Catholic historians reflect on the Church’s role as America marks 250 years
As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding, two Catholic historians say the nationʼs story cannot be fully understood without recognizing the role Catholics have played in shaping American life.
In a July 3 “EWTN News in Depth” interview with Catherine Hadro, Kathleen Sprows Cummings of the University of Notre Dame and Christopher Shannon of Christendom College reflected on the complex history of Catholicism in the United States.
Cummings, director of Notre Dameʼs Global Catholic Research Initiative, said it is difficult for many Americans today to imagine the level of hostility Catholics once faced.
“It’s hard to imagine today the extent to which Catholics were seen as not welcome in the United States,” she said. Nineteenth-century Catholic immigrants, particularly those arriving from Ireland, Italy, and Eastern Europe, were often viewed with suspicion because they were poor, came from “undesirable” countries, and were believed to be “loyal to the pope.”
“Anti-Catholicism in the 19th century often meant anti-papist,” Cummings explained, noting that many Americans feared the pope harbored “imperial designs on the United States.”
Despite that prejudice, Catholics gradually demonstrated their loyalty to the nation through military service, civic life, and public leadership, she said.
Shannon, author of “American Pilgrimage: A Historical Journey Through Catholic Life in a New World,” said Catholics ultimately proved themselves to be deeply patriotic, though often “on their own terms.”
“Catholics seem just so darn American now,” he said.
The conversation also highlighted the witness of American saints, including St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and St. John Neumann, whose lives demonstrated, Cummings said, the harmony between “patriotism and sanctity.”
The historians also discussed Catholic political leaders from Al Smith to President John F. Kennedy, the challenges of living an authentically Catholic public life, and what the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope, means for American Catholics.
Calling the moment “truly astonishing,” Cummings said an American pope “would have been a travesty at home and an absurdity in Rome” for much of U.S. history. Yet she emphasized that Catholics should remember Pope Leo “views the world not primarily through an American filter, but through a Catholic lens.”
Perpetual Eucharistic pilgrims reflect on 'being with Christ 24/7' as pilgrimage nears end
When John Paul Flynn, a rising junior at Catholic University, decided to do mission work, he did not realize he would be doing it with Christ himself.
Since May 24, Flynn has been part of a nine-person team taking the Blessed Sacrament across 18 dioceses as part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which will finish in Philadelphia on Sunday in celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
Pope Leo XIV will deliver a video message prior to the closing Mass in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.
The 2026 pilgrimage is under the patronage of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first United States citizen to be canonized. During Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Pavia on June 20th, he venerated a relic of the heart of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini brought from Codogno.
The pope’s veneration of St. Frances’ relic occurred the same week that Flynn and his fellow perpetual pilgrims accompanied the Eucharist to a private retreat at the Mother Cabrini National Shrine in Manhattan, where the saint is buried.
The procession crossed the Delaware River in homage to the route George Washington took during his iconic crossing there in 1776.
Another highlight for Flynn was when the monstrance was lifted high in front of the Washington Monument.
“I knew I wanted to do mission work. I saw an application, prayed about it, and applied to be a part of the team,” Flynn, a social media coordinator and photographer, told EWTN News. “I knew I wanted to use my talents for Christ. This is a special opportunity to be with Christ 24/7.”
In this case, “24/7” means taking the Tabernacle by van in between pilgrimage stops and accompanying the Eucharist down city streets, country roads, even into retirement homes, and encountering people of “diverse communities,” he said.
When Flynn and the team recently walked through Boston, including down the Freedom Trail, they were joined by some 3,000 fellow believers, the biggest showing on the pilgrimage yet.
Pilgrim Raymond Martinez, II, a fourth-year seminarian at Conception Seminary College in Conception, Missouri, said the processions and the timing around the nation’s milestone made him reflect on the history of the Church in America, and how far Catholics had come from, being excluded from public office to being able to worship freely like they did this summer.
The closing events in Philadelphia on Independence Day weekend will draw pilgrims to two shrines that speak to the legacy of the Church in America: the tomb of St. Katharine Drexel, the first native-born United States citizen to be canonized, and the shrine of Saint John Neumann, the first canonized American bishop.
Martinez and Flynn both said they encountered the occasional heckler as well as commuters annoyed by street closures, but overall, the reception in the processions was positive and conducive to evangelization.
"If youʼve pulled off all these logistics, there must be divine help,“ they recalled an atheist telling them in Georgia.
While Flynn managed social media, Martinez was tasked with missionary work from handing out prayer cards, t-shirts and food to homeless people watching from the sidelines to answering questions from curious bystanders who had never seen the Eucharist.
Flynn and Martinez said that the response they received from non-Catholics — as well as those estranged from the Church — was worth the long days, many in extreme heat.
One bystander told pilgrims he was Catholic but had never actually attended Mass. Another they encountered on a boardwalk explained he had been away from the Church for years but felt inspired to return.
The pilgrimage will continue next year, with the goal of visiting all fifty states. The next National Eucharistic Congress will take place in 2029 and is still collecting prayer intentions from across the country and Holy Hour pledges as part of its goal of offering 250,000 Holy Hours in honor of the anniversary year.
12 Catholic Americans who helped shape the United States
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this Fourth of July, Americans are reflecting on the men and women whose courage, leadership, and vision helped shape the nationʼs history. While Catholics were not always welcomed with open arms in the new America, many Catholics went on to play an indispensable role in building the country, demonstrating that love of God and love of country can go hand in hand.
Here are 12 Catholic Americans whose lives and legacies have left a lasting mark on the United States.
1. Archbishop John Carroll (1735–1815)
John Carroll became the first Catholic bishop — and later the first archbishop — in the United States following the American Revolution. He organized the American Catholic Church by establishing dioceses and later went on to found Georgetown College — now Georgetown University.
Carroll believed religious freedom was essential to the new republic and worked closely with the nationʼs founders to ensure Catholics could flourish in America. His leadership laid the institutional foundation for the Catholic Church in the United States.
2. Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737–1832)
As the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the cousin of Archbishop John Carroll, occupies a unique place in American history. At a time when Catholics faced legal restrictions and widespread suspicion in the American colonies, Carroll became one of Marylandʼs leading statesmen and a vocal advocate for independence.
He remained a devoted Catholic throughout his life, demonstrating that one could be both faithfully Catholic and deeply patriotic. His public service — including helping ratify the Constitution and serving as one of Marylandʼs first U.S. senators — helped pave the way for greater religious liberty and acceptance of Catholics in American public life.
3. St. Junípero Serra (1713–1784)
A Spanish Franciscan missionary, Junípero Serra arrived in present-day California in 1769 and founded the first of what would become 21 Spanish missions stretching along the California coast. These missions became centers of evangelization, agriculture, education, and community life, playing a significant role in the early development of what would later become the state of California.
While his legacy has been the subject of debate due to the broader Spanish colonial system and its effects on Indigenous communities, many historians acknowledge that Serra often advocated for better treatment of Indigenous peoples within that system and sought to protect them from abuses by colonial authorities.
4. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774–1821)
Elizabeth Ann Seton became the first American-born saint after converting to Catholicism in 1805. Widowed at a young age, she founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph, the first congregation of religious sisters established in the United States. She also opened the nationʼs first free Catholic school in Maryland.
Her faith inspired a lifelong commitment to educating children and serving the poor. The school system and religious communities she established became the foundation of Catholic education in America.
5. Commodore John Barry (1745–1803)
Irish immigrant John Barry came to the American colonies as a young man and became one of the most accomplished naval commanders of the Revolutionary War. He is often remembered as the “Father of the American Navy.” Barry commanded several important naval victories and later helped build the young nationʼs naval forces.
Barry remained a faithful Catholic throughout his military career, quietly living his faith while serving his adopted country. His example demonstrated that Catholic immigrants could become indispensable leaders in the defense and development of the United States.
6. Archbishop John Ireland (1838–1918)
Archbishop John Ireland led the Archdiocese of St. Paul and became one of the most influential Catholic leaders in late 19th-century America. He championed public education, welcomed immigrants, encouraged civic participation, and promoted the idea that Catholics could be fully American while remaining faithful to the Church.
The development of education was one of Ireland’s defining characteristics. In 1885 he founded the University of St. Thomas, the preparatory school now known as St. Thomas Academy, and the St. Paul Seminary. He also played an important role in establishing The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
7. Daniel Rudd (1854–1933)
Born into slavery in Kentucky, Daniel Rudd became one of the most influential Black Catholic journalists in American history. He founded the American Catholic Tribune, the first national Black Catholic newspaper, and organized the first National Black Catholic Congress in 1889.
Rudd believed the Catholic Church had a unique role to play in promoting racial equality and justice. His writing and advocacy encouraged both Black Catholics and Church leaders to work toward greater inclusion, helping lay the groundwork for future conversations on civil rights within American Catholicism.
8. Venerable Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (1851–1926)
The daughter of famed author Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rose Hawthorne converted to Catholicism after experiencing the loss of her son, Francis, to diphtheria. Devoting herself to work for the Church, she established St. Rose’s Free Home for Incurable Cancer, in honor of St. Rose of Lima, in New York in 1898. In 1900, she became a nun — taking the name Mother Mary Alphonsa — and founded the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, a religious community dedicated to caring for poor cancer patients who had nowhere else to turn.
Inspired by Christʼs compassion for the suffering, Hawthorne pioneered a ministry that anticipated many aspects of modern hospice care. Her work transformed end-of-life care for countless Americans while witnessing to the dignity of every human person. Her cause for canonization was opened in 2003 and she was declared venerable by Pope Francis in 2024.
9. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850–1917)
Born in Italy, Frances Xavier Cabrini came to the United States in 1889 after Pope Leo XIII encouraged her to serve the growing population of Italian immigrants rather than travel to China as she had originally hoped. As the founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she established dozens of schools, orphanages, and hospitals across the country, providing education, healthcare, and spiritual support to thousands of immigrants facing poverty and discrimination.
Canonized in 1946 as the first U.S. citizen to become a saint, Cabrini remains one of the most beloved figures in American Catholic history. Her unwavering faith and tireless service helped countless newcomers build new lives in America while preserving their dignity.
10. Venerable Augustus Tolton (1854–1897)
Born into slavery in Missouri, Augustus Tolton escaped with his family during the Civil War and later became the first publicly recognized Black Catholic priest in the United States. After facing repeated rejection from American seminaries because of his race, he was ordained in Rome before returning to minister in Illinois.
Toltonʼs unwavering faith in the face of racism made him a symbol of perseverance and hope for generations of American Catholics. His cause for canonization was opened by the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2011 and in 2019 Pope Francis declared him venerable.
11. Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979)
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen became one of Americaʼs first religious media personalities through his radio broadcasts and Emmy Award-winning television program “Life Is Worth Living.” His engaging style brought Catholic teaching into millions of American homes during the 1950s.
Sheenʼs ability to explain the faith with clarity and humor made Catholicism more accessible to both Catholics and non-Catholics. He helped shape religious broadcasting in America and remains one of the countryʼs most influential evangelists.
Sheen will be beatified on Sept. 24 at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.
12. Servant of God Dorothy Day (1897–1980)
Dorothy Day was a journalist, convert to Catholicism, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement during the Great Depression. Through houses of hospitality, newspapers, and community kitchens, she encouraged Catholics to serve the poor while promoting peace, human dignity, and social justice.
Grounded in the Gospel and Catholic social teaching, Day challenged both the Church and society to care for the marginalized. Her influence continues to shape Catholic charitable work, social activism, and discussions about faith in public life. Her cause for canonization opened in 2000.
He ran across the U.S. to support pregnant women; now he’s off to be a monk
“The loneliness was one of the hardest parts,” said Jared Plasberg, a 23-year-old who ran across the country from February to June to raise money for pregnant women in crisis.
The trek took 114 days, about four months, and spanned thousands of miles.
The whole time, Plasberg pushed an 80-pound stroller. It held his supplies but symbolized something more: a reference to mothers who need support. By the end of the 3,000 miles — beginning in San Diego on Feb. 19 and ending in St. Augustine, Florida, on June 13 — Plasberg raised $20,000 for a local pregnancy help center.
“Every day required making many decisions: where to sleep, where to find food, how to navigate the route, and how to stay safe,” Plasberg said. “There were many days when I felt discouraged, exhausted, or overwhelmed.”
“Throughout the journey, I often thought about how many mothers face challenges and sacrifices that are far greater than anything I was experiencing on the road,” he said.
Plasberg donated the money to Front Royal Pregnancy Center, a group local to the college he graduated from, Christendom College in Virginia.
“The run became a way for me to raise awareness and support for a ministry that walks alongside and supports these mothers,” he said.
The run was also a spiritual journey for Plasberg; it gave him time to think about his calling to become a monk. He is currently discerning a vocation to the Carthusian order, a contemplative order of monks founded by St. Bruno in 1084.
“The run continually reminded me that I depend on him [God] for everything,” Plasberg said.
He took inspiration from the Camino de Santiago, a famous pilgrimage in Spain and France. Many people journey along the Camino, whether walking or biking, Catholic or not.
The most famous Camino path runs from France to Spain. Plasberg’s run was from San Diego to Florida, but it was a prayerful pilgrimage of its own.
“I carried many intentions throughout the journey,” Plasberg said. “I prayed for mothers facing unexpected pregnancies, for the unborn, for the supporters and staff of the Front Royal Pregnancy Center, for my family and friends, and for all the people who entrusted me with their intentions along the way.”
When he was a college student, Plasberg would pray the rosary outside abortion clinics on Saturdays with other students.
“The pro-life cause is something dear to my heart because every human life has inherent dignity and worth,” he said.
“During my years in college, I often pondered the saying of Pope Benedict XVI: ‘The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness,’” Plasberg said. “Also, St. Pier Giorgio Frassatiʼs phrase ‘Verso lʼalto’ inspired me to pursue true greatness.”
“Verso lʼalto,” meaning “to the heights,” is an Italian phrase coined by Frassati, who loved mountain climbing, which carries a deeper spiritual meaning.
“As the journey continued, I also found myself praying more for the people I encountered every day,” Plasberg explained.
The stroller was “a conversation starter.”
“People would stop and ask what I was doing, and those conversations often led to opportunities to share the mission of the pregnancy center,” he said.
“I prayed for the drivers passing by, store clerks, families, hosts, priests, fellow travelers, and strangers I would never meet again,” he said.
Carried by God
“The run taught me gratitude for my family, appreciation for the kindness of strangers, and a deeper awareness of God’s providence,” Plasberg said. “It taught me that strength is not the absence of weakness but the willingness to keep moving forward despite it.”
Though Plasberg generally stayed in motels, he sometimes stayed with families along the road.
“One of the greatest gifts of the journey was meeting people whose lives reflected extraordinary generosity and faith,” he said. “I stayed with families who welcomed a complete stranger into their homes, fed me, prayed with me, and treated me like family.”
“I met widows who showed remarkable hospitality despite carrying their own crosses,” Plasberg said. “I met religious communities, priests, cyclists crossing the country, and countless ordinary people who quietly lived lives of virtue.”
“Maybe the greatest lesson I learned from [my] journey is that we are not meant to carry our lives by ourselves,” he said. “Rather, we are meant to let ourselves be carried by God, and sometimes it takes 3,000 miles to learn that.”
Discerning monastic life: ‘I was brought to tears’
His next journey is to France, where he plans to join a Carthusian monastery.
“In many ways, this journey became a preparation for that discernment,” Plasberg said.
Along his run, he met a hermitess — a woman continuing an old practice in a modern world. A priest connected Plasberg with her after a Mass he attended in New Mexico.
“I spent about an hour speaking with Amma Chiara, but that hour left a profound impression on me,” Plasberg said. “She radiated joy, peace, and holiness in a way that immediately drew my attention to God.”
Plasberg had a unique connection to Chiara — she had walked across the United States.
“She shared her own story with me and explained that, before becoming a religious sister, she had actually walked across the United States herself about 30 years earlier.”
“Even now, months later, I still think about that encounter,” he said. “Her example showed me that a life completely dedicated to God is not restricted or empty but deeply joyful and fulfilling.”
“Without many of the distractions of ordinary life, I became more aware of both my weaknesses and my need for God,” he said.
Plasberg has another connection to the hermitess — the order he might join involves living like a hermit.
The Carthusians “are one of the most secluded and prayer-focused religious orders in the Church,” he explained.
“Their vocation combines elements of both the solitary life of a hermit and the communal life of a monk,” Plasberg said. “Most of the day is spent in silence, prayer, spiritual reading, and work within an individual hermitage, while the monks also come together for certain liturgical prayers and community observances.”
“Unlike many religious communities, their lives are largely hidden from the world,” Plasberg explained. “Each monk lives in a small hermitage with a garden and spends much of his day alone with God.”
The monks don’t see themselves as retreating from the world; rather they pray for everyone who needs prayers and are brothers and fathers to one another.
“The silence and solitude are not meant as an escape from the world but as a way of dedicating oneself entirely to prayer for the Church and the salvation of souls,” Plasberg said.
After spending time at the monastery of the Grand Chartreuse in discernment, the monks welcomed Plasberg to be a postulant, the first formal stage in joining a religious order. He will go there after he obtains a long-stay French visa.
The run was formative for his discernment, he said.
“In some ways, this run across America became part of that discernment. Spending nearly four months alone on the road gave me plenty of opportunities for silence, prayer, and reflection,” Plasberg said. “It exposed many of my weaknesses, attachments, and limitations, but it also helped me experience more deeply my dependence on God. I think I realized the importance of humility, gratitude, and trust as a result of this journey.”
“While I still have discernment ahead of me, the journey confirmed my attraction to a contemplative vocation and my desire to give my life completely to God,” Plasberg said.
“Perhaps the most important lesson was learning that holiness is not something we achieve through our own strength,” he said. “Rather, it comes from allowing God to work through our weakness. Holiness starts with allowing God to love us as we are in this present moment, even in our brokenness.
The Eucharist in America: 5 centuries of faith that shaped a nation
Before America became a nation, before its founding documents were written, and before its first flag was raised, the holy sacrifice of the Mass was already being celebrated on these shores.
For centuries, the history of Catholicism in America has been written in the shadow of hardship, sacrifice, and perseverance. At the center of that story has always been the Eucharist — the real presence of Christ — which sustained missionaries, settlers, soldiers, immigrants, and pioneers long before Catholicism became a visible part of American life.
As hundreds of thousands of Catholics gather for Eucharistic pilgrimages, congresses, and parish revivals across the United States to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, they are participating in something that stretches back nearly 500 years. The National Eucharistic Revival may be new, but America’s devotion to the Blessed Sacrament is as old as the Church’s presence on this continent.
The first Masses on American soil
Some of the first recorded celebrations of the Mass in what is now the United States took place nearly 500 years ago. These marked the beginning of a Eucharistic presence that would shape the nationʼs Catholic history.
During the Narváez expedition in 1528 and the Coronado expedition in 1540–1542, Spanish missionaries carried the Eucharist into Florida and the American Southwest. In 1565, when Spanish settlers led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine, Florida, Mass and the Eucharist quickly became the center of the new colony’s religious life.
More than two centuries later, St. Junípero Serra would continue that tradition as he established California’s mission system. Serra often traveled hundreds of miles on foot between missions, carrying the Blessed Sacrament to isolated Catholic communities. Every new mission he founded placed the altar and the celebration of the Eucharist at the center of its life.
For missionaries such as the Franciscans, and later the Jesuits, the Eucharist was the heart of their missionary work. Wherever they established a mission, they first erected an altar, making the celebration of the Mass the center of community life.
Hidden altars in Colonial America
Elsewhere in Britain’s American colonies, however, Catholics often practiced their faith in secret.
Anti-Catholic laws frequently prohibited the public celebration of Mass. Priests risked arrest, and Catholic families gathered quietly in manor houses, private homes, and secluded chapels.
One of the many examples of the hardship Catholics endured in early America occurred in the colonial state of Massachusetts. In 1647 and again in 1700, Massachusetts passed laws prohibiting Catholics from settling in the colony, and any priest who entered could be sentenced to death as “an enemy of the true Christian religion.”
At this time, the Eucharist became a symbol not only of faith but also of perseverance. Families sometimes traveled miles through forests to attend clandestine Masses offered by missionary priests.
Freedom after the Revolution
The American Revolution marked a turning point.
Over time, legal restrictions eased, allowing practices that had once been forbidden to emerge into public life. In 1788, Boston celebrated its first public Mass, marking a cautious yet significant milestone in establishing a Catholic presence in the region.
Leading that new beginning was Father John Carroll, who in 1789 became the first bishop of the United States. Under his leadership, parishes, schools, and charitable institutions spread across the new nation, each centered on the celebration of the Eucharist.
The Eucharist on the American frontier
As religious freedom expanded beyond the original colonies, the frontier presented entirely new challenges. Nowhere was this more evident than in Texas.
Following Texas' independence from Mexico, the withdrawal of Mexican diocesan priests left the new republic with only one active Catholic parish north of the Nueces River — San Fernando Church in San Antonio.
In 1838, Pope Gregory XVI authorized Archbishop Antoine Blanc of New Orleans to send missionaries to Texas, appointing Father John Timon as prefect of Texas to oversee their work. Many of these French Vincentian and Oblate missionaries became known as “saddlebag priests” for the hundreds of miles they traveled across the frontier to minister to scattered Catholic communities.
As more settlers pushed westward, priests often rode hundreds of miles carrying the Blessed Sacrament in small pyxes to isolated Catholic families.
Among the most remarkable was Jesuit missionary Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, who traveled tens of thousands of miles across the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. Carrying the Eucharist with him, De Smet celebrated Mass among Native American tribes and remote frontier settlements, bringing the sacraments to places few other priests had ever reached.
In the Southwest, Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy traveled throughout the vast Diocese of Santa Fe, where Catholics sometimes waited months for a priest to arrive. When he finally came, entire villages gathered to celebrate Mass, receive Communion, and adore the Blessed Sacrament.
A Church steps into public view
By the late 19th century, Catholicism had become one of America’s largest religious communities, and Eucharistic devotion increasingly moved into the public square.
That growth reached a dramatic high point in 1926, when Chicago hosted the International Eucharistic Congress.
More than 1 million Catholics participated in outdoor liturgies, Eucharistic processions, Holy Hours, and public acts of adoration. Newspapers described it as one of the largest religious gatherings in American history. Pilgrims traveled from across the world, transforming Chicago into the center of global Catholic life for several days.
For many American Catholics, the congress symbolized something remarkable: A Church that had once worshipped in secret now publicly proclaimed its faith in the Real Presence before the world.
A new Eucharistic Revival
One hundred years after the Chicago Congress, American Catholics are once again gathering around the Blessed Sacrament.
The National Eucharistic Revival was launched by the U.S. bishops in 2022. Amid recent decades of declining Mass attendance and surveys indicating weakened belief in the Real Presence among many Catholics, the revival seeks to renew belief in Christ’s real presence through parish formation, Eucharistic processions, perpetual adoration, and missionary outreach.
The 2026 pilgrimage began in St. Augustine, Florida, near where the first Mass was celebrated. The route continued up the Eastern Seaboard and will conclude over the Fourth of July weekend in Philadelphia.
While today’s pilgrims travel highways instead of frontier trails, their journey echoes generations of Catholics who carried the Eucharist across the U.S.
The circumstances have changed dramatically over five centuries, yet beneath those outward changes lies an unbroken thread stretching across nearly five centuries. The same Eucharist celebrated by missionaries in St. Augustine, carried across the Great Plains, hidden in colonial homes, and proclaimed before millions in Chicago is the Eucharist that gathers Catholics today. The history of Catholicism in America is not simply the story of how the Church grew — it is the story of how the Eucharist sustained that growth, generation after generation.
Pope Leo XIV: Migrants lost at sea are victims of choices made and unmade
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass Saturday on the island of Lampedusa, warning that migrants who have died crossing the Mediterranean are “victims both of decisions that were made and of decisions that were not made.”
In his homily at the Arena sports field July 4, the pope cited the Gospel parable of the Good Samaritan, saying residents of Lampedusa had seen “thousands of human beings fallen into the hands of robbers who have taken everything from them, beat them brutally and walked away, leaving them half-dead.”
“The sea has claimed the lives of others — those who did not manage to reach their hoped-for destination,” he said. “Yet we feel their presence, which challenges us no less than that of those who have landed in need of attention and aid.”
The pope arrived at the sports field in a Fiat Nuova Campagnola convertible, the same vehicle Pope Francis used during his July 8, 2013, visit to Lampedusa. The crowd greeted him with songs, waving arms, and yellow-and-white caps against the backdrop of the island’s sea and sky.
Before the liturgy, Lampedusa’s mayor presented the pope with a model of the island’s lighthouse. Pope Leo recalled Pope Francis’ closeness to the people of Lampedusa and said he had come not primarily to give speeches but to celebrate the Eucharist, the supreme sign of Christ’s presence.
The pope’s homily repeatedly returned to the theme of love — a love made concrete in compassion, hospitality, and the willingness to draw near to those in need.
“The Gospel resounds where peoples meet, people welcome one another, their lives intertwine and different cultures engage in dialogue,” he said. “It falls silent, however, when each person makes him or herself an island, avoiding contact and cutting off exchange.”
Citing the parable of the Good Samaritan, the pope said the encounter with those stripped of everything calls Christians “to be close to them.”
“This is the heart of the Gospel parable: we become neighbors by acting as neighbors,” he said.
Pope Leo thanked the people of Lampedusa for what he called the “miracle of compassion,” including the volunteers, organizations in Forum Lampedusa Solidale, civil authorities, the Coast Guard, local administrations, deacons, priests, religious sisters, doctors, psychologists, educators, security forces, and all those who serve migrants on the island.
“I greet the migrants who are here,” he added. “They themselves have not only received solidarity but have often shown it on their journey, as the poor helping the poorest.”
But the pope also warned against indifference, corruption, fear, prejudice, and policies that fail to respond to the scale of the crisis.
“Indifference to the common good and corruption in their countries of origin; a global economic system that generates poverty and exclusion; fear that fuels prejudice and contempt; the belief that such problems do not concern us; the criminal calculations of those who profit from the suffering of others; the slow and difficult transition from mere emergency management to the development of comprehensive and shared policies — all are present-day echoes of the haste to ‘pass by’ in the Gospel narrative,” he said.
Pope Leo also said religious belonging must never be used to exclude or discriminate.
“It is time to recognize and affirm that religious affiliation must never become a reason for discrimination, as if faith had boundaries rather than being a universal call to salvation,” he said. “There is no love of God without love of neighbor, and there is no neighbor if I do not draw near.”
From Lampedusa, which lies between Sicily and North Africa and has become a symbol of the migration crisis in the Mediterranean, the pope turned his attention to Europe.
“From this far-flung corner of Europe on the Mediterranean Sea, one can more clearly perceive the momentous challenge that the phenomenon of migration poses to European societies,” he said.
Europe, he continued, has “a unique potential” and therefore “a corresponding responsibility” to address migration in a comprehensive way — integrating immediate relief into “a long-term strategic plan capable of receiving, protecting, supporting and integrating migrants,” while also assisting developing countries so that “no one is forced to emigrate.”
The pope said the task belongs not only to public institutions but also to civil society and the Church.
Speaking directly to the people of Lampedusa, he also noted that tourism on the island can risk creating an “invisible wall” between vacationers and migrants who have survived shipwrecks.
“Have the courage to think differently,” he said, urging residents to help visitors become “more humane” through contact with the island’s charity and history.
“There is authentic rest when the meaning of life is rediscovered, and true well-being when the economy is just and fraternal,” the pope said. “In such an economy, care for creation and social friendship come together in a synthesis that humanity is seeking today.”
At the close of his homily, Pope Leo referred to the image of Our Lady of Safe Harbor, patroness of Lampedusa, placed near the altar.
“In God we all have a safe haven, and every Christian community is called to be a reflection of it on earth,” he said. He ended with the traditional local greeting: “O’scià!”
Before the Mass, the pope visited the cemetery of Lampedusa, where he placed flowers on the graves of migrants, pausing especially at the graves of children. The moment was marked by silence and strong wind.
He then went to the Porta d’Europa, the “Gateway to Europe” monument, where he briefly met a migrant family. A child gave him a soccer ball and read him a note.
“Dear pope, I am super excited to meet you. Ten years ago my story began here in Lampedusa. I was alone and had lost everything, especially my mother,” the child wrote.
The child said he had stopped crying only after someone gave him a ball made of paper.
“From that day, the ball has remained in my heart, and I have never stopped playing,” he wrote. “Now I hope that this ball I am giving you can reach another child and make him happy, just like me.”
The pope then moved toward the sea to pray alone. The wind swept away his white zucchetto, which fell into the water as he prayed near the sea.
Before heading to the Arena sports field, Pope Leo visited Molo Favaloro, where he blessed a plaque dedicating the dock to Pope Francis. There he greeted migrants accompanied by the Red Cross, as well as religious sisters who are among the first to welcome migrants arriving on the island.
The visit came a day after the U.S.-born Pope Leo, accepting the Liberty Medal awarded by the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia, recalled how his native land had opened its doors to waves of immigrants, allowing them and their children to help build the nation’s future.
The pope has been critical of Trump administration policies on immigration, and the coincidence of his visit to Lampedusa with America’s 250th anniversary has been widely noted in the U.S.
This story was first published in two parts by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Sources used: ACI Stampa Mass report and official English homily text .
SSPX rejects Vatican’s excommunication, calls it ‘objectively’ unjust and invalid
The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), whose members are known as “Lefebvrians,” rejected the recent excommunications decreed by the Vatican after consecrating four bishops without papal authorization on July 1 and asserted that the sanctions imposed are “objectively unjust and invalid.”
In a letter addressed to Pope Leo XIV, released on July 3, Father Davide Pagliarani, superior general of the SSPX, justified the episcopal consecrations that prompted the Vatican’s decree declaring the group to be in schism as “an extreme measure to save souls, amid the doctrinal and moral confusion in which the Church finds itself.”
“We in no way intend to replace the Church, and our sole purpose is to remain faithful to her,” wrote Pagliarani, who leads the group founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who died in 1991.
The group founded by Lefebvre aims to preserve the traditional liturgy as it existed prior to the reforms implemented after the Second Vatican Council while maintaining its opposition to aspects of the council’s teachings on ecumenism, religious freedom, and collegiality.
Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988 after ordaining, without the permission of Pope John Paul II, four bishops: Alfonso de Galarreta of Spain, Bernard Fellay of Switzerland, Richard Williamson of England, and Bernard Tissier de Mallerais of France.
Amid attempts to build bridges of dialogue with the SSPX, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications in 2009 against the four bishops consecrated by Lefebvre.
Tissier de Mallerais and Williamson died in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Galarreta and Fellay, on the other hand, participated in the recent consecration of four new bishops on July 1, for which they were excommunicated once again.
‘We had asked for bread’
Using as the central theme of his argument the passage from the Gospel according to St. Luke (11:11–13), in which Jesus reminds his disciples that “if you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him,” Pagliarani asserted that “we had asked for bread — that is, a little understanding in the face of a sincere case of conscience, a gesture of fatherly compassion.”
“Unfortunately, we have received a stone,” he continued, noting that, instead of “fish” — that is, “the possibility of temporarily obtaining the necessary means to continue forming good priests ... unfortunately, we have received a snake.”
“We had asked for an egg, promising to return it as soon as possible,” he added. He affirmed that “the holy tradition we preserve in our souls belongs to the Church, our Mother” but “unfortunately, we have received a scorpion.”
The superior of the SSPX assured Leo XIV that the society does not accept the Vatican’s sanctions “in a spirit of bitterness or rebellion” but rather feel encouraged “to love the holy Church even more and to attend to her needs more than ever with all our strength.”
“We are certain that one day you yourself or one of your successors will wish to embrace the program of St. Pius X: ‘To restore all things in Christ,’” he said, noting that “on that day, the Holy Father will discover, with great joy and deep consolation, authentically Catholic souls — souls whose bond with the Church was never founded on the shifting sands of ambiguous dialogue but on the rock of Peter’s faith.”
‘Turn back!’: Leo XIV’s plea the SSPX ignored
In his letter, Pagliarani makes no mention of the Catholic Church’s repeated calls for dialogue, which date back to the pontificate of St. John Paul II with the creation of the Ecclesia Dei Commission and which reached one of their highest points in Benedict XVI’s decision to lift the excommunications of the four bishops consecrated by Lefebvre.
Pope Francis also reached out to the SSPX with decisions such as allowing sacramental confessions with its priests to be valid and lawful during the Jubilee of Mercy in 2016 — a decision he later extended beyond that year.
Pagliarani also did not address Pope Leo XIV’s direct plea to the Society of St. Pius X, asking the group not to commit “a schismatic act.”
“In this spirit, and filled with Christian affection, I implore and ask you with all my heart: Turn back!” the Holy Father wrote to them on June 30.
“I urge you to carefully consider the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you would carry out would deprive them of the lawful — and in some cases, even valid — reception of the sacraments that they love and seek for their own sanctification,” the pope stated.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pope Leo XIV accepts Constitution Center’s 2026 Liberty Medal: ‘I am honored’
PHILADELPHIA — Pope Leo XIV said he was “honored” to accept the 2026 Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center (NCC) in livestreamed remarks delivered for the ceremony in Philadelphia on July 3.
“I am honored to accept the Liberty Medal of the National Constitution Center in this year that marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776,” the Holy Father said.
Leo was born in Chicago but earned a bachelor’s degree at Villanova University in the Philadelphia suburbs. The NCC presented the award to the pontiff in person at the Vatican on April 30, ahead of the ceremony.
In his remarks, Leo thanked those gathered in Philadelphia for the occasion. The NCC building overlooks the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where the country’s founders developed and adopted the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
“As a son of this great country, founded by courageous men and women who dreamed of liberty and of a better life for themselves and for their children, I join you in asking God’s blessings upon America’s future, that the lofty ideals enshrined at the beginning of the Declaration of Independence may continue to guide the flourishing of the nation in unity, justice, and peace,” Leo said.
“From our youth, most of us have admired the eloquence of those words, with their resounding appeal to the law of nature and to nature’s God as the basis of their assertion that all men and women are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” he said.
The pontiff said that although the text employed “the language of the Enlightenment,” the claim is “ultimately grounded in an understanding of the human person inspired by the great biblical vision of man and woman being created in the divine image.”
“It is indeed here that we discover the basis of human dignity; dignity which precedes the establishment of any state and whose custody constitutes its very purpose,” Leo said.
Respecting the right to life “in every form and condition,” he said, is directly tied to the nation’s vitality. He said society must cultivate a reverence for life that “sways the hearts of individuals and inspires laws that recognize and safeguard this gift from the moment of conception to natural death.”
The right to liberty, the pontiff said, is much deeper than simply doing what one wants. It is “founded upon the human person’s capacity to know the truth and adhere to what is good, even at great cost — a sacrifice well known to many who have labored to shape this country,” he said.
“The desire for truth and freedom, as well as the very pursuit of happiness, continues to inspire people of all generations to ask fundamental questions regarding the meaning of life, our ultimate purpose, and indeed about God, and it is proper for magnanimous hearts to endeavor to answer these questions with sincerity,” Leo said.
The Holy Father said that religious freedom, to be “free from fear and coercion, as enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” is needed to answer those questions.
“It is my hope that this tradition will continue to bear fruit in a public discourse marked by moderation, respect for the views of others, and an ongoing effort to find common ground in promoting the cause of peace and reconciliation, at home and abroad,” he added.
The pope said he is praying that the 250th anniversary of the United States “may be the occasion of a solemn recommitment to these ideals that have made America a country that values peace and prosperity, a country characterized by generosity and nobility of heart.”
Archbishop Perez, Gov. Shapiro speak
The ceremony was attended by a few hundred guests and included other speakers, such as Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson J. Perez, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, state Attorney General Dave Sunday, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, and local Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religious leaders.
Perez said throughout Leo’s life — as priest, bishop, cardinal, and pope — he has defended the “inherent dignity of all people and building pathways to peace,” including a defense of religious freedom.
“True freedom stems from defending dignity and the value of every human being,” he said.
Perez told EWTN News following the event that the pope’s words “bring us back to our origins” as Americans regarding the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
“It was wonderful to hear him once again bring us back to center, that we all were created in a very image and likeness of God,” the archbishop said. “Our human dignity and our rights flow from that. They flow from being created in Godʼs image and likeness and from there flows our freedom and the heart that seeks God.”
“Itʼs a wonderful day for Philadelphia,” Perez said. “Itʼs a wonderful day for the country. Itʼs a wonderful day for the world.”
Shapiro congratulated the pope on receiving the award and thanked the Holy Father, on behalf of Pennsylvania, “for using your voice, your power, to advance religious liberty for all people.”
The ceremony included the ringing of a replica of the Liberty Bell just outside the building. It was rung by Sunday, the attorney general, who recalled the words of Benjamin Franklin when the Founding Father was asked what form of government they had created after the constitutional convention: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
“Our Constitution is the rock upon which we will build in the next 250 years,” Sunday said.
Pope Leo XIV congratulates the U.S. on its 250th anniversary
Pope Leo XIV celebrated the contributions of Catholics and immigrants to the United States in an open letter to Americans for the country’s 250th anniversary.
The letter, dated June 25 and released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Friday, also highlighted the principles of religious freedom and the right to life.
Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, wrote that the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, “gave enduring voice to the ideals of liberty, equality, the pursuit of happiness, justice, and democratic self-government.”
The pope called religious freedom “among the most cherished of these principles,” writing that it is “central to the American promise, protecting both individual dignity and the peaceful coexistence of a diverse people.”
That freedom has allowed the Catholic Church to flourish in the U.S., serving the nation in many fields including “education, the preferential care for the poor, healthcare, and basic social services,” Leo wrote
The pope also underscored the importance for the country’s history of the “God-given dignity of every human life.” Recognizing that dignity means “safeguarding human life from its beginning at conception until natural death” and caring for the “vulnerable, the suffering, and the forgotten,” he wrote.
It also means “welcoming, protecting, and assisting immigrants,” who “have helped to shape the nation’s character,” Leo wrote.
The pope’s letter to Americans closed with an invocation of the “Immaculate Conception, patroness of this country, that she will continue to watch over America and protect all who dwell therein.”
EWTN News explains: As a Catholic, can you attend an SSPX Mass?
The Vatican this week issued a decree declaring that the bishops involved in the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X’s illicit consecrations have incurred automatic excommunication and that the group is in schism with the Church.
The illicit ordinations occurred in Écône, Switzerland, on July 1 after Pope Leo XIV had urged the group to “turn back” and refrain from carrying out the unauthorized rite.
The SSPX is a controversial fraternity of priests known for their strict traditional celebration of the Latin Mass and opposition to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
The group for years has enjoyed a canonically irregular status within the Church, and the faithful have generally been permitted to attend Masses held by SSPX priests. Yet the declaration of schism has raised questions about whether or not Catholics can still attend those liturgies without incurring canonical penalties.
The Vatican recognizes that the faithful may be able to attend an SSPX Mass without suffering excommunication, so long as there is no “formal adherence” to the SSPX.
Formal adherence was described in an important 1996 explanatory note from the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, on the “Excommunication for Schism Incurred by Members of Bishop Marcel Lefebvre’s Movement,” which was cited in the new decree’s own explanatory note.
It described two key components: an internal one of freely and consciously sharing the substance of the schism and an external one of making outward expression of that choice, such as the exclusive participation in SSPX Masses.
Notably, in the 1996 note, Vatican officials recognized “that occasional participation in liturgical acts or activities of the Lefebvrian movement — without adopting the movement’s attitude of doctrinal and disciplinary disunity — is not sufficient to constitute formal adherence to the movement.”
It added that in pastoral practice, it is necessary “to take into account the person’s intention and how that inner disposition is translated into action,” and such situations should “be judged on a case-by-case basis by the competent authorities.”
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on July 2 sent a letter to bishops worldwide outlining the means by which clergy and faithful who have taken part in the schism with the Church can return to full communion with the faith.
The letter stipulated that penalties for lay faithful who belong to SSPX “cannot be presumed automatically, but must be assessed case by case.”
The dicastery said that “imputably” in the matter “requires full awareness and deliberate consent.”
Some cases in which laypeople are not considered “imputable,” the dicastery said, include those who have attended SSPX Masses “only for liturgical or spiritual reasons,” along with those who “do not reject the magisterium or the authority of the Roman pontiff.”
‘Strongly discouraged’ for risk of schism, scandal
Nevertheless, the new decree’s explanatory note strongly admonishes the faithful “to remain firmly united with the Roman pontiff, with the bishops in communion with him, and with the entire Church … and to refrain from participating in the celebrations and activities organized by the aforementioned Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X.”
Ronald Bolster, an associate professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and dean of the theology school there, said it would be “inappropriate and strongly discouraged to participate in the liturgies and activities” of the SSPX.
To do so, he argued, “would imply support for their schismatic act.”
“Participation could also be a cause of scandal, causing others to consider that such participation is appropriate, and more broadly, suggest that the laws of the Church and the authority of the vicar of Christ can be dismissed or disregarded without consequence,” he said.
William Newton, a theology professor and the chair of Franciscan University’s theology department, also argued that Catholics who attend SSPX Masses “collaborate” in the schism, though he noted that there are degrees of responsibility associated with it.
“Certainly, the culpability for this collaboration can vary as with any sin, because of ignorance or lack of freedom of will,” he said.
“However, the schismatic character of the SSPX has been confirmed by the Church, so ignorance, while still possible, cannot be assumed,” he added.
He noted that there are “alternative valid Masses available to the faithful,” which he said “makes the choice to attend an SSPX Mass that much more likely to be willful collaboration with schism.”
The faithful “should not attend a Mass of the SSPX,” he argued.
Bolster described the schism event as a “most unfortunate situation.”
He urged Catholics to “join Pope Leo in praying that the concerns which have motivated this division can be addressed without further loss of unity. “
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was last month even firmer in saying Catholics should not attend SSPX Masses.
In his exclusive interview with EWTN News just days before the illicit consecrations, the cardinal was asked what faithful drawn to SSPX Masses should do if a schism follows. Müller said forcefully that they “shouldn’t go, and cannot participate in the Masses of schismatic priests and bishops.”