Pope Leo XIV greets the families of the Vatican / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 8, 2025 / 14:13 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Sept. 6 participated in the Vatican’s Festival of Families, where he highlighted the importance of the witness of families in today’s world.

The event took place in the plaza of the Governorate of Vatican City, a beautiful esplanade located behind St. Peter’s Basilica.

Although originally scheduled for May, the festival had to be postponed due to the death of Pope Francis.

In a brief impromptu address, reported by Vatican News, the Holy Father asked for applause for all the families and their children, expressing his joy at being able to gather with them in a festive atmosphere.

He also invited those present to live “this beautiful moment” with an open heart, to celebrate “the joy of being a family, the joy of being all united, of becoming friends with one another, of celebrating the gifts, especially the gift of life, the gift of family that the Lord has given us.”

“This witness of families is so important in our world today!” the Holy Father then emphasized.

Finally, he thanked the Vatican employees for their witness, their presence, and “for all they do, sometimes at great sacrifice, to live united as a family, transmitting this message, thus sharing in the spirit that Jesus Christ left us.”

He then prayed a Hail Mary and imparted his blessing to those present. The event was also attended by Sister Rafaella Petrini, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State.

Also present were the two secretaries-general, Archbishop Emilio Nappa and Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi, along with the two emeritus presidents, Cardinal Fernando Vergéz Alzaga and Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello.

Pope Leo XIV had the opportunity to personally greet all the families and spend some time with them. The Italian pizzeria O’ Zi Aniello even presented him with a pizza bearing his name.

The festival continued into the evening, with an outdoor dinner for Vatican employees, who were also able to enjoy various entertainment.

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

Britain’s King Charles III (right); Oratorian Father Ignatius Harrison (left); Daniel Joyce (back left), Newman archivist and librarian, Birmingham Oratory; and Father Anton Guziel (back right) walk during a tour of The Oratory of St. Philip Neri on Sept. 3, 2025. / Credit: CHRIS JACKSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

National Catholic Register, Sep 8, 2025 / 13:06 pm (CNA).

King Charles III was “very engaged, very interested” and “exceedingly kind” when on Sept. 3 he toured the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Birmingham, England, becoming the first English monarch to visit the priestly community St. John Henry Newman established there in 1848.

The provost of the Birmingham Oratory, Oratorian Father Ignatius Harrison, said it was a very brief but joyful visit that was on “His Majesty’s own initiative.” His first engagement after the summer holidays, King Charles was also on a visit to England’s second-largest city to open a new hospital.

After welcoming the king and introducing him to the religious community, Harrison and Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham accompanied him on a tour through the sacred buildings that include a church, a shrine containing relics of Newman, the sacristy housing his vestments, and the English saint’s library and study. 

A former Anglican clergyman, St. John Henry Newman was a theologian, academic, and writer who was received into the Catholic Church in 1845 and elevated to cardinal in 1879. Renowned for his great intellect and, before his conversion, for being a central figure in the Oxford Movement that tried to Catholicize the Church of England, Newman was canonized in Rome in 2019, attended by then-Prince Charles.

In July, the Vatican announced that Pope Leo will proclaim Newman the 38th doctor of the Church.

Guided by the curator of the Newman Museum, Daniel Joyce, King Charles was shown various priceless artifacts, including the Polyglot Bible from 1657 with its dedication to King Charles II, as well as Newman’s own room, untouched since the saint’s death in 1890, containing some of his books, rosaries, clothes, and other personal belongings.

“I think probably the most interesting thing for him was Newman’s private study and chapel,” Harrison told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner. “The king looked at that with great interest and asked a number of questions.” He was also shown the original handwritten score of the “Dream of Gerontius,” Newman’s poem of a dying man’s soul journeying to its judgment before God and into purgatory, and Newman’s viola, which dates back to 1800.

Harrison said the king’s visit was “really a red-letter day” for the Birmingham Oratorian community, adding that the monarch seemed “genuinely interested and wanted to know more” about Newman and the community there.  

Postponed visit

Harrison said the king had never given up his wish to visit the oratory ever since he mentioned his intention to Harrison at Newman’s canonization in Rome. But the visit had to be postponed for five years as the premises’ roof was undergoing substantial repairs and some of the books had been put into storage. In the meantime, Charles was crowned king, assuming the title of supreme head of the Church of England.

The visit then suffered another setback when it had to be postponed in July due to the health of the king, who has been battling cancer. “We were terribly disappointed,” Harrison said, but he added that to their “great pleasure” they were told the king wished to reschedule the visit to coincide with his opening of the hospital.

“He has been, if I may put it like this, sort of consistent in his wish to come,” Harrison said. “I was really delighted because I think it shows a real, personal interest on His Majesty’s behalf that he pursued the matter.”

During his visit, the king, smartly dressed in a gray suit and a red patterned tie, unveiled a small plaque the Oratorian Fathers had prepared to mark the occasion. They also presented him with an original photograph of Newman taken in the 1860s.

Asked by the Register what interested the king about Newman in particular, Harrison said primarily the fact that he is an English saint and that his virtues were discernible both as an Anglican and then as a Catholic. Also, he was interested in the effective influence Newman exhibited both as an Anglican and as a Catholic.

“We think of his life as one whole life of sanctity,” Harrison said. “He became a Catholic, of course, in 1845, but, for example, his care for the poor and the unemployed was a notable feature of his Anglican ministry and his Catholic ministry here in Birmingham as well.”

“It’s not a lot talked about because everybody concentrates on his very brilliant academic writings, but he took great pains when he was a Catholic priest in Birmingham to assist the unemployed to find work, and, also, he was very generous in almsgiving.”

Harrison said that, on occasion, Newman would give a small box to a deserving person that contained a 5-pound note, which was a significant sum in those days. “One of his purposes was not just to relieve the distress of the moment but to help the person pay off their debts and get their business back on track,” Harrison said. “I told the king that, and, of course, he was very interested.”

He also said King Charles was interested in Newman being made a doctor of the Church and wondered if there would be an “ecumenical dimension” to it. “He seemed very interested in those sorts of things; he recalled that he had met Pope Francis and that he was hoping it would not be too long before he met Pope Leo.” 

As for the Birmingham Oratory today, the monarch took a keen interest in the large number of faithful who attend the liturgies there and their diversity of backgrounds, as well as that most of them are attracted to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). “Over a thousand people come to Mass here at the weekend,” Harrison said. “The best attended is the Traditional Latin Mass, and what is most interesting is that it’s the most diverse Mass, ethnically speaking, during the whole weekend.”

He said that many of the worshippers are Asians and Africans and that a significant number of them are students from Birmingham’s three universities. Charles was interested in that, he said, and the fact that an increasing number of Chinese Catholics, particularly from Hong Kong, are attending the TLM at the Oratory. “It’s a pleasure for me and the fathers to be able to say we have a very diversified congregation, really diversified, and many of them come for the Traditional Latin Mass,” Harrison said. 

Newman’s Catholicity

Writing in the Vatican’s semiofficial newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, on Newman’s canonization, the then-Prince of Wales praised Newman for his catholicity. 

“His faith was truly catholic in that it embraced all aspects of life,” Charles wrote. “Whatever our own beliefs, and no matter what our own tradition may be, we can only be grateful to Newman for the gifts, rooted in his Catholic faith, which he shared with wider society.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Rochester, New York. / Credit: DanielPenfield via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

CNA Staff, Sep 8, 2025 / 12:37 pm (CNA).

One of the nation’s largest sexual abuse settlements unfolded in a federal bankruptcy court in Rochester, New York, on Friday, bringing about resolution for the nearly 500 survivors of child sex abuse by clergy within the Diocese of Rochester.

After a six-year legal battle, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York approved a $246 million settlement, which will average approximately $500,000 per survivor.

The settlement concludes a process that began when the diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 following the passage of the New York Child Victims Act, which allows abuse victims to file civil lawsuits until they are 55 years old. The law temporarily lifted the statute of limitations, enabling survivors to pursue claims against their abusers.

Bankruptcy attorney Ilan Scharf described the day as a “milestone for survivors in the Rochester area after being the first bankruptcy filed in New York” after the passage of the Child Victims Act.

Survivors expressed a mix of emotions, with many ready to move forward.

Gregory Stanley noted: “The healing can start now, which is more important than the money. I’m just glad it’s over.” Merle Sweet echoed this sentiment, saying: “Relief. It’s all finally over,” while John McHugh added: “I am actually, for the first time, excited for the future.”

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, representing 97 victims, emphasized the survivors’ resilience, stating in a press release that the process validated their experiences and contributed to a safer world for children, setting an example of determination for others globally.

Survivor Carol Dupre shared the profound impact on her community. “This was a real wounding of a lot of people and their families. There’s literally thousands upon thousands of people that have been negatively affected by what happened to us,” she said.

Bishop Salvatore Matano of the Diocese of Rochester addressed the media after the settlement, offering a message of hope and regret. “I pray that this is certainly a step toward their healing,” he said of the victims. “I apologize to them. I deeply regret what transpired in their lives, which, as the judge said, never should have happened.”

He continued: “While this process legally concludes today, I take them in my heart every day of my life, and every time I approach the altar, they will be in my memory, asking the good Lord to give them the strength and the courage to continue on, and that they be blessed in the years ahead.”

Matano issued a letter the same day in which he said the “settlement provisions can be effectuated” in the next several weeks. Of the $246 million settlement, $55 million will be paid by the diocese and affiliated entities, according to the letter, and the rest by the diocese’s insurers.

The bishop concluded the letter addressing abusers, saying he entrusts “them to Jesus, the final judge, and I pray they have acknowledged their offenses and used their remaining years to seek his mercy and have prayed fervently for those they have hurt.”

Sister Gisela Rfanyu Shey speaks at the second African Women Theologian Conferece on Sept. 3, 2025, saying that to realize synodality in Africa, the Church should prioritize counseling amid the myriad of scars, including those of colonialism, war, ethnic conflict, poverty, disease, and systemic injustices. / Credit: ACI Africa

ACI Africa, Sep 8, 2025 / 12:07 pm (CNA).

To realize synodality in Africa, the Church on the continent should prioritize counseling amid the myriad of scars — including those of colonialism, war, ethnic conflict, poverty, disease, and systemic injustices — a Catholic religious sister said at the second African Women Theologians Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sept. 3.

In her presentation on the first day of the conference, Sister Gisela Rfanyu Shey, whose talk was titled “Counseling as a Path to Healing in a Synodal Church: An African Perspective,” said the scars cannot be healed by the sacramental ministry alone.

“The Catholic Church in Africa stands at a crossroad, challenged by the deep wounds of its people and the urgent need for reconciliation and healing,” Rfanyu, who is a therapist and counselor, said in her presentation at Hekima University College.

Even though the Church’s synodal journey offers “a timely opportunity for renewal and transformation,” the Catholic sister said that “for synodality to be truly effective in Africa, it must embrace counseling as an essential tool for healing.”

With scars that the African continent is experiencing, Rfanyu emphasized that “counseling emerges as a necessary pastoral tool for emotional and spiritual healing within a synodal framework that emphasizes listening and accompaniment.”

Counseling, she explained further, “offers a path for communities to engage in healing, theology, dialogue, reconciliation, and restoration — values deeply embedded in both African cultures and Christian spirituality.”

With its communal, participatory framework and the call to discern and journey together under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, Rfanyu said the synodal process aligns with counseling “as a positive, reflective tool.”

She said counseling helps individuals and communities navigate personal and relational challenges while promoting understanding, healing, and growth in faith and practice.

“Biblical counseling, a form fitting within the synodal process, emphasizes discipline, discipleship, scriptural authority, and spiritual growth conducted under Church authority to guide participants towards sanctification and deeper trust in God during their synodal journey,” she said.

For this reason, Rfanyu said that “counseling in the synodal process facilitates the internal and interpersonal work needed for genuine participation, discernment, and communal transformation.”

Counseling, she continued, “supports the creation of safe, respectful spaces where honest communication and spiritual guidance can thrive in the path of synodality. In counseling, we respect each other. We give room to each other.”

The Cameroonian member of the Holy Union Sisters of the Sacred Hearts also explained that “synodality is calling on us to consider each person. And before you consider each individual in a society, you have to have that listening ear to everyone who comes across you.”

“Counseling is for healing. You may not need any medication, but the listening, the paying of attention, and the respect for one another bring about healing,” she explained, drawing parallels between synodality and counseling.

In the African context, Rfanyu proposed a synodal model of counseling that synthesizes insights on healing and synodality and offers practical pathways for implementation.

Over the years, she said, synods have played crucial roles in resolving doctrinal conflicts, shaping liturgy, and fostering ecclesial unity, thus fostering healing.

“Synodality is more than a governance structure. It is a healing pathway for a Church wounded by clerical bias, clericalism, abuse, and fragmentation. It enables pastoral renewal by shifting focus towards inclusion, accountability, and mutual respect,” she said.

On the theological justification for healing, Rfanyu said: “Christian anthropology views the human being as a unified whole — body, mind, and soul.”

“Theologically, healing is a core ministry of Christ and the Church. Jesus’ public ministry involved restoring sight, speech, and dignity to the afflicted, modeling a holistic approach to salvation,” she said.

She added: “Counseling within the Church echoes this ministry by accompanying those who suffer and offering pathways to spiritual and emotional restoration.”

Rfanyu said the integration of counseling within the synodal journey of the Church in Africa should not be perceived as merely a pastoral option but as a theological and cultural imperative.

She emphasized that the wounds of Africa, which include psychological, spiritual, and communal suffering, “demand a holistic response that draws on the best of both tradition and innovation.”

“Synodality, rooted in the Church’s identity as the people of God, provides a framework for participation, discernment, and healing,” she said, adding that, on the other hand, counseling — grounded in both psychological theory and theological wisdom — offers practical tools for accompaniment, reconciliation, and restoration.

She said the dialogue between psychology and theology, enriched by African communal tradition, points the way forward.

“By training pastoral agents, empowering small Christian communities, collaborating with professionals, and adapting models to local cultures, the Church can become a truth-filled hospital, a place where wounds are named, stories are heard, and healing is possible,” she said.

In doing so, Rfanyu said, “the Church in Africa not only responds to the urgent needs of its people but also offers a model of synodal healing for the universal Church.”

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

People attend a vigil at Lynnhurst Park to mourn the dead and pray for the wounded after a gunman opened fire on students at Annunciation Catholic School on Aug. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. / Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Vatican City, Sep 8, 2025 / 09:15 am (CNA).

Vatican experts said on Monday that the two children killed in last month’s shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic church could one day be included on a list they are compiling of “new martyrs and witnesses of the faith.”

Harper Moyski, 10, and Fletcher Merkel, 8, were killed while attending a parochial school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church on Aug. 27 — prompting some to ask whether they could be considered martyrs killed “in hatred of the faith.”

“If the diocese or other local ecclesial entities present these figures to us as witnesses of the faith, we will examine them and see if we can include them in the list,” said Archbishop Fabio Fabene, president of the Vatican Commission of New Martyrs — Witnesses of the Faith.

The commission, created by Pope Francis in 2023 under the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, is compiling an archive of the lives of Christian martyrs, both Catholic and non-Catholic, who have been killed in the new millennium.

As Fabene and other experts explained on Sept. 8, the commission’s selection criteria are not the same used by the Church to formally recognize a martyr through beatification and canonization. “They are two totally distinct things,” the archbishop said.

Andrea Riccardi, commission vice president and founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio, said the work of the commission is “to preserve stories and names in the heart of the Church, so that their memory is not lost.” Inclusion on the commission’s list of “new martyrs” does not qualify as a beatification, he said.

Riccardi and experts spoke about the Minneapolis shooting victims, in response to a reporter’s question, during a news conference to present an ecumenical prayer service to be led by Pope Leo XIV on Sept. 14.

The service, commemorating martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century, will be held at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross — which also happens to be Leo’s 70th birthday.

Sept. 14 was chosen for the liturgy “because it is the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross,” Fabene said. “We are very happy about this [coincidence of the pope’s birthday] also to wish him a happy birthday.”

Delegates from 24 Christian churches and traditions will attend the ecumenical service, including Metropolitan Anthony Sevryuk, the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations for the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Sept. 14 event recalls a similar ecumenical liturgy held in the Colosseum during the 2000 Jubilee Year.

When Francis established the new martyrs commission in 2023, he wrote that “the martyrs ‘are more numerous in our time than in the early centuries’: They are bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, laypeople and families, who in the different countries of the world, with the gift of their lives, have offered the supreme proof of charity.”

Looking ahead to the 2025 Jubilee of Hope, Pope Francis asked the commission to compile an updated list of Christian men and women who were killed for their faith in the first quarter of the 21st century.

Experts said on Monday that their catalog, which they hope eventually to publish, consists so far of 1,640 Christians killed in different circumstances of persecution and hatred around the world.

“The heart of this work is memory,” Riccardi said. “As St. John Paul II said, the names of those who died for their faith should not be lost.”

Tom Vander Woude with two of his grandchildren, Michael and Bobby Vander Woude (from left to right). The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is investigating Tom Vander Woude’s cause for sainthood almost two decades after he died saving his son. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild

CNA Staff, Sep 8, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Suffocation awaited a young man with Down syndrome when the eroded surface of a toxic sewage tank crumbled beneath his feet.

Joseph Vander Woude would have died alone in the cramped tank surrounded by toxic fumes, but his father jumped in, pushing him toward the surface with his last breath.

Even as his lungs filled with toxic gases, Tom called out to the farmhand who was trying to pull Joseph out.

“You pull, I’ll push,” he said.

Tom eventually faded into unconsciousness, still propping Joseph up until emergency responders pulled them both out of the 7-foot-deep tank.

By the time they did, Tom was dead.

It was Sept. 8, 2008, when Tom, 66, left behind his wife and seven sons. But Tom’s legacy wouldn’t end there.

Seventeen years later, a group of Catholics is now working with the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, to open his cause for sainthood.

“You’re shocked that he’s gone, and you miss him, and you don’t know what’s going to replace that void, if it ever will be replaced,” his fifth son, Chris Vander Woude, told CNA. “But then you’re like, that’s a hero.” 

More than 1,500 people attended Tom’s funeral Mass, including the local bishop, more than 75 priests, and more than 60 altar boys.

Tom’s story continues to resonate. A guild founded in his name is interviewing those who knew him, while the diocese has named a postulator and vice postulator to investigate his cause for sainthood.

Depending on what they find, his case could go to Rome.

Signs of holiness

In the Catholic Church, three things can put you on the path to sainthood: martyrdom, heroic virtue, and now — after a 2017 move by Pope Francis to expand sainthood — a sacrificial death. 

Keith Henderson never knew Tom, but as he learned about him, he was inspired to found the Tom Vander Woude Guild that is advocating for his cause by sharing his story. Alongside the guild, the Diocese of Arlington has taken several preliminary steps to open his cause, including naming a postulator and vice postulator, who are investigating and promoting the cause.

As Henderson has learned more about Tom, he found that “his entire life was one of tremendous faith and selfless service to everyone he met.”

“His selfless life and death serve as a model for how laypeople can pursue holiness in the 21st century,” he told CNA.

“He was very joyful. His charity abounds,” Chris added. “He was always helping people.”

But at the same time, Tom was ordinary.

Chris remembers his dad as “quiet” and more of a “St. Joseph character.” Born on April 24, 1942, Tom was a “South Dakota farmer boy” who married his high school sweetheart, Mary Ellen. It was a “country boy meets city girl” type of love story, Chris said. 

Tom would go on to become many more things — math whiz, Navy pilot, commercial pilot, farmer, father, and now, potential saint. 

“He was just an ordinary sort of a guy who made an extraordinary impact in so many ways, and on so many people during his life,” Henderson said.

By all accounts, Tom was a busy man: a commercial pilot with a demanding schedule, an attentive father of seven, and a dedicated farmer.

But Tom attended daily Mass often, prayed the rosary every day, and made a weekly Holy Hour from 2 to 3 a.m. — odd hours due to his flying schedule. 

“Dad was the unquestioned leader and protector of the family, and he led spiritually, too,” Chris said. “No matter what dad did that day, if it was flying or farming, he was on his knees saying the rosary.” 

Getting Josie off the sidelines 

For Chris it has been “surreal” to share his father’s story. People are praying for his father’s intercession in all sorts of scenarios — often related to having a child with special needs, Chris said. 

Tom’s third-oldest son, Dan Vander Woude, recalled how Tom went out of his way to ensure that Joseph, affectionately known as “Josie” by his family, was included.

When he was young, part of Joseph’s physical therapy entailed crawling on the ground. Tom was right there with him, crawling on the floor. 

When a grown-up Dan asked his father to coach a JV basketball team, Tom was all in — as long as Joseph could be there, too.

“I thought Joseph would simply do the warm-ups with the team and cheer them on from the bench,” Dan recalled. 

But to Dan’s surprise, during one basketball game, Tom had convinced the other coach and the referees to let Joseph play.

“Joseph went into the game and wasted no time getting a couple of fouls and chucking up some long shots,” Dan said. “Joseph was beaming because Dad had given him the opportunity to play in a real game.”

“I was deeply moved that my dad was always committed to getting Joseph off the sidelines and into the game — in basketball and all areas of life,” Dan said. 

‘Just do the right thing’

After the sewage tank accident, Joseph spent several days at the hospital recovering. Healthy now, Joseph takes care of his 81-year-old mother on the family farm. 

“Seventeen years later, Joseph actually takes care of Mom,” Chris said. “It’s just amazing to see God’s plan and providence.”

Joseph carries the groceries, gets the door for his mom, and offers her his arm when she needs it. 

“You always see Joseph and mom together — very similar to early on, you always saw Joseph and dad together in his last few years,” Chris said. 

Tom’s family continues to grow, with 39 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. His eldest son, Father Tom Vander Woude, is a Catholic priest. 

Chris had decided to spread his father’s story after telling it to a parish in Boston one day. 

“Many people were crying,” he recalled. “They were on the edge of their seats. A lot of it resonates with them.”

“Knowing that people were grateful for being able to hear the story — that was a big catalyst,” he said. “If they were grateful, there’s probably a lot of other people out there that would love to hear his story.” 

Since then, Chris is set on sharing his father’s story. In addition to several podcasts and talks he has given at local Virginia parishes and in Maryland, he plans to speak at parishes in Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, New York City, and several other states. 

“He’s a very humble man, so he’s probably not very happy with all the notoriety,” Chris said. 

Tom wasn’t one to turn a phrase, but Chris does remember a simple saying of his dad’s. Tom used to say: “Just do the right thing,” Chris recalled. “Usually, that’s pretty simple. We’re the ones that make it more complicated by thinking of all the different circumstances or possibilities.”

“Dad never aimed to do anything extraordinary. He just aimed to live every day as best he can,” Chris said. “And so I think that’s an example for all of us.”

A painting of St. Joachim, the little Virgin Mary, and St. Anne in the Church of San Francesco in Reggio Emilia, Italy. / Credit: Renata Sedmakova/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 8, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of Sept. 8, nine months after the Dec. 8 celebration of her immaculate conception as the child of Sts. Joachim and Anne.

The circumstances of the Virgin Mary’s infancy and early life are not directly recorded in the Bible, but other documents, legends, and traditions describing the circumstances of her birth are cited by some of the earliest Christian writers from the first centuries of the Church.

These accounts are not included in the canon of Scripture and thus lack authority, but they do reflect some of the Church’s traditional beliefs about the birth of Mary.

One such non-Scriptural source is the early second century “Protoevangelium of James,” an infancy gospel offering pious legends about Mary that nevertheless affirms some of the earliest teachings of the Church on the Blessed Mother.

The Protoevangelium describes Mary’s father, Joachim, as a wealthy member of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Joachim was deeply grieved, along with his wife, Anne, by their childlessness. “He called to mind Abraham,” the early Christian writing says, “that in the last day God gave him a son, Isaac.”

Joachim and Anne began to devote themselves extensively and rigorously to prayer and fasting, initially wondering whether their inability to conceive a child might signify God’s displeasure with them.

As it turned out, however, the couple was to be blessed even more abundantly than Abraham and Sarah, as an angel revealed to Anne when he appeared to her and prophesied that all generations would honor their future child: “The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth; and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.”

After Mary’s birth, according to the “Protoevangelium of James,” Anne “made a sanctuary” in the infant girl’s room and “allowed nothing common or unclean” on account of the special holiness of the child. The same writing records that when she was 1 year old, her father “made a great feast and invited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and all the people of Israel.”

“And Joachim brought the child to the priests,” the account continues, “and they blessed her, saying: ‘O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations’ ... And he brought her to the chief priests; and they blessed her, saying: ‘O God most high, look upon this child, and bless her with the utmost blessing, which shall be for ever.’”

The protoevangelium goes on to describe how Mary’s parents, along with the Temple priests, subsequently decided that she would be offered to God as a consecrated virgin for the rest of her life and enter a chaste marriage with the carpenter Joseph.

St. Augustine described the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary as an event of cosmic and historic significance and an appropriate prelude to the birth of Jesus Christ. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley,” he said.

The fourth-century bishop, whose theology profoundly shaped the Western Church’s understanding of sin and human nature, affirmed that “through her birth, the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.”

This story was first published on Sept. 5, 2010, and has been updated.

The Vatican Gardens at Castel Gandolfo. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

CNA Staff, Sep 7, 2025 / 14:56 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV announced a historic partnership between the Vatican and two famous Chicago restaurateurs, Art Smith and Phil Stefani, to open a restaurant at Borgo Laudato Si’, a 135-acre “zero environmental impact” complex in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. 

Pope Leo XIV inaugurated the project during a livestreamed ceremony on Sept. 5, viewed at a Chicago watch party attended by Stefani, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and other prominent figures.

The new restaurant will be located at Borgo Laudato Si’, which is within the historic Papal Villas, a 17th-century summer residence for popes. The site promotes Pope Francis’ teachings on environmental stewardship.

At the inauguration of Borgo Laudato Si’ village on Friday, Pope Leo XIV said it “is one of the Church’s initiatives aimed at realizing the ‘vocation to be custodians of God’s handiwork.’”

Earlier this year, a committee led by the late Pope Francis selected Smith and Stefani to oversee the unprecedented project, which will debut in spring 2026 as the estate’s sole restaurant and caterer, serving breakfast and lunch, and will include a small market.

The restaurant will serve Italian fare made from fresh, locally-sourced food with international influences, blending Chicago and Peruvian flavors in honor of Pope Leo XIV. 

Ingredients will come from a solar-powered greenhouse within Borgo Laudato Si’, which is modeled after St. Peter’s Square’s colonnade, and other local sources. The complex, which includes gardens, vineyards, training programs in organic farming, pesticide-free winemaking and olive harvesting, will also offer retreats for business leaders and ecology education programs.

The ecological complex also includes state-of-the-art insulation, photovoltaic, and circular water management systems.

Smith, a James Beard Award winner and former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey, is celebrated for his work with Common Threads, a nonprofit, and currently runs Reunion and Blue Door Kitchen & Garden in Chicago. 

Stefani, whose Italian restaurant empire began in 1980 with Stefani’s, operates the Stefani Restaurant Group, running Tavern on Rush, Stefani Prime, Tuscany, Castaways Beach Club, Stefani’s Bottega Italiana, and Broken English Taco Pub. 

“As a Catholic and Italian, this project is a dream for my family and me,” Stefani said. “To be part of a culinary experience on Vatican property is deeply meaningful to us. But we also share this honor with the city of Chicago. We have the unique opportunity to bring a taste of home, some of that unique Chicago spirit, to a global audience.” 

Johnson called Smith and Stefani “true Chicago legends” and the partnership a “striking and serendipitous win” for the city.

Another Chicago tie is Father Manuel Dorantes, appointed administrative management director of the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education in November 2024. Previously pastor of St. Mary of the Lake-Our Lady of Lourdes Parish on Chicago’s North Side, Dorantes joined Pope Leo XIV at Friday’s ceremony.

Blessed Carlo Acutis (left) and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. / Credit: Diocese of Assisi/Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Sep 7, 2025 / 06:49 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV proclaimed the Italians Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis as saints of the Church on Sunday.

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Pope Leo canonizes Sts. Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Sep 7, 2025 / 06:37 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV proclaimed Italians Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis as saints of the Church on Sunday, decreeing their veneration among the Catholic faithful.

The canonizations of the two men, promulgated before an estimated 70,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, were the first of Leo’s pontificate.

The congregation, which included the family of Acutis, applauded after Pope Leo pronounced the rite of canonization and declared the two patrons of young people as the Church’s newest saints.

In his homily, the Holy Father reflected on a passage from the Book of Wisdom, which was read by Acutis’ younger brother Michele, during the Mass celebration.

“[Lord], who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?” Leo said, quoting the Old Testament passage. “This question comes after two young blesseds, Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis, were proclaimed saints.”

“This is providential because in the Book of Wisdom, this question is attributed to a young man like them: King Solomon. Upon the death of his father David, he realized that he had many things: power, wealth, health, youth, beauty, and the entire kingdom,” he continued.

Leo spoke extensively about the two new saints in his homily, departing from his predecessor’s practice. Pope Francis normally said little on such occasions about the people he had just canonized.

Like Solomon, Leo said, the new saints Carlo and Pier Giorgio understood that friendship with Jesus and faithfully following “God’s plans” is greater than any other worldly pursuits.

God “calls us to abandon ourselves without hesitation to the adventure that he offers us with the intelligence and strength that comes from his Spirit,” Leo said Sunday.

“We can receive to the extent that we empty ourselves of the things and ideas to which we are attached, in order to listen to his word,” he continued.

The Holy Father also spoke of other young saints throughout history, including St. Francis of Assisi, who saw it was wise to prefer the love of God and others over riches.

“Today we look to St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis: a young man from the early 20th century and a teenager from our own day, both in love with Jesus and ready to give everything for him,” he said.

“Dear friends, Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis are an invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces,” he added.

Describing their “winning formula” for holiness, the Holy Father spoke about the ordinary circumstances through which they dedicated their lives to God.

“Pier Giorgio encountered the Lord through school and church groups — Catholic Action, the Conferences of St. Vincent, the FUCI [Italian Catholic University Federation], the Dominican Third Order — and he bore witness to God with his joy of living and of being a Christian in prayer, friendship, and charity,” he said.

“Carlo, for his part, encountered Jesus in his family, thanks to his parents, Andrea and Antonia — who are here today with his two siblings, Francesca and Michele — and then at school, and above all in the sacraments celebrated in the parish community,” he added.

According to the pope, the two Italian saints cultivated their love for God and for their brothers and sisters through “simple acts” of “daily Mass, prayer, and especially Eucharistic adoration,” which are available to every Catholic.

At the end of the Mass, which he concelebrated with approximately 2,000 other priests, Pope Leo invoked the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for peace, “especially in the Holy Land and in Ukraine and in every other land that is facing blood.”

“I invite all the authorities to listen and to put down the weapons that lead to destruction and death … they never bring peace and security,” he said.

“God does not want war. God wants peace. God sustains those who fight for peace and who follow the path of dialogue,” he added, before leading the congregation in praying the Angelus.

Leo closed out the event by making a circuit of the square in his popemobile, waving at the crowd and stopping frequently to bless babies handed to him by his bodyguards.

One pilgrim present in the square, Australian Caroline Khouri, told CNA the celebration was one she would “remember forever.”

“The joy in the atmosphere here is incredible,” she said.