[Monarch Butterfly]

Frank Cardinal Leo Appointed as Member to Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue​

From https://www.archtoronto.org/en/outreach/news/archdiocesan/frank-cardinal-leo-appointed-as-member-to-vaticans-dicastery-for-interreligious-dialogue/

On July 3, 2025, the Vatican announced the appointment of Frank Cardinal Leo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto as a member to the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. A dicastery is a department of the Roman Curia, the administrative body of the Holy See. The appointment does not impact Cardinal Leo’s ministry as Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto.

Cardinal Leo commented on the appointment:

“I am grateful to the Holy Father for the opportunity to serve as a member of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. I very much look forward to dialogue and reflection on how the Catholic Church can work with other faith traditions in a positive and constructive manner as we identify areas of common concern and engagement.”

The Vatican website describes the dicastery as follows:

“The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue promotes and supervises relations with members and groups of non-Christian religions, with the exception of Judaism, competence for which belongs to the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. The Dicastery works to ensure that dialogue with the followers of other religions takes place in an appropriate way, with an attitude of listening, esteem and respect. It fosters various kinds of relations with them so that, through the contribution of all, peace, freedom, social justice, the protection and safeguarding of creation, and spiritual and moral values may be promoted.”

We pray for Cardinal Leo as he takes on this new appointment and for all those who continue to foster goodwill and co-operation among people of all faiths.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Gay blessings 'will remain' under Pope Leo, Vatican doctrine chief says​

From https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/gay-blessings-will-remain-under-pope-leo-vatican-doctrine-chief-says

The Catholic Church's approval of blessings of couples in same-sex relationships "will remain" under Pope Leo XIV, the head of the Vatican's doctrine office told an Italian reporter in a brief interview.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández made the statement in response to a question from a journalist for the Rome-based daily Il Messaggero as he left the Holy See Press Office on July 3.

Fernández's remarks are the clearest indication to date since Pope Leo's election of a likely continuation of Pope Francis' gay-blessings declaration. However, the impromptu interview falls short of an explicit, official statement from the Vatican.

Under Francis, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in December 2023 released a document entitled "Fiducia Supplicans: On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings," which opened the door to church blessings for couples in "irregular" situations, including same-sex relationships.

The document, signed by Fernández and his deputy Msgr. Armando Matteo, and approved by Pope Francis, stressed that such blessings could not take the form of a liturgical rite, and did not imply formal approval of "irregular" unions.

The blessings document generated considerable conservative backlash, and some critics of the late Pope Francis had expressed hope that Pope Leo would rescind or ignore it.

Asked on Thursday, July 3, by Il Messaggero whether Leo would backtrack,, Fernández, who had met privately with Pope Leo earlier that same day, responded "I really don't think so — the declaration will remain."

Previously, the most prominent indication of Leo's approach to gay blessings had come in an interview with Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich in the Italian Catholic daily La Stampa in May. The cardinal had said that he thought Pope Leo "might re-interpret" the document, but not "abolish" it.

"Pope Leo has said that the church is open to all," said Hollerich, the Jesuit archbishop of Luxembourg who was elevated to cardinal by Francis in 2019. "This is a continuation of the approach of Francis, who used to repeat 'Everyone, everyone, everyone.' "

Released in December 2023, without prior warning or the arrangement of a press conference, Fiducia Supplicans is an approximately 5,000 word document mainly dedicated to reflecting on the theological significance of the act of blessing.

The text distinguishes between formal liturgical blessings and spontaneous, pastoral ones, and says that blessings of the latter kind can be offered to those in same-sex unions or other relationships contrary to Catholic teaching.

The document says that "A blessing may be imparted that ... descends from God upon those who — recognizing themselves to be destitute and in need of his help — do not claim a legitimation of their own status, but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit."

However, the declaration stresses, such blessings are in no way comparable to marriage: "Rites and prayers that could create confusion between what constitutes marriage — which is the 'exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the generation of children' — and what contradicts it are inadmissible."

After the release of the blessings document the Vatican intervened on multiple occasions to clarify its meaning.

Most prominently, in a meeting with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, just over a month after the publication of the document, Pope Francis said that the blessings document allows for the blessing not of irregular unions themselves, but of the individuals in them.

What is blessed, the pope stressed, is "not the union, but the persons, naturally taking into account the context, sensitivities, the places where one lives, and the most appropriate ways to do it."

Shortly after the publication of the document, a number of bishops announced that they would not implement it in their dioceses or jurisdictions and some prelates went as far as to call it heresy.

The most high-profile of these was Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, archbishop of Kinshasa and president of the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, and part of Pope Francis' Council of Cardinals.

In a letter, Ambongo stressed that the bishops of Africa, despite their "unwavering attachment" to Pope Francis, believed that the blessings outlined in the document "cannot be carried out in Africa without exposing themselves to scandals."

"The African bishops," Ambongo wrote, "do not consider it appropriate for Africa to bless homosexual unions or same-sex couples because, in our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities."

Ambongo, who was considered a potential candidate for pope in the conclave that elected Leo, stressed that his letter had received the approval both of Fernández and of Pope Francis.

In an interview weeks later with Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Francis described the church in Africa as "a separate case." For Africans, he said, "homosexuality is something ‘ugly' from a cultural point of view; they do not tolerate it."

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Pope Leo calls for end to ‘pandemic of arms’ after Minneapolis school shooting​

From https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/31/world/pope-minneapolis-school-shooting-intl

Pope Leo XIV has pleaded for an end to the “pandemic of arms” as he made his first public comments on gun control while offering prayers for the victims of the shooting at Annunciation Catholic school in Minneapolis.

The first American pope made his remarks following the August 27 shooting which killed two children and injured 18 others as students and staff gathered for a school Mass.

“Let us plead [to] God to stop the pandemic of arms large and small which infects our world,” the Chicago-born pontiff told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square following the weekly Sunday Angelus prayer.

Leo, speaking in his native English, said he was offering “prayers for the victims of the tragic shooting during a school Mass in the American state of Minnesota” and the “countless children” who are killed and injured every day.

Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, frequently condemned the arms industry and warned that the use of guns by civilians to defend themselves had become a “habit.” Leo, who was elected in May, has continued to condemn the “logic of weapons” and the arms trade, though in a telegram sent in the immediate aftermath of the Minneapolis shooting he refrained from making any comments about gun control.

In the past, however, a now-deleted X account apparently belonging to Robert Prevost – before he was elected pope – re-posted statements by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago calling for “increased access to mental health care and stronger, sensible gun control laws” following the 2017 shootings in Las Vegas.

He also shared a statement from Democratic Senator Chris Murphy who wrote on the same incident: “To my colleagues: Your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers. None of this ends unless we do something to stop it.”

Following the Minneapolis shooting, Cupich, who is close to Leo, issued his own a statement saying: “The facts are clear. Guns are plentiful and common sense attempts to limit their availability have been largely rejected in the name of a freedom not found in our constitution.”

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Pope prays for Charlie Kirk and bereaved family​

Pope Leo XIV expresses concern about political violence and is praying for the late American activist Charlie Kirk, his wife, and two children, according to the Holy See Press Office.

From

Pope prays for Charlie Kirk and bereaved family - Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV expresses concern about political violence and is praying for the late American activist Charlie Kirk, his wife, and two children, ...

www.vaticannews.va

The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, responded to reporters’ questions on Tuesday about the Pope’s reaction to the murder of Charlie Kirk.

“I know that during the conversation with the new U.S. Ambassador, the Pope confirmed that he is praying for Charlie Kirk, his wife, and his children; that he expressed concern about political violence; and that he spoke of the need to refrain from rhetoric and instrumentalization that lead to polarization rather than dialogue,” said Mr Bruni.

Pope Leo XIV met on September 13 with the new US Ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Francis Burch, as he presented his credential letters to begin his mandate.

During that audience, the Pope shared his condolences for Mr. Kirk’s family and his concern about political violence.

Mr. Kirk was an American political activist, author, and media personality who co-founded the organization “Turning Point USA.”

The 31-year-old was shot dead on September 10 during a public event at the Utah Valley University campus. His funeral will be held on Sunday, September 21, in Glendale, Arizona.

Seen and read different reports or comments paraphrasing or twisting papal remarks about the killing. Had to go directly to vaticannews for this.