A truck loaded with humanitarian aid has arrived in Kharkiv, one of the Ukrainian cities most severely affected by recent Russian attacks. The Papal Almoner reaffirms the unwavering commitment of the Holy See to bring the Pope’s charity to those in need.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

While locals are joining in on parts of the 2025 National Eucharisitc Pilgrimage as it winds its way across the country, eight young Catholics have dedicated the last three weeks to traveling the entire route with the Eucharist as “Perpetual Pilgrims” — and accompanying them are seven chaplains who take turns to serve as their spiritual guides.

Maria Benes, director of pilgrims for the National Eucharistic Congress, told CNA that there are five priests and two religious brothers who have been rotating through the pilgrimage. Three started with the pilgrims and four are expected to end the trek in Los Angeles on June 22. 

The priest chaplains are Capuchin Franciscan Fathers Christopher Iwancio and Michael Herlihey, and Franciscan Friars of the Renewal Fathers Malachy Joseph Napier, Justin Jesúsmarie Alarcón, and Lawrence Joshua Johnson. The religious brothers are Brothers Jan Cyril Vanek and Damiano Mary Pio, both of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.

“As a lot of them have told me, the nature of pilgrimage is very Franciscan with the flexibility and adaptability of the adventure with Jesus,” Benes said.

The chaplains were chosen based on a number of criteria. Some reached out directly because they “felt called” and some were were asked if they wished to join based on organizers’ judgment that they would be “a good fit.” From there, pilgrimage staff, the chaplains, and their superiors organized the schedule.

The chaplains are “all stationed in different places” but have traveled to be a part of the experience, Benes said. “In fact, a few are stationed in other countries.”

As they travel, the chaplains take on a number of jobs. “The first part is the pastoral care of the team,” Benes said, adding that some helped lead a February retreat in preparation and a “day of recollection” before the pilgrimage started in Indianapolis.

On the road, the chaplains hear confessions, give homilies, provide reflections, and evangelize. They also help with music during many of the processions, leading worship in both English and Spanish. 

“Then the day-to-day of praying with the team, spiritual protection prayers for the team, and any pastoral concerns that come up. Then the second part of their role is to help bring the Eucharist to the public,” Benes said. 

CNA spoke to the two Franciscan Capuchins priests — Iwancio and Herlihey — about their experiences so far and their time with the pilgrims.  

Father Christopher Iwancio, OFM Cap

Iwancio helped the pilgrims through the retreat prior to their departure. To help calm their nerves he told them that “even the disciples had the same nervousness.” 

“They had uncertainty. Even when Jesus ascended to heaven, there was still a little uncertainty for the disciples. There’s something to be ruptured into that encounter experience, but there’s also the practicality, because you have to balance both the spiritual with the practical,” Iwancio told CNA.

Iwancio, who is based in Los Angeles, said the retreat was a time of “getting spiritually prepared,” going over “logistics,” and preparing for “situations that they’ve never seen.”

Logistical matters consisted of “getting the van prepared and reorganizing the trailer.” The pilgrims make four to five stops a day and travel with a van that Iwancio said is “kind of a portable chapel, too.”

“There’s a tabernacle attached to the van and it serves as a compartment where the Blessed Sacrament can be reserved and that can be opened up and the monstrance fits on top. There’s prayer cards for along the way.” The group organized “the shelves with all the liturgical items.” 

“The trailer is almost like a sacristy,” Iwancio said. 

Iwancio also helped the pilgrims with the spiritual direction they needed prior to leaving by encouraging them to go to confession and to take time away when they need a break while on the journey. “They need to take care of themselves,” he said.

Iwancio said it is important to balance “being present with Jesus” and the operational matters. “It’s kind of balancing that Martha and Mary approach for the experience,” he said. 

“They’re a nice great group of young people and they have a great variety of skill sets because each brings a different gift to the experience … It’s a nice mix of gifts and talents,” Iwancio said.

Iwancio will join the group toward the end of the pilgrimage. “I’m really looking forward to this idea of … bringing hope during the jubilee year. It’s going to be a really awesome experience,” he said.

Father Michael Herlihey, OFM Cap

Father Michael Herlihey, the vocation director of Capuchin Franciscans at the Province of St. Augustine, told CNA that “it was important” for him “to spend time with Jesus in the Eucharist as a first-year priest.”

“I was just inspired by ... [the] eight young adults. They were willing to step away from their lives, their jobs, their families, friends, cities for a period of five weeks to be Eucharistic evangelizers, if you will,” Herlihey said.

Herlihey also led the initial retreat for the pilgrims and then spent the first 10 days of the pilgrimage with them. He reflected on the week and half of traveling saying that “the intentionality that comes to the pilgrims forming a family … was very powerful. In fact, I think it was one of the strongest parts.”

During his time on the pilgrimage, Herlihey witnessed the Eucharist travel in a boat, a helicopter, and a van. “It’s kind of cool to think of a helicopter being a temporary tabernacle” or a boat “being a temporary vessel carrying Jesus.”

Herlihey shared some of his favorite and most memorable moments. 

“I literally got to cross the Mississippi River in a fishing boat with Jesus and see the crowds waiting on the shore for him to arrive. I was pinching myself going, ‘This will be in my homily for decades,’” he joked.

“I understand now, Jesus getting into the boat, going away from the crowds, out into the silence of the water to pray.”

Herlihey also shared some challenges the pilgrims have faced on the journey. They have run into anti-Catholic protestors that started out in small numbers but now travel in groups of around 50 people.

Before the pilgrimage began, Herlihey held a Mass for the pilgrims. He reflected that “in praying over the homily, the Holy Spirit asked … ‘to embrace the cross.’” Herlihey said “to be honest, I didn’t want that to be the homily.” He said he wanted to give an “exciting talk,” but “the Holy Spirit did not budge” — he said he felt the Holy Spirit saying, “You’re going to talk about embracing the cross and the importance of that.”

After the Mass, Herlihey was pleasantly surprised when multiple pilgrims shared that “embracing the cross and embracing death” had been topics they were praying about. 

“Now, hindsight is 20-20,” Herlihey said. “Here we are … weeks later, and they’re experiencing crosses. They’re carrying their cross amidst a white martyrdom right now with all the counter-protesters. It’s just like … ‘Holy Spirit, you knew what you were doing.’”

Another difficult part that Herlihey said “pained” him was that they “couldn’t go to more places” with the Eucharist. “I would love to go to every one of the parishioners’ houses, their workplaces, their schools, everywhere. And then I had a thought,” Herlihey said.

“We receive Jesus into our bodies in the Mass, and so we all become tabernacles. And those tabernacles carry Jesus as the helicopter does, as the boat does, as the van does, as the monstrance does. Our bodies.”

Herlihey said the Lord is saying, “I want to give my body and blood to people because I want my body and blood to travel to every office, school, and household. I’m going to do it by making people my tabernacles.”

One thing Herlihey said he hopes people know is that the priests and pilgrims are “not bringing one sacrament,” they are “bringing two.” Herlihey shared he heard confessions for three hours in the procession line as he walked through Iowa. 

The chaplains will continue to bring the sacraments to people across Texas, New Mexico, and California as the pilgrimage comes to a conclusion over the next two weeks. 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The cultural and pastoral diversity among clergy is not a burden but a gift that should enrich communion within the church rather than fragment it, Pope Leo XIV told the priests and deacons of the Diocese of Rome.

"Ours is truly a particular diocese," the pope said during a June 12 audience with clergy ministering in the Diocese of Rome. "Many priests come from different parts of the world, especially for reasons of study; this implies that pastoral life -- I think especially of the parishes -- is marked by this universality and the mutual hospitality it entails."

The gathering marked the pope's first official meeting with the clergy of the diocese he serves as bishop.

"I have desired to meet you to get to know you more closely and to begin walking together with you," he told them. "Thank you for your life given in service to the kingdom, for your daily labors, for your generosity in ministry, for all that you live in silence, and which at times is accompanied by suffering or misunderstanding."

Greeting the pope at the start of the meeting, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar for Rome, offered a snapshot of the vast and varied clergy in the Italian capital, where more than 8,000 priests and deacons are present, he said, many of whom, however, are pursuing their studies and are not in active ministry.

"The Roman clergy is generous, with a strong sense of belonging and a very marked pastoral passion," the cardinal said. "In the face of difficulties, it reacts positively -- candid in acknowledging problems or critical issues, with a pronounced sense of humor and always ready to begin again for the good of the church and each community."

In his address, Pope Leo emphasized the need for unity among the clergy in today's age.

"The priest is called to be a man of communion so that he himself may live it and continuously nurture it," he said. "We know that this communion today is hindered by a cultural climate that favors isolation or self-referentiality. None of us is exempt from these snares which threaten the solidity of our spiritual life and the strength of our ministry."

While shared housing in seminaries and rectories helps foster fraternity in Rome, the pope said deeper unity requires more than physical proximity. "I ask you for a push in priestly fraternity, which draws its roots from a solid spiritual life, from the encounter with the Lord and listening to his word."

"Let us strive to live relationships of friendship," he said, "outdoing one another in showing esteem."

Turning to personal witness, Pope Leo asked that all the clergy "commit ourselves to being credible and exemplary priests!"

He acknowledged human weakness but stressed the high demands of the priestly calling. "We are aware of the limits of our nature, and the Lord knows us deeply; but we have received an extraordinary grace, we have been entrusted with a precious treasure of which we are the ministers, servants. And a servant is asked to be faithful."

"The city, with its countless offerings, could also distance us from the desire for a holy life," he warned. "Let yourselves once again be drawn by the call of the master, to feel and live the love of the first hour, the one that moved you to make strong choices and courageous sacrifices."

Pope Leo also reminded clergy that the world's many problems are not distant realities to be ignored, but that they are present in the heart of Rome and challenge the church's ministers to live charitably.

"We are worried and pained by all that happens every day in the world: we are wounded by the violence that generates death; we are challenged by inequalities, by poverty, by so many forms of social exclusion, by a widespread suffering that now spares no one," he said. "And these realities do not only happen elsewhere, far from us, but also concern our city of Rome, marked by multiple forms of poverty and by serious emergencies such as that of housing."

"The Lord wanted us precisely in this time full of challenges that can seem bigger than our strength," the pope said. "We are called to embrace these challenges, to interpret them evangelically, to live them as opportunities for witness. Let us not run away in the face of them!"

Pope Leo then invoked the words of St. Augustine speaking on the Good Shepherd to urge the clergy to "love this church, remain in this church, be this church."

WASHINGTON – “Deacons serve an invaluable role in bringing the hope of the Gospel to all members of society,” said Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing. “By their witness in the local Church, within their families, at the workplace, and while serving the poor, the life of a deacon displays the servant heart of Christ in their faithful, and often hidden, acts of charity.” 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations has released its annual survey, A Portrait of the Permanent Diaconate in 2025: A Study for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Since 2005, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University has conducted this survey which provides important statistics and forecasting trends on the state of the permanent diaconate in the Church in the United States.  

“With the release of this survey, I ask for continued prayers for deacons and for an increase in vocations to the permanent diaconate within the United States,” said Bishop Boyea, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.  

The survey utilized contact information from the National Association of Diaconate Directors (NADD) and was sent to the Office of the Permanent Diaconate in the Latin and Eastern Rite (arch)dioceses and eparchies. In total, CARA received responses from 140 of the 185 (arch)dioceses/eparchies whose bishops are members of the USCCB and have an active Office of Deacons, for a 76% response rate.  

The full survey conducted by CARA may be accessed here. 

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