Catholic Standard

Addressing a Sept. 24 forum on The Human and Moral Costs of the New Nuclear Arms Race,” Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, emphasized that “the only sure way to end the nuclear threat is to end nuclear weapons.” The forum was hosted by the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs at its Washington, D.C., office.

Bishop Robert E. Barron met Pope Leo XIV for a private audience at the Vatican Oct 1, describing his first extended, one-on-one conversation with a pope as covering “a lot of different topics.” The Chicago-born pope opened with a hometown connection, “‘Well, two guys from Chicago,’” Bishop Barron recalled Pope Leo telling him. “It was just a very comfortable conversation.

Catholics in Greenland are regarding a new security agreement with a mixture of relief and concern, while remaining committed to the call of the Gospel, said the island’s only Catholic parish priest. On Sept. 22, the U.S., Denmark and Greenland signed an agreement amending the 1951 document that authorized the U.S. to create military bases in semiautonomous Greenland, which along with the Faroe Islands and the European nation of Denmark forms the Kingdom of Denmark.

After Tennessee officials failed in their Sept. 30 attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Gail Pike for a 1995 murder, Gov. Bill Lee halted the one remaining execution for the rest of the year pending an investigation. But some Catholic opponents of the death penalty said that the incident demonstrates the flaws with capital punishment.

On Oct. 3, 1226, St. Francis of Assisi passed from this life. Eight hundred years later, the Franciscan community still commemorates his passing, or Transitus, with a solemn evening service on the eve of his feast. The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America on Saturday, Oct. 3, will host a celebration of the 800th Anniversary of the Transitus of St. Francis, and on Sunday, Oct. 4, will host a celebration of the Jubilee Year of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

Two of my favorite days of the year are coming up. If you stop and think about it, they might be some of your favorite days, too. I bet you think I’m talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are certainly great days. But I’m actually talking about the first two days of November – All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. What a gift it is that the Church sets aside these two days, and even the entire month of November, to pray in a special way for our loved ones who have gone home to God.

Thousands of pilgrims, as well as civil and religious leaders, are expected over the weekend to commemorate the feast of St. Francis, marking the 800th anniversary of his death with a call for world peace. The Oct. 3-4 celebration will serve as the centerpiece of the Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV, which began Jan. 10 and continues until Jan. 10, 2027.

Pope Leo XIV prayed the rosary with hundreds of children and their families at the Lourdes grotto in the Vatican Gardens Oct. 1 after the pope invited Catholics to pray the rosary throughout the month of October for peace in the world. “Tonight, and in these coming days, we are not alone in prayer. Across the globe, one million children are praying with us,” Pope Leo told the children.

Pope Leo XIV has dedicated his October prayer intention to mental health ministry, calling on the Church to listen without judging and accompany those who suffer without excluding them. In a video produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the pope prayed that the Church may be an “open house” where people facing challenges to their mental health find welcome, dignity and hope.

Catholics have an opportunity to help shape artificial intelligence while its design principles and business models are still taking form, Taylor Black told an audience at The Catholic University of America, urging individuals and institutions to bring a Catholic understanding of the human person into decisions about how the technology is used and built.