Good Shepherd Catholic Church - Miami, FL

Abbot Jeremias Schröder from Germany is elected Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation during the Congress of Abbots meeting in Rome.

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US President Joe Biden and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer hold meeting discussing the war in Ukraine at the White House in Washington D.C.

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Pope Francis encourages the Theatine Regulars to embrace with joy the paths of renewal, communion, and service as they celebrate the anniversary of the solemn profession of their founder, St Cajetan, and his first companions.

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Athletica Vaticana, the 'Team of the Pope,' prepares for its imminent participation in the European Cycling Championship in Belgium, less than two weeks before Pope Francis is slated to make an Apostolic Journey to the nation.

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Pope Francis stops at the Basilica of St. Mary Major upon his return to Rome to thank the Blessed Virgin Mary for her protection throughout his 12-day Apostolic Journey.

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Aboard the flight from Singapore to Rome, Pope Francis spoke to journalists about the civilian tragedy of the war in Gaza and the need for Americans to choose in conscience between Harris and Trump. He condemns abortion and the rejection of migrants, and expresses a positive view of the agreement with China, calling the country a promise and hope for the Church.

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ROME (CNS) -- "The church has always been in spaces with people in extremely fragile situations, always," said Sister Idília Carneiro, the new superior general of the Sisters Hospitallers, and as global rates of mental illness continue to rise, she insisted that Catholics have an obligation to expand their ministries in addressing the crisis.

The World Health Organization estimates nearly a billion people are living with a mental disorder worldwide. And Sister Carneiro, a specialist in social work, ethics and human resources, linked the global mental health crisis to the fragmentation of community life and the loss of widely-held values that once brought people together.

The church, she said, is uniquely poised to address that issue, since "mental health is very much linked to the health of the heart."

Sister Carneiro spoke with Catholic News Service in mid-September some three months after taking the reins of the Sisters Hospitallers, a congregation of about 1,000 sisters, working with over 11,000 helpers and volunteers, assisting nearly 820,000 people in need across 25 countries.

Like many women's religious congregations, the Sisters Hospitallers was founded in the late 19th century with the mission of caring for the sick, but they dedicated their ministry in particular to caring for those with mental disabilities.

At the time of the congregation's founding, people "very rarely saw mental illness as illness," she explained, prompting their founder St. Benedict Menni to start a congregation to bring "mercy and compassion to the holistic care of people with mental illness."

Today, however, Sister Carneiro said that people have become more open to discussing mental health, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic which brought the global mental health crisis into sharper focus -- global rates of depression and anxiety increased by more than 25% in the first year of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization.

The church, she noted, must respond to that change. Trends in the United States already reflect an increasing involvement of religious communities in mental health care. According to the National Congregations Study, the percentage of Christian congregations offering services targeted at mental illness increased from 21.6% in 2012 to 27.1% in 2018-2019.

It is precisely in that context, Sister Carneiro told CNS, that the church "has an important role of hope, of offering a new horizon" to people struggling with mental illness.

While society as a whole must be active in addressing mental health issues, she explained that the church has a unique "differentiating element, because it is motivated by faith, with a dimension of hope and recognition that each person is more than their illness and has human dignity."

"When there is a mental health problem, it is not only the mind that is ill, it is all of the being, the entire sense of life," she said. "For the church and for us as a congregation, what is most important is to help vulnerable people who are suffering to again find a sense of life and hope."

Sister Carneiro said the broader mental health crisis can partly be traced to "the loss of strong relationships that give us meaning as a person and the values that teach that there is something here that is beyond each one of us."

Beyond addressing the individual needs of patients, she stressed that "one must look at the global perspective, and society must ask how we can take steps to find each other again as people and help create that time and space in which people can make significant relationships that can help them."

"If we have spaces of connection and belonging where we are welcomed, loved, accompanied, as we are, that provides a structure for a balanced life," she said. But today "it is easy to find fractured spaces, (due to) the media, the absence of strong relationships that form community."

Many of the 25 countries in which the Sisters Hospitallers work are developing nations in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Sister Carneiro explained that these regions face significant challenges, such as the stigma surrounding mental illness and insufficient government investment in mental health care services, though she noted that these such problems affect the sisters' ministries in Europe as well.

Addressing mental health "requires resources, just like any other form of health," Sister Carneiro said.

Members of the congregation are trained as nurses, psychologists, therapists, or social workers. Many also join the congregation with previous professional backgrounds, but Sister Carneiro said that "theological formation comes first" when discerning a vocation with the sisters so they can fully live out "the evangelizing dimension of hospitality."

"Caring for and welcoming each person, that is the first stage of evangelization -- to humanize by recognizing their dignity," she said. "Hospitality, as we live it in our charism, obliges us to welcome all, independently of religion or their life plans."

Evangelization today, she added, "is a challenge in its expression, but not in its root, because the root comes to us as the institution of the church," whose nature is to evangelize through relationships.

"It is not only through the explicit proclamation of words; for us it is to evangelize through our lives as service, as a gift, through our dedication to care," she said. "The challenge is for the church to establish that closeness."

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM SINGAPORE (CNS) -- Asked what a U.S. Catholic given a choice between voting for a person who supports abortion or one who supports closing borders and deporting migrants, Pope Francis said one must choose "the lesser evil."

"Who is the 'lesser evil' that woman or that man?" the pope asked, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. "I do not know. Each person must think and decide in his or her conscience."

Pope Francis spent 45 minutes answering questions from 10 journalists on his flight Sept. 13 from Singapore to Rome at the end of a 12-day trip. He was asked about the four countries he visited, about sexual abuse, about his future travel plans, about the war in the Holy Land and the Vatican's relations with China.

A U.S. television reporter asked him about the choice Catholic voters face between Harris, who supports legalized abortion, and Trump, who wants to severely restrict immigration and has said he wants to deport tens of thousands of migrants.

Both attitudes "are against life: the one who wants to throw out the migrants and the one who kills children," the pope said. "Both are against life."

In the Old Testament, he said, God's people are repeatedly reminded to care for "'widows, orphans and the stranger,' that is, the migrant. They are the three that the People of Israel must protect. The one who does not care for migrants is lacking; it is a sin."

And "to have an abortion is to kill a human being. Whether or not you like the word, it is killing," the pope said. "The Catholic Church does not allow abortion because it is killing. It is assassination. And we must be clear about that."

Pope Francis was asked if there were situations when a Catholic could vote for a candidate who was in favor of abortion.

"In political morality, generally, they say not voting is wrong; one must vote, and one must choose the lesser evil" in accordance with one's conscience, he said.

Abortion and care for migrants are both issues the U.S. bishops urge Catholics to consider when voting. In their document, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," however, they say, "The threat of abortion remains our pre-eminent priority because it directly attacks our most vulnerable and voiceless brothers and sisters and destroys more than a million lives per year in our country alone."

At the beginning of Pope Francis' trip, a French writer started a rumor that the pope would travel to Paris Dec. 8 for the reopening and consecration of the altar in Notre Dame Cathedral, rebuilt after a devastating fire in 2019.

When asked about that trip, the pope's response was simple: "I will not go to Paris."

As for the idea of the 87-year-old pope making a trip to Argentina, his homeland, he was not as clear.

"That is something that still hasn't been decided," he said. "I would like to go. They are my people. But there are various things to resolve first."

However, if he does go, he said, he would want to stop over in the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous region in the Atlantic, where thousands of migrants -- including many unaccompanied minors -- have arrived from Senegal, Mali and other African countries.

Regarding the ongoing clerical sexual abuse scandal, Pope Francis was asked about new revelations in the case of Abbé Pierre, the French priest and founder of the Emmaus Community, who died in 2007 at the age of 94.

As the pope's trip began, the Emmaus Community announced that new accusations of sexual abuse of women and children had been made against the priest, and French media reported that church officials and leaders of the community had tried to cover up allegations as far back as the 1950s.

"We must speak clearly on these things and not hide them," the pope said. "Abuse, in my judgment, is something diabolical" because it attacks the sacredness and God-given dignity of another person.

At that point in the Singapore Airlines flight, the pilot interrupted Pope Francis and announced over the loudspeaker that everyone should return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts.

"Your question created some turbulence," the pope quipped to the reporter.

Nevertheless, the pope remained on his portable chair in the center aisle and continued answering questions.

"The sexual abuse of children, of minors, is a crime," he said.

After answering two other questions, Pope Francis returned to the topic of Abbé Pierre to tell the reporter, "I don't know when the Vatican came to know about it. I don't know because I wasn't here, and I never thought to research it, but certainly after his death -- that is certain."

On the Vatican's relationship with China, the pope said, "I am content with the dialogue with China. The results are good. Also, on the nomination of bishops, the work is going forward with goodwill."

In 2018, the Vatican and the government of China signed an agreement outlining procedures for ensuring Catholic bishops are elected by the Catholic community in China and approved by the pope before their ordinations or installations. The provisional, two-year agreement, already renewed in 2020 and 2022, is up for renewal in October.

The text has never been made public, but the Vatican has complained a couple times in the past six years when China named or transferred bishops in apparent violation of the accord.

The pope also said he welcomed China's efforts to encourage a peaceful settlement of the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

"I call the parish in Gaza every day, every day," he said; inside the compound of Holy Family Parish, some 600 people -- Christians and Muslims -- have taken shelter.

Pope Francis said he could not judge whether Israel's reaction to the Hamas invasion in October is excessive, "but, please, when you see the bodies of children who have been killed -- when you see that because of a presumption that there are some guerrillas there they bomb a school -- it's awful, awful."

"Sometimes," he said, "a war is just too much, too much."

Cardinal William Goh expresses his appreciation for the closeness and care that Pope Francis showed the people of Singapore, and invites the universal Church to learn from the experiential faith of Asian Catholics.

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In the heat of Mozambique’s nationwide presidential and legislative electoral campaigns, the Bishop of Nacala Diocese has urged the country’s politicians and electoral body to ensure that the forthcoming election is inclusive

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