Our Lady of Guadalupe image begins 6-month pilgrimage in the Philippines
An image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from Mexico arrived in the Philippines on June 11, marking the start of a six-month nationwide pilgrimage that Church leaders hope will strengthen people’s faith.
Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan, spiritual director of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Philippine Pilgrimage, led the reception and blessing of the pilgrim image at Malacañang Palace in Manila in the presence of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.; first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos; papal nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown; Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso; and other government officials, clergy, and lay faithful.
Marcos and the first lady hosted the reception and blessing, formally launching the Philippine Pilgrimage 2026.
The occasion highlighted the Philippines’ deep Marian devotion and its participation in the Novena Intercontinental Guadalupana, a worldwide spiritual preparation for the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego. She appeared on four occasions on Dec. 9–12, 1531: three at the hill of Tepeyac and a fourth before Juan de Zumárraga, then the first bishop of Mexico and a Spanish Basque Franciscan prelate.
The replica of the Mexican Marian icon and an image of St. Juan Diego, a Nahua peasant and Marian visionary, are considered a source of inspiration for many around the world.
The pilgrimage forms part of a global initiative promoting prayer, evangelization, and unity among Catholics across different nations.
The image, a replica of the original enshrined at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, embarks on a pilgrimage across the Philippines, visiting more than 50 churches.
In a social media video, Bagaforo invited the faithful to join the nationwide pilgrimage, calling it a “moment of grace” and an opportunity to pray for hope, peace, and blessings amid today’s challenges.
Cardinal Jose Advincula, archbishop of Manila, will hold a special Mass at the Manila Cathedral on June 13, formally opening the pilgrimage, before the image visits more than 50 cathedrals, shrines, and parish churches across the country.
The image will also be present during the 132nd Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Plenary in Ozamiz City on July 3–10 before its permanent installation at the Manila Cathedral in December.
Bishops call for a spiritual journey
In a June 3 pastoral letter, the CBCP urged Catholics to take part in the spiritual journey and renew their relationship with Jesus through Mary.
According to Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa, the CBCP president, churches hosting the pilgrimage will recite the Act of Consecration and Entrustment to Our Lady of Guadalupe during all Masses while the image is present.
“During this pilgrimage, the Act of Consecration and Entrustment to Our Lady of Guadalupe shall be recited in all Masses in the churches to be visited,” he said.
The pilgrimage hopes to inspire Filipinos to come closer to Jesus and to deepen their devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“This visit aims to bring us, Filipinos, closer to Our Lord Jesus Christ and our Blessed Mother,” Garcera said.
Advincula named the pilgrim image “Madre Peregrina de Guadalupe,” or “Pilgrim Mother of Guadalupe,” underscoring Mary’s role as a mother who journeys with the faithful.
According to event organizers, the pilgrimage would deepen devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and prepare Filipino Catholics for the 500th anniversary celebrations in 2031.
The Philippines is home to more than 93 million Catholics and has the third-largest Catholic population globally, after Brazil and Mexico. In the Asian context, it is the largest Catholic nation, followed by East Timor.
Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady of Guadalupe the “Celestial Patroness of the Philippines” in 1935. In 2001, the CBCP declared Dec. 12 an obligatory memorial, and in 2002 it recognized her as the “Pro-Life Patroness of the Philippines” in response to the global movement to entrust the plight of unborn children to her intercession.
“I am glad to know that the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on a pilgrimage in the Philippines. It will strengthen people’s prayer, Marian devotion, and spiritual renewal,” Janice Castro, an elementary school teacher from the Diocese of Cubao, told EWTN News.
Pope Leo XIV’s advice to priests: ‘Holiness cannot be lived in isolation’
The journey toward holiness is fulfilled in union with Christ’s perfect heart — a holiness that cannot be lived in isolation, Pope Leo XIV said in a message for the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests.
“Cherish your priestly fraternity: Seek one another, listen to one another, and support one another. The priest who isolates himself slowly fades away; the priest who walks alongside his brothers grows,” the pope said in the June 12 message.
The World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests takes place every year on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which in 2026 is celebrated on June 12.
The Sacred Heart, Leo said, “is the ‘place’ where holiness is manifested as closeness and tenderness. The priest’s holiness, then, is embodied in humble and courageous nearness, in being all things to all people, and in keeping the gate of the sheepfold open so that many can enter and find pasture and rest.”
“For this reason, we are called to a relationship with God that does not distance us from others but brings us closer to everyone — shaping patient and tender hearts, capable of closeness, compassion, and listening,” he added.
Pope Leo said it is “through the union of our imperfect hearts with Jesus’ pierced heart, our journey toward holiness is fulfilled. It is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. Such holiness cannot be lived in isolation.”
Reflecting on the mystery of the Lord’s pierced heart, the Holy Father emphasized that holiness is not an abstract ideal but a share in God’s own holiness.
“When he calls us to be holy as he is holy, he indicates that the path we must follow involves being fashioned after his own heart. And for us, dear brothers, this call is particularly radical,” he said, addressing his fellow priests.
The holiness asked of priests, Leo continued, is of a trustful abandonment transformed by the Holy Spirit: “Yet it is precisely here that the great paradox of our priestly life emerges. We are called to share in God’s own holiness, but we carry this treasure in earthen vessels.”
Reflecting on the imperfect, human side of the priesthood, the pontiff noted that “we are limited and imperfect, often weak and weary, and at times wounded. How can such a vulnerable human heart respond to such a high calling? The priest lives this tension. Yet at the same time, he must recognize that he finds peace in the open side of the Lord Jesus.”
“Our humanity is not compartmentalized,” he said. “Prayer, ministry, relationships, weariness, joys, and failures — even time or love that apparently seems wasted — all become privileged places where God reveals himself and his infinite love.”
He urged priests to renew the grace of their ordination through the daily celebration of the Eucharist, prayer, meditation on the word of God, and humble service to others.
“A priestly life that is steady and configured to Jesus’ heart is a credible sign of unity, peace, and mercy. Thus, in an age marked by division and fear, we must be builders of peace and witnesses of the tenderness of the Good Shepherd who knows how to gather the scattered and heal the wounded,” he said.
In his message, Pope Leo invited priests to daily renew their “Here I am” before Christ’s pierced heart and to remember the words of the Curé of Ars, St. John Vianney, who loved to say that “the priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.”
“This love is a pledge and a guarantee that, if we surrender and offer ourselves completely, nothing of us will be lost,” the pontiff said.
Pope Leo XIV tells human traffickers in Tenerife: ‘Stop. Repent’
SAN CRISTÓBAL DE LA LAGUNA, Spain — For the first time during his apostolic journey to Spain, which concluded Friday, Pope Leo XIV raised his voice with unusual force.
He did so in Tenerife, speaking against human traffickers: those who charge staggering sums to help migrants cross the ocean and those who enslave them mercilessly.
“For every life lost, every family deceived, every body subjugated, every woman threatened, every worker exploited, you will have to appear before divine justice,” the pope said.
“Break those chains and free those you hold in bondage,” he added. “Return what has been taken and make amends as much as you can.”
Then, in a cry reminiscent of Pope Francis’ 2014 appeal to members of the Mafia, Leo declared: “Stop. Repent.”
To those who profit from the suffering of others, he also left open the door of return to God.
“Repent while there is still time,” he said, “for God’s mercy can reach even the most hardened sinner, but it enters only through the narrow gate of truth, justice, and conversion.”
The remarks came during the pope’s meeting with organizations working for the integration of migrants in the Plaza del Cristo de La Laguna, in the capital of Tenerife, before some 4,000 people.
In this final day of his trip, Leo held a second encounter focused on the reality of migration, underscoring the importance he has given the issue throughout his visit.
The pope offered several keys for migrants so they do “not ... remain forever trapped in the role of victims.”
Speaking to “dear migrant brothers and sisters,” Leo said that part of their journey is “to open yourselves with trust to the community that welcomes you, to learn its language, to respect its laws, to get to know its customs, to participate in communal life, and to offer your gifts with gratitude.”
He also addressed Catholics directly, as he had done the previous day in Las Palmas, asking “that integration not be reduced to a social undertaking, however necessary that may be.”
The pope warned of what he called a “silent shipwreck” that can take place after migrants arrive: “Being left alone in a city, without a voice, without ties, work, or a sense of security, and exposed to those who take advantage of vulnerability.”
“Integration means preventing that second shipwreck,” he said.
Leo said integration must take place “without diluting their identity or closing their hearts to the encounter,” adding that “every welcoming society has responsibilities toward those who arrive,” while those who are welcomed also discover that dignity “flourishes when it becomes a duty and a sincere desire to build together with others.”
Before the final Mass that brought his apostolic journey to Spain to a close, the pope asked the faithful not to forget the many migrants from Latin America, the Philippines, and other parts of the world who are already a living part of the community.
“Let yourselves also be evangelized by them,” he said, “for they surely bring with them gifts that Providence has wished to send to you through those who are integrating.”
His predecessor, Pope Francis, summarized the Church’s approach to migration in four verbs: welcome, protect, promote, and integrate. Leo made that vision his own, insisting that integration cannot be reduced to a merely social task.
“Those who come to our parishes need bread, shelter, language assistance, work, and protection,” he said. “They also must find a community capable of offering paths to knowing Jesus Christ through the witness of life and word, while always respecting the conscience and freedom of each person.”
During the encounter, the pope listened to the testimony of Mbacke, a young Senegalese man who arrived as a child, completely alone.
“I have learned alongside my classmates in all the training activities we have: Spanish, cooking, agriculture, masonry, carpentry, repairs, computer skills, sewing, etc., and in my particular case, basic training in Spain,” he said, thanking the Canary Islands’ El Buen Samaritano Foundation, linked to the Parish of Santa María de Añaza in Tenerife, for giving him a family.
“Thank you for receiving young people like me who arrive alone, without family, and who are only looking for an opportunity to start over,” he added.
His testimony put a face on the drama of migrant minors who cross borders without a parent or guardian. For some who have no family, turning 18 can mean “only the street,” once they leave Spain’s child protection system.
Among those waiting for the pope on this final day was Mamadu, 33, originally from Mali. He arrived 15 years ago, still a child. Today he is fully integrated and speaks Spanish perfectly. He told ACI Prensa that he wanted to see the pope and give him a T-shirt he displayed proudly.
Leo also heard from a Venezuelan migrant priest who has served for seven years on El Hierro, the westernmost and southernmost island in the Canary archipelago. The island, the smallest and least populated of the main Canary Islands, has recorded some of the highest migrant arrivals in recent months: Since March 2023, it has received 50,244 immigrants despite having just 11,600 residents.
“There were days and nights when I wanted to stay in the comfort of my house, but I thought: What would Our Lord do?” the priest said. “And I renewed the service being asked of me. And there, amid pain and suffering, there was always some reason for hope, some smile, some grateful face that gave more than enough reason for our commitment.”
The Holy Father also listened to harrowing accounts, including that of Khalid Allad, a 24-year-old Moroccan who, like many others, reached the Canary coast in 2020.
“My journey in a small boat was not easy at all,” he said. “I tried twice. In the first attempt, 20 people died.”
Although his father forbade him from trying again, he set out a year later.
“Although I was afraid, I decided to leave again, this time without his permission,” he said.
Once in Tenerife, he began a new life thanks to the Don Bosco Foundation.
“They offered me a place to live, taught me Spanish, helped me read and write better, and gave me the confidence to move forward,” he said through tears.
Thalia Johana Saldarriaga Diago, a Colombian immigrant who, thanks to Caritas, not only recovered her independence but also became a volunteer helping others in similar situations, also spoke at the meeting.
“In this way,” the pope said, recalling her witness, “yesterday’s stranger can be today’s brother and neighbor.”
The encounter took place as the European Union entered a new and stricter era in migration policy. The Migration and Asylum Pact, the result of years of negotiations among member states, officially entered into force Friday, promising to strengthen control of external borders, speed up asylum procedures, and increase returns of people without the right to remain in EU territory.
After this effort to put a human face on the drama of migration, and before returning to Rome with an expected delay, the pope celebrated a large outdoor Mass at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
In his homily, Leo cited Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ as he reflected on Tenerife’s “tourist vocation” and the island’s contact with visitors from many countries.
“How important it is, especially for those who allow themselves to be guided by the Gospel, not to reduce everything to commerce and profit,” the pope said.
Spain is a global tourism powerhouse, but its success has caused growing tensions in destinations like those the pope visited this week: Madrid, Barcelona, Las Palmas, and Tenerife.
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.
Migrants in Tenerife tell Pope Leo XIV: We do not ask for privileges or compassion
TENERIFE, Canary Islands — “No one leaves their land, their family, and their roots by choice when they can live in peace,” said Bousso Diouf, a woman from Senegal who spoke with the moral authority of someone who risked her life crossing the Atlantic in a wooden boat, knowing the journey could last a week or end adrift at sea.
Diouf was among the migrants who greeted Pope Leo XIV at the Las Raíces reception center in Tenerife, where some 700 sub-Saharan African migrants — all adult men — are currently housed. The center is located in the humid Las Raíces area of Tenerife, a eucalyptus-filled area about 3,300 feet above sea level.
The number is relatively low compared with the hardest years of the “cayuco” crisis, especially at the end of 2024, when the center received between 2,000 and 3,000 migrants amid overcrowding and widely reported tensions.
Most of those currently housed at the center come from Senegal, Gambia, and Mali, and on average spend about three months there before being transferred to mainland Spain.
They arrive exhausted after having spent up to 72 hours in police custody for identification and registration procedures.
“We come from countries where poverty, violence, war, persecution, and lack of opportunity forced us to leave,” Diouf said.
Las Raíces opened in 2021 in response to the 2020 crisis, when more than 23,000 migrants arrived on the coasts of the Canary Islands.
Now those numbers have fallen sharply, and the situation is very different.
“Our work is to offer them an initial welcome that is dignified, humane, and organized at an especially difficult moment, immediately after their arrival by sea,” Navarro Atiénzar, regional director of Accem, the nongovernmental organization that manages the Las Raíces Reception Center for Refugees and Immigrants in Tenerife, told Pope Leo.
The pope arrived in Tenerife early in the morning from Las Palmas and went to the large camp set up inside a former rural military barracks after six marathon days in Spain that had taken him to Barcelona and Madrid.
He listened to those housed there as a father listens when a child opens his heart to recount a trauma.
One young Nigerian man said that crossing the ocean to the Canary Islands means facing hunger, cold, desperation, and often death.
“Many brothers and sisters lost their lives at sea, and others continue to suffer in silence, victims of mafias that take advantage of need and human suffering,” he said.
He also made a plea for humanity: “May we not be seen only as migrants, numbers, or documents but as people with stories, dreams, families, and hope.”
“We do not ask for privileges. We do not ask for compassion. We ask for respect, humanity, and the opportunity to live with dignity,” he said.
Among those present was also Aliu Ceesay, a 16-year-old Gambian who arrived in the Canary Islands just one month ago in an irregular boat after a difficult journey from his home country. Like many other migrant minors, his goal is to find work so he can help support his family.
Amid an experience marked by uncertainty, Aliu has followed Pope Leo XIV with interest online. The teenager said he wanted to see him in person and was struck by the pope’s message.
“I have been following him on the internet and wanted to see him. He is very kind, very good,” Aliu said. He also emphasized the pope’s inclusive spirit: “He does not care if we are black or white, Muslim or Christian. He wants to help us.”
More than 54,000 people have passed through Las Raíces. Behind each one is a story, a difficult journey, and, above all, a hope.
In his address, Pope Leo repeated the message he gave on the first day he set foot in Las Palmas: “God’s love knows no borders, makes no distinctions, is given to all and brings us together in unity.”
“As I look at your faces and listen to your stories, I also think of your hearts — wounded by so many difficulties, yet also comforted by the love you have received from other open, generous, and merciful hearts,” the pope said.
“Christ’s heart suffered and was pierced out of love, and he was also comforted by compassionate people who eased his pain,” he added.
Missionary saints and migrants
The pope dedicated part of his address to missionary saints such as St. Brother Peter of St. Joseph de Betancur and St. José de Anchieta, who set out from the Canary Islands to proclaim the Gospel in the Americas, opening new missionary horizons.
“They too were migrants who ventured into the unknown, carrying faith, hope, and charity as their greatest possessions,” he said.
The pope called for “responsibility” with an eye toward future generations, to whom, he said, “we wish to bequeath the heritage of a civilization of love.”
“Migration will play an important role in this,” he said, because it “can become an opportunity for encounter and mutual enrichment among peoples.”
“Dear brothers and sisters, in a sense, all of us are migrants, for we are all pilgrims on our way to our heavenly homeland,” he said. “Let us help make this journey more humane for everyone by contributing in whatever way we can.”
The pope said the name of the center, Las Raíces — “the roots” — had caught his attention. He recalled that Pope Francis, “who so longed to be with you,” often used the image of roots “to emphasize the importance of remembering our origins, staying united, and trusting in the Lord.”
“May this image of roots also help you to be firmly rooted in the Lord, so that no storm may drive you away from his presence, which strengthens and gives life,” Pope Leo said.
At the end of his address, the pope told those gathered: “Dear friends, I carry you in my heart and will remember you in my prayers. May God bless you, your families, and all who do good to you. And may the Blessed Virgin Mary, consolation of migrants, always accompany and assist you with her maternal protection.”
During the meeting, when the pope announced that he would speak in French and English, many migrants responded with loud applause.
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.
Everything you need to know about devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus falls on the Friday after the Corpus Christi octave, which in 2026 is on June 12. What exactly is the meaning behind this feast day? Below are answers to some common questions.
Why do Catholics venerate the Sacred Heart of Jesus?
“Devoting ourselves to the Sacred Heart is one of the easiest, fastest, and most pleasant ways to grow in holiness,” Father Ambrose Dobrozsi, a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, told EWTN News.
“Many saints have done many things to grow close to Jesus Christ, but no way is more sure and more pleasing to him than to consecrate ourselves to his Sacred Heart through the Immaculate Heart of his mother,” he added.
Where does devotion to the Sacred Heart come from?
The story behind the modern iteration of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, however, begins on Dec. 27, 1673, at a monastery belonging to the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (Visitandines) in eastern France.
There, a nun named Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque began experiencing visions of the Sacred Heart. Those visions continued for 18 months.
During her visions, Sister Margaret Mary learned ways to venerate the Sacred Heart of Christ.
These devotions included the concept of a Holy Hour on Thursdays, the creation of the feast of the Sacred Heart after Corpus Christi, and the reception of the Eucharist on the first Friday of every month.
As with many mystics, many people were skeptical of Sister Margaret Mary’s claims of visions. Her confessor, the then-Father Claude La Colombière, SJ, (now St. Claude La Colombière) believed her, and eventually, the mother superior of her community began to believe as well.
The first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated privately at the monastery in 1686.
Sister Margaret Mary died in 1690 and was canonized by Pope Benedict XV on May 13, 1920.
Initially, the Vatican was hesitant to declare a feast of the Sacred Heart but did allow the Visitandines to celebrate a Mass special to this day. As the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus spread throughout France, the Vatican granted the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to France in 1765.
In 1856, after much lobbying by French bishops on behalf of the feast of the Sacred Heart, Pope Pius IX designated the Friday following the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of the Sacred Heart for the entire Latin-rite Church.
On May 25, 1899, Pope Leo XIII promulgated the encyclical Annum Sacrum, which consecrated the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This encyclical was written after a nun, Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, sent two letters to the pope requesting that he consecrate the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Sister Mary of the Divine Heart wrote the letters, she said, after Jesus made the request to her. Pope Leo XIII called this encyclical and the subsequent consecration the “great act” of his papacy.
“Finally, there is one motive which we are unwilling to pass over in silence, personal to ourselves it is true, but still good and weighty, which moves us to undertake this celebration. God, the author of every good, not long ago preserved our life by curing us of a dangerous disease,” Leo XIII wrote.
“We now wish, by this increase of the honor paid to the Sacred Heart, that the memory of this great mercy should be brought prominently forward, and our gratitude be publicly acknowledged.”
But why consecrate the world — or anyone — to the Sacred Heart of Jesus? What does that mean?
Pope Leo XIII described the act of consecration as one that will “establish or draw tighter the bonds which naturally connect public affairs with God,” which was especially needed for the world at the turn of the century.
“While many see religion as unnecessary in a world with more and more technology and resources, swearing allegiance and consecrating ourselves to Christ the King in his Sacred Heart shows that humanity still needs and longs for a compassionate and all-powerful God,” Dobrozsi, the Cincinnati priest, told EWTN News.
“In a society where some live in decadence and prideful luxury while others are destitute, the burning love of Christ’s Sacred Heart reminds us that the fires of his mercy are also fires of justice. And when the culture, and so many of us, feel hopeless that we could ever change after falling to sins of the flesh, the heart of Our Lord beats with powerful love, eternally declaring that true charity has triumphed over sin and death,” he added.
These are the promises the Sacred Heart of Jesus made to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque:
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my heart.
12. In the excess of the mercy of my heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the first Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: They will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.
This story was first published on EWTN News on June 19, 2020, and has been updated.
U.S. bishops consecrate nation to Sacred Heart of Jesus
ORLANDO, Florida — The U.S. bishops consecrated the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11, entrusting the United States to Christ’s merciful love during a solemn Mass as part of their spring plenary assembly.
“We gather not first to celebrate ourselves, but to consecrate, to entrust… and to place our whole nation into the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ,” Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore said in his homily.
The liturgy took place on the final day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring plenary meeting, during the nation’s 250th anniversary year.
In the hours leading up to the Mass, bishops concluded their assembly with reflections that centered on the meaning of devotion to the Sacred Heart in contemporary life.
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, described the devotion as a response to modern forms of spiritual strain, including loneliness and the pressure to measure personal worth by achievement or failure. Drawing on Pope Francis’ encyclical Dilexit Nos, he said contemporary culture often unsettles identity itself.
“The Sacred Heart of Jesus answers that question decisively,” Sample said. “When we know that we are loved by Christ, we no longer need to build our identity on achievements or failures.”
He added that devotion to the Sacred Heart offers freedom from fear, self-centeredness, despair, and superficiality while also calling believers to bring that love into public life. “The world needs witnesses whose hearts resemble the heart of Jesus,” he said.
Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky, reflected on the Sacred Heart as a source of communion within the Church, emphasizing that unity within the Church is not built on shared preference but on divine initiative and grace. He described the Church as “a brotherhood not created by personal preference, affinity, or ideology but by the providence of God and the will of Jesus Christ.”
Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis pointed to the devotion as a path of interior renewal grounded in prayer and sacramental life. Citing St. John Henry Newman’s phrase “cor ad cor loquitur” (“heart speaks to heart”), he said the deepest encounter with Christ takes place in a personal, interior communion shaped by prayer and the Eucharist.
Shortly before the Mass, bishops spent time in Eucharistic adoration and benediction and venerated the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the 17th-century French nun whose visions helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout the Church.
‘The Sacred Heart does not divide’
In his homily, Lori placed the consecration within the broader moral and spiritual tensions of Church and national life, framing it as an act of trust rather than achievement.
“To love as Christ loves is the true measure of Christian discipleship, and it is the true measure of our humanity,” he said.
He acknowledged that this measure has often not been lived out. “Indeed, it has sometimes obscured it almost beyond recognition,” he said, noting the reality of division, sin, and failure alongside moments of grace.
Lori said the act of entrustment is not an assertion of strength but an admission of dependence on mercy. “We cannot come to the heart of Christ while pretending we have no need of his mercy,” he said.
The future, he emphasized, cannot ultimately be secured by human systems or planning. “The future belongs to God, not to political movements, economic forces, or human plans,” he said.
He then described the Sacred Heart as the source of reconciliation itself, not merely a devotional image but a living reality that reshapes those who turn to it.
“The Sacred Heart does not divide, it reconciles,” he said. “It does not harden hearts, it transforms them. It does not simply invite us to receive love; it sends us forth to share it.”
Reflecting on the Gospel, he described Christ as fully entering the human condition with “a heart that has known joy and sorrow, friendship and betrayal, suffering and sacrifice.”
“The Sacred Heart reveals a savior who desires not merely our obedience, but our friendship,” he said. “Not simply our service, but our communion with him.”
That communion, he added, is meant to shape the whole of Christian life. “To remain in his love and allow that love to shape everything we do,” he said.
Prayer of entrustment
Following the homily, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, led the solemn prayer of consecration, placing the moment within a wider historical and theological tradition.
He recalled that 127 years earlier Pope Leo XIII consecrated the human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, presenting the Orlando liturgy as a continuation of that same act of entrustment.
“In that same spirit, we now consecrate the United States of America,” Coakley said, noting that Christ “in his own blood has removed all divisions and made of many nations one people of God.”
He led repeated invocation throughout the prayer: “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.”
The consecration prayer addressed Christ as the “Desire of Nations and Center of History,” asking him to bless the United States, heal the nation’s wounds, and bring reconciliation, justice, and peace where they are lacking.
It also gave thanks for the blessings bestowed upon the country, affirmed the dignity of every person as a gift from the Creator, and made reparation for offenses against God and human dignity.
The prayer further asked that the Church in the United States be a visible sign of Christ’s presence in the world, pointing “all people to [his] infinite love.” It prayed for peace in families and communities, the reconciliation of broken relationships, the repair of injustices, and the healing of the nation through a deeper union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
‘A powerful moment in our national story’
President Donald Trump also issued a message marking the consecration, calling it “a powerful moment in our national story” and linking it to Bishop John Carroll’s post-Revolutionary consecration of the United States to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He described the moment as part of a broader spiritual inheritance, noting that American history has long been shaped by public expressions of faith.
“As Catholic bishops consecrate the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in this 250th year of our independence, we recommit ourselves,” he said, calling for renewed attention to the nation’s “spiritual identity and great civilizational inheritance.”
Trump called the consecration “a poignant reminder that America has always been guided by the loving hand of God,” framing it as both reflection and renewal during the semiquincentennial year.
Pope tells Catholics to pray for those who ‘have lost their lives at sea’ in Canary Islands visit
On the first day of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria — the final stage of his trip to Spain before traveling to Tenerife and returning to Rome on Friday — several deeply moving scenes unfolded.
At the dock of Arguineguín, which six years ago became known as the “dock of shame” due to the abandonment there of thousands of migrants who arrived in precarious boats known as cayucos, the pope threw a wreath of flowers into the sea in memory of those who died during the crossing — just as Pope Francis did on the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013.
He then prayed before a blue cross made from wooden planks of migrant boats that had reached the Canary Islands and blessed it. Standing nearby was Javier, a volunteer with the Cruz Blanca Foundation, which works directly with migrants there. For him, this papal visit was an opportunity to once again place at the center of public discussion the migration crisis, a human tragedy that he says has become socially normalized.
“The pope gave a strong and moving speech. What he said to the migrants — that they are not numbers or files — really impressed me,” he told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.
Later, in the Cathedral of Santa Ana, patroness of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Claretian priest Santiago Cerrato Cáceres gave his testimony to Pope Leo XIV, beginning with a heartfelt confession: “Holy Father, those of us inside here… and all those outside: We love you very much.”
Before him, the bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos Pérez, described to the pope the pastoral challenges facing the local Church.
Mazuelos lamented the “growing secularization that weakens the sense of God, sacramental practice, and the transmission of the faith in families,” especially among young people, where “the Christian experience is becoming increasingly fragile or marginal.”
In the historic cathedral, whose construction began around the year 1500 at the initiative of the Catholic monarchs, Isabel I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the pope invited those present to live in unity.
Christians should be “building the Church together, founded on Christ, the ‘cornerstone,’ building up the good, harmonizing our differences, and working united for the good of all,” he said. He also recalled that the life of the Church is built through the communion of its “diverse gifts and ministries.”
Three girls dressed in traditional Canarian costumes welcomed the pope and presented him with a bouquet of flowers. Attentive to every detail despite the fatigue of six days of travel, the pontiff gave them a blessed rosary with a smile.
Referring to the sea that surrounds the islands, he said it represents the difficulties of life, quoting St. Augustine: “No one is able to cross the sea of this world unless born by the cross of Christ.”
He also thanked the Catholics of Las Palmas for the help they give to these “crucified brothers and sisters.”
After meeting with bishops, priests, deacons, religious, seminarians, and pastoral workers, the pope was given a genealogical study by the Cabildo, the local governing body, in the hope of finding Canarian roots in his lineage.
Mass in the Canary Islands
In the afternoon, the pope celebrated his first large public Mass at the Gran Canaria Stadium before nearly 40,000 people. “I also invite you to pray together, during this holy Mass, for our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives at sea,” he said.
This is the charity of God, the Holy Father explained, in which our “vocation to love is rooted, which is not based on calculation, nor on mere sentiment, nor reducible to simple philanthropy, but one that invades our entire being: fire for the soul, light for the mind, an irresistible impulse for freedom, peace, and at the same time torment for the heart, which beats in harmony with other hearts, involving the whole person.”
The gratuitousness of the heart of Christ, the pope said in his homily, translates into “helping each person not only to survive but also to recover trust and resume their path, to grow and fully flourish in their uniqueness, for the good of all.”
A fight against cancer, offered for the pope
These words seemed especially directed at Yolanda, one of the volunteers helping with the papal visit. She has battled cancer for nearly two decades and, despite this — or perhaps precisely because of it — she chose to volunteer.
“I’m waiting for a miracle… we all always hope for that. And we keep living,” she said with serenity.
Her body has endured immense suffering: 10 years after her first diagnosis and treatment, the cancer has returned and has spread throughout her body. Several vertebrae are affected, and she has undergone many treatments.
“I thought it was over. But it wasn’t, and here I am, eager to see the pope. I have offered all my suffering for him,” she said.
The pope’s visit to Las Palmas also mobilized hundreds of young people. Four friends from the Parish of San Isidro in the north of the island said they are living this event as a unique moment of faith and community.
One of them, Talía, 25, was overcome with emotion as she recalled the last several days. “I’ve been following everything on TV and crying my eyes out,” she confessed. For her, the pope’s presence is not just a religious event but a deeply personal experience.
The message that touched her most was the pope’s invitation to young people not to be afraid to form a family and make a lifelong commitment. “The part about forming a family and not being afraid of marriage really spoke to me,” she said.
“Today many people are scared to get married. It’s true that birth rates in Spain have risen, but they should rise a little more,” she added with conviction.
Carlos Díaz Alonso, 20, said it was an “immense joy” to see the pope up close. “A pope has never come to the Canary Islands before, and that fills me with pride.”
“That the leader of the entire Catholic world is among us… it’s something very great,” he added.
Like many young believers, Carlos said he sees faith as a practical guide. “In all the things where I can fail in my daily life, I try to be a better person — and even more so now after seeing the pope,” he said, saying his goal is “to try to attain the grace of God.”
The pope will conclude his trip on Friday in Tenerife.
U.S. bishops discuss engagement with Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena
The U.S. bishops addressed their plan to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Guadalupan event and detailed their participation in the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena.
The bishops discussed engagement with the novena at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) spring plenary session in Orlando, Florida, on June 11. The Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena is a nine-year novena called for by Pope Francis in 2022 that anticipates the fifth centennial of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2031.
“We will celebrate 500 years since the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and at the same time, all of the graces we continue even now to experience under her patronage,” Bishop Robert Brennan of Brooklyn, New York, chair of the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, said at the meeting.
The bishops of Mexico have been preparing for the quincentennial celebration and in the past year invited the U.S. bishops' conference to participate in the celebration, Brennan said.
“The Mexican bishops are, together with the Vatican through the Pontifical Council for Latin America, calling this a … novena of years,” said Bishop Oscar Cantu of San José, California, chair of the USCCB Subcommittee on Hispanic and Latino Affairs.
“There is much depth to be plumbed for us in our diocese and our communities in these five years that remain for this novena,” he said.
As St. John Paul II said in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America: “In blessed Mary, upon whom we see an impressive example of a perfectly inculturated evangelization.”
“Those are words that should echo in our hearts as we seek to evangelize our own churches in the United States,” Cantu said.
Cantu said bishops should reflect and ask, “How do we take the methodology that Mary used 500 years ago and adapt it to our own needs in the culture … in the 21st century here in the United States?” Cantu said bishops should consider not “only the message but the methodology of Mary.”
Cantu recalled Pope Leo addressed the Theological Congress a few months ago in Mexico City, saying Our Lady of Guadalupe is a lesson in divine pedagogy on the inculturation of saving truth. "‘La Morentia’ manifests Godʼs way of drawing close to his people,” Pope Leo said.
Plan for pastoral activity
Following the pope’s call, “the Subcommittee on Hispanic Latino Affairs is proposing three phases in the coming years for our pastoral activity, and weʼve looked to weave them into already existing activities,” Cantu said.
He proposed “Phase 1 of missionary activity in our dioceses and parishes … would lead up to the Eucharistic congress that is being planned nationally.”
The subcommittee proposed “having a tilma for each diocese that would be given to each ordinary for veneration in the cathedral … or in a designated place by the bishop,” he said. “The tilma can be used as a missionary presence to journey from parish to parish, or to key places in each diocese.”
The tilma would be “an exact replica of the original" and it will be “touched to the original, so it becomes a third-class relic,” Cantu said.
“Phase 2 would include the time from the National Eucharistic Congress to the Jubilee 2031, which will be the 500th anniversary,” he said. It would be initiated by the National Eucharistic Congress and would “then continue pilgrimages from parish to parish using the tilma that would go to each diocese,” he said.
Phase 3 would focus on “jubilee celebrations,” including the “2031 Jubilee to the ... great jubilee of the 2,000 years of redemption,” he said.
Then “we are proposing some kind of national celebration for 2031,” he said. “Weʼre not sure what that would look like,” but “we would certainly like to be in dialogue with the administration of the USCCB in that regard.”
“We already know there will be an international celebration in Mexico City” and “we know that Pope Leo has been invited to participate,” Cantu said. “He has not responded yet … But weʼre pretty sure that he will be there.”
Cardinal Koch: ‘Today there are more martyrs than in the early centuries of the Church’
Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), said that “today, there are more martyrs than in the first centuries of Church history.”
“Martyrdom truly belongs to the heart of Christianity,” said the Swiss prelate, who made his remarks in late May during the annual pilgrimage for persecuted Christians organized by the Swiss branch of ACN at the Einsiedeln Benedictine Abbey.
Koch, who has led the organization since November 2025, when he was appointed by Pope Leo XIV, is also the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity at the Vatican.
Reaffirming the pontifical foundation’s commitment to helping persecuted Christians, Koch emphasized that martyrdom is not merely a phenomenon of the past but remains “a lived reality for countless Christians around the globe,” ACN reported.
The cardinal also highlighted the witness of the many Christians persecuted worldwide: “Dictators do not distinguish between Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans, or Protestants.”
“Christians are not persecuted because they belong to a particular church but because of their faith in Christ. The blood that has been shed unites Christians beyond their divisions,” he noted, recalling Pope Francis’ expression the “ecumenism of blood.”
During the pilgrimage, prayers were offered for the victims of persecution and violence in countries such as Iraq, Haiti, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
In January, the organization Open Doors published a report revealing that more than 388 million Christians worldwide suffer persecution and discrimination and that 4,849 were killed between October 2024 and September 2025.
The majority of these crimes took place in Nigeria, where Christian persecution is so severe the U.S. redesignated it as a “country of particular concern” in October 2025.
Of his role as president of ACN, Koch said: “I accepted this mission with great joy because ACN has always been very close to my heart. It is a pontifical foundation that does immense good while constantly reminding us how many parts of the Church are living in situations of great need. To contribute to this mission is something very important to me.”
Donations were also collected during the pilgrimage, which will support ACN projects in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, where the pontifical foundation assists displaced families and Catholic schools serving vulnerable communities.
What is ACN?
According to the foundation, ACN supports “the Catholic Church in its evangelization work among the world’s most needy, discriminated-against, and persecuted communities,” funding more than 5,000 pastoral and humanitarian emergency projects across 137 countries.
It has 23 offices worldwide dedicated to raising awareness about the reality facing these Christians, fostering prayer, and fundraising. ACN receives no grants from public institutions.
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.
U.S. bishops approve revised version of Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People
The bishops of the United States voted in favor of a revised version of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
The document, also known as “the Dallas Charter,” is a set of procedures originally established in 2002 to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.
The bishops voted on the revised document at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) spring plenary session in Orlando, Florida, on June 11.
The revised charter offers changes and additions but maintains the focus of the original document “to address with transparency and accountability accusations of abuse committed by clergy,” said Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond, Virginia, chair of the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People, at the meeting.
The revision process began in 2021 and was done in collaboration with USCCB Committees on the Protection of Children and Young People; Canonical Affairs and Church Governance; Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations; the Office of the General Counsel; and the National Review Board.
The new document offers a glossary “in response to repeated requests from dioceses on having more consistent definitions of various terms,” Knestout said.
“Among the influences drawn from the revisions of Book VI of the Code of Canon Law is the integration of the right of an accused to the presumption of innocence,” and “among the Vos Estis Lux Mundi general provisions is the identification of mandatory Church reporters to complement mandatory reporting to civil authorities,” he said.
The revised version also includes a “clear allowance for electronic letters of suitability” and “an added reference to the protection of information under the seal of the sacrament of penance,” Knestout said.
To ensure the charter focuses on abuse of minors, the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations will develop a separate document from the charter that will focus on standards of behavior for both clergy and laity with adults, including vulnerable adults.
Vote invites debate among bishops
Prior to voting, the bishops discussed and debated the topic. Some of the bishops inquired about the language within the document and offered proposed changes.
During the discussion, Archbishop Shawn McKnight of Kansas City, Kansas, proposed the bishops “postpone [the] vote until the next meeting,” which will be held in November. Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, seconded the motion as the bishops will not “lose very much by delaying” and to ensure his presbyteral council is “sufficiently consulted."
In response to the bishops in favor of the postponement, Knestout said that “there has been quite a bit of consultation already." He added: “I am not sure whatʼs gained through the additional time, other than … an opportunity for some dioceses and presbyterates to look at this again.”
Ultimately the majority voted not to postpone the vote. The bishops then approved the revised charter, with 176 voting yes, 22 voting no, and six abstaining.
Bishops react to approval of charter
“Iʼm coming towards the conclusion of my own term as the chair. I inherited the [charter] process and I wanted to make sure it was concluded,” Knestout told EWTN News following the vote.
“This was … our best effort to make sure it was adapted to some of the developments and circumstances of the present,” he said. “So it can function as the guide for our ongoing work in caring for and making sure that we are providing safeguarding for children and young people within our diocese and do it in a good way that is respectful of the role of priests.”
As the bishops revised the document, it was “necessary for us to do two things as bishops,” Knestout said.
“One is to express our love for, our care for those who are victim survivors, and for all those whoʼve been injured or wounded because of the abuse issue or the crisis, and to assure them that ... with both transparency and accountability, [we] will address the issue and continue to do so in a vigilant way.”
It was also to reflect updates “from the developments that have occurred with canon law over the last eight years to also express in a tangible way our concern for our priests and for their needs” and “to address issues of due process and presumed innocence.”
It “tries to do both in a way thatʼs balanced and thatʼs authentic but is consistent and addresses the issue of the crisis in a way that will bring trust and healing over time,” he said.
While the charter was under review, the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance “wanted to keep clarity … that the charter is for protection of children and young people,” Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, chair of the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, told EWTN News.
“I think it has worked well over the last 25 years” and “I think these amendments that we had and the changes will be for the better,” he said.
“There were voices, and continue to be voices, that wanted to expand that to include other areas of misconduct, misconduct by bishops, or misconduct by priests with adults,” but there “are other avenues … for doing that,” Paprocki said.
“By not including vulnerable adults in the charter does not say that we donʼt think itʼs important,” but “it should be an entirely separate process, and in my experience it has been good to have that as a separate process.”
“I would also point out that there are some things already in existence,” he said. He detailed Pope Francis’ 2016 moto proprio As a Loving Mother, which “provides for the removal of bishops for different kinds of misconduct,” and Vos Estis Lux Mundi.
In contrast, McKnight told “EWTN News In Depth” it is “a missed opportunity” that the revised charter does not address the abuse of adults, abuses of power, and episcopal misconduct or cover-ups.
McKnight explained that he has previously “made a full proposal” that the bishops “consider not revising the charter but to honor it as an historical document written for its time period.”
“My proposal is that we have an integrated statement of moral commitment, like the charter, that would honor it but be organically related to it” and “encompass these other things that are just as pressing of an issue for our ecclesial life,” he said.
The bishops voting to not postpone the vote was also “a missed opportunity for us to exercise a bit more the approach that our Holy Father, Pope Leo, is asking us to do as bishops,” he said.
While “there has been extensive consultation over several years by conference leadership, the bishops as a body have not been involved in that other than four years ago was the last time we were consulted,” McKnight said.
“So my feeling was that … we should have the opportunity to take and solicit feedback from our own clergy and our own laypeople, and to work more collaboratively and in a spirit of co-responsibility,” he said.
Next steps
Going forward, “the administrative committee has asked the Committee for Clergy Consecrated Life and Vocations … [to] take up the next step of looking at issues of sexual misconduct with adults and with vulnerable adults,” Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York, chair of the Committee for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations, told EWTN News.
“Weʼve accepted that as the committee, and we are going to start the work on producing such a document,” he said.
“As we do so … we are going to collaborate with all of the other agencies and those who are involved with sexual misconduct on how we respond as the USCCB within the Church,” Hicks said.
Having separate documents addressing different areas of abuse “is making sure that issues stay in their lane properly,” Hicks said.
The charter looks “at issues of children, minors, preventing abuse, protecting children, and also the accompaniment of victim survivors,” he said. “Then thereʼs opportunities for continued conversation of ‘What does abuse and sexual misconduct look like with adults or vulnerable adults?’”
“Let another document address that so that we are properly making sure we attend to the original outset of what the charter was meant for, which is the protection of children, the prevention of abuse, and the accompaniment of victim survivors,” Hicks said.