Catholic Bishops in Zimbabwe Issue Guidance on Society of Saint Pius X, Call for Full Communion with Church

The Catholic Bishops in Zimbabwe have issued pastoral guidance on the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), urging the Catholics in the Southern African nation to remain in full communion with the Holy Father, their Diocesan Bishops and the universal Catholic Church.

In a pastoral communication on Friday, August 14, the members of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) cautioned the faithful against knowingly participating in activities promoted by the Society.

The Zimbabwean Catholic Church leaders described the July 1 episcopal consecration of four priests by Bishops belonging to the SSPX without a pontifical mandate and against the expressed will of the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, as “a serious rupture of ecclesial communion.”

They said, “We offer this guidance out of our pastoral responsibility to safeguard the faith of God's people and to help Catholics remain firmly rooted in full communion with the universal Church, the Holy Father and their local Bishops.”

“To consecrate bishops without the mandate of the Roman Pontiff and against his expressed will constitutes a grave rupture of that communion,” the ZCBC members said in the joint communication.

They emphasized, “communion with the Roman Pontiff and with the Bishops united with him is not merely an administrative arrangement. It belongs to the visible communion of the Catholic Church.”

The Zimbabwean Catholic Church leaders stated that the situation is serious because the Catholic Church is a communion whose visible unity is entrusted in a particular way to the Pope and Bishops united with him.

“Christ entrusted the ministry of preserving the visible unity of His Church in a particular way to Peter and his successors,” they said, and expressed particular concern for Catholics who may be attracted to or participate in SSPX activities without fully understanding the canonical situation.

They said, “We particularly wish to caution Catholics who, perhaps without fully understanding the canonical situation, may be attracted to or participate in the activities of the Society of Saint Pius X.”

The ZCCB members clarified that merely having contact with someone associated with the SSPX should not automatically be understood as formal adherence to schism, saying, “Mere contact with a person associated with the Society should not automatically be confused with formal adherence to schism.”

“Nevertheless, Catholics should not knowingly place themselves in circumstances that progressively separate them from communion with the Holy Father, their Bishop and the Catholic Church,” they added, urging the faithful to refrain from participating in celebrations and activities promoted by the SSPX.

In their August 14 communication, the Catholic Bishops in Zimbabwe said the Holy See had clarified that sacred ministers of the Society administer the Sacraments illicitly and that the Sacrament of Penance administered by them and marriages assisted by them are invalid.

“Catholics should therefore receive the sacraments within the full communion of the Catholic Church and remain united with their legitimate pastors,” they said.

The Bishops emphasized that Catholic identity is not founded merely on attachment to a particular liturgical form, spirituality, movement or individual priest, noting, “Our Catholic identity is not founded merely upon attachment to a particular liturgical form, spirituality, movement or individual priest.”

“We belong to Christ within His Church, united in the profession of the same faith, the celebration of the sacraments and communion under legitimate ecclesiastical authority,” the Catholic Church leaders stated.

They encouraged Catholics with questions about the SSPX, liturgy, doctrine, Church discipline or developments within the Church to seek guidance from their Parish Priests or Diocesan authorities.

“Questions about liturgy, doctrine, Church discipline or developments within the Church should therefore be approached within this communion and never by separating ourselves from it,” they said, adding, “Where Catholics have questions or uncertainties concerning the Society of Saint Pius X, we encourage them to approach their parish priests or diocesan authorities for guidance rather than relying on information circulating through social media or other unofficial sources.”

The Zimbabwean Catholic Church leaders called for reconciliation, clarifying that their communication was not issued in a spirit of condemnation.

They said, “While the present situation is serious and painful, the Church does not speak these words in a spirit of condemnation. The Church is a Mother. Her desire is always reconciliation, healing and the restoration of communion.”

“The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has explicitly affirmed that the Church will welcome with sincere affection and pastoral care those who wish to return from the Society of Saint Pius X to full communion with the Catholic Church,” they said.

They added that the Church is ready to welcome and accompany those who wish to return from the SSPX to full communion, noting, “Procedures have been established through which those affected may seek reconciliation and the remission of canonical censures.”

“To any Catholic in Zimbabwe who may have formally associated himself or herself with the Society of Saint Pius X: do not be afraid to come home,” they said, appealing, “Approach your parish priest or diocesan Bishop. The Church stands ready to accompany those who sincerely desire reconciliation and full communion.”

The ZCBC members called on the Catholic faithful in the country to pray for those affected by the rupture and for the healing of divisions within the Body of Christ, particularly this time when the Catholic Church is seeking to grow in synodality, communion and missionary discipleship

They said, “This painful development reminds us that unity is both a gift from Christ and a responsibility entrusted to all of us. We therefore ask the Catholic faithful in Zimbabwe to pray for those affected by this rupture and for the healing of divisions within the Body of Christ.”

“Let us pray especially that the Holy Spirit may soften hearts, heal wounds and lead all God's people towards the unity for which Christ Himself prayed: ‘that they may all be one’” the ZCCB Members said in their August 14 communication. 

Bishop Niall Coll delivers powerful homily at Knock Novena

The Bishop of Raphoe, Niall Coll, delivered a powerful message at yesterday's annual Knock National Novena.

This year's Novena was particularly special, as 2026 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Knock Basilica.

He says that Knock has become a place for people to "step away from the noise" and breathe, rather than getting swept up in the business of everyday life.

"For fifty years, this Basilica has welcomed people from every part of Ireland and from much further afield - people carrying all sorts of things with them: their hopes and fears, their joys and their worries, their gratitude, their questions, their grief. And perhaps that is why the theme of this Novena is so appropriate: 'Sheltered in God’s Love,'" Bishop Coll said.

"Because that is what people come here looking for. Not necessarily answers to everything. Sometimes simply somewhere to breathe. Somewhere to step away from the noise for a while. Somewhere to remember that whatever is happening in our lives, God is still there. And that is something very special about Knock."

"The apparition was silent. Mary, Joseph and Saint John stood here before the Lamb of God. There were no words. No explanation. No instructions. Just a presence. And perhaps that silence has something important to say to us today. Because we live in a very noisy world. There is always something demanding our attention. Our phones, our screens, the news, social media, work, money, politics, the pressures of family life."

Bishop Coll also said that despite how connected we are now, we are more restless and lonely than ever despite all of the advancements being made.

"We are constantly being asked to do something, decide something, achieve something, improve something. And yet, for all our technology and all our progress, many people seem more restless than ever. We are connected (technologically) to more people than any generation before us - and yet many people feel lonely," Bishop Coll said.

"We have more choice - and yet many are unsure what life is really about. We have become very good at managing life - but perhaps we have become less good at simply living it."

"And that is where I found the thinking of Iain McGilchrist helpful. He is not a theologian. He is a psychiatrist and thinker who has spent years reflecting on how we see the world. And, without getting too technical, his basic point is quite simple. He says that we have become very good at looking at things, breaking them down, measuring them, analysing them, controlling them. And that is useful. We need those abilities."

"But, if that becomes the only way we see the world, we can lose something very important. We stop seeing life as something to receive and wonder at. We start treating everything as something to use. We can even begin to treat people that way. We look at what they can do, what they can achieve, what they can contribute. We can even begin to treat ourselves like that - as if our value depends on what we accomplish."

The Bishop emphasised that this way of viewing the world, in a utilitarian way, can strip you of the joy of love, and the joy of the simple things in life.

"Yet that is not how love works. You don't measure the value of a child by what that child achieves. You don't love someone because they are useful. You simply love them. And perhaps that is one of the great things we need to rediscover: not everything in life has to be achieved or controlled. Some things have to be received," Bishop Coll said.

"A beautiful sunset. A child's laughter. A friendship. A moment of silence. The presence of someone we love. And, above all, the presence of God. You cannot put God under a microscope."

"You cannot manage God. You cannot reduce faith to an argument that solves everything. There comes a point when we simply have to open our hearts and receive. And that, I think, is part of what Knock teaches us."

"Look at the apparition. Mary does not speak. She simply stands there. And perhaps she is saying to us: 'Stop for a moment. Be still. Look. Receive. God is here.'"

And that brings us beautifully to today's Gospel. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. And what happens? Two people meet. Mary carries within her the mystery of Christ. Elizabeth recognises that something wonderful is happening. And Mary responds with the Magnificat: 'My soul magnifies the Lord.'"

"There is something very beautiful about that. Mary does not have everything worked out. She does not know how the future will unfold. But she trusts. She receives what God is doing. She allows herself to be part of something bigger than herself."

"And perhaps that is faith. Not having all the answers. But trusting enough to say: 'God, I don't understand everything, but I trust you.'"

According to Bishop Coll this faith and trust in God gives Knock its purpose, to remind people that they need not carry everything by themselves.

"That is why people come to Knock. We come with our questions. We come with our worries about our families. We come thinking about those who are sick. We come remembering those who have died. We come worried about our children and grandchildren, about the future of our Church and our country. And sometimes we come simply because we don't know what else to do," he said.

"And here, somehow, we are reminded: You don't have to carry everything yourself. There is a love greater than your own. There is a God who sees you, knows you and loves you. There is somewhere - and someone - in whom you can rest. That is what it means to be sheltered in God's love."

"But shelter is not the same as hiding. Knock is not a place where we come to escape from life. It is a place where we come to find strength for life. We come here, we place ourselves in God's hands, and then we go home. Back to our families. Back to our work. Back to the ordinary struggles and responsibilities of life."

"But hopefully we go back differently. A little less anxious. A little less afraid. A little more trusting. A little more able to see the people around us not as problems to be managed, but as people to be loved. And perhaps that is one of the things Ireland needs most today. Not simply more information. Not simply more technology. Not simply more wealth or more choice. But a rediscovery of the human heart. A rediscovery of wonder. A rediscovery of belonging. A rediscovery of God."

"Fifty years after this Basilica opened, we give thanks for all the people who have found shelter here. And we pray that generations yet to come will find it too. Because the world may change. Ireland may change. But the human heart does not change that much. It still longs to be loved. It still longs to belong. It still longs for meaning. And, whether we recognise it or not, it still longs for God."

"So, as we stand here today, let us place ourselves once more under the shelter of God's love, so often beautifully expressed as being gathered under Our Lady’s mantel."

"Let us place our families there. Our worries. Our hopes. Those we love. Those who are sick. Those who have died. And our young people and their future."

"And let us ask Mary, who stood here silently pointing us towards her Son, to teach us again what she knew so well: to trust, to receive, to wonder and to say, with her, 'My soul magnifies the Lord.' And may every person who comes to Knock discover what so many have discovered before us: that whatever life brings, we are not alone. We are held. We are loved. We are sheltered in God’s love."

Short criticism of Mutsaerts for publicly asking Leo XIV for "clarity"

The bishop of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc), Gerard de Korte, has publicly criticized his auxiliary bishop, Rob Mutsaerts, for sending an open letter to Leo XIV in which he questions the fruits of the synodal process and calls on the Pope for greater doctrinal and missionary clarity. 

De Korte does not refute the content of the objections raised by Mutsaerts, but rather censures the method chosen by his auxiliary and maintains that he should have conveyed his concerns to the Pontiff privately.

De Korte’s statements were reported by the Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad, after Mutsaerts published his letter to Leo XIV on August 14, warning of the risk of turning synodality into a permanent way of functioning for the Church.

De Korte questions Mutsaerts’ use of an open letter

The response of the bishop of Bois-le-Duc focuses especially on the public nature of Mutsaerts’ initiative.

According to De Korte, his auxiliary “did not consult the Pope about this extensive open letter” before making it public. The bishop believes that if Mutsaerts intended to express his reservations without causing division, he should have used the internal channels of communication available to him as a member of the episcopate.

“A personal letter to the Pope would have been appropriate” if his intention, as Mutsaerts himself claims, was not to sow discord, De Korte stated. “After all, a (auxiliary) bishop, in particular, has his own means of communicating with the bishop of Rome.”

Differences that go back a long way

The disagreements between De Korte and Mutsaerts did not begin with this letter. In 2020, the auxiliary largely relinquished his administrative responsibilities within the diocese due to his differences with the diocesan bishop.

Since then, Mutsaerts has maintained his own public presence and has on numerous occasions expressed critical positions regarding the direction of certain ecclesial processes. The Synod on Synodality has been one of the issues on which he has spoken most clearly.

In the letter published on August 14, the auxiliary posed a question to Leo XIV about the concrete results obtained after years of consultations, meetings, and synodal reports. Among other issues, he asked whether faith had been strengthened, conversions increased, Mass attendance improved, priestly vocations grown, or reverence for the Eucharist reinforced. His conclusion was that, according to these criteria, “it is impossible to consider the Synod a success.”

Mutsaerts also warned that the process initiated for the 2021-2024 period continues in its implementation phase and must culminate with an Ecclesial Assembly in Rome in October 2028. In his view, this extension raises the danger that synodality may shift from being an instrument to becoming “a permanent form of Church governance.”

The Dutch episcopate maintains its commitment to synodality

The disagreement between the two bishops is also evident in the way they approach the next stage of the synodal process. While Mutsaerts calls for a review of its fruits and a return of the center of ecclesial life to conversion, holiness, the Eucharist, and evangelization, the Dutch Church continues to prepare initiatives aimed at developing synodality.

De Korte has announced that the bishops and religious of the Netherlands will hold a national day dedicated to synodality on October 16 at the Sint-Janscentrum in Bois-le-Duc.

The initiative is part of the implementation phase that continues under the pontificate of Leo XIV. Precisely this extension is one of the central points of Mutsaerts’ warning: the auxiliary maintains that the faithful “do not expect from their Church a permanent process, but clarity on the path to God” and has directly asked the Pope that, in the face of doctrinal confusion and the wear and tear of Western ecclesial structures, “Peter speak with clarity.”

Burke asks the faithful not to abandon the defense of the traditional Mass

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke has urged Catholics to persevere in defending the traditional Mass and to ensure that it remains accessible to all the faithful who wish to attend it. 

In a message addressed to those who are “discouraged by the persecution of the traditional Latin Mass,” the cardinal stated that it is necessary to “fight” for this liturgy “even at the cost of suffering.”

Burke made these remarks during the annual canon law conference Speculum Iustitiae, held at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wisconsin (United States).

«Our Lord will never allow it to be lost»

Burke focused his brief message on the faithful affected by restrictions on the celebration according to the 1962 Missal. The cardinal described the ancient liturgy as “an enormous good in the Church” and expressed his confidence in its continuity.

“Our Lord will never allow it to be lost,” he affirmed.

He then pointed out the responsibility he attributes to those who wish to preserve it: “It is now up to us, even at the cost of suffering, to fight for it so that it may be as available as possible to all the faithful who desire it.”

The statements maintain the position expressed by Burke last July, when he called for a review of Traditionis Custodes, the motu proprio promulgated by Francis in 2021 that restricted celebrations according to the 1962 Missal. 

In that intervention, the cardinal described the situation of the faithful attached to the Vetus Ordo as a “persecution” and argued that the ancient liturgy should be able to be celebrated freely. He also proposed the creation of a Holy See body dedicated to serving these communities.

Restrictions on the traditional Mass

Burke’s words come while Traditionis Custodes remains in force and the debate over its application during the pontificate of Leo XIV continues. 

Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, recently stated that the Pope has no intention of lifting the restrictions or restoring the regime of Summorum Pontificum.

For his part, Leo XIV recently asked Roche to respect “the rites promulgated by Pope Saint Paul VI and Pope Saint John Paul II.” 

The papal letter, published on August 14, does not mention the 1962 Missal or contain any pronouncement on the future of Traditionis Custodes.

Burke calls for guaranteeing access to the Vetus Ordo

The defense of the traditional liturgy has featured prominently in Burke’s recent interventions. During the Paris-to-Chartres pilgrimage last May, in which he celebrated the pontifical closing Mass before nearly 20,000 pilgrims, he urged the faithful not to give in “to discouragement or despair.”

In his message from Wisconsin, the cardinal directed his exhortation specifically to those suffering the consequences of the restrictions on the traditional Mass. 

Burke maintains that this liturgy constitutes a good of the Church and calls for perseverance so that it remains available to the faithful who wish to attend it.

Pope Leo XIV at the Angelus calls for progress on the two-state solution for a "just and lasting peace"

Pope Leo XIV renewed his appeal this Sunday for an end to the «repeated violence against the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank» and urgently called on the international community to promote the two-state solution as the path toward «a just and lasting peace.» 

The Pontiff made this appeal after the recitation of the Angelus in the Piazza della Libertà in Castel Gandolfo, where he was accompanied by the faithful and pilgrims.

Previously, commenting on the Gospel of the Canaanite woman, Leo XIV noted that the Church must remain open to God’s action «beyond the already drawn boundaries» and affirmed that the Christian faith makes «intolerable the inequalities, discriminations, and barriers» that violate human dignity. The Pope presented the Canaanite woman as an example of «humility and determination» and recalled that «God’s table is prepared for all.»

The Pope’s Words Before the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

Yesterday we contemplated the Virgin Mary in her indissoluble relationship with the Son: not even death could interrupt that communion of soul and body, which is eternal life. Every Sunday reminds us that the same fullness is reserved for those who follow Jesus: his resurrection is not a past event, but new life that involves us.

This is demonstrated today by the Canaanite woman, the protagonist of the Gospel proclaimed in the liturgy (Mt 15:21-28). Although she does not belong to his people and lives in a foreign region, she persistently seeks to speak with Jesus, following him like a disciple who already has a bond with him. They were never supposed to meet, but mysteriously faith had already arisen in her. She does not desire something for herself, but peace for her tormented daughter, and she trusts in Jesus, in whom she recognizes the Messiah descended from David (cf. v. 22).

The evangelist does not hide the obstacles this woman must face. The disciples see her as a nuisance, and Jesus himself resists her requests. Indeed, the Master had withdrawn to that region (cf. v. 21) and we can imagine that, as on other occasions, he was seeking a secluded place to pray and form his own. At that moment, however, something unexpected happens. Meditating on this, we can understand Jesus’ obedience, which fulfills his mission by allowing himself to be challenged by what he sees and hears. Finally, he says to her: «Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish» (v. 28).

Today too, the Church can allow itself to be surprised by God’s work and communicate Christ’s peace beyond the already drawn boundaries. Its mission is preceded by divine grace, which acts in the secrecy of consciences, so that in every encounter, even in those that alter our plans, it is necessary to listen, open our eyes, and open our hearts to what God wants to tell us.

From the Canaanite woman we learn humility and determination. Thanks to her faith, we learn that God’s table is prepared for all and that no one is reserved the crumbs (cf. vv. 26-27), because each one, together with the Father, has their own place. In the light of this faith, the inequalities, discriminations, and barriers that trample the dignity of so many sons and daughters of God become intolerable.

Dear brothers and sisters: we are the Church of Jesus Christ in a tormented world, a world that seeks peace. To Mary, our Mother, we ask that she intercede for us. «From her lips flows the strongest and most innovative hymn ever pronounced, the Magnificat» (Magnifica humanitas, 244): it is the song of one who already contemplates reality with God’s gaze and, therefore, does not lose hope and acts in charity.

After the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters:

I renew my appeal for an end to the repeated violence against the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank and urgently ask the international community to make it possible to advance the two-state solution, for a just and lasting peace.

This week the Mediterranean Games will begin, to be held in Taranto. Several countries from Africa, Asia, and Europe belonging to the Mediterranean area will participate in them. I hope that this sporting event will be a prophecy of peace and fraternity among the peoples of this region and of the entire world.

And now I welcome all of you who have gathered here in Castel Gandolfo for the Sunday Angelus.

I affectionately receive the pilgrims coming from various countries. In greeting the Poles, I extend my blessing to the numerous participants in the traditional pilgrimage to the Shrine of Piekary Śląskie, in Upper Silesia.

I wish you all a happy Sunday.

Christian woman can’t be arrested for converting from Islam, Nigerian court rules

A Federal High Court in the Muslim-majority northern Nigeria has ruled that Islamic religious police have no authority to arrest a woman over her conversion from Islam to Christianity. 

The ruling curbs the reach of Hisbah, religious police units that enforce Sharia law.

The woman, identified by the pseudonym Sarah, is 22, according to Christian legal advocacy group ADF International, which supported her case.

She fled her family home in Kano State in 2025 after suffering abuse from her elder siblings, who were also trying to force her into a marriage she did not want. Her parents had died years earlier.

Sarah took refuge with a Christian family, the Abaras, and converted to Christianity while living with them. Her siblings worked with local Hisbah police to have her arrested, and she was detained for four days, during which she was beaten and pressured to accept the marriage she had fled.

Fearing further threats after her release, the Abara family helped Sarah relocate to the city of Jos in Plateau State in January 2026. Her siblings then accused the Abaras of kidnapping her, and the family was arraigned without legal counsel on Feb. 26.

Sarah had filed a rights enforcement petition in a neighboring state on Feb. 24. On May 26, the court ruled in her favor, ordering Kano State and the Hisbah to stop pursuing her arrest over her conversion or her refusal to marry.

The court said the police’s actions were a “flagrant violation” of Sarah’s fundamental right to human dignity and freedom of religion, and it ordered financial compensation for the violations against her rights.

Sean Nelson, senior counsel for global religious freedom at parent group Alliance Defending Freedom, said the ruling affirms Hisbah has no jurisdiction over Christians or other non-Muslims, and called the criminal case against the Abaras outrageous.

A criminal case against the Abara family remains open in Kano, where ADF is backing their defense, arguing the family helped Sarah escape danger rather than kidnapping her. The Abaras are out on bail.

Sarah said the Abara family kept her safe when she had nowhere else to go and introduced her to Christianity, and that she is thankful the court recognized her freedom to convert.

ADF International said Nigeria is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a Christian, with thousands killed for their faith each year, and that Hisbah units in several northern states have increasingly targeted Christian converts and those who support them.

The group also represented Rhoda Jatau, a Christian mother who spent 19 months in prison after being accused of sharing a video condemning the killing of a Christian student, before her acquittal in December 2024.

In 2025, a man identified by the pseudonym David was acquitted after being arrested and tortured for helping persecuted converts flee violence, the group said.

President Donald Trump said last October that Nigeria had failed to protect its Christian communities amid violence he said posed an “existential” threat to Christianity in the region.

Trump had the State Department place Nigeria on its list of countries of particular concern, a designation for governments accused of tolerating severe religious freedom violations, in a move meant to pressure Nigeria’s government. Nigerian officials have played down the violence and rejected claims that Christians face genocide.

A lawyer who uses the pseudonym Jabez Musa and advocates for Christian women and girls abducted and forced to convert to Islam told The Christian Post earlier that U.S. military intervention in Nigeria over the past year has not stopped escalating Christian persecution.

Musa said the U.S. bombed attackers with jets and it would have helped had the campaign continued, but it was not sustained. He said attackers have regrouped, attacks have increased in every region, and violence has spread into southern Nigeria.

Islamist violence has killed thousands of people in Nigeria’s mostly Christian Middle Belt farming region in recent years, and critics say the government has failed to protect its citizens. The attacks in this region are launched mostly by Islamic Fulani militias.

The U.S. launched airstrikes against Islamic State terrorists in northern Nigeria last Christmas Day and deployed troops in early 2026 for counterterrorism operations against Islamic State-linked terrorists. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the effort had killed hundreds of militants, but most U.S. troops were withdrawn from the country last month, a move Musa believes left the intervention incomplete.

Changing from Catholic Priest to Celtic Celebrant like 'stepping off Dún Aonghasa cliffs into unknown'

THIRTY years ago, Dara Ó Maoildhia took the ultimate leap of faith.

He walked away from the Catholic priesthood to forge a different spiritual path on the island of Inis Mór.

He said it was like “stepping off the cliffs of Dún Aonghasa, into the darkness, into an unknown future”.

Originally from Malahide, Co Dublin, he entered the Marist seminary at Mount St Mary's in Milltown at the age of 18, joining the Society of Mary (Marists) to train as a priest.

He took his lifelong vows at 22 and was ordained six years later.

“From a young age, I wanted to be a priest,” he says.

“I didn't know what it meant. Every family wanted one son a priest. I was that person. As soon as I entered, I started to struggle. They wanted me to wear a black soutane and I didn't want to. I was difficult from the word go. I didn't like to be institutionalised. I wanted to serve people.”

Dara went ahead with his training and says he “survived ten years” as the rules gradually became more relaxed.

“The Vatican Council loosened the tight ropes,” he explained.

“I had started by wearing the soutane and finished in jeans and T-shirt, long hair.”

However, that sense of freedom was short-lived. As soon as he was ordained, he had to wear the long clerical garment again and was uncomfortable with what he felt was being placed on a pedestal in society.

He had also taken a vow of poverty but felt the religious life before him was anything but.

“People called me 'Father' and I hated that,” he said.

“I didn't feel I was poor at all. I had all my bills paid for, I didn't have to worry about money. The house was cleaned, my clothes were washed. I became very frustrated with the way it was working out. I wanted to be a priest but not in this way.”

A year in Rome did little to improve his outlook.

“It was the belly of the beast,” he said. “It didn't bring me any warmer feelings. You can see the patriarchy, wealth and power. That didn't impress me one bit.”

He went on to teach Maths, Science and Religion at St Mary's College Secondary School in Dundalk, where he also became Spiritual Director and counsellor.

“It was regimental and controlled,” he said. “Schooling is like that. I was caught in an institution and I was trapped.”

A chance visit to Inis Mór with a youth prayer group in 1982 transformed the course of his life. Three years later, he returned to live there permanently.

“I visited the Aran Islands by chance with a group of people,” he explained.

“I saw these monastic ruins and imagined a new way of life - one of Irish language and culture, Latin and Greek translations, old documents - it all excited me. I wanted to get back to my cultural roots, to get back to growing my own food. I wanted to live that way. They let me come for six months in 1985 and I never went back.”

Initially, he lived as a Celtic hermit, following in the footsteps of St Enda, regarded as the father of Irish monasticism.

During that time, Dara helped the parish priest with prayer services and set up a House of Hospitality for spiritual seekers.

“We had everyone from down-and-outs and alcoholics to bishops, nuns and an abbot,” he said.

“I had touched a nerve. People were interested.”

He embraced a frugal life, living in a wooden hut. Fascinated by Ireland's spiritual heritage stretching back to pagan times, he immersed himself in the stories of Lugh, Balor and Fionn mac Cumhaill.

A turning point came when he began leading pilgrimages to the island's 10 monastic sites. In 1996, he left the priesthood behind and became a celebrant.

“I am attracted to an ancient Irish way of being Christian,” he said.

“We have an amazing spiritual heritage. It is non institutional and non authoritarian. There is plenty of room and different ways of being Christian. I am not interested in the Roman Catholic Church. It became a colonising force.”

When he started out, few people were looking for ceremonies outside the Church and he was “completely exposed” financially. He bought a plot of land and began building a traditional thatched home from sand and stone.

“I didn't have much money for a long time,” he said.

“I never felt poor or struggling or a victim. I chose this way of life and I was embracing it. I had nothing to fall back on and I didn't go on the dole. I started building my own house with my own hands.”

The local community came together to help build the home, which “didn't cost a lot of money”. He also ran youth programmes under the European Voluntary Service. Life changed once again when his children were born.

Dara married his partner, Tess Harper, in 1997 and they have four children: Tuán, Macha, Surnaí and Anú.

All four were home-schooled, successfully sat their Leaving Certificate examinations, and three have completed their college education.

“I was very anti school,” he said.

“We reared our kids without sending them to school and that became important work for us. It didn't negatively affect them. Three have gone to college and come out the far side. It gave them a sense of freedom about making their own choices in life.”

Demand for his work as a celebrant grew and he began writing books on Celtic spirituality. His passion for learning never waned from the days he spent discovering books in Kenny's Bookshop in Galway city. Already steeped in the Gospel, he pursued Ireland's spiritual heritage with equal fervour.

“I was so thirsty and hungry, I would remember every bit of it,” he said.

“I started to get to know the writers. They were in America - not here at all. I read their books and went to conferences. Germans in particular are interested in the Irish tradition.”

He also became friends with the late poet, philosopher and former priest John O'Donohue, and Kerry philosopher and mystic John Moriarty, whose writings drew together Celtic mythology, Christianity and the natural world.

“I found something really precious, our own Irish heritage,” he said.

“I knew nothing about it. I discovered more and more of a treasure than I ever imagined.

“It's still there but it is dormant. It includes our music, poetry, dancing – different artistic expressions. It is not an isolated spirituality.”

At 77, Dara shows little sign of slowing down.

In October, he will release his latest book, 'The Celtic Way'.

He also features in 'Breith Beatha Bás', a new four-part series on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.

The programme follows a community of celebrants and solemnisers as they help people across Ireland mark some of life's most emotionally charged moments.

The series captures intimate stories of families welcoming new arrivals, couples preparing for marriage, communities gathering in celebration, and loved ones saying their final goodbyes.

“I haven't slowed down at all,” he says.

“We still grow our own food, I eat the right food, take plenty of exercise and sleep well.”

For more information, visit daramolloy.com.

Archbishop Sarah Mullally faces huge challenges. But this book has missed the biggest one...(Opinion)

The most interesting part of Archbishop Sarah Mullally and Ten Urgent Challenges for the Church of England was the biographical introduction about Sarah Mullally offered by the editor – Tim Wyatt.

Having met Sarah Mullally when she was Bishop of London, I found her to be warm, gentle and easy to talk to. 

I knew she was previously a high-ranking nurse, but I hadn’t grasped the scale of her professional achievements and ambition. 

Learning that she had become Chief Nursing Officer aged 37, when she had two small children and was training for ordination, revealed a drivenness and work-ethic I hadn’t grasped, and which helped me understand how she had broken another ‘stained-glass ceiling’ to become the first female Archbishop.

While largely factual, this introduction offered a helpful sense of her leadership approach – for instance, mentioning that as successor to Richard Chartres she “swiftly ditched his chauffeur-driven car and tried to cycle to most of her appointments”. 

Praised for her engagement in the Grenfell tragedy, she was described as: “personally warm and caring, but primarily a serious colleague, deeply professional and utterly committed.”

The book continues with chapters about, what it calls, ‘urgent challenges for the Church of England’ – for instance: racism, ableism, inclusion for LGBT people, climate change and division in the global Anglican communion. 

Each chapter has a different author, who draws on their expertise to offer suggestions as to how Bishop Sarah might address such challenges.

I found Mark Oakley’s chapter: ‘Spirituality and the Church of England’ the most compelling. He writes prophetically, arguing that the “soul of the Church, and the longing to keep it healthy and honest, needs to be Sarah’s immediate and long-term focus.” 

In concentrating firmly on spiritual matters, he names the tragedy of us being a “flat-tyre community, too secular in our preoccupations and conduct, in a spiritually hungry society” and uses the word ‘respair’ (recovery from despair) as our greatest need.

This call to spiritual vision came too in the chapter on racism and nationalism, and I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with Eileen Harrop’s analysis that: “the people of England are hungry for the Church’s spiritual leadership…and there is a deep hope that the Church would show moral courage in proclaiming the good news of Christ”.

Apart from the odd sentence like this, the gaping omission from this book was the lack of engagement with the urgent tasks of mission and evangelism. 

If the Church’s primary calling is to “go and make disciples”, it felt a glaring absence not to have chapters exploring the need for the Church to grow in confidence and effectiveness in proclaiming the Gospel. 

A rare reference was found in Bishop Amatu Christian-Iwuagwu’s contribution, where he writes that: “unity requires that we re-centre mission and discipleship as our common ground. 

The early Church did not survive because it solved every doctrinal dispute, it survived because it preached Christ and formed disciples.” Yes and Amen!

The book needed more of this – and the absence of chapters about the urgent challenge to articulate the Gospel of Christ afresh, for this and future generations felt a missed opportunity. 

For evangelical readers, lack of engagement with this topic will feel problematic. Similarly, it felt a significant oversight not to engage with the urgent challenge the Church of England faces in engaging young people – particularly as the most recent Statistics for Mission cite the average number of under-18s in a Church of England parish as being less than 7.

With these omissions in mind, many of the issues-based chapters were a challenge to read. The entries on same-sex marriage and trans and non-binary people offered only a progressive perspective, when of course the root of the challenge facing the Church of England is that there are a variety of perspectives we need to listen to.

Andrew Graystone’s chapter on abuse and safeguarding was helpful and his call to repentance felt appropriate. He is right that the Church needs to spend more time in confession than in committees: “many well-meaning initiatives in safeguarding polity are flawed because they stem from the same excess of self-importance that leads to abuse in the first place…the Church needs to attend scrupulously to the wounds of victims for a long time until it is convinced of its own helplessness.” 

The prayers at the end of each chapter were also useful for confessional reflection, and reminded me repeatedly that the most important call on every Anglican is to pray for our new Archbishop.

Overall, this title offered some helpful context and analysis to Archbishop Sarah’s leadership. Having said this, the ‘10 leading Anglican writers’ chosen to contribute largely represented one ‘stable’ of the Church of England and some broader perspectives, and priorities, would have more accurately reflected the breadth of the church Sarah Mullally has been called to lead.

Archbishop Sarah Mullally: And Ten Urgent Challenges for the Church of England (Darton Longman & Todd) by Tim Wyatt is out now

The Lost Children of Tuam to open in cinemas next month

The Lost Children of Tuam, the new feature film about local historian Catherine Corless and her research into the former mother-and-baby home in Tuam, Co Galway, will open in Irish cinemas next month and in the UK in October.

Research by Catherine Corless found that there were no burial records for almost 800 babies and infants who died at the home over a 36-year period.

Excavation of the site began last summer.

To date, the remains of 99 individuals have been recovered.

Winner of Best Irish Film at the Galway Film Fleadh in July, The Lost Children of Tuam will open in Ireland on 25 September via Ireland's Volta Pictures Distribution.

A UK release will follow in October via Picturehouse Entertainment.

The film is directed by Frank Berry (Aisha, Michael Inside) and stars BAFTA and Olivier Award winner Monica Dolan (Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Appropriate Adult) as Catherine Corless.

It co-stars Andrew Bennett (God's Creatures) and Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones).

Liam Neeson is among the producers of the film, which is presented by BBC Film and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland in association with Coimisiún na Meán, RTÉ, Ireland's Port Pictures, and the Dublin-based Element Pictures, among others.

The award-winning playwright and screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Hot Milk, Her Naked Skin) has written the script for The Lost Children of Tuam.

It is based on the 2017 New York Times article of the same name by Dan Barry, which was optioned for the screen by Liam Neeson.

Andrew Lowe, Co-CEO and Founder of Element Pictures, said: "We are thrilled Volta and Picturehouse are joining forces again for this film that we are deeply passionate about; Catherine Corless' work has affected so many around the globe, either personally connected to the Mother & Baby Homes or inspired by her activism, and we believe The Lost Children of Tuam will have deep resonance with Irish and UK audiences and beyond."

Sara Frain, Managing Director of Picturehouse Entertainment, said: "We were completely blown away by The Lost Children of Tuam.

"It is a powerful and deeply moving story, with a truly remarkable central performance from Monica Dolan.

"We are looking forward to collaborating with Volta and the Element team once again to bring this important film to audiences across the UK and Ireland."

Mayo woman to lead commemorative 220km walk between Tuam and Bessborough mother and baby homes

A Mayo woman who climbed Knockma 796 times is leading a three-day commemorative walk from Tuam to Bessborough in honour of the babies who died at mother and baby homes.

A total of 923 children are said to have died in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, while 796 are reportedly buried in Tuam Mother and Baby Home.

Anne Fahey Ronayne, a native of Hollymount now living in Irishtown, climbed Knockma in County Galway 796 times between January 2023 and July 2025 for each of the Tuam babies.

Extensive excavation works have begun at the former Tuam Mother and Baby Home to identify the remains of the children buried there.

Ms Fahey Ronayne will begin the 220-kilometre “From Tuam to Bessborough with Love” walk from Tuam, County Galway, to Bessborough, County Cork on Friday, August 21.

The walk seeks to raise awareness that many babies who died at the Tuam and Bessborough institutions remain buried in unmarked graves.

Throughout this walk, participants will carry a “Little Light of Love” lantern, which organisers say represents the “hope, love and the enduring belief that every baby and child deserves to be remembered with dignity”.

The lanterns were used during commemorative relay walks from Islandeady to Tuam between 2020 and 2024. 

The events were organised by Valerie Jennings, founder of a “Little Light of Love”, which commemorates the children who died in Tuam Mother and Baby Home.

The walkers will speak aloud the name of every baby, together with their age and the date on which they died.

Ms Fahey Ronayne said the upcoming walk is “a promise that these children will not be forgotten”.

“Every step we take is for the babies whose lives were so tragically cut short,” she said.

“We want every child to be acknowledged, remembered and honoured. This journey is about connecting two places through remembrance, compassion and love, while giving each child the dignity of hearing their name spoken once again.”

After walking approximately 73 kilometres per day, Ms Fahey Ronayne will arrive at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home with the other walkers on Sunday, August 23.

Bessborough Mother and Baby Home has been mired in controversy over plans for a large apartment complex near the disused facility.

In May, the High Court quashed An Coimisiún Pleanála’s decision to overturn an earlier planning refusal by Cork City Council.

The court ruled that the planning board failed to properly evaluate the potential presence of unrecorded infant burial grounds and the findings of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation.

Valerie Jennings, founder of A Little Light of Love, said the walk was in remembrance of the babies, their mothers and the survivors of mother and baby homes and has “nothing to do with politics or religion”.

“Our lantern carries a message of hope and compassion for children and families whose stories deserve to be told. We are honoured to join Anne on this journey from Tuam to Bessborough,” she said.

Members of the public are invited to support the walkers along the route or to join them for sections of the journey.

Communities are encouraged to welcome the walkers as they pass through towns and villages.

Tuam's complex picture is finally emerging (Opinion)

Some time back an article in The Tablet by Michael Duggan, a freelance writer living in Surrey, England, brought a new perspective to bear on what came to be known as the Tuam Babies controversy. 

Readers will remember that in 2014, the former Children’s Home in Tuam, County Galway, and its short but appalling history was very much in the news. 

The home was owned by Galway County Council, run by sisters of the Bon Secours Order, and was operating between 1925 and 1961.

What suddenly bounced it into the national and international news was the shocking revelation – and it might be said an almost immediate consensus – that almost 800 babies who died in the home were buried in the remains of a septic tank. 

The Washington Post reported that ‘Bodies of 800 babies, long dead, were found in a septic tank at former Irish home for unwed mothers’; the Belfast Telegraph, that ‘a mass grave of 796 babies were found in in a septic tank at a Catholic orphanage in Tuam’; and ABC News, Australia, that ‘almost 800 forgotten Irish children were dumped into a septic tank mass grave at a Catholic home’.

Duggan’s article questioned that consensus. But already the outrage at the news on the back of other scandalous histories of homes for unmarried mothers had overwhelmed the response of the Bon Secour Sisters. 

The accusation was that the Bon Secours congregation had effectively ditched nearly 800 babies into a sewage tank in Galway. 

In 2014, when news broke that there were no burial records even though death certificates existed, it instigated an ongoing process of investigation that produced a government's Commission of Investigation, a sustained and sometimes savage attack on the Bon Secours Sisters who had responsibility for the home and at present an ongoing excavation of the site to establish the facts. 

The Commission Report spread responsibility for the limitations of the Mother and Baby Home between the Bon Secour Sisters, the Irish State, Galway County Council and the families of the mothers and babies, including the fathers of the children. 

The report was subjected to severe criticism with much of the criticism being directed by the public and the media at the Bon Secours Sisters and by association the Catholic Church.

It led to what Michael Duggan writing in The Tablet, described as ‘an avalanche of stories of children being starved to death and of dead babies being dumped in their hundreds into septic tanks’. 

It was, he said, ‘perhaps the single most notorious example of the institutionalised cruelties and depravities of Catholic Ireland’ with the Bon Secours Sisters being subjected to relentless accusation and criticism. 

Duggan, in that same article, introduced a new voice that credibly suggests that the Tuam story might need serious revision.

Now recently (August 3, 2026) in another Tablet article, Duggan has continued his critique of the Tuam Babies controversy and offered a more complex evaluation of it. 

Listing a series of recent comments, he illustrated how reputable news outlets were years later still repeating the same mantra: ‘Only last year, The (London) Times told readers of 796 babies and infants dumped by the nuns in a disused sewage system’; the BBC reported on 796 children believed ‘to be buried in what former Taoiseach Enda Kenny dubbed ‘a chamber of horrors’; and recent comments from ‘Irish artists’ have compounded the Tuam shibboleth – as with the novelist, John Banville, telling Guardian readers of nearly 800 babies buried ‘in an unmarked grave that was once used as a septic tank’.

The picture conveyed, Duggan wrote, ‘was clear, emphatic, horrifying’. 

It was also brutal in its often unexamined conclusion that effectively ‘nuns of the Bon Secours order had spent three-and-a-half decades dumping the dead bodies of nearly 800 babies and infants into sewage tanks in County Galway’ - stories compounded by other stories of the same children and their mothers mistreated in life as with Enda Kenny, in his ‘chamber of horrors’ speech that children had been starved ‘to the point of their disappearance from life itself’. 

Tuam, Duggan wrote, ‘has repeatedly been portrayed as Ireland’s holocaust – a holocaust perpetrated by Irish women, by Irish nuns’.

Meanwhile, a new statutory agency, the Office of Authorised Intervention Tuam (ODAIT) commenced investigation at the Tuam site and its senior forensic archaeologist, Dr Niamh McCullagh, has reported that to date, the skeletal remains of 99 infants and children have been recovered. 

All were buried in timber coffins in the earth ‘made in the traditional style’. And, pointedly, the remains were discovered in a burial area ‘entirely separate from the old sewage system’. 

This upsets significantly some of core criticisms of the Bon Secours’ role and care and made Duggan wonder why uncontested evidence, for example, about the provision of coffins found in huge numbers (and other lines of evidence) didn’t seem to interest the Commission.

Duggan suggests that there are as yet entirely unexcavated structures that contain ‘a large number of remains of children that bear no obvious resemblance of a septic tank – including a pit close to an area in which bodies had been found – that was the work of a mechanical digger in the late 1970s. 

And there is another much larger masonry sewage tank whose purpose has as yet not been identified.

A much more complex picture is emerging, albeit painfully slowly as such investigations necessarily proceed step by careful step. 

The plus side is that ODAIT, in Duggan’s view, ‘appears to be going about its work transparently and meticulously, and with great sensitivity’. Nothing less is acceptable, as once the investigation – which means so much to so many – is completed we will know as much as we will ever know about what happened to the Tuam babies. 

I suspect that when the full story of the role of the Bon Secours congregation in Tuam is told – rather than the simplistic edit favoured by the media – the Sisters will receive a much fairer wind than heretofore when they were pilloried simplistically and relentlessly as convenient scapegoats. 

It will provide some consolation but sadly not for those who may not have lived to witness their redemption.

Pope sends support to fire-damaged church in letter

The Pope has sent his support to a church in Leicester, which was severely damaged by fire, in a letter from the Vatican.

St Andrew's Church, in Jarrom Street, was badly damaged on 28 July in a fire thought to have been started accidentally.

In the letter, Pope Leo said he was saddened to hear about the blaze and sent "the assurance of his spiritual solidarity to all those affected".

The Reverend Johannes Arens, vicar of the Church of England church, said the letter was "a huge boost" for the parish community during difficult times.

The letter also said the Pope hoped "the response to this disastrous event will strengthen the community and bring about a renewal in the life of the parish".

It was dated 7 August and signed by Vatican official Paolo Rudelli, substitute for general affairs of the secretariat of state.

Arens said: "It was really quite significant because we are not a Roman Catholic church.

"It was quite lovely. It is a huge boost not just for the church but for its community.

"It shows that we have friends who are with us."

A Victorian altar cloth from St Andrew's Church is being kept in a specialist freezer by Leicestershire Museums collection service until it can be restored

Arens said the church had also received "heartening messages of support" from different faith communities across the city, who were "standing in solidarity with us".

He added it was also expecting a visit from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, as she visits the Diocese of Leicester in September.

The church has said the cost of repairing the damage caused by the fire has not been calculated yet, but it hopes insurance will cover some of the bill.

Worshippers have started an online fundraiser to help with repairs and with the drop in church income as a result of disruption.

Arens said it was thought repairs would take about four or five years.

Services are currently being held in the community centre next to the church building.

Rare artefacts, include notices and posters, dating back to the 1880s are being catalogued and restored after being rescued from the fire.

A Victorian embroidered altar cloth, known as a frontal, has been handed to Leicestershire Museums collection service, which is keeping it in a specialist freezer until it can be restored.

Young people from an FSSP parish in Seattle will have to go to other parishes to receive confirmation

Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne reportedly informed a parish served by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) that it will not be permitted to prepare its young people to receive the sacrament of Confirmation or to administer it according to the traditional rite. 

According to information published by LifeSiteNews, candidates will have to register at another parish in the archdiocese where the reformed liturgy is celebrated and complete their sacramental preparation program there.

The information comes from a message by a father of a family in the Archdiocese of Seattle, shared on X by Father Martin Navarro, Ob.S.A. LifeSiteNews subsequently contacted both the parish and the FSSP to try to confirm what happened. 

The pastor, Father John Shannon, referred the questions to the Fraternity’s superiors, while the North American Province of the FSSP stated that it would not comment.

Two years of catechesis in another parish

According to the message, the archbishop reportedly informed the FSSP community that its students will not be able to receive Confirmation there. 

The young people would have to register at a parish where the Novus Ordo is celebrated and complete a two-year catechetical program before receiving the sacrament.

The father of the family who described the situation also raised doubts about the formation the young people would receive and asked whether it might be possible for the parents themselves to handle their children’s catechetical preparation.

The affected community would be North American Martyrs, located in Edmonds, in the state of Washington, in the northwestern United States. 

It is a parish belonging to the Archdiocese of Seattle and served by FSSP priests. 

The parish itself notes that it was founded in 2008 and that its liturgical life follows the traditional books of the Roman rite.

Etienne, Archbishop of Seattle since 2019, also maintains an institutional relationship of several years with this apostolate. 

In November of that same year, he personally blessed the new church of North American Martyrs after the community acquired its permanent location in Edmonds.

Restrictions following Traditionis custodes

The question of confirmations according to the traditional rite was particularly affected by the restrictions introduced during Pope Francis’s pontificate after the publication of Traditionis custodes in July 2021.

The Responsa ad dubia issued by the then Congregation for Divine Worship in December of that year established that diocesan bishops could authorize, in certain canonically erected personal parishes, the use of the 1952 Rituale Romanum. 

However, they expressly excluded the use of the pre-reform Pontificale Romanum, the book that contains, among other rites, that of Confirmation.

Despite these provisions, there have subsequently been cases in which bishops have conferred Confirmation according to the traditional rite.

InfoVaticana reported in 2022, for example, that Laurent Ulrich conferred this sacrament on 55 young people at the church of Saint-Étienne in Lille, assisted by priests of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

Read also: The new Archbishop of Paris confirms a group of young people with the Traditional rite

The FSSP does not comment on the decision

Liturgist Peter Kwasniewski argued that institutes such as the FSSP possess a canonical right to these sacraments derived from their recognition and their constitutions, and questioned whether the Responsa have sufficient authority to modify that legal framework.

For the time being, however, there is no public statement from the FSSP confirming the exact terms of the measure attributed to Etienne.

The parish’s own website continues to present North American Martyrs as a parish of the Archdiocese of Seattle served by the FSSP and dedicated to the celebration of Mass and the sacraments according to the usus antiquior.

Pope Leo XIV: The Assumption of Mary reveals where true beauty is found

Pope Leo XIV presided this Saturday, August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the Pontifical Parish of Saint Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo. 

In his homily, the Pope recalled that the glorification of Mary in body and soul shows that the true beauty of man does not consist in hiding the traces of the passage of time, but in bearing imprinted “the signs of love that has no end.”

The Pontiff contrasted this Christian conception of beauty with the canons “of a predominantly hedonistic and consumerist character” imposed by the world, which can lead man to waste his energies “on what really does not matter and does not last forever.” 

Leo XIV invited us to discover divine beauty in all ages and circumstances of life, from the face of a child to the wrinkles of an elderly person, and pointed to the Virgin as “Mother, guide, traveling companion, and protector on the journey toward Heaven.”

Below, we reproduce in full the homily of Leo XIV:

Dear brothers and sisters:

With great joy, I also celebrate with you this year the Solemnity of the Assumption.

The Magisterium of the Church teaches us that “Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory” (Pius XII, Apost. Const. Munificentissimus Deus, November 1, 1950) and points us, in this Mystery, to the fulfillment of the fullness of grace that God has given her in her Immaculate Conception (cf. ibid.).

For this reason, many works of art depict her, at the end of her earthly life, as a beautiful young woman who rises physically from earth to heaven. They are inspired by the scene described in the passage from the Book of Revelation that we heard in the first reading: “A Woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet” (Rev 12:1), to signify that in Mary’s heart heaven and earth, time and eternity meet.

This image apparently contrasts with the experience of what the passage of years produces in us. With age, in fact, our body does not become more agile, but heavier; the skin does not become fresher, but shows the signs of old age; the hair does not take on color or shine, but turns gray and then white. So, what do we have in common with the wonderful young woman we find painted in our altarpieces?

To understand this, we must keep together the two signs we have mentioned: the incorrupt body of the Mother of God and her immaculate heart. It is the purity of the soul, in fact, that in Mary—as in us—by God’s grace illuminates and transfigures the whole person, leading her to the glory of Heaven.

The glorification of Mary in soul and body teaches us that our true beauty does not consist in hiding the signs of time that passes, but in showing also in our flesh the signs of love that has no end (cf. 1 Cor 13:8).

It invites us, in this way, to review many of the aesthetic canons, predominantly of a hedonistic and consumerist type, that the world imposes on us, and that run the risk of imprisoning us in heavy conditionings, making us waste valuable energies on what is not really important nor lasts forever. In common experience, one can find people whose faces are marked by years and sufferings, but who are capable of radiating serenity, benevolence, and peace around them; just as one can observe others, perhaps outwardly attractive, but hard and cold within. And it is easy to understand where true beauty lies and where, instead, there is still need for conversion, forgiveness, and healing.

If we truly wish to discover and cultivate the divine beauty that surrounds us and for which we were created, as well as to spread it around us, we must learn to read it both in the tender face of a child and in the wrinkles of an elderly person, in the liveliness of a young person and in the composure of an adult, in the ornaments of celebration and in the clothing and tools of work. We must listen to the unique love stories that each of these realities tells us, recognizing them as small flashes in the sky.

Love is the most beautiful ornament of man: the love that transfigures, transforms, ennobles, and lifts up; that makes us light, free, close to God, even through the ups and downs of life.

Saint Paul VI, meditating on the mystery of the Assumption of the Virgin, said that to understand its meaning “we must turn into superlatives and absolutes the terms we use in earthly language […], to imagine, on a small scale, the eternal” (Homily, August 15, 1969). And regarding this encounter, in the Mother of God, between the infinite and the finite, Pope Francis wrote: “Mary is the one who knows how to transform a cave of animals into the house of Jesus, with a few poor swaddling clothes and a mountain of tenderness” (Apost. Exhort. Evangelii gaudium, 286).

The miracle that Mary, the maiden of Nazareth, experienced in her innocent heart, and that led her to the glory of Heaven, is the meeting of extremes, as she herself bears witness in the inspired words of the Magnificat, which we heard in the Gospel (cf. Lk 1:46-55). In this canticle, through the humble expressions of her faith, the Mother of Heaven speaks to us in a simple way of great mysteries: God who in her becomes man to save men, the Eternal who in her manifests himself in time to open also to us the path of eternity, showing us at the same time, in her condition as “humble handmaid,” the “small dimension” in which we too can find the Lord, as Saint Paul VI said.

The sublimity of the Mystery we celebrate, then, must not be sought far away. We can find it wherever there is true charity: in the eyes of a father and a mother who return home after a day of work, tired but happy to be with their children; in the faces of grandfathers and grandmothers who, despite the difficulties of age, are re-energized with unexpected strength when caring for their grandchildren; or even in the commitment of young people who strive to grow clean and honest, ready also to go against the current with respect to “what everyone does”; finally, in the work of so many men and women who daily, with faith and dedication, contribute to bringing a little of Heaven upon earth and earth toward Heaven.

Dear brothers, the most beautiful face of the Assumption is unique, surpasses every possible representation and, yet, at the same time is known to us: it is that of the people who are beside us, even at this moment, of the brothers and sisters with whom we share, in faith, the daily offering of our life. Therefore, in the woman of the Apocalypse the community of believers sees itself, and the Second Vatican Council describes Mary as “image and beginning of the Church, […] a sign of sure hope and consolation” (Dogm. Const. Lumen gentium, 68). In her holy humanity, by God’s grace, ours is also found; we are called to live her same fullness of life and to share her same glory.

Saint Augustine, speaking of the resurrection of Christ, invited the Christians of his time to make it the compass and point of reference of their existence. He said: “Christ is risen, and will die no more […]. Change your mind, follow your light; rise with the one who rose” (Commentary on the Psalms 126, 7).

Let us make his invitation our own. Let us follow the light of the Risen One, changing course if necessary. Let us do so, particularly today, looking to Mary, whom God crowned with glory in soul and body, and whom He has given us as Mother, guide, traveling companion, and protector on the journey to Heaven.