News - February 2025 RSS Feed

Before and after every pastoral trip and on many other occasions, His Holiness Pope Francis visits Rome’s Basilica of Saint Mary Major to pray before the precious icon of the Blessed Mother “Salus Populi Romani” to whom he has great personal devotion.

Before and after every pastoral trip and on many other occasions, His Holiness Pope Francis visits Rome’s Basilica of Saint Mary Major to pray before the precious icon of the Blessed Mother “Salus Populi Romani” to whom he has great personal devotion.

“The clergy and laity of the Diocese have been praying for the Pope throughout his hospitalization. We will continue to do so as his battle has become more difficult over the last 12 hours. May he be comforted by the prayers and well-wishes offered for him from around the world and may God see him through this critical time.”

“The clergy and laity of the Diocese have been praying for the Pope throughout his hospitalization. We will continue to do so as his battle has become more difficult over the last 12 hours. May he be comforted by the prayers and well-wishes offered for him from around the world and may God see him through this critical time.”

“The clergy and laity of the Diocese have been praying for the Pope throughout his hospitalization. We will continue to do so as his battle has become more difficult over the last 12 hours. May he be comforted by the prayers and well-wishes offered for him from around the world and may God see him through this critical time.”

The Bishop wrote: “Please keep in your prayers our Holy Father, Pope Francis. He continues to be treated at Gemelli Hospital in Rome for pneumonia in both lungs as well as what has been described as a ‘complex’ respiratory problem.”

The Chancery in Lawrenceville will be closed Monday, February 17, for Presidents Day. Normal business hours will resume Tuesday, February 18.

On February 11, our Holy Father Pope Francis took the unusual step to issue a public, open letter to the Catholic Bishops of the United States regarding what he called a “major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations.”

On February 11, our Holy Father Pope Francis took the unusual step to issue a public, open letter to the Catholic Bishops of the United States regarding what he called a “major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations.”

St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) once told St. Louise de Marillac (1591-1660) and the Daughters of Charity they co-founded: “As for your conduct with the sick, may you never take the attitude of merely getting the task done. You must show them affection; serving them from the heart; inquiring of them what they might need; speaking to them gently and compassionately.”

A message for World Day of the Sick 2025 from Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) once told St. Louise de Marillac (1591-1660) and the Daughters of Charity they co-founded: “As for your conduct with the sick, may you never take the attitude of merely getting the task done. You must show them affection; serving them from the heart; inquiring of them what they might need; speaking to them gently and compassionately.”

Nursing services in New Jersey nonpublic schools are not guaranteed, thanks to budgetary language, lack of available candidates and underfunding. To that end, an Action Alert has been issued by the New Jersey Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the bishops of New Jersey, to encourage concerned residents to advocate for increased funding.

As Catholics, we celebrate marriage in the Church as “a sacrament.” The Baltimore Catechism states that a sacrament is one of the seven “outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace (Question 574).” The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) similarly defines a sacrament as an “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us (CCC 1131).” The 1983 Code of Canon Law (CCL) states that “the sacraments of the New Testament were instituted by Christ the Lord and entrusted to the Church” as “actions of Christ and the Church … “signs and means which express and strengthen the faith, render worship to God, and effect the sanctification of humanity and thus contribute in the greatest way to establish, strengthen, and manifest ecclesiastical communion (canon 840).”

As Catholics, we celebrate marriage in the Church as “a sacrament.” The Baltimore Catechism states that a sacrament is one of the seven “outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace (Question 574).” The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) similarly defines a sacrament as an “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us (CCC 1131).” The 1983 Code of Canon Law (CCL) states that “the sacraments of the New Testament were instituted by Christ the Lord and entrusted to the Church” as “actions of Christ and the Church … “signs and means which express and strengthen the faith, render worship to God, and effect the sanctification of humanity and thus contribute in the greatest way to establish, strengthen, and manifest ecclesiastical communion (canon 840).”

Throughout his papacy, our Holy Father Pope Francis has used the word “encounter” quite often in his homilies, addresses and writings, so much so that it might even be considered a “theme” of his pontificate. In this Jubilee Year, he has taken “hope” as his theme.