Pope Leo biographer says pontiff still weighing Latin Mass decision

Elise Ann Allen, the author of Pope Leo XIV: The Biography, during a talk Wednesday night on her book at St. Vincent College told LifeSiteNews that while the 267th pontiff has yet to decide on the future of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), he will take the time to make a decision that fosters unity in the Church.

Allen, a senior correspondent for Crux who has known Pope Leo since 2018 and was the first journalist to secure a sit-down interview with him last year, told LifeSiteNews that the pontiff has not yet made a decision on the future of the Tridentine Mass, and previously told her he is in the “listening phase,” not wanting to rush his decision on the important issue.

She further emphasized that Leo, whom she described as not fitting neatly into any ideological category, is listening to multiple perspectives on the TLM and ultimately would like to reach a resolution that promotes “unity” within the Church.

“Leo is your classic ‘middle-of-the-road guy,'” Allen told LifeSite. “He’s somebody that does not easily, because of personality, because of his world experience, does not fit into our traditional categories of left, right, or when we think of … progressive or traditionalist, he doesn’t fit into those categories because he has such a diverse background.”

“So when we look at him, I think it’s hard to look at and pinpoint from that perspective,” she added. “And I think when we look at what he’s going to do, he’s a man of great balance, and he’s a man that seeks unity above all else.”

Delving into what Pope Leo might do regarding the current restrictions on the Latin Mass imposed by Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, Allen stressed that he doesn’t yet know and will continue listening to many perspectives.

“Right now, he’s in the listening phase. This is what he told me,” she said. “(Pope Leo’s) very clear about not wanting to do things in a rush. He understands this is a divisive issue; he understands that people have very strong feelings about it.”

Indeed, as noted by InfoVaticana and reported by LifeSiteNews, since August 2025, Pope Leo has held roughly one audience a month with proponents of the Tridentine Mass, including Bishop Athanasius Schneider and Cardinals Raymond Burke and Robert Sarah. These audiences may indicate that the pontiff is seeking a favorable solution to the liturgical divide in the Latin Church.

Allen noted that while the American pontiff doesn’t have an issue with some faithful being more drawn to the Latin Mass than the Novus Ordo Missae, he is concerned about “ideology” being slipped into this liturgical debate.

Here, Allen is likely referring to the faithful who attend the Latin Mass and don’t accept the Second Vatican Council or deny that Leo is the valid pontiff.

In March, Leo notably held an audience with Professors Stephen Bullivant and Stephen Cranney, two prominent sociologists who published a study showing that the vast majority of faithful who attend the TLM accept Catholic teaching and the Second Vatican Council. Perhaps this meeting alleviated some of the Holy Father’s concerns about the “ideology” of faithful devoted to the Latin Mass.

Allen further underscored that ultimately Pope Leo is going to take his own approach to the TLM that won’t be the same as that of his immediate predecessor Pope Francis, or Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI before him, and will take time to make decisions that promote “unity” among the faithful and not further “polarization.”

“He’s going to find his own way, but … the way forward for him is going to be one that brings unity and not division,” she said. “(Leo’s) going to try to find how do we move forward on this in a way that brings greater unity in the Church and is not a greater source of polarization and division.”

“And that’s going to take time to figure out, so I think he understands that, and we’ll see what he does going forward. But right now, he’s been described as a very good listener, and that’s what he’s doing,” she added.

During his first year as pontiff, Pope Leo has sent mixed signals on whether he might loosen the restrictions of Traditionis Custodes.

On the one hand, Leo allowed Cardinal Burke to celebrate a Latin Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica for the 2025 Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage last fall after Pope Francis’ Vatican had prohibited Masses from being offered inside the basilica for the 2023 and 2024 pilgrimages. 

Leo’s Vatican has also granted two diocesan TLMs in the Diocese of Cleveland and a parish in Texas two-year extensions before their suppression under Traditionis Custodes.

The pontiff has also repeatedly called for renewed liturgical reverence and told Bishop Schneider that he has met young people who have converted to the faith through attending the Latin Mass during a December private audience.

On the other hand, under Leo’s watch, several bishops, such as Bishop Michael Martin in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Bishop Mark Beckman in Knoxville, Tennessee, have been allowed to place sweeping restrictions on the TLM. Martin even banned the use of altar rails and kneelers for receiving Holy Communion.

Pope Leo’s Dicastery for Divine Worship announced this week that it is currently reviewing an appeal against Martin over his “apparent refusal” to respond to “requests concerning liturgical matters.”

The pontiff has also retained Cardinal Arthur Roche as Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, a central figure in implementing Traditionis Custodes.  

During January’s extraordinary consistory, Roche handed out a document to the cardinals that doubled down on the restrictions, arguing that the Novus Ordo Mass is the singular expression of the Roman rite.

Leo’s Vatican has also been hostile to the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) after it announced plans to consecrate new bishops in July. 

Earlier this week, Vatican journalist Diane Montagna reported that Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), has already prepared an order of excommunication for the Society should they proceed with the consecrations.

Bishop Eleganti warned Pope Leo about ‘widespread homosexuality’ within clergy, link to sex abuse

Bishop Marian Eleganti has said that he wrote to Pope Leo XIV about widespread homosexuality in the clergy and its significance in the sexual abuse crisis.

In an interview with AdVaticanum, the former auxiliary bishop of Chur in Switzerland was asked about his 2025 article titled, “Homosexuality in Society and in the Church: An Elephant in the Room.” 

In it, he identified “widespread homosexuality in the clergy and its significance in the abuse crisis” as the ignored “elephant in the room,” without which a proper evaluation of the abuse crisis is not possible.

“This is not a matter of my own subjective impressions or pastoral experience, but of pure statistics,” Eleganti said, adding that he “wrote to Pope Leo XIV about this.”

“All Church studies on abuse show a disproportionately high number of male victims,” he continued. “It does little good to turn a blind eye to this. There is a factual correlation, without implying that clergy with a homosexual orientation are predestined to commit abuse because of their orientation. The same applies to heterosexuals. There are also many cases of sexual abuse outside the Church, but society primarily focuses on and is scandalized by those within the clergy.”

Islam, the TLM, and the SSPX

In the same interview, Eleganti also discussed a variety of other subjects, including the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), and the ongoing Islamization of Europe.

He said the appeal for the many young people who attend the TLM is its focus “on God or Christ, rather than on the community.”

“Another is the palpable reverence associated with the encounter with the transcendent God or the present Christ,” he continued. “There is also the stillness and silence, reminiscent of the worship of the Lamb in the Book of Revelation. I believe people are also drawn to the solemnity and dignity of the vestments, liturgical objects, and the altar, as well as the overall design of the sanctuary. Finally, Gregorian chant, which has been a trend for some time, even in secular circles.”

Regarding the SSPX, which Eleganti has accused of planning a “schismatic act” with their episcopal consecrations without the consent of the Vatican, he said: “Many faithful simply love the traditional liturgy without truly identifying with the Society’s ideology.”

“I would not say that there is growing support for the Society of St Pius X among the faithful,” he argued.

Regarding the danger that Islam and mass migration from Muslim countries pose to Europe, the Swiss bishop stated, “Islam, not just so-called Islamism, is, by its very nature, an anti-Christian religion, in theory and in practice.”

“Christianity has never fared well under Islamic rule. This remains true today. Wherever Islam holds sway, Christianity is being decimated to the point of near extinction.”

“I consider Islam to be incompatible with the Judeo-Christian tradition of the West, which still strongly shapes our thinking and political system,” he stated. “The more Muslims are naturalized into our societies, the worse it could become unless Christ converts them and sets them free.”

‘He is no Pope at all’ – Traditional Redemptorists reject Leo XIV and predecessors

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, a traditionalist Catholic congregation based on Papa Stronsay in Scotland, have issued a declaration denouncing Paul VI through to Leo XIV as “papal pretenders,” and condemning the reforms of the Second Vatican Council as having “brought about a major schism from the Mystical Body.”

The community – often called the “Transalpine Redemptorists” – was founded by Father Michael Mary Sim in 1987 under the auspices of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the Society of St. Pius X, at the encouragement of Cardinal Édouard Gagnon. It was reconciled with the Vatican in 2012 and has operations in the U.S. and New Zealand.

The letter attached to the declaration explains the community’s position regarding the state of the Church following Vatican II, detailing the prior teaching of the Church and arguing that there has been a significant departure from it.

“If the See of Peter were to teach error,” the letter states, “then beyond any possible doubt, the person teaching that error is not a Catholic Pope. And if he is not a Catholic Pope, he is no Pope at all.”

The text calls for an “Imperfect General Council” to make an authoritative declaration and resolve the crisis in the Church.

The community’s letter also restates their regret for their previous reconciliation with the Vatican in 2012, stating that “there has been a great mistake on our part to think that the hierarchy of the Novus Ordo was sufficiently Catholic for us to operate under its command.”

In July 2024, the Redemptorists were ordered to leave the Diocese of Christchurch within 24 hours by Bishop Michael Gielen. The community denied accusations made by Gielen and took canonical action against the eviction notice.

In October 2025, the community issued an open letter “to the Catholic Bishops, Priests, Religious and Faithful” following their General Chapter. This open letter accused the modern hierarchy of betraying the faith and pledged to offer the Traditional Mass and spiritual help if “there is but one soul that asks.”

Within a week, Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB of Aberdeen, Scotland, announced that he had been in touch with the Vatican to determine the group’s canonical standing.

“The Diocese deeply regrets the tone, direction and key elements of this Letter,” he said on October 24. “The competent Dicasteries of the Holy See are also studying the situation and will provide canonical and doctrinal guidance.”

Following the letter, the community issued another statement on November 7 denouncing Mater Populi Fidelis, a controversial doctrinal note that says it is “inappropriate” to apply the term “Co-Redemptrix” to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The document was issued by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) earlier this week and bears the signature of Leo XIV.

In December 2025, Fr. Michael Mary spoke to LifeSiteNews’ John Henry Westen on the controversy:

In April 2026, a 24-year-old monk went missing from the monastery in the Orkneys. Br Ignatius is presumed to have drowned, although police are treating his case as one of a missing person. Scottish Police are not treating the disappearance as suspicious.

“The months from October 2024 onward were occupied with prayer and study,” Fr. Michael Mary told LifeSiteNews.

“Deciding to speak on these matters was not easy. Our community has patiently awaited and sincerely hoped for this letter and declaration.”

Armagh Ordinations 2026

Archbishop Eamon Martin will ordain three new priests for the Archdiocese of Armagh next weekend at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh. 

The three deacons who will be ordained are Gabriel Neal, Jacek Tuszkiewicz and Paul O’Reilly. 

They all trained at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Dundalk, Co Louth. 

The seminary was established in 2012 to form priests for the Neocatechumenal Way in Ireland. 

The present seminary was opened in November 2016, however, with the growth in vocations the existing buildings have since been expanded.

‘Polish Lourdes,’ where Mary appeared to 2 girls 160 times, could soon draw global attention

A Marian sanctuary in the heart of northern Europe’s countryside — often called the “Polish Lourdes” — could soon draw global attention, as Pope Leo XIV has been invited to visit the site where the Virgin Mary appeared approximately 160 times.

As the Marian month of May unfolds, the village of Gietrzwald (pronounced Gyetsh-vowt), in the picturesque northeastern Warmian-Masurian lake region — is preparing for major celebrations in 2027 marking the 150th anniversary of the apparitions. 

Polish bishops, president at Vatican

Polish bishops, along with President Karol Nawrocki, who visited the Vatican in September 2025, have extended an invitation to the pope, raising the possibility that the quiet sanctuary could become the focus of international pilgrimage and renewed Marian devotion.

The events that took place in Gietrzwald in 1877 remain unique in the life of the Church. Over the course of roughly two months, two young girls reported around 160 apparitions of the Virgin Mary— sometimes occurring twice a day — making it one of the most prolonged and concentrated series of Marian apparitions ever recorded. 

It is also the only apparition site in Poland officially recognized by the Vatican.

Apparitions marked by extended dialogue

Unlike better known sites such as Lourdes or Fatima, the apparitions in Gietrzwald were marked not only by their frequency but by extended dialogue. According to historical accounts, the visionaries engaged in multiweek conversations with Mary, addressing both theological questions — including the Immaculate Conception — and the practical concerns of daily life.

“That’s a unique aspect,” filmmaker Jan Sobierajski said. “We don’t find that in the history of Lourdes, Fatima or La Salette.” 

At the same time, the message itself echoed the familiar core of Marian apparitions: a call to prayer, particularly the rosary, and to conversion. Sister Anna Wojciechowska, provincial superior of the Daughters of Charity in Poland, emphasized that continuity. The “invitation from our Mother” was clear: “Pray the rosary every day,” she said. “And the assurance given by Mary: ‘Do not be afraid, for I will always be with you.'”

Site relatively unknown outside Poland

Despite the scale and intensity of these events, Gietrzwald has remained relatively little known outside Poland. That may now be changing as the anniversary approaches, and the sanctuary is drawing new attention.

“Mary chooses places forgotten by the world: provinces, villages and small towns,” Sobierajski said. “This is a spiritual principle we can see in Scripture.”

Sobierajski is a director of “Mary, Mother of the Pope” documentary, in which he tells the story of St. John Paul II’s devotion to Our Lady. Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was present for the decoration of the image of Our Lady of Gietrzwald with papal crowns of St. Paul VI in 1967 and again visited the site when apparitions were officially recognized by the Vatican in 1977 — 100 years after Our Lady appeared to the two girls. 

2 young visionaries at the center

The story of Gietrzwald is inseparable from the two young visionaries at its center: Barbara Samulowska and Justyna Szafrynska. Both were children — Samulowska was just 12 years old — when they reported seeing the Virgin Mary. As Sobierajski noted, “There is something about children that allows them to enter into the deepest mysteries of faith.”

The life of one of its visionaries has also come back into focus following a recent Vatican development. In March, the Church recognized the heroic virtues of Sister Barbara, granting her the title of venerable and advancing her sainthood cause.

Sister Barbara’s life blends mysticism, simplicity and a quietness — a story of a child who said she spoke with the Virgin Mary, and then spent the rest of her life serving the poor.

Upon reaching adulthood, she entered religious life and largely disappeared from public view.

‘A girl who loved truth’

“As a visionary from Gietrzwald, Sister Barbara was an ordinary child,” Sister Anna, superior of the Daughters of Charity in Poland, told OSV News. “Her parents were very religious and attached to the parish. She was lively, simple. She had a good reputation among neighbors, she was talented in school. She was considered a girl who loved truth and was sincere.” 

Sister Anna added, “Already as a girl, she was called by Mary ‘my little daughter.'”

Samulowska joined the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, commonly known as the Grey Sisters, in 1883, taking the convent name Sister Stanislawa. She spent decades in service to the poor, including missionary work in Guatemala, where she lived out her final years.

In Guatemala, she served several roles, including novice mistress, hospital worker and orphanage director. She died on Dec. 6, 1950, from a malignant oral tumor.

‘Faithfully live charism of our founders’

“As a Daughter of Charity, she faithfully lived the charism of our founders … loving the poor, the sisters and those she worked with,” Sister Anna said. “She lived daily fidelity to Jesus — in the model of Mary, the handmaid of the Lord.”

The contrast between the extraordinary beginnings of her life and its quiet unfolding is striking, though not unfamiliar in the history of Marian apparitions.

“I think that after meeting Mary, no one’s life looks the same,” Sister Anna said.

For Sobierajski, this transformation is precisely what gives such stories their enduring relevance. “The most compelling stories are those where we see a radical transformation of the protagonist,” he told OSV News. “And that is the case with visionaries, who after meeting Mary change their lives dramatically.” 

Mystical experience ‘ignited her heart’

He noted that there is no evidence Sister Barbara had planned a religious vocation before the apparitions. “Only this mystical experience … ignited her heart,” Sobierajski said.

The sanctuary itself, however, remains the focal point of devotion, especially as Poland prepares for the anniversary celebrations. For many, Gietrzwald is not only a site of historical significance but a living spiritual center that continues to shape national identity.

“Marian devotion is absorbed by Poles with their mother’s milk,” Sobierajski told OSV News. “There is no other nation like this in Europe — and together with Mexico, we are a phenomenon on a global scale.”

Sheer scale of apparitions unmatched

He also pointed to the sheer scale of the apparitions as something still unmatched. “I have not found another place like Gietrzwald, where the Virgin Mary would appear so many times,” he said. “It is an exceptional sign for Poles, who have chosen Mary as their queen. It is a great distinction — but also a commitment.”

For Sobierajski, that commitment carries personal implications. “Each of us has a vocation,” he said. “And who could be a better teacher of how to fulfill it than the Mother of God? She responded to God’s invitation — and we can do the same.”

DDF publishes 2024 criticism of German bishops’ guide for blessing irregular unions

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on May 4 published a 2024 letter criticizing a German bishops’ conference proposal for a ritual of blessing for couples in irregular unions, saying it contradicts Fiducia supplicans.

 The move follows the approval by several German bishops of rituals and manuals for blessings of couples in irregular unions — developments criticized by Pope Leo XIV during an in-flight press conference returning from his April trip to Africa.

The dicastery released the letter, signed by its prefect, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, and dated Oct. 24, 2024, addressed to Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier. The letter addressed a handbook sent to Rome as part of the manual “Blessings for couples who love one another,” which was slated for a vote by the German bishops’ conference later that year.

The letter quotes paragraph 11 of Fiducia supplicans, which says that “the Church does not have the power to confer its liturgical blessing when that would somehow offer a form of moral legitimacy to a union that presumes to be a marriage or to an extra-marital sexual practice.”

Quoting Fiducia supplicans again, the letter adds that “with such blessings ‘nothing is intended to be legitimized, but only to open one’s life to God’ (no. 40), nor to ‘sanction… anything’ (no. 34), but only to ask for God’s help ‘to live better, and also to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater fidelity’ (no. 40).”

The letter also criticizes the German bishops’ handbook because it refers to the blessing of “‘a union’ and of an ‘official regulation’ by pastors of couples who love one another outside of marriage, thereby also becoming the object of a true and proper ‘acclamation,’ a gesture that is normally foreseen in the matrimonial rite.”

“In this sense, one in fact seems to aim at legitimizing the status of such couples, in a sense contrary to what is affirmed by Fiducia supplicans,” the DDF letter adds.

The letter then explains that Fiducia supplicans excludes any type of liturgy or blessings that could give the impression of a sacramental blessing “that could create confusion” and adds that Fiducia supplicans makes clear that it should be avoided that these blessings “‘become a liturgical or semi-liturgical act, similar to a sacrament’ (no. 36). ‘For this reason, one must neither promote nor provide for a ritual for the blessings of couples in an irregular situation’ (no. 38).”

It adds that while the handbook speaks of “spontaneity and freedom” in these blessings, “a fixed formulary is then offered for their realization, contradicting what was previously affirmed.”

“In particular, in the final part (“Form”), after having said that ‘the manner in which the blessing is carried out, the place, the aesthetics of the whole, including music and singing, must bear witness to the appreciation of the persons who ask for the blessing,’ a sort of liturgy or para-liturgy is prescribed with regard to the blessing of same-sex couples,” the letter adds.

Fernández’s decision to publish the letter comes a week after several prominent German church officials defended the handbook, despite Pope Leo’s criticism aboard the papal plane returning from his African trip in April.

In response, Bishop Georg Bätzing, who oversaw the guidelines’ introduction in April 2025 when serving as chairman of the German bishops’ conference, insisted that they posed no threat to Church unity.

Bätzing, who approved the guidelines for use in his Limburg diocese in July 2025, said last month that “Even though there are differing views on this within the universal Church, I believe this practice in the Diocese of Limburg is carried out within responsible limits. It serves the people and, in my view, does not jeopardize the unity of the Church.”

The guidelines were issued by the bishops’ conference in conjunction with the lay Central Committee of German Catholics, known by its German initials ZdK.

ZdK president Irme Stetter-Karp told German media there was no reason to withdraw the guidelines following Pope Leo’s remarks.

She said the document was aimed at encouraging the provision of blessing ceremonies “for couples who do not wish to enter into a sacramental church marriage or for whom such a marriage is not an option.”

“No more and no less. There is no possibility of confusing it with the sacrament of marriage,” she said.

On April 21, Pope Leo had said in a press conference that “The Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formal blessing of couples, in this case, same-sex couples… or of couples in irregular situations, beyond what Pope Francis has specifically permitted by saying that all people should receive the blessing,” the pontiff said during an April 23 press conference aboard the papal plane returning from his 11-day trip to Africa.

Leo was responding to a question about plans announced by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, to formalize blessings for same-sex and other irregular couples in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, while requiring clerics unwilling to perform them to refer those requesting a blessing to another priest or pastoral worker.

Leo explained that “the Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of couples, in this case, homosexual couples, as you asked, or couples in irregular situations, beyond what was specifically, if you will, allowed for by Pope Francis in saying all people receive blessings.”

“When a priest gives the blessing at the end of Mass, when the pope gives the blessing at the end of a great celebration like the one we had today, there are blessings for all people,” he said.

“Francis’s infamous, famous, well-known, expression, ‘tutti, tutti, tutti,’ expresses the Church’s conviction that everyone is welcomed, everyone is invited, everyone is invited to follow Jesus, and everyone is invited to seek conversion in their own lives,” he added.

The pope concluded his reply by saying that “to go beyond this today, I believe, could cause more disunity than unity, and that we should seek to build our unity on Jesus Christ and on what Jesus Christ teaches.”

German newspaper Die Tagepost reported April 20 that Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich had instructed priests and pastoral workers in the archdiocese to use a handout called “Blessing Gives Strength to Love” as the basis of pastoral care to LGBT people and people in irregular unions.

Priests who refuse to carry out blessings are obliged to refer couples to other priests or pastoral workers, according to the instruction.

The letter also says that in June several archdiocesan offices will begin to offer training about the specifics of the blessing “celebrations” for all priests and pastoral workers.

In October 2025, Cardinal Fernández told The Pillar that “the DDF didn’t approve anything [of the irregular unions’ guidelines], and wrote a letter some time ago reminding [the German bishops] that [Fiducia supplicans] excluded any form of ritualization, just as the pope has said.”

Fernández’ statement to The Pillar came after then-German bishops’ conference president Bishop Georg Bätzing said in September that the Vatican had been consulted on the development of controversial guidelines issued in April, days after the death of Pope Francis.

But according to Fernandez, there was little in the text’s development which could be described as consultation, and the dicastery’s intervention was critical of the German bishops’ efforts.

“The DDF sent a letter to the liturgical commission of the German bishops’ [conference] indicating that the DDF cannot approve any form of ritualization of these blessings, because any form of ritualization is expressly excluded in FS,” the cardinal told The Pillar.

While the German plans for ritualized blessings of irregular unions have come under fire from the Vatican since they were first proposed, the Belgian bishops have approved a similar handbook without much public criticism from the Vatican.

The bishops of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, said that the three-page document, entitled “Being pastorally close to homosexuals: For a welcoming Church that excludes no one,” aims to “structurally anchor [the Church’s] pastoral commitment to homosexual persons and couples.”

The Flemish bishops’ text said that homosexual couples who choose to live “in lasting and faithful union with a partner” deserve “appreciation and support.”

The Flemish bishops’ document, which repeatedly referred to Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, concluded with a “Prayer for love and fidelity” — which has been widely received as being a liturgy for the blessing of same-sex couples.

In a preamble to the prayer, the bishops wrote: “During pastoral meetings, the request is often made for a moment of prayer to ask God that He may bless and perpetuate this commitment of love and fidelity. What content and form that prayer can concretely take are best discussed by those involved with a pastoral leader. Such a moment of prayer can take place in all simplicity. Also, the difference should remain clear from what the Church understands by a sacramental marriage.”

After an opening prayer and Scripture reading, the bishops suggested that the two people involved should “express before God how they are committed to one another.”

This would then be followed by the “prayer of the community,” in which those present ask “that God’s grace may work in them to care for each other and for the wider community in which they live.”

The prayer would conclude with intercessions, an Our Father, a final prayer, and a blessing.

Józef Michalik, longtime leader of Poland’s Catholic hierarchy, dies at 85

Retired Archbishop Józef Michalik, who held one of the most senior leadership roles in the Catholic Church in Poland, died on Sunday aged 85.

Michalik had served as a priest for 61 years and as a bishop for 39 years, most recently as Archbishop Metropolitan of Przemyśl.  

He took up his first bishop role in 1986, leading the diocese of Gorzów in western Poland until 1993, when Pope John Paul II appointed him to the diocese of Przemyśl, where he served until 2016.  

Michalik was also deputy head of the Polish Bishops’ Conference from 1999 to 2004, before serving two terms as its president from 2004 to 2014; from 2011 to 2014, he was also vice‑president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences.  

Vatican work and youth ministry

Born in Zambrów, northeastern Poland, Michalik was ordained a priest in 1964. He later studied in Warsaw and Rome.  

During his career, he worked in Vatican institutions and was involved in youth ministry; the Przemyśl archdiocese said he helped prepare early international youth meetings with Pope John Paul II, which later developed into World Youth Day.  

Michalik was also involved in efforts to promote reconciliation between Poland and neighboring countries, including Ukraine, Germany and Russia.  

His funeral will be held on Saturday, May 9, at 11 a.m. in the Archcathedral Basilica in Przemyśl, after funeral liturgies that begin on Friday, and his body will be buried in the cathedral crypt. 

I Made It My Mission To Find The Priest Who Molested My Brother. Here's What Happened When I Finally Did (Contribution)

My fingers trembled when I dialed the phone. It was the early ’90s, back before texting or email. In fact, I’d just replaced my beige wall phone with a chunky wireless. Four rings in, I was about to hang up when my brother’s voice finally answered. I sputtered out what I needed to say: When I was a little girl, one of our family members sexually molested me. The abuse went on for years.

My therapist thought it would be healing for me to tell my family. She warned me that sometimes families can react in unpredictable ways. They might call me a liar, say that I’m crazy or sever the relationship. She told me that in her practice, she’d seen people written out of inheritances, banished from their homes and blamed for having been victims. I guess she just wanted me to be prepared.

On a wooden chair under a dim overhead light, I stared at the burn mark on my dining room table. I was 28 years old and struggling. I’d already told my two sisters about what happened, but opening up to the guys in my family was harder. After I gushed out my news, there was silence. At first, I wondered if we’d been disconnected, but I could feel my brother’s attention on the other end of the line. I could picture him taking in the secret I’d kept all my life. My fingers were white from clutching the phone, and I waited for him to say something.

“Just like me,” he said, finally. “Just like what Father Sean did to me.”

The phone fell from my grip, clattered on the hardwood floor. I picked it up, my breath gone.

“Oh,” I said, the sound barely coming out.

From the shakiness in his voice, I could tell he’d never told anyone, even though he was 34 years old. I slipped from the chair to the floor and listened to the details unfold: the shotgun he bought with money he’d saved from his paper route; how he positioned himself in the juniper bushes just outside the rectory and waited for Father Sean to give him a clean shot. I could see him — my big brother when he was only 12 years old — crouched in the shrubbery with a trembling finger on the trigger.

He never went through with his plan.

My mind flashed back to seeing that gun in the basement — how scary it was and how I hoped it would never be aimed at me. My attention returned to the shaky voice on the phone.

“I thought I must be gay,” he said. “I thought since he picked me, it must have meant I was gay.”

When we hung up, I retched into the toilet and then wept as my rage and sadness swelled. At 4 a.m., Father Sean was still haunting me. Two hours later, I got up and got ready for work. Snippets of the conversation floated around my head, and I had a million questions.

My response to that phone call was oversized. I began to obsess about where that priest was — and about taking him down. I was enraged at him and at all the people who protected him. I was furious that the church I loved betrayed me.

When I made that phone call, I was in the midst of a debilitating depression, slogging my way through work days and collapsing on the couch in the evenings. My therapist told me that my depression was anger turned inward — that somehow the anger I should have felt about my own suffering had turned itself into sadness.

Even as thoughts about Father Sean battered my soul, I knew they were misdirected. I didn’t feel any anger over the molestation that had happened to me. When I thought about myself as a 5-year-old — hot breath on my skin and the shame that consumed me afterward — I only felt grief and profound sadness. Maybe the rage I felt toward Father Sean was precluding me from getting mad at my own abuser.

In those days, long-distance phone calls were expensive and there was no such thing as the internet, but I wanted to find out what happened to Father Sean. Since I worked in the international marketing division at a long-distance phone company, I could make calls anywhere in the world without racking up expenses. I got out a piece of paper and started making lists of where Father Sean might be and of people who might know him.

After a couple months, I found him. He’d been moved from parish to parish to parish all over Missouri, but I learned that he’d be starting a new position at a school in a little farming community I knew well. I remembered playing basketball in that town when I was in middle school, one small Catholic school against another.

I called the school’s office and pretended to be a parent. “When’s back-to-school night?” I asked. I told the secretary I wanted to get it on my calendar so I’d be sure not to miss it. Then I got out paper and a pen.

Dear Parents, I wrote. Without naming my brother, I told them about Father Sean. I provided as many details as I could to ensure my letter was taken seriously, and I signed my name and provided my address.

On back-to-school night, I drove several hours from my small apartment in Kansas City to the school. When I arrived, the parking lot was overflowing. Every street in the area was lined with cars, and I watched families excited about the new school year file into the building.

I parked my red Sentra where I could make a quick getaway. Then, I grabbed my manila folder full of photocopies of the letter and walked to the far end of the parking lot. My heart was pounding. I took the first letter off the stack, folded it in half and tucked it under the windshield wiper. Then I went to the next car and did the same thing. When every car on the lot had a letter, I moved to the ones on the street.

As I was working, a dad-looking man exited the building, and we made eye contact. Then, he returned to the school, and I resumed making my way around the parking lot. Within an hour, I was back on the road. Two days later, I called the church and learned that Father Sean was no longer affiliated with that parish.

But I wasn’t going to let him disappear into the ether only to resurface in some other unsuspecting community full of kids. I became relentless about tracking him down — and about preventing him from exploiting anyone else. During the process, I met a young man about my brother’s age who had also been Father Sean’s victim, and he told me about two other boys who had been abused by him too.

I was convinced that the sexual abuse I’d suffered was the root cause of my loneliness, my inability to trust people, my lifelong depression, my lack of self-esteem and my tendency to neglect myself. It sickened me that my brother was in that same lonely prison.

By making a lot more phone calls, I learned that Father Sean was good friends with the bishop to whom he reported. The bishop put Father Sean in a luxurious spiritual healing center — essentially a country club-like place that had a pastry chef and an army of landscapers — while he continued to collect a salary provided by the church. I couldn’t help comparing his lifestyle with mine, and it added another layer to my fury. I kept making phone calls and yelled at the bishop, his secretary and plenty of others who probably didn’t have anything to do with this guy. Some of those people knew full well what that priest had done — and could still be doing — and they covered it up. I was determined to do everything I could to keep him from hurting anyone else.

Meanwhile, at my own parish, I made an appointment to talk with my priest. In tears, I told him my story. He said that anyone could be accused of abusing a child, even him. I looked up mid-sob. “What?” I asked. It was such a peculiar response that it stopped my tears cold and made me wonder if my own priest had something to hide.

Eventually I started a clergy abuse support group at my parish. Headlines were starting to pop up about priests who abused children, and while I knew I couldn’t change anything on a global stage, I thought at least I could make a difference in my own community. However, whenever I scheduled a meeting, the church secretary would “forget” to put it in the bulletin. When it was time to make announcements after Mass, they’d “forget” to include information about my group. Once, I scheduled a clergy abuse survivor to speak to our group, but when she arrived, my priest said that he’d arranged for a nun to speak instead. He walked my speaker to the door, and that’s when I understood that the church was sabotaging my efforts.

I realized that there was no longer a place for me in the church I loved. My dreams of a Catholic wedding, a Catholic family and living a Catholic life were being ripped apart. Aside from theology, Catholics bond over fish fry dinners, snippets of Latin, guilty consciences and inside jokes — to be Catholic is to have a home in the world.

Leaving the church seemed like shedding not just my religion but my identity. It would alienate me from my ancestors and drive a wedge between my parents and me. But it got to the point that I couldn’t even look at a Catholic Church without seeing the bewildered, tortured face of a child I loved, the smug face of our priest, and the network of people and resources protecting him. So, my heart shattered, I left and I looked for another path.

Like many Catholic families, mine is large. But my parents, my six siblings and my cousins mostly weren’t comfortable with conversations about sexual abuse. After I initially disclosed what happened to me and then what happened to my brother, the door to those discussions closed. In fact, I never told my brother about how hard I tried to keep that priest from victimizing other children, and Father Sean’s name never came up in my family again.

It’s been 30 years since that horrible phone call when two truths were revealed, but the trauma I experienced has stayed with me. When I asked my brother if it would be OK to tell this story, he said he’d forgotten all about Father Sean. For me, forgetting isn’t an option — it would be like forgetting about being locked in a burning building — but I realize that we all cope in our own way.

In the intervening decades, my oldest friend, also a victim of incest, died by suicide. I endured triple negative breast cancer that spread to other parts of my body. I lost two houses to California wildfires. Both of my parents died, and I was the victim of terrible crimes. None of these traumas was as difficult as being 5 years old.

The family member who sexually molested me repeatedly when I was so little ultimately apologized in a heartfelt letter, and I’ve forgiven him. I don’t keep in touch with him, but he seems to have a peaceful, productive life.

The little girl I was at 5 — and the young woman I was at 28 — taught me to endure and to overcome. Not everyone can wage a war against injustice. But I learned that when I stand up for others, I’m also fighting for myself.

World's second oldest bishop dies

The second oldest bishop in the world is dead. 

René Henry Gracida, Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi/Texas, USA, died over the weekend (1. May) at the age of 102, according to his diocese.

Born on 9. June 1923 in New Orleans, he entered the Benedictine Order in 1951. 

In 1959, Gracida priest was incardinated and in 1961 in the diocese of Miami; in 1971 he became auxiliary bishop there. From 1975 to 1983 he was bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Texas and then until 1997 of Corpus Christi.

Since 2022, the oldest bishop in the world, at 104 years old, is currently José de Jesús Sahagún de la Parra, Bishop Emeritus of Ciudad Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico. 

He is also one of the last four living fathers of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and the last to attend the opening in October 1962.

Theologian Hermann Häring dies

The German theologian Hermann Häring is dead, as the movement "Wir sind Kirche" confirmed to katholisch.de, citing Häring's family, he died on 28. April. He was 88 years old.

Häring, born in Pforzheim in 1937, was a student and collaborator of the Swiss theologian Hans Küng (1928–2021) at the University of Tübingen in the 1970s and received his habilitation in dogmatic and ecumenical theology. 

In 1980 he received a professorship in Systematic Theology at the University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His chair was transformed into a professorship for theory of science and theology in 1999 in the course of a new study concept. 

After his retirement in 2005, he became a scientific advisor at the "Project Weltethos" by Hans Küng. Most recently, he lived in Tübingen.

Häring’s focus was on the ecumenical and interreligious dialogue as well as questions of church reform. In 2009, he was awarded the Herbert Haag Prize for Freedom in the Church. 

In addition to the "Project Weltethos" and "Wir sind Kirche" (We are Church), Häring was also associated with the "Church from Below" initiative.

Nuncio in Poland confers Confirmation in the traditional rite

The Apostolic Nuncio in Poland, Monsignor Antonio Guido Filipazzi, administered the sacrament of Confirmation according to the traditional rite in Latin on May 2 in Warsaw.

According to Rorate Caeli, the celebration took place in the Camaldolese church of the Polish capital, where about fifty faithful received the sacrament in the traditional form.

The ceremony took place within the framework of the liturgy according to the ancient Roman rite, with the participation of a community served by the Institute of the Good Shepherd (IBP), an apostolic life society that celebrates the liturgy in accordance with the books prior to the post-conciliar reform.

In addition to conferring Confirmation, the Apostolic Nuncio was present at the celebration of Holy Mass according to the traditional rite, on a day marked by the attendance of faithful linked to this liturgical form.

Celebration in a stable community of the faithful

The Camaldolese church in Warsaw regularly hosts celebrations in the traditional rite, within the context of the pastoral activity of the Institute of the Good Shepherd in Poland.

The administration of the sacrament by the pontifical representative is framed within the ordinary life of the local Church and the care for communities that participate in the traditional liturgy.

Fernández warns the German Church: unions cannot be legitimized with blessings

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández has now made public a letter addressed in 2024 to the German Church in which he warned about deviations in the application of blessings to couples in irregular situations, in a context marked by the reiteration of similar proposals by some bishops of the country. 

This was reported by Confidencial Digital.

The Vatican now publishes a letter on blessings in Germany

The prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a letter on November 18, 2024, to the Bishop of Trier, Stephen Ackermann, in response to a Vademécum prepared in Germany on “blessings for couples who love each other” as an application of the declaration Fiducia supplicans to the pastoral reality of the country.

A document that also serves to respond to the recidivism following the recent statements by Cardinal Marx.

Warnings about the interpretation of Fiducia supplicans

In his response, Fernández recalls that the Church “does not have the power to confer its liturgical blessing when this, in any way, may offer a form of moral legitimation to a union that claims to be a marriage or to an extramarital sexual practice.”

The prefect further insists that these blessings “do not intend to legitimize anything or sanction anything,” but rather “to open one’s own life to God” and ask for his help “to live better and with greater fidelity to the Gospel.”

Criticism of the German proposal

The Dicastery points out that the German Vademécum introduces elements incompatible with that approach, such as the reference to an “official regulation”—by pastors—of couples outside of marriage or the inclusion of an “acclamation,” a gesture proper to the marriage rite.

According to Fernández, this approach “ends up legitimizing the status of such couples in a sense contrary to what is affirmed by Fiducia supplicans.”

Rejection of any form of ritualization

Another central point of the letter is the warning against the creation of liturgical or semi-liturgical forms. 

The document emphasizes that “no type of liturgical rite or forms of blessing similar to sacramentals that may create confusion” is admitted.

It also warns that “no ritual for blessings of couples in irregular situations should be promoted or foreseen,” to avoid these practices resembling a sacrament.

Contradictions in the Vademécum

The prefect highlights an inconsistency in the German document, which on the one hand speaks of “spontaneity and freedom” in these blessings, but on the other introduces a pre-established form for their celebration.

In particular, he criticizes the detailing of aspects such as the place, music, or form of the celebration, which in practice configures “a kind of liturgy or paraliturgy” around these blessings.

The German insistence

With the dissemination of the document, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith underscores the limits set by the Vatican and warns against interpretations that may blur the doctrine on marriage and blessings in a document that is already known for its ambiguities. 

A lack of clarity that precisely generates this type of problems.

In any case, Leon XIV had already responded directly to Marx during the return flight from Equatorial Guinea to Rome. 

This is a fact that highlights the insistence and recidivism of the German bishops in turning a deaf ear to Rome to continue with the ideas of their own synod.

Marco Rubio will meet this Wednesday with León XIV

The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will meet with Pope Leo XIV in the coming days during his trip to Rome. 

The meeting comes weeks after public criticisms of the Pontiff by President Donald Trump.

In addition to the audience with the Pope, Rubio will hold meetings with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, and with officials from the Italian Government.

A trip in a context of recent tensions

The visit comes after the harsh attacks by President Donald Trump against the Pontiff on social media last April, where he went so far as to call him “terrible,” causing discomfort in various ecclesiastical and political circles.

At the same time, Pope Leo XIV has adopted a more visible stance on the international scene in recent weeks, criticizing the war against Iran driven by the United States and Israel, as well as the restrictive immigration policies of the U.S. Administration.

Meetings with the Italian Government

During his stay in Rome, Rubio is scheduled to hold meetings with Italy’s Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, and Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, according to information gathered by Reuters and the Italian press.

According to Corriere della Sera, Rubio’s objective would also be to mend relations with Italy following Trump’s criticisms of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, considered one of his main allies in Europe.

At that time, Meloni publicly defended the Pope after Trump’s attacks, calling them “unacceptable.” 

This stance caused discomfort for the U.S. president, who went so far as to question her leadership and accuse her of not sufficiently supporting the United States within the framework of NATO.

One year after the first meeting

Rubio already met with the Pope in May 2025, along with Vice President JD Vance, during the events marking the start of the pontificate. 

Both participated in the inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square and held a private meeting with the Pontiff.

An attempt to mend relations

Rubio’s visit is interpreted as an attempt to steer relations back on track with both the Vatican and the Italian Government, after weeks of verbal confrontations and disagreements on key issues such as the war in the Middle East or migration policy.

According to information from the Italian press, Rubio’s trip includes contacts aimed at addressing these issues on the diplomatic level; however, until now, neither the U.S. Department of State, nor the Vatican, nor the Italian Government have officially confirmed all the details of the visit program.

On the tendency of the rebounded to declare the see vacant

The so-called Transalpine Redemptorists—known as Transalpine Redemptorists—are a traditional-profile community that, after an initial period in the orbit of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, was regularized during the pontificate of Benedict XVI and incardinated in a diocese in New Zealand. 

At that time, they accepted an interpretation of the Second Vatican Council in the light of Tradition and compatible with their charism.

Their austere life and strict liturgical sensitivity had not prevented them from remaining within the ecclesial structure. 

Until now. 

A disciplinary intervention motivated by internal denunciations, which point to extreme practices in community life, has precipitated an abrupt shift also on the doctrinal level.

First the conflict, then the doctrine

From that moment on, a pattern reproduces that appears all too frequently: personal or institutional conflict precedes doctrinal rupture. Suddenly, what for years was tolerated or accepted becomes denounced as illegitimate. 

At the moment the grievance arrives, the Second Vatican Council suddenly becomes indefensible, the liturgical reform becomes heretical, and the very legitimacy of the Pope is questioned.

The case of the Poor Clares of Belorado fits into this dynamic: internal tensions, economic and governance problems, and, as a consequence, a sudden doctrinal drift that leads to rupture. It is also the case of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.

Viganò: the discovery came when he was no longer inside

For years, as nuncio in the United States, Viganò had no problem celebrating the reformed liturgy, with Bugnini’s Eucharistic Prayers, nor in operating with total normality within the system he now denounces. 

He was at the pinnacle of the ecclesial diplomatic structure, fully integrated and without public objections of substance to the post-conciliar framework.

The turning point was not doctrinal, but personal. 

When, as a result of his denunciations (legitimate ones), he felt marginalized, when his position within the system deteriorated, then the “enlightenment” appeared: only then is the new Mass problematic, the Council unassumable, and the See could be vacant.

The sequence is too evident to ignore. He did not discover something new after a long theological process; he redefined the entire framework at the moment when that framework ceased to support him.

That shift turns his discourse into something different. It is no longer structured criticism, but a reaction. And there it loses strength. 

Because if for decades there was no substantial objection while exercising power, and it only appeared when that power disappeared, the suspicion of instrumentalization is inevitable.

The contrast with the FSSPX

In contrast to this type of trajectory, it is worth emphasizing the great difference with the attitude of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X. With all its controversies, it has developed a deliberately prudent policy toward those who arrive after personal conflicts with the hierarchy.

It does not automatically integrate these profiles precisely because it identifies that pattern better than anyone: when adherence does not arise from a consolidated doctrinal conviction, but from a circumstantial rebound.

This marks an essential difference. One thing is to sustain a coherent position for years, regardless of personal circumstances, assuming real costs. 

Quite another is to adopt that position as a direct consequence of a direct grievance. In the first case, there is an arguable but consistent line of argument; in the second, there is an alibi.

The problem is not only what they say, but when they say it

The case of the Transalpine Redemptorists fits, at least apparently, into this second group. Not so much because of the specific content of their criticisms, but because of the moment they appear. 

While there was institutional fit, there was no doctrinal rupture. 

When that fit breaks due to a particular situation, the condemnation of the system as a whole emerges.

The conclusion is uncomfortable but clear: when major theological objections systematically appear after a personal problem, the problem is not so much the doctrine as the motivation. 

And without an intellectually clean motivation, the debate ceases to be theological and becomes a post hoc justification.