Legend has him an Irishman noted for his military feats who was convinced by his sister St. Fanchea to renounce his warring activities and marry. When he found his fiancee dead, he decided to become a monk and went on pilgrimage to Rome, where he was ordained. He returned to Ireland, built churches at Drogheda, and then secured from his brother-in-law King Oengus of Munster the island of Aran, where he built the monastery of Killeaney, from which ten other foundations on the island developed. ...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Once a young teenager wearing a cap and gown for his eighth-grade graduation photo in Chicago, today the famous former-student posed for a reunion picture wearing his papal zucchetto and cassock at the Vatican.

Pope Leo XIV, who graduated from the lower school of St. Mary of the Assumption on the city's South Side in 1969, greeted and reminisced with 10 of his 82 former classmates after the general audience in St. Peter's Square March 18.

"Sorry! I'm nervous," laughed Sherry Stone (née Blue) after a small sign saying, "God bless you Pope Leo," slipped from her grasp when she reached out to shake the hand of her former classmate -- Robert F. Prevost.

The pope proudly held up their old graduation photo as they posed for another photo together, almost 60 years later.

"Here he is, our friend, the pope," Jerome Clemens told the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, pointing to the black-and-white image of the 13-year-old Prevost. Clemens then showed the back of the class photo with Prevost's old autograph and his new one that was signed, "Leo XIV." 

Among the small gifts they brought was the 2025 fall issue of "Air Chicago," a color magazine produced for passengers coming through Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports, whose cover story was the election of a pope from Chicago.

The group came to Rome and the general audience to show their camaraderie and embrace once again their former classmate -- now the 266th successor of St. Peter, the newspaper reported.

John Riggio told the newspaper about the close-knit atmosphere at the school, saying it was more like a family.

In fact, the pope's mother, Mildred Agnes Prevost, worked there as a librarian and was also actively involved with the school and parish, Stone said. 

She told The Lansing Journal last May, right after her classmate's election by the College of Cardinals, that she had remembered him making a comment when they were young, "that he wanted to grow up to be pope."

"When he was in the conclave, I thought, 'Could it be him? Could Bob be the new pope? No, probably not,'" Stone had told the Journal. "When I saw that it was him, I was just amazed. I was crying tears of joy."

She had said he was kind, humble and well-liked by his classmates. "He was a super nice guy, but not nerdy."

Following his middle school graduation, Prevost went on to attend the Augustinians' St. Augustine Seminary High School near Saugatuck, Michigan, where he graduated in 1973, followed by enrolling in Villanova University, an Augustinian college located near Philadelphia, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 1977.
 

John Buralli, the seventh minister general of the Franciscans, was born at Parma in the year 1209, and he was already teaching logic there when at the age of twenty-five, he joined the Franciscans. He was sent to Paris to study and, after he had been ordained, to teach and preach in Bologna, Naples and Rome. He preached so well that crowds of people came to hear his sermons, even very important persons flocked to hear him. In the year 1247, John was chosen Minister General of the Order ...

Discover More About St. Joseph with Journey with the Saints Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture and that has seemed too little for those who made up legends about him. We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two ...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- All baptized Christians share in the Church's mission and, guided by the Holy Spirit, are fit for renewing and building up the Church, Pope Leo XIV said at his weekly general audience.

Every person who has been baptized is called to bear witness to Christ, and the whole Church, beyond its leaders, has a role in preserving the truth of the faith, the pope said March 18 in St. Peter's Square.

Continuing his series of reflections on the Second Vatican Council, the pope focused on the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church ("Lumen Gentium"), and the participation of the lay faithful in Jesus Christ's "priestly, prophetic and royal offices," that is, the offices of teaching, sanctifying and governing.

Everyone enters the Church as a layperson, he said. Through Baptism and Confirmation, the faithful are "more perfectly bound to the Church" and are endowed "with special strength" by the Holy Spirit, so that they are "more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith, both by word and by deed, as true witnesses of Christ," he said, quoting the document.

"This consecration is at the root of the common mission that unites the ordained ministries and the lay faithful," Pope Leo said. In fact, everyone is called to bear witness to the truth of the faith. 

The Doctrinal Commission of the Council specified that the sense of faith "belongs to individual believers not in their own right, but as members of the People of God as a whole," the pope said.

The function of the Holy Spirit is to lead Christians to the truth, and because the entire body of the faithful is anointed by "the holy one," he said, "the Church, therefore, as the communion of the faithful -- which naturally includes the pastors -- cannot err in matters of faith."

"From this unity, which the Magisterium of the Church safeguards, it follows that every baptized person is an active agent of evangelization, called to bear consistent witness to Christ in accordance with the prophetic gift which the Lord bestows upon His whole Church," he said. 

The Holy Spirit, who comes from the Risen Christ, he said, distributes"special graces" among all the faithful, who are then able to contribute to the renewal and building of the Church. 

"Dear friends, let us rekindle in ourselves the awareness of and gratitude for having received the gift of being part of God’s people; and also the responsibility that this entails," he said.

"Make your fold with the sheep; flee from the wolves: depart not from the Church," Cyril admonished catechumens surrounded by heresy. These were prophetic words for Cyril was to be hounded by enemies and heretics for most of his life, and although they could exile him from his diocese he never left his beloved Church. Cyril's life began a few years before Arianism (the heresy that Jesus was not divine or one in being with the Father) and he lived to see its suppression and ...

Discover More About St. Patrick with Journey with the Saints St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints. He was born in Roman Britain and when he was fourteen or so, he was captured by Irish pirates during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. At the time, Ireland was a land of Druids and pagans but Patrick turned to God and wrote his memoir, The Confession. In The Confession, he wrote: "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and ...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Marking the two weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched their first attacks on Iran and since the Israeli military resumed strikes in Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV called for an immediate ceasefire.

"On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East, and of all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict: cease fire!" he said March 15. 

"May paths of dialogue be reopened! Violence can never lead to the justice, stability and peace for which the people are waiting," he said after praying the Angelus with people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

"For two weeks now, the people of the Middle East have been suffering the horrific violence of war," the pope said. "Thousands of innocent people have been killed, and countless others have been forced to flee their homes. I renew my prayerful closeness to all who have lost loved ones in the attacks, which have struck schools, hospitals and residential areas."

"The situation in Lebanon is a cause for great concern," he added. "I hope that avenues for dialogue will emerge to support the country’s authorities in implementing lasting solutions to the serious crisis currently unfolding, for the common good of all the Lebanese people." 

The next day, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Pope Leo about the "alarming developments in the conflict in the Middle East and the living conditions of the Palestinian people," according to a communique released by the Vatican press office.

"During the conversation, the Holy Father reaffirmed the Holy See's commitment to achieving peace through political and diplomatic dialogue, as well as through full respect for international law," the press office said.
 

Abbot and Irish missionary. An Irish prince, Abban was the son of King Cormac of Leinster. He is listed as the nephew of St. Ibar. Abban founded many churches in the old district of Ui Cennselaigh, in modern County Wexford and Ferns. His main monastery is Magheranoidhe, in Adamstown, Ireland. This monastery's fame is attributed in some records to another Abban, that of New Ross. Abban is also associated with Kill-Abban Abbey in Leinster, serving as abbot there until March 16, 620. He is revered ...

ROME (CNS) -- Believing problems and differences can be resolved with war is absurd, Pope Leo XIV said, chastising those who use God's name in their dark and deadly pursuits.

"God cannot be enlisted by darkness," he said in his homily during Mass in a parish on the outskirts of Rome March 15. "Rather, he always comes to bring light, hope and peace to humanity, and it is peace that must be sought by those who call upon him."

The pope was making his fifth and final visit to parishes in his Diocese of Rome in the run-up to Palm Sunday, which falls on March 29. 

Earlier, the pope had prayed the Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, where he made an urgent appeal for a ceasefire in the Middle East.

"I appeal to those responsible for this conflict: cease fire!" he said after the noonday prayer. "May paths of dialogue be reopened! Violence can never lead to the justice, stability and peace for which the people are waiting."

Marking the two weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched their first attacks on Iran and since the Israeli military resumed strikes in Lebanon, Pope Leo said the people in the Middle East "have been suffering the horrific violence of war."

"Thousands of innocent people have been killed, and countless others have been forced to flee their homes. I renew my prayerful closeness to all who have lost loved ones in the attacks, which have struck schools, hospitals and residential areas," he said. 

Expressing his deep concern for the situation in Lebanon, the pope said he hoped that the country’s authorities would be supported through dialogue "in implementing lasting solutions to the serious crisis currently unfolding, for the common good of all the Lebanese people."

Later in the day, the pope visited the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the northeast edge of Rome to celebrate Mass with members of the local community on "Laetare" Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent.

In his homily, the pope noted the meaning of "laetare" is "rejoice" with the anticipation of Easter.

However, he said, so many of "our brothers and sisters around the world are suffering because of violent conflicts, sparked by the absurd notion that problems and differences can be resolved through war."

"Some even go so far as to invoke God’s name in these choices of death," he said. What is needed is "unceasing dialogue for peace."

"This is the message of this Sunday: no matter how deep the abyss into which a person may fall because of their sins, Christ comes to bring a brighter light, capable of freeing them from the blindness of evil, so that they may begin a new life," he said in his homily. 

Pope Leo praised the parish, community leaders and volunteers for all they do to be "children of light" by serving the poor, the marginalized, immigrants, the exploited and inmates of the nearby Rebibbia prison.

Meeting with parish members outside together with young people and families, he said they are "a sign of hope in a world where pain, suffering and difficulties are often too great."

In his homily, he told the faithful to nurture God's gift of light "in all its gentleness, and spread it throughout the world through prayer, participation in the sacraments and charity."

Before praying the Angelus at noon, Pope Leo said faith is an invitation to open one's eyes to see "the suffering of others and the afflictions of the world."

Given so many "questions of the human heart, as well as the tragic situations of injustice, violence and suffering that mark our time, it is essential that our faith be alert, attentive and prophetic," he said.

"It should likewise open our eyes to the darkness of the world and bring to others the light of the Gospel through our commitment to peace, justice and solidarity," he said. May the light of Christ "open the eyes of our hearts and enable us to bear witness to him with simplicity and courage."