Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church

Feast date: Jan 24

Jan. 24 marks the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers and Christian unity whose role as a priest and bishop helped bring thousands of Protestants back to the Catholic Church.

In the late 16th and early 17th century, St. Frances de Sales conducted spiritual direction both in person and in written correspondence. This inspired his famous work “Introduction to the Devout Life.”

During his ministry in Switzerland, he wrote and distributed religious tracts that made inroads among Protestants and helped between 40,000 and 70,000 return to the Catholic faith.

Because he is a patron saint of writers, his feast day traditionally marks the release of the Pope’s annual message for World Communications Day. Pope Benedict XVI’s 2013 message reflected on social networks and their potential to strengthen unity and harmony between people. He also warned that these enable a mindset that rewards popularity, rather than rewarding what has intrinsic value.

St. Francis de Sales was no stranger to unpopularity. As a priest he volunteered to lead a mission to return the Calvinist Switzerland back to the Catholic faith. He faced much hostility, including death threats and would-be assassins.

He was born in 1567 in the Savoy region in what is now part of France. He was a diplomat’s son, born into a household with great devotion to St. Francis of Assisi.

He studied rhetoric, the humanities and law in preparation for a political career. He had resolved to hold to religious celibacy and he held a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary, but he kept this strong spiritual life secret from the world.

This devotion clashed with the wishes of his father, who had arranged a marriage for him. The Catholic bishop of Geneva found Francis de Sales a position in the Swiss Church, leading to his ordination as a priest in 1593.

He was named Bishop of Geneva in 1602, after which he worked to restore Geneva’s churches and religious orders. He helped the future saint Jean Frances de Chantal, whom he had served as spiritual director, found a women’s religious order.

He died in 1622 in Lyons at a convent he had helped to found. Frances de Sales was canonized in 1665 and named a Doctor of the Church in 1877.

As the Church celebrates the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Fr. Luke Gregory, OFM, reflects on the theme: “The here and now significance of Jesus’ ministry in Capernaum.”

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Following a tradition begun with his predecessor, Pope Leo meets with a small group of business leaders from the energy and critical minerals sectors operating in Latin America and the Caribbean. Their focus ranges from building bridges to territorial needs and aspirations for care of our common home and decent work.

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In his message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications, Pope Leo XIV highlights the importance of ensuring that technological innovation, particularly artificial intelligence, serves the human person rather than replacing or diminishing human dignity.

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The Vatican Secretary of State is visiting Denmark as Papal Legate for the 1,200th anniversary of the beginning of Saint Ansgar’s mission. His programme also includes diplomatic meetings, among them visits with King Frederik X and Foreign Minister Rasmussen.

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Amid mounting geopolitical tensions, Fr. Tomaž Majcen, the Slovene Franciscan priest who leads the small Catholic community on the Arctic island, tells Vatican News that Greenlanders “want to be seen as a people with their own story, language, culture, and faith.”

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In this week’s news from the Eastern Churches, produced in collaboration with L’Œuvre d’Orient, we go to the Ethiopia and Eritrea, where Christians are commemorating the Epiphany and the baptism of Christ.

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WASHINGTON - “As tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered for the annual March for Life this week, we were grateful to see the U.S. House of Representatives pass the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act and the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act,” announced bishop-chairmen of three committees of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Friday. 

“Building a culture of life requires helping mothers to be able to welcome their new children,” they continued. “Too often, however, expectant and vulnerable women are essentially told that they have to choose either their child or their future. No one should have to make this ultimately false choice. The Pregnant Students’ Rights Act is needed legislation that would simply ensure that colleges and universities at least provide information about the resources, services, rights, and accommodations available for pregnant and parenting students. The Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act would help ensure that key public resources are available to pregnancy help centers, which compassionately accompany women in need with baby supplies, childcare assistance, health and parenting information, career services, and more. Amid great uncertainty and difficulty, such support can make a life-saving difference.”

The three bishops spoke as chairmen of their respective committees: Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Bishop David M. O’Connell, CM, chairman of the Committee on Catholic Education, and Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Bishops O’Connell and Thomas had also sent a letter to Congress on Thursday in support of the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on its own version of that bill next week.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Advocating for unborn children is fulfilling the Lord's command to serve him in the most vulnerable, Pope Leo XIV told those taking part in the March for Life.

"I would encourage you, especially the young people, to continue striving to ensure that life is respected in all of its stages through appropriate efforts at every level of society, including dialogue with civil and political leaders," he said in a written message released by the Vatican Jan. 22.  

"May Jesus, who promised to be with us always, accompany you today as you courageously and peacefully march on behalf of unborn children," he wrote. "By advocating for them, please know that you are fulfilling the Lord’s command to serve him in the least of our brothers and sisters." 

The March for Life is held every year in January in Washington, D.C., to march on Capitol Hill to remember the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973. While the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022, abortion policy is now determined at the state and federal levels.

Addressing his message to all people taking part in the Jan. 23 March for Life, Pope Leo sent his "warm greetings" and expressed his "heartfelt appreciation."

He assured them "of my spiritual closeness as you gather for this eloquent public witness to affirm that 'the protection of the right to life constitutes the indispensable foundation of every other human right,'" quoting from his Jan. 9 address to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. 

"Indeed, 'a society is healthy and truly progresses only when it safeguards the sanctity of human life and works actively to promote it,'" he wrote.

"With these sentiments, I entrust all of you, as well as those who support you with their prayers and sacrifices, to the intercession of Mary Immaculate, patroness of the United States of  America, and I gladly impart my apostolic blessing as a pledge of abundant heavenly graces," his message concluded.

 

Following prison riots and the killings of ten police officers, Bishop Rodolfo Valenzuela Núñez, President of the Guatemalan Bishops' Conference, issues an appeal for unity and reason: “We must fight together for the good of the people.”

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