Divine Redeemer Parish

Pope Leo XIV listens to the choir during an audience with participants of an event organized by the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation on June 18, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 19, 2025 / 17:03 pm (CNA).

At an event sponsored by the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV said that polyphony is a musical form “full of meaning” for prayer and Christian life, and cited the works of the famous Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina as an example.

The Holy Father offered his praise to polyphonic music while welcoming participants at the June 18 event commemorating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Palestrina, a great composer of sacred music of the 16th century who directed institutions such as the Sistine Chapel, the Lateran Chapel, and the Liberian Chapel.

“Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was, in the history of the Church, one of the composers who most contributed to the promotion of sacred music, for ‘the glory of God and the sanctification and edification of the faithful’ in the difficult yet passionate context of the Counter-Reformation,” Leo XIV said.

Among Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s best-known works are “Tu es Petrus,” “Missa Papae Marcelli,” and “Missa brevis” (“You are Peter,” “Mass of Pope Marcellus,” and “Brief Mass”).

“His solemn and austere compositions, inspired by Gregorian chant, closely unite music and liturgy, ‘both by giving prayer a sweeter expression and fostering unanimity, and by enriching the sacred rites with greater solemnity,’” the pontiff added.

In this regard, Leo XIV said that polyphony “is a musical form full of meaning, both for prayer and for Christian life,” since “it is inspired by the sacred text, which it seeks to clothe with an appropriate melody so that the faithful may better understand the text.”

The pope explained that polyphonic music “achieves this goal by entrusting the words to several voices, each of which repeats the words in its own unique way, with varied and complementary melodic and harmonic movements.”

“Finally, everything harmonizes thanks to the skill with which the composer develops and interweaves the melodies, respecting the rules of counterpoint, echoing them, sometimes even creating dissonances that later find resolution in new chords,” he noted.

Leo XIV said that “the effect of this dynamic unity in diversity — a metaphor for our common journey of faith under the guidance of the Holy Spirit — is to help the listener enter ever more deeply into the mystery expressed by the words, responding, if appropriate, with responsories or in alternations.”

The pontiff noted that “thanks to this richness of form and content, the Roman polyphonic tradition, in addition to having bequeathed us an immense artistic and spiritual heritage, remains even today, in the musical field, a reference to which we can turn, albeit with the necessary adaptations, in sacred and liturgical composition.”

In this way, through song, the faithful will be able to participate “fully, consciously, and actively in the liturgy, profoundly involving voice, mind, and heart.”

Pope Leo XIV held up the “Mass of Pope Marcellus” as an example of excellence “as well as the precious repertoire of compositions bequeathed to us by the unforgettable Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci, the illustrious composer and, for almost 50 years, director of the Sistine Chapel Choir.”

The Holy Father recalled the words of St. Augustine, who, “speaking of singing the Easter Alleluia, said: ‘Let us sing it now, my brothers ... As wayfarers sing, but walk ... Go forward, go forward in good ... Sing and walk! Do not stray from the path, do not turn back, do not stop!’”

“Let us make his invitation our own, especially in this sacred time of joy. My blessing to all,” he concluded.

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

An 1889 rendition by architects Bullard & Bullard of the National Emancipation Monument proposed for Springfield, Illinois (Library of Congress), superimposed on a 34-star U.S. flag dating to the Civil War. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 16:33 pm (CNA).

Catholic churches are celebrating the national holiday of Juneteenth this week by honoring the freedom won by formerly enslaved Black Americans at the end of the Civil War.

The National Museum of African American History calls the commemoration of Juneteenth, a federal holiday celebrated on June 19, the nation’s “second independence day.” The holiday marks General Order No. 3 that enforced the Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved African Americans in Texas in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that enslaved people were now all free.

Wendi Williams, executive director of cultural diversity and outreach for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., noted many parishes started their Juneteenth celebrations early.

“This past weekend, dozens of parishes celebrated Juneteenth liturgies, as a Sunday Mass, and the various kinds of activities, gatherings, and fellowship that would follow the Mass,” she told CNA.

In Reston, Virginia, St. John Neumann Catholic Church celebrated the holiday on Saturday, June 14, with children’s activities, an interactive story time, a lecture, food, music, and dance. 

“This is our third year having a Juneteenth celebration,” said Elizabeth Wright, communications director for St. John Neumann Catholic Church. “It’s a combination of education and celebration. There’s history around the lunch and the foods we serve, trying to honor Black culture, African American culture, in every way.”

Spencer Crew, a professor of history at George Mason University and former interim director of the Smithsonian African American History Museum, hosted a lecture at the parish titled “Journey to Freedom: A Community Celebration.”

Wright emphasized that in their outreach they invite not just parishioners but the entire community.

North of the nation’s capital, meanwhile, in Sandy Spring, Maryland, multiple Christian denominations came together to host a community event earlier today called “Juneteenth: Freedom, Resilience, and Pursuit of Equality,” which featured music, dance, and the spoken word. 

Among the participating groups were the Africa and Diaspora Ministry of St. Augustine Catholic Church and the Anti-Racism Initiative of St. Camillus Parish. 

Steve Yank, leader of St. Camillus’ Anti-Racism Initiative, referenced a 2018 pastoral letter from the U.S. bishops for inspiration for the Juneteenth event.

“The bishops’ letter, ‘Open Wide Our Hearts,’ makes clear that racist acts are sinful … Sinful because they fail to acknowledge human dignity,” he explained. “In that spirit, the anti-racism initiative of the St. Camillus Justice Peace Integrity of Creation Ministry observes Juneteenth, a day to reflect on the evils of slavery and to celebrate freedom for enslaved Africans in America. It’s part of our charge to recognize life and human dignity as sacred.”

Williams connected the celebration of Juneteenth to synodality, a theme the late Pope Francis promoted. 

“Synodality is walking with people. Synodality is bringing people together. Discussions shape dialogue. Bringing different speakers that are fluent in particular subjects helps the faithful learn from different vantage points,” she said.

“We invite the faithful and the broader community to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans to reflect on the dignity of every human person. [Juneteenth is] a sacred opportunity for us to affirm our shared human dignity while also celebrating the rich heritage of African Americans.”

Early photo of Robert Prevost from the Midwest Augustinian Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel. / Credit: Courtesy of the Midwest Augustinian Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel

Vatican City, Jun 19, 2025 / 16:03 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV celebrated the 43rd anniversary of his priestly ordination today. On June 19, 1982, Robert Prevost was ordained a priest by Belgian Archbishop Jean Jadot in St. Monica Chapel, located just outside the Vatican. He was 26 years old. He entered the Augustinian order in 1977 and took his first vows on Sept. 2, 1978.

St. Monica Chapel, located next to the Plaza del Santo Oficio — where the pontiff currently resides — holds particular symbolic value for Leo XIV. Not only was it the place of his ordination, but it was also the titular church assigned to him as a cardinal in September 2023, about a year and a half before his election to the papacy on May 8 of this year.

According to Vatican News, the commemorative holy card for his ordination includes an image of the Last Supper, taken from 15th-century Russian iconography, and words from St. Augustine that still resonate powerfully in his ministry today: “I cannot feed you with ordinary bread, but this Word is your portion. I feed you with the same table that feeds me. I am your servant.”

These words — taken from the bishop of Hippo’s 339th sermon — defined the spirituality of the young Augustinian priest, who would soon be sent as a missionary to Peru, where he ministered for almost two decades.

Also in his work “Exposition on the Psalms (Psalm 103, III, 9),” St. Augustine said: “You are a good servant of Christ if you serve those whom Christ has served … May he grant us to perform this service well.”

This spirit of service was evoked by Pope Leo XIV himself in the homily he preached when for the first time as the bishop of Rome he ordained 11 deacons to the priesthood.

“The love of Christ in fact possesses us!” the pope exclaimed. “It is a possession that liberates and enables us not to possess anyone. Liberate, not possess. We belong to God: There is no greater wealth to appreciate and share. It is the only wealth that, when shared, multiplies.”

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

Pope Leo XIV visits Vatican Radio’s transmission center on June 19, 2025, in Santa Maria di Galeria, Italy. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 19, 2025 / 15:33 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV visited the Vatican’s radio transmitter station in Santa Maria di Galeria, Italy, on Thursday and thanked staff for their dedicated work in communicating the Church’s mission around the world.

During the June 19 site visit, the Holy Father blessed staff working in the central radio center on the Vatican’s Corpus Christi holiday and reaffirmed the “missionary value” of their work in communication.

Leo told staff he was grateful for Vatican news reports while in Africa and in Latin America as a missionary, the Holy See Press Office indicated in a telegram post on Thursday.

The last pope to visit the Santa Maria di Galeria central radio center was John Paul II in 1991. Pope Pius XII inaugurated the site in 1957, more than two decades after Pope Pius XI pioneered Vatican Radio with Italian engineer and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi in 1931.

The Holy Father also shared light refreshments with staff present Thursday morning to celebrate with them the 43rd anniversary of his June 19 priestly ordination. 

As part of his visit to Santa Maria di Galeria, a Vatican extra territory outside of Rome, Leo had the opportunity to examine the project site being studied for an “agrivoltaic system” for farming and solar energy production.

Nearly one year has passed since Pope Francis revealed his plan for the Vatican state to transition to solar energy as its main power source, as outlined in the 2024 motu proprio Fratello Sole, or “Brother Sun.”

null / Credit: Butusova Elena/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 19, 2025 / 14:02 pm (CNA).

The man with the highest reported IQ in the world has gained attention worldwide after publicly proclaiming his Christianity on social media.

On June 17, South Korean scientist YoungHoon Kim, who claims he has an IQ of 276, the highest IQ ever recorded, posted on X: “As the world’s highest IQ record holder, I believe that Jesus Christ is God, the way and the truth and the life.”

His post has received 14 million views and a quarter-million likes as of Thursday, June 19.

Kim’s claim to being the world’s highest IQ record holder has been verified by organizations such as the Giga Society, Mensa, World Memory Championships, World Memory Sports Council (in partnership with Guinness World Records), and Official World Record.

Kim, responding to the tremendous popularity of his original post, said in another X post on June 19 that he “will use this opportunity to lead many souls to God.”

“Amen. Christ is my logic,” Kim, 36, said in another response to a commenter on X.

The Catholic Church teaches that God’s existence can be known through reason alone, as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 36): “God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason.” 

This doctrine, rooted in Vatican Council I’s Dei Filius, emphasizes that human reason, by observing creation’s order, can ascertain God’s existence, affirming that “God… can be known with certitude by the natural light of human reason from created things.” 

Kim stated in February on X: “God exists. 100%,” and recently suggested: “Our consciousness is not just brain activity. It may be quantum information — something that continues after death.”

Kim is founder and CEO of NeuroStory, an organization dedicated to finding “AI-powered brain health solutions” and backed by the South Korean government.

He also founded the United Sigma Intelligence Association and is on the board of Lifeboat Foundation, which promotes scientific advancements while mitigating human risks from technologies like AI.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, England (left), and Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA; SimeonMarcel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dublin, Ireland, Jun 19, 2025 / 13:32 pm (CNA).

Two prominent archbishops in England have said that if the End of Life Bill set for a final vote in Parliament on Friday passes, Catholic hospices and care homes may have no choice but to shut down.

In a statement about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill about to face its Third Reading on Friday in British Parliament, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, and Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool, who oversees life issues, said: “We call attention to the fact that the future of many care homes and hospices will be put in grave doubt if the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill becomes law.”

Nichols and Sherrington also addressed the protection amendments to the bill that have been rejected.

“Our Parliament has now rejected amendments that would have allowed such institutions not to be involved in assisted suicide,” they said. “Minister Stephen Kinnock, MP [member of Parliament]; Kim Leadbeater, MP; as well as other MPs indicated that the rights that this bill will give to individuals to seek assisted suicide, and to employees to participate in an assisted suicide, are likely to trump the mission and values of institutions such as hospices and care homes.”

They continued: “In other words, a right to assisted suicide given to individuals is highly likely to become a duty on care homes and hospices to facilitate it. We fear that this bill will thereby seriously affect the provision of social care and palliative care across the country.”

“The insufficient protections provided by the bill, along with the tone of the discussion surrounding the amendment and comments from its sponsors, indicate a strong possibility that Catholic hospices and care homes may be compelled to participate in assisted suicide if the bill is approved.”

Nichols, who has been an outspoken opponent of the Assisted Suicide Bill, and Sherrington said in their statement: “Institutions whose mission has always been to provide compassionate care in sickness or old age, and to provide such care until the end of life, may have no choice, in the face of these demands, but to withdraw from the provision of such care.” 

The statement also addressed the damage this bill may do to the relationship that Catholic care facilities have with their local communities.  “The widespread support which hospices attract from local communities will also be undermined by these demands which, in many cases, will require these institutions to act contrary to their traditional and principled foundations,” they said.

The archbishops urged the defeat of the bill. “This tragedy can only be avoided by the defeat of this bill on Friday,” they said.

Representatives of Catholic care facilities have voiced their concerns in evidence provided to Parliament legislators.

St. Gemma’s is a hospice in Leeds, England, and during the committee stage of the bill told MPs: “If compliance with assisted dying provision becomes a condition for NHS [National Health Service] funding, institutions like St. Gemma’s may have no alternative but to cease operations entirely.”

In October 2024, St. Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney, East London, warned that “as a Catholic hospice, our position is that assisted dying plays no part in our specialist palliative care practice and is not consistent with our ethos or values.”

St. Adalbert Parish in Chicago. / Credit: Gregg Nagel

CNA Staff, Jun 19, 2025 / 12:53 pm (CNA).

The Chicago City Council on Wednesday voted to extend protection status to a historic Catholic parish in the city, handing a win to advocates who for years have urged the local government to protect the more-than-century-old structure.

City leaders voted at their June 18 meeting to designate St. Adalbert’s Parish in the Pilsen neighborhood as a Designated Chicago Landmark. The city government says that designated landmarks are subject to stricter development rules, including approval from the government regarding if, and how, they may be altered or changed.

Preservationists hailed the designation on Wednesday. “BRAVO!!” Preservation Chicago wrote in an X post on Wednesday afternoon.

The preservation group has been at the helm of efforts to preserve the church from demolition and development. They noted on Wednesday that the building has appeared on the group’s “most endangered” historic property list multiple times over the years.

Ward Miller, the executive director of Preservation Chicago, told CNA that the vote demonstrates that churches like St. Adalbert’s are “really fabulous monuments in our city.”

“Particularly in Chicago, we had really wonderful architects that did some amazing work here,” he said. “It’s a great stride forward.”

Miller praised the Archdiocese of Chicago for backing the recent landmark designation.

“It’s wonderful to have the Archdiocese of Chicago working with us toward preservation of these great monuments,” he said.

Buildings and structures like St. Adalbert’s “were built by people with pennies, nickels, and dimes,” he said.

“It’s not just people of the Catholic faith — we all should be working toward this,” he said. “I think preservation needs to be a perpetual idea.”

Historic parishes struggle to stay open around U.S.

The yearslong preservation effort in Chicago underscores regular ongoing conflicts in cities around the United States where Catholics have fought to preserve historic parishes facing threats of closure and destruction.

Yearslong declines in attendance, financial troubles, and physical deterioration have rendered many once-vibrant parishes emptier and without support, oftentimes becoming liabilities for dioceses who themselves are cash-strapped.

In some cases parishioners have resorted to novel efforts to save their churches. A group of parishioners in the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, last year acquired a historic church from the diocese, preserving it as a chapel and place of worship.

Earlier this year the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation announced a U.S.-based initiative to provide tens of millions of dollars to Catholic parishes and organizations across the country to “restore and endow” Catholic communities around the country “for generations to come.”

Other parishes have struggled to stay afloat, such as St. Casimir in Buffalo, New York, which has mounted efforts in recent years to pay its considerable bills and remain open as a house of worship and historic site.

St. Adalbert’s has seen similar efforts at preservation. The parish community dates to 1874 and has served Polish immigrants and their descendants as well as the Mexican-American community more recently.

The present soaring Gothic cathedral-style structure — designed by noted Chicago architect Henry Schlacks — was completed in 1914.

Parishioners have been fighting to preserve the structure and its surrounding buildings for years. In 2016 the Archdiocese of Chicago announced that due to “the dangerous state of repair and prohibitive costs of repair and maintenance,” the parish would be “reduced to uses other than divine worship.”

Among the necessary repairs was a $3 million structural restoration of the parish’s two towers, the archdiocese said.

In 2019 the archdiocese announced that the building was “relegated to profane but not sordid use,” meaning the parish would “no longer be a sacred space and may not be used for worship.”

Advocates told CNA last year that the archdiocese had previously offered them the parish for free before withdrawing the deal, though the archdiocese sharply disputed that claim, stating that supporters of the parish “were never able to come up with a realistic plan or viable funding source for the property’s acquisition, upkeep, or redevelopment.”

Though it has been afforded some protection from development, St. Adalbert’s may still be sold for non-Catholic use; a nondenominational church is reportedly seeking to buy the property.

The landmark protection, meanwhile, does not cover the parish’s entire campus, which includes a rectory, school, and convent.

Still, Miller said, advocates are “very pleased that there appears to be a path forward.”

“These are not just faith centers,” he said. “They’re humanitarian centers that provide things from counseling to schools to family dinners. We should all be working together to come to a common ground in preserving them.

Cameron Mumford on pilgrimage in Jerusalem. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Cameron Mumford

Rome Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 11:06 am (CNA).

Cameron Mumford came to Jerusalem on a solo Catholic pilgrimage to retrace the steps of Christ. By the end of his journey, he had fled a modern war zone alongside a Romanian Orthodox nun, taking cover amid missile strike sirens at the Jordanian border crossing.

“I did not let go of my rosary or my brown scapular,” the 29-year-old British pilgrim told CNA of his harrowing final nights in Israel. “I kept praying for people to be safe.”

Mumford, a Catholic from the Diocese of Nottingham, England, had long dreamed of returning to the Holy Land. His first visit with a tour group in 2017 felt rushed, and this time, he wanted to spend more time in prayer at the holy sites. He arrived alone on June 6 and checked into a hostel just a five-minute walk from the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre — the site where Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.

At first, it was everything he hoped for. He joined the Franciscan friars for daily Mass and processions at the tomb of Christ, prayed at the Garden of Gethsemane for over an hour in near silence, and received a brown scapular made by Carmelites in Bethlehem. He even got a traditional pilgrim tattoo of the Jerusalem Cross etched on his arm.

“Praying inside the tomb of Jesus Christ is a surreal experience. I’m so blessed to be here right now,” he posted on social media on his first day.

But in the early morning hours of June 13, just hours before the planned end of his pilgrimage, Mumford was jolted awake at 3 a.m. by sirens and emergency alerts on his phone in Hebrew. Israel had launched a massive airstrike — Operation Rising Lion — targeting over 100 Iranian military and nuclear sites, and the country was bracing for retaliation from Iran.

Despite the chaotic night, Mumford still ventured out at daybreak for the long-awaited highlight of his pilgrimage: a Traditional Latin Mass offered by a visiting monk at the very site of Calvary within the Holy Sepulchre. It was his last moment of peace before his pilgrimage became a travel nightmare.

When Mumford returned to his hostel, he found out that Ben Gurion Airport had been evacuated. “I had friends and family calling me from home in hysterics because they’d seen the news,” he said. The British consulate offered little more than an email sign-up for alerts.

“Everybody was saying that we were expecting a really big attack any moment now,” he said. “I started to worry because I went on this pilgrimage to pray for healing from a health condition that I have, and I had only enough medication for a few days… I didn’t know if I was going to be stuck for weeks.”

Stranded and anxious, Mumford found himself sheltering in the lobby of the New Citadel Hostel in Jerusalem’s Old City with about 20 other travelers: Algerians, Germans, Russians, Brazilians, a Romanian, and a fellow Englishman who had cycled all the way from London.

That night, on June 13, Iran responded. Mumford was on the roof of his hostel around 9 p.m. with a few other guests looking out at the Jerusalem skyline “feeling tense” when suddenly everyone’s phones started buzzing: “Take cover, missiles incoming within minutes.”

Iran unleashed a massive missile and drone barrage in retaliation for Israel’s surprise strikes. From the rooftop, Mumford witnessed the first wave of Iranian missiles being intercepted in the distant sky by Israel’s Iron Dome. “It was so crazy. It was like meteorites … they would turn the brightest white,” he said. “All the sirens were going off.”

Mumford and the other guests rushed down to the lobby of the hostel to take cover since they did not have access to an actual bomb shelter. “We could just hear explosions and the building rattling sometimes,” he said. “Everybody was very, very worried.”

Sheltering in the lobby, Mumford sat next to a Romanian Orthodox nun named Mother Epifania, who calmly prayed the Psalms on her phone. He remained next to her, praying his rosary, making sure to make an Act of Contrition before letting himself fall asleep.

The next day, Mumford ventured out into the streets of Jerusalem in hope of finding his much-needed medication at a pharmacy. “Everything was closed. There were police and soldiers everywhere, and the streets were deserted,” he said, noting even the Holy Sepulchre and the mosques had closed their doors.

On Saturday night, sirens wailed again. But this time the missiles were a lot closer to Jerusalem than the previous night.

“The whole night all you could hear all night was just explosions from the missiles being intercepted or hitting around or near the city,” he said.

“The building was shaking like crazy and this night I had a kind of ‘memento mori’ moment because I thought I might not actually wake up tomorrow.”

As Saturday night gave way to Sunday, the guests discussed different escape routes, weighing their options: Egypt, Jordan, or wait it out. Many hesitated. But Mother Epifania knocked on Mumford’s door.

“She asked if I would leave with her because she had nobody to go with,” Mumford said. “So we quickly grabbed our things. We walked by the front door of the Holy Sepulchre, said some prayers, and then we went up to the Damascus Gates in the Muslim quarter and got a taxi all the way to the land border next to Jericho.”

They arrived at the Jordanian land border crossing to find a sea of vehicles and a stalled line. Realizing the only way forward was to pay their way onto a bus near the front of the line, they shelled out $20 each to the bus driver. It felt a bit like bribery, Mumford admitted. But they made it — just barely.

“We were the very, very last vehicle to be let through before they closed [the border],” Mumford said.

“I think the whole situation was incredible — I was traveling with a nun, I had so many people praying for me, and we were the last vehicle to go through,” he said. “I thought that God is definitely helping us leave this place.”

But their ordeal wasn’t over.

As they waited to exit Israel, a loudspeaker announced an incoming attack was expected in 10 minutes. Sirens screamed. Soldiers ordered everyone to the ground.

Mumford ducked under a metal bench. “For the first time … I wasn’t praying for God to keep me safe,” he said. “I was praying for the forgiveness of all my sins I’ve committed in my life and asking God to look after my family.”

Nearby, Mother Epifania could hear Mumford breathing hard and kept quietly whispering to him: “Don’t worry, God is with us. He’s here with us right now. Keep praying. Keep praying.”

After the danger had passed, they waited another hour for visas and finally crossed into Jordan. They shared an hourlong taxi line to the Amman airport with some Romanians and Americans they had met in line, but when they arrived, many flights were canceled as neighboring airspace closed.

Mumford booked the cheapest flight to Europe he could find— a 470-pound ($631) flight to Düsseldorf, Germany, the following morning. Mother Epifania found a flight to Istanbul. The two parted with a handshake and a “God bless you.” When Mumford finally landed in England on June 17, he slept for over 13 hours.

Now home and still processing the ordeal, Mumford worries for friends left behind at his hostel who are still trying to cross the border into Egypt or Jorden. “It’s getting very, very dangerous, even for Jerusalem,” he said.

Reflecting on all he had been through, he is astonished. “It just amazes me how I went to holy Mass on Calvary the very morning that it all kind of began, and I managed to get out as soon as possible,” he said. “And I had a nun reminding me to pray all the time when I was getting a bit stressed out.”

Athletes pray before a match organized by the Caritas Cup in Rome, Saturday, June 14, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 10:36 am (CNA).

Among the many events held across Rome to celebrate the Jubilee of Sport was a June 14 game organized by the Caritas Cup, a tournament founded five years ago by four Scottish high school students to help young Catholics grow in faith through sport.

The goal is not just to score in football, or soccer as it is commonly called in the U.S.

“It’s to bring young people back to the Church and give them an avenue to stay in the Church,” Adam Costello, co-founder of the Caritas Cup, told CNA. “As soon as we finish secondary school in Scotland, people kind of leave. It’s the last sort of chance they’ve got to stay, and I think the Caritas Cup is an avenue for that.”

The Caritas Cup was founded by four young men — Costello, Bailey Gallagher, Daniel Timoney, and Aiden Paterson — who wanted to inspire their peers through faith and sport.

In dioceses and schools across Scotland, the cup organizes local tournaments that bring together young people from Catholic schools and parishes.

Timoney emphasized their grassroots approach: “We are trying to get young people involved in the Church, and especially in Scotland, in the community. Football and sports — especially football and netball — is sort of the way to do that.”

From local fields to global impact

Inspired by the values and mission of Caritas — the Catholic Church’s global charity network — the Caritas Cup was founded to put faith into action through sport and service.

Since the beginning, the team has been working closely with the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) to help support different projects on the local and international level.

“SCIAF is ever-present in the schools in Scotland,” Timoney said. “It’s just such a big household name for Catholics across Scotland. So, we got in touch with them, and [we were able to support] a lot of their projects.”

Beyond bringing together young Catholics to play soccer and netball tournaments in their diocese, the Caritas Cup also raises funds for projects around the world.

“Every year we pick a central fund for a Caritas project,” Costello said. “Previously it’s been to provide water to provide food sanitation to multiple different countries. And this year it’s for the Holy Land appeal and to provide emergency aid to the relief there.”

The name “Caritas Cup” was intentionally chosen to reflect the mission of Caritas Internationalis, and the tournament itself is shaped by that same spirit of faith expressed through concrete acts of charity and community.

“The way that they describe it is very beautiful,” said Rebecca Rathbone, officer for promoting youth leadership at Caritas Internationalis.

The organizers are “putting their faith into action and using something that is fun as a way to raise awareness about the important work that SCIAF does,” she said. 

Rathborne emphasized that she believes it is “another real plus of including young people.”

“The work that Caritas does is serious,” Rathbone said, “... but it doesn’t mean that we can’t approach it with a joyful spirit.”

“The challenges that the world is facing change every day and change quickly,” she said, “and something that young people are particularly good at is thinking creatively and being energetic and being hopeful and reminding us that we can work in new ways to address the challenges of today and meet people’s needs today.”

Growing in human and Christian virtues

Before the June 14 match in Rome, the players gathered to pray at the Pontifical Scots College.

The event highlighted how sport teaches important Christian values like teamwork, discipline, respect, and perseverance — and how it offers a way to grow together, in both friendship and faith. 

In his homily for the jubilee’s closing Mass on the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity on June 15, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that sport can “help us encounter the Triune God, because it challenges us to relate to others and with others,” both outwardly and inwardly.

“Sport, especially team sports, teaches the value of cooperating, working together, and sharing,” Pope Leo said. “These, as we said, are at the very heart of God’s own life. Sport can thus become an important means of reconciliation and encounter.”

Pope Leo stressed that sport “also teaches us how to lose” and so opens our hearts to hope.

The pontiff recalled the “straightforward and luminous life” of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who taught us that “just as no one is born a champion, no one is born a saint” and that “it is daily training in love that brings us closer to final victory.”

Costello emphasized that soccer is a perfect metaphor for the spiritual life in that regard: “We have failures in sport but also failures in faith [and at] times we need to get back up again.”

Building a supportive community

“There are people here that, myself included, had fallen away from the Church,” Timoney said at the recent match in Rome.

“But this has brought us back into it,” he said. “We’ll go to Mass and it’s just fantastic doing it together.”

Costello also noted what he believes is “the beauty” of the Caritas Cup: “You’re not on your own. And it’s the same for faith. There are always people there. And we want to be those people, for anyone to come to.”

From the way the event of the day unfolds — with prayer, teamwork, and a shared spirit of joy — it’s clear that the goal is not merely to play.

“I think what’s important for us is that we’re not trying to make faith cool,” Costello said. “We just want to show people that it’s not something to be embarrassed about.”

“So, this is a way for young men and young women to show their faith,” he said. “Playing football, playing netball is not ‘what we want.’ All we want is people actively involved in the Church, actively involved in Caritas. In the end it’s much bigger than just the game of football.”

St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Brisbane, Australia. / Credit: TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 10:06 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has named Bishop Shane Mackinlay — an influential voice in the Synod on Synodality — as the next archbishop of Brisbane, Australia.

The 60-year-old prelate succeeds Archbishop Mark Coleridge, who is retiring after 13 years of episcopal leadership.

Mackinlay will be installed at St. Stephen’s Cathedral on Sept. 11, taking pastoral responsibility for Australia’s second-largest diocese, which includes over 684,000 Catholics across 94 parishes in southeastern Queensland.

During his first visit to Brisbane following the announcement, Mackinlay emphasized the importance of missionary clarity in a society increasingly indifferent to religious belief.

“We need to be clear and unembarrassed about our faith — and about why it matters to us,” he told the Catholic Leader.

Quoting Christ’s invitation to the first disciples, he added: “I don’t think we should be telling people what to do. We should be inviting people to come and see, and offering a witness that is attractive and compelling.”

A synodal voice in the global Church 

Born in Melbourne in 1965, Mackinlay studied physics at Monash University. He later pursued doctoral studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, where he completed his dissertation on hermeneutics.

Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ballarat in 1991, Mackinlay served in parish ministry before being appointed master of Catholic Theological College in Melbourne, a role he held from 2011 to 2019. That year, Pope Francis named him bishop of Sandhurst, based in Bendigo.

Mackinlay has played an increasingly visible role in synodal processes. As a prominent member of Australia’s Fifth Plenary Council and a delegate to the Synod on Synodality in Rome, he was elected by his fellow bishops to the Commission for the Synthesis Report — the body tasked with drafting the final synod document.

Mackinlay has expressed willingness to engage with questions under discernment, including the possibility of admitting women to the diaconate. He told the National Catholic Reporter in 2023 that he would “welcome” such a development if it were eventually approved by competent ecclesial authority.

On questions related to pastoral outreach, Mackinlay emphasized fidelity to the Church’s doctrine alongside authentic personal accompaniment. Reflecting on discussions concerning Catholics who identify as LGBT, he stated that there was a “very clear reaffirmation of the Church’s doctrine and teachings” at the synod, while also recognizing the need for pastoral care that respects individual dignity and encourages conversion in light of Christ’s truth.

In 2023, Mackinlay participated as an official observer of the German Synodal Way.

In an interview with German Catholic media outlet Domradio in April of this year, he expressed “great respect” for the approach of the controversial German process and praised the Synodal Way’s “findings and documents” as “a very enriching source for the theology of the coming years and decades.”

Firepower and competence 

Brisbane’s retiring archbishop welcomed the appointment of his successor, describing Mackinlay as “an unusually gifted man” whose strengths lie in both intellectual clarity and administrative competence.

“He has a fine mind and will bring intellectual firepower to his ministry,” Coleridge said. “He will be able to dialogue intelligently with a culture that, at many points, is distant from Christian understandings.”

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, also welcomed the appointment, noting Mackinlay’s theological background, experience in seminary formation, and his leadership in Sandhurst.