Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 26, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic nonprofit organization Napa Institute is pushing for more collaboration among Catholic and Protestant leaders to promote cultural values and aims that are common to both communities.

Earlier this month, Napa Institute Board Chairman Tim Busch hosted a meeting among 15 Catholic and Protestant faith leaders for the organization’s first Ecumenical Forum in New York City, according to a news release.

The Napa Institute works to promote the re-evangelization of the United States and the defense of Catholicism in the public square.

While recognizing the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism, Busch emphasized that there is shared agreement on many central tenets of the faith, such as in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. Certain goals, he noted, could be better accomplished to the extent that both groups work together.

The two groups, Busch stated, “share a profound concern about rising cultural hostility to core Christian teachings and truths.”

“We all believe in the sanctity and right understanding of marriage,” he said. “We are all committed to defending the unborn and vulnerable mothers. And we know that religious liberty is a fundamental right that must be protected in modern society.”

The attendees agreed to establish a steering committee to host more ecumenical gatherings and to develop more partnerships. Busch also indicated that he would involve “a limited number of Protestants” at Napa’s summer conference.

In an interview with CNA, Busch said some of the legal and political shifts that are of common concern include the arrests of pro-life advocates protesting abortion clinics, the promotion of abortion, and the embrace of same-sex marriage and gender ideology.

Essentially, Busch said there is a “dilution of biblical teachings” in public life. He further said the American embrace of “wokeism” is “really just a form of pagan religion that promises utopia on Earth … [that] fails to recognize it’s not a free-for-all. There are certain principles all of us need to follow.”

“The devil’s really the enemy, but the devil working through people has made an abomination of God’s teaching within our society,” he told CNA.

Busch added that many Protestants no longer view the Catholic Church in a hostile way, in spite of historical anti-Catholicism within some elements of American society. He said “the hatred of Catholics [has been] significantly mitigated” in recent decades, adding there is “an opportunity today that did not exist before to collaborate.” 

Catholics at the meeting included Father Ambrose Criste, a priest at St. Michael’s Abbey in California, and Bishop Steven Lopes, a bishop in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Protestant leaders in attendance included executives from Christianity Today and the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

In Napa’s news release on the meeting, Busch indicated that every attendee agreed to work together to promote common values in American culture and law and acknowledge that “spiritual warfare is real and worsening.” He added that “the path forward depends on prayer and our shared faith in Jesus Christ” as a means to advance the common good in the United States.

Busch added that his intention when he began the Napa Institute was to prepare Catholics for what Philadelphia Archbishop Emeritus Charles Chaput called the “next America.” The “next America” refers to a United States in which Christian views and Christianity are viewed in a hostile way.

“The next America has arrived, and as we confront the challenges ahead, it will help us to work with Protestants to defend our faith and the truth,” Busch wrote. “I hope this ecumenical forum is the start of many such collaborations. It may be the first time we’ve done this, but it won’t be the last.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Jesus seeks out people in their woundedness and isolation to offer healing and hope, even when they feel furthest from God, Pope Francis said in a prepared catechesis.

"Jesus awaits us and lets himself be found precisely when we think there is no longer hope for us," the pope wrote in the text prepared for his general audience March 26.

Although Pope Francis returned to his residence at the Vatican March 23 after more than five weeks in the hospital, his general audience and other appointments were suspended to allow time for his recovery.

Jubilee pilgrims, even knowing Pope Francis was not holding an audience, continued to make their way to the Vatican and to the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica.

As part of his catechetical series for the Holy Year 2025, themed "Jesus Christ, our hope," the pope reflected on Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well as recounted in St. John's Gospel. The catechesis follows a previous reflection on the nighttime meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus.

Unlike Nicodemus, who went looking for Jesus, the Samaritan woman encountered him unexpectedly. She went to the well at an unusual hour -- noon, when it was very hot -- perhaps to avoid others. "She did not expect to find a man at the well at noon; in fact, she hoped to find no one at all," the text said. Yet Jesus chose to pass through Samaria and stop at that very place and time, waiting for her.

"Jesus here thirsts above all for the salvation of that woman," the catechesis said, explaining that Jesus' request -- "Give me a drink" -- reveals a divine desire to begin a relationship and offer the "living water" of grace.

Quoting St. Augustine, the pope wrote, "The one who asked for a drink was thirsting for the faith of the woman."

Jesus' knowledge of her difficult past of having had five husbands and now living with a sixth man is not a source of judgment, the pope's message said, but a starting point for healing. The woman is invited to read her story in a new light.

The number six, the catechesis noted, often symbolizes imperfection in the Bible. Jesus could be "an allusion to the seventh bridegroom, the one who will finally be able to satiate this woman's desire to be truly loved," it said. "And that bridegroom can only be Jesus."

Upon realizing who he is, the woman leaves behind her water jar -- a symbol, the pope wrote, of her past burdens -- and runs to tell others.

"Her past is no longer a weight," the catechesis said. "She is reconciled. And so it is for us: To proclaim the Gospel, we must first lay the weight of our own story at the feet of the Lord, surrendering to him the weight of our past."

True evangelization flows from the experience of being understood, welcomed and forgiven, the pope wrote. 

"Even if our stories seem heavy, complicated, perhaps even ruined, we always have the chance to surrender them to God and begin our journey again," the catechesis said. "God is mercy and always awaits us."

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CNA Staff, Mar 25, 2025 / 18:35 pm (CNA).

King Charles and Queen Camilla postponed their visit to the Vatican at the advice of Pope Francis’ doctors, who say the Holy Father needs more rest time following his recent illness. 

The royal couple was set to visit the Vatican in early April to celebrate the 2025 Jubilee but announced the postponement of their visit on Tuesday due to Pope Francis’ health. Their audience with Pope Francis, now canceled, would have been on April 8. 

The postponement was mutual, according to a March 25 statement from Buckingham Palace.

“The king and queen’s state visit to the Holy See has been postponed by mutual agreement, as medical advice has now suggested that Pope Francis would benefit from an extended period of rest and recuperation,” read a post on X by the royal family.

The royal family also shared their good wishes for Pope Francis’ recovery.  

“Their majesties send the pope their best wishes for his convalescence and look forward to visiting him in the Holy See once he has recovered,” the statement continued.

Pope Francis, 88, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis. More than a month later, he was discharged from the hospital, making his first public appearance in 38 days this past Sunday. 

The initial visit, according to the palace, was designed to “mark a significant step forward in relations between the Catholic Church and Church of England.”

The visit would have included an ecumenical service in the Sistine Chapel focused on the theme “Care for Creation.”

As part of the visit, King Charles was also set to visit the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, “with which English kings had a particular link until the Reformation,” according to the palace press release.

King Charles would have also met with a reception of British seminarians, while Queen Camilla had been set to meet with Catholic religious sisters from the International Union of Superiors General, which highlights girls’ education, health care access, and prevention of human trafficking. 

The royal couple will go ahead with the other components of their April state visit to Italy.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 25, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

The Memphis Police Department (MPD) last week arrested a 30-year-old man who is accused of sending a threatening email to a local Catholic parish expressing his intent to “butcher” Catholics with a machete.

Zachary Liberto, who lives in Memphis, was charged with commissioning an act of terrorism for allegedly sending the email to a member of the staff at St. Louis Catholic Church, which is on the eastern side of the city. If convicted, he could face between 15 and 60 years in prison.

According to a police report provided to CNA, Liberto is accused of sending an email to the parish’s music director on March 20 containing the threat against parishioners.

Liberto had reportedly requested video footage of an unrelated incident as part of the threat. “I need a video of [the unnamed person] getting slapped by you in 24 hours before I butcher people in that church with a machete,” the email sent to the music director read, according to the MPD report.

The music director forwarded the email to the unnamed person mentioned within it, who subsequently filed a complaint with the MPD.

According to the report, the complainant said Liberto is known to have a machete, which he allegedly nicknamed “chete.” The complainant also claimed Liberto has mentioned in the past that he owns a firearm.

The person who filed the complaint told police that Liberto lives in a homeless encampment in the city. The complainant and the music director both told police that Liberto has an unknown mental illness.

According to the police report, the music director said he and Liberto had communicated by email before. It also stated that neither the music director nor the unnamed person know what prompted Liberto to allegedly send the threatening email.

The suspect has a mental evaluation hearing scheduled for the morning of April 7, according to police.

Rick Ouellette, a spokesman for the Diocese of Memphis, told CNA that the parish also found garbage placed in the baptismal font on the same day as the threatening email. Both of these incidents combined prompted the parish to alert the authorities immediately.

Ouellette said Liberto was known to some members of the parish staff and that he had come to the church before.

“Our St. Louis staff notified authorities immediately of the incident,” Ouellette added. “The parish thanks the authorities for their quick response in apprehending a suspect. The incident is also a reminder to everyone that our St. Louis parish has a solid safety and security plan in place as does our 46 parishes and 13 schools in West Tennessee.” 

Ouellette said there were not any physical or verbal confrontations between Liberto and parish staff or parishioners.

“We’re praying for everybody involved,” Ouellette added.