An estimated 600,000 Catholics attended Pope Francis’ Mass on 10 September in East Timor, a small island country that is 98% Catholic.
The pope celebrated the youthfulness of East Timor at the massive outdoor Mass where the crowd appeared like a sea of yellow-and-white Vatican-themed umbrellas used for protection from the island’s scorching midday sun.
“I have been thinking a lot about what is the best thing about Timor …The best thing is its people. …The best thing about this place is the smiles of the children,” Pope Francis said in off-the-cuff remarks in Spanish at the end of the Mass. I wish for you peace, that you keep having many children, and that your smile continues to be your children,” the pope told the Timorese.
East Timor is one of the world’s most Catholic countries, with 98% of its 1.3 million people identifying as Catholic. The country gained independence in 2002 after a long struggle with Indonesia, during which the Catholic Church played an important role advocating human rights. The local govern-ment declared the three days of the pope’s visit as a national holiday in which nearly all of the streets and local businesses were closed with people flocking to the Esplanade of Taci Tolu in the capital city of Dili to take part in the papal Mass.
“In East Timor it is beautiful, because there are many children: You are a young country where in every corner you can feel life pulsating and exploding. And this is a gift, a great gift: The presence of so much youth and so many children, in fact, constantly renews our energy and our life,” Pope Francis said. “But even more it is a sign, because making space for children, for the little ones, welcoming them, taking care of them, and making ourselves small before God and each other, are precisely the attitudes that open us to action of the Lord.”

Pope Francis met with the Latin-rite Catholic leaders of some of the Middle Eastern and Arabic-speaking countries amid fears of an escalation of the Israel-Hamas war. He encouraged the bishops to “bear witness to faith in [the Lord], also through respectful and sincere dialogue with everyone.”
The Aug. 28 meeting took place as part of the plenary assembly of the Conference of the Latin Bishops of the Arab Regions (CELRA), which covers Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Cyprus, Djibouti, Somalia, and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula.

CELRA is headed by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, responsible for Latin Catholics in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Cyprus. The vice president is Bishop Cesar Essayan, OFM Conv, apostolic vicar for Latin Catholics in Beirut, Lebanon.
The bishops’ meeting with Pope Francis took place amid growing worries in the region about a broader war as the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and Iran, its regional patron, appeared to escalate hostilities over the past weekend.
During the meeting at the Vatican, the pope noted the “very strong tension” in the Middle East region, “which in some contexts lead to open clashes and outbursts of war.”
“The conflict, instead of finding an equitable solution, seems to be becoming chronic, with the risk that it will spread to ignite the entire region,” he said.
“This situation has caused thousands and thousands of deaths, enormous destruction, immense suffering, and the spread of feelings of hatred and resentment, which prepare the ground for new tragedies.”
Francis in his address conveyed his closeness to the prelates and to the Catholics in their flocks.
“May you keep hope alight,” he added. “Be yourselves, for everyone, signs of hope, a presence that fosters words and gestures of peace, brotherhood, and respect. A presence that, in itself, invites reason, reconciliation, overcoming with goodwill the divisions and enmities stratified and hardened over time, which are becoming increasingly inextricable.”
The pontiff also asked the Latin-rite Catholic leaders to ensure students in public schools receive a good Christian formation, especially where Christians are a minority.
“This formation is of great importance, so that the content of faith may be known and accompanied by reflection and so that faith, in confrontation with culture, may thus be strengthened and have the means to give reasons for Christian hope,” he said.

Tickets for Pope Francis’ Mass in King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels at the end of September sold out in record time on 26 August.
After becoming available for free online, 32,000 tickets for the Sept. 29 Mass were snatched up in just 90 minutes, surprising local organizers of the pope’s three-day trip to Belgium.
“This pleasantly surprised us; it’s very positive to see such a high demand,” the spokesman for the Belgian bishops’ conference, Tommy Scholtes, told French Catholic newspaper La Croix.
During the Mass, Pope Francis will beatify Carmelite Sister Ana de Jesús, a spiritual daughter of St. Teresa of Ávila and a friend to St. John of the Cross. Born Ana de Lobera y Torres, the religious helped expand the Discalced Carmelites to France and Belgium at the turn of the 17th century.
The Brussels soccer stadium is Belgium’s largest, with a seating capacity of almost 50,000 people. Besides hosting the matches of the national soccer team, it has also been the venue for concerts by world-class music artists, such as Madonna, U2, and the Rolling Stones.
Organizers explained that the approximately 18,000 remaining seats in the city-owned stadium are being reserved for groups from parishes, dioceses, and movements. After group registration closes, they may be able to release a few hundred more individual tickets for those who missed out on August 26th morning.

One day after cancelling the legal status of 1,500 NGOs in Nicaragua, the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, eliminated the income tax exemption for churches.
Lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina considers the measure a “fiscal blow” that will end up “financially suffocating the (Catholic) Church so that it falls under its own weight.”
The official government newspaper La Gaceta published Law 1212 on Aug. 22, which modifies three other laws: the law on regulation and control of non-profit organizations, the law on regulation of foreign agents, and Law 822 on tax coordination. The newspaper reported that this decision comes from the country’s legislature at Ortega’s initiative.
Article 5 of Law 1212 orders: “Repeal section 3 of article 32 of the Tax Coordination Law” of 2012, as well as its reforms.
Section 3 of article 32 stated that “Churches, denominations, confessions and religious foundations that have legal personhood, in terms of their income coming from activities and assets exclusively destined for religious purposes” were exempt from income tax.
An expert quoted but not identified by the newspaper La Prensa explains that with this decision by the dictatorship “all churches of any denomination will be subject to the fiscal terrorism to which the dictatorship has subjected the private sector and now religious institutions,” and they will have to pay between 10 and 30% in income tax.
Regarding this decision, Molina, author of the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?” which cited 870 attacks by the dictatorship against the Catholic Church since 2018, claimed that government authorities have already been to parishes asking for documents related to their accounts.
In “previous weeks, the regime’s authorities had visited parishes to request information on how they keep their accounts, they asked to see the general and minor ledgers, income and expenses, which is obviously not done this way in parish administration,” Molina wrote on X. “Now the priests will have to hire a CPA [certified public accountant] to keep all these accounts and also say who their main donors are,” she added.

One of the Catholic world’s most unusual episcopal selection processes is underway in the Swiss Diocese of St. Gallen, involving cathedral canons and a lay parliament, as well as the Pope, of course.
The St. Gallen diocese, in northeastern Switzerland, announced Aug. 15 that Pope Francis had approved the start of the process to find a new bishop after incumbent Bishop Markus Büchel submitted his resignation upon turning 75.
St. Gallen, which serves roughly 250,000 Catholics, is one of several dioceses in the German-speaking Catholic world where the cathedral chapter plays an important role in selecting new bishops.
Under the terms of an 1845 concordat and the 1847 bull Instabilis rerum humanarum natura, the Bishop of St. Gallen is appointed after a free election by the cathedral chapter within three months of a vacancy.
Candidates must be diocesan priests over the age of 35 with more than five years of priestly service. They must also have experience of administration or pastoral care in the diocese. Around 60 priests are currently eligible, with local attention focused largely on the 13 members of St. Gallen’s cathedral chapter.
Following the pope’s signal, the 13 canons have three months to prepare for the election of Büchel’s successor.
The process will begin with a three-week survey of Church groups, led by the Swiss Institute of Pastoral Sociology (SPI) in St. Gallen. Groups will be asked to identify the qualities needed in a new bishop. Consultations were also held during the last two changes of episcopal leadership.
After reviewing survey responses, the cathedral chapter will create a shortlist of six priests, which will be sent to Rome via the nuncio. The Vatican will scrutinize the list, vetting the candidates individually, before returning it to the cathedral chapter through the nuncio when they have finished.
The chapter will then schedule an election day in collaboration with the Catholic College (Katholische Kollegium), a lay parliament covering the Canton of St. Gallen, one of the 26 member states of the country officially known as the Swiss Confederation.
The lay parliament could play a significant role in the election of St. Gallen’s new bishop because it can declare that three of the six candidates identified by the cathedral chapter and scrutinized by Rome are “less favourable,” resulting in their elimination from the list.
The cathedral chapter then holds a ballot. After the chapter selects a new bishop, the candidate has a week to accept or decline. If he agrees, Pope Francis is expected to formally appoint the candidate as the new Bishop of St. Gallen.

The anticipation is palpable for Pope Francis’ arrival in Papua New Guinea on September 6, especially in the coastal city of Vanimo, said Fr. Martín Prado of the Institute of the Incarnate Word. “Due to limited access to news and social media, not many people were aware that he was traveling. We are all very excited and working hard to be able to welcome the Pope as best as we can,” the priest said in an interview with the Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The local Catholic community is making extensive preparations, which include nightly prayers, organizing hymns, and culturally significant dances on the local football pitch, repurposed for the occasion. These gatherings have drawn large crowds, a testament to the vibrant faith and communal spirit in Vanimo, the priest said. “At some of the better attended evenings, we had thousands of people taking part.”
He also highlighted the unique blend of faith practices in the region, saying, “The faith of the Christians here is very much alive and very simple.”
“Many still interpret Christianity through the framework of their ancestral faiths, which makes it difficult for them to achieve a full understanding of Christianity,” he added.
The priest said missionary work in remote jungle locations has led to significant spiritual engagements, including baptisms and the introduction of the Gospel.
“In the jungle, for instance, we have had the opportunity to baptize entire families, to teach them to make the sign of the Cross, and to preach the Gospel for the first time,” he said.
Despite these successes, the melding of ancestral beliefs with Christian teachings presents ongoing challenges. Fr. Prado highlighted the community’s efforts to discern and educate.
“Our work, as missionaries, is to help Christians understand that these things do not go together and try to effect change,” he said.
Addressing the specific challenges faced by the youth, the priest highlighted the vague concepts of marriage and family life that diverge significantly from Western norms.
“Young people do not have models to follow or serve as inspiration, and only a few have the support and accompaniment of their parents to commit to their spouses for life,” he said.
The missionary priest called for global support through prayers and material aid. He stressed the importance of praying for vocations, noting the recent increase in local vocations.
“Since then, the number of priests has doubled. We have started to see local vocations, which we had never had before,” he said.

In a significant movement towards climate sustainability and neutrality, Pope Francis announced the construction of a solar plant on the outskirts of Rime. The initiative’s objective is for Vatican City to function completely with renewable energy, which is a crucial step in the fight against climate change.
In an Apostolic Letter, Pope Francis highlighted the urgent need of a transition to a sustainable development model. According to the Holy Father, the new solar plant will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote climate neutrality. The plant will be located in Santa Maria di Galeria, some 11 kilometers from Rome, where Vatican Radio’s broadcasting station is located. Not only will this project generate renewable electricity, but it will also be integrated with the land’s agricultural needs, combining modern technology with sustainable practices. The Pope has given full authority to two special Commissioners to supervise the plant’s construction, ensuring that the project is carried out efficiently and effectively. The energy generated by this solar plant will cover all the Vatican’s energy needs, eliminating dependence on non-renewable energy sources.
Solar energy plays an essential role in Pope Francis’ strategy to address climate change. Since his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’,” the Pope has been a firm defender of climate action and repeatedly appealed to the international community to take swifter and more decisive measures. In his writings, the Holy Father has pointed out the scientific consensus on global warming and extreme meteorological phenomena as key reasons to adopt cleaner energy sources. In addition to the solar plant, the Vatican is implementing other measures to reduce carbon footprint. For example, solar panels have been installed in several buildings and the fleet of official vehicles has been renovated with electric automobiles, including the famous Popemobile. These actions underscore the Vatican’s commitment to energy efficiency and the reduction of light consumption through renewable sources.

In a move that has sparked concern among traditionalist Catholics, the Vatican has ordered the relocation of Finland’s only Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) from its current location in the capital’s main cathedral to a smaller, more modern church. The Diocese of Helsinki announced on August 9 that, starting in September, the Latin Mass will no longer be celebrated at St. Henry’s Cathedral but will instead take place at St. Mary’s Church, following directives from the Vatican. The decision, as communicated by the Dicastery for Divine Worship, is rooted in the Vatican’s view of St. Henry’s Cathedral as a “model for the entire local church” and a “sign of unity.” This rationale implies that the cathedral, as a symbol of ecclesiastical cohesion, should not host the Traditional Latin Mass, which has been a point of contention within the broader Catholic Church. The Latin Mass had been celebrated at St. Henry’s Cathedral since 2007, following Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, which encouraged the wider use of the pre-Vatican II liturgy. St. Henry’s, a neo-Gothic structure built between 1858 and 1860, originally served the needs of Catholic soldiers in the Imperial Russian Army, at a time when Finland’s Catholic population was minimal. The cathedral’s exterior features statues of St. Henry, Finland’s patron saint, as well as St. Peter and St. Paul, underscoring its historical and spiritual significance.
The new venue, St. Mary’s Church, is located over five kilometers from the cathedral and was constructed in the 1950s with a modern architectural design.
The move is seen within the context of broader restrictions imposed on the Traditional Latin Mass following Pope Francis’s 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which aimed to curtail the use of the old rite. Since the motu proprio’s release, the Vatican has been tightening regulations on diocesan Latin Masses globally. According to the Vatican’s liturgical office, only 57 parishes worldwide were granted permission to offer the Traditional Latin Mass in 2022. The Vatican’s reasoning for the relocation—citing the cathedral as a «sign of unity»—highlights the ongoing tensions between the Vatican under Pope Francis and segments of the Catholic community that favour the traditional liturgy.

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae welcomes the decision of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to expel Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo from the Sodalitium, as announced by the Peruvian Con-ference of Bishops. This measure is a gesture of pastoral charity, justice, and reconciliation within our community and with all those who have been affected by the abuses committed by Mr. Figari. We are grateful for it with filial adherence as part of the path of renewal that our community has been pursuing for several years under the guidance and accompa-niment of the Holy See. With this measure, Mr. Figari is now dissociated from our community. The authorities of the Sodalitium have closely collaborated with the Holy See in the pursuit of truth and justice, following the investi-gation of various allegations reported since 2011.
In September 2014, the Sodalitium imposed disciplinary measures on Luis Fernando Figari after receiving testimonies of abuses, which were approved by the Holy See. In 2016, he was declared persona non grata by the Sodalitium. In 2017, the Holy See imposed new disciplinary mea-sures, which were confirmed in 2018 after dismissing the appeals that Mr. Figari submitted.
After much reflection and dialogue, in December 2019, I requested the Holy See to expel Mr. Figari from the Sodalitium.
In 2019, the V General Assembly of the Sodalitium in Brazil expressed an institutional apology to all the victims who have suffered any kind of abuse by Luis Fernando Figari and entrusted me, as Superior General, to assess the pertinence of initiating a canonical process for his expulsion.
As part of the mandate entrusted by the Holy Father to the Special Mission Scicluna-Bertomeu sent to our community and the collaboration we have been developing with it, the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life issued the decree of expulsion, which has the approval of Pope Francis. As we have stated previously, Luis Fernando Figari is the historical founder of the Sodalitium of Christian Life but is not a spiritual reference for our community or the Sodalite Family.

In an emotional private meeting, Pope Francis received Beniamino Zuncheddu, a Sardinian shepherd, who spent over three decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The meeting, which took place in the Apostolic Palace’s Library, represents a powerful act of reconciliation and hope for a man who, after 33 years in prison, was finally exonerated early this year. Zuncheddu, who in 1991 was accused of committing a tripple murder when he was only 26, faced a long and torturous legal process that kept him behind bars until January 2024, when Italy’s Court of Appeal acknowledged his innocence. For years he endured inhuman conditions in various prisons, sharing crowded cells and facing great physical and emotional challenges. But his faith and love for his family gave him the necessary strength to surmount each day.
In his audience with the Holy Father, Zuncheddu presented his book entitled “Io Sono Innocente” [“I Am Innocent”], written together with his lawyer. In this work he talks not only about the injustice he suffered, but also about his internal journey of forgiveness and healing. Despite the profound pain caused by the false accusation, Zjuncheddu decided to forgive the one who erroneously singled him out as culpable, thus showing notable spiritual and moral strength.