"Don't settle:" One million in Rome for Jubilee of Youth
Purple Catholic Saturday Post
Good morning and happy Saturday.
As you likely noticed, there was no new newsletter last week. I happened to be away in Rome, participating (unofficially) in the Jubilee of Youth.
I was blessed to have travelled with my wife and son, my parents, and my wife’s grandfather to the Eternal City and the Holy See, and we had the good opportunity to see the sites in Rome and make a pilgrimage through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday.
Not being my first time in Rome, I knew what to expect when visiting St. Peter’s, the Vatican Museum, and the ancient cultural sites around the city. But I had not travelled there during a jubilee year before.
It would have been easy to be overly annoyed by the excessive crowds, obvious tour groups, and the loud banging of drums as pilgrims walked through the streets (the bongo seemed to be the instrument of choice).
But I found myself both proud and humbled to see so many people who had travelled to Rome from all over the world to participate in the Jubilee. I was stunned by seeing the one million people at Tor Vegata awaiting Pope Leo XIV for the Mass on Sunday. And the singing of Resucitó by the large group of pilgrims my family was grouped with to walk to the Holy Door was moving.
These were all individuals who, crowds and heat be damned, made a pilgrimage to the heart of the Church.
I was happy when Pope Francis announced that the theme for the jubilee year was hope. The world has given us no shortage of reasons to despair. War continues in Ukraine and Gaza; Christians face persecution in Nigeria, India, and China; the majority of people in the West seem to embrace a culture of sin and death.
Young people are not immune to the world’s enticements and invitations. But we are quickly learning that they are empty. There is a void we want filled, and the only one who can fill it is Jesus.
The one million pilgrims in Rome last week know this. I hope and pray that as they travel home, they spread that message by their words and actions. As Fr. Bob Keller, OP and I discussed on Death Comes for the Archbishop several weeks ago, our actions are a form of preaching, and in the jubilee year of hope, we need to be preaching that message of hope.
Pope Leo XIV urged pilgrims at the Mass at Tor Vegata not to settle for something less than Christ. It is very clear that young people are already heeding that call and embracing the title: pilgrims of hope.
Tomorrow on Death Comes for the Archbishop:
Bishop Jean Marie Latour must deal with Padre Martinez, the priest from Book 1 who rode into Santa Fe to explictly reject his new bishop. Plus, we’ll hear the story of his friend, the Miser, Padre Lucero.
Paying subscribers get access tomorrow; everyone else will receive it on Wednesday.
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Sunday at Mass, we will hear from Wisdom 18:6-9; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; and Luke 12:32-48.
Here is a calendar for the rest of the week:
Monday, 11 August - Memorial of St. Clare, virgin
Tuesday, 12 August - Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, religious (optional)
Wednesday, 13 August - Memorial of Sts. Pontian, pope and martyr, and Hippolytus, priest and martyr (optional)
Thursday, 14 August - Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr
Friday, 15 August - Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Saturday, 16 August - Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary
Nb. Friday, 15 August is a Holy Day of Obligation in Dioceses in the United States.
Why does the Church have Holy Days of Obligation? Read this explainer from Catholic Answers.
Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. [You] must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Matthew 24:42, 44
In the news:
The United States
Jim Caviezel to reprise role as Jesus in Mel Gibson’s The Ressurrection of the Christ - Catholic News Agency
Armenian and Azerbaijan presidents sign historic peace deal at White House - Catholic News Agency
80 Years after the Atomic Bomb
Dropping the Atomic Bomb Was Wrong. Period. - Chris Check in Catholic Answers
Bishops in Japan: Atomic bombings a call to destroy nuclear arms, commit to peace - Catholic Review
The Catholic priest who blessed the atomic bomb repented later in life - Aleteia
Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi (Tokyo, Japan): A world without nuclear weapons is needed - Crux
The Vatican
Pope Leo warns against abuse of social media in speech to young pilgrims - Crux
Will Leo weigh in on France's criminal chancellor? - JD Flynn in the Pillar
The World
Christian group calls for action against Hindu nationalist population - Crux
Emmanuel Community leader steps down - The Pillar
Why hasn’t Spain approved the appointment of the Papal Nuncio? - The Pillar
Requiescat in pace
Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13, dead at 97 - ABC News
Have a good weekend,
Matthew