• Newsroom
  • The Vatican
  • Vatican finances, the balance sheets of the IOR and of the St. Peter's Obligation
The Vatican

Vatican finances, the balance sheets of the IOR and of the St. Peter's Obligation

There is an intrinsic relationship between the budgets of the Oblates of St. Peter's and the Institute for works of Religion.

Andrea Gagliarducci-July 12, 2024-Reading time: 4 minutes

There is a close relationship between the annual declaration of the St. Peter's obolus and the balance sheet of the Istituto delle Opere di Religione, the so-called "Vatican bank". Because the Obolo is destined to the charity of the Pope, but this charity is also expressed in the support of the structure of the Roman Curia, an immense "missionary budget" that has expenses, but not so many incomes, and that must continue to pay salaries. And because the IOR, for some time now, has been making a voluntary contribution of its profits precisely to the Pope, and these profits serve to lighten the budget of the Holy See. 

For years the IOR has not had the same benefits as in the past, so that the portion allocated to the Pope has decreased over the years. The same situation applies to the Obolo, whose income has decreased over the years, and which has also had to face this decrease in the IOR's support. So much so that in 2022 it had to double its income with a general divestment of assets.

That is why the two budgets, published last month, are somehow connected. After all, the Vatican finances have always been connected, and everything contributes to helping the Pope's mission. 

But let's look at the two budgets in more detail.

The St. Peter's Oblong

Last June 29, the St. Peter's Oblates presented their annual balance sheet. Revenues were 52 million, but expenses amounted to 103.4 million, of which 90 million were for the apostolic mission of the Holy Father. Included in the mission are the expenses of the Curia, which amount to 370.4 million. The Obolo thus contributes 24% to the budget of the Curia. 

Only 13 million went to charitable works, to which, however, must be added donations from Pope Francis through other dicasteries of the Holy See totaling 32 million, 8 of which were financed directly through the obolo.

In summary, between the Obolus Fund and the funds of the dicasteries financed in part by the Obolus, the Pope's charity financed 236 projects, for a total of 45 million. However, the balance deserves some observations.

Is this the true use of the St. Peter's Obligation, which is often associated with the Pope's charity? Yes, because the very purpose of the Obligation is to support the mission of the Church, and it was defined in modern terms in 1870, after the Holy See lost the Papal States and had no more income to run the machine.

That said, it is interesting that the budget of the Obolus can also be deducted from the budget of the Curia. Of the 370.4 million of budgeted funds, 38.9% is earmarked for local Churches in difficulty and in specific contexts of evangelization, amounting to 144.2 million.

Funds earmarked for worship and evangelization amount to 48.4 million, or 13.1%.

Dissemination of the message, that is, the entire Vatican communication sector, represents 12.1% of the budget, with a total of 44.8 million.

37 million (10.9% of the budget) was allocated to support the apostolic nunciatures, while 31.9 million (8.6% of the total) went to the service of charity - precisely the money donated by Pope Francis through the dicasteries -, 20.3 million to the organization of ecclesial life, 17.4 million to the historical heritage, 10.2 million to academic institutions, 6.8 million to human development, 4.2 million to Education, Science and Culture and 5.2 million to Life and Family.

Income, as mentioned above, amounted to 52 million euros, 48.4 million of which were donations. Last year there were fewer donations (43.5 million euros), but income, thanks to the sale of real estate, amounted to 107 million euros. Interestingly, there are 3.6 million euros of income from financial returns.

As for donations, 31.2 million came from direct collection by dioceses, 21 million from private donors, 13.9 million from foundations and 1.2 million from religious orders.

The countries that donate the most are the United States (13.6 million), Italy (3.1 million), Brazil (1.9 million), Germany and South Korea (1.3 million), France (1.6 million), Mexico and Ireland (0.9 million), Czech Republic and Spain (0.8 million).

IOR balance sheet

The IOR 13 million to the Holy See, compared to a net profit of 30.6 million euros.

The profits represent a significant improvement over the €29.6 million in 2022. However, it is necessary to compare the figures: they range from the 86.6 million profit declared in 2012 - which quadrupled the previous year's earnings - to 66.9 million in the 2013 report, 69.3 million in the 2014 report, 16.1 million in the 2015 report, 33 million in the 2016 report and 31.9 million in the 2017 report, to 17.5 million in 2018.

The 2019 report, meanwhile, quantifies profits at 38 million, also attributed to the favorable market.

In 2020, the year of the COVID crisis, the profit was slightly lower at 36.4 million.

But in the first post-pandemic year, a 2021 still unaffected by the war in Ukraine, it returned to a negative trend, with a profit of only €18.1 million, and only in 2022 did it return to the €30 million barrier.

The IOR 2023 report speaks of 107 employees and 12,361 customers, but also of an increase in customer deposits: +4% to €5.4 billion. The number of clients continues to fall (they were 12,759 in 2022, even 14,519 in 2021), but this time the number of employees also decreases: they were 117 in 2022, they are 107 in 2023.

Thus, the negative trend of clients continues, which should give us pause for thought, bearing in mind that the screening of accounts deemed not compatible with the IOR's mission ended some time ago.

Now, the IOR is also called upon to participate in the reform of Vatican finances desired by Pope Francis. 

Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, president of the Council of Superintendence, highlights in his management letter the numerous accolades the IOR has received for its work in favor of transparency over the past decade, and announces: "The Institute, under the supervision of the Authority for Supervision and Financial Information (ASIF), is therefore ready to play its part in the process of centralizing all Vatican assets, in accordance with the Holy Father's instructions and taking into account the latest regulatory developments.

The IOR team is eager to collaborate with all Vatican dicasteries, with the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) and to work with the Investment Committee to further develop the ethical principles of FCI (Faith Consistent Investment) in accordance with the Church's social doctrine. It is crucial that the Vatican be seen as a point of reference."

The authorAndrea Gagliarducci

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Focus
  • Education
  • Friends of Monkole seeks to school children from orphanages in D.R. Congo
Education

Friends of Monkole seeks to school children from orphanages in D.R. Congo

The Friends of Monkole Foundation has launched a campaign in Spain to provide schooling this school year to 50 children from two orphanages in the municipality of Mont-Ngafula, in the D.R. of Congo, where there is an unemployment rate of 82 percent and many families live in extreme poverty. 

Omnes-August 27, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

Thousands of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo live in a situation of severe vulnerability and have no access to education. In Kinshasa alone, the capital of the African country, more than 30,000 homeless children live in the streets. In this context, the Friends of Monkole Foundation has launched a campaign in Spain to provide schooling for 50 children from two orphanages in Mont-Ngafula. 

The armed conflict in the east of the country has forced the closure of more than 2,500 schools and learning spaces, leaving more than 1.6 million children out of school.

Enrique Barrio, president of Friends of MonkoleThe schooling of a child for one school year costs approximately 200 euros, including school supplies and uniform," he explains. We want to reach the 50 children (aged 6 to 16) living in orphanages, but we would like to double this figure next year".

Back to school in Kinshasa

In order to achieve this, the foundation has launched a campaign in Migranodearena. The goal is to raise 8,000 euros. Donations can also be made through the solidarity Bizum 03997. 

For this project, the foundation has an established local team, led by Christian Lokwa, who visits the children every month, meets with their teachers and monitors their progress.

Helping more than 150,000 people

Among the objectives are to cover tuition, materials and uniforms, accompany the children during the school year and offer them workshops on hygiene, values, creativity and academic reinforcement.

The Friends of Monkole Foundation, based in Madrid (Spain), was born in 2017 and has the "Donate with Confidence" seal of Fundación Lealtad. Since its inception, it has already helped more than 150,000 people in the Congo, mainly children and women in vulnerable situations. 

Friends of Monkole currently has 13 projects in this African country, many of them through the Monkole Mother and Child Hospital in Kinshasa.

The authorOmnes

Read more
More on Omnes
Integral ecology

UN rapporteur Reem Alsalem considers surrogacy 'violence'

The Casablanca group of experts assesses as a "historic breakthrough" the report of the UN Special Rapporteur, Reem Alsalem, who considers surrogacy as "violence" against women and children. The report will be officially presented to the UN General Assembly in October 2025.

Francisco Otamendi-August 27, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

The report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur, Reem Alsalem, was published on August 22 of this year. It describes surrogacy as a practice characterized by exploitation and violence against women and children. 

The document stresses that this practice reinforces patriarchal norms, reduces women to their reproductive roles and exposes children to serious violations of their human rights.

4 recommendations to the States

The Special Rapporteur recommends the following to States, as noted by the so-called Casablanca group, which brings together experts and NGOs from more than 80 countries.

1. The eradication of all forms of surrogacy.

2. The adoption of a binding international treaty banning surrogacy;

3. The prohibition of advertising and surrogacy agencies;

4. Strengthening international cooperation to combat trafficking in women and children related to surrogate motherhood.

Universal abolition

The Casablanca group, in a communiqué dated August 25 in Paris, welcomed the report. It is a confirmation of its work for the universal abolition of surrogacy. It urged States to assume their responsibility by inviting them to act without delay to give concrete expression to these recommendations in their public policies.

The Special Rapporteur's report focuses on human rights violations. Specifically, those occurring in the surrogacy market, she said. Bernard Garciaexecutive director of the Casablanca Declaration.

"Where are you, Mom?" by Olivia Maurel.

"This is an unprecedented recognition at the highest international level: surrogacy is not an act of love, but a form of violence and exploitation. This landmark report shows the way to its global ban," said Olivia Maurel. 

French-American activist Olivia Maurel, a surrogate mother, is a spokesperson for the Casablanca Declaration and the author of the book "Where are you, Mom? This book will be published in Spanish in September 2025.

In an interview with Omnes, Olivia Maurelwho considers herself an atheist and is the mother of three children, said that "surrogacy is a new form of human trafficking".

Maurel also said: "I find it terrible that in a country like France, where surrogacy is forbidden, the media are so intent on promoting 'good stories'. And they never put in front of people who have undergone it or who campaign for its abolition". 

Dignity of women and children

Recently, sources from the technology sector have referred to the study of a possible prototype in China of a gestating robots of babies. The embryo would spend nine months in a machine with artificial amniotic fluid. AI expert Rafael González Aguayo commented on LinkedIn, and to Omnes. "If it is not a fake, it is a mere instrumentalization of the woman, who becomes secondary in the face of motherhood."

Bernad Garcia recalled in April of this year the words of Pope Francis in 2024: "I consider the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood to be deplorable. It gravely offends the dignity of the woman and the child, and is based on the exploitation of the mother's situation of material need. A child is always a gift and never the object of a contract. I therefore call on the international community to commit itself to a universal ban on this practice".

A few days before this speech, the Casablanca executive explained, the Pope had received a letter from Olivia Maurel in which she shared her story. And he invited the Pontiff to support the cause of the universal abolition of surrogacy, promoted by the Casablanca Declaration.

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Newsroom
  • The World
  • The media paradox: the most harassed faith seems to be the most dangerous one
The World

The media paradox: the most harassed faith seems to be the most dangerous one

52 people were killed in DR Congo by the Islamist group ADF. The most persecuted faith in the world hardly has a voice in the Western media, while in the public imagination it is presented as a source of violence.

Javier García Herrería-August 26, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes
RelatedRelated News200 Christians killed in Nigeria and the silence of the Spanish mainstream press

Violence is once again hitting the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Between August 9 and 16, the territories of Beni and Lubero were the scene of a chain of attacks perpetrated by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a local Islamist group linked to the Islamic State. At least 52 civilians were killed.

The Daesh propaganda agency, Amaq, claimed that 39 of the victims were Christians and celebrated that the militants "burned around 50 Christian houses and confiscated some belongings before fleeing."

The attacks in Congo add to an escalation of violence against Christians that has already left more than 100 people dead so far this year in the region. In July, a Catholic church in Komanda was attacked during a vigil, leaving 35 dead, mostly young people.

Last June, Nigeria was the scene of another tragedy: the massacre of more than 200 Christians in attacks attributed to extremist groups. Despite the magnitude of the horror, the news went almost unnoticed in the general Spanish press, in contrast to the attention received by other tragedies in the West with a smaller number of victims.

A UN day that goes unnoticed

August 22 marked the commemoration of the "International Day of Remembrance for Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief"sponsored by the UN. The day, aimed at condemning terrorist attacks against religious minorities, passed without any echo in public opinion.

On the contrary, for many people religion is a common cause of violence. Authors such as Richard Dawkins have popularized the idea that "religion is the major cause of wars". However, specialized historical studies disprove this idea. The work Encyclopedia of Wars (2004), by Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod, records 1,763 wars in history, of which only 123 (less than 7%) were motivated by religious reasons, of which only 3% have their origin in Christianity. The famous sociologist Steven Pinker, a regular critic of religion, estimates that only 13% of the worst atrocities in history were related to religion.

Christianity, the most persecuted faith

Worldwide, Christianity is today the most harassed religion. More than 200 million believers live under persecution or severe discrimination. Every day, an average of at least 10 Christians die for their faith, in a reality that, despite its magnitude, hardly generates social alarm in the West compared to other forms of injustice.

Read more
RelatedRelated News200 Christians killed in Nigeria and the silence of the Spanish mainstream press
More on Omnes
  • Focus
  • Evangelization
  • Saint Teresa Jornet Ibars, patron saint of the elderly, and Friar Junípero Serra
Evangelization

Saint Teresa Jornet Ibars, patron saint of the elderly, and Friar Junípero Serra

On August 26, the Church celebrates St. Teresa Jornet Ibars, Spanish nun and founder of the congregation of the Little Sisters of the Elderly Homeless. Junipero Serra, Franciscan evangelizer of California, where he founded and presided over several missions.  

Francisco Otamendi-August 26, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

Teresa Jornet Ibars was born on January 9, 1843, in Aytona, Lérida (Spain). The following day she received the sacrament of baptism, and the sacrament of confirmation at the age of 6. She studied teaching and felt called to the contemplative life. In Barbastro she met the priests Pedro Llacera and Saturnino Lopez Novoa, and saw the project to which God was calling her. Surrendering her life as a religious sister to the service of the elderly in need. 

He received the definitive approval of the Constitutions a few days before his death in August 1897. At that time he said: "Take care of the elderly with interest and care, have great charity, and observe the Constitutions; in this lies your sanctification". She died in Liria (Valencia) on August 26, 1897. She was beatified by Pius XII on April 27, 1958 and canonized on January 27, 1974 by St. Paul VI. 

The Roman Martyrology The following is collected: "In Liria, Spain, saint Teresa de Jesús Jornet Ibars, virgin, who, to help the elderly, founded the Institute of the Little Sisters of the Elderly Forsaken (1897)".

California Evangelist

Fray Junípero Serra (1713-1784) is the only Spaniard with a statue in the Capitol in Washington. Pope Francis inscribed him in the catalog of saints in 2015, after he was beatified by St. John Paul II in 1988. Sufficient data to clear the good name of this illustrious Spanish friar against any activism or ignorance alien to the historical truth. Thus wrote Friar Antonio Arevalo Sanchez, OFM, in Omnes. 

Fray Junípero -under the motto 'Always forward, never back' - dedicated his intelligence and energy to instill human dignity in the natives of Querétaro and the two Californias. He did this through evangelical doctrine, civilizing progress and an exemplary life of patience, humility, poverty and enormous sacrifices, Fray Arevalo pointed out.

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Resources
  • "A very human and very divine air": the secret of the rebirth of Spanish-language Christian music
Resources

"A very human and very divine air": the secret of the rebirth of Spanish-language Christian music

Christian music in Spanish has grown exponentially thanks to its ability to connect the human and the divine, driven by artists who integrate their spirituality into songs and festivals that bring together thousands of young people in an atmosphere of faith and beauty. This global phenomenon reflects a thirst for transcendence that goes beyond genres and borders.

Luis Sierra-August 26, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

Spanish-speaking Christian music has experienced tremendous growth in recent years. Some of the causes are: the influence of globalization in music consumption, the thirst for God that young people manifest, and the rise of worship spirituality.

While it is true that there is a great deal of momentum in other denominations, non-liturgical Catholic music is not far behind.

Did you expect to find Rosalia singing St. John of the Cross and surpassing 22 million plays on YouTube alone? Did you expect to hear Rigoberta Bandini asking Christ to "teach her to pray" with 3 million plays on Spotify alone?

In the English-speaking world, Justin Bieber has broken new ground by naming his experience with God in his song 'HolyLike the U.S. group Imagine Dragons, which fills stadiums thanking God with Beautiful Things.

However, Íñigo Quintero didn't need to sing in English to become the most listened artist in the world with his song "El País". If you are notin which he creates music from Heaven.

New trends

This is the new trend that music platforms around the world are facing: the spiritual restlessness that artists are explicitly expressing. Their own relationship with God.

Some even dedicate themselves exclusively to non-liturgical Christian music. This is the case of Hakuna Group MusicThe group, linked to the ecclesiastical movement of the same name, has become one of the most listened to in Spain, according to statistics for the last few years. 

Luis Poveda - a priest of Opus Dei better known as Luispo- is the hidden composer behind some of his songs, as well as some of the songs most frequently heard in parishes throughout Spain: Yours are o You said yes are some of them. Also May they all be onein collaboration with Trigo 13. Luispo surpasses the figure of one hundred thousand monthly listeners only on Spotify.

Giving his music "a very human and very divine air" is the secret he reveals when composing hits that take his listeners to the top and serve them to connect with transcendence: "Every word and every chord is born from a lived, prayed experience. Living to be able to sing, with the soul in the flesh, with true lips, full of desires, hopes, battles and scars. And everything backstage, on the intimate and deep stage of the heart, where the great adventures take place, the decisive battles", he wrote.

It is the same set of motions that runs through the music of other established authors such as Jésed or Canto Católico, who have accumulated millions of reproductions of some of their songs uploaded to YouTube.

The swing of the youthful pendulum facing the industry has meant the liberation of some plots that seemed reserved for music produced on the fringes of God.

This reality became evident during the development of the World Youth Day in Lisbon 2023, which was attended by nearly two million young people. Hurricane was one of the most listened hits in Portugal in those days, consecrating the aforementioned group that was also recognized in the edition of the SPERA Awards of the Spanish Episcopal Conference in 2023.

"He who composes expresses with his heart and, when someone speaks to you from the heart, captures your attention and makes you feel that you are part of what he is telling you," said the priest Raúl Tinajero, responsible for this recognition by the Spanish bishops. Other artists who have been recognized have been: AISHA, Nico Montero, Valivan or Ixcís.

Concerts and festivals

This new air has given rise to new encounters and opportunities for many artists. For example, Christian music festivals are proliferating: Resurrection Fest, Fe Festival or the Multifestival Laudato Si stand out among many others, while presenting on their stages some of the most relevant artists of Christian music from all over the world.

They continue to be repeated with success every year and fill auditoriums as special as the amphitheater of the Rambla de Almeria or the very WiZink Center in Madrid.

There are many countries -almost all of Latin America, Africa, Oceania- that are giving great importance and strength to the new evangelization through music," said Marcelo Olima. He has promoted the Multifestival Laudato Si, together with the diocesan priest Antonio Cobo: "Music connects with the fiber of the soul, with the heart of man".

"It enhances that: to live the beauty that we are one family, which is the Church. All the charisms. Even people who are not from the Church. They see that and see a very beautiful atmosphere, with children and young people," Cobo added. Perhaps that is the secret for this music to fill the hearts of those who listen to it with "a very human and very divine air".

The one who discovered it before anyone else was Antonio J. Esteban, announcer of Radio Maria, recently deceased. We end with the memory of this record player who promoted non-liturgical Christian music when nobody was talking about it yet and created -for this purpose- the program Generation hope more than thirty years ago. He was one of the visionaries who knew how to predict the musical movement that today tops charts around the world. A movement that comes from above and continues to grow.

The authorLuis Sierra

Priest of the Diocese of Saragossa

More on Omnes
Photo Gallery

Detail of the sculpture by Carlo Acutis

In the sculpture, recently unveiled in Assisi, Carlo appears kneeling at the feet of the crucified Christ, next to a computer.

Editorial Staff Omnes-August 25, 2025-Reading time: < 1 minute
More on Omnes
The Vatican

Pope celebrates Ukraine Independence Day with prayer for peace

On the occasion of the Independence Day of Ukraine, Pope Leo XIV has promised prayers for the Ukrainian people, in a message addressed to President Volodimir Zelensky. In the same vein, he has encouraged Catholics this Sunday to respond to the request of Ukrainian religious leaders to pray for peace.  

CNS / Omnes-August 25, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

- Cindy Wooden, Vatican City (Catholic News Service)

"With a heart wounded by the violence that ravages your land, I address you on this day of your national feast," Pope Leo XIV said in a message President Volodimir Zelensky. A text Zelensky has published on the X network. Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991.

"I wish to assure you of my prayers for the people of Ukraine who are suffering from the war, especially for all those who are bodily wounded, for those who have lost a loved one and for those who have been deprived of their homes," the Pope wrote to the president.

Pope Leo prayed that God may comfort the Ukrainian people, "strengthen the wounded and grant eternal rest to the deceased".

That the Lord may move hearts

The Pope also told the Ukrainian President that he continues to pray that the Lord "will move the hearts of people of good will. So that "the clamor of arms may be silenced and give way to dialogue, opening the way to peace for the good of all." "I entrust your nation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace," the Pontiff wrote.

In releasing the Pope's message, Zelensky thanked "for his thoughtful words, prayers and attention to the people of Ukraine in the midst of a devastating war. All our hopes and efforts are placed on our nation to achieve the long-awaited peace. For goodness, truth and justice to prevail. We appreciate the moral leadership and apostolic support of @pontifex."

At the Angelus, worldwide prayer for Ukraine

After reciting the prayer of the Angelus This Sunday, August 24, Pope Leo also called attention to the worldwide prayer for Ukraine requested by the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religions.

"The past friday, august 22We have accompanied with our prayer and fasting our brothers and sisters who are suffering because of the wars. Today we join our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who, with the spiritual initiative 'World Prayer for Ukraine', ask the Lord to grant peace to their war-torn country," the Pope told thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Proximity to Mozambique

After praying the Angelus, Pope Leo XIV expressed his "closeness to the people of Cabo Delgado, in Mozambique, victims of a situation of insecurity and violence that continues to cause deaths and displacement. As I appeal to you not to forget these brothers and sisters, I invite you to pray for them. And I express the hope that the efforts being made by those responsible in the country can restore security and peace in that territory."

"The narrow gate of the cross"

In its initial reflectionthe Pope has referred to the image of the "narrow door"used by Jesus to answer one who asks him if there are few who are saved. Jesus says: "Try to enter through the narrow gate, for truly I tell you, many will want to enter and will not succeed" (Lk., 24).

Certainly, "the Lord does not want to discourage us," the Holy Father pointed out. "His words, rather, serve to reject the presumption of those who feel sure of their salvation, of those who practice religion and, for that reason, are confident." 

In reality, "they have not understood that it is not enough to perform religious acts if they do not transform the heart. The Lord does not want a cult separated from life, nor does he accept sacrifices and prayers that do not lead us to live love for our brothers and sisters and to practice justice". 

Faith is authentic "when it embraces our whole life".

"Our faith is authentic when it embraces our whole life, when it is a criterion in the decisions we make, when it makes us women and men who are committed to the good and are able to risk for love as Jesus did," he continued. 

"He did not choose the easy path of success or power, but in order to save us, he loved us even to the point of crossing the "narrow gate" of the cross. He is the measure of our faith; he is the door we must cross to be saved (cf. Jn 10:9).)We are to live his same love and to be builders of justice and peace with our lives.

Let us invoke the Virgin Mary, Pope Leo concluded, "so that she may help us to courageously pass through the 'narrow gate' of the Gospel, so that we may joyfully open ourselves to the breadth of God the Father's love."

The authorCNS / Omnes

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Focus
  • Evangelization
  • St. Joseph Calasanz, founder of the Piarists, and St. Louis, king of France
Evangelization

St. Joseph Calasanz, founder of the Piarists, and St. Louis, king of France

After celebrating St. Bartholomew this Sunday, the liturgy of the Church turns its gaze on August 25 to St. Joseph Calasanz, founder of the Pious Schools. And also on St. Louis, King of France, considered a sower of peace and justice.

Francisco Otamendi-August 25, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

St. Joseph Calasanz, founder of the first popular Christian school in Europe, and of the Piarist Fathers, was born in 1557, in Peralta de la Sal (Aragon, Spain). His family environment provided him with a solid Christian and cultural formation. God called him to the priesthood. In Rome he was moved by the misery of young people and children, and the Lord called him.

In the spring of 1597 he visited Trastevere, discovered a small parish school, and founded the "first popular and free school in Europe". He called his work the "Pious Schools", and founded the Order of the same name. The Piarists profess "four solemn religious vows: poverty, chastity, obedience, and dedication to the education of youth".

He died in Rome on August 25, 1648. He was declared a saint in 1767, and Pope Pius XII declared him "heavenly patron of all Christian popular schools" in 1948. Saint John Paul II stated that St. Joseph Calasanz took Christ as his model and tried to transmit to young people the profane science and wisdom of the Gospel. 

St. Louis of France, promoter of justice and peace

The liturgy also celebrates on this day, among other saints and blessed, St. Louis, King of France (Poissy, 1214 - Tunis, 1270), founder of institutions such as the Sorbonne and the Sainte-Chapelle. He is remembered as king just and merciful and for promoting peace and justice. 

He was canonized by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297, after dying of the plague on August 25, 1270, while caring for the sick. His reign enjoyed prestige in Christendom. He was a first cousin of the Castilian King Ferdinand III the Saint, he married Margaret of Provence and they had eleven children. It is employer of the Secular Franciscan Order. Some cities in Mexico are named after him.

The authorFrancisco Otamendi

Read more
More on Omnes
Culture

The Basilica and Catacombs of St. Sebastian in Rome

Rome is a city that holds many treasures, including the basilica and catacombs of St. Sebastian.

Gerardo Ferrara-August 25, 2025-Reading time: 5 minutes

Rome is a city that never ceases to be discovered and never ceases to amaze. Its records are innumerable: city with the longest inhabited continuity in Europe (along with Matera, also in Italy); capital of the Roman Empire, of Christianity and of the Italian Republic; city with the largest number of UNESCO properties in its hinterland; city with the most churches in the world (over 900, including the largest church in the world, St. Peter's), with the largest amphitheater of antiquity (the Colosseum) and the most advanced hydraulic system of the ancient world (to which the imposing aqueducts bear witness), but also with the oldest (and still standing: the Pantheon). And many other firsts.

For these reasons it is known as the Eternal City. However, for those who want to go beyond the records and the best-known monuments, Rome has a hidden heart and a thousand surprises. Among them, the basilica and catacombs of St. Sebastian, on the ancient Appian Way, the first Roman consular road (312-244 BC), known as "regina viarum", which connected the capital to the Adriatic port of Brindisi. Here, where taverns and a handful of dwellings once stood, a necropolis developed from the second century A.D. on top of which a basilica complex was built.

From necropolis to cemetery: the Christian invention

In pagan times, according to Greek, but also Etruscan and Roman custom, the places destined for the burial of the deceased were not called cemeteries, as we know them today, but necropolis (from the Greek "νεκρόπολις", "nekrópolis", a term composed of "νεκρός", "nekrós", i.e. "dead", and "πόλις", "pólis", "city").

The deceased were not buried, but in most cases were cremated and their ashes were kept in urns placed in niches. The wealthiest families had, as today, private chapels and, when visiting the catacombs of St. Sebastian, it can be seen how these were sometimes also equipped with roofs with a small terrace for the "refrigerium", the refreshment in honor of the deceased relatives.

The change from necropolis to cemetery was not a simple change of term, but a revolution in the way of conceiving death, which, in the Christian era, was no longer the natural end of this life, but the beginning of another, even more real, in which the body would also participate. Therefore, it began to bury the dead, who, according to Christian doctrine, are considered "asleep" awaiting the resurrection (both in San Sebastiano and in other catacombs and in the necropolis under the Basilica of St. Peter can be observed "mixed" tombs, perhaps of the same family, with niches in which the urns with the ashes of the pagans were kept next to larger niches to house the complete body, unburned, of a Christian deceased.

The term itself, "cemetery" (from the Greek "κοιμητήριον", "koimētḗrion", "dormitory", whose root is the verb "κοιμάομαι", "koimáomai", "to sleep") thus came to designate a place of rest, not death.

Christian cemeteries were built next to churches (or under them) until the Edict of Saint-Cloud (1804), when Napoleon Bonaparte imposed, for hygienic reasons, the burial of the dead outside urban centers (lovers of Italian literature will remember, in this regard, the beautiful poem "I sepolcri" (The Tombs), by Ugo Foscolo, inspired by this event).

To the catacombs

The word "catacomb" derives from the Latin "catacombs" (although of Greek origin), which means "cavity", precisely to indicate the natural conformation of the terrain in this area of Rome, where there were ancient pozzolana quarries (descending from the Appian Way), and by extension became synonymous with subway necropolis. In this place, from the 2nd century onwards, an immense funerary area developed (about 15 hectares, i.e. 150,000 m² of subway galleries, at least 12 km of tunnels and corridors and thousands of tombs, rich in inscriptions and graffiti in Latin or Greek, Christian symbols such as the dove, the fish, the anchor and numerous paintings, more than 400, many of them still beautifully preserved), first pagan and then also Christian.

According to a consolidated tradition, the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul were temporarily deposited in these same catacombs during the first persecutions, to be later transferred respectively to the Vatican and to St. Paul Outside the Walls. This would be compatible with the finding, in the necropolis located under St. Peter and near the bones attributed to the Prince of the Apostles, of a wall with an opening that seems to indicate a removal and subsequent relocation of the same bones.

In one of the most evocative rooms of the catacombs of St. Sebastian, called Triclia, there are numerous graffiti engraved by the ancient pilgrims, such as: "Petre, Pauli, in mente habete nos", "Peter and Paul, remember us".

In fact, the place became the destination of numerous pilgrimages, especially after the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, a Roman officer converted to Christianity and executed under Diocletian (around 288 A.D.), buried here by a Christian matron, Lucina, who found his body thrown into the Cloaca Maxima.

The basilica and the "Salvator Mundi".

The basilica was originally built in the 4th century by order of Emperor Constantine, right on the place where St. Sebastian was buried, "ad catacombas" ("next to the cavities"). Today, its appearance is the result of numerous subsequent interventions, in particular the 17th century restoration commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The most famous works inside are undoubtedly the chapel that guards the relics of Sebastian, above the high altar, and the statue of the saint, made by Bernini. Also by the great master is another magnificent work, the "Salvator Mundi", his last work, probably made more out of personal devotion than by commission, and which was donated by Bernini himself to the basilica. Its trace was lost until 2001, when it was found by chance and put back on display.

Curiously, precisely in San Sebastian is one of the first representations of Christ the Savior of the world (represented here for the first time as a real and cosmic figure and no longer only as a good shepherd and teacher). It is part of the pictorial heritage of the more than 400 works found in the catacombs (in this case, after a detachment in 1997). It dates from the late third and early fourth century, and represents Christ facing the front in an attitude of blessing, with a scroll (volume) in his right hand and two people behind him (perhaps Peter and Paul).

San Felipe Neri and the Path of the Seven Churches

In the Middle Ages, the Basilica of St. Sebastian was already one of the "Seven Churches" most visited by pilgrims to Rome. However, it was St. Philip Neri who institutionalized this urban pilgrimage as an alternative both to the more important pilgrimages (such as that to Santiago de Compostela) and to the revelries of the Roman carnival (proposing it above all to young people as a penitential activity, but not too much, according to his unmistakable style).

 The route continues today along the main places of faith in Rome (the major basilicas linked to the most important martyrs and saints) and makes a stop in San Sebastiano, where, among the catacombs, there is also the chapel where St. Philip Neri prayed without ceasing and, according to tradition, was the protagonist of a mystical event, the famous "dilation of the heart".

I have been to San Sebastian many times, I have been spellbound by the statue of Bernini's "Salvator Mundi", I have walked through tunnels and galleries frescoed and graffitied by thousands of pilgrims over two thousand years of history, imagining a family in ancient Rome celebrating a banquet, or rather, a "refrigerium" (from which in Italian we have taken the term "rinfresco") in memory of their deceased.

However, it was during the night pilgrimage through the Seven Churches, in the mystical silence that envelops the basilica and the nearby catacombs, that I felt closer to the heart of Rome and the heart of man, "in the cold and black earth", as the great poet Carducci would say, but with the hope that, after death, the sun still cheers us and awakens our love.

Read more
More on Omnes
Resources

St. Thomas Aquinas on humanity

In contrast to the evolutionary position defended by Charles Darwin and other thinkers, the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas offer an interpretation of the human being that takes into account his ultimate end: communion with God.

Fr. Alan Joseph Adami OP-August 24, 2025-Reading time: 7 minutes

In 1858 and 1859 Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin both published works proposing an evolutionary theory of creation. According to this theory, the present state of creation is the product of a long natural process of transmutation of species governed by chance and natural elimination. Consequently, evolutionary theories dispensed with the very concept of nature of an intrinsic teleology in the nature of things. Created beings are no longer considered as microcosms advancing towards some finality, but chance is what explains their evolution.

However, evolutionary theories not only influenced the definitions of the natural composition of human beings, but also had an enormous impact on the very meaning of "being" human.

One of the main moral schools derived from this view is moral naturalism. To give a general definition, moral naturalism is the school that holds that moral facts are facts that can be empirically deduced from scientific research by observing patterns of behavior and natural conventions collected by primatology, anthropology, biology, psychology, neuroscience, and similar disciplines.

As an example, some may argue that monogamy is a moral fact that could be explained by virtue of some sociological conventions, but has no intrinsic moral value. Say that apes only developed monogamous relationships to prevent males from killing the offspring of rivals. On the other hand, one could argue that the moral fact "thou shalt not kill" can be explained in view of a species' evolutionary need to survive or that "happiness" is a neurotic reaction.

I would like to underline certain features that influence popular moral value systems. These tend to (i) undermine a certain intrinsic finality or teleology engraved in the very nature of living beings; (ii) ground moral normative standards in primordial patterns of behavior.

The three faculties

Despite being unfamiliar with the evolutionary theories of modernity, St. Thomas Aquinas recognizes that human beings share common natural traits with other creatures. By "traits" here I do not mean behavioral characteristics, but natural powers by virtue of which the creature does something. Some of these powers are shared with more creatures than others. According to St. Thomas, the human person enjoys three kinds of faculties: (i) vegetative; (ii) sensitive; (iii) rational.

The vegetative power is the one shared by the greatest variety of creatures. It is the natural power of growth. A plant has an intrinsic power to root, to grow a stem, leaves and flowers. A human being also has an intrinsic power to grow from a fetus to a child to adulthood and so on. The sentient power is also shared with many other creatures.

Finally, the human being enjoys another type of power which, according to Aquinas, he shares with the angels and with God himself, namely, rational power. The rational power is twofold: on the one hand, the human being enjoys an intellectual openness to the external world by which he is able to know the truth of extramental beings. On the other hand, he also enjoys an affective openness by which he recognizes the goodness of other beings and desires them.

The rational activity of the human being is distinctive insofar as it enables the human person to live his or her life in a particular way. Any answer, therefore, that defines what constitutes the end of the human being cannot be oblivious to the particular vocation that arises from the very spiritual and material composition of human nature.

The paradigmatic sign of being human is, for St. Thomas, to act rationally, that is, to live one's life in the light of truth and in the pursuit of happiness, which is that ultimate good that is desired for no other reason than for its own sake.

Intentionality of the human being

For St. Thomas, the human being has a certain intentionality that emerges from the very interiority of his natural powers.

There is a certain particular perfection that is insinuated through the exercise of the noblest and most pertinent qualities of the human being: the power to know and rationally desire what is good, satisfactory and perfective for the human person.

Everything that enters into the realm of the will of the human person involves certain perfective qualities that the human intellect judges as goods that, in some way, would fulfill the desire of the human subject.

It is for this reason that Aquinas says that all things are pursued by the person under a notion of the good. Everything that the human person desires is desired insofar as it involves some perfective goodness. 

However, Aquinas thinks that there is no created good that is completely identical to the form of goodness itself. Such a thing would have the capacity to completely satiate my desire for goodness. It would have to be such that, once attained, all desire for the good would cease and it would become of being master of its own acts and freely directing itself to what is truly perfective for it through the operation of its intellect and will. 

To live one's life rationally, that is, to live one's life oriented toward what is truly perfective of the human person, constitutes freedom.

This is a very important point that St. Thomas does with respect to the human being. Contrary to the predominant vision of our time, freedom is not the absence of external coercion, but rather an interior enablement for the effective ordering of all the interior and exterior elements of one's life in the service of the ultimate truth and goodness that are perfective of the human person.

In the prologue to the second part of the Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas prefigures his treatise on freedom through the theological notion of the image of God. He writes that after having considered in the First Part of his work "the exemplar, that is, God, and of those things which arose from God's power according to his will," now, in the Second Part of his work, Aquinas turns to "the image [of God], that is, man, inasmuch as he too is the principle of his actions, as possessing free will and control over his actions."

Human being

This passage summarizes our previous discussion of what it means to be human for Aquinas. The human person is not the product of chance, but of God's wisdom and love, which shape a providential order according to which creatures, through the perfection of their forms, realize the image of God inscribed in their natural perfection and thus proclaim, in the realm of the created, the eternal goodness and perfection of God (cf. ST Ia, q. 44, a. 4). From this arises the meaning of what it is to be a human being.

To be human, for Aquinas, implies living one's life in freedom for the pursuit of truth and the love of God as the ultimate principles of the perfection of the human person. Ultimately, according to St. Thomas, a life lived in the worship of truth and goodness implies that, by being human, each person becomes a proclamation, in history, of God's divine wisdom and goodness joy for its possession. Our own experience teaches us that, despite the satisfaction we derive from the attainment of certain created goods, we still desire many other things.

According to the Angelic Doctor, there is only one end that totally exhausts the formality of goodness. This is another way of saying that there is a being whose very nature is goodness itself, so that when the perfection of goodness itself is attained, it is attained: God. For Aquinas, the deepest longings of human nature find their rest in contemplation and communion with God, for in God they find their perfect and ultimate object of truth and love.

Freedom

That truth and the good are perfective of the human being as a human being is indicative, not only of what is essentially his ultimate end, but also of the way to attain it. To be human, according to Aquinas, does not imply the imitation of primordial patterns of behavior. What is morally right and morally wrong cannot be measured by facts observed in various disciplines of the sciences. Rather, it must be assessed according to the degree to which they contribute to human flourishing.

The sign of human flourishing is the degree to which the human person is able to be master of his own actions and freely direct himself to what is truly per-fective for him through the operation of his intellect and will.

To live one's life rationally, that is, to live one's life oriented toward what is truly perfective of the human person, constitutes freedom.

This is a very salient point that St. Thomas makes with respect to the human being. Contrary to the predominant view of our time, freedom is not the absence of external coercion, but an interior enablement for the effective ordering of all the interior and exterior elements of one's life in the service of the ultimate truth and goodness that are perfective of the human person.

In the prologue to the second part of the Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas prefigures his treatise on freedom through the theological notion of the image of God. He writes that after having considered in the First Part of his work "the exemplar, that is, God, and of those things which arose from God's power according to his will," now, in the Second Part of his work, Aquinas turns to "the image [of God], that is, man, inasmuch as he too is the principle of his actions, as possessing free will and control over his actions."

Human being

This passage summarizes our earlier discussion of what it means to be human for Aquinas. The human person is not the product of chance, but of God's wisdom and love, which configure a providential order according to which creatures, through the perfection of their forms, realize the image of God inscribed in their natural perfection and thus proclaim, in the realm of the created, the eternal goodness and perfection of God (cf. ST Ia, q. 44, a. 4).

From this arises the meaning of what it is to be a human being. To be human, for Aquinas, implies living one's life in freedom for the pursuit of truth and the love of God as the ultimate principles of the perfection of the human person. Ultimately, according to St. Thomas, a life lived in the worship of truth and goodness implies that, in being human, each person becomes a proclamation, in history, of God's divine wisdom and goodness.

The authorFr. Alan Joseph Adami OP

Professor of Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

More on Omnes
Vocations

Pedro Ballester. God smiles from a hospital bed

Pedro Ballester (1996-2018) transformed his fight against cancer into a testimony of joy and faith, offering his pain for others. At the age of 21, he left a legacy of daily sanctity that today makes him an intercessor for many people.

Maria José Atienza-August 23, 2025-Reading time: 6 minutes

Approaching death is a difficult task. Even more so if it is a young person, "with his or her life ahead of him or her". Our society seems to be always demanding "something" that remains to be done: a project, a discovery, a personal achievement. However, knowing the life of Pedro Ballester Arenas who died at the age of 21 in 2018, no one can think it was an incomplete life. 

It is not the years that determine the fullness, but the happiness lived, sought, found or given..., the immense happiness of Love with a capital letter, which we can experience with 3 months, with 5 or with 78 years. That Love, which comes from God, is what Peter lived and what he left as an inheritance... That, and an exquisite taste -even though it was rare to enjoy it- for good whisky. 

A very Spanish british

Of Spanish parents, Esperanza and Pedro, Pedro Ballester Arenas was born in Manchester, England, on May 22, 1996. His parents lived there because of his father's work. Pedro was the eldest of the couple's three children, and was joined shortly after by Carlos and Javier. His birth and upbringing in the United Kingdom marked Pedro's character, which, together with a kind and funny way of being, combined a thoughtful and slow personality. 

Already as a child, he showed this capacity for reflection and uprightness of character. Without being a "freak", Pedro was especially delicate in taking care of his friends and in keeping his word, as his siblings remember. "He did not understand disloyalty," his siblings recall, "he kept his word. From playing tennis to following a life of concrete piety and dedication." "He was one of those people without duplicity." his mother points out, "when I read the Gospel passage that speaks of Nathanael, it reminds me of Peter".

Friend of his friends

If there is something that stands out in the intense biography of Pedro Ballester, it is his loyalty to his friends. He had many throughout his life and with them he had constant details of closeness. "He was very straight and didn't like the 'fooling around' of some days I'm your friend and some days I'm not."his brother Carlos points out. 

When Pedro was in his 3rd year of ESO, the family moved temporarily to Mallorca, due to his father's work. There Pedro experienced a very different school environment than in the UK: a class with fewer children, a more personalized education and, in general, a Christian environment. 

"One day", remembers his mother and siblings, "came laughing nonstop from school". Apparently, upon finishing presenting a paper to the class, a classmate had finished with the phrase. "Pim, pam, pum, tuna sandwich!". Peter, coming from the quiet and restrained English environment, was particularly amused by this ending, "and many times, when he finished something, he would say to me 'Mom, bam, bam, bam, tuna sandwich!'", Esperanza points out. 

The return to the UK was difficult for him. It was a difficult time for any youngster. His brothers recall that "at recess at school, the kids would talk about video games. We didn't have a console back then and it was complicated. But Pedro always maintained that it was better to have fewer friends than bad friends. By the end of the school year he had more friends, because the other kids had also matured. 

At that time, Peter went to Greygarth Hall, a Christian formation center for young people, run by Opus Dei in Manchester. There he had many friends and felt at home: he played soccer, did plays and detective films with other boys and attended training classes in human and Christian virtues. 

His mother remembers a boy who lived near their home in Huddersfield, UK. This boy, who had a complicated character, connected very much with Pedro and he invited him to participate in the activities of an Opus Dei youth center that was almost an hour and a half away from his home. For years, this boy rode in the car with the Ballester brothers and Esperanza, his mother. Pedro was always like that.  "He poured himself out to his friends and was not afraid to confront those friends on the subject of faith." remembers Javier, his brother. "That was always the case, before and during his illness."

Pedro Ballester
Pedro with his parents and siblings. Courtesy of the Ballester Arenas family.

Vocation: to be who God wants you to be

From a very young age, Pedro saw his vocation as a numerary member of the Opus Dei. This led him to try to live a life of piety and a very close relationship with God.

Vocation is not a change of life, as Peter, his father, recalls: "Do you know what vocation is? It is to be yourself. To be who God wants you to be. God wanted Pedro (son) as a numerary in Opus Dei and in specific circumstances. His father points out that "God was asking him to do what he had intended for him. I think there is reciprocity, both of vision and response, very great. Because Peter was very intelligent. He had an integral intelligence, which led him to have interests such as international politics, but also to understand people very well. Then, with the disease, that ability to 'understand others' became more acute." 

Within this framework of her Christian vocation, we can understand how she lived her illness: from her decision to be in an Opus Dei center to the care of her parents. He was happy with his vocation and transmitted it to others, until the end. 

Disease onset 

After finishing his schooling in 2014, Pedro was admitted to the Imperial College Londonone of the most prestigious academic centers in the United Kingdom, to study chemical engineering. He went to live in the Netherhall House, in Hampstead. He had applied for admission as a numerary member of Opus Dei The first time that he had been in residence there, he was able to live, be formed and carry out the apostolic work proper to this personal prelature. "I was happy." his parents remember. 

A few months later, in December 2014, Pedro began to feel severe back pain. After medical check-ups, he was diagnosed with advanced pelvic cancer. With this diagnosis he returned to Manchester in order to receive treatment and be closer to his family.

He began his medical treatment in January 2015 at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. Between May and July of that year he went to Heidelberg, Germany, for a novel treatment. The disease seemed to subside and, in November of that year, Peter was able to fulfill one of his dreams: to travel with his family to Rome and greet the Pope Francis’. 

Despite this slight improvement, the disease returned and Peter returned to a life of hospital admissions and chemotherapy sessions in the hospital. During this time, if anything was characteristic of Peter, it was his joy and the offering to God of his pains, of which there were many. He spoke frequently with friends, Imperial College students like himself, residents of Greygarth... Here was evident that loyalty and maturity that was already characteristic of Peter from his early years.

We can all be saints 

"Peter has taught us that we can all get to heaven and we can all be saints." says his brother Carlos, "It's not that Peter levitated, because he was normal, he was very normal, but if you follow God, say yes every day, offer him suffering, you become a 'crack' and help thousands of people". 

We often hear that we have to live the ordinary in an extraordinary way, "Peter did the other way around." his brother continues, "He lived the extraordinary in a very ordinary way. In illness, for example, he suffered a lot, but many people didn't know it, they didn't see it at the time, because of the way he took care of others. He would ask you how you were doing, or the nurse who came to the room. What Pedro did was love people, that's all he did." And perhaps that was the most extraordinary thing that Pedro did in an individualistic and disconnected society like ours. 

During his stays in the hospital, Peter's room became a kind of place of peace. Nurses, relatives of other patients and other inmates visited him, told him their problems.... "The nurses told us that it gave them peace to talk to him and they told him their stories, the things that worried them, things that happened to them in their marriage... And Peter always listened to them, smiled and prayed." 

Pedro with several friends ©Reinhard Bakes

Life with God is beautiful

Pedro Ballester's last years were spent between his home, Christie Hospital and Greygarth Hall. In fact, his family lived there, at Greygarth, during Christmas 2017.  "It was very nice and very natural." remembers Esperanza, "even though we lived near Greygarth, we went back and forth all the time. At Christmas the principal encouraged us to occupy some students' spare rooms and we spent those days there.".

Pedro knew that his family was Opus Dei and he wanted to spend his last days in a center. That room was a party: the residents came up to be with Pedro, his parents... As often as he could, he even wanted to enjoy a sip of whiskey. 

"There you lived in a family." says Carlos, Pedro's brother, "Life with God is very beautiful. And that is what happened with Pedrito and in that room, or at home. In the hospital the nurses would say 'I want to be part of this family'. My father and mother had a lot to do with that, because they always opened the doors to everyone". 

Esperanza recalls that "one of the residents barely spoke when he went to see Peter, he would stand in the corner and just enjoy the atmosphere. And what was the atmosphere? The love of God that could be seen. In the family we accepted Pedro's suffering and let God do what He wanted and that was it. If we messed up, nothing happened. One day I told him: 'Look, Pedrito, next year we can do this. Then, his eye glazed over a little bit because he knew he was going to die, that he was not going to have next year. Well, that's it. When you have a situation like that you can't keep thinking 'I should have said this, I should have done this...' Forget it, screwing up is part of life". 

Face to face with God

On Jan. 13, 2018, three years after he was diagnosed with cancer, Peter died in Greygarth, surrounded by his parents, other members of the Opus Dei and some other residents. His funeral gathered hundreds of people at the Holy Name Temple in Manchester.

Shortly thereafter, his mother says, "we began to receive letters and testimonies from people who had known Peter's life and who entrusted him with family matters, illnesses". There are many people, especially young people, for whom Pedro Ballester's life is an example and who see in him an intercessor before God. 

Pedro joins names such as Chiara Corbella, Carlo Acutis, Montse Grases o Marcelo Câmara. Young people of today who sought and found God in the midst of their daily circumstances and who are, for everyone, a close and natural example of Christian life.

More on Omnes
Evangelization

Enjoying the architecture of St. Peter's Basilica from home

Two youtubers have posted videos with more than 1 million views that give a good understanding of many architectural aspects of the Vatican.

Javier García Herrería-August 22, 2025-Reading time: < 1 minute

In recent months, two 15-minute videos have been published that explain in an entertaining way some of the architectural aspects of St. Peter's Basilica.

The history of the construction of St. Peter's Basilica

The first is produced by Ter, the stage name of Teresa Lozano, an architect who has become one of the most original and recognized youtubers in the Spanish-speaking world. Her channel mixes topics of architecture, pop culture, fashion or art history, always with a personal, creative and humorous approach. She has a very personal style to divulge on complex and varied topics, from the golden ratio, to Ikea, to Rosalia or the gothic cathedrals in the same video and that everything makes sense. His edition is full of memes, references, graphics and visual resources that make the content entertaining without losing depth.

St. Peter's tomb in 3D

Manuel Bravo is a layman, specialized in theology and philosophy, who has established himself as a reference for those seeking an accessible and well-founded Catholic formation. His videos stand out for their clear, didactic and rigorously documented style.

On this occasion, it offers an excellent explanation accompanied by a graphic representation of the tomb of St. Peter and its evolution over the centuries. For this purpose, it relies on the recent 3D images published by the Vatican in collaboration with Microsoft, which recreate the space in a visually understandable and detailed way.

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Newsroom
  • The Vatican
  • Pope sets August 22 as day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine and Holy Land
The Vatican

Pope sets August 22 as day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine and Holy Land

Leo XIV invited all the faithful to join in a day of prayer and fasting on the feast of St. Mary Queen.

Editorial Staff Omnes-August 22, 2025-Reading time: < 1 minute

At the conclusion of the Aug. 20 general audience, the Pope asked that on Aug. 22 the Church will celebrate the feast of the Kingship of Mary. "As our world continues to be wounded by wars in the Holy Land, in Ukraine and in many other regions of the world," he said, "I ask all the faithful to spend August 22 in fasting and prayer, asking the Lord to grant us peace and justice and to wipe away the tears of those who suffer because of ongoing armed conflicts."

Hope for diplomatic channels

On the eve of the audience, during a meeting at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope affirmed that the recent diplomatic moves towards an end to the war in Ukraine are cause for hope, although still insufficient. "There is hope. We still have to work hard, pray a lot and look for the way forward," he noted.

Asked about his contacts with international leaders after the meeting between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European representatives, he explained, "I listen to some of them from time to time," without answering whether he had directly dialogued with the U.S. president.

Response of the Church in Spain

The Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) announced through a press release that it will join the day of fasting and prayer. The president of the CEE, Bishop Luis Argüello, sent a letter to the bishops on August 8 to "respond to the call of Pope Leo XIV to intensify prayer and attitudes in favor of peace."

In recent weeks, the prelates have invited to "increase in the liturgical celebrations of each day the prayer for peace". They have also incorporated specific prayers for Lauds, Vespers and Mass.

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Resources
  • Why not excommunicate politicians who support abortion?
Resources

Why not excommunicate politicians who support abortion?

The Church cannot excommunicate pro-abortion politicians because their position, although morally grave, does not constitute a typified canonical crime. They should be denied the Eucharist to protect the dignity of the sacrament.

OSV / Omnes-August 21, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

By Jenna Marie Cooper, OSV News

In all the debates in recent years about whether or not to deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians, I have always wondered: Why couldn't their bishops simply excommunicate them? Then, at least, everything would be clear, public knowledge and, therefore, probably less controversial in the media.

The short answer to your question is that excommunication is specifically a punishment for canonical crimes. And while political support for pro-choice policies is morally problematic, it does not constitute a canonical crime in and of itself.

Canonical reasons

For context, when we talk about pro-election politicians being denied Holy Communion, the pertinent quote is the 915 canon of the Code of Canon Law. Canon 915 tells us that those who "obstinately persevere in manifest grave sin should not be admitted to Holy Communion".

Canon 915 gives ministers of Holy Communion and pastoral authority figures (i.e., bishops and pastors) objective criteria for determining whether to withhold Holy Communion from a particular Catholic. This is important, since the Church's default position is to make the sacraments as accessible as possible, based on the principle that the faithful have a fundamental right to them.

The central criterion of canon 915 is that the sin in question be "grave" or extremely serious, and actively promoting government policies in favor of the destruction of innocent human life would certainly qualify.

Publicly known sins

Sin must also be "manifest," or readily known to the public or otherwise externally observable. Generally speaking, political platforms, positions on controversial issues and voting records are matters of public record. Finally, the person must be "obstinately persevering" in his sin, meaning that he commits it continuously, even after being warned by a competent pastoral authority about the grave sinfulness of his actions.

Although these considerations may seem very legalistic and suggest that the person is somehow "on trial," this canon is part of the section of the Code of Canon Law on the sacraments and is not really related to the Church's penal law. That is, canon 915 and related canons are intended to protect the dignity of the sacrament as a primary goal; they are not intended as a direct punishment for canonical crimes. The Church regards the application of canon 915 as a matter of pastoral dialogue and personal admonition, rather than as the result of a criminal trial or ecclesiastical judicial process.

In contrast, the Church's criminal law aims to identify and punish offenses. This benefits both the offenders themselves, when they are punished with "medicinal" penalties, and the wider ecclesial community, when they are punished with "expiatory" penalties.

The penalty of excommunication is medicinal

Excommunication is an example of a medicinal penalty, since it is intended as a kind of "wake-up call" to warn the offender that he is on the wrong track, and can be lifted relatively easily if the offender repents. Atoning penalties include loss of the clerical state, in which a priest convicted of a canonical offense is virtually expelled from the priesthood.

Ecclesiastical law requires that "laws prescribing a penalty...be strictly interpreted" (Canon 18). This means that canonical penalties cannot be applied liberally to all misconduct that the Church wishes to repress. Rather, a canonical penalty can only be imposed for acts specifically typified as crimes in canon law.

While the act of directly causing an abortion is a canonical crime punishable by automatic excommunication (see Canon 1397, 2), this only applies in situations where a particular individual actually caused an abortion personally, and not in situations where a person promoted abortion in a more abstract way.

In light of this, it would be neither possible nor pastorally appropriate to attempt to use the penalty of excommunication as a way to avoid the uncomfortable conversations sometimes associated with canon 915.

The authorOSV / Omnes

Read more
More on Omnes
Gospel

Knowing Christ. 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Joseph Evans comments on the readings for Sunday 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) corresponding to August 24, 2025.

Joseph Evans-August 21, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

These terrible words of Our Lord "I don't know who you are." appear in today's Gospel (Lk 13:22-30) and in Christ's parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew 25. "I don't know you.". In today's Gospel they are literally "I don't know where you're from"but the idea is the same. Here we have two groups of people who should have "met" Jesus, had the opportunity to do so, and are condemned for not having taken advantage of this opportunity.

In the parable of the virgins, the foolish ones hear these words when they are excluded from the feast, arriving to find the door closed after having gone to fetch oil at the last minute. The oil symbolizes in many ways their union with Christ, or lack thereof. They had no oil, so their flame did not burn in their hearts. They wanted the fun of the feast, the external, but without being on fire with the love of the Bridegroom who really makes the feast. In a way, they belonged to the bridegroom's entourage - they were among the ten bridesmaids - but they were satisfied with a superficial relationship with him, for the "perks", and never tried to really know him, or for him to know them.

In today's Gospel the context is different, but the reality is the same. What is at stake is the greatest thing that can be posed: salvation. Someone asked Jesus: "Lord, are there few who are saved?". Those foolish virgins were not saved: the door of salvation was closed to them. Here Jesus uses another image: that of a man who closes the door of his house. But this seems to be the definitive closing: who will be inside and who will be excluded? "Many will try to get in and won't be able to."says Jesus. And once excluded, they will beg for entrance, giving various arguments: "we have eaten and drunk with thee, and thou hast taught in our streets.". Once again, they think that a superficial knowledge of Christ, the simple fact of being in their neighborhood, is enough.

This time Jesus does not simply say "I don't know you". Give a more forceful answer: "I don't know where you're from.". As if to say: you were not even in my moral and spiritual world, I knew nothing about you or your origin. And in fact, Jesus knows the real world in which they lived: an evil world. "Depart from me all you workers of iniquity.". We cannot be content with superficial contact with Christ-for example, going (normally) to Mass on Sundays-while living immorally. "Knowing" Christ is not simply moving into His neighborhood. It is Him living in our hearts and inspiring how we live.

Read more
More on Omnes
The Vatican

Pope speaks in depth about what Christian forgiveness means

The Roman heat made the general audience move back to Paul VI Hall, where the Pope glossed the Gospel passage of Judas' betrayal to speak about forgiveness.

Javier García Herrería-August 20, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

At Wednesday's General Audience, the Pope reflected on Jesus' gesture of offering bread to Judas at the Last Supper, stressing that it was a last attempt of love not to give up. He pointed out that true forgiveness does not wait for repentance, but is offered as a free gift, even in the face of betrayal. Faced with the temptation of resentment and revenge, he invited the faithful to live the power of love that forgives and liberates, remembering that, like Jesus, we are called to respond to evil with good and to transform the wound of betrayal into an opportunity for salvation.

These are some of the best phrases from the catechesis on forgiveness:

"God does everything, absolutely everything, to reach us, even at the moment when we reject him."

"The love of Jesus does not deny the truth of pain, but does not allow evil to be the last word." 

"To forgive does not mean to deny evil, but to prevent it from generating more evil. It is not to say that nothing happened, but to do everything possible so that it is not rancor that decides the future". 

"We, too, live through painful and exhausting nights. Nights of the soul, nights of disappointment, nights when someone has hurt or betrayed us. In those moments, the temptation is to close ourselves off, to protect ourselves, to strike back. But the Lord shows us hope that there is always another way. He teaches us that we can offer a morsel even to those who turn their backs on us. That we can respond with the silence of trust. And that we can go forward with dignity, without renouncing love". 

"Today we ask for the grace to know how to forgive, even when we do not feel understood, even when we feel abandoned. For it is precisely in those moments that love can reach its peak. As Jesus teaches us, to love means to set the other free - even to betray - without ever ceasing to believe that even that freedom, wounded and lost, can be wrested from the deceitfulness of darkness and restored to the light of good." 

"When the light of forgiveness manages to filter through the deepest cracks of the heart, we understand that it is never useless. Even if the other does not welcome it, even if it seems vain, forgiveness frees the one who offers it: it dissolves resentment, restores peace, gives us back ourselves."

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Columnists
  • Between suspicion and transparency: the Church in the face of accusations of sectarianism
ColumnistsJavier García Herrería

Between suspicion and transparency: the Church in the face of accusations of sectarianism

Canonical investigations must be transparent, fair and with guarantees for all parties, avoiding quick and unjust decisions. The Church must correct abuses and avoid the influence of media judgments.

August 20, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

In recent years we have seen accusations of sectarian behavior within the institutions of the Church. Without going into whether the facts reported are true or not, my concern goes in another direction: the need for canonical investigations to be serious, transparent and respectful of the rights of all those involved. In other words, if the Church wants to give a credible response to society and, above all, to the faithful themselves, it must guarantee processes in which not only the accusers are heard, but also those who offer a different account of the facts.

The accusations are always alarming. But it is worth asking: do they really correspond to an institutional pattern or rather to specific cases? To what extent are some of these practices, today questioned, part of spiritual traditions that are not always easy to understand from outside the Church? Suffice it to recall what happened with the most successful retreats in Spain, accused of emotional manipulation, when in fact they are widely known for their spiritual fruits and, to date, have not been censured by the Spanish bishops. Can we conclude then that the Church hierarchy is neglecting its functions, or rather that the hasty judgment of some observers is not entirely balanced? 

It is possible that certain spiritual exercises or ecclesial institutions need adjustments, I do not deny that, but that should not prevent abuses from being corrected and structures from being strengthened without completely suppressing them. If one thinks of the institutions for the laity that have had the most followers for decades, one will discover that there have also been these kinds of denunciations and, to a great extent, they are adapting their practices to a greater promotion of interior freedom. The easy thing to do is to suppress them and thus get rid of the problem at its root, but one wonders if part of the problem has been that the Church has not issued clear and concrete episcopal documents and statements to explain to the faithful what is worrying and what is not. 

Moreover, the problem is not limited to the suspicion of abusive practices. Even more serious is the way in which certain canonical processes are being instructed. In recent years we have seen worrying resolutions both in Spain and in the Vatican: instructions and investigations that do not conclude in a public trial, without the right of defense, without lawyers who can contradict the accusations or provide testimonies to the contrary. And, in more than a few cases, with the most drastic consequence of all: the suppression of institutions that have borne abundant spiritual fruit.

In any case, if an institution is to be suppressed, so be it, but after a fair and transparent process, among other things to help the faithful and prelates around the world to see how and why this should be done. 

The temptation to resort to the fast track-closing an institution, dissolving an association, removing an inconvenient figure-may seem like an immediate solution, but it is profoundly unjust if a guarantor process has not been followed. For if we were to apply the same logic to the life of the Church at large, what would be left standing? The vow of obedience has often facilitated abuses of power and conscience in multiple contexts: should it be abolished and institutions where abuses have occurred be closed? 

Sometimes there are also seminarians who report abuses of power and conscience within the seminary, but that does not mean that the seminary is closed or the bishops are changed. Things are trying to be redirected without extinguishing all the good that exists. There are very positive experiences in many dioceses and in important institutions of the Church.

The Church must find a balance between recognizing and repairing the real damages that may have occurred, but also safeguarding institutions that have proven to give life and faith to thousands of people. To do otherwise would be to fall into the dynamics of media scandal, where the pressure of the headlines dictates sentences faster than justice, and where, in the end, we all - faithful and pastors - lose out.

The authorJavier García Herrería

Editor of Omnes. Previously, he has been a contributor to various media and a high school philosophy teacher for 18 years.

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Newsroom
  • The Vatican
  • The Pope to the bishops of the Amazon: Proclaim the Gospel, fight injustice, defend nature
The Vatican

The Pope to the bishops of the Amazon: Proclaim the Gospel, fight injustice, defend nature

Pope Leo XIV has sent a telegram to the bishops of the Amazon, underlining the central role of the proclamation of the Gospel in their pastoral work.

OSV News Agency-August 20, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

-OSV News / Cindy Wooden

Efforts to serve, defend and strengthen the Catholic community in the Amazon region must focus on the proclamation of the Gospel, affirmed the Pope Leo XIV.

When the Catholic Church promotes "the right and duty" to care for the natural environment, it is not encouraging people to be "slaves or worshipers of nature," since creation is a gift meant to bring praise to God alone, according to a message sent to the Amazon bishops on behalf of the Pope by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State.

Three interconnected dimensions

The Pope asked the bishops of the region "to keep in mind three dimensions that are interrelated in the pastoral work of that region: the mission of the Church to announce the Gospel to all; the just treatment of the peoples who live there; and the care of the common home," according to the message, addressed to Peruvian Cardinal Pedro Barreto Jimeno, president of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon.

The message was released by the Vatican on August 18, as some 90 bishops from the 105 dioceses and other ecclesiastical jurisdictions of the Amazon region met in Bogota, Colombia, ahead of the planned general assembly of the church conference - which includes religious and lay people - in March 2026.

The experience of the 2019 Synod of Bishops for the Amazon demonstrated how essential it is for the Church to listen to and involve clergy, religious and laity, according to the message, but Cardinal Parolin said the Pope hoped the Bogota meeting would "help diocesan bishops and vicars apostolic to carry out their mission in a concrete and effective way."

"With clarity and enormous charity."

Jesus must be proclaimed "with clarity and immense charity among the inhabitants of the Amazon, so that we may strive to give them fresh and pure bread of the Good News and the heavenly food of the Eucharist, the only means to be truly the people of God and the body of Christ," the message said.

Access to the Eucharist, especially in remote Amazonian villages, was a major theme at the 2019 synod, leading to debates and discussions about the possibility of ordaining married men who are recognized leaders of their Christian communities to the priesthood.

Pope Francis' response, in his post-synodal exhortation "Dear Amazonia", was to "urge all bishops, especially those of Latin America, not only to promote prayer for priestly vocations, but also to be more generous in encouraging those who show a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region".

The importance of proclaiming faith in Christ

Stressing the fundamental importance of proclaiming faith in Christ, the message of the Bogotá meeting - published in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish - affirmed that the history of the Church has confirmed "that wherever the name of Christ is preached, injustice recedes proportionately, for, as the Apostle Paul affirms, all exploitation of man by man disappears if we are able to welcome one another as brothers and sisters".

"Within this perennial doctrine, no less evident is the right and duty to care for the 'home' that God the Father has entrusted to us as diligent stewards," the message continued.

The Church's defense of the environment, according to the message, aims "that no one should irresponsibly destroy the natural goods that speak of the goodness and beauty of the Creator, much less submit to them as a slave or worshipper of nature, since things have been given to us to achieve our end of praising God and thus obtain the salvation of our souls."

Read the original OSV News article in English HERE.

The authorOSV News Agency

Read more
More on Omnes
ColumnistsLupita Venegas

True devotion to the Virgin Mary

Those who have a true devotion to the Virgin Mary are witnesses of her powerful intercession. There are many manifestations of gratitude that she receives for miracles obtained by asking for her help and favor.

August 20, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

Do Catholics give Mary the place of God? A few months ago I visited a house where the wife of the owner who had just died was being watched over. I was carrying my rosario and noticing that there were no people praying, I suggested that they join me to pray for his eternal rest. Three people followed me and the others...left the room!

Noticing my confusion, one of the people who stayed with me said, "Go on, they are Christians." 

He meant: "Protestants". For we Catholics are eminently Christian. It is our Protestant brethren (separated brethren) who accuse us of practicing idolatry by venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary. No, we do not worship her, we worship God alone. We love and venerate Mary. 

Every August 15 we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary and the Church invites us to consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart. To consecrate ourselves to Mary means to give ourselves to her. To give her our will and ask her to inspire us.

Mary as a model

St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort wrote a treatise on true devotion to Mary, in which he denounces false or erroneous practices and speaks to us of the only true devotion that consists in imitating her virtues. He invites us to treat Mary as Jesus Christ did and to see her as a model on our path of sanctification.

Moreover, having her as our intercessor, we become the best version of ourselves. In our daily lives we ask her what she would do, how she would say it, whom she would consult. This translates into a better character and a more humane treatment of others. Less "ego" and more detachment and service.

Those who have a true devotion to Mary are witnesses of her powerful intercession and there are many manifestations of gratitude that she receives for miracles obtained by asking for her help and favor.

Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

St. Louis Mary speaks of the fruits that come after we have consecrated ourselves to her Immaculate Heart:

 1) Self-knowledge. Thanks to the light that the Holy Spirit will communicate to you through Mary, you will know your own strengths but also your weaknesses and falls. The humble Mary will share with you her profound humility and, through her, you will not despise anyone and you will eliminate the emotional torment of being despised.

2) Participation in Mary's faith. Your whole life will be founded on true faith: A pure faith, which will make you not worry about what is sensible. A living faith that will make you act always with the purest love.

3) Christian maturity. In your behavior with God, you will no longer be governed by fear, but by love. You will look upon him as your loving Father, you will strive to please him unceasingly.

4) Great trust in God and in Mary. Having given her all your merits, graces and satisfactions so that she may dispose of them according to her will, she will communicate her virtues to you and clothe you with her merits, and you will be able to say to God with full confidence, "This is Mary, your servant! Let it be done to me, according to what you have said!"

Prayer to Mary

Let us say together this beautiful prayer found in the liturgy of the hours: 

"Lend me Mother your eyes, so that with them I may see

For if I look with them, I will never sin again.

Lend me, Mother, your lips, so I can pray with them

For if I pray with them, Jesus will hear me.

Lend me Mother your arms, so I can work 

That it will do the job over and over again.

Lend me, Mother, your mantle, to cover my wickedness

For covered with your mantle, I shall reach heaven.

Lend me your Son, Mother, so that I may love Him,

For if you give me Jesus, what more can I desire, 

That will be my joy, for all eternity!

Amen.

The authorLupita Venegas

Read more
More on Omnes
Integral ecology

Contraceptive pill: Paul VI was right after all

Sixty-five years ago, the first contraceptive pill was launched, celebrated as liberation and progress for women. Today, studies and experiences warn of serious physical, psychological and social risks associated with its prolonged use.

Die Tagespost-August 19, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

Stefan Rehder

August 18, 1960: Exactly 65 years ago, the U.S. pharmaceutical company Searle launched the first birth control pill under the brand name "Enovid". Enthusiasm was overflowing, and not only in the land of unlimited opportunity. Men and women alike praised the pill as a "historic invention", "women's liberation" and a "blessing for mankind".

Many people are now wiser and more aware of the numerous dangers associated with regular use of hormonal preparations. These include a significantly increased susceptibility to thromboembolism, stroke, breast cancer and loss of libido.

But that's not all: Recent research comparing brain scans of women who have been on the pill for years with those who have abstained shows that the hormones taken with the pill also alter the brain, both structurally and functionally. What's more, women who take the pill regularly exhibit all the markers that scientists currently use to detect chronic stress. This is also detrimental and can lead to hippocampal shrinkage and reduced neurogenesis, and even the overt development of severe depression.

And that's not all: the pill also changes men, for whose sake women often take these artificial hormones that damage their bodies. "Men who have become accustomed to contraceptives could lose respect for women and, without considering their physical well-being and spiritual balance, degrade them to mere instruments for the satisfaction of their desires and cease to see them as partners to whom respect and love are due," warned Pope Paul VI, ridiculed in Germany as "Paul of the Pill," in his encyclical "Humanae Vitae" in 1968. Who would dare contradict him today?

This is a translation of an article that first appeared on the website Die-Tagespost. For the original article in German, see here . Republished in Omnes with permission.

The authorDie Tagespost

More on Omnes
Photo Gallery

Notre Dame is once again at the Assumption feast day

More than 3,000 people attended the procession through the streets of Paris.

Editorial Staff Omnes-August 19, 2025-Reading time: < 1 minute
More on Omnes
Father S.O.S

Take care of the limits and the limits will take care of you

Taking care of personal boundaries - emotional, spiritual and relational - is key to staying authentic, avoiding crises and protecting who you are. Far from repressing, healthy boundaries strengthen, guide and humanize.

Carlos Chiclana-August 19, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

A priest had become involved, women's issues and economic issues. He was in the consulting room to start the comeback and lamented: "if I had taken care of what I was taught from the beginning, I would not be here now". Some of what he had learned did apply: to let himself be helped by those who loved him and to start again. 

Are boundaries something specific to priests? In a consultation with a manager of a multinational company, who was also confused, I explained to him some basic tools to take care of boundaries, and he asked: "Why don't they teach this in the MBA?

Boundaries help both to avoid that which separates us from who we are (affective-sexual relationships, inappropriate spending of money) and to avoid overloading ourselves with tasks, excessive attention to people, disproportionate responsibility for problems, neglect of the spiritual life or of rest and care. 

Another priest - with a great development of tasks and with many people in spiritual direction - said in a friendly conversation: "They tell me to rest, but I will rest in eternal life". He was partly right, but not all of us have his physical and mental capacity. There are off-road cars that can go anywhere and other high-end cars that need to go on the road. Better to go at 80 km/hour for many years than to go at 150 km/hour and burn the car in a short time. Custody is not repression, it is care and protection of the personal.

Taking care of the limits

The objective, and consequence, of boundaries is that they personalize you, that they make you more you, that they authenticate you. This is why they make sense, they keep you safe, they take care of you, they provide security, they enhance your dignity and guard who you are. They also generate respect and care for who the other person is, who makes up my groups and community, and what corresponds to the institution to which I belong. Some ideas for taking care of them:

1.- Always be on the go. If you perceive yourself as cynical, resentful, that you already know it all or that nothing surprises you, let the alarm bells ring! Go to the doctor of the soul or of the psyche to see what is going on. There are home remedies such as being grateful for so much that you receive every day, planning the day with an attitude of making the most of it and enjoying it, training your capacity for astonishment, and looking for the novelty in every moment that is historical and will never be repeated. 

One Thursday I went to Mass in a town of 1200 inhabitants. The church was clean, with fresh flowers, the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament on the altar, the priest dressed in a raincoat and singing in high spirits, like a great feast day. The people in attendance were 3 people. That man was out of his mind! Heed the signs. Innocence is not ignorance or childishness.

2- Catholics are also infected by COVID. The normal thing is that the same thing happens to you as to others, you are normal. So, take care of yourself, because what you have in your hands is extraordinary. Treasure in earthenware vessels. When it's time for a mask, mask.

3.- Listen to the signs. If it smells burnt, check to see if it's just toast or if the stove is on fire. Pay attention to the signs, both your own and others'.

The sooner you act the better. A priest friend of mine had fallen in love with a girl he was accompanying spiritually, but he could not accept it. He had never crossed any boundaries, but neither did he cut her off and ask someone else to take over. The awakening came when an older catechist spoke to him alone and told him "either you cut now that nothing has happened yet, or you are going to get into a great torment". A spark goes out before a fire goes out.

5.- Do not go to fires alone or in your bathing suit. When there are problems or excessive activity, be adequately prepared to act effectively and to be accompanied by your allies, human and supernatural.

6.- Weird is weird and, in addition, it ends badly. Anything that catches your attention that is out of the ordinary, put it in quarantine and do not let it grow. If you are not clear, ask someone who loves you for an opinion.

Fire burns and water wets. The right distance from each person and situation allows you to be in the place that makes you authentic, not to invade or overload you, not to hurt or bother you. At the right distance from the campfire you warm up well. True empathy does not get angry. 

8.- You reap what you sow. If it is listening, empathy, elegance and style, care and attention, great. If you reap mess, imbalance or disorder, see what seed you sow. Good vibes breed bad vibes.

If you want to go to La Coruña, take the road to La Coruña. Take the road of your real life every day, and look at the signs on the road that tell you where you are going and which towns you are passing through. If it doesn't fit, it's time to slow down and recalculate the itinerary.

Read more
More on Omnes
The Vatican

"Pétros ení", the new exhibition on St. Peter's at the Vatican

"Pétros ení", "Peter is here", is the new immersive exhibition dedicated to the Apostle Peter and the history of the largest Christian basilica in the world.

Rome Reports-August 18, 2025-Reading time: < 1 minute
rome reports88

The exhibition proposes a journey that combines spirituality, art and technology, offering visitors a unique experience where past and present dialogue.

The itinerary takes place inside the Octagonal Rooms of St. Peter's Basilica, spaces hitherto unseen to the public and specially restored by the artisans of the Fabbrica di San Pietro. Located in one of the pillars that support the great dome, these rooms allow visitors to enter into a visual and sensory story about the figure of the first apostle and the living memory of the Church.

Now you can enjoy a 20% discount on your subscription to Rome Reports Premiumthe international news agency specializing in the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.

More on Omnes
  • Newsroom
  • The Vatican
  • Let us burn with the 'fire' of God's love, Pope says at Mass and lunch with the poor
The Vatican

Let us burn with the 'fire' of God's love, Pope says at Mass and lunch with the poor

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass and lunched with poor people in Albano, reminding them that the Church must be welcoming and burn with the fire of God's love.

Editorial Staff Omnes-August 18, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

By Cindy Wooden, OSV

Spending the day with the poor, Pope Leo XIV prayed that Catholics will ensure that their parishes are welcoming to all people and are "on fire" with God's love.

"We are the Church of the Lord, a Church of the poor, all valuable, all active participants, each one a bearer of a unique word from God," the Pope said Aug. 17 as he celebrated Mass at the Shrine of Santa Maria della Rotonda in Albano Laziale with some 110 clients and volunteers of Caritas programs of the Albano Diocese, including homeless people and residents of its shelter for families.

"Let us not keep the Lord out of our churches, our homes or our lives," the Pope said in his homily at Mass. "Let us rather welcome him in the poor, and thus make peace even with our own poverty, that which we fear and deny when we seek comfort and security at all costs."

After the morning Mass, Leo XIV returned to Castel Gandolfo, less than two miles away, to lead the Angelus prayer and then offer lunch for Caritas clients and some of the volunteers.

A special lunch

The luncheon was held at Borgo Laudato Si', an integral ecology education and formation project initiated by Pope Francis in the gardens of the papal summer residence. Waiters in white shirts and black pants served guests a meal that included vegetable lasagna, eggplant parmesan or roast veal, fruit salad and desserts provided by local restaurants.

Cardinal Fabio Baggio, CEO of Borgo Laudato Si', welcomed the Pope and said the lunch with the poor was a beautiful way to celebrate Pope Leo XIV's first 100 days in office and affirm the Catholic teaching that "unites care for creation with care for each person."

Leo XIV was seated at a round table situated at the junction of two long tables forming an "L" shape, under an awning to protect guests from the sun. Next to him were Rosabal Leon, a Peruvian migrant, whose husband and two children were seated nearby; and Gabriella Oliveiro, 85, who lives alone on the outskirts of Rome.

Before blessing the food, the Pope said that the environment was a reminder of the beauty of God's creation, especially the creation of human beings in his image and likeness: "all of us. Each one of us represents this image of God. How important it is to always remember that we find this presence of God in each person."

Homily at Mass

In his homily during the Mass, the Pope had said that whether asking for help or giving it, in the Church "every person is a gift to others. Let us break down walls.

Pope Leo XIV thanked the people of Catholic communities throughout the world who "work to facilitate the encounter between people of different backgrounds and economic, psychological or affective situations: only together, only by becoming one body in which even the most fragile have full dignity, do we truly become the body of Christ, the Church of God."

The Gospel of the day, Luke 12:49-53, begins with the words, "Jesus said to his disciples, "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already burning!"

The fire of which Jesus spoke, the Pope said, was not "the fire of weapons, nor the fire of words that burn others, but the fire of love: a love that is inclined to serve, that responds to indifference with care and arrogance with gentleness. No. But the fire of love: a love that is inclined to serve, that responds to indifference with care and to arrogance with gentleness; the fire of goodness, which does not cost like weapons, but freely renews the world."

The price may be "misunderstanding, ridicule, even persecution, but there is no greater peace than to have its flame within us," the Pope affirmed.

The Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Rotonda is built in a circular shape on the site of a pagan temple of the first century. Its shape, according to Pope Leo XIV, "makes us feel welcomed into the bosom of God".

From the outside, the Church, like every human reality, can appear rigid. But her divine reality is revealed when we cross her threshold and experience her welcome," the Pope said. Then our poverty, our vulnerability and, above all, our failures - for which we can be despised and judged, and sometimes we ourselves despise and judge - are finally welcomed by God's gentle strength, a love without edges or conditions.

"Mary, the mother of Jesus, is for us a sign and foretaste of the motherhood of God," he said. "In her, we become a maternal church, which generates and regenerates not by worldly power, but by the virtue of charity."

Pope Leo XIV prayed that Catholics would allow the fire of Jesus to burn away "the prejudices, cautions and fears that still marginalize those who carry the poverty of Christ written in their lives."

Read more
More on Omnes
Cinema

A banker in the Cold War

The miniseries follows the life and murder of Alfred Herrhausen, a visionary banker key to the thaw between the USSR and the West. In a context of tension and espionage, it shows how his politics made many uncomfortable and triggered his tragic end.

Pablo Úrbez-August 18, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

Series

AddressPia Strietmann
DistributionOliver Masucci, Julia Koschitz
Platform: Filmin
CountryGermany, 2023

Herrhausen: the banker and the bomb - FilminAlfred Herrhausen, Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Bank, was murdered in November 1989. The perpetrators of the crime have never been identified, although it was attributed to the Red Army FactionHerrhausen, a far-left organization that, in the previous years, had assassinated other German businessmen. Herrhausen proved to be a key figure in the thawing of the Iron Curtain and the fall of the Berlin Wall. His economic policy was to write off the debts of developing countries and to promote greater social responsibility in banking, which was severely criticized by the capitalist sector. However, these measures attracted the attention of Gorbachev, who saw in Herrhausen a trustworthy person to alleviate the bankruptcy of the Soviet Union.

This five-episode miniseries frantically recounts the events that made Herrhausen a key figure in European history throughout 1989. In contrast to the well-known events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the viewer witnesses the intra-history, the numerous apparently innocuous acts that gradually generated a climate conducive to Gorbachev and the West reaching an agreement that overcame the division. Herrhausen is portrayed as a charismatic character, a visionary, at odds with his board of directors and the Western political opposition. 

Highly recognizable supporting characters such as German President Helmut Kohl, former CIA Secretary Henry Kissinger and Deutsche Bank executives continually parade across the screen. In addition, the Cold War atmosphere of espionage and mistrust is captured very well. It also reflects the motives behind Herrhausen's assassination. Although the bomb was detonated by a very small group, there are many who encouraged and celebrated this event. Thus, given the impossibility of knowing exactly who caused the explosion, the miniseries elaborates its answers, satisfactory and plausible. The characters are not meticulously developed, and there is hardly any respite for their dramatic evolution, as it seems that the accumulation of events is more important. However, the frenetic pace of 1989 is plausibly recreated.

The authorPablo Úrbez

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Columnists
  • The audacity of African bishops in the face of polygamy
ColumnistsJavier García Herrería

The audacity of African bishops in the face of polygamy

African bishops have courageously faced the challenge of polygamy, offering a very positive example to Western countries.

August 17, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

The African bishops gathered in Kigali for the 20th Plenary Assembly of the Synod of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). At the end they presented a draft entitled "The pastoral challenges of polygamy."which constitutes an important analysis of the cultural and legal reality in its continent.

This 29-page document does not evade the issue: it recognizes that polygamy continues as a deeply rooted and socially organized cultural practice that cannot and should not be ignored. Despite being a well-established custom, the African prelates propose not to renounce the doctrinal teaching, which reaffirms monogamy as a Christian ideal.

However, the bishops are aware that for many people monogamy is an ethical requirement that is difficult to achieve in the short term, so they propose a sincere pastoral accompaniment with those living in polygamous unions, both among already baptized Catholics and among those seeking to come closer to the faith.

The courage of these bishops lies in not yielding to cultural pressures or slipping into relativism. They do not seek to adapt to traditional practices, but to shed light from the Gospel on very delicate questions: "How can we pastorally welcome those who are already in polygamous unions?", "How can we promote Christian fidelity without alienating people?".

In contrast to the proposals of some Western bishops, who claim that morality must change because of supposed advances in the idea of the family (remarried divorcees, homosexual couples, etc.), the African bishops propose that the polygamous man can take a step towards monogamy by "choosing" the first or favorite wife. With her, a sacramental bond would be affirmed or constituted. At the same time, it is emphasized that this choice does not dissolve the demands of justice and care towards the other wives or towards the children born of these unions.

In case one is not willing to take this step, the second solution they give consists in recognizing the polygamist as a "permanent catechumen", that is, a faithful who is developing a catechumenal journey that does not lead directly to baptism, but grants an official document that recognizes him/her as a candidate for this sacrament, although for the moment he/she cannot access the sacraments due to previous marriage bonds. This formula would allow the polygamous family to baptize their children, participate in community life and give Christian witness, even without reaching full sacramental communion.

Personally, I deeply admire the courage of the African bishops and their consistency with the magisterium of the Church: they do not abandon neither the truth nor the people, they hold firm to doctrine and open spaces for growth and hope. They teach us that the Church does not renounce her mission of exhorting all people to conversion, nor does she confine herself exclusively to norms, but goes out to encounter, heal, instruct and accompany. In this witness lies today the prophetic strength of Africa in the universal Church.

The authorJavier García Herrería

Editor of Omnes. Previously, he has been a contributor to various media and a high school philosophy teacher for 18 years.

Read more
More on Omnes
Books

St. Josemaría and the liturgy

Juan José Silvestre's study shows that St. Josemaría Escrivá was a pioneer of the liturgical movement of the 20th century, highlighting his profound experience and teaching of the liturgy. The work underlines how he transmitted this liturgical love especially to the members of Opus Dei, in fidelity to the magisterium and the Second Vatican Council.

José Carlos Martín de la Hoz-August 17, 2025-Reading time: 4 minutes
RelatedRelated NewsSt. Josemaría and the liturgy

The careful reading of the magnificent work of the professor Juan José Silvestre (Alcoy, Alicante, 1973), doctor in Sacred Liturgy from the Anselmian Institute in Rome, consultant to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and professor at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, about the meaning of the liturgy in the preaching and writings of St. Josemaría Escrivá, I have come to think of a wise professor in his subject who joyfully searches his roots in order to regenerate the science he has lived and studied since its origins.

In the great theological reform carried out by the School of Salamanca, which notably influenced the Council of Trent and the great reform of the Church both in Europe and America in the 16th century, undoubtedly influenced one of its fundamental principles: "ad fontes". That is, to return to the sources, to the oral and written revelation of Jesus Christ, transmitted, preserved and deepened by the magisterium of the church and by the great tradition of theology and canon law of holy and profound men who had been able to live, study and transmit the treasure of Christian revelation during their time and in their lives.

The liturgical movement

Professor Silvestre will begin his work by posing the key question for a liturgist of the 21st century: whether St. Josemaría belonged to the great liturgical movement that, since 1904 with St. Pius X, has been spreading throughout the universal Church until it converged in the Second Vatican Council, and was embodied in the first great document of the Council, the dogmatic Constitution "Sacrosantum Concilium. 

St. John Paul II published an Apostolic Letter on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the above-mentioned Constitution, in which he wrote: "The promulgation of the Constitution 'Sacrosanctum Concilium' marked a stage in the life of the Church of fundamental importance for the promotion and development of the liturgy. The Church, which, animated by the breath of the Holy Spirit, lives her mission as a 'sacrament, or sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race' (Lumen gentium, n. 1), finds in the liturgy the highest expression of her mystical reality" (Apostolic Letter "The Liturgy").Spiritus et sponsa"Rome 4.XII.2003, n.16). 

Professor Silvestre, therefore, will study all the documents of the Church's magisterium during the 20th century in order to trace the birth of the liturgical movement and its intuitions, as well as the doctrines of the great liturgists of the 20th century, their monographs, articles and conference papers, etc., and, finally, he will delve into the works of St. Josemaría in order to conclude that St. Josemaría was indeed a true pioneer of the liturgical movement (29, 38).

I remember a conversation with the great historian of the liturgical movement and the liturgy, Father Manuel Garrido OSB (1925-2013), who was a member of the Tribunal for the diocesan phase of the process of beatification and canonization of St. Josemaría Escrivá in Madrid, who said that for him the most important of St. Josemaría's contributions to the liturgical movement was how he had formed the faithful of Opus Dei and cooperators and friends in the way of loving and living the liturgy.

The liturgy and St. Josemaría

The work of Professor Juan José Silvestre will explain in detail the way in which St. Josemaría lived the Liturgy of the Church and how he taught it by his example and his words to people of all kinds and conditions, especially to the priests of the Prelature of Opus Dei and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, as can be seen simply by watching them celebrate Mass, impart the blessing in a ceremony or distribute communion.

As always, we must emphasize that Professor Silvestre naturally lives a great historical rigor in the works he has published and always knows how to frame his works in historical coordinates, because in this way his theological and canonical argumentation has much more solidity.

Likewise, we must emphasize that Professor Silvestre knows how to reason theologically the questions he deals with and, therefore, he is a liturgist with whom we can dialogue, since with others it is very difficult for them to listen to the argumentation of someone who has a different criterion from theirs, which happens simply due to lack of intellectual soundness.

Main contributions

With regard to the contributions of Professor Silvestre in this work, we consider important the development made by St. Josemaría and studied by our author regarding the concept of "identification with Christ of the priest" both at the time of the celebration of Mass, "in persona Christi," and habitually throughout the day, as St. Josemaría used to ask priests: "to have the same sentiments as Christ on the Cross" (188).

Along these lines, it seems important and revealing from a liturgical point of view the anecdote that took place on August 7, 1931, at the Patronato de enfermos, when St. Josemaría received a divine locution in his interior with those words from the Gospel of St. John: "When I am lifted up on high, I will draw all things to myself" (I John 12:32), and he saw the sanctification of temporal tasks become a reality (174, 178).

It is also worthwhile to include a few words by Professor Silvestre about how St. Josemaría applied in the centers of Opus Dei the measures taken by the Roman Pontiffs and in each diocese by the Ordinaries to live faithfully the provisions of the Second Vatican Council. At the same time, our author does not fail to recall "the pain that St. Josemaría suffered in the face of the abuses and deformations that the liturgy underwent in the years following the Second Vatican Council" (212).

It is very instructive and formative to recommend that readers of this work take a closer look at the last part of Professor Silvestre's work, which contains many of St. Josemaría's texts scattered in his written works and in his oral preaching on how to live the parts of the Mass with a "passion of love," taking advantage of the depth contained in the rubrics of the Mass and the history of the Mass: "encounters of love between Christ and his Church," as Professor Silvestre calls them (249).

St. Josemaría and the liturgy

AuthorJuan José Silvestre
EditorialRialp : Rialp
Number of pages: 299

Read more
RelatedRelated NewsSt. Josemaría and the liturgy
More on Omnes
  • Newsroom
  • The Vatican
  • Analysis: after 100 days of papacy, Leo XIV is rooted in St. Augustine, reflection and unity
The Vatican

Analysis: after 100 days of papacy, Leo XIV is rooted in St. Augustine, reflection and unity

100 days into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV is emerging as a serene, observant and Augustinian leader who is committed to unity, dialogue and trust in the papal office.

OSV / Omnes-August 16, 2025-Reading time: 5 minutes
RelatedRelated NewsThe life of Leo XIV year by year

By Maria Wiering, OSV News

As the calendar marks 100 days of Pope Leo XIV's papacy on August 16, experts are analyzing his words and actions in hopes of identifying his leadership style, priorities and vision for the future of the church.

But unlike Pope Francis, whose novel domicile and clothing decisions, along with surprise phone calls, outings and comments to journalists, marked his first months of 2013, Pope Leo's papacy has been quieter, marked by his reflective and observant stance, scholars told OSV News.

Historian Joëlle Rollo-Koster, editor of "The Cambridge History of the Papacy," a three-volume set published this summer by Cambridge University Press, sees the 69-year-old Pope Leo using his first months as a period of reception, observation and testing.

"He has been quiet and is less 'loud' than Francis," said Rollo-Koster, who teaches at the University of Rhode Island and is the author of several books on the papacy.

"He is less Argentinean and more Peruvian...in his demeanor: calm, reflective," he added, referring to the decades that U.S.-born Pope Leo dedicated to priestly and episcopal ministry in the South American coastal country. "He is intelligent. He observes everything. He talks to everyone. And then we will see him manifest his true personality."

Seeking unity

However, since his election on May 8, Pope Leo has positioned himself as a figure of unity and peace, and an advocate for humanity in the midst of rapid technological change.

He mentioned artificial intelligence for the first time in an audience with cardinals on May 10, two days after his election as pope. Explaining the inspiration for his name, he told them that Pope Leo XIII, in the 1891 encyclical "Rerum Novarum," addressed the challenges of the Industrial Revolution. "In our day, the Church offers to all the treasure of her social doctrine in response to another industrial revolution and advances in the field of artificial intelligence, which pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and work," he said.

On May 12, he reiterated that concern in his first audience with journalists, saying that AI has "immense potential" but "nevertheless requires responsibility and discernment to ensure that it can be used for the good of all, so that it can benefit all of humanity."

Appeals for peace

Meanwhile, he has drawn attention to international crises and has expressed particular concern about Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In statements to the press on August 13, he described the Holy See's efforts as "soft diplomacy," always inviting, encouraging the search for nonviolence through dialogue and the search for solutions, because these problems cannot be solved by war."

John Cavadini, director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life and professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, said Pope Leo has presented himself as a "leader who can be trusted."

His use of traditional symbols of the papacy, such as wearing the papal cape known as a "mozzetta" when he first appeared as pope, taking up residence in the papal apartments and seeking a summer respite at Castel Gandolfo, indicates Pope Leo's aim to be "a leader because of his office and not so much because of his personal charisma," Cavadini said.

"I think that inspires confidence in people, and I think his purpose is to instill confidence; confidence not only in himself, but also in the office he holds, which he obviously has great respect for," he added. "He wants to be an interpretation of the papal office that is credible to everyone."

Although some papal observers have suggested that the first months of this pontificate have provided little material for evaluation, Cavadini said Pope Leo appears instead to be "a very circumspect man" who exercises prudence and respects his role as a representative of something greater than himself.

"You don't want a personal preference to quickly define tenure," he said.

American and Peruvian

Americans, in particular, are looking for signs of national pride or affinity in the first American-born pope. An ardent Chicago White Sox fan, Pope Leo has signed at least one baseball, received a deep-dish pizza and received sports memorabilia from his native Chicago, including from U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.

Cavadini says he sees Pope Leo conveying a traditionally American sense of responsibility to care for the downtrodden, "to help people who need help."

"I think that's deeply ingrained in the American mindset, and I think he wants to make sure he's perceived that way, as opposed to any political ambition that might be associated with either party," he said. "I know we haven't always lived up to that as Americans, and in some ways it's part of a mythology; but on the other hand, I think it's just a deep aspiration of Americans to be useful."

Rollo-Koster stated that he perceives an international character in the papacy of Pope Leo XIII, marked by his years of residence in Peru and Rome, and his travels around the world while serving as prior general of the Augustinians. He noted that some of the "Americanness" attributed to him, such as his affinity for sports teams, seems forced.

Unity with Francis

So have efforts to distance him from Pope Francis, as Pope Leo has made different decisions about how to "perform" his role, he said. While the two differ in personalities, Pope Leo has demonstrated continuity with Pope Francis' key objectives, including the promotion of integral ecology, which Pope Leo highlighted with the new form of the Mass "for the care of creation," which he celebrated for the first time on July 9.

"It follows in the footsteps of Francis: care for spirituality, care for the poor, care for the marginalized, care for the working class, care for medicine," he said. Some of his decisions could be intentional counterweights to the Trump administration's opposing actions, he noted.

Pope Leo, however, has made clear his Augustinian worldview, steeped in the writings and vision of St. Augustine, the renowned theologian and philosopher who was a bishop in North Africa during the fifth century, and whose thought shaped the founding of the Augustinian Order in 1244. Pope Leo, who joined the order after college in 1977 and served 12 years as its international leader, frequently quotes St. Augustine in his homilies and public addresses.

On May 8, from the balcony of St. Peter's, Pope Leo described himself as a "son of St. Augustine," and his first months as pope have underscored that identity, said Augustinian Father Kevin DePrinzio, vice president for mission and ministry at Villanova University.

Leadership style

"His leadership style is Augustinian. It's 'for' and 'with.' It's like saying, 'I'm with you on this,'" Father DePrinzio said. "I think it's a very accessible spirituality that will captivate people. It's characterized by hospitality, friendship ... the restless heart, you know, the burning heart, and it's a deeply human thing."

On a personal level, Father DePrinzio said he sees Pope Leo as an introvert who has been given the grace to act as an extrovert to meet the needs of his new role. The priest met the future Pope Leo during his formation with the Augustinians in the late 1990s, and their paths have continued to cross. Last year, Father DePrinzio led a pilgrimage of Villanova students to Rome and Vatican City, where then-Cardinal Robert Prevost celebrated Mass for them in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica. A photo, widely circulated, shows the group posing with the "V" gesture for Villanova, Pope Leo's alma mater.

Augustine's first biographer described him as a mediator, and Father DePrinzio sees Pope Leo assuming a similar role.

"This world needs to know how to dialogue, so I think he will be an example," he said. "It will be hard to define him ideologically. If people are looking for that, I think they will be very confused and won't be able to do that."

Instead, Pope Leo is likely to continually return to a theme he emphasized in his inaugural Mass: unity.

"For an Augustinian, unity is not uniformity, where everyone looks alike," Father DePrinzio said. "It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. But I think it's definitely up to par."

He added, "I think that's really what we need."

The authorOSV / Omnes

Read more
RelatedRelated NewsThe life of Leo XIV year by year
More on Omnes
  • Newsroom
  • The Vatican
  • 100 days of Pope Leo XIV: between listening, tradition and first gestures
The Vatican

100 days of Pope Leo XIV: between listening, tradition and first gestures

Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8, so that August 16 marks the 100 days since he stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica as the new Pope. He will celebrate his 70th birthday on September 14.

Javier García Herrería-August 16, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes
RelatedRelated NewsThe life of Leo XIV year by year

Far from acting with executive speed, the Pope has preferred to dedicate his first months to listening. As soon as he was elected, he convened a plenary meeting with the College of Cardinals and personal meetings with the heads of the Vatican dicasteries. He temporarily confirmed the current heads of the curia and reserved for September and October the first key appointments, including that of his successor at the head of the Dicastery for Bishops.

He has not yet confirmed where he will live, although everything indicates that he will return to the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace, now under renovation.

Leo XIV has recovered the classic papal garb and spent the summer at Castel Gandolfo, marking a change in style from his predecessor.

Pastoral priorities

In his first interventions, the Pope emphasized six axes of his ministry: the primacy of Christ in preaching, missionary conversion, growth in synodality, the value of the sensus fidei of the people of God, care for the weak and courageous dialogue with today's world. "We want to be a Church that walks, that seeks peace and charity, especially together with those who suffer," he said in his first greeting.

Close contact with the faithful

Week after week, Leo XIV has shown himself increasingly comfortable in direct contact with the crowds, who in the first few months have been flocking in great numbers to the audiences and Angelus. At the recent Jubilee of Youth and at the meeting with digital missionaries, he demonstrated his closeness to young people.

An Augustinian by formation and conviction, the Pope presents himself as a "son of St. Augustine" and frequently cites this Doctor of the Church as well as other Fathers in his homilies and catecheses. This insistence reinforces his intention to anchor pastoral action in a living tradition oriented towards Christ.

What's next

After this initial stage, Leo XIV's pontificate faces important decisions: curial appointments, management of delicate cases and definition of his government team. Autumn will show to what extent his style of listening, moderation and firmness will be translated into concrete actions.

For now, his first 100 days have drawn the portrait of a reflective pastor, deeply Christocentric, who wants to combine the legacy of his predecessors with his own gestures. A Pope who, rather than imposing, seeks to lead the Church through dialogue and example. Undoubtedly, the main merit that seems to be unanimously recognized is the enormous appeasement of intra-ecclesial tensions and polarizations.

Read more
RelatedRelated NewsThe life of Leo XIV year by year
More on Omnes
Vocations

St. Tarcisius, a determining saint for vocations

Today, August 15, the Church remembers St. Tarcisius, a young martyr and patron saint of altar servers, whose feast day is overshadowed by the solemnity of the Assumption.

Javier García Herrería-August 15, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, but another name also appears on the calendar: St. Tarcisius, a young Roman martyr and patron saint of altar boys. His memory, however, goes almost unnoticed due to the coincidence with one of the most important Marian feasts of the year.

A young man who gave his life for the Eucharist

The story of St. Tarcisius dates back to the third century, during the time of the persecutions against Christians in Rome. While still a boy and acolyte, he was entrusted with bringing the Eucharist to prisoners condemned for their faith. On the way, a group intercepted him and, discovering that he was protecting something sacred, tried to snatch the portaviatum from him. Tarcisius resisted with all his strength to prevent the Sacred Forms from being profaned, and this defense cost him his life.

Two years ago, a novel recounting the life of the saint appeared under the title Tarsicius and the lions. This is one of those stories presented as reading for children, but which is actually intended to be enjoyed by older children. The author, Ramón Díaz, presents Tarsicio as a normal boy, funny and pious, who enjoys his friends and struggles to forgive his pagan companions who make fun of his faith. A Christian who lives without complexes in the midst of a hostile environment, where receiving the Eucharist implies taking a risk.

Patron saint of altar servers, the seedbed of vocations

For his fidelity and service close to the altar, St. Tarcisius was proclaimed patron saint of altar servers. His example shows that helping at Mass is not a minor task, but a service to God and the community. The image of the young man who zealously guards the treasure of the Eucharist inspires children and adolescents who, from the presbytery, live the liturgy closely.

Beyond its role in the Mass, being an altar server is a veritable "breeding ground" for priestly vocations. A recent study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), in collaboration with the U.S. bishops, reveals that 73% of the 405 boys expected to be ordained priests in 2025 had been altar servers as children.

These data confirm a trend that the Church has known for centuries: close contact with the liturgy and service at the altar helps vocations to germinate. The Church has a lot at stake in the care of the altar servers' schools in the parishes, because there, not only is altar service taught, but also the heart and faith of the youngest are formed. This space of accompaniment and friendship with the priest and with other young people creates a living bond with the liturgy, awakens love for the Eucharist and, as the data show, can be the seed of numerous priestly vocations. To neglect it would be to lose a privileged opportunity to sow the future of the Church.

Although the Assumption of Mary is the focus of liturgical attention today, the example of St. Tarcisius lives on. His life is a reminder that dedication and service, even in youth, can be of great value.

More on Omnes
  • Newsroom
  • Culture
  • Catholic scientists: Olga García Riquelme, researcher and teacher
Culture

Catholic scientists: Olga García Riquelme, researcher and teacher

On August 15, 2012, Olga García Riquelme, researcher and professor at the Institute of Optics of the CSIC, passed away. This series of short biographies of Catholic scientists is published thanks to the collaboration of the Society of Catholic Scientists of Spain.

Ignacio del Villar-August 15, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

Olga García Riquelme (1920-2012) was an outstanding Spanish scientist recognized for her pioneering contribution in the field of physics and atomic spectra research. Born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, she stood out as a brilliant Doctor of Science and professor at the Institute of Optics of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) with the support of Otero Navascués, director of the Institute of Optics.

His career was marked by his dedication to obtaining and analyzing atomic spectra of astrophysical interest, as well as by his work in theoretical calculations of atomic configurations. García Riquelme furthered his studies at the Institute of Physics of the University of Lund in Sweden and at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de Bellevue in France. Part of his scientific prestige was also due to his collaboration with renowned foreign organizations such as the National Bureau of Standards in the United States, the Meudon Observatory in France and the Spectroscopy Laboratory of the Israel Nuclear Energy Commission in Soreq. In these places, he studied exhaustively the atomic spectra and their electronic configurations, contributing significantly to the knowledge of elements such as manganese (Mn and Mn III), nickel (Ni III and Ni IV), vanadium II and tungsten IV.

García Riquelme stood out as a relevant figure in a scientific environment mostly dominated by men. She admitted belonging to a lifelong Catholic family, although she acknowledged that the visibility of Catholicism in scientific circles is scarce: "these are issues that are not talked about. On the other hand, she considered that the Church is not a problem for scientific development at all and that science and faith are perfectly compatible.

Olga García Riquelme passed away at the age of 92 in her hometown, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, leaving a lasting impact on the scientific community and an inspiring example for generations to come.

The authorIgnacio del Villar

Public University of Navarra.

Society of Catholic Scientists of Spain

Read more
More on Omnes
The World

German bishops divided over same-sex blessing

The Catholic Church in Germany has published a booklet proposing to bless same-sex couples, or divorced and remarried couples. The document allows for celebrations with music, readings and prayers.

OSV / Omnes-August 14, 2025-Reading time: 4 minutes
RelatedRelated NewsThe challenge of the Church in the face of homosexualityRelated NewsBlessing homosexual couples, perhaps only an "episode".

By Jonathan Luxmoore, OSV

A German Catholic spokesman has defended his church's approach to blessing same-sex couples, despite evidence of deep disagreement among the country's bishops.

"The members of the German Bishops' Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics have adopted a guideline for pastoral agents on the blessing of couples not married by the Church; they have recommended to the diocesan bishops to proceed in accordance with its spirit," explained Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the German bishops.

This document states that the Church recognizes and offers support to couples united in love. Therefore, the practice of accompanying divorced and remarried couples with a blessing, as well as couples of all gender identities and sexual orientations, and couples unwilling or unable to receive the sacrament of marriage, should be strengthened.

The spokesman was reacting to an Aug. 6 survey by the Bonn-based Katholisch online news agency, which showed that less than half of Germany's 27 Catholic dioceses had fully approved and adopted the new "Blessings for Loving Couples" booklet for pastors.

Division among bishops

In an interview with OSV News, Kopp said the Vatican had been consulted on the guide prior to its release on April 23, adding that he saw no danger of a serious split over the issue of blessings.

However, a senior observer told OSV News that Germany's bishops were irrevocably divided on same-sex blessings and many believed the new four-page booklet violated rules set by the Vatican.

"With every priest and parish now doing what it considers right, I don't foresee consensus," stated Gottfried Bohl, news editor of the German Catholic news agency , KNA. "Perhaps it is positive that there are disagreements, as they allow the bishops to present opposing liberal and conservative faces at the same time. But in any case, many Germans have little interest in what the Church teaches and do not accept being told what to do by the clergy, especially in matters of sexuality."

The document, prepared by a Gemeinsame Konferenz, or joint conference of Catholic bishops and lay Catholics with the approval of the permanent council of the bishops' conference, offers "practical guidelines" for blessing people in irregular unions.

Fiducia Supplicans

He cites "Fiducia Supplicans," a December 2023 statement from the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which conditionally allowed priests for the first time to bless same-sex couples "outside of a liturgical framework," though "without officially validating their status" or "changing in any way the Church's perennial teaching on marriage."

The Vatican document, subtitled "On the Pastoral Significance of Blessings," affirmed that the Church could extend God's grace through blessings to couples in "irregular situations," especially same-sex couples or non-marital heterosexual cohabitations. It also affirmed the immorality of extramarital sexual relations, but recognized that couples in irregular situations could benefit spiritually from the graces that blessings could mediate.

The booklet for German pastors published in April notes that, while there should be "no confusion with the liturgical celebration of the sacrament of marriage," same-sex blessings can now be given with "greater spontaneity and freedom," and can include "music and singing," as well as Scripture and Bible readings.

"Unchurched, divorced and remarried couples of all sexual orientations and gender identities are a natural part of our society. Many of these couples would like a blessing for their relationship," the brochure says.

"The Church wishes to proclaim the divine dignity of each person, both in word and deed...Therefore, she recognizes and offers support to couples united in love, who treat each other with full respect and dignity, and who are willing to live their sexuality by caring for themselves and each other with long-term social responsibility," the brochure states.

Freedom to follow guidelines

In his interview with OSV News, Kopp said that Catholic dioceses in Germany were not obliged to follow the booklet and added that the bishops' conference had no data on the "general attitude" of Catholics toward same-sex blessings.

However, in his survey, Katholisch stated that the April guidelines had been "received very differently" throughout the German Church.

Some dioceses were taking steps to implement it, the agency reported, including Dresden-Meissen, Hildesheim, Limburg and Osnabrück, as well as Rottenburg-Stuttgart, which published a 15-page booklet with prayers for "couples of all sexual orientations and gender identities" seeking blessings "regardless of lifestyle or marital status."

However, other dioceses had rejected the aid, Katholisch reported, including Augsburg, Cologne, Eichstätt, Passau and Regensburg, while several, including Magdeburg, Paderborn and Munich-Freising, had not yet "reached a final position" on the blessings.

In a July 22 statement, the Archdiocese of Cologne said the new guidelines for the distribution of blessings violated Vatican instructions that blessings should be "spontaneous and transient" without "liturgical form."

Meanwhile, the Augsburg diocese told Katholisch that the brochure explicitly referred to "blessing ceremonies" with readings and singing, thus breaching Vatican instructions to "avoid a parallel with marriage services."

Catholics account for about 23.7% of Germany's 84.7 million population, although church membership and attendance have declined sharply since 2019, with only 6.6% of Catholics currently attending Mass, according to July church data.

Same-sex blessings were endorsed by the lay-led Central Committee of German Catholics in a plenary vote in November 2019, and were also strongly supported by the reformist forum Synodal Way of the German church at its fifth session in March 2023.

International controversy

However, the issue has been divisive internationally: some Catholic bishops' conferences and dioceses, especially in the Global South, have rejected the blessings and criticized the Vatican's 2023 statement.

In his interview with OSV News, Bohl said he believed most bishops were concerned about responding positively to liberal, pro-reform pressure among German Catholics, many of whom were waiting for a response from the Vatican to the church's latest moves on same-sex blessings.

"Many people have lost confidence in the Church because of the sexual abuse crisis, and its leaders must be careful not to lose further credibility with today's highly secularized society," the KNA news editor told OSV News.

"The new Pope knows the situation well, as he has been involved in numerous recent talks with German bishops. But, for now, we still do not know how he intends to handle the reform requests of bishops' conferences like ours," he said.

The authorOSV / Omnes

Read more
RelatedRelated NewsThe challenge of the Church in the face of homosexualityRelated NewsBlessing homosexual couples, perhaps only an "episode".
More on Omnes
  • Columnists
  • "Impose no more burdens than necessary" (Acts, 15:28-29).
ColumnistsCelso Morga

"Impose no more burdens than necessary" (Acts, 15:28-29).

"Not imposing unnecessary burdens" (Acts 15:28-29) reflects Christian freedom, guided by love and not by rigid norms. As Jesus, Paul and the Prelate of Opus Dei teach, authentic faith is a free and joyful response to the question: "Do you love me?

August 14, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

"Do not impose more burdens than are necessary" (Acts 15:28-29). A few days ago, while rereading the Acts of the Apostles, I came across these words of the first Council of the Church and, although they have been read many times, they made a particular impression on me.

They are said in the context of the controversy between the first Judaizing Christians and the first Christians who came from the gentiles. It was a serious conflict that the Church, in its first steps, had to face and teaches us how the Holy Spirit led the apostles to make a decision that proved decisive in clarifying the nature of salvation in Christ and the subsequent advance of the Gospel throughout the world.

The words of the Council of Jerusalem follow in the wake of those pronounced by Jesus to the Pharisees: "You impose burdens that are heavy and difficult to bear..." (Mt 23:4). In the context of the meats sacrificed to idols, St. Paul will teach his faithful in Corinth to act with freedom, taking care only that this freedom does not become an occasion for the fall of the unformed (Cor 8:9). That is to say, that only brotherly love be the supreme norm of Christian freedom.

There flutters throughout the pages of the New Testament that spirit of freedom: not to impose unnecessary burdens! to which we are sometimes so prone.

The Prelate of Opus Dei, in a letter of January 9, 2018, on Christian freedom, insists on the profound relationship between love of God and freedom. The whole Christian life is a free response to the question that Jesus addresses to us personally: "Do you love me?" (Jn 21:17).

The Christian life," says the Prelate, "is a free response, full of initiative and availability, to the Lord's question" (n. 5).

We can never lose that deep spirit of freedom and personal responsibility that is genuinely Christian. Sometimes, we do not know why, we tend to bind ourselves or others to rules or obligations that are not necessary and that can obscure joy and agility for the race that awaits us (cf. Heb 12:1). In Christian formation," the Prelate continues, "it is also important to avoid an excessive eagerness for security or protection that shrinks the soul and diminishes us (n. 12). Finally, the whole letter is worth reading and I invite you to read it or reread it again because it will always be of great benefit. So it seems to me. 

The authorCelso Morga

Archbishop emeritus of the Diocese of Mérida Badajoz

More on Omnes
Gospel

The courage to proclaim the truth. 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Joseph Evans comments on the readings for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) corresponding to August 17, 2025.

Joseph Evans-August 14, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

Today's first reading presents us with the prophet Jeremiah up to his waist in mud after being thrown into a well without water: "Jeremiah sank into the mud at the bottom, for the cistern had no water."What had he done to deserve this? Poor Jeremiah is often described as the complaining prophet and, in his defense: he had a lot to complain about. He had a very tough mission: to warn Israel to repent, otherwise they would be overrun by the Babylonians, the great power of the time, and Jerusalem would be destroyed. However, the people refused to listen to him, the invasion took place and Jerusalem was reduced to rubble.

Jeremiah was not perfect and had some tantrums, but he faithfully fulfilled his mission. He said what God told him, he warned the people. But he fell victim to what usually happens to those who speak the truth, and which in fact also happened to Our Lord Jesus: his words were twisted. Instead of listening to him and taking his warning to heart, the people preferred to twist what he said precisely in order not to convert. A man, a woman, who follows God's laws and says what God wants her to say, will necessarily provoke a hostile reaction, because the devil will take care of stirring up opposition.

The Gospel tells us of Christ's zeal to save souls, a zeal that we must share. We too must burn with the love of God. But Jesus warns us that this will provoke resistance and even divisions in families. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but Satan is precisely the Adversary (which is what the word "Satan" means). It is not Jesus who causes division but those who, moved by the devil, resist the grace and truth of Christ. We must not be naive. We can and should present the faith in the most attractive way possible, but there will always be people who reject it, even within our own families. Sometimes we think: "if only I could explain things reasonably, people would come to their senses.". But we forget the devil and his action. The devil is not reasonable.

We need courage to speak out, to speak the truth, but always aware of our limitations and that, with the best will in the world, we can act or speak clumsily. But, in general, if we live our faith well, we will attract people, who will see our goodness and our mercy. However, Jesus was the most merciful man who ever lived, and he is also the one who has provoked the most resistance.

Read more
More on Omnes
More on Omnes
The Vatican

Leo XIV: "True love cannot do without truth".

Pope Leo XIV reflected on the announcement of the betrayal at the Last Supper, inviting the faithful to recognize their own fragility without fear. He recalled that, despite our falls, God never ceases to love and trust us.

Javier García Herrería-August 13, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

Pope Leo XIV held his audience today, August 13, in two parts, the first in the Paul VI Hall and the second in St. Peter's Basilica. The large number of faithful and the high temperatures in Rome forced this extraordinary solution.

Leo XIV reflected on one of the most intense episodes of the Gospel: the moment when Jesus, during the Last Supper, announces that one of his disciples will betray him. The Pontiff recalled that Christ's words-"Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me" (Mk 14:18)-do not seek to condemn, but to reveal that authentic love cannot be separated from truth. The scene, he said, reflects a common human experience: the silent pain produced by the shadow of betrayal in the most beloved relationships.

"Will it be me?"

Leo XIV emphasized the way in which Jesus confronts this moment: without shouting, without pointing the finger of blame, leaving each disciple to question himself. From this arises the question that resounded in the hall and that, according to the Pope, continues to be essential today: "Will it be me?". This question, he explained, is not born not from innocence but from the awareness of one's own fragility, and marks the beginning of the path to salvation.

The Holy Father emphasized that the disciples' sadness at the possibility of being partakers of evil is different from indignation; it is a pain that, if sincerely accepted, can become an occasion for conversion. He also interpreted Jesus' harsh words-"Woe to that man...!"-as a lament of compassion, not a curse, and recalled that God does not respond to evil with vengeance, but with suffering and love.

For Leo XIV, the central teaching is that Jesus is not scandalized by human frailty: he continues to trust, he continues to share the table even with those who will betray him. "This is the silent strength of God: he never abandons the table of love," he said.

Finally, the Pope invited believers to ask themselves the question "Will it be me?" not to live under accusation, but to open their hearts to truth and mercy. "Though we may fail, God never fails us. Though we may betray, He never stops loving us. If we allow ourselves to be touched by this humble and faithful love, we can be reborn and live as children who are always loved," he concluded.

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Columnists
  • The forgotten vocation: being a parent is a total surrender
ColumnistsAlmudena Rivadulla Durán

The forgotten vocation: being a parent is a total surrender

The vocation of being a father or mother, lived with generosity, deserves full recognition in the Church. Christian marriage, far from being a minor option, is a path of total self-giving that sustains and strengthens the community.

August 13, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

This summer, between diapers, laughter and short nights, I have been struck by a conviction that I find it hard to understand why it does not occupy headlines or homilies: the vocation of a father and mother of a family is, in merit and dedication, as high as that of any consecrated person. Yes, I say it that clearly. And it surprises me - it scandalizes me, in a good way - that the Church, and society in general, still does not fully recognize it.

At Mass, we hear petitions for "those who dedicate their whole life to the Lord" and we automatically think of nuns, priests and missionaries. And I, sitting there, can't help but ask myself: what about us? Doesn't a young father or a young mother, who gives his or her all to carry out a generous family project, also dedicate his or her life to the Lord? Isn't this dedication - without reserve, without timetables - a daily heroism that glorifies God in a radical way?

Celibacy is precious, most eminent, with its raison d'être in the life of the Church. But marriage lived as a true vocation is no less precious. A Christian family is not a minor renunciation: it is a daily oblation. It is love that is incarnated in early mornings, discussions that heal, embraces that heal, economies that are adjusted so that children grow up in a home open to life and to God.

Today, while some choose more comfortable couple projects or postpone the commitment until everything is "under control", there are young people who get married early, who bet on having children, who consciously complicate their lives for love. And that, no matter how we look at it, is worthy of a pedestal.

Luis Argüello, Archbishop of Valladolid and President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, shared that, when he presented the proposal of the National Vocations Congress to Pope Francis, he said: "Be concerned about promoting the vocation to marriage and the family," highlighting the value of marriage in times of demographic and cultural crisis.

Perhaps the time has come for bishops and priests to say it bluntly: the vocation to marriage, truly lived, has a supernatural value of the first category. It is not a second-rate "natural choice". It is a narrow and glorious path which, in the mystery of God, carries as much merit as that of those who give their lives in celibacy. And perhaps, if we were to recognize it more, not only our families would be strengthened, but also the Church itself.

The authorAlmudena Rivadulla Durán

Married, mother of three children and Doctor of Philosophy.

Read more
More on Omnes
United States

"Houston, we have a problem": famous astronaut James Lovell dies

Jim Lovell was part of the historic Apollo 8 mission, the first to orbit the moon, and commander of the famous Apollo 13 mission.

Die Tagespost-August 12, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

U.S. astronaut and naval aviator James "Jim" Lovell died Thursday in Illinois, United States, at the age of 97, the space agency NASA announced. Lovell and his colleagues were the first people to leave Earth orbit aboard the Apollo 8 spacecraft. He and his team were the first to orbit the Moon.

He was also the first astronaut to read excerpts from the biblical book of Genesis to a captivated radio audience on Christmas Eve from space. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth... And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light," were his words on Christmas Day 1968. The broadcast ended with, "Good night, good luck and Merry Christmas. God bless you all, all of you on the good Earth." On December 21, 1968, the three American astronauts Frank Borman, William Anders and James Lovell undertook the first moon landing in history. Arriving three days later, they sent what were possibly the most expensive Christmas greetings ever made.

Suitable for Christmas

"I put my thumb up to the window of the spacecraft and managed to completely hide the Earth behind it. Earth is just a tiny dot in the Milky Way, but look at what we have here: water and atmosphere. We're orbiting a star at just the right distance to absorb its energy," Lovell later recalled of his missionary media appearance in a video interview released by NASA. "God has given humanity a stage on which to perform. The end of the play is entirely up to us," he continued. The men had performed audio broadcasts for an enthusiastic radio audience on Earth throughout the Apollo 8 mission. For the Christmas Eve broadcast, NASA had given them no specific instructions, only that they were to say something "appropriate."

His Apollo 13 mission also became legendary. Shortly after launch, an explosion occurred on board, caused by damaged wiring in one of the oxygen tanks. It was Lovell who first uttered the later famous phrase, "Houston, we have a problem." Lovell and his crewmates, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, worked under pressure 200,000 miles from home with ground controllers in Houston to make emergency repairs and returned safely to Earth. They survived what went down in history as one of the "most successful failures." People around the world, including Pope Paul VI, prayed for their return.

Never set foot on the moon

James Lovell was born on March 25, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for two years and later transferred to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. A successful naval aviator, he became a NASA astronaut in 1962. He piloted two space missions as part of the Gemini program, including Gemini 7 in 1965, which marked the first rendezvous of two manned spacecraft in space. Lovell never managed to walk on the Moon, his "one regret," he told the Associated Press in 1995. The astronaut was a member of the Evangelical Reformed Church and married Marilyn Gerlach of Milwaukee in 1952. The couple had four children; Marilyn died in 2023.

This is a translation of an article that first appeared on the website Die-Tagespost. For the original article in German, see here . Republished in Omnes with permission.

The authorDie Tagespost

More on Omnes
  • Focus
  • Education
  • More Cervantes and less ChatGPT: Humanities as a solution for education
Education

More Cervantes and less ChatGPT: Humanities as a solution for education

Education must prioritize the humanities and the cultivation of basic skills - reading, writing, speaking, listening, memorizing and critical thinking - for responsible use of artificial intelligence. Without this training and effort, technology can stunt learning rather than enhance it.

Álvaro Gil Ruiz-August 12, 2025-Reading time: 6 minutes

The misnamed AI does not seem to be a good ally for education, as it is called. Why call it "intelligence", because it "learns" from its user? The highly valued capacity of reprogramming or reconfiguration of technologies such as ChatGPT, in no case implies something similar to human capabilities, no matter how exponential and vertiginous the development of its potential is. A less pretentious and substitutive name, for a more modest and collaborative one, would make this technology a better ally for education. For example, "Artificial Personal Assistant" or "Artificial Study Advisor" are terms that are at our service. This would make it easier for pedagogy to welcome this technology "with open arms", as long as it develops and improves in the learner basic skills such as reading, writing, listening, speaking, memorization, thinking or reasoning.

The meteoric growth of ChatGPT and other AI users in just a few years has shaken us all. But this change of era, if we look at it calmly, does not have to be a threat, but an opportunity, for many fields, including education. For it can be one more way for the pursuit of excellence in our children or students, rather than a way to facilitate compliance with the law of least effort. It all depends on how we use it. That is why, in order to make the most of it, we must think about how to implement this tool, which allows us to develop the student's faculties and not atrophy them. Doing this process quickly and in any way, in the long run, can be expensive.

Gregorio Luri recently said: "Artificial intelligence presents marvelous tools and great utilities, but always depending on one's own training and culture". Therefore the School, if it is thinking about the exit profile of its students, should not only be aware of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), but also and above all, of the broad culture and critical thinking, of the Humanities.

But what is culture?

By culture we can understand what André Maurois said, it is what remains after having forgotten what was learned. In the school, this means teaching or learning in order to leave a mark. That is, we must work not only to pass tests, but to "cultivate" in our students a knowledge that is useful, but at the same time, that gives meaning to their lives within a society. If we get educated students, who have their own criteria, eagerness to know and who relate new knowledge with the already assimilated, we will have students prepared to use tools such as an Artificial Personal Assistant (AI).

What are the criteria for responsible use of this technology, which is here to stay, among "minors"?

Empantallados.com, a platform for educators on the use of technology, suggests as a criterion for the delivery of the first cell phone, that your child is able to manage his clothes in the closet, the order of his room or maintain a high academic level. If they are able to manage their daily life, they will be able to use the cell phone correctly, as long as there is previous training on the part of the parents, and a progressive learning process on the part of the child. This criterion is equally valid for AI and other tools. That is why the family that allows the use of this technology, without being clear about this criterion, will be doing a disservice to their children. Because in addition to generating an addiction, when their brain is in full development, it will not facilitate its maturity or its cultivation, so that they will not take proper advantage of the technology.  

What skills to develop to enhance culture and critical thinking, in the face of the ease that AI provides us?

We can speak of six basic capabilities to be developed in any student:

  • Reading is the first and most important. It is to read, daily, a wide variety of books appropriate to the age and cultural level of the reader. To acquire culture and to develop reading comprehension.
  • Writing. Expressing what has been learned in writing, on a regular basis. 
  • Oral expression. In which we show our ideas in public. It can be practiced through short presentations, podcasts, poetry recitation, plays, or reading aloud.
  • Also by listening carefully. Not only to those closest to us, but also to those around us. Or also listening to thematic content of a podcast, videos, ... Appropriate to our age and cultural level. And after listening, debating with arguments that subtract what we have heard, to draw conclusions.
  • Memorizing, since it is fundamental for what has been learned to remain. In the same article mentioned above, Luri says: "memorization is wonderful, although there are those who want to dismantle it". The idea he conveys is that information is not the same as knowledge. And for there to be knowledge and for us to cultivate ourselves, there must be memorization.
  • Finally, developing understanding and thinking. To understand what has been memorized and to make sense of what has been learned, time must be spent reflecting on what has been read and heard. This requires time and the daily routine of studying, so as not to let ourselves be carried away by improvisation, when things are left to the last minute.

These basic skills should be developed at home, with the help of parents. And in class, with activities that encourage the improvement of these skills. The more our children or students have developed these skills, the more prepared they will be for the use of technology. Because they will be cultivated and cultured, and therefore better prepared.

The example of adults, as always in life, will have a stronger impact on them. Therefore, the habit of improving these basic skills on the part of the father, mother or teacher will have a positive impact on our children and students, and it will be easier for them to develop these habits. Ismael Sanz says about the benefits of parental example in reading: "It is interesting to note that Spanish fourth grade students, whose parents like to read a lot, score 540 points on the PIRLS international reading test. However, primary school students whose parents do not like reading at all score 498 points. The difference between 540 and 498 points is almost one school year. In other words, students whose parents like to read are already almost a grade ahead in fourth grade compared to those who do not have that example at home".

Logically, these habits, if developed from the beginning of the learning process, will make everything easier.

The capacity to transmit, receive and generate general culture is usually built through different types of more specific cultures. These tend to coincide to a great extent with the subjects taught in the Educational System. For example.

  • Linguistic Culture. Thanks to which we gradually learn the origin of each word and how it is spelled.
  • Historical culture. They allow us to understand the universal facts in their time, as well as the history of your country, knowing how to place them in the timeline.
  • Religious culture. In which we gradually master the episodes and characters of the Bible or the verses of the Koran.
  • Hispanic Culture. In which we learn about Spain's legacy and footprint around the world.
  • Anglo-Saxon culture. That is, learning English in the context where it is used. Or learn situational thematic English that can be learned by age.
  • Mathematical Culture. To know why we used an operation and how we arrived at that conclusion.
  • Biological Culture. To understand how nature works within a context.
  • Artistic culture and sensitivity. To know how to perceive art from an early age and to express ideas and feelings.
  • Literary culture. To know how to appreciate new works little by little. 

The human factor is fundamental

As human beings, example is very important, but more important is the process of "humanization". That is, in order to "become" or "be" more human or better people, we have to talk to and be guided by our mother and father. They explain to us what they want from us and how to achieve it. A good education requires and needs good conversations, which make us better people. These conversations also have to be with older siblings, grandparents,... or also with teachers, coaches and all those who influence our education.

Cultivation or training costs... What is the role of effort in this training process?

This process requires, logically, effort. This means that parents and educators must make demands on their children and students from the time they are very young. Later, when they begin to have their own conscience, they must be made to understand little by little, an idea that Francisca Javiera del Valle used to transmit: "Do not set your eyes on what it costs; set them on what it is worth; it has always been like this: what is worth a lot costs a lot".

This is achieved step by step. That is to say, the work habit must be developed little by little, daily, but it is the key to be able to have the capacity to learn. And it requires that you are demanded and want to improve. This habit is best formed when you have been demanded from the beginning and you have done your part.

We can conclude that to get the best out of technology, you have to be well trained. Or rather cultivated.

Read more
More on Omnes
Gospel

Christian life as assumption into Heaven. Solemnity of the Assumption (C)

Joseph Evans comments on the readings for the Solemnity of the Assumption (C) for August 15, 2025.

Joseph Evans-August 12, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

"In those same days, Mary arose and set out in haste..." Or more literally: "Mary, having arisen in those days, went...". Mary arose, she was lifted up by the grace of God within her: she rose to an even higher level of self-giving and generosity and ran to help her elderly cousin. Her assumption, her being taken to higher and higher heights of love, was already at work in her.

Mary's assumption continued in her Magnificathumbling herself, God exalted her. And then she was elevated to new heights of love by the three months she spent caring for Elizabeth.

Satan drags from heaven to earth: "and its tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.". Mary, full of grace and fully open to grace, is elevated from earth to Heaven. Scripture gives us a glimpse of Mary's glory in Heaven: "The sanctuary of God was opened in heaven... A great sign appeared in heaven.". The way Mary is represented shows her as the summit, the crown of creation, the fullest expression of its glory: "A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head.".

The Christian life is a gradual ascent to Heaven, or rather, an assumption, because God takes us there by his grace. Unlike Christ, who is God, we do not have the power to ascend, to take ourselves there. Mary's humility - there was no weight of pride in her - made it easier for God to bring her to himself. Faith, humility and loving service, inspired in us by the Holy Spirit, are the "winds" in which He carries us.

But as Mary on earth, and as part of the Church (the woman of the Apocalypse is both Mary and the Church), we suffer the constant attacks of Satan, who wants to devour us. "And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth." (the new life is a form of assumption, of humanity's constant overcoming of death: that is why Satan desperately opposes it).

The woman was given "the two wings of the great eagle". -another suggestion of assumption, of being taken higher-to escape the serpent. The serpent acts on earth; the eagle-spirit carries us to the heights of Heaven. With Mary, in her arms or in the tail of her cosmic garments, we too are carried to God. And in the resurrection of the flesh, we too will enjoy our own "assumption," not on Mary's level, but glorious all the same.

Read more
More on Omnes
The Vatican

From one to five days: the slow evolution of Vatican paternity leave

Paternity leave in the Vatican is short due to the fact that the majority of lay employees are male and the rigidity of its labor legislation.  

Javier García Herrería-August 11, 2025-Reading time: 2 minutes

Until recently, fathers working in Vatican City State had only one day off when their wives gave birth. In 2022, Pope Francis decided to extend that leave to three days, a change that was met with both joy and disappointment among workers, as they were expecting to receive a more significant increase.

This morning, Monday, August 11, Pope Leo XIV took a new step, approving the extension of paternity leave to five working days, with full pay. Despite this increase, the period is still very short compared to the regulations in European countries, where paternity leave ranges from fifteen days to six months.

Until 2017, maternity leave at the Vatican lasted a few days. From that date they were extended to six months, exceeding by one month the leave granted by the Italian state to women giving birth.

Why is paternity leave so short at the Vatican?

Extending paternity leave at the Vatican poses a particular challenge for several reasons. First, the majority of the Vatican City's lay employees are men, so any substantial increase in this leave results in simultaneous absences that complicate day-to-day operations.

In addition, the Vatican State lacks a flexible labor legislation that would allow it to reinforce its staff with agility: internal regulations and bureaucracy make it practically unfeasible to resort to temporary employment agencies to cover apparently simple functions, such as gardening, surveillance of the Vatican Museums or general maintenance. If both factors are combined, the picture is clear: either the Vatican introduces reforms to make its legal framework more flexible, or it will be very difficult for it to cope with the labor impact of these new measures.

New public procurement regulations

A 48-page document containing the Vatican's new regulations for public procurement was published last Saturday. Among its main objectives is to prevent the direct selection of contractors and suppliers, promoting instead more transparent and competitive processes. However, this reform does not introduce measures that prioritize the hiring of personnel for periods of less than one year, which in practice makes it difficult to cover short replacements, such as those resulting from leaves of absence of a few weeks or months.

It is striking that the Secretariat for the Economy of the Holy See, headed by Prefect Maximino Caballero Ledo - a 65-year-old Spanish layman - is publishing so many norms in the middle of August, and even more so if the dissemination takes place on a day like Saturday, when institutional and media activity is minimal.

More on Omnes
The Vatican

Benedict XVI's unpublished letter: "My resignation is full and valid".

An unpublished letter from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has been published for the first time, clearly confirming the validity of his resignation.

Rome Reports-August 11, 2025-Reading time: < 1 minute
rome reports88

Dated August 21, 2014, just over a year after he left the pontificate, the missive was addressed to the priest Nicola Bux and until now had remained unpublished. The letter is now distributed as an appendix to the book Reality and Utopia in the Church (Reality and Utopia in the Church), by Monsignor Nicola Bux and Vito Palmiotti, with the aim of clarifying historical polemics on the legitimacy of Pope Francis' pontificate and closing debates on who was the "real Pope" in that period.

In the text, Benedict XVI responds to those who doubted his full dedication by renouncing not only the ministry, but also the munus petrinothat is, to the role and authority of the Pope as the Successor of Peter. He points out that to hold otherwise "is contrary to clear dogmatic-canonical doctrine" and criticizes the idea of a "rampant schism" as merely speculative and without foundation.

Now you can enjoy a 20% discount on your subscription to Rome Reports Premiumthe international news agency specializing in the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.

More on Omnes
  • Newsroom
  • The Vatican
  • Leo XIV: "The works of mercy are the safest bank in which to invest our lives".
The Vatican

Leo XIV: "The works of mercy are the safest bank in which to invest our lives".

In his Sunday address before the Angelus prayer, Pope Leo XIV invited the faithful to reflect on "how to invest the treasure of our life," drawing inspiration from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 12:32-48).

Javier García Herrería-August 11, 2025-Reading time: < 1 minute

"Sell your possessions and give them as alms," the Pontiff quoted, recalling that the gifts received from God "are not to be kept for ourselves," but to be used "generously for the benefit of others, especially those most in need."

Leo XIV stressed that this generosity is not limited to the material: it involves offering skills, time, affection, presence and empathy. "Each of us is a unique, priceless asset, a living capital which, in order to grow, needs to be cultivated and employed," he warned, warning against the risk that these gifts "dry up and become devalued" or are appropriated by others "as mere objects of consumption."

He recalled that Jesus pronounced these words on his way to Jerusalem, where he would give himself on the cross, and pointed out that "the works of mercy are the safest and most profitable bank" to entrust the treasure of life. Quoting St. Augustine, he assured that what is given "is transformed into eternal life" because "you will transform yourself".

To love always

To illustrate this, the Pope resorted to everyday examples: "A mother who embraces her children, is she not the most beautiful and richest person in the world? Two engaged couples together, don't they feel like a king and a queen?".

With a concrete appeal, he asked everyone "not to miss any occasion to love" in the family, parish, school or work, exercising vigilance of heart to be "attentive, willing, sensitive to one another, as He is to us".

Finally, he entrusted to the Virgin Mary, "Morning Star," the desire that Christians be "sentinels of mercy and peace" in a world marked by divisions, following the example of St. John Paul II and the young people who came to Rome for the Jubilee.

Read more
More on Omnes
ColumnistsAntonio Moreno

Televised miracles

Just a week ago, more than 10,000 young people of the Neocatechumenal Way expressed their desire to give themselves to God in a wonderful gesture of faith and hope.

August 11, 2025-Reading time: 4 minutes

"Since there have been cell phones with cameras, the Virgin has not appeared," said actress Miren Ibarguren in a recent promotional interview for the mystery series she stars in. The truth is that last week we witnessed several miracles on television and few talk about it.

The first thing to say is that miracles are a consequence of faith and not the other way around. "Your faith has saved you," Christ says to the hemorrhagic woman, to blind Bartimaeus or to the leper after they were healed. It is the person who opens himself to faith, a true interdimensional portal, that allows God to manifest his power in the visible world. It is also the reason, therefore, that the miracles we may witness do not guarantee that those who contemplate them will later believe.

The proof is in the thousands of people who witnessed Jesus' miracles live, as opposed to the few who remained with Him on the cross. In short, no matter how many people recorded with their cell phones an alleged apparition of the Virgin, such as the one pointed out by Ibarguren, it would not win many more followers to the Marian cause. One can always look for reasons to justify the extraordinary, one can always attribute to chance or special circumstances what has no rational explanation. Miracles are not signs for us to believe, but because we believe.

The fact is that in the past Youth Jubilee The first was the miracle of each young participant, who, with a little faith, managed to raise the money for the ticket, to pass that difficult exam and be able to have the summer off, to find a group at the last minute to go to the event. How many small prodigies were behind each of them to raise the money for the ticket, to pass that difficult exam and be able to have the summer off, to find a group in extremis to join...? Ask them, you will see how they confirm it.

And then there are the big events that speak for themselves. A concentration of a million young people today and not a single altercation or security problem? If I don't see it, I don't believe it!

What about the thunderous silence of those same million boys and girls that we saw on television at the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament during the vigil with Pope Leo XIV? Hands up the high school teacher who can easily achieve a similar silence in his class with just a few dozen students. If they want to see the miracle, watch the video of the Jubilee Vigil posted on the Vatican News Youtube channel. Truly amazing.

Because of the personal implications it entails, I would like to highlight another moment that took place during the extension that 120,000 young people of the Neocatechumenal Way experienced in Tor Vergata the day after the Mass with the Pope. It was the traditional vocational meeting that the international team of the Way (Kiko Argüello, Mario Pezzi and María Ascensión Romero) convenes after each world youth convocation. Presided over by the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Baldassare Reina, in the context of a celebration of the Word in which many cardinals and bishops participated, the young people were invited to respond to the Lord's call to give their lives totally as priests, religious or missionaries "ad gentes".

The response was spectacular: a total of 10,000 young people said yes, expressing their willingness to leave everything-"house, brothers or sisters, father or mother, children or lands" (Mt 19:29)-to follow Jesus in one of these vocations of special consecration. 

Moment in which thousands of young people say "I do" to the Lord.

I invite you to look at this cross," Kiko Argüello told them. This is the image of freedom. The cross is the image of freedom. Here is a man who has given himself for you, who will set you free to give yourself to others and to stop offering everything to yourself". And the miracle of freedom happened.

The video is also on the Vatican News channel and the moment is from the minute 2:46:00. First, 5,000 boys running as if there were no tomorrow to reach the podium where they would receive the blessing with the imposition of hands from the bishops present; and then, 5,000 girls doing the same amid tears of joy and hugs while singing Psalm 45: "You are the most beautiful of men...". And the fact is that Jesus Christ, today, continues to make young people fall in love as they witness the evident failure of the romantic model proposed by society. It is a miracle that goes unnoticed by many who will attribute it to the emotional impact or to a collective hallucination. As Ascension Romero reminded them, alluding to the saint of the day, St. John Mary Vianney (1786-1859), who lived through a convulsive change of era similar to the one we are living through today, "in times of persecution and difficulty, the Lord always raises up many saints to help the Church and society".

The 10,000 who rose up at the Jubilee will not become priests, nuns or missionaries - they are now beginning, together with their parish priests and catechists, a time of discernment of that call - but that day will surely remain marked in their hearts as the one on which they experienced the infinite love of God that allows you to leave everything to follow him. 

This was confirmed by Carmen Hernandez, initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way, currently in the process of beatification: "What is really important is that Christ is risen, and to meet him. To be a priest, a nun, married, single, widowed or whatever is nonsense; the important thing is to meet Jesus Christ". The quote is taken from the book Undivided heart. (BAC, 2025), by Josefina Ramón Berná, which has delighted many of my vacation days, and which gathers a synthesis of Carmen's revolutionary thinking on women, virginity, celibacy and married life. It should be a must in the library of convents and communities of consecrated women, seminaries and those responsible for Vocation and Family Ministry, because her intuitions are absolutely providential.

The miracle of the young people raised at Tor Vergata was recorded by thousands of cell phones of those present and televised live, but not many will believe in its supernatural origin. Young people who claim to have met Jesus Christ? Crazy. Seeing is not believing.

The authorAntonio Moreno

Journalist. Graduate in Communication Sciences and Bachelor in Religious Sciences. He works in the Diocesan Delegation of Media in Malaga. His numerous "threads" on Twitter about faith and daily life have a great popularity.

Read more
More on Omnes
ColumnistsSantiago Leyra Curiá

Nazi hunting and ETA victims

The absence of vengeance in the victims of ETA terrorism, together with their demand for justice exclusively by legal means, speaks volumes about Spain's Christian roots.

August 11, 2025-Reading time: 4 minutes

As is well known, members of the German state under Nazism (1933-1945) were directly responsible for the murder of some 11 million people, of whom an estimated 6 million were Jews. This last genocide (a word created by the Polish jurist Rapahael Lemkin), known worldwide as the "Holocaust" or the "Shoah", was the result of the "Holocaust" and the "Shoah"., resulted in various trials, convictions and executions of Nazi culprits (the famous Nuremberg trials and others).

After World War II, a group of detectives, prosecutors and officers was formed with the intention of bringing to justice those who had played a role, however small, in the demonic machinery of the concentration camps. They were the Holocaust's shadow vigilantes: the Nazi hunters. Most of them have remained anonymous. Names such as William Denson, Rafi Eitan, Benjamin Ferencz, Efraim Zuroff, Fritz Bauer, Isser Harel, Elizabeth Holtzman, Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, Eli Rosenbaum, Jan Sehn...

Nazi hunters

The veteran writer and correspondent Andrew Nagorski published in 2017 a documented essay in which he recovered the misadventures of this hidden legion born after the Holocaust: "Hunters of Nazis" (Turner, 2017). This book recalls the exploits of the persecutors and the barbarities of the persecuted, also narrating the difficulties that these vigilantes had to overcome to carry out their work. They were not few, as they ranged from confrontation with their companions to the benevolence of the West towards some of the hierarchs.

The motivation of these people was clear. Tuvia Friedman, one of the most effective Jewish Nazi persecutors of World War II, escaped from a concentration camp as a young man, and from then on his goal was to capture those murderers. "I kept thinking about the day when the Jews would give it back to the Nazis, an eye for an eye.", he used to say. After his release, he joined a group of partisans with whom he sought out prominent war criminals.

Perhaps the most famous of these was the architect Simon Wiesenthal, a prisoner in the Mauthausen camp until he was liberated on May 5, 1945. The brutalities he endured in that hell made him present himself to an American lieutenant shortly thereafter and offer his services. He dedicated himself to helping those affected by the war and, together with Friedman, was decisive in the 1960s in catching the man who had organized the Final Solution, the extermination of millions of Jews: Adolf Eichmann. The German officer had managed to escape from the Allied justice in Nuremberg and fled to Argentinabut he was captured and tried thanks to them.

Unfortunately, there have been many genocides perpetrated in history and the vast majority have gone unpunished, such as the Armenian genocide, the Ukrainian genocide during Stalin's time, the Rwandan genocide, etc. One of the peculiarities of the Jewish Holocaust has been the determination of these people to achieve a minimum of justice in this life, often applying the law of talion (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth).

The case of ETA

On a much smaller scale and closer in time, in Spain members of the terrorist gang ETA (1959-2018) are guilty of 864 murders, more than 3,000 wounded, 86 kidnappings and 10,000 extortions of businessmen. Their goal was the creation of a socialist state in the Basque Country and independence from Spain and France. After 60 years of terror, on May 3, 2018 the terrorist gang announced its dissolution. At that time there remained 358 unsolved crimes and about 100 ETA members in hiding. The Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy assured then that there would be no advantages for ETA to stop killing or to bring its prisoners to the Basque Country.

Of the nearly 10,000 people charged for their relationship with ETA, there are currently only 142 prisoners left (136 in the Basque Country and Navarre and 6 in French prisons), while the Basque Government continues to accelerate the pace of permits and prisoner releases, with the connivance of the Socialist Government of Pedro Sanchez, who needs the votes of Bildu (heir party of ETA's political representatives) to govern.

Between 1975 and 1980, several groups related to Franco's dictatorship operated in order to combat ETA terrorism. In 1977, after the political amnesty granted by the Government of Adolfo Suarez, a group of 7 Army officers killed by means of a car bomb in France the ETA leader Argala, material author of the assassination of the President of the Government Luis Carrero Blanco in 1972.

During the socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez, between 1983 and 1987, the so-called "dirty war" against ETA took place, with the GAL being blamed for the murder of 27 people. These attacks and kidnappings were mostly perpetrated by French mercenaries hired by Spanish police officers, financed with reserved funds, and organized from the Ministry of the Interior itself, through those in charge of the fight against terrorism in the Basque Country. Some of those responsible for these State crimes were condemned by the Spanish Courts of Justice, some spent a short time in prison and then continued under house arrest and others were later pardoned.

Absence of revenge

But the relatives of the victims of ETA terrorism have never taken justice into their own hands, as the Nazi hunters did at the time. During the last few years, these victims have had to put up with the releases and tributes to the released ETA prisoners, as well as the unusual fact that the political party that has inherited the political project of the terrorist group has been incorporated into the governance of the State by the current president of the Spanish Government.

The absence of vengeance in the victims of ETA terrorism, together with their demand for justice exclusively by legal means, speaks volumes about the Christian roots of Spain, where fortunately justice and forgiveness have not been replaced in recent decades by the law of talion.

The authorSantiago Leyra Curiá

More on Omnes
Evangelization

Father Lafleur: The Forgotten Story of a Chaplain in World War II

Father Joseph Verbis Lafleur, an American military chaplain, showed unwavering heroism during World War II, serving and encouraging his fellow soldiers. He died in 1944 helping others escape from the sinking SS Shinyo Maru.

OSV / Omnes-August 10, 2025-Reading time: 4 minutes

Jack Figge, OSV News

There was nothing fancy about the little chapel where the Servant of God Father Joseph Verbis Lafleur celebrated Christmas Eve Mass on December 24, 1942. It was a simple wooden hut, built in the middle of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp where Father Lafleur was imprisoned.

Father Lafleur, ordained for the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, on April 2, 1938, had enlisted as a military chaplain in early 1941 and was assigned to serve with the 19th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Air Corps, stationed in the Philippines. Two years later, he was captured by the Japanese during the early days of U.S. involvement in World War II and was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.

Finally, Father Lafleur was killed when a U.S. submarine sank an unidentified Japanese POW transport, the SS Shinyo Maru, which was carrying American POWs to the mainland, killing all but 60 prisoners.

Recently, Michael Bell, executive director of the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, began researching Father Lafleur's life and service and presented his findings during a special reception on July 31.

The story of Father Lafleur

On December 8, 1941, sirens sounded at Clark Field, a U.S. military base in the Philippines. Simultaneously, on December 7 due to the international date change line, a Japanese carrier group launched an air attack on the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, marking the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War II.

Father Lafleur, the base chaplain, watched as Japanese planes bombed and strafed the U.S. airfield. Seeing the wounded soldiers, the chaplain sprang into action.

"With no regard for his personal safety, Father Lafleur goes from wounded soldier to wounded soldier, providing comfort or helping them evacuate to safety, and he becomes a real inspiration, not only to those he helped, but even to the leaders of that unit," Bell said. "He starts to demonstrate this incredible selflessness when, it seems like, everyone else is taking shelter and he's there helping people."

Father Lafleur's example of altruism continued when, after the attack, he was given the opportunity to evacuate to Australia. However, the chaplain promised to stay with his men and told the commanders that he would not leave until everyone else had been evacuated.

Lafleur retreated with the remaining soldiers to the Bataan Peninsula, where they attempted to repel the invading Japanese forces. However, their efforts failed and on May 7, 1942, Lafleur and the 19th Bombardment Group surrendered to the Japanese.

But the story of Father Lafleur's heroism had only just begun.

Father LaFleur was sent to Davao Penal Colony, a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in the Philippines, where he endured harsh living conditions and violent prison guards.

"Conditions get worse and worse as time goes on," Bell said. "What little food they had begins to run short, and by mid-summer 1942, the Japanese become very violent. If American or Filipino prisoners escape or try to escape, they take revenge on the others, punishing them or even executing some."

Nevertheless, Father Lafleur did his best to keep his spirits up by administering the sacraments and listening attentively to his fellow prisoners. Shortly after his arrival in Davao, Father Lafleur and other prisoners began to build a small wooden hut that would serve as a chapel, which they called "St. Peter in Chains." It was there that Christmas Eve Mass was celebrated in 1942.

"One of the stories suggests that while Father Lafleur was celebrating Mass, a couple of prisoners were so inspired that they pulled out an American flag they had been hiding, unfurled it and held it up during midnight Mass," Bell said. "This becomes a great inspiration for all these prisoners to persevere."

In a work camp

Soon after, the Japanese began selecting prisoners to send to Lasang, a nearby labor camp. Lafleur, still recovering from a severe bout of malaria, volunteered, convinced that there he would be where God was calling him to serve. He remained there until August 1944.

As U.S. forces rapidly approached, the Japanese began sending American prisoners of war to camps on other Japanese-controlled islands via "hell ships."

Father Lafleur and 750 other Americans were loaded onto one of these hellish ships, the SS Shinyo Maru, where they were crammed into two cramped compartments below deck, with minimal ventilation, no toilets and barely enough room for each prisoner to sit.

The men turn to Father Lafleur for spiritual guidance and encouragement as they suffer in the sweltering heat and pitch darkness.

Helping in the midst of tragedy

Tragically, on Sept. 7, 1944, a U.S. submarine fired on the unidentified Japanese ship. When the ship was hit, the Japanese began firing on the Americans as they tried to get out of the hold and started throwing grenades," Bell said. "The account indicates that Father Lafleur was there, constantly trying to help people get out, without regard for his own survival or safety."

In the end, he helped 83 men escape, but the transport ship broke in two and sank to the bottom of the Pacific with Father Lafleur still on board.

For years, Father Lafleur's story remained largely forgotten, remembered only in official U.S. reports, in the testimony of his fellow prisoners and in the Diocese of Lafayette, which opened his cause for canonization on September 5, 2020.

After learning about Father Lafleur's story, Bell knew he wanted to learn more about it and share it with the world. He believes Lafleur is an example of altruism that can serve as a model for all.

"The amazing thing about Father Lafleur's story is his constant altruism," Bell said. "It's an altruism that transcends self. It's this model of supreme self-sacrifice that can be an example to everyone."

The authorOSV / Omnes

Read more
More on Omnes
United States

Lion XIV is top-rated leader among Americans

The late Pope Francis enjoyed widespread popularity among U.S. residents, with between 61% and 86% approval ratings.

OSV News / Gina Christian-August 9, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

Gina Christian, OSV

Pope Leo XIV tops a new Gallup poll of world leaders among U.S. residents.

The survey, conducted by telephone July 7-21 with 1,002 adults nationwide, found that 57% of respondents viewed Leo XIV favorably, 11% disapproved of him and 31% had no opinion. Of that last group, 18% said they were not familiar enough with the pope to have an opinion, while the remaining 13% had not heard of him.

At the same time, Gallup noted that, "consistent with the ideological differences in their ratings, Democrats like him more than Republicans." The Gallup poll evaluated the U.S.-born pope for the first time since his election on May 8. Pope Leo XIV completes his first 100 days in the papacy on August 16.

Results of other leaders

Respondents gave Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a 52% approval rating, with 34% disapproving and 14% no opinion. Following him was Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont independent), with 49% positive and 38% negative, while 14% expressed no opinion.

A majority of Americans surveyed (57%) disapproved of U.S. President Donald Trump, with 41% approving and just 2% no opinion. Vice President J.D. Vance scored 49% disapproving, with 38% favorable and 13% no opinion.

Lion XIV also topped the rankings based on net favorability (representing the difference between positive and negative percentage points) with a 46%.

Gallup noted that "net favorability is more effective for these comparisons because it accounts for the large differences in Americans' familiarity with the various figures."

With the exception of Pope Leo XIV, Zelenski and Sanders, all other leaders on Gallup's list had a net negative favorability: French President Emmanuel Macron had a -1% and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk a -28%.

Trump (-16%), Secretary of State Marco Rubio (-16%), former President Joe Biden (-11%) and current Vice President JD Vance (-11%) were sandwiched between Macron and Musk in the net negative ranking.

Comparison with other Popes

Gallup also compared Leo XIV's rating with those of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI. It noted that the new pope's numbers are very similar to those of his predecessors in the early days of their respective pontificates. In 2013, Gallup found that 58% approved of Pope Francis and 10% disapproved, while in 2005 Pope Benedict XVI had a 55% favorable and 12% unfavorable opinion.

The pollster clarified that it did not measure U.S. public opinion of Pope St. John Paul II as favorable or unfavorable until 1993, long after his election in 1978. However, the late Pope enjoyed widespread popularity among U.S. residents, with between 61% and 86% approval ratings in a given poll over the years.

Among U.S. Catholics, Pope Leo XIV (76%), Pope Francis (80%) and Pope Benedict XVI (67%) "garnered above-average support in their initial ratings," Gallup said .

The firm also noted that the Pope Leo XIV differs from his predecessors in that his approval rating is "higher among liberals than among conservatives (65% vs. 46%)."

By contrast, conservatives were more likely to view Benedict XVI and Pope Francis favorably during the early days of their pontificates.

Pope Benedict XVI maintained that conservative approval advantage through 2010 Gallup data taken three years before his resignation in 2013. Pope Francis' rating among conservatives declined, with his December 2023 Gallup numbers showing 70% approval among liberals and 42% among conservatives.

The authorOSV News / Gina Christian

Read more
More on Omnes
Culture

Whitney Houston: the voice

Whitney Houston was always very religious. Besides dedicating years and years to singing in church, she always gave public testimony of her Baptist faith.

Gerardo Ferrara-August 9, 2025-Reading time: 6 minutes

It was May 1994 when I heard her sing live (on television) for the first time. I was not yet 16 years old. I was zapping and about to go to sleep (I had school the next day). Just as I was about to turn off the TV, she appeared, Whitney Houston: wrapped in a black and white dress, with her hair up, her eyes dreamy, the audience ecstatic at her feet, beautiful. She began to sing: "If I... should stay...", the first verses of "I will always love you". I was floored!

Until then I had listened to some of his songs, but I hated that "I will always love you": it was everywhere. They played it non-stop on the radio in the bus that took me to school, at home while I was doing my homework, at the gym... I couldn't stand it anymore! But to hear her sing it live, and even better than on the album, well, that had never happened to me.

So, from that moment on, I started listening to all his albums, I know all his songs, I rejoiced at his triumphs, I witnessed his tragic decline and I cried at his sudden demise, on February 11, 2012.

Many things can be said about her, but she was undoubtedly one of the greatest artists, and perhaps the greatest voice, of all time, the most awarded in history. In the United States she is still called "The Voice".

Destined to become a legend

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey, on August 9, 1963, the last child of John and Cissy. Her mother was a first cousin of Dionne Warwick and a famous gospel singer, as well as a celebrated backup singer for Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin (hers is the famous high soprano note on Franklin's "Ain't No Way").

As a child, Whitney (who had two older brothers and was called Nippy by her family) sang in the church where her mother directed the choir (New Hope Baptist Church in Newark) and stood out for her prodigious voice (at the age of 11 she sang her first solo). As she was also very pretty, she had the opportunity to pose as a model for Seventeen magazine (the first girl of color to appear on the cover) and make some appearances in television series. She began her career in the music world as a backing vocalist, along with her mother, for several artists (among them Chaka Khan, in "I'm every woman", of which she would later make a famous version).

The opportunity, however, came when, in a New York club where she sang with her mother, Whitney performed a version of George Benson's "Greatest love of all" in front of the producer of that same song, as well as one of the greats of music (having produced, among others, Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin): Clive Davis. In an interview, Davis declared that he was impressed (as I and many others) by the most beautiful voice of his generation and by the way he had interpreted that song, which he himself had produced years before, giving it a meaning, a soul, that no one else had managed to give it.

Davis signed Whitney to Arista Records and, from then on, it was one hit after another: the first album, "Whitney Houston" (1985), with hits like "You give good love", "Greatest love of all", "How will I know", "All at once"; the second, "Whitney" (1987), with the famous "I wanna dance with somebody". In a few years, Whitney Houston became a star of the first order, the first woman to have seven number 1 singles (surpassing the Beatles), awards galore (Grammy, American Music Award and others) and worldwide fame.

Too black for whites, too white for blacks

With success, of course, came the first difficulties. From the beginning, Whitney faced a change of direction with respect to other African-American singers: more pop sounds, simple melodies and not too much gospel or soul (but in live performances her voice left, like Aretha Franklin, an indelible soul imprint), and this to make her more acceptable to the white public (and the African-American did not like it, so much so that sometimes she was booed loudly and some called her Oreo, like the black cookies on the outside and white on the inside).

However, she was the first African-American singer to become an MTV star, paving the way for others after her and inventing a way of singing that all her heiresses have since tried to match (Céline Dion, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Adele, etc.).

There were also rumors about his sentimental and private life (which I will not dwell on) that always made him suffer a lot.

Whitney tried to adapt, but then her character began to surface, with a desire for something that was more her own, to such an extent that she managed to prevail over Davis to produce an album, "I'm your baby tonight" (1990), which was a notable departure from the first two, with blacker sounds.

"The Bodyguard" and the 1990s.

The consecration was yet to come, and in fact it came in 1992, when Whitney starred alongside Kevin Costner in the movie "The Bodyguard", which made her even better known around the globe, made her the most famous singer in the world and produced the best-selling female single in history ("I will always love you", written and sung years earlier by Dolly Parton) and the best-selling soundtrack of all time.

In the meantime, came also the marriage with the famous Bobby Brown and motherhood (her daughter Bobby Kristina was born in 1993 and, unfortunately, died a few years after her mother, also found unconscious in the bathtub).

Despite early emotional storms and drug problems, the 1990s were full of successes (two other films: "Waiting to exhale", with its soundtrack, and "The preacher's wife", with the eponymous gospel album sung by Houston, which became the best-selling gospel album of all time).

Another critically and public acclaimed album was "My love is your love", more hip hop oriented.

Decline and death

The 2000s were marked mainly by drug problems, detoxes and the loss of her voice, but also by two other albums ("Just Whitney", 2002, and "I look to you", 2009), film productions, Brown's divorce and several attempts to regain her voice and success.

Despite having tried with all her might to get back on her feet, Whitney Houston died on February 11, 2012 in a Beverly Hills hotel, not so much from drugs (which also contributed, along with smoking, to her physical deterioration), but from heart problems due to atherosclerosis, a disease that had also affected another of the great voices of the 20th century: Maria Callas.

Faith and inheritance

Whitney Houston was always very religious. Besides dedicating years and years to singing in church, she always gave public testimony of her Baptist faith. Testimonies from the days before her death refer to her desire to finally meet Jesus, tired of all the vanities of show business. Several friends, among them Robyn Crawford, declared that she would lock herself in her room for hours to "talk to Jesus".

Certainly, her earthly life ended tragically, but her artistic and human legacy is destined to live on forever. I will conclude with the obituary that had the greatest impact on me after her death, that of the great Italian singer Mina:

"They leave, they want to leave. Another tragedy, another absurdity, another absence, another mystery. I don't want to know why Whitney Houston died. I don't want to relate, once again, a great musical talent with drug stories. The 'cursed' equation that associates success with fragility, art with depression, applause with drugs continues to haunt a world that, only in appearance, only contains privilege.

Please don't tell me if that were really the case. I want to keep her in my memory as I see her: tall, beautiful, extraordinarily talented. I know little about her life. And everything about her music. An angel who sings like that would have deserved what now seems an unattainable 'prize': a conscious existence, a happy life. She really invented a way of singing, not an easy one, that everyone has tried to imitate. It has become the term of comparison. The litmus paper. The model. The unattainability.

And, as often happens to me in cases like this, I can't help but think about where a person's talent ends when they are no longer in the form we know them to be."

However, those who have faith may remember the words of a famous and beautiful song Whitney made famous: "Jesus loves me".

"Jesus loves me, the Bible says so and I believe it. The little ones belong to him: we are weak, but he is strong. And I press on upward, I pray, Lord, lead me! I am unworthy and stubborn, I know, but never stop loving me. Sometimes I am lonely, but I know I am never lonely, for Jesus loves me, I know, when I am wrong and when I am right. Amen."

Read more
More on Omnes
Spain

Jumilla, religious freedom and sports centers: the missing context

The Spanish Episcopal Conference has endorsed the position of the Islamic Commission of Spain on religious manifestations in public spaces, but legal sources consulted point out that there may be some legal confusion on the part of both politicians and the Episcopal Conference.

Javier García Herrería-August 8, 2025-Reading time: 3 minutes

The Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) has shown its support for the position of the Islamic Commission of Spain in relation to the decision of the City Council of Jumilla to restrict religious manifestations in public spaces.

In a communiqué, the bishops recall that "public religious manifestations, understood as freedom of worship, are protected by the right to religious freedom", as stated in Article 16.1 of the Spanish Constitution and in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to the EEC, the only legitimate intervention of the authorities in this area should be "only in case of disturbance of public order", always evaluated "objectively by specialists and with technical criteria", avoiding "arbitrary or ideological" decisions. They underline that, if restrictions are applied to protect the common good, these should be extended to any type of demonstration in public spaces, not only to those of a religious nature.

The note warns that limiting these rights on religious grounds "is a discrimination that cannot occur in democratic societies" and that "does not affect only one religious group, but all religious denominations and also non-believers".

What happened in Jumilla?

The City Council of Jumilla generated a strong controversy by approving, last Thursday, August 7, a motion -supported by the PP and Vox- that restricts the use of municipal sports facilities exclusively to sports activities organized by the city council, expressly prohibiting religious events such as the end of Ramadan and the Feast of the Lamb.

The measure has been considered by the local Muslim community as a lack of respect and a blow to coexistence. Mohamed Ajana, secretary of the Islamic Commission of Spain, expressed his "concern" for a decision that hinders religious freedom.

Possible confusions

The controversy surrounding the decision of the City Council of Jumilla to restrict the use of municipal sports centers to sports activities organized by the consistory -a measure that prevents religious celebrations such as the end of Ramadan or the Feast of the Lamb- has generated criticism from both Vox (promoter of the motion) and the PP (which abstained to move it forward), as well as the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), which aligned itself with the Islamic Commission to defend freedom of worship.

According to legal experts consulted, Vox's initial proposal involves a confusion between "public religious demonstrations" and the occasional use of a public space managed by the administration. While the former are protected by Article 16.1 of the Constitution and Article 21 (assembly and demonstration), provided they are previously communicated and do not disturb public order, the use of a sports center is governed by administrative law and municipal powers (Law 7/1985 of Bases of the Local Regime), which allow the city council to establish criteria for use.

The City Council can limit the use of facilities to sporting activities, but it must do so in a neutral and general way, not prohibiting only religious activities, because this opens the door to possible discrimination. Constitutional law experts consulted by Omnes explain that a city council can limit the use of a sports center exclusively to sporting activities or prohibit certain events for objective reasons such as public health or risk to the facilities. What it cannot do is veto an activity on religious grounds or discriminate between denominations: if a Catholic mass is authorized, an Islamic prayer must also be allowed, and vice versa. This principle of neutrality and non-discrimination is protected by Article 14 of the Constitution and the Organic Law on Religious Freedom.

The objections to the EEC point out that its communiqué is based on an erroneous assumption: it has not prohibited a procession or act on public roads, but a religious activity within a municipal enclosure, where the local authority has the margin to decide its use. In the same way, the Consistory could deny a mass in those facilities on the same grounds. In this sense, religious freedom (art. 16 CE) does not imply an automatic right to use any public space for acts of worship, but the prohibition of discrimination and the obligation to justify the limitations with objective and non-ideological criteria.

The controversy thus exposes the fine line between guaranteeing fundamental rights and exercising powers to manage public assets, underlining the need for legal precision in a debate with obvious social and political implications.

Read more
More on Omnes
  • Resources
  • Basilicas, sanctuaries, collegiate churches... what differentiates the various places of worship?
Resources

Basilicas, sanctuaries, collegiate churches... what differentiates the various places of worship?

The Church has several types of temples, but each of them has a specific nature that is set forth in the Code of Canon Law.

Alejandro Vázquez-Dodero-August 8, 2025-Reading time: 5 minutes

God is everywhere, without being God in each of these places or in their totality. Thus, the believer, who wants to deal with this God of whom he feels himself to be a creature and whom he loves, will always be able to deal with him, wherever he is.

In truth, "where" one deals with God is in his soul, in the depths of his heart, where He dwells, being Pure Love. That is the "place" par excellence to meet Him.

Naturally, this treatment will be different according to the interior dispositions of each person, as well as the circumstances that accompany it. It is not the same to treat God in a state of grace as in sin, or to treat him in a convulsive and agitated environment -which is possible- or in a peaceful and relaxed one.

Now, it is true that the external place, the environment, helps us to encounter God and treat him with greater depth, piety, recollection and devotion. We are referring to the sacred places, where, in addition to meeting God personally, I can also do so through the liturgy, which is the celebration of the divine mysteries. 

Temples dedicated to worship

These are the physical sacred places destined for common worship, for the liturgy, for the public celebration of prayer and the sacraments, the core of our Catholic faith. 

They are contained in canons 1205 and following of the Code of Canon Law, which regulate the temporal goods of the Church, including their administration, acquisition, conservation and disposition. They establish the norms for the management of ecclesiastical goods, both material and immaterial, and the manner in which they are to be used for the good of the Church and its ends.

These sacred places are dedicated and blessed by the ordinary, usually the bishop, which will be recorded in the minutes; therefore, not just any place that the faithful consider to be a place of worship.

Naturally, in a sacred place, only that which is conducive to worship and piety will be admitted, prohibiting anything that is not in keeping with the sanctity of that place.

The church

It is a sacred building destined for divine worship, common prayer and the celebration of the sacraments, mainly the Eucharist. 

For its construction, which will respect the liturgical norms and sacred art, the explicit written consent of the local bishop is required, who will bless it and, if necessary, place it under the patronage of the Virgin Mary or a saint. 

The faithful have the right to enter the churches for the celebrations and their prayer, to meet God in the silence and recollection to be expected.

Religious or conventual communities may have their own church within their convent, called a "conventual temple", which serves as a place of worship for the religious community, as well as for the faithful who wish to attend.

Parish and parish church

It is a community of the faithful gathered around a presbyter who makes the diocesan bishop present in that place. The community celebrates worship, sacraments and prayer in the parish church, presided over by its pastor.

The pastor is basically responsible for the administration of Baptism, Confirmation in case of danger of death, the administration of Viaticum and Anointing of the Sick, assistance at marriages, the celebration of funerals, the blessing of the baptismal font at Easter time and the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

Ordinarily the parish should be territorial, but where appropriate it may be personal because of the rite, language or nationality of the faithful of a territory, or for any other appropriate reason.

Cathedral or cathedral church

A cathedral is the temple where the bishop has his seat - cathedra. It is the principal church of a diocese or particular church, and from it the bishop presides at prayer and conducts worship and teaches. It may be called Mother Church or Major Church, to emphasize its unique and principal character in the diocese.

Unlike the cathedral, the "collegiate church" has a structure similar to that of the cathedral, although it is not the bishop's seat.

Basilica

In its Greco-Roman genesis the basilica was a prominent public building intended for judicial functions, as a court, but over time Christians began to use it as a temple and for liturgical purposes.

The Roman Pontiff has the prerogative of being the owner of a basilica temple, and it can be declared "major": only the Pope can officiate at its altar, and currently there are the Roman churches of St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. 

There is also the "minor" basilica - currently more than 1,500 around the world - which is designed to display on the main altar certain signs of papal dignity and union with the Holy See, and should be, like the major basilica, an example and reference for the rest of the churches in the area.

Sanctuary

It is a church or other sacred place, duly approved by the bishop of the place, to which numerous faithful go on pilgrimage for a particular reason of piety: they go to the sanctuary to venerate a particular image or relic, to gain indulgences, or because of the particular religious and historical-cultural significance of the place.

We speak of a diocesan shrine if it is approved by the local bishop, national if it is approved by the bishops' conference, or international if it is recognized as such by the Holy See.

Some sanctuaries are granted certain graces when the circumstances of the place and the good of the faithful who go on pilgrimage to them make it advisable.

Hermitage

It is a small temple, usually of small size and located on the outskirts of urban centers, in rural areas, which may have a sporadic religious use. Historically it has been linked to the figure of the hermit - hence its name - and to the practice of contemplative life.

Chapel

It is a place destined for divine worship for the benefit of one or more individuals, usually of small dimensions, which for liturgical celebrations requires the relevant episcopal authorization.

Oratory

It is a small church intended for personal and common prayer for the benefit of a community or group of faithful. Liturgical acts can be celebrated in it, and other faithful will have access to it as long as the one on whom the oratory depends gives his consent.

Cemeteries

Sacred places are also those destined for the burial of Christians: cemeteries, which contain the tombs, niches or columbaria where the ashes are deposited in case of cremation of the corpse.

In a way, they are places of encounter with God, since they are the last place inhabited by the bodily dimension of a child of God at the moment of his or her transfer to eternal life.

Cemeteries are spaces destined for the burial of Christians, who, configured with Christ by Baptism for all eternity, await the second resurrection of Christ, in which the soul will be united again to their bodies without any defect or possibility of death or decomposition.

It is convenient that the churches have cemeteries for the burial of their faithful, places already blessed by the bishop; if this is not possible, each burial place should receive such a blessing.

It is common for religious congregations or some families to have their own cemetery cemeteries.

Finally, it should be noted that ordinarily only the Pope and diocesan bishops and cardinals can be buried inside churches, as a sign of succession to the Apostles, whom they represented during their lifetime.

More on Omnes