- Pope to leave hospital Sunday (CWN)
Pope Francis will be discharged from Gemelli Hospital on Sunday, and will return to his residence at the Vatican’s Casa Marta, the Vatican has announced. - 12-year decline in worldwide priestly vocations accelerates (CWN)
The number of major seminarians worldwide fell from 108,481 in 2022 to 106,495 in 2023, according to statistics published in the new Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (CWN coverage)—a decline of 1.83% in a single year. - USCCB reacts to President Trump's executive order closing Department of Education (USCCB)
Reacting to President Trump’s executive order on the closing of the Department of Education, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ executive director of public affairs said that “the Catholic Church teaches that parents are the primary educators of their children and should have the freedom and resources to choose an educational setting best suited for their child.”“The Conference supports public policies that affirm this, and we support the positive working relationships that the dioceses, parishes, and independent schools have with their local public school system partners,” said Chieko Noguchi.She added, “As this Executive Order is implemented, it is important to ensure that students of all backgrounds in both public and non-public schools, especially those with disabilities or from low-income backgrounds, will continue to receive the resources they need.” - At Mass for anniversary of Pope's election, Ecumenical Patriarch renews call for common Easter date (Orthodox Times)
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches, attended Mass at the Latin-rite cathedral in Istanbul for the 12th anniversary of the Pope’s election.“If our ultimate goal is the achievement of full doctrinal and sacramental unity, we cannot excuse any indifference or intolerance in removing unjustified barriers and divisions,” he said. “One of these obstacles which, if removed, would give more credibility and strength to all Christians in this fragmented world, is the different way of calculating the date of Easter.”Bishop Massimiliano Palinuro, the vicar apostolic of Istanbul, said in his homily that “during these 12 years Pope Francis, with courage and parrhesia, has called the entire Church to return to the simplicity of the Gospel and has warned the powerful of the Earth not to follow the path of selfishness and oppression.” - Synod official outlines vision for 3-year synodality implementation phase (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
In an article in the Vatican newspaper, Father Giacomo Costa, SJ, special secretary of the 2023 and 2024 sessions of the Synod on Synodality, discussed the synod’s three-year implementation phase (2025-28).“The areas of possible application of the conclusions of the Synod are many: for example, the assumption by lay and consecrated men and women of roles of responsibility that do not require the Sacrament of Orders; or the experimentation of forms of service and ministry that respond to pastoral needs in different contexts; or the institution or renewal of participation bodies in a synodal key; or the activation of decision-making processes based on ecclesial discernment and the adoption of reporting and evaluation practices in all dimensions of ecclesial life,” he wrote.Implementation, he continued, “cannot be limited to individual points, however prayerful, abstracting them from the relational ecclesiological perspective that emerged from the Synod ... Synodality is first and foremost a style of Church, a way of relating to the world. Adequate structures and norms are indispensable, but they are not enough.”Father Costa added, “Only through a concrete experience shared by the entire People of God, in the variety of their charisms and ministries, will we be able to learn to recognize the Lord who precedes us, accompanies us and guides us.” - Worldwide Catholic population up slightly to 1.4 billion (Vatican News)
The world’s Catholic population continues to grow by just over 1% annually, surpassing 1.4 billion, according to the latest data published in the Pontifical Yearbook, the Annuarium for 2025. The official statistics—covering 2023, the last year for which full figures are available—show rapid growth of the Catholic population in Africa, with slower growth in the Americas and Asia, and almost no growth in Europe. Africa, which saw a 3.3% growth rate in the Catholic population in 2023, now accounts for 20% of all the world’s Catholics—nearly as many as Europe, which is 20.4% Catholic. But with Europe’s Catholic population growing by only 0.2%, Africa is likely to outstrip Europe soon. The Americas—treated as a single continent in Vatican statistics—have the largest Catholic population, accounting for nearly half (47.8%) of the worldwide total. There the growth rate was 0.9%. Asia saw a 0.6% population increase among Catholics; Oceania, 1.9%. There were 406,996 Catholic priests in the world at the close of 2023: a decrease of 0.2% from the previous year. That trend is likely to continue, since the number of seminarians (106,495) has also sunk by 1.8%. But the figures show wide differences among the continents; Africa saw a 2.7% increase in the number of priests; Europe a 1.6% decrease. The number of women religious also dropped by 1.6%, continuing a long-term trend. But here too the numbers were different across the continents, with Africa reporting a substantial increase (2.2%) and Europe the largest decrease (3.8%). - Archbishop encourages Christians to remain in Syria (Aid to the Church in Need)
The Melkite Catholic archbishop of Homs encouraged Christians to remain in Syria following the killing of hundreds of Alawites and Christians.Archbishop Jean-Abdo Arbach told Aid to the Church in Need that amid an economic crisis, “we are supporting our faithful in every sense of the word: paying rent, providing medication, food, and clothing, and also sustaining them spiritually, so that they feel close to God, to encourage them to remain in their land.”He added: I encourage people to wait, and to stay firm, because without the Christians, there can be no future for Syria. Christians are the roots of Syria, and Syria is the cradle of Christianity. In Damascus, we can still find the places where Saint Paul converted to Christianity in the first century. We still have first-century churches and monasteries, and we have kept Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, alive. - Vatican 'foreign minister' decries 'culture of death' (Vatican News)
As he celebrated Mass on March 21 for ambassadors to the Holy See, who had gathered to pray for the health of Pope Francis, Archbishop Paul Gallagher used his homily to denounce “those who constantly feed the culture of death.” The Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States pointed to warfare in “martyred Ukraine, in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in other places of conflict.” He lamented: “The world thus becomes a theater of clashes between ethnicities and civilizations, cultures, and religions.” The archbishop praised people “who have fought for human dignity, who struggled against dictatorships, tyranny, and injustices—even if they did not always share the Christian faith or a religious faith.” - Armed bandits terrorize missionary residence in DRC (Fides)
A group of men wielding machetes broke into the home of the Missionary Sisters of Santo Domingo in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, during the night on March 18. The raiders, who entered the building by bursting through a wall, stole computers, telephones, cash, and other valuables. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa expressed outrage at the attack. Church leaders said that violent incident illustrated the lack of security in the nation’s capital city, where criminal gangs have made targets of religious institutions. - After IVF nightmares, patients have few protections (NBC)
In an inside look at the business of in vitro fertilization (IVF)—a rarity for the mainstream media—NBC finds that clients have few protections in an industry that has avoided regulation. The NBC probe uncovered hundreds of lawsuits against IVF practitioners. - Italian president pays tribute to Pontiff (Quirinale (Italian))
Italian President Sergio Mattarella paid tribute to Pope Francis in a message for the 12th anniversary of the Pontiff’s election.Mattarella, who holds a ceremonial but influential position, praised Dilexit Nos, the Pope’s encyclical on the Sacred Heart, as well as the Pope’s statements for the G7, G20, and UN climate change conferences.“While at the international level the reasons for Law and for a proper articulation of coexistence among states seem to be fading, your voice is and remains more necessary than ever,” the Italian president added, as wished the Pontiff a speedy recovery. - Orthodox Jewish univeristy, in policy change, allows LGBTQ student group (New York Times)
New York’s Yeshiva University has announced that it will recognize an LGBTQ student group on campus, reversing a policy that had prompted years of legal battling. Yeshiva had resisted recognition of student organizations that promote behavior at odds with the moral teachings of Orthodox Judaism. The university did not explain the reasons for the policy change. - Recalling Dr. Jerome Lejeune, advocate for Down Syndrome children (CNA)
On World Down Syndrome Day, March 21, Catholic News Agency recalls the enormous contributions of the late Dr. Jerome Lejeune, whose advocacy for Down Syndrome children probably cost him a Nobel Prize, but helped to make him a candidate for beatification. - Online giving cited for growth in church donations (Ministry Brands)
Slightly over half (51%) of all US Christian churches reported an increase in donations in 2025, according to a report from Ministry Brands. Ministry Brands—which furnishes software for church donation programs—says that online fundraising has not cut into traditional donations, but digital gifts now account for 42% of all church donations. - Influential Polish prelate retires (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, 75, of Poznań, Poland. St. John Paul II had appointed him to the see in 2002.The prelate led the Polish Episcopal Conference from 2014 to 2024. At the synod on the family, he advocated for the traditional teaching barring the reception of Holy Communion by those who have remarried outside the Church. Later, he was a critic of the German bishops’ synodal way.Pope Francis appointed Bishop Zbigniew Zieliński, 60, of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg as Poznań’s new archbishop. - Diplomat recalls 75th anniversary of Vatican-Indonesia relations (Fides)
The ambassador of Indonesia to the Holy See reflected on 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two parties—a relationship with increasing significance, as Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous nation, behind India, China, and the United States.Michael Trias Kuncahyono said that “Pope Francis’s visit to Indonesia and the signing of the Istiqlal Declaration last September were a crowning achievement of diplomatic relations.”The ambassador also paid tribute to Father Frans van Lith (1863-1926), a Jesuit missionary, and to Archbishop Albertus Soegijapranata, SJ (1896-1963), a student of van Lith’s who became the nation’s first native bishop.The Southeast Asian nation of 282 million (map) is 78% Muslim, 13% Christian (3% Catholic), and 2% ethnic religionist. - Pontifical academy hosts conference on AI and children (Pontifical Academy of Sciences)
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has organized a two-day conference on the “Risks and Opportunities of AI for Children: A Common Commitment for Safeguarding Children” (booklet).The conference “aims to bring together representatives from the tech industry, faith-based institutions, academia, civil society, children and young people, and survivors of abuse to address the urgent issue of safe and ethical use of AI for children’s wellbeing,” according to the pontifical academy, an advisory body established in 1936.The World Childhood Foundation and the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Institute of Anthropology are cosponsoring the March 21-22 event. - Papal health update, March 21 (Vatican News)
Pope Francis no longer requires mechanical ventilation when he sleeps, doctors are reducing the use of high-flow oxygen to assist his breathing, and his condition remains stable, the Vatican press office announced on Friday afternoon. However, the Vatican said, “the doctors have not yet given any indication regarding his discharge from the hospital.” In a more disturbing statement, during an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica, Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that “the Pope must learn to speak again.” Pope Francis has not lost the ability to speak; he recorded an audio message to the faithful on March 6. But at that time his voice was weak, his speech unclear, and his breathing labored. Cardinal Fernandez expressed confidence that the Pope would recover and continue his leadership. But when asked whether he would return to action before Easter, the cardinal replied: “I don’t think so.” - Irish bishop warns against SSPX Resistance (Donegal Live)
An Irish bishop has warned the faithful against SSPX Resistance, founded by the late Bishop Richard Williamson (1940-2025).“The priests of SSPX Resistance Ireland administer sacraments, but do so illicitly—that is, without the necessary faculties and approval of the Church,” said Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry. “I urge all the faithful to remain steadfast in communion with the Church, united with the Holy Father and the bishops who share in full communion with him.”In 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of St. Pius X, consecrated Bishop Williamson without Vatican permission. In 2012, the Society expelled the prelate from its ranks. - Former Vatican auditor vows to press case for justice (National Catholic Register)
Libero Milone, the Vatican’s former auditor general, vows to continue pursuing a lawsuit against the Vatican for wrongful dismissal, despite a ruling from the tribunal that prevents him from introducing much of the evidence to support his claim. “Approximately half our claim, some 25 pages, needed to be removed to continue with the proceedings,” Milone tells the National Catholic Register. He reports that one of his lawyers resigned after receiving the tribunal’s ruling, “because he thinks that an injustice has been committed; the court is not being impartial.” The Register, which obtained a copy of Milone’s initial complaint, provides examples of the items that the court refused to allow. Among them were Milone’s reference to “repeated requests” for information about a notorious London real-estate deal, a complaint of “obstructionism” by leading Vatican officials, and a statement that some activities of the Holy See were “highly incompatible with the mission entrusted to it by Providence.” Milone, who was forced to resign—according to his lawsuit, because he had exposed corrupt activities—admits that he does not expect a favorable ruling on his appeal, but says: “We won’t give up.”