Starting Seven: February 21, 2025
Welcome to Starting Seven, The Pillar’s daily newsletter.
I’m Luke Coppen and I aim to guide you each weekday morning to the most interesting Catholic news and comment.
😇 Today’s saints: St. Peter Damian (optional memorial); St. Robert Southwell (Roman Martyrology).
📜 Today’s readings: Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Gen 11:1-9 ▪ Ps 33:10-11, 12-13, 14-15 ▪ Mk 8:34—9:1.
🗞 Starting seven
1: A federal judge denied Feb. 20 the U.S. bishops’ request for a temporary restraining order that would have restored refugee resettlement program funding (washingtontimes.com).
2: Reports are circulating that 70 missing people were found beheaded in a Protestant church in Kasanga, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (premierchristian.news, Wikipedia, new-messager-de-la-paix.net).
3: Leaders of the lay Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) held talks with Vatican officials Feb. 17-18 over the country’s controversial “synodal way” (German reports 1 & 2, Wikipedia 1 & 2).
4: Germany’s Josef Blotz is the Order of Malta’s new grand hospitaller, succeeding Fra’ Alessandro de Franciscis, who resigned Feb. 17 for personal reasons (orderofmalta.int 1 & 2, Wikipedia).
5: The French bishops’ conference and the Diocese of Nice are acting as a civil party in the trial of a man accused of killing three people at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice in 2020 (French press release, service-public.fr, lavie.fr, Wikipedia).
6: J. J. Ziegler examines which U.S. Latin Rite dioceses have the highest ratio of diocesan seminarians to Catholics.
7: Fr. Biju Abraham, M.S., Bishop Robert Barron, Fr. Hezekias Carnazzo & Annie Mitchell, Br. Antony Augustine Cherian, O.P., Fr. Bradley Davies, Fr. Jhack Diaz, Fr. Joseph Evans, Fr. John Frauenfelder, Virginia Ryan, & Bishop David Walker, Bishop James Golka, Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Fr. Terrance Klein [archive.is], Keith Nester, Fr. Emmanuel Ochigbo, Fr. Tim Peters, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Fr. Paul Steller, and Fr. Colin Tan, S.J., look ahead to the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
🇻🇦 Today’s Bollettino
⚕️ The Holy See press office said that “the night went well, and this morning Pope Francis got up and had breakfast” (Italian full text, aleteia.org, americamagazine.org [archive.is], catholicnewsagency.com, cope.es, cruxnow.com, ncronline.org, rte.ie, youtube.com 1 & 2, cathol.lu, cbcew.org.uk, chiesacattolica.it, diocesiassisi.it, lpj.org).
⚕️ The Holy See press office said on the evening of Feb. 20 that the pope’s “clinical condition is showing slight improvement” (Italian full text, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, Colleen Dulle & Gerard O’Connell, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Nicole Winfield).
🇺🇸 Appointment of Fr. Gregg Caggianelli, a priest of the Diocese of Venice, Florida, as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (usccb.org, osvnews.com).
🇻🇦🌐 Joint communiqué following the Feb. 17-20 annual meeting of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Council of Churches’ Office of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation (vaticannews.va).
🏛️ Pillar catch-up
🤔 Friday quiz
How much do you know about liturgical gloves? (Answers below).
1. What is the primary purpose of episcopal gloves in the liturgy?
A) To keep hands warm; B) To serve as a symbol of purity and good works; C) To protect hands from contamination.
2. Where are episcopal gloves thought to originate?
A) France; B) Germany; C) Italy.
3. When did the use of liturgical gloves become common?
A) Early Middle Ages (476-1000); B) High Middle Ages (1000 to 1300); C) Counter-Reformation (1545-1648).
4. Why are black liturgical gloves never used?
A) Because black is associated with evil; B) Because they were banned by Vatican Council II; C) Because they are not worn on Good Friday or at Masses for the dead.
5. Who is permitted to wear pontifical gloves without special papal privilege?
A) Abbots and canons; B) Bishops and cardinals; C) Priests and deacons on major feasts.
🔍 Stories to watch
🇺🇸 U.S. bishops said Feb. 20 that the Trump administration’s “push for IVF, which ends countless human lives and treats persons like property, cannot be the answer” to the suffering caused by infertility (nationalreview.com 1 & 2, whitehouse.gov 1 & 2, Wikipedia, crisismagazine.com, lifesitenews.com).
🇨🇳 Chinese authorities have fined a bishop who refuses to join state-sanctioned bodies, and threatened to demolish a building that includes a chapel and his residence (thetablet.co.uk).
🇿🇦 Fr. Stan Muyebe, O.P., director of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference’s justice and peace commission, has appealed for “racial reconciliation” amid a land dispute raising tensions between the Trump administration and South African government (aciafrica.org, sacbc.org.za, Wikipedia).
🇬🇭 Ghana’s bishops’ conference and the Christian Council of Ghana have criticized their exclusion from a Feb. 18-19 national education forum, despite their position as “key stakeholders in the educational sector” (modernghana.com, gcatholic.org, christiancouncilofghana.org).
🇸🇩🇸🇸 The Sudan and South Sudan Bishops’ Conference has announced the creation of a new Catholic education commission, designed to “enhance educational standards, and promote moral and spiritual development” (gcatholic.org, Colm Flynn).
🇨🇻 Bishop Ildo Augusto dos Santos Lopes Fortes has lamented that “in the 21st century, many Cape Verdeans still live without electricity, running water, or a bathroom at home” (catholic-hierarchy.org, Wikipedia).
🇮🇪 Bishop Willie Walsh, who led Ireland’s Killaloe diocese from 1994 to 2010, died Feb. 19 at the age of 90 (thejournal.ie, Anthony Daly, Archbishop Eamon Martin, Patsy McGarry [archive.is], Bishop Fintan Monahan, catholic-hierarchy.org, Wikipedia).
🗓 Today’s anniversaries
St. Thomas Becket was canonized in 1173; Pope Julius II died in 1513; Pope Benedict XIII died in 1730; Bl. Noël Pinot was executed in 1794; St. Francis Xavier Church, Baltimore, was dedicated in 1864; Bl. Caterina Dominici died in 1894; Pope John Paul II created 44 cardinals, including Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, in 2001; A landmark Vatican meeting on “the protection of minors in the Church” began in 2019.
📅 Today’s events
Jubilee of Deacons begins; Episcopal ordination of Fr. Jean Tailleur as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Quebec, at the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec, at 3 p.m. local time; Start of the Word on Fire Evangelisation & Culture Conference in London, England.
📅 Coming soon
Feb. 22 Episcopal ordination of Fr. Alberto Torriani as Archbishop of Crotone-Santa Severina, Italy; Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin presides at the episcopal ordination of Msgr. Maurizio Bravi, apostolic nuncio in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands; Bishop Peter Libasci of Manchester, New Hampshire, ordains former Anglican cleric Jordan Easley to the Catholic priesthood; Cardinal Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru, takes possession of the title of Santa Maria delle Grazie a Casal Boccone in Rome at 6 p.m. local time; Installation of Bishop Ernesto Giobando, S.J., as the Bishop of Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Feb. 23 Archbishop Rino Fisichella presides over Jubilee of Deacons Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, at 9 a.m. local time; Beatification cause of Argentine Carmelite Sr. Cecilia María of the Holy Face formally opens; Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of the Archbasilica of St. Mary Major, takes possession of the deaconry of Sant’Eustachio at 6 p.m. local time.
Feb. 24 Third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine; Cardinal Fabio Baggio leads prayer for peace in Ukraine, organized by the Sant’Egidio Community, in Rome’s Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, at 8 p.m. local time; Installation of Bishop Gregory Kelly as the Bishop of Tyler, Texas, at the W.T. Brookshire Center, at 2 p.m. local time; Requiem Mass of Bishop Willie Walsh at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland, at 1 p.m. local time (live stream).
Feb 26 Episcopal ordination of five new auxiliary bishops at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral.
Feb. 27 Episcopal ordination of Fr. Alan Campeau as Bishop of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, at 7 p.m. local time.
Feb. 28 75th birthday of Cardinal Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru; Episcopal ordination of Fr. Iyad Al-Twal, Latin Patriarchal Vicar in Jordan, at the Church of the Baptism of the Lord (Al-Maghtas) in Jordan.
March 1 80th birthday of Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga; Episcopal ordination of Fr. Franck Javary as the Bishop of Châlons, France; Sr. Raffaella Petrini, F.S.E., begins work as president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State.
March 3 100th anniversary of the future Pope John XXIII’s episcopal consecration.
March 5 Ash Wednesday; Pope Francis schedule to attend Statio and penitential procession at Rome’s Church of St. Anselm at 4:30 p.m., followed by Mass with the blessing and imposition of the ashes at the Basilica of St. Sabina at 5 p.m.
March 6 Pope Francis scheduled to meet Rome’s priests at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran; Bishop Felix Genn of Münster, Germany, turns 75.
March 7 Women’s World Day of Prayer; Polish Catholics observe Day of Prayer and Solidarity with Victims of Sexual Abuse.
March 8 Jubilee of the World of Voluntary Work; Celebration of the designation of Amsterdam’s Basilica of St. Nicholas as a co-cathedral of the Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam, Netherlands.
March 9 Pope Francis due to preside at 10:30 a.m. Mass in St. Peter’s Square on the First Sunday of Lent during the Jubilee of the World of Volunteering; Start of the Roman Curia’s Lenten spiritual exercises, at 5 p.m. local time.
March 10 Swiss bishops begin plenary assembly in Fischingen.
March 11 Cardinal Robert McElroy is installed as the Archbishop of Washington at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, at 2 p.m. local time.
March 12 Polish bishops start plenary assembly in Warsaw.
March 13 12th anniversary of Pope Francis’ election.
March 14 End of the Roman Curia’s Lenten spiritual exercises.
March 14 Flame 2025 takes place at the OVO Arena Wembley in London, England.
March 18 Bishop Edward Weisenburger is installed as the sixth Archbishop of Detroit, Michigan, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, at 2 p.m. local time.
March 19 Solemnity of St. Joseph; Episcopal ordination of Fr. George Kolodziej, S.D.S., as the Bishop of Bunbury, Australia; Cardinal Mykola Bychok delivers opening address at the Catholic Social Services Australia national conference in Sydney.
March 21 Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University holds a study day on “60 years after the Council. Selected topics on J. Ratzinger and Vatican II”; Japan’s Catholics observe day of prayer and penance for abuse survivors.
March 22 Episcopal ordination of Msgr. François Gourdon as Bishop of Saint-Dié, France.
March 23 Pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square offered samples of the new gelato flavor of the year, “Hallelujah,” dedicated to the 2025 Jubilee.
March 24 Vatican hosts first summit on longevity.
March 25 Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord; 30th anniversary of the encyclical Evangelium vitae; Bishop Joe Vásquez is installed as the ninth Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, Texas.
March 28 Jubilee of the Missionaries of Mercy begins; 24 Hours for the Lord; Catholic University of America hosts conference on Thea Bowman.
March 29 5th anniversary of the rededication of England as the Dowry of Mary; The Courage to be Catholic conference is held at Scotland’s Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (archedinburgh.org).
March 30 Blessing of Fr. Bernhard Eckerstorfer, O.S.B., the new abbot of Austria’s Kremsmünster Abbey.
March 31 Catholic Church in Italy holds second synodal assembly in Rome; Start of the French bishops’ spring plenary assembly, including election of new bishops’ conference president.
April 2 20th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s death.
April 4 Start of the CHARIS international gathering of Charismatic Renewal prayer groups at Sacrofano, Rome.
April 5 Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Healthcare.
April 6 80th birthday of Chile’s Cardinal Celestino Aós Braco; 175th anniversary of La Civiltà Cattolica; Pope Francis presides at 10:30 a.m. Mass in St. Peter’s Square on the Fifth Sunday of Lent and during the Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Healthcare.
April 13 Palm Sunday.
April 16 The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo, Ireland, reopens after renovation work.
April 17 Holy Thursday; Congregation of the Mission celebrates its 400th anniversary.
April 18 Good Friday; Exposition of the Holy Tunic of Argenteuil begins at the Basilique Saint-Denys d’Argenteuil, France.
April 19 Holy Saturday; 80th birthday of India’s Cardinal George Alencherry; 20th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s election.
April 20 Easter Sunday.
April 24 50th anniversary of the founding of the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA).
April 25 Start of the Jubilee of Teenagers.
April 26 Hungarian laywoman Mária Magdolna Bódi (1921-1945) is beatified in Veszprém; Pilgrimage of Polish Catholics to Dachau, on the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.
April 27 Feast of Divine Mercy; Canonization of Bl. Carlo Acutis in St. Peter’s Square, at 10:30 a.m. local time.
April 28 Jubilee of people with disabilities begins.
April 29 Day of Martyrdom of the Polish Clergy during World War II.
Friday quiz answers (sources in links): 1. B; 2. A; 3. B; 4. C; 5. B.
Have a happy feast of St. Peter Damian.
-- Luke
Do you know someone who would appreciate reading this newsletter? Invite your friends to sign up here.
"How much do you know about liturgical gloves?"
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
4/5 because I am good at making educated guesses and/or throwing darts at the board.
5/5 today. Wow, I need to play the lottery.