St. John's Catholic Church

Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia. / Credit: MelBrackstone/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 10, 2025 / 16:24 pm (CNA).

Australian priest Father Liam Ryan, also known as “the surfing priest,” is making headlines after rescuing a pair of struggling surfers from a rip current — the second time the priest has saved a person in danger of drowning.

The 38-year-old priest from Our Lady Queen of Peace Cathedral Parish in Broome, Western Australia, was surfing when he saw a father and son struggling to stay afloat at Western Australia’s Cable Beach. The two were caught up in a nearby rip current.

“I saw a couple of fellows who looked like they were getting pretty close to where a little flash rip was,” he said in an interview with ABC News Australia. 

Ryan paddled over to them after he yelled out and heard no response. A few moments after reaching the area, one of the individuals climbed onto the priest’s surfboard, grateful for the help. 

“Being in a tourist town, we do get a few people who are not familiar with being around open water," he said. “[It] can look really calm, but if there’s a big tide … one minute you’re in the flags, next minute you’re on your own.”

The parish priest, who is also well known in the community for surfing and swimming in the open ocean, said this rescue was “a little scarier” than his first one almost five years ago.

On July 31, 2020, Ryan helped a surfer survive a shark attack at Bunker Bay in Western Australia. The priest was surfing while on vacation visiting his best friend when he noticed a fellow surfer — Phil Mummert — in distress. 

“I saw him off his board, looking really lost, and there was half a board floating there,” Ryan told The Catholic Leader, a publication of the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

He then saw a great white shark, approximately 13 to 16 feet long, bite Mummert’s leg. Ryan began to yell for assistance and Alex Oliver, another surfer, heard his cries for help and paddled over. Ryan and Oliver were able to hoist Mummert onto Oliver’s longboard and the two paddled him back to shore. 

According to The Catholic Leader, Mummert was “bleeding profusely” by the time they reached shore, having sustained deep shark bites in his upper leg.

Ryan shared that once Mummert was airlifted to the hospital, he took a “quiet moment of solitude in the sand dunes.” 

“I had a little bit of a cry, and just blessed the Lord,” he told The Catholic Leader. 

The priest also told The Catholic Leader that he didn’t hesitate to help.

“There’s something deep inside you that wants to help,” he said. “Christianity is built on that principle of someone giving their life for you.”

“You come face to face with what would be one of the greatest fears for a lot of people, a lot of surfers… but what gives you strength in that moment is the grace of God,” he added.

In 2022, Ryan received an Australian Bravery Award in recognition of the rescue. 

“It feels like I haven’t done anything extraordinary,” Ryan told The Catholic Leader after receiving the award. “I thank God for giving me courage in that moment, and I also remember that I was not alone.”

null / Credit: Tati9/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 10, 2025 / 15:51 pm (CNA).

A U.S.-based biotech company has announced the launch of Nucleus Embryo, a company that screens human embryos for desired genetic profiles, a practice the Catholic Church teaches violates human dignity and contributes to a eugenic mentality. 

People undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) will be able to screen up to 20 embryos for over 900 conditions and traits, including health risks, intelligence, and physical characteristics like height and eye color, in order to “optimize” their embryos, according to Kian Sadeghi, founder of Nucleus Genomics, parent company of Nucleus Embryo.

“I see a world where sequencing, analyzing, and editing DNA merge seamlessly to create a truly preventative health care system,” the 25-year-old Sadeghi said on the company’s website, adding: “Every parent wants to give their children more than they had. For the first time in human history, Nucleus adds a new tool to that commitment.”

Embryos that meet parental desires will be eligible for implanting, and undesirable ones will be discarded.

While the Catholic Church teaches that IVF is morally illicit because it completely separates procreation from the marital act and violates the dignity of the child, the Church also condemns preimplantation diagnosis as “shameful and utterly reprehensible,” an “expression of a eugenic mentality” that leads to the destruction of innocent human life.

Published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the 2008 document Dignitatis Personae affirms that the human embryo cannot be treated as “mere laboratory material” because this violates its dignity, which “belongs equally to every single human being, irrespective of his parents’ desires, his social condition, educational formation, or level of physical development.”

The document explicitly condemns preimplantation diagnosis and resulting genetic enhancements because they can result in the killing of human embryos “affected by various types of anomalies,” and they “presume to measure the value of a human life only within the parameters of ‘normality’ and physical well-being, thus opening the way to legitimizing infanticide and euthanasia.”

Such procedures could also marginalize individuals, widen societal divides, and “harm peaceful coexistence among individuals,” the dicastery stated.  

The document questioned who would establish which gene edits were worthwhile and which were not, and what limits, if any, should be placed on genetic enhancements “since it would be materially impossible to fulfill the wishes of every single person.”

In the end, the common good will be harmed by “favoring the will of some over the freedom of others.”

National Catholic Bioethics Center senior ethicist Father Tad Pacholczyk told CNA that “couples will now be tempted to impose quality control and eugenics onto their vulnerable and voiceless children.”

Nucleus Embryo’s website emphasizes genetic manipulation of embryos before implantation and states: “The best time to prevent disease is pre-pregnancy. Knowing what you could pass on to your kids lets you plan with clarity and avoid future surprises.”

This is a “‘command and control’ mentality over procreation,” Pacholczyk said, which allows people to treat their “own offspring like raw material … It’s tragic when our children become a mere abstraction, pawns to be played in the end game of seeking what we want.”

“Society’s demand for physical perfection places untold pressure on couples today to ‘conform to the norm’ by aborting or otherwise eliminating any less-than-perfect children,” he continued.

“Human embryos, among the most vulnerable of God’s creatures, have been entrusted to us to be received unconditionally and lovingly by all parents, without demanding that they run any gauntlet of prenatal screening. Every child, exactly as he or she arrives into our families, is precious, good, and beautiful.”

Pacholczyk said not every use of prenatal diagnostic information is morally unacceptable, however. 

Diagnostic information that “assists in the treatment of an in-utero patient represents a morally praiseworthy use of this powerful technology.”

For example, a life-threatening disease known as Krabbe’s leukodystrophy can be treated through a bone marrow transplant immediately following a child’s birth. If the disease is diagnosed prenatally, the parents can look for matching bone marrow before the child is born. Certain other diseases, such as spina bifida, can also be surgically treated prenatally.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, the archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, asked President Donald Trump for aid to Africa an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, June 8, 2025. / Credit: François-Régis Salefran CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 10, 2025 / 15:19 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo is asking U.S. President Donald Trump to reinstate foreign aid to Africa. 

“Targeted humanitarian aid for Africa is urgently needed, morally good, and of great strategic value to the U.S,” Ambongo, the archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote in a June 8 op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal. 

“​​President Trump has made clear that he will put the needs of his country and its citizens first before attending to the needs of the world. No leader of a nation as great as the U.S. could do otherwise,” the cardinal stated. “It would be a mistake, however, for Mr. Trump to forget about Africa.”

Ambongo highlighted Africa’s rich natural resources and “bright entrepreneurial and eager young people” as important assets to the U.S., emphasizing the utility of a relationship between Africa and the United States. 

American generosity toward Africa through USAID has “transformed millions of lives for the better” in the region, Ambongo said, pointing out that American aid has helped enhance African society and avert further political and economic crises threatening the continent’s development. In the process, he noted, American economic influence in the region has been strengthened.

With the freezing of critical aid to African countries, the cardinal described Africa as “a magnet for conflicts and fights over the natural resources so important to modern technology.” 

He also noted pervasive famine and poverty plaguing many parts of the region. 

While Ambongo acknowledged the need for the U.S. to be concerned about the use of its limited resources, he noted that international adversaries will replace the U.S. if it completely withdraws all aid to Africa.

“International politics won’t tolerate a vacuum,” he predicted. “Should the U.S. abandon Africa, its place will be taken by its adversaries: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea.”

The cardinal stressed that “it isn’t too late to turn the tide” and reach a mutually beneficial solution that does not exploit U.S. resources for ideological causes that run counter to African values by providing aid that supports abortion services and contraception in the region. 

“It’s unhelpful to tie aid to ideology — to abortion or ‘population control’ — that defies the values of many African cultures,” he said. “I believe that respect for African culture can coexist with humanitarian aid. Cultural colonization needn’t be the price exacted for a moral, strategic, and humanitarian partnership.” 

Ambongo’s remarks on the politicization of humanitarian aid come after the U.S. State Department announced its plans to destroy a reserve of artificial contraceptives that was previously set aside for distribution in developing countries through foreign aid programs. 

Pleading on behalf of bishops, priests, and laypeople in Africa, Ambongo urged Trump and his administration “to reconsider aid to his friends in Africa, who have been and will continue to be important partners of the U.S.” 

“We are eager to work closely with Washington to ensure that all such aid is used well, free of the fraud and mismanagement that has occurred in the past,” he concluded. “There is too much at stake — for Africans, for Americans, and for the world.”

Pope Leo XIV address papal representatives on June 10, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 10, 2025 / 14:11 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV received papal representatives at the Vatican on Tuesday, reminding them that the Church “will always defend the sacrosanct right to believe in God” and that this life “is not at the mercy of the powers of this world.”

In the June 10 speech delivered in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, he thanked the papal nuncios and international organizations around the world for their work.

The pontiff noted that “there is no country in the world” with a diplomatic corps as universal and united as that of the Holy See: “We are united in Christ and we are united in the Church.”

“I say this thinking certainly of the dedication and organization, but, even more so, of the motivations that guide you, the pastoral style that should characterize you, the spirit of faith that inspires us,” he added.

He particularly thanked them for being able to rely on the documentation, reflections, and summaries prepared by the diplomats when faced with a situation that concerns the Church in a particular country. “This is for me a cause for great appreciation and gratitude,” he reiterated.

‘Always be the eyes of Peter!’

Pope Leo XIV then shared with those present the account from the Acts of the Apostles (3:1-10) of the healing of the paralytic, a scene that, in his opinion, “describes the ministry of Peter well.”

For the pontiff, the man who begs for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple represents “the image of a humanity that has lost hope and is resigned.”

“Even today, the Church often encounters men and women who no longer have any joy, whom society has sidelined, or whom life has in a certain sense forced into begging for their existence,” he lamented.

After looking into his eyes, the pope recounted, Peter said to the paralytic: “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, [rise and] walk.”

After quoting this passage, Pope Leo noted that “to look into one’s eyes means to build a relationship. The ministry of Peter is to create relationships, bridges: and a representative of the pope, first and foremost, serves this invitation to look into the eyes.”

“Always be the eyes of Peter! Be men capable of building relationships where it is hardest to do,” the pope exhorted them, asking them to do so with humility and realism.

The Holy Father also placed his trust in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See so that “everyone may know that the Church is always ready for everything out of love, that she is always on the side of the last, the poor, and that she will always defend the sacrosanct right to believe in God, to believe that this life is not at the mercy of the powers of this world but rather is traversed by a mysterious meaning.”

He also encouraged them to “always have a blessing gaze, because the ministry of Peter is to bless, that is, always to know how to see the good, even that which is hidden.”

“Feel that you are missionaries, sent by the pope to be tools of communion, unity, serving the dignity of the human person, promoting sincere and constructive relations everywhere with the authorities with whom you are required to cooperate,” he urged.

In conclusion, he reiterated that their work “always be enlightened by the sound decision for holiness.”

After the speech, the papal representatives received a ring bearing the inscription “sub umbra Petri” (“under the shadow of Peter,” cf. Acts 5:15) from the pope as a sign of communion.

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 address papal representatives on June 10, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 10, 2025 / 14:11 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV received papal representatives at the Vatican on Tuesday, reminding them that the Church “will always defend the sacrosanct right to believe in God” and that this life “is not at the mercy of the powers of this world.”

In the June 10 speech delivered in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, he thanked the papal nuncios and international organizations around the world for their work.

The pontiff noted that “there is no country in the world” with a diplomatic corps as universal and united as that of the Holy See: “We are united in Christ and we are united in the Church.”

“I say this thinking certainly of the dedication and organization, but, even more so, of the motivations that guide you, the pastoral style that should characterize you, the spirit of faith that inspires us,” he added.

He particularly thanked them for being able to rely on the documentation, reflections, and summaries prepared by the diplomats when faced with a situation that concerns the Church in a particular country. “This is for me a cause for great appreciation and gratitude,” he reiterated.

‘Always be the eyes of Peter!’

Pope Leo XIV then shared with those present the account from the Acts of the Apostles (3:1-10) of the healing of the paralytic, a scene that, in his opinion, “describes the ministry of Peter well.”

For the pontiff, the man who begs for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple represents “the image of a humanity that has lost hope and is resigned.”

“Even today, the Church often encounters men and women who no longer have any joy, whom society has sidelined, or whom life has in a certain sense forced into begging for their existence,” he lamented.

After looking into his eyes, the pope recounted, Peter said to the paralytic: “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, [rise and] walk.”

After quoting this passage, Pope Leo noted that “to look into one’s eyes means to build a relationship. The ministry of Peter is to create relationships, bridges: and a representative of the pope, first and foremost, serves this invitation to look into the eyes.”

“Always be the eyes of Peter! Be men capable of building relationships where it is hardest to do,” the pope exhorted them, asking them to do so with humility and realism.

The Holy Father also placed his trust in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See so that “everyone may know that the Church is always ready for everything out of love, that she is always on the side of the last, the poor, and that she will always defend the sacrosanct right to believe in God, to believe that this life is not at the mercy of the powers of this world but rather is traversed by a mysterious meaning.”

He also encouraged them to “always have a blessing gaze, because the ministry of Peter is to bless, that is, always to know how to see the good, even that which is hidden.”

“Feel that you are missionaries, sent by the pope to be tools of communion, unity, serving the dignity of the human person, promoting sincere and constructive relations everywhere with the authorities with whom you are required to cooperate,” he urged.

In conclusion, he reiterated that their work “always be enlightened by the sound decision for holiness.”

After the speech, the papal representatives received a ring bearing the inscription “sub umbra Petri” (“under the shadow of Peter,” cf. Acts 5:15) from the pope as a sign of communion.

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

Statue of St. John the Baptist with golden cross, Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic. / Credit: Oldrich Barak/Shutterstock

Vatican City, Jun 9, 2025 / 15:31 pm (CNA).

How to communicate with hope in today’s Europe? That is the question a group of Church communicators and journalists tackled during a June 3–5 meeting in Prague organized by the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe.

Within the framework of the Jubilee of Hope, experts from 18 European Union countries gathered to reflect on communication that “restores meaning” to people’s lives; that is, communication that speaks of God.

Daniel Arasa, consultor to the Dicastery for Communication and dean of the faculty of institutional social communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, opened the meeting with a presentation titled “The Service of Ecclesial Communicators to the Church in the Current Context.”

In a conversation with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Arasa addressed one of the main problems facing institutional communicators: the lack of trust in institutions. In light of this, he emphasized the importance of renewal focused on three lines of action.

A call for ‘cultural reforestation’

First, he called for “cultural reforestation,” a metaphor that refers to the replanting of core values ​​in society “that give meaning and unity to coexistence.”

He specified that the loss of these values ​​has not only been due to religious ignorance or de-Christianization but also the process that began in the 1960s “with gender theories, radical feminism, the exacerbation of individualism, and relativism.”

Arasa explained that these phenomena have emptied concepts such as man, woman, family, and love of anthropological content. Such concepts “until recently were shared worldwide and allowed for dialogue and social coexistence. Now they have been emptied of content,” he pointed out.

When these “trees” are removed, the communications expert added, “the mountain collapses.” Therefore, he emphasized the responsibility of ecclesial communicators to “culturally reforest society.”

In his presentation, Arasa also emphasized the need to foster creativity and empathy in communication.

Finally, he cited four qualities that a religious communicator must possess: “a desire for ongoing formation, service, unity with the Holy Father, good humor, and joy.”

In the face of wars and secularization in Europe, he clarified that giving hope is not only about communicating good news but also “being able to talk about negative things in a context of faith; that is, of hope.”

He also emphasized that people “want to hear stories,” so institutions are best presented through stories.

Italian Alessandro Gisotti, deputy director of the editorial department of the Dicastery for Communication and former Vatican spokesperson during the pontificate of Pope Francis, reflected on the topic of “Communication from Pope Francis to Pope Leo.” He said that to understand Pope Leo, “you have to know St. Augustine.”

The final session addressed the topic “Journalists and Vatican Communication,” with talks by Javier Martínez Brocal, Vatican expert and correspondent for the Spanish newspaper ABC, and Josef Pazderka, editor-in-chief of Český rozhlas Plus, a Czech radio station.

Brocal emphasized that those who have lost the sense of meaning in life or who are despairing find that answer in the Church, even if they are not directly seeking it.

Arasa echoed Martínez-Brocal’s words, emphasizing that “the Church is one of the few, if not the only, institution that can give meaning to many of these questions.” In this regard, he emphasized that the same people who tend toward “Orientalism, mindfulness, etc., were very attentive to what was happening during the conclave.”

“The very beauty of the rites, the prayers, the sense of joy that permeated the people, in the squares… these are things that show there is a spiritual dimension behind it; it is what truly fills people with meaning,” he added.

In this context, he recalled that Leo XIV seeks to “recover the primacy of Christ,” a theme on which Francis also insisted greatly. “People need answers, and only God is the answer, and we must not be afraid to present it in a very positive, non-imposing way. It’s about giving a message of joy,” Arasa indicated.

Witness of life and consistency

Finally, he insisted on the importance of consistency: “We cannot speak of Christ and present Christ without giving testimony with our lives. Everything we say must have that evangelizing spirit, something the pope constantly emphasizes.”

The meeting also included various cultural activities, including a Mass in the St. Wenceslas Chapel of Prague Cathedral, presided over by Bishop Josef Nuzík, president of the Czech Bishops’ Conference.

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

Father Marko Rupnik in an interview with EWTN in 2020. / Credit: EWTN

Vatican City, Jun 9, 2025 / 11:08 am (CNA).

The Vatican on Monday removed artwork by former Jesuit Father Marko Ivan Rupnik from its official websites.

Digital images of the Slovenian priest’s sacred art, which were frequently used by Vatican News to illustrate articles of the Church’s liturgical feast days, are no longer found on the digital news service.

Catholic writer Amy Welborn took to X to show screenshots of Vatican News’ “Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church” article before and after Rupnik’s accompanying artwork was removed from the website on June 9.

Rupnik, who was expelled by the Society of Jesus in June 2023 for his “stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience,” is accused by about two dozen women, mostly former nuns, of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse they allege has occurred over the past three decades.

The recent changes to the Vatican News and the Dicastery for Communication websites came soon after Pope Leo XIV met with members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on June 5.

Within the first week of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV met with Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM, archbishop emeritus of Boston and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, on May 14.

Several Church leaders and Catholic groups around the world have increasingly called for the removal of sacred art created by the former Jesuit.

On March 31, the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France announced its decision to cover Rupnik mosaics found at the entrances to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Cloistered monastic nun Sister Maria Gloria Riva of the Nuns of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament addresses Pope Leo XIV, cardinals, bishops, and other employees at the Vatican for the Jubilee of the Holy See on June 9, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 9, 2025 / 10:08 am (CNA).

Sister Maria Gloria Riva of the Nuns of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament spoke on the importance of working with eternity in mind during a talk delivered Monday morning at the Vatican, a highly unusual case of a layperson publicly addressing the pontiff on spiritual matters.

All non-clerics, including all women religious and men religious who are not in holy orders, are considered laypeople.

The 66-year-old nun, part of a cloistered, contemplative monastery in the small state of San Marino in Italy, was the invited speaker for the Jubilee of the Holy See, part of the Catholic Church’s wider 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

“Eternity is before us. If we work for short-term and mediocre horizons, we work in vain,” Riva said in her June 9 meditation to Pope Leo XIV, cardinals, bishops, and other employees of the Vatican and Roman Curia. 

The nun’s participation was planned by the Dicastery for Evangelization with Pope Francis before his death. Francis had expanded women’s leadership roles in the Church, including opening the ministries of lector and acolyte to women.

Riva’s talk was followed by a procession through the Holy Door, led by Pope Leo, who carried the jubilee cross like an ordinary pilgrim from the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall to St. Peter’s Basilica, where he then celebrated Mass for the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church.

In his homily, Leo emphasized the necessity of bearing one’s cross in order to be fruitful.

“All the fruitfulness of the Church and of the Holy See depends on the cross of Christ. Otherwise, it is only appearance, if not worse,” the pontiff said.

“The Holy See is holy as the Church is holy, in her original core, in the very fabric of her being,” he continued. “The Apostolic See thus preserves the holiness of its roots while being preserved by them. But it is no less true that it also lives in the holiness of each of its members. Therefore, the best way to serve the Holy See is to strive for holiness, each according to his or her particular state of life and the work entrusted to him or her.”

Reflecting on the liturgical feast day of Mary, Mother of the Church, the pope connected the fruitfulness of the Church and the fruitfulness of Mary, which, he said, “is realized in the lives of her members to the extent that they relive, ‘in miniature,’ what the Mother lived, namely, they love according to the love of Jesus.”

The fruitfulness of the Church is also linked to the grace of the pierced heart of Jesus and the sacraments, he added.

According to Leo, Mary, as the living memory of Jesus, also ensures the unity of the disciples’ prayer in the upper room at Pentecost.

In the account of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, “the apostles are listed by name and, as always, Peter is the first,” the pope pointed out. “But he himself, in truth, is the first to be supported by Mary in his ministry.”

“In the same way, Mother Church supports the ministry of Peter’s successors with the Marian charism. The Holy See experiences in a very special way the coexistence of the two poles; the Marian and the Petrine. It is precisely the Marian pole, with its motherhood, gift of Christ and of the Spirit, that ensures the fruitfulness and holiness of the Petrine pole,” he said.

Riva, an author and prolific spiritual writer, also spoke about the direction of one’s work and life in her reflection. “We need to work for the great horizon of life that does not die: to live by asking ourselves at every moment whether what we are doing connects us firmly to that truth which is charity and eternity; this is hope,” she underlined.

“We, dear brothers and sisters, know where we must run: The race of John and Peter towards the tomb of Christ is the only race that the Church and the world can run without fear. It is the race of those who know that hope lies in true life, eternal life.”

The meaning of a jubilee, she continued, is to help us think about the last things, the brevity of existence, and the meaning of our lives.

The nun, who founded her monastic community, which educates Catholics about Eucharistic adoration and “the passion for the beauty that saves,” recalled an oft-repeated line from the Russian author Dostoevsky that “beauty will save the world.”

This quote is incorrect, she said, because Prince Myshkin, in the novel “The Idiot,” actually asks: “What beauty will save the world?”

“The prince,” Riva explained, “is confronted with a terrible image,” a painting by Hans Holbein, “The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb.” The painting, also referred to as “Dead Christ,” “is a life-size Christ with sunken eyes and limbs already showing signs of necrosis,” she said.

“So the question is serious. What beauty will save the world? Will the beauty of the cross save the world? The beauty of defeat? The beauty of humiliation? Yes, the cross can still save us,” the nun emphasized. “In 2025, in postmodern man, the great salvation of the cross still exists. The cross will save us.”

Jesuit Guy Consolmagno at the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

Vatican City, Jun 9, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A total of 24 fortunate young people from around the world are participating this year in the Vatican Observatory’s summer camp, an exceptional opportunity to see “that science and faith work together.”

The camp is led by the observatory’s director, Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, who during these summer months is teaching the cohort of future astronomers.

“We hope that simply living and working alongside Jesuit astronomers will be the strongest evidence that science and faith work together, and even more so, that this is a very natural collaboration,” Consolmagno told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

The veteran Vatican astronomer, born in Detroit, recalled that Pope John Paul II once described faith and reason “as the two wings that lift us toward the truth.”

“I hear in Pope Leo’s comments an echo of that same intuition,” the Jesuit affirmed, referring to the pontiff’s words at a recent international bioethics conference in which he called for a science that serves the truth and that is “increasingly humane and respectful of the integrity of the human person.”

According to the director of the observatory, which is located in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, the important thing is to remember “that truth itself is the goal” and that understanding “our faith and our science is never complete, never perfect, but always worth pursuing.”

Spreading the joy of discovery

As Consolmagno sees it, astronomers have a responsibility to pass on their knowledge to the next generation.

In this context, he acknowledged that “young, fresh minds are essential to making new discoveries and creating a deeper understanding of what we discover.”

The Jesuit brother highlighted the “special” nature of the camp, as many of the students “come from the less developed world, which means we can spread the joy of discovery to places that too often don’t have the opportunity to experience it.”

He also noted that the best part of the summer school for the young people “is the opportunity to meet both their peers from around the world and to have access to the experts who teach the classes.”

“Astronomy is a small field, and meeting other astronomers personally and professionally enriches both the students and the work,” he added.

Academic ability and enthusiasm

Consolmagno indicated that this year’s 24 students were chosen from among 175 applicants, so “the decisions were not easy.”

“Our only limit is that there can be no more than two students per nation. Beyond that, we choose the students who showed the greatest promise of being able to benefit from a school like this... both for their academic ability and for their enthusiasm for living in this historic setting,” he indicated.

For many of the students, the connections they make at the Vatican Observatory allow them to enter top-tier doctoral programs around the world “and then bring this high level of scientific excellence back to their home countries.”

“We estimate that more than 80% of students continue on to professional astronomy,” he noted, adding that those who pursue other paths still benefit greatly from the experience.

The revolutionary James Webb telescope

The theme of this year’s summer school — the 19th since its first edition in 1986 — is “Exploring the Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope: The First Three Years.”

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on Christmas Day 2021. Since it began transmitting data the following July, Consolmagno said, it “has revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos.”

Consolmagno explained that this telescope allows students to see firsthand what science is really saying and not just “the results that have been reported in the press.”

“This allows them to appreciate how important — and difficult — it can be to try to explain to the general public what we have learned,” he emphasized.

For the Vatican astronomer, this is “an ideal time to review what the Webb telescope has discovered so far and to teach what we have learned about how best to take advantage of its capabilities.”

He further pointed out that “the combination of theory and practice” is something the observatory has promoted since these courses began almost four decades ago.

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

Sister Therese Mills, MGL, traveled from Australia to attend the Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations, and New Communities in Rome on June 8, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Sister Therese Mills, MGL

Vatican City, Jun 8, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

Traveling more than 10,000 miles to take part in this weekend’s Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations, and New Communities, Sister Therese Mills, MGL, spoke to CNA of her great joy as she joined tens of thousands of other pilgrims in Rome.

A leader of the Missionaries of God’s Love Sisters, a charismatic Catholic group founded in Australia in 1987, Mills said her pilgrimage to Rome during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope has been a time of refreshment and renewal.

She described the “amazing” experience of walking through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, the first day of the special jubilee dedicated to new Catholic movements and associations.  

Mills recalled “just opening my hands and just praying that the Lord would refresh and renew my heart and refresh and renew my faith.”

“The thing that blew me away — and what I loved the most — was we were all on this journey together but everyone was speaking and praying in different languages,” she shared with CNA on Pentecost Sunday.

Mills called her visit to the Blessed Sacrament chapel inside the papal basilica a “God moment” that she will not forget.

“I just sat before Jesus and bawled my eyes out to be honest,” she said with a laugh. “I was very overwhelmed with his love … the gift of being with him in this place, and with the universal Church.”

The approximately 70,000 pilgrims participating in the weekend jubilee had the opportunity to explore different churches in Rome and attend music and entertainment events organized by various ecclesial groups.

A few of the hundreds of new Catholic associations taking part in the June jubilee included the Neocatechumenal Way, Catholic Action, Communion and Liberation, the Catholic Shalom Community, the Community of Sant’Egidio, the Focolare Movement, and CHARIS International.

During his homily at the Vigil Mass, Pope Leo described the new and diverse Church communities gathered around him as “the fruits of the Second Vatican Council” who are “grounded in the one Lord Jesus Christ” entrusted with “a single mission.”

Mills attended both Pope Leo’s Pentecost Masses — the Vigil on Saturday night and one on Sunday morning. 

“I really love being part of a universal Church, being united as one, and coming together to pray for the Spirit,” Mills said.

In the days leading up to the official jubilee festivities, Mills undertook a pilgrimage to holy sites in Rome linked to patron saints of her Australian-based community, including St. Francis of Assisi, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Catherine of Siena.

The first Missionaries of God’s Love Sisters household was formed in the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn in 1988. Since then, the religious sisters have lived and ministered in the Australian cities of Adelaide, Darwin, Melbourne, and Sydney, and led outreach missions around the country and in other Asia-Pacific nations, including Fiji and Papua New Guinea.