Pope Francis gives an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica March 27, 2020. / Vatican Media.

Rome Newsroom, Mar 27, 2023 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Wednesday will bless a satellite that will launch his words into space on June 10.

The “Spes Satelles,” Latin for “Satellites of Hope,” will be launched on a rocket taking off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

According to the Vatican, the miniaturized satellite will hold a copy of a book documenting the pope’s urbi et orbi blessing of March 27, 2020, when, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, he blessed the world from St. Peter’s Square with the words “Lord, may you bless the world, give health to our bodies, and comfort our hearts.”

“You ask us not to be afraid,” the pope prayed. “Yet our faith is weak and we are fearful. But you, Lord, will not leave us at the mercy of the storm.”

The book, “Why Are You Afraid? Have You No Faith? The World Facing the Pandemic,” has been converted into a nanobook, a 2-millimeter by 2-millimeter by 0.2-millimeter silicon plate, for transport to space.

Pope Francis will bless the satellite and the nanobook after his weekly public audience in St. Peter’s Square on March 29.

The Vatican said March 27 the CubeSat, the name for miniature satellites, will travel aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX’s partially reusable two-stage launch platform. It will be hosted on the ION SCV-011ION platform, a satellite carrier developed and built by the Italian company D-Orbit.

The Italian Space Agency will operate the satellite, which was built by the Polytechnic University of Turin.

“The satellite is equipped with a radio transmitter as well as onboard instruments to be maneuvered from the ground,” a press release stated.

While in orbit, the satellite will broadcast decipherable statements from Pope Francis on the theme of hope and peace in English, Italian, and Spanish.

The president of the Italian Space Agency, Giorgio Saccoccia, said the Holy See asked the agency to identify a way for Pope Francis’ words of hope “to cross the earth’s borders and reach from space the greatest possible number of women and men on our troubled planet.”

“For those of us who are used to seeing space as the privileged place from which to observe the world and communicate with it without borders, it was easy to imagine a quick, humble and effective solution to offer wings to the Holy Father’s message,” he added.

The secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, Father Lucio Adrian Ruiz, said “space has a fascination for everyone, especially for young people. Space has that mystery of the universal, the deep, the magnificent, and it makes us all dream.”

By launching Pope Francis’ words of the March 27, 2020, blessing into space, the Vatican hopes to signify that the pope’s prayer, blessing, and universal call to hope continue to be relevant for men and women of goodwill today, he said.

You can follow the launch and learn more at the Spei Satelles website.

Pope Francis meets with participants of the Minerva Dialogues — a meeting of scientists, engineers, business leaders, lawyers, philosophers, Catholic theologians, ethicists, and members of the Roman Curia to discuss digital technologies — at the Vatican on March 27, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Mar 27, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis said emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning could be beneficial to society as long as they respect human dignity.

“The fundamental value that we must recognize and promote is that of the dignity of the human person,” the pope said during a March 27 audience at the Vatican with participants in the Minerva Dialogues.

Organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the Minerva Dialogues is a meeting of scientists, engineers, business leaders, lawyers, philosophers, Catholic theologians, ethicists, and members of the Roman Curia to discuss digital technologies.

“I encourage you, in your deliberations, to make the intrinsic dignity of every man and every woman the key criterion in evaluating emerging technologies,” Francis told participants. “These will prove ethically sound to the extent that they help respect that dignity and increase its expression at every level of human life.”

Pope Francis was recently the subject of a fake photo created through artificial intelligence. An image of the pope wearing a white puffer coat went viral on the social media sites Reddit and Twitter over the weekend, with many people appearing to mistake the false photo for an authentic snapshot.

Both Francis and the Vatican have intervened on the subject of AI and modern technologies through speeches and conferences over the past several years. In his monthly prayer intention for November 2020, Pope Francis invited Catholics to pray that robotics and artificial intelligence would remain always at the service of human beings.

Technology has been immensely beneficial to humans, especially in the fields of medicine, engineering, and communications, Pope Francis observed on Monday.

Science and technology, he said, have practical benefits and are evidence of man’s ability “to participate responsibly in God’s creative action.”

“From this perspective,” the pope said, “I am convinced that the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning has the potential to contribute in a positive way to the future of humanity; we cannot dismiss it.”

“At the same time, I am certain that this potential will be realized only if there is a constant and consistent commitment on the part of those developing these technologies to act ethically and responsibly.”

Pope Francis said he welcomes the regulation of artificial intelligence so that it might contribute to a better world. He also said he is reassured to know many people working on new technologies put ethics, the common good, and the human person at the center.

He emphasized that he is concerned, instead, about evidence that digital technologies are increasing world inequality.

“The concept of human dignity — and this is central — requires us to recognize and respect the fact that a person’s fundamental value cannot be measured by data alone,” he said. “In social and economic decision-making, we should be cautious about delegating judgments to algorithms that process data, often collected surreptitiously, on an individual’s makeup and prior behavior.”

“Such data can be contaminated by societal prejudices and preconceptions,” the pope said. “A person’s past behavior should not be used to deny him or her the opportunity to change, grow, and contribute to society. We cannot allow algorithms to limit or condition respect for human dignity or to exclude compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and above all, the hope that people are able to change.”

The Roman Basilica of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem. / Credit: Jacob Stein/Crux Stationalis

Rome Newsroom, Mar 27, 2023 / 07:53 am (CNA).

While many people choose to give up social media for Lent, one Catholic man is uploading new videos online every day to share the stories of the early Christian martyrs and Rome’s most ancient churches.

Jacob Stein is visiting a church in Rome each day of Lent this year, retracing the pilgrimage routes Catholics have walked for centuries as part of the Roman station church liturgical tradition.

Stein is sharing his experience on Crux Stationalis, a “social media apostolate” that seeks to bring the beauty and history of Rome’s Lenten station church tradition to YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and his blog RomanStationChurch.com.

The American, who lives in Rome and started the Crux Stationlis YouTube and Instagram channels in Lent 2021, said he wanted “people to see Rome with its beauty and to understand the depths of Rome’s devotion to the martyrs.”

The Lenten station church pilgrimage in Rome dates back to the early fourth century and originally included daily papal processions in which people prayed the Litany of the Saints on the way to offer Mass at the burial site of the early Christian martyr assigned to that day.

St. Gregory the Great fixed the order of the original 25 church stations in the sixth century, which were later expanded, before the practice waned in the 14th century.

The videos bring social media users from the Ash Wednesday station church, the Basilica of Santa Sabina — first built in the year 432 A.D. and once home to St. Thomas Aquinas — to the Basilica of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, which contains the long-venerated relics of Christ’s cross brought to Rome by Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine.

Stein studied philosophy and theology in Rome at the Angelicum before starting the social media apostolate.

What sets him apart from many social media influencers who share videos, reels, and photos of the beauty of the Eternal City is that he carefully researches the history and spiritual significance behind each church, sharing information about relics, liturgical prayers, art, and papal history.

“Crux Stationalis comes from the ancient tradition where each neighborhood in Rome would gather behind a cross which was called a ‘Crux Stationalis,’ a station cross, and they would process from one church to the next,” Stein explained.

The Roman station church tradition has experienced something of an Anglophonic revival in the last three decades, spearheaded by the Pontifical North American College, which in recent years has offered a 7 a.m. Mass in English at the station churches each day of Lent.

Stein, however, has been attending the Italian Masses in the evening organized by the Pontifical Academy of Martyrs for the Diocese of Rome. He said that he likes to be connected with the local church.

And as an added bonus, the Italian Masses often begin with a procession with a relic of the true cross as the congregation sings the Litany of the Saints.

“With this Roman Station Church tour, you see the devotion of Rome,” he told CNA. “It’s going from the tomb of a martyr to another tomb of a martyr, and that really allows the communion of saints to be felt in a way that is just so tangible.”

“Tertullian said that ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,’ and you feel that with the Romans, they know that.”

In its modern form, the station church itinerary brings pilgrims to just over 40 churches between Ash Wednesday and the end of the Easter Octave, with repeated visits to some of the major and minor basilicas.

By participating in the pilgrimage, Stein has learned many things about the history of the Church in Rome, including the strong devotion to St. Lawrence in the Eternal City.

“We go to his churches everywhere during Lent. And [St. Lawrence] has more churches than Sts. Peter and Paul in his devotion here in Rome. In fact, the only one who has more churches devoted to her is Our Lady,” he said.

One of Stein’s favorite churches that he has come to know through the pilgrimage is the Basilica of Santa Pudenziana, which was built upon the second-century house of Roman senator St. Pudens, who allowed St. Peter to live in his house for at least six years.

According to tradition, the house was the site of the first Eucharist offered by St. Peter in Rome.

Stein pointed out that the basilica contains a fifth-century apse mosaic, “one of the oldest apse mosaics in Christendom.”

“St. Gregory of Nyssa says that the mosaic is an analogy for the Mystical Body of Christ, that each tessera [tile] is necessary,” he added.

Stein often goes live on Instagram and YouTube when he arrives at each church to give viewers an idea of the history of that day’s station church before the procession and Mass begins.

“Some of the comments that I get most often are ‘I feel like I’m walking through the churches,’” he said.

Stein joked that it has turned out to be “a penance” to keep up the daily filming and social media posts for the apostolate every day of Lent, but he knows that it is a worthwhile effort.

“The history of Rome is underneath us; paleochristian basilicas are there. And there’s a reason they were built and we should know that, or at least it’s our right to know it because it’s our patrimony,” he said.

null / Sidney de Almeida / Shutterstock

Washington D.C., Mar 26, 2023 / 11:20 am (CNA).

A local Connecticut television station reported that the Archdiocese of Hartford is investigating a possible eucharistic miracle that may have taken place during the celebration of the Mass at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Thomaston.

On March 5 at the conclusion of Mass, Father Joseph Crowley announced that a eucharistic minister witnessed something unexplainable as he was distributing Communion.

“One of our eucharistic ministers was running out of hosts and suddenly there were more hosts in the ciborium. God just duplicated himself in the ciborium,” an emotional Crowley told the faithful.

“It’s really, really cool when God does these things, and it’s really, really cool when we realize what he’s done, and it just happened today,” the priest said.

“Very powerful, very awesome, very real, very shocking. But also, it happens, and today it happened,” he said.

“They were running out of hosts and all of a sudden more hosts were there. So today not only did we have the miracle of the Eucharist, we also had a bigger miracle. It’s pretty cool,” the priest said.

Watch Crowley describe the possible miracle in the video below:

WFSB Eyewitness News reported Friday that “the Archdiocese of Hartford is looking into this possible miracle.” 

A Vatican-endorsed exhibit “Eucharistic Miracles of the World,” featuring documentary evidence of 152 such miracles, has visited over 3,000 churches on its international tour. In the 21st century, there have been four eucharistic miracles recognized by the Catholic Church, the Magis Center reported.

In 2013, in a church in Legnica, Poland, a consecrated host that fell to the floor was put into water so that it would dissolve. Instead, it became streaked with red stains. Forensic testing concluded, “In the histopathological image, the fragments were found containing the fragmented parts of the cross-striated muscle. It is most similar to the heart muscle.” 

In 2006, a consecrated host at a parish in the Chilpancingo-Chilapa Diocese of Mexico appeared to be bleeding. Tests later found the presence of blood. “The reddish substance analyzed corresponds to blood in which there are hemoglobin and DNA of human origin,” the study found.

In 2001, witnesses reported seeing the face of Jesus appear on a consecrated host in Chirattakonam, India.

And in 2008, at a church in Sokolka, Poland, a priest dropped a consecrated host, which then appeared to bleed. Tests later found that “the altered fragment of the host is identical to the myocardial (heart) tissue of a person who is nearing death. Additionally, the structure of the muscle fibers and that of the bread are interwoven in a way impossible to produce by human means.”

null / Sidney de Almeida / Shutterstock

Washington D.C., Mar 26, 2023 / 11:20 am (CNA).

A local Connecticut television station reported that the Archdiocese of Hartford is investigating a possible eucharistic miracle that may have taken place during the celebration of the Mass at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Thomaston.

On March 5 at the conclusion of Mass, Father Joseph Crowley announced that a eucharistic minister witnessed something unexplainable as he was distributing Communion.

“One of our eucharistic ministers was running out of hosts and suddenly there were more hosts in the ciborium. God just duplicated himself in the ciborium,” an emotional Crowley told the faithful.

“It’s really, really cool when God does these things, and it’s really, really cool when we realize what he’s done, and it just happened today,” the priest said.

“Very powerful, very awesome, very real, very shocking. But also, it happens, and today it happened,” he said.

“They were running out of hosts and all of a sudden more hosts were there. So today not only did we have the miracle of the Eucharist, we also had a bigger miracle. It’s pretty cool,” the priest said.

Watch Crowley describe the possible miracle in the video below:

WFSB Eyewitness News reported Friday that “the Archdiocese of Hartford is looking into this possible miracle.” 

A Vatican-endorsed exhibit “Eucharistic Miracles of the World,” featuring documentary evidence of 152 such miracles, has visited over 3,000 churches on its international tour. In the 21st century, there have been four eucharistic miracles recognized by the Catholic Church, the Magis Center reported.

In 2013, in a church in Legnica, Poland, a consecrated host that fell to the floor was put into water so that it would dissolve. Instead, it became streaked with red stains. Forensic testing concluded, “In the histopathological image, the fragments were found containing the fragmented parts of the cross-striated muscle. It is most similar to the heart muscle.” 

In 2006, a consecrated host at a parish in the Chilpancingo-Chilapa Diocese of Mexico appeared to be bleeding. Tests later found the presence of blood. “The reddish substance analyzed corresponds to blood in which there are hemoglobin and DNA of human origin,” the study found.

In 2001, witnesses reported seeing the face of Jesus appear on a consecrated host in Chirattakonam, India.

And in 2008, at a church in Sokolka, Poland, a priest dropped a consecrated host, which then appeared to bleed. Tests later found that “the altered fragment of the host is identical to the myocardial (heart) tissue of a person who is nearing death. Additionally, the structure of the muscle fibers and that of the bread are interwoven in a way impossible to produce by human means.”

Pope Francis delivers his Angelus reflection from the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City on March 26, 2023. / Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Mar 26, 2023 / 08:01 am (CNA).

On the fifth Sunday of Lent, Pope Francis challenged the faithful to do as they did when they were little children learning how to walk: letting God take them by the hand.

That way, the pope assured, even when they fall or feel discouraged, they won’t be alone. On the contrary, “it is precisely in these moments that he comes closer than ever to restore us to life,” the pope said in his Angelus address March 26.

Speaking from the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, the pope pointed to the Gospel of the day, which narrates the resurrection of Lazarus, a dear friend of Jesus. In what is his last known miracle before Easter, Jesus arrives when all hope is lost, but when he asks for the tomb to be open, prays to the Father, and shouts to Lazarus “Come out!” his friend comes back to life. As to Lazarus, Jesus repeats to each one of us: “Get up, get back on the path, regain confidence!” the pope recalled.

The Holy Father recognized how easy it is for us to feel hopeless or to meet people who have given up hope: because of a painful loss, an illness, a bitter disappointment, a wrong or betrayal suffered, or a serious mistake made. At these moments, he said, ”life often seems like a closed tomb, where everything is dark, and all around, one sees only sorrow and despair.” But Jesus “approaches our tombs and says to us, as then: ‘Take away the stone.’”

On the day after having promulgated an updated version of the Church's norms to prevent and counter sexual abuse against minors and vulnerable adults, the pope spoke words of comfort and hope to all those who suffer: “Do not let yourself be imprisoned by pain, do not let hope die: Come back to life!” he urged.

For Francis, the Gospel’s message is clear: “Jesus gives life even when it seems that all hope has gone.” That is to say, “Jesus invites us not to stop believing and hoping, not to let ourselves be crushed by negative feelings.”

The pope acknowledged that everyone likely carries in their hearts some burden or some suffering and urged the faithful to revisit chapter 11 of St. John's Gospel and meet Jesus, who is near. “Can we open our hearts to him and entrust our worries to him? To open the tomb of problems and look over the threshold, towards his light?” Francis asked.

“And in turn, as small mirrors of Godhs love,” he continued to ask, “do we manage to illuminate the environments in which we live with words and gestures of life? Do we bear witness to the hope and joy of Jesus?”

Before ending his address, the pope recalled that we are all sinners and left a special word for confessors: “Dear brothers, do not forget that you, too, are sinners, and you are in the confessional not to torture: to forgive, and to forgive everything, as the Lord forgives everything.”

After praying the Angelus in Latin with the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis expressed his closeness to the victims of the tornado in Mississippi and earthquake survivors in Turkey and Syria. He also prayed for peace and reconciliation in Peru.

The pope also recalled war-torn Ukraine, remembering the special ceremony of consecration to Mary that united the Vatican and the Shrine of Fatima in Portugal on March 25, 2022.

“Yesterday [March 25], the solemnity of the Annunciation, we renewed our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the certainty that only the conversion of hearts can open the path that leads to peace,” he said. 

“Let us continue to pray for the martyred Ukrainian people,” he urged. 

null / Credit: Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 26, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Parents of students at a Marianist school in Spain expressed their “stark distrust” in the Marianists and in their sex ed program “Crea2 para amar” (Created to Love) after a tense meeting in which they were denied access to the materials being taught to their children.

The event took place March 16 in the auditorium of Our Lady of the Pillar School in Madrid and was attended by a large representation of parents of elementary school students.

Representing the school were the principal, Brother Valeriano Sarto, SM; the head of pedagogical department of the Network of Marianist Schools, Belén Blanco; and the director of elementary education, Covadonga García.

The meeting began with a speech by the principal in which he acknowledged that the informational meeting should have been held at the beginning of the school year, months ago.

Next, Blanco explained the “fundamentals” of the “Created to Love” program for about an hour. The elementary school director concluded by describing the content that was offered to the students of those courses.

When the time came for parents to speak, they expressed their doubts and asked to know in advance the content being taught to their children in the same way that mathematics, language, or history classes are done through an online platform.

The images surrounding the controversy

The origin of the controversy stems from the fact that more than 5,000 parents have already signed an online petition by Educators against Indoctrination placed on the Hazteoir.org (CitizenGo) portal, which denounces alleged inappropriate content of the “Created to Love” program.

The signature campaign is based on images that the Marianists deny are part of the program. However, Blanco, in response to questions from those present, admitted that “these images were part of an internal platform for a while” during the time the program was being created.

The petition gives a number of examples of objectionable content such as “Why can’t I dress like a girl if I feel like a girl?” “I’m not a girl or a boy because I have a penis or a vulva. I’m a girl or a boy because I know what I am. And only I decide.”

However, “the images weren’t approved” by the board of the Marianist Schools of Spain, despite the fact they were posted on the internet.

Blanco said that there was “an internal communication failure” involved in the dissemination of the images, which was publicly acknowledged last June at the Valencia school, again on Feb. 17 in Ciudad Real, and through a general statement issued March 10.

Before concluding, Blanco promised that “more complete information will be given next year” and defended the sex education program that is taught in Marianist schools in Spain: “We only have reasons to be satisfied with the effect that it’s having in the schools.”

‘There’s no language of the Church’

After the meeting, a father of several students consulted by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, said that “they haven’t given clear messages. People don’t know what they’re going to give in class."

In addition, he lamented that, in the general scheme of content that was presented on a screen, “there’s no language of the Church, but of gender ideology. I don’t see any word that references the social doctrine of the Church.”

Gender ideology considers biological sex to not be determinative for the person but that a person can define his or her orientation and sexual identity according to the person’s preferences and even contrary to his or her nature, which different governments try to impose through the education of children and young people.

Specifically, the father wondered why in the section referring to the ethical-religious dimension, the content is listed as: “Gender violence,” “Sexual abuse of minors,” and “Discrimination against women. Sexism."

A mother of a large family confirmed to ACI Prensa that the requests for specific information were repeated without success and that school officials have refused to withdraw the program, not even as a precautionary measure.

“The principal ended the meeting without responding or letting many of us parents speak who had asked to speak. They’ve shown themselves for who they are,” she said.

Another parent of several students at the school admitted that the fundamentals presented by Blanco “were well done,” but speaking with ACI Prensa, he corroborated that “there were many protests” and that the feeling of “helplessness” reigns among the parents.

In addition, he lamented that, at the end of the meeting, “the entire audience was left thinking: Why don’t they give us an explanation [of the specific content]?”

All this creates “stark mistrust,” he concluded.

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

Damage from a series of powerful storms and at least one tornado is seen on March 25, 2023 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. At least 26 people have reportedly been killed with dozens more injured following devastating storms across western Mississippi and Alabama on the night of March 24, 2023. / Will Newton/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 26, 2023 / 07:20 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Sunday offered prayers for the victims of a deadly tornado that struck parts of Mississippi and Alabama Friday night.

Cutting a swath of ruin across the impoverished Mississippi Delta, the tornado killed at least 26 people and left twisted piles of debris where homes, businesses, and neighborhoods once stood. The death toll is expected to rise, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) warned.

Speaking after his weekly Angelus reflection in St. Peter’s Square March 26, the pope included victims of the storm among those suffering around the world from war and natural disasters.

“Yesterday, the solemnity of the Annunciation, we renewed the consecration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the certainty that only the conversion of hearts can open the way that leads to peace,” he said.

“Let us continue to pray for the tormented Ukrainian people. And let us stay close also to the earthquake victims of Turkey and Syria,” he said. “Let us also pray for the population of the state of Mississippi, struck by a devastating tornado.”

On Sunday President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration to speed federal aid to the area, adding that he and First Lady Jill Biden are praying for the victims of the storm.

“Jill and I are praying for those who have lost loved ones in the devastating tornadoes in Mississippi and for those whose loved ones are missing,” Biden said in a statement.

“The images from across Mississippi are heartbreaking. While we are still assessing the full extent of the damage, we know that many of our fellow Americans are not only grieving for family and friends, they’ve lost their homes and businesses,” he added.

The National Weather Service warned that more severe weather is possible for the area on Sunday.

‘Wiped off the map’

The loss of 25 people so far in Mississippi makes the March 24 twister the deadliest tornado in the state in at least 50 years, Mississippi’s Clarion Ledger reported. One man died in Alabama.

Much of the destruction is centered in the rural Mississippi towns of Silver City and Rolling Fork, about 60 miles northeast of Jackson, USA Today reported. Drone footage the Clarion Ledger posted on its website showed the breathtaking scale of the damage.

“It is almost complete devastation,” Royce Steed, emergency manager in Humphreys County, where Silver City is located, told USA Today. “This little old town … is more or less wiped off the map.”

At least 18 of the dead were from Rolling Fork, with other residents still unaccounted for, the Clarion Ledger reported.

“There are nearly 20 homes on Seventh Street with around 80 residents. Every home was a complete loss,” the news outlet reported.

MEMA officials have preliminarily categorized the tornado with an EF-4 rating. That classification is for tornadoes packing wind gusts from 166 mph to 200 mph, according to the AccuWeather weather service.

The Clarion Ledger spoke with Seventh Street resident John Brewer, a long-haul trucker who was home with his wife, Joyce, when the tornado roared through the neighborhood. The tornado lifted his 27,000-pound truck and dropped it on his neighbor’s home, killing L.A. Pierce and his wife, Melissa.

Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz of the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, issued a statement Saturday pledging the support of the diocese’s Catholic Charities disaster response team.

“At this time, we join in prayer for all those affected by the storms that crossed our state and for the repose of the souls of those lost to these devastating tornadoes,” Kopacz said.

“We pray for those who are desperately trying to reach loved ones and unable to reach them, as well as those still seeking safety who are missing as a result of the storms,” he continued.

“We give thanks and pray for first responders, who are working tirelessly in affected communities trying to reach those missing, restore power, and assist those surviving,” the bishop added.

“I encourage all to continue to pray and find ways to support all affected communities,” Kopacz concluded.

Damage from a series of powerful storms and at least one tornado is seen on March 25, 2023 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. At least 26 people have reportedly been killed with dozens more injured following devastating storms across western Mississippi and Alabama on the night of March 24, 2023. / Will Newton/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 26, 2023 / 07:20 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Sunday offered prayers for the victims of a deadly tornado that struck parts of Mississippi and Alabama Friday night.

Cutting a swath of ruin across the impoverished Mississippi Delta, the tornado killed at least 26 people and left twisted piles of debris where homes, businesses, and neighborhoods once stood. The death toll is expected to rise, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) warned.

Speaking after his weekly Angelus reflection in St. Peter’s Square March 26, the pope included victims of the storm among those suffering around the world from war and natural disasters.

“Yesterday, the solemnity of the Annunciation, we renewed the consecration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the certainty that only the conversion of hearts can open the way that leads to peace,” he said.

“Let us continue to pray for the tormented Ukrainian people. And let us stay close also to the earthquake victims of Turkey and Syria,” he said. “Let us also pray for the population of the state of Mississippi, struck by a devastating tornado.”

On Sunday President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration to speed federal aid to the area, adding that he and First Lady Jill Biden are praying for the victims of the storm.

“Jill and I are praying for those who have lost loved ones in the devastating tornadoes in Mississippi and for those whose loved ones are missing,” Biden said in a statement.

“The images from across Mississippi are heartbreaking. While we are still assessing the full extent of the damage, we know that many of our fellow Americans are not only grieving for family and friends, they’ve lost their homes and businesses,” he added.

The National Weather Service warned that more severe weather is possible for the area on Sunday.

‘Wiped off the map’

The loss of 25 people so far in Mississippi makes the March 24 twister the deadliest tornado in the state in at least 50 years, Mississippi’s Clarion Ledger reported. One man died in Alabama.

Much of the destruction is centered in the rural Mississippi towns of Silver City and Rolling Fork, about 60 miles northeast of Jackson, USA Today reported. Drone footage the Clarion Ledger posted on its website showed the breathtaking scale of the damage.

“It is almost complete devastation,” Royce Steed, emergency manager in Humphreys County, where Silver City is located, told USA Today. “This little old town … is more or less wiped off the map.”

At least 18 of the dead were from Rolling Fork, with other residents still unaccounted for, the Clarion Ledger reported.

“There are nearly 20 homes on Seventh Street with around 80 residents. Every home was a complete loss,” the news outlet reported.

MEMA officials have preliminarily categorized the tornado with an EF-4 rating. That classification is for tornadoes packing wind gusts from 166 mph to 200 mph, according to the AccuWeather weather service.

The Clarion Ledger spoke with Seventh Street resident John Brewer, a long-haul trucker who was home with his wife, Joyce, when the tornado roared through the neighborhood. The tornado lifted his 27,000-pound truck and dropped it on his neighbor’s home, killing L.A. Pierce and his wife, Melissa.

Bishop Joseph R. Kopacz of the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, issued a statement Saturday pledging the support of the diocese’s Catholic Charities disaster response team.

“At this time, we join in prayer for all those affected by the storms that crossed our state and for the repose of the souls of those lost to these devastating tornadoes,” Kopacz said.

“We pray for those who are desperately trying to reach loved ones and unable to reach them, as well as those still seeking safety who are missing as a result of the storms,” he continued.

“We give thanks and pray for first responders, who are working tirelessly in affected communities trying to reach those missing, restore power, and assist those surviving,” the bishop added.

“I encourage all to continue to pray and find ways to support all affected communities,” Kopacz concluded.

Bishop Erik Varden O.C.S.O, of the Catholic Territorial Prelature of Trondheim, Norway, at the vespers at Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome. / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA

Rome Newsroom, Mar 25, 2023 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

Bishops from the five Nordic countries have released a letter on the traditional Christian teaching on sexuality, upholding the “embodied integrity of personhood” against modern transgender ideologies.

“Now, notions of what it is to be a human, and so a sexual being, are in flux. What is taken for granted today may be rejected tomorrow. Anyone who stakes much on passing theories risks being terribly hurt. We need deep roots,” the eight members of the Nordic bishops’ conference say in the letter, which was released Saturday.

“Let us, then, try to appropriate the fundamental principles of Christian anthropology while reaching out in friendship, with respect, to those who feel estranged by them,” they continue. “We owe it to the Lord, to ourselves, and to our world, to give an account of what we believe, and of why we believe it to be true.”

The pastoral letter is being read aloud at Masses this weekend at Catholic churches in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. EWTN Norway provided CNA with a copy of the letter.

Cardinal Anders Arborelius, the bishop of Stockholm, Sweden, is among the document’s eight signers.

The others are: from Norway, Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, Bishop Berislav Grgić of Tromsø, and Bishop Bernt Eidsvig of Oslo; from Denmark, Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of Copenhagen; from Iceland, Bishop Dávid Tencer of Reykjavik and Bishop Emeritus Pierre Bürcher of Reykjavik; and from Finland, Father Marco Pasinato, apostolic administrator of Helsinki.

“Our mission and task as bishops is to point towards the peaceful, life-giving path of Christ’s commandments, narrow at the outset but growing broader as we advance,” the bishops state in the letter.

“We would let you down if we offered less,” the bishops say, adding, “we were not ordained to preach little notions of our own.”

The bishops explain that there is room for everyone in the Church, which, according to a fourth-century text, is “the mercy of God descending on mankind.”

“This mercy excludes no one. But it sets a high ideal,” the letter states.

The pastoral letter begins by recalling the 40 days and nights of rain that flooded the earth in the days of Noah.

It says that when Noah and his relatives stepped back onto the cleansed earth, God made his first covenant with man, promising that a flood would never again destroy the earth.

God asked mankind, instead, to revere God, to construct peace, and to be fruitful, the bishops said. To ratify the covenant, God created a sign: a rainbow.

“This covenantal sign, the rainbow, is claimed in our time as the symbol of a movement that is at once political and cultural,” the bishops note. “We recognize all that is noble in this movement’s aspirations. In so far as these speak of the dignity of all human beings and of their longing to be seen, we share them.”

“The Church,” the letter continues, “condemns unjust discrimination of any kind, also on the basis of gender or orientation. We declare dissent, however, when the movement puts forward a view of human nature that abstracts from the embodied integrity of personhood, as if physical gender were accidental.”

The bishops also say in the letter they protest that such a view is imposed on children as “not a daring hypothesis but a proven truth.”

Transgenderism is “imposed on minors as a heavy burden of self-determination for which they are not ready,” the bishops lament, calling it “curious” that in an intensely body-conscious society, the body is in fact taken too lightly.

People now refuse to see the body “as significant of identity, supposing that the only selfhood of consequence is the one produced by subjective self-perception, as we construct ourselves in our own image,” they observe.

The bishops explain that we are, instead, created in the image and likeness of God, in both body and soul.

“The image of God in human nature manifests itself in the complementarity of male and female,” the letter states. “Man and woman are created for one another: The commandment to be fruitful depends on this mutuality, sanctified in nuptial union.”

The letter goes on to say that the union of a man and a woman, as an image of God’s communion with mankind, is not always easy or painless.

“For some it seems an impossible option,” the bishops acknowledge. “More intimately, the integration within ourselves of masculine and feminine characteristics can be hard. The Church recognizes this. She wishes to embrace and console all who experience hardship.”

The Nordic bishops say they recognize that “the yearning for love and the search for sexual wholeness touch human beings intimately” and they want to be there to accompany everyone as they gradually grow in wisdom and virtue.

“We are called to become new women and men,” they say in the letter. “In all of us there are elements of chaos that need to be ordered. Sacramental communion presupposes coherently lived consent to the terms of the covenant sealed in Christ’s blood.”

They point out that circumstances may mean, therefore, that a Catholic is unable to receive the sacraments for a time. But “he or she does not therefore cease to be a member of the Church. Experience of internal exile embraced in faith can lead to a deeper sense of belonging. Exiles often turn out that way in Scripture. Each of us has an exodus journey to make, but we do not walk alone.

The bishops’ letter also offers some advice to those who are perplexed by the traditional Christian teaching on sexuality.

“First: Try to acquaint yourself with Christ’s call and promise, to know him better through the Scriptures and in prayer, through the liturgy and study of the Church’s full teaching, not just of snippets here and there. Take part in the Church’s life,” the bishops counsel.

“Secondly,” they add, “consider the limitations of a purely secular discourse on sexuality. It needs to be enriched. We need adequate terms to speak of these important things.”

The Church, they say, “shall have a precious contribution to make if we recover the sacramental nature of sexuality in God’s plan, the beauty of Christian chastity, and the joy of friendship, which lets us see that great, freeing intimacy can be found also in non-sexual relationships.”

You can read the full text of the bishops’ letter and watch a video of the letter being read below.