe cooking magazine Il Messaggero della cuciinary History, Cookbook, and Field Guide to the Flavors na in 1903 and edited it until his death in 1937, and also that Built a City was published in mid-November. It traces wrote many cookbooks, as well as poetry and song lyrics, the city’s food story from its Iron Age roots to the modern in Roman dialect. trattoria table, recounting how the empire, religion, miAda married Enrico Boni, the heir to a family of Rogration and politics have shaped what Romans eat and man goldsmiths, but also a sculptor, painter, photographhow they eat it. er, critic, music lover, writer, passionate gourmet and Her earlier books include Tasting Rome: Fresh Flaclose friend of the haute-cuisine pioneer Auguste Escoffivors and Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City; Eating er. More than just a soulmate, Enrico was Ada’s intellec& Drinking in Rome: An Insider’s Guide to the City’s Best tual partner and collaborator. Together, in 1915, they Food and Drink; Food of the Italian South: Recipes for founded Preziosa, a forerunner of today’s food blogs: a Classics, Disappearing and Lost Dishes; Food of the Italsubscription magazine of recipes and domestic advice, ian Islands; and The Joy of Pizza: Everything You Need to sent to the Bonis by their readers or collected on their travels in all of Italy’s regions, and edited to include in Il Know.m

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Celebrate the Triumph of Jesus Christ Easter in Italy Pilgrimage March 30 – April 9, 2026

Join us on pilgrimage and renew your faith during the Jubilee of Hope!

Easter in Italy Pilgrimage March 30-April 9, 2026 Our Easter 2026 pilgrimage will begin almost a week before Easter in Assisi — the city of St. Francis — in the Umbrian hills near the very center of Italy. Assisi is one of the loveliest, most peaceful cities in the world. The very light and air of the city seem filled with the presence of the spirits of St. Francis and St. Clare.

During this Holy Pilgrimage, we will also travel to Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict. Tucked beneath sparkling, snow-caped mountains, Norcia is the scene of a poignant and unforgettable Good Friday procession.

Our final and climactic destination is the eternal City itself – Rome – where we will attend Easter Vigil Mass, and then Easter Sunday Mass, celebrated by Pope Leo XIV and continue the festivities on Easter Monday (“la Pasquetta”) in Manoppello, at the shrine of the miraculous Holy Face. These liturgies, celebrating the triumph of Jesus Christ over sin and death, are among the most splendid and joyous in the Church’s calendar.

Join us for this joyous Easter celebration!

Visit us online for more information on this moving spiritual pilgrimage.

PILGRIMAGE@INSIDETHEVATICAN.COM ∞ +1.202.536.4555 ∞ InsideTheVaticanPilgrimages.com