At a packed canonization Mass in Rome, with 80,000 attending, it was the face of the mother that said it all during the canonization Mass — Antonia Salzano was moved beyond words when her son, Carlo Acutis, was officially declared saint of the Catholic Church.
Every Catholic at Mass, but especially the altar servers, should rejoice that they are in the presence of Jesus, Pope Leo XIV said.
“We must pray for the conversion of many people, inside and outside of the Church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for our common home,” Pope Leo XIV said while celebrating a new formulary of the Mass “for the care of creation.”
Catholic priests will now be able to celebrate Mass “for the care of creation” after the Vatican announced that a new formulary of prayers and biblical readings for the Mass will be added to the Roman Missal — the liturgical book that contains the texts for celebrating Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.
Close to half of the nation’s adults have a personal or family connection to Catholicism, but Mass attendance makes for significant differences in what Catholics say is essential to their identity.
The Archdiocese of Chicago has scheduled a Mass and a special program June 14 to celebrate the election and inauguration of Pope Leo XIV, and participants will get a video message from the native son of the Windy City.
At a Mass before the conclave that will elect the next pope, the dean of the College of Cardinals urged his brothers to choose the shepherd the Church and all of humanity need “at this difficult and complex and tormented” turning point in history.
The funeral Mass of Pope Francis will be celebrated April 26 in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican announced.
The Knights of Columbus, the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization, celebrated the 125th anniversary of its patriotic fourth degree with an exemplification ceremony, Mass, and unveiling of a statue of its founder Blessed Michael J. McGivney at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
Sunday Mass attendance in person at Catholic churches in the U.S. is back to pre-pandemic levels — although just under one quarter of the nation’s Catholics are in the pews on a regular weekly basis.