St. Jude Relic Tour Halted JOLIET, Illinois (OSV News) – A tour of a relic of St. Jude conducted by Father Carlos Martins, a priest with the Companions of the Cross, was halted on Thursday, November 21, following an alleged “incident” involving students at Queen of Apostles Church, according to a statement from officials with the parish located in the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, and from the diocese. The tour had planned to make two stops in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend – at St. Jude Catholic Church on Tuesday, November 26, and at St. Therese Catholic Church on Wednesday, November 27. Those stops, along with the rest of the tour, have been canceled. The statement did not provide details of the incident, and the Diocese of Joliet told OSV News via email on November 24 that beyond the initial statement they “have no further details to provide as the investigation is still ongoing,” but they “can confirm the … priest visiting our parish and accompanying the relic of St. Jude was Father Carlos Martins.” “During the course of the day’s veneration in Queen of Apostles Church, an incident with the priest and some students was reported to have happened in our church,” the statement said, adding that the parish contacted the police, and an investigation was ongoing. “We informed the priest that he must depart from our parish and out of our diocese. In an abundance of caution, we decided that the remainder of the veneration of the relic and evening Mass would be cancelled,” he said. The incident was “immediately reported” to Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet, who “supported our decision to cancel the remainder of the event and on the evening of November 21.” Pope Condemns ‘Arrogance of Invaders’ in Ukraine, Palestine VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The “arrogance” of the invaders attacking Ukraine and Palestine blocks the dialogue necessary to build peace in those countries, Pope Francis said on Monday, November 25. Without explicitly naming Russia or Israel, the pope referred to “two failures of humanity” in achieving peace: “Ukraine and Palestine, where there is suffering, where the arrogance of the invader wins over dialogue.” Speaking at an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the peace accords signed between Chile and Argentina and mediated by Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Francis said the agreement remains “model for the complete, definitive, and peaceful settlement of a dispute” that “deserves to be reproposed in the current world situation, in which so many conflicts persist and degenerate without an effective will to resolve them through the absolute exclusion of recourse to force or the threat of its use.” In 1984, Vatican officials brokered the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Chile and Argentina. In his address, the pope sharply criticized the willingness of countries to remain entrenched in armed conflicts despite the suffering they create, and he condemned what he called the “hypocrisy of talking about peace while playing war.” U.S. Bishops Announce Prayer Vigil for Life WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – The annual Prayer Vigil for Life will take place January 23-24, 2025, officials with the U.S. bishops’ conference announced on Friday, November 22. The event is hosted each January by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Pro-Life Secretariat, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and The Catholic University of America’s Office of Campus Ministry. It takes place on the eve of the March for Life, an annual protest of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which was overturned in 2022. The 52nd National March for Life will take place on Friday, January 24. “I enthusiastically invite Catholics from all around the country to join me in-person or virtually, in praying for an end to abortion and building up a culture of life,” said Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities. The event will be broadcast on Catholic networks and livestreamed on the basilica’s website (nationalshrine.org/mass). More information about the schedule can be found on the USCCB’s website (usccb.org). Brooklyn Priest Removed for Mishandling $1.9 Million BROOKLYN, New York (OSV News) – A Brooklyn priest has been relieved of his duties as pastor after an investigation revealed he had transferred close to $2 million in parish funds to bank accounts affiliated with the embattled New York City mayor’s former chief of staff. In a November 18 statement, Bishop Robert J. Brennan of Brooklyn announced he had relieved Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish in Brooklyn, “of any pastoral oversight or governance role at the parish because he has mishandled substantial church funds and interfered with the administration of the parish after being directed not to do so.” From 2019 to 2021, the priest had transferred “a total of $1.9 million in parish funds to bank accounts affiliated” with the law firm of business attorney Frank Carone, who in 2022 had stepped down as chief of staff for New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The priest “also used a church credit card for substantial personal expenses,” said the officials with the diocese, who said it is “fully committed to cooperating with law enforcement in all investigations.” In November of 2023, Monsignor Gigantiello was dismissed as diocesan vicar of development after renting his church out for use in a violent, sexually provocative video by pop musician Sabrina Carpenter. Pope Declares Spanish Mystic ‘Blessed,’ Advances Other Causes VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Using what Vatican officials called an “equipollent” or equivalent beatification, Pope Francis recognized as “blessed” a 15th-century Spanish abbess, mystic, and preacher. On Monday, November 25, the pope signed decrees in four sainthood causes as well as the beatification declaration for Blessed Juana de la Cruz, a mystic who was born Juana Vázquez Gutiérrez in what today is Numancia La Sagra, Spain, in 1481 and who died in 1534. The four decrees Pope Francis signed regard: a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Maria Troncatti, a Salesian sister born in Italy in 1883; the martyrdom of Vietnamese Father Francis-Xavier Truong Buu Diep, who died in 1946; the martyrdom of Floribert Bwana Chui bin Kositi, a 26-year-old layman from Congo, who was a member of the Community of Sant’Egidio, which called him “a martyr of corruption,” and was kidnapped and killed in 2007; the heroic virtues of Auxiliary Bishop Josip Lang of Zagreb, Croatia, who died in 1924. Pope Appoints U.S. Cardinal to Manage Vatican’s Pension Fund VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family, and Life, as the sole administrator for the Vatican’s pension fund, which is currently unable to guarantee future obligations in the medium term. “We are all fully aware now that urgent structural measures, which can no longer be postponed, are needed to achieve sustainability of the pension fund,” the pope wrote in a letter addressed to the College of Cardinals and the heads of the Roman Curia and other institutions connected to the Holy See. Given the limited resources available to the Holy See and because appropriate funding will be needed to cover all pension obligations, there is a need for “making decisions that are not easy and will require special sensitivity, generosity, and a willingness to sacrifice from everyone,” the pope wrote in the letter dated Tuesday, November 19, and published by Vatican officials on Thursday, November 21. The pope wrote that the appointment “represents, at this time, an essential step in meeting the challenges facing our pension system in the future,” he wrote. Pope Francis greets Cyril O’Regan, a professor at the University of Notre Dame and winner of the 2024 Ratzinger prize, during a meeting at the Vatican Nov. 22, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) The post News Briefs: December 1, 2024 appeared first on Today's Catholic.