Registration Begins for 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage Events DENVER (OSV News) – Organizers of the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage announced on Thursday, April 10, that public events are posted and registration has begun for stops along the Drexel Route, which begins on Saturday, May 1 7, in Indianapolis and spans more than 3,300 miles to Los Angeles, arriving on Sunday, June 22. Eight young adult “perpetual pilgrims,” including Johnny Hernandez from the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, will accompany the Eucharist through 10 states, 20 dioceses, and four Eastern Catholic eparchies, with events centered on prayer, Eucharistic adoration, hope, and healing. Named for St. Katharine Drexel, the pilgrimage aligns with the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope and offers a plenary indulgence to participants. Stops include a Missouri school founded by St. Katharine Drexel, a Tulsa hospice, and a Texas prison. Special events will also honor victims of national tragedies. Organizers are anticipating more than 10,000 attendees at the concluding Corpus Christi celebration in Los Angeles. Registration is free but required for most events. “We’re excited about continuing to start the fire of evangelization and mission that’s been so much of the heart of the Eucharistic Revival, this encounter and mission,” said Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, chairman of National Eucharistic Congress Inc., which is based in Denver. On Palm Sunday, Pope Says to Carry the Cross with Compassion VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Carrying the cross means more than bearing personal suffering; it means stepping into the pain of others and walking beside them, Pope Francis wrote at the beginning of Holy Week. “To carry the cross of Christ is never in vain,” he wrote in his homily for Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, April 13. “It is the most tangible way for us to share in His redemptive love.” The pope, still recovering from respiratory infections, made only a brief appearance in the square at the end of Mass, but his homily was read by Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, subdean of the College of Cardinals, who celebrated the Mass. “Have a good Palm Sunday. Have a good Holy Week,” the pope said with a strained voice from the stage in St. Peter’s Square. He was not using a nasal cannula to receive oxygen during his public appearance unlike the week before when he had come to the square at the end of Mass to deliver a blessing. The Vatican also released a video of the pope in St. Peter’s Basilica after the Mass; he stopped to pray before the tombs of Sts. Peter, Pius X, and his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. Vatican Updates Norms on Donations for Mass Intentions VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Catholic faithful do not “buy” Masses, but when a priest accepts an offering and promises to celebrate a Mass for that person’s loved one or other special intention, he must do so, Vatican officials recently announced. “The centuries-old custom and discipline of the Church insist that each individual offering be matched by the priest’s application of a separate Mass celebrated by him,” officials with the Dicastery for Clergy said in a decree published on Sunday, April 13. However, it said, in situations where there are many requests or few priests, a “collective” Mass may be celebrated if and only if the people making the offerings are informed and explicitly agree, the decree said. Nevertheless, it added, a priest is allowed to keep only one of the offerings, which are usually referred to as “stipends.” Religious Leaders Condemn Russia’s Palm Sunday Attack on Ukraine KYIV, Ukraine (OSV News) – Catholic and other religious leaders are condemning a Palm Sunday attack by Russia on a Ukrainian city that killed 34 people – including two children – and injured 119. Two ballistic missiles launched by Russia earlier that same day struck the center of Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine located some 15 miles from the Russian border. “When we celebrate the feast of life, the enemy wishes to inflict its feast of death on us,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, in an April 13 statement. Members of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, the largest organization of religious leaders in Ukraine, also condemned the strikes, which took place amid both the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Christian observance of Holy Week. “Despite the festal period associated with the celebration of the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter, the Russian state continues to terrorize Ukrainian cities and villages day and night with drone and missile attacks, as well as shelling,” members of the council said in a statement, adding, “Such actions demonstrate that nothing is sacred for [Russia].” Pope Advances Sainthood Causes VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of several people, including Antoni Gaudí, the Spanish architect who designed the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, Spain. Vatican officials announced that the pope authorized the decrees during an audience at the Vatican on Monday, April 14, with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Among the decrees was the approval of a miracle attributed to Indian Sister Eliswa Vakayil, founder of the Teresian Carmelites, who lived from 1831-1913. The approved miracle clears the way for her beatification. The pope also recognized the heroic virtues of Antoni Gaudí, a Spanish architect and designer who was born in Catalonia in 1852. Among the other decrees approved April 14, Pope Francis also recognized the martyrdom of Father Nazareno Lanciotti, an Italian priest born in Rome in 1940 who was killed “in hatred of the faith” in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2001. Pope Francis also approved decrees recognizing the heroic virtues of Father Agostino Cozzolino, an Italian priest who was born in 1928 and spent his life ministering in Naples; the heroic virtues of Father Angelo Bughetti, the founder of the Institute of St. Catherine who died in 1935; and the heroic virtues of Father Peter Joseph Triest, founder of several congregations dedicated to caring for the sick, the poor, the dying, the elderly, abandoned infants, and people with physical and mental disabilities before he died in 1836. Pope Prays for Victims of Dominican Nightclub Disaster SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (OSV News) – Pope Francis is mourning with the Dominican Republic following a catastrophic nightclub collapse in Santo Domingo that has left at least 218 dead and 200 injured. In an April 9 telegram, the pope offered prayers and encouragement, invoking the Blessed Virgin Mary to bring consolation and hope to the grieving. The roof of the Jet Set nightclub caved in during a merengue concert just after midnight on Tuesday, April 8. Beloved merengue artist Rubby Pérez was among the victims, along with politicians and former Major League Baseball players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the collapse. The Dominican bishops’ conference urged prayer and solidarity, and Archbishop Richard G. Henning of Boston, home to a large Dominican community, called for unity in grief and hope. Rescue efforts concluded April 10, but the nation continued to mourn as families and faith leaders held fast to Christ’s promise of resurrection and healing. Catholic nuns carry palm branches as Christians walk the traditional path that Jesus took on his last entry into Jerusalem during the Palm Sunday procession on the Mount of Olives April 13, 2025. (OSV News photo/Debbie Hill) The post News Briefs: April 20, 2025 appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less