Feast date: Nov 09

The feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran is celebrated by the entire Church. It marks the dedication of the cathedral church of Rome by Pope Sylvester I in 324. This church is the cathedra (or chair) of the bishop of Rome, who is the Pope. A Latin inscription in the Church reads: “omnium ecclesiarum Urbis et Orbis mater et caput.” Translated, this means, “The mother and head of all churches of the city and of the world.”

The basilica was originally named the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior. However, it is called St. John Lateran because it was built on property donated to the Church by the Laterani family, and because the monks from the monastery of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Divine served it.

In a 13-page letter to the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), four attorneys for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the EPA to reconsider its proposed deregulation of greenhouse gas emission reporting requirements.

The current regulations “can serve to protect our ‘common home’ for current and future generations and allow the EPA to carry forth its mission to ensure Americans (especially the most vulnerable) have clean air, land, and water, and to protect human health and the environment,” the attorneys stated. “Our concerns with [the proposal] are founded on the Catholic Church’s commitment to care for creation and the ‘least of these’ among us, as these tenets are integral components of Catholic faith.”

Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to Blessed Rosario Livatino (1952-1990), an Italian magistrate slain by the Mafia, and praised the organizers of a new prize for justice that bears his name.

The pontifical message, dated October 25, was the subject of a November 6 Vatican newspaper article. The message was signed by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State.

Addressing a conference on agronomy and forestry, a Vatican diplomat lamented food waste as he called for sustainable agriculture to “feed the planet without waste, shifting from the logic of abundance to the logic of sufficiency.”

Msgr. Fernando Chica Arellano, the Vatican’s representative to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, called for “producing more, but with less water, fewer chemicals, less environmental impact, and greater attention to quality and sustainability.” At the same time, he called for technological innovation “that is profoundly transforming the way fields are cultivated,” as well as “an instrument of social justice if it is put at the service of the most vulnerable populations.”

In its report, Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, inaccurately described the Vatican diplomat as an archbishop.

Addressing the Organization of American States (OAS), a Vatican diplomat expressed solidarity with the victims of Hurricane Melissa and support for strife-torn Haiti.

Msgr. Juan Antonio Cruz Serrano added that he “considers commendable the task of international and regional organizations, such as the OAS, in raising awareness among governments and civil society about the abuses committed against nature and in promoting mechanisms aimed at fulfilling the non-delegable duty to preserve the environment and the natural resources of each country.”

The Vatican newspaper has raised the alarm about the advance of jihadist forces in Mali—a subject that has received scant media attention in the US.

“Forces of the jihadist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam al-Muslimin (JNIM) have been besieging the capital Bamako for several weeks and have imposed a blockade on fuel supplies in the city, which is paralyzing the population’s daily activities,” Andrea Walton reported in yesterday’s edition of L’Osservatore Romano.

“The siege by jihadist forces, part of a truly large-scale operation, represents a significant change for the country’s fortunes,” Walton reported. “The coming months will be crucial for the survival of the Mali government and for the international community’s potential involvement in the conflict in the Sahel.”

Mali, a West African nation of 22 million (map), is 88% Muslim and 4% Christian, with 8% adhering to ethnic religions.

Joined by local diocesan officials, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, opened a “Laundry of St. Francis of Assisi” yesterday in Parma, Italy, to allow homeless persons there to wash and dry their clothes in a free facility.

Begun in 2017 in Rome, the initiative has since spread to Genoa, Turin, Naples, Catania, San Ferdinando, and now Parma with the assistance of Procter & Gamble. The dicastery noted that the initiative was originally called the “Laundries of Pope Francis,” but has recently been renamed after the beloved saint of Assisi.

Pope Leo XIV encouraged members of two women’s religious institutes to pray and be attentive to the needy as they take part in their institutes’ general chapters.

“What matures in the meeting rooms of the Chapter needs to be sown and sifted before the Tabernacle and in listening to the word,” the Pontiff said yesterday to participants in the general chapters of the Religious of Jesus and Mary and of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrinians). “For it is only by listening to the Lord that we learn to truly listen to one another.”

Pope Leo recalled that St. Claudine Thévenet founded the Religious of Jesus and Mary to assist “young women in difficult circumstances,” and that St. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, Bl. Assunta Marchetti, and Ven. Giuseppe Marchetti founded the Scalabrinians to assist migrants.

The Italian Episcopal Conference and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities have jointly published 16 chapters on Judaism for use in schools—and have taken the additional step of making the chapters available in English as well, as part of a larger work, An Introduction to Judaism in 16 Chapters.

“The chapters are the result of years of common work and were born from the need to ensure quality texts in Italian schools, promoting knowledge as a true antidote to all forms of anti-Semitism,” the bishops’ conference said in a statement.

A cursory glance at the chapters raises questions about apparent inconsistencies between their content and Catholic teaching. The treatment of the Second Coming in the 12th chapter is difficult to reconcile with the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 674). Likewise, the categorical statement in the 13th chapter that “Paul is not a convert” is difficult to reconcile with the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (January 25), as well as Pope Benedict’s general audience on his conversion.

In a homily preached in Rome, in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem preached on the conditions necessary for peace.

“Only pacified hearts can pacify; only pacified hearts can dare to make peace,” said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM. Peace begins in recognizing “the truth and dignity of every human being. It is knowing how to see the face of God in others. When the face of the other disappears, the face of God also vanishes—and with it, the possibility of authentic peace.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa preached the homily on October 26; the Latin Patriarchate released significant excerpts yesterday.