A Vatican flag waves over the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA

Vatican City, Mar 3, 2025 / 11:50 am (CNA).

Pope Francis addressed what he called a “planetary crisis” that is adversely affecting the world in multiple ways in a message Monday to the general assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

“The term ‘polycrisis’ evokes the dramatic nature of the historical juncture we are currently witnessing, in which wars, climate changes, energy problems, epidemics, the migratory phenomenon, and technological innovation converge,” the pope said in his message, dated Feb. 26 from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.

“The intertwining of these critical issues, which currently touch on various dimensions of life, lead us to ask ourselves about the destiny of the world and our understanding of it,” the pope said.

The Vatican academy is holding a meeting of scientists, theologians, and historians March 3-4 at the Augustinianum Conference Center near the Vatican on the theme “The End of the World? Crises, Responsibilities, Hopes.”

Academics from across the scientific and theological fields, including Nobel laureates, planetologists, physicists, biologists, paleoanthropologists, theologians, and historians, are attending the Pontifical Academy for Life’s plenary meeting this week.

In a presentation of the conference to journalists March 3, academy president Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia explained that “we felt the urgency to save the common human.”

“The frontier before us is a planetary frontier,” it affects all people, he said. With the meeting, the archbishop added, they desire “to design a future of hope for all without leaving anyone behind.”

“It’s obvious we cannot be indifferent,” Paglia said.

Pope Francis in his message said the first step in the face of the world’s “polycrisis” is to examine “with greater attention our representation of the world and the cosmos.”

“If we do not do this, and we do not seriously analyze our profound resistance to change, both as people and as a society, we will continue to do what we have always done with other crises,” he said, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said was “squandered” as an opportunity to transform consciences and social practices.

The pope also warned against “endorsing utilitarian deregulation and global neoliberalism means imposing the law of the strongest as the only rule; and it is a law that dehumanizes.”

Francis also lamented the “progressive irrelevance of international bodies, which are also undermined by shortsighted attitudes, concerned with protecting particular and national interests.”

He said people of goodwill must continue to be committed to more effective world organizations so that “a multilateralism is promoted that does not depend on changing political circumstances or the interests of the few.”

The pope said hope is of fundamental importance. “It does not consist of waiting with resignation but of striving with zeal toward true life, which leads well beyond the narrow individual perimeter,” he said.

Hope, Francis said, quoting Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi, “is linked to a lived union with a ‘people,’ and for each individual it can only be attained within this ‘we.’”

St. Katharine Drexel was born in 1858 to a wealthy family in Philadelphia. Throughout her life, her chief motivation was to help more souls know and love Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to to serve Native Americans and African Americans. Mother Drexel opened mission churches and boarding schools for Black and Native American children throughout the U.S. despite prejudice often hindering her work. / Credit: http://www.katharinedrexel.org/katharinepics.html, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

National Catholic Register, Mar 3, 2025 / 10:55 am (CNA).

St. Katharine Drexel was born in 1858 to a wealthy family in Philadelphia. Five weeks after her birth, her mother died. She and her two sisters were reared by their father, Frank, a successful international banker, and stepmother Emma — whom Katharine always considered her mother. Both were devout Catholics and loving parents. The family was generous with the poor — three times a week they opened their lavish home to the needy, offering them food, clothing, medicine, and other necessities.

From the earliest ages, the Drexel children were taught to pursue personal holiness through daily Mass, meditation, the rosary, and other devotions as well as by acts of penance and sacrifice. Katharine kept notes on her efforts to grow in virtue. In 1878, she wrote: “I am resolved during this year to try to overcome impatience and give attention to lessons. I, Katie, put these resolutions at the feet of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph hoping that they will find acceptance there. May Jesus, Mary, and Joseph help me to bear much fruit in the year 1878.”

When she was in her 20s, Katharine lost both of her parents and inherited a portion of the family’s vast wealth. At this time, she became aware of the plight of the Native Americans, many of whom suffered from dire poverty and a lack of education. She would devote the remainder of her life to assisting them. 

In two private audiences with Pope Leo XIII, she begged him to send more missionaries to the Native Americans. During one of these meetings, the Holy Father suggested to an astonished Katharine that she herself become such a missionary.

Although Katharine enjoyed an opulent lifestyle, she became disillusioned with the things of the world. She wrote a longtime friend, Bishop James O’Connor, of her desire to enter religious life:

“Like the little girl who wept when she found that her doll was stuffed with sawdust and her drum was hollow, I, too, have made a horrifying discovery and my discovery, like hers, is true. I have ripped both the doll and the drum open and the fact lies plainly and in all its glaring reality before me: All, all, all (there is no exception) is passing away and will pass away.”

The bishop thought Katharine could do more for the Church in her position in society and worried she might have difficulty in renouncing her wealth. She responded: “The question alone important, the solution of which depends upon how I have spent my life, is the state of my soul at the moment of death. Infinite misery or infinite happiness! There is no half and half, either one or the other.”

The bishop eventually relented and advised her to found a community to work among Native Americans and African Americans, declaring: “God has put in your heart a great love for the Indian and the Negroes.” In 1891, joined by 13 others, she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

Mother Drexel went to work opening mission churches and boarding schools for Black and Native American children throughout the U.S.

At times, prejudice and racism hindered her work. She would often buy buildings to create schools through third parties — otherwise, when sellers learned Mother Drexel was buying them to educate Black or native children, they wouldn’t sell to her.

Once, when members of the Nashville, Tennessee, city council wondered if Blacks were capable of higher education, she responded: “I cannot share these views with regard to the education of the race. I feel that if among our colored people we find individuals gifted with capabilities, with those sterling qualities which constitute character, our holy mother the Church who fosters and develops the intellect only that it may give God more glory and be of benefit to others, should also concede to the Negro the privilege of higher education.”

In 1915, Katharine founded a teachers’ college in Louisiana, which would eventually become Xavier University of New Orleans and one of the first American colleges to admit Black students.

Throughout her life, Mother Drexel’s chief motivation in addition to her missionary outreach was to help more souls know and love Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. She believed devotion to the Blessed Sacrament was key to the success to her community’s missionary work.

She died in 1955 at the age of 96 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Her community’s motherhouse for decades was located in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb, which included a shrine — elements of which included Mother Drexel’s remains and a museum dedicated to her memory. However, due to a lack of vocations, the motherhouse closed and the property sold at the end of 2017. The St. Katharine Drexel Shrine is now part of the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.

St. Katharine Drexel is honored in the church on March 3.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on March 3, 2021, and has been updated and adapted by CNA.

The chapel at Gemelli Hosptial in Rome bears the name and contains a relic of another pope who knew these corridors well: St. John Paul II. The Polish pontiff was hospitalized here multiple times, including after an assassination attempt in 1981. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Mar 3, 2025 / 06:44 am (CNA).

Pope Francis spent a restful night at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital and has begun his daily treatments after waking Monday morning, having breakfast with coffee and reading newspapers as part of his normal routine, according to Vatican sources.

The pope’s condition remains stable, with Vatican sources reporting that his bilateral pneumonia is neither worsening nor causing immediate concern. No special examinations beyond routine daily tests are currently scheduled.

Recovery for the 88-year-old Holy Father “will certainly not be imminent,” Vatican officials cautioned, indicating a potentially extended hospital stay as the pope continues to receive medical care.

Regarding the upcoming spiritual exercises scheduled for next Sunday, Vatican sources stated that no decisions have been made about how the pope might participate in these Lenten observances.

The faithful will gather in St. Peter’s Square this evening to pray for the pope’s recovery. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, will lead the recitation of the holy rosary at 9 p.m.

Marco Mancini contributed to this report.

null / Credit: RasyidArt/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Mar 2, 2025 / 10:40 am (CNA).

Idaho has enacted a school choice bill that would allow parents to use public funds to send their kids to private schools, and two other Republican-controlled states are moving closer to approving similar legislation. 

The Idaho measure provides up to $5,000 per student per year for private school or for home schooling and $7,500 per year for students with disabilities. 

Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, signed the bill into law on Feb. 27. 

Supporters of school choice say it expands the options of poor families who can’t afford private schools. 

“Idaho has become the first state to offer education freedom from kindergarten through career,” Little said in a statement. 

“Idaho can have it all — strong public schools AND education freedom,” he said. “Providing high-quality education for Idaho students will always be our top priority,” 

Opponents of school choice contend that it undermines the public schools by diverting public funds they need. 

Layne McInelly, president of the Idaho Education Association, a statewide teachers union, called school choice vouchers “a huge mistake” and said the recently enacted law “is just the beginning.” 

“Voucher proponents — eager to help out-of-state billionaires plunder Idaho’s public school budget — are already planning how to exploit and expand this program during 2026’s legislative session,” McInelly said. 

President Donald Trump endorsed the Idaho bill on social media on Feb. 16, saying it would “empower parents to provide the very best education for their child.” 

Meanwhile, Texas and Wyoming are close to enacting their own versions of school choice. 

As of late last week, a majority of legislators in the Texas House of Representatives had signed on as sponsors of a school choice bill, increasing chances the state will enact a version of it this year. 

Seventy-six of the 150 members of the lower chamber are now sponsors of Texas House Bill 3, which would create education savings accounts that would allow families to send their children to private schools using public money. The bill would enable parents to use the accounts to pay for tuition, fees, textbooks, and transportation, among other things. 

On Feb. 5, the Texas Senate passed a comparable school choice bill. 

To succeed, supporters from each chamber must hammer out a version each chamber can vote for before sending it on to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who supports the concept. 

The state Senate has passed school choice bills during previous legislative sessions, but the bills previously failed in the Texas House, according to the Texas Tribune. 

In Wyoming, observers expect Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, to sign a school choice bill that last week passed the state Senate 21-8 and the state House of Representatives 42-19. 

The bill provides an education savings account of up to $7,000 per year per student in Wyoming. 

Nationwide, 29 states and the District of Columbia “have at least one private school choice program,” according to an analysis by Education Week. 

Of those, 14 “have at least one private school choice program that’s universally accessible” to students from kindergarten through grade 12 in the state, according to Education Week.

Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, LC. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Mar 2, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, LC, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State and president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, celebrated his 80th birthday on Saturday, March 1, marking his departure from these crucial Vatican positions.

Sister Raffaella Petrini now succeeds him in both roles, continuing a path of Vatican governance that has seen significant developments under Pope Francis.

Vérgez, a member of the Legion of Christ, was ordained a priest in Rome on Nov. 26, 1969. He holds advanced degrees in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a diploma in archival studies.

His Vatican service began in 1972 when he entered the Curia as secretary to prefect Cardinal Eduardo Francisco Pironio at the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes. He remained there until the cardinal’s death. He later worked with Pironio at the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

In 2004, Vérgez moved to the administration of the patrimony of the Apostolic See, and in 2008 became director of Vatican City State’s telecommunications department.

Pope Francis appointed him secretary-general of the Vatican City State Governorate on Aug. 30, 2013. Following his episcopal consecration by Pope Francis on Oct. 15, 2013, as titular bishop of Villamagna di Proconsolare, he continued his rise through Vatican administration.

On Sept. 8, 2021, Francis named him president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and the Governorate of Vatican City State. He formally assumed positions on Oct. 1, 2021, succeeding Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello.

Pope Francis created him a cardinal of the holy Roman Church during the consistory of Aug. 27, 2022, assigning him the deaconry of Santa Maria della Mercede and Sant’Adriano at Villa Albani. On March 7, 2023, the pontiff appointed him to the Council of Cardinals.

The cardinal departs from his leadership roles on his 80th birthday, following the Vatican tradition of leadership transitions at this milestone age.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Left: Banners at Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital. Right: Pope Francis waves from a wheelchair, Feb. 13, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Mar 2, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis expressed heartfelt gratitude on Sunday for the prayers and support he has received during his hospitalization while offering his own prayers for those suffering around the world.

Vatican sources reported that the 88-year-old pontiff met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin on the morning of March 2, in his hospital room. The secretary of state was accompanied by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute for general affairs of the Secretariat of State.

The Vatican officials visited the pope following his restful night, during which he reportedly slept well. According to the same sources, Pope Francis woke up Sunday morning, had coffee, read the newspapers, and continued his prescribed treatments.

Feeling ‘carried by all God’s people’

In his Sunday message released by the Vatican’s press office, Pope Francis said: “I would like to thank you for the prayers, which rise up to the Lord from the hearts of so many faithful from many parts of the world.”

The pontiff continued: “I feel all your affection and closeness and, at this particular time, I feel as if I am ‘carried’ and supported by all God’s people.”

The message accompanied the text for the Angelus prayer, which the pope was unable to deliver publicly for the third consecutive time due to his ongoing health issues. Francis has been receiving treatment at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since Feb. 14.

Faith forged in fragility

In his Sunday message, Francis reflected on the day’s Gospel reading (Luke 6:39-45), particularly Jesus’ words about removing the “wooden beam from your eye” before attempting to remove the “splinter in your brother’s eye.”

The pope emphasized the importance of fraternal correction rooted in charity rather than condemnation. “I feel in my heart the ‘blessing’ that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord,” the pope wrote. “At the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.”

Prayers in times of war

The pontiff also turned his thoughts to areas of conflict around the world, saying: “I pray for you too. And I pray above all for peace. From here, war appears even more absurd. Let us pray for tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, and Kivu.”

A medical update on the pope’s condition is expected Sunday evening. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, will lead a rosary for the pope’s health Sunday evening at 9 p.m. local time in St. Peter’s Square.

Ascension's “Set Free” Lenten program with Father Josh Johnson promises to guide listeners this Lent through daily reflections on overcoming the seven deadly sins in our lives. / Credit: Ascension

CNA Staff, Mar 2, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

As Lent begins on March 5, we are reminded of the opportunity to grow in faith as we journey in the desert with Jesus for 40 days. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the three areas in which we are called to focus throughout the Lenten season as we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Christ on Easter.

Here are five resources to help you grow in your faith this Lent:

‘Set Free’ with Father Josh Johnson on Ascension

Exclusively on the Ascension app, “Set Free” by Father Josh Johnson promises to guide listeners through daily reflections on overcoming the seven deadly sins in our lives. The reflections are designed to help participants know what the seven deadly sins are and how they appear in our lives. The program will outline specific fasts to use to combat each one of these sins and show you how to pray with Scripture and surrender yourself to God. The reflections end with a powerful, step-by-step examination of conscience with the goal of helping you experience more deeply the sacrament of confession.

The “Set Free” program is based on Johnson’s book “Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins.” In an interview with CNA, Johnson, vocations director for the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explained that the idea for the book first came from feeling the need to help his brother priests with penances for people in confession.

“I think as a priest we have a responsibility to not only absolve them from their sins but to help them to identify what’s at the root of their sins and as a spiritual father to give them practical and biblical remedies that can help them to combat against those vices that they might be struggling with,” he said.

After praying further about his idea, he realized that it could be helpful for all of the laity in order to help them overcome their struggles with sin.

“I wanted to have a book for the laity … who want to experience freedom and to be able to go deeper into an understanding of what are the seven deadly sins, how are they operative, how might they be masked, what might precede me falling into them, and then what are some ways that I can pray and fast and some wisdom I can gain from Church Fathers, the catechism, and the Bible to fight against these vices,” Johnson shared.

Johnson has three hopes for those who take part in the Lenten program: First, “that people fall more in love with Scripture and rely on Scripture for everything”; second, for “people to have a better capacity to examine their conscience prior to going to confession to really be able to discern deeper vices”; and lastly that they have “an experience of God’s love and mercy in the midst of our ongoing struggles.”

CNA’s full interview with Johnson about the program can be viewed here:

Hallow’s Lent Pray40 Challenge: ‘The Way’

Hallow will be taking listeners on a journey to grow closer to Christ this Lent through “Pray40: The Way.” Jonathahn Roumie, Mark Wahlberg, Chris Pratt, Father Mike Schmitz, Sister Miriam James Heidland, and Cardinal Robert Sarah will help listeners dive deeper into the writing of St. Josemaría Escrivá, author of “The Way.” 

Listeners will meditate on the lives of those who followed Christ’s way, including the life of Servant of God Takashi Nagai, a Japanese physician who survived the atomic bombing in 1945 and had a powerful conversion as shared in his biography “A Song for Nagasaki.”

Roumie will take participants through reflections and prayers on “The Way” and “A Song for Nagasaki.” Wahlberg and Pratt will lead listeners in fasting challenges and Scripture readings encouraging the faithful to give their hearts fully to Christ. Heidland will guide listeners through imaginative prayer; Schmitz will give Sunday homilies; and Sarah will offer guidance for silent meditation.

“Our Lenten challenge is always our biggest challenge of the year and it’s an honor to get to pray with so many incredible voices and our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world,” CEO and co-founder of Hallow Alex Jones told CNA.

Word on Fire online Lent retreat

Father Boniface Hicks, OSB, will be conducting Word on Fire’s first-ever Lenten retreat. 

The seven-part online retreat will provide an opportunity for participants to deepen their prayer lives and intimacy with Christ by focusing on the interior life. 

Hicks, a renowned spiritual director and author, will guide participants in reflections each week focusing on different topics in order to grow closer to the heart of Jesus. Some topics include slowing down and returning to the heart, loving Jesus like St. Thérèse of Lisieux did, receiving Christ’s love and mercy, and more. 

Blessed Is She ‘Under the Olive Tree’ devotional

In “Under the Olive Tree,” author Olivia Spears guides readers to the Mount of Olives to console the heart of Jesus in his sufferings and be consoled in our sufferings as well.

Each week offers meditations on Jesus’ agony in the garden, praying the Psalms, and diving more deeply into Jesus’ sacrificial love.

Readers will also be invited to contemplate Jesus’ love in Eucharistic adoration.

Lenten books

If you’re looking for powerful reads for the Lenten season, there are several to choose from: 

“Mother Angelica’s The Way of the Cross” by Father Joseph Mary Wolfe, MFVA, dives deeper into the beauty of the Stations of the Cross. 

“Remember Your Death: Momento Mori Lenten Devotional” by Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP, is Lenten devotional that helps readers meditate on their own mortality and the gift of salvation in preparation for Easter. 

“Praying with Jesus and Faustina During Lent and in Times of Suffering” by Susan Tassone includes daily meditations featuring the words of Jesus and St. Faustina on the Passion. Each day also includes reflections for times of suffering.

“Lenten Journey with Mother Mary” by Father Edward Looney takes readers through the journey of Lent alongside the Blessed Virgin Mary in order to view Lent and Easter in a completely new way.

Hot cross buns. / Credit: zi3000/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Mar 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Though many Catholics may associate the liturgical season of Lent more with the practice of fasting and abstaining from food, many families around the world use the 40-day season to prepare specific homemade delicacies to remind them of the life of Jesus Christ as he made his way to the cross.  

Mexico

Capirotada, which is similar to a bread pudding, is a treat served by many Mexican families on the Fridays of Lent. Though recipes may vary from one family to the next, the traditional sweet and savory ingredients carry rich religious symbolism linked to Jesus’ crucifixion.

Bread rolls used in the dish represent the body of Christ; honey or piloncillo syrup, made from cane sugar, is meant to symbolize the blood of Christ; whole cloves are used to represent the nails of the crucifixion; cinnamon sticks are used to symbolize the wooden cross of Christ; and the melted cheese coating the pudding represents the shroud used for Jesus’ burial.

Aguas fresca — a drink made with still water, fresh fruits of your choice, sugar, oats, and other cereals, seeds, and floral teas — are prepared and served by families to passersby in Oaxaca on Good Friday. Though not solely a Lenten beverage, this Good Friday tradition is an opportunity for Oaxaca families to quench the thirst of Jesus on his way to Jerusalem — just like the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (cf. Jn 4:4-42) — by serving a fellow neighbor.

Ecuador     

Fanesca, a soup eaten during Lent and Holy Week made with cod and 12 kinds of beans and legumes, is said to represent Jesus Christ and the Twelve Apostles at the Last Supper.  

The dish’s religious significance dates back to the 16th century and is believed to be connected to a monastery in Quito, Ecuador, during the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Some families take advantage to make this lunch dish together — preparing the fish and shelling the many beans and legumes — with a spirit of prayer, contemplating the Last Supper in the upper room just hours before Jesus began his passion in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Malta 

Kwareżimal, which derives its name from the Latin word “Quadragesima,” meaning the “40 days of Lent,” are sweet cakes made with almond paste, honey, and orange rind.

This Lenten sweet treat is also given to children who want to embark upon a one-day, 14-church pilgrimage to remember Jesus’ 14 Stations of the Cross.

Qaghaq tal-appostli or “Apostles’ Rings” are sweet, savory, unleavened circular bread loaves topped with almonds and sesame seeds eaten on Holy Thursday. 

The treat is associated with the events of Holy Thursday when Jesus made his apostles priests and instituted the Eucharist and the celebration of the Mass. 

Lebanon

Zenkoul, a dish of bulgur wheat balls (or pumpkin balls) combined with chickpeas, rice, garlic, onion, and pomegranate molasses, is eaten by Lebanese families during Lent and Good Friday.  

Some families add vinegar to their Zenkoul instead of lemon juice to remind them when Jesus told the Roman soldiers “I thirst” (cf. Jn 19:28) before dying on the cross and fulfilling the prophecy “for my thirst they gave me vinegar” (cf. Ps 69:22).

Iraq

Christ’s Feast is a traditional dish shared and eaten together in Iraqi villages on Good Friday. Made with habbiyeh wheat, several types of grains, and a variety of beans and legumes, the most distinctive ingredient of the dish is “akoub,” a prickly plant that grows abundantly during spring.

By combining all the ingredients with a little water, Christ’s Feast is turned into a soup and cooked slowly until it is ready to be mashed and served to families on Good Friday.  

For some Iraqi Christians, the difficulty in preparing the dish — particularly removing the thorns of the akoub — is a form of participating in Jesus’ passion. The prickly plant is also said to symbolize the crown of thorns placed on Jesus’ head before he was condemned to death by Pontius Pilate.

Germany, Luxembourg, France, and Belgium

Pretzels, the iconic bread twist simply made with salt, yeast, flour, and water linked to several parts of Europe, are believed to have been invented specifically as a Lenten food by an Italian monk in the early Middle Ages, according to a Vatican Library document.

With the purpose of helping Catholics to live the penitential season with prayer and simplicity, the treat’s shape resembles hands in prayer, forming three holes representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand 

Hot cross buns are believed to have first been distributed to poor English Catholics on a Good Friday between the 12th and 14th centuries. Today, the sweet-spiced buns are eaten in England and in Commonwealth countries such as Australia and New Zealand during Lent and Holy Week.

While some historic accounts suggest the buns — traditionally made with flour, eggs, yeast, currents, and cardamom — have ancient pagan origins, other records hint that medieval monks Christianized the recipe by baking the buns with distinct crosses to represent the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and using different spices to symbolize his burial.

A statue of St. John Paul II is seen in front of the entrance to Rome's Gemelli hospital on Feb. 22, 2025, where Pope Francis continues to receive treatment for respiratory issues. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Mar 1, 2025 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis’ clinical condition remains stable after Friday’s bronchospasm episode that caused vomiting and sudden respiratory deterioration, according to a Holy See Press Office statement released Saturday evening.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been alternating between noninvasive mechanical ventilation and high-flow oxygen therapy, the Vatican communiqué stated.

Medical updates indicate the Holy Father remains fever-free with no signs of infection in his blood work. His vital signs, including blood pressure and heart rate, continue to be stable. The statement also highlighted that Pope Francis has maintained a healthy appetite and is actively participating in breathing exercises prescribed by his medical team.

Vatican officials confirmed the pope has not experienced further bronchospasm episodes. He remains “alert and oriented” and received the Eucharist Saturday afternoon, after which he dedicated time to prayer.

The statement concluded by noting that “the prognosis remains reserved,” suggesting doctors are still cautious about the pope’s recovery timeline.

The Holy See Press Office confirmed earlier today that, as with the previous two Sundays, the text of the Angelus will be distributed in written form tomorrow rather than delivered by the pope in person.

According to Vatican sources, the pontiff’s breathing is improving, though his overall condition remains complex. The situation regarding his pneumonia is described as stable.

Francis prayed for approximately 20 minutes in the chapel near his room on the 10th floor of Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he is receiving treatment. The pope reportedly remains in good spirits and has been informed of the many prayers being offered for him.

Further medical details may become available tomorrow, Vatican sources indicated.

Marco Mancini contributed to this report.

An unknown security guard stands at the entrance of a church destroyed during the fighting with ISIS in Mosul, Iraq. / Credit: CHRIS POOK/Shutterstock

ACI MENA, Mar 1, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Marking 10 years since ISIS swept into Mosul and the towns of the Nineveh Plain, EWTN News, in collaboration with its sister agency covering the Middle East and North Africa, ACI MENA, has released a documentary delving into the roots of Christianity in Iraq, its history dating back nearly 2,000 years, and how Christians there have survived despite attempts to erase their presence.

The documentary, “Persecuted Christians in Iraq: An EWTN News Special,” premiered Feb. 28 at 8 p.m.

Through a dialogue with Father Mazin Mattoka, president of the Monastery of the Martyrs Mar Behnam and Marth Sarah, a Syriac Catholic monastery in northern Iraq, the documentary showcases some of the monastery’s history, dating back to the fourth century A.D., including its sculptures and historical murals, many of which were destroyed by ISIS, especially the crosses.

In the documentary, Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of the Chaldean Archdiocese of Erbil highlights what he calls the ongoing “dialogue of life” between Christians and Muslims since the late seventh century with the arrival of the conqueror, and the role Christians played in enriching the Arab civilization by translating texts of philosophy, mathematics, medicine, and other Greek sciences, first into Syriac and then into Arabic.

The archbishop discusses the choices ISIS put before Christians: Convert to Islam, pay the jizya (protection tax), or leave, noting that while paying the jizya might have been acceptable in the eighth century, it is no longer the case in the 21st century.

Archbishop Benedictus Younan Hano of the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Mosul highlights the suffering of Christians from forced displacement and their deep pain from feeling marginalized in their country, without a place of refuge, unprotected, feeling betrayed and let down as they lose their towns, homes, and churches, becoming refugees in their own nation.

In the film, Hano clarifies that ISIS’ targeting was not limited to Christians but affected all components of Iraq — everyone was at risk and subject to persecution.

Several Christians from the Nineveh Plain provide testimonies in the film of their painful experiences during ISIS’ occupation and during the series of events that followed the 2003 incidents, which created a political, social, and religious vacuum that allowed armed groups with extremist ideologies to occupy that space, as explained by former member of the Iraqi Parliament Khalis Esho.  

Several young volunteers who served the displaced in Ankawa-Erbil during the crisis share their experiences and lessons in the film as well.

Father Raed Adel, head of the Syriac Catholic Churches in Mosul, recalls Pope Francis’ courageous historic visit to the city in 2021, attributing the active reconstruction movement to that visit.

For his part, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the Chaldean patriarch, expresses the relief and great hope that Pope Francis’ visit instilled in all Iraqis, noting: “It was three days free from attacks and problems, and everyone followed the visit with joy.”

In the documentary, Sako also emphasizes the importance of solidifying the state of citizenship to enhance trust in the future and ensure human rights, justice, and equality.

The new documentary briefly covers some of the scars left by the events of 2014, still deeply etched in the Christian villages and towns, but according to witnesses and leaders in the film, these places remain vibrant with life and filled with the remaining Christians who are rooted in their faith and homeland, proud of their heritage, steadfast and clinging to the land of their ancestors, determined to rebuild, develop, and continue to be beacons of light in the darkness.

"Persecuted Christians in Iraq: An EWTN News Special" can be viewed below: