Praedicate Evangelium, the 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, provides that members of the dicasteries meet (typically) every two years in plenary session to discuss “matters and questions of greater importance.” Other American members of the dicastery include Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington and Helen Alvare, a law school professor known for her pro-life commitment.

Pope Leo XIV received bishops of the Lutheran Church of Norway this morning and prayed that “we may always grow together in our service to the promotion of peace and justice.”

According to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s note on the morality of COVID vaccines, “practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary ... Those who, however, for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, must do their utmost to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent.”

“That such an attack could take place in a house of worship in our city, during a time of prayer, is most disturbing,” said Archbishop Hero. “Please be assured of our love and concern for the men injured in this event, their families, and your entire Gurdwara community as you contend with the repercussions of this senseless act of violence.”

“Ethnic nationalism and Christianity are incompatible,” said Bishop Heiner Wilmer, S.C.J., of Münster. “I am already very grateful for prophetic voices and for people who take to the streets. But I think we should become even more courageous overall. I can imagine even more resistance.”

Asked how he would implement the Vatican’s recent reaffirmation that only clergy are permitted to preach homilies during Mass, Bishop Wilmer said:

Even though I am still quite new as Bishop of Münster, I know that many baptized women and men in our diocese have dealt with this topic for years and have incorporated a culture. I have great respect for this tradition and feel deep gratitude. Of course, I also have respect for the feedback from Rome.

At the same time, I am firmly convinced that the wonderful female and male pastoral workers in our diocese will find a good way to deal with the circumstances. I have great confidence in them and am very grateful to them for their outstanding work and witness.

The number of catechumens and candidates at Texas A&M University grew from 121 in 2024-25 to 204 in 2025-26. After Texas A&M, schools with the largest number of participants in the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults included Arizona State University, the University of Illinois, the University of Oklahoma, and Kansas State University.

The Mass will take place on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (background). The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments recently approved the English and Spanish translations of the Mass for the Care of Creation, promulgated in Latin last year.

Cardinal Fabio Baggio, C.S., pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said that “for the Church, safeguarding Creation and promoting human dignity are two sides of a single mission, strongly rooted in the Christian faith. We believe God created the world and the human family out of love, and precisely out of love, He entrusted us with the care of our brothers and sisters and the custody of Creation.”

In the message, dated August 6 and released on August 25, Pope Leo said that in the liturgy, “the mystery of Christ takes hold of us, transforms us, and causes us to be born as new creatures.” The message also said there is a need to recover a “more profound sense” of actuosa participatio (active participation) in the sacred liturgy.

“I didn’t expect them to place so much emphasis on having received the assistance specifically from the Office of Papal Charities,” said Father Viktor Bilous, a staff member of the apostolic nunciature in Ukraine. “Even when they welcomed us, they told us, ‘Representatives of the Pope have come to us.’ ... We prayed together, I blessed the food, and we also prayed for our soldiers.”

“Faced with the digital revolution, which seems to suggest the overcoming of the human, the Pope urges us to recognize that Christians are called to bear witness together to the freedom of human beings created in the image and likeness of God,” Cardinal Parolin wrote.

The Waldenses originated in 12th-century France.